May
17
:: Catch Up ::
every now and then, i just need to dump a ton of photos on you, and catch you up on randomness and life around here. so today’s the day for me to play catch up of the last few months…i hope you don’t mind! but i think there is enough randomness thrown in for you to not lose interest!
(if you follow on Instagram, “leanak”, then a few of these might be repeats 
)
Jake turned 40. yes..four…ohhh. its still hard to believe (i have a ways to go until hit the big 40 myself). his birthday unfortunately came when i was still very sick. so all of the plans that i’ve been dreaming up the last few years for his big 40th just couldn’t happen, and i’m still sad about it. i feel like he massively got the short end of the stick. thankfully, he is so laid back, that it doesn’t bother him one bit, but until we have a proper celebration, it will continue to haunt me. i’m thinking 41 will have to be big year!
we took a much needed vacation for spring break to Destin, Florida with some friends. here’s our motley crew:
it was freeeeezzzzzing! no joke…SOO cold. so it wasn’t really the beach vacay that we thought it was gonna be.
we braved the weather some and the kiddos and dads got in some heated pool time:
and we hit the beach one afternoon:
but other than that, we found other things to do, like travel to Seaside and eat lunch at the most amazing food trucks. if you are ever there, you’ve got to do yourself a favor and eat the Bacon and Brie Grilled Cheese on Cranberry Walnut Bread at The Meltdown. my mouth is still watering:
we had no shortage of fun, that’s for sure! that’s the nice thing about being with friends…you don’t really have to be doing anything all that exciting to have a good time!
we were there over Palm Sunday, so since we were missing church, we had the kiddos act out the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday for us. in the midst of practice, in true fashion, Bella threw a massive temper tantrum and decided that she didn’t want to participate. after 10 minutes of time-out while she recovered, she stomped out of her room, gave an exasperated sigh, and said, “FINE! I’ll be Jesus!!” (we had quite the laugh, but for the record, she did not get to be Jesus!)
it was so good to get away as a family, after having missed regular life for so long. we definitely needed it!
we arrived home with a few days to spare before Easter, during which we celebrated Passover: (you can read all about the way our family celebrates Passover here.)
this year we celebrated with dear friends, and its become one of our favorite new traditions as a family. (don’t ask me what Bella is doing in this pic. i have no clue…she has a mind of her own.)
sadly, Easter came and went fast, and this was the only family pic we got.
as usual, the Easter Bunny came and delivered clues to help us find the hidden baskets, and now that Bella can read, she was especially excited:
he even left Berkeley a basket:
we enjoyed a visit from our cousins from Chicago, and i think they enjoyed our warm Florida sun and getting to be in the pool in April:
Bella and I are headed up to visit them in Chicago in less than a month, and we are counting down the days until our first girls’ trip! we’ll also be doing some other special things while we are there that i’ll be sure to tell you all about.
Bella turned 6:
we did not have a big party for her this year. momma unfortunately couldn’t handle it this year, but we still had a very fun day of celebrating our girl:
we had our family over for cupcakes later that night. i let her choose any kind of cupcake she wanted out of these two books (which have become great resources for me!): Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make
she chose these goldfish cupcakes:
they were super simple and i think they turned out pretty darn cute!
shortly after, the Boy turned 9. to celebrate, we had a few friends over after school:
for swimming and ice cream sundaes:
he had his very first sleepover too. as a mom, i have to say that i’m not the hugest fan of sleepovers. i tend to like my kiddos home with me, and i was afraid to open up the door to sleepovers as i’m not quite ready for my own kiddos to be sleeping at friends houses just yet, but we decided that this was a special case. i really do hope that this is a picture into our future…i love having kids at our house! i’m hopeful that our house might be the one where all his friends would prefer to be. i like my kiddos to be home!!
we were all seriously exhausted the next day, to the point where Bella even fell asleep poolside in Daddy’s arms…which NEVER happens anymore!
we celebrated later that night with our family, and Canaan requested a swirled Strawberry Cheesecake in lieu of cupcakes:
i used this recipe and it was seriously delicious. i will definitely be making it again:
you might remember from my May Sponsor Post where i mentioned that one of my sponsors, Grace Is Truth, would be offering kid’s t-shirts mid-month. i told you i would let you know when they arrive. well…they are officially listed in the shop!
i think they are down right adorable, and Bella wanted to wear her’s to school today with a pink skirt, and i must say, she looked darn cute! so make sure to head over to the website (where you just might spy some familiar looking peeps!) and order some for your kiddos: www.graceistruth.com.
lately, when we wake up on a Saturday morning, we come out to find the kiddos cuddled up, watching their new favorite show, The Brady Bunch, and it makes my heart feel so happy. i can so remembering watching every episode with my brothers, and i love that my kids think its awesome too!
Bella has been waiting years to lose a tooth so the Tooth Fairy can come, and she literally cried tears of joy when she discovered her first loose tooth!
it hung in there a long time, until Daddy finally convinced her to let him have his hand at it:
from total panic to pure joy!
she’s got another one about to come out any day.
i baked my regular loaf of bread the other day like i always do, but for some reason, this happened:
the kiddos and i laughed a long time over our flat loaves! not sure what i did (maybe let it rise too long?) but it was worth the giggles i got over it!
i gave a our formal living room a face lift with some new pillows. (why do houses even have a formal living room?) but i’m completely determined to use this room often, so have been making the effort to make it super comfy and inviting.
i’ll tell you all the details of this room before too long, so just know that a post is coming and just might include a tutorial for some inexpensive ruffled drop cloth curtains
i was listening to a Tim Keller sermon not long ago and heard this quote, and thought that it was seriously mind-blowing:
Baby Berkeley continues to grow by the second. here she is at 20 weeks:
23 weeks:
and currently at 26 weeks. its getting frightening!
we are all ready for her to get here, especially the Big Sister. she gave me this treasure the other day:
i purchased my first items for the nursery…from the dollar section of Target.
other than that, i haven’t done a thing for the nursery! its my next project. we are thinking a gray and white striped wall, a gold crib, white bedding, and coral accents. my vision is one of those where i’m not totally sure i’m gonna love it until i just jump in and start putting it all together. i’m sure i’ll give many updates along the way.
thanks for letting me catch you up! i seriously feel nauseous from being on here for so long, so i’m hoping to not look at a computer screen for the rest of the weekend!
happy weekend to you!
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