Hello hello! I hope you had a great weekend. 🙂 We were all so happy to have Jamie home after his very short time away. He got home in the middle of the night, so when Hadley woke up Sunday morning I asked her to come in my room and snuggle. Jamie hid under the covers, and she smiled when she saw someone hiding. We lifted the covers and she immediately threw herself on him and said “Daddy! Daddy, I missed you! Daddy, you’re home!” Cue my eyes filling with happy tears. So sweet.
Otherwise I took it pretty easy this weekend and played catch-up around the house. In the last 30 days we’ve happily welcomed company on four different occasions totaling nine different people, and while I’ve truly loved every minute of it, we’re looking forward to slowing down a bit and hopefully having some quiet time. I think the girls need it, like most kids do, after a busy season of constant stimulation.
Dropping off my sister Jennifer and seven month old niece Carly at the airport on Saturday morning was a band-aid I was ready to rip off but also dreading.
Like I mentioned in my post last week, they have military orders to move to Germany in March, so the goodbyes were tear-filled (even just typing this develops a lump in my throat). Like most sisters, Jennifer and I are different in some ways, but we are both extremely intentional about nurturing the bond we both feel so lucky to have as sisters. It sounds very cliche, but I’m endlessly grateful for a relationship that makes saying “see ya later” so brutal. I know she, Carly, and my BIL Josh are going to have the adventure of a lifetime traveling Europe, and Jamie and I are already excitedly talking about when the four of us will be able to get over there to visit and run around (likely 2018).
I had a really special birthday last week. Having Jamie away for another birthday was a bummer, but he still made me feel loved from across the country, and Jennifer worked hard to make sure that my birthday was nothing but the happiest. She succeeded!
We ate breakfast, dropped Hadley off at preschool, relaxed around the house, and then went out for lunch. We browsed antique stores, did some swinging at the playground, and then picked my big girl back up.
I came home to the prettiest roses from Jamie, which weren’t a surprise because he and I kind of stink at the whole surprise thing. We were definitely made for each other in this department. 🙂 “Um, hey, babe. Have you, uh, gotten anything from me, uh, delivered today?” Bless him. (We really are just alike.)
A few of my sweet friends and their kiddos joined us for a semi-last minute Mexican dinner because a margarita was calling my name! We walked in and asked for table for eight plus five high chairs (five adults, three toddlers, and five babies), and I’m pretty sure they strongly considered telling us to eat elsewhere. 😉
Our dinner was a ton of fun despite juggling so many spirited little ones. At one point I looked around and noticed that a bunch of the tables around us seemed to keep staring at our group. I couldn’t tell if they had daggers in their eyes and were annoyed by our (controlled) chaos or if they were laughing inside and just grateful to not be juggling tiny kids themselves. Ha!
The cousin time was so sweet, but at times I felt myself getting a little emotional that we won’t have many moments like this the next couple of years. During these times I tried to remind myself that I get to be Jennifer’s sister and Carly’s aunt forever, and that we have a lifetime of memories left to make. I know we’ll always just pick up right where we left off.
They’re PCSing to the Ansbach area. If you’ve been stationed there or have any tips in general for living in Germany, I know they’d greatly appreciate them. Please feel free to leave them in the comments below or email me at whimsicalseptember@yahoo.com and I’ll forward them to her. Also, they’ve been searching for blogs written by people who live or have lived in that area. If you know of any, we’d love that info as well.
Looking ahead at my editorial calendar, this week is accidentally a week all about gift-giving in various forms. I hope you enjoy! Stay tuned. 🙂
Have a great Monday! xo
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo