. precious moments .

today i finally got to hold sweet baby jude...

 

and my sweet girls got to do lots of this ...

 

and this ...

 

and this ...

despite this trip to nana and papa's being a quick one, we squeezed in lots of baby hugs and millions of minutes on their new swingset.  there were sweet smiles everywhere.  and i realized how very quickly you forget how little your own sweet baby was just 6 months ago.  and to think that mine were smaller than baby jude is, but he has WAY more hair. 

ugh, i could hold him all day.

. breaking .

my mom is taking a blogging break.  yes, it's necessary.  she'll be back soon ... i promise.  i'll be sure to do many things to her, for her, and with her that she can share. 

xoxo, karsyn.

. dear erin .

next time you only get three hours of sleep, please, i beg you, wake up enough to see whether you are using blistex instead of baby orajel on your lips.  you will certianly remember an hour later when your lips are still numb, but, by then, it's too late.

also, next time your 2 year old decides to lock herself in the car before you can get her out, stay calm.  don't cause a scene, even if you are in your driveway.  the neighbors are still staring.  AND, next time, or every time it happens since it is fun for her to see mommy panic, remember that you have the keys in your hand with the controller to unlock the whole car at once. 

and next time your hubby calls to tell you that we are leaving to go to oklahoma TONIGHT, stay calm.  it usually leads to previous mentioned occurences and we don't want those to happen again.  ever.  an already panicked mommy who panics again is so not pretty.  and remember to sweetly remind your hubby how even more cuckoo it makes you to not be able to plan and make necessary lists for said trip to another state with two small children.

i'm just sayin'.

until next time,

erin

. thankful thursday .

today, i am so very thankful that this sweet girl came home.

 

she's been with mimi for a few days and greeted me with a sweet smile when she walked in the door.  and she says "i wuv you mommy".  i so missed that.

. brick feet .

i had a photo shoot today with three sweet brick kids.  {for those who do not know this sweet family, their last name is brick, and they are C.U.T.E} 

 

 

. a sweet wedding .

here are a few shots from a precious wedding i did a few weeks ago. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

. love this quote .

. 10 things .

 

{how cute are those 10 little toes?}

today i will share 10 things i {think} i need at this moment.

1.  my sweet karsyn and favorite man to come home

2.  a sonic dr. pepper.  or diet coke.  i think i may convert.

3.  this super cute camera strap.  although a sweet friend has the exact same one and i'm not so sure i want to copy her.  but i do indeed LOVE it.

4.  a shower.  sweet baby just spit up on me.

5.  to see my favorite sweet friend.  coming soon.

6.  photography therapy.  photo shoot today!

7.  eye brow wax.  holy moly.

8.  two extra hands to hold sweet baby.

9.  back scratcher.

10. a few extra hours in the day.  or a few less hours on facebook.  so addicted.

. mykah time .

for two days now i've had precious time with this sweet face ...

 

but i SO can't wait to see this one wednesday ...

 

those blue eyes.  they get me every time. 

. finish it friday .

believe it or not, i am very much OCD about my listmaking.  sad thing is that i am almost as OCD about NOT finishing those lists.  i make lists for every.little.thing. 

my name is erin and i'm a chronic listmaker. 

so, to help in my chronic-not-finishing-my-list problem that i have, my sweet friend dayna started a finish it friday group where we make our to-do lists for the week and must complete SOMETHING by the weekend.  and because i'm afraid of her i love her and will do anything for her AND it'll help me get off my duff and do at least one thing around here ...

here's my weeks list ...

1. lunch with lauren.  long overdue.

2. lunch with shannon.

3. entire house cleaned at once.  since i promised david it would be done.

4. trim painted in playroom.

5. sand and prime highchair.

6. photo shoot of the super cute brick kids.

7. put 30 minutes a day on the treadmill.

thank.you.very.much. 

. i don't know what to title this post .

today i get to spend time with this sweet baby. 

yes, she's mine, but we seldom get time where it's just us.  you see, my favorite man and karsyn are away for a few days.  first things first on a sweet sunday.  we got dolled up and headed to church. 

 

 

of course i had to snap a few shots of her since she was wearing something other than a onesie.  i thought for a split second about snapping a few of the two of us since those are few and far between, but i hate pictures of myself so much that i thought i'd spare all of us.  maybe sometime in the next few days we can sneak one or two in.

now sweet baby is napping and i need to be doing my thing.  i stumbled across these two projects that so desperately need to be done and thought i'd share them with you.  i know what i'm going to do with the highchair, but the wardrobe is a creativity mystery. 

 

i bought the highchair at an antique store so i could paint it like this picture i tore out of a magazine.  it will be cute.  promise.  and, no, i'm not sad to cover the cute little puppy with purple paint.

and the outside and inside of the wardrobe.  what on earth will i do with it?  i know i want to add shelves to hold a tv.  but what color should i paint it?  the walls are pale yellow.  it's in the playroom.  the baskets that house all of our toys are pink.  HELP. 

 

. sweet friends .

making new friends tends to bring me closer to old friends.  i recently made a new friend and i probably annoy the heck out of her because i have neglected to have that special girl time in a while.  you moms out there know how important that is and when you have it, you tend to talk the others ear off.  maybe its just me?

anyways.  we have tons in common and i can't wait to see where God takes our friendship.  she's a prayer warrior, very generous, a fabulous cook, and hilarious.  to name a few.  i've enjoyed talking to her and she's simply a sweet friend and a blessing at the perfect time.

HOWEVER.  the time i have spent with her has made me truly miss the time with another sweet friend of mine.  the sweet friend that happens to live in another state and i only see twice a year unless i'm having a baby (and don't expect that again for a while). 

jasey and i grew up together and then parted ways.  little did i know that us meeting up again after almost four years in my not-so-favorite place (starts with a W and ends with almart) would turn into a friendship that would last a lifetime.

i can't wait till our next trip, which hopefully will be SOON.

so tonight, i'm very thankful for sweet friends.  old and new.

 

. my love .

[excuse me, but it's 4am and this is ALL i can think about.]

i love me a sonic dr. pepper.  but i was wondering ... when you order a route 44 sonic drink ...

is it ROOT or ROWT?  i think i say ROWT. 

surely this isn't why i can't sleep, but now it's really bothering me.

so, do you say "i'd like a ROOT 44"  or "i'd like a ROWT 44".

. {not so} fun friday .

this is our day so far ...

 

doesn't look so bad, eh?  it's when you come inside that all chaos begins.  you see, it's that time.  here's what sweet baby looks like this morning (and has for the last 2 days).

 

it's sad folks.  it truly is sad.  she's teething.  and so the opposite of how karsyn went through this stage of infanthood.  karsyn was perfect.  she actually slept more when she was getting a tooth.  and the angels sang sweet melodies.

mykah.  no angels.  snot flying.  puddles of drool.  fussing.  screaming.  fussing.  screaming.  oh, and should i mention she does NOT want to sleep?  not a fun time, but what can you do.  there's lots of hugging and holding.  lots of tylenol and teething tablets.  speaking of, what a perfect time to be completely out of both necessities and who wants to take this child to the store?

. thankful thursday .

you see this guy ...

 

he's the reason i am thankful today.  you see, he got a new job today.  he'll be teaching and coaching right here in bryan.  five minutes from our house.  what a praise!  we've been diligently praying about a new job for months now.  we've passed up jobs that just didn't seem right and jobs we wanted didn't work out.  all it took was a little faith.

"blessed are those who trust in the Lord."  psalm 2:12

. confessions .

. i love cottage cheese and peaches.

. i don't watch anything live on tv.  we record everything.

. i always forget to floss my teeth.

. sometimes i eat more than one bowl of cereal.

. whining kids drive me crazy.

. i hate the heat, but i love texas.

. i don't have any pictures of mykah up on the walls yet.

. i tend to forget to read my scriptures.

. bell peppers are the grossest.

. i drink dr. pepper right before bed. 

. i'm not sentimental. at all.

. i love the movie "while you were sleeping".

. i slam doors when i'm angry.

. i truly am happier when my hair is washed.

. i don't like talking on the phone.

. when the girls are napping, i sit.  and do absolutely nothing.

. i take long showers.

. most of the time i stay in my jammies until noon.

. i hate to wear socks and shoes.

. swearing in movies drives me crazy.

. i don't answer the phone if i don't know the number.

. sometimes i wish i didn't have a computer.

. i only eat pepperoni pizza.

. i procrastinate.  but you probably knew that.

. probably so .

 

where do i even begin?  my karsyn amazes me every single day.  her mind is always going 90 miles an hour.  always thinking of what to say or ask next.  always remembering things we've previously said or talked about.  and always trying to put me in timeout.  her smile melts my heart and she knows it. 

we're going through the favorite-to-every-parent stage right now.  terrible two's.  i've always said that the special phrase refers to the two years between 1 and 3.  so, we're still there.  i see the light though, but i feel like we're still at the peek. 

and she knows how to get to me.  that picture is the very look she gives me when she knows i'm about to rip her little head off.  (not really, but you know what i mean). 

my favorite karsyn quote right now is ... 

karsyn - (at 6pm)  "i want a sno cone"

me - (thinking she's insane) "the sno cone place is closed"

karsyn - (duh) "pobably it will be open tomayo (tomorrow)"

and this ...

 

that is one of my favorite mykah faces.  it says "oh you have got to be kidding me.  another picture."  i have taken a trillion and one pictures of sweet mykah in the past 6 months.  second child syndrome as i call it.  you see, i was the second child.  and my parents have very few pictures of me and i like to remind them of that often. 

so, here's to my second born.  may every moment of your life be captured on film.  or digital. or computer.  whatever you want to call it.  there will be a picture. 

thankyouverymuch.

. peek-a-boo .

no ... peek-a-RU! 

so creepy.

can you imagine being behind someone with one of these?  you think they are just wearing a fleece vest and when they turn around, suddenly you scream ... "AAAHHHH!"  there's another face looking at you.  like a two-headed monster.

freaks.  me.  out.

. sweet six {months} .

 

my mykah is six months old today.  half a year is gone.  and what a blessing she has been. she's a super happy baby and warms my heart every time she smiles.

. the look says it all .

if dennis the menace had a sister, her name would be karsyn.  mykah's look says it all.