thankful tuesday

Today I'm thankful for:

-Good food (and great people to share it with!). A couple weeks ago, we did Restaurant Week at The Fort with Mom and Dad- SO FUN.

-The stage Burke is in right now. He's sort of ornery, but if you can get past that, his curiosity (and vocab!) are hilarious!

-Sleep! Piper Jane has a lot going for (her cuteness, for example), but sleep is not one of those things (she's only slept through the night a few times)... However, we've had a couple nights of uninterrupted sleep in the last couple weeks. Those nights are glorious.

-Dallas! We're here for Spring Break- woohoo! We're catching up with friends, loving having time with Aaron, Leslie and Hannah, and filling our days with fun 'field trips' (YAY for Ikea!). I'm so thankful for time off!

SPRING!

If you love cold weather (ahem, Jord), I don't know if you can fully appreciate the feeling of sheer delight that comes with the beginning of Spring. It's like the feeling on Friday afternoon with the work week behind you and the entire weekend stretched out in front of you.

And even though I'm certain we have some chilly weather still coming to us, it's been gorgeous in Denver lately. We've been soaking up the sunshine and spending all sorts of time outside.

I sort of forgot how dirty Burke gets when he digs around in the garden all day long. In case you're wondering, it's pretty dirty.

sista sista

The highlight of this last couple weeks? A day with Keje and Easton (they were for just over 24 hours in route to Lubbock- so fun!)! WOOHOO!

Little East and his rooster hair were quite the hit around here (though, Burke did say to me, "I thought Easton was littler than Piper Jane" hahahaha!). What a cute little man- and so fun to see my sis as his mama. Burke can't stop talking about him- I love it that there's another boy cousin for him to team up with.

One of my favorite conversations consisted of Keje and I lamenting our joint inability to say no to people. She suggested we take a course in Boundaries. I mostly love having someone to commiserate with about this (Adam, being oh-so un-people-pleaser-y, does not quite understand my tendency to fill my plate to overflowing all in the name of not disappointing people).

I love having the chance to hang out with my siblings- even if it's just for a day. Love those guys.

ps- Two funny sidenotes- notice how Burke is sort of an adventure to take pictures of right now (including how he's trying to escape from mom and dad- haha!). Also, Piper Jane needs to get some hair. Stat.

thankful tuesday

It's March 1st. Thank the Lord. Seriously, I couldn't be more excited for Spring/Summer.

Also, I love Frontier Ranch...

....but not as much as I love having time with some of my favorite girls in the world. A weekend of good food and a cozy fire and great conversation (plus my stomach still hurts from laughing so hard) was just what the doctor ordered.

Thankful is the word of the week- I am thankful for Spring coming, thankful for my husband keeping the kiddos last weekend, thankful for girl time, thankful that Piper Jane took a bottle for Adam (it was touch and go there for a bit), just thankful.

leggies

Two glories of having a baby girl- dresses and accessories! And Piper Jane rocks the leggies. :)

tuesday catch up

Burke got his hair cut Monday! I LOVE his long blonde curls, but they were a bit out of control. I have to be honest, I miss the wildness. But it'll grow back, right?

We had the perfect 'family night' the other evening- we rented a movie, had a Chick Fil A picnic, lounged in our jammies. Fabulous... Though, we also have had a serious case of the Terrible Twos running around. It's definitely not all Cozy Picnics around here.

We were guests on MADE on Friday. I love that blog, so it's so fun to be Dana's guest!

I made a bunch of other versions of the tea wreath this week (for a couple of submission projects) and now have four tea wreaths at my house. Anyone need one?

Little Miss Priss is right on the brink of crawling. I kind of would rather that she'd just stay still- haha! I might have to start vacuuming and mopping more often.

Seeing Burke and Piper love each other is the highlight of my day... he reads to her and she giggles at him (and grabs his hair- haha!). I know it won't always be like this, but it is so. darn. sweet.

Loved watching the boys at Wings-and-Poker night... too funny!

Headed here this weekend with some girlies... counting down the hours!

out of the doghouse

The other day, we were having a bit of a rough morning around here. Burke was just being a stinker. I was more than a little frustrated with him.

And then, as I was making lunch, I heard Burke's voice coming from Piper Jane's room. I walked in to this:

Burke: Piper Jane, that's John the Baptist. Pretty cool, right?

Hahahaha! Melts my heart, that one.

tuesday catch up

1. I got to go to Lubbock last week to meet Teeny Evie and hang out with the rest of the Remkes. I never cease to be amazed at the miraculousness of babies being born, families growing, seeing my sister in action as the best mama to her girls. I have to admit, I am a bit jealous that she has three girls- oh the sister goodness!

2. I LOVED hanging out with Keadryn and Sayla during my trip. It was so fun to have the chance to give them my undivided less-divided attention (funny how much energy Burke takes!). We had a "Cozy Picnic" with cocoa and popcorn and baked cookies and played beauty shop (you can kind of see the plethora of clips/bows in my hair in the picture above- I'd say at any given point, I was walking around with 30+ accessories adorning my hair). I adore those girls.

3.  The Little Miss got her first tooth!

4. We got kicked off Project Run and Play last week with our Vintage Vail entry. It's ok with me. :)

4. Burke calls Zaccheus (the tax collector from the New Testament) Yo-kius! I hear him sing, "Yokius was a wee little man and a wee little man was he... " and laugh every time (the pics have nothing to do with "Yokius," but I love that they show how expressive Burke is right now- hahaha!).

5. Adam washed/cleaned/vacuumed the car for an awesome Valentines Day present (no pic of the car, sorry! One of the gifts I gave Adam was a love-note-on-a-string, pictured above). I got a couple other little gifts from him, too (including a work out DVD I've been wanting and a promise to run with me on my short runs, which, if you know Adam involves GREAT sacrifice), but the clean car was my favorite. Has all of this time with Adam turned my love language to Gifts of Service?

 my heavy sweet running partners

6. Speaking of 'short runs,' I'm getting back in running shape so mama and I can do a half marathon in May. It feels simultaneously great and absolutely terrible. It feels so great to be running again, but getting in running shape is awful. Plus, pushing the stroller, Burke and Piper Jane must add at least fifty pounds of resistance. Whew!

tuesday catch up

Our bits of big news right now:

1- Piper Jane is eating 'real' food. I should rephrase- she's tried rice cereal twice. But since she won't take a bottle, moving onto other variations of sustenance is good news for me.

2- Burke loves brownie batter. Who doesn't, right? I love it that in this picture he's still in his jammies. That means that either we were doing a little early morning baking or we stayed in our jammies all day. Both are feasible options.

3- I hate February. Winter in general is not my favorite and February signifies that it has already been cold for, well, for too long. And yet, it still will be cold for, well, for too long. Ugh. Can I go back to the beach for a month and meet you back here in March when there's a glimmer of hope for Spring?

monday catch up!

At my sweet sister's request, I finally put together a little catchup post. And I actually have a list of ten for today... I mean, it has been a month, but whatever works, right?

1. Christmas was fabulous... we celebrated at Evette's (sorry, no pics!)...

2. ...at our house...

3. ... and with my parents/siblings (don't you love that picture of the boys?). Burke's not going to know what to do when we have just one "Christmas."

 

4. This year's family ornament exchange was the best one to date. The two merman were hits (Adam stole the one Kiji's holding ["Dr. Fish"], so I am now the proud owner of that one... Adam told me it'll be the crown jewel of our tree next year). Hilarious.

 

5. Along those lines, this year's Ludwig Family Drink Competition was amazing as well. Keje and Pat pulled out all the stops (coordinating attire, dry ice, THE WORKS) and won with their "Grinch" entry. Adam and I were the runners-up. Again. Have I told y'all how many times we've gotten second place in this darn contest? I'm not bitter or anything.

6. Jord and I are doing another craft competition- Project Run and Play (like Project Runway, for kids). It's fun, but super nerve wracking. Our goal was to make it to Week 2 (and we did- that little dress on Piper Jane was our entry for Week 1...). The other designers are crazy talented... So fun!

7. Joanie was our model for this week's dress. Isn't she a doll?

8. Jordi made all of these sweet headbands for Piper Jane for Christmas. I LOVE them. Between the headbands and the shoes Aaron and Leslie gave her, all I have to do is find a basic dress or shirt and pants combo and she's good to go (and well accessorized at that).

9. Burke says "W-ery" instead of "very" right now. My favorite is when he says, "Mama, that's wery amazing!" That's him with his Wery Amazing whale puzzle from the Carpenters.

10. After our trip to the zoo last week (and a rare treat of feeding the larikeets), Burke keeps telling us, "That Piper Jane- she's chirpin' like a larikeet." Hahaha!