Gardner & Goins

I just recently returned home from a whirlwind solo trip to visit my sister & my friend Angela, and it was so good for my soul!

Almost two years ago exactly I took my first solo trip home to visit my sister when her first bebe was born, and it was such a fun & memorable trip! I couldn't remember a time before then that I had spent any significant time with my family without Derek or the kids in tow, so it was just really special. So when I found out my sister would be having baby #2 & it coincided with the Goins' deployment, it was a no-brainer!! I flew into Atlanta to spend a few days with my sister & her crew, then my mom picked me up and we headed to Florida to visit the Goins! Then we drove back to Atlanta for a quick dinner date with my dad, breakfast date with my high school/college friend Lindsey the next morning, and then on to the airport for me to head back to SA! I literally couldn't have squeezed one more thing into this trip, but everything worked out perfectly and I'm so thankful for the time I had with everyone! And I know I have mentioned this before, but I LOVE it when people come visit us during our "regular life." Of course, we love seeing our family for holidays, birthdays, vacations, etc. but there's something really special about sharing your everyday world with your people. So it was such a treat for me to get a peek into the daily routines of my sister & one of my dearest friends and love on them for a bit--I treasured every second of it!

Since I was busy having so much fun, I took not a single picture on my 6-day trip except for this one of my nephew Logan! ;)

Here's a couple I snagged from baby Ryan's newborn photo session,,,just so you can see how cute he is! :)

Since I have no other pictures from my actual trip, I'll share a few photos & tidbits from right before I flew to Atlanta & a few from once I returned home...starting with Brady's first school Valentine exchange on February 13th.

I made the kids their favorite muffins for Valentine's Day breakfast. :)

We woke Brady up early from his nap that afternoon and picked the girls up a few minutes early from school to get me to the airport for my flight.

Fast forward six days later when I landed back in San Antonio.....

I hadn't been in the car more than 5-10 minutes after they picked me up from the airport when Hadley said "I think I'm going to be sick." Nothing quite says "Welcome Back" like that. ;)

While Hadley was home sick, she missed her school's annual Bike Rodeo. But we have the First Place 3rd Grade Bike Rodeo Champion in our house! Apparently our neighborhood kids are quite the bike riders..two of our neighbor boys won first place in their grade level as well! Shelby was VERY excited about her trophy, so it had to join her on the couch for our Friday Movie Night that evening. :)

Driveway shenanigans on a sick day home from school--so thankful for mild Texas winter days!

Hadley wasn't feeling well after her shower the other night, so she just wanted to get in bed to read. Monkey see, monkey do! Thankfully this sweet monkey boy has two pretty awesome sisters he's learning from! ;)

Thankfully Hadley seems to be on the mend & no one else has gotten sick! We have had a very healthy fall/winter, which has been a huge blessing!

Life Lately

Last week the girls' school celebrated the 100th day of the school year! In honor of this day, the first graders got to dress up as a one hundred year old person..so here's Hadley as a little old lady! She loves having her hair in a bun & wearing cardigans, so this was easy for her! :)

All three kiddos spent this past Saturday morning hard at work on Valentines for their classmates. Hadley is giving out unicorn/narwhal temporary tattoos that she is super excited about, Shelby is passing out mini Hershey bars to her classmates and addressing each one with an adjective before the recipient's name that starts with the same letter {ie. "Stellar Sarah"}, and Brady is decorating hearts that we cut out for him.

We've had a lot of rain recently, and Brady was delighted to find this patch of mud to drive his trucks through. Then we had fun doing car washes in the water table when the girls got home from school that afternoon.

We had to give Brady's beloved "Rabitty" a bath yesterday, so these two kept a close eye on him.

And last but not least, here are a few books I've read over the Winter:

Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids is actually a re-read for me. I read it for the first time about five years ago or so, and then I just reread it as it was selected for a Book Talk at Brady's school. The book definitely struck me much differently this time around reading from the perspective of parenting two elementary school age kiddos & a 3 year old in comparison to a toddler and a preschooler when I read it the first time. Kelly Rimmer & Kristan Higgins are two authors I typically enjoy! Unspoken is the 2nd of a new series, and the third book releases later this month! They're fun, easy, rom-com type books. The two Christmas books I read were just okay. I have a solo trip coming up soon, so hopefully I'll get some good reading time in while I'm on the plane!

I just finished re-reading aloud Stuart Little to the girls, and now we're reading aloud A Bear Called Paddington for the first time!