oh hey, friday | so random

I shouldn't have written this post because it basically contains a whole lot of nothing but I did. I wrote it. Happy Friday!

{ONE}

We have an official close date and appointment for the house. Yay! We're getting so close and I'm so excited. Hardwood floors went in this week as did some landscaping out front. The air conditioner in our townhouse is leaking water and making the carpet wet at all times so I'll be ready to say goodbye to this place for sure.

{TWO}

Can we take a minute and talk about how much nutella I've been eating? It's so delicious and I find myself hiding in the kitchen quietly eating it by the spoonful hoping that my kids don't see me. How sad is that?!

There was a crepe stand at our hotels in both Jamaica and Mexico and I had the most wonderful crepe with nutella, strawberries and bananas but I never thought to buy it at home. Big mistake. Huge. Anyway, I finally bought a jar of the hazelnut goodness a week or so ago and it's basically licked clean. Nutella on ALL THE THINGS.

{THREE}

Whenever my husband and his best friend text each other, they mainly communicate by using GIFs and memes from the GIF Keyboard app. It is so dumb and so funny. I got sucked into a group text with them and instead of forming actual plans for that day, we just sent memes back and forth.

You can search a word or phrase and a GIF or meme will come up that matches your search.

So, in case you don't have anything (and I mean anything) better to do, you can find Beyonce doing this...

...or send your favorite FRIENDS snippets to your friends...

You're welcome...

*if you're reading on Bloglovin' or some other reader, click "view original post" at the bottom to see these GIFs in action...

{FOUR}

I'm not sure why but I've gotten a ton of spammy comments on my Instagram pictures this last week. They're all from random accounts promising to help me gain 1000 new followers a day or something ridiculous like that. It's so annoying having to go in and report them and I'm all like...

{FIVE}

Instead of yet another GIF (so addicting...) I'll leave you with a picture of Gracyn with her goggles. Girlfriend is pumped to use these in pool this weekend and she is determined to go under water. I couldn't talk her out of them so we'll see how it goes!

Have a great weekend!

Sprinklers at Sunset

We're pretty lucky to have a few good friends in town who take us in and love our kids as if they were their own. And, more importantly, rescue us from the confines of the townhouse. 

We met our besties for pizza and beer on Friday night and thought it'd be fun to let the kids run through the sprinklers. We couldn't get Leighton or cousin Charlotte in on the action but G ran around for a little bit, loving every minute. 

It was the best way to end yet another 90+ degree day.

Leighton :: 18 Months

Age: 18 months old. 1.5 years old. Shocked at how this can be true.

Stats: 28-ish pounds and 34-ish inches maybe? We have her well-check later today so I'll update then!

Clothes: 2T all the way. She's so big it's silly.

Favorite Foods: She is still a pretty good eater - has been all her life. I'd say her faves include fruit (strawberries and bananas for sure), hotdogs, pizza and yogurt. And candy. She doesn't get it very often but she's known to shove licorice into her mouth as fast as she can.

She also has a very unbecoming habit of dumping whatever is left over on her plate onto the table and then smearing it everywhere. It makes a huge unnecessary mess. If we're not fast enough, she'll run over to Gracyn's plate and do the same thing in the middle of dinner. We're currently sitting in lawn chairs and eating around the coffee table (I wish I was kidding...) so I know it'll help after we move and she's once again strapped into a booster seat but man alive - it is annoying! ;)

Favorite Toys: Oh, boy. Getting this girl to play with her own toys is a struggle. She's constantly stealing things from Gracyn and holding her own when it comes to giving it back. If G isn't around, Leighton will find the dollhouse or her barn and play for a little bit at a time. She's also recently started picking out books to read and will sit and look at them by herself. We say a lot of things like, "Be nice to books!" and "Oh no, we don't rip pages..." but we're working on it... Words: hi, mommy (always "mama" when she's sad or wants something), daddy, sissy, baby, puppy, bubble, eye, please (eeeeze!), more (ooh).

She calls her paci a "ti-ti" and will say "dah!" for dog, duck, book and any loud noise she hears. She can also point to her body parts: eye, nose, mouth, hair, belly button, hands and toes. She is really babbling and likes to tell stories so I'm excited for her to start using more and more words! She also likes to yell randomly for no apparent reason.

Leighton Lynn is our WILD CHILD. She can be quite the handful and is definitely more spirited than Gracyn ever was at this age. Homegirl finds herself in time-out multiple times a day as we try to stop the hitting, biting and pinching. And seriously - WHERE did she learn to hit, bite and pinch!?! She's quite naughty at times and keeps us on our toes all day long. 

We also have to really watch her with Rufus. The dog is NOT a fan of people touching his ears and feet and Leighton seems to bee-line for them any chance she gets. Rufus will usually get up and move away but lately (...and I'm totally blaming the townhouse...) he's become less tolerant. He'll let out a low growl anytime she gets near and gets especially peeved when she tries to ride him like a horse. I spend my entire life trying to keep them in separate areas. Spoiler alert: it's impossible.

On the flip side, LL is the sweetest girl. She will offer up random hugs and she is funny. She will be standing by herself and all of a sudden start laughing. At what, we don't know, but she thinks it's pretty hilarious. She likes to mimic Gracyn while they sing and dance around the room and will always kiss you goodnight. There's a big personality in there and she may drive me nuts on a daily basis but I wouldn't trade her for the world.

And here are both girls at 18 months...

Gah. They are beauties. ;)

#HomeByOakley | Family Room Inspiration

Family room? Living room? Great room? Whatever you call this space, gray is the name of the game. I might be going overboard with the neutrals - if that's even a thing - but I'm so ready to have some new spaces to fill up and make all pretty. First up, our main living space! I want it to be comfy and cozy and home-y. Like you can come in and plop down on the sofa, put your feet up and relax.

I know we'll be able to use a lot of our existing decor items and things like that once we get into the new house but we want to purchase a few new items, too, within reason. We did go ahead and buy a couch last weekend and scheduled it to be delivered on moving day, though!

I've had fun looking for different things online. We are on quite the budget so everything I've picked out comes from Nebraska Furniture Mart, Target, Amazon and other stores that are easy on the pocketbook. We won't be getting everything all at once but I still like to have an idea of what I want the room to look like.

Couch // Rug // Pillow Covers // Coffee Table // Accent Chair // Ottoman // Wood + Metal End Table // Throw // Lamp // Recliner // Wood + Iron End Table

The couch we ended up getting is a little more traditional in style (like this one) and in a lighter caramel color. It's super comfy but I'm a little nervous about the color. We have 30 days from delivery to decide if we like it. If not, we'll probably switch it out for the one in the picture above. I also a few other area rugs that could work. You can't beat the prices on this one and this one. More grays, of course.

Now, if I can pull of this look with limited funds, I'll be all set! Stay tuned for the actual reveal once we're moved in and I have my act together!

oh hey, friday | computers & tattoos

What's up, Friday?! It's going to be a hot one today (it definitely feels like summer now...) so I'm counting down 'til quittin' time so I can enjoy a cold one and spend the weekend relaxing with my babes.

{ONE}

I spent the entire afternoon and evening yesterday trying to update my macbook so my new wireless SD card (thanks for the recommendation, Sarah!) would communicate with my computer to upload pictures. It was super frustrating because everything was moving at a snail's pace and I had bigger and better things to do like browse social media on my 15-inch screen while eating ice cream after my kids went to bed. My iPhone screen is cracked and chipping away so I prefer to waste my braincells while perusing on the Mac but I couldn't do that because the icon just kept spinning and spinning and spinning.

First world problems, for real.

Anyway, it finally came back online and everything is different now, including iPhoto (but apparently it's not iPhoto anymore?) so I'm not really sure where anything is. I'm also confident that I'm the last person to do these types of updates because I remember peeps complaining about changes a long time ago. I'm totally with it these days... #notsomuch

{TWO}

Moving on.

We've been swimming a few nights this week and it's a nice way to end the day. We have a quick supper, throw on our suits and pack like we're leaving for a week for the short walk to the pool. The girls love it and Justin's learning to love it. Poor guy works outside all day long and I know that last thing he wants to do after getting home is spend MORE time in the heat but he's a trooper and us girls love him for it. ;)

{THREE}

File this under: Things I Said I'd Never Do Before I Had Kids

I dislike temporary tattoos. I further dislike them on little kids because I think it just makes them look dirty (or maybe dirtier than they really are?). You can't really tell what they are from a distance and they last for, like, a second before they start wearing off which makes them look worse. I always thought I wouldn't have them in the house when I had kids because I just didn't want to deal with them.

Well.

I have no idea where these even came from or how Gracyn found them but she's all about getting tatted up. They make her so happy so I'm all "whatever, just don't get sleeves..." 

And maybe just take a bath tonight... 

{FOUR}

We're FOUR weeks away from moving in to the new house. PRAISE! We've been measuring spaces and furniture shopping but have yet to pull the trigger on anything besides boring television wall mounts. 

Our current family room furniture will be headed into the basement which means we're wanting to get some new pieces for the great room. Justin has his heart set on a leather couch for upstairs, which I was hesitant about at first, but I've been pinning and trying to put the room together in my head. I want it to look nice but with little kids running around, it obviously has to be practical. We'll see what we come up with!

{FIVE}

The girlies were reading together so nicely the other morning. There was a "reading" prompt for the 30 Days of Summer Photo Challenge so it was the perfect opportunity to practice my picture-taking skillz...

getting an extra good look...

Have a happy weekend!

Homemade Mud

Without a yard of our own, we're sometimes always going a little stir crazy over here so when it was time to get outside and get filthy for the 30 Days of Summer Photo Challenge we were more than ready!

The rain we've been getting has subsided and the ground has dried out a bit so we needed to improvise. A couple of buckets of water and we were set. The girls had fun and I'm sure thought I was a bit crazy at first when I told them to purposely play in the mud but we ended up having a great time!

Oh, and if you're local and happen to be driving down Antioch at night and see two kids in their underwear/diaper playing in the mud and their weird mom taking pictures, it's us. Honk, wave and say "hi!" ;)

Water Babies

The swimming pool is quickly replacing the park around here. G has started to ask to go swimming any chance she gets after we went to the pool for the first time on Friday. She's a little more talk than action, though. She gets skittish once she's actually in the water but I'm hoping she gets more comfortable each day.

Leighton, on the other hand, is a maniac. She is required to wear some sort of flotation device at all times since she has no qualms about jumping into the pool, whether someone is there to catch her or not! I just could not believe how much she loved it from the get-go! She was fully committed, too - putting her face in the water, blowing bubbles, going under. Everything. 

We have a fun summer ahead with these girlies, that's for sure!

Random Friday Things

So glad the weekend is here again. Even after a short week, I'm drained and ready for a few days to relax. The weather looks promising so cheers to that!

{ONE|

I'm having so much fun with Megan's #30daysofsummerphotochallenge! It's only day 3 and I love picking up my camera throughout the day and reminding myself to try and capture some great moments. 

Day One was all about sharing our "good morning" moments and lately, we've had a mama duck and her ducklings visiting us here at the old townhouse. There is a pond right around the corner from our patio and we think their nest is in a little bush near our back door. The girls are obsessed with looking for them first thing when they wake up. Mama had 8 ducklings with her at first but we saw one that didn't make it near the water the other day :( The other seven follow her around and it's the sweetest thing...

{TWO}

We needed some fresh air so last night we took the girls to a children's concert at Deanna Rose. Gracyn hadn't napped and was pretty grumpy the whole time but she did let loose for a song or two. She definitely get it from her mama... ;)

{THREE}

Top phrases heard at the townhouse...

"Rufus, stop it!" "Rufus, QUIT!" "Rufus, get back!" "No, Rufus, NOOOOO!" "OMG, Rufus." "SERIOUSLY. Get back!" "STAAAAAAAHP!"

You get the picture. He's a maniac and I don't know what to do. I literally just googled if there was Xanax for dogs (THERE IS.) because I'm tempted to call our vet so she can hook us up...

{FOUR}

I'm taking this afternoon off and taking the girls swimming. By myself. Worst idea ever? We shall see...

{FIVE}

Friday night goals. See also: I'm thirty.

via

Have a great weekend!