What's Up Wednesday-February 2016

Hi everyone! Today is my first ever link up to What's Up Wednesday with the lovely Mel, Shaeffer and Shay. I have read tons of these What's Up Wednesdays and I am so happy to finally participate!!

What we're eating this week:

Ummm....you mean every day? LOL! I desperately need to go grocery shopping. I have some chicken to make in a wine sauce tonight but after that, it will be take-out if I don't go to the store!

What I'm reminiscing about...

Happy nights with my special guy. We haven't had a proper date night in a while and we really need one. Maybe a weekend away.....

What I'm loving...

Working at home and growing my blog! It's been great so far and I really feel like I have found my calling. Next step: making the big switch from Blogger to Wordpress. I'm also trying to decide if I should rebrand.  Lots of  amazingness coming your way!

What we've been up to....

Let's see there's a lot to talk about. We need to move AGAIN!  I hate moving. We need to buy a place and soon. There's also lots of audition prep. Amberly has an art program audition coming up that been years in the making. Also, our state FSA tests are coming up at the end of March so we are busy preparing for those. I'm super nervous as Adrian hates studying and passing third grade depends on this stupid test. 

Time for our weekly study session. Gotta get prepped for the FSA tests in March! #study #Starbucks #FSAtest #FSAprep

A photo posted by Ida Arias (@secondchancesgirl) on Feb 23, 2016 at 1:17pm PST

What I'm dreading...

Read above.....I hate standardized testing in elementary schools!

What I'm working on....

Lots of recipes and tutorials. I also want to share a Welcome Spring/Easter breakfast that I've been working on. 

What I'm watching/reading....

I am currently obsessed with The People vs. O.J. Simpson on FX. Please tell me you are watching it!!!  It's so incredible and even though you know what happens at the end, it's so interesting to see what happened during the trial! Such an outrageous show!

What I'm listening to....

My House by Flo Rida

We love Flo Rida, not only because he is from Miami but because his songs are fun (you know, the clean versions). I blast this song in the car and Adrian thinks we are so cool!

What I'm wearing....

I know it isn't technically spring yet but here in South Florida, I think our "cold" weather is officially gone so I am wearing these incredibly cute and comfortable Skechers boat shoes!

I have a feeling these will be my staples for the next couple of months!

What I'm doing this weekend...

Saturday morning will be dedicated to magnet program auditions for Amberly and Gian. Then, some studying for the tests and homework. On Sunday, we will be having park day! My kids love park days. We pack a cooler of goodies, get to the park around 10am and stay until about 4pm. We have fun playing together, separately and with others at the park!

What I'm looking forward to next month....

A blog trip in early March and then Spring Break and Easter!!! Since my kids are older, we usually co-host an Easter pool party with friends! Gotta love Miami!

This was such a fun post and I think a new favorite for the last Wednesday of the month! See you next month!

Real Life: What's In Your Purse?

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BeHealthyForEveryPartofLife #CollectiveBias

It's time to get real! I have always loved "What's In Your Purse" posts and today I am going to be brave enough to post so the whole world can see!! In keeping it real, I will mention that I try to be organized and clean out my purse but it rarely happens and I did not post the mountain of receipts that were inside my purse. Nobody needs to see that. As a mom of three, there are certain essentials I always keep on me but as you can see, there is all sorts of crazy in my purse too!!

I have tried to have a small cute crossbody purse but with all these people constantly needing me to "hold something", I will always carry a big purse. Notice how no one in this picture has a bag. They do it on purpose, I'm convinced of it. It's just easier if I carry everything they might one day need again! UGH!

Now let's examine the contents of my purse closely.....

1. a Map: Why on earth is there an actual map in my purse? Well, JC decided we needed it to plan our end of the year trip. He is planning to use a highlighter and everything. It's been in my purse for two weeks now and no one has looked at it.

2. Sunglasses case. Sunglasses are a necessity here in South Florida!

3. Centrum VitaMints. I have always been terrible at taking vitamins but I need to take them to stay healthy so I realized that if I carry them in my purse, I remember to take them. These new centrum VitaMints are adult multivitamins with a refreshingly minty taste you can take/enjoy any time of day with or without food and water!

4. ChapStick Total Hydration. I can't remember a time in my life where I haven't carried Chapstick on me.  I love the new ChapStick Total Coconut Hydration. It has an advanced nourishing formula with argan oil and avocado butter and rosehip oils to instantly smooth and moisturize your lips. 

5. Wallet. Total purse essential right. I love the bright yellow color of this wallet, so easy to find in a ginormous purse!!

6.Lipstick and Lipliner. You never know when you need to look presentable. 

7. Lip Gloss. If you notice, this is it on any sort of makeup in this purse. I am not big on makeup but I know I sometimes need a little color on my lips and this one works!

8. Advil. This is my most important purse essential! I can use Advil tablets for headaches, minor arthritis and other joint pain, muscle aches and pains of the common cold. I always have a bottle of Advil in my purse!

9. Hand sanitizer. I feel like there isn't really an explanation needed for this. I don't know a mom who doesn't have hand sanitizer in her purse.

10. Glasses repair kit. Not sure if you noticed on IG recently but as of last week, three of the kids wear glasses. This repair kit has already saved the day and my bank account twice!!

11. Note books. These are my lifeline. One is for blog posts lists and ideas and the other is for writing down everything the kids tell me from school events, projects, favorite shows and toy lists!

I know this seems like a lot but like I mentioned before, I cleaned out my purse recently. I  kept only the essentials. I need to stay healthy to keep up with my family!

My purse essentials, Advil, Chapstick Total Hydration and Centrum VitaMints are all available at Walmart!

Now, I was a brave soul to show you what's in my purse and now it's your turn. Show me what's in yours!! 

So Much Fun and So Much Laundry

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by OxiClean™ through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about OxiClean™ Laundry, all opinions are my own

Yay for summer!!! My kids have been having a great time at day camp but I really wanted to spend some extra time with them so I took a week off of work to be with them. Of course, the last thing we did was stay home and relax. We were busy, busy, busy! We had friends over, went bowling, went to the movies and even took a trip to Disney World! Now while this all sounds super fun, I only had one problem with it all, by Sunday night, there was so much laundry to do! Some of the clothes weren’t too bad, but some of them had major stains. Why? Well I have very active, messy, creative kids who decided to do new things during my vacation like buy hair chalk and have colored hair:

Yes the hair color was fun but 3 days worth of chalk-stained clothes were not! Or how about soccer games in the summer? Not only was it super hot, it would rain and then there were mud and grass stains everywhere!

Let's not forget vacation clothing. EVERYTHING gets dirty and sweaty on vacation. We came back with lots of fun memories and two laundry bags packed to the top with dirty clothes!

Getting stains out of clothes isn't easy and honestly, I do not have time to hand wash clothes so I'm glad I found OxiClean™ Laundry detergent. Yes, you read that correctly, OxiClean™ now has a laundry detergent (I may or may not have jumped for joy when I found out!)  This detergent is powered by OxiClean™ stain-fighters.  This formula penetrates fabrics deep within to remove tough stains. I just threw all my clothes in the machine, add OxiClean™ Laundry detergent and walked away! My clothes came out clean, bright and with a yummy fresh scent! Food stains and dingy clothes are a thing of the past for our family!

Please follow manufacturer directions for your garments. For best results, pretreat stains with laundry detergent, wait 5-10 minutes and then wash.

I wish I could have taken two weeks off of work, maybe next summer!! Tell me, what fun stuff have you done this summer?

Life Lately

Life lately continues to be on the crazy side! I hit a bit of writer's block with my blog but am excited to be back and blogging!I have alot of fun stuff and crazy family life coming your way!

Lately, our life has been everywhere. We had spring break, birthday parties for our friend's babies, family photo shoot, beach days. It's been fantastic!

Lately, the boys have been waking up super early and making tons of noise.  Of course, this wakes up everyone in the house and it's a less than delightful situation. My solution: take them to the beach! So by 8:30 a.m., we are parked and unloading our stuff at the beach!

Our Disney Cruise is only 30 days away!! I still need to buy swimsuits for everyone (which will probably be part of the Easter baskets on Sunday) and some cute flip-flops for me! JC wants a panama jack type hat but I don't think it's a very good look on him!

We recently went to Portrait Innovations and did the whole family-photo-at-a-studio thing. Here's a sneak peek at our family shot:

And then of course, my favorite. This is actual life people. These boys drive her insane!!

Adrian, Ivanna and I went to the zoo on Saturday. It was so cold. I think it's the first time I have ever had to wear a sweater at Zoo Miami. The animals were loving it though. They were out and about!

Adrian is learning how to use my camera. He loves getting to use it. I think I have a future photographer/blogger on my hands!

On Sunday, my friend's baby girl turned one and they had a ladybug birthday p arty for her. It was adorable and I still can't believe she is already one!

Here's the birthday girl!

We have more baby birthday parties coming up, school carnival, Ivanna's communion, Ismaily's birthday and more family fun. I'm not sure how much more I can actually pack into the month of April!

Life Lately: Crazy Saturday Weekend Edition!

Life is CRAZY busy around here lately. The kids have lots going on with school and getting ready for testing. JC has several Crossfit competitions during March and April and I am busy with blogging. It's insane but I am enjoying every minute of it!

Friday evening we picked up Gian and Amberly and got a cute surprise. Gian lost his two front teeth! I love toothless smiles on little kids!

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning (6:30am) to get to soccer, a Crossfit competition, art class and Cinderella's Royal Ball at the Disney Store! First, we dropped off JC at the gym where he was competing at Battle of the Machines IV. Pulls on the beard for good luck!

We waited around until JC was done with registration and rules.

I attempted a group shot but I guess it was too early. Look at Amberly's "over it" face!

Then we had breakfast at Dunkin Donut's and if you follow me on IG you saw that the kids had an intense Q & A with some police officers who were in the booth behind us.

Intense morning Q & A session with some police officers! "Do you arrest kids?" No! "Why do you eat donuts?" #kids #socurious

A photo posted by Ida Arias (@scggirl) on Mar 7, 2015 at 5:27am PST

Then it was off to soccer! Adrian was a little off his game but did manage to score a goal. He has a new love for soccer and will be attending an intense soccer camp during Spring Break!

After soccer we rushed over to art class and then made a mad dash to the Disney Store where Amberly wanted to attend the Royal Ball. We made it to the last session at 12:30 p.m.  Amberly went dressed as her favorite princess, Rapunzel!

This was a super cute event where the kids, most dressed as Cinderella, got an extended peek at the new Cinderella movie, learned about kindness to others and even learned to waltz!

After the ball and buying MORE Tsum Tsum's ( I need to write about my kids obsession with those) we were on our way back to the gym where we luckily caught JC in the last WOD (workout of the day)! Sorry for the blurry pics, he was racing through this WOD!

Buy in: 50 Box Jumps

AMRAP:

5 deadlifts

30 yd farmer's carry

5 Power Snatches

This was his 4th WOD so he was beat! I'm glad we caught him in action though. The kids love to cheer him on during competitions! After that WOD, we waited around for the closing ceremonies and I'm thrilled to announe  that my honey got 3rd place in the Men's Terminator category!!! 

This is the first competition where he podiums so it was a HUGE deal! We went to dinner to celebrate where everyone was so exhausted that we left half our food on our plates, went back home and passed out! EXTREMELY eventful Saturday!

Sunday was science project day! Amberly and Gian both worked on and thankfully, finished their science projects and then it was time to relax and play video games!

If you notice, we have yet to finish organizing after the move. If we continue with weekends like this, organizing might never happen!

Life Lately: L.A. Edition

Hello all! I'm back after a few days in L.A. Yup! You read that correctly, I was in L.A.!! I can't talk much about what I was actually there for (super-secret blogging stuff) but I did want to share some of it!!

First off.....there are actual mountains in L.A. This was my view while driving and I couldn't get over it! We have very low ground here in Florida, no hills or mountains or anything. If we didn't have tall buildings, you could probably see from one side of the state to the other!!

First thing I did when I left the airport was go to In & Out Burger!! I had always seen this burger mentioned everywhere and how you must make a stop if you ever go to L.A. and I did and it was FANTASTIC!! 

Other than my secret mission I went to L.A. for, I didn't really do much else. I was only there two days (Monday & Tuesday), the trip is so long and I was super excited. Also, I went by myself so I was a little scared to venture out!! I hung out in my hotel Monday afternoon and then went to meetings on Tuesday and then home. I got back here to Miami at 5am on Wednesday morning and went straight to work! I will tell you I really appreciated traveling by myself and being without family for 2 days. It really lets you miss them and realize how you really can't live without them!!

Oh and this is how most of my trip went..blogging at the airport!! Honestly, I loved every minute of it. Hopefully, one day I will become a full-time blogger!

When I got home, I saw that my #Disneyside package had arrived. I'm super excited to host a Villans-themed party in the next couple of weeks. Time to start planning!

It wouldn't be a life lately post without a kid update so here we go:

Adrian is terrorizing his teacher at school. He talks all the time, forgets his homework packet, it's insane. This is all newish to me so we are taking it day by day. Next year he will be in third grade and that is an extremely difficult grade so we are working on responsibility and good manners, of course!

Gian is doing well. He is working on focusing and not screaming everyday and we are all learning how to work thorough the ADHD diagnosis together and patiently. Definitely a new level to parenting. 

Amberly turning 9 has been fantastic. She is becoming way more independent and confident. She is all into her Nerf Rebelle and scooter right now. I can't even imagine how she would be if she saw Hunger Games.  This is how you will find her lately!

That's life lately around here, a little bit of everything! The next couple of days will be all about packing and moving so get ready for all the updates on Instagram!!

Tell me: What's going on with your families?