Disney's in the Desert

July 2022 Recap

Wasn’t it yesterday that summer was just starting?! I shouldn’t be shocked, but I am in disbelief that yet we’re at the tail end (and well, our kids’ summer break from school has officially been over for a week now!) and another month of 2022 gone!

Holiday Inn Club

The first week of last month we spent a few days at Holiday Inn Club in Scottsdale for the 4th of July weekend and to have a little staycation. This hotel is definitely a hidden gem, and I really feel like The Princess overshadows it a lot. We stayed in a spacious villa with 2 bedrooms and a living room + kitchen – it had plenty of room for us to stretch out with all 42 of our kids 🤣 What the kids really enjoyed most was their pool – they have a dedicated adults only pool plus a kids/family pool with a water attraction (which we spent pretty much all of our time at!) with 2 water slides and a wade pool with some splashing contraptions. Overall, we had a great time here and will definitely be back!

Hun’s 5th Birthday

Our sweetest Honey Girl turned 5 last month! I still need to get her birthday pics on my feed but here are a few from our family party. We didn’t do any friends (or really any extra family, except for Gammy) and had our traditional birthday dinner at TRH and cake at home with us + Gam. It was quiet, but she was so incredibly thankful and kept saying it was the best.

She also had “Kinder Boot Camp” the following week, which she totally rocked. It helped prepare her for kinder and getting used to her school (which she’s pretty familiar with since the boys have been there for the last two years, but really getting to be in her classrooms and know the kinder teacher staff!). They did activities and crafts which she is all about too, and it proved to be a wonderful experience for her.

Gym is still going well and she’s really enjoying it. We don’t push any of our kids if they decide the sport isn’t for them (of course, they must finish it as long as there’s not injury or something stopping them physically) but we encourage them to pursue it if they love it. I’m hoping gymnastics will be one of these things for Hun! It’s so cool to see the older girls do their thing, and I can’t help but envisioning Honey being in their shoes one day!!!

The Boys

They both have been straight killin’ it with their respective sports! Both are enrolled in Jiu Jitsu and attend classes 2-3 nights a week, along with soccer for Cole and basketball for Conner. I am so impressed with how much improvement Conner has made in basketball, specifically. He’s not only become a really great shooter, but also has been an awesome teammate and making passes/assists. We’re hoping he can play in a more competitive league once school gets more underway, as we want to make sure he’s not getting behind in any school work. He’s still meeting with a tutor once a month just to catch up and get stronger in certain reading comprehension areas. It was hard for him 2 years ago when school closed and some of his weak areas in school became more prominent, so we are really wanting to make sure we help him where we can with that as much as possible.

Both boys also got to go to a D-backs game with C (c/o of Gammy’s work for getting the ticket!) and it was a special thing for them to just go one on one with Daddy. I definitely would love to keep that tradition up of being able to do that every summer!

Colly Girl

What to say… she is still our intense, tough, Mugga Girl lol. Teething has continued into month 8 just really wreaking havoc on her sleep and schedule. She has moments of happiness, but sadly her teething pain has really taken over most days. I’m hoping we’re on the tail end of this – I just checked her mouth a few days ago and it looks like she still has a couple of spaces where no tooth has grown in yet but we are so much closer to the end of this. I don’t remember the boys or Hun struggling as much with their teeth as she has (and no, it’s not because she’s our 4th – she is just a different child!)

She got a ball pit this month which I was fully against bringing into our house – only for it to now be something I feel like we could not be without 🤣. I’ve been wanting to downsize all of our baby gear as Colly is our last and we aren’t using as many “baby” things these days with her getting older. We will always have toys for them to play with but I just didn’t look at this as a toy, but more like a gigantic, ridiculous item in the middle of our family room 🤣🤣 However, I retract all of my previous thoughts and comments because it really has been amazing for her. A great distraction and time filler for sure. Bonus, everyone else in the family loves it (it’s large 🤣) and will chill with her in there which she seems to love.

Home Projects

I don’t want to keep promising posts, but please know that more home/DIY blogs will be coming! These are bigger blogs that take me lots of photo time and drafting for the content itself, so naturally it’s not something I can bang out real quick, but it is still on my radar to share!

I’m giving my pantry another little update (I feel like this space is always evolving, especially with back to school and needing more space for kids snacks and lunch stuff!) so I’ll probably share a reel on that soon. I’m getting Colly’s closet finally all of the way finished – I know I shared a little of it on stories last month and possibly even here, but I just ordered the last couple of things to hold her accessories, so that will be up sooner than later. Stick with me, friends!

Happy AUGUST! Fall is right around the corner, woohoo!

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Mom Hack Monday: School Lunch Idea

SANDWICH CUTTER

We’re only 1 full week into the school year and this has proven to be a MAJOR mom hack as well as time + money saver for us!

I introduce to you…. homemade Uncrustables! (If you’re unfamiliar, they sell these in the frozen aisle at the grocery store and they’re about $4.20 for a box of 4 – which for us, would only cover 1 full day of lunches). With 3 kids now in school full time and needing lunches packed 5 days a week, I knew I needed to come up with a way to simplify making these and figuring out what I’m doing for their lunch beore that morning.

Let’s be real, mornings are hectic with trying to get everyone ready, breakfast finished, teeth brushed, and hair looking nice before rushing out the door in time. Add in packing 3 lunches and I’m overwhelmed, not gonna lie.

I stumbled on this tool a few weeks ago and knew I wanted to attempt it. I used 2 loaves of bread and was able to make 20 sandwiches to freeze! It comes with a neat little cutter and sealer – so genius, right?! It’s safe and easy to use. Once they’re assembled, I place them in a little bit of saran wrap and then add them to a gallon size freezer bag. The night before school, I take out 3 sandwiches (you can set a reminder on your phone at the same time every day!) and leave them in my fridge overnight. The next morning when I pack their lunches, I grab them out of the fridge and they’re almost all of the way thawed. By the time they have their lunch breaks, they’re full ready to eat and not the least bit frozen!!!

Not only has this saved me time and headache in the morning, but it’s also saved a bunch of $. I know eating these 5 days a week may get to be a bit much, so C and I are thinking of a couple of other ways to incorporate some protein by still using this method (frozen, thaw, pack in lunch) and I’ll be sure to share those soon!

To reduce the use of plastic, I’m considering getting these fry bags to put the sandwiches in (thanks to my eco conscious hubby), so that’s next on my list of things to try for this!

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the crust – don’t worry! NOTHING goes to waste! We save the crust for other meals (we just made a yummy breakfast/brunch with them this past weekend, which I’ll also share to my blog!) or homemade croutons. YUM!

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DIY Makeup Travel Bags

If you’ve scrolled social media at all lately, you’ve probably seen the cute Stoney Clover bags just about everywhere! They even released a collab line with Target, which sold out super fast with nothing left to be found anywhere.

If you remember back in March I shared this DIY hat idea for an Easter basket gift and you guys loved it!! I knew I could use the letters on more things and wanted to give it a try, especially since we had an upcoming trip in June!

I found these clear TSA approved bags in all sorts of colors and used a similar puffy sparkly iron on letter set that I used for the hat. With this, you definitely don’t want to use the iron as it will melt the plastic and ruin the bag. I used my hot glue gun and made theeee cutest bags for Hun and I! She needed one for her hair stuff and I used mine for makeup, and then I put our sunscreen and beauty blenders (mom hack to apply sunscreen!) in another.

I’ve linked some other bags that I think would be so cute + functional to throw in your bag or even a kiddo’s backpack with personal items HERE. Let me know if you try this!!

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