Emily here! Sharing how we celebrated the Autumn Equinox this year. Pal is getting bigger and so I wanted this celebration to have some meaning so I decided to make a bird theme. It seemed appropriate given that birds are migrating soon. We also have a lot of birds visit our backyard. I started with getting some books from the library about birds. I got 5 and these 3 have been our favorite.
I also stopped by Starbucks for get a pumpkin spice chai and cake pops. Mostly that was for me but the boys loved the cake! Then after nap time we made our craft! An egg carton bird feeder. There are a ton of different DIY bird feeder options but I went with this one as it was very low cost and seemed the least messy. I only had to by the birdseed which was $6.
I made sure to show Pal and Bud a picture of a finished feeder so they got the concept of what we were doing. Bud didn’t care but Pal was jazzed. Pal loved stringing the beads on and they both loved adding the birdseed. Which we did outside to avoid any indoor messes. This craft was a pretty low mess low prep craft which is always nice. Bud is still young so he wasn’t totally interested in the craft and mostly observed as I made his but still fun to include him! Also Gal was having a moment during this whole craft so I ended up having to wear her. The whole thing felt a bit chaotic but we did it. We spent the rest of the afternoon outside talking to the various birds we saw and letting them know we had some food for them. We haven’t seen any eat the food but we’ve been checking on it the last few days which is a fun additional activity.
Maddie here! I have been enjoying 6 glorious months of maternity leave since Wiggler was born in April but it is time to start preparing to head back to work in October. In thinking about getting ready for work in the mornings, maximizing sleep, and still nursing Wiggler I decided that I would create a capsule wardrobe for myself. My work dress code is smart casual which I think of as pairing something casual (like a t-shirt) with something nicer (blazer or dress pants).
I came across the concept of the 4×4 wardrobe from The Vivienne Files while searching Pinterest, it is a 16 piece capsule including:
core 4: 2 tops, 2 bottoms in first neutral color
core 4: 2 tops, 2 bottoms in second neutral color
mileage 4: four tops that go with the first 8 garments
expansion 4: any area that you feel needs to be added
After reading lots of articles about capsule wardrobes, this seemed like the most concrete way to use what I already had in my closet while also streamlining my options. I set to work by digging out my pre-pregnancy clothes from one year ago and trying everything on. I put aside anything that didn’t fit perfectly and anything that seemed better suited to a different season. After that, I wrote down all of the pieces in my notebook and highlighted the colors to see where there were similarities. I then made a spreadsheet so I could more easily manipulate my options.
I put these clothes on my bed, continued trying them on, and slowly formed the 4×4 wardrobe with bases of navy and tan and then bringing in some patterns. I did a LOT of shifting things around and continued tweaking it (even after the picture taken of all of the clothes on my bed below). I have now landed on the following:
Navy Core 4: bootcut jeans, trouser, high neck shell, jean jacket Tan Core 4: ankle chino pant, pumpkin straight leg trouser, cable knit sweater, blazer Mileage 4: leopard cap sleeve blouse, grey plaid blazer, patterned popover blouse, grey sweater Expansion 4: black blazer, grey cap sleeve blouse, white t-shirt, black t-shirt
I am excited to try this out and see how it goes! I’m curious if I will miss my full wardrobe and having all of the options in the morning or if it will be nice to just grab and go. It was difficult to pare all of my clothes down to these 16 pieces, but I think it was a really useful exercise (especially to see that I don’t need to buy more clothes!) and I can already see that I have lots of combinations available to me. If I like the capsule in practice, I will plan to do a capsule wardrobe for each season.
I took a few photos of outfits with the capsule pieces during Wiggler’s naptime to get a feel for how it will look when I go back to work (hair/makeup not done/clothes not accessorized!):
So that has been my me-time project as of late! It has been a fun way to get myself into the mindset of work and I’m looking forward to testing out the capsule in just a few weeks.
Well folks the Autumn Equinox is Friday which means my deadline for my summer bucket list is up. I’d love to try and do all the things I didn’t get to in these few days but the reality is I have a house full of sick people/children to take care of. So let’s see what I did accomplish!
❌ Lake Day. This required a lot more coordination than I had energy for this summer.
❌ Host a BBQ at my house. Tired to schedule this a few different times and it got cancelled for various reasons.
❌ Learn how to use the grill. I tired a few different times to get lessons from my husband but I just didn’t stick. The grill is his things and I’m just gonna leave it that way.
We took a trip to the coast! We celebrated our 5 year anniversary this August and we wanted a special way to mark the occasion. We booked an ocean view AirBnb in Lincoln City in August. I will start by saying we will never go in August again! Everywhere we went was so crowded AND the Airbnb was really expensive. We had a much nicer time when we went last year in September.
Day 1 – Travel Day. We departed at 1pm hoping to have everyone sleep in the car for nap time. Which 2 out of 3 children did! We had a really nice drive there. We stopped once at a rest stop to stretch our legs and feed Gal. I packed Uncrustables and chips for everyone else that we ate while driving. We also brought a few DVDs that I checked out from the library before we left. Upon arrival we unpacked and got settled. We got pizza for dinner the first night from Tye Dye Pie. I went to pick it up and it wasn’t ready and the pizza place was 100 degrees inside (possibly more. Idk it was so freaking hot.) Then the cook and cashier were having a fight the whole time which was super awkward to listen to. After dinner we intended to go to the beach and watch the sunset but it was crazy windy and none of us had sweaters or pants on (Gal was the most unhappy with the situation!)
Day 2 – Beach Day. We ate sugar cereal (beach tradition!) and pizza for breakfast then went to the beach. The boys loved it and had the best time. Gal wasn’t impressed and I spent most of my time trying to make her comfortable. I finally put her in the baby carrier and wrapped blankets around us which settled her down. After the beach we came back for lunch which was more pizza. (we ordered way too much the first night. Which my husband said it was too much but I didn’t listen.) We then had nap time. After that we thought it would be fun to “go out”. It was not fun folks! First we tired to go to the outlet mall which was packed. But we had to park anyway for a diaper change. Then we thought “oh let’s go to a restaurant!” We drove by Pelican Brewing and the parking lot was also full and there was a steady flowing of people going in but not coming out. Then we thought “well surely Mo’s isn’t busy.” What fools! The line was 30 people deep. And that was only what we could see from the outside. We finally decided to go to the worlds smallest grocery store. It was then that Bud knocked a glass jar of jelly off the shelf. We’d all hit our limit and I said “we never should have gone out in public!!” I made the smart choice to grab a bottle of wine at checkout. We got stuck in traffic somehow on the way back. Once home we got DoorDash take out and played in the side yard our Airbnb had.
Day 3 – More Beach Time. After Gal hating the beach the day before we decided that my husband would take the boys to the beach solo and I’d stay back with Gal at the Airbnb. This was a big reason I wanted a house as close to ocean view as we could get. I figured I’d be staying at the house a lot with Gal and it gave us quicker beach access for fast beach trips. My husband did great with the boys and said Pal made friends with a boy a few years older than him and that family helped him manage the boys which I thought was so sweet! I had coffee and FaceTimed Maddie while Gal played on the floor. We had nap time and then we all went back to the beach. I was able to avoid any crying from Gal by getting her in the baby carrier right away. We had a great time until Pal fell in the water and was “soaking wet” as he repeatedly said. We went back to the house for a warm bath for all and then had dinner which was the leftovers we had from previous nights. Played some more in the side yard and watched a show then off to bed.
Day 4 – Travel Day. We got up and ate breakfast then loaded the car. This travel day was so smooth! We didn’t even stop once. Gal slept the whole time and the boys were happy to watch a show and munch on snacks.
Things we learned!
1. Don’t go in August! Like I mentioned it was so busy and I wish we had just waited and gone in September. We could have avoided a lot of crowds and probably gotten a cheaper rate in our Airbnb.
2. Bring warmer clothing! Last year when we went it was during a heat wave so when packing this year I was very focused on that. I only packed one pair of pants for the boys and really light jackets. Thankfully our Airbnb had a washer and dryer but that meant I was constantly washing their clothing so they would have something warm to wear to the beach. So pack more cold weather clothing even if it is August!
3. Pre-Order Groceries. We brought a cooler with a few essentials with us (milk, coffee, yogurt) and a bag of dry foods (cereal, grab old bars, pouches, chips). I wish we had planned a grocery pick up for our first day so we could have avoided the grocery store situation on day 2.
4. Don’t forget medications! I left my thyroid medication at home and didn’t realize it until the next day. I got really tired the following days. So double check on the important things!
5. Next Anniversary Trip Will Be Solo. For this being an anniversary trip my husband and I didn’t spend that much time together. We divided and conquered most days. It was a nice family trip but just not too much time the two of us. Our 10 year anniversary will just be the two of us!
6. Nap Time Travel! This was our first trip traveling during nap time and it made for a great car ride. I also ran the boys hard before we got in the car.
7. Get a Special Toy. This was the second year that I bought a special sand toy for the trip! Last year I got these construction trucks. This year I got matching garbage trucks for the boys. They loved it!
8. Not something we learned but should be noted. It’s very hard to remember to take pictures with 3 children!
Emily here! Summer is almost over and I’ve been working on my bucket list. I did a pool day with all 3 of my children. The biggest reason I was able to make this happen was both my mom and dad came and helped! We were so busy with everyone that we didn’t get any pictures. My dad sat with the boys in the baby pool while I sat in the shade with Gal. Then my dad took Pal to do big pool and I was with Bud and my mom with Gal. I had to feed Gal so then my mom sat with Bud. We were there for over 2 hours! Everyone slept great that night and it was fun to go and chat with other moms. We’ve been back one other time this month and it was really nice! I don’t think I could have done it if there wasn’t one adult per child!
For my birthday I actually chose to not go to the winery! I’ve been before but also I couldn’t figure out the timing of things based on the information on their website. The tasting room closed at 4 but then opened again at 6 and the food was kind of the same thing. I didn’t want to get out there only for nothing to be open. And honestly I just wanted to go somewhere new! My husband and I (with Gal too!) went to a new food cart bar on town called Black Smith Public house. We got drinks and a pizza. It was nice to go somewhere different! We then got cones from DQ before we headed home. A nice mellow birthday.
Sister Hack 