haaaaaaair

hey guys. how's it going? mom and steve have come and gone. it was a wonderful visit and i will recap later. i just had to tell y'all something...

i think i got a really bad haircut today. i am scared to actually do it and find out. LOL! i just really needed a trim, and so i got one... but i'm pretty sure it's baaaad. i'll let you know for sure when i figure it out.

i guess the good news is, all hair does is grow. at least that's what everyone told me in 8th grade when i got the WORLD'S WORST HAIRCUT. literally. i sobbed for days. i even wore one of those old sailor hats that was jean and had daisies on it. i'm sure you had one too. they were all the rage. 

audrey hurt her foot today. i leaned over and said, "oh, boo boo," and kissed it. for seriously an hour, she would be walking around playing as normal and see me and sit down on her bum and grab her very injured foot and say, "boo boo," until i went over and kissed it again. then she would proceed with whatever she was doing. that girl. she brings so much joy to us. 

well guys, it's quite late and we have many full days ahead of us. including small group tomorrow. hopefully this time no one will steal my shoes :). 

love so much,
mer

p.s. in case you can't sleep due to my possible hair tragedy, just think of me in 8th grade with very poofy hair sticking out of a jean and sunflower sailor hat. that should help. 
night night. 

 

here and there

hey out there. long time no see, huh? seems so to me. life's been flying and crawling by. know what i mean? i'm not sure how the days keep passing, but they just do. we've had a pretty good week around here. i went to my second sewing class... and successfully sewed several stitches, thank you very much. even learned to do ruffles! watch out! lol. for real, i'm really enjoying it. i also went to my first bible study on wednesday morning with joy at central church. it was great! we're studying Nehemiah. there's a big group time where the teacher, glenda, teaches and then we break into small groups to discuss more/share. it was refreshing and most of the mom's in there have little ones so we have a lot in common :) me and joy both really liked it. 
THEN, jake and i went to our first small group with our church at spanky and lara's house. you guys, it was so great! (not just saying that cause lara reads my blog :)) we really did love it. and we had taco salad for dinner which is the key to my heart. there are 6 couples including us and everyone is so welcoming and loves each other a lot. we feel blessed to be part of it. 

mom and steve come tomorrow! yeehaw! getting all prepared, *cough cleaning my bathroom *cough, making beds, and all that jazz. 

i skyped with vanessa today and that was sweet and refreshing. so nice to see old friends and catch up. i am very thankful for skype. the distance seems shorter.

so, all in all, life is moving right along for us. i feel like i say that all the time. this season of life is so like that. raising little kids is such a weird thing. life is so slow and so fast at the same time. 
i'll let ya know how the trip with mom goes. i'm sure you'll be jealous :) 
you guys, i sure love you and am thankful you read this and love me too. 

g'night... remind me to put away the MASSIVE pile of laundry behind me. it's taunting me and is so not appropriate to have out when guests arrive. it's no joke, like 5 loads. i have a problem. 

love.

mer

too much information

hey there. how are you? i thought i would just do a bullet point update on what we've been doing/what's been on my mind. hope you enjoy.

• last sunday after church we took off for one night away at the beach! my new friend christi's dad owns a beach house in a town called oak island, so we headed there for a mini family vacation. it was delightful. spent sunday night watching "we were soldiers" and eating pasta and cupcakes. then spend most of the day monday at the beach before driving home. it was quick, but nice to get away.
• finley and audrey both have the "gunk"... you know, coughing, snotting, general grumpiness going on. today is the first day we made it to the gym in over a week. it felt good!
• finley tells everyone he is a garbage truck. today at aldi (my favorite grocery store ever), this older woman was behind us in the check out (where i dropped a jar of spaghetti sauce and glass went everywhere and i held up the line for like, ever) and she was talking to finley. he currently has a tattoo of a police shield on his arm and the lady was asking him if he wants to be a police officer when he grows up and he says, "no! i'm a garbage truck!" seriously, anytime anyone says, "you're a cool boy," or "you're big," he always exclaims, "i'm not blank, i'm a garbage truck!" trying to figure out a way to make him a garbage truck for halloween without it seeming like child abuse. 
•  i made these delicious double chocolate, white chocolate chip cookies last night. danny would have loved them.
• i went to my first sewing class on tuesday!!!! and...... i may have forgotten my power cord....... but it was a REALLY good week to forget it because we just went over the supply list and basic sewing terms and practiced threading the machine. there's 11 ladies in there and everyone is new to sewing and i think it's going to be really fun. the project we are making is pajama pants! looking forward to that.
• couldn't refuse buying the $.99 cheese puffs at aldi today. ate a whole bunch on the way home. oops.
• jake's birthday is on SUNDAY!! i'm excited. we're gonna go to dinner and it will be fun and romantic and magical i am sure.
•   have you heard the new taylor swift song? "we are never, ever, ever, ever, getting back togetheeeeeerrrrr........." i love it. l.o.v.e. it. please don't think less of me.
• audrey says thank you everytime i give her something. it's so sweet. she's saying more and more and obviously wants to talk so badly. she is saying "dankie" (blankie); "tate too" (thank you); "juuuuccceee" (juice); "suc ka" (sucker, for the sweet treat that is); "mommmmy"; "dada"; "my baby" (it's always my baby, never just baby) and i'm sure there are more. she's talking so much more than finley was at this age. 
• the mornings and night have a chill in the air now. oh, how i love thee.
• i am joining a women's bible study that starts next wednesday morning and i'm excited about it! 
• plus, next wednesday night is our first small group! we are in a married's group (spanky and lara's) and i can't wait to meet everyone.
• mom and steve come a week from TOMORROW!!!! :) :) 
• i got a library membership and am currently reading "gone girl". i've heard good things and it's already suspenseful. 

i think that's probably good for now. got the basics there for ya. oh, confession thursday..... and you thought i forgot :) (or hoped i did, LOL!)... 
i am REALLY bad at cleaning my bathroom. i knooooow, ewwww. bad as in, i don't clean it as often as one most likely should. don't worry, mom! i'll clean it before you come! :) i don't know why cleaning the bathroom is always the last thing on my list and i seem to never get to it. to be clear..... i do semi clean it regularly. like wipe down the counter and toilet. i never leave icky stuff sitting there, i just don't deep clean it very often... as i write this i am judging myself... ha! 

okay, after that load of information, i will be on my way. to dessert i go. 

oh, and then to clean my bathroom.

love to you.
mer  

some pics from the beach getaway:

mean camel

today was just one of those days. know what i mean? nothing was really wrong, i just had a bad attitude, i think. jake had to work most of the day and night and usually i don't mind it at all. in fact, i kind of like the quiet of the night once the kids are asleep. for some reason, yesterday i was bumming myself out all day about jake working today. so, it just made the day drag on. i didn't have the most patience in the world, and we had to go to walmart. bad combo. little audrey has a cold, and you know how that girl is when she's under the weather... dra-ma-tic. everything is the end of the world. i decided to stop for an icee on the way to walmart, and got finley one too, of course. i would share with him, but i get coke flavor and didn't think caffeinating my 2 year old would help matters. the icee. the icee was the straw that broke the camel's back. the back of a tired camel. finley was content the whole walmart trip. thank you cold, sugary goodness. audrey on the other hand, wanted said icee the.whole.entire.time. she sits in the "big part" of the cart and fin in the front. she kept reaching for it and yelling and trying again, and banging her head on the cart, and screaming again, and playing with the can of cinnamon rolls as a drumstick, and eating deli turkey out of the bag, and screaming. i miraculously made it to the check out line where the kind cashier said, as i was holding screaming, snotting, trying to get the icee, audrey, "you have your arms full... but it doesn't seem like you mind too much." um, was she seeing what i was seeing?! finley LOVES "paying" at the store and always wants to swipe the card, so he's yelling in my ear, "my card swipe, my card swipe!" as audrey's trying to leap from my arms. i did not feel like i didn't mind my full arms at that moment. but i was so thankful for her kindness. it was obvious we were struggling. and she saw something different. and it encouraged me. 

perhaps i snapped more than usual today. perhaps i put audrey to bed early. perhaps i left a huge puddle of water from bathtime on the bathroom floor, and perhaps finley watched one too many blue's clues. but i did read "the very hungry caterpillar" with him before bed and we talked for several minutes about what a cocoon is (which is quite hard to explain) and how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly when it comes out of it's "house". and we counted the fruit the caterpillar ate, and we sang the "hi" song (finley tells me, "sing the 'enter random object here' song", and i just make one up everytime... the ball song, the tennis racket song, the peanut butter song, etc). i'm thankful for that time. i didn't feel like mother of the year today. and that's just fine. tomorrow's a comin'. i was able to bake and enjoy some of the quiet tonight and that was good. 

i'm ready for jake to be home, though :)

night all. thanks for reading this weird, not well thought out, million grammar mistakes, ramble on our day. appreciate it. really. 

love to you,

mer 
 

little update

hey out there. how ya doin? just doin our thang around here. we had a nice weekend. there was a wedding on friday and sunday, BUT saturday, jake and i went on a little datey date. don't think we're lamers, but we went to red robin... BECAUSE we got free birthday burgers because our bdays are in sept. plus, aaron was there and he gave us the hook up even more. we even splurged and got a mudpie. it was delectable. after dinner, we did a little shopping. we went to toys r us and got finley's birthday present. yes, it's a month and a half early, but we were excited! i won't reveal his gift yet, but it's gonna be rad tad bad awesome. then we walked around sports authority and had to pick up a few things at walmart. it was so romantic. but for real, walmart with my husband and no kids is a treat. it was a wonderful night with my love, as always, and just lovely to sneak away. 

monday for the day of no labor, we didn't do much. we are going to be needing a bed soon, so we began to shop for that with no initial luck. then just chilled the rest of the day. we had josh and joy over for macaroni soup and then watched some 24 FINALLY! :) season 4... 

BUT THE BEST part of monday was when jake gave me my birthday present..... it's early yes, but for good reason...
he bought me sewing lessons! can you believe that? but that's not all. so the class is on tuesday nights, starting next week, for 6 weeks. part of my gift is that every tuesday before class, i get to leave early and get dinner or coffee or whatever i want. it's a night away for me. FOR 6 WEEKS. and i better will finally learn to sew! i can't wait! i'll keep you posted on my progress. thanks for being excited for me :) :) 

we spontaneously went to taco bell for lunch today (haven't eaten there since we moved here) and while we were there, finley said, "taco bell is so much fun!" haha! it was really funny. when we are out, finley never wants to go home and says over and over, "we not go home, mom." so when we picked jake up for lunch we decided to hit up TB. katie should have been with us.

AND i had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season last night.... oh man. it was wonderful. and tasted just as i remember. i love you, PSL. we are soul mates.

thanks for checking in. hope you're doing well.

love, 
mer