Peanut Butter Fingers - Living a Life Fueled by Healthy Food and Fitness

Things I’m Loving Friday #595

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:50:51 +0200

Hi friends! Friday is here but this one feels a little different as we’re saying goodbye to my parents and my sister and her family — a big ol’ gang we’ve been loving having under our roof over the past week. I’ve fully unplugged which felt wonderful and while I feel immensely behind on life right now, it was so fantastic to have so many people we love so much under one roof. We also got to celebrate two birthdays together — my nephew James’ first birthday and Ryder’s 8th — which felt like such a treat! We filled our time together with pool days, park playtime, lots of kid crafts and games, kayaking and more. Can we run this week back and do it again, please!?

Now let’s get to the reason you’re likely popping by the blog today: Things I’m Loving Friday! Keep on scrolling to check out this week’s roundup of favorites!

Things I’m Loving

Birthday Fun Activity Banner

Talk about a mega-hit with the birthday boy!! For Ryder’s 8th birthday, I made a simple birthday activity banner on our white butcher paper and he was so, so into it! I’m not going to say it will be a tradition until we do it again but I could easily see this becoming something we do for the boys every year because Chase and Rhett thought it was really cool as well and really wanted to be involved (hence Rhett’s dot challenge which was fully his idea)! I remembered seeing someone share something similar on Instagram yearsss ago as a Thanksgiving entertainment idea for kids (I want to say it was @dayswithgrey?) but I thought it would be super fun to make a birthday kid version. I highly recommend this easy but fun idea for any kid birthdays you might have coming up — I want to make them for the boys’ friends, too!!

Row Your Goat Card Game

Talk about an instant slam-dunk card game! Our boys really enjoy most games but card games in particular are a sweet spot for us right now. I ordered Row Your Goat for Ryder for his birthday yesterday and when I tell you we’ve played at least 10 rounds since then, I mean it. It’s easy to learn (we watched this 2-minute YouTube video) and simple enough that even Rhett at almost 6 years old figured it out fairly quickly. It’s fast-moving and super fun, even as an adult! A new favorite for our family card game collection!

Cotton Candy Machine

My mom surprised the boys with this cotton candy machine during their visit and all of the kids and cousins flipped for it! It was easy to operate and made fluffy, flavorful cotton candy! She brought a few packs of different flavored dye-free sugars and I have a feeling this little machine will be one we break out for a little treat that feels extra special!

Mae’s Giant Bubbles

Hey friends! How are you doing? We’re doing well over here! We arrived home from the Azores late Sunday night (recap coming soon!) so it felt like the first half of our week was spent unpacking, adjusting to jetlag and finding our summertime groove. We don’t have many camps booked for the boys this year — just one week at the end of the month — so blogging might be a little sporadic as I navigate being home with the boys and blog/work stuff. I’m sure you’re probably used to that by now, though! Ha!

We’ll also be welcoming our fair share of visitors into our home this summer and we’re thrilled to be kicking off our summer guest visits with my parents and my sister and her family. We’ll have a house packed with 13 people for a week of summer fun and we’re ready for it!! My parents arrive today and my sister and her gang will be here on Sunday. My Aunt Laurie is also joining us on Monday for a short visit as well! Woop!

But for today I’m back in action with my weekly round of favorites. Keep on scrolling if you’d like to check them out!

Things I’m Loving

Goggle Case

The second we get to the pool, something switches in the boys and they’re in desperate need of their goggles so they can fly off into the water and swim their hearts out. I’ve been keeping their goggles in one of the waterproof wet bags I’ve had for years but for a while but if I forget to dry them out every once in a while, they can make the bag smell a little musty. Enter this new genius solution: The goggle case with draining holes and a handy little carabiner clip so you can hook them onto the handle of your pool bag and always be able to find them. It’s been a helpful little find for our family this summer — so much so that even Ryder commented on how it was so much nicer than rummaging through the abyss of Mom’s pool bag for his goggles. All three of our boys’ goggles can fit into one large case!

Oh and if you need decent kid goggles, we’ve LOVED these anti-fog Speedo kid goggles for a few years now. They’ve held up well and the adjustable strap on the back is a gamechanger if you’ve found yourself wanting to throw your kid’s goggles across the pool after trying to adjust those dang behind-the-ear straps.

Summer Responsibilities Tracker + Point System

Last year, we implemented a summer responsibility system that worked really well for our family. We liked it so much that we’re doing something very similar again this year. Earlier this week, we worked with the boys to brainstorm daily and weekly responsibilities. (Daily tasks look like washing dishes while weekly tasks might look more like picking a space in our home to organize.) Each day, if all of their tasks are complete, they earn one point. Once the boys have 42 points (2 weeks of points if they each get a point every day), they get to pick a fun activity from the list of activities we came up with together for us to do! It’s worked well because it’s collaborative and I think this also helps them all stay accountable. If they don’t complete their tasks for the day, they don’t get a point but if last summer is any indication, they don’t miss too many days. Here’s hoping it works well again this year!

Travel Curling Iron/Straightener

How have I never ordered one of these before!? This little tool is the perfect travel companion and was helpful for me during our most recent trip to Portugal and the Azores. It’s more compact than a traditional curling iron and can be used as a straightener, curling iron or wand for hair styling. It’s also dual voltage, making it usable outside of the US; I just toggled the switch to EU and plugged it into an adapter. It heated up quickly and worked well and was a great alternative to packing both a curling iron and a straightener every time I travel.

Everyday Dose Protein Coffee

This protein coffee majorly impressed me! I got it a while back to us...

An Unexpected 2 Days in Lisbon, Portugal

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 15:16:53 +0200

I’ll tell you how I didn’t expect to begin a recap of our family vacation to São Miguel in the Azores: With a two-day recap of our very unexpected time in Lisbon, Portugal. But that’s where this trip begins (in a very roundabout way) so that’s where we’re starting!

An Unexpected 2 Days in Lisbon, Portugal

How did we end up in Lisbon? Well, our travels to the Azores began as expected. We took a flight from Charlotte to Newark and boarded our plane to Ponta Delgada at 11 p.m. It was a five-hour flight set to arrive on São Miguel in the Azores around 8 a.m. (4 a.m. our time.)

At the time, I thought our biggest travel headache would be jetlag after an overnight flight that wasn’t too long but man oh man I would’ve taken that challenge a million times over versus the hand of cards we were delt. About 30 minutes before we were set to land in Ponta Delgada, our pilot alerted us that we were being diverted to Santa Maria, a nearby island, due to fog. Once there, we ended up sitting on the runway for three hours before our plane took off again… but this time, we were diverted 2 ½ hours to Porto, Portugal.

While this wasn’t ideal by any means, we respected the decision to prioritize safety. What followed, however, was really, really frustrating as everyone on our flight was given a little business card by the airline and told to call a helpline when we deplaned for alternate arrangements because our current flight crew was timed out. The phone number connected us to the typical airline helpline and all passengers aboard our flight knew much more than the people we were speaking to on the phone about what was actually going on. (They were trying to put us on flights we already knew were canceled, etc.)

To make a very long story short, Ryan finally spoke with one helpful man on the phone for nearly two hours who booked us on a flight for four days later, on the exact day that coincided with a planned airline worker strike in Portugal. We were feeling so, so defeated. There were simply no alternate flights with availability for 5 (or even small groups of us if we separated like we did during our whirlwind travel to Alaska).

We spent four hours in the airport trying to figure out if travel to the Azores was possible that day or even the next but ultimately realized neither was going to happen. We then began scrambling and trying to come up with a plan that sounded decent. Portugal is an incredible country and we figured we should take advantage of being stranded somewhere that’s pretty awesome. We took two trains from Porto to Lisbon with the understanding that flights to the Azores from Lisbon are more plentiful and Lisbon, from our very quick research, seemed family friendly and fun to explore.

The boys napped when and where they could with their best stretch of sleep happening on the 2.5 hour high-speed train.

And then something incredible happened when we were about 30 minutes from Lisbon. Ryan’s non-stop research for flights found a new flight to São Miguel added by a local airline and it was a flight for Monday night out of Lisbon. Our new plan: Spend two days enjoying the heck out of Lisbon and then catch a late flight to the Azores on Monday.

We arrived in Lisbon feeling exhausted but a million times better because at least now we had a plan and a flight to the Azores on the books. I also cannot tell you how incredibly helpful I found those of you who reached out to me with Lisbon recommendations on Instagram and basically planned our 2 days in Lisbon for us via your messages. We booked the hotel recommended by many of you – the Martinhal Chiado – which was a perfect place for a family to stay.

The location was located on a quiet side street and extremely walkable to restaurants, shops and sights. The hotel itself had spacious rooms (with bunk beds!) and truly catered to families with little surprises for the boys upon our (very late) arrival, a kids club with all-day availability (we only used this for an hour the day we were leaving so the boys could play while we packed but thought it was such a cool option), free strollers you could borrow (we didn’t need one but it’s a perk worth mentioning) and a happy, welcoming atmosphere.

We would 100% recommend this spot for families traveling to Lisbon!

After checking in, we were starving and made a very late walk to Time Out Market which was thankfully open until midnight. This spot was a fantastic find as it had many, many options in one place with high-quality, absolutely delicious food. It also allowed everyone in our family to get exactly what we wanted since there was a huge variety.

time out market lisbon | Unexpected 2 Days in Lisbon Have you guys heard of a “Yes Day” for kids? It’s a day where parents/grownups agree to say “yes” to any kid requests (within reason, of course). Our kids naturally thought this concept was the coolest — our oldest requested a Yes Day a while back after a friend came to school raving about his — and we did our very first Yes Day this past Saturday.

We don’t do graduation gifts or anything like that for our kids but when our youngest graduated from preschool it felt like a big milestone not only for Rhett but for our whole family. The preschool days are behind us (cue a million different emotions!) and we wanted to celebrate with something unique and extra special. A big family Yes Day fit the bill!

How to Plan a Yes Day

When we pitched a Yes Day to the boys they were all about it! The whole concept of a Yes Day when Mom and Dad would say “yes” to their favorite treats, extra special kid activities, fast food, video games, etc. blew their minds!

When we first had the idea to do a Yes Day, I asked you guys to weigh in and share your experiences with planning a Yes Day for your kids. I took your advice and morphed bits and pieces into planning a day that would work well for our family. We spent the evening before our Yes Day talking the day through with our boys and brainstorming ideas in a number of categories. Our Yes Day categories looked like this:

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Dessert
Home Activities
Paid Activities
Free Activities
Mom and Dad Surprises (Ryan and I didn’t tell them about this category but had a few ideas we talked about ahead of time that we included in our Yes Day plan as pop-up surprises for the boys.)

Brainstorming ideas ahead of time worked really well for our family because we were able to come up with a Yes Day itinerary everyone agreed on that made sense logistically. It also served to get everyone super psyched before the day! Additionally, the boys’ requests in two of the categories (breakfast and dessert) required a grocery store run and since we didn’t want to spend any time on our Yes Day at the grocery store, we made a trip to Publix the night before so the boys could pick out a few of their Yes Day treats. They LOVED this and thought filling our grocery cart with food we usually say “no” to was really fun!

Yes Day Rules

We had a few rules and parameters for our Yes Day that Ryan and I explained to the boys before we started brainstorming our plans. A few more rules also popped up during Yes Day planning as they began thinking of ideas and making requests. (You may be able to guess which Yes Day rules were added because of our kids’ requests. Ha!)

Our Yes Day rules:

No double dipping: Once you’ve requested one thing and we’ve done it, you cannot ask for it again.
No requesting pets, money or additional Yes Days (Yep, this one was added because of the boys.)
Two paid activities: We were willing to say “yes” to two fun kid activities that required us to buy tickets or pay for our family to participate. We also clarified that if the boys picked one really big paid activity (like going to Carowinds, our local amusement park), that would negate another paid activity.
Unlimited free activities: Think flashlight frog hunts, blanket fort building, fishing, board games, bon-fires, cookie baking, etc.
Activities must be within a 60-minute drive of our home
Mom and Dad get ultimate veto power
Kids must work together to agree on Yes Day choices

Of course rules like “no requesting anything dangerous or destructive” are also a good idea but our kids didn’t push the boundaries on this so we didn’t feel the need to discuss it ahead of time.

Our Yes Day from Start to Finish

And now for our Yes Day!!! Our Yes Day began just after 6 a.m. when our two oldest boys were awake and acting like it was Christmas morning!

If you want to quickly flip through our Yes Day on Instagram, I saved everything I shared to a highlight you may find here: Yes Day!

Yes Day Breakfast

Chase and Ryder were buzzing with excitement and channeled their energy into helping me make the special cinnamon rolls we made on Christmas morning for breakfast (one of their requests!) while we waited for Rhett to wake up.

Just like we did on Christmas, we poured heavy cream over a can of cinnamon rolls before baking. This time we also sprinkled a little brown sugar and a few pats of butter on top of the rolls before baking as well and the end result was next-level delicious. We baked them for about 7 minutes longer than the canned directions and then added the icing on top. SO GOOD!!! We’ll 1,000% make them this way again!

The boys also dug into a “fun cereal” aka Lucky Charms for breakfast once Rhett was up while we waited for the cinnamon rolls to bake.

The kids’ first “Yes Day” request came in the middle of breakfast when they asked if they could play Ninja Turtles, aka the ’90s Super Nintendo video game Ryan’s mom was smart enough to save from his childhood.

Video games at 7:15 a.m.!? YES!!!

Yes Day Activity One

Our first out-of-the-house Yes Day activity took us about 45 minutes from home to a place called Activate. The boys were dying to try out this place after Ryan showed them videos of it a while back. It’s essent...

Things I’m Loving Friday #593

Fri, 22 May 2026 14:59:38 +0200

Aaand just like that, our family’s chapter on the preschool days has come to a close. I need to take a minute to type out the swirling mess of emotions I’m experiencing relating to Rhett’s preschool graduation and our family’s conclusion of the preschool days but it’s a LOT and it’s one of those moments of finality that popped up in motherhood way faster than I imagined. It had me feeling like a bit of a mess yesterday if I’m being honest but we are so proud of Rhett and so grateful to have had the very, very best preschool experience at a preschool we absolutely adored for 9 years. How are we here already!?!?

While Rhett is officially done with school, our big kids have school through next Friday. We’re planning to celebrate Rhett’s big milestone (and the end of the school year with our boys this weekend in the form of a family “Yes Day.” Thankfully a bunch of you weighed in with you advice on how to format this kind of a fun day for the boys on Instagram and they are beyond psyched! I’m sure I’ll share more on the blog next week but for now let’s dive into this week’s roundup of favorites.

I hope my American readers out there enjoy the long weekend and join me in taking time to remember why we have this extended time off. We are acutely aware in our house that we have the life and freedoms we do because of the heroic men and women who gave their lives for our country. We are so grateful.

Things I’m Loving Friday

Fishwife Tinned Fish

Alert for my fellow seafood lovers: Fishwife tinned fish is on another level. The company sent me a couple of their tins to sample and earlier this week, I popped a can of the smoked salmon to use on top of my lunchtime salad. Well, I didn’t end up using it on top of a salad because it was so dang good, I ate it right out of the tin. I mean do you see that salmon filet!?! It was flaky and buttery and not at all try. To say I was blown away by the quality of their fish is an understatement. I flew to their website to order more and saw that their Memorial Day weekend sale is going on right now — and apparently it’s one of only two sales they run every year (Black Friday is the other) — get 20% off with code SUMMER20. I stocked up and am thrilled to have an easy high-protein option on hand that isn’t just another protein bar.

Swim Skirt

(Swim Top: Albion Fit / Swim Skirt: Albion Fit — code MDWJULIE saves 15%)

I know swimsuit bottoms are getting cheekier by the day but can I interest you in a swim skirt? Ha!! I got my first swim skirt in preparation for our first Disney cruise because I wanted something I could wear from the pool or beach to the buffets without feeling the need for a cover up. I loved it so much that I ordered another one (my code MDWJULIE saves 15% site wide!) and it’s been such a great find for me. As someone with a booty, I am often self conscious of my butt in bathing suits, mainly because my butt cheeks tend to eat swimsuit bottoms and I hate feeling like I have to pull and tug on them to get decent coverage. I also am quite active in a swimsuit (the life of a mom with 3 boys), so a swim skirt has been such a great option for me when I’m running around with the boys. I wore it to Rhett’s preschool graduation pool party and swear half the moms in his class asked me to text them a link to it. Anything that makes me feel more comfortable and confident in a swim suit is something I’m going to fully embrace!

40-Ounce Era Flip BruMate

I got this 40-ounce Era Flip BruMate for my birthday because Ryan saw how much I loved and used my 35-ounce Resa BruMate. This version was an instant hit for me because it fits in the cupholder of my car, has a handle, keeps my electrolyte water cold, and — and this is new! — it was a cover you can slide in place to protect the straw. I also adore the happy little pattern and think it feels so joyful and summery!

Multi-Level Resistance Bands

Bless Ryan for adding these resistance bands to our home gym! He had one set up on his squat rack the other day and when I went over to investigate, I noticed the band was labeled with a weight. I then realized it was part of a set where you can swap out the handles on bands that offer various resistances which I thought was a genius concept. Since I do a lot of my workouts at home these days and rely on resistance bands for a handful of exercises in the Move Together workout challenge I’m doing, these bands ended up being one of those great little discoveries I never knew I needed. They’ve been especially helpful for back exercises, core work and triceps press-downs. Thanks, Ryan!!

Memorial Day Weekend Sales

Sharing a roundup of the weekend sales that popped out at me below!

A Fishing Derby, An Art Market and the Levine JCC Kids Triathlon

Mon, 18 May 2026 16:46:03 +0200

Things I’m Loving Friday #592

Fri, 15 May 2026 12:44:11 +0200

Mother’s Day Weekend 2026

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:16:18 +0200

Things I’m Loving Friday #591

Fri, 08 May 2026 13:47:28 +0200

No-Bake Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Wed, 06 May 2026 11:00:14 +0200

A Sporty Weekend

Mon, 04 May 2026 13:08:14 +0200

Things I’m Loving Friday #590

Fri, 01 May 2026 14:05:48 +0200

Not Too Scary Movies for Kids

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:00:36 +0200

41

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:39:42 +0200

Things I’m Loving Friday #589

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:10:44 +0200

Our First Disney Cruise (Disney Fantasy 5 Night Cruise)

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:48:07 +0200

Things I’m Loving Friday #588

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:37:57 +0200

Sarasota Easter Weekend

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:19:46 +0200

Sarasota Easter Weekend

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:19:46 +0200

Sports, Egg Hunts and Birthday Parties… Oh My!

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:52:02 +0200

Peanut Butter Fingers - Living a Life Fueled by Healthy Food and Fitness

Things I’m Loving Friday #595

Things I’m Loving

Birthday Fun Activity Banner

Row Your Goat Card Game

Mae’s Giant Bubbles

Things I’m Loving

Summer Responsibilities Tracker + Point System

An Unexpected 2 Days in Lisbon, Portugal

An Unexpected 2 Days in Lisbon, Portugal

How to Plan a Yes Day

Yes Day Rules

Our Yes Day rules:

Our Yes Day from Start to Finish

Yes Day Breakfast

Yes Day Activity One

Things I’m Loving Friday #593

Things I’m Loving Friday

Memorial Day Weekend Sales

A Fishing Derby, An Art Market and the Levine JCC Kids Triathlon

Things I’m Loving Friday #592

Mother’s Day Weekend 2026

Things I’m Loving Friday #591

No-Bake Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

A Sporty Weekend

Things I’m Loving Friday #590

Not Too Scary Movies for Kids

41

Things I’m Loving Friday #589

Our First Disney Cruise (Disney Fantasy 5 Night Cruise)

Things I’m Loving Friday #588

Sarasota Easter Weekend

Sarasota Easter Weekend

Sports, Egg Hunts and Birthday Parties… Oh My!