Everyday Moments

Life...unedited. 

These random iPhone photos are dark, blurry, and untouched,

but they capture everyday moments from the last couple weeks.

Savannah's neighborhood friends Liza, Sky, and Madison played with Play-doh at our house. These girls often spend 4-6 hours every Saturday and Sunday going to and from each other's houses and playing inside and outside:

Hadley did flips in our living room:

Two nights this week, Savannah climbed into Hadley's bed and slept with her:

After being on vacation for the last three weeks, Savannah tracked into school this week. She was exhausted at the end of the first day:

While Savannah was at gymnastics, Hadley and I went to the inflatable playground. Hadley enjoyed riding this bus, as well as sliding in the bouncy houses:

On Thursday, I had a workday, which means a sub taught my 6 classes, while I worked in the library office. During my planning period, I picked up lunch from PDQ. Savannah and I ate chicken tenders and fries in the cafeteria. We love this tradition!

Savannah LOVES gifts and is always looking forward to Christmas and her birthday. On her iPad, she keeps a running list of gift ideas. Savannah used my phone to take this picture, so I would know what she wanted for Christmas:

At Walmart, Savannah got a turquoise laundry basket for her clothes, while I picked up a couple $1 baskets to corral swim stuff, costumes, and painting clothes in my closet:

This week Savannah took over the responsibility of washing, drying, hanging, and putting away all of her clothes. She did an excellent job!

During the last 1.5 years, my girls have broken two living room ottomans. Savannah and Hadley love to sit, stand, and play on them:

I've learned my lesson. The next time I buy an ottoman, I'm going to invest in a large, padded one without legs that can withstand the girls sitting, standing, and playing on it (like the navy velvet ottoman in the picture below):

Savannah and Hadley did some pretty finger paintings at our kitchen table:

Savannah loved getting this thoughtful, hand-written note from Gran in the mail this week. (During her track-out, Savannah spent a week in Salter Path with Grandma Barbara, Gran, and Grandaddy.):

"You were such a good, good girl. No problem at all. We really, really thank you for staying with us, even though I could not win a game of Parcheesi. I sure tried. Come back anytime you want. Give Hadley a hug and a kiss for us and be as good at home like you are here with us. Jesus loves you very much and so do we."  Gran-Gran and Grand-daddy

I spotted Hadley's name in the Ballard's catalog I got in the mail this week:

More than a year ago, I removed Hadley's earrings because she kept pulling them out and causing her earlobes to bleed. Well, today, Hadley asked me to put in her earrings, and she loved looking at herself in mirror for a few minutes before I removed her earrings:

Today I spent several hours decluttering and organizing my side of our closet. It was a mess, and I hadn't purged much since Tal laid hardwood floors in our closet a year ago:

Before

To get started, I removed everything from the floor. I vacuumed and cleaned the floor with Bona hardwood floor cleaner:

During

When I was done, I threw away two bags of trash and donated three bags of clothes to Goodwill. I'm happy that my closet is neat and organized again (and that the floor is clear). It's obvious that I'm not a minimalist with a capsule wardrobe. I still have over 100 pieces of clothing hanging in my closet, so my goal is to be more intentional about purging items that I don't wear often:

After

While I was cleaning out my closet, Hadley found my "Thing 1 and 2" wig that I wear during Dr. Seuss week at school:

While I was cleaning out my closet, Tal cooked gumbo and cheesy chicken rigatoni for our meals this week: 

Then, I used this recipe to make some yummy pumpkin muffins. Hadley did a great job sprinkling chocolate chips in the muffin tins before baking:

After the muffins cooled, Savannah put them in individual baggies for her six teachers: