Tales of a busy, messy, at-times-chaotic, but happy family
I know, I know... We all say it every single month... but where did this month go?? I feel like with the weather warming up this month just flew by. Our weather is feeling consistently like spring around here.
Thank. The. Lord.
Anyway, here's a look at what's been going on around here with us:
Can you believe it's almost April?! I LOVE spring. I love the warmer temperatures, the trees starting to bloom, getting to plant everything in our garden, etc. Spring is my favorite season and I am trying to soak it all up over here!
I was unable to squeeze in a book post last month when I took some time off, so today I have a "what I read" post for both February AND March. There were some really good ones, so get ready to add some books to your list!
Hey There! I hope you all had a nice week and are looking forward to the weekend ahead. Devin is taking Lily Grace camping at a real campground on Saturday and I'm not sure which one of them is more excited.
Today I wanted to do a little Life Lately post. The last time I did one of these posts we were getting ready to move back into our house. So in the spirit of showing you our real actual life, I'll show you a glympse of what our house looked like for those first few weeks of February:
Hi there and happy Wednesday! Last month I took a little break from blogging while we got moved back in and all situated. When I took my break, I never ended up posting my Amazon purchases for February... meaning this month I am posting February AND March purchases. I hope you have your cup of coffee ready, I have a LOT of purchases to share today!
Good morning friends!! I remember Jennifer posting this before Christmas and me laughing out loud because it rang so true for us 😂
Hi there! I hope you've had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend ahead. Devin's parents are in town (yay!) and we are planning to have some low key fun with them over the next few days. Our local children's museums opened back up and are running on reservations only, so we have reservations at two different museums this weekend! I actually really love the idea of reservations in order to keep numbers down. When we have been in the past the museums can get so crowded they aren't really enjoyable. We definitely won't have to worry about that now!
Today I want to share another room of our house since we've renovated. This one is quick, just the dining nook off our kitchen. This is where we eat a majority of our meals when it's just the 4 of us, but when we have guests over for dinner we eat at our bigger table downstairs.
Good morning friends and happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you and your family have fun today and don't end up the recipients of a wee little leprechaun's mischief 😉. If you're looking for some ideas to have a little extra fun today, check out my post from Monday. Otherwise, let's move on to Let's Look!
I loved the topic for this month's Let's Look: A Perfect Night In. This gives me all the happy/cozy/snuggly vibes and can't wait to read how all of your families spend a perfect night in! I tried to document a "Perfect Night In" so you could see what it looks like for our family. To be honest, it looks like pretty much every other "regular" night around here. But honestly, nights like these are my favorites 😊. Let's have a look:
A perfect night in for us would almost always start by playing outside in the backyard.
The kids love their swing set and play on it daily (if the weather is nice). Lily Grace loves to be a helper and push Liam on the swing. I love how much they love each other. They truly are each other's best friends. I think LG especially likes that Liam lets her be in charge of whatever they do and rarely puts up a fight 😉
Now on a real "perfect night" we would be getting some takeout so I don't have to cook/clean the kitchen. I honestly don't mind cooking, but the cleaning... ugh! However on this night we were trying to clear out whatever was left in the fridge so I could go grocery shopping the following day, so leftover smorgasbord it was!
Eating outside is one of our favorite things to do when the weather is nice. It really doesn't get better than spring weather-- warm without being hot, and no mosquitos yet!
After dinner, we played the game Shark Bite.
Oh my goodness the kids LOVE this game!! When I first saw it at Walmart I almost didn't buy it because I thought it might be too scary for a 3 year old and an 18 month old... boy was I wrong! They both go get this game out of the closet and try to play daily.
It is cheaper on Amazon than it was at Walmart if you think your kids might like it!
Our sweet little guy goes to bed at 6:15, so we put him down and then Lily Grace pulled out a different game. No surprises here, her choice was Princess Candy Land.
The beauty of kids who go to bed early is that the adults get to hang out for a few hours and still get to bed at a somewhat early time-- score! I am an early bird and most definitely not a night owl. So Devin and I were able to get both kids asleep by 7:30 and then we sat out on our back patio with a beer/glass of wine and chit chatted.
Once the sun went down and it started to cool off, we headed in to cuddle up on the couch and watch a little TV.
We are on season 2 of The Man in the High Castle and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Have any of you watched it? It's okay, but I don't love it. On a true "perfect" night we would be watching something we both loved, but it's hard for us to find something we both love! I'm more of a "Call the Midwife" person and he's more "Narcos". Not quite the same thing 😉
So while technically this was really just a look at any old night in the Darrell household, to be honest these are my favorite nights. The nights where we are all together, nothing major going on, everybody is physically present and mentally present (no work emails or other distractions).
Thanks for reading along today! See you back here Friday.
Good morning friends! As you all know we have another fun holiday coming up this week: St. Patrick's Day. Let's just go ahead and start this post with an adorable picture of my little redhead dressed up as a leprechaun, okay??
Good morning friends and happy Friday!! The weather around here is finally getting to the point of being consistently warm and sunny and I could not be happier about it. We have had weather in the low 70's and sunshine almost all week and it has been such a breath of fresh air (pun intended 😉) to not be cooped up inside. In a little over two weeks our family is headed to Florida for spring break. I am really looking forward to letting the kids wear themselves out building sandcastles and playing in the ocean! I have been looking all over the internet for some swimsuits/coverups/sunglasses and wanted to share with you what I have found, just in case you have the beach/pool/warm weather on the brain as well!
Now I bought a couple mix and match bikinis but I will spare you the photos of me in them and just stick to the stock photos from their websites. 😁 I loved this top from Aerie:
Hi there! It's time for another update of how things are going at the new and improved house 😊 I'm trying to take this little by little as we get moved back in and things feel "put together" again. I feel like you have seen this room a hundred times in the background of pictures, but never in a post of it's own. This is long overdue!
Hi friends! Oh my gosh it feels so good to be back. It was nice to take a breather there and get caught up on life, but I definitely missed this little space on the internet. Today Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne, and Sarah are back with our monthly Not Just a Mom and the theme is favorite phone apps. I LOVE a good phone app, especially one that may make my life easier. I am looking forward to reading about the apps you all use regularly-- especially if they are the kind that make life easier!
