it's quite possible life is best-enjoyed in one's footie pjs

Happy middle-of-the-week!

sunday six, weekend recap edition

(Editor's Note:  Should I acknowledge my lackadaisical approach to this blog in recent months? Do I apologize for my apparent slothfulness? Do I pretend we visited just yesterday? Do I go on and on, ad nauseum, trying to excuse myself while simultaneously convincing us both that I'll do better hereafter?  Sigh.  
I vote no - let's just jump back in & call it a win!)

Pure swoonylicious, is what he is

1.  It hit 80 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday.  Also, the sun was shining, it was breezy, and no humidity.  I do love me some spring.

However, all the warm did remind me of a couple of things:  First, a warm sunny day heats up the inside of an un-air-conditioned car considerably.  Second, little rids the neck of kinks and the stomach of knots like a ride down the highway with the windows down & the radio up.

...aaaand thirdly, riding down the highway with the windows down and the radio up renders one's hair a "little crazy," which was the assessment of the five-year-old.


2.  You just know it's going to be a good spring when you kick it off by attending a Food Truck Festival(!) downtown with the littles in tow.  That's right... food trucks stretched out over a city block (or more, who really knows) (it's not like I got past the designated littles area to actually measure) (it seemed like more).  Frankly, it was too crowded for me to delight in the actual dining possibilities because I'm immediately rendered non-hungry when lines wrap around for a sweet forever.  No lie, I ate nothing at said Festival, save the Pepsi we picked up on the way downtown.  However, it was still Big Fun for perhaps no reason other than it was clearly supposed to be.  As I told Kate, any time music is blasted through very loud speakers on a 79-degree evening it's an instant party.

I might have awkwardly pretend-danced a little with Norah while not one person paid me any mind at all.  Owo happily demonstrated his award-winning (not even kidding, he's a bonafide winner)  (I'll tell you sometime) booty-shaking skills for me, and I giggled more than once from the sheer happy of warm spring & crazy surroundings.


3.  Ironically, after eating absolutely nothing shifty and/or shady at the Food Truck Festival(!) I awoke with a stomach bug.  Seriously.  You can't make this stuff up.  


4.  Speaking of Owen, it's possible that I allegedly taught, encouraged him to engage in some problem-solving behavior that turned out to be new to him.

It took him approximately 30 minutes to get me into all kinds of trouble.

Which led me to shamelessly beg the little mister to please forget all he'd learned from me that day, before it was no longer funny & I landed in BIG TROUBLE with his mama.  He found the whole situation delightful and that's all I'm going to say about that.


5.  Audrey and Owen belting out "Let it Go" with no theatrics whatsoever (ha!) with Norah occasionally adding her two-cents.

Amen.


6.  Kari sent me the above sweet picture of Peyton at the Easter egg hunt after church today...You know, the Big Fun I missed because of stupid aforementioned stomach issue.  A big shout-out to my girl...receiving the pictures helped just the littlest tiny :)

sweeter than the sweetest tea

Norah likes her mama!

Wednesday Katie & Kari brought all the littles by for the afternoon.  I like to think they just love to spend time with me, but truth be told they were in it for the poppy seed chicken.

Whatever. 
I'm not proud...I'll take what I can get :)

Noodle likes her Doc McStuffins!

It was a really nice day.  The kids were all overtired and overdone what with their holiday hangovers, miscellaneous maladies, and the previous night's sleepover with Kate.  Kari kept apologizing for the mayhem but honestly I just laughed my way through it. 

What else is one to do when you have toddlers marching around announcing to anyone who will listen that there will be NO HUGS - or manners (ha!), naptime accidents in Naynay's bed, multiple episodes of spitting up coupled with at least one wretchedly foul-smelling diaper situation, in the course of one innocent afternoon?

They ALL really like making messes!

Well.  I say you too would laugh your way through the madness, you know you would.

Peyton likes...everything!

Sadie likes her paci!

  

And if you ever doubted the day was a success,
when your daughter tells your grandchild that it's time to go home, you might just overhear her say, ever so wistfully, "I just wish we could stay here forever and ever and ever."

Audrey likes making eggs!  After rejecting lunch!

 ....and then, just for sheer fun & comic relief, a few hours later it's possible you'll receive an urgent Facetime invite from the nearly-two-year old, who is tragically and hilariously calling Naynay to tattle mightily on his mama, who has made an unacceptable pronouncement of no sweet tea before bed. (The horror!)

Apparently Norah now likes falling asleep in the middle of bedlam!

...and as you fall asleep that night, you'll thank God for every minute of this life that is oh. so. sweet.

xoxo

two little monkeys jumping on the bed

And I just realized in none of these pictures are they actually...jumping.

I assure you, however, there was jumping a-plenty!

sunday six: where've y'all been?

 Well.  Apparently if I'm ever to get back into my bloggy groove I'll have to dive straight into the drivel.

So without further adieu, here are my six on this very rainy, foggy, COLD Sunday...


1.  I made this today.  Suffice it to say it DID NOT disappoint.  I know it's ridiculous so early in January because everyone knows the first two weeks of January should be spent eating salads and kale (yuck!), but I made mashed potatoes, and y'all...YUM. 


2.  Peyton and I had some fun this afternoon Facetiming.  Is Facetiming a word?  Who cares, it was fun and it works for us, and he never ever notices if I engage in some unpleasant nose-blowing whilst we visit.  That kid is so hilarious and adorable.  You should ask him sometime to tell you about his dad's yuckies.  Toddler perfection is what it is.


3.  Speaking of yuckies.  Peanut spent NYE with that precious stomach bug that's been going around, sending the rest of us into sheer panic mode.  We've been on what I affectionately bitterly refer to as #vomitwatch2014, but so far he is the only one who has completely fallen.  Kari, Drew & I have had varying degrees of discomfort, but that might be because we've spent the last several days on high alert, ha!


4.  Y'all know how I hate to complain, but I am on approximately week 37 of requiring DayQuil/NyQuil just to get through the day/night.   I've been just a delight to be around in recent days/weeks/month.  SIGH.


5.  I haven't nailed down my word for 2014 yet.  I hate to make a final decision while under the influence of the aforementioned medicinal agents.


6.  I hate to brag but I scored a bag of M&Ms at Target for 70% off Friday.  I was so excited - it took everything in me not to buy 70% more just to balance things out...


I guess that's it for tonight y'all.  I've missed you :)

the 31st of october

Kate took this picture at Kari's before Trunk-or-Treating. 

So I might as well admit it, Halloween has never been my thing.  Whimsy sometimes escapes me as I'm mostly creativity-impaired, and no matter how hard I pretend otherwise I've never been a fan of dressing up.  It's also true that I was a terrible mom when it came to costumes for my little girls.  Even Crazy Hat Night at Awana stressed me out!  The one notable exception would be Kari as Pocahontas on book report day. 
She rocked the whimsy that day. 


Anyhoo, I might feel completely inept at most things creative, but now that I"m not in charge and
the pressure's off I'm finding plenty to smile about :)

Owen refused to cooperate, choosing instead to watch Toy Story of Terror for the 40th time. 
No judgment here, mister.

Audrey, on the other hand, was all about being a bee, scoping out the treats, and hugging on the neighbors.  She might have allegedly attended the neighborhood party, come home for a quick break, and then re-attended said party, scoring enough cookies, soda, and candy to keep us twitchy until Thanksgiving.

Norah wasn't interested in any of the silliness, so Puppy partied in her place.  

We can't be sure, but I think he had a pretty good time.

Kate made dinner, which was a taco pizza (YUMMO!), and there was all manner of loud and snuggly and messy and mad and sweet to go around.  It was a good night, is all I'm saying :)


 

location, location, location

Peanut loves to draw,

especially on sidewalks or driveways!

But I'm pretty sure his very favorite canvas

is on the front porch.

Specifically?

Right at the front door, of course, where all who enter can admire his our handiwork.

....and then proceed to track the chalky goodness  all over his mama's living room floor :)

fortunately the m&ms help

Well.

Kari & Drew are moving into their new house tomorrow & I think it's one of the sweetest little houses ever.

Unfortunately, moving into even sweet little houses requires a good bit of unpleasantness.
You know, like putting things in boxes and putting boxes in cars and taking things out of boxes.

To top off the big fun there's also washing and cleaning and scrubbing and sweeping, and if we're lucky perhaps a little whistling while we work.


Thank goodness for Swiffers and Windex and, yes, I'm just going to put it out there, Clorox.  I know bleach is now an evil, toxic agent, but when moving into a new space nothing is more comforting than that clear-your-sinuses-scent of stranger-germ eradication.  We prefer our very own dirt, thankyouverymuch.


After spending the day on the aforementioned miscellany I had one more super-important task before going to work, and it required a quick visit to Target to pick up (SIGH) some stupid contact paper.

That's right, I said it.
Stupid...as in stupid contact paper.

And because of that momentary lapse in judgment I imagine my tomorrow will consist mostly
of cutting and arranging and rearranging said paper.

It is a pretty green pattern, so there is that.


I also predict a great deal of lifting and carrying of all the things, but Kari and I will be avoiding those shenanigans altogether unless it involves the one-year-old pictured above. 

We'll pick him up and put him down...and pick him up and put him down...as often as requested
because did you see those sweet blue eyes?



XOXO
 

 

sunday six: stuff that happened this weekend

So here's the thing.  Things have been on the hectic side around these parts recently. 


(How many times have I said that in the last couple of years?)

(Eleventy-hundred, would be my guess.) 

(Saying it a lot doesn't make it less true.)


Anyhoo, here's some stuff that happened...


1.  I spent a chunk of Friday with Audrey, Owen, & Peyton, and by chunk I mean a lot of hours.  There might have been some bickering and snuggling and Mickey Mouse, sprinkled with some snacks and sugary beverages.  Peyton was completely cooperative with his nap routine because, well, he's Peyton...and several hours later Owen announced he was "ti-werd," tossed a pillow on the floor, grabbed his GWEEN bwankie, and fell fast asleep right in the middle of Doc McStuffins.  He was so yummy all sprawled out in the middle of the crazy I could barely leave him alone except for I'm not completely insane.

2.  Also on Friday, Jeremy was in a car accident on his way to work.  We're so thankful he has only seemingly minor-ish injuries and no other drivers were involved.  The car was totaled and he's really sore & banged up, but it could have been so much worse!


3.  It rained so hard and was so foggy on Saturday that it looked snowy from my window.  It was creepy and crazy and cozy.  I might have taken a tiny little nap right after my turkey sandwich & tomato soup.   Also, in stark contrast to the crazy that was Friday, it was virtually silent :)


4.  I rediscovered Toaster Strudel.  I fully understand this might be in the category of stupid stuff, or perhaps even nonstuff, to most, but I say it's BIG FUN.  Frankly, I found them so delightful I'm contemplating buying the littles some black cherry Kool-Aid just because I can.


5.  Today was in no way silent.  Not a little quiet.  Not even a tad peaceful.  There was no wall-staring, no strudel-eating, and no House Hunters-watching.

(None.)

(AT ALL!!)


6.  Audrey got stung by a bee this afternoon.  (SEE NUMBER FIVE.)  

She cried.  She cried a lot. 

Norah also cried because of course.  Norah also cried a lot.

Owen did not want to miss out on all the tragic fun so he also cried, and a lot, because he's a team player. 


It was very loud. 
The end.



Sooo...any stuff happen in your 'hoods this weekend??



XOXO

like music to his ears

A couple of weeks ago Kari & Drew went out of town for six whole days while Peyton & I
stayed home and ate an absurd amount of ketchup.

(I might have mentioned this previously.)


(It's possible I even mentioned it a lot on the Facebook.)

He did great, but after around day three he was pretty antsy and especially anxious to see his mama.

We tried to Facetime with her (is that correct terminology? can Facetime be a verb? can someone younger & more knowledgeable please let me know if I'm embarrassing myself?) but the connection was lousy and ended up being more frustrating than comforting....

...so Kari filmed a quick video complete with a little song!

...and little man viewed it eleventy-hundred times.

He just couldn't get enough of gazing into her face and reminding me that she was,
in fact, his "mama mama mama."

After the 30th viewing, we both knew every word she said to him, complete with the snappy lyrics :)

...and frankly they both turned my heart inside out.



Happy Wednesday :)

excuses, excuses

I know it's been a sweet forever but I have a good excuse.


Christmas was last week, and this week I have been at Kari's loving on Peyton while simultaneously eating m&ms & working for a living.  So there's that.


Yesterday Kate & Company drove up to visit and eat pizza and help restore my sanity :)
(Just kidding, Peanut, you know I love ya!)

She also brought this.  


Needless to say, it was a good day.


Sadly, I now have to go because see above, but I leave you with the following picture in an effort to make things right...

Happy Friday :)