currently

currently...

reading: A Woman's Words (a Grace study) 

playing: Ray Lamontagne (on Pandora) 

watching:  The Great British Baking Show

trying: to get things in order for fall art shows & photo shoots! 

cooking: stir fry / pesto chicken with gouda ... waiting for it to cool off a bit, but i'm pumped to try this recipe 

eating: dark covered chocolate covered almonds (thanks Trader Joe's) 

drinking: coke zero & lots of water 

calling: Haley 

texting:  amber & alexa ... all.the.girls.trip.things!!! 

pinning: mostly photography ideas 

planning: Amos' fifth birthday (!) 

crafting: nothing currently 

doing: packing for our girls trip & running last minute errands 

going: to Kansas City, MO for our 5th annual girls trip (TOMORROW!) 

loving: that we're getting so close to meeting BabyM4

hating: that our house has been sick for almost a month now 

discovering: that i'm going to need a job just to feed our boys here soon (taking donations haha!)  

enjoying: sweet, sweet time in the morning with just Sollah-Roo & Ez while Amos is at preschool

hoping: that BabyM4 can hold out until after my Christmas card sessions are done (: 

celebrating: when our kids stay in their beds all night 

smelling:  cowboy cookies .. that ended up more like a cowboy cookie cake (?) 

thanking: Mikey (& Mimi & Papa) for keeping the boys this weekend so I can go on our girls trip

considering: life as a family of S I X 

finishing: editing pictures from church from a couple of weeks ago 

starting: my 4th load of laundry for the day #sendhelp 

celebrate | Cheers to 80 years!

Cheers to 80 years! We celebrated our sweet, precious Honey this past weekend with a surprise party for her 80th birthday! Much planning and thought went into this shindig and while Honey hates to be the center of attention, she was such a good sport. We spent the evening talking with family and friends, celebrating Honey and all that she is to all of us. What a joy to see everyone there for her, recognizing what a special lady she is, and to hear stories & recollections of memories of her from those who came. 

Happiest 80th birthday to my Honey! 

Amos' first day of school

 

  Our sweet Amos started preschool last week and has been loving it! We're super fortunate that his school is about an 8 minute walk from our house and the weather has been nice, so we've been able to walk him to / from school just about every day. He really loves his teacher, Mrs. Mandy, and has made sweet friends already. 

One of my favorite things has been chatting on the way home about whatever he's done that day. We talk about who he played on the play ground and what story they read as well as what letter they're working on during writing time. I also love hearing sweet stories from the play ground...so far my favorite: 

"A little three year old girl from the K3 class told me that I'm crazy, but she likes me the best..." (while stating almost in a confessing manner that he wasn't actually being crazy) 

Cheers to new things this year. Mosie, you're a rockstar and I'm so proud of you! 

Solomon is THREE!

For Solly's third birthday we had day of "birthday maximization" as we like to call it 'round here. We started the day with presents: a new glider bike (something you want), a super cool helmet (something you need), the Postman Pat story time book (something to read) & 2 pairs of Toms (new to us / something to wear) + the sweetest gift from Amos, a Paw Patrol figurine set that he thought up all on his own. Immediately after opening gifts, we headed to the Donut Experiment where Solly's donut of choice included pink icing + rainbow sprinkles. Next up, we ventured over to the airport park (our favorite) for a couple of hours so Solly could try out his new glider bike. After lunch at home + a nap for Ez we loaded up and headed to Gravitopia (thanks Groupon!!) ... where we had the place almost to ourselves for an entire hour of jumping, flipping (Solly got the hang of a front flip in the air!), Ninja-Warrior-course-completing fun. And, to top it all off, birthday maximization ended with pizza at MellowMushroom. Oh yea! I almost forgot ... one of my favorite things has been ordering special shirts for the boys on their birthdays! Solly is super indecisive at this age, but we landed on a Moana shirt with Maui (thank you Etsy!). 

Solly Mack Martin, you're so fun. I've loved watching you over this past year fully take on the roll of big brother while fully embracing the roll of little brother. You're such a middle child - you know how to push buttons without actually doing anything (something Mama will never understand, but Daddy gets perfectly). You love Amos and think he hung the moon and you take such good care of Ez, always including him in whatever you're doing (you two have the sweetest bond). 

You (still) love Little Einsteins and Moana. You're super smart & sometimes surprise me with Spanish phrases / counting. You loved the beach this summer and I'm confident will be swimming by next summer. You like to play with Play Dough, water balloons and side walk chalk. You still love sleep dog (more than anything). You're still hilarious and super witty, always making us laugh. And, recently, you've developed quite the sassy attitude (helllooo threeeeee). 

Little buddy of mine, you are such a joy. I love being your mama and watching you grow. You're so fun and smart and funny - I hope you know how much each of us loves you! Happiest third birthday to YOU! 

snippets from Litchfield

We're just back from a week at Litchfield, our last beach week of the year. The weather was a bit chillier than our week at Edisto and it seems as if fall has chased us home. 

The boys slept in the closet again this year and Daddy-O got to stay all week! Amos, Solly & Ez loved the salt water pool and the golf cart (thank you, M!)! Lee's is always a staple and we added Family Kingdom & Ripley's Aquarium this year...both of which were huge hits with our crew! 

I really love watching our boys at the beach. They're wild and free, just as kids should be. They play hard (which means so do we) and love to be on the beach for as long as we'll let them (and as long as it's decently warm). Next summer we'll have another bambino in tow and I can't wait!