Category Archives: update

In recent events…

I’ve decided to slowly dip my feet back into blogging… again.  I go back and forth, but ultimately, I enjoy going back and having something to look through as far as pictures go and it gave me a nice fairly easy creative outlet and motivation to pick up the camera.  In all honesty, I haven’t had much creative motivation in a while and I’d like to get that back.  So, I’ll start slowly, and since I always have my phone with me, it’s easy enough to snap a photo a day, but more importantly over time I’ll get back to taking my time again.  Everything feels rushed, and I’m attempting to slow down. I’m not sure when life started to feel like a race, but I’m realizing that rather than taking time to enjoy little things, I’m treating my days as though they are something to just get through and I eat too fast, I put pressure on myself to get a million things done and then procrastinate or otherwise and ultimately forget to find joy in my day at all unless by some happy accident. 

So, this is my attempt to remind myself to slow down.  I give you…

The sunset caught my eye as I was walking up the stairs… the picture doesn’t do it justice at all… of course.

My lunch of choice lately… can’t get enough.

7 Year checkups

The golden hour is my favorite.

I’m in the car a lot… it can be nice when I’m on my own, though.

Played some games, drank some beer.


He turned 7… crazy. He also asked for poop emoji cupcakes.

Surprisingly, Vega is part of my plan to keep Phoebe in her room at night. She loves Phoebe’s room and I’ve been convincing Phoebe that because Vega loves her room so much it’s clearly the best room in the house and if there was anything scary in there… she wouldn’t want to be in there all the time. Now to help them become besties…. I think it might happen.

Us before all the emotions of Avengers : End Game and Game of Thrones. That’s A LOT of stuff to cram in one day. No spoilers here. But End Game will stick with me for a long while.

Turning 35

Tomorrow I turn 35.  The end.

It’s not exactly a milestone year, but it has definitely been on my mind and as I get closer to 40 (!!!!) it makes me get a little existential and if I’m not careful can lead to a certain amount of anxiety.  No one really wants to think about their mortality, do they?  While I’m not on my deathbed by any means and I’m not having a mid-life crisis… exactly, I am certainly becoming more aware that my time on earth is finite and I have not reached my fullest potential and while I may not know what that is… the clock is ticking. How much more time do I spend just casually strolling through my life?  I feel like I’m window shopping and I keep looking at all these amazing items in store windows and either lusting over them or telling myself that I can’t have them because of reason a, b or c.  I am excellent at making excuses and hiding behind fear and quite frankly I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time. Not all of it, of course!  I’m just becoming more aware that I’ve spent a lot of time walking away from the edge rather than just leaping and putting faith in the universe/my abilities.  So… 35 is going to be different. Lots of changes… I hope in store.

Okay, enough of that. Here is a picture of a lamp I bought recently.

Who knew a little table lamp would make such a big difference in our living room?  I can even read on the couch at night again!  Ha!  Finally an impulse Target buy that was truly really worthwhile.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

The Long Weekend – 4th of July Style

It doesn’t need to be said, but I’m going to say it anyway. I love a 4 day weekend.  It’s even better when you really only have a small portion of it planned.  We knew we’d be going to the carnival on Sunday, but that was it. So, I started our Saturday day off the best way possible. I took the kids to Costco.  Not my best idea, but it needed to be done and we got a TON of water balloons.  The kids decided we needed to have a water balloon fight at some point.  They were not on their best behavior, however, so we ended up heading straight home after to Costco.

The kids could not have been more excited for Sunday to arrive, and it actually worked out really well because the carnival wasn’t nearly as packed as it is on the actual 4th of July and it was wristband day, which meant that for 5 hours the kids could go on as many rides as they went.

Phoebe wasn’t quite as adventurous as last year, but Enzo was even more so, which wasn’t the end of the world, but at times made it difficult because each kid wanted to be on different rides pretty much every time.  We met up with my brother and sister-in-law like we usually do and their two boys, which is always great for the kids, but I think we were often split up most of the time. Ha!  It was also surreal getting this glimpse into the future when our kids are even more independent than they already are.

It’s nice right now because neither of them really care whether or not they have to go on a ride by themselves, but I admit it was nice when one of them requested that we join in on the fun.  All too soon they’ll be off on their own and not want us cramping their style.

We did have one scare (which thankfully I didn’t find out about until afterwards) where Phoebe wandered off.  I was in line/on a ride with Enzo and Aiden and Josh and Steve were watching Malcolm and Phoebe when apparently Phoebe wandered off in search of me. Steve and Josh split up to look for her and thankfully found her quickly when Steve found a woman who was bringing her to Lost and Found.  I think it’s time we have a set game plan and a long talk with both kids on what to do if one of them gets lost.

Back to the fun!

As we were getting ready to leave, this little robin wandered a little too close to the little kid rides and not surprisingly small children started chasing it, so Josh ran and rescued it from the fray and took it somewhere safe.  I was about ready to adopt it, but after calling the Humane Society the woman assured me that our little friend should be flying in a few days and since we had no idea where his nest/tree was, the best bet was to take it a little away from all of the chaos of the carnival.  So cute!

On Monday, I blissfully found myself alone at Target and it was quiet and empty and magical.

I later found myself at IKEA where they were temporarily out of the bed I wanted for Phoebe (boo!), but they had a fantastic cabinet almost 50% off for my office!  Score!!

We also cleaned Bowser’s cage.  (Not all of the lights are in use on top of the cage… they’re to keep Vega off.  His new home should be arriving around the 14th next week and then we won’t have to worry about it!

Okay, time to wrap this up!

Friday Wrap-Up and Rambles

Technically I’m writing this on Thursday because I’m taking the day off tomorrow… or rather, today. Since I can’t be on a beach somewhere warm with a cocktail in hand and a cool breeze, I’ll make do with a random day off with my husband. By the time this posts we’ll have been to breakfast, watched Deadpool and probably accomplished some adulting because responsibilities never go away.

I’m probably going to start sounding like a crazy cat lady soon, but it is what it is. Vega still has that new car smell, if you will. My hands are in need of serious help, though, and I’m this close to chopping off my hair if I end up with another claw hooked in my face. She’s really sweet… except for when she isn’t, and in typical kitten fashion she thinks all limbs and hair are toys and/or something to kill.

Vega1

This morning we woke up to Enzo screaming because Vega had attacked his foot, which he must have been wiggling. About 15 minutes later, though, she was apparently as sweet as could be because we could hear Phoebe talking to her in her room.  It was really very sweet. Then Vega came back into our room and flopped on my chest with her butt on Enzo’s face and proceeded to give me a bath. Enzo thought it was hilarious and they are friends again.

Vega2

Uzi is still not a fan of Vega’s and for the most part neither is Ziggy, though they both tolerate her orneriness.  Vega has already figured out that once Ziggy has gotten comfortable she is unlikely to move and will put up with almost anything, so that’s when she attempts to make friends.  I keep telling her once she stops chasing Uzi and Ziggy around they’ll be much more likely to let her snuggle, but in the meantime I think they’re all getting their needs met.  We are a house of furry, crazy, chaos.

CatSnuggles1

CatSnuggles2

21 Months

I feel like I just did a monthly update on our little girl, which just goes to show how quickly this summer is flying by.  This past month we’ve seen a lot more of Phoebe’s personality and she is becoming more independent – or at least is trying to become more independent.  She may not like to admit it, but she does actually still need us… especially for snuggles in the middle of the night.  Those we’re still doing, however, we’ve now had a couple of nights that she has remained in her crib until morning.  We’ve discovered that if Josh goes in instead of me she is more likely to go back to sleep… sometimes.  There are still those nights where she realizes it’s him and starts crying for “Mama” to come get her.

PhoebeCorn

Aside from hating getting dressed… and often getting undressed, there are a lot of things she loves right now.  High on the list is Minnie Mouse.  She loves Minnie and would prefer it if it were Minnie Mouse Clubhouse, but she generally likes the entire Clubhouse gang and would watch that and only that every day.  She also likes pink… a lot.  She points it out and gets happy when I buy her pink things to wear. Ha ha.  On that note, she loves the pink shoes she got from her cousin Aubrey and gets excited anytime she gets new shoes now.  If she starts dancing around in front of you, it’s quite possible that it’s because she’s wearing new ones and wants you to notice them.

PhoebeSand

As far as eating goes, it’s very hit or miss with our gal.  What she loves one day she will pout and firmly say “No” to the next day.  She and her brother ate and entire container of strawberries the other day and she nearly finished off an entire container of blueberries all by herself before that.  One important thing I’ve learned is that she’s far more likely to eat something if she can serve herself, so if it’s a fruit or veggie, I try to give her that option.  She’ll also eat her weight in homemade mac n cheese and bacon. When she found out we were having breakfast for dinner last night, she immediately sat in her chair and would look at me expectantly and ask for bacon. I had to keep explaining dinner wasn’t quite ready yet. 😉

Stylin

She still loves to dance and sing and has started counting.  She doesn’t get all the numbers in the correct order, but more or less she can count up to 13.  I heard her in the living room and went and peeked to see her moving the beads on the abacus as she counted.  She recognizes a lot of letters and shapes and is doing well with colors.  She often surprises me with something new she’s learned, and I’m sure having an older brother has helped a lot.  Thanks to Enzo being so polite lately, Phoebe has been especially good saying “Please” and “Thank you.”

RandomSat2

It’s fascinating to watch her change… sometimes overnight.  Oh, how I love my sassy girl.