6.14.2018

Splash! MM is 4

We had such a fun little outing to C'ville last weekend to celebrate MM's 4th birthday!! The city parks in Charlottesville are awesome. How fun is this!
Meg hooked us up with a bottle of rose and some brews for the boys. Throw in some cake and it was a perfect little afternoon at the slash pad celebrating our sweet god-daughter. 
Happy Happy Birthday sweet girl. I know this year holds amazing things for you! 

We got to Charlottesville a little early, so we stopped into Three Notch'd Brewing Co. for a quick brew. What a fun little place! Annalee played with big trucks and we split a flight. Good beer too!
Thanks for a fun afternoon C'ville. We'll be back! 

6.13.2018

Junkin: A New Accent Mirror

We FINALLY have a mirror hanging over our buffet in the dining room. Mind you, we ordered this mirror in late February when we were planning a celebration for our good friends "Wee Lil One" that was arriving. Three months later it is here.. and it's perfect, so I wanted to share!

Our sideboard is from a cute little store in Lexington, The Urban Farm Girl.


The mirror is signature design by Ashely. We ordered via Amazon.

Slowly, but surely this house is coming together. It takes me forever to make a decision. It's a good thing our renovation was done by someone other than us, and we were on a strict timeline to get it done. Otherwise, I have no doubt we would still be picking out light fixtures. 



6.08.2018

Five on Friday: Recent Purchases

Y'all, I haven't done a 5 on Friday post in forever, but I scooped up a few new favorites that I wanted to share, so I thought today would be the perfect day!

{one} First, I have to share this fun clock that I got for our kitchen. We don't have a clock anywhere downstairs, with the exception of our microwave... which is in a super hard spot to see. So it's a fun joke that we never know the time. I saw this on another bloggers' post and scooped it up. You'll never guess how much - $17!


{two} Ford has outgrown almost his entire wardrobe, so we have been slowly picking up a few items here and there. I have always heard boy stuff is hard to find. And it's really not. I mean, if I was working with an unlimited budget he would have a fabulous wardrobe. I haven't quite found our "go-to" place to find his everyday play clothes. Things are either really cute and pricy, or really cute and fancy (smocked)... or they make a 12 month outfit look like an old man. Why is that? I guess that's why they say boy stuff is hard. Hard to come by, for every day purchases I suppose. With that said, Zulily has had a good selection of summer rompers and bubbles, so I picked up a couple. I laughed at how alike all of his outfits are... I spy a theme.


{three} For Annalee. I splurged (well, for me) and bought Annalee two pairs of Liva & Luca shoes for the summer. We tried Prime Wardrobe for the first time, and I loved it. I'll do a dedicated post later, but it was fantastic for kid shoe shopping. Anyways, back to the L&L. They were so cute - and so hard to not keep. The quality looks great, and she loves wearing them. Let's hope they hold up better than other pairs we have. How are they so hard on shoes?
 
Ruche Mary Jane in PearlPosey Flat in Caramel 

{four} Have any of you tried Wal-Mart's new line, Time and Tru? I have seen so many fun things, but I'm not sure about the quality. However, I took a chance on these cute flats for work. We'll see how they wear, but for the price - $9.97, I figured I would give them a shot.
{five} I just bought three, yes three, of this adorable shirt from J. Crew. I couldn't decide, so I got them all - and I've worn then all a couple times. They are easy to dress up - and easy to throw on with shorts.
$25 via J.Crew Factory

Cheers to a great weekend! We kicked off summer last Friday at our first outdoor concert series in downtown. Tonight, it's date night for us. I am looking forward to late summer nights ahead. We are home all of June - and I can't wait to soak up the summer nights!


6.05.2018

Samford Walker | My Birth Story

Samford Walker Lyons
7 - 25

It took me 9 months to write this one down... but I wanted to be sure I documented the special occasion so I could look back on it. Just like your sisters birth story, both of you had very unique arrivals into the world.

July was hot. Our entire house was almost packed and ready to be moved. Renovations were underway at our new house... but we still had quite a bit to do before the COO would be ready.

My mom was here - two weeks early this time - she was not about to miss another baby being born.

Turns out she was right on time, because you didn't make her wait long.

It was a typical Monday. I worked a full day at the office, picked up your sister from Mimi's and dropped her off with GranDe, then headed downtown to set up for our marketing workshop the next day - Holiday Promotions - we had picked the date with a purpose, it was Christmas in July.

Little did I know that it would also be your birthday!

We had a lazy night at home and ended up eating chicken salad for dinner, because we didn't feel like cooking - and I'm sure it was hot, hot, hot. I was certainly feeling tired and much more uncomfortable on this particular night. I remember laying on the sofa with your daddy and sister and just couldn't find a way to get comfortable. My mom even commented, saying you don't look so great, Pete. I went to bed early, adding a few more things to my hospital bag that was almost packed and ready to go, and eating a big bowl of ice cream before bed.

That night I woke up around 1 AM to use the bathroom. Just as I laid back down in bed I felt my water break. I woke your daddy up and hopped outta bed...

It took your pops a few minutes to come-to. I think he even laid back down to wake up a little, haha. He quickly realized it was time to pack.

I called L&D and they asked that we come in as soon as we could make it. Since your sister was breach, if there was any chance for a v-back, they wanted me in the hospital to labor.

We packed our bags, just one each this time around, grabbed the carseat - that was actually installed already - yay! Door hanger and nurses gifts - ready this time. And we hit the road to Augusta, 45 minutes up the road.  But, not before waking up GranDe for a big hug goodbye!

We arrived at the hospital and entered through the ER entrance - a little more calm this around - and met a L&D nurse in the lobby. She took us right up and checked us into one of the larger delivery rooms. Dr. Brooks was on call and we were excited to see him. My nurse was young and really sweet and got us all settled. At this point, I really wasn't having contractions - or any that I could feel - so they decided to start me on a slow drip of potossian to get things moving.

Not much changed over the next 8 hours. We napped, had a shift change in nurses and docs (Dr. Hoover came on!) and I actually started feeling contractions - that were coming more regularly for a little while, then very sparatic. We weren't quite sure what your plans were at this point.

Your Dad napped and had breakfast, while I enjoyed my fair share of ice chips and orange popsicles. We picked out final light fixtures for the house, curtains for rooms, and a few other items needed for the new house. We let our contractor know that we were in labor - and no pressure - but time to get to work. The clock was, literally, ticking. We took several walks down the hall to help speed things up, which did and back to bed I went.

Around 2 that afternoon, my contractions begin coming more regularly and pretty strong, so they slowed the potossian drip down. We saw another shift change - and I have never been more thankful to see new nurse faces. I remember them coming in and declaring, alright girl, we are going to have a baby! Let's get this done.

With their guidance, I decided it was time to have an epidural, so they could turn up the potossian and hopefully, get things progressing. I was only about 2 cm when they came on around 4 PM, so we had some work to do.

Over the next 4 hours they helped me rest and change positions in bed. I ate quite a few more popsicles to pass the time (by now, I was starving!).

Dr. Hoover came and checked me around 8 PM and I was only 3cm. At this point, we started talking about a c-section. I knew we only had a few hours to go before we hit the 24 hour mark and we didn't want to risk going over. Dr. Hoover gave us 15 minutes to chat and make a decision, and the nurses flipped me on my left side to see if a position change would help any. They left to give your daddy and I some time to talk.

Jesse and I were talking it over and we were almost ready to just throw in the towel and get prepped for a c-section. But you had other plans. All of a sudden it felt as through I was having a full-on contraction. I called Jesse over to see what was going on. Was I having a contraction I could feel? He was looking at the monitor and couldn't really tell what was happening. I'm not sure if I hit my nurses call button, or the docs could see my monitor, but the nurses and Dr. Hoover came back in to see what was going on.

I was in-fact having some crazy fast and strong contractions - that I could really feel on my left side.

Dr. Hoover was like, let me just check you one more time to see if there is any progress. He laughed and said, "O My! We're about to have a baby! You're 10cm and I can see the head!"

It was a whirlwind form that point on - the nurses got prepped, another "baby nurse" came in for the baby, and the doc started prepping me on how he was going to deliver.

Side note - that one baby class we took 3 years ago was zero preparation for what was happening, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. The nurses helped coach me along and it sorta all came back to me. Jesse asked, "what should I do?" And one of the sweet nurses said, just stand right here.

We pushed for about 30 minutes. Dr. Hoover stayed with us the entire time.

Next thing I knew, you were on my chest and we heard those sweet words, it's a baby BOY!!! You were born at 9:27 PM, All 9 lbs, 22 inches of you. You were a big boy, but still seemed so small to us.

We laughed and cried and couldn't believe how beautiful you were. You were perfect in every way!

We stayed in the hospital another 36 hours after your arrival - Kara brought your GranDe and Big Sister to visit, and Matt and Megan also stopped by for a few baby snuggles. Otherwise, we took it easy for a day and enjoyed what felt like a vacation this time around.

Your name came to use pretty quickly. We didn't have one picked out before we arrived, but came to an agreement pretty quickly and it just seemed. Right. Your Dad picked Samford as a little nod to both of your grampa's that both passed away in the 2 years before you were born. Your Papa Sam - just 9 months earlier and Wayford, your Dad's Dad, passed away just two months before your big sister was born. Ford came from Wayford and Sam from Samuel, which is both my Dad's name and your daddy's middle name.

Walker was just a name we loved. It doesn't hurt that both 41 and 43 bear that name as well.

Welcome to the world baby boy, you are the perfect addition our our family of 4!

Snuggles with sister as soon as we arrived home. 

xoxo, your momma







6.04.2018

Summer Weekend'ing

It was the perfect lil lazy summer weekend. Sometimes we love to go, go, go and other times it's nice to not even leave the house. Which is basically what we did this weekend. Well, sorta.

I did slip away from work at 2PM Friday to take advantage of our "summer Friday's" and finally got a pedicure. Dutch Tulips for the win!

That evening we braved the storms and went to Friday's Alive, our little outdoor concert series in downtown. We decided to get a sitter for Ford, since he goes to bed at 6:30 PM (yes, you read that right - homeboy is growing. like crazy.), but also so I could work the first shift before switching off with Jesse and taking Annalee home.
The girls ran, and ran, and ran. They were exhausted. It was great fun!

The hubs has to work mid-day Saturday, so we slept in (or he let me), ate a big breakfast, played with the kiddos and got out for a family walk. The rain moved in and we settled in for the afternoon - lunches, naps and lots of time with Annalee's new toys.

Ford woke up from his second nap around 3:30 p.m. and I decided to throw the kiddos in the car and check off one thing from our summer bucket list. We hit the road to BV - just a 15 minute drive - to Ice Slice. It was so worth actually having to get dressed and get the kids out in the rain. So fun, and delicious!
 
If you haven't tried rolled ice cream, it's so good. 

We also took pictures by the new mural in downtown and walked up and down Magnolia searching for "big bugs". Annalee was happy to break-in her new umbrella and I was happy for the 1.5 hour distraction before Dad got home.

We cooked an easy summer supper Saturday night - pork tenderloin and sweet potato fries - and called it an early night.

Sunday we also slept-in (or I let Dad sleep in), ate another yummy breakfast and headed out for a family walk to the play ground. This little one has been trying to walk, and is pulling up on everything.
We worked in the yard, cleaned out closets and packed up baby clothes (Tear!) Folded 4 piles of laundry and went to the grocery store. It was a fast weekend, but we are happy to see the beautiful weather on tap this week.

If anyone is searching for festive outfits for the 4th, Zulily has some really cute ones... I want so many, it's hard to pick. Does anyone else have anxiety over buying "fancy" aka, smocked outfits for the kiddos for one specific holiday, when they will only wear them once? Take 4th of July for example, maybe we can wear them a couple times that week, but otherwise - are flags silly to wear all summer. They aren't right?

Cheers to a great week ahead!



6.01.2018

Summer Bucket List 2018


I know the official start of summer is still 22 days away, and we don't really have an official "summer," since we both work and our kids aren't in school yet, but I figured that June 1 seemed like the perfect time to set out our "Summer Bucket List."

1. Make S'mores
2. Have a water balloon fight
3. Visit Ice Slice
4. Take a trip to the City Pool
5. Fly a Kite
6. Have an outdoor scavenger hunt
7. Visit a splash pad
8. Have a picnic
9. Go camping
10. Visit 5 new playgrounds
11. Run through the sprinkler
12. Make popsicles
13. Catch fireflies
14. Go fishing
15. Take a trip to Goshen
16. Watch fireworks
17. Run through the sprinkler
18. Watch a movie
19. Visit the Safari Park
20. Play in the rain

Make your own bucket list with this free printable from The Idea Room

Happy June friends! What is on your summer bucket list?