Peanut butter

Life Lately

Hello and Happy Friday!

Fun breakfast for toddler with fruit arranged in a smile

Who is ready for the weekend? I sure am! We had a crazy week over here. Jimmy has been working a ton lately, which I know is stressful for him. Us girls miss him while he puts in extra hours, but at the same time I am so thankful he has work! It was almost a year ago that he was laid off due to COVID, so we never take busyness for granted. 

Niva randomly bit Sadie yesterday. Guys, yesterday was a year and a day since Mavis bit Sadie. I can’t make this stuff up. I cried and cried. I still don’t know what happened. I was in the other room and Sadie and Niva were in the living room and suddenly Sadie was sobbing and clutching her arm and sure enough, she had a bite mark.

I’m not sure if she was bothering Niva or if they were just playing, but ugh. I just feel so bad all around. Thankfully the bite wasn’t bad, but Sadie was really upset afterwards (and so was I 😢). 

Toddler making a mess

Sadie was back to making messes within a few hours!

After having her bloodwork done recently, the results showed that things are a bit off with Sadie. Her doctor referred us to a gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. We had an appointment and the doctor did an exam and without going into too much detail, something is up so she needs to have an upper and lower scope done, plus more testing. 

I don’t even want to think about little Sader Tot under anesthesia. I know she will be fine and we’ll get to the bottom of this, but it’s just sad thinking of more testing and procedures. I am so thankful for healthcare and amazing doctors. 

Toddler playing Melissa and Doug fishing game

We’ll get our silly little Sadie back to feeling normal again! She has been loving this adorable fishing game lately. Also, the random flashcard in the background was for homeschool that day. We learned about nurses!

Okay, enough of me being a Debby downer over here! We had our monthly family night last night and it was lovely! We decided to do a family gift exchange and split up to shop for little gifts for each other. Sadie and I bought for Jimmy and the pets and he bought for us girls. 

Daddy definitely delivered… Sadie got a Paw Patrol toy and she has not stopped playing with it since she opened it. In fact, we (stupidly) let her keep it in her room overnight and she woke up at 5:30 this morning to play with it, LOL.

My sister and I were talking about Paw Patrol recently and she said she thinks it’s a cult. Neither of our daughters really watch the show (we don’t have cable) but are somehow totally obsessed with all things Paw Patrol?! 

Toddler with Paw Patrol Drawing

We did homeschool today and I drew Skye for art class and Sadie’s mind was blown. She wanted me to draw every. single. character. 😂

Other stuff of note:

  • Obsessed with this peanut butter.
  • We found out my brother and sister-in-law are having a baby girl in May!
  • Still reading Ruth in the Bible and loving studying it. 
  • Excited to watch Battle Bots tonight with Jimmy 🤓
  • Our lil picky eater loves these, but only the chocolate ones 😂

That’s pretty much life lately at the Zottola Zoo. Some hard stuff, mixed with blessings, along with great stuff. God is good!

Tell me about your life lately!

More Gardening and Five Things I’m Loving

Happy Friday! Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? We’re going to my mother-in-law’s to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday. I’m baking strawberry cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting for the occasion and I’m pretty pumped 🙂

Sadie and I did more gardening yesterday. The squash are really coming in–a few each day–and we also picked a cucumber. The cucumbers don’t seem to like the heat this year, but they’re still growing! 

Yellow squash, zucchini, and cucumber from vegetable garden

I also cooked a batch of baby potatoes with Niva keeping a very watchful eye on the whole process.

The potatoes are really simple to make: coat baby potatoes in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and your choice of spices and bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees until fork-tender. 

Baked baby potatoes with a husky watching

In the evening, Jimmy had to run an errand for work, and Sadie and I needed to get cupcake liners, so we parted ways and each got our stuff done. 

Sadie and I got drenched in a thunderstorm on our way out of Walmart and it was kind of fun 🙂

Toddler soaked from rain in a thunderstorm

She was well behaved in Walmart and I was tempted to buy her a little toy or a balloon (her fave!), but I’ve been trying to give her my attention more than anything. 

Instead of giving her a toy, a snack, or turning on the TV when she’s whining or pulling on my leg, I try to give her me instead. Because what’s more important–what I think I “need” to get done now, or being present with the child God has blessed me with? I think I know the answer to that. It’s much easier said than done, though. 

Alright, onto five things I’m loving at the moment:

  1. Butterscotch candies. For some reason, I had been dreaming of having butterscotch candies all week and I finally picked some up last night while Sadie and I were out and they totally hit the spot. 
  2. Sermon Notes Journal. Now that we’re back to church, I’m back to taking notes in my sermon notes journal and loving it. It’s a great tool for reviewing sermons, lessons, notes, scriptures, etc.
  3. Scrapbooking. I finished up the scrapbook pages I made from our camping trip, and now I’m moving on to photos from the Fourth of July.
  4. Honey cinnamon peanut butter. Enough said, right? I’ve seriously considered making a blog solely dedicated to peanut butter reviews. I feel like I would be the only reader, haha.
  5. Passing down clothes. Whenever Sadie grows out of clothing, I pass it down to my sister’s daughter, Caroline, and I love seeing her wear the outfits I have so many memories of Sadie wearing. So special ❤

Do you like butterscotch-flavored things?

What are you up to this weekend?