project life.

this week is an example of how simple your layout can be!

many of the pictures in the middle are from my iPhone. 

{and some are even extras from the week before or after... but you won't tell...}

right?

i got done initially and hadn't written anything down and was going to be done with it. 

but decided that i wanted to remember what was going on in some of the pictures so i went back and stapled scraps of paper on top. 

easy. peasy.

i love hearing of people starting this project and then they realize how TRULY easy it is. {ahem - katie & amanda!!} and their layouts are BEAUTIFUL. for reals. 

so excited for them... because it's really become a special thing for me. i'm so excited that i'll have it for years & years to come and that we can look back on these years FONDLY. ;)

happy friday to all. 

i am READY for the weekend. this week has been crazy. {fun crazy, but CRAZY!} yesterday afternoon i was ready to throw in the towel around 3:00. 

but today, i'm thankful for the new and fresh feeling of the mornings. and thankful that i got up before the craziness began and was able to spend some time in QUIET. 

love that. 

it helps me deal with the crazies when they get up and are raring to go. 

praying this heat doesn't get as hot as they are forecasting next week. i'm about to melt!

the meltdown.

remember that colossal meltdown i mentioned last night? 

well. it started like this.

a bowl of sugar-loaded ice cream shared between my two main men. 

{i told the hubbs i need to get some new sprinkles. at least then it wouldn't look like so much pure sugar}.

charlotte was working on some fruit for her dessert.

my little muffin. 

i could just eat her up.

i think she looks just like her daddy. especially her smile. 

it's maybe what i love most about her.

and then the meltdown.

and our precious bathtime.

and then... when it was all said and done. we had some sweet moments with c. in her room. 

 look at her posing. just like a little girl.

she's a squirmer. her legs have not. stopped. moving.

ever since she started crawling.

sweet picture. 

my fave.

project life will return tomorrow. i haven't taken pictures yet. and we must get those pictures right!!

all charlotte.

last night, after a WONDERFUL no-fight, no-fuss dinner...

we had a colossal meltdown.

when it was time for bath & jammies.

ugh. ugh. ugh.

this made for a world-record in quick bathtimes. and an early bed time.

it was a shame too... because we had a great day.

anyway. even though that was yucky....

it made for an extra special low-key bathtime with miss charlotte.

her first big girl bath.

by herself.... no one to take the toys from her. 

no one to pour water on her.

and the whole tub to play in.

she was in heaven.

and so were we. 

love these sweet one on one moments with our lil' miss.

they don't happen often enough.

{and just for fun - here are some pictures of brady when he was seven months old in the tub. so sweet.}

the weekend.

jeff came home last night & while we were eating dinner he said "your blog post today was kind of....... heavy today."

i told him that it was just so heavy on my heart that i didn't feel right posting about our wonderful weekend away. he totally got it. it weighed heavy on him as well, so he knew where my heart was on it.

and thank YOU for letting me share. i love blogging when it becomes an avenue to share some of the deepest thoughts and realities of life.

and when it can becomes an avenue to share my faith. praise the Lord. 

the funeral for this sweet girl is today. she is still on my heart. it must be amazing to be with Jesus. we talked with brady last night about heaven. and i couldn't help but think that maybe pops {jeff's dear grandfather who went home to be with the Lord earlier this year} has found this precious girl in heaven. and they're sweet friends. 

 just a note: i don't presume to know how heaven will look like. and i'm not a theologian, so just know it was just a thought. but a precious one that lifted my spirits and reminded me that we should look forward to going to heaven.

okay. enough of the heavy stuff today.

i wanted to share about our weekend away with some dear friends to the lakehouse!

we didn't have kids with us.

so we woke up late {a.k.a. 8, 9 or 10 for some of us!}

we walked. we sipped coffee instead of gulping it.

and then we packed lunch and went out on the boat.

and stayed out there for a LONG time.

enough time for all the boys {who don't think they need that much sunscreen} to get sunburned. {burnt or burned?}

we ate lunch with plenty of pringles and jalapeno cheetos.

{have you had those? they're actually really good!}

we floated for 3 hours. seriously. and parker only got 'fish bit' twice.

apparently none of the rest of us were appetizing to any fish. hmmmm....

 

we borrowed some crazy cruisers from our neighbor.

they are funny. you have to stick your behind out and wiggle it to get them going.

love it.

and let me say that some of us got it down better than others.

and i won't expose any names.

but i'll say that i did make it up that hill without pushing off.

enough said.

going up the hill was tough.

but coming down it was totally worth it.

as you can tell by the blurry julie pictured below.

we watched the sunset.

we played games.

and it was quiet. just what we all needed.

thankful for sweet friends to share some big laughs with.

as one person put it this weekend...we had a few times where we went to that really happy laughing place.

you know the one.

where there are tears streaming down your face and if you've birthed two kids, you just might be in trouble? 

yeah, that one.