skittle fetch: where children fetch the skittles you throw.

post by casey.



my sister and I were sitting around bitching speaking of our husbands and laughing about how they probably think we just sit home all day, online shopping at the Loft, throwing Skittles into the living room to distract the kids from bothering us. And then our laughter kinda trailed off causeeeee waitttttt...do you think they might actually think that's really what we do all day?! 
That actually sounds like an ideal day;).

i've got a pretty stand-up husband and so I shouldn't/can't/try not to complain too often but just when I think he 'gets it'...he'll say those 6 words that could put me in prison: "what do you do all day?". He's not lived a life where I 'don't do anything all day'. I wouldn't wish that on him;). 

even when I'm NOT doing anything...shit's gettin' done. Lists and worries and the future and plans and dreams and dollar amounts are being made in my head. Maybe our inability to 'shut it off' is our super-hero strength and yet our biggest downfall. 

anyways. Mostly, just wanted to share cause I feel like I just came up with an epic game and it's called: Skittle Fetch:). Guaranteed to give you hours of leisurely time away from your kiddos that you can use to make a photo-book or take advantage of an online sale or just space-out. :) Get to work ladies;).


here we are yesterday. I had a husband's hand to hold and the kiddos had a dad to jump on:) It was one of those really, really good days:).
Anyone else gotta grab a paper bag to breath into just thinkingggggg about cold weather!? Summer can never be over...I won't allow it!!!!:)

Thorp Aquatic Facility

these kiddos had.a.blast!!!!! Some days shit just seems hard...or they make all.the.things SEEM hard. But yesterday was not one of those days. The stars aligned and they just...had fun:) My cheeks hurt from smiling!

we bought Homer a pair of goggles and it was the best thing I've ever invested in! He came out of his water shell!!!! Jumping in, going under, trying to do headstands...he was jacked andddddd it was adorable! So proud of this guy!

#the52project Week24

post by casey.



we've been SO busy but if you asked me what we've been up to - please don't - I probably wouldn't be able to name even a few things that we've been doing?! Besides breaking up fights between the elder 2 from the minute they wake uppppppp...or selling crap on Facebook - what a nightmare - and pool days and lake days and local carnival weekends and chocolate shake consumption to the point of illness;) and coffee mornings and early morning and late night solo walks...Our days have been full and exhausting and good:)


my good stuff: coffee outside on a new-to-us picnic table! sister's who drop off creamer when you're running low:) being pregnant:):)

a portrait of my children, once a week(ish), every week(ish), in 2017

homer - being a big helper:)

theo daisy - always a lady;)

rockyp - my workout buddy (this also may have been the only workout I've done during this pregnancy;)

52?

post by Courtney

officially the.worst.blogger.ever.

the end.

but for real, where is our summer going? it should be easier to take photos of each of the kids all summer long. we're outside all the time. it's mostly nice out. but they're not often all at the same place at the same time. 

rewind...where is our summer going? feeling the need to slowwww down. might need to cancel some 'plans' and decide what is actually important to our family. maybe all these 'plans' really aren't necessary... rambling... buttt food for thought ;) 

on to our week 25, 26, 27... or maybe it's week 28 already. 

no one even kkkknnnnnows (or cares really) ;)

a portrait of my children, once a week(ish), every week(ish), in 2017

stopping looking old, son.

he still comes home and plays with the kids, and it might be my most favorite thing.

hates having her photo taken, just like her mother.

baby blues. or maybe more green. depends on her mood. and the moon ;)

just finished cleaning the garage. again. resting.

pure joy.

losing those baby teeth like a pro.

wind blown.

intense concentration here.

dude has been looking rough. had/has some sort of upper respiratory crap. 

happy as a clam through it all though. classic Smith baby.

i'm hungry and that may be all you get out of this.

a few things...unrelated to what I had planned on complaining talking about in this post...

i'm frakinnnnnnnn' hungry. Borderline, hangryyyyyyyy. I already ate supper but it was...unfulfilling;). So here I sit, at 1044PM...mostly, trying not to get pissed off and ask Jacob to go get me food and then have him refuse and then for me to hate him forever. The end.

And don't ask me why I don't just "Go To Bed" - at 1044PM - or I'll ask youuuuuuu for your address and come take all your food. And kill you. The end;).

just caught Theo in the bathroom - she's gotten out of bed no less than 1 BAJILLIONNNNNN times tonight! ARG!. But while she was in there, she dumped an entire bottle of baby wash out into the tub. And we're kinda on a fucking budgettttttt up in here...so that kinda shit just really pisses.me.off. I'll give her some credit for pointing it out to me and immediately apologizing - was she smirking while delivering that apology or is that my hangry-ness coming through?! 

nothing good happens after 11PM around these parts;)

SOOOOO what I was going to say was that we miss Jacob on the weekends:( Summer is the hardest. Not because he's working. We know that he's gotta work and no one's mad about that. But his hours are so wonky. He always has to be to work by 730AM-ish and then from there...it depends. During the week we can count on him being home anywhere between 5-7PM but on the weekends...we just assume he'll be working morning till late night on Saturdays and cross our fingers and toes that he'll have off on Sunday. Unless it's June Dairy Month...then we won't see him for a good part of Sunday either:/ 

wah wahhhhhhh wah. I know;) We have it sooooo harddddddd;). Not really. Obviously:). We just miss him and we miss him missing out on these weekend adventures:/ We're so fortunate that this summer we have a lot of low-cost/local/family plans. Family, meaning immediate family - minus Jacob. So I always feel like there are at least a few extra helping hands/eyes around:). And we are booked up with a lot of Cabin/Lake House/Camping weekends that won't cost a thang' - see above about that tightttttt budget;). It's just a bummer to be collecting these memories and photos, all without our favorite guy. 

with all that said...Jacob appreciates me keeping busy and keeping the kids busy and there are a lot of times that we're still off adventuring when Jacob does get done with work. And so he is able to get a bit of, much needed, down-time in. We're very fortunate that he works so hard for us and even with all that working he does, he does his best to help me in any way he can - except for on Friday, when I was trying to sell a bike trailer and there was a part missing and he was being a useless dick about it and long story short, he was a dick and later apologized for being a dick;).

I'M STILL HUNGRYYYYYYYYYYY. 1058PM.

thank you to Jacob's cousin, Jessica, for snapping this adorable photo of myself and Rocky! I just love it!!!:)

and thank you to the Smith's (Jess, you'll always be a Smith to me;) for hosting us at their Lake House! We attended a Surprise Retirement Party for Jacob's aunt, Linda, who's the most generous, hardworking person! I was so happy to be there and celebrate this milestone with her and the family! She worked for the Marshfield Hospital for 40 years! :)

twenty-five weeks.

post by casey.

we're 25WKS...ONLY 15WKS to go! That does Not seem like enough!!!! There's not a whole lot to report, seeing as I just did a quick update recently - see that HERE, if you missed it.

i'm still feeling really great and mostly in good spirits and even more mostly tired;). 

i did a bitttttt of shopping tonight at Old Navy...oh, my gosh...I found SO many things that I loved and so as soon as I got home I purged a bunch of stuff from my closet - check-out my InstaStories, HERE, to see everything I got!!!:).

And I do plan to sell a bunch of stuff over on Facebook at some point - maybe tomorrow while it storms!? So keep an eye out for some fun/inexpensive stuff to pop up on there!

i'm not sure what you do for maternity clothes but my mantra is to not purchase anything (if it can be helped) that won't work before/during AND after my pregnancy. I don't like investing money in things that will only be used for a short period of time. But maybe most people aren't 5 different sizes during their pregnancy - small, large, larger, extra-large and ginormous...in my experience;).

i'll hand it over to Jacob to add a little insight into our 4th pregnancy:

what do you want to add about our 4th baby, what are you thinking?

"mmmmm..."

anything you're excited about or scared about?

"ready to be out with the old and in with the new!!!;)"

what's your favorite part about the birth?

"ummmmm...my favorite part is right after it comes out. It's so crazy...there's so much going on!"

there you have it folks, 15WKS until it comes out and shit gets crazy;)

pants H&M

they're my regular size but just super stretchy (I'm definitely putting them to work!!;)

hat Chapel Hats at Mall Of America

i've bought several hats from this store and they're worth the investment!

also...these photooooossssss - thanks, Courts! All the heart eyes! We're not taking them too often but when we do, we're trying some different things:) And I was also so happy to get my hat out of the closet for the day - I loveeeee me a hat!! Having minimized my closet so much tonight has helped me to be reminded of all the stuff I have and love! Looking forward to taking some more photos in the coming weeks and sharing some more of my favorite looks!:)