It's been a while since I just shared an old-fashioned post with pictures and updates of what we've been doing lately! So that's what this post is.
With Jordan and I both working full time, our days are busy, but our evenings and weekends have been pretty full too lately, and our family of four has been having lots of fun being out and about. It surprisingly doesn't feel much more complicated to get out of the house with two kids than it was with just one. We are already used to making sure we have a bag for R, so what's one more, really?
Two weekends ago, my parents drove up from Texas, and we went to a chuck wagon cookoff. (Note: this original post said "last weekend" because that's when I started writing this, but it took so long to actually finish the post that last weekend has become two weekends ago. help.) There were I think six different wagons where they were cooking chicken fried steak, potatoes, biscuits and rolls, beans, and peach cobbler out of covered wagons and cast-iron skillets and it. was. so. good. I did not go around to each wagon getting more peach cobbler and rolls. Okay, actually I did have self-control and threw my bowl away after four helpings because not having a bowl was literally the only thing that was going to stop me from continuing to eat.
Why do we not live outside in wagons anymore? I think we need to forget overalls and focus on bringing back spurs and outhouses. Who's with me?
Last month, we drove to small-town Oklahoma for Jordan's grandma's 80th birthday. All the cousins and grandkids and great-grandkids (of which R and J are 2 of the 3) surprised her, and she was shocked. I like the drive out to western Oklahoma, because when I start freaking out about buildings everywhere and trees getting cut down and giant landfills, it calms me to look for miles in all directions and see flat nothing except for the occasional windmills and "mountains" that are really just medium-sized hills.
Don't be sad for us. We like it here.
I'm happy to say that my obsession with buying R expensive hair bows died with her desire to wear them, and I haven't picked up any more harmful shopping habits for J or R. One thing I've always found wasteful to buy are shoes because they grow out of them in 8.2 seconds, which is why R wore the same $8 pair from Walmart (Garanimals brand!) forever.
But. BUT. My sister-in-law bought R a pair of Vans for her birthday and now she is too darn cool for school. This is what aunts are for, amiright? Buying their nieces and nephews fun things like shoes I would never have picked out for her in a million years.
R loves art, and my MIL bought her some watercolors for her birthday, which is nice, and I try to be cool about it, but really inside I'm all omg keep those at your house please because it stresses me out and I'm sweating everywhere and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING WITH THOSE BRUSHES. I really wanted to be a fun mom who was fine with her kid making messes everywhere, but actually every time I let her "help" me cook and she spills flour all over the floor, I die a little inside.
However, painting is kind of nice because it keeps her in her chair and contained for a good five minutes so I can go to the bathroom by myself or unload the dishwasher without her attempting to help by grabbing all the knives. The waterproof capabilities are questionable seeing as how she has blue fingers for the rest of the day, but it's a small price to pay. We keep the Gathre mat underneath the chair to catch spills, which I still maintain is the single most useful thing I've bought in the last 2+ years of motherhood. (Not sponsored; I just love it.)
Last but not least, I decorated our mantel for fall! Since the rest of our house looks like a disaster area all the time no matter how much time I spend picking things up, this mantel is a calming presence in my life. R has started carrying her bathroom stool all over the house, and I am not exaggerating when I say that no drawer, cabinet, or shelf is safe now that she has higher reaching capabilities. But I can look at this mantel and know that R can't get up there, and everything is going to always be in the same place it was when I left it.
Small mercies, my friends.
p.s. If you haven't entered to win a personalized tooth fairy pillow, go here and do it before I choose a winner on Wednesday! There is also a discount code for 20% off Milo & Molly Etsy Shop.
Small mercies, my friends.
p.s. If you haven't entered to win a personalized tooth fairy pillow, go here and do it before I choose a winner on Wednesday! There is also a discount code for 20% off Milo & Molly Etsy Shop.
