you wanna step outside?

 

my goal has always been to get the inside

 of our house done and then move on to the outside.

but as luck would have it,

we are STILL NOT DONE with the freaking walls,

and since its spring, ronnie would like to

start working on the outside

while the weather is nice.

of course he does. (eye roll)

when we bought the house we both

agreed that we would hire someone to

replace the rotten siding and paint.

we didn't want to mess with all that,

especially after everything we've done

ourselves to the inside.

then ronnie got a wild hair up his ass and informed

me that he and cale are going to be doing the siding.

of course he is. (eye roll)

i'm not happy.

sure, sure, it saves us some money,

but i just want it over with. and fast.

and let's be honest,

nothing ronnie does is fast.

so i made them a deal:

it has to be done by the end of may.

they promised me it would be.

so far, i'm still waiting.

of course i am. (eye roll)

but i did move forward with the painters.

i've been in contact with three different

people to get some estimates and

hopefully as soon as the new siding is up,

the painters will swoop in and complete the look.

i'm excited.

 

but i realized that i've never really shown

the outside of our house.

so here you go... a tour and some pics.

sorry, about the wind.

i didn't realize it was going to be so loud.

 

 

 

 (this is where ronnie and cale are building a gate around the stairs

 to our basement so the girls aren't at risk of falling.)

 

 

to be continued...

 

 

seasonal concepts

 

 

sorry, but i just wanted to update you on

my latest diet craze.

diets. ew.

but in my world, after having two kids...

completely necessary.

i've decided i'm what you would refer

to as an "event dieter."

i need a reason.

when i had brette, we were heading to

mexico within the year.

i knew there was no option but to pull

myself together and get swimsuit ready.

it was such a great motivator.

i could imagine myself on the beach and

KNOW that a chocolate chip cookie wasn't worth it.

but this time around...

well, nothing cool is on the horizon.

i thought the motivation of being back down

to pre-pregnancy weight by the time reid

hit six months would be enough,

but sadly no.

then i thought maybe getting into

all my old clothes would be helpful.

but most days i'm in "mom gear" and the

other two days a week i go to work 

i try to find something that will be

easy enough to pump in.

so i had no real motivation to get skinny.

sure, sure - - health and wellness always

sound great, but between christmas,

valentine's day and easter, eating healthy or

eating chocolate, well, chocolate always wins.

always.

who can resist reese's trees, hearts and eggs?

it's the mother-effing trifecta within a few months of each other.

so i spent a lot of time doing this:

 

i did diet for a week and lose some weight, but

regrettably gained it all back.

(that damn trifecta strikes again.)

 

so i recently decided to diet - for real this time -

because i had a lot coming up:

baby shower's

birthday parties

SUMMER

possibly a vacation this august

SUMMER.

did i mention, summer?

the season of tank tops and swim suits.

and there it is... the motivation i need.

give me an event to get ready for and

i will try my best.

kassie's baby shower is first on my list and

the third weekend in april.

perfect

i started my diet on april 2nd (last weekend)

and i've lost FIVE POUNDS so far.

oh yeah.

my goal is at least 10, but i would prefer 15. 

i also started going to a spin class with a friend of

mine from the bank.

it kills me, but i doubt there's a better leg workout on the planet.

and i feel better already.

i always do.

i don't know why it takes me so long to realize the benefits...

probably because it's so darn hard not to eat all the crap amazing food.

 

but i'm on my way. 

wish me and my celery snacks good luck.

time for school

 

i spent the majority of my time yesterday

driving around town, meeting with PRESCHOOLS.

yes, brette is already to that age.

on one hand i am so ready for her start school.

make friends. 

take a picture with her little backpack.

fall in love with her teachers.

start learning things that i would never think to teach her.

on the other hand, ITS TOO SOON!

she's my little two year old baby.

she needs to be with me.

she needs to be older.

she needs to stay little.

 

but i have a plan.

don't i always?

she'll go two days a week when she's three.

three days a week when she's four and

if i think she's ready,

she'll start kindergarten when she's five.

she'll  be one of the younger ones in her class, but

since she's a girl and i don't see any delays,

i think she'll do just fine.

in fact, her and eden will both start kindergarten together.

the cut off it august 1st, so

she makes it by a few months.

that means its definitely time to start venturing out of the house.

she's super excited about school.

she talks a lot about going to school like madeline and eden.

i'm excited for her.

 

i met with four different facilities yesterday.

some i loved, some i liked and one

i crossed off my list immediately.

of course, my favorite one is the most expensive,

but it's also less than a mile from my work.

hello, convenience.

and i still have to work out a schedule with

my work hours and ronnie's,

but hopefully if everything comes together we

should have her enrolled for this fall by next week.

as of right now, she'll be going every wednesday and friday and

still spending monday's with my parents and her cousins.

then next year she'll go monday, wednesday, friday. 

that's the plan as of now.

 

 

also, a little sidenote:

reid will be one by the time brette starts school,

 which means she'll start going to an in-home daycare on fridays

instead of spending the day with my mom.

this also means, i'll get every wednesday with just reid.

i love the thought of getting a little one on one time with her.

brette got a whole year.

reid gets one day a week.

#SecondChildProblems

 

 

 

that's what little girls are made of

there must be a lot of

sugar and spice and

everything nice because

we keep getting more and more

little girls.

 

in the last year all my friends had babies.

all. of. them.

and only one is having a boy.

luckiest boy alive, am i right?

 

we started last april when shannon had paige.

 

then i had reid in july.

 

margie had clara in january.

 

lindsay had willa at the beginning of march.

 

and jana followed suit with katie a few weeks later.

 

this week alone i was able to drive to warrensburg

on tuesday to spend the day with willa and

then head to north kansas city on thursday to meet little katie.

 

but we're not done yet.

dana will add our one and only boy in may and

kassie will round us out with

our last girl (for now) in july.

 

our lives are so packed right now.

everyone is planning showers and 1st birthdays.

we're packing lunches and pumping breastmilk.

we're trading maternity clothes and baby gear.

we text at least a dozen times a day to

ask advice and keep each other sane.

we share funny parts of our day and pics of our babies (or bumps).

we're raising these kids together and

these new little girls are so lucky.
they are starting life with built-in buddies.

i can only hope they become friends

or find friends like i did mine.

 

love you girls and all your new little ladies you've added to my life.

 

 

(this pic is three years old, but its the only one i could find with all of us in it.)

(minus margie)

 

 

 

  

 

easter weekend

easter went exactly how i expected.

a hectic morning, followed by a relaxing afternoon.

because lets face it,

all the BIG events of easter happen before 11am.

baskets, easter egg hunt, breakfast, church.

(and a 45 minute drive to my parents so we could all

go to church as a family.)

it made for a crazy morning.

luckily i had our bags packed the night before,

clothes laid out,

baskets stocked and ready and

the eggs were hidden.

 

(brette's basket)

(reid's basket)

(easter dresses all ready for the next morning)

 

brette was so cute talking about all her things in her basket.

i had my video camera going, but i didn't notice that i didn't have very

much data left and it stopped recording 16 seconds in.

i want to cry.

 

 

 

 

and she loved finding all her eggs.

maybe next year reid can help too.

 

 

even with all that prep i was still running around

in my pj's at 9:35am when we were supposed

to leave for church by 9:30.

i made ronnie throw everyone in the car

while i ran upstairs to change.

(and THIS is why moms always look worse than the rest of the family.)

i put my sweater and shoes on in the car,

but we made it their with one minute to spare.

church went really well.

brette and her cousins basically just snacked

the whole time and practiced their whispering skills.

reid was passed around and actually made it through

without screaming which i didn't know was possible.

 

 

once we were back to my parent's it was smooth sailing.

lots of food and family.

all 19 of us sat down for an amazing dinner and

enjoyed the day.

brette made it without a nap and relied on the

18 pounds of chocolate to keep her on a high.

i swear, you can't take your eyes off her and the candy dish.

its like a moth to a flame.

 

 

 

hope you enjoyed the holiday.

happy easter!

inside my head

this isn't so much a blog post as it

is a little download off all the hilarious

things i've found on the internet that speaks to me.

anytime i see something on facebook or

instagram that i love, i save it to my phone.

most of the time i'll send it to my tribe of girls

or to ronnie because there is so much truth in all of these.

so here you go... have a laugh.

(happy easter, right?)

(i heard three is worse than two. dear lord, why?)

(not sure who i'm voting for yet, but this is classic either way.)

(grammar is important.)

(i sent this one to my aunt mickie, because this. is. her.)

(and i sent this one to my mom. i'm always on top of my

laundry, but it's never actually in drawers.)

(at least the girls looks cute.)

(my back. for real.)

(this one is SO ronnie that it kills me.  if you see him head to

the bathroom with his phone, it means that he's taking a loooong break.)

(i sent this to ronald.  he probably doesn't remember it.)

(can i get an amen?)

(if you ever spend the day with brette you will most likely

have to hear about her socks and her shirt. it's maddening.)

and now you know.

real life.