We don't own a cat

But this super cute one hangs out here in our backyard a lot! It's fine with me if it catches rodents 😜

Our hikes

Here we are at the start. The only picture you will get with either me or the baby since we are attached and I carry the camera :)

Here is kid 3 on top of the rock. He is proud

show us your muscles!

muscle mania!

pretty cool, right? i seriously can't believe that these kids are so cute. and they are mine! we had a little dinner here the next time we visited.

the very end of the hike, this guy fell really behind. he is still working on his 'hiking legs.' also hasn't committed to walking a whole hike when he's three (sad face). he needs to start walking, because who in their right mind carries a 13m+ kid in the front pack? (good thing he is light!)

this was from a few weeks ago. i have limited space on my computer (time to delete a LOT of stuff....) and so it is taking me a while to catch up.

two weeks ago

say what?! it was my birthday a couple weeks ago. and i thought it would be fun to take an IG pic of the time that i got to hang out all by myself for a couple of hours. it was fun. i read a book called "the graceling" by kristin cashore (another 'in' kristin! cool, right?!). it was an interesting read, and i read it on my birthday gift from the hubs... an ipad. wow.

anyway- fun triptych for you of what would have been $6.06 but was to the tune of FREE.... so glad they didn't miss my birthday!

sew this is the beginning

i recently decided that i was going to make some cloth napkins for my family. i'm not saying that i'll be saving any money, since i didn't choose the MOST cheap fabrics out there {sigh}. i figured that i wanted to get some stuff that i would be excited to use, and that the kids could be happy with as well (and hopefully not fight over it- that might be a dying dream).

the first two are to appeal to my kids (and myself, quite honestly) and they are designs by ed emberley.

this last one is for the more mature fare, and is for when guests come. i am on the chevron train, but i've recently read of a couple people who are confused as to why anyone like this design. i love zigzags, and how accessible it is getting. we'll see how long it lasts. i would love to spray paint my white mailbox with hot pink chevron. . . first i need the spray paint (i'm serious)

i'm hopeful they won't look too wrinkled after washing, though i'm not really bothered by that look. i personally just want to be able to reuse something and not have to run to the store for napkins. we'll see how it goes. i love the way all the ones i saw online looked. and i might make a border for them as well.

while i have my sewing machine out i have a couple other plans to fully use it to the max for projects. i have two drapes that need hemmed at our new house. if i remember i'll give you guys an update.

have you sewn anything lately for the home? interested in reusing products? (BETH- i totally stole this from  you. i'll let you know if it truly is awesome)

moths, science, and life

when we got home from our trip a couple weeks ago i found this perfect moth on the floor. i panicked for a moment and thought it was alive. seriously. turns out it wasn't, and so i scooped it up for a lesson of teaching with the kids. they totally loved it! first we read a book about moths and butterflies (one of their favorites) and then we talked about what this was. moth or butterfly? they totally knew since we talk about them often, but it was nice to be able to have a specimen for them to actually look at in person.

it survived a couple of days until i bumped it and then things started falling off. whoops. it was pretty neat while it lasted, and i don't think that i've ever had anything happen in my home before, as they are usually all mangled or dried out looking. happy joys for science.

blueberry pickin'

not going to lie, i've taken some pictures of life, but have fallen behind on blogging it! so, here's something we did the day before my birthday as a fun thing to do as a family. we went to a pick your own (PYO) farm and it was relatively fun. i drove by this place the day before we picked after we bought some local honey (it is so much better than the store honey you can buy, try it near you) and saw that they have many different things to pick throughout the season.

 here's the store/farm front where you can buy some prepicked things from their working farm. we followed the instructions to the back of the farm and found the bounty.

 

kid #2 showing off 'a big one, mama!'

 the two oldest getting 'er done

 the patch was not well maintained. vines were choking out the bushes, and the bushes were rather petite compared to a previous pyo trip we had gone on. they didn't even mow between the bush rows and all i could think of was 'ticks like tall grass' (we checked everyone out before getting into the van hopeful none were hiding...). the bummer ris that because they aren't taking care of it- they have no idea that plenty of berries are waiting to be picked. they seriously asked the hubs where we found so many so quickly because they looked so good. we passed SO many bushes that were ripe, but you have to keep up with the explorers when you are doing this kind of stuff for fun.

 somehow we got no good pictures of baby and i (can i still call him that since he's over 1 yr old?! - lets pretend yes).. at least i look ok ;)

 blueberry bush

 full containers! and quite possibly full tummies

 one pint full :) (and yeah- this is within 5 minutes of our house... we'll be back!)

one of the most endearing moments {and my favorite} was when kiddo #2 said "you know what my favorite part of picking blueberries is, mom? taking them home"

the moments that make me know that we did a good thing hitting up the pickin patch.

JUMBO mallows

 here's the spread. time to start the fun since summer is about roasting the mallows and enjoying the lovely outdoors. i love it because, to me, it smells like camp!

this is fire pit #2. kid #3 and pops are smiling in the super excitement of roasted mallows (please note. these photos are from like late may. it's not 90º+ out there. i would not let fires be burned during the drought we're having... )

baby came with us in the stroller. he {finally} mastered the sippy cup this outing to the woods and i had a mini rejoice. i was exclusively nursing on the beverage front (aka- he was eating foods) so this idea gave me 'options' 

my sweeties smiling!! (the best thing about having kiddos so close in age)

 this is when i realized, "hunh, this could get messy" (and it was! marshmallow was found on this boys clothing and the sink where he washed his hands...)

 kiddo #2 showing off the marshmallows on his face.

 #1 isn't a fan of sticky messes. this was on his hands, his mouth. i think that he liked the flavor, but wasn't super psyched by the sticky aspect of this treat.

 kiddo #3 starting to lose the battle of clean vs mallow-mess...

 ahhhhh!

the fire ablaze with the stringy mallows...

this here is our 'archery range'... the kids think that it's super cool. they climb on it.

so. .. ..

who wants to visit?!

happy birthday, #4

 these are not the most -amazing- photos, but honestly... this kid grew a lot in one year {sigh, don't they all?!}

kiddo #4 turned 1 on july 2nd, while we were out of town. having a birthday party in the middle of traveling is a bust. honestly. so i'm hoping to celebrate again now that we are back home. this little boy is the best addition to our family. God knew what was great for us, and is showing us daily how well he fits. what a huge blessing to be his mom!

things kids say

 this guy (above) made me laugh so much when he told me that this guy (below) has such 'big eyes it looks like they might fall out of his head'

oh man. slay me. hilarious things kiddos say. i will agree that my children generally have eyes that appear larger opposed to smaller. i'll say that they haven't fallen out of their heads yet!

travels

a couple weeks ago we went to the beach in south carolina. it was a grand old time... some photos to let you know what is up and how we travel. :)

 first, we washed the car. the kids went crazy for this. please note: kid #2 is wearing beach attire because he's so excited. it's the day before we left.

 we also tried on our suits in order to have a 'plan' as to who was going to wear which suit. boys trunks are insanely inaccurate for my family. my 5+ year old wears a size 3. this kid #3 is wearing a 24m suit. what gives?

i took the must-have shot : the sandals out by the door.

 we saw a crab while walking one day. it was huge. and i took a pretty not-so-great photo of it. but for real. it was big.

 dad and kid #3. he's still talking about the beach.

 double date night and my sis and i tried on some fun hats and shades. mine were amazing. it was a good night in charleston and the evening seemed way too quick when all said and done.

 on the trip home we stopped and refueled with the fruit that screams summer to me: watermelon. note- some cousins were on the trip for us!


all in all- a great trip. i've decided that kid #4 needs to be in the darkest room ever since he slept SO much in the no-window bathroom. ahhh. fun.

my parents are going to have their 40th anniversary this year, which is why we took this trip. such a fun way to celebrate marriage and family. 


there are actually alllmost 100 photos (which is a lot when you have 6 adults and 8 kids to interact with and not just take photos, so those of you who read and only have one kid- i did good, i promise!)

baby

two weeks... and this guy will be one year old  and i'll be kissing the back of a 1 yr old head....

(how is this possible?!!)

hijacked

a couple times i have left my phone on a surface that the kids cannot refuse to let it be. often, they will take pictures. . . and it's fun to see 'their world' although they are not fantastic photos at all, they are a joy to look at: