a return.

I am sure I've thought a bunch of times throughout the past few weeks about our blog. And I've ignored it. Set it aside. And I am happy to say I have. This pregnancy has simplified life a lot for me/us.

For the first time in months, I finally had a "normal" Monday of staying home, cleaning, doing laundry, and spending time with my girl. Add in a total meal fail with chili, but that couldn't derail me, I was just so happy to be back on some kind of routine. Now don't get me wrong, I don't have debilitating pregnancies as some and I certainly don't want to use our blog as a platform for pregnancy complaints, but this time around has been much harder. I have had persistent stomach issues, tiredness, the usual, all indicating a very healthy baby, but making for a very worn out Mommy.

Meals have been simple. But I finally do have a recipe to share. Little things like this do remind me that some kind of "normal" will return, I just need to be patient and wait for my body to catch up with my ambitions.

But, more than anything, I want to return. This blog has been a wonderful way for me look back and see God's faithfulness on display, life's milestones watching my girl grow up, and even my go to for remembering recipes we have loved.

I want to remember that my girl is now saying her ABC's, is counting to 10 and wants to learn the numbers to 20, loves babies, and that the new life that will join us in March is also reminding us of their existence through tiny baby kicks.

The simple, mundane, just at home moments of life are beautiful. And home is where God has me for now and I have so much to be grateful for even though my heart's ambitions sometimes want to take me other places.

This recipe that I have come to love so much (thanks to Becca's shower) could be the result of pregnancy but I think it is amazing.

Mexican Chopped Salad adapted from SELF

Salad
Mixed Greens
1 yellow/red pepper
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup freshly grated white cheddar (optional)

Dressing
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 TBS honey
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tsp chopped jalapeno (use canned for less heat)

Top with Quinoa with Black Beans and Tomato.

Yum and yum.

a week of instagrams.

there are some things in life you say you will never do. number one, that usually isn't a good idea to say "never". number two, sometimes you just have to learn and realize there is good in some things and try it out. I've enjoyed it so far and its been a fun way to document all the goings on in our past week. if you follow me on instagram, sorry for the duplicates. 

this pretty much sums up our past week. friends for dinner, weekends with daddy, games for memorial day, freshly cut grass, cleaning house, holding babies, and celebrating our nana's birthday at the pool.

and lastly for a good laugh. here is our girl in her true glory with oven mitts on.

a weekend.

strawberry picking and peonies at butlers. 

 after our dishwasher saw its end on wednesday, our oven kicked the bucket on friday. what are the chances? so we ended up back at sears to buy a new one and audrey discovered the train. she and daddy went for a ride. needless to say she loved every second. she even said "please" to go on. 

we dropped little A off at home for bed and then went to the hospital to meet baby bennett. seeing our dear friends jim & tessa with their second little boy was just the sweetest thing.

saturday morning started with a text from one of my best friends, stef, saying that their little girl had arrived in the middle of the night at home (not planned). and her birth story is def one for the record books and was quite a bit more epic than her older brother, jackson. 

we enjoyed our saturday morning breakfast tradition of pancakes with the addition of freshly picked strawberries.

saturday night little a got to have another train ride with daddy at the rio. 

sunday morning, after church, we finally got to meet little baby abigail and hear the story in person. (for the record, there are no story tellers like stef's hubby, andrew.)

we left from the hospital to go to PA to celebrate our nephew's first birthday. audrey and israel are 6 months apart to the day and its sweet to see how much they enjoy each other being so close in age. 

(A's very first scooter ride. another thing that she was just dying to do as soon as she saw her older cousins riding them. she was intent on fitting right in and loved riding around and having daddy push her)

what a week it has been. and thankfully they don't come around very often. 2 new appliances, a newly walking audrey, a speeding ticket, 2 train rides, first time strawberry picking, 2 new babies and a first birthday party. so much to celebrate and so much to be grateful for. 

lately.

life never seems to slow down. this past week has been a little busier than normal.

fleet foxes on sunday was amazing. if you ever have the chance to see them live, you totally should. and to make the show even more fun, this actress was sitting two rows in front of us.

she looks more like this now:

and sadly, none of us had the courage to go up to talk to her before she left. sigh. 

monday we bought a new dishwasher. exciting date night, right? ours was on its last legs and thankfully we were able to get an amazing deal.

which come tuesday, we might as well have paid full price for the dishwasher because after 28 years, I landed my first speeding ticket. $80. major ouch. I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry or just be angry. lets just say I decided against crying.

and in the mix of all this we have been loving dinners on the deck.

and watching our girl walk for the first time.  

happy wednesday, its all downhill from here to the weekend. which I already can't wait for.

featured.

so because jenny + jamison have such amazing taste. 

and because pinterest is an amazing way to connect people who have never met. 

our little blog and a few pictures I took was featured over on love the day. 

you should go check it out. 

and in our weekend, if it were not for these shoes, me waking up at 7am this morning would have been all for nothing. 

the baby bazaar was a huge let down this year, but scoring some sweet pink baby chucks did lessen the blow. 

thankfully the rest of the day was productive, I was able to help a good friend make some curtains and sew some pillows. 

thankfully, the weekend isn't over yet. fleet foxes with friends is tomorrow night and I cannot wait. 

a half week.

its the wednesday that feels like a thursday. and it was a tuesday that felt like a wednesday and so on. ever have that kind of week?

monday was a great laundry day. the key to success was getting audrey on my side, teaching her that its way cooler to help mommy by "patting" the folded clothes rather than tearing them out of the basket.

tuesday was a grocery day. which involved almost getting pulled over on the way to the grocery store. we are talking so close, I had my sob story already prepared, the sinking feeling in your gut when you see the cop car lurch forward, the lights go on, and the siren wails. thankfully, it was the acura behind me that fell prey to the radar gun. I really don't know how I escaped that because when I looked down at my speedometer Lord knows I was wayyy over. in my defense, I was coming down a hill. thankfully our trip to trader joes was mostly uneventful.

and don't let this little cart of food fool you. it rang up to a whopping $102. it was one of those trips to the grocery store where you think "I've got this under control, I don't really have that many things on my list." hah. always comes back to get you. every time.

and today, its just kind of a quiet wednesday.

mom is coming to town on friday (which I almost typed tomorrow because it really does feel like thursday). hooray.

audrey's baby dedication is on sunday and friends and family will be in town visiting for that.

with the impending craziness of a full weekend, basketball to watch (go butler!) and lots to get done, I have been meal planning, cleaning, shopping, and brainstorming in every free moment I get. not to mention making another list of things I need to get at the store. because one trip this week wasn't enough?

not to mention audrey has been keeping me busy with her new antics, that I have affectionately named "perching." (don't worry this is all parentally supervised "perching")

but I can't totally complain...I have such a cute face to keep me company. in the past few days she has turned into quite the chatterbox occasionally slipping in a coherently understandable word. its pretty sweet.

in other blog worthy mentions, if you have a free second, check out our friend Ben's website. he wrote a song and is raising money for samaritans purse which is participating in aid relief in japan.

happy wednesday.