Beautiful

I woke up late today. I didn't sleep well, the big dog was very protective last night, which I am always okay with, it just makes for an early morning. Thankfully I was greeted by this awesome sunrise:

It made waking up a little bit easier. Not much but I'll take what I can in my no-caffeine drinking life.

I have lots to post about, but it will be coming at a later time. The Chunk is not adapting well to switching houses for nap. He's fallen asleep sitting up on several occasions after crying himself to sleep. Keeps you pretty tense when you have a screaming baby.

keep it simple.

New Earrings

A while ago I was at Tuesday Morning with my mom and we found a whole basket full of jewelry making goodness for next to nothing. So obviously we bought a whole bunch of it. And of course because it's the way my mind works, I forgot about it for a while, and didn't even think about making something for a while {serious scatter-brain}. That is until recently and I thought to myself, some new earrings sure would be nice!! So how about a little crafty tutorial?
{it's super easy, anyone can do this!}


Step one: Gather some supplies. They don't have to be anything fancy, just something that you like. I found these pearls in gray, pink and white.

Step two: Attach the first pearl to the earrings.

Step three: Continue attaching pearls until you have the desired length and fullness for your earrings.

Step four: Wear your new creation and be prepared to start fielding questions about where you got your new earrings =)

not a bad nap-time craft!

See, I told you they were easy to make! No need to pay so much money for fun earrings when you can make them yourself for less than a dollar!

keep it simple.

Washington, D.C.

We took a little vacation out to our nation's capital, which resulted in a bit of a break from the old blog. So there will be plenty of posts this week to catch up =)

Last year we took a fun trip to West Palm Beach, FL, and because we had terrible luck with our flight getting out of StL (as in the flight crew decided not to show up so we missed our connection and were stuck in ATL for 11 hours) we got a pair of free round trip flights to try to make up for it. At the time we thought it was a pretty good deal, but after booking our trip and not paying for the flights, we were all the more pleased with how things worked out.

We have terrible luck in airports the ATL airport. In the last two year we have gone on three trips, that all had connections there, and all but one of the flights have gotten messed up or delayed. There was the fiasco discussed above. Over Memorial Day we went to see our friends the Vieux's out in Charleston and when we landed in ATL, our flight was canceled. No explanation just said canceled. We finally made it there, but still. So when our flight left on time from StL, we were excited but leery of what would occur once we got there.  Everything appeared fine and we were on the runway (waiting, which even when your flight in on time, you seem to do a lot of there) and the captain came on and told us there were severe thunderstorms so we wouldn't be taking off for a bit. Which turned into us going back to the gate, and actually getting off the plane. Yep, they unboarded the plane. Not a good sign. We finally got to D.C. about 3 1/2 hours late to learn from my cousin (who lives about three miles from the airport) that it hadn't rained at all. Regardless, we made it and that's what counts!

Our trip was fantastic. It was so neat to see D.C. and spend time with the Mr. away from work and reality. We went out to visit my cousin and his new wife and really did have such a blast. I don't think I have ever been so touristy in my entire life, but what else are you going to do in D.C. I suppose. We averaged walking about eight miles a day, so we were nice and worn out by the end of the trip and took a four day weekend to rest and recuperate before heading back to work today.

And now for a nice little photo gallery of our trip, enjoy!

 day one: White House

 day two: Air and Space (my Dad was on the project that built this one!)

 view of the courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery

day three: WWII Memorial, 4,048 stars each representing 100 American casualties

 Lincoln Memorial

U.S. Capitol

day four: The Hope Diamond

 Mary Lincoln's dress

Arlington National Cemetery

Tomb of the Unknown Soilders

I couldn't get over the size of everything. I knew things like the Capitol would be huge, but I wasn't expecting the museums to be so big that spending four hours in them felt like we had barely scratched the surface. 

Such a fun trip (another big thanks to Will and Jasenka)! I hope we can go back again and explore some more!

keep it simple.

Visitors

I love visitors. Like really love it. I always hope that my friends and family know how welcome they are in our home and that their presence fills my heart with such a joy {no matter how scatter-brained I might seem during it all}. I love to fuss over people {maybe that's why I've enjoyed nannying so much}.

A few weeks ago, my Lawrence family {you guys are family, deal with it} came through to visit us. Catherine {she's superwoman, just wait...} took their four {soon to be five} children on a road-trip across the country to visit family and friends. That's right, she's preggers and she drove from Charleston, SC to Lawrence, KS and OK by herself with her four kids. It makes me tired just thinking about it. Lucky for us, StL is on the way back from Oklahoma, so we were fortunate to get a long weekend with them.

We got lots of fun StL activities in while they were here:

The Magic House!

Dr. Monique

Aden showing off his catch 

Nathan enjoying the slide

  President Annabelle in the "Oval Office"

 Climbing the beanstalk

Grants Farm:

Silly boys in the stables

 

 Carousel

Water fun:

It was after all boiling the weekend they were here. Of course after they were in the yard playing in the water it started to rain, but they didn't mind, water is water, doesn't matter where it's coming from!

We had so much fun with the visit, it made us sad that we don't live in the same town anymore, but that always makes visits so special. I can't wait to see you guys again soon, hopefully the entire family which will be SEVEN at that point! I can't wait to meet the little one, only a few more weeks til the arrival, maybe I can convince the Mr. to let me fly out to Charleston in the winter =)

keep it simple.

The Thunder Rolls!!!

YES! RAIN! I was beginning to forget what it was.

I took a bunch of pictures of my wildflowers, that despite the heat are doing pretty well. I'm shocked that any of them came up, let alone bloomed and now I am thankful that the rain is here, providing nourishment to them.

I'm sure the only person who will really care about seeing these is my mom, and that's a big reason why I had to document them. She's up in Iowa this weekend at a tennis tournament {dominated today I might add, keep it up Mom!} I didn't know if this rain would actually come and I couldn't risk the flowers dying before she got back.

 {please ignore the bear ruining the picture...}

  

 I realize it doesn't seem like much right now, but there is more to come. At least I'm hoping there is. So much of it is grown up and they appear to be waiting to bloom, so I'm staying hopeful.

In other news, our dear friends, the Vieux's are coming to visit us this weekend on the tail end of their trek across the country.

I'm so looking forward to spending some quality time with the kids and Catherine {hope you get to join next time, Adam!}

Hope you have a relaxing and wonderful weekend!

keep it simple.

Inspiration

Our big sweet bear of a dog, Norman is a spoiled one. It's no secret, and I'm okay with it. I'm sure he thinks we are mean when we don't share our dinner or other table scraps, or when we haven't taken him on a walk in about 3 weeks {buddy, convince me you want to be outside, I have to practically pull you to get you out there in the heat} but in reality, he lives a pretty plush life.

Not a camera trick, he is in fact tucked-in on the couch.

 

He is such a good dog though, it's hard not to spoil him, and let him walk all over us a bit. We laugh every morning when we leave because we get all of his toys and bones out, turn on the fans for him, turn on the iPod {so he doesn't get lonely, duh}, make sure all the blinds are open so he can look outside. Really? All that? He's a dog!! Both of us are aware of this, but for those of you that have a dog, you know they are so much more. They are family {I'm sorry for those of you that don't have dogs, I know that concept might be strange, but I pray that you will experience it one day.}

 

Mr. Norman was a rescue dog that I got when I was up at school in Kirksville. I was a Freshman and with a lack of activity in town I decided to start volunteering at the local animal shelter. They needed people who would come walk the dogs around their HUGE property, and were especially in need of people who were comfortable with the big dogs. Well, come February/March of my Freshman year, this cute {albeit smelly} puppy shows up and I was done for. He was so cute, and St. Bernard's had always been my favorite dog. I called my dad and told him all about it, but he said it wasn't possible right now, they already had  two dogs and taking in another while I was at school just wasn't in the cards. 

 

I was devastated.   

But I kept going out and walking the puppy {his name was Lumpy then} and eventually my dad said that he supposed it would be alright, but it was my financial responsibility to take care of him. YES!! I went out, filled out the application, and prepared to bring him in all his stinky glory home over Easter. 

 

Pure joy of freedom

Home

Sad when he mom was leaving =(

I was nervous he wouldn't remember me, since I was back at school after I dropped him off, but he did. He knows I am the one who saved him, and that was always something special to me. My amazing family took him and his 90 pounds in for the next three years of school, and the first year we were married, living in Lawrence, but we finally got our puppy back last year. It's so sweet to have our little family together. 

 Before we went out for our first anniversary

So if you haven't gotten it, we feel that dogs are a vital part of life. They teach you so much about yourself but more importantly about loving others. The love and devotion they have is really incomparable and it makes you think about how you approach love for others in your life. We leave Norman everyday in an empty house to go to work, but everyday he is excited for us to come home and love him. He greets us with the same enthusiasm whether we are gone for a trip to the grocery store, to work, or for a week long vacation. It often reminds me of the love we are given through Christ, no matter how neglectful we are of Him, He loves us all the same. 

We have a plaque in our kitchen:

Isn't that just easier anyway? You can't walk out of the house without looking at it, and it's such a great daily reminder of how we should approach everything in our life. Just love everyone, you never know who's life you are going to impact with one random act of kindess and love. 

keep it simple.

And Another....

This heat. I feel like I keep coming back to it, but it has gotten to the point of no return. We got our electric bill for last month, and it was painful. Apparently when your air conditioner doesn't turn off, day or night, you pay for it. Yikes. I am thankful everyday that we are blessed to have AC, because it seems like each morning there is another tragic death in the area of someone who wasn't as fortunate. If you have older neighbors, please check on them. It is so heartbreaking that people have to suffer through the summer when others can help by being a good neighbor.

All of our activities must take place in the morning now. Which I am okay with. Curly actually is a stud when it comes to nap-time, and the heat wears him out {I'm talking four hour naps here, and he still sleeps at night.} So today, I was informed that we were going on a walk. Fine by me, wear those little legs out. So off we go and about 2 blocks into our stroll we come face to face with...the street-sweeper. Best thing ever. We chased that street-sweeper for probably close to a mile, poor kid was determined. It was hilarious. We did have a couple stops, as we passed a street that has had construction going on for the past year. Thankfully mansions don't build themselves, and we have gladly taken part in watching the work with the cement mixers, bobcats, bulldozers and trucks since last summer. It's amazing to me how these boys can just sit and watch the trucks for 15-20 minutes. They can't sit through an entire meal, but put a dump truck in front of them and game over.

We eventually lost the street-sweeper {shocking} but made it to the playground for a little while. There is a family center down the street where we would go to an indoor play-group during the colder times {at least that's what I am told, I don't remember any such times} and they are on their summer break now too, so there aren't any kids. This playground is never empty, so it's fun when you can get it without 50 kids on it.

He was a wild man today, refuses to go down the slide and way but head first and he couldn't stay on any part of the playground for more than 5 minutes and was off running to the next thing. No wonder he is still sleeping, makes for a nice afternoon of Pinterest for me I suppose.

keep it simple.

Two Years Ago...

I was doing this:

 

 

By far the best day of my life. We had such a great time with our wonderful family and friends. Everything was perfect (thankfully the big man upstairs blessed us with a cool spell and it wasn't 105, like it is today).

I can't believe it has already been two years. For the most part it seems like it was yesterday, but when I stop to think about all the changes in our life that have occurred since that day, I remember what a crazy two years it has been.

•  We moved to Lawrence.
•  The Mr. completed his Master's.
•  The kidney-stone debacle. Not the best Thanksgiving ever. 
•  I lost my Grandmother.
•  We moved to St. Louis.
•  The Mr. passed his CPA tests (on the first go around, praise the Lord!)
•  I started my new job with the crazy three.
•  The Mr. started his new job.
•  We finally got our puppy =)
•  I lost my Grandfather.

There were so many things to be thankful for over the past two years, but also so many things that brought serious heartache to our family. It takes your relationship to a new level when you go through the grief of losing someone close to you, and we unfortunately had to do it a lot, very close together (I actually lost my three remaining grandparents in a span of two years and three months.) But we made it through, and I am thankful that we had each other during those times.



Today, two years later, my day has been oh so different. It was spent sweating my life away at the Zoo because dear old Curly only wanted to see the animals today.

 Although I did get a kick out of both this turtle and the lion. You don't get to see the big cats too often and in Curly's words, "That lion is handsome, he's just chillin'." It's been a good day, just not what I envisioned two years ago.


Now just time to wait for our date night. Maybe we can wear this again:

Maybe not. I am a lucky girl and got to wear my dress two times though. More on that another time though.

keep it simple.