new

I have been famous for asking my friends and family with real bafflement, 'how do you know when you're done having babies!? I can't imagine not having a new baby in my home!" You guys, I was not kidding at all. But now, I finally get it. We are in the very final stretch of awaiting Studerbaby#4 - he will be here by Friday, as he's getting evicted via induction.  At this point in pregnancy, as most mommas will agree, even three days feel much too long to have to wait - but alas, here we are getting things crossed off the to do list and counting down minutes. No one is counting down more than the mumma, let me tell you.  It felt harder this time for me, whether it's because this is the oldest I've ever been pregnant or if the busy of life with three small kids under six and all of our activities and plans.  I don't know, but it felt like the longest and most uncomfortable and most frustrating pregnancy so far. Truth be told, I don't 'do' pregn

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home, just this minute. Intentional Hours Outdoors total :  169 hours (of 1000) I went for a long solo walk with both dogs on Sunday and it was blissful, even in the rain! We headed out as a family to the Quemahoming to squeeze in some fishing  (also in the rain).  But the weather really started to perk up this week and it's been sunny and beautiful for most days.  we are LOVING it.  The kids have been so glad to get outside and burn some of that energy (thank goodness!) On Monday night, we loaded all the kids up in the car, stopped by McDonalds for dinner, and went to Daddy's basketball game in Indiana and the kids and I spent most of the game out in the parking lot so that they could roller blade and ride the scooter (Violet pushed her stroller around).  Grey has been a maniac in the garage asking daily about rollerblading and playing hockey, and we pulled out the water balloons one evening for 'batting practice.'  We'

I finished meal planning for June yesterday with the knowledge that all the while we will have our new little baby here for the meals, probably sleeping, but still - we will be all together. I love that part of the ending of pregnancy when you start seeing dates and thinking to yourself, 'oh, our baby will be here'  Like even the perishables in our fridge have an expiration date that exceeds our new baby.  With the excitement and blessings that a new baby brings, I am also feeling deeply grateful while meal planning after the big kids and I attended our first Empty Bowls event last week.  One of the local high school's key clubs spent the last few months creating hundreds of pottery bowls all for the special night.  Greyson, Gemma, and I each got to choose a bowl we liked best and then had a meal of soup, bread, and drinks where the proceeds went to local organizations that help combat homelessness and hunger.  The kids love their new bowls and literally keep showing them

With the small teases of summer weather we've been getting here in western PA, I have been itching for some easy summer reads.  You know, the ones you can't see to put down and you buzz through them quickly and then look up at the end and seriously wonder how you caught everything when you're brain was reading so fast.  For this exact hope, I chose to read Brad Street Gate by Robin Kirman as Good Housekeeping had deemed it, 'un-put-downable.' listed right there on the cover! The book is set up like a mystery...kind of, spanning several years during and following the Harvard graduation of three college friends (well, they're kind of friends) that all have a front row seat (kind of) to a murder that happened their senior year of college.  There's a whole lot of kind of going on in the book, which is why I can say I kind of enjoyed it. It was difficult for me at the start of the book as the story is told in a flip flopping time frame where the narrative reveal

In olden days, pocket watches were the only means of checking time on the move. However, these watches had only a hour hand and the watch mechanism was highly inaccurate. But after a few hundred years, Patek Philippe invented the first ever wristwatch. Initially, it was considered to a woman's accessory. But as time passed on men, too, began to use them. There are two main ways in which

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Hours Outside :  (155 hours of 1000) Up only 17 hours this week...It was a weird weather week here in western PA.  We had snow on Sunday, SNOW!  No accumulation obviously, but you could see it laying on the ground....in the middle of May.  insanity.  Then it was mostly gloomy and chilly, if not raining, for every other day this week except for yesterday when the sun finally remembered where we live! We did get a chance to head out to Greenhouse park when Caleb was over for a playdate so that the kids could run their energy out on the playground and near the creek.  And did I try to literally 'walk my baby' out on Monday by taking two walks and getting over 10,000 steps on my fitbit?  I'm not going to say that didn't happen, hahhaa, but it also didn't work, so boo.  Two baseball games also had us outside in the evenings and yesterday the girls and I spent the whole afternoon lounging (li

A peek into what it is like to live in our home right this second. Intentional Hours Outside :  138 hours (of 1000) Up 16 hours from last week, but it was another gloomy week here in western PA and that combined with my 36+ week baby bump woes, we kept it pretty easy this week in activity.  We were still able to rack up hours at the baseball games and our SFW trip to visit Stackhouse Park last Saturday, but I mostly tried to do a lot of resting and relaxing inside as the rain and gloom persisted outside.  Yesterday we had some bouts of beautiful, hot weather between thunderstorms, so the kids and I were ecstatic to get outside to get in some bubbles, outdoor lunch, and played (twice!) hose trampoline sprinkler.  Violet was hilarious and loved being sprayed by the hose! Reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv and Brad Street Gate by Robin Kirman Planting lots of flowers around the patios on Friday (in the rain!) We stopped down to our favorite local nursery, Stuver's , and