around the house

A little photo dump of typical life around here.

Brett replaced the ugly old ceiling fans in the girls' rooms and replaced them with sleeker, prettier light fixtures. He decided to do this kind of late one evening, and Grace had a ball trying on the old part of the fan on her head.

Dad got in on the fun, too.

The unabashed matching game is still strong. I try to vary it up a little sometimes, but honestly, most times Stella wants to dress in the same thing as Grace and vice versa. Here they're wearing Mini Boden, which is one of my favorite lines for kids because their prints are so sweet, the colors are always fun, and the quality is excellent. 

I didn't notice we were ALL matching until I snapped this shot of us before I took them to preschool one morning. 

I scored some cute shirts for them at Target. 

They've been playing so cutely with each other! Picnic lunch with their Barbies, Cinderella, and Frozen dolls.

Playing and lunching al fresco.

Sharing a shake at Smashburger after church one Sunday.

Admiring cousin Jack.

I needed to exercise, so after pajamas and rain boots, they grabbed some dolls for entertainment, and we were out the door.

Inevitably, they wanted to get out.

I took them on a walk the evening before Brett and I were leaving for CA in the morning. Brett had to work late, and I had been preparing the girls and other things for the trip pretty much non-stop the entire day, and I quite honestly was on the brink of losing it due to lack of sleep and running around like a crazy person. To pass some of the witching hour time of the day, we went for a walk. Over the course of the walk, both of them managed to trip trying to balance on the pseudo-curb of the streets, and both were screaming their heads after falling hard and skinning their knees and hands. 

Before all the falling started to commence.

We've been falling into a rather nice routine lately, and I am really cherishing these days. Of course there are the challenging days that seem to never end when Brett has to work extra late, but their ages are becoming more manageable, and when they play together, it is like a slice of heaven being handed to me.

This summer I am not scheduling the girls much except for a camp in August at a local church. Since Stella starts kindergarten in the fall, I just want to maximize all the free moments we have left together. And as I write this, I am tearing up at the thought of having her gone all day five days a week. I know it will be a difficult adjustment for both her and for me, and that we will eventually rally and grow accustomed to the status quo, but it's hard to imagine daily life with her gone at school. We thought of putting off kindergarten another year, but both Brett and I know down in our hearts that she is ready emotionally, socially, and academically to move forward. Thankfully her preschool teacher agrees, too. We would just be delaying the inevitable, and we believe she would be bored with another year of preschool. I guess I always thought she would be our baby for a lot longer, but she keeps maturing and growing up. :( Why do they do this to us parents? Thank God for holidays, other days off, and summers to spend with our kiddos, or else I would really lose it!