Today I am linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea to share our Friday Favorites.
ONE
We started the week out with Sarah’s class holiday party. As the room mom I was in charge of putting together 4 activity stations for the kids. We had a cookie decorating, finger snowman, snowflake decorating and snowball toss. Getting to help out in Sarah’s classroom in my FAVORITE.
TWO
I met up with a friend at a new coffee shop this week and checked out the trending turmeric & ginger latte. It was so yummy! A new FAVORITE go to drink.
THREE
With all the holiday stuff in stores, I get overly surprised when I find something Jewish to add to my Chanukah stash. I found this gem at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It doesn’t really smell like anything but it’s nice to be included.
FOUR
I love sharing tidbits of my life on social media. Thank you Instagram for capturing my #topnine FAVORITES.
FIVE
Sarah and I “baked” treats for our friends this week. Baking together is our FAVORITE. Until of course she drops my food processor and breaks the attachment bowl. #tistheseason
I’m
linking up with Mel, Shay and Sheaffer for some random monthly fun.
What we’re eating this week…
I’m loving our Farm Fresh To You delivery! I take a protein out of the freezer during lunch and use whatever veggie is in our box. It’s been so fun trying new veggies out!
What I’m reminiscing about…
I chaired my first PTA event and it was a success! Thanks to my family for putting up with my shenanigans these past few months.
What I’m loving…
Due to Jacob’s preschool getting damaged in the Woolsey Fires, his school is renting out a space in a school in another city. Due to the long commute the teacher suggested he stay a bit longer. You guys!!! He’s been napping at school and is loving it. It’s so crazy to me. He’s never napped with others in the room and much less on a mat. I can’t believe it! I’m so proud of him!
What we’ve been up to…
Celebrating Chanukah!
My 37th Birthday!
PTA Holiday Party
My friend, Jen gave birth to Miss Blake.
Disney On Ice with the kiddos
Family outing to Snow Day LA & Snow Day at the Zoo.
What I’m dreading…
Nothing at the moment
What I’m working on…
Sending Holiday Cards to our family and friends. Somehow I got 2 lists confused and have gotten a few cards returned. Oy!
What I’m excited about…
My sisters are both pregnant and are due a few months apart! I can’t wait to meet my nephews!!
What I’m watching/reading…
My friend recently told me about the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and I am hooked! I saw 2 seasons in 10 days! Eeek! I love it! I love how she’s Jewish, witty, funny and quick.
What I’m listening to…
I’m still listening to my friend, Sarah’s podcast called LA Chicks. You should check it out.
What I’m wearing…
Last weekend we were invited to a family ugly sweater party. I’ve never been to this type of party so I was on the look out for a Chanukah themed sweater. Thanks to Target there were two options. I chose the Live Laugh Latke sweater. Such a fun night!
What I’m doing this weekend…
Sarah has a birthday party to attend, we are going to a holiday party, hubby and I are going on a day date to somewhere really cool (I promise to blog about it) and we are ending the weekend with our town parade.
What I’m looking forward to next month…
Checking out the snow! We always plan a trip to play in the snow. Can’t wait!
What else is new…
The kids start winter break this Friday! I can’t wait for lazy mornings, adventures and lot’s of time to bake.
Question of the month is: What is your favorite last minute gift idea? I’m a big Amazon fan! If it can come to my door in 2 days and I didn’t have to take my kids into a store where they will ask for a snack and then another one I’m golden. Check out my Amazon Gift Guide here.
Happy Wednesday!
Since this is our last What’s Up Wednesday post of the year I thought it would be fun to see previous posts below.
We are big Amazon fans in our house. From diapers delivered to my door to streaming movies on my TV, Amazon has it all. Here’s some of our current favorites.
Favorite Movies
We love getting together with the kiddos and watching a movie together. Thanks to some really great writing, animated movies now have both something for kids and adults to enjoy! Here is our current favorites.
Favorite Toys
We love our Amazon Alexa so much that Sarah is getting her own one for her room. We use it as a timer for when Sarah does her daily 20 minutes reading for school. We like to check the weather in the mornings and we also like to play the guessing game. Now there’s a kid version and I think Sarah is going to be thrilled!
At first I thought it was silly buying clothes off of Amazon, but with their easy return policy and great prices, I decided to check it out! I’m obsessed!!! Here are some of my favorites.
I’m linking up with Mel, Shay and Sheaffer for some random monthly fun.
What we’re eating this week…
My kids are big fans of pancakes, but sometimes due to time and busy mornings that’s just not possible. I’m a big fan of the brand Kodiak Cakes so when I was saw they had microwaveable pancakes cups, I was sold. Yum! This stuff is so good!
Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! A cup of hot coffee and some kind of egg dish is my perfect pair. A few years ago hubby made this breakfast for me and I’ve been hooked ever since. Some people call it egg in a basket, egg in a hole, or even one eyed jack. Whatever it’s called it’s my current fav!
What I’m reminiscing about…
Spending the weekend with love for our 10 year anniversary!
What I’m loving…
Target’s new feature Drive Up! Do you have it in your town? I love it! You order your items on your app. Then they send you a message 2 hours later (mine was only 1.5 hours later) that’s is ready to be picked up and tada, you drive up, click on I’m here on your app and THEY WALK OUT TO YOUR CAR AND HAND YOU YOUR BAG!!!! No more over spending, or taking a cranky toddler or a daughter that always wants to “look” at the Bullseye section! It’s been amazing! I highly recommend it.
What we’ve been up to…
The Woolsey fires hit really hard in our town! Jacob’s school is still not operable, A few of Sarah’s classmates and teachers lost their home. After 2.5 weeks Sarah returned to school where she received sweet messages from her teacher and principal.
What I’m dreading…
Nada!
What I’m working on…
Cleaning out my home! Yes, I always say this, but if I don’t toss/donate/sell things every few weeks my home gets cluttered and that drives me crazy!
What I’m excited about…
Seeing snow! We are planning our annual snow day trip to Lake Arrowhead. Here we are last year at Mt Frazier.
What I’m watching/reading…
I had a little cold last week so I took some time during the weekend to recharge. I grabbed Reese Witherspoon’s new book, some hot tea and box of tissues.
What I’m listening to…
My friend Sarah has the funniest Podcast called, LA Chicks. I’ve been listening to it while cooking dinner. So fun!
What I’m wearing…
Lot’s of GREEN! I wore the color green 3 different ways while on my anniversary trip.
What I’m doing this weekend…
Celebrating Chanukah! It starts on Sunday and I can’t wait!! I love seeing the holiday joy through my kids eyes. We also have a birthday party, my aunt Aline’s birthday, a synagogue event, taking the kids to the zoo and a friends Chanukah party to attend. Phew! It’s going to be a busy one.
What I’m looking forward to next month…
My birthday! I turn 37!! I’m so thankful to have my health, my family and loved ones in my life.
What else is new…
Someone recently asked me my what my hobbies were. I looked at them and totally blanked. Ummm other then nap time and bed time, I don’t have time to my self. Then I saw this and new I had to share it.
Question of the month is: What is your favorite Elf on the Shelf trick?
Well since we don’t celebrate Christmas or have an Elf on the Shelf I thought I’d share my favorite candle instead. I usually get my candles from Bath and Body Works, but after the super strong fall candles we got I decided to look for something that wasn’t so strong. I found this cinnamon and nutmeg candle at Homegoods the other day and just love it!
Well due to the Woolsey Fires in So Cal we didn’t get to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Thankfully after a few days, the fire were contained and we were able to return to our home.
Last weekend we celebrated our 10 anniversary with a little getaway in beautiful Ojai.
Day 1
Check out the view from our room! It was a gorgeous evening.
Ojai Valley Inn is know for their Pink Moment. Every night right before sunset the clouds reflect this beautiful pink color on the mountains. Therefore they call it a Pink Moment. And every night they change the clock to remind guests of this amazing view.
We settled in, unpacked our bags (yes, I unpack when I stay in hotels and no, it doesn’t matter how many days I’m staying) and walked around the hotel. We decided to stay in the beautiful Ojai Valley Inn. For one I’ve heard nothing but great things about this hotel and two I wanted something that had everything in one place. For example this hotel reminded me of a little town. There were 3 restaurants, a market, a spa, golf course, an events calendar, bikes and golf carts riding around and more. It was quiet, picturesque and had lovely amenities.
We cleaned up and made our way downstairs for dinner.
We picked The Oaks for dinner. I wish I had taken a picture of my plate, because my salmon and veggie succotash were AMAZING!!! Hubby also really enjoyed his steak and we both shared a side of sweet potato mash. The sweet waitress asked us if were here for a special occasion and when we said we here for our 10th she brought us champagne and dessert to celebrate.
This pecan pie with brown sugar ice cream might have been the yummiest dessert I’ve ever had! Mmm I’d go back just for that dessert.
After dinner we walked outside for bit until we reached the cutest setting. This massive tree was covered in even larger lanterns. There was hay bales for you to sit on while a man sang songs and played on his guitar.It was the perfect setting! Note to self, get some lanterns for the backyard in your next house.
We walked over to the fire pits, chatted with a family from Orange County and ended our night roasting some marshmallows.
Note to self: Don’t take a picture so close to the fire pit. It just makes you look orange.
Day 2
We woke up and headed over to the bike rental place. Our plan was to bike into town, grab breakfast, wine taste and ride back to our hotel. Our idea was great, but wine tasting and riding bikes was not my best idea.
Our first stop was at Ojai Cafe Emporium for brunch.
I had a Mediterranean quiche and a yummy bloody mary. Hubby had an omelette and we also shared cinnamon roll french toast. I wanted to taste it all! Everything was amazing!
After brunch we rode our bikes to a nearby winery, Tipple & Ramble.
I loved their shabby chic decor!
I was living my best vacation life with a cold glass of Pinot Grigio and swinging on that hammock.
We came to our room and crashed! Good news was I closed my exercise circle on my iWatch, bad news was it was time to go home. While we waited for our golf cart to pick us up and I spotted my favorite tree again!
Thank you Ojai for the wonderful memories! Until next time!
Big shout out to our friends, Nicole and Errin for watching our kids so we can do this! We are thankful to friends who are like family.
I’ve been hearing about a Jurassic Park type of experience with real life dinosaurs for quiet some time. So when I saw that it was coming to tour town, I looked up tickets and saved the date on our calendar. Then we were hit by the really scary and crazy Woolsey fire in Ventura. However, after being glued to the tv and sitting at home for a few days, we needed an outing. Thankfully this was the perfect adventure to get us out of our city.
We walked in and saw the life size dinosaurs right away! They were moving, making noise and they even felt like (well, what I imagine) a dinosaur would feel like. My kids were in awe!
Next we walked into one of the pavilions that felt like you were inside the movie, Jurassic Park.
It was so cool!!!
Do you remember these little guys from the movie? Well it turns out they weren’t supposed to be small. In fact they are really big!
Next up was a little “petting area”. Kids got to sit, touch and play around with the dinosaurs.
In the next pavilion we checked out the “Live” show. One of the dinosaurs came over to Jacob!
Next up we checked out some rides. The kids got to ride in jeeps just like they did in the movie. Sarah liked this ride so much, she went twice.
After a few rides we checked out the craft pavilion. There was fossils, puppet making, fossil impressions, excavation and more.
What a fun day with the family!
If you are looking for a fun family event, I highly suggest the Jurassic Quest experience. To find one in your town, click here.
Every year Sarah invites a handful of friends over for a Halloween Costume Playdate. This year she invited a few classmates from school.
We made an invite and created a menu.
Unfortunately I was in party mode and only remembered to take a few pictures of the party food.
We decided to split Sarah’s friend and their siblings into two tables. That way Sarah can host her friends and Jacob can host the siblings. I love place cards, but with such a casual setting it was necessary so Sarah wrote everyone’s name on their goody bag and we used that to mark their spot.
We also made mummy juice boxes with silly faces.
Since it was lunch time the kids got to make individual mummy pizzas. I set out English muffins, sauce, olives and string cheese.
After lunch we made edible spiders (pretzels and giant marshmallows).
Next we decorated pumpkin shaped cookies.
We took a little food break and went outside to play. The moms even got in on the action!
The kids also played pin the nose on the witch.
We ended the afternoon with a little nail salon station so Sarah could paint her friends nails.
Thank you to our sweet friends for the fun afternoon!
