The Suits Sisters

5 Things I learned in July  1. Visiting family back to back (within about 3 weeks) helped my oldest connect with her extended family. She didn't want to leave and now regularly asks to visit again. She reminds me that we're going again in the fall  (which she has like, no concept of) Can we go to Ed-ben-chure with Daddy and Liza and maybe Aunt Anna? And see Big Eddie and Aunt Anna can come?  2. Making meals is worth the effort. I've mentioned before that I go head long into meal prep for awhile and then find myself throwing a stack of saltine crackers and room temp water at my kids for dinner(jokes!) Visiting my Ma helped motivate me again and amen to leftovers for lunch. (My pants disagree) 3. The  care free willy-nilly days of summer in the life of a youth pastor is fine for about, half of the summer until it isn't fine anymore for the type A youth pastor's wife.  What's your plan today? Hey what's your week look like again? When's your day off t

a year and a half later

Take a night beach trip Go to Edventure √ Eat donuts at the park Watch fire works on July 4th √ Liza will learn to walk √ Have a watermelon seed spitting contest Go to Ikea Make home made ice cream Swim √ Go to the fancy YMCA splashed √

It's not like I haven't had the toothbrush bought and stashed in the bathroom for months It's not like she hasn't been sneaking away to suck on her sister's toothbrush  It's not like she doesn't stand in the bathroom doing an  adorable combination of "teef" and "pweease"  It's not like she doesn't have any teeth- suddenly she has five We finally had the perfect dork-Mom storm: a clean kid, a camera and a dad home at bedtime. Welcome to the club, baby Liza! 

If I had you over for a coffee date, you’d be greeted by two girls that were eager for you to show up, but shy once you did. You would have to step to the right to avoid the small pile of laundry that’s sitting by the door- ready, for days now, to get thrown into the laundry machine by way of the garage door.  I’d offer you water, tea or coffee, secretly hoping you would say “I’m fine right now” or accept the offer for water. Making someone else’s coffee seems risky and personal. Too strong? Too weak? M aybe she only drinks coffee from beans that have been harvested and shipped over night from Portland? Or Peru?   If it’s a Monday/Wednesday/Friday, I would have kicked Kent out of the house for a few hours while we chatted. He would have happily tweeked his work schedule to accommodate us.  If you ventured into my kitchen you’d find a package of five pounds of ground beef thawing in my sink and a slew of alphabet magnets on the ground. It’s a mind field, watch your step! 

Praise hands for technology!   Fireworks wherein Caris stayed up way too late and Gigi fell asleep sitting in a camping chair in the middle of the Gilbert High School parking lot.  Ribs with dad  These glasses provided a whole lot of entertainment during our visit  Lights over Lexington  Glad I traveled so far to spend quality time  with my parents while we stared at our gadgets. winkyface  Breakfast at Gigi's! We were spoiled with french toast, muffins, etc.  This picture sums up my daughter so well. She wouldn't sit with Papa (although he invited her to), but when she saw a photo being taken...she struck a pose. So her ...and so me.   Headed to the lake!  God's faithfulness displayed in the form of a rainbow and so much!  kiddie water gear.  We spent a fun morning at Edventure , along with everyone else in South Carolina, for 12 cents Kids Day.  True love: my Mom voluntarily pulled the paper towel wad out of my dog's butt. SERVANT O

Making:  A budget  Cooking: Nothing! Ma's cooking for the win!  Drinking: Coffee Reading: I just finished Bringing Up Bebe   Wanting: To live closer to my pre-baby friends  Looking:  For ways to spruce up our front porch  stoop (hello, pinterest) Eating: My Ma's baking Wishing:  I lived just a little  closer to family & friends  Enjoying:  Time with family  Thinking:  About my BFF who's great with child! Loving:  Listening to podcasts while I road trip  Embracing:   The summer heat Hoping:  My kids sleep in the car Needing:  To drive 7 hours back to Florida with 2 kids and a dog Smelling:  Nothing  Listening:  To my Dad brush his teeth Feeling:  Larger than I did two weeks ago (hello, vacation)  Wearing:  Grey stripe jammie pants and an Outer Banks t-shirt circa 2009 Watching: The Intern was cute and not what I expected 

If you would've told me 12 years ago that I would be driving hundreds of thousands  of miles to hang with my in-laws during a week of vacation SANS MY HUSBAND, I would have started to sweat, cry and squeak out a nervous laugh all at the same time.  And yet. Here I am. Killin'it!! jokes  We enjoyed time with everyone, happily accepted their help and had a great time.  Cute cousins (and there are 6 missing!)

Moooo! Liza should have earned more food for wearing fleece pants in the middle of July.   Caris was really excited about dressing up (yay!) I see many more years of cow costumes in our future.  After all the hard costume work, we ended up paying for some of our meal. It's a long story, but I was UDDERLY surprised and frugally frustrated. Moooooving on...  Liza's face says it all! The whole trip was chaotic and one for the books. Unrelated: Pops and Liza have become fast friends.

We will "toast" to anything.. we usually raise our cones, cups, bowls, spoons to ice cream, chocolate, frozen grapes, the weekend, etc.   The skirt and dress was made by our talented friend Rachel C. using fabric from Kent's grandmother's skirt (she was born on July 4th) So festive!   You can see Caris wearing this dress here  We spent the morning at the Peach Festival