January 28, 2016

recipe | fruit pizza

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Last week Amos & I made this fruit pizza for our community group. Super, super easy & great if you have little hands stealing fruit helping. 

(We added more grapes & the fruit glaze at the end so it didn't look so scarce...) 


January 26, 2016

snow day adventure | part 2

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The second half to our snowy weekend adventure was much more enjoyable for the kiddos. We headed up to OD & Cathy's house on Paris Mt. for an afternoon of snow playing fun, hanging out (the boys especially had fun with Wren), Christmas tree taking down, and yummy gourmet food eatin'. 

Due to trees being down, we had to take an alternative route up to OD & Cathy's, which led us to the perfect sledding hill! AND, lucky for us, some neighborhood kids left a couple of awesome sleds that we definitely took advantage of (along with an air mattress that was brought along for just such an occasion).

Here's to hoping you guys took advantage of the snow day too! And, that it's the ONLY snow we get this year! (: 

January 25, 2016

snow day adventure | part 1


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Our snowy weekend adventure started off a little drab. We woke up in Ft. Inn to nothing but rain (insert disappointed Mike face here)...but kept seeing on the news that up above Greenville & the mountains were getting hammered with snow. Work was canceled for Mikey (hooray!!), so we scooped up the boys from his 'rents house & headed to find some snow! 

Honestly, once we drove past the Woodruff Rd. exit on the hwy the scene changed drastically. The roads were starting to accumulate an icy mixture and tree branches were already drooping. We checked on the white house, grabbed lunch at Pete's and headed towards Caesar's Head. The boys were champs while the drive up the mountain took hours. I brought along a few snow day essentials (peanut butter m&m's and sour gummy worms) which seemed to help keep them occupied once they started getting antsy (biggest boy included). We'd also made promises of playing at the top once we arrived...little did we know it would be unbearable! We made it to the entrance of Caesar's Head State Park & decided to pull off the road for romping in the parking lot. Once we got out of the car, mine & Mike's hands immediately started stinging from the raw wind whipping around & the boys panicked. Like screaming, crying, tears running, snot dripping panic. (The following events may qualify us as bad parents..) We proceeded to put on their snow suits (over their regular clothes) and tried to convince them that it would be fun to play in the snow ... after a couple of snapped pictures, continuous crying and looks of "what are you doing to me?" Mike & I decided to call it and head back down the mountain. We laughed with each other & decided that though it was short lived, it was definitely worth it!

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#mikeyandmc

January 22, 2016

celebrate | girls night

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Wednesday night we met at Vino & Van Gogh for a girls night // early birthday celebration for Cathy's upcoming birthday! While I won't be quitting my day job any time soon (haha) I will say that this was so.much.fun!

Happy (early) birthday, Cathy! 


January 20, 2016

big brother, little brother | january 2016

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Brother, let me be your shelter, 
I'll never leave you alone.
I'll be the one you call
when you're low.
Brother, let me be your fortress, 
when the night winds are driving on...
be the one the light the way - 
bring you home.

|Need to Breathe feat. Gavin DeGraw|

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These two are just about inseparable. Big brother still pushes little brother around and is quite bossy at times, but little brother is always there trying the same (crazy) things. Like a shadow - watching, learning, soaking it in. My heart rejoices in their friendship. Mike & I pray that they'll always be best buds - fighting for each other, celebrating each other, doing life together. 



January 18, 2016

currently...


currently...

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reading: All the Light We Cannot See (Mike's something to read from last year) 

playing: footsie 

watching: Downtown Abbey, Parenthood & The Biggest Loser (when I can) 

trying: not to buy all the cute house things for our unfinished house 

cooking: not much. living with honey has stunted my cooking 

eating: apples & peanut butter & Larabars 

drinking: water with lime 
 
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calling: Patagonia & Abercrombie re: refunds for Christmas purchases (no fun!) 

texting: haley 

pinning: [farm] house things for the white house & travel ideas for our girls trip this fall 

tweeting: i don't do twitter..

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crafting: hand painted / hand lettered ornaments & necklaces 

doing: reconciling receipts from last week 

going: to the gym as often as i can before BM3 

loving: feeling BM3 move around all.the.time (what a wiggle worm!) 

hating: this cold weather (don't judge me you if you live somewhere where it's colder than here)

discovering: that it's 12:30AM and i need to go to bed 

enjoying: this season with a 3+ year old & 1+ year old 

hoping (for): our white house to be ready before BM3 arrives 

celebrating: amos being almost fully potty trained! (just need to get rid of diapers at night!!!) 

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smelling: a fresh pot of coffee 

thanking: mikey for TWO trips to the Tobacco Barn in the past few weeks 

considering: what life will be like with 3 littles 3 & under 

finishing: a |gifted| tube of this chapstick 

starting: working on yearly photo albums (whew) 

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January 14, 2016

Amos' favorite things | (almost) three and a quarter

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Favorites at (almost) 3.25:
Color: red, orange & pink 
Thing to do: nerf guns
Very best friend: Papa 
Place to go: Gravitopia
Food: cheeseburgers
Drink: chocolate (almond) milk
Show: Umizoomi & (American) Ninja Warrior 
Thing in the entire world: nerf guns

What else do you love?: "balls...basket balls..aaannnnnndddd guns" 

My sweet Amos! You're one funny, adventurous, loving, happy, nerf gun loving little dude. You're a great big brother to Solomon & I can't wait to see you with Baby Martin 3. You're growing and growing and tell me all the time that you're going to be bigger than Daddy (just promise me it won't be too soon). You love studying things and being read to (I think Daddy finished 3 or 4 Narnia books with you last year). You're also bossy and want things to be done your way (sorry...being first born I know how it is...mama's working on making sure you know things don't always have to be your way). I'm soaking in the days at home with you & trying to not let one single one slip away, as I know before long life will change again - we'll be moving into our white house and adding another baby to the mix. I hope you know how much mama & daddy love you, how much Solomon already looks up to you, and how proud of you we all are. You're amazing, Mooshka.

January 8, 2016

[required friday listening]


[required friday listening] 


January 6, 2016

twenty fifteen in review



January
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February 
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March 
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April
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May
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June
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July
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August
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September
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October
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November 
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December
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2015 came & went like the blink of an eye. In looking back, my thoughts over this year were: chaotic, busy, change...full. We celebrated, a lot. New babies, weddings of sweet friends, birthdays, our 6th anniversary. We ran races, went to the beach. We sold the first house we bought and moved three times. We bought our dream house and are (slowly) turning into everything we want it to be and more. In the midst of everything, we found out we'll be adding another arrow to our quiver (Psalm 127:3-5) next year (whoop whoop!). 

At the end of the year, Mike and I took time to reflect on things that we loved about this year, things that we did well, things that need improvement and what we want for next year. We picked a word to represent our new year -- HOME (idea from Natalie). I can't wait to share more on this in the near future!