Happy Friday, friends! Just one more week until Christmas.  We can make it that long, can’t we? Here are some updates from our week!

1) Baby Mischief

I mentioned last week that Caleb is crawling, and he just keeps getting better and better! He still is only army crawling so he’s pretty slow but if he sees something he wants he takes off for it. I stepped out of his nursery to grab a laundry basket and came back in 30 seconds later to find this ridiculousness.  I spent a lot of this week grabbing things from him or redirecting him and I have a feeling it will only get worse from here.  Our box of baby-proofing supplies from Amazon came in the mail yesterday so it’s go-time, people!

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1) Christmas Decor

In case you missed it, I shared a few fun pics of our Christmas decorations in Monday’s post.  I love how warm and inviting our house feels at Christmas and it was fun to snap a few pictures to share with you all.  Can you spot my favorite pop of red in this picture?

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Since last week I took a break from my normal Friday posts to share some thoughts about the election, it seems like it’s been a while since I thought back on what’s been going on with us.  It’s been a crazy few weeks and I am excited for some of the not-so-fun grownup stuff we’ve been dealing with to wind down so we can rest and enjoy the holidays.

1) A Crazy Storm

A few weeks back our area got hit by a crazy hail storm.  I had just woken up Caleb from his nap when all of a sudden it seemed like the world was ending and our house was exploding (can you tell hail is a strange thing for this California girl?).  As we peeked out onto the back porch and saw huge, golf-ball sized hail smashing into the deck and screens, I immediately thought of Jordan and all the other teachers parked outside at the high school.  He called me soon after and was actually out driving in it.  Y’all, his car got DESTROYED by the hail. Fortunately he was okay but his car has tons of dents.  There was also some damage to our house and we have insurance people coming out to take a look at that in the next few weeks. So crazy what one storm can do!

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I originally drafted this post as a normal Five on Friday post.  I wrote out some updates on how I’m rewatching Gilmore Girls in anticipation of the reunion season coming out, how I’m loving Ann Voskamp’s new book, how we got a crazy hail storm last week and Jordan’s car got a ton of dents.  I wanted to write one last point about some thoughts and reflections on the election, but that one paragraph became three paragraphs became a whooole lot of thoughts, and I felt like that was really all I could respectfully share this week.  So if you want to see pictures of our hail damage and my cute baby boy, maybe tune back in next week.  If you’re as confused by this election as I am and having just as many jumbled, convicting thoughts, keep reading.

My heart for this blog has always been that it be a place where people can vulnerably share their stories and their hurts, and this is a little picture of where I’ve been in my quiet times and conversations with people this week.

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This past week was so fun! I loved having my mom in town and we had so much fun celebrating our first Halloween with our little guy.  Isn’t fall just the best?

1) Grandma Visits

My mom came into town this past weekend to spend some time with us and it was so fun to have her here. We spent lots of time just being silly with my little guy and hanging out at the house or going on walks.  We did a little cooking and shopping too, but our main goal was just to get in some quality grandma-Caleb time.  He was such a smiley little guy and I loved seeing him get to know his grandma! If only California were a whole lot closer…

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Whew, what a week! With a car accident last weekend that threw everything off a bit and some other fun adventures, it’s been a full week or two.  Read on for some silly pictures and details!

1) A Couples Massage

To celebrate Jordan rocking his two-marathon weekend (yes, he is kind of crazy) and a waaaay belated birthday date, we got massages last weekend.  Oh man, is there anything better? My masseuse was wonderful and I walked away feeling like many months of nursing and holding a clingy/snuggly baby were massaged right out.  Unfortunately, Jordan’s experience wasn’t quite as great…his masseuse told him from the get-go she couldn’t do more than light-medium pressure, and in his words, “it kind of just felt like someone rubbed lotion all over me for an hour.” Such a bummer! Next time we will definitely clarify he needed something more like a deep-tissue sports massage.  We headed to Panera afterward for some yummy lunch, did a little shopping at TJ-Maxx, then picked up our little guy and headed home!

I don’t have any pictures of us getting massages because well….that would be weird.  But I love getting pictures like this one from my sister-in-law while she’s watching our little guy.  I’m so glad he’s well taken care of while we’re gone!

2) Family Dinner & Game Night

I’ve mentioned before how Jordan’s family lives in town, but I don’t think I say enough how grateful we are for them.  We hang out with Jordan’s brother and his wife/kids almost weekly and they are some of the few people in the world we could spend days and days with and not get sick of each other! 😉 We both lived with them at some point before getting married, have held their sweet babies on the day they entered the world and many days since then, and have had more movie and game nights than I can count (which is exactly what we did on Friday night!). I am so grateful to share life with them.  They also make the cutest, bright blue-eyed kiddos in the whole world,so there’s that too.

I mean look at these kiddos in their fall family photo shoot last week…do I not have the cutest nieces and nephews in the whole world?!

3) Park Adventures

Jordan had some more free time this weekend and it was a fun little glimpse into what life will be like when our schedules calm down a bit.  Caleb loves his daddy and literally shrieks with delight any time he sees him, even if it’s only been 5 minutes, and it is the cutest thing in the world.  We packed up the baby and the pup to head to the park and it was so beautiful to walk through the changing trees on a beautiful fall day.  Caleb babbles and shrieked at the top of his lungs and Olive tried to chase squirrels the whole time, but it was still pretty darn fun!

It reminded me of this picture from when we did the exact same walk a year ago and Caleb was just a little bean in my belly.  Crazy the difference a year can make (in both our family and in my husband’s hair.  Hello, short hair!).

4) A Car Accident

Kind of crazy, but on our way home from church on Sunday we got in a minor car accident.  We were rear ended while merging on to the freeway.  Fortunately we were all totally fine (although the hot cup of coffee in JOrdan’s hand did fly into the air and all over the dash and front seats).  Tthe car doesn’t seem to have a ton of damage, although there’s some damage to the back bumper and my speakers now make terrifying, piercing alien noises when you try to turn them on.  Once some stuff is cleared through insurance we will have it checked out and hopefully get it all fixed.

Having a little one in the backseat definitely makes those kind of things a whole lot scarier.  Caleb started crying from the noise and slight jolt of it, but it really could have been so much worse and we are so grateful it was as minor as it was.  My only bummer is it meant we had to replace his carseat that we’ve loved so much and were hoping to use with our next kiddo too.  I can’t see any damage but it’s not worth the risk, you know? I am so, so grateful that we are all okay and my car didn’t sustain too much damage.

5) A Trip To The Vet

I haven’t mentioned this girl in a while (although I have a post dedicated to her cuteness planned for next week!) but our little Olive had been licking her paw like crazy for a week or so.  She would do it all night long and since she sleeps in our room, I was about going crazy because of it.  We took her to the vet and she had a little lesion on her paw.  Hopefully some antibiotics/steroids will help make it go away because otherwise the poor girl will have to get a cone! Even having her gone all day at the vet made me realize how much I love having her around the house.  It feels so quiet and empty without her following me around and falling asleep with her head on her daddy’s pillow!

Happy weekend, friends!

Happy happy Friday! October is more than halfway over which means our schedules are calming down a bit and the cool weather has me dreaming of the holidays (too soon?).  Here are some updates from the last week in the English house!

1) Fall Vibes

The weather has cooled off and I am LOVING these gray, cloudy days.  They’re perfect for walks, cozy blankets, and mugs of coffee while my baby nugget naps.  I feel like it’s almost cliche, but my heart feels so full when the temperature starts to change and I know we’re heading into a new season (a season which includes Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that might have something to do with it).  I shared a mini fall home tour with some fun pictures of our fall decor from this year, so make sure to check that out if you haven’t already!

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Holy moly, it has been a packed two weeks! With a sick baby and lots of events on the calendar, I haven’t gotten around to sharing a Friday post in a while.  Enjoy some pictures and updates from our last two weeks!

1) Wedding Date Night

A friend of Jordan’s got married two weekends ago so we dressed up, had Jordan’s mom come over to watch Caleb, then headed downtown for a fun date night! It was so fun to put on a dress and spend a night just us and we loved getting to celebrate Jordan’s friend Mike and his wife Lisa.  The wedding ended right after dinner around 6:30 so we headed to a local brewery/restaurant that Jordan and his friends used to hang out at back in college.  We were cracking up because we were all yawning and exhausted at 7:30 PM dressed in our nice clothes with all the hipster “young folks” at the bar.  When did we become lame grownups, y’all? I can definitely blame Caleb for part of it, but it was pretty funny to sip my decaf coffee and long for bedtime even though it wasn’t even 8:00 PM.

I’ll also add this was the first time in maybe 3 years I’ve worn heels and I was 94% certain I was going to die or have to amputate my legs from the knee down before the night was over.  Fortunately I survived but you won’t find me in heels again any time soon!

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