{happy 4th birthday, captain kalea}

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet Kalea Lynn!

We started the day with some gifts from us, Grandma & Grandpa. She was tickled to get a bunch of Jake & the Neverland Pirates accessories & outfit, among a couple books & clothing. Cassidy, of course, had to help!

Then it was on to soccer practice while Mommy set up for the Jake & the Neverland Pirates Party.

Once friends arrived, it was a flurry of pirate & princess dress-up, making pirate bandanas, pizza, pirate booty & making spy glasses for the treasure hunt. Which was a bit of a crazy mess, but what party isn't, right?

We ended with singing Happy Birthday, loaded the kids up on sugary frosting & sent most of them home! :) It was a beautiful & fun day celebrating our sweet girl. It's so hard to believe that she's grown up so much into the kind, thoughtful, silly & loving big girl that she is today. 

{week 30}

Heading into week 30 we were glad to have everyone finally healthy. The kids attended Cooking Camp at the preschool which gave me a couple days to get things done at home & enjoy a little silence.

Cassidy continued practicing with Kilometer Kids for her upcoming 1 mile race. They had a practice 1 mile race this week & she did really well. And loved all the prizes after the race too! She also had her Kindergarten placement evaluation this week & did really well. She's a little nervous about a new school but we're all looking forward to school starting soon. I braved the "Back to School" crowds at Target one day with Cade while the girls were at camp. It's insane. Only 18 or so more years to go!!! 

The weather was really nice & the kids got to play in the backyard pool and water table a couple days. On Friday we went to the zoo with a bug group of MOPS moms & friends. I think there were something like 19 kids between all of us but group parenting worked out & we didn't lose anyone! It was our first visit since their splash pad opened. All three kids had a blast. It's much smaller than the one at Centennial Olympic Park where we went a few weeks ago which seemed better for Kalea & Cade, especially. 

The end of the week was really nice since Michael got off work early on Friday to start a little "staycation" going out to eat a new burger place in Kennesaw (Yes, burger place. The kids & I got quinoa burgers. They were super yummy. We're still vegetarian!) and going to a special event at The Southern Museum of of Civil War & Locomotive History. Cade was in heaven seeing all the choo-choos!!! A photog from the Marietta Journal captured a cute picture. We're couldn't find it published in any print papers, but you can see it online here.

{week 23}

The first full week of June was pretty low key, as I packed & prepared for our upcoming trip to PA. The kids started getting into the swing of summer with a couple trips to the pool, Cassidy enjoyed her running club, Kilometer Kids where she's "training" for an end of the summer race with a group from the Atlanta Track Club at Swift Cantrell Park behind our neighborhood, we revisited our "almost naked popsicle eating" tradition for our messy kids & I got a much needed fondue & cocktails girls-night-out at the Melting Pot.

{week 22}

The week of Memorial Day kicked off with a weekend of Home Depot, gardening, projects & nice weather. We planted a few tomato plants & a squash plant (which we thought was a pumpkin plant & are going to have a lot of explaining to do come Halloween!!) as well as a stacked herb planter that I copied of of Pinterest. We got the water table, which had been sitting in the hallway unopened for a week, set up & the kids had a blast. Note to anyone reading: bathing suits are a better options than clothing! Later in the week we hit the pool for our neighborhood pool party as well as with some friends - coming across a good Samaritan herding a turtle across a busy road. We ended the week with a mommy-kiddos dinner date of leftover pizza. Fancy as usual!

{week 20}

Summer begins!! Week 20 was the last week of preschool for Cassidy & Kalea. We celebrated at the school picnic on Tuesday. I hit up Pinterest & found a cute gift idea for the class gift for Kalea's wonderful teachers. (Cassidy's teachers are fantastic too, but I just wasn't the room mom to create a class gift!!!) The kids & I celebrated Mother's Day by spending Sunday at church & then heading out for brunch. Michael came home from his trip right after lunch & spoiled me the rest of the day...no diaper changing or cooking for me!! We hit up the zoo with a friend mid-week where the kids got to pet some goats & ride the merry-go-round. I visited with a friend from out of town Thursday on a rare night out mid-week which was super fun...until Cade woke up at 6:15 the next morning. How do they always know?!? We ended the week with some more yummy food, a new app for editing pictures on my phone & a performance of "The Gardening Show, A Musical" written and produced by Cassidy, starring Cassidy, Kalea, Cade and Michael. In our backyard. It was stunning!

{week 17}

Week 17 was well documented! Both Cassidy & Kalea had their (first) gymnastics recitals. Both girls did a great job. While Cassidy was poised and proud, Kalea made the whole audience laugh because she had such a big grin & waved the whole time - pretty indicative of their personalities! We had a couple play dates at the house & the park behind our neighborhood then headed to visit Gran & Poppy for the weekend. While we were there we visited a strawberry farm a couple miles from their house. All three had a delicious time picking strawberries & eating fresh strawberry ice-cream afterward - as evidenced by red strawberry faces! 

{week 12}

Last week I tried to make up for the lack of pictures for the prior week by going way overboard in documenting the event of the week. That, coupled with a bunch of stuff going on, led to a crowded collage this week! Michael spent the first part of the week out of town for work. While he was away, we weathered a tornado warning (three kids, mommy & two cats in a very small half bathroom. good times) one evening, Kalea celebrated "green day" at school with some appetizing green macaroni & cheese & had a playdate with cutie pie Emma, Cassidy had gymnastics & school, we saw one of a hundred trains that go through Kennesaw - but this time Cade said, clearly, "choo chooo twain". We ate a yummy feast of cabbage soup, salad, quiche & apple pie one day &  yummy chili later in the week. On Friday, after spending the day with Cassidy's sweet friend, Seren, Michael & a friend convinced Jackie to drive two hours to see a free Blake Shelton concert & it.was.so.much.fun! He played for just over four hours! The next day was a rainy day that we spent in our pajamas doing chalk art & hanging out. Overall, it was a great week!

{week 10}

the first full week of march brought more snow, wacky wednesday, more foodie pictures as well as a new TV show obsession for the girls - the pioneer woman, a couple more hats for cade's hat obsession, playgrounds, playdates & silly time with friends, and jewelry making with some of the craft supplies from grandma betty.

{week 5}

the girls evaded the camera this week for the most part. 

good thing I can still capture my silly husband & the baby boy. 

(shush, he is too still a baby.)

cade has his 15 month wcc this week & is on track with everything.

his stats: height - 32" (79%), weight - 22.5 lbs (50%), head circumference - 19" (87%)

we must have lineage from mary poppins as he is practically perfect in every way.

{week 4}

we had a low key, friend-filled weekend that kicked off with the MLK holiday

& ended with a trip to Macon for a birthday celebration

{week 3}

we were busy this rainy week: kalea started gymnastics, I found a new fun phone camera & editing app, 

lots of cooking, playdates, friends & sitting on each other. clearly. 

{week 1}

If you know me, you know the electronic appendage called Jackie's iPhone. It's one of the luxuries that I'd be loathe to give up as we tighten our belts. Being a SAHM, I realized it's entirely unnecessary to have a fancypants phone - no important meetings, clients, projects, emails, etc. However, it's kind of my lifeline to the world of people taller than 4' tall who speak in complete sentences. I held out on Facebook until Kalea was born and since jumping into the world of social media have meddled in Twitter (and failed! lol!), Google+ (and am still confused), Blogger, and Instagram. Instagram has my attention right now because it catches some of the sixty-forty-hundred pictures that I take of our family each week & has fun filters that make those pictures look less like phone pictures. 

Anyhow, since I'm trying to blog more regularly I thought I'd replicate a practice from a favorite blog of mine, Enjoying the Small Things, and do a weekly Instagram dump. Enjoy!

{digging for worms}

playdate food is delicious...especially when you get to dig it up yourself!



- Posted from my iPhone

{fairy garden}

A few months ago I came across the idea of a fairy garden on Pinterest & my interest was peaked. Fairies are a big deal at our house. If the girls aren't playing princess or "mama & daughter" then they're playing fairies - and many times make believe time combines the three & we have mother & daughter fairy princesses. Here was the inspiration piece:

find the pin here

We have very good friend, Ryan, who is an extremely talented florist. Kalea just happens to be the President of his fan club. So, when I texted him that I needed some help making this happen & some adorable picture of her, he couldn't help but agree. Really, could you resist this?

One Saturday, we gathered the troops & supplies. Troops: us, Ryan & the Peppers. Supplies: half a Jack Daniels whiskey half-barrel planter (found at Home Depot), two bags of pebbles (one for drainage, the other for decoration), a couple bags of dirt, moss, some miniature plants from Ry's shop & two silly girls with watering cans.

We drilled a couple holes in the bottom to let it drain & the filled it up. Big pebbles first, dirt, plants, pebbles. It was pretty quick work with all the helpers we had on hand.

Phase one was complete! The fairies were set to build a house & move in a few weeks later. I was pretty happy with the results so far & the girls were thrilled. Although getting a picture of both of them "thrilled" at the same moment proved difficult!

A few weeks later we added a house, donated by another talented friend, some fairies Ryan had drummed up at the shop & a few other extras. We couldn't be happier with the outcome. Cassidy & Kalea have really enjoyed checking for fairies a few times a week & being responsible for watering their plants. It was a fun, easy & not too expensive project - especially so with the help of friends!

project 365 photo: 09.16.2011 {40 miles from Denver}

For the first time since B.C.  (before children), Michael & I took an multi-night trip away from the shenanigans of house & home. We headed to Colorado for the wedding of our friend Scott & his beautiful bride, Neysa. The day before I drove down to Macon & dropped off the girls for their first sleepover at Gran & Poppy's house. I stayed for dinner, bath & bedtime before jumping in the car for the two hour drive back. Apparently Cassidy hadn't counted on me staying though because during dinner she asked me, "Mommy, why are you still here?" I took it as a good sign that she wasn't going to have anxiety about being there without Mommy & Daddy. Which was true - they ended up having a blast & loved every minute of spending time with Gran, Poppy, aunts, uncles & cousins! We had a great time too. It was simply amazing the ease with which we got to the airport, through security, on the plane & to our destination. On more than one occasion Michael or I looked at our arms & hands in wonder of the lack of stuff we were carrying!

The weekend was wonderful - full of old friends & new friends. It was just the kind of wedding that makes you appreciative of all the good in your friends, their friends & family. At one point I said to Michael that it was just so easy to be with everyone no matter if we'd known them decades or days.

project 365 photo: 07.23.2011 {my best friend}

every time Cassidy talks about her cousin she calls him, "my best friend"

project 365 photo: 07.10.2011 {Sunday Schedules}

At some point in the future I plan to make a small scrapbook of "life in Salt Lake City" to help our girls remember things that we did, places that we went & people who we loved while we lived in Utah. One place that will certainly make an appearance in this book is Holladay UCC. 

 

When Michael & I moved to Utah it seemed a little daunting to find peers & like-minded people outside of work acquaintances, especially since we were both working a lot during that time. I started the search for churches in an effort to meet people & stumbled upon their website. HUCC was the first church we tried out & we felt at home right away, not even bothering to visit other churches before deciding to make it our home. 

 

 

During the five years we lived in SLC Michael & I became members, both girls were welcomed & baptized into the church, I taught Sunday school for the little ones, Cassidy attended preschool there, Michael participated on the preschool Board of Directors, we met and became close friends with a number of individuals and families and HUCC became a real part of our community. 

 

 

We'll have a hard time finding a place that lives up to the high bar HUCC has set for a church community!

On Sundays in SLC we commonly stopped for breakfast on our way home at a favorite, fast, breakfast spot: Over the Counter. We actually discovered the diner upon recommendation from my mom's cousin who lived in SLC until just a month or so before Michael & I moved there in 2006. 

 

Yum! More memories & photos to come soon as we get caught up on blogging & documenting the big move!

project 365 photo: 07.01.2011 {BFFs}

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll miss our good friends when we move...good thing we could fit in some sprinkler action before we left! And, not to leave Kalea out - who was napping during all the fun -a video of her "reading" me a story!

project 365 photo: 06.22.2011 {kung fu fighting}

Have I ever mentioned how much we love the library? In case you missed it before: the Salt Lake Main Library downtown is awesome! If you're ever in Salt Lake City you should visit it. If you have kids, go to story time. The children's library - which takes up the entire lower floor - is amazing & the librarians are wonderful, creative people!

This past week's story theme - to go along with the summer theme of travelling - was China. The kids heard stories about China, saw a puppet show of an old Chinese legend, learned to say "hello" & "goodbye" in Chinese & practiced their "kung-fu" ribbon twirling while dancing to "Everybody Is Kung Fu Fighting" the theme song from the Kung Fu Panda movie. Just picture a bunch of 1, 2, 3 & 4 year old children dancing, twirling & pretend kicking - funny! We certainly will be sad to miss out on these weekly adventures once we move!

project 365 photo: 05.24.2011 {dinner swap}

Among the many things I'm going to miss about living here - like our friends, church, preschool, great parks (both local & awesome nearby national parks), huge mountains, great snow, our cute house, I could go on & on - I'm definitely going to miss our weekly dinner swap with our Kate, Paul & their adorable little boy. For the past year we've taken one day a week to provide dinner for the other family. It's a treat to know that there will be something yummy & healthy for dinner that isn't take-out & you don't have to do anything but eat it. It's been great particularly because their family is also vegetarian. And even better than that, Kate makes the best desserts ever.

So, if you know someone in our new neighborhood who is interested in a swap, just let me know. I'd be more than happy to start the Atlanta version once we get there & settled!