Happy Monday!!
My house is so quiet right now and I’m loving it. (Most people assume I’m an extrovert, but I often recharge from and crave being solo and having silence.) The big girls are at school, Jillian went down for a nap like a champ, and now Mama is ready to spit out a “Slice of Life” for you and for documentation sake. 🙂 It’s been about four weeks since my last one, so let’s breeze through September via a handful of iPhone pics.
Though my sister has been living in Alabama since mid July, we didn’t squeeze in our first “girls night” with our mom until earlier this month. We enjoyed the most gorgeous Friday night eating on the sidewalk in downtown Huntsville at one of my favorite restaurants Commerce Kitchen, and then we followed up dinner with a walk around a few blocks of downtown. Nights like this fill my tank so much.
After being cleared from my OB to resume my workouts, I got back to it! Rebuilding my strength in the weight room has been very humbling to say the least, but it feels so good to get my heart rate back up again and do it all beside some really fun friends. The coaches often play hip hop music from my high school and college days (the Y2K stuff I guess you’d call it…) and it gets me going! Nothing like hitting an “all out” pace on the treads while singing along to “Shake It Like a Tailfeather”. 😉
We hosted our second annual Labor Day party on the Sunday evening of the holiday weekend and had a blast! We had around 55 people in attendance (kids included) and loved having everyone.
Like the year prior, the guest list mostly included hometown friends that I grew up with, so everyone knew each other and seemed to have a good time! My mom came too since she knows almost everyone that was coming (she was very involved and always knew our friends growing up!).
Jamie did a killer job on the grill (hamburgers, chicken, hot dogs, etc.), I served a big punch bowl of sangria, and everyone brought a side dish or dessert to share. The kids had a ball on the trampoline, swing set, and water slide. We let the kids have access to the playroom but put 75% of the toys in the closet and zip-tied the doors so that the kids would be encouraged to play outside instead. It worked! Love all of these faces and their families so much. Jamie and I are already scheming up ways to make this even more fun next year!
The big girls started back up with dance lessons this month! Both are taking one class each that includes a combination of ballet and tap. Sadie calls her tap shoes her “tat toos” and it’s the cutest.
About five of Hadley’s best friends are in her class, which is probably more fun for me than her because while she’s working hard at dance, I get to sit in the hallway and have an hour of hang time with lots of my favorite people. Ha!
We’ve had lots of neighbor hangs as usual, and seeing how much these babes have grown in a year makes me so happy and hurts my heart at the same time. It’s funny how those feelings can exist together the way they do.
We celebrated my mom’s birthday earlier this month. Sunday brunch at Grille29 in Providence never disappoints. It’s one of our favorite brunch spots in town.
Big news!! Jamie’s parents and brother moved to Huntsville from Austin! This has been a long time in the works, and they finally were able to put all the pieces together and make it happen. The girls have no idea how fortunate they are to have all four of their grandparents within a few miles of them, but we do, and they’ll know it one day too.
They’d only been in Alabama for a few days before they had their first babysitting job. 😉 Jamie and I snuck away for our first post-baby date a couple of weeks ago, and it was amazing. We enjoyed a glass of wine at Burritt on the Mountain during sunset and then had dinner at the brand new Chuy’s mexican restaurant.
Sadie may not have much hair for a three year old, but it was beyond time to even things up! She fought tooth and nail against getting it cut because she wants “Rapunzel hair”, but she finally gave in after agreeing to sit on my lap. She actually ended up loving the whole thing and walked out with a $17 Rapunzel Wet hair brush (insert eye roll emoji). She claims that she can’t wait to get another hair cut, probably because there are eight more princess hair brushes that she’ll try to sucker me in to next. 😉 #sheaintdumb
This little cousin crew has had a heyday at homecoming parades this month! Our city has two big high schools (the one that I went to and the one that our kids are zoned for), and we spontaneously went to both parades. Jillian hung in the baby carrier on my chest and did a good job as usual at just going with the flow with our outings.
We got in some Uncle David time! He came up from Birmingham for the weekend recently to attend his high school reunion, so we got to steal him for a few hours of hang time.
A couple of weekends back, I stayed home from church with the girls while Jamie was at drill. I planned to go, but when Jillian started crying right as I turned on the shower, I turned it right back off and decided that the chaos of getting all four of us dressed and ready in 45 minutes was going to be unnecessary chaos.
So we all stayed home in our jammies, and slowly but surely my family started randomly trickling by. It was going to just be my brother on his way out of town back home to Birmingham, but then my mom tagged along. Then my sister heard and came by with her kids. And then my dad came by after church. And all of a sudden we were all together sitting at the bar eating sliced apple and peaches, and it was wonderful. This site is rare, but that rarity makes it so good and extra special when it happens.
Three girls. I sometimes still can’t believe it.
Did you see on Instagram where I shared about Hadley’s recent vet visit? Hahaha. Hadley’s earring ripped out of her ear on the playground recently, which landed her in the ER to get stitches. That whole experience was a nightmare in itself, but the biggest lesson I learned was that the 25 minute drive to the pediatric ER will be WORTH IT next time. The regular ER physician we saw severely mishandled the situation, but we lived and learned and only walked away with a little bit of emotional scarring for both of us. Oy. It was a doozy.
ANYWAY! The situation was made better by my dear friend Erin who took Hadley’s stitches out during her workday, saving us a trip to an ENT. It was hilarious. We walked into the clinic, and the front desk person asked “And who are we seeing today?” And I chuckled and was like “uhhh yeah, no pet. Just need to see Dr. Brown.” LOL.
Local friends, don’t miss the apple cider slushies at Isom Orchard on HWY 72 in Athens. $3 cash or check only. Yummy sweet treat!
Finally, we enjoyed some tailgating fun at church last night! The staff threw a big party as a thank you for all of the volunteers, and it was a great time. Picking a church home was a really serious decision for us when we moved last year, and we feel so confident and happy with were we decided to grow spiritually as a family, as a couple, as parents, and individually.
Let’s chat!
What fall family traditions are you looking forward to next month? October is my favorite month of the year!
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