minions. & pancakes.

Know what happens when you have a two hour school delay due to weather? You get creative in the kitchen. A few weeks ago Jeremy showed the boys some videos of pancake art. And ever since then, they've been asking for pancake faces every weekend. Making said pancakes required some squeeze bottles which we had never thought to purchase. But Jeremy took care of that this past weekend.

So... when the boys asked if they could have face pancakes this morning, Jeremy obliged. And y'all, while not perfect, they turned out so very good! The boys loved every minute of it and were so excited to watch their daddy flip their pancake, and voila!, minion pancake! I'm pretty sure a certain nephew of mine would freak out over these. Amiright, Rachel? ;)

february jamberry stylebox.

Back in the day I was a devout subscriber to Birchbox. Living in a house full of boys, having something girly just for me was an excellent idea. And for months I looked forward to that little box showing up in my mailbox. After about a year it seemed like all the samples were the same and nothing was new or exciting. I was sad to cancel my subscription, but I had quit using most of what I received and each month I would just get sad over what was in that cute little box.

In September when I joined Jamberry as an independent consultant, I noticed they had a monthly subscription box. And while it had been at least a year, if not longer, since I had quit Birchbox, I was still afraid of being "burned" on a bad box. Each month I would see the cute wraps that would be released exclusive to the Jamberry Stylebox and a part of me was sad that I hadn't taken the chance to get them myself.

Every month would come and go, and I would contemplate whether or not I should just bite the bullet and order, and every month I put it off. Until this month. I got a sneak peek of the February Stylebox and just could not put it off a month longer. And now that the gem is in my hands, I don't want to use the wraps! They are just so very awesome and not something that everyone has.

So maybe you're wondering how much this box is? Glad you asked! It's $25 a month (with an initial 3-month subscription required) and comes with at least $30 worth of product. And did I mention that some of the wraps are exclusive? And that it ships free every month? This month even came with a card that features five of the brand new designs that are launching March 1. And y'all? The new catalog is even better than the current one. I cannot wait to share it with you!

a house update. & pretty art.

We listed our house for sale back in October, hoping for a quick sale. We have friends in other parts of the country who are selling their homes within days of being on the market – some of them even having multiple offers on them. We? Are not so fortunate. As of last week we took the house off the market to do a few more updates and get a restart on the MLS searches.

First up on the list is freshening up the kitchen a bit. There's nothing currently wrong with it, but it is all a little, um, tan? A few new coats of paint should take care of everything. And if I'm feeling extra spunky, maybe retiling the backsplash. That may be a bigger job than I want to take on, but we'll see how it goes.

And I know when one's home is listed, it's best to depersonalize things as much as you can; I'm totally cool with that. But y'all, we have no art hanging in the nursery. The walls are all a huge blank canvas. While I can see that being appealing to some potential buyers, I think if I walked into a home where there was nothing hanging on the walls, I would feel like the home isn't cozy or loved.

With that being said, I started trying to figure out what we could hang in there that could make the transition to a bigger boy room eventually and make the move to a new home wherever that might end up. Minted to the rescue! I started looking through all the nursery art prints and found myself absorbed by all the beautiful choices. I was originally thinking that we would go with a personalized print (how lovely are the vintage info and newspaper sailboat choices?), but there's something about that monster mash print that's calling my name. And the colors are perfect for the current nursery and whatever we might decide to do down the road.

We're looking to get the house re-listed sometime near the end of March. With spring right around the corner, our fingers are crossed that more buyers will be out looking and we can get everything wrapped up before the heat of the summer. I don't know about you, but I would much prefer moving in the cold than the heat of Alabama summers.

As a sidenote, Minted is providing me with some awesome credit. A sidenote to that sidenote? We love Minted in this house. I actually just ordered an address book and didn't realize I could love a paper product quite so much. So yeah, credit, but my opinion? Is completely my own. And Minted is awesome.

7/52

Cayden: Writing out his wishlist in February. For this past Christmas. I love how he spells things.

Sawyer: Sporting some cute bedhead.

Graham: Eating his favorite ball and enjoying our low windows.

graham: tubes.

Last Friday we went to our ENT to have Graham checked out to see if he would be a candidate for receiving ear tubes. You see, he'd had an ear infection for the past eight weeks. I mean, don't get me wrong, there were a couple of good things that came from being sick for so long. We literally tried out every antibiotic under the sun and along the way discovered he was allergic to amoxicillin (just like big brother Sawyer). And because he was on antibiotics, he got to miss out on some of the fun colds that his big brothers brought home. So see, not all bad! And he's just following in his oldest brother's footsteps, right?

At our appointment, everyone was in agreement that tubes were the way to go for Graham. And thankfully they were able to get us in quickly for the surgery. So we went this morning. We had to be there at 5:45. I asked Jeremy when the sun comes up because it was DARK on our way in. Sometime while we were inside the sun did rise, so that's good.

The surgery went well. He was in and out super quick. He only got a little fussy about ten minutes before they took him back, but that was mostly due to being hungry. But we took care of that as soon as he was brought back from recovery – nursed and passed out. When we got home he proceeded to take a four hour nap. And is now back to crawling everywhere and getting into everything. So I would say he's fully recovered. Ha!

6/52

Cayden: Reading books on his own. Our minds are constantly blown.

Sawyer: Dressing up as our favorite superhero is the new thing. Again.

Graham: Pulling up on everything and slowly starting to cruise on furniture.

the destroyer.

I know people say that every kid is different. And I mean, I know that's true? But maybe I didn't really know it was true until our third child. Sure, Cayden and Sawyer are very different from each other, but as babies/toddlers, they were very similar. Not super-curious. Not into everything. Not trying to climb the steps. Not trying to get in kitchen cabinets. And most definitely not trying to unplug things from the wall.

Yes, I realize we were probably just super lucky and that most inquisitive itty bitties probably DO get into all the mischief. So it shouldn't surprise me that Graham is into everything. And when I say everything, I mean it! He leaves a wake of a mess behind him wherever he goes. I have no doubt that this child will be our crazy one. I thought it would be Sawyer for a while. But now? I'm not entirely sure.

Graham's only nine and a half months into this life and I wouldn't have it any other way. Keeping us on our toes is an understatement. I think I need to lace up my sneakers to keep up with this one. He's pretty cute though, so I guess that makes it all ok? Ha!

5/52

Cayden: Tracing is his new favorite.

Sawyer: Still loving his "iPad." Still patting ourselves on the back for that purchase.

Graham: Working on that pincher grasp and loving some pancakes.

sibling dynamics.

I remember when Cayden and Sawyer were younger. And Cayden would be happily playing and Sawyer would come along and just "ruin" everything. Oh, the good 'ole days. Well Sawyer... the tables have seemingly turned. And now that you're happily playing and building things with your duplos, here's Graham to ruin everything for you. Watching the dynamics between each of these boys develop is humorous and sometimes infuriating. I guess this is your payback Sawyer? I'm sure you'll have your chance to get back at Graham sometime very soon though. Just you wait...