miscellany monday, and a promise to myself...

Why hello lovely monday. I can't say that I am usually very excited to see you, but the summer changes many things. A bowl of cheerios and diet coke in hand, kids playing joyfully in the background, bread baking in the oven...these are things I could get used to on a Monday morning.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I dare say things have been busy around here. With the end of the school year, the t-ball season, and dance we have had a lot going on! Luckily with only one night of recital left to go, things are looking a little more peaceful for us very soon!

In the meantime, here is a bit of what we've been up too...

one... The end of the school year brought two big things for me, the graduations of BOTH of my brothers. I cannot believe that they are all grown, heading to college in the fall. It was great to celebrate both of them, but a little bitter sweet as I look towards august and realize how quiet my house will seem without Harrison's frequent visits.

two... We have tried really hard to spruce up our backyard lately. Our 1950's house has a great big backyard, but its been in a great state of disrepair since we moved in 5 years ago. It definitely has a way to go, but for the first time in a long time I can say I actually enjoy my time sitting on the porch back there. We added a brick patio to an little area that just couldn't grow grass effectively, and planted some of my favorites, hydrangeas!

three... With the start of summer, we've been trying to have a lot of play-dates. Laurelei and Abbott are just getting to the age where they play really well together, so I've been so excited to bring some new friends into the mix as well! Last week we were able to play with all kinds of friends! Connor was able to come over Sunday night, Harper on Monday, and on Friday we headed over to Leighton and Brooks' house for some fun too. Somewhere in the middle there we traveled up to Cincinnati for a little shopping, lunch, and fun with Mathis and Eleanor too. It was great for L and A, and I can't complain either. I quite enjoyed talking to their mommy's as well!

 

 four... Laurelei is finishing up her dance season with a big recital. That has meant a lot of rehearsing for L and a lot of trying not to become a dance mom for me. This of course will deserve an entire post just to itself because of the cuteness it entails, but for now here is a sneak peak of how we have been spending our days for the last week. Did I mention I love having a little girl?

five... I am promising myself that I will try to catch up on all of the important things (to me anyways) here this summer. Abbott has become a completely different baby. L is growing up so ridiculously fast. I don't want to lose track of those memories! I've also decided that I need to get the 'big' camera out more often. I've been using it a lot lately to get pictures of other people, but missing out on some sweet shots of my own kids, I must do better at that.

Happy Summer!

miscellany monday

So this is what blogging boils down to lately. A series of miscellaneous posts about this and that. It's okay with me though, that's a bit of what our life is these days anyway!

one..I think I am still recovering from our fabulous 4H trip last week. While I enjoyed my students, I am in much need of sleep!

two... My dear friends Katharine and Andy, and now Emma-Kate came to visit this weekend. It was so fun for the kids to meet! It melted my heart to see them roll around together on Friday night!

 three...Laurelei has a love/ hate relationship with t-ball at the moment. She loves the uniform, and accessories, and hates to actually play. Hmmm. It's a conundrum for us. While we dont want to start at the young age of 4 letting her quit something she is commited too, I also remind myself daily that she is only 4. What would you do? I am stuck on this one.

 four...There has been a whole lot of this recently. Abbott, sleeping, on my chest, and not in his bed. How do you break those habits? He is my little cuddler!

five...I am so ready for summer. I can't quite put into words what makes me long for school to be out so much this year! I thinik it is a multitude of things. All I know is that I am dreaming of those lazy days with two precious babies this summer!

Recent sweet things...

Awhile back we traveled to Michigan to meet one of my new favorite people, Emma-Kate, and see two of my other favorite people...

 Cuddling with my own growing-too-fast-not-so-little ones...

Playing school, reading, dancing, and generally just trying to keep up with this tiny fashionista...

Taking pictures for a great friend and stealing kisses from a brand new baby...

 

Saying yes to some exciting news from one of the best people I know...

 

And because life just wasn't crazy enough, meet Harriet Potter...

Life is full, happy Monday!

spring break begins!

It's spring break, so you know what that means? I get to spend the next 5 days with these guys!

 

We have a very busy daily schedule planned. We are planning to sleep in as long as possible each morning, followed by breakfast, playtime, lunch, nap time, and playtime. We are off to a pretty good start so far this morning.

I am hoping to squeeze a few other things in as well though. I am desperate to get some spring photos of the kids. With my broken camera (boo!) and the rainy weather expected, I am hoping I can still squeeze something in. Now I just have to find the perfect location around here? I'd also love to make a batch of Easter sugar cookies and color some eggs. And just for kicks, I'd like to have as many egg hunts for Laurelei as I can. She loves to hunt for Easter eggs!

I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed that this spring break didn't come with a trip somewhere beautiful and sunny. I am desperately longing for the beach right about now! But never mind that, I plan to make the most out of this quality time with the little ones. I know we can make our own sunshine here at home this year!

Instaupdates

As to be expected, life has still been moving at record pace around here. A combination of that plus almost exceeding my storage space on our old laptops has tremendously cut down on my photo taking, uploading and editing abilities. So today, on this BEAUTIFUL snow day, I am going to give my updates via my go-to memory keeper, instagram!

one...It's a snow day! I've been waiting all winter for a snow day, and what do you know? It came in March! I'll take it!

 

two...Previous to all this snow, we had record high temps for February. Last week we went on a walk almost every night after school. Abbott loved the fresh air I think.

 

three...It also allowed us to get out to the park a few days, and for me to snap my new all time favorite picture of L. This is called "It's not fair, I don't want to go yet!" :)

four... This weekend I gave up. I am all about style and aesthetics in our house, but finally functionality won out in our living room. With 4 whole people in this house now, we were simply out of space. So, our 8-square-foot coffee table had to go. It is now the newest resident in Laurelei's room. (I know, I know. We really were that desperate!)

Well hello floor space, nice to meet you!

five... We celebrated many firsts this weekend. Abbott got his Johnny Jump-Up and loved it! He is quite the social butterfly and loves the control over where he looks and goes! 

six..Abbott had his first vegetable, sweet peas too. I made a big batch this weekend to freeze. He got a little spoonful or two of them and loved it. He is closing in on 6 months, I cannot believe it!

I can't wait to use this long, beautiful snow day to build a snowman, catch up on some projects, and enjoy my little sweeties.

 Dreams do come true! Happy Monday!

A few quick things...

one...I've been trying to figure out the manual settings on my camera. It's not going that great, but it's a work in progress! I think that the key to a better final result might just be learning to edit. Right now I am relying pretty much on what my camera can do all by itself. If I could do some post editing I think that might help! Anyway, here is a shot I got the first night I started playing around with manual and I thought it had some potential. Yes, no?

two... L helped me make Valentine's cookies this year for the first time. We went to my mom's house for an afternoon of baking. We had such a good time! She was a little bit dirty by the end of it, but the cookies tasted great. I love sharing this tradition with her. 

three...Thank you Mr. Presidents for having birthdays. I am enjoying the morning at home with my little family. The 4 of us are just holed up here, enjoying one another! It's been a perfect morning so far!

Happy Monday!

{linking up with lowercase letters}

my miscellany

one. This week marks the beginning of February. One of my favorite months. Why you ask? Because it has a happy holiday of course! We are already in the Valentine's day spirit over here with a little holiday decor!

 

two.  Little man looks pretty handsome in a tie. Can you tell daddy was in charge of dressing him the other day?

three. Being back in the classroom finally has me motivated. I've jumped on board and dedicated a pin board to teaching inspiration and I'm loving all the goodness to be found. 4 years teaching and I'm just now accessing the awesome ideas teacher blogs have to offer. Silly me!

four. Abbott is finally enjoying his exersaucer. I cannot believe we have reached this age of discovery already! It's crazy how fast time is moving.

five. I got a video camera for my last birthday and we've been trying to put it to good use lately. It's kind of funny when we turn it on in front of L though. Apparently I've given her lots of camera practice, but she doesn't quite get the idea of the video camera yet. Sometimes, when we turn it on, she stops doing whatever it was we were trying to video tape and just smiles a big smile, saying 'cheese.' So far we have a lot of cute short videos, and quite a few 'cheeses...' :)

six. Speaking of L...The other day we built her a tent. Matt built the first one, and she ripped it to the ground in like 30 seconds. I assumed it was just his sheet tent engineering skills, so I had a go at it (after a sarcastic comment or two on my part I'm sure!) Nope, turns out it wasn't about the skill of the builder at all. It has more to do with the fact that our daughter has King Kong like skills that are far superior to our craftsmanship. So, back to the drawing board...

 

seven.  Our dryer is broken. It seems we are regressing to our Edinburgh days, when we used to have laundry drying all over the house. At first I hated the mess. Eventually though, I just sat back and let the memories of Edinburgh flood in. That made the laundry seem like less of a burden and more a reminder of simpler times passed. (I do still want my dryer fixed though!)

 

Happy Monday!

{linking to lowercase letters}

my miscellany

one. Today is the first day of sweet, sweet Christmas break. I am so excited to have two long and peaceful weeks at home with my babies! I am very thankful for a job where this kind of holiday vacation is built in.

 

two. Abbott is growing like a weed. A good weed, but an unruly, can't keep it small kind of weed none the less. We've watched one by one as all of Laurelei's friends and cousins have passed her in size. I am fairly certain this will happen with Abbott too. Would you guess there are three years between them looking at their size? It's ridiculous!

 three.  Laurelei is three! I cannot believe it. She deserves an entire post about her birthday, all to herself, so I won't spoil too much of the fun, but I still can't believe little bit is three whole years old!

four. I love this time of year. The past three weeks have been particularly perfect with sweet little Abbott in tow. I swear that two kids is just twice the joy. It is just ridiculous how happy I am! I watched White Christmas last night and just cried. I love this season, I love my family, I love Bing Crosby. It was great!

five. I have been on a definite dry blogging spell. Can't seem to work in the extra time at the end of the day, and that is okay. However, I know that I will be using this next couple of weeks to catch up on some memory collecting, so be warned. The amount of pictures of my family is about to get out of control, I'm fairly certain of that!

six. Merry Christmas week friends! yay!

{linking with Carissa at lowercase letters}