here comes the weekend!

thanks to my girl anna on twitter for sharing this video with me! i know it's to celebrate the evolving fashion but i can't get past the dancing and music. so great.

what are you up to this weekend? we have big plans for a little family brunch date, baking more cinnamon rolls (because i somehow only had one cinnamon roll from josh's batch last weekend, not enough!) watching and listening to general conference, and checking out the solar decathlon on the national mall... plus, maybe a nap for mama? please please let's hope there is a nap!

have a lovely weekend! and if you're in dc, don't forget to stop by truckeroo tonight and say hello! we'll be 'stuffing the bus' from 7-8pm!

xo

a baby shower for julie.

our friends mark and julie are about to have a baby! hooray for friends having babies around the same time as us! don't think we haven't been campaigning to all our married friends over the past year... "babies are the best!" "she never cries.... ;)" "here, hold her, oh my gosh you look SO GOOD holding a baby!" it hasn't really been working.

so you can imagine our excitement last spring when mark and julie came over and were all, "so looks like eleanor is going to have a little friend soon..." i mean, seriously! it doesn't get any better then friends having babies around the same time as you. we are pretty stoked to meet that baby boy or girl soon. (and yay for friends who aren't finding out the sex of baby until birth! we highly endorse that method!)

anyway, i got to throw julie a baby shower brunch last saturday and here are a few photos...

p.s. i feel like it was just the other day when our roles were reversed in this photo and julie threw me my baby shower last january. i guess it's true what they say, time does fly when you're having fun. ;) also, how cute is her baby bump?

the morning was a lot of fun! i don't know how people coordinate so many hot plates at once for a party though. the cinnamon rolls didn't make it to the table until 15 minutes after everyone started eating because they were still in the oven and of course julie arrived promptly on time (am i allowed to say that our friends are never really on time to stuff? well, neither are we, but...) so of course josh and i were still running around trying to get set up because we assumed by saying ten, no one would show up until after ten thirty. we did survive however, and i think everyone had a good time.

josh made the cinnamon rolls (this recipe) and quiche (he made up both the pastry crust and quiche recipe). i made pumpkin cookies (recipe here) and caramel apples and a vegetable and fruit salad. i made the fabric garlands based off this pretty photo i found on pinterest and bought the invitations here on etsy. i decorated the table with gnomes because i never even noticed them until i met julie, who kind of loves those little guys a lot.

hooray for babies!

come 'stuff the bus' with our family on friday!

josh and i will be hosting the stuff the bus truck down at truckeroo this friday, september 30th from 7-8pm! we’d love to have you come down and say hello while you visit one of the 20 food trucks parked next to the national’s baseball stadium.

the mobile app venga and dc central kitchen are the ones behind stuff the bus and want to fill an old school bus with 5,000 pounds of healthy food for donation.

dc central kitchen uses leftover restaurant food to offer millions of meals to thousands of at-risk individuals and job training to once-homeless adults at their kitchen.

it's for a great cause so we hope you'll come out and bring something from home to donate (you can also buy food at the virtual market set up next to the bus to donate, too!) here's a complete list of what you could bring from home.

if you aren't able to make it friday evening, here's a schedule of when the bus will be out over the next few days. you can also make a donation directly right here.

hope to see you friday!

here's to happiness.

in light of president's uchtdorf's message on saturday evening about turning the mundane into the majestic, i'd like to bring back the happy lists which we used to have on this little blog. writing them always made me happy. and i love hearing about the little things that make you happy, too.

so here are

10 things that are making me terribly happy

as of late:

1. hearing the tiny clinking of eleanor's two bottom teeth against my glass cup as she takes a sip of mama's water
2. skyping with family and friends and having eleanor give them kisses via the computer screen
3. when kingsley bathes eleanor in puppy-lick-kisses
4. bike rides around the district with my little family in this new warm autumn breeze
5. frozen snickers bars (thanks to that large case we bought in anticipation of hurricane irene the other month)
6. josh's hand on my waist
7. making it inside with the car seat and 2 large loads of groceries just before the rain begins to pour
8. the end of mosquito season (we're so close!)
9. preschool gems twitter feed (so sweet!)
10. that blessed and fast carpool lane on the highway when bumper to bumper traffic begins

find more happy lists here.

what makes you terribly happy this week?

if you'd like, email me your happy list and i'll try to feature it here.

naomi.megan{at}gmail.com

eleanor gives a kiss!

over the past couple of weeks, eleanor has been giving mama and papa kisses on cue! they are full on open mouthed, slobbery little messes but absolutely completely adorable to us. her dolly isn't quite as lucky as mama in this video but eh, you know, we'll try again later.

over the weekend...

how was your weekend? ours was pretty great, although i think we'd both love a nap. ;)

on friday night we went out for dinner and i told josh to pick the place, any place! so naturally, we ended up at wendy's. i swear we'd eat there every meal if it were up to him. but dipping fries into a chocolate frostie is sort of growing on me, so...

saturday morning i threw a baby shower for my friend julie. when i say i, i should really say josh. he slaved away in the kitchen for most of the morning. here he is being as domestic as it gets with a baby on him while making homemade cinnamon rolls. i can't tell you how much it meant to me to have him offer to help and then really just take over. plus it's more fun in the kitchen with him because before you know it we're talking in southern accents (we used paula deen's recipe, so i mean, naturally, right?) and getting things done in half the time with half the stress.

also, as a girl who's never really fancied the cinnamon roll, let me tell you i've never tasted better. thank you paula for using so much butter when you bake (i like you!) and thank you josh for executing these like it was your job.

i also attended my church's general relief society conference for all the women in my church via a worldwide satellite broadcast on saturday evening. it's always nice to gather just as the women of the church and listen to our church leaders speak to us. my biggest take away from the evening came from president dieter f. uchtdorf, the second counselor in the presidency of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, who i often felt was speaking to me directly. it's always nice to be reminded to "be more compassionate and patient with myself" and to always remember that "[i am] not forgotten. wherever [i am], whatever the circumstances may be, no matter how dark [my] days may seem or how insignificant [i] may feel, no matter how overshadowed [i] think [i] may be at times, [my] Heavenly Father has not forgotten [me]. he loves [me and] you with an infinite love." how special is that? president uchtdorf's talk got me so excited for general conference (when all the members of our faith from around the world gather to listen to our church leaders speak to us via satellite broadcast) this next saturday and sunday. i always feel encouraged, uplifted and inspired to be a better version of me as i move forward after listening to conference.

other highlights of our weekend included the best peach smoothie made by husband, eleanor crawling faster and faster everywhere she goes, sunday lunch in bed and homemade breakfast burritos for dinner, catching up with family over the phone and more biking everywhere we went.

have a beautiful monday! let's get this party started....

life lately, according to my iphone pictures.

via instagram.

p.s. how impressive is josh being all centered doing yoga?

i was practicing some yoga poses and he was all, "let me see if i can do that."

he makes me so proud! love him.

while at bridger...

...we ran into the cutest little froggy.

and we threw her up into the air.

because we noticed that makes the little froggy laugh so loud.

and we love it when she laughs so loud.

it's the best sound.

especially when we pretend she's a froggy.

*i know her outfit and hat aren't period correct, but it would get so cold when the sun went down at night at bridger that as a first time mommy, i was certain she'd get frostbite... or something. and that's the only hat she won't pull off her head at the moment. so.... we went with it.

about that time last week where i didn't have a baby in my arms. or on my hip. or even, in sight.

so there were a couple of days last week where i felt entirely overwhelmed with the whole mama thing. we're in this new phase of crawling everywhere, standing up and falling down (sometimes hard), sticking everything in our mouth, and biting down really hard with two new little bottom teeth that are sharp! (as her mama and current food source, trust me when i say those things couldn't be sharper!) i love this little munchkin to death, but last week almost killed me.

i'm also not entirely sure how it has happened, but friday i realized i had never been away from eleanor for more than 2 hours at a time (when josh takes her on little daddy daughter walks around the hill or plays with her while i run an errand... or those two hours where i saw the harry potter movie in july while my sweet mama had eleanor outside of the theater. but come to think of it, i had to run out mid movie for 5 minutes to feed her. so never mind on that one.) but anyway, since february 1st, we've been together pretty much twenty four seven. i think the main reason has to do with the fact that we didn't try to give eleanor a bottle until june (in retrospect, i realize that was somewhat an idiotic move) and by that point she was all 'um? a bottle?! haha. no thank you.' so since i only nurse her and we don't have the whole solid foods thing down very well just yet, it's not possible to be away longer than a few hours at once. and also, let's be honest here...i'm a little bit obsessed with that baby girl of mine. so being away from her for long stretches of time usually sounds like the worst and silliest idea ever.

but last week did me in. one night, i found myself up until past 2am even though eleanor and josh had gone to bed around ten just because i wanted to have time to myself. i was completely exhausted and needed to sleep but i also just really wanted to sit there in the dark and be alone for 5 minutes. to take a hot bath and shave my legs in quiet. to browse the internet. to listen to music. i was so tired. but i wanted alone time. and 2am seemed like the only time i could get it. and that, my friends, is when i realized...i could really use an hour (during daylight?!) or maybe two. or if i'm being really selfish here, maybe an entire morning to myself? and so, i told this to josh the next day who said, 'well. yeah. i've been offering to watch her while you take a day to yourself since um... february?' and it's true. he has. but i'm always like, 'nah. i got this.'

so guess who had a morning all to herself on saturday? it was a little bit strange, a little bit awesome and a little bit relaxing all at the same time. i went and got my hair fixed up (i won't even tell you how long it has been since my last cut. my sorry sad split ends.) and just sat around and relaxed. while i was on my own, josh took eleanor to my favorite place, 2amy's, and brought me back my favorite pizza, arrancini and roasted olives to-go! that was probably the biggest surprise and highlight of my day, when my sexy man showed up with my favorite meal and a baby in his arms (what is it about a man with a baby? then add my man with my baby...plus a pizza? i love him.)

it's a funny thing being a mom. because that entire morning away from my baby, i really missed her. but i'm learning if i'm going to stay sane as her mommy, i need some alone time every now and again. this mama thing is hard hard work. hard work, yes...but also, it's the most rewarding and special calling in life. even when i have to hold eleanor as i pee because she doesn't want to let go, i still love every second of it.

bicycles and (almost) autumn!

on sunday mornings, josh has meetings before church and by the time he runs home after they end to pick up me and eleanor, plus swinging by any homes of the youth in our church to see if they need a ride, we often end up late! so today eleanor and i decided we might as well bike to church so we could be on time and save josh from coming home to grab us... just as we were out the front door with my foot literally on the pedal, josh shows up and is all, "waiiiiiitttt! i'm here! let's bike together!" and so we did.

the weather is perfect for biking in d.c. right now... so crisp and cool. but not too cool. if you know what i mean. i'm just holding my breath waiting for those leaves to start turning pretty colors! ahhh. i could dance around right now i'm so excited. i'm in love with autumn. and biking with my little family is pretty swell, too. i love them.

happy autumn!

rockstar giveaway! (closed)

today, our sponsor beso is offering one lucky reader a $500 mini shopping spree at beso.com! um. hello. uh mazing! if you aren't already familiar with beso, beso makes shopping online a piece of cake, bringing all the brands and shops you love into one place.

to enter to win, please sign up for a beso account (if you haven't already- takes just a minute) and then leave a comment below including your beso username and telling us what you'd love to spend your $500 on over at beso if you are the lucky winner!

the winner will be drawn at random and announced wednesday, september 21st!

good luck!

p.s. i've also put together a little page of my favorite picks from beso this month as their guest editor. you can see my picks here, if you'd like.

....

UPDATE 9/21: congrats to our winner below!

please email me {naomi.megan@gmail}

to claim your $500 shopping spree- lucky you!

and thanks to all who entered!

...

lunch date.

the other day on our way to a doctors appointment we stopped by papa's office and stole him away for lunch at johnny rockets. they gave eleanor her first ever balloon while we were there... which felt appropriate considering the last time we were there was on my due date (well, one of my due dates. i had like, 3. and none of them were even close. ugh.)

diary by kingsley: sonja loves me.

hi friends, it's me! kingsley.

and i'd just like to thank sonja for making me look so handsome! she's my new favorite human. mom, you should hang this drawing up over my crate... or maybe use it for my 2 year birthday party invitation coming up next month (hint hint). or frame it really big for your gallery wall in the living room? or print it as a flyer and hand it out on the street so everyone knows it's me!

just some ideas, mom.

love, kingsley.

read more of my diary entries here.

fort bridger, part III.

i think these are the last of my bridger photos. wheeew.

it was so much fun to be with my family for a few days i couldn't help but take 5 million photos. my little brother was so annoyed with me and my camera. ;) but he's 13. isn't that required teenage behavior from a 13 year old little brother though? ;)

family time is the best time. we're crazy and loud and dysfunctional just like the next family, but we always have a lot of fun when we're together. i'm also glad i married someone who is willing to jump right into our family traditions, even if they are a little out there and silly according to some...

anyway, see part I here and part II here of my fort bridger photos if you missed them. and read what it's all about here if you'd like.

p.s. i have no idea who this dude in the loin cloth is, but he had one in practically every color. his confidence killed me. but good for him, you know?

my little brother made that knife above out of a rail road spike!

um. coolest kid on the block.

the end.

until next year...

fort bridger, part II.

here are a few more photos from our trip

to fort bridger with my family.

if you missed it, see part I here.

and read what it's all about here.

ps. i'm still freaking out every time is look at that photo

of josh holding the snake. those things give me the creeps!