im baaaaaaack (for now)

hello blogland!

long time no see.  not only have i not posted, but there are like forty past a BILLION unread posts in my google reader i need to catch up on...sigh

i can think only of bullets to record whats been happening in our neck of the woods:

• first, oh so long ago it seems {try two weeks} i got to visit this little munchkin

picture snatched from his mommas blog

to say he has stolen my heart is saying the least. his momma is somewhat of a hero among mommies, considering she is now the parent of THREE UNDER THREE, and they are all BOYS. as usual im sure i will have a lot to learn from her once we venture into the three children realm {yes stephen i am still fighting for one more...at least one more...}

•  the next week was mardi gras, the little celebration of...well...um...celebrating? a celebration of celebrating?...that sorta kinda originated here.  bennett and i had our first "date" since emory was born {sad} to the floral parade, which is just enough mardi gras for this girl.  some years we celebrate in grand fashion, attending balls and mystic society parties and parades, but this year i was only brave {and willing} enough to attend the mid-day children-centered-and-focused parade of the juvenile court.  we joined friends downtown where bennett and meryl ran and ran and RAN around bienville square before lunch at sertas and then walking outside to see the passing parade

•  on mardi gras day, we stayed far away from the hustle and debauchery bustle of downtown and built and placed two above ground planters in my garden area.  i have great plans for this space and hope to get everything in the ground this weekend.  a little late, but whatcha gonna do...it is what it is.
• we drug the good ole exersaucer out of the attic, cleaned it up, and plopped our youngest in it last week, too.  its amazing to me that she is already six months old {nearly}.  with bennett i was always pushing/waiting/watching/hoping he would smile/grab things/roll over/sit/crawl/walk and his infancy flew by.  with emory, i feel like im holding on to her infancy so tightly that before i know it i look up and shes sitting in an exersaucer and almost sittinng completely on her own.  no matter how you approach it, it goes by in a flash

 

•  this past weekend stephen and i left the kiddos with stephens parents and traveled to auburn for a friends wedding, which could be a post all in itself.  but the camera never once came out so lets just say it was memorable.  i love any excuse to visit the best town on earth - while we were visiting i told stephen i know where i want my vacation home.  thats right.  in auburn.  "to do what?" stephen asked. "i dont know.  just be here.  and walk around downtown with the kids.  and go to football games.  and go to big blue bagel whenever we want to."
• earlier this week my mom kept the kids for an hour while i attended a quick junior league meeting, and when i met her back at my house bennett was screeching about their find/rescue:

 
a turtle bennett aptly named "guddy".  no idea where that name came from but guddy is now sporting a white "G" on his shell and has since disappeared in the wilderness of our backyard.  i hope to see him again.  bennett calls for him often.

• today, on the way home from school, bennett asked if we owned a picnic basket.  and a picnic blanket.  so we had a picnic {and he insisted i carried it in a "basket"} in the front yard. pigs in a blanket, grapes, strawberries, and baked lays. delish. as was the weather.  i wish it would stay like this for months. *wish*

and this picture is being posted because stephen: this is your child {not like there was any question or anything ;)}.  you make this face all.the.time: {see below}

and now that i finally have a working wide angle lens, i was able to self portrait me and my boy like we did once before
 
not much has changed 'cept for a serious case of crows feet laugh lines i seem to have contracted...yikes!!

• we are getting our floors refinished and this makes me very, very happy.  there are many other more worthy things i could be excited about but i am pulling the vanity/materialistic card here and im excited about our floors. byebye yellow, hello brown!
• and now, NOW, you are caught up :)
• have a fabulous weekend!