No Giant Turkey Legs In This Post

Our big plan for this weekend was to attend the Maryland Renaissance Festival yesterday, but when we woke up Sunday morning, we were, quite simply, worn out. So we did nothing all day and it was amazing.

Backing up to last Wednesday, we had Kev's cousin Sarah and her two boys over for dinner and to visit. Then on Thursday and Friday our friend Chris was in town and staying with us. We stayed up late Thursday talking and catching up on his newlywed life and then Friday went into Old Town for pizza (and met up with my older brother) and ice cream. Saturday morning I did a lot of cleaning while the guys hung out with the boys and after Chris left, we piled into the car for a friend's birthday party. Only scatterbrain over here put the party down for the wrong day and we showed up to an empty house, resulting in two very disappointed boys. 

Since they were already past naptime and had been so excited about the party, we wanted to do something special with them, so we drove over to National Harbor to the Children's Museum. What a disappointment. It was very expensive ($40 for our family) and so small. We really pushed it by spending an entire our hour there. The exhibits were not nearly interactive or creative enough and many of them involved doing a lot of reading instead of hands on learning, which doesn't really make sense when you are geared toward a bunch of little people who can't read yet. Definitely won't be heading back there, but it was worth a shot and the boys still had fun even though they got bored pretty quickly.

Saturday night, my sister in law and her fiance and my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner. Kate cooked an amazing meal for us and since the boys were worn out from not napping, we put them down early and enjoyed some quality adult time with our 'little' siblings.  Kev and I are loving spending so much time with our brothers and sisters just as friends (and we are grateful that they like hanging out at our house, lord knows it is a little Crazy Town over here). 

So that brought us to Sunday and left us with very little desire to leave the house. Even Cullen asked if we could 'just relax' all day. So we skipped church, made breakfast, went to a playground, watched Charlotte's Web, took an entire family 2 hour long nap, played in the backyard, picked up Chinese for dinner and called it a day. 

How was your weekend? 

Cheeks and Chins, and Where Is the Time Going??

1. Yesterday morning, Kev and I sat down to compare calendars (Kev's is on his phone and mine lives on a legit paper calendar hanging in my kitchen, am I the only one who still does that?) and realized: 

a) Next week is October 

b) we have something going on every weekend between now and November 9th.

I swear we say it every month, but where is the time going? 

2. It has started getting cold here in the morning and I dress the boys and myself for whatever the weather is at 7:30am. 

Because that is how the weather stayed in Monterey all day. 

It doesn't here.

 It changes. 

Consequently, we are all sweating in our long pants and sweaters by 12. You'd think I'd learn to check the actual weather report (I probably won't). 

3. Bennett found out his teacher rides a motorcycle to school.

 He no longer cries on his way into class.
I feel like this might be related.

Also, this:

4. Cullen loves to help with Wells and yesterday, he 'got Baby cozy' while I was getting dressed. (Don't worry, this isn't as dangerous as it looks, I was standing two feet away and Cullen put Moo-Cow on Baby's paci so he wouldn't spit it out.)

Later that day, while melting down over not 'needing' to take a nap, he looked at me square in the eye and said "Mommy, you are being mean today."

5. Wells might grow up thinking his name is Baby. Or Wellsiepoo.  

Sorry, Buddy.

Speaking of our youngest little sleep stealing miracle, I got so frustrated with his nighttime sadness this week that I made an appointment to see if he had reflux. Apparently he doesn't, he is just a baby. 

But, he is up to 12.5 pounds- that is a four pound gain in six weeks. 

All Cheeks and Chins.

What are you up to this weekend?
We have a friend in town tonight, a birthday party and dinner date tomorrow and then on Sunday I am making Kev take us to the Renaissance Faire. The boys are really into knights and castles right now and I think they are going to love it.  Get excited for those pics on Monday (and follow me on instgram if you are too excited to wait @katedaffodils).

Linking up for 5 Things on Friday with Hello!Happiness

At the End of the Day, We are...

exhausted. 

But you know what else we are?

Fulfilled.

 My 30th birthday is just 3 weeks away and once upon a time, (when I was 22) I made Kev promise he would take me to Paris.

We aren't going to Paris.

 But we are doing a lot of other things, everyday.

 Like taking our gorgeous boys to the park on a Tuesday afternoon.

And spending time with their smiles, a place that is just as magical as a city abroad.

We are changing diapers and dealing with tantrums and hoping a baby sleeps for more than 3 hours at a time.

We are finding a way to budget through being a one income family with two mortgages (we rent our house in NC), while paying for preschool and saving some money for the future too.

We are not buying the fanciest of clothes, but Wells has cowboy boots attached to his outfit, which are hilarious, so I am okay with it.

We are learning how to be outnumbered, sometimes 3 to 2,  but a lot of hours of the day 3 on 1.

We are making it, with minimal meltdowns (adults and children alike).

We are trying to eat healthy and meal plan, but treating the boys to a Friday Happy Meal and not feeling bad about it.

We are seeing how strong we are as a family, more importantly as a couple. 

We are finding the balance between being outnumbered by our children, and still finding time for each other.

We are helping. 

Helping the boys, helping at school, helping one another, hopefully helping people outside our family in some way.

We are resting, when we can. 

At naptime, in the early evening, in the rocking chair at 2am when Wells is nursing, at 5am when Kev is a saint and takes him to the guest room so I can soundly sleep for an hour before the rest of our day starts.

We are having fun. 

Much more fun than we would be having kidless and in Paris. 

(But the wine and cheese prevail)

We are exhausted, but in a way only a full life could leave us. 

And I would take it over Paris any day.

We Had A Party. I Took A Lot Of Bad Pictures.

On Saturday, Kev and I had our family and friends over for a little housewarming party. Since moving back 'home' we have so many friends and family in the area and we loved the idea of having everyone over at once. It was a Tailgate theme complete with drinks, fall deserts, our favorite grill foods and side dishes and two tvs with college football on all day. 

(I stole the theme from our good friends the Hensons who have a huge Tailgate party every Fall to kick off football season. Thanks for the inspiration Mrs. H!)

And here is where I ran around for 2 minutes and took 9 pictures without checking my settings. Since photography is kind of my thing, this is pretty embarrassing, but all I have to show from the party, so it is what you get.

My father in law commented on Sunday morning that he had fun asking the question "So how do you know Kate and Kev?" since there was such a diversity of answers:

Our parents

My brothers and their girlfriends

My Grandma and Grandpa Ray

High School friends

Grade School friends

Auburn friends

West Point friends

Blogger friends

Monterey friends

New neighbor friends

My sister in law's in laws

And a whole lot of children belonging to all those people

Bummy and Grandma

Some of the whole lot of children

Shawn, and the back of Andrew's head (told you they were not good pictures)

West Point friends (and more children)

My older brother's girlfriend Caitlin helping Wells pass out after a long day

My in laws and my sister in law's in-laws- we definitely talked about how neat it is to be close to our super extended family

I tamed the mullet with curls and well placed hair behind the ears. Wells wore this adorable Auburn number from Mrs. Henson

Overall, it was a wonderful afternoon celebrating being back in the DC area with friends old and new. It did end up raining which was a bummer, but on the bright side, we learned that our not so big house is big enough to fit all those people. 

Thanks to everyone who made it. 

We are so blessed to have you all in our lives!

Yesterday, I Got a Mullet

No seriously, look:

Legit front mullet. 

I haven't cried about a haircut since I was in the 7th grade (I'll try to find a picture, it is just as awkward as you are hoping) until yesterday. I hadn't got a haircut since January (my  free time is short people) and since Mom was hanging out with the boys I decided to sneak out for a trim. It's taken me a long time to grow my hair out since I burnt off the ends lighting the grill last year (this story just keeps getting better, doesn't it?) and I figured the salon in the shopping center next to all the fancy houses could handle cleaning it up a bit. I walked in, asked the lady to take off an inch (one inch!) and add some long layers then walked out in tears with 4 inches gone... 8 if you include the hair missing from the front mullet. My mom says that it looks good, but she has to say that, she's my mom (and was probably having flashbacks of emotional 13 year old Kate who was not very cool). 

So that was yesterday.

Here's what else happened this week:

I blated with Jesssica from Just Rainbows and Butterflies. She is so great and Sawyer is such a doll baby. 

Wells wore baby ovies

Caught these moment on camera

Someone found his smile

And totally judged my mullet

I went to a fancy book club on Alysa's roof deck 

And we enjoyed the most gorgeous weather all week.

This weekend we are having a little housewarming party and looking so forward to having our friends and family over for an afternoon of fun. 

Hopefully my mullet doesn't offend them too much.

Happy Friday!

Baby Blues

(The Good Kind)

One of the only physical attributes I was sure of about my children when they were in my belly was that they would have Kev's green eyes. 

I was wrong.

So very wrong. 

But o how I love all those baby blues.