Hey friends! How are you? How was your weekend? We spent the vast majority of the weekend outside, either at the pool or in the lake, and were blessed with some beautiful weather for most of the weekend. Rainstorms held off until the late evening every day which worked well for everyone in our area hoping to grill out and swim! As for this week, it’s an odd one as two of our three boys are out of school so we’re a little bit in limbo mode at the moment. The end of the school year is in sight for Chase though and by Friday we’ll all be in Florida kicking off our summer break! Today I figured I’d share a catch-up style blog post of sorts in the form of a “Currently” style post to share a little bit about what’s currently going on in our world over here! Let’s dive in, shall we? Currently: May 2024 Currently celebrating… The end of school (Book: The Circus Ship — 10/10 recommend this book. All 3 of our boys continue to love it. / Button-down Top: Amazon — currently a Lightning Deal! / Jeans: Old Navy but old)  We have one foot in summer break mode and on foot still very loosely in school mode. We’re definitely feeling ready for summer and have been thoroughly enjoying all the mini celebrations that come with the end of the school year! Rhett and Ryder’s school year officially ended on Thursday but Chase still has two more days this week. Our days have been filled with summer birthday celebrations for all three boys, theme days, end-of-the-year parties, the end of martial arts for the summer, the beginning of swim team, preschool graduation for Ryder and a big art gallery walk through where we get to check out all of the art projects Chase completed throughout the year in second grade. While all of these things have certainly added to the mayhem that is May, we’ve loved them and it’s been so fun seeing the boys so excited and so proud of the things they accomplished during yet another wonderful school year. Currently checking on… Our garden’s progress We planted our garden for the second year in a row and the boys absolutely love checking on its progress every day. So far we’re seeing solid growth from our cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, watermelon, basil and spinach. We’re learning as we go with this whole gardening thing as the bed we used last year for wildflowers has proved to be a little tricky for us this year as we attempted to overhaul it to grow produce. The wildflowers want to come back with a vengeance, despite our efforts to till the soil and add new soil, which has made it hard to tell whether we had any sprouts from the bell peppers or the shishito peppers we planted. (I also realize I probably should’ve started the peppers inside and transplanted them for the best luck.) We pulled up what we could and think we may have inadvertently pulled up our peppers. Our new plan: Give what we think are our peppers another couple of weeks to grow and if they turn out to be flowers, we’ll transform that side of the garden bed back into a bed of wildflowers which we loved last year anyway. Gardening is certainly a learning experience for us right now! Currently living… In water!! My favorite part of summer! The water! Our kids love water just as much as me and Ryan and the minute temperatures climb over 80 degrees, we seem to spend the majority of our time in the pool or lake. It’s the best and thankfully we have three little fish who can never seem to get enough of pool and lake time, whether it be splashing around in our neighborhood pool with friends or swimming and kayaking around the lake. Also, Pepper is surprising all of us with how much she loves the lake. She may look like a drowned hamster in the water but she gets so excited when we let her come out on the water with us and it’s so fun to watch her swim back and forth from kayak to kayak. More of this all summer long, please! Currently eating… Chicken and chickpea salad on repeat I cannot stop making my chicken and chickpea salad. It checks all the boxes for me when it comes to warm-weather dining: It’s cold and refreshing, produce-packed and includes a decent amount of protein to help keep me satisfied. I made it twice this weekend and even shared a Reel of the recipe on Instagram if you’d like to check it out and see a video version of how to make the recipe! Currently packing for… Our annual summer trip to Florida Chase gets his braces off late Thursday afternoon and then we’re off to Florida for our annual summer trip! Our boys look forward to our extended time in Florida every summer and we’ll keep the tradition going as long as possible! We love the extra time with my parents and sister’s family and cannot wait for days filled with family, beach and pool time! Currently thinking through… Summer routines, expectations and quiet time (Kid chore charts: Etsy) Over the weekend, Ryan and I started chatting about summer break, expectations, routines and consistency. A huge thing I’ve learned throughout my motherhood journey is that built-in routines and expectations your kids know and understand make parenting a lot easier. If they know they’re supposed to help with the dishes every night, they’ll just do it whereas if you ask them to help with x, y, z every once in a while, you may face more resistance. We’re planning to have a “family meeting” with the boys when we come back from Florida to let them know our expectations for the summer and their responsibilities every day. (If you do something similar, I’d love to know what your kids are responsible for doing around your house every day! Our kids already have a few responsibilities but I know they’re capable of more.) Also, it’s been a long time since we’ve done quiet time in our house (mainly because the boys’ school pickup times and activities made it almost impossible during the school year) but I’d love to get back to it on the days when we’re home around lunchtime this summer. My vision: Each kid gets 30-45 minutes of alone time in separate spaces to do a quiet activity (reading, coloring, playing with toys, etc.) as a “reset” of sorts during the day. In the summer months, we’re together non-stop so I think some built-in separation for our boys where they can decompress alone in their rooms would be beneficial for everyone. Currently reading… The Throne of Glass series I’m deep into this Sarah J. Maas series with no end in sight. I haven’t shared book recaps in my recently Things I’m Loving Friday posts because I’m making my way through the 8-book Throne of Glass series and plan to share my thoughts once I’m finished but it’s another great fantasy series that has me completely captivated. Current cozy find… Lightweight, breezy pajamas (Pajamas: Amazon / Pillow slides: Amazon) These cozy pajamas are such a good find! I was looking for some summertime jammies that weren’t shorts but still felt light and breezy. This set on Amazon caught my eye and I took a chance and ordered it in the light blue color. I love the fit in person more than I do in the online image (the top is not nearly as cropped) and the subtle detailing at the bottom of the leg is so cute! I already ordered the set in black as well! Currently watching… Enola Holmes (on Netflix) It’s been months since Ryan and I have had a show or movie to watch together… other than Is It Cake? with our boys for family movie night. When he arrived home from a work trip recently telling me about a movie on Netflix his coworkers were loving, we figured we should give it a shot and watched Enola Holmes after the boys were in bed on Sunday night. The movie follows Enola, the teenage estranged sister of Sherlock Holmes, as she uses her detective skills to search for her missing mother. It was a quirky and creative movie and while I wouldn’t give it a 10/10, Ryan and I still both really enjoyed it! There’s apparently a sequel on Netflix as well so we’ll be watching that one next! Questions of the Day Pick a few “currently” prompts and join in!!  Currently celebrating… Currently eating…  Currently anticipating…  Currently watching… Currently wearing…  Currently reading… The post Currently: May 2024 appeared first on Peanut Butter Fingers.

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