Fresh...and not so fresh

Elle started "school" today! Anyone with an active toddler knows what this means. I can run errands and start easing my way back into work. Yay! Bentley Claire and Addie pretty much go with the flow so most of the time I just let them tag along. 

School mornings mean we have a lot to do in a short amount of time. (The car is pretty much packed the night before.) I woke up around 6 am to a hungry baby and noticed that it was really hot in the house. No air conditioning in Mississippi might be the equivalent of standing next to a volcano (after it has rained). 

After dealing with the air situation and feeding Bentley Claire, I go in to wake up Elle and she is diaperless and wet in the crib. Looks like we might have to start putting her in the crib AND duck-taping her diapers on. Add it to the list.

I threw her in the bathtub, changed BC's diaper, fed the big girls, got them dressed, and made it to school at 10:00. Yes, 10:00 A.M. I guess when school really starts, the process will begin at 4:00. Sigh.

When we finally dropped Elle off, we went to visit my classroom, hit the farmer's market, made a necessary Starbucks run, and did the grocery store. We were "busy." 

Addie picked out some great fruit and veggies at the farmer's market. 

This is what Elle looked like when we picked her up from school. If you look really hard you will see her bow dangling from the back of her hair. Her mother should be ashamed...

BTW her daily note said that she had a great day. Not that I was worried.

We were home for a glorious 30 minutes until Elle decided to rid herself of her fresh poop diaper. In the living room. 

At this point Elle has had 3 baths in less than 24 hours. 

Andrew walked in the door right as I was getting onto Elle for stepping on Addie's head. Movie + Fort in living room = Too much for some people to handle

And then I left for Bunco...

Better sleep with one eye open

We transitioned Elle into a big girl room really early. One of the main reasons was that I was pregnant and didn't want to buy another crib. But also she is a hard sleeper and doesn't move much. All it took was one (never-ending) bedtime routine and she figured it out. She was officially sleeping in a big girl bed. For months.

Doesn't matter that she slept sideways on top of the bed. She was asleep.

Enters baby. Turns out she doesn't need the crib yet because she prefers to sleep in our room. Another story. 

In one of my on-a-whim, project moods, I had Andrew help me move Addie and Elle in together and made Elle's room into a playroom. Ideal for everyone. Less of a mess for me to clean up. Sounds so fun, right? 

Well currently the crib is on loan to Elle until she gets her act together. She waits until everyone thinks she is asleep, climbs out of her bed, and attacks innocent sleepers (aka Addie). She may pull her hair or jump right on top of her. We have a monitor so we always know when the attacks happen. Poor Addie. 

Elle can't twist doorknobs yet so we are spared. For now. 

This doesn't happen every night but if she gets of out bed we put her in the crib until she falls asleep and then move her to her bed. This could take anywhere from 2 minutes to 20. Elle has a way of babbling one second and falling into a deep sleep the next. It's crazy. 

Addie's a tad dramatic but she also has my sleeping habits. We DO NOT like to be bothered while we are sleeping. Do not come and pull the covers off of us to wake us up, don't fuss at us for still being asleep when we should have gotten out of bed 30 minutes ago, and whatever you do, do not turn all of the lights on. We will turn them on when we get up. All of these things will ruin our morning. You could compare it to bears in hibernation. Don't mess with us. 

Knowing all of that now, I'm sure you can imagine what Addie's reaction is when Elle jumps on her in a deep sleep. Hint: it's similar to a life-threatening emergency. 

Elle has a couple of weeks to figure this out. When school starts, everyone is sleeping in their own beds in their own rooms. 

I love listening to their silliness most nights but we need to start getting back into an early bedtime routine again. Do you have tips for sharing a room? 

Happy

I am slightly obsessed with this video and may have teared up while watching it. Mississippi is such a misunderstood place. Great things are happening here and I'm happy to call it home!

Weekend Update

 

Art means more to me if I know the artist. Two of my faves. Morgan and Raina

Joanna Gaines makes me really want to remodel a house

I sometimes wish I rode my bike everyday...this tip would be helpful

My new favorite Spotify playlist is the Starbucks Store Playlist. You should check it out.

So proud of my friend and her jams

If I can revive my fern, I should be able to grow veggies right?

Day two of Soothe and already loving it


We are planning to hit up the local Farmer's Market today (because we missed Livingston again this week). Hoping to find some good stuff. Have a wonderful weekend!

Iron Horse

One of our favorite places to eat in the Jackson area is the Iron Horse Grill. There are several reasons. It's loud enough to drown out any of the noises our children could possibly make. You never know, right? There is always a band that the kids are mesmerized by and that we enjoy. The food is consistently good (can't get enough of the chips and salsa) and it has that "out of town" feel. Upstairs is my favorite place to sit so that we can watch the trains go by.

The last time we were there Addie noticed a man sitting at a piano upstairs across the balcony. She kept running back to our table telling us that she was watching the man get ready to sing. The band was gearing up so we were like oh ok, neat. Then we heard the lead singer which was a woman...not a man. 

Addie insisted that a man was going to sing. She finally pulled me over there to see what she was talking about. 

Looks legit right? Turns out it's part of a Blues Museum that they are working on. The manager noticed that Addie was interested in this so he came and told us all about who this piano man was and the plans for the museum. Makes me love it even more. 

Notice Momma and Baby Pony came with us to dinner. Pick your battles right? 

Football season

Football season is almost here! Yes, we love the Rebels and are really looking forward to watching my brother play. But our love for football season is not just about football. (I'm known to go to the square instead of the game...most of you know this about me. I'm working on it.)

Oxford is where we dated and got married. It's where we get to relive our date nights and walks through campus. We get to see our college friends almost every weekend during football season. 

There is something magical about sharing our special place with our kids. Let's be real though. On a crowded game day, it's really, really hard to take a double stroller with three kids through the grove. You have to channel your inner MacGyver. Dodge trees and trashcans, break up packs of teens without getting evil stares, wheel through a stranger's tent, find a place to warm up a bottle, the list goes on and on. Making the rounds can be daunting. 

We've done it with kids for 4 football seasons so far. 

First halloween in the grove - Addie wasn't thrilled. 

One child was pretty easy (note the single stroller)

Then we added Elle and it got a little harder

And then she started walking 

The key to a successful Grove Day is to pack everything you own. Oh, your Ole Miss face sticker "accidentally" came off when you peeled it? There's no reason to cry because I have 47 extras. You're hot? Well, I have a fan for you if you can keep it away from your hair. I'm sure there will be balding pom pom issues as well so we will have extras. 

Nevertheless, we will all be there. And we will all be happy about it. You may see us walking around looking for any open space to run around because the stroller can only hold Elle back for so long. Wish us luck. 

Super Fan

Highland Park

For years we have had visions of our older selves happily roaming the streets of Highland Park. We could live there. 

It's always a fun place to visit. This past weekend we used it several times as a safe haven. After the horrid Dart experience, we ended up going to one of our favorite restaurants. Mi Cocina. We had no plan other than never riding Dart again and we knew that Fair Park was not happening. 

So we sat and had dinner. Elle got her hair caught in our battery operated fan. Andrew took her to get her paci and calm down. I had a margarita. We listened to a guy at the table behind us talk about "mom butts." (I'm not sure this guy will ever find anyone to marry him but his conversation was entertaining.) It was lovely. We really did enjoy it.

Eventually dinner ended and we had to find somewhere to go. Andrew thought he saw people setting up lawn chairs on our way to Mi Cocina so we drove back by to see if there was some fun family event that we were missing. There was, but we weren't invited. So we drove around some more. 

Our little car adventure led us to a goldmine. Hundreds of cars were lining the streets of the Dallas Country Club and people were propped up in lawn chairs and on blankets all around the premises. You better believe I found an awesome parking spot and we dumped our crew on the curb. 

Some fellow watchers gave the girls glow sticks, we listened to music from a parked suburban beside us, and the girls were mesmerized by the fireworks. It was the best firework show that we have ever seen. And a pretty awesome night. I may or may not have teared up. 

We may be crazy but these little snippets of time are worth all of the sweat put into the trip. Not many husbands would go along with these shenanigans. I've got a keeper.