The Man Behind the Beard // June

Another month, another interview with Brian! I caught him at an "off time" so pardon the short answers. 

1. What did you have as a child that kids today don’t have?

Brian: Rollerblades, put Rollerblades. It's a dead sport.

2. What did you want to be as a child when you grew up?

Brian: Not sure.

Me: What about an Egyptologist?

Brian: Yeah that's true. Put that.

3. What three adjectives would you use to describe fatherhood?

Brian: Um, patience, love and stress hehehe. Does that work?

Me: Yeah.

4. How many years have you been a father and how many children do you have?

Brian: Wait, you know this answer.

Me: I know but it's supposed to come from you.

Brian: I have two children and a fur child. I've been a dad for as long as Kinsey's been alive, so for 5 years.

5. What is one piece of advice or wisdom you would like to pass on to your children?

Brian: I don't know, Whitney. This is too deep for my tired mood.

Linking up with Laura Jean and Betsy.

   

   

Currently // June

Affiliate links used. A small commission may be received if you purchase an item through my links. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Watching// Amazon Original series Just Add Magic with Kinsey. Super cute girls and the wardrobe stylist is amazing, ha!

Reading// I read I Capture the Castleby Dodie Smith and just fell in love; the narrator/main character was such a delight, I would have been besties with her in real life ;) The story follows the Mortmain Family as they live in poverty in a crumbling, rented castle in the English countryside in the 1930's and how their circumstances improve when an American family moves into the neighborhood. Ironically, the author also wrote 101 Dalmatians and we know Disney has my heart. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter is a novel about several narratives woven together over decades and continents and was very entertaining. I enjoyed the story lines of Pasquale and Dee and was delighted with their ending.

Dreaming of// Better sleep! Brielana is cutting her final 2-year molars and it makes for less quality sleep :(

Eating// All the summer fruit! These watermelon agua fresco popsicles have been a huge hit! And our plum tree has kept us stocked up to our eyeballs in the tart stone fruit.

Going// I have made plans for the family to go to the Mummy Museum and the Zoo, just have to figure which one (San Francisco or Oakland?)

Loving// The later evenings but bedtime seems to have suffered a bit.

Planning// Some fun stuff! Vague much, right? 

Pinning// Fourth of July goodies! 

Praying// Brian has safe flights during his travels to/from Arkansas this week.

Smelling// NUXE Huile Prodigieuse Multi-Purpose Dry Oil, smells like roses, I'm in heaven.

Texting// Liz because I don't have Snapchat and she keeps buying all the S'mores things.

Toasting// My birthday girl, Brielana Kennedy! How is she turning two already?!

Wearing// My sun hat!

Wishlist// Clothes and books as per usual.

Linking up here.

   

   

Liz from Ellie and Addie {The Mommylogues Series}

I'm so happy to have Liz guest host today for The Mommylogues Series. She has a love for all things red, white and blue that I truly admire and her words of having a partner in motherhood are really powerful. 

Hi friends! First off, thank you so much to Whitney for hosting this amazing series, I've loved reading all the posts so far and I'm so excited to be a part of it! My name is Liz and I blog at Ellie And Addie where I share my daily life along with a few DIY projects and recipes thrown in for fun! I'm married to Brandon (going on 6 years) and we have two sons, Jude who is 2 and Ezra who is 2 months! 

Motherhood. It's amazing right? I mean it's pretty much the hardest thing I've EVER done, but it's also the most fun! And while I could go on an on about being a mom, I thought I'd turn it upside down and talk about my husband, who's better known as BTR around these parts. 

He's pretty much a rockstar dad and husband. I always knew he'd be good with kids, he's an elementary school special education teacher, but seeing him with our boys is pretty much the coolest and best thing ever. Also, he keeps me sane. 

Take last Wednesday night for example. We were planning to leave for vacation super early Thursday morning and obviously I hadn't packed anything yet. I had written extensive lists of what to pack, but nothing was actually packed. It the rush of dinner time I tried to feed Jude his mac and cheese and it was too hot and he burned his tongue, mom fail #1. Then I lost Jude’s LAST pacifier in the house. Which normally would be fine because I want him to stop using it, except he was wearing footie pajamas and slipped and fell on the kitchen floor and hurt his lip and wouldn’t stop crying and legit needed it to calm down. Mom fail #2 and #3. During all of this the baby was crying because he wanted to nurse every 20 minutes. And through all of this BTR kept his cool, searched the house high and low for the missing pacifier, gave Jude a bath, consoled the crying baby, and assured me I was still a good mom. And after Jude was in bed he went to the store to buy a new pacifier and get Jude some new toys for our road trip. Basically I hit the husband jackpot. 

So where am I going with this? Honestly I wasn’t so sure either when I started writing this. I think what it comes down to is love your husband a bit more today. We can be so hard on ourselves as moms that I think sometimes we forget that we have a partner that is doing it with us and feels the same way (at least in my case and I hope for all of you too). 

Thanks again to Whitney for having me today, and I hope you’ll follow me on my blog or other social media! 

Liz from Ellie And Addie 

Instagram Facebook Twitter Pinterest Snapchat: ellieandaddie

***

Archives:

My Journey to Motherhood {Introduction to The Mommylogues Series}

Amanda from Tickled Pink

Elizabeth from Chasin' Mason

Beth from Our Pretty Little Girls

Stephanie from Wife Mommy Me

Courtney of Sweet Turtle Soup

Danielle from Sparkles and Lattes

Aubrey of Aubrey Zaruba

Sarah from Seeing All Sides

Jess from Scott Family of Maine

Meghan of The Adventure Starts Here

Rewind Friday // Doing Disneyland {+ Star Spangled Kids link up Announcement}

I had so much fun last month for the inaugural link up of Rewind Friday, thank you to all who linked up and shared with us, it was really awesome! I know we're all in the midst of enjoying this Summer so I wanted to share my favorite summer vacation memory:

This was Kinsey very first visit to Disneyland and words can't describe how amazing it was to see the Happiest Place on Earth through her eyes. Bless her heart, she doesn't remember any of it three years later, but that doesn't make it any less special to me. It also makes me want to go like, yesterday so Brielana can experience the magic! {Read more Doing Disneyland}

Also announcing the second annual Star Spangled Kids link up:

I am so excited to be co hosting this year with some of my absolute favorite ladies because there is nothing cuter than seeing little kids in patriotic duds, am I right? The link up will go live on Friday, July 1st and is open until Thursday, July 7th. You can also share on IG using #StarSpangledKids

And May's most clicked post was: Klein dot Co's Friday Faves! 

If you want to be our Spotlight Post, just link up an oldie but goodie with us the last Friday of every month! Thanks for joining Beth, Meghan, Stephanie and I! The next Rewind Friday will be on Friday, July 29th. Now it's your turn to add your link below! Also join us on IG using #RewindFridayParty.

An InLinkz Link-up

Beth Our Pretty Little Girls

Facebook//Instagram//Pinterest//Twitter

Meghan The Adventure Starts Here

Facebook//Instagram//Pinterest//Twitter

Stephanie Wife Mommy Me

Facebook//Instagram//Pinterest//Twitter

Whitney Work it Mommy

Facebook//Instagram//Pinterest//Twitter

Linking up here.

   

   

Watermelon Agua Fresco Popsicles {Summer Lovin}

I've been d-y-i-n-g to make my own popsicles so when Brian mentioned he had some at his store and that they were on sale, I begged asked him to buy me these sweet diamond ring molds. They are the perfect size for little hands and make the perfect summer time snack!

I've been obsessed with eating watermelon lately, hello iconic summer fruit, and just knew I had to put it into a popsicle. And behold this recipe was born. Though to be honest I don't think two-ingredients really qualifies as a "recipe."

print recipe

Watermelon agua fresco Popsicles

by Whitney Smith June-23-2016

These refreshing popsicles are the perfect treat on a summer's day.

Ingredients:
2 cups watermelon, cubed
2 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

1.Cube the watermelon and throw it into a blender.
2.Mix well until liquefied.
3.Add mini chocolate chips into popsicle molds.
4.Pour watermelon juice over mini chocolate chips and freeze. Once completely frozen, enjoy!

We've already made three batches (going on four) of these and I am pleasantly surprised how well the chocolate lends itself to the watermelon; that was something I was a bit iffy about, but loved the look of the mini chips as "seeds", so forged ahead. You could totally leave them out but at least try it :)

And my first check off the good ole Summer Lovin' list!

Linking up here.