Thursday Thoughts

{one}

Justin and I are so incredibly blessed to have both sides of our families live nearby. It's awesome to be able to see everyone on big holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. But since we've been married, we've also kind of reserved the 4th of July as a holiday that we spend with friends, because we both feel that taking time for friendships is really important too. Anyway, I think we've spent every 4th of July since we've been married with Kait, Jesse, and Kait's parents (or some variation thereof). This year was no exception, and aside from Justin and I arguing at the end of the day (but happily resolving things before we went to sleep), it was largely an awesome, laid-back day. Even the kiddos got along!

{Lizzy wanted to share her "flower seeds" (aka sunflower seeds) with her sister. 

{Forgot my tripod for "real" fireworks shots, but had fun playing around none-the-less}

{two}

It is a blessing and a gift to have friends like Kait and Jess who you can just hang with and always feel relaxed with (my dad used to call this having 'refrigerator rights'--when you're such good friends with someone that you can just open their fridge and grab what you want/need). And more important, I think it's amazing and pretty rare to have friends that you can be 100% honest with. I could totally tell Kaitlin, "Hey, I'm having a blast hanging out, but could you guys go home now because my kiddo is melting and just needs to go to bed?" without trying to have to phrase things so that I wouldn't hurt her feelings. And that? Sometimes is a relief.

{three}

I feel like our house has been hit by a tornado. We've literally been running and running non-stop for weeks, and haven't been home in the evening in I'm-not-sure-how-long. Justin had to work again today, and when I woke up this morning to make breakfast, I realized that we didn't have a single spoon or bowl clean. I hate when our house gets messy like this, because I feel like it takes FOREVER to catch up!

{four}

On Tuesday, I had to leave both a store and Justin's baseball game early because Lizzy was throwing a fit and/or was just flat out disobeying. Days like that are hard. I am in desperate need of a date-night and some adult time.

{five}

I don't have any maternity tank tops, and I've been scouring the very-limited maternity options we have here locally (which mostly include Goodwill) to no-avail. I've been trying to find some basic tanks that are side-ruched and relatively inexpensive...like under $10 a pop. Any suggestions? 

{six}

I am dying for a new phone. My Blackberry is on the fritz again, and between it randomly calling 9-1-1 all by itself and just turning itself off when I'm mid-call (only to sometimes re-start), I am ready to trade it in for good. Both Justin and my sister now have iPhones, and I'm seriously jealous. I'm hoping I can squirrel away some money in the budget within the next few months and join the iPhone (and Instagram) crowd. And yes, this is totally a "want" rather than a need. It may not happen, but I can dream, right?!