Necessarily Rewinding: Part 1

Here's the thing about blogging. It is very much a habit into which one must GET. This is especially true when sitting down to "journal" about life's happenings does not come naturally to you. Well, SOMEhow I managed to get myself into that habit--in 2008. I had a lot going on that inspired me at the time. And...I was enamored with the trend, I'll admit. It turns out it was a lot of fun. Of course, there were times I got behind and struggled to keep up with the various blogging commitments I had made for myself, but I did okay.
UNTIL..........

....we decided to put our kiddos in school. Whoa. School proved to be a schedule that I was not cut out for. So, for that reason and many others, we didn't keep them there long. But right on the heels of their coming home, we then decided to put our house back on the market..:eeeeek:....then we sold it.....then we moved out....then we became (literal) gypsies....then we moved into a rental home. And because of ALL THIS, I just couldn't do it any.more. I want to catch up. I have missed blogging and sharing our lives with others. I have missed having an online photo journal to look back on. So........


we must REWIND!!


Project 365: Week 34 "first week of school"

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Big Day:

It sure is earrrrrly...

First Day of "Real" School

Project 365: Week 33 "yes, i'm that behind"

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Paul has his car for sale on Craigslist at the moment, so he's been spending a lot of the weekend visiting car lots with one or several kiddos. Today, apparently, there was an empty golf cart. Just sitting there. WITH the keys left in it. And...apparently, that proved far too tempting for a certain daddy and his son who happen to enjoy a good race ever so often.

Project 365: Weeks 31 & 32 "it's a wild & crazy life"

Sunday, July 29, 2012

We had a sweet friend over to spend the night tonight. We were all so very excited and had to tell him all kinds of random facts and show him all our treasures.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Pal-ing on the couch

Project 365: Week 30

Sunday, July 22, 2012

The "besties" are matchy-matching today.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Gabriel's on his last workbox. He earns a sticker every time he gets through all ten.

Project 365: Week 29 "what we do"

Sunday, July 15, 2012

We were happy to be hosting Aunt Wendy, Uncle Mert, and Ezra again today. After all sleeping very late (see last week to understand why we were so exhausted), the boys spent some time together with their heads buried in technology.

And we had a late lunch together, which was great fun.

Project 365: Week 27

Sunday, July 1, 2012

My kids canNOT seem to stay away from the water hose or sprinkler, no matter what they are wearing. It's not my favorite thing they choose to do, because they don't want to STAY wet. So they end up changing clothes several times. Which means more laundry. Saylor's church dress was actually drenched in these pictures. But the funny thing is, you can't tell it! 

Loved this one--edited this way.

Project 365: Week 26 "vbs, neighbors, & a date"

Sunday, June 24, 2012

We were mostly all sickly this morning, but Saylor felt fine and desperately wanted to go to church. So I texted a good friend, and their family agreed to come pick her up so she could go with them. She was so happy!

Project 365: Week 25

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day!

Today we spent a little time hanging out at Poppy's pool.

Project 365: Week 24 "back home, let's party!"

Catching Up...Part Three

Week 24

Sunday, June 10, 2012

We opted to spend the night last night at my parents' house. Just to give ourselves a little break from all the many and varied forms of transportation we had experienced over the past week. This morning the little boys and I enjoyed some time in Mimi's back yard. 

 

Project 365: Week 23 "baltimore"

Catching Up...Part Two

WEEK 23

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Today my man and I flew to Baltimore. He's conferencing again...and I'm tagging along again. I'm  pretty good at that. We asked around and got recommendations on dinner spots within walking distance. Tonight we ended up at James Joyce Irish Pub. It was divine!! Let me just say, if you ever eat there, get the Warm Crab Meat Salad. You will not be disappointed. You'll have to take my word for it, though, as I forgot to photograph our food tonight.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Our hotel is right on the harbor, and it's just lovely here. After sleeping until 10:00, walking on the treadmill in the hotel's fitness room, and reading the day away, Paul and I explored the area a bit.

Check out this giant candy from a store on the harbor!

This is the view from our hotel room. Pretty breathtaking, no?

 We had dinner at Oceanaire, which is actually a chain. As a general rule, we like to avoid chain restaurants, preferring local favorites instead. But this one was really close to our hotel, got great reviews, and we were told had the best crabcakes in Baltimore. Funny thing is...we didn't get crabcakes. I had a smashing good salad, "Strawberry Fields," and Shrimp & Grits.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

I spent all morning walking and exploring Baltimore's Inner Harbor and a lovely residential area of Federal Hill today.

Mostly I was on a mad hunt for guitar strings because I broke one. Boo!

Favorite shot of the day:

 But after my very nice, loooooong walk, with guitar strings in hand, I ended with lunch from Chipotle to go...

...because I wanted to eat outside by this lighthouse.

Dinner tonight was with our dear friends who used to live in Little Rock. They drove down from Pennsylvania to meet up with us here, and we had a great time! So much so that I forgot to take a picture.   :(

Wednesday, June 6, 2012


I have no pictures of my day. Which simply means I read and played guitar ALL DAY! Sigh.

Tonight's dinner was at a local Italian place in Baltimore's Little Italy: La Scala Ristorante Italiano.

Our entrees were just so-so, but we split a Grilled Caesar Salad that blew our minds! So amazing!

And then we had a lovely walk back to the hotel.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Here's another view of the harbor from our hotel (by the elevators).

This afternoon we spent some time in the very quirky and quaint "Fells Point" area. We had a fabulous lunch at a little European-style deli. Think: homemade kraut served by Polish lady potentially named Sophia. Yum! I had smoked salmon and tomato soup.
We were mostly in the area to do some shopping for the kids, though.

The walk back was scenic.

Dinner tonight was at Talara. Latin American, local, and delightful!!

Paul's entree was intriguing, eh? (And this was AFTER the gourmet ceviche!!)
I don't remember what it WAS exactly. Perhaps because I was too focused on my OWN.

Mine? Ropa Vieja: "House-braised and shredded beef brisket, finished with sofrito butter sauce, and served over coconut rice and beans with fried plantains."
Scrumptious!! I ate every. single. morsel.

Friday, June 8, 2012

This was like the longest day of the century. We woke at about 6:30. Took care of hotel business at 7:30ish. (Checking out and then checking back in on our own dime. Conference ended yesterday. We stayed an extra day. Yay us!) THEN we snagged a cab and headed for Penn Station. We boarded our train and were IN Washington, D.C. by 8:45 a.m.

First, we visited the Supreme Court House. (Y'all DO know I'm married to a lawyer, right?)

This is the view from the courtyard at the Supreme Court House

Then it was on to the National Archives.

 No pictures are allowed inside, of course, but it was awesome to see our nation's precious documents: The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights.

Lunch was at Oyamel, and it was sooooooo good! Authentic with a modern flare, fast-paced, and served in antojitos (Mexican small plates), so we got to try several different dishes. Mine were crazy spicy, but I loved every bite! One of my dishes was a black bean soup served with crispy fried tortilla strips, avocado (thank goodness!), and a dried poblano chili (aka ancho).

After lunch, we walked over to the Washington Monument on our way to the Reflecting Pool. Because the one and only time we had been that way before, we had been surprised by a sudden and terrible downpour and had to RUN all the way past the pool! That trip we did, however, spend an inordinate amount of time in the Lincoln Memorial, along with a few hundred other steamy, wet people. So there was no need to tour the Lincoln Memorial again, but I did want to do a little "reflecting" at the Reflecting Pool, ya know?

Unfortunately, we only made it as far as the World War II Memorial today.

Because, unbelievably, The Reflecting Pool is being renovated right now!! Boo hoo!! (Really, THAT is exactly what I wanted to do by the time we got there!! It was a looooooong, hot walk over there and then back again!) Sigh. So back we trekked, stopping in at the Museum of American History to cool off. I loved this dollhouse exhibit. Call me "girly" if you must.

Then we headed back to Union Station...while enjoying the views.

We took the train straight to Camden Yards back in Baltimore for...you guessed it...a game!

Since the Orioles were losing, we left a little early and walked back toward the hotel, stopping to eat a little something there on the harbor. I love crossing all the pedestrian bridges here, etc. Especially at night...with my man...and the lights reflecting on the water.
Do I really have to leave??

Saturday, June 9, 2012

This morning we got up and flew back home. Got home around 1:00, grabbed some lunch, did a load of laundry, and repacked our bags to go pick up the kiddos who have been staying at my parents' house. As we ate our lunch, we got a text from our realtor saying that our house has SOLD (your eyes do not deceive you...)! It has SOLD...and we have less than a month to be out. Oh, dear. Anyway, we got on the road and drove two hours to catch up with the kiddos. Here they are with their treats from us.

Part 3 of the "Catch Up" is coming up. It's WAY less eventful...I PROMISE!