Life Lately

While I was working on my April books post, I started looking at some of my past posts.  Lately, we have been so busy that all I have time for is my book posts (which I do mostly for me, to help track what I've read and what I think about the books).  I was reading past posts, 5 on Friday, what I'm loving, and what our boys our up to.  And I realized I miss those!  I decided to play a little catch up, so I don't forget this past year!

January

January was a BIG month for us!  We bought our first house.  We closed on the 10th, but didn't move until the 28th.  So we spent every spare second at the new house.  I painted all of the bedrooms.  Bech painted the dark paneling AND pulled up the carpet and refinished the floors.  

White paint on paneling and wood floors (before Bech refinished them) compared to the ugly carpet and dark paneling

The floors mid refinishing

Ahhh, beautiful refinished floors!

This man was seriously the MVP of January!

Our rental house looking all sorts of cray cray while we packed

We did fit in a little fun.  Here's Gil on ice skates for the first time.

February

In February, we crashed.  Seriously.

Every single one of us got the flu.  Ughhhh....

We also drove down to DC and spent several days with Ansley.  The boys loved getting a special capitol tour from their Aunt.

The view from the Speaker's balcony

Jack posing with Vermont's Ethan Allen

We also went on a White House tour.  Jack loved it...

...Gil was not impressed.

This kid is such a little poser.

We swung by Philly on our way home to visit our favorites, the Lugos.

And since Rita's had just opened for the season, we HAD to get some.

These kids are the best car travelers!

March

March was a snowy, snowy month for Vermont. 

We enjoyed a snow day together building a massive snowman.  

I will also be regretting that snow day come June, when I have to make up that snow day with in service.  Because Vermont doesn't build in snow days.  Mississippi, you need to take this moment to bask in the brilliance of built in hurricane days.  And Vermont, seriously???  It ALWAYS snows.  Why don't you build in some snow days?

And we slid down the back stairs.

We had friends over a bunch!  One night I pulled the last of the past summer's frozen blueberries out so make Bread and Wine's blueberry crumble.

We celebrated sweet Eleanor's first birthday with a beautiful unicorn party.

Jack finally read the original Jack.

And we kept hammering away at house work.

April

 

The boys opened their Easter happies.  Most notable present is Jack's watch: now when I tell him it's bedtime, he quickly corrects me.  Maybe I should have set the time wrong...

Jack, as usual, was a willing Easter photo taker.

Gil was, well Gil.

But he cheesed it up with his main squeeze, Viv.

Jack built legos and read, his two favorite things.

Also, I think the whole sibling things is going well, wouldn't you say?

Also, they share a room, so there's that...

We celebrated our favorite, Bech, with a mint chocolate chip cake.

And we had our first creemees of the year.

Jack on top of the UVM mascot, the catamount

I got to spend some time with my friends (Stowe Cider may have been involved...).

The boys and I have been really into cake baking videos lately, so we've been trying our hand at baking.  We made an ombre cake for a potluck we hosted.

And I decided to try my hand at gardening!  We are still doing our summer CSA, but I would love to eventually stop that and grow all of our summer veggies.  Here are my baby seedlings.

Whew, there's a speed recap of the past four months.  It's been busy and crazy and good.  I can't believe my first year back teaching is almost done (19 school days, but who's counting?), Jack is almost a rising 2nd grader, and Gil is almost a legit preschooler.  

We have lots of fun summer plans in the works, including a camping trip or two, a visit to Asheville, and a trip down south.  I can't wait!

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What I'm Loving Now

Also titled:  How I'm getting through this semester.

This semester is all sorts of crazy.  I am in my student teaching placement 5 days a week, taking 4 classes at night (but only on 3 nights, so that's good!), coaching a Mathcounts team, and tutoring.  Oh yeah, plus being a mom and wife!  Needless to say, blogging is the last thing on my mind.  

Actually, it's when I'm really busy that I discover my favorite things to do.  And it's not blogging.  It's also not watching tv, except for the bachelor.  It is reading.  And Nick's journey to love, because everyone knows that Finland is the perfect place to fall in love.

But I do miss my blog some.  This week is February break.  They do this here in Vermont and a few other New England states.  I thought it was so kids could go skiing, but I just googled it and guess I am wrong.  Apparently it harkens back to the days of the high cost of heating.  Well, whatever it's for, we get of school for a week in February and then again for a week in late April.  Jack is out of school at the same time, but Gil's daycare is still open.  So Jack is home with me, while I attempt to get some major school work done.  We are trying to have some fun too, with playdates and the Lego Batman movie.  Oh, and lots of legos and reading!

In typical Marley fashion, I am going to post in list format because LISTS.  Seriously, lists are the best and I love them.  So here's what is keeping me sane during this crazy semester:

1. Kindergarten Jack

Jack is so much fun right now.  He can play actual board games (like Catan Junior)--game changer.  He can read.  He is funny.

2. Toddler Gil

I'd be lying if I said Gil was as much fun as Jack currently.  The terrible two's are upon us!

But, Gil is talking more and more, and he's pretty hilarious.  He also plays a mean air guitar and air drums and just loves music in general.  Plus. those eyes?  He's a heartbreaker for sure!

3. Snow Days

We haven't had a crazy hard winter this year, which I have mixed feelings about.  I really do love the snow.  But I don't love when it feels like your face is going to freeze off.  We have had a couple of good snows, plus we've had two snow days this winter!  Even though I've still had homework on those days, I was thankful to get to play at home with my boys, making forts and eating snow ice cream.

4.  Aslan is on the move!

Slowly but surely, things are warming up around here.  Granted, this is a little on the early side.  And I wouldn't put it past Vermont weather to have a snow storm in April!  But we did enjoy the 50 degree weather this past Saturday.  We played at Oakledge (of course, it's my favorite) and spent time with friends.

5.  Bullet Journaling

This is legit how I'm keeping sane.  I started Bullet Journalling at the beginning of the year, and this journal has become my lifeline.  Everything I need to do is written down (in a color coded system).  This notebook has all of my lists!  It's how I'm getting everything done and done on time (sometimes even early!).

If you are interested in bullet journaling, check out this site or just google it.  I found lots of cute ideas and layouts that way. I would describe bullet journaling as getting to create a planner exactly how you like it and incorporate any time of list, note taking, or tracking into that planner.  I have never really gotten the hang of or enjoyed using a digital system, and I haven't just loved any of the planners I've bought in the past.  But this allows me to create a planner that works perfectly for me.  Plus, I incorporate washi tape and cute pen colors to make it fun!

6. Marakesh Oil

I got this in my fabfitfun box this past December.  This hair oil is a great example of why fabfitfun is a good idea.  I would have NEVER gotten this hair oil on my own.  But now that I have and use it, I LOVE it.  It makes my hair shiny but not oily.  I have been making an effort to curl or straighten my hair every day, so I will look nice for student teaching.  This hair oil helps!

I am sure there are many other things I am forgetting, but that's all I can remember for today.  Now, back to homework!

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5 on Friday

Christmas break is almost over, which means I am about to head into my toughest semester.  I will be student teaching 5 days a week and then going to three night classes...whew!  But it's only 4 months.  I can do anything for 4 months, right?

I want to post about Christmas down south (and maybe catch up on Thanksgiving and the fall!), but I'll start with my favorite...5 on Friday!

O     N     E

I know I have mentioned this before once or twice (okay, fine, like every time I post), but I am obsessed with Modern Mrs. Darcy's What Should I Read Next podcast.  Besides just getting a slew of new book suggestions, I have also learned a lot about myself by her book descriptions.  I realized that I like realistic fiction.  It can have a touch of mysticism or fantasy (L'Engle, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Tana French), but I don't really want or need a thriller.  I like plots that are slow and beautiful.

I think that preference pours over into my choice of movies and television shows.  One of my favorite shows is Gilmore Girls.  While the talking is fast paced, the plot isn't.  It even verges on the mundane, at times, but the characters and their development is so captivating.

Enter in my new favorite show:  This Is Us.

Oh, ya'll, this show is incredible.  I was talking about how good it is with another girl, and, when someone else asked what it was about, we just really couldn't give an answer or explain.  It's just the story of a family, but it is told so beautifully.  I guess there are some exciting plot things that happen, but what's more interesting is how everyone responds to those events and to each other.

T     W     O

I am a huge Christmas money hoarder.  My birthday is in July, and it is not uncommon for me to still have Christmas money left over by the time it rolls around.

This year, though, I have already spent some!  I have been reading about FabFitFun for a couple of months, and I really wanted to try a box.

They just came out with the Editor's Box.  I went with this option, because I could actually see what I was going to get.  

I got my box in yesterday, and I love it!  My favorite item is definitely my blanket scarf.

T     H     R     E     E

This has been the Christmas break of sickness.  I had a short bout of either the flu or the flu-like virus.  Bech had the stomach bug.  And now Jack has walking pneumonia.

I knew he wasn't feeling sick when he disappeared one afternoon and I found him asleep on Narnia (more on that in a later post!) at 4:45.  I tried to wake him up for dinner, but he wanted to sleep.  He slept from 4:45 until 7 the next morning!

He's on antibiotics, and he moved up from a nebulizer to an inhaler.  He's on the mend and will hopefully be better for school next Tuesday!

F     O     U     R

Jack has flown a TON in his short life, and Gil has already flown a bunch too.  But, other than one trip to San Diego, Jack didn't fly from 10 months until 3 1/2.  That age is just SO tough to fly with!  And of course, that's right where we are with Gil.  Gil doesn't want to sit in our lap or a seat...he just wants to move!

A friend (thanks, Ashley!) recently mentioned that they bought a plane ticket for their (then) almost two year old and brought his car seat on the plane.  Well, Gil is now over two so this was his first flight with his own seat.  We decided to do the same.  

Y'all.  GAME CHANGER.  Gil is an incredible car traveler and does great in his car seat.  The same was true for flying.  He fussed a little, and we had to stop him from kicking the seat in front of him.  But other than that, he did pretty well.  The car seat made a ton of difference.  Until he's a little older, I think we will always fly with our car seat.

Head's up, though, you do need to double check that your seat is aircraft approved.  Only one flight attendant asked me, but I was glad I had googled the night before where exactly that approval was located on the car seat.

F     I     V     E

Everyone's doing it, so I decided to make a best nine collage of my 2016 instagram pictures.  

I always get so tickled at these things, because Bech gets the most likes!  With the exception of the second picture and the last picture, Bech is in every one.  Well done, Bech, well done.

Do y'all find that to be the case?  That people like a picture more when you or your spouse is in it?

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  We have some fun plans for NYE that I am excited for!

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