There Is a Sport's Tree In My Front Yard (and other tales from this week)

Every night when it is finally time to come indoors for the day, I have the boys clean up the yard so people don't start voting to toss us out of the neighborhood. And since our front yard sporting events are numerous, they have started 'putting everything away' by storing it in the tree. 

You stay classy, boys. 

This week (like all weeks) has been a busy one. I signed the boys up for a short camp at their school for 4 days in the morning and they were thrilled to go see some of their friends. As much as we are around people a lot, they do spend a lot of time with adults so when the email came out that one of their favorite teachers was running this week, I decided to let them go. They were so excited to go back to school and I am praying that they will always feel that way!

Thanks to Mrs Henson for this adorable shirts!

Meanwhile, Wells and I had time to have coffee (and actual conversations!) with my friend Jen and her sweet boy and new baby twin girls, helped Chelsie move on Tuesday, went shopping with Mom on Wednesday, and had coffee with my girlfriend from high school Bobbi who I hadn't seen in years on Thursday.

 Honestly, it was a nice break for me and the boys had an absolute blast especially because they were in the 'same class' all week. 

In other news, Wells loves Mac-n-Cheese

And is still getting up at 5:30 in the morning. You think by now I would have lowered my expectations and just go with it it, but instead every morning I groan a little bit before getting up to his sweet happy little face. (It doesn't help that I have been staying up late blogging and hanging out with Coach Taylor and Tami on Netlfix because I don't sleep well when Kev isn't here.)

My grocery list has changed a bit since Kev left...

Hi everybody!

 Sometimes, Cullen acts like a crazy person obviously needs a little rest after a busy morning. Although he doesn't nap everyday (most days), once in a while if I get him to lay in my bed, I will find him minutes later like this. 

Also this week, we had my older brother Joey and Caitlin over for dinner on Monday, my youngest brother Tommy and Chelsie, and Kev's brother Mike over on Wednesday, and my middle brother Bummy and Kathleen over on Thursday. One thing I truly love about living back 'home' is watching my brothers (and brother in law) play with my boys while I drink wine with their ladies. 

I am so grateful for the adult friendships I have with all of them and blessed that they are around (and want) to hang out with us!

Wells woke back up after Joey got to our house and so was confused and yet fascinated by him. 

Cullen was actually beside himself with joy that Mike was over, don't let this picture fool you.

Boys and Bummy

And finally, now and then, I let Bennett dress himself. 

I will be taking the next week or so off to have some quality beach time with Kev's family. You can follow me on instagram for updates in the meantime @katedaffodils (that link actually leads to my account..don't know why I never did that before, but there you have it).

Have a wonderful weekend/week/4th!

An Outfit A Day (almost) This Month

Inspired by Kristin (and her Outfit a Day in May) and the positive response from my first What I Wore post, I decided to keep track of my outfits from the past month (ish).

 I mentioned a while back that my summer uniform is sundresses and here is your proof:

Dress: Francesa's, Scarf from my friend Laura/
Dress: Old Navy, Necklace: My late Aunt Jean's, Water stain in the middle: I have 3 boys/
Earrings: from Jenn, Dress: Target Maternity- am I the only one who still comfortably wears maternity clothes all the time? Because mine get rocked on a weekly basis

Techinally a cover up that I decided could be a dress from Top It Off, Earrings:Francesa's/
 Dress: Old Navy, Shoes: Jessica Simpson, Necklace: from my almost sister in law/
Dress:Target, Scarf: from Lauren, belt: ON, shoe-less baby: mine

I rarely wear shorts, so cropped jeans are my choice for summer. Jeans: Jcrew- black shirt: target maternity/
Green shirt: Motherhood Maternity (was clearly not lying about loving my comfy maternity wear) /
same cover up-made dress from a few days ago, sans belt and with a long necklace

My black maternity shirt again, jeans, target shoes and my new favorite Red Bandana Scarf from none other but the best gift giver ever: Lauren/
I love it so much, I wore it again the next day/
tank top: ON, Necklace: from my sis in law for her bridesmaid gift- I wear it all the time (and am wearing it in the previous picture too)

At the Farm all day in another cover up from Top It Off and what I look like without my abundance of under eye concealer and mascara- yikes/
 Maxi: Just got it for $22 from ON and it is definitely a favorite, necklace: same little gold one from my sis in law/
 Dress: Target

Two outfits I forgot to take pics of during the day: first dress from TJMaxx and second from Old Navy/
And finally, a sweatpants Sunday look: Kev's sweatpants, Kev's Tshirt, a Homegoods pillow and a blog post.

So that is it- my summer look in a few pictures.

 What are your go to summer staples?

That Time I Told Cullen That It was Okay to Lie a Little Bit

As parents, we do our best to teach our children the basics: don't cheat, don't steal, use kind words, be nice and of course, don't lie. We are so thankful that so far, our boys seem to adhere to these rules and we are do our part to be role models for them...

Well...

 that was until I dropped my phone a week ago and didn't want to pay the $100 deductible through our insurance to have it replaced, so instead I decided to go to the Apple Store and first tell them that my phone was acting crazy and hope that they would fix it... 

And because Cullen is a big old tattle-tale, I had to inform him that I wasn't going to tell the Apple man that I dropped the phone, so he shouldn't either. 

Brunch with Alysa, right before protecting the doughnuts superseded protecting the phone. 

As a result of our two hour stay (oh yes, alone with 3 kids) at the Apple Store on Sunday afternoon and a free fixed phone later, Cullen either learned about the resourcefulness of selective information, or will never believe a rule I give him again.... I'll let you know how that plays out.

*****

So after our busy week with Tina and Co we spent one more night at The Farm with Marme and Papa before heading back in to NOVA to have dinner with Nana and Pop, and Uncle Mike who just got back in town after a few weeks on the West Coast. I didn't take any pictures, but we had a great time catching up and the boys loved playing with Mike, while I loved Nana's awesome dinner (and enough leftovers sent home with us for a meal this week).

Sunday morning, even though we have made it to Mass every week since Kev has been gone, this week, the boys and I opted for a low key morning at home. I let them watch a lot of TV while Wells napped and I did a big cleaning of the house. Then was the excursion to the Apple Store followed by (nap time and then) a walk/bike ride to the library and dinner delivered to us courtesy of my Uncle Pete and Aunt Lori (thank you!). 

And then the boys got fired up for some World Cup Soccer, although were confused why tackling wasn't allowed. 

 All in all a great way to spend a few days- another weekend closer to being reunited with Kev.

Oh, and in case you missed it on instagram (seriously, you should be following... @katedaffodils) Wells finally learned to crawl in the last few days (at 10 and a half months, just like Cullen)

Cross Country Friends

One of the fun things about being in the military is that where ever we go, friends will be nearby and it is always easy to pick up right where we left off. This week, my friend Tina and her kids came to stay with us for a few days while her family in en route to Rhode Island from Tennesse (by way of a few months in Virginia). I have never seen such a busy bunch of kids. Seriously, they were going from sun up to sun down, only breaking for snacks. 

We went up into DC on Wednesday morning and did the Natural History Museum. It was really hot out so after lunch, we called it a day...

 Well, we called it a day- the kids never came back inside after getting out of the cars until we called them in for dinner. 

 Since The Farm is halfway famous on the internet, we opted to bring our friends out here to see it in person.

 it was pouring down rain, so the Summer of Freedom continued as the kids did sprints off the front porch and into the windy storm.

 As if last week's snake incident wasn't bad enough, Kaylee went to run around the house and came *this close* to stepping on another giant lady eating amazon python. Luckily, since Fritz the Snake Slayer wasn't here, Grandpa Ray took over ans saved the day.

 Oh, did Cullen leave the dry house to go in the downpour to pee outside? Yep.

 And then, except for 30 minutes to scarf down some homemade fried chicken, this is how they spent the rest of the day until 8:30pm when we finally made them go to bed.

 (I did have the most terrifying few seconds of my life when they kids were ready to go in the pool and I was still closing the gate into the pool area..all the sudden Cullen was yelling that we had a 'sinker' and sure enough, Bennett had jumped right in after Kaylee (who is 10 and can swim) and couldn't get back out. They normally wait for us and wear floaties but in all the excitement, he had followed Kaylee without thinking. Then, in the farthest 4 steps ever, I jumped in pool fully clothed and pulled him out. He was fine and couldn't have been under for more than a second, but I am pretty sure I am still not recovered from it. There will be some serious pool paranoia for the rest of summer...)

 Meanwhile, this is what Tina and I did

Always fun to have friends visiting!