My decade

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Barefoot in my music filled kitchen, sangria in hand and chicken on the stove, while laughing with my favorite Floridan on the phone is how I spent the final 29 minutes of my 29th year. Looking back, there is nothing else I would have rather been doing. A chaotic life of old faces and new adventures. Throw in some silly kids, a couple of animals and a cute boy from high school and it's just about dead on. My decade.

6 moves, 4 job changes, 10,000 + diapers, 5.5 years of sleep deprivation, 3 vehicles, 3.5 years of college, one marriage and three babies later. Oh, 19-year-old Julie. You had no clue the ride you were in for. While this decade did highlight some critical points ( like that I am not meant to be blond), there were far more treasures revealed.  For all the heartaches, tummy bugs, dirty diapers, teenisy-budgets, job changes, packing, disagreements, toddler meltdowns and sleepless nights... I'd take it all again for the end result.

For a decade of adventurous...

Messy...

Comical living.

Where our hours logged in the bathroom...

would in no way overshadow the ones that took our breath away.

Between the boxes...

and great escapes...

we celebrated.

And we grew...

all the while surrounded in some great company

 of familiar faces...

and some important new ones...

 Oh, what a decade of living.

39-year-old Julie, I can't wait to share in your secrets.

The Letter F

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So, I had a really fun Friday post in the works. Don't you just love when life changes it up on you? I promise... we started out great.

It has been all about letters at the May house recently. While I embrace learning on all levels, playing the letter game every hour of every day gets a bit old. All day, over and over I hear:" Truck starts with T... " yep, your right. Every letter. Several times over. By the end of the day I joined in with "What does Please Be Quiet start with?" Ha... At least I had a giggle.

Today was all about the letter F. 

F is for Friday! We love Fridays because it means we are just several hours away from weekend fun or as the kids think of it as time with the fun parent named Daddy. Lucy loves weekends.

Ok. You caught me. She has no concept of weekends. She's just too stinkin' cute to leave out.

F is also for Firetruck. Today our awesome Mom's group spent playgroup at the fanciest of fire stations. Gabriel went in full fireman attire and had so much fun. I love this group and this was such a great day to be outside. Man, those firemen sure did well handling about 15 kids under the age of 4... FANTASTIC  even.

And the afternoon? Yep, there were letters there too. As the bell for end of school rang and literally EVERY student and parent filled the great hall,  Gabriel turned to me with a funny expression and "frowed up" all over the floor. Lucy in a moment of sibling camaraderie timed a perfect diaper explosion that shot straight up her back after 3 days of holding it in (hello, life on solids!) 

Mmm hmm. You guessed it. Eff.

I think everyone will remember me and my germy kid for a loooooong time to come. Talk about leavin your mark on the school. Thanks to the school nurse, we are sporting yet another elementary school shirt. We do have quite the collection going. Go eagles, sorry for the vom.

Wow. Kids are FUN.


Happy Handwashing-- enjoy your weekend!

Escape to Dallas

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We escaped last week to Dallas for the first time since the 4th of July. We try to get to Dallas once a month but with Molly's birthday and the start of kindergarten we opted out of August traveling. Looking back, we totally had the right idea. This time around, we still missed a bunch of people but it is all the more reason to visit again soon. Hopefully next time we come to Dallas... we can be sporting long sleeves. Sigh.

Who knew that all it took for it to rain in Austin was for us to leave? And by rain, I mean a few little showers here and there but we will take it. Cancelled night at the Plano balloon festival? Totally worth it for a night of rain. We just made up for it with some good ole' DQ, snuggling and Mexican Train. And Aladdin, at Lucy's request.

My sister and brother-in-law cooked us birthday dinner on Saturday night. No rain, slight breeze... it was fantastic. I know a certain pack of kiddos that picked up right where they left off.

In between rain spurts we also had a chance to catch up with our Millers and breakfast at one of my favorites--- Garden Cafe, with some favorites. This place continually changes each time we visit. I mean that garden? AMAZING. If you haven't been then you really need to check it out. I mean what's not to love about a table of cuties and fantastic food? (Thanks for the pictures, Heather!)

One of our main reasons to come to Dallas was to finally have some family pictures with Lucy in them. Not going to lie-- listening to pouring rain Friday evening, I was feeling a bit defeated. We have waiting for these pictures for so long. And yet, Saturday morning the rain held out. Gabey might have had a tantrum the entire photo session, true reflection of home indeed. We'll take what we can get. Miss Emily has some mean editing skills. Can't wait to share the pics soon!

We might have bunches of laundry to catch up on and school mornings definitely started this week in a pout... but for a fun weekend, we'll take it.

Dallas, we'll play again soon.