one last hurrah

We couldn't let this summer pass without an Anderson beach trip so we headed to Virginia Beach a couple weekends ago.  We drove down to Richmond Thursday night and then to the beach Friday morning.  We convinced these cool kids to ride with us (Jilly and Mattie not pictured, but safely buckled in car seats in the back.)

After a few hours of traffic and a stop at cfa we were back at our happy place.  It was really windy, which the girls were thrilled about because we got to use their new kite (which was cheap and didn't work very well but they didn't seem to mind too much.)  While both girls were asleep Bryan and I snuck away for a bike ride along the boardwalk.  We stayed at VA Beach and rode bikes along the boardwalk on our honeymoon so it was fun to relive the experience 8 years later.  We had a great afternoon at the beach, a picnic dinner, then walked down the boardwalk for ice cream.  

We stayed at an awesome hotel right on the beach, the view was amazing!  I brought a pack n play for Mattie but she wanted to sleep in the bed with Jilly.  I let her since I knew they'd fall right to sleep thanks to a long fun beach day.  It was so funny to see how they'd end up cuddled together every night.

Saturday was another lovely beach day.  Lots of jumping in the waves, games, sandcastles, naps, and a fun bike ride with my mom and sisters.  The girls loved having a full day to play with daddy.  Jilly rode a few waves with Bryan on the boogie board until she had a little tumble and lost her bravery.  Next year she'll be back at it I'm sure.

Jilly has memorized the first two articles of faith and recited them at the beach for everyone.  Mattie got a little jealous of all the attention and started a little trick show of her own.  We were cracking up at this funny little sister.  

That night we got pizza and walked home along the boardwalk.  This sculpture was right by our hotel and technically you aren't supposed to climb on it, but how on earth was I supposed to tell a four year old she couldn't climb on a giant sand castle?

On Sunday morning we packed everything up and then went to church.  You'd never know we were  wearing our swimsuits under our church clothes, right?  The only thing missing on this trip was Jenn, who couldn't leave her job to fly home from Utah for the weekend.  Boo.

We had a picnic lunch and then spent a couple more hours at the beach before making the long, trafficky drive home.  Bryan had brought these twinkies with edible Minion stickers.  I was skeptical, and can't stand twinkies anyway, but the girls thought they were the best thing ever.   

And that's a wrap.  Summer 2015 is going down in the books as pretty darn good.

five on friday

one | I was running out of memory on my computer so I went through all my old pictures to save them to an external hard drive.  In addition to drooling over pictures of my sweet newborn babies I realized that two kids is WAY easier than one (at least at this stage.)  I loved the days that I spent with just Jilly and me, but looking back at pictures reminded me how exhausting it could be to entertain her all day.  It's so nice to have two girlies to play together and keep each other company.

two | Have you seen this video?  It's perfect, and hits a little close to home.  #cfaforlife

three | I feel like Jilly is on the cusp of becoming a big kid.  She's so excited for preschool to start in a couple weeks and loves practicing writing and sounding out words.  But I'm so glad she's still little enough to dress up in her Cinderella dress and gloves and ask me to put a bun in her hair.  

four | It's been an especially two-year-old week for Mattie Claire.  She's made messes and thrown tantrums and refused to nap for a couple days (thankfully that seems to be over now) and insisted on wearing her Minnie nightgown out and about on many occasions.   ¡Ay de mi!

five | This has been kind of a weird week for me.  On Monday one of my close friends got some horrible health news and I've been so, so sad about it.  I've been running around super busy, but the whole time I've felt like my brain is in a haze, and I'm often on the brink of tears.   Sometimes the world seems just too sad and scary, I'm so grateful for God's plan and the peace it brings.

Happy Weekend!

friday five

one | Last weekend our primary had a campout for all the dads and their kids.  Bryan took Jilly, and apart from a few tears as she waved goodbye, she was SO excited and had a great time.  Mattie was sad to be left home with boring old mom so I took her to Target and the Pet Store.  Every time we saw a new animal Mattie would walk right up and say "Hello, I'm Mattie."  

^ saying goodbye

two | While Mattie and I were at Target we bought her some of her very own undies.  I haven't actually started potty training, but I thought these would get her excited and I was totally right.  She wears them over her diaper every day and Bryan said when she walked into nursery on Sunday she immediately lifted up her dress to show everyone.

^ the wallpaper has to go... I just haven't gotten to it yet!

three | Afternoons can get a little hairy around here, especially when we're all tired, it's hot, I'm trying to make dinner, and the girls are hungry and their mean mom won't let them have any fruit snacks.  It's a relief to all of us when Bryan comes through the door.  On this day he sat down to read Chalk with the girls and had them in stitches with his sound effects.  

^ We ordered a couch over a month ago and it's finally going to be delivered Tuesday (!!)  In the meantime, we've been using this futon in our family room and we're definitely over it

four | One morning this week our plans with friends fell through and suddenly we had a free morning.  I took the girls to a nearby park where they rode their scooters around for a while, played on the playground, then begged to play in the stream as we left.  It turned into a really fun morning.

five | We seriously love having a backyard of our own.  Our inflatable pool and a sprinkler have gotten a lot of use this hot week

five fact friday

one | This week the weather was amazing so we headed out to Annie's Playground with some friends.  It's kind of a sad place - it's a playground in memory of a little girl who was killed by a drunk driver, but it's also a huge and really fun park.  On the way Jilly realized that we were going to Annie's Playground with our friend Ani and we were listening to the Annie soundtrack on the way- what a fun coincidence!

two | The first thing we did after getting the keys to our house was paint the front room my favorite paint color, Stonington Grey.  But when it was all freshly painted it was very apparent that the trim was an off-white which had looked fine with the previous wall color but didn't go so well with our new grey.  It bugged me a lot, but I had too much else to do and tried to ignore it.  This week I couldn't ignore it anymore and on a whim I started taping and painting.  It's been sloooooow going since I only really get to paint for a couple hours (maybe) every day during Mattie's nap while I'm also trying to keep Jilly occupied.  It's probably the most inefficient way to paint a room, but I'm up for the challenge and desperate to de-old lady our house.  I'm about halfway done and loving the white.

^ I still have to paint the crown molding so you can really see the difference the white makes on the windowsill/molding. 

three |  I went running a few times while in CA but took a little break the past few weeks during our move-in (how long can I use that as an excuse?  forever?  great.)  But this week I've been trying to get back to it and one night one of our new (elderly) neighbors stopped me and said "I just wanted to tell you that you're good for the neighborhood ecosystem, keep running honey."  Love friendly neighbors with some friendly encouragement.

four |  We all came down with a cold this week, which is a cruel thing in the middle of summer.  We spent most of the day yesterday laying low and wiping our noses over and over and over and over.  Mattie woke up much earlier than usual from her nap sobbing so I brought her to my room to lay next to me and a few minutes later she was right back to sleep.

five |  When Bryan got home from work on Thursday we were ready to get out and have some fun so we all took a glug of Tylenol and were off to the Howard County Fair.  We ate delicious (expensive) food, rode some fun rides (the Ferris Wheel was the favorite) and saw lots of animals.  There were one week old baby bunnies that we got to pet and they were the cutest little things ever.  Jilly fell asleep before we even made it out of the parking lot and Mattie held out the whole ride home but went right to sleep as soon as we got home; kids crashing every night may be my favorite part of summer.

The fun don't stop

I am seriously in love with this summer and kind of hope it will never end.  This past weekend was full of fun.  On Friday afternoon a good friend from home got married so my whole family met at the temple (well, whole family except for Bryan, who had to work.)  It was so fun to all be together, if just for a few hours.  And my girls loved seeing a real-life princess in her wedding dress.  Their new favorite game to play is "Wedding"- nicest dresses and bouquets required (thankfully I have a few fake flowers lying around that have gotten a lot of use.)

On Saturday Bryan got up with the early birds then at 7:30 there were two little faces in front of me saying "Daddy left to go running, can we go outside please??"  Jilly informed me that it was chilly out and sweaters were required (oh, 70 degrees, how we had missed you!)  The girls rode scooters til Bryan came home and we had breakfast.  

Later in the day after lots of work on our house we went to Bryan's company's summer party.  Last year it was at someone's house with a potluck lunch but this year they really stepped up their game and had it at an awesome swim park.  We had lunch and a contest (that Bryan's team one) and then a couple prize drawings (one of which Jilly won, which was really fun) and then we got to play.  There were 4 pools, diving boards, slides, a splash pad, a playground, and a pond with paddle boats.  It was seriously so fun and we didn't want to leave.  Mattie kept saying "one more time little slide" allll the way home.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that one of my favorite parts of Sunday is getting my girls all dressed up.  Jilly let me braid her hair this week and when her teacher asked if she had a new hair style she said "I don't know."  I had to teach her what a hair style was. :)  Mattie left the house wearing these funny neon anklets and ballet slippers.  In the car I sneaked her church shoes on and hid the ballet slippers, but forgot about the anklets and laughed when I picked her up from nursery and she still had them on.

Later we skyped with Bryan's mom and Mattie showed Nana all her bumps that needed band-aids.  We tried to show her that those bumps were her ankle bones and we all have them, but she just ended up kissing all of Jilly's "bumps."  This girl is a nut.  We also went on a walk through Oregon Ridge Park to see the chickens and the gardens and enjoy the amazing weather.  

Maybe this year August will last forever, pretty please?!?!