{I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees!}

Michael & I were could not stop laughing. A few weekends ago we spent a Saturday morning at Red Top Mountain, about a half hour from our house. The weather was perfect for a picnic, play & "hiking" - and by hiking, I mean walking from the car to the picnic area to the playground & back. It's a start, right? Anyhow, as we hung out at the picnic table, Cassidy started pontificating on nature & taking care of it & the Lorax. To which Kalea climbs up on the nearest tree stump...

...to do her best Lorax impersonation. It was a good one too, complete with finger wagging and that Lorax look. This girl cracks me up. Cassidy had to get in on the act too. Then Cade climbed up because, well, everyone else was doing it, but they don't hold a candle to her expressions. Hilarious.

After the Lorax lecture, we had a great rest of the day checking out the views...

and playing on the playground.

Next time maybe we'll venture more than a few yards from the parking lot! 

{fancy lumpies}

Has your kindergartener discovered Fancy Nancy? If not, especially if you have a dress-up-obsessed-princess-in-training-girl, get thee to a library!!! A couple weeks ago Cassidy got to go to the media center at school for the first time & check out a book. She was beside herself excited about it, grinning from ear to ear as she got off the bus that day. And, the grin continued as she showed me the book she picked. Fancy Nancy.

We read & read & read the book until it had to be returned. And the girls played dress up over & over & over again. Nothing new, really. A day in our household simply isn't complete without a little sparkle, a princess dress & some accessories. If you aren't familiar, Nancy is a very fancy girl. She dresses fancily, has a fancy room, fancy clothes and even a fancy dog. Unfortunately for her, her family is not very fancy, so she has to teach them how to be fancy. And she uses fancy words - it's a great vocabulary booster! In the original book, the one Cassidy checked out, the story ends with the family going out for pizza in fancy garb. So of course we had to do the same thing. Kalea got in on the act helping fancy herself up. The girls chose accessories, sparkly light up shoes & even some sparkle, glitter "eye shadow" to wear out. 

Not to be outdone, Cade tried on a couple hats, but ultimately ended up with just a bracelet. A shiny one. Then the girls fancied up Daddy with a Georgia hat, shirt, tie and his class ring. It was a sight. 

They made sure I had a fancy dress, multiple scarves, "movie star" sunglasses & a necklace. And glitter eye shadow, of course.

We went to our favorite local pizza spot & garnered a lot of attention from the waitstaff who just fawned over the girls - which of course is the point! It was a fun way to spend a Friday night!

{week 36}

Week 36. We started out the week with a lazy morning on Gran's porch watching one of the biggest spiders ever sit on her web. On the other side of the screen, of course. After some good family time, food, swimming & cousins we headed home to spend Labor Day at our house doing not much other than playing - Michael is teaching Cassidy to play checkers - and enjoying the end of summer weather.

Later in the week we had dentist visits - Cade's first cleaning. The hygienist said he was the calmest, most agreeable one year old she'd ever worked with! He & I spent lunch at Cassidy's school as a treat one day and I started getting some new photos arranged in our barely decorated living room. We'll see how long it takes to go from the butcher paper layout to actual frames...with pictures!!!

{week 35}

I cooked a lot this week. I mean, I cook a lot every week, but this week I photographed it. And by photographed, I mean grabbed my phone with a greasy hand to take a picture. It was pretty yummy stuff. Warm pasta salad with summer squash, eggs in hash brown nests for make ahead breakfasts and stir-fry (that one I totally made up, so there's no link to a recipe). In addition, I ate one of the best peaches I've ever had. Good gracious. It tasted like summer.

We also "camped" in the backyard on Sunday afternoon, complete with bathing suits, bubbles, lawn chairs and koozies. The rest of the week was a blur of school, chocolate smeared all over our faces, dance moves, camouflage hats with flash lights in them, upside-down playground madness, a Fancy Nancy dinner all dressed up by our two fabulous daughters, a Lumpkin family reunion and gearing up for the first Georgia game of the year - complete with a new rhinestone enhanced baseball cap for Mommy. Priorities, you know?

We're settled in to the school year schedule. Up early and to bed early, which suits me just fine. Cassidy is still l-o-v-i-n-g kindergarten, Kalea comes home with a handful of crazy three year old stories every day and Cade seems to enjoy the peace & quiet that comes when his big sisters are at school. I'm enjoying the time with just my little guy & scheming up projects, recipes, birthday parties and other crazy things to occupy my time while Michael is looking forward to football season &, well, football season. What a great way to end August.

{yes...mess}

It was my birthday this weekend. Michael did a really good job at coming up with some good ideas to spend time together as a family doing things the I really like. We spent Saturday at the farmer's market then went out to eat. Sunday I sang at church, we had a lazy afternoon and then some friend's came over for dinner and cupcakes. Delicious chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing. Oh my. But I digress.

We had some time on Saturday afternoon and ended up playing in the garage. I don't know why we don't do it more often. It's just the right size - and flat - for bike riding & scooting scooters, it's enclosed, close the the bathroom and any other thing one might need.

After the kids had exhausted the fun of biking & scooting in the garage, they started going through the craft stuff in our craft cart. They noticed the big roll of builder's paper (I totally stole this idea from "9 Reasons Every Home Needs Butcher Paper" by Kelle at ETST). And the finger paint. Then they started to strip to their skivvies. (Don't you paint in your undies?) The fingerpainting body painting began. And by body painting, I mean they got as much on their bodies as they did on the paper.

Then Kalea looked at us with those big eyes and asked if they could paint the wall, "Just a itsy, teeny, little, tiny bit? pleeeeeease?" Who were we to say no! You should have seen the looks on their faces when we said YES! Priceless. 

 And that, my friends, is how the story of how we have the best looking garage wall in the neighborhood. 

{week 34}

Week 34 started at church where the I had the chance to sing with a quintet that I've sang with a few times in the past year. It's a non-stressful, fun way to participate in the service that fits with our schedule. Then we had a lazy afternoon followed by birthday dinner with friends and some delicious cupcakes. I love cupcakes. 

We got busy as the work & school week started, since Cassidy was back to school already & Kalea got to meet her teachers, see her classroom and have a special morning out with Mommy. She started 3K mid-week & although not that keen on getting up in the morning, otherwise loves it. We had a special "first day of school" dinner of homemade macaroni & cheese topped with goldfish. (Get it? School of fish. Ok, maybe it was just amusing to me.) It's a little unconventional, but I highly suggest it. The kids were super excited. Cade decided to make the transition to the booster seat since adding one more milestone sounded like a good idea to him. No more highchairs!!! 

The weekend kicked off with the Pigs & Peaches festival here in Kennesaw. We're so lucky to live in a place that does so many family friendly festivals and events. We went with a group of friends and, between all of us, I think we had a thousand kids, forty-sixty strollers or wagons, multiple glow sticks and SO much fun. The girls each took a turn riding the big pink pig...if I ever figure out how to upload to YouTube again, I'll post them here! Saturday was perfect hiking weather so we went to Red Top Mountain, about 30 minutes north of our house, to picnic, play & walk a little bit. We ended the weekend at Henry's in Acworth, the kids got beads, saw a train while we ate & had an overall fantastic weekend!

{week 33}

Boy this week was well documented!! I did notice that four of twenty-eight are of the girls sleeping. I think maybe I just wanted to document them when they were peaceful. And quiet. And sweet looking. And also quiet. Did I mention quiet? LOL! We definitely have a household of talkers. Cade has joined the ranks lately and just babbles constantly with a splattering of real words and a bunch of unintelligible stuff. Michael commented the other day that Kalea may have a future in news reporting or as a town crier with the constant stream of things happening (and imaginary things she adds to the mix). He may be on to something.

We made it through the first full week of elementary school this week. Everyone was tired by the end of the week (hence all the napping pictures) but Cassidy's doing really well. She even came home with her clip on PURPLE yesterday!  The little ones & I filled up the week with playdates - a friend or two over at our house and a super fun messy MOPS playdate at a friend's house. That one inspired us to have some shaving cream fun at home later in the week and then - GASP - let them paint on the garage wall on Saturday!!! You should have seen the joy and surprise in their eyes when I gave the green light to move from the big piece of butcher paper to the wall while they finger/feet/body/hair/belly painted. 

I've had a hard time lately finding the balance between parenting and letting go to let Thing 1, 2 and 3 experience things on their own. And making sure to enjoy it with them. I'd like to blame the electronics (I admit that the iPhone is a semi-permanent attachment) or "things to do" but truthfully I may just need to LET GO. (Sometimes, let's be real.) Let them make a mess. (Let them clean it up.) Let them play together and disagree, then work together to find some resolution. (Is this real? Does that really happen? Or are your kids like mine & things just escalate until there's an all out battle. Complete with battle scars?) Let them decide what the schedule is sometimes and don't force my agenda. I know all of that sounds well and good and I'll try. Remember my word of the year, SPACE? Well, as the school year begins, I'm revisiting. 

Michael spoiled me on Friday, while the Cassidy was at school & Cade/Kalea were at Mom's Morning Out by taking me to the Le Creuset shop at the new outlets near our house. We picked three items to start a set of nice cookware. I'm so excited. SO excited. I also snuck in a birthday pedicure - opting for fall color because our weather here has been unseasonably cool recently. I don't mind so much, but I would like to get a little use out of the pool this month before it closes for the season! 

We spent Saturday morning exploring the Dekalb Farmers Market getting yummy veggies and fruit, then splurging on some delicious cheese, bread, hummus and tabbouleh for an at home date night.  Then we headed to my old stomping grounds, Apres Diem, for lunch. Quite a different experience from a decade ago when I worked there, but fun none the less. What a yummy birthday weekend! 

{finish strong}

Cassidy completed the culminating one mile race of her summer track club, Kilometer Kids, a few weeks ago. Have you seen the YouTube about this cool club? She and Michael ran together in the Run for Wounded Heroes race. She trained on Tuesdays & Thursdays for most of the summer, each practice being more confident & more able to complete the long runs. And, to her happy surprise, by race day was able to run the whole thing! We're super proud of her & glad she's discovered a fun way to exercise and be healthy.

after the practice race, the week prior to the big day, photo credit: Kennesaw Kilometer Kids

Special thanks to our friends, Julie & Jim for the race images & letting us borrow their camera while mine was left behind by accident!!

{week 32}

What a week!!! Thanks to our friend Julie for loaning me her real camera (since I left mine in Macon!!!) for Cassidy's first week of kindergarten. But, of course, I snapped plenty of iPhone pictures too! We started the week lazily with a pajama day crafting & watching movies in anticipation of the long week ahead. And also, my girls love anything bead/glue/glitter/mess related, so it was a win. Tuesday was the practice bus ride, meet & greet and then the big girl & I had a mommy-daughter date shopping for a first day of school outfit, a couple books - we got "The Kissing Hand" & "Llama, Llama Misses Mama" among other {tearjerkers}, and went out for lunch. Wednesday was the first day of school. Cassidy had a wonderful day and was all smiles getting on & off of the bus. The early morning totally wore everyone in the family out though. Cade took a monster nap in the afternoon and Kalea was asleep in her bed by 6:30 that night!!! 

So, we're adjusting. I'm making bigger pots of coffee in the morning, bedtime is earlier and, thankfully, easier for the most part. Kalea and Cade are getting to spend some quality sibling time together. (And I laugh, because JUST as I typed this, they started fighting. Yep, quality.) It hasn't been without a couple bumps in the road. Cassidy, on the surface, is doing amazingly well with such a big transition. However she's had her moments of complete meltdowns that seem completely unrelated - I'm sure due to being over tired and not quite used to everything. We're back to packing lunches, meal planning (that yummy salmon is this recipe. one pot, super easy, 25 minutes from start to finish) and seeing the sun peak over the trees in the morning. And blessed through all of it. 

{melt into me}

There's something about this girl that is transforming from her little toddler self into a big girl. Right before my eyes. Middle sister is independent, goofy, curious, talkative, caring and loving. Every so often though, she melts into me and my baby girl reappears, needing me just about as much as I need her snugly self.