Hey Look, My Real Camera!

 After several weeks away, the boys and I decided it would be a good weekend to visit The Farm. It was the first weekend of crisp, cool weather and there is no better place than there to enjoy it. 

we have a full time walker now!

We left Friday afternoon after to school for the trip and first thing Saturday morning, the boys got to work doing all the things they do. 

 Bennett found these ovies in Wells' closet (he refused to wear them last year) and didn't take them off all weekend. 

It was actually a lot cooler out than I packed for, but luckily Marme was already knitting some winter hats.

Lately, I have succumbed to the convenience of my iphone over using my DSLR, but this weekend I was definitely re-inspired to capture those little moments in a big way 

(and please excuse the watermark situation, I didn't change the preset in lightroom and I am too lazy to go re-export the pictures with my normal watermark). 

 My Oma was out there this weekend too and by Saturday afternoon, we had Wells looking at her and saying "Ohhhhhhhhh-MA" which of course had her completely tickled. 

 Joan had just enough pumpkins to make a patch for 3 boys (and an Uncle Tommy and a Chelsie), and Fritz of course had to make his own version of a hayride. 

I wish I knew what the secret was...

 Uncle Tommy and Bennett matched all day. B loved it.

Great-Grandpa Ray and Zigfried keeping a careful watch over everyone.

 And later that night, we spent some time in the rocks and playing baseball before having dinner and watching the Auburn game.

Sunday morning, I left early to head back to DC for a photoshoot while Tommy and Chelsie were going to bring the kids back in for me a few hours later when they came back in. Apparently, my boys convinced them that 'Lunchtime' was actually 5pm Sunday night. So not only did I get  my shoot done and half the pictures edited already, but I went to the commissary alone, cleaned the whole house and made a big pot of chili for everyone (and some friends!) for dinner.  We wrapped up a great weekend with our friend Shawn, her baby girl and 3 boys, Tommy, Chelsie, me and the boys for dinner and basement sports. 

And then all my boys slept for 12 hours last night. 

Can you blame them?

Thanks for a wonderful weekend Marme, Papa, Oma, Grandma, G-pa Ray, Tommy and Chelsie!

1,000.

This post is the 1,000th one I have published.

1,000!

Four years ago, I had no idea what a part of my this little space of the internet would become. 

What started as an idea to share my home decor inspiration, 

eventually turned into a 'Mom Blog' about Cullen and our life in Winston-Salem,

then onto life about two boys,

and a move to Monterey,

then all the fun things we did while stationed there.

There was the arrival of our third boy,

adventures of living in DC,

the past five months dealing with Kev's deployment,

and so many simple daily thoughts in between. 

***

Learning to use my camera and posting pictures of the boys led to people asking me to take their family pictures and has now turned into a side business that allows me to help our mostly single- income family to have some extra money for tuition payments, traveling and gifts.
***
I love that I can go back and reminisce on any exact moment in time over the past several years and enjoy stories I might have otherwise forgotten in the busyness of of lives. Plus, the boys love it when I tell them a story and can find the post to go along with it. They are fascinated by their little selves.
***
I've had blog friends turn to In Real Life Friends and have blog friends whom I have never met but often text and email and feel like a true part of their lives.
And of course, I have Real Life Friends who I have reconnected with via the blog and so many people who love of family because they read daily and feel connected to us.
***

Best of all, I've been able to document our family in way that is special, sweet, frustrating, loving, funny and very, very real. It is no secret that I really love this life that I am living, so being able to tell its story whenever I am moved to is really something I am grateful for.

Thanks to all of you for being part of the journey.
I truly appreciate every one of you who takes a few minutes of your day to read and pass along your encouragement.

And because of that, we will have a little giveaway action now: Leave a comment here and/or on the link on facebook and I will pick two winners at random and send you something fun!

Cheers to 1,000 more!

Kate and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day*

I went to bed Tuesday night with the expectation of sleep, but was awoken once by Cullen with a bad dream and two different times by Bennett wetting..two different beds... and three times by Wells, who just wanted to hang out. 

And I hate just hanging out at 3 (and 4 and 5:30) in the morning. 

Then I stumbled to pour coffee, put on a sweater because I thought it was Fall but it was really 97 degrees out and forgot to fix my hair. 

I could tell that it was going to be terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  

I dropped C off at school and came home to change lots of wet sheets (and blankets and pillowcases- how does that happen?) and the baby would not take his morning nap. I went to make enchiladas for a friend who just had a baby, and for some real dinner for us later that night, with my own cranky baby crawling up my leg, but 3/4 the way through, realized I forgot the sour cream at the grocery store the day before. 

And I hate yogurt, so no substitute was around and dinner had to be forgotten. 

I could tell that it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

unrelated picture of Wells eating a lemon for the first time

I cleaned up my non-dinner mess and got a phone call from Best Buy, where my newly virused computer was hanging out, to say that my hard drive was failing and I needed a Recovery Disk for any hopes of retrieving anything and installing a new hard drive. I realized I have no such Disk. And a new one was another $70. And the now cost of fixing said virused computer (with all my pictures on it) was starting to surpass the actual cost the of computer. 

And I hate the thought of losing all my pictures.

I could tell that it was going to be a terrible, no good, very bad day. 

I got the little dudes and I out of the house and down to take pictures of a friend's new baby (with no enchiladas in tow) and wrapped sweet darling newborn Meg up in her pretty pink swaddle and went to redeem my day by taking gorgeous pictures of her... until my camera wouldn't click. But I knew I put my SD card in there because I remembered thinking that I was so glad I didn't erase the photos off of it after my photoshoot over the weekend so I could still edit them on Kev's computer if the virus on my computer wasn't a quick fix. So I opened the camera and saw that the SD card was indeed there, but it wasn't reading,...because somewhere in transit the side got knicked and now wasn't working. 

All pictures likely all lost. 

And I really hate losing pictures that people paid for.

I could tell that it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

B and Baby Meg

Then, I cried in front of my friend after I ran to the PX to get a new SD card, but came back with the one that wasn't compatible with my camera, even though the PX camera counter guy said it was the right one. 

 And I really, really hate crying in front of people. 

I could tell that it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

A little while later, I cried again, this time to my husband. Then felt like an A-Hole because I was crying over sour cream and pictures that can be re-made, when he was sitting without us (no enchiladas in sight) in his plywood-made room in the middle of the desert, half the world away, and yet, he was still trying to make me feel better. 

I could tell that it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

I picked up Cullen from school, excited to hear about his day, but he got in the car crying because

 "Today was hot dog, chips and cookies day at hot lunch and you packed me a ham sandwich and fruit and I was SO sad because I just wanted to buy a hot dog, chips and cookies and I never want you to make my lunch again." 

This was definitely a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. 

But Mom (and her good wine she poured for me when I showed up, kids in tow, to complain about my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day) says that everyone has bad days... even people who start off with successful enchiladas. 

Thanks Joan, and Fritz, who later that night came over to chainsaw down some crazy growing things on the side of my house..

Cheers to tomorrow.

*If Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day isn't part of your children's library, go get it today. We love it around here!

We Ate All the Fried Chicken

Over the weekend, my high school friends (and my parents, and my brothers, and my kids, and my Grandma, and Grandpa Ray, and my Oma) and I had our Annual Retreat out at my parents' Farm. We did a whole lot of lounging by the pool, drinking cocktails, riding dirtbikes, sitting by the bonfire and eating every last crumb of the buckets of fried chicken my mom graciously prepared on Saturday evening.

Everyone loves a good comparison photo, so here, look how we've grown since 2011- mostly note that we graduated from solo cups to real wine glasses. 

It was such a relaxing and fun filled day, one that can only come with the ease of being around old friends.

 Loaf lives in NYC was but totally in her element at The Farm. I don't think she ever stopped running and possibly her finest moment was when she tried to catch a chicken. 

 The boys (my three brothers, Ant and John) spent most of their day at "Man Camp" which included hours of a game that involved drinking beer and throwing a hammer. I never did get the rest of the rules. 

 Grandma, Oma and Fritz had a little fun on the golf cart. 

 Tommy and Bennett manned the kids' table. 

 Marme is at her happiest when people are eating and drinking around her kitchen table. Lucky for her, we all excel at that. 

 Wells judged us all a little bit.

 The boys' bonfire/the adults' bonfire

 Ant and John got tired of our requests for pics and started taking their own selfies.

Thanks guys and girls for being awesome (and Mom and Dad for putting up with us all). 

Can't wait for Retreat 2015. 

This Week We

...Randomly lost the internet. Luckily, I found it, not sure how, but I am happy about it. 

...spent another day at the Farm on Monday with my aunt and cousins. My 'aunt' is married to my mom's youngest brother, so we are actually just a few years apart and our kids are too. We had a blast hanging out and can't wait to see them again. 

....Tuesday came home, unpacked, happily crossed 5 days off the calendar and went grocery shopping in a torrential downpour- big thanks to my friends Shawn who let me drop the big boys off to play with her big boys so I didn't have to lug all 3 little humans through the rain.  

...Wednesday, hung out with my friend Jen, her son Sean and her sweet twin baby girls who my boys just adore. 

Bennett is petting Katie, not poking her in the eye and Claire was allll smiles for Cullen

...Had that kind of an afternoon where I drafted a funny post in my head titled: 

Ways They Drive Me Crazy 

Included in that unwritten post (since I had no internet) would have been:

Cullen: What time are we going to Sam's tomorrow?

Me: 3

Cullen: What time are we going to Sam's tomorrow?

Me: 3

Cullen: What time are we going to Sam's tomorrow?

Me: I AM NOT ANSWERING THAT QUESTION. YOU KNOW THE ANSWER.

Cullen: Mommy, my brain isn't on today. 

And then had a lovely (and hilarious) dinner with the uncles and girlfriends and my parents to farewell to Kathleen who is leaving us for Nashville - We miss you already Leen!

I did a risotto bar which worked out perfectly and was a fun and fancy way to please everyone's tastes. 

the fixings to add to a garlic/onion risotto

....Thursday: Continued with Ways They Drive Me Crazy

Example:

Wells- wakes up at 5:45, goes to back down at 7- C wakes up at 7 and immediately asks if we can start rearranging his room (he and Bennett are going to start sharing and are so excited about it), when I said I need Coffee first, he asks if I want to play football in the basement (boyfriend hasn't even gone to the bathroom yet, I am not joking about this being immediate)- I convince him to cuddle and watch a show (so I can shut my eyes for another minute) but then B comes down and wants to cuddle too, but he wants to the red blanket and C already has the white blanket, and we are watching Sheriff Callie but B wants Daniel Tiger and WAFFLES. WE WANT WAFFLES. 

So yea.. no extra twenty minutes of sleep for me. 

And mess, so much mess, all the time

After W woke up we headed to Homegoods and Target to start a little makeover for some big boys' room (which will give us a guest room upstairs and give them a playroom in the den with a door I can close when I don't want to see the mess. Woohoo!)

and then in the afternoon met Cara, Sam and Julia at the pool and for dinner. 

Lastly, Things That Don't Drive Me Crazy:

When the boys (and I) write letters to their Daddy. 

And knowing that another month of deployment is down. 

And when Bennett wears a Cat mask. 

Happy Weekend to you all!

*****
PS- Thanks to all again who offered to donate a backpack and supplies to our first service project - school starts August 6th so if you can get your packs in the mail before then, that would be amazing! Don't forget to link a pic on instgram with #packapack if you would like to share.
Julianna- Can you please comment with your email so I can send you the info?