Lately, we’ve been busy.
(That’s nothing new! Everyone seems to be busy these days! All the time!)
And it’s fine: I don’t even feel particularly stressed out right now. So this isn’t one of my cranky, complaining posts. This is simply me telling you a little of what I’ve been doing lately. (And yes, maybe it’s also me making some excuses for another couple weeks of not blogging.)
Lately, I’ve been taking my own advice: I’ve hired babysitters so I can “re-set” parts of my house that have been causing me anxiety for some time. I’ve tackled projects that haven’t been touched since we moved into this house 2.5 years ago. I’ve (LET ME SHOUT THIS ONE TO THE HEAVENS) arranged for a mother’s helper to come once a week this summer, to give me regular, focused time in which to write! (God-willing, maybe I’ll actually turn myself into a decent-ish blogger this summer. Stranger things have happened!)
We’ve hosted the baby’s first birthday party. (Our sunshine of a boy is already one! How can that be possible?)
We’ve celebrated Easter with friends and family and (terribly impractical, ostentatiously old-fashioned) matching get-ups.
We’ve celebrated my birthday and spent an out-of-town weekend at my parents’ house. (a.k.a. The best grandparents three little boys could wish for.) We’ve also celebrated my niece’s birthday.
We’ve painted the kitchen and put it back to rights. (My husband did the former, I did the latter.)
The two older boys have started swim lessons. And the oldest has made his second (very tentative!) visit to his soon-to-be-new-school. (Kindergarten is a much scarier prospect than I ever imagined.)
I’m preparing to host a small blogging conference in a couple of weeks. It’s the Catholic Women Blogging Network Mid-Atlantic Conference. (What a mouthful!) Registration has already closed, but if you fit that bill and you want to join us, contact me ASAP. I can probably fit you in. 😉
That’s a lot for two weeks, right?
It’s produced a lot of photos, that’s for sure. And since I feel like it’s been forever-and-a-half since I last participated in {pretty, happy, funny, real}, I thought I’d share the photos with you under those headings. Here we go:
{pretty}
We enjoyed a beautiful Easter.
But this isn’t Easter. This is a week earlier, at our neighbor’s egg hunt. (That’s our garage in the background.)
Grandpa and his boys.
Cousins (aren’t cousins the best?) all lined up for the egg hunt.
Sleepy little chub.
{happy}
I’ve never seen a baby so happy to celebrate his first birthday. Our boy crawled all over the place, crammed his cupcake into his mouth, and smiled, smiled, smiled.
I was so proud of myself for making the (buttercream) frosting the night before… until I realized I’d forgotten to soften it for the party. My mom said they were the ugliest cupcakes she’d ever frosted. I didn’t care, though — I thought it looked like grass. (Fitting for our wild animal theme.)
{funny}
There’s no doubt who the “class clown” of our family is:
{real}
Cleaning, organizing projects, and home improvement — oh my!
{more}
Post-birthday-cake energy burning.
Be sure to hop over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {pretty, happy, funny, real}. Enjoy!
These Walls 
I am so in love with your house! It looks gorgeous 🙂 Wishing you lots of success with cleaning and organizing. It holds a special place in my heart!
Thank you! We feel very blessed to be here. (And I can use all the good wishes I can get on the cleaning/organizing!)
Beautiful photos! I love the color of your kitchen. Your family is adorable and it looks like you had a wonderful Easter. 🙂
Thank you! I can hardly express how excited I am about that color. Especially after the dingy white that was there before — and ESPECIALLY after the weird green color that was on the backsplash. (Shudder.)
Can’t wait for the conference!!
Hmm. I like that you’ve hired a mother’s helper. For a while I thought the morning before any kids woke up was going to be my writing time, but it turns out my kids wake up as early as 6:30 in the spring/summer. So, no. I am not getting up at 5:30 to write. 😛 I’ve also thought about coffee shops but that’s not really my vibe. I will have to think about this!
Yep. Same boat here. I need to start getting up earlier, but I know I wouldn’t have much (if any) time to myself before somebody woke up. And as much as I love coffee/coffee shops, I find all their activity far too distracting to write in them.
Looking forward to having you here for the conference!
Their Easter outfits are SO amazing 🙂 Great work!!!
Thank you! I love them – old man look and all. 🙂
I loved the cousins all lined up ready for the egg hunt…where would we be without our cousins right? Your boys look so sweet in their bow ties, like little gentlemen…I am laughing how you wrote above “old man look an all”…God bless your family, and yes to green icing!
What a fun Easter Egg Hunt with all those cousins!