Happy Monday! I hope many of you that are reading in the U.S. today are enjoying a day off of work in anticipation for a fun holiday tomorrow! The 4th of July has always (always always!) been one of my favorite holidays. It combines so many of my favorite things – hot weather, grilling, family and friends, and fun for all ages via fireworks, parades, carnivals, and more.
Today actually kicks off a big road trip for our family. We’re going to be covering a lot of miles over the next couple weeks and spending time with a ton of our favorite people along the way. We’re feeling a little anxious that we’ve bit off a bit more than we can chew considering the ages of our kiddos, but we’ve planned this out the best we can and are praying that we make some pretty great family memories.
As usual, every couple weeks I like to grab some pictures and give you a little slice of our lives. Here’s a few snapshots of what we’ve been up to. 🙂
Summertime is widely known as PCS season (moving season), so we’ve said a ridiculous amount of goodbyes the last couple months. A couple weeks ago a few of us got together and had a little mid-week BBQ to send off the Nicosia family. (BTW – Wednesday potluck BBQs rock! Such a great, casual way to break up the week!)
Shannon and I clicked immediately. We were on the same hayride together during a Hail and Farewell the week they moved to Riley in 2015, and we both laugh about how we just knew we were going to be really good friends. We exchanged numbers quickly and have been close ever since. It’s incredible how rapidly deep friendships can be formed in the military.
Our daughters are only three months apart and our second kids are only four months apart. I’ll truly miss their family so much; I already do!
If you follow along with my IG stories than you already know that our big girl is finally a full-fledged, confident walker! She’s been trying really hard to walk for the last month or so, but on June 19th (a day after she hit 14 months), she figured out that she could stand up on her own without help from anyone or anything, and she just took off. We have cheered and laughed so much, and our hearts have melted 100 times seeing how proud she is of herself. This has been a really fun milestone for some reason. I am so happy that she can run around the playground now and that my arms can officially take a break. Ha! We love you, Sadie Rose!
Our summer days have been pretty quiet. We try to get out once a day (usually in the morning) to do some kind of kid-center activity (park, story time, play date, library, etc.) for an hour or two, and then we usually spend the rest of the day at home. They play, follow me around the house, and watch too many movies, but we’re enjoying how chill our weeks at home have been.
I brought them to a local park recently which is right next to a splash pad, but I didn’t bring their suits since they’re typically super timid about actually going in the water. Of course on this particular day they wanted to get soaked and have a ball. It was fun to watch!
On Friday night we got all dressed up and attended 2nd Brigade’s military ball. Around 700 people were in attendance, and we had a really great time! We sat with a great group at our table, and we got to mingle with a good chunk of our friends who were also there. I wore the same dress that I wore to the wedding last week in Savannah, and I have a whole post planned to tell you why this dress is one of my favorites of all time. It can be worn a trillion ways, and that’s just the beginning of why it’s so fantastic. Stay tuned. 🙂
At the same time that our babysitter was taking these pictures for us, we were smiling and commenting about how it was likely right around that time seven years prior that Jamie gave me the surprise of my life and asked me to marry him. June 30th is a happy day for us.
On Saturday we broke up the day and took the girls to the same splash park as aforementioned since they loved it so much a few days prior. Of course they were super timid and not interested in the water at all and way more excited about the ice cream trunk that came singing through the parking lot. At $4 per ice cream treat, we forced them to share. 😉
And finally, this is so random, but I have a little tip for mamas reading this who have a tiny baby at home. 🙂 We have a million video clips of Hadley throughout the last 3.5 years, but some of the ones that melt our hearts the most years later are the ones where she is peacefully napping or where she is crying. Have you ever thought about how rapidly their little cries change or how sweet their snores sound? I don’t think I would have videotaped these routine things if it weren’t for doing our twice-a-year “Day in the Life” posts, but gosh… I am so thankful I have them. I can’t tell you how often Jamie and I sit down and get so mushy over old video clips, 99% of which will never make it onto social media because they’re only precious to parents. 🙂 Anyway… so random. Just wanted to share! It may seem cruel in the moment to record a newborn baby’s cry, but just do it for five seconds and then snuggle. That cry is changing daily!
Have a happy and safe Fourth of July, friends! See ya Wednesday!
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