Sunday Scenes

Happy Sunday, my friends!  I hope everyone is having a stellar weekend, and staying warm!  This week I have lots of pictures to share, as usual.

As I mentioned last week, we recently had family pictures taken, and suffice to say, I'm pretty much obsessed with the photos and look at them at least once a day.  I had to laugh about this though.  It's always a little baffling to me when I see a pic of young kids, and they're all looking right at the camera and smiling angelically…. well we kind of got one of those, but the bottom picture is really a more accurate representation of our photo session.

Our fabulous photographer, Jody Lynn, really worked hard for us that morning!  It had been quite a while since we'd had family pictures made, and the kids are so fun and full of life, and I know I will treasure these for years to come.  These are a few of my favorites from our session.

Even though the past few days have been stupid cold, we've had such a lovely fall here in Georgia.  Subsequently, we've been enjoying as much time outside as possible.  These kids LOVE playing outside, and they all run to the door like puppies if they so much as hear the words "outside," "playground," or "backyard."  

Even though I absolutely abhor winter and cold weather, I suppose sitting by the fire is pretty nice.  When she got home from school on Thursday, Caroline asked if I could start a fire, then sheepishly asked if she could also have some hot cocoa.  How could I say no to this sweet face?

Speaking of sweet faces, here's one for the books.  While at the grocery store last week, Tucker pointed to this magazine and said "Look, it's Daddy!"  I about died right then and there, and at that moment Tucker became Joey's favorite child.  #iwish #andtheniwokeup

And speaking of my handsome husband, we had the luxury of enjoying a night out last weekend.  We went to a new development here in Atlanta, and tried out a new upscale Mexican restaurant.  There was a long wait, but armed with margaritas (mine had St. Germain!), we didn't mind.  If you live in the northern Atlanta suburbs, check out Avalon.  It's a super fun shopping center with some pretty amazing restaurants.  We ate at The El Felix, and highly recommend it.  Cheers to date night!

I've been busy this weekend cooking up some Thanksgiving dishes for you.  I have a lot of amazing recipes to share with y'all in the next two weeks, so hang on to your hats!  

Sunday Scenes

As we progress through life, I find myself less inclined to take pictures at every single given opportunity.  Our family is in a season of major craziness, and my main priority is keeping everyone happy vs taking the prefect photo.  It can be frustrating when we're paying good money for family pictures, but then I just remind myself that this truly is a snapshot of our lives.  So if it's blurry, crazy, and unrecognizable… well that's just life right now anyway.

So this new feature is dedicated to snapshots of our family.  Whether it be a random camera phone picture, or a portrait taken with our DSLR, this is where we are right now.  It's crazy.  It's chaotic.  But it's us.

Coming off of a big Halloween weekend, it's only fair to share a pic of our little monsters.  We went with the classics this year.  Caroline was a witch, Smith was a skeleton, Tucker was Frankenstein (even if he wouldn't wear the headpiece), and Henry was a vampire.  Smith ended up winning our neighborhood's costume contest as the "scariest costume," and he was beyond proud.   

Speaking of Halloween, when Caroline was on fall break, I dedicated an entire day to Halloween Pinterest projects.  We made "boo-nana pops," graveyard pudding cups, painted pumpkins, fingerprinted, etc.  Tons of fun, and I can't wait to do another fun day like this for Christmas.

And speaking school, have I mentioned that all three boys are now in preschool??  The twins started school this year, and bittersweet is definitely a good word for it.  But so far, they are absolutely loving their time there, and I'm definitely loving my free time in the mornings.  I feel like they were JUST born, so it's a good reminder of how quickly time flies by.  This was their sibling picture on picture day.  Considering that within 0.02 seconds they were all three inconsolably crying, this is definitely a money shot. And seriously.  Tell me if you know three brothers cuter than this.  I guarantee they don't exist!

A few weeks ago, my sister and her wife came for a short visit from California.  It was a wonderful chance to get our family together, and the first time in over two years that me and my three siblings were together.  We certainly drove each other crazy growing up, but these three people are my best friends in the world now. 

That very same weekend, Joey and I ran in a 10-mile race through downtown Atlanta.  I haven't really delved into my running history on here… another day, another post.  It's been a bit tumultuous to say the least.  But I'm absolutely thrilled to be active and running regularly again.  We competed in a 10-miler a few weeks ago, and we're running in a half marathon on Thanksgiving Day.  I'm just so excited and happy to be running again!  Aside from this blog, running is my "me-time," and the best stress-reliever out there -- aside from wine, of course.

Another hobby that Joey and I have picked up this year is home brewing.  Really it's Joey's thing, but I am just along to help out and be an "editorial advisor."  Our first batch was a Double IPA (yum!), and we currently have a Belgian Christmas Ale fermenting.  This hobby totally combines my love of cooking and flavors with my former career in science, so it is pretty much my ideal venture!

And finally, I'll leave you with this.  This boy.  He's my heart and soul.  Tucker is a total mommas-boy through and through, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  xoxo