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Shoes.

x90. She seriously took 20 pictures of her shoes.

Hysterical.

He might be a year younger and a foot shorter than her, but they go way back.

She wasn’t even fazed when I told her that boys typically ask girls to marry them and not the other way around.

“It’s ok mommy, I’m going to marry Evan.”

Ok then. It’s settled.

I might have visited them once twice three times at the store. . . .

My husband might have noticed my new obsession. . .

I NEVER  RARELY buy things at full price, but I might have giggled with glee when these showed up for my birthday as a gift from my husband.

It’s a good thing it’s been a million degrees all week or I would already be wearing them. Believe me, i tried. It turns out there’s a practical reason we only wear boots when it’s “cold” outside (relatively speaking).

If Christmas decor can come out in stores in August, surely my fall boots can as well. But, i will wait. September is “fall” enough right?

I have been wined, dined, cupcake-d, coffee-d, flowered, and seriously loved this week. (I think that maybe people think my love language is food . . ) I cannot possibly eat another thing. But while my jeans are tighter this week, my love tank is most definitely full.

And for all that I’ve done, I didn’t take a single picture this week. Fail.

The true highlight of my birthday week, was this weekend, when I went “away” with some good friends for some quality QT alone. Love my family dearly, but we got a room in at the Mission Inn for a few nights and spent the ridiculously hot Riverside weekend doing a whole lotta this:

It was fabulous. This was actually my second alone-time-with-friends getaway in the last 6 weeks and I have discovered that they are about to become a mandatory annual thing. I love my husband, I love my children, but the chance to get away with no agenda and responsibilities is priceless.

Somewhere around the 12th hour away, it’s like the fog of the daily grind finally clears up and I remember that i do actually think of things OTHER than what I need to clean, feed, or accomplish. I took a nap, read a book,  had a great chat with God about the pieces he has been putting together in my life, a chance to actually meditate and reflect on his word for as long as I wanted (and in someone else’s air conditioning). Amazing.

While I had a great time with my dear friends, this exercise was a great reminder  that I desperately NEED times of solitude. Not just alone time, but reflective solitude to let my brain unwind and actually be able to hear God’s voice. It would be super awesome if it was always at the Mission Inn, but I’ll settle for anything

To top it all off, my husband held down the fort AND cleaned the whole house top to bottom, did the laundry, changed the sheets, AND meal planned. WHAT?! It was awesome to come home to. (LOVE him.)

I had an amazing birthday. Thanks to all of you who make me feel loved and special every day and not just on my birthday. Love you friends!

• I read the Hunger Games series this week. It’s good stuff. I’m not usually a futuristic/sci fi kinda reader, but I was a wee bit obsessed. All 3 books in 6 days. It would have been faster had I had the time to sit alone and not work and not tend to my family. They might have noticed my disappearance. As it was, as soon as the kids were in bed I read until the wee hours of the night because it’s the only time i had. My house needs to be reclaimed for Jesus at the moment, but it was totally worth it.
• Deacon decided  2 weeks ago that walking full time was a good thing. It’s like he’s a little person now. With this new skill comes the new found sense of independence. He wants to do everything on his own now, not sit in the stroller, not sit in a cart, not be held. He gives me this look that screams HEY LADY I CAN WALK, LEAVE ME ALONE. It’s super awesome. I thought that i had another few months before we embraced  toddlerhood, but 13 months it seems is the magic age.
• Delaney is amazing. She has so much personality complete with humor, way too much sass for her own good, and  quite the imagination. There are moments when I look at her and I feel like i can see right into her eyes and see her being 10 or 15. She’s so grown up, or at least headed in that direction. She’s got all of her major milestones all laid out for herself: Earrings at 5, a dog at 6, London when she’s 7 (we watch a wee bit too much Peter Pan in our house .. )
• I dig my new job, but still miss pieces of my old one.
• We have an amazing community of friends. People who love us, support us, take care of us, love our kids, and check in with us regularly. Even from afar. Shout out to you people who know who you are. Love you.
• Speaking of said friends, a few of them moved far away in the past few weeks. It makes me appreciate them so much more in their absence. I’m loving that social media keeps them that much closer. Random thoughts shared on twitter, blogs that share their journeys and hearts, skype to see their smiling faces, and good ole fb for everything in between.
• I’m headed back to Delaney’s preschool this morning for a “special performance.” I never really feel like a mom until I go to one of these events. It’s weird. But it means so much to her that we’re there. So for that, I suck it up and try not to cry the whole time I see her up there  waving hi to us from the stage when she’s supposed to be paying attention to her teachers. Turns out you can’t really make 3 and 4 year olds perform on cue.
• I turn 30 in 2 two weeks. Other than wishing my grey hair away (seriously, isn’t is supposed to turn grey in another 10 years?!), I’m cool with it. Not that I have a choice.
• I did something wild and crazy .. well, crazy for me .. a few weeks ago. If you can spot it, you win 10 points. My sister told me she was proud of me for it. That was weird. Nothing like getting your baby sister’s (if she can be called a baby at 26) praise and affirmation for something so random.

I think I’m all tapped out. Hopefully pictures to come now that i’ve pulled myself out of my books(s) and can now resume life.

On August 1st, David goes back to work, I start my new job ( I have a new job have I told you that yet? I’ve been meaning to), Delaney goes back to preschool full time, and Deacon starts his new day care.

That is going to be a busy day. New routines to establish, lots of changes for us all. Back to alarm clocks going off when it’s still dark and me alone with both kids and getting us out the door by 7:30am. Super fun.

Since David is on a modified traditional schedule he gets 6 weeks off for summer as the rest of his time off is spread out through out the year. I wish I could say we were wild and crazy for our “summer,” but we really weren’t. I was working while David was home with the kids. . . I think he’s ready to go back to work. . .

So since “summer” is over for this family, I realize I’m already thinking about fall. The only problem is that I have a good 6 weeks before that’s any sort of reality. This “modified” schedule has me all messed up! Who starts “fall” in August?!!

Deacon turned 1 on July 3rd and we threw quite the birthday bash. I never thought i’d be one for a big 1st birthday party, but I’ve never thrown either one of my kids a real birthday party because we’ve always been just with family. So this year, I really played it up.

It was fun . .it might have been WAY more fun if Deacon didn’t have a fever of 102 and it wasn’t a 102 degrees outside. Fail. All. Around.

But it looked awesome. . . .

So apart from a sick baby who didn’t get to open presents OR eat cake on his 1st birthday because he slept through most of his party .

And cupcakes that had to stay in the fridge because they were literally melting on the tables .. .

We had a great time with family and friends, who were so kind to sit through our little guy’s party on that HOT HOT day.

Luckily, my sweet boy was feeling much better a few days later and finally got himself some cake and a new sweet ride.

There’s been a ton going on around here lately and I have much to blog about, but for now, a little love to those who bless my soul.

I love our family.

While I am thrilled that Delaney has taken a rather sudden change in this department, what’s super strange is that exactly 30 days ago, she had one her worst episodes that we’ve had in over a year. Over the next few days she moved on like it was no big deal and EVERY single day for the next 30 days, she’s been perfectly regular and is going without any prompting from us. So weird but so completely awesome all at the same time. I’m not holding my breath that we’re out of the woods yet, but it’s a nice reprieve. I’ll take normalcy around here in that department however it comes!