fall sweeties.

we finally made it out to get some photos of the girls before the weather turns too cold and the leaves are all off the trees. the day actually ended up being super beautiful. cool enough for long sleeves but warm enough to run around outside at the end of the day. and we certainly got warm! kyle and i were both a mess after the pictures. i was rolling around on the ground and he was jumping like a maniac to get the girls to laugh and smile. there was definitely ice cream at the end of the night haha.

i hope a few of these work for christmas cards. that'll be what i'm up late doing all week -- trying out photos on every card layout i can find. a time suck i enjoy way too much. after it was over and the sun was gone, i realized we may have too many pumpkin pictures and absolutely no falling leaves pictures. i was very irritated with myself over not getting those.

but the girls are way too cute for their own good no matter what pictures there are. beautiful babies.

weekend recovery.

be honest. we all need a little pick me up on a monday morning. whether you're digging your face out of your cereal bowl or trying to ignore tiny human boogers that were just wiped on your shirt. here are the happies i've found recently that gave me a merry little boost.

*best enjoyed with COFFEE.

1. the history of the hospital baby blanket.

as a mom and a design freak, i love finding things like this! very interesting. and we have tons of photos of the babes in the different hospital blankets, of course, including the one the article talks most about. i still pull them out of the baby box occasionally hoping the newborn smell still lingers.

2. scarf camera straps.

how did i not know about these?? putting my 2 favorite things together? okie dokie! ;) christmas list. stat.

3. crazy ass people.

while the photo story is very umm...can't-look-away-crazy, i don't really understand how this all happened. plus, at the end of the story it talks about how melanie griffith was attacked by a lion she was working with. i mean DUH. it's a LION.

halloween flashback.

i always get mushy on holidays because i like to look back at what the babes looked like on past holidays. it's a really good way to get a nice flow of tears going at 3pm. real nice.

2010: here lies sad sad genevieve on her first halloween. she was colicky and we were still bumping along on our breastfeeding disaster so she was not a happy camper. plus it was 80 degrees out and that outfit was fleece. but it's just so sad funny i can't help but laugh.

2011: sweet genevieve at one. she was a kitty and didn't do any trick or treating, but she did go to a costume playdate with her fellow baby buddies. it was a cute fest overload. i made her little ears and a tail out of felt. easiest costume ever. i don't think i'll ever be that lucky again haha.

2012: another dress up playdate this year. but they did walk down the street to clara's grandparents' house to trick or treat once haha. they were just so excited to be dressed up with their little candy totes! emmy went as a fetus seeing as how she was 2 days from being born. 

2013: emmy's first halloween and genevieve's first year trick or treating. this year was the most fun to date. emmy was good tempered and hung out in the wagon while G trick or treated with friends. genevieve ran up to all the houses to ring doorbells and  by the end wanted to do it by herself. gah so cute.

and now we're gearing up for this year! genevieve and emmy are coordinating outfits -- kill me now it's going to be so cute. and ever since we moved in, all the neighbors talk about is how great halloween is on our street. i'm just about a believer since a lot of houses are already decked out, lit up with orange and purple lights. i can't wait. genevieve has been asking when it's time to go trick or treating again since november 1st of last year. ha!

pumpkin patch.

we took the girls to the pumpkin patch this weekend! we had a surprisingly difficult time finding a place to go. either there was no patch, just a market at a farm, or it would have cost upwards of $30 just to get into the patch before paying for pumpkins or hayrides. we thought we'd found a great one but then realized it was an hour away and we weren't that pumpkin crazy. but we landed on one close to home and just ate the $25 entrance fee, but we're glad we did!

it was a beautiful little spot on the outside of town. the trees were all changing and the weather was gorgeous. we drove through rolling landscapes and horse farms on the way in. it was very picturesque.

the girls were very excited. emmy has been working on saying "pumpkin" and has landed on "punker." it's very cute. there was a sandbox full of dried corn that genevieve kept calling the corn sand, a teepee made of cornstalks, hayrides and little and big mazes. the kids loved it. if it didn't cost money to get in we'd go during the week just for fun.

we picked out a couple small pumpkins for the stoop and a couple baby pumpkins because they were so cute. i'm thinking we should have gotten larger pumpkins because emmy keeps rolling them around and knocking them down the steps. at this rate we'll have splattered pumpkins before halloween!



we finished out the day with a bbq lunch and raking leaves after nap. it was a very nice and fall-y saturday. my favorite kind of saturday!! today it's cold and i'm wishing we had a fireplace. one day, future house. one day.

they're pretty.

we had a nice, boring week around these parts. no huge meltdowns or issues. just school, nap, play, repeat. in preparation for fall pictures this weekend, i brought my camera outside while the girls played during our "wait for daddy to get home" time. at this point in the day we've watched quite enough tv and they're usually a little stir crazy. we're putting our front yard to good use, at least. now we need a rake because you can't even see the grass anymore.

i love how sweet they are with each other.

weekend recovery.

be honest. we all need a little pick me up on a monday morning. whether you're digging your face out of your cereal bowl or trying to ignore tiny human boogers that were just wiped on your shirt. here are the happies i've found recently that gave me a merry little boost.

*best enjoyed with COFFEE.

1. downtonisms!

an app where i can match the dowager countess to her snarky remarks? count me in, baby! i think it's $.99, so that's a dollar WELL SPENT. ;) ps. is it january yet??

2. the walmart beauty box.

jump on the box subscription bandwagon for FIVE FREAKING BUCKS? okie dokie! it's just a box of samples, but i could be brave enough to try a bunch of beauty samples for $5! it comes every season and i guess the fall box sold out super fast, but i ordered the winter box! does that mean it has skin moisturizers and chapstick? because i'll need that.

3. this toddler sized knit poncho!

i was perusing the target kids fall arrivals in search of a cute outfit for fall pictures next weekend. i'm not going with this one, but it was too cute not to share!! this is why we need an unlimited fund just for cute kids clothes haha. i think we're going with some red lumberjack-style plaid shirts accessorized with denim jackets and topknots! woo! it rained out our pumpkin patch time this weekend so i'm itching to do all things FALL next weekend.

4. the maze runner.

i saw this movie on saturday, thinking it would be a dorky sci-fi movie and i'd be the only one in the theater -- nope! it was so packed i was sitting in the first rows, and it's been out a few weeks! it was pretty good. it left a good cliffhanger for a second movie so i hope they make one. i'm tempted to go read the books now. i was feeling a little dizzy when i first got there (new medicine is no bueno) and the first shots were 365 views of the maze -- i thought i was going to have to go home haha. barf.

a sad number of happies, but this weekend was a little rough. hopefully i'll be pouring out pretty pictures and fun posts next weekend. we're set for the pumpkin patch and fall photos of the girls for christmas cards. yay yay!

belated back to school.

i wanted to share my pretty girl's back to school photos before we get too far from her first day of school. she's in her last year of preschool and is considered pre-K now. BREAK MY HEART.

she started on september 3rd and was a little nervous. she kept telling me, "yeah but i might cry a little bit." but she did walk right in, greeted her teachers and got straight to playing with the baby dolls and dollhouse. emmy had a good time, too. i'm pretty sure she thought she was going to get to stay, too.

she has no trouble going to school. she's excited every day and the carline helpers always tell me they want to share her excitement with the sad, scared two year olds. she also replies, "i don't miss you! i love school!" when i tell her i missed her when i pick her up. STINKER.

according to her recent 4 year old checkup, she' s 40 inches and 37 pounds. i remember she was 3 ft on her 3rd birthday but i'm pretty sure her weight has stayed about the same. my little string bean. she's all leggings right now because she's got no booty to hold up her jeans haha. and she's just so darn gorgeous. it is incredible to me how breathtakingly beautiful she is. her sister too, of course, but her pictures are next!

and one flash back from last year to really get the tears flowing:

i miss home.

i know that Charlotte isn't our home anymore and we're in a fine place here. i know that eventually we'll make friends and feel more settled. i'm worried about feeling unsettled all the time but i know that comes with the territory. the problem is that i miss home.

i'm going to be honest for a minute and it's about material things. well, one material thing.

i miss my house. and it's not that it was a big fancy perfect house, it wasn't. but it was exactly what we needed and i absolutely loved living there. i like home ownership. i like thinking (although i was naive, i guess) that the furniture i buy isn't going to get smashed during more moves because i bought it for this corner and that is where it will live until its dying day. i like painting and decorating rooms. i was about halfway done painting the house when we knew we'd have to move. one of the first things i thought was, "but i just got done painting!" i figured we'd move when we outgrew the house and not a moment before.

it must be the sense of purpose i felt in my own house. right now i'm in someone else's house. i hate it. the house itself is completely fine, and i'm trying to make it feel like ours. but we won't be painting. we won't be buying any furniture. most of our stuff was broken in the move or scratched beyond repair and i cried for a long time. we bought that stuff for our home and now that we don't have one, we're just bouncing along without a place to grow roots.

as a creative without a creative job, i turn that energy on my house. so i feel like i'm flailing right now and it's very upsetting. i know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but that doesn't change my heart. i just want to feel like myself again. and i want to not miss my house so much.

weekend recovery.

be honest. we all need a little pick me up on a monday morning. whether you're digging your face out of your cereal bowl or trying to ignore tiny human boogers that were just wiped on your shirt. here are the happies i've found recently that gave me a merry little boost.

*best enjoyed with COFFEE.

1. my fall staples.

links: headband // plaid scarf // musthave scarf // tall boot // leopard flat // bootie
if i don't have these already, i'm planning on owning them! i just picked up the plaid scarf from target after salivating after all things plaid at the start of the season. i've been loving accessories lately since i'm just not where i want to be with my weight. accessories are my way to make my outfit look happy, heavy or not. the tougher question is what level of WINTER jacket i need up here in the semi-tundra i've heard stories about.

2. the nester's vignette me series!

i am pretty stumped when it comes to creating a vignette. i try here and there but i never quite make it work right. so i'm psyched that she'll have a whole 31 days of vignetting examples and posts! she's already got a few posted to check out.

3. a beautiful mess' pumpkin spice white russian.

my mouth dropped open when this crossed my blog feed. i have a particular soft spot for white russians since that was the first drink i ever tried (fancy college girl haha) and it was the drink of choice as kyle and i jetted off to NYC for our honeymoon. so yeah, i'm about ready to haul my 2 crazies into the liquor store for some vodka and baileys so i can combine 2 loves i didn't know i always needed!! dirty looks be darned. mama wants a PSWR.

4. iheart organizing's new coffee table.

who doesn't love pretty much anything from world market? and i'm basically obsessed with jen's beyond gorgeous house and skills so of course i love it and how she styled it. it's another kick in the pants to get a coffee table for us, something that has evaded us for oh...2 years now? yikes. i think, at least until we find THE ONE, we're going to go with this simple beauty from walmart. yes, walmart. i'm not above the scariest place on earth when it's worth it! ha.

5. and last but not least:

certain someecards make me snort and cry with laughter. this is at the top of the list as one of the silliest and truest ones. i posted it on my instagram last year and it just popped up on my timehop. i've got to spread the happy around!

nature walk.

the leaves are getting some good color this week so the girls and i headed down our street for a little fall scavenger hunt. i found a hunt off pinterest that i liked and seemed to suit what we we could find. genevieve in costume, of course, since we're never really without costume anymore haha.



genevieve was really into it, as expected. she put the small items like leaves and acorns into her bucket and pointed happily to the big ones we couldn't take with us. it is so nice to be outside when the weather is nice and the leaves are floating down. it really is one of the best times of the year. emmy wasn't as into it, but she did pick some leaves to put in the bucket and rolled around on the sidewalk. ha. that kid.

is it challenge month?

i keep seeing different challenges pop up in my feeds on this first day of october. everyone seems to be participating in something. a fitness challenge before the holidays. a no-spending challenge during the spendiest time of year. a challenge to get off your phones for a month. and challenge to write every day of the month. and you know what? good for them. good for you. i'm interested, i cheer you on, i'm inspired by you. but i am not participating. i feel like i'm barely treading water here and taking on a "project" that involves thought or sacrifice every day of this month is much more than i can handle right now. it makes me feel a bit like debbie downer, but i'd rather make what i've got merry than try and force too much of it out of me when i'm not ready.

i'll tell you what i am going to participate in. yoga pants (i don't care if it's trendy. it's pajamas during the day, people!). coffee. the occasional sweeping. baking. taking walks so we can see the changing leaves and smell the air getting crisp. reading. meeting new people and trying my darndest not to scare them away. attempting to workout 3 times a week.

i am participating in my life. it takes up every nook and cranny of available space right now. maybe i'll be up for a new challenge next month.

merry challenge-free october.