halloween

It's been kind of a funky halloween season.  I'm always more than excited for this spooky holiday and this year was no different.  I had big plans for pumpkin carving and apple picking, costume designs that could rival store brands - It was going to be a more than awesome celebration for Madeline's first halloween.  

But... today is Halloween and it feels like any other day.  I don't know if it's the fact that I overworked myself on costumes or maybe the hype about the storm completely drained me of all my energy. Maybe I'm growing up. I hope not...

We did manage to squeeze in a trip to a local cider mill.  We went for a little hayride and stuffed our bellies full of cider slushies and doughnuts.  mmmm.....

{Someone is growing up}

 We dressed up for our church's Trunk or Treat and it was really fun.  We were all pretty tired that night so we didn't stay long.  Hard to believe we forgot to take a picture!?  So we hopped back in our costumes and snapped a few.

 Happy Halloween!

love, 

The Scarecrow, The Tin-man and The Cowardly Lion

little kisses

Few things in life beat having two little lips take a break from playing to plant an intentional wet one on you.  Happy mom.

heirloom or junk: I need your help!

I recently started up a book club and at our last meeting, as we discussed our book, a friend of mine made the comment that often times when someone we love passes on we make the mistake of thinking if we hang on to their stuff it's like they are still with us.  I realize this isn't the case with everything, but as soon as she made that comment my mind flew to our bedroom where we are housing an unfinished dresser I got after my great grandmother passed away.

In my head it was going to be a fun project for Jeremy and I to work on. We'd sand it down perfectly and stain it a rich color to match Madeline's room and she'd grow up with it and pass it down to her oldest daughter who'd pass it on and on and on etc, etc, etc. 

Reality: It's in pretty bad shape.  It doesn't just need to be sanded down and stained.  It needs to be sanded and have the veneer stripped off.  The drawers are completely falling apart and the back has some good sized holes that would both require partial reconstruction.  We started sanding it and staining it is out of the question at this point because of the glue from the veneer and the cheap wood underneath.  So we'd have to paint it, but do I really want to paint it?

I'm so in the mood to clean out all the junk we have before the holidays (where we will undoubtably buy each other more junk).  But is this another piece of junk?  I know we don't NEED it right now, but we will someday, right?  Plus it was the dresser I used when I lived with this grandma that I really loved.

In the name of giving you all the details, I will also say we paid a small fortune to ship it across the country (along with two couches that don't match anything we own and a washer we ended up not needing... gah sometimes I just want to kick myself!) so for that reason Jeremy says we need to make the most of it.  But in my head it's just more $$$ and more TIME that quite frankly we just don't have.  

So I turn it over to you, dear friends.  Is this another piece of junk or is it a special heirloom? 

  

P.S. The Wednesday Letters is the book we read if anybody is interested.  I quite enjoyed it.

Happy Monday

   

 

We are loving all the wonderful things October brings.  Cool weather, fall leaves, apple cider, warm soup and pumpkins, just to name a few.  We went for a Sunday walk yesterday.  Madeline enjoyed her first encounter with crunchy, colorful leaves.  She loved it.  

We were enjoying fall treats, too, but after a very painful (for me... Jeremy and Madeline seemed to sleep quite soundly) night of food poisoning last week after eating pumpkin pancakes two nights in a row followed by pumpkin doughnuts the second night, I'm not sure if I want to partake in any more autumn sweets.  HA.  Not likely.  I'll be making some pumpkin chocolate chip bread this week. mmm.....

I would write a long emotional essay about how Madeline will be one in less than a month, but I feel like I've done that already.... so I'll just let you know I'm thinking about it.  I have some great birthday plans in the works though :)

Happy Monday!

toddler trouble

There it is, Madeline's first art project (above)

 "Hey mom, did you know these toys you keep giving me OPEN!? Pretty cool, right?"

 "why did you take my fun brush, mom...?"

 "I just loved playing with it so much!"

Madeline's favorite toy for the past few months has been my mascara.  She enjoys carrying it around the house and banging it on different surfaces.  I don't think she (or I) had any idea until this morning that the colorful cylinders she adores so much are also fun for art projects!  

The ironic thing is that right before I made the discovery of the toddler trouble I was thinking to myself, "How nice that she's learning to quietly entertain herself."  Lesson learned.  

Happy Monday!  I've got to go wash a door and make a trip to the store for some new mascara.

p.s. sorry for the horrible flash in these pictures.  The lighting in our house is horrible especially on overcast days so flash it is.... Someday we'll have a house with big windows and natural light streaming in from all directions... :)

ten eleven twelve

{All photos taken by Matt Shumate}

Yesterday was October 11, 2012.  10-11-12.  Yesterday was the day I wanted to get married.  When Jeremy and I first started dating, we knew almost right away that this could be (and probably was) it.  I told him that I thought (if all worked out) we should get married on 10-11-12.  Because, come on! What a cool anniversary! Plus I'd be twenty by then and who doesn't love October? Jeremy thought I was crazy.

When that date got crossed off, we decided together that June 17, 2011 was a good date.  We had our first date and our first kiss on a '17th' so we thought it would be kind of clever to get married on one.  And June just says, "wedding", to me.  We celebrated our "pre-anniversary" on June 17, 2010 just days after I graduated from high school.  But we still weren't officially engaged.

Well, guess what.  We didn't wait til 10-11-12.  We didn't even wait for 6-17-11.  A month after our pre-anniversary we were engaged and chose 12-18-10 instead.  I'm so glad we did.  We got to the point that we knew we wanted to be together.  We knew we wanted it to be forever.  So why wait? I am eternally grateful for Jeremy knowing I was crazy (and still wanting to marry me).  I can't imagine my life without him. It hurts to try, so I don't.  I can't imagine having waited and not having Madeline in our family.

So even though pinterest wasn't invented before we got married and even though I didn't get my dream spring/summer/fall...not winter wedding it still turned out pretty beautiful. God has a way of making everything turn out perfectly.  

Most importantly, we were Sealed for time and all eternity. And no number combination can beat that.

p.s. Now we have like three anniversaries and it's kind of awesome.  Just sayin'.

p.p.s. How we celebrated our first anniversary.

my baby

   

She's growing up.  

It's a bitter sweet feeling that I really didn't anticipate.  Each day my heart finds itself conflicted.  I long for her to be my little baby.  I've loved that she needs me and depends on me. Loved that there are certain things only I can offer her. And yet I want her to learn, grow and be who God intended her to be.  It's amazing watching her take in the world and try new things. I just didn't realize how hard it would be to let go of basinets and binkys.

Our nightly ritual of nursing before bedtime is becoming more and more difficult.  She wants to nurse but seems to think she's too big to be cradled or hold still long enough to accomplish anything.  It feels like this is the last piece of her babyhood I have and it's slipping through my fingers.  She's really more of a toddler these days.  Talking and walking almost more than she crawls.  

Nobody warns you that once you figure out the whole being-the-mother-of-a-baby thing you'll have to let your baby keep going.  No one said, "Hey, just a heads up, it's gonna be hard to let her grow out of babyhood." I know even better things are ahead for both of us, but I sure loved that skinny little baby.

So here I stand at the cross-roads of babies and toddlers wondering where time has gone.  Hoping she won't be a teenager tomorrow and getting married in two weeks.  Wishing she'd slow down just a little so I can catch my breath.  Praying I'll be at peace when I nurse her for the last time.  And fighting back tears just thinking about it. 

swim diapers

 When you need one {ie hotel swimming pool} you probably won't have one.  But the other 99% of the time there always seems to be one laying around.  Which often results in using them as a fashion statement in an unexpected way.

p.s. You can add cracker to the list of words Madeline says.  If you count "ka kah" as cracker - which we do.