Escape artist

Couple sitting by bonfire

Weekend Fun at The Zottola House

Happy Monday! How was your weekend?

Husky laying with child

Jimmy and I were able to sneak in a date night on Friday while my mother-in-law watched Sadie. It was so nice to spend some alone time with Jimmy! We went to a local pool and spa store to look at hot tubs. We’ve been wanting one ever since we stayed at my parents’ beach house last month and went in their hot tub daily.

Time will tell if we actually get one because we are going to be spending a good chunk of money here soon on a fence extension to keep our Houdini dog from escaping, lol.

On Saturday, Jimmy went to a work day at our church and Sadie and I did some cleaning and organizing around the house. She’s been getting into our snack drawer lately and running around with crackers while Niva chases her and it’s just a constant mess. I put all the snacks up high and hopefully it saves me from cleaning cracker crumbs 24/7 😉

I also filmed a vlog on Saturday because I realized I’ve rarely documented a Saturday at the Zottola household. In the evening, we had a bonfire!

Family sitting around bonfire

Couple sitting by bonfire

Remember how I said I was really excited to decorate for Christmas? Well, I made a pom pom garland. I had some twine laying around the house and I used a hot glue gun to glue pom poms I bought at Dollar Tree to the twine.

Simple and easy! I promise I won’t hang it up until November 🙂

White pom pom garland with twine for Christmas DIY

Well, I better get going and start my Monday. I hear Sadie stirring in her crib as I type up this post.

I’ll leave you with a funny occurrence that happened yesterday while we were at church…

There’s a family on our street that has a siberian husky that looks just like Niva. The dog escaped and was running around the neighborhood and a woman a few doors down from us thought she was Niva so she was throwing bologna into our yard to lure her in and even got her into our fence. Our next-door neighbor had to break the news to her her that the dog wasn’t Niva, lol. We have been blessed with some amazing neighbors!

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Toddler climbing out of crib

Escape Artists, Thrifting, and Fall Reading

I think Niva’s fence jumping habit is rubbing off on Sadie. I heard her stirring in her crib yesterday morning and checked her baby monitor to find this scene. We have two escape artists on our hands, lol.

Toddler climbing out of crib

Thankfully I caught her before she fully climbed out, but I feel like our crib days are numbered. Fellow parents, when did you switch your child from a crib to a bed?

We’ve been doing some fall-themed reading here in the Zottola household. Sadie really enjoys Biscuit books, so we added a few fall ones to our growing collection. 

Biscuit books

We don’t celebrate Halloween, and I’ve found it tough to find children’s books about fall that aren’t Halloween-related. When I saw Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch, Biscuit is Thankful, and Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit I was so pumped! 

Do you like to go thrift shopping? I don’t go very often, but every time I do I always wonder why I don’t do it more often. I especially like to thrift clothes for Sadie because she grows out of things so quickly. 

My mom, Sadie, and I went on a little girls’ outing to a local thrift store and found a few great deals.

Thrifted toddler clothing

The bird top was $2.09 and the bunny rabbit jumper was $1.04. 

Thrifted toddler clothes

The red dress cost $2.09 and the adorable animal print sweater was also $2.09.

Penn State toddler outfit

Last but not least for clothing, Sadie scored a Penn State shirt for $1.04 and jeggings for $0.99. 

I couldn’t pass up the book section because, well, books. I grabbed a book that tells the story of Noah’s ark for $0.50 and a marriage book I’ve been eying up for years for $1.99. I’m excited to dive in. 

Love and Respect and The Story of Noah

What was the last item you got a great deal on?