Tales of a Crafty Mama

30 days of gratefulness :: 14-16 (the weekend away edition!)

Geesh. I was totally on a roll with the blogging every day thing, and then I completely lost momentum when I was gone last weekend. Oh, well. I have a lot of gratefuls to catch up on...

   

Friday, November 14:

preschool in the morning (we almost didn't go because I was so stressed out with trip stuff, but Audrey begged to and I gave in and ended up being glad that I did) :: Audrey and Elliot took long naps and I was able to get all my last-minute packing done :: lots of cuddling with the kids :: my friend Christa's amazing cd :: taking A + E to the airport in their footy jammies (they were so excited about taking a trip in the dark!) :: getting to the airport on time (not an easy feat!) :: my sweet mother-in-law for taking me to the airport :: sweet kisses goodbye :: an extra hour of alone time before take-off (my plane was late) :: diet Coke :: a new issue of Real Simple :: reading Psalms :: hugs + hellos from dear friends :: catching up :: lots of laughing :: Vale's yummy rosemary bread :: staying up until 2:30am

             

Saturday, November 15:

comfy beds :: sleeping in until almost 9am- such a treat! :: yummy breakfast- cofeee + a blueberry scone :: finding a bra that fits (after almost four years of being pregnant and/or nursing nonstop, this is a wonderful thing!) :: a delicious Greek salad + pita + hummus for lunch :: a walk down to Pike Place ::  finding a cute little vintage tag to hang in my bedroom :: getting a good shot of Nancy's sweet little pregnant belly :: visiting Anthropologie- oh, how I love that store (I picked up a letter A  for our house + these for the kids' Christmas ornanments) :: a lovely dinner at Pasta Bella where my friend Kari met her husband (I had the Pollo Marsala) :: talking, talking, + talking some more...

     

Sunday, November 16:

Another yummy breakfast- this time at Le Panier, a French bakery in Pike Place (the chocolate croissant was amazing) :: last minute shopping downtown- Gap stripey socks for me and the kids :: another great salad for lunch :: wandering around U Village- my favorite stores were Fireworks, The Land of Nod, Kid's Club, and of course another walk through Anthropologie... :: cherishing my time with my sweet friends- it was way too short! :: getting to the airport on time- it was close! :: a quick flight home (less than 45 minutes!) :: hugs and kisses from my little family- they were so happy to see me and that of course, is the best feeling! :: the sweetest husband ever who stayed with Audrey and sick Mr. Elliot the entire weekend- I am so blessed! :: home

I came home completely exhausted from two very busy days, filled to the brim with walking around, shopping, and best of all, catching up with some of my most favorite people. Yet even though I was physically tired, I still felt so refreshed- something about being in the presence of friends who just "get" you, who know you so well- it does a soul good.

P.S. Thank you for all the concern for Elliot- he is doing much better!

P.P.S. I am hoping to catch up on the rest of this weeks' gratefuls tomorrow...

P.P.P.S. I can't believe I am almost 30!

scenes from the westside :: part two

It is hard to blog about my happy little holiday from a couple of weeks ago when I have so much on my mind and my heart. Please continue to keep sweet Nie Nie in your prayers as her and her husband are still in very serious condition in the hospital. As I mentioned before, Stephanie's sister C Jane is keeping all her blog friends up to date on them here, and she posted that as of tonight, they are "no longer trauma patients, just burn patients", which is a huge answer to prayer. C Jane also said that tomorrow she will post about what Nie Nie's readers can do to help the Nielsen family.

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Thank you so much for your lovely ideas for Audrey's upcoming purple birthday party. When I wrote that post, I really had no ideas for food for her party- now I have so many ideas I don't even know where to start! Thank you all for your creative imput. I will definitely let you know what I decide on. Oh, to those of you who commented on my blog for the very first time, thank you for saying hello! I haven't gotten the chance to pop into all of your blogs and say hello myself yet, but I will soon.

The second part of our trip to the westside was spent up in Bellingham visiting with friends. I was only there for about two and a half days, but I got to see so many people I love during that time. And I got to stay with this dear, dear friend which is always fun, even when our kids are crazy...

Some of my favorite memories from my trip to B'ham...

the relaxing drive up north- the kids slept almost the entire way, while I drank my chai tea and listened to the Weepies in peace :: getting to see Corrie, Steph, and Carla and their kids, even if it was only for a brief time :: seeing Audrey and Saben slide down the huge blow-up slide together at the jumping place- scary for me, but Audrey was thrilled! ::  a visit to my beloved Treasury of Memories :: eating Kari's amazing food. I am not exaggerating when I say, "Dang, that girl can cook!" Seriously, if you ever get the chance to eat one of her dinners, do not miss it! No joke, while I was there she made- fish tacos with mango salsa, raspberry pie, goat cheese/pinenut/mushroom/tomato pizza, and cashew chicken curry :: getting to hang out with Anna and Shawn and their kids :: a sweet visit at Misha's home (which is always, always a treat) :: two evenings of girl time with  Kari and Vale- man, I miss doing that on a more regular basis (and Vale, I cannot believe we didn't get any pictures together!) :: Mazzy Star and the Innocence Mission :: getting lunch at Avenue Bread, one of my favorite B'ham lunch spots :: a grocery run to Trader Joes :: a visit with another dear friend/former boss, Netta who is expecting her first baby after many years of waiting. It was so amazing to see her sweet little growing belly and to know that all of our prayers were answered :: watching Audrey and Ellliot bond/fight/love/have a blast with their oldest friends :: a much too short visit with Mandy and her sweet babes. We couldn't catch up with each other until right before I was leaving town and Elliot fell asleep in the car on the way to her house, so we just sat outside my car and drank coffee and swooned over our growing kids.

We miss you all already!

Elliot discovering the joys of playing in the sandbox with Simon

Audrey playing chase with Keston

Me and my sweet friend Shawn

Me with my dear friends Anna and Kari

Audrey with her Bellingham boyfriends, Saben and Simon. I love that she has known these guys practically her entire life.

The whole gang- Saben and Annika, Audrey and Elliot, and Simon. I am so happy that I was able to get a good one of all of them together!

Sweet Kezi and Luke. It was so hard to get a good one of these four together because Audrey and Elliot did not want to sit still...

Dear Misha and I

My cute little man taking a bath in Kari's sink

a five day holiday + two little munchkins = a lot of work

We just got back late yesterday afternoon from our very first vacation as a family of four. Let's just say it was not nearly as relaxing as I had hoped. There were definitely great moments, but dealing with two sick kids most of the trip kind of put a damper on things. However, I do have lots of lovely pictures to share as soon as I catch up on my sleep - we did visit the awe-inspiring Glacier National Park, after all...

a little trip to the zoo...

Two Thursdays ago on Erik's day off we took Audrey to Seattle to the Woodland Park Zoo. We have been trying to do lots of fun family stuff together before we have the baby and it becomes harder to get out as a family for awhile.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and we ended up having fun not only at the zoo, but also driving around looking at some of our old "stomping grounds" from when we lived in Seattle. Here's a little recap of our day...

When we got into town we decided to drive by our old Bible College in Ballard first. It is not located there anymore, but it was fun to see and reminisce about our years there.

Next we drove by our old church and our first home together (a.k.a. married student housing), which coincidentally are both located on the same block as our old school. Yes, it is true. We did live in a little "bubble" for awhile...I really should have taken some pictures of some of these places, but I forgot...

Then we drove by Amy and Joel's old apartment (Amy, wasn't it so fun to live so close to each other for awhile?), as well as our second home together, a little overpriced apartment super close to downtown Ballard. We then drove through downtown Ballard (it has changed so much in the three and a half years since we left!) on our way to Fremont where Erik used to work. We were sad to see that our favorite breakfast place in Fremont, The Longshoreman's Daughter, is no longer there; that restaurant made us fall in love with going out to breakfast.

Then we headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch, Gorditoes. As we were getting out of the car in the parking lot, we randomly ran into one of our favorite teachers from Bible College, who we had not seen in five years. It was fun to catch up with him a little bit and show off our growing little family.

Audrey loved her cheesy quesadilla at Gorditoes, although not as much as she loved Mama and Daddy's chicken burrito.

And definitely not as much as she loved chowing down on her very own glass of crushed ice. The simple joys of a 20 month old...

Finally we were off to the zoo, where we forgot to take pictures of the animals but did take some cute family pictures...

Audrey and Daddy checking out the zebras and the giraffes (you'll just have to take my word for it...).

We took Audrey to the zoo a year ago for Mother's Day and she was not really into it then; she loved it this year. It was so fun to see her get excited about the different animals and watch her funny facial expressions when she saw things for the first time. She liked the elephants the best!

Hopefully we will make it to the zoo at least one more time before we move; unfortunately there is no zoo in eastern Washington!

After the zoo, we stopped by another one of our old favorite restaurants, Red Mill Burgers for yummy fries and milkshakes. I got a rootbeer float shake, of course. Then we drove through a couple of our favorite parks, Golden Gardens and Discovery Park, before we headed home.

Looking back (it has been almost two weeks now since we took this little day trip), I think that I will look back on this day as being a really happy memory of our time as a family of three. As I've said before, I am so excited to become a family of four, yet also a little bit sad to let go of what we have right now. Everything is going to change in just a few weeks (for the better, I know! I really, really can't wait to meet our son!), and I am so glad that I have memories like our little trip to the zoo to look back on.

a year ago today

(Photo taken in Siena, Italy)

I realized as I wrote the title of this post ("a year ago today") that I talk like that quite a bit- both on my blog and in conversation. As you may know by now, I am quite sentimental, so I think about my memories all the time. I often find myself thinking things like: "Last week at this time I was..." or "Exactly one month ago we were..." or "A year ago today..."

All that to say...

Exactly one year ago today we left on our big European adventure. I can't believe that it has already been one year! I am so thankful that God allowed us to go on that trip when we did- we could never afford it now, nor would we even consider doing it with a toddler and a baby on the way! Sometimes it is still hard for me to believe that we actually did it- on our tiny little budget and with a six month old baby; it seemed crazy at the time and it seems crazy now! But God opened the door for us to go and it was such a blessing; not only do Erik and I love to travel together, but it was one of our dreams to go to Europe someday. Of course, we are dying to go back (alone as a couple and sometime with our kids when they are older), but at least we can say that we did it once...

(Photo taken in Siena, Italy- the view from our bedroom window)

When I posted the mini-book that I made about our time in Italy, a few people asked for some Europe travel tips. I definitely do not claim to be any kind of expert on European travel, or really travel in general, but here are a few things that we learned from our trip:

Rick Steve's travel books are the best. Seriously. If you are going to invest in any book(s) to carry with you constantly, there really are not better ones out there. We had several books with us besides his, but in the end we wish that we had not even bothered with them because his books included everything that we needed. We found almost all of our hostels, restaurant, and sightseeing recommendations from him and they were all great. We also watched some of his travel videos from the library before we went- super, super cheesy, but full of great tips.

If you do not have children yet, try as hard as you can to visit Europe before you do! It is possible to go with children (as we can testify!), but much more complicated and definitely less romantic!

If you already have children, you can still make it happen! I have never traveled with a child older than six months, so I cannot give you any advice there, but traveling with a baby was definitely doable, at least for us. And children under 2 years old fly free!

(Photo taken in Venice, Italy)

As far as babies go...

1. A BabyBjorn is your best friend -We used ours all day, every day. Forward facing for awake time, chest facing for naptime. We never used a stroller, and while at times we wished we had one, for the most part we were thankful to be without the extra baggage.

2. It is helpful to go before your baby starts solid foods. Audrey was still nursing pretty much exclusively when we went, so we never had to worry about finding food for her.

3. Realize that at least half of your baggage will be taken up by baby stuff- they go through clothes much quicker, you need stuff to keep them busy while traveling, etc. You can easily find necessity things like diapers and wipes in Europe, but it is much cheaper to bring as much as you can with you. We brought enough for about half of our trip and that worked well for us.

4. You have to be okay with taking a slower pace and lots of interruptions. Every night during our trip Erik and I made a rough itinerary for the next day, prioritizing the things that we wanted to see the most. Traveling with the BabyBjorn helped immensely, but we still had to stop quite a bit for feedings, changing, and playtimes. And then of course, there are things that happen with babies that you can never plan for- like getting sick, the infamous "blow-outs", etc.

5. Speaking of getting sick, make sure that you pack a basic baby first aid kit including a baby thermometer and infant pain-reliever. Those are not things that you are going to want to have to track down in the middle of the night in Europe. Audrey ended up getting a fever/cold halfway through our trip and I was so thankful to have packed those necessities.

(Photo taken in Venice, Italy)

6. Relaxing travel (i.e. plane, train, bus rides, etc.) is over. Traveling with a baby is all about keeping them quiet and happy. You probably will not get a chance to watch any in-flight movies or have any time to read fun magazines, let alone get much sleep! Have that expectation before you leave so that you are not disappointed. I used to love flying...

7. Take your baby's personality into consideration when planning your trip. Audrey has always been pretty easy-going and loves to be cuddled and carried, so she was an easy baby to travel with. If she had been a super active baby, however, I don't know if we would have even tried to go all the way to Europe with her; it would have just been too big of a challenge for us.

8. If possible, go before your baby starts to crawl. Audrey started crawling a week or so after we got back and I am so glad that she waited until then! Once they start crawling, babies do not like to be held as much. Not to mention the fact that I never would have let her crawl on the floors at some of the places where we stayed!

9. Try to get comfortable with co-sleeping before you go. Many of the places where we stayed did not provide or have the option of a crib or pack'n'play in our room, and if they did it was costly. And I would never attempt to bring our own portable crib; talk about excess baggage! Luckily for us, Audrey was very accustomed to co-sleeping, so we all slept very comfortably while traveling!

10. Take lots of pictures! I love looking at all of our fun pictures of Audrey in random places like the Colosseum, the Roman Aqueducts, on a bridge in Venice, and with her hands in a huge beer in Munich. And how cool for her to have them as she gets older and can appreciate them herself!

(Photo taken in Rome, Italy- the Aqueducts)

11. Try to spend at least two nights in each place you stay. It really helps to not have to set up "home" every single night. Most nights we were just so exhausted after a day of sight-seeing with a baby that it was nice to come home and just relax and not have to worry about unpacking and getting settled.

I am sure that I could come up with more baby travel tips, but let's move on...

(Photo taken in Rome, Italy- the Colosseum)

When planning the details of your trip, consider it in two ways:

1. As the trip of a lifetime. If you never get to go to Europe ever again, what are the most important things that you want to see or do? Do them. For us, going to Italy was a priority because Erik is passionate about church history and there is so much to see in Italy- Rome especially- relating to that. I have always been really interested in World War II and the Holocaust, so Germany was also an important stop for us.

2. As someplace you can always go back to. After you have done a little bit of traveling (especially internationally), you realize that travel is doable, it is not an impossible dream, you can make it happen. With that in mind, I think that it is better to make your time in Europe quality rather than quantity, meaning visit fewer places (those priority ones for you) and make your time really worthwhile, instead of hitting up 25 cities in a whirlwind six day tour. In our 16 days in Europe we visited six cities, spending at least one night in each city. We stayed the longest in Rome (five nights) because there was so much that we wanted to see there. Have the perspective that you will always be able to come back. Maybe you won't, but heck, we are already planning our next trip!

I cannot emphasize this one enough: PACK LIGHTLY! There are a million good books out there that go into this one in more detail, but just know that it is true. You really don't need a dozen pairs of pants or fifteen pairs of underwear. Believe it or not, they do have washing facilities in Europe- they are modern like that! We did laundry at least three times during our trip.

If you really want to go, be willing to make sacrifices in order to make it happen. Erik and I are not materialistic people- we don't care about having a fancy, expensive car or a nice, new house. We do, however, value the experience of travel- individually, as a couple, and for our children. Therefore, we are willing to sacrifice many material things in order to make our travel dreams happen. A year later, I definitely do not regret any of the sacrifices we made to make our Europe trip happen.

(Self portrait- Venice, Italy)

For more details and photos of our trip see:

Here for a rough itinerary of our entire trip.

Here, here, and here for Rome, Italy.

Here for Siena, Italy

And here for Florence and Venice, Italy and Munich, Germany.

P.S. For those of you who asked questions about specific places we visited, I will email you soon! I am a bit behind on my emails...

a long week and a happy weekend

So remember in my last post how I mentioned that Audrey was feeling better? I was wrong. Oh, so wrong. Audrey was sick almost all of last week and it was rough on all of us. Thankfully she did not have the flu so I did not have to deal with cleaning up yucky messes. She did however have an awful cough and runny nose that kept the whole family up most of the night several nights in a row. Her nightly routine became waking up around 2am and staying awake. Needless to say, by the end of the week Erik and I were exhausted.

Thankfully, we had already planned for this last weekend to be a weekend away, just the two of us; what perfect timing! We had originally planned to drop Audrey off at my mom and step-dad's on Friday night, but with her being sick all week (and some other random things, mainly car trouble), we decided to stay the night with her there and leave in the morning.

I was so nervous about leaving Audrey- not just because she had been sick, but because it was the first time ever that she was going to be away from me overnight. I completely trusted my mom and step-dad, but you know how it is. The first child, the first time away from them. It can be scary! But I definitely think that I needed the break big time because aside from the goodbye, I was totally at ease the entire time we were gone. Of course I missed her, but I was also very, very happy and content to be away from her for a little while! And she had so much fun hanging out with her Oma and Opa, getting to know them better.

My mom and step-dad live in Olympia, so we decided to visit Portland for the night- it is only about an hour and a half away. We had never really explored Portland, so it was really cool to be able to see the city at our own pace, not worrying about pushing a stroller or a toddler getting bored (although my pregnant pace was probably a little bit slower than Erik would have liked!). We had such a lovely time though, just being together. We laughed at ourselves because after eating dinner on Saturday night, we crashed early at our hotel. We were just so tired. It was so so wonderful to have a full night of uninterrupted sleep and to be able to sleep in!

We stayed at a super fun, cute place too- the Kennedy School, an old elementary school that was converted into a hotel/restaurant/brewery.

This is what Kennedy School looks like from the outside: (it was a very dreary day!)

And here is a picture of the hallway in front of our room:

I love photography, but I was not really in a picture taking mood this weekend, so aside from these, I don't really have much in the way of photos to share. Sometimes the scrapbooker/sentimentalist in me regrets times that I feel that way, but it is also really nice sometimes to just fully experience the moment, not worrying about capturing it on film.

But here are a few of the weekend's highlights:

a fun roadtrip :: spending time with my mom, step-dad, and brother :: getting new down pillows from my brother! :: eating Swedish fish :: seeing Audrey so happy with her grandparents :: visiting Powell's bookstore- oh, how we love books! :: walking lazily around downtown Portland with my man :: wandering happily through Anthropologie- I can never really afford to buy much from there but I am so in love with all their beautiful displays ::  a really yummy chocolate milkshake :: going to bed early :: sleeping in :: pancakes for breakfast :: Whole Foods :: a short but sweet visit with my Dad :: hugging my sweet little girl :: long talks with my love in the car...

We will definitely not be waiting eighteen months before we have a weekend away again!

P.S. And thanks again, Mom and Rick for taking care of our sweet munchkin for us!

i am a blessed girl

Audrey Bug with her Auntie Kelsey

Erik's parents with Audrey

I seriously have the best in-laws ever. Seriously. I spent last Wednesday thru Sunday over in Eastern Washington with Erik's family and I was reminded again of just how awesome they are. Even before Erik and I were dating, his family always made me feel so welcome in their home. And when Erik and I started getting serious and they could tell that we were headed toward marriage, I became a member of the family. I have never felt like a daughter-in-law or sister-in-law to them; they have always made me feel like one of their daughters and one of their sisters. I feel so blessed to have married into a family that cares about me so much!

Some highlights from my trip...

Audrey, a little tired from the plane ride

Long car rides with Erik's parents filled with great conversation:: staying up late talking with Kelsey about life, celebrities, and her future :: play-dates with my cutie nephew Parker (he and Audrey played so well together!) :: watching Titanic for the first time since it was in the theater a billion years ago (well, the 90s do kind of feel like a billions years ago!) :: Audrey sleeping like a super-star the entire time we were gone :: getting to eat yummy food made by Erik's mom and grandma :: getting to watch Survior on television rather than on the internet :: watching Audrey and her grandparents fall in love with each other :: getting to talk to my sister-in-law every day about our crazy toddlers and being pregnant (Parker and Audrey are five months apart and our #2's are only four months apart!) :: hearing a wonderful message at church about what a gift families are (although I didn't even need to be reminded- I already know!!) :: seeing Audrey get excited every time she saw the family dog, Molly :: realizing that Audrey loves Erik's grandma's homemade Chex Mix as much as her daddy does :: finding little packages of gummi-bears on the pillow in my room :: visiting Erik's other grandma in a nursing home- it was really hard, but I am thankful I got to see her :: seeing my sweet husband's face when we got off the elevator in baggage claim at the airport!

catching up...

I have been such a horrible blogger lately. It is no lack of things to write about; just general busyness of life that has gotten in the way. The story of my life. So this post is going to be very random, just sharing a little bit about what we've been up to the last week or so...

Two weekends ago we headed to eastern Washington to visit Erik's parent's, grandparents, and sister and her family. Can I just say that I married into the best family ever? (aside from my own, of course!) From the first day that I met them, Erik's family has always made me feel so loved; I have always felt like I was their daughter and sister, not an in-law. They are seriously so awesome and I love them so much! These pictures were taken from our visit.

Taken at a rest-stop in the middle of nowhere...

Audrey and Oma

I love these shoes of Audrey's!

Audrey gets loves from Auntie Amy; Erik and Parker hanging out

The cousins watching Sesame Street- I love that they're holding hands!

I think that Erik's sister actually got the best pictures of the cousins together though...

And finally, one more reason why we love living in Washington...

A couple days after we got back from eastern Washington, Audrey and I headed to the local fair with my friend Kari and her son, Saben. While I am not usually the biggest fan of the fair (I hadn't been in years), it was so fun taking Audrey and Saben. The best part was showing them all of the farm animals. Well, that and eating fair food. Awesome lemonade, curly fries, corn on the cob, and some yummy little Danish pancakes with the funniest name that I can't seem to remember...

Audrey was so impressed with the cows, can't you tell?

I love love love lemonade, so of course I thought this sign was the coolest thing ever!

This sheep was baaa-ing like crazy...

Which really scared Audrey Bug!

And oh, yes, the fair food.

Besides road trips and the fair, I've been working a ton on different circle journals, which has been so fun. But I'll write about that tomorrow. I promise. I think I've posted enough pictures for one day, don't you?

happy weekend

So last Saturday was Erik and my sixth anniversary! I still can't believe that we've been married that long! We wanted to do something special, but we are not quite ready to leave Audrey overnight by herself. So, we decided to take a family trip to the ocean! We had such a lovely time. The weather was perfect, we had a great drive (we love road trips!), and it was so fun to introduce Audrey to the ocean! She loved it! She laughed a lot and didn't even flinch when I put her toes in the cold water! It was seriously a perfect day!

Then that night we went to my mom and stepdad's (they live about an hour from the ocean) and they watched Audrey so that Erik and I could go out to dinner alone. We had such a great time- the food was amazing (we went to a really cute Italian place in downtown Olympia), and we just had such a nice time being together. We laughed a lot (I think people in the restaurant thought that we were on our first date because we were so giddy in each other's company!) and we reminiced about the past six years of marriage- they have been so good. God has truly blessed us with an awesome relationship. I'm not saying things are perfect; I don't think any marriage is perfect. Marriage is definitely hard work! However, I will say that we love and respect each other very much, are truly each other's best friend, and have always been completely commited to each other and our relationship- I think that's the key. That and God's grace! Anyway, we had a really great date- the best we've had since we've had Audrey :) It really was a happy weekend!

a little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Oh, faithful readers, I am so sorry for neglecting you the last couple of weeks. Things have been kinda crazy around here...

• A week or so after we got back from our trip, we came thisclose to buying a house with our good buddies Abe and Vale, but God intervened.
• Audrey came down with her second cold in a month and her first ear infection
• Audrey and I headed over to Spokane with Vale to see the fam and walk Bloomsday. Would love to run it next year, but we'll see...

• On the way back from Spokane, Audrey broke out in hives. Gave her some Baby Benadryl, but when they didn't disappear on Monday, I took her to the doctor. Turns out she is allergic to Amoxicillin (or however you spell that), which she was taking for the ear infection. Its now the second antibiotic that she is allergic to- she's also allergic to sulfa-based antibiotics- we discovered that one when she had a UTI. So, she's been taking Benadryl this whole week because she is still working it all out of her system and still getting hives (although not as bad as before). My poor girl. She's so tough though.
• In the midst of all the previous mentioned things, we found out that the apartment complex that we live in is being made into condos, so when our lease is up in June, we have to move out. We've been wanting to anyway, but this is FORCING us out! We found the cutest little house to rent in a better neighborhood and at a great price, but we have to wait to see if our application goes through. I am trying to trust God on this, but I want it SO bad!! A house! A yard! A cute, happy yellow kitchen! And a garage for all my crap! It would be a beautiful thing.

So, all that to say, that things have been a mite busy around here lately. Will you forgive me for neglecting you?

I leave you with the remainder of the Europe pictures. These one's were taken in Florence, Venice, and Munich, Germany. We've been back a month today, so I figured I should get my little butt in gear and get the rest of these posted. Enjoy!!

P.S. I have a little Mother's Day special post brewing in my head. I've been thinking a lot lately about what being a mama means to me and I want to share it with you in the next couple of days.