summer simplicity

The first of our meager crop. A little tart, and some are less than beautiful. But all picked by these little, sweet hands in daily excitement of these hidden red jewels.

Love the simplicity of summer through our little girl's eyes.

Superhero Birthday Party

My sister is a great party thrower - it helps she is awesome with a budget AND that my brother-in-law is an artist. :-) In August, they threw a super fun superhero party for their newly turned three year old complete with custom photo background, games, party decor, costumes, superhero food and a Spiderman cake.

Here are some ideas: (credit for photos, hard work and ideas all goes to them.)

 

Happy birthday sweet boy!

third trimester - bump update

I've made it to 28 weeks with no full-time bedrest yet. It's looking like I'm not going to make it out without some though - we'll see. Better a healthy baby with bedrest than one that comes too early! Third trimester cheers!

Only one project in the works lately...

If you've missed me (all 3 of you!), you probably already know the fancy project I've been working on for the last 4 months.

Actually, "mild hyperemesis" is not fancy in any way, but I've been busy trying to do anything I can to help things along in our home. Thanks to lots of friends, play dates, meals and family we survived the worst of it and now we are on to *hopefully* better days. My creative brain has been broken and may only now being revived, but without much extra energy to do any more than is absolutely necessary (read: take care of my child, eat, cook, laundry, etc.), most of my pretty projects are on hold.

But I am halfway through and there is a tiny BOY growing in my belly! I am thankful and excited (albeit nervous - who knows what to do with a boy?!).

Here is a fun comparison of bellies at 20 weeks. I feel enormous compared to the first time around, but seeing the picture doesn't do that feeling any justice. ha!

I finally started back to teaching my piano students (no one fired me, yay!) last week and while I am struggling with fatigue due to pregnancy insomnia and more motion sickness than I had with the girl, I am doing well.

A final note: for the pray-ers in my life, I went into preterm labor with my sweet girl at 24 weeks and was on complete bedrest from week 25-36 with her. This pregnancy has been totally different, but my body may end up doing the same thing. Or, it may not. We are watching things closely with my doctor, but I ask that you pray we don't have to weather almost 3 months of bedrest with an energetic 4 year old this summer ... or with an already weakened prego either. It would be awesome to be able to keep up my strength until October 1.

I'll pop in and out of here in the next few months, but for now, the blog is on hold. I know the world will not be the same without it - ha!

cat in the hat inspired PARTY IN A BOX

Party in a box inspired by these shoes...

And my sister. Happy Birthday Jenn!

***everything except the striped napkins (Target) came from Hobby Lobby and my stash.

a new niece!

We got some newborn snuggles in over Labor Day weekend! My brother and his wife just had their first daughter and she is tiny and soft and sweet.

new babies FTW! ;-)

candy anniversary

We celebrated 6 years last weekend.

Every year we use a traditional gift list to come up with a variation of fun (sometimes big, sometimes small) gifts or themes. This year was CANDY. I wasn't overly excited because I just consumed 4 bags of jelly beans over Easter and I was feeling candied out.

I mentioned this idea to my friend, Sarah, and she suggested Christopher Elbow chocolates. (She also suggested the restaurant we thoroughly enjoyed last year. She's a keeper.) 

"Say who?"

An artisanal chocolatier based out of Kansas City? Expertly flavored and carefully chosen chocolates?

A candy anniversary is sounding better all the time. :-) 

We came away with flavors like Bananas Foster, Coffee, Venezuelan Spice, Strawberry Balsamic, Lemon (x2 for {Ladybug}), Lavender Caramel and the like. There were a few flavors only available at the store, so I went for those too. Aren't they pretty?

Highly recommend this KC treat!! :-)

graduated!

Sorry for the radio silence. April/May has been full ...

"what?! I have a blog?"

"Oh yeah."

Oops.


I have been working on a few projects and am half-way with most of them, but I decided that I could solicit your advice and post a mid-way then final reveal. So, more on that next week.

___________________________________

We celebrated graduation 10 days ago. Wahooo!!!

A couple of highlights:

1) Both sets of parents were in town to celebrate graduation (!)
2) I got a little break from parenting while grandparents enjoyed the girl (and she slept really well).
3) Jeremy is done with school!!!

A couple of lows:

1) I had to catch a ride to H&M down the street for a cheap pair of shoes halfway through graduation Sunday because the heels I tried to wear were killing my feet. KILLING. *fail*
2) There was a little bit too much eating + sitting + eating + more sitting for my taste.

Regardless, I am so proud of my husband!! (And, to be honest, us as a family.) After 5 years of plodding methodically through grad school, paying our way as we went, through a difficult pregnancy, financial stressors, job loss and lots of other little things, we are through!! He worked extremely hard for his magna cum laude status and his hood is now proof of his degree and determination.

We are currently breathing sighs of relief and enjoying the thought of being able to spend time together watching movies, playing games, hanging out with friends, going on bike rides, and spontaneously doing whatever else we feel like because there is no homework hanging over his (our?) head. We all feel a little lighter.

Hallelujah!

thirty

I turned 30 on Thanksgiving Day (Nov 28 for all my non-American friends)!

I've been looking forward to starting a new decade and growing into my new-found smile wrinkles. And what better way to celebrate than with flowers, Izze, cheesecake and family??!

please note the girl's contribution to the gift on the right ... i love her thoughtfulness! :-)

My thirtieth year of life has been one of the more stable ones ... so thankful to have my sweet girl, my husband, his much happier job, a few fun side "jobs" on the side of my full-time one (she's cute, isn't she?), and a warm place to live in ... and decorate.

Thanks for celebrating with me!!

40th anniversary cabin adventure

A couple of weekends ago we celebrated my in-laws 40th anniversary at a cabin in a national forest in southern Illinois. We played games, it rained, I read, we hiked, we talked, we cooked, lit a fire, and fought mosquitoes and flies. It was a fun time, relaxing but a bit too short.

Thanks for the good time, Ohio Shunks!! We really enjoyed it ... and happy 40th (again!) We love you.