Resolve. Updated!

UPDATE //  happy 2017 dear friends!

I can hardly believe that we've been holding strong to this tradition for so many years.

I've created new cards to reflect this new twenty seventeen year.

You can purchase the file here.

 Be sure to snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram! (@lovelylindsay)

I love the idea of us all setting new resolutions together.

Cheers!
xo

Hello friends!
It's been awhile.

This was just the project I needed to get feeling like my pre-baby self again.
Just the project I needed to get this new fresh year off to a good start.
...and I still love these kits.

Download your kits,
package them up for your party guests,
drink something sparkly,
and start planning your twenty-fifteen adventures!

(children's resolution cards included!)

gratefuls.

these walls.

those windows.

this bed.

and them.

praying hard tonight.

xo,

lindsay

screencap from my dear friend, alexa.

her.

i've forgotten how to write here.

but i've got so much to say.

//

reflect. resolve.

the boys are all sleeping. 

despite the 'sleep in your own bed' sticker chart we've implemented this week:

-charlie crashed in our bed at 7:30.

-after being sent back to bed several times, ten drinks of water, a little box car children, four bathroom trips and the threat of being sent to sleep outside in the rain... gavin and lucas are fast asleep together in lukey's bed. 

and here i am.

i'm listening to my bob dylan pandora station. tonight the stars have played the band, simon and arty g, a little janis, and some van morrison. it's been good. 

i sat on the couch in my finally quiet and did some important thinking.

the weather here is maddening. it's dreary. and dark. and cloudy. and i fear the sun will never come. i will never get a sunny walk outside again. which i am craving more than any greasy/sweet/pickled pregnancy food.  i need a sunny walk or i will die. 

i clearly need to make some changes.

this pregnancy has been different. hard in different ways. and rather than sinking into the hard parts and excusing them by calling them symptoms - i'm going to make a few changes.

tonight i figured out what those would be with clarity.

daily:

1. something spiritual. meditate, pray, read, listen - something.

2. some kind of exercise. i will not wait any longer for the perfect day. 

3. no more candy.  specifically, no more sour patch kids. 

4. wake up with the school boys and stay up. an afternoon nap is a-ok. 

5. something for baby. write her a letter, make us a special lunch, try-on names

6. news fast. specifically - no facebook. 

7. chug water. 

ash wednesday. 

keeping on.

i was just scrolling through these blog pages and realized how good i'd been at documenting the important moments in our lives over the years. what a great collection this is of our lives here in this little house. 

and then i noticed how much i've missed over the last um... really... a year or so.  i thought of gathering up photo's and snapping a few to catch up. like charlie's first day of sunbeams... and gavin's five birthday. the announcement of baby or the day we got out the paints and painted the entire roll of art paper. all things that have happened. but not been properly documented here.

i could say that it's because instagram has done the documenting for me. or that my big girl camera is sick. that i spent the first trimester of this pregnancy napping or that i'm so over blogging. but if i'm totally honest, twenty-thirteen was hard. and the truth is that i just haven't required much of myself lately. the missing months here are an accurate depiction of how i've lived them. the days begin and the days end and some stuff happens in between. we're all dressed, fed and happy for the most part. but beyond that i think i've sorta - checked out. the familiar winter doldrum. i'll just keep treading water and slowly pull myself up for a good deep breath of spring air here soon. 

this is important to me.

this documenting.

and i'm going to begin again.

whoopee cushion valentine

i'm just now pulling together our classroom valentine's for the year.  this is my faaaavorite holiday and i just can't seem to muster up the energy to pull-off anything super creative. the boys and i will be totally relying  on printables that i've found around the web.

i've had several requests for a printable version of last year's whoopee cushion valentine. i know i'm a little late to the game but if you're anything like me - these will come in handy just in time!

we fell in love with the idea here and decided to work up one of our own.  One that was a little simpler and didn't use up so much of our black printer ink.

i live in a house full of boys - so of course, these were a huuuuuuge hit! lucas and i had so much fun putting them together.  i printed, trimmed and hole punched while he signed his name and used a piece of twine to tie them up. 

we found our mini whoopee's here. and hurry! they sold out last year.

just purchase the PDF file using the button below and you'll be automatically directed to the download link. feel free to print as many as you need for your classmates. 

happy valentine's week, friends!

hopefully the week will end with a box of chocolates (the fancy kind) for both of us. 

love, lindsay

heart, beat.

tonight i found this:

places where my heart rests.

and now i know where she's been.

+++

for four days

 i'd been careful with how i was wording my prayers. 

not wanting to be selfish with my pleading.

we want her here.

we need her here.

but i don't want to keep her here,

if she needs to go.

+++

...until sunday.

on my knees.

come back.

it's time to come back.

i cried. i begged.

i stopped the car and made andrey pray some more.

+++

gina doesn't belong to me.

she is made of the earth.

the red dirt of sedona.

the salt of the california tide.

she is the giant sequoias of the redwood forest.

she is the concert echo on a late night in park city.

the giggle of two best friends, grown old together.

+++

i believe she teetered and then decided to stay