panera and hoosier cabinets

oh man, i've been away awhile.

i assure you, we're alive!

we've been having tons of fun this season, as well as some challenges.

such is life

in september, my husband's work took their employees to an amusement park. 

for the first time, asher was big enough to ride more rides. 

and he's already pretty animated to begin with, so add in the whole "i'm feeling like a big dude because i can ride fast and tall things" and he was a force to be reckoned with.

at the log ride, i waited with the baby while the boys went first, then they came back around and asher wanted to ride again. the entire first half of the ride was just him yelling in pure excitement about what would happen on the ride. he was pumped!

then in october we headed to the state fair. 

it was awesome.

dog shows, free samples of pickles, a bmx stunt show, and fried foods. 

amazing.

--not to mention that my parents' power was out for the first 48 hours of our stay there. i'm not gonna lie, it was lovely. the only thing that was difficult was the whole no-hot-shower thing. but other than that, the lack of electricity was actually pretty wonderful.

a few weeks back, asher's school went on a field trip to a local museum.

this picture was after several attempts at a serious picture. 

he likes to make weird faces.

i have to admit, so do i.

then my in-laws were in town visiting and one of my sis-in-laws wanted to take my MIL and i antiquing. i found a lovely hoosier cabinet. i fell in love. but i thought we didn't have room for it in the house. i had been looking for one to be a craft cupboard for the boys with the intention of making our formal dining room a crafting and creating room.

i debated. 

i loved the colors and original pulls and such but the three bottom compartments were actually pull out drawers like a flour bin and although it made it different and fun, it wasn't super practical for my purposes. 

forget practical.

i spent a whole day cleaning and rearranging the house so we could buy it.

and i talked the guy down more than $100.

and here she is.... my beautiful crafting cupboard:

the boys have loved having a space to spread out and work. 

there's a table in the room too, so they can grab their supplies and leave them out if needed instead of the mess being all over our kitchen table.

then yesterday was my birthday.

i celebrated with the fam.

i ate panera on friday.

i went to a fall festival on saturday.

i ate mexican on sunday.

i drank yummy coffee on sunday.

i think i might have a food issue.

it was a beautiful day complete with a lemon-filled cake that the boys and i made.

delicious.

the baby is doing great. she's crawling now and hates being alone. she wants to be in the middle of everything. i was the same way as a kiddo.

we are enjoying our little girl.

court is coming up next month but it's still early and it's quite possible nothing of any importance will be decided then. 

we are praying for her to be safe, no matter where she ends up, and that she would grow up learning about the love the Savior has for her. 

so there's the update. over a month of fun activities.

i left out all the discipline issues we're having and children refusing to take responsibility for their actions and what not.

who wants to read a post about children being belligerent?

i live it every day.

let's pretend life is full of panera food and hoosier cabinets where kids clean up their messes. 

ah, that would be the life.