Flashback Friday

it's a grey friday morning

i'm leaving for a girls weekend getaway in less than 8 hours

and instead of picking away at my packing

or cleaning my disastrous kitchen 

or heading out to the grocery store to stock up for the hubby,

who, bless his soul, will be wrangling our wild children all on his own while i'm gone

i've decided to take a moment...

...to sip on my americano

...to listen to a random youtube indie-folk playlist

....to look through these pictures from exactly one year ago

because as much as i've loved the seemingly endless summer we've been enjoying

grey days and slow mornings have a nice kind of feel to them too

also, these pictures were taken
exactly where i'm heading this afternoon, 

exactly one year ago today

and i had this conversation with my girlies this morning:

Me: My babies aren't babies anymore...frown emoticon
A: You're silly mama, babies have to grow up!
Me: But my babies were supposed to stay teeny tiny forever.
A: No mama, that's not how babies work.
I: Don't worry mama, we'll always be your babies.

true story.

apparently, my babies have to grow up - it's how babies work, after all

you know, you get a lot of advice when you decide you want to have babies, 

but they never tell you about that struggle in your heart

the one where you want to watch your babies grow up into who they were intended to be,

while simultaneously keeping them as your babies forever and ever

oh wait, they do

but words can't convey what a mama's heart feels

so sometimes you just need to look through old pictures, 

and gush over your babies

then look up and watch them grow up right before your very eyes

and realize how blessed you are to have the past memories and the here-and-now moments

Camping Part Three: Heading Home

something happened over the weekend

i saw the leaves start to turn

fiery reds popped up in the lush green trees that lined the streets

a cool (or dare i say cold) breeze made its way through our windows overnight

i felt a knot in my stomach

and a lump in my throat

my annual end of summer meltdown threatened to rear its ugly head

except...i don't feel quite as panicked this year as i've felt in the past

maybe because my summer this year wasn't spent chasing the sun, soaking up every ray possible

i was busy holding little hands, wiping little faces, hearing little giggles

don't get me wrong, i still enjoyed it - it was just...different
and those little hands, faces and giggles that made my summer so special don't end with the season

and i'm actually kind of eager to see what the next season will be like with my baby girls

its like that first day of school giddiness that i talked about in my very first post on this blog 

(already two years ago, believe it or not!)

so here's my last camping installment...perhaps the last "summery" post before switching gears to pumpkins, blankets, baking, board games, hot chocolate, snuggling with family, etc, etc, etc...all with my littles in tow!

Camping, Part Two: Porch Time

Hey there!
So, I sort of fell off the radar there for a little bit.
Life sometimes gets way out of hand around here
...and unexpected staycations like the one we had over the long weekend sure don't help
but we loved every second of it and are back at it having enjoyed some much needed family and down time

ironically, I actually had this post ready to go a week ago, but just didn't get around to hitting that "publish" button...
so without further ado, more camping pictures! 

Apparently, I was a bit camera-happy during porch time.

So happy, that I decided to give some of our pictures on the cabin porch their very own post.

A passerby offered to take a family picture in the middle of my snap-fest

My immediate response was "nah - I look schlepped together"

Ten minutes later, I regretted that decision 

...note to self / tip from my mistakes:  you will NEVER feel ready for a picture; next time, just let the nice stranger capture your moment together with the fam!

Camping, Part One

So...our camp experience.

we packed the babes up 

shoved the van full of a ridiculous amount of gear

unpacked said gear into cabin #2

(which was way fancier than we expected - they even had electrical outlets!)

built fires

spent time with good friends

ate treats

made new friends

took naps

had a great time!

originally, we weren't sure if it was such a great idea to go camping with the girls being so young

and it did take some planning and patience to get there, but I am so glad we did!