Hello to the Miscellaneous Bits of My Life Lately

Happy Monday! 

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures of what's been going on in our life lately...more specifically this weekend!

We headed to my parents' house this weekend, because we had a wedding in the area, and it was my dad's birthday celebration!

1.  Gracie got to play the marble game with her cousin, Charity.

The marble game is about as classic as fun can get!

Gracie and Charity were so cute together, giggly and chasing each other all around.

2.  We took Maggie to Target to get her a new backpack for school!

We hoped that Target would have a La La Loopsy backpack, but they didn't.  Maggie happily decided on a Minnie Mouse one instead.  You can tell by this picture that her excitement wasn't dampened in the least!

3.  My brother, sister-in-law, and their kids came over for my dad's birthday.  My sister did, too, but we left for the wedding before she got there.

I love how happy all the kids are!  They love their papa!

Aaron and I headed out for the wedding shortly after my dad opened presents.  The wedding was at 1:00 and the reception wasn't until 5:00.

The wedding was wonderful!  Casey and Tracy (the groom and bride...you know I love the rhyming bit) were so happy and the ceremony was incredibly Christ honoring with the Gospel very clearly being presented.

4.  We had a good amount of time to kill before the reception, so we went bowling with some friends!  We went bowling last summer between a different wedding and reception, so it's kind of our thing!

I totally didn't think to bring socks.  The bowling alley didn't have any for sale, but the employee assured me that they spray the shoes with Lysol after they are worn each time. 

I'm not going to lie, that wasn't quite enough for me...and I have the luxury of not usually being a germaphobe.  

So, I did what any resourceful girl would do and wrapped my feet in napkins.

Ariana (she's on my right in the picture) was the only one with enough forethought to bring socks.  The rest of us are feeling a little creeped out :)

5.  The reception was awesome!  The food was delicious and the dance was incredibly fun!  Largely because in addition to Aaron's natural athleticism, he is a seriously good dancer!  He has a really good innate sense of rhythm.  I am an awkward dancer...I'd demonstrate my lack of dancing ability if you were in my living room right now, and we'd both laugh a lot. Even though I have zero dance skillz (you like the z there, don't you :)), I have so much fun dancing with Aaron!  

Plus, they gave out glow sticks, so that automatically ups the already high fun factor to off the charts :)

I hope your week is off to a great start...and if it's not, add a glow stick into the mix!  That always lightens things up :)

I'm linking up with Blair, Carissa, and Lisa!

This and That

This is my 100th post!

Can you believe it?

I'm not the queen of self discipline, so this is kind of a big deal for me :)

So, what do I write about for my 100th post?

Oh, you know, a little bit of this and that.  

Here are some pictures from the last week or so!

In case there was any question about what to do with dirty dishes, Leah left a note :)

I love the little notes she leaves around :)

My husband is brilliant.

We have these plastic plates that we use when we go on picnics in the summer.  I couldn't find a good place for them, so I put them on this little ledge we have on the stairwell to the basement.

Not the best spot.

But where did Aaron put them?

Such a smart and obvious choice.  I don't know why things like that are so beyond me!

Maggie got to go to pre-school this week!  The high school parenting and children class puts it on for 1 hour a day from Monday-Thursday.  Maggie missed Thursday, because she was sick.

Her little friend Gracie came, too!

She had so much fun!  And neither of us cried on her first day which is always a plus.

While Maggie and Gracie were at school, our Gracie Kate and I went to the park.

I love getting to play with her by herself.  It's fun to see what she likes to do when she just chooses instead of responding to her sisters all the time.  Gracie is just so pretty!

The other day, Gracie didn't take a nap even though she was in her bed the whole time.  She told me she was "playing house."

I'm guessing the edge of the crib is a chair for her doll or something?  Gracie is pretty resourceful :)

And, lastly, here's a really pretty salad I made for lunch:

Isn't it so pretty?  I found it on Annie's Eats.  There's blackberries (on sale), honey goat cheese (that I found at Aldi...another WIN), sugared walnuts, vidalia onions, and a super yummy dressing you make yourself.  

Nothing like celebrating 100 posts with delightful randomness :)

Here's to 100 more!




I'm linking up here:  

Hello Monday!

Happy Monday to you, Friends!

Here are a few random snapshots from around these parts lately!

Hello Ninja!

Leah has enjoyed wearing this scarf around her face because she can see through it!!!  This is apparently the peak of awesomeness when one is 7 years old.

I'd like to draw your attention to the photo bomb above as well.  I'm sorry if this is a little tmi for you, but that is where Gracie goes to poop.  

I'll give you one guess as to what I did immediately after I took this picture ;)

Hello Good Food!

This is what I bought at the grocery store on Saturday!  Doesn't it look like I'm making fun and delicious food?  If you want the recipes, check out Saturday the 6th on April's Menu.

Hello Dramatic Maggie!

Maggie was sitting at the counter and wanted to play on the iTouch.  My iTouch has a lot more games than Aaron's does.  Unbeknownst to her, she had Aaron's.  She looked for the games and said, "Are you serious?  Just Angry Birds?" and put her head in her hands.  When we laughed, she kept saying it, getting slightly more dramatic every time.

Love.Her.

Hello Awesome-est Paint Name Ever!

I don't want to actually paint anything this color (we actually just painted over a color very similar to this), but I love love double love the name!

Hello Ponytail!

Gracie's hair is technically long enough for a ponytail, but not quite thick enough to stay.  Super cute, though, anyway!

Hello Grocery List!

I love it when Leah add's things to my grocery list.  I especially appreciate the exclamation points!!!  

I'll have to be sure to better enunciate my "g" so we don't have yogurt spelled with a "v" next time.

Hello Mini Me's!

I cannot help but do the color breakdown when eating colored candy.  I do not mix flavors of fruit things (with the exception of sometimes intentionally mixing grape and lemon), and I don't even like mixing different colors of m&m's.  Again, there's a reason why this blog has "quirky" in the title :)

Does anyone remember when Starburst had suckers?  They were like Blo-Pops but Starburst on the inside instead of gum.  They were amazing!  Anyway, I would always do the color breakdown on how many of each flavor were in the bag.

It was surprisingly uneven.

Anyway, Maggie and Leah did the color breakdown all on their own...making this mama proud ;)  Gracie didn't, but she wanted me to take her picture, too.  I was happy to oblige!

On a side note, Aaron is watching The Hobbit as I write this.  I realize that I am in the minority of people who don't really get into Lord of the Rings stuff, but I have so many witty comments to make, and I am refraining...just barely ;)  Whew!

Have a super week!

I'm linking up with Lisa Leonard 

Snapshots

Here are a few snapshots from our weekend!  Nothing too exciting, but good stuff anyway :)

1.  Leah got a super cute strawberry dress and tights for second Christmas!  I think she looks like Strawberry Shortcake (or "Strawbawbawberry Shortcake" as Maggie likes to say)!

2.  Gracie went to buy us coffee.  Clearly she needed her purse and bear, but pants were apparently optional.

3.  Maggie got a pack of Minnie Mouse puzzles, and the girls had lots of fun working on them!

4.  Potty training is...going, I guess.  It's not really going badly, I just wish she was potty trianed already :)  I'm getting to be well trained, however!  Gracie usually pees between 5 and 5:30, so we just put the potty chair right by her chair at supper, seeing as she gives me a frantic 1 second warning.

5.  It was not the best planning on my part to potty train Gracie while I'm preparing a seminar talk for the Women's Day Seminar at our church.  I wouldn't be working on my talk while she is awake, but it just wears me out, so when she's sleeping all I want to do is lay around and watch quality television programming like The Bachelor.  I ended up getting some work done during movie night.

6.  About that ice cream you see there...amazing!  I got the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid as a late Christmas/Birthday gift and it is a blessing and a curse :)  That's coffee ice cream with vanilla bean caramel sauce.  It's heaven on a spoon!  Mmmmm...

Have a great week!






Linking up here:  

Sunday Snapshots

Here are some little snippets from our Sunday afternoon and evening.  It was a lovely, relaxing time...

Leah and Gracie took a little quiet time to read in the closet while Maggie was still napping.  Gracie is sipping on some hot chocolate, and Leah is reading a Mickey Mouse Christmas book.  I seriously love hearing Leah read and hearing the little girls recite books.

Note to self: put away the Christmas books.

I feel like Disney really knew what they were doing when I was little and they had a family movie on each Sunday night.  Classics like Herbie or Darby O'Gill and the Little People or Swiss Family Robinson.  As a mom, I know that we're all really worn out by Sunday night and just need to unwind.

Hence movie night at our house.  

Movie night starts out with SCS (Silly Cereal Supper).  I don't always make dazzling  meals and this is certainly one of those times.  The girls think it's hilarious to have cereal for supper, and I love that it's SO easy.

We also always have shakes and popcorn (or "copcorn" as Gracie says) during the movie.  

I originally tried to serve shakes and popcorn for supper on Sunday, but, while Aaron and I liked it, the girls were appalled.  Maggie, who sometimes only eats 4 craisins dipped in ketchup and one bite of some sort of carb for supper, was just disgusted by my non-traditional approach to supper.  So, now we have it with the movie.

Here the girls are watching the funniest movie ever...some sort of 3 Musketeers movie with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy that we got from the library.

They do not look like it's the funniest movie ever in this picture, though...must have been a slow moment!

Leah and Maggie were laughing so hard!  I love hearing such a genuine laugh from them!  

They were laughing for good reason, too, as the movie was really, really funny...if you like slapstick, physical humor.  

I love slapstick, physical humor!  Apparently I pretty much have the sense of humor of a 6 year old :)

Then, after the girls went to bed, it was time for Downton Abbey and some scones.

If you ever wonder just how much Aaron loves me, look no farther than the moment above.  

Yes, he plans date nights.  Yes, he does 95% of the dishes.  Yes, he picks up a vast majority of my messes.  And yes, he sits with me while I watch what is essentially a historic British soap opera on PBS.

I think he's in it for the scones, though.  They're delightful!

My dad always says that "simple pleasures are the best."  And I would have to agree.`