My Other Cute Boy

Possibly the end of all that is CFA is in sight.  Charlie has been rigorously studying to take CFA III next Saturday, so there's been a lot of nothin but this going on around here:

Too bad work has kept him at the office until 10 or 11pm nearly every night this week.  Such a bad time for things to get busy.  Good luck, lovie!  You're going to rock it!  And I have quite the list of movies to watch and places to go when we finally have a free weekend together!

Cute Boys, Cute Toys

We got to try out some cute toys this week, so here are my cute boys having the time of their lives.  PS--these are still up for grabs in this week's giveaway.

  There must be few other moments that melt my heart quite like seeing the two of them play together!  I feel like I spend the majority of the day protecting the baby from getting trampled and pushed down the stairs, but moments like these assure me that they WILL be best friends!

 Parley is CRAZY!!!  I thought Link was a terror at this age, but I cannot keep Parley contained in a pew for the life of me.  If ever the bathroom door is left ajar, he mad-dashes over to throw anything and everything inside.  We've lost many a toilet paper roll this week.  My phone survived, some documents did not.  He is such a smarty pants, and I now understand why the 2nd and 3rd child can be at the greatest advantage as far as exposure to vocab, good role modeling, early introduction to numbers, letters, colors, etc.  He is close on Lincoln's heels in just about everything, and I think it will be like that their whole lives.  They will be SO good for eachother in challenging the other to succeed!

Pink Blush Maternity Giveaway!

If I can't get the friends and family to enter my giveaways at Dandy Giveaway, I'll bring the giveaways to YOU!  I've loved being able to work with Pink Blush Maternity in the past, and though I'm not pregnant (and not announcing anything either!!), I jumped at the chance to review more of their cute cute cute maternity clothes!

Since I still have several YEARS of pregnancies and post-baby clothes ahead of me, I find no shame in stocking up, especially since so many of Pink Blush Maternity's clothes don't at all look like maternity clothing, and can be worn with or without a bump.  For the most part, they take current fashion trends and make them longer and stretchier, which is a plus and a plus during any stage of life!  See some of my favorites:

When I think of one thing I'd like all my maternity clothes to be, its VERSATILE!  I look for clothes that can be worn for more than a month or two.  I want outfits that can be worn in 1st and 3rd trimester, pre-pregnancy, and post-partum.  Lugging around my boxes of fat clothes is already getting old, and I've only just begun.  Today I'd love to show you this Ivory Textured Lace Maternity dress!  (Sold for $46.99).  I have been on the hunt for something just like this for the longest time.  I love layering with lace, and I think this can be a terrific dress on its own, and even better paired with sweaters, fun jewelry, jeans, anything.  Here's what I wore to church yesterday.  Not pregnant.

And then WITH a pillow baby, ha ha.  A great dress either way!

Gorgeous material, no construction flaws, and a perfect length for my 5'2 frame.  This dress is also currently sold in coral and black.  

Check out Pink Blush's other trendy maternity clothes, specifically their maxi skirts and sweaters!

One lucky duck will receive a $25 giftcard to spend at Pink Blush Maternity!

To win, enter the rafflecopter below, and message me with any questions about how to use it!  There will be NO JUDGING and no assumptions from me, regardless if you're pregnant or not!  Heck, win this for a friend, daughter, or sister!

Follow PinkBlush Maternity on Pinterest
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a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This giveaway is open to US entries only
*The winner of this giveaway will be drawn no later than the evening of May 20th and will be emailed.  If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.
*This posting and giveaway were sponsored by Pink Blush Maternity, but all opinions are strictly my own
*If you have already won a giveaway from Pink Blush Maternity within the past 6 months, you will not be able to receive the e-certificate.

Beach Day!

There are a few sucky things about Boston--mainly the cost of rent and utilities comes to mind--but having dozens of beaches that are within a half hour's drive is really incredible!  

And hey, isn't L's swimsuit cute!  Review item, of course :) You can enter to win any swimsuit from Beach Rays HERE!

We met up with some ward friends this morning and lounged about for a few hours.  It was near 80, but it felt fantastic.  Well hello summer!

"Come and get me ladies!"

This hidden treasure is 6 miles from our house!!  Classic New England.

 

As expected, actually touching the water is still a no-go.  Maybe by the end of the summer he'll build up the courage!  Parls on the other hand...

I love Lincoln's ability to make friends, despite his limited vocab!  Link had an assessment with the school district last week since he will age out of Early Intervention soon.  At 3 yrs old, the public schools take over in trying to get him up to date by offering classroom days with speech therapists.  He did not do very well.  He cooperated fine, but as the lady would pull out pictures and ask questions like, "Who has more apples?", "Can you point to HER hat?", "Which dog is all wet?", he would just get so excited about the pictures and throw out single words (among jibberish) by exclaiming, "ball!" "red!" "doggy!"  Off the record, I'm told he will definitely qualify.

Darndy

The writer Iris Murdoch famously said, "One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."

 Dandy continues to be my creative outlet, the project that consumes my empty thoughts, and the thing that makes me so excited to get up in the morning.  Its still just the most perfect hobby for me!  My favorite products to review lately: a $259 flat iron, over $100 in mineral makeup, an $80 bone china dinnerware set, a $99 teeth whitening kit, gifts for my missionaries and siblings, and some Hagensborg chocolate.

  Go win something!  www.dandygiveaway.com  

(And tomorrow I have some guest bloggers you probably know!)

House Work

We've had some leaking (more like dripping bulges in the kitchen ceiling), and a window crack loose from its frame in the living room, so after repeated and persistent (but friendly!) emails to our landlord, who now lives in CA, our place finally had some much needed work done.

 Its been a little frustrating not knowing exactly what days to expect the workers in the house.  We've had our share of museums, parks, and library days, and we were all going a little crazy being cooped up in our bedroom while kids took naps--their ability to sleep with such intensely loud pounding above their heads is remarkable!  We're going on Day 10, but thankfully they finished working on the interior yesterday.  Here's what it was like inside:

 I only wish I had gotten pictures of the enormous dumpster heaping full of nasty roof pieces.  The workmen said they found a lot of mold and a lot of mildew, among puddles of sitting water underneath the shingles. 

 Throughout the week, its been fun hearing stories from Jason about going on jobs like this with his dad.  I'm sure if Millar Construction had taken over this project, it would have been done in half the time!

And a Cherry on Top

Oh life is beautiful!  Lately I've been feeling so utterly joyous and purely blessed beyond measure, that I wanted to record it and shout it from the rooftops, aka my blog.  My life has always been rich and meaningful, surely from living the Gospel the best that I can, but my outlook and my attitude and my sincere acknowledgment of all that my life is right now has recently made it feel as happy as a dream.

So what changed?  Well, first of all, Spring finally came around and the bursting buds and flowers just make me want to sing!  Being away for a few weeks and visiting my other homes--Utah and Ohio--made it a little hard to come back to Mass, but it also made me love our home here even more.  Home is where your heart is, and most of my heart is here!

Secondly, after stewing, searching, and pleading for months and months, I think we finally have a good list of atleast four baby names that we both agree on.  Whew!  Now I don't have to worry about that because it was seriously consuming my thoughts!  Not that we're anticipating announcing anything for still a while.  I obviously have some anxiety about having to make last minute decisions, and I believe pregnant women can make irrational choices, even and sometimes especially when it comes to baby names.

And though I've always found our marriage to be a happy and healthy one, I do believe that it takes constant attention and nourishment to keep it thriving.  I recently read a book, "One Month to Love", and thought it was the best time I've invested in quite a while.  So much of it focuses not on the problems that lie between you and another person, but instead an inspirational motivating quest about how you would treat the last days of your life if you only had 30 days to love.  I started reading, thinking about the things I wanted to change or fix in my marriage, to feeling so empowered about the things I can change about myself to be happier, stronger, and better!  I hope this doesn't sound like a product review, but really, I loved it.  And I'm super happy these days, thanks to all the kind, compassionate, helpful acts of love and service that I'm starting to better recognize going on in the house.

Then again, my happiness could also be traced back to our latest lifestyle change of making molten lava chocolate cakes every Sunday...