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this season has been one of my favorite springs in a long time.

beauty is springing up all around me and i thought i'd share.

jami nato talked about mrs. meyer's geranium scent on her blog a few weeks ago. and like a true stalker, i went out and bought it. and i'm obsessed. 

it's lovely. i also got the hand soap.

another thing i love but didn't take a picture of is my dish soap. i know it sounds silly. -a while ago on a blog...i can't remember which, they mentioned some tips to make household chores a bit more appealing and uplifting. one of the things the lady talked about was using a dish soap you loved the smell of. i found one, and it makes my heart happy. it's the little things, folks.

 these beauties were blooming when i went to kentucky

 we've seen an unusual amount of rain here the past few weeks and it's been amazing.

it's probably still less than we actually need to avoid a drought, but for may in texas, we're doing alright!

 snuggle time with my munchkin

 you know you're hard core when you bring weapons to snack time

 paper airplanes with daddy. they're fanatics. 

 my almost-second-grader

 my company during my Bible reading time

elijah is the more timid of my sons. he jumped right in and was pretty fearless

 picnic with friends

 hilarious

 at dinner. really? breakfast of champions? really?

spoiled rotten

this weekend was the stuff of legends.

i'm a spoiled rotten mama. 

we had so much fun.

we packed up and went to a museum.

i'm embarrassed to say we've lived near san antonio for a really long time and had never gone.

we had a great time.

there were dinosaurs.

 and tree houses.

 and lots of learning.

 here's what they look like when you say, "make a silly face." 

 and here's what they look like when you say, "smile and be good, or else!"

--i jest. 

but gabe really did choose his own pose here, because he learned it at school.

our tax dollars at work, people.

we followed it all up with a picnic at a park and a cook out complete with twinkle lights and a bunch of dirty boys running around in the evening light.

it was awesome.

exciting and a little scary

our house is under contract. 

we need to move out by the beginning of july.

it's exciting... and a little scary.

--as most fun adventures are.

kentucky

last weekend i got the chance to go surprise my brother in kentucky for his 40th birthday. 

my parents and my sister came too. so did my sis-in-law's side of the family. 

it was one big deal!

we walked on a pedestrian bridge

(that's my sister and my nieces and nephew)

on this walk i realized i am even more unfit than i thought

we had a tea party with lovely china dishes

we ate tons of yummy food and even visited a local dessert shop where my sister ordered "fru-fru coffee" and my nieces ordered ice cream cones

i drank tons of tea because my throat was hurting so badly from allergies, but the good news is: i haven't gotten worse AND my sis-in-law gave me this cute mug to take home with me as a souvenir!

win!

we surprised the pee out of my brother who didn't know we were coming... mad props to my sis-in-law for pulling it off!

kentucky was in full bloom, showing off for us texans who only have two seasons: hot and hotter

and my nieces sold mint at the golf course behind their house for golfers to take home and make mint juleps

--this is the life people

and i would now like to give a shout-out to the hubs: he braved four kids alone all weekend to let me go have some fun and while i was gone, he broke his hand, yet still managed to hold down the fort.

he's a keeper.

how to sell a house

 so our house is on the market.

we're trying to move closer to the hubs' work. 

so i'm kinda like a nazi mom who, every 5 seconds says, "pick that up! that's not where it goes! we have to keep the house clean! stop touching stuff!"

etc. etc.

i'm just a bundle of joy to be around, i assure you.

so the kids have been "encouraged" to play with only a few things at a time and quickly put them away when they're done. 

 the legos have been moved downstairs where i can keep better tabs on the overflow of them. 

this weekend started out with beautiful children playing nicely. asher and judah were playing too, just not where i could see.

then it turned into this.

the hubs is saying "save me!" under that pile of children.

i bought these flowers to help sell the house. because if you're looking into buying a new home, fresh flowers usually seal the deal, right? --like maybe you're doubtful about a house and wondering if it's the right one and then you see a hydrangea and say to yourself, "i didn't know if this was THE ONE but a lovely floral bouquet...this is it. where do i sign?"

also, this weekend some friends of mine and i put together a meeting at our church for people interested in fostering and adoption. a woman from our previous agency came to tell people about foster care. it was great. about 35 people came, which was a lovely turn out for our smaller church!

in the next few weeks our church will be hosting the training needed to get licensed as a foster/adopt family. nobody currently offers these classes in our small town, so hopefully this is the beginning of something GREAT! 

have a lovely week, people

company

some mornings, when the others are quiet, a little one hops down the stairs and snuggles with me while i do my quiet time. 

 he says "i love you berry berry much," and he calls to the dogs and pats his lap and when they finally come to him, he inches down under the covers and rubs their heads.

life is better with cute company.

remember that time i ran down the highway?

my college roommates and i went on an antique weekend to warrenton, tx.

yummy, bad-for-you food, laughing, and antiques abounded.

now i could share about our great purchases, the historical smallest chapel, the abundance of carbs, OR i could share about the time amanda and maggie may had to run on a highway and not get run over in order to reach stormy, who was driving away. 

that sounds like more fun, doesn't it?

it all started one lovely day.

antique shopping had wrapped up. 

the gals were tired, hungry, thirsty.

we found the car, got loaded up, and headed out.

no cell service. which way do we go?

there's two different towns that are having huge antique sales this weekend. 

traffic is pretty much at a stand still either way.

"go the opposite way and we'll see if we can get around this traffic," amanda says unknowingly.

BAD MOVE, amanda. BAD MOVE.

we drive for a few miles at a break-neck pace of 5 miles per hour.

then we see the backup of the traffic trying to go to the next town for their event. 

oh my.

i guess we should turn around and go BACK THROUGH THE TOWN WE JUST CAME FROM.

bummer.

so we turn around. 

and go 5 miles per hour the other way.

"i'm thirsty. traffic is slow. i should just get out and get us some drinks when we get back into town. with traffic this slow, i could catch up with you before you get too far," maggie may stupidly miscalculates all sorts of variables.

"i'll go with you," amanda says.

"here's my money," stormy offers.

all seems well. 

"ok, i think we're close! let's go! we'll meet you down the road."

two of us get out, and all of a sudden, traffic starts moving. 

10 miles per hour, 15, 20. 

holy poo. 

"amanda we have to run! let's go get the drinks and try to catch up!"

"i have to pee. do i have time to pee?!"

"no!"

"hurry!"

wait in line. wait in line.

realize they don't serve sodas at this location.

poo.

run to the next location. 

wait in line. wait in line.

get the sodas, run back to the highway.

"maybe she pulled over!" 

"we have no cell service, we can't call to find her"

"traffic really picked up!"

"she left us. she up and left us." 

"i see her down the road. hurry! hurry!"

run, walk, huff, puff.

run.

jog.

look sad and pitiful and wish i worked out.

run.

traffic was so bad, stormy didn't think she could get out if she turned in somewhere to meet up with us later on down the road.

i catch up. and jump in the car. --like a movie where people jump on trains while they're moving. but less fun. and more sweaty.

"hurry amanda! you can do it! in your flip-flops! come on!"

and as the horns honk and the police officer directing traffic yells at us to GO! - in an irritated tone

 --we, all three of us, drive off into the sunset. 

"whew. turn on the AC, i'm hot. and you! you, stormy! you better freakin' LOVE this soda. it better be the best thing you've ever tasted," maggie may falsely places blame on stormy.

and it was truly the best soda ever. in the history of the world.

and i got my cardio for the day.

and then we went to a farm to take a tour and pet baby animals. because that's what you do when you've run down a highway, holding up traffic, for that tasty, sugary goodness of dr pepper.

the end.

*let's not talk about how all this could have been avoided if i drank more water. geez.