Happy Friday from Georgia! We are here hanging out with mom and the whole family, watching the kids splash in the water, and just relaxing. I love these times together with no agenda, letting the kids stay up later than they should so they can chase frogs and lightning bugs. Sweet, sweet summertime.
I’m about to suit up and head outside, but first, here are a few things I’m loving lately…
K looking like a teen. I’m not actually sure I’m loving this, but it does make me smile to see her continue to grow into her own. She enjoys fashion and though sometimes I feel her combos are a little crazy, she ends up pulling them off with a confidence and style. She’s never wanted her ears pierced, but has begun to talk about it as a possibility now that she’s heard from her cousin that it doesn’t hurt too bad. We shall see!
Mosquito Patches. Instagram suckered me and I bought these in hopes of deterring the little blood suckers from devouring Hailey, which they usually do. We’ve used them a handful of times at this point and I really do feel like they’ve helped! They smell pleasant and stick well, and I now keep them in my purse to have ready to go.
Going Natural. I’ve been disenchanted by the hair process lately. Basically, I’m sick of the time and money it takes to go in every 5-6 weeks to color my roots. I’ve been playing around with the idea of just stopping all together and letting whatever silver glitter is in my hair (of which there is about 25% I’d guess) shine in all it’s glory. On Wednesday I went in and had her apply a toner to the colored part of my hair to help it blend better with my roots, and didn’t touch the inch of grow out at the base. I fully reserve the right to change my mind at anytime if I don’t love the dark and the greys that grow out, but for the moment, I’m excited about the possibility of not being a slave to the salon system.
Dominion. Hailey received this game for her birthday back in September and we only just recently got around to figuring out how to play it. You have to be in the right mindset to take on learning a new complex game, you know? Well, now we LOVE it! It’s a deck building game with a lot of ways to modify it so it can be different every time you play. It says ages 13+ but once we all sat down and spent an hour playing a very slow game to learn what we were doing, both kids (9 and 11) could play it with ease, and won once or twice! If you like Catan, I highly recommend Dominion.
16 Qt Stockpot. Kind of a funny thing to love, but I’ve needed a big pot option for double batches of soups and chilis for so long and just recently got around to buying one. I made a double batch of David’s famous chili recently to share with a neighbor and it was so nice to not have to divide it between pots. I foresee myself using this thing a ton in the fall!
Family Read Aloud- The Hobbit. Reading the entire Harry Potter series with the girls will always be one of my favorite memories of raising them. We’ve read more together since then, but nothing has felt quite as magical and engaging. Well, what Harry Potter is for me, The Lord of the Rings series is for David, so we’ve just started on a new adventure of a full family read aloud, beginning with The Hobbit. David reads it in the evening while I knit, K plays with magnatiles, H draws, and Finley snores. I’ve never read the books and experiencing it together in cozy evening moments makes me ridiculously happy.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and great kick off to official summer! If you have something you are loving lately, too, please share it with me 
