Our fourth.

Fireworks, glow baths, what was hopefully the last multi-course meal we'll ever make in this dump hole apartment, and family. A wonderful fourth and there's not much else I could've asked for. We never did get around to the sparklers I bought, I think we'll save them for our little beach vacation next month. Or maybe Mila's birthday. It's all good.

Oh and I did dress the girls all patriotic like but you know with this heat Mila lives in her underwear these days. Who can blame her? I would live in my undies too if our living room window didn't open up to a parking lot. Dani wore the vintage shirt/dress that Mila did on her first fourth. Lucky girls, all this sharing and borrowing.

Note the batman underwear which she picked out. I couldn't be more proud.

More cousin love. And my take on the cronut.

Here is the smattering of photos from that epic, very much homemade photoshoot we did in the last 30 minutes of our visit to Jacksonville last weekend, you know the kind, crap Marmousch asked us to do this one thing and it's super important to her and whoops, we're blowing right through naptime so everyone's a little grumpy. Well, we tried. For the record I'm a fan of capturing everyone as they are and not necessarily getting a smile unless it's a genuine one. Also note that Mila has clearly entered the tongue out channeling-Gene-Simmons phase. A necessary rite of passage in any extrovert's childhood, I guess.

Also you know this cronut craziness that's going around? Jax has gotten on board so Steve being the intrepid that he is left the house at the crack BOTH Saturday and Sunday to get our hands on some. No luck Saturday but booyah on Sunday--he came back with two cronuts, the limit they'll sell to one person. We cut each cro in halfsies and the four of us (Mila was content with a krispy kreme and I daresay she came out on top) all got a portion. My verdict: I'm glad I tried it and yes, to me it was worth the $5 since making homemade croissants intimidates the heck out of me and while we're at it I'm not the fondest of frying at home (the smell, dear God the smell!). But would it be a regular Sunday thing if I were a Jacksonvillian or whatever the proper term is, or New Yorker if I were brave enough to get up before dawn to stand in line for donuts (which I totally am, I did it for Conan O'Brien and these are a donut hybrid after all). Well no. Give me my hot and gimmicky Krispy Kremes any day of the week (they're coming back! says my brother-in-law. which besides the birth of my nephew was the best news I heard the whole month of June). I can easily put away three krispy kremes. Cronuts, my limit is 1. They're heavy hitters. But as always, I'm happy I got the chance to try it.

I realize I've just spent more time talking about cronuts than I did about our incredible new nephew and cousin. I'll redeem myself with this next picture. It speaks volumes.
 

 See? Smitten.

"I'll give you a treat, Wugs."

We just got back from a weekend at Lamb and Adam, meeting our new nephew and cuz. We love you so much Robi! He is the sweetest little baby and captured all of our hearts, especially mine and Mila's. And now thanks to this video my brother-in-law took with the (awesome) 8mm iphone app I'll always have this memory of the time we tried to take a group picture. Good times. Great times. Bribery is apparently alive and kicking with the Weibels. Ha! I'll post the actual pictures later this week.

A Decade.

Just a quickety quick post to say that today, with all the ordinary yet wonderful things that happened in it (I'm talking about YOU last day of swim lessons, molasses cookies with Wugs, pee pee like it's no big deal, laughing with Dani in the mirror, Marmousch, vintage floral tins on etsy, and wonderful friends); today was even better than usual because it's the 10th anniversary of Steve asking me to marry him. It was the surprise a lifetime, has been the best ten years of my life and we're just now really getting to the good stuff. 

I mean really.

These pictures are a few months old already, taken around Easter. Obviously we need to take more family photos. Also holy everyone looking at the camera at the same time! Because usually it's more like this:

Our summer bucket list

The first official day of summer was Friday so...let's get underway! Actually let's add "Buy a house" to this list as well, shall we? It would add a whole world of possibilities to our summer. To be continued!

I loved last year's fall bucket list, it helped me plan our days and if there's ever a season that you want to savor every last bit of, it's summer. Here goes.
 

make a kite with Mila and fly it

play with chalk all afternoon

road trip somewhere...anywhere! Georgia's barrier islands vs. the Keys vs. the panhandle We went to Destin!

fireworks and sparklers on the 4th

finally go geocaching with the girls

get ice cream from a neighborhood ice cream truck we *finally* did this, purely on accident, on October 11th! so not summer...but still glorious nonetheless.

make cocktails more Lemonade vodka was my favorite.

breakfast on the beach

picnic at the park

go to the beach for a sunset picnic dinner

make s'mores

visit the zoo

go camping

have a water gun fight

go to the farmer's market for Saturday breakfast

stay out late one night going in search of turtles hatching on the beach

go to a waterpark 

take Wugs to her first movie

take Wugs to her first play!

take Wugs bowling

make homemade ice cream sandwiches

make glowing paint jars (thanks Diana!) 

make Mila her own treasure bag for collecting things on our walks 

face-painting at home

food truck night It was such a huge turnout we ended up leaving rather than wait 2 plus hours for dinner! But we'll try again in September.

popsicles!

lemonade!

make butter by shaking cream! (not sure what this has to do with summer but I'm going with it) 

Perfect the double hammock back carry with my woven wrap--again, not summer-y at first glance but it will surely help us be more comfortable when out and about (ergo be HOT!)

Family bike rides once we get Dani Lu Who equipped

Summer! We love you!

Father's Day

 Father's Day has come and gone, one week ago today, but don't think for a second that we let it go by without loving up on our rock. Steve had to work on Father's Day (again! yes I keep track!) so we celebrated Saturday instead. Wugs and I got up early and made Papa breakfast in bed with all his favorites, except for the homemade Bloody Mary which had to wait because silly me forgot to buy vodka (oops! he got it midmorning.) Last year Mila could barely say Happy Papa's Day Papa!; remember? And now here she was, singing For He's a Jolly Good Feeeeeelllloooooow as we carried in the breakfast tray. 

It's hard to put into words how thankful I am to have someone like Steve to navigate this whole parenting gig with. He's my everything, balances all my faults out and when the going gets tough reminds me not to turn on him. He's got my back, he's got all our backs, and we feel his love every day. It's warm there, in his sunshine. And he's ours.

A few more things about my baby daddy:

• He shoos me out of the house so I can go for a run, because he knows how good it makes me feel about myself afterwards
• On his days off he'll usually scoop up the girls and let me sleep in. And coffees made by Steve always taste better than mine.
• He feels very very strongly about being The One to teach our daughters how to ride a bike. It's that important to him. 
• Him and Dani have such a strong, no-words-necessary-the-gaze-says-it-all kind of bond that sometimes I feel like I'm intruding by being there. 
• He pays attention to what's captivating Mila at the moment (right now it happens to be diggers and other construction trucks, earlier today she was incessantly asking me to show her a picture of a front-loader) and will find ways to expand on it--buying her books, showing her youtube videos, seeing it in person. He doesn't just steer her in the direction of things he's interested in. He looks at what motivates her.

• He'll create elaborate battle scenes with Wugs' miniature animals after cleaning up the bath toys. They usually involve a monkey on an elephant's back, or some elaborate African safari crocodile-lion-cape buffalo versus cheetah-elephant-rhino showdown. Kid at heart.
• When I asked him if he'd be nervous to talk to the girls about their periods and other puberty-related things when they get older, he simply said, "Why would I be nervous?" --I think that's awesome. 

 p.s. So last year I made this little video for Steve on Father's Day. This year I went with a low-tech, unplanned version but I quite like it just the same. I sent it to Steve at work last Sunday to let him know we were missing him, and because as I filmed I knew this was pure gold. It's Mila at her finest: understated and eloquent. A song written and performed for her one and only Papa.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you He Took a Poop Last Night.

And don't mind my Khloe Kardashian voice even though she's my definite favorite of the K's.

We love you, Pook. Thanks for tirelessly being ours.

A quick update and meaningful words (by others).

Gosh I don't know where to start. Well for starters my sweetest of sweet little nephew came into this world just one week ago. Robert August. Big name. Little teeny tiny boy, tinier than both of my babies have ever been. And my sister a mama. Wow. Listen to him, Lamb, because I'm sure he has a lot to tell you. Listen to all of it, write it down when you can, and sleep the rest of the time. And don't waste precious energy on trying to figure him out. He'll tell you, in his way. Just listen.

My mama advice :) 

And two more pieces of meaningful writing that have truly resonated with me this past week. You know how sometimes the right piece of writing lands in your lap at just the right time? And it seems like it's meant solely for you? This.

"In the end, three things that will matter greatly are how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you."  -from the instagram feed of @caseyleighwiegand

and 

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.” ― poem by Mary Jean Irion, as seen on A Cup of Jo

One speaks to the longing I have for a house, and how I'm thinking of one house in particular that we fell absolutely in love with but it's just out of our reach. I have to let it go and I haven't been ready to yet. And the other reflects on appreciating the tedium of our daily lives. Our daily lives right now. Appreciate the early morning Maaaaaaammmmmaaaa! Come get me! Appreciate the happy baby grabbing for everything as we walk through the house, her on my right hip with her chubby arm casually propped on my shoulder, one unit her and I. Appreciate unloading the dishwasher in spurts while I tend to the more pressing needs of my family. Choosing to sidestep the voice that whispers when in darker moments. When we have a house. When they'll go to sleep a little easier. When I get more free time.

This is now, and I love now.