Lexi comes to town!

Lexi’s friend Taylor got married in Norrh Carolina over Memorial Day weekend, and since she was going to already be on this side of the country, she came home for a few days. It was so weird and fun to see her pregnant belly! Wierdly, Christian also had a wedding to go to in Tennessee, so he swung by NC and picked Lu up and brought her home with him. They showed up Monday evening while we were at the pool. 

From there it was full speed ahead because we hosted a fun shower for Lex Tuesday evening. Because i love food, let’s talk the menu. I had made and frozen Swig sugar cookies, and these amazing cake balls. 

I also made spinach dip and chips, fruit salsa (fail. Somehow I found a different recipe and didn’t notice till we were almost done making it🤷‍♀️), with cinnamon chips that took off the skin of 3 fingers. One chip was banging over the edge when I took it out of the oven, so I went to lightly tap it back onto the cookie sheet, but the cinnamon sugar stuck to my thumb, index, and middle finger. It started to blister immediately, and put me out of commission for a few hours. Thankfully we were almost done by that point, and thankfully also we have fresh aloe and lavender essential oil. And thankfully also, I’ve taught the little girls how to clean the wood floors so they did the formal dining room. But back to the food. I made lemon creme cupcakes, slush punch, a cracker and cheese platter, and then threw some strawberries out too. Other than the fruit salsa, it was pretty yummy. 

We had 31 people rsvp and I was a little nervous. 18 showed up, and it was just perfect. 🤗

We played a guess the celebrity baby photo guessing game and baby shower trivia. Because the theme was ‘Mommy to bee,’ I gave small jars of local honey as prizes. Bees and boney is a lot harder theme than lemon, which is where my brain goes with yellow, so it was kind of a honey/lemon theme. 😂

Everyone dutifully working on their games!

Then it was present time! Everyone showered our girls with such generosity and love, she’s so excited to show Cade, and more so to use everything on baby Emmett. 

I wore my “Mimi since 2019” shirt Chelsea made me, and at the end of the night snapped a picture of the mommy to bee. It was a fun night!

Memorial Day

Matt and I got up early and went for a walk. He’s a funny guy. 

The girls have piano on Monday, so we opted to go early and get it out of the way. That meant that we had to be there by 9, so no sleeping in for the girlsies. While they piano’d, I ran to food lion for a few last minute bbq ingredients. The 25th annual church picnic started at 11, and we rolled up around 11:30. We set up our chairs and discovered that the girls are too big for their chairs! All but Delaney. I guess we didn’t use them too much last year because we were gone all summer. 

I got to hold Lincoln for awhile and Frankie was like a magnet. Sad for Frankie, Lincoln weighs about what she does, so she wasn’t able to hold him long. 

Beth was there with her brand new babe, so Addie and I got a turn holding him. Babies everywhere. 💕

We set up our chairs in a huge circle and moved around, sitting in each other’s chairs as people came and went. *photo cred: momma Debby 

It was a pretty nice day! A smidge warm, but not as bad as it’s been some years. *photo cred: momma Debby

We had some urgent calling questions we needed to figure out, and since we hadn’t gotten a chance to pow-wow Sunday, we took a quick opportunity as the picnic was wrapping down. We climbed into the back of Tracie’s comfy van and pondered, counseled, and finally prayed together. It was actually a very unifying, spiritual, and productive little collaboration. Chelsea was cracking up and had to grab a pic of our most unusual of meeting places. Love these ladies. 

Sciency

A few weeks ago Addie went to a fun science  birthday party.  

I loved the periodic table cake. 

They did all sorts of science experiments and came home with fun fidgety things. 

It was nice that it was in the neighborhood so we just walked on over. Too bad Lilly is moving this summer.

It was an optional sleepover, and Addie and lily asked and asked. But I know better. It’s easiest to have an across the board policy on this issue. And there was another girl that came home when Addie did, so at least she wasn’t the only one. And on this topic, Frankie had a similar experience in March, and apparently in the middle of the night there was some drama, so later the mom came to me and told me I was on to something and they are instituting a no sleepover policy too. That was so nice to hear. 

We keep on piano’ing. Addie did ask why I was obsessed with them taking piano. We don’t live on a farm and they are not up early milking cows, so they can learn piano. Same, same. 

Movie night with these twins. 

And finally, daddy showing the girls something important. 🤷‍♀️my favorite part of this is Frankie’s  hand on Matt’s shoulder and Delaney’s hand on his leg. 💕 little things that say I love you. 

Fishtails and Arts in Bloom

Check out this cool braid I did on Frankie. For a girl mom, I am pretty pathetic when it comes to hair. 

It was a lovely warm Sunday. Matt and I took a nap, it is a day if rest after all, and I accidentally slept all afternoon. Guess I was tired? I did do my wash routine this morning, so I was up super early. 🤷‍♀️ We made cake and salad for tomorrow and wrote in journals and talked about Come Follow Me, and made phone calls and counted Box Tops. Normal, normal. 

We had my dads drill sargent hats on a shelf in our closet and Matt one day suggested we hang them in our newly remodeled basement. The girls went down for something and Frankie came upstairs saying “what are those creepy park ranger hats doing on the wall?” She’s so fun. We’ll put a long picture or sign there to finish off our reading corner. Someday. 

Thursday was Frankie’s first strings concert. She was sick for the winter concert, so it was a first for all of us. Our little violinist did great and it was short and sweet. 

So focused. 

After the concert we walked around the school to see the rest of the art. This is her plate that she made that you can’t eat off of. The one she brought home last week you can eat off of. And she said I can have whichever one I want, but she would really like to keep both. She’s such a trip. 

Addie left this cute little feather dish inside my blankets one day. It was a late Mother’s Day gift for me. 🤗

I don’t know what these are. 🤷‍♀️ But Frankie was quite sure that one she’s pointing to was hers. As opposed to some years when we’ve had drama and strife because we didn’t know who’s was who’s. 

D wasn’t quite sure which was hers, so she just posed with them all. 

I love when they do these pieces! Some of my favorites!

And finally, photo booth fun. 

These little besties. 

Fireflies

Memorial Day weekend means our annual neighborhood 5k. We didn’t run this year, for only the 2nd time in the 8 years it’s been happening. Delaney was the only little that was awake during the race, but we cheered on the runners as best we could. 

The girls got their swimsuits on as soon as they woke up. Then we searched for our proximity card to allow us into the pool for at least an hour. I’m not infallible, but i feel quite certain that I did not lose that dumb card. Anyways, we finally decided to order a new card for $25. So dumb. 

It was only in the 70’s or low 80’s today, so it wasn’t warm at the pool. At one point Delaney asked why we had to go to the pool that day, as if I had made them. 😂 I think she actually meant why is the pool open when it’s cold. Then the pool chemicals were off and wouldn’t be ready for another hour, so we left after only one hour of swimming and 30 minutes of waiting. 

We’re putting finishing touches on the house which are the most stressful for me. I’m learning about decorating rules, like how high to hang pictures and how to make rooms look larger and more comfortable. I think that rooms that just feel nice have most likely followed the rules of decorating. I am not confident in my abilities at all, which makes it all feel very stressful. Like these two pictures I put up in the powder room. This took 4 nail holes and lots of time measuring. 🤦‍♀️

While Frankie and Delaney played at the park, Addie and Matt took a drumstick break. 

Stresssssssful. And the shower is Tuesday. 1st world problems, it will be totally fine. 

I’ve got plans for some pictures going up the stairs. Pics are supposed to be hung 60” about each step, so i messily measured and taped. Lexi said she’ll help when she comes Monday, doing it with a buddy will be so much easier. Grown up children as buddies is super sweet. 

Taaa-daaa! Still needs some love, but it’s coming along and I really love it. 

And some bonus pictures. She’s slept with her arms straight up since she was a baby. 💕

And scripture hijinx with Bubba. We love Come Follow Me and reading about the saviors life. My relationship with Him has grown stronger and more personal as we’ve studied together this year. 

We’ve lived in this beautiful home for 10 years and 2 days. How did that happen? It’s been a good house with lots of ups and lots of downs, definitely more ups than downs. We love living in Maryland in our little White House on P street. 

And finally, at the Martines/Ely graduation party tonight I saw the first fireflies of the season - absolute summer favorite. 

Gotta get down on Friday

Tonight we went up to food truck Friday at the gazebo.  

They had music, and since we waited until 6 so it was nice and cool.

After we ate pizza the girls got snow cones and D enjoyed hers atop the play structure. 

Addie brought her roller blades and was all ‘eat my dust.’

We sat with Morgan’s mom Dionna and got to know her better. Frankie is weirdly infatuated with Morgan. 

D’s class made dioramas at school today. 

After school we went and helped clean up from the teacher appreciation lunch. We love our teachers!

I almost had a nervous breakdown yesterday when I removed several command strips from my freshly painted powder room and they totally tore off the paint. I was soooooo sad/mad/frustrated. Matt has already sanded and primed it and we’ll paint it (again) tomorrow. With so much to do it’s so frustrating to have to redo parts. I’m over it. Matt’s a good calmer downer. 

Emily and I walked around St. Mary’s lake today and we always have a fun time and thoughtful conversations. 

And lastly, the highlight of my week. My Pansuit Politics besties have another podcast called The Nuanced Life where they take share small commemorations people send in and talk about the everyday parts of life that are special. I couldn’t sleep one night so i wrote to them about my curly hair journey. Then the next day I read it again and decided even though it wasn’t great, to send it in. That was last week, and on Wednesday they read my commemoration! I saw in the morning that they were talking about curly hair, and then after the girls went to school i clicked on it and it said it was from Michelle and they totally read my email! I was so surprised and stoked. I have loved listening to these two thoughtful, smart, and nuanced ladies talk about politics and life and I love them even more since they shared my silly little message about my afro. And also, I’m a curly girl and a church lady, what, what?!


We are all looking forward to a nice long weekend together!