Weekends Should Start Happy

Typical Friday: busy, crazy and completely stripping of all that I had left in the tank for workplace energy [& etiquette, if I'm being real]. This week was due for a trade-in. My receptionist was out today, which added a bit of additional delegated work to the two of us who were in, so when we suggested skipping lunch and just leaving an hour early, it was received surprisingly well, and that was that: Kristin & I out the door at four. Thanks, Paul! 

home at 4:30, out to run at 4:45.
yep, i'll take it! 

Rob and I had this crazy idea that we'd go on a dinner date [okay that's not the crazy part], but that we'd additionally go to a movie afterwards. 

It's like we don't know ourselves sometimes, haha. Dinner it was, and instead of a theater, we opted for a stroll through the park to check out the Memorials, some late evening tennis matches and this gorgeous sunset:

milford, oh

Much better than a theater, any day. 

And this: 

*tears.

I am. SO. Ready for the weekend. I don't care what we do, when we do it, or why we do it, as long as we DON'T do it before 8:30am. 

I'm sleeping in tomorrow if I have to shut myself in the closet to make it happen.. haha. 

G'Nite, loves & TGIF! 

xo | cmd

Withrow Nature Preserve [We'll Be BACK!]

I don't know how he does it, but even being shy of 2 years here in Cincinnati, Rob manages continuously to uncover places I didn't know existed. That's more my fault for being oblivious, but there's no complaint here that he took us on a detour after church & lunch.

parks! :) 

Before we hit the park, it was church and lunch.

great day for ice cream! 

We treated ourselves, because Syd was well-deserving of a little pick-me-up. Plus, do you really need an excuse for free soft-serve? ;)

We spent our afternoon exploring the Withrow Nature Preserve, which we will absolutely be visiting again when it's warm outside.

sneak peak of the center! 

^ Oh yeah... THEY. HAVE. OWLS.
That one wasn't living, but they did have a little screech owl recovering from an injury onsite [adorbs] and apparently several others that inhabit the natural area. It was recommended by the sweet gal at the desk that we make it a point to come back in the Spring & Summer, when the kids activities are going strong & the weather is tolerable. That we will.. that we will!

Happy Sunday, folks - I hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have!

xo | cmd

Parks & Family & Forts & HOMEWORK.

This was a full circle kind of day. We started by waking up to this:

hahah.. ok? 

^ Apparently Stella wasn't cutting it for a stuffed animal... or 15. She's too much :)

The day went on and when I picked up my mini from Mindi's, we made flash plans to stop by the park.

♥

such a rebel.. 

she's officially too tall to walk under this without bent knees! 

Sydni took her first selfie with an exposed selfie arm tonight..

hahah ♥♥

Rob showed up for the last half hour or so before it started raining. Notes I made from tonight? Swinging selfies are difficult, especially when you're trying to capture three people swinging at separate intervals. Hah. Nice face, me.

welp. 

Back at home, I came to the realization that

Hey: It's happening.

Sydni has homework.

This week, it's the letters B & M on which they're focusing. Their homework?
Fill up the appropriate pages of their word books with cutouts of things that begin with those respective letters. Welp, we dove into B tonight and had a Blast doing it! ;)

she's a pro. 

On top of cutting & gluing, they've been asked to try and write the words near what they selected. Sydni flew right through that with no questions asked. 

whiz kid! 

Meanwhile, Sasha celebrated National Dog Day [today!] by pondering the reasons why humans cut up paper and stick it to other paper. At least that's what we're gonna wager she was thinking. She probably just wanted fed. 

sasha doooooog

Finished product! 

so, so proud! 

After homework, we cleaned up and readied for bed. We thought this was going to be routine, until Sydni insisted that she wanted a fort.

Yes, a FORT.
What did we do? We put our heads together and constructed a makeshift fort around the corner of her bed, which will do for now until we devise a more creative, more permanent solution [& trust me, we will].

Fort it is!

& ... zonked within 5 minutes.
winnnnnnnnn!

Who knew? I'm gonna start building towers if it continues to make bedtime this easy. Haha.
I vote a successful day.

Let's do it again tomorrow!

xo | cmd

SCHOOL SHOPPING [STAAAAHP...]

So uhh ...

this is happening.

It's everywhere. Yeahyeahyeah, I know: This happens every year. Kids get out in May/June, and by the first of July, the [at that point] premature signs of all things BTS [Back To School] can already be sighted from the big retailers down to the mom & pop shops. This used to incite unbelievable frustration when I was in high school, trying to breathe in the freedom of summer without the driving reminder that I was headed back in like, 90ish days.

Fast forward to that thing we always talked about in high school: "Someday, when I'm a mom....."
When I was 17 and joking about this with my friends, we overlooked the details of mommyhood, including but certainly far from limited to: school supply shopping.

It sounds mundane to the childless folk out there, and like a mastered science to the seasoned parents, but if for a second I thought this would be a boring affair, well... nope & nope.

kindergarteners need earbuds ;)

First, Sydni's kindergarten check list includes the standard staple items that I would've expected:

Backpack, lunchbox, markers, highlighters, pencils, box of tissues, hand sanitizer, box of bandaids, etc. On the list also: One set of ear buds, which made me simultaneously laugh and feel ancient, because obviously that wasn't a thing in 1990 when I hit the halls of elementary school.

And then there were glue sticks. Not inherently a crazy request, but I'm still trying to lend a plausible guess as to what they plan to do with 18 glue sticks per child. I mean, in our house, as crafty as we are, I could easily rationalize maybe... 18 glue sticks per a period of 12 months, if even that many [glue sticks]. That's 360 glue sticks per class of 20 kids, and this isn't just for the AM goers. Guesstimating at 20 kids for each session, that's a mere 720 tiny tubes of stickiness. Haha. Yay, adhesive kids!

Anyway, Sydni was beside herself as we entered the glorious, glowing [literally, due to the neon signage.... everywhere] archway of the seasonal school supply section of the store. We knocked everything off the list with little to no fuss, save for a washable stamp pad and sticky-back velcro dots. Kindergarten supply scavenger hunt? Challenge accepted. We finally tracked down the velcro dots, and eventually left sans only the stamp pad, since the store didn't carry them. I think that's fair, and not a job badly done for first-timers.

*Whew!
Sydni exhausted herself into a celebratory nap, which we occupied with some catch-up on laundry and cleaning [trade ya, Syd?] before she was back in action and ready for the park. 

"the blur" - she's on the move!

Off to the park we were, with bike in tow. We squeezed the last bit of daylight out of the sky before we loaded back up and circled on home.

Happy Saturday, to you & yours!

xo | cmd

Praise Team | Boat Fixins | #TBT!

We'll do all of ^^ that, in reverse order.

So first, #TBT! 

same place.. same girl ;) ♥

I was rummaging around on an old memory card and came across those two pictures. I hadn't planned to do a series of them at the time, but now that I've found two, I think we may head back there again this summer and snag another shot at the park on the .. umm... whatever that thing is, haha.

Here's a glimpse at what we're lookin' at today:


When Sydni and I pulled up in the driveway, we found Rob waist deep in the bowels of his boat. We've been talking about it for a couple of weeks now, but it looks like the red goblin is finally going to make her debut in a week or so. Tonight he got the engine cleared and cleaned, ran some water through it and took the whole rig for a spin around the block. IT IS ALMOST TIME!!!

this.. just... love love love.

Oh, and today I joined the SonRise praise team! That probably doesn't sound like much to anyone, but it's kiiiind of a momentous thing for me. I've been back in Cincinnati now for almost a full year and had yet to commit myself to any one church. Well, until SonRise. I met with the worship pastor today and it looks like I'll be joining forces with the morning praise team in the near future. This is pretty big for me; there was a very long period of time in which I didn't feel like singing. That's not me, and now that I've rediscovered complete and genuine joy, I'm happy to sing that from the top of a mountain.

outside sonrise!

AWE.SOME.

Tomorrow, it's off to Nana & Pappy's house for the weekend for our Easter celebration. We've got some big things planned!

xo | cmd

Madison's Birthday Party!

Today, just like I figured, was a fuuull experience, from start to finish.

Maricor and I were up early and out to run last minute errands: balloons, cake, miscellaneous party supplies... breakfast [duh]. From there it was back to the house to wrap up the pre-party prep and load everyone up to head to the park.

Photo time [find the FULL collection HERE!]:

friendship park

pretty presents all around

birthday girl

baby sister

my girl

madison. sydni. lilly. sophie. | the little girl cousins, acting oh-so-ladylike! ;)

my cousin & her beautiful family

♥ you, cousin!!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL MADISON! WE LOVE YOU!!

 

We finally got on the road back to Cincinnati and are now settled in. I have one super tuckered-out girl already in bed and I am unwinding just a bit before I try to get some sleep. What an amazing weekend!

 

Oh, and before I go, I didn't forget my darlin' girl Whitney & her older sister Meg, who happen to share the same date for their birthday! (: Happy BIRTHDAY W&M!!! Hope to see you SOON!

whit & meg | me & whit

Gosh, birthdays are awesome.
Friends are awesome.
& my family is awesome.
... Does that mean life is awesome?
.... DUH.

AWESOME.

xo | cmd



Paddlin' Munchkins [&TBT!]

Today = another perfect day as far as the weather went.
Work = Amiable and productive!
Sydni = With  me, and as we speak, thoroughly spent.
Me = Happy mama, happy girlfriend, happy daughter going home this weekend to see the fam!

That basically sums it up. Today was plain for the most part, but a good day no less. After work, I picked up Sydni and met up with Becky and her nephew Noah at Winton Woods for a quick evening paddle. Needless to say, the kids loved it, and while Becky and I walked away with soaking wet clothes due to a couple of unnamed splashers.... coughcough sydni.and.noah..... haha.

WELL worth it ☺!

tandem kayak time!

becky & noah

me & sydni

she worked so hard! ♥

best. tourguide. ever. | "mommy, look! another duck!"

"dancing boats" haha.. they had a blast!

We dried off some afterwards at the playground, and then headed home to get some ice cream [I promise these things so sporadically, but yenno what, she deserved it ♡].. she did a great job today and worked so hard paddling her kayak.. call me a proud mama, absolutely!

Tomorrow is FRIIIIIDAYYYY!! & that means after work Sydni and I are hitting the road north and heading to my parents' house in the good old Mount Vernon, OH. Semi-on-that-note, in the spirit of Throwback Thursday, here's a gem Nikki posted earlier today on Facebook of some of us on our last day of high school.. which was ten years ago, if I'm being honest about my age here... hahaha.

front: britt. hilary. amy m. nikki. | back: amy s., ginna, myself
mvhs senior year, 2003!

I say that because I'm about to head to my parents' house for the first time since Christmas, and I have no doubt that one of my missions on this trip will be to uncover some long lost artifacts [to be shared at a not-really-that-far-away-but-still-"later" date...]. I'm kind of excited. I'll apologize up front for any and all inevitable fashion faux paus, but hey.. I'm a kid of the 90's and I will embrace it.. wacked out hair, Old Navy shirts and all ;)

See ya tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Memorial Day, 2013

beautiful.

 It's Memorial Day, and I wanted to make sure that in the midst of aaaallll the fun we've had this weekend, that we payed homage to the most important part of it all. This was the second half of the day, but I'm sharing it first because it's the most important. When I posted this picture, I captioned it:

"I know she's little, but she will know about those who gave what they did so that she could have what she does. For those who gave ALL, and for all who we pray won't have to, THANK YOU. Happy Memorial Day."

I couldn't help but just sit and look at her, as she knelt patiently beside the rows of crosses, each individually tagged in remembrance of a soldier who never came home. She seemed to realize that it was something important, even though she doesn't grasp the gravity of it all just yet. She will one day, and I'll do everything I can to make sure she understands just how thankful we should all be, not just on Memorial Day, but every day. So to all of the men, women and families who have given to keep us safe and free, thank you.

Rewind now to the beginning of the day, which equaled Sydni and I taking a trip down to the Newport Aquarium! I honestly can't remember off the top of my head actually going to the NA ever before, although I'm sure we did, so it was something of an adventure for both of us.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[MORE] Picture time!:

sharks!

my personal favorite : puffers :)

animal time

After the joy of the aquarium, we did lunch and a mini photo shoot to cap it off at Bar Louie at the Levee. I realized as soon as we ordered our food that I had meant to take us to Tom & Chee, but having been away from the Levee for a few years now, I completely forgot it was down there. Until today. Noted. Haha.

mini time ♥

Aquarium, lunch & some light errands completed, I toted a very sleepy Sydni back to Becky's for a short nap [or at least an attempt at such], before we refreshed and headed to the park for a little while before I dropped her back off.

I can't even convey in words how much I enjoyed this weekend with Sydni. I was thoroughly bummed that Rob wasn't be able to join all of us.. since it's a holiday and everyone had planned to be out and about, there was nobody left to watch the dogs at Rob's house, so he was tethered there. We were both pretty disappointed, but I have no doubt we'll make up for it as soon as possible. Syd asked about him all weekend long, and I've promised her that we'll all hang out again together very soon. He did send me a snapshot of his day though.... remember our trip to Ikea?

Looks like it's turning into useable furniture ;) So much for me lending a hand to get this built... I guess that happens though from being so far away. Oh well. I'm happy at least that I have a man who can put this kinda stuff together without killing himself or the next person to sit on it. Haha. Small silver linings.

I'm back at Becky's now, winding down for the night and kiiiiind of not looking forward to work tomorrow. It's not my job or the people, definitely not... it's just the whole principle of going back to work again after an amazing weekend, haha. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Oh well. I hope you had an incredible holiday weekend, too, friends!

xo | cmd

☼ SUNDAY WITH SYDNI!! ☼

Today was the best day overall that I've had in a very long time. To the core, I have next to zero complaints about the day, other than the fact that it's over.

First stop: Picking up Sydni and heading to breakfast! We have a thing for going to Taste of Belgium every time we're in town, so it only made sense to take Syd there for her first time. She definitely didn't mind a fruit waffle, and I definitely didn't mind having breakfast with two of my faaaavorites: Miss Sydni, and Mr. Rob. ;) 

taste of belgium | cincinnati, oh

After breakfast, we decided we'd go take some pictures and enjoy the goooorgeous day. It wasn't hard to pick the place; by default I toted us out to the one and only Eden Park, my all time favorite park in the area. It's served as my refuge since college, and I jump at the chance to take visitors up there. We had a blast. I figured I'd show it rather than tell it.... enjoy ♥ 

this little face... melts me, every time.

duck pond!

hangin out with mr. rob (:

mama & mini

she's suuuuuch a model! ;)

"mommy! look at me and mr. rob, we have monster faces!" - sydni

walking around the mirror pond .. and maybe splashing in the water ;)

with my two favorites ♥ ♥

*Sigh. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Like I said, my only real regret is that it's coming to a close. I had the opportunity to meet Joe's new girlfriend today, and have to say she's a sweet girl. It's been a long road, but I'll suffice to say that we all deserve to be happy, regardless of what we've done and where we've been.

Even the drive home was tolerable; I made some final touches on the decorations for Ali's birthday tomorrow, and spent most of the time just reveling in the amazing day we had. I caught the last few shots of the night on the drive back, and was reminded that I'm surrounded by beauty, from the smallest things to the bigger picture. 

God's canvass : aaaaabsolutely beautiful.

To sum up today: [a gift from my amazing friend Ali : lovelovelovelove her!!!!] This is what hangs now in my mirror and reminds me every mile of the way....

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

We're home now, after a stop off at the office to decorate for Ali's work birthday celebration; I'm preparing food for the office lunch and hanging out with this weirdo boyfriend I kiiiiinda adore. :p

Love & more Love, blogbots!

xo | cmd