I'M GONNA MAIL MYSELF TO YOU.

Whenever possible, we prefer to walk our errands around town. It's not hard to do when you live just a few blocks off main street. Sometimes when we're getting a little stir crazy, we go just for fun. We walk down one side and back up the other. We're always bound to see something fun, even if it's just a semi truck driving through (Okay, I'm not that hickish, I swear. But kids, especially boys, are always intrigued with large objects.)

Look what the humidity does to her hair! In her words, "crurls!"

Among my girl's favorite places to go are Patty's Place and the post office. Often times i'll skip putting our letters out in the mail box just so Nugget can take them down to the post office and mail them herself. She feels pretty important doing this job, and is pretty dang cute doing it too.

When I look at these photos, I can't help but sing this song in my head:

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper,
I'm gonna daub myself with glue,
Stick some stamps on top of my head;I'm gonna mail myself to you.

I'm  gonna tie me up in a red string,
I'm gonna tie blue ribbons too,
I'm gonna climb up in my mail box;
I'm gonna mail myself to you.

When you see me in your mail box,
Cut the string and let me out;
Wash the glue off my fingers,
Stick some bubble gum in my mouth.

Take me out of my wrapping paper,
Wash the stamps off my head;
Pour me full of ice cream sodies,
Put me in my nice warm bed.

This guy is a total clown, but you can get the melody here.

STURDY 30.

I turned 30 last Tuesday. I don't know why it's taken me a week to write about it, but it has. Maybe I'm still in denial. I didn't really mind that I was turning the big three-oh until about a week before. It hit me like a curve ball, and it was hard to process. I mean, I know it's just a number and you're only as old as you feel, but it was hard saying goodbye to my fun, youthful, trendy twenties. Thirty just sounds old. But then a friend asked me "Would you rather be 18 again, or 30?" and all of the sudden, 30 didn't sound so bad. Don't get me wrong, 18 was mostly fun, but I think of all I've learned since then and where I am in life and I wouldn't trade anything to change time.

So, my birthday came and there really wasn't much planned. Nick had to work, obviously, so that left the littles to be my celebratory companions for the day.

We had a play date planned with our friends, the Kartaks, and the girls were going to do a lemonade stand.

It was a lot of fun. But what was even more fun is that they surprised me with a gift, homemade cards, and a cake! For reals, Melissa is one of sweetest and most thoughtful friends I have. I mean really, I shouldn't have been surprised, but my heart was just so overjoyed that they thought to do that for me. And Nugget, who earlier in the day just couldn't fathom why I wasn't having a party, was over the moon, especially about the cake part. Melissa's girls, Abbey and Alice, kept giving me hugs all afternoon and wished me a happy birthday too many times to count. Too sweet.

***
More on the lemonade stand. It was hugely successful, as in each girl walked away with six dollars and some odd change. Not bad considering our only customers were ones we recruited through phone calls and facebook.

We hit the jackpot when Daddy came by, his crew in tow.

They each threw down a pile of quarters, even when the girls were only asking twenty five cents a cup.

We picnicked for lunch, ate cake, and played outside for hours until it was time to head home for a little afternoon rest.

Later, after dinner, we headed to my favorite ice cream shop to get just that, ice cream. Cake and ice cream in one day? Thirty is shaping up just fine.

 Waiting (not so) patiently for his ice cream cone.

It always does my heart good to spend special days with the ones I love most.

Everyone has been telling me that life gets even better after 30, and I'm choosing to believe them. And I'm pretty sure they're gonna be right.

So here's to you 30, let's see whatchya got.

DOODEY BOP.

True story. Brother didn't have a name until he was three hours old. My whole pregnancy Nick and I couldn't agree on a name. He liked one, I liked another, and we really didn't like each other's. And so while he was in utero, we called him Brother.

I really believed that once I saw his little face, the choice of his name would be simple, but there I was, staring at my brand new baby and I still couldn't decide. Nick, so gracious after watching me push a baby out of my lady parts, sweetly told me I could choose. Which is what I secretly hoped he would say all along. But I still wanted to be sure his name was perfect.

So it wasn't until Nick was about to walk the block back to our house to pick up Nugget that I came to a decision. I remember before he left, I said "I know his name now", and proudly told Nick, adding an S onto the end of it to make a compromise with Nick. My name choice, but the added S made it a formal Czech name, to match Nugget's (real name) and Nick's heritage. We were both pleased, and my baby had his name.

Since then, we've called him lots of things, including Brother, Bubs, Buddy, Meatloaf, Meatloash, and most recently Dude, Doodey, and Doodey Bop. And funny thing is, he responds to them all.

It's been 16 months since this little man was born, and oh is he ever so much fun. He packs quite a personality punch in his stout little body, and knows what he likes and wants, for sure.

Language is really starting to click for him, and we are enjoying watching him communicate with us. He is picking up on Baby Sign left and right, and can sign more, all done, eat, drink, Pat-a-Cake, ball, elephant, thank you, dog, and hat.

He also is copying sounds and words, and his first word aside from Dada and Mama is "Ba Ba" which in his world means bubbles.

He loves to read, sing songs, dance, play with Matchbox cars, and watch Dora.

He is one hundred percent boy, and keeps me on my toes. His fearless ways have me on alert at all times, constantly checking to make sure gates are latched and doors are shut, items on counter tops are out of reach. I just said to Nick this morning "I'm sorry I didn't think I could love a boy so much." I was scared when I learned his gender, feared that I didn't know how to raise a boy. But with lots of love and a day at a time, I'm figuring it out.

He's my man's man, but is a softie for his Mama, which makes my heart swoon.

And he totally digs dressing up and having his toe nails painted, which makes him all the more hilarious.

Wanting to see himself in the mirror.

Nick and I talk all the time about having more kids, and although my heart longs for another daughter, I would totally dig having another boy too.

Look who learned to climb (up, but not down).

Doodey is pretty awesome, and I'm so glad he's mine.

INSTAGRAM: YOU ARE MY FAVORITE.

A little slow on the uptake, but I finally jumped on the smart phone bandwagon, which ultimately means I am now on Instagram. This makes me all sorts of happy. It is my new favorite. And to those of you following me already, I apologize for the gobs of photos I've shared, but I seriously have no self control. It is just so slick and easy, how can I not?

My Instagram happiness of this week:

Hello Summer.

Baby shoes make my heart swoon.

Signing more.

Glamorous. (Does anyone else sing like Fergie when spelling glamorous? No? Just me then. That's cool.)

Rock star.

Peonies from the garden.

Did I get enough?

I love sleeping babies.

Besties.

Me and my girl.

Fresh squeezed lemonade.

Pool day is not complete til you've had a popsicle.

Morning stroll.

Driving up to Jen's house.

 

Which led me to this. Impromptu awesome night with an awesome friend.

Post nap snuggles.

Reading.

 Lunch on the deck.

 

Little Susie homemaker. Fruit salad anyone?

Cooling off with Mama's shades and a glass of iced tea.

More cooling off with blue moon ice cream.

I know i've posted this one already, but it's just my favorite. Bye bye birdies.

Tomorrow I will spend my last day in my twenties. I don't know if I should laugh or cry. Maybe I should document it, Instagram style :)

Follow me on Instagram @littleforalittlewhile

HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY TO ME, WITH A SIDE OF SNIPPETS.

One year ago I started this sweet little blog. And I'm so glad I did. It took a little gentle nudging and pushing from friends, but I'm so glad that I took the leap and just did it. It has been a great little outlet for me, connecting me with others out there in blog land, giving a home to my photographs, and helping me appreciate all the little in-between moments of life that I stopped to record and remember. My kids will surely thank me some day, I'm just sure of it. And on the odd chance they don't, I'll thank myself. Because life is precious. And important. It passes all too quickly. It doesn't really matter which way you choose to record it, it's just important that you do. My babies will only be little for a little while, and I don't want to miss a thing! I thank all of you who have found our life interesting and keep coming back to read about us. But even if you didn't, I'd still keep this up, cause it's always been for my kids anyways. It's just a bonus when people read it and leave you nice comments :) So, with that said, Happy Birthday my sweet little blog, and cheers to many more years together!

***
Moving on to Snippets: bits and pieces of our life the past week.

This Saturday was the opening day of the Northfield Farmers Market, one of our favorite summer activities. If you live in the area, you really should go. It's quite awesome.

Doodey loved listening to a little blue grass band!

The first strawberries in our garden were ripe for the picking, and boy were they delicious!

Other things, like lettuce and peonies are popping up too!

I cut some peonies and made a bouquet for our dinning room table, it makes me so happy every time I look at them.

Nick discovered a birds nest in the Clematis growing on the side of our garage. The mama bird sure did not like us peeking in on her babies.

We came back to check on them later in the week and discovered they were gone. Hope we didn't scare them away.

Bye bye birdies.

Our upstairs bathroom is finally starting to resemble a bathroom again. We're getting there, slowly but surely.

While the shower is getting tiled and the floors stripped and refinished, the kids think it's pretty fun to have the bathtub in the bedroom. Makes for a cozy reading spot, don't ya think?

Nugget discovered that she still fits quite nicely in her old crib, even with some room to spare.

We made up a new little snack, and the kids devoured it in minutes. Doodey even finished off sister's bowl and still cried for more! It's pretty simple, add some honey bunny crackers and a sliced banana to a bowl of yogurt (YoBaby/Kids for the littles and Greek yogurt for me).

Not only was this strawberry and feta salad delicious, but I just find it so adorable that Nugget actually likes to eat salads now! She used to not eat 'leaves' but now has decided they are yummy!

Nugget and I gave ourselves at-home manis and pedis this weekend, and it was fun! Nugget insisted on painting her own toes, which to be honest, was a little painful for me. It was a good lesson for me to sit back and marvel in her drive to independence, despite my cringing inside that there was paint all over her tootsies! Oh well, nothing a little polish remover and a q-tip can't fix :) And she was so proud of herself, which makes it all worth it.

One more to end the weekend, just cause it makes me smile. That's all.

***
Can you believe it's June already? Lots of good stuff coming this month...I turn 30, Nick and I celebrate our five year wedding anniversary, and it's SUMMER! Hope you have a great week!