hat wearing
trying out our new galoshes
being helpful
newport food truck festival (we saw richard hatch there...uh.random)
movie night (pete's dragon...only 2 of us made it through without falling asleep)
working on my december daily
snuggles
slowly working our way down the list
hope your weekend was wonderful!
and that your monday is beautiful and blessed.
xoxo
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yeah...so it's that time of year. where i feel like i'm on a treadmill but i can't ever quite run fast enough.that's how fall is every year. getting used to a new school schedule always makes me extra scatterbrained.
but add new town,new house,new everything into the mix...and wow. extra scatter. :)j has been out of town and it's funny...i'm used to him being gone days,weeks,months,YEARS at a time. literally.
we are really missing him. turns out we kind of like having him around every day. who knew?? ;)but it's all good. life is good. and happy. i am really happy right now. for the first time in years i am not stressed.
even more importantly, i'm not worried. and i haven't been able to say that for a long,long,long time. i actually don't remember the last time i could say that.
are any of you in the connecticut area? it looks like i'll probably be attending CKU stamford (as a TA to a dear friend-i'll tell you more if it works out)and i would love to meet any of you who might be there!
i'll also definitely be attending cha in anaheim this january and working at the MME booth.i have to tell you i'm so excited to do a little bit of travel this year. this job has been such a blessing for me.
it has fulfilled me so much. not only creatively, but intellectually. it's refreshing to use my brain for something other than my children.
does that make sense?
um, could this post be more random? yes. yes it could.
here are some pictures from this weekend:
we had pizza/movie night and beauty shop morning:
lots of outside play time:
fall/halloween decorating:
pumpkin browsing:
dress up. please do NOT even ask what they are wearing. they are crazy.
they just kept bringing me stuff and i put it on.
jimmy saw this on instagram and asked if they were wrestling outfits b/c lucy looked like she was about to body slam cate. HA!:
and minestrone making. by the way, this was DELICIOUS.
sidenote: i added some sausage.
did anyone even read this post? this is the kind of post that i'd probably just skim for photos if i was reading it. it's weird and random. haha! happy monday,loves!
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Friday afternoon=first day of gymnastics. No, they were not excited whatsoever. Nope.
Afterward we took the kiddos to the playground.
Can we discuss how AWESOME this seesaw for four is? I need one at home.
And there is a story that goes with the photo on the right.
So I decided to challenge J to a game of HORSE. On the preschool playground. On a goal that was uhh...maybe 6 1/2 feet high?
And it took us like 40 minutes to finish. Because of our awesome basketball skillz.
It was maybe the world's worst game of horse ever played. Yet I was laughing so hard I was crying. Good times.
Saturday we had our first family pancake breakfast. We are really wanting to start a lot of new traditions this year. Jimmy hasn't been around much so we don't have many. And we want to remedy that this year.
Daddy pancakes? Are the BEST.
Then I was treated to an 80 minute Balinese massage at the Viking Hotel. Can you say BEST birthday gift ever? The massage is specifically to relieve stress...and wow,did it work. I may or may not have been drooling.
When the masseuse got to my neck he said "HOLY SMOKES there is some tension here!". And I said..."you.have.no.idea." Bahahaha.
Jimmy told me to take my time coming home so I tried a French bakery (best scone I've ever tasted) and then hit up the sale at JCrew. Which is really good right now, by the way. This southern girl needs LOTS of sweaters and there are so many cute ones on sale.
The rest of the day consisted of autumn beer (my favorite) and snuggles. Not a bad Saturday. :)
The black and white photo is blurry, but the way J is looking at Lucy melts my heart.
Sunday I did something that makes me really,really happy. I picked up again with project life. And I was HAPPY the entire time I worked on it.Just full of joy.
I tried a new recipe for dinner. I've been making a ridiculous amount of skinnytaste meals. This one is Cajun Chicken Pasta and every single person in my family inhaled it. True story. I have not tried a single skinnytaste recipe that is not delicious.
Another new tradition is Sunday night family dinners with discussion questions. I made an effort to really set the table.Place mats, cloth napkins, a candle lit. This might not sound like a big deal to you, but I don't ever have time (or maybe energy) to do this.
I printed questions and we all took turns answering them.
I found and downloaded Set One HERE and plan on doing these every week. The questions were a big hit.
Some of the answers made me teary.
Q: If you were granted 3 wishes from a genie, what would you wish?
A (Sadie): 1. To see BB 2. To have family suppers every day 3.Family movies every day
And some made me cry...
Q: What do you think is beyond the stars?
A(Harper): Jesus
and laugh
Sadie: Oh, I love Jesus. I wish I could kiss him right on the mouth and hug him.
Sunday night Sadie decided her daddy needed a pedicure. And when she showed him the sparkly polish, he said yes. without hesitation.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is reason 93840284308 I love James Howell. Because he is a real life action hero who has pink sparkly toenails under his combat boots.
Happy Monday,sweet friends.
xoxo
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first things first! the winner of KP's sketchbook 3 class giveaway is:
34Kim said...
Yes please!!
I also have already registered, but winning my spot would be swell!!!!
Looking forward to April!
Way to go Kim! Email me at harpersmama8(AT)gmail(DOT)com
♥♥♥♥♥
So how was your weekend? Mine was one of the best I can remember in a really, really long time.
Everyone had Thursday and Friday off, due to St. Pat's being a HUGE deal here!
THURSDAY
i surprised the bigs with a "leprechaun breakfast" and some special t-shirts i'd made for them using iron-ons from here and super cheap cherokee brand tees from targhay.
you can click on each image to see it full size!!!
the babies were in green too!
we watched J march in the parade...it was SO cool. i got chills just looking at all of those handsome men in uniform, and the pride our city has in them.
and then we braved downtown Savannah/city market for a bit.
a few st. patrick's day observations
1.don't tell your somewhat obsessive four year old about the pinching for not wearing green thing. she was TERRIFIED of someone pinching her all day long. even though she was clearly in green. ack. i never should have mentioned that!
2.driving through the liquor store in your minivan to get beer? is AWESOME. i have never felt less cool in my life. But we really wanted to make a green beer!!
3.i probably actually felt LESS cool when i was downtown. hey ladies? drunkenly crying on your cell phone? not attractive.
4.when letting your children pick a souvenir from the cart in the street, monitor closely what they are looking at. that seemingly innocent frog necklace?
well said frogs might have male genitalia on them. and say "i'm horny".
thank GOD she didn't see it when she reached for it, as i loudly yelled LALALALALALLALALA LOOK AT THIS PURPLE TRUMPET!!!
and that is how harper ended up with a squeaky purple trumpet and sadie ended up with a long blue horn that makes me pee my pants little every time she blows it. and makes the babies cry. lovely.
FRIDAY
I FINALLY had the priveledge of meeting my sweet friend May Flaum. We've "known" eachother online for quite some time, but haven't gotten to hang out yet.
She came in town for a few hours and we had some quality GROWN UP TIME!! We both have wee girls, so just having grown up time was heavenly.
we hit up paris market:
and then walked to gryphon tea room to have lunch.
AMAZING lunch might i add.
i decided to pull a purkey and purkify my pictures. aka take food photos.
we had so much fun. i think we nonstop talked in one run on sentence for a few hours. and i think she's my sister from another mister. she's awesome.
and then it was home where c+l were sporting clear evidence of "daddy hair". and then it was time for wine in my new paris market glasses.
SATURDAY
we had a birthday party and then we had a small...uh...incident?
sadie apparently thought the lavender i got at paris market was to pretty to just sit in the dish so she decided to have a grand old time playing with it.
and for the record? i laughed. life's too short to flip out over ruined lavender. and i should have known better than to put it within the reach of the sadie bug. :)
j cooked us dinner, what a guy!
and we sat outside in the beautiful evening light and i tried the red version of my new wine glasses :)
SUNDAY
recovery.
now...i'm fully aware i'm about to say something cheesy.i make fun of myself (to myself HA!) for being cheesy on the old bloggity...
but it doesn't make it any less true.
i love my family so much and i am so content with where i am in my life right now.
i'll take minivan drives, early dinners, messy sinks and baby bjorns
over
wild st. patrick's days, drunken crying cell phone calls, trashy necklaces
any day of the week.
i think all of the aparts we experience as a family really make us enjoy and appreciate the togethers.
hope you have a beautiful week!
xxo
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this weekend was fantastic for several reasons. chiefly among them...j came home after a few weeks away! it was a GORGEOUS weekend, after a dreary rainy week.
i just love being together as a family on the weekends. why do they pass so quickly, though?
here's our weekend in iPhone photos:
l to r, top to bottom:
1.first time the babies ever kept sleeping after we brought them in the house! 2.stretching before our family walk. 3.sadie sleeping on daddy after a bad dream 4.blue moon with an orange slice at forsyth park. 5.j+all four of his girls- oh how his life has changed! :) 6.the greening of forsyth fountain 7,8. girls+j in bed earrrrly a.m. 9.drink for baby, drink for mommy. hee! 10.lucy+mama 11.my new bag came from gussy sews! 12.bigs reading to littles 13.treasures from the resale shop 14.me and my girls at forsyth fountain
and just because this might very well be my favorite iphone photo of all time...i have to share it in full size:
i can't even put into words how happy this makes my heart. they were over the moon he was home. when he first comes back from a trip, they just can't/won't leave him alone. it's awesome.
i hope you have a beautiful, blessed monday!
xxo
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