I caught it

I got the dreaded sickness going from family member to family member through the farmhouse. It hit me at 4 am; the fever, chills, congestion, cough. I gave in and went to Prompt Care tonight. Patrick and the boys drove me. I'm waiting in the van now while they get my prescription.

The biggest bummer: our family is missing the annual Hogan punchki party. So disappointed to be hanging at Prompt Care instead of there tonight.

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girl's night

{My pathetic feet soaking in preparation for the pedicure.}

You all are going to die when I tell you this, but I have not gotten a pedicure in over 3 years; well over actually. I was pregnant with William the last time I had one. And it's not because I have some fabulous feet either. Quite the contrary. But they are looking good now and feeling quite soft. And now I'm thinking, why don't I do this more often? But I'll tell you why, I'm embarrassed. My feet are not my strong suit. At the last pedicure I had {that one over 3 years ago}, the woman doing my feet said I have lots of blisters on my feet {which I always thought to be dry skin} and she chastised me for it and said they will never be soft until I get rid of those. Which I assumed to this day I hadn't. Especially since I never knew they were there.

Tonight was girl's night out with some of my favorite friends from my small group. We ate a long, leisurely dinner first at Olive Garden and then went to our pedicure appointments afterwards. I was seriously having anxiety to bare my feet. And there was one moment where the woman doing my pedicure said something to the woman next to her, doing my friend's, and the other woman peered over for a long second at my terrible toes. But other than that, I actually quite enjoyed myself. There was a massaging chair, a long foot and calf massage and no accusations about unkepmt blisters.

happy birthday, Erica!

{Together in the lobby of The Plaza hotel after having high tea that afternoon.}

Last May I was given an incredible opportunity to fly to New York and spend a long weekend there with Erica, Bret and Ben. I loved having the chance to see their home there, and to experience the city with her. It was the perfect weekend away. {More to come in an honorable mention post, I promise.}

Today is Erica's birthday and I am thankful for another year of friendship with her. I love you, Erica!

sneaking little leprechaun

Step one: take advantage of driving home from small group alone; shirk bedtime responsibilities.
Step two: take a detour at LeRoy

Step three: Shamrock shake please, just one. Gulp it down on the way home.

this and that, and moving to France

{Look at these two. While I made dinner, they sat sweetly together and looked through an old box of Patrick's football cards. I overheard Henry say to William, "Daddy knows what these say. We'll have him read them to us when he gets home."}

Tonight I was going to jump on to send a few quick emails and then be going. {I was going to skip my blog.} I was going to head straight to bed and curl up with my phone turned new Kindle {again, thank you Dan} and read the book I sort of accidentally downloaded {when I touched the "Buy Now with 1-Click" button I really didn't think it would actually work}.
I was going to do those things, but,

I stumbled upon this blog. A designer, a mom, six children, she recently moved to France and is going to spend the next year there with her family. She is making the move sound so easy - like even WE could do it. This tree house is in the backyard of their rental home there. 

These are their neighbors. I mean, there are chickens down the road from us, but this is France and just that alone romanticizes these chickens. Did I mention their children are named Oscar, Ralph, Olive and Maude (to name a few). Cute, cute, cute.
I really am going to go now. Do you want to see what I sort of, accidentally bought from Amazon and therefore now must read?

Goodnight friends! Or should I say Bonsoir mes amis!

honorable mention {3}

Dreary days like the one we're having today have a way of dulling the bright memories of summer. This post is my big kick in this rainy, cold day's pants.

In July {the weekend of Henry's birthday party}, Holly came for the party and stayed for an extended weekend. She, Rachel and I went went out to dinner on Sunday night to celebrate Holly's 28th birthday and they both spent the night at the farmhouse.
Monday was another hot July day. The boys slip-n-slided,


and who am I kidding? Of course, we joined in too,



When it got really hot and we got thirsty, Holly went inside and emerged with these,

{Cucumber water; yum. Very spa-ish. Love all of the color. And the way she shaved the skin off the cukes.}

Later that afternoon just us girls had an appointment.

We went wedding dress shopping with Rachel and were with her when she found THE dress!
I love these girls. I love that they are a part of our family. I'm not sure I remember slip-n-sliding with my parent's friends when I was little or with my friend's parents, but I bet I would have thought it was pretty cool{,or maybe a little weird?}. I love that these girls jump right in and play with my boys and I love that it's not weird to my boys at all. Front yard slip-n-sliding is a totally normal thing they've come to expect with these two. They are both going to be such glowing, beautiful brides this July. And I can't wait!

at bathtime

So, two things:
1. Remember that camera app I just discovered? Tonight I was playing with it and realized there are five different 'camera's to choose from within the app. I went a little crazy with them as evidenced here.
2. I love these two in the bath together. It gets pretty splashy and wild, but they have such genuine fun together. Tonight it was a battle of the animals: swimmers versus non. William kept asking, "does a _____ (lion, cheetah, alligator, etc) swim." I'm worried though, that this whole bath twosome is an endangered creature. For one, they are running out of space in there! And Henry is starting to favor showers.

tiny carts

{Filling up little carts at the little grocery store in Farmer City.}

This is what it looks like when we finally get out of the house after being sick and home bound for many many days.
Crocs in the middle of February___check.
Pajamas at 4:30 pm___check, check.
Everyone is feeling healthy, fever free and ready to take on bigger things. {Or tiny carts.}

bedtime

I was worried I'd have nothing for you.
To be honest, today felt like a scene right out of Groundhog Day. Remember that movie? Bill Murray wakes up and every day is exactly the same. It has been feeling like that to me a whole lot lately. With Henry home sick for the entire week last week and now sweet William fighting a fever and something that sounds a whole lot like croup, I just feel like each day is the same as the last. Wake up, tend to the sick, clean up, laundry, tuck in, do again. During a run on the treadmill this afternoon at naptime, and wishing I were running six miles away instead, I heard that still, small voice. It spoke to my heart reminding me that these days won't last long; the sick ones or the little children needing so much ones.
That and the added bonus of those post-exercise endorphins fueled me through the rest of the day.
William went to bed early. He's in our bed, so we can keep a close watch on him tonight. When I tucked Henry in he was scared to be in their room all alone, so I grabbed the big book of Curious George stories and curled up next to him. We read through the whole thing and laughed at George's antics. It was my favorite part of this whole day; just reading to read and not rushing through, and spending those pre-sleep moments curled up, laughing with Henry.

{I took that picture with a new camera app on my phone. Last weekend Dan taught me all about apps. I had no idea I even had them on my phone. It's been super fun finding new ones. Thanks, Dan!}

no need for greed

That's the motto at Stan's.

We went this afternoon for a visit. If you come to the farm, I'll bring you.

You will always inhale cigarette smoke. You will always hear profanities. {Are you laughing at our family outing this afternoon?} There will always be a cat walking around the store.

 But I can't guarantee you'll find something great.

{Although I thought this little rocking chair was darling; it would be so cute spray painted and tucked in a kid's room.}

I didn't leave with any treasures today, but I do have my eye on those turquoise mason jars.

{For the record, Patrick hates when I drag him to this place. He thinks it's all {and I quote} "junk".}

lunch with Patrick

{Daddy walking William to the van after lunch.}

One thing I miss about living so close to Patrick's office is our lunches together. I realize now that I was pretty spoiled being able to see him for lunch most days during the week. He usually has meetings now during lunch; but occasionally, we meet him somewhere before driving back to the farm. We had a last minute lunch together at Buffalo Wild Wings before the boys and I headed home this afternoon.

things I LOVE

and

{If you're keeping track, this should have been my post for Tuesday. I missed that one. I wish I could rid myself completely of my OCD and resulting urges to complete things that I've promised myself. I'm going to work on that in my 30's.}

Lately, I've been spying some things I just love around blogland. Many of them involve my daydreams about houses and the future house of my dreams {which really is just in my dreams, btw, but it's fun to dream}.

I adore the open floor plan in this house, and am loving those vaulted, paneled uber-high ceilings.

A boy's bunk room. I stopped in my tracks when I saw this. Whoa. Love it. Perfect for sleepovers {or adding two more boys to our family!} Love this entire house, too. Amazing.

Then there's this light fixture, the Maskros, from Ikea. I remember seeing it when I was there in November. Then I saw it on a blog in someone's dining room and really loved it. It was not, however, this dining room. Although I like it too; especially all of the white. It's driving me nuts now, though and I am on a mission to find that dining room. In a google search, I did come across this -

The 'maskros' apparently gets it's swedish name from this. I totally see it!
On another subject, I'm loving,

This French birthday party ! Love the awning and sweet little cakes. Darling!
And these,

Love these Hunter 'wellies'. They have a super cute kid's version too. With a cute little striped cuff. Love!
Photo credit.
Here's to the looking good in all of that mud from the melting snow!

ebb and flow

Today started out sunny and with the promise of being warm and springlike. 


We were all home together again this morning. Stay at home day 3 for Henry; he was warm again last night just before bed. While they basked in the morning sunshine and watched Kung-Fu Panda {for the 33rd time}, I rushed into the kitchen to make these. {Banana oat muffins}

We played school at home, doing a little reading and math. And then the boys taught an art lesson.

Henry made a tarantula. And he dotted the lines of another one for William to trace.

We spent the rest of the morning outside. Bikes, tractors, mud, swings. The boys were happy the entire time. Not a moment of boredom or fighting or complaining. Warm, sunny bliss.

{It was beautiful today, in the low 50's. It didn't however reach the 60's. Seems this thermometer is fibbing.}

We came back inside and ate lunch and I declared a rest time on the couch. The three of us curled up together, and I dozed with them. The enthusiasm I had when I saw that morning sun was lost and I wanted an excuse to do nothing during nap time. Our afternoon ended up being slow and lazy and we didn't venture outside again. I found myself feeling that familiar guilt as I often do when we have lazy afternoons like these. I want to get comfortable with the ebb and flow that is a natural part of our day {weeks, seasons}. Sometimes we're busy and sometime we're lazy. I kept hearing my mom say, "you won't pass this way again". There's truth to that; that makes me want to enjoy lazy afternoons curled up on the couch with my boys.

Happy Valentine's Day

My sweet Henry has a fever and stayed home today from school. I felt sad for him that he missed his Valentine's party at school and it's always so sad when their hot little bodies lay around in a fevered lethargy. But on the bright side, I got to spend the whole day with he and William and we ate a special little pancake breakfast together {once the morning dose of Motrin kicked in}.

I had more to share along the lines of Valentine's Day and things I love, but I'm tired tonight and almost threw in the towel on this post completely. So I will leave you in suspense until tomorrow. Happy Valentine's Day!

{As I am typing this, a fly just buzzed over here, hit the lamp and crash landed on the desk. Dead. Gross.}