Back 2 School - Fall 2024

The girls went back to school last month and everyone loves being at the same school! Emmy is having a harder adjustment to the uniform policy and the whole no naps things! Makes for very tired evenings and earlier bedtimes! 

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BVT: Dining Room

This room came together the quickest and easiest in our home. There is still so much I can do-- mainly to the walls. But for now, it works. I honestly didn't think we would use this room very much but now that we have so many family members in town, we use it pretty often. And when friends come to stay, it's nice to have the kitchen table for the kids (or the patio!) and then dining room for the adults. 

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Beach Trip 2024

We had such a fun trip to the beach this summer. We flew again, which the girls thought was so fun! Except the day we came home-- was the crowdstrike nightmare! We made it home by some miracle. Lots of fun was had all around and we loved seeing the girls spend so much time playing with cousins and our family! 

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NOLA Trip 2024

We took a fun little long weekend trip to NOLA again this year. Has been one of our favorite things. Almost canceled this year because Molly and Christian moved to Little Rock! Luckily the dates worked out and we actually got spend their last weekend in town with them. SO much fun going on a farewell tour with some of NOLAs biggest foodies. 

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Last Day of School 2024

Happy last day of school!! I didn't get a picture of the girls together but did get individual ones and I'm going to include the side-by-sides at the bottom of this post. 

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Recipe: Crispy Quesadillas with Salsa + Crema

This recipe quickly became a staple in our dinner rotation. It's so delicious and every person craves it. Well maybe Kate doesn't. But the salsa and the crema are wonderful-- don't skip them. And they are fantastic leftover the next day. 

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Lake Weekend with the Sparks Family

We had such a fun lake weekend with the Sparks family in July. They just recently moved back to Arkansas and the girls have the very best time playing together. We already scheduled the next weekend hang! 

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Favorite Spot in Our Home: Screened in Patio

I don't even know where to start on this patio. It's my favorite spot in the house. It's seriously the main reason we bought this house. We spend so much time here and it's such a beautiful serotonin hit for us. We finally, FINALLY got it exactly where we want it and I just really look forward to coffee on the weekends out here. And naps-- my new favorite. 

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Memorial Day 2024

We had a lovely little memorial day at DeGray Lake! The weather was perfect. The water felt so nice and the girls absolutely loved it! Can't wait for a summer packed with lake trips! 

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Last Day at TSS

I did something that I've never really done. I changed jobs! I mean I've moved jobs but not really. I started with the state about 12 years ago and my department merged to another and then my boss took a new job and I went with her but I was on maternity leave so I've never really left. Until the end of May, I took a new opportunity at the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. 

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Crispy Prosciutto, Broccoli and Risotto

So I accidently let a home chef box ship a month or so ago. They set my preferences and all were vegetarian dishes. I took the one pictured above and made a couple small edits-- best one was including crispy prosciutto. It was delish and I'm confident we'll make this one again on our own! 

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Justin Timberlake in Atlanta

Took a super quick trip to Atlanta last month to see Justin Timberlake in concert-- pre DWI. Now you can find tickets for like $25 dollars. YAY. But had fun hanging with these friends who I never get to see anymore! 

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Father’s Day 2024

Happy Father's Day to our favorite daddy! We had lots of fun celebrating the man who loves us so well! We went to Purple Cow with my family the day before and I snapped some sweet and silly pictures of the girls with Brian :) 

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Happy Little Avocado Vase

This is how you know you've officially become and old lady. I love this thing and it brings me so much happiness and the people who visit our house. I swear it has quite the following! I got this vase for Christmas from Brian and it's seriously taken since almost Christmas to get roots and leaves. We actually moved it this week to a pot with dirt and it's doing terrible. So I just want to remember it this way, haha! 

Here's THE LINK. Try it yourself!! 

Emily Turned FIVE!!

Our Emmy girl or should I say Emmy baby turned FIVE in May! It's getting to be a stretch to call her my baby. She's growing up and sometimes I really can't believe she's starting kindergarten this year! She did inform me recently that she WILL not be a big kid, she's going to stop getting older at six. Maybe we can just keep her little forever! 

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Emily's 5th Birthday Party!

We had Emily's birthday party last month and she had so much fun! And we loved celebrating our girl with all her friends. She wanted an american girl doll birthday party but I finally talked her into Barbie instead. Which was much easier! I swear she ran the entire time and had the very best day! 

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In My Bunco Era: Taylor Themed Bunco Night

I don't even know how I'm going to summarize how fun "In My Bunco Era" was. It was a blast and I seriously had so much fun planning this bunco night! Love that the group photo has the "lavender haze" lights in the background! Perfect! 

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Kate's 1st Year of Dance

Kate just completed her first year of dance lessons and very first recital! She loved the recital, not so much the dance classes every single week. And don't even talk to her about doing jazz again! Hahah. But seriously, we loved watching her shine. She got on the stage with all the confidence in the world and did such a great job!! And now her and Emmy put on little shows for us in the evenings. It's incredibly sweet. 

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Recipe: Mushroom Bourguignon

Hello fantastic recipe! I was a little apprehensive of this one because it's all mushrooms and I like mushroom, don't love mushrooms but was open to trying this. SO glad that I did! I am so glad we made this, it was really fantastic! And we really loved the polenta. It's definitely going to be in the rotation at our house. And was so easy to make! 

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Bowling with the Caldwell Family

We had such a fun time bowling with the Caldwell family last month! I always love getting these kiddos together. It's so fun to see some of our best friends and all of our kids become little friends. Gosh, so many memories and we're just carrying it on with them too!! 

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Recipe: Asparagus with leeks = YUM

OKAY new recipe time. And I really, really love this one. We've made it like ten times already and we just found it about a month ago. It's delish and super easy! You should really try it. And don't skimp on that mustard sauce. It's divine. 

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Trip to Wye Mountain

Year number two at the Wye Mountain Daffodil festival. The weather was 100x better this year but y'all.. you couldn't pick them! Which is what we loved so much about this place!! We made the best of it, took some pretty pics then went back to town and chowed down on Mexican food! 

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TOTAL Solar Eclipse 2024

I feel like we have heard about this eclipse for like 4 years and now after witnessing total darkness, I have to say.. it was pretty awesome. And I will remember this image above for like, ever. Brian and the girls did this for a solid hour before it really started to happen. And Kate would yell, "it's happening!!" over and over and over again. The excitement was so hilarious. And the fact that school let out for this is still pretty wild. 

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Halls Moved to Little Rock!

Speaking of people moving to Little Rock... the Halls moved a couple months ago too! We are all now within like .03 miles of each other. How fun is that?!

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Weekend Fun with the Middlekauffs

What a fun weekend!! Ya'll.. we're had so many family members move to town, it's been amazing. Molly and Christian moved a few weeks before they closed on their house and ended up staying with us one weekend. It was so fun to spend time together with all the Middlekauffs! 

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Easter 2024

This year Easter fell on March 31st. And if you follow this blog or know us, you probably know that's also the one-year anniversary of the Little Rock tornado. I had been dreading this day for months, not really quite sure how I would feel so what I should feel. Or if I should just try so hard to ignore the day all together. I went with the latter-- until our church showed a one-year slide show recapping the work they had done. Thanks, GUYS!!!! Kidding.. kind of. As the day came to a close, I turned my thoughts to gratitude and remembering the significance of the day, the actual day, not the one we had the year prior. And I found a lot of hope in the promise of brighter days and never ending support. 

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My birthday

I had a birthday! And it was so lovely and fun. Thankful for these friends who hosted such a fun night out! I'm so thankful for their love and friendship. 

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Cocktail: Aperol Spritz

I'm sure you've all seen and heard about the delish cocktail that is an aperol spritz. I'm probably like two years behind on this but the picture was just too pretty not to share. And with the blood orange, beautiful! If you don't know, it's 2 parts aperol, 3 parts prosecco and 1 part club soda. Garnish with an orange and enjoy! XOXO

 

Spring Soccer 2024

And that's a wrap on the spring soccer season! I think I'm more of a fall girl. The weather was too crazy!! Tons of rain cancellations, playing in the rain, rescheduling games, and we also got to experience a double rainbow! The season was actually still really wonderful. Kate grew a lot in the game and both girls had so much fun! Daddy returned as an assistant coach and so many of the girls games were on different days so we got to spend more time attending each others games. See you in the fall! 

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Holidays in the Heights

I somehow missed this one too! This is one of our fun little holiday events in our neighborhood that the girls just love! They will wait in line alll day to see Anna and Elsa and then meet Santa Claus! It's the sweetest! 

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Fall Weekend in NWA

I guess I blew right past this draft while posting earlier this year. Love this fun fall weekend and don't want to miss it having a spot in my life scrapbook here. 

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Girls NEW Room!!

Welcome to the girls new room! And seriously I need to revisit my photography. I'm remembering how terrible I really am at this! I had a lot of run building this new room for them. We had just redone their room before the tornado, I hadn't even had time to photograph and blog. They had just moved in together and got a bunk bed! We ended up buying a different one this time and I just really love both of them! 

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Fall Family Pictures 2024

Last year we had our family pictures at our house. And I love them so much! For so many reasons. When we lost our home last year, I wanted a painting done of it to keep forever. I didn't have a single picture of the way it was. I immediately wanted to have photos taken in our new space that has become so special to us. I was so happy that our favorite photographer agreed! I also thought it would be so perfect for a cute, "new home for the holidays," or "decking new halls" card. Turns out..  I didn't do either! But I will love and cherish these photos forever! 

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King Cake

Made my first King Cake-- for no other reason than I wanted to try it. It was good. I definitely had some feedback for myself for next year. It still tasted yum and was really simple. And next time I'll plan better and have a baby. I had to steal a little Encanto man from the girls :) 

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Super Bowl 2024

We watched the superbowl with friends this year and the host made these fun koozies! I love that it turned more into a Taylor Swift and Usher watch party than a football game! 

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Valentines Day 2024

Somehow this day has become so fun with kids. They love it! The candy, the parties, the pink! I love how excited they get to have little treats from their friends. And to make special cards for their classes. 

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School Valentines for the Girls

I really love craft projects for the girls. And I really love the ones for Valentines Day! This year I kept it kind of simple but saw this cute idea and loved the little tape. So I made a little card on Canva, ordered bubbles on Amazon and also grabbed this cute little tape assortment! Easy and cute :) 

 

Brownie cookies

I just really can't say how wonderful these cookies are and HOW EASY and how delish and how I want to bake them again just looking at them. They are so wonderful. I bet you could do a dusting of powdered sugar and they would be really great as well! 

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100 Days of School

Who knew this was a thing but Kate was super excited about looking like an old lady! And we got the whole outfit, wig, etc, etc and then she didn't really want to look like a full out old lady. So here's where we landed. 

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Central Cheer Clinic

The Central High cheer clinic is a HUGE hit for Kate! She did it last year and loved it so much! Emmy joined this year and was super indifferent about the entire thing. She went through with it but kind of just stood there. The most exciting thing to her was the juice they gave her after... at almost 7pm. :) 

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Italian Sunday: Meatballs and Polenta

OK.. this was amazing. Better than amazing. I love meatballs, Brian does not. He said he would try so I gave it my best go. And I think he's on the way to conversion to meatball liker. 

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Snow Daze

Ya'll... I have a love/hate relationship with snow around here. It doesn't melt and we can't drive but school closes even if it's clear and work is always there. It's a super stressful time and then I'm like stir crazy. But anyway, all the negative stuff out-- the kids loved it!! And had a blast. 

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New Years 2024

Another fun NYE with the Lar family! We love this tradition of spending the close of one year and start of another with Scott, Holly, Ethan and Harrison! This year was so fun. They came to visit us in our new home. Lots of memories made. 

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Christmas at Home 🩷

I absolutely loved our Christmas at home this year. It was so good and so perfect. The girls had a blast and it was so fun to watch them wake up in their own home on such a special morning. Making new memories! 

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Christmas in NWA

Another fun Christmas celebration in the books! We went to Wynne the weekend before Christmas for a couple days of family and fun. The girls love extra cousin time and we had a blast packing in lots of fun celebrations! 

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Corduroy at AMFA

New holiday tradition alert! Must see a show at the Museum of Fine Arts here in LR. Corduroy was so much fun with our favorite little friends. And Annie brought all the kiddos a stuffed Corduroy. Plus we had front row seats! 

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Christmas in El Dorado

We almost didn't make it to El Dorado for Christmas this year. Emmy woke up sick the day were were suppose to leave.. or maybe the day before. I don't remember anymore. We decided we weren't going to make it and were so sad. So last minute we woke up Sunday morning and decided to hit the road for a day trip. I'm so glad we did! We packed so much in one day and the girls loved every single minute. Allll the Christmas things are really the best. 

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Melting Snowman Cookies

Dying over these fun little cookies that I made with the girls. The yummiest little sugar cookie topped with icing (not melted enough!), pretzel sticks, marshmallows, and mini chips. We bagged these up and took one to each on of the girls little classmates. They were a hit! And we super easy :) 

 

Neighbor Christmas Gift

Really loved our little neighbor gift this year. I had these adorable little tea towels made locally then paired it with homemade cinnamon rolls. Who doesn't love hot cinnamon rolls delivered at dinner time? Next year I'm going to work on the timing :) 

 

Cookies with Santa at the Gattins

So fun going back through all these sweet Christmas memories! Second annual holiday cookie party at the Gattin house included a special visit from Santa this year! It was so much fun! And while Emmy refused to wear Christmas PJs, at least we got the right color down. 

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