September Smorgasbord

I apologize for the lull between posts lately. Most of my time when Finn is napping and I'm not working is being invested in painting. It's been fun, but also very time consuming. But it's good and I'm making progress. Oh and branding for my shop is so close to being completed, I can't wait to share it with you.

Last weekend we held our first garage sale. It felt so adult to me to have a garage sale...purging our house of random items that just sit around in our house. It was great, we ate some cinnamon rolls and made some cash. Well Rob made the cash, I'm not good with pricing things and negotiating...it makes me a lil nervy. Hah.

What else? Oh, well how can I post without bubbles being mentioned? Oh bubbles. I have a love-hate relationship with you. I love how you make my boy so happy, but I hate how you're so sticky and wet and messy. So while walking through Target I accidentally stumbled upon the bubble aisle with Finn in the cart...after I zoomed by that distracting him with all of my might, Rob noticed that all the bubble paraphernalia was on clearance. Woop, woop! Red glorious stickers everywhere. So he found this little thing that's a spill-proof container...and it's pretty sweet.

This morning Finn woke up and before breakfast we had a drawing session...he's melting me by his little "cheese" he does for the camera sometimes.

Then he sneaked over to the desk chair...he knows he's not usually allowed to touch the laptop as you can see in his little guilty face...

But since it was on the locked screen, I let him pay a few bills for me...

His little face, so sweet it hurts sometimes...

Currently the little projects I have on my mind are finishing up our bathroom (seriously, I don't know why it takes us forever to hang things on the walls) and then our master closet. In regards to our master closet, I'll just say I've been using cardboard Hammermill Paper boxes to store my bathing suits and undergarments for the past 8 years.

Yep, cardboard boxes.

Hoping you all are doing well, happy SEPTEMBER! What!?!?!?!?!

Hallelujah for Vacation - Part 2

Well I'm back with pictures from my "big camera" as I like to call my Nikon. You may notice that barely any are taken of the beach or pool (besides those taken from our balcony). I didn't really take a ton of photos...only like 200 and something. It just felt nice to pull the big thing out sometimes and leave it during others. 

Anyway, this trip was really nice. There's nothing like the feeling of running your key card through your room and opening the door for the first time. We got there before my brother and sister-in-law, and within minutes of being there, Cheerios were already on the floor. Oh the life of having a toddle. (I like to say it without the "r" because I tend to shorten everything)

The crazy beautiful view from our bed. A few nights we slept with the sliding glass doors open. That was pretty amazing.

Never will look at the moon the same, as mentioned in this post. Speaking of the moon, I tried some nighttime pictures when it was shining bright across the water, however, there was not one good one. Moon photography is harrrd.

Some of the crew...and Finn and his obsession with markers (the kind that only color on special paper, hallelujah)

Although he does sometimes "color", he mainly loves just taking the cap off and putting it back on.

In some of the "outtakes" of us on the bench below, I'm not sure if it was my posture or my dress or both, but Rob said I looked like I could be the first lady. I'd share that photo if my legs were positioned better...Lisa's not in a dress too often.

I know some mama's may say that we're late, but we're just now (18mo) closing the book on giving Finn a bottle at night time. I think we'll stop tomorrow...but it was a favorite of mine to go out on the balcony with him. Overlooking the gorgeousness outside. Precious moments indeed.

We broke a lot of rules over the vacation. We're weaning him away from his ducky pacifier (only using it for sleeping time) but on vacation apparently rules were thrown out the window. And I'm okay with that. One day Finn even got ice cream with daddy at 10:30 in the morning. Lol, oh and watching Pooh on the iPad, not a normal thing at all either.

Although we didn't get down to the beach to do some family photos, we tried on the balcony one day. That was until my crazy brother snuck up and stuck his head in there. This picture makes me laugh and creeps me out because you can't see anything but his face.

Then he went on the other side of the lens and tried working the entertainment to get a smile from the serious boy.

He did good and it was hard not to crack up ourselves. Obviously. (thank you sister for taking these photos!)

Then some couple shots...my hair was in a top knot pretty much the whole time and I loved it for the ease. Rob's so jealous. His hair is obviously grown out too...my man and his beautiful hair. One day he'll maybe have a samurai top knot on his head. ;)

Love love...

It was July 4th while we were there so we had the ease of watching the fireworks from our ninth floor.

Out of the 30 pics I took of the fireworks, this is the only clear shot I got...goodness, I need to figure out nighttime photography. Maybe it's a lens thing...probably. And the user.

The next day we were beached and pooled out so we headed to a park. Well we originally wanted to rent some bikes, but all of the bikes with baby seats were rented already. I was bummed, but Rob kept the spirits alive while I pouted for a few minutes and then we ended up here.

This boy and a swing.

We then put him down to run around this huuuuuuuuuge field, thinking he'd love it. But of course, all he wants to do is step up and down from the curb. :))

The last night's sunset was by far my favorite...

I told Rob that the big cloud reminded me of the Star Trek Enterprise...kept expecting to see the huge metal ship break out of there. (Rob's so proud)

Love these last two shots of the cousins. She was so sweet with Finn letting him hold on to various toys throughout the trip. Goodness and that sunset...wow.

Oh vacation, you were lovely. Now to somehow turn our backyard into some sort of oasis. I guess we should just start with keeping it mowed, then move on to the other stuff. :))

Hallelujah for Vacation - Part 1

Hi everyone! Goodness, it feels like it's been forever since I've posted. We got back this weekend from a really nice vacation, such an incredible escape from the everyday. I won't lie, it was definitely different from our prior vacations without a toddler, but it was still really good. We left very thankful to visit such a beautiful place and to just flat out be together.

So anyway, I took a bunch of pics on my big camera, but I thought I'd share those from my phone/Instagram first. Mainly cause I don't want you to have to scroll for hours. That would get kinda old.

After we got home the little bugger got sick, but is thankfully feeling better already.

Just in time for ice cream on his half birthday... :))))

Hoping you all are well, I'll post again this week with the other pics!