This is My Forties

We've had to say goodbye to many good friends out here, ones that we'll be in contact with for the rest of our lives.  Our boys had a kind of "last hurrah" with Mama C, Bug & Goober yesterday.  I got a sunburn :/  But, I also got another fabulous photo for my mantle.  SO ADORABLE!!!  We're going to miss these little guys, and their Mama. Tristan fell into the pool last year and has been afraid to get in ever since.  He's also afraid to watch everyone else swim.  He kinda flaps around and yells at me the entire time about Brennan "he's going to drown, Mommy!" it's sad and cute.  Yesterday after hours of pool time I think Tristan finally understands that we are fully capable of preventing drowning.  Still, though... no luck coaxing him in.  He stands on the stairs and flings water at anyone nearby.  It's super annoying, especially if you're tanning right behind him. Brennan, for the first time ever, asked to get in w...

This past week has been nothing but cleaning and fixing random stuff, taking things to the dump.  Ok maybe we did relax by the pool a little. A few things: furniture in Spain is complete crap.  There is no solid wood anything.  However, they proudly charge a small fortune for this compressed particle board furniture.  If you've ever been to Ikea, you know.  Additionally all plastics are brittle and expensive... not like our beloved rubbermaid.  I paid $100 for two large bins which broke immediately.  Never again. Our kitchen drawers have been broken since before we got here.  We thought "hey, let's fix them".  Not so much... another fab thing Spain loves to do is not make anything universal.  The hardware store only carries the newer versions of hardware to fix whatever Ikea's selling.  So, if you happen to have 30yr old kitchen cabinets with plastic drawers (yes, I said plastic, and not the nice bendy kind), you're s...

This past week was jam-packed with activities!  Thursday evening I did my final shoot while in Madrid, you can check it out on my photo site on facebook .  I had another scheduled, but weather and time were not on our side and I unfortunately had to cancel.  Friday I scurried through editing, checking and rechecking until I was satisfied with the end product .   Saturday I went out with Mama C (shout out to Joshua for being the awesome man he is and taking care of all the boys for us).  We took pictures all stinking day despite the thunderstorms (which you can see rolling in).  We met up with a friend for lunch, and met a new one in the process.  Then we had dinner at Casa de Juan, which never disappoints.  On the metro ride home we both lost our minds and were laughing so hard we were crying... over absolutely nothing.  Stress relief at its finest :)   Unfortunately I didn't have time to really look at and edit any of my photos befo...

The 10 days Josh was gone flew by.  As I mentioned before, the trip was a success.  We have a house outside the city with 3.5 acres of wooded land in a community that's full of wonderful stories about love and tolerance.  We're a 5 minute drive front the Patuxent River (fresh seafood), 15 minutes from our area's Farmer's Market.  We're surrounded by farms, close to natural areas and parks, even a swamp, but still close to Target ;)  I'm excited to move in, which will happen at the end of June. The month of June will be spent on the road visiting family before Josh has to report at his new duty station.  I'm already planning that all out!  We're stopping in St. Louis, MO and Indianapolis, IN there and back and I've found plenty to do so far (all pinned up on pinterest, of course).  It's going to be another great family trip, like all the other drives from east cost to midwest we've done.  All this experience with road-trippin' has given...

I decided what I would give to my Mom for Mother's Day one day last month as I was watching my little boys destroy something, and I was taking pictures.  I always think about my mother when my kids do something crazy that makes me laugh because that's what she did... we did get into trouble once in awhile, but most of the time we just had fun.  She saw the big picture, she understood children, and she taught me that nothing is as important as "making memories" with your kids.  So, I started thinking about my childhood and my time thus far with my children and here is a list of everything, a little perspective to help us all remember what's truly important. Making a memory is worth Mopping a floor Taking an extra bath A ruined pair of shoes Wasting water Cuts & bruises A dirty house A cluttered basement A cheap rug Missing Church Missing school Missing work Stains that will never wash Another pair of shoes A sunburn All your craft supplies ...