Life Lately...

Life lately has been Spring sloooowly, slowly creeping in.
It has been longer evenings and the start of soccer practice(for both kids this Spring!)- the first couple practices were FREEZING but it seems like that has changed now. Thank God.
Life lately has been swimming two nights a week and purging + organizing this old house of ours.
Life lately has been picking flowers and playing in the backyard.
Life lately has been basketball games with cousins and finding a $20 Starbucks gift card from Christmas you forgot all about.

Life lately has been little reminders that my boy might be growing up but he is still super sweet to his Mama. Usually.
Life lately has been lots and lots of books and little succulents everywhere.
Life lately has been exploring on of our very favorite parks with cousins and finding a small field of blue bells.

Life lately has been my first Sunday morning coffee on the front porch and new magazines to drool over.
Life lately is the sweetest dog ever and finding him(once again) in the funniest places, thinking that he is more human than animal.
Life lately has been EVERYTHING in bloom- flowering and green and growing.

Life lately is reminding myself everyday to find the beauty in the busy, stressful and sometimes ugly.
It is stepping back to see how much there is to be thankful for and happy about every single day and to teach my kids to do the same.

Life lately is good.

Summer Weekend In The Midwest

This past weekend was everything I LOVE about the Midwest in Summer time(except the humidity, not that, it's never on my list).
It is probably what you would imagine a stereotypical summer in the Midwest in the country would be, and you'd probably be right.
There was a family reunion, fried chicken, homemade peach pie, lots of cousins(first, second, third), a barn, a pond, kittens, swimming, cornfields, a peach tree, a tractor parade... and the list goes on.

We had family visiting from Alabama so we got to reap the benefits of them being entertained by other family members and it was good.
I forgot what a peach tree smelled like in Summer and I am happy I was reminded over the weekend.
We picked a whole bag of peaches to take home and also ate them warm, right off the tree.

The kids swam in a pool surrounded by cornfields under blue skies and just a few puffy white clouds.
The adults sat and watched them swim and talked about family and passed down stories. Sometimes it doesn't matter how long it's been since you've seen family or if the kids have never met, there is definitely a natural connection there. That's a pretty cool thing.

This weekend will be on my list of favorite Summer memories I think.
Simple. Happy. Grateful.
Nothing spectacular, just a really good time with some of my favorite people.

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Birthday Celebratin'

Last Sunday we celebrated my Birthday with my family at our house.
Normally we celebrate family Birthdays at my parent's house, we get to pick the meal and the desserts and we celebrate
with my brother and sister and their families.
I think maybe everyone's favorite part of their own Birthday party, besides us all getting together, is choosing the menu.
And, you know, that's where it ends... just picking the menu.

On Sunday it was over 100* With the humidity... it was so crazy.
It was the kind of hot where you sit on the patio under the umbrella table and just sweat.
It was the perfect day for the kids to swim with their cousins though and that's what they've been wanting to do
ALL SUMMER long.
They had so much fun together... There's truly nothing in the world like your cousins.

The kids caught the infamous ICE CREAM TRUCK !
It's funny because I think it's only the second time all Summer they've caught him.
All the cousins got to run out and get something approximately 5 minutes before lunch
was ready.
That's something I normally wouldn't do but it felt like the perfect time to do it-
Probably the last hot weekend of Summer and right out of the pool.
Remember the days when your parent's let you do things like that?
Those were the days...Sigh.

For dessert I chose homemade cherry pie.
My mom makes a mean cherry pie, complete with my grandma's crust recipe.
She also made homemade chocolate pie and brownies so I didn't have to share all
 of my pie.
And look at that adorable little mini pie she made me. SWOON.

It was a really good day and definitely makes getting another year older just a
Little bit easier, for sure.
I need to do a separate post to show you the AMAZING quilt my mom surprised
me with.
It is seriously one of the coolest and most special things anyone has ever made for me/done for me.
Pictures soon.

Hope you're having a great Holiday weekend!

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I Freaking Loved This Day.

Do you ever have those really good + awesome days, and while you are

  in the midst of the day, thoughts like this cross your mind:

I freaking love this day

This day and this weather is perfect.

I wish my kids could stay this age forever.

I hope my kids always remember this day.

I hope I always remember this day.

I love my nieces and nephew so much.... who knew this is how it would be??

Thank you God for my brother and sister.

I want to live in  the country... I should be living in the country.

I freaking love this day.

Saturday was that day.

A good memory-making, unexpected kind of day.

I loved Saturday.

My sister, sister-in-law and I had planned to take our kids to my uncle's house

 on Saturday to attempt a good picture of the seven grand kids for my mom's birthday this week-
it is all she asked for and pretty much threatened us if we didn't deliver this year.

So deliver we will... I think we ended up with a couple of usable pictures although

 it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Someone always had their eyes closed, was looking away, weird smile, picking their nose,
 laughing, pulling their dress up... something... but I think we did it.

My uncle is digging a huge hole in his field where a barn stood over 50+ years ago
and this hole has brought my kids so much entertainment, you have no idea.

A hole + dirt + forgotten treasures = hours of entertainment.

They spent a lot of time in the hole just digging through all of the stuff-- bricks from the foundation, 

glass bottles,  parts of tricycles, pieces of farm machinery... so much stuff.

It was so cool.
They built a fort with the bricks and little rooms and Charlotte was lining up
 all the glass bottles as "sun catchers".
Watching the kids outside, playing and using their imagination with their cousins makes me so happy.
Beyond happy.
It made me wish I could freeze this moment and these days and this stage in our
lives right here... Right now.
Freeze.

After the kids played in the hole and the dirt pile we decided to drive to the next little town
 for supper and ice cream. It was a beautiful night and absolutely perfect weather.
We ate outside at the dairy bar, the kids ate ice cream and acted silly and crazy and just had
so much fun together.
When we got back to my uncle's house we realized we could see the drag races at the race track
from his field, so we stood outside by the pond and watched and listened
 to the races for a while.
It reminded me so much of my own childhood, this was my grandma & grandpa's house,
we grew up hearing the races on Saturday nights right there in the (kinda)country.

This was my favorite find that Charlotte pulled out of the dirt pile.
We think it's a turn signal from an old Ford.
It still has the wire connected to it and none of the glass was broken!
Isn't that amazing?
That has to be from a car from over 60+ years ago... and probably even older.
We brought this home... now just to try and figure out how to clean it up.
Any ideas???

This day was much needed,  for me especially.
There have been a lot of not-so-good ones lately, a lot more than usual due to
stress and just regular old life stuff that is really easy to let get the better of you.
Saturday was a good reminder for me, I needed it.


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Today is the last day of September... where do the days and months and years GO?
Happy Monday!

McCormick's Creek State Park, Indiana

Our annual trip tot McCormick's Creek State Park is one of my favorite weekends of the year, every year.
This year we had absolutely beautiful Fall-like weather and it was just perfect-- exactly what you would want for the middle of September.
The water fall, the hay ride, the trails, all the cousins, the freedom to run around the park and back and forth between the cabins, walking to
the playground at night with flashlights, telling ghost stories in the cabin... it is all just a magical weekend, really.

Until next year, Indiana... we can't wait!