excited

just need to wrap-up a couple things...but getting very excited!  my friend laura & i are hosting a fun create & craft day for a few girlfriends this weekend. a diy creative day, to take on several of those pinterest inspired ideas we all wish we had a day to devote to.  a sort of girlfriends' retreat where we'll embrace our inner creative, enjoy some tasty treats, laugh & chat the day away and walk away with some pretty things. yay...so excited!

q is for...

quill painting and writing...

quick, quick, quick...ella in her new kicks

quest...an adventurous quest in the woods

queen...queen ella

quiet time...interrupted by a whole lot of q is for questions...

quesadillas....chiptole quesadillas too - yum, yum extra yum

q is also for quack, quack, quack...  i had some adorable pics of bennett feeding the ducks at the pond, but seem to have deleted them!

thankful tuesday, 3/27

• celebrating wes (can you say massive chipwich?!)
• season's 1st burgers on the grill
• a week of gorgeous, summer-like, blissful weather
• saturday morning cartoons for the kids...while i curl up and finish a book
• smell of mulch
• being amazed by the lord's creation
• frozen planet and a moving sermon that make me appreciate it all even more
• when errands are productive
• another lost tooth for e
• competitive game night and yummy sundaes with friends
• knock knock joke sillies
• monday night pizza date at friends - a great way to kick-off the week
• counting robins with the kids

climbing

i took wes rock climbing for his birthday.  a great day of bonding... sweating... rappelling... harness wedgies... and hanging with with my hubby!

meal swap

a little bits & bobs love for one of my biggest life savers - meal swap!  for over a year and a half i've been swapping meals every week with some sweet friends.  what started as an "experiment" has turned into a lifestyle.  here's how it works!

me and 3 friends (total of 4 families) each pick a day of the week where we shop for, prepare and deliver a home cooked meal for each other.  so on mondays, i prepare dinner for my family and the 3 others.  i pack it up and then drop it off at the 3 friends' homes.  and then on tuesday, wednesday and thursday one of these friends delivers their delicious entrees to my house.

this means when i plan dinners for the week and ingredient shop i only have to think of 1 meal and then whatever we want to eat on the weekends which ususally includes take-out or eating out at least once. 1 meal people...amazing!

i cannot tell you how this has simplified my week.  the meal / idea thinking and planning - simplified!  the grocery list writing and shopping - simplified!  the not having to run to the grocery store 3-4 times as week to pick-up something i forgot to get for dinner - simplified!  the dinner prep kitchen clean-up - simplified!

i love the community and friend aspect of it too.  there is something personal about preparing and enjoying one another's meals.  i love the little moments of catching-up on the door step during meal drop-offs.  ella even loves to help pack-up and deliver the meals. 

and oh how i love, love, love coming home after a long day at work, or late afternoon at the playground to a dinner that is already prepared and ready to go. amazing. yummy. exciting. will-never-go-back!

do the kids always eat what is prepared? no - but that's okay.  we use google calendar  to post what we are making, and what time we plan to drop-off.  so if i happen to see something that i don't think my kids will enjoy, then i simply whip up something different for them.  easy peasy. 

we try to make it as low stress as we can.  when we first started we were preparing way way way more than we needed too.  like preparing almost entire casserole dishes for each family.  it got pretty overwhelming, pretty quick.  and the amount of leftovers was gross.  but now - we are thinking serving size portions.  so one larger casserole, or larger pot of soup is the perfect amount to divide amongst the 4 families.  the idea is not to have left overs - because in this scenario we really don't need leftovers. it's also not a big deal if someone has to take the week off, or switch days either. it just works.

a big shout out to my dear swappers - my little lifesavers (and some pretty great cooks too!).  happy meal swapping...go start one, you'll never go back...never ever!



happy birthday wes

today we celebrate wes - love, daddy and best friend!  we are so thankful you were born and for the lord knitting our lives together in this most wonderful way.  happy birthday!

charlie

"charlie"...the piece of the charles river that runs behind our home. a most favorite place for hiking, exploring, rock throwing and hanging with my little guy.

thankful tuesday, 3/20

• 1st day of spring
• lazy mornings after a crazy week
• blooming flowers
• b's family puzzle piece sweetness
• motivating meetings
• catching an earlier shuttle home
• embracing laundry, baking, cleaning, bickering...even cleaning the toilet after a week away
• winter water park fun
• fun family day to celebrate the end of a long week
• monkey on a cupcakes hysterics
• being honest and vulnerable with sweet friends
• meeting little naomi...being amazed by a mom of 4 sweet girls
• catching up with dear friends
• being surrounded by books with e
• little bug catchers
• peaceful painting with the kids
• calvin's birthday fun
• a sunny day playing and visiting with family
• monkey in the middle giggles

st. patty's

just a touch of green to celebrate st. patty's day - erin go braugh!

and a good cleaning after a naughty little leprechaun (wes) silly stringed the entire house!

longing for summer

over the last few weeks, we've had some glorious warm days followed by some very chilly winter days.  it reminded me of some fun we had last year at home with our "summer day" (from this post).   so here we have it...longing for summer 2012!

watermelon...oh how yummy it is when you haven't had it in a while!

our first seedlings peeking through...

watching his morning show lounged in a beach chair...

bubbles, bubbles, bubbles...

beach balls

popsicles

a hot cocoa stand for ella and her friends when they got off the bus

hula hoops

maybe our summer day worked to encourage a this week's stretch of warm days?!  oh how we are longing for summer...