cameron at two...

oh my little camma, you are two and living up to all the "terrible" hype.  you are terribly loud, terribly troublesome, terribly fiesty, and terribly cute to boot! despite your extreme behaviors, it's tough to stay upset with you... those sparkly blue eyes and gumball stuffed cheeks are your ticket out of trouble and the admission to the very center of my heart.  you are much like your mama and don't see the point in shoes, but i sure do hope you start to hold on a little tighter to your britches, you are one bare-bottomed little booger as of late! you love singing songs and clapping at the end of each one.  photographing you is no easy task, but when you do smile for me... it's with your whole entire face and i eat it all up.  you've never met a fruit you didn't like, but can't seem to friend a hairbrush for the life of you.  you are constantly learning new phrases from your big sister "hay-de", and daddy and i are so proud of how well you can communicate at your age. at the same time, we hang our head in shame at the fact that you won't give up your bottle. ugh! your favorite phrases are "catch me" and "i don't know" and you answer "yes" and "no" questions with such a calmless and maturity about you that i am starting to think that you hold the secrets of the universe in your big round belly.  you must be storing something good in there... you eat like a bird.  after a long day of chasing you around and fighting with you and your hard head there is nothing like hearing you at the top of the steps yelling "mommmmy! mommmmmmmmmy! mommmmmmmy???".  this is my cue that you are ready for bed and have forgiven me for my impatience with you throughout the day. one broken glass, three crayons in your belly, and two bite marks in haley's arm later... you're ready to call it a day, rest your heavy head on my right arm, and press that warm chubby body up to mine to fall asleep.  you are my sweetest of dreams and i love you, do!

a trip for me, a trip for them

nick and the gals took me window shopping at black dog salvage for mother's day. i went with a single mission: to find a small metal mailbox for cameron's clubhouse and left with visions of a claw foot tub full of daisies for the yard,  grand ambitions of gathering hundreds of colored yard sticks to cover one part of my office wall (though this gym floor board wall is so much more dreamy), and a rather awkward desire to start my own salt and pepper shaker collection (my tea cup collection will suffice... for now). i suppose we all have our quirks and i`ll just sit here grateful mine doesn't happen to be of the cat lady variety.

this was my first visit to a salvage yard and i imagined it being quite close to my heaven.... chippy old shutters, colorful garden chairs covered with rust, and old store signage around every corner! while all these things could be found, the selection was a bit weak and on top of that, their pricing was a bit too inflated for this lady on a budget... and just in general. ugh.  i was a bit disappointed.  atleast i have an otis redding compilation to take away the sting and ease my mailbox-less soul and new hydrangeas for the garden.  yay for mothers day!

we rewarded the girls for their great behavior with a trip to the mill mountain zoo and icecream at maggiemoo's.  it isn't the biggest zoo in the world, but it has several beautiful overlooks, a good selection of animals, and since it's mostly shaded there were no meltdowns over the heat.   there is also a little train that runs around the zoo... which was haley's most favorite attraction of all.  however, she did feel the need to voice her concerns over the conductor being a lady without a conductor's hat or a whistle.  three times.

oh my, that child!

on cameron: vintage dress from frecklewonder. vintage ruffled bloomers from etsy. shoes, gifted from lindsay.
on haley: vintage dress from eadie's elephants on etsy. shoes, hand-me-downs. handmade bow.

this won't be the last time you see that cute red, white, and yellow plaid dress! we are "taking it out on a date" next week and then stacy over at hart+sew will be taking it out the following week. more details soon, but it just may need to come spend the day with you and your little one too! <3

virginia grown

our little town recently completed a big construction project where they added a beautiful wooden pavilion and ampitheater to host the weekly farmers market and various festivals throughout the year.

the girls and i got an early start on the day, counted up our quarters, and followed the sound of the string band pickin' away down the street for live music, vegetable plants, and a few flowers for the clubhouse.

  it's so nice to have such a great venue right down the street from us and i must say, 5.00 is a small price to pay for grow-your-own happiness and a special rendition of "there ain't no bugs on me" for your girls to dance along to. the girls had a blast stompin' around and running up and down the aisles.  cameron, who felt right at home, ended up kicking her shoes off.









we have yet to get baths, eat breakfast, or accomplish any cleaning (today's big task)... but atleast we have the prettiest organic lettuce to accompany our tacos for our belated cinco de mayo fiesta tonight.

i hope everyone has a lovely weekend and a mother's day filled with lots of x's and o's.
 if you're in the same boat as me and feel as if you have a mile long list with no time to complete it, try throwing a little hank into the mix.  he's good for a smile and slowing things down <3



ps: i've learned how to add music... y`all are in real trouble now!

you know you're gold...

this morning we made the early trip for strawberry pickin' at mabe's and had ourselves a real fine time.  the girls loved running up and down the fields together and picking the biggest red strawberries they could find. we also gathered a few baby ones.  how could we resist?  baby strawberries are much too cute. i believe i will have to photograph our family in "strawberry form", though something tells me "cameron" and "haley" have already been put away in someone's belly!

and there's an idea:

next time you're at the strawberry patch,

try to find a strawberry that you feel resembles each member of your family. haha.

haley pranced around telling everyone she was strawberry shortcake in her gingham dress while cameron acted like a real punk and would NOT let me fix her hair.  she's lucky though, messy hair and strawberry remains all over her face and white dress just works on her. i sure was smitten!

<3

ps- strawberries for breakfast are divine.



small style:

on haley: vintage dress from salvage house. shoes- nike sandals (haha, totally didn't match but it was MUDDY!)
on cameron: shoes- hand-me-down puddle jumpers from haley. vintage dress from etsy.

ps- i appreciate everyone who has spared a second and placed a vote for us.
you guys are wonderful, and because of you, we are actually hangin' in there!
i am thrilled and thankful and excited to have another "excuse" to give Nick for all my random dress purchases... fingers crossed we can hold onto this position for the next 4 days!

curb appeal

my nicky bobby had the day off from work so we spent the day outside fixing up the exterior of our house. we pulled weeds, planted day lillies and purple and yellow butterfly plants (which i hope the deer don't eat), and hung some ferns up. we still need to add a few more potted plants for character, mulch, refinish the path to the courtyard, and repaint the porch... but its amazing what a big difference a few simple additions and some tidying up can make.

our little cottage style house seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis though-- we've got retro-style children's chairs, a french-inspired bistro set and a country porch rocker.  haha.  oh my, thank goodness yard sale season is upon us and we can hopefully declutter a bit!

with all that said, i am starting to fall back in love with our house and that's a good feeling.  i regularly peep in at young house love (VA! represent!) to see the daily progresses john and sherry make on their home, and it has me motivated to try and do one [small] thing a day to improve on our own.  i`ll be sure to bring y`all along on the journey as i am sure it will be a nice refrain from the daily pictures i post of my offspring. (i am just too in love and can't help it!) 

while nick slaved over pressure-washing the house, the girls and i made good friends with the hole in our hose.  if there's one thing i really love about kids, its their disregard for things like being cold and wet, getting dirty, and supper time. who can be bothered with such things when there is fun to be had?









it was a fine kick-off to our weekend,
have an extra good and productive one, friends!
<3

nick ran over a dead deer laying in the road on the way to work today. he is okay, but the bottom of his car has seen better days.

the weather is quite possibly the only thing from saving me from having a complete breakdown at this point.
so atleast there's that... and the weeds. not just a lonesome dandelion, but a whole patch for me to wish the day away.

it's a jungle out there...

our yard needs serious mowing. 
though i am sure you wouldn't have even noticed had i not said anything.
 even with that subliminal toy lawn mower in the photo.





i've found that the sweetness of these two squished together like peanut butter and jelly can distract one from everything else going on in this photo.... and quite possibly in life.

or that`s my reasoning if this tuesday doesn't end up quite as productive as i would have hoped.

have a lovely one, friends! <3