Happy Mother's Day 2015!!

It's MOTHER'S DAY!

To My Mom:
There aren't words. You are incredible. Your adventurous spirit, love of the simple world around us and relentless pursuit of a Godly life have made me who I am. The road wasn't perfect, but it was ours & your sacrifices did not go unnoticed. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM. I love you to the moon & back!

the best mornings look like this

Sydni and I woke up in that back bedroom of my parents' house - the one that holds all of my childhood memories, and now serves as her room whenever she's there. The bed I had for most of my later childhood and teenage years is still there, and still has the same familiar feel as it did over 11 years ago when I slept in it each night. Today, I woke up in it with this little girl, clad in her favorite flowy dress and tiara. Cuddles and kisses first thing in the morning? I. Will. TAKE. It. 

We ate breakfast, made by the house sous chef [aka Nana], followed by a breather - frozen in time in our favorite log-home getaway, with the sunshine and birdsongs singing the morning hours by.

oh boy, these two... 

Rob, as usual, was able to accomplish a minor repair project for my parents [thank you, thank you], which marked the culminating point of our weekend. We soon loaded up and made the trip back to Cincinnati. The evening was barely setting in when we arrived home, so Rob and Sydni took to the quick task of mowing the lawn before the evening hours set in.

mow mow mow your grass... 

This girl..

my little flower child ♥ 

dirty feet, happy hearts

^^ She is my reminder that there are bigger things in life than staying perfectly manicured and sophisticated. She is the embodiment to me of my childhood, and of a way of life that is quickly dying among children. She is grass and dirt and laughter and fresh air. She is dirty fingernails and sweaty hair. She is my technology-free, creative little munchkin who encourages me to explore, appreciate and stay creative.

Happy Mother's Day to me, and to all of you mama's out there. Your work isn't easy, but I hope you would agree that we have the best and most critical job on the planet. I hope your days have been full of light and love, and that you are reminded today that what you do every day is so greatly valued!

What a beautiful way to start the new week!
See you there!

xo | cmd

Mother's Day in The Vern

F A M I L Y D A Y ! 

We road-tripped it north a few hours today, only to arrive at my parents' and be cattled right back into the car for the short backtrack trip to Foundation Park [aka Mt. Vernon's new pride & joy!]

We picknicked. We hiked a little. We laughed, we played... and we fished.
'Twas a day better cataloged via photo than my words ;)

quality time with pappy & nana

feet & family :) 

my better half

lookin' thrilled...

these two made a makeshift fishing pole

Eventually, we made it back to the house to clean up a little and put together the dinner menu for the rest of the family who were due in: Heidi, Jonathan, Emmie & Hanny.

Before the family rolled in, we got to see the progress of Mom & Dad's work on the train set. To say I'm impressed is a huge understatement:

The family rolled in...

All I know right now is that I'm spent, so I know Sydni's well past her limit. It's been such a beautiful day, and I am one content, tired and grateful mama.

Gooooood Night!

xo | cmd

I. SAID. YES!

Today was.... LOADED.

Holy friggin' COW, ya'll... I'M ENGAGED!!!!

Nononono....

WE .. are ENGAGED!!!!!!

WHAT?! YES... I SAID YES!!

Let me slow down for a moment and start at the beginning of what is now officially one of the greatest days of my life:

First things first, Santa - bless his jolly soul and all the overtime he's putting in this year ;) - well, he made another stop as expected last night here to the Dren Lodge, and what Sydni found under the tree this morning was a stockpile of wrapped goodies!

santa was here!!!! :D 

As is customary with Christmas presents, very little time was wasted before it was all hands on deck for the mass demolitions of paper, bows and packaging. Fortunately, Sydni's got a firm understanding of the "take turns" concept, which is very difficult to follow when it comes to spoils from Santa - I was very proud of her patience this morning!

nana & pappy took their turns :) 

sydni's biggest gift - a 4.5 ft tall dollhouse! O.o 

To say that Sydni was beside herself is a HUGE understatement; even we were impressed with the elaborate design - and size! - of this dollhouse that my sister and parents found asked Santa to get Sydni :) :).

Here's the part I did NOT see coming. I usually have a pretty good intuition about these things, and it is very difficult to surprise me [it's a curse more than a blessing, most of the time], but my man delivered and managed to blast my expectations of the day completely out of the park.

Guys Guys Guyssssss.....

♥WE ARE ENGAGED!!♥

How it happened [an entirely "us" story, too]:
I stood with Rob's arm around my shoulder as we watched my mom & Sydni tear into the dollhouse box. Dad, off to the side, had purposefully removed himself from the pit of the action, a move I of course didn't find peculiar. Rob kissed the side of my unceremoniously bunned up head and said, "I love you," as we often tell each other. I thought nothing of it, even when he repeated the phrase and hugged me tighter. I smiled at noone in particular, engrossed in the bliss of being with my family, in my parents' home, celebrating Christmas.

And then came out the box. He pulled it casually out of his pocket and held it in front of my face, to which I did what every movie-perfect recipient of a diamond ring does:

I cupped my perfectly-manicured hands over my pristinely-madeup face and nodded an emphatic Yes, YES! while tears welled up against my life-proof mascara, backed by the frizz-free, symmetrical waves of my red carpet hair. 

Uh.... yeah.

So what happens in real life in situations like this looked a lot more like what actually went down here this morning:

He held out the ring. I immediately started crying, but not the type of crying that makes you wish you looked like Rachel McAdams from The Notebook. Nope. The kind of crying I did was more like the ugly crying that Fat Amy does in Pitch Perfect when Bumper hits her with a flying burrito.

yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes &....... yes. 

That's not an exaggeration. I buried my makeup-free [thank HEAVENS] face into Rob's shirt and sobbed. Snot and all. This is life, guys. This is real life. I bawled, for lack of a more sane response, because I could not process the idea that this man wanted to commit everything in him to one person for as long as he walks this planet.. and that that one person is somehow... me.

xbox one controller | dollhouse piano | engagement ring
looks like we all got the best for this year! ♥♥♥

I cried. Mom, who is more the emotional basket-case in the feely situations, stopped what she was doing and started crying. That's now two of us ugly crying. Sydni, who's now been left to her own devices to destroy the dollhouse packaging, slips and cuts [the.tiniest.cut.ever,btw..] her finger on a stray cardboard edge, and starts her crying, for the obvious & entirely unrelated reason. Dad, who by this point doesn't know if he's tearing up because of the engagement or because of Sydni, just stands there in between the two decisions.

Rob,
This is our life... welcome to it ♥♥
Hahaha... This was exactly how everything transpired, and in hindsight several hours later, I can honestly say that I would not have changed it. I'm one heck of a lucky girl, and when it actually hits me that I'm marrying this insanely amazing guy, I'll really start freaking out :).

For now, it was a morning to be envied here at The Dren Lodge: Mom's breakfast, followed by the sun pouring in through the gable windows to illuminate a Christmas morning marked by the sounds of my happy family.

dad & sydni : card games! 

Thanks to Rob's dedication to the cause for three hours, the dollhouse was finally erected and moved to its home in Sydni's room. The addition of nearly four boxes of my Barbie stuff from my younger years completed the furnishing of the new house, which was complete with a campground, thanks to the tents, grills and miscellaneous outdoor accessories. 

the house. + side garage. +campground. 

^ Oh, and the cards were moved outside to of course accomodate the horses, which obviously took precedence in residing in the garage stable. She's my mother's grandchild, I can say that much ;).

Mom & Dad took a short trip out together to complete a few errands and one of Mom's petsitting stops; we stayed back to hold down the fort, which added to the perfectly made-up agenda for today.

tickle. giggle. belly laugh.
repeat. 

[just] hangin' out @ the dren lodge! ♥

I'm still not over today. I won't be for a very long time.
I'm here in the house that [literally] built me, in which another irreplaceable memory was made today. I wouldn't have chosen any other place on planet earth for that to happen, but I didn't know that until it happened today. I'm here now, nestled in a bundle of blankets and tiny toes, surrounded by my family. This is perfect.

Good night from here, and from the proud-to-be future Mrs. Stokes! ;)
[it'll set in, eventually!]

xo | cmd

And On To The Next One [Christmas Destination, That Is!]

Rob had to work today, which is one of the reasons we didn't get moving north until the late afternoon. Sydni and I took advantage of the opportunity to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping, clean house and tackle some laundry before his return.

First order of business was breakfast!

breakfast date with my little ham! ♥♥

Sydni and I are the ultimate team; between the two of us, we managed to knock out the final gift shopping, clean the house up, paint a few pictures, play a card game, watch a movie, play with dolls, finish laundry, pack everything for the weekend and relax a little bit before it was finally time to load up and head north. Phew!

Oh, and we learned this today:

harry's

Looks like we'll be set for Harry's for NYE in St. Louis! More details on that a little later, but the list of things to look forward to is growing! :)

We made it Mt. Vernon safe and sound, and we're about to call it a night. Santa's making another stop here tonight for all of us, so off to bed it is, so the jolly man can do his work!

xo | cmd

A Day In The [Lodge] Life

When you come to the Dren Lodge to stay, chances are.. you'll wake up like I did this  morning:

#HOME.

I somehow got up early and did a round of sun salutes [surya namaskar!] beneath the giant gable windows, and breathed in the traces of cedar and lavender that are permanent scents here. Every detail of the decor here has been deliberately set in its place by my mother's creative mind, inside the log home that is nearing its 30th year of fulfilling my father's dream to build it from the earth to the chimney. Everything about my childhood can be tracked back to this house, and the lyrics to Miranda Lambert's song, House That Built Me may as well be tattooed on every surface of the place.

No matter where I end up in this world, THIS.. is my home.

And because it's my home, it's where I get to work.
I'm a knucklehead for not swiping my mom's memory card; Sydni had a hayday with the camera while we were outside stacking wood for two hours. My mother, whose mind and body very clearly defy their age, was even found at one point about to bush hog the entire space behind one of our fences.

I mean, a family who lumberjacks together... stays together. Amiright?!
[And yes, once I steal mom's pictures, I'll share.]

We managed to finish our day's to-do list in a considerably short amount of time, which left room for showers, naps and play time before dinner. Post-dinner meant some solid time with my family, and I would not have traded this night in for anything the city could ever offer me.

love these three! 

.... EVEN.. if that means we grit our teeth while Ohio State contested MSU - for the win, might I add. ;) [Sorry, dad].

Mom brewed some Teavana, which served to warm us up, as well as provide comic relief.

dad & rob.. haha.

There's nothing better in life than family.
Aaaaaaamen.

xo | cmd

[& Her Tea Party Awaits....]

My sister sent me this today, which is set up in "Sydni's" room [aka, my old bedroom] back at my parents' house:

adorable. 

little tea set! 

This made me super nostalgic to go home and visit. Thankfully, we'll be headed there in a few short weeks.

Meanwhile, back at our casa, there was this to enjoy:

♥ them to the moon and back, with all their silliness! 

And really, that's all I could ask for (:

TGIF!
xo | cmd

Headin' To The Dren Lodge

It was definitely a feel-good Friday:


feel good colors!

It was one of those rare Fridays in which everything seems to fall into place as though you purposefully put it there. Including lunch:

nom!

Yessss.
It was also one of those Fridays that included a post-work road trip. This time it was north to good old Mt. Vernon. We're home.

We made better time on the road than we'd expected, so Mom & Dad, aka Nana & Pappy, set up a little bonfire and some treats for our hungry bellies.

pretty little glow

We roasted some hot dogs, ate our vegetable sticks [duh; we're at my mom's house now...] and then broke out the s'mores sticks and all the fixins.

pappy getting her started

love my little campfire bug!

telling nana secret ghost stories

*Yawn. We're HOME.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate Dad's birthday. See you then!

xo | cmd