tough love and pizza in the park

we had the park to ourselves last night...just me, max, our kite, and some ducks that were trying to intimidate us out of our dinner.
it was the calm before the storm that has been the past few nights...where my max decides to flex his muscles and become all sassafras and down right mean. it breaks my heart a bit...and has me throwing my hands up in the air.
his life is certainly changing...and there are times when i forget how different our experiences of growing up have been already. there are things we will never be able to understand about each other...but the thing that tethers us together is love. love so mighty and unconditional.

and so we wade through the sharp words and forced punishments and consequences...the hurt and the apologies and the promises that tomorrow is a new day to try again.

and in the meantime, there is always the park and pizza and a chance to let things lie and rest for a bit while we roll through the grass and drag a windless kite along the ground...

 and if that doesn't work...there is always ben and jerry's.

cheers to to happy weekend!
xoxo

biding my time

my matt is away tattooing in massachusetts for the next few days..

 (if you live near sturbridge, hop over to the convention and give him a squeeze for me!)

it's always the pits when he's gone. i suppose i've taken a liking to him!

but i've been keeping myself company with lots of sun and painting and take out for lunch today. 

i had my fingers crossed to take max kite flying after school but there doesn't seem to be much wind to get them up and going...maybe if we run really fast?

regardless, it's at least going to be a dinner in the park kind of a night.

it's too close to the weekend not to...

punch drunk

things are moving and shaking around here...house projects for days, sis is a 25 week along rutabaga, and my nesting has reached full effect!

the wallpaper for a wall in baby girl's room came in today and we've been sitting on the floor all morning long, that paper and i, just staring at each other.

the colors in person are so much darker and intense than the swatch online...and my pregnancy brain, the one that let me eat 12 cupcakes yesterday and forget max's name, has me terrified of making a decision. but one thing's for certain...i see punchy colors with this little lady! corals and reds and anything in between!

 and maybe some yellow...turquoise? definitely a little bit of grey....

who needs a cupcake?

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peony wallpaper- urban outfitters// girl with bow print- etsy// polka dot dress- old navy ( the most beautiful gift from naomi!)// coral dress- h&m

p.s. i'm over at with two cats today dishing on blogging and mothering and a few of my favorite things...

thank you, lauren, much and much for having me!

max and me and kinfolk

the third volume/spring issue of kinfolk is available today! 

i've been sinking into my copy with left over lemon cupcakes and a bit of quiet this afternoon.

 

i'm not quite sure how it's possible, but every new issue gets more and more beautiful than the last...

 i was lucky enough to get to contribute a few new simple paintings and a illustration for this issue...and got the chance to write a small essay about time spent baking and making messes, just me and my max. 

it's a fun read, knowing now that the katie who wrote those words had no idea she would soon have another little set of hands eager to help in the kitchen...

these are a few extra photos from our shoot for the issue...oh how i cherish them.

 

p.s. did i ever tell you that kinfolk is carried in anthropologie stores? good grief, it's a bit of a dream to go into your favorite store and see your name and work on a product on a shelf!

now that calls for another cupcake!

happy happy tuesday!

happy happy mimi

 this month is our mimi's "joining the family" birthday!

she got dropped off to us last year in march as a lost puppy...and after a few failed attempts to find her a home we bought her a bed and a collar and called her our own!

max and i celebrate her today over puppy treats and cupcakes and might have depressed her a little bit by making her wear a party hat.

 what a year it's been...

mimi has been such a good and funny addition to our family!

and my oh my does she love our boys as much as i do...

she is the most eager gal for attention and love and can be the life of the party! she has an affinity to eating my shoes and the dust piles i sweep up in the kitchen. she enjoys hiding under max's bed, hopping the fence and going for afternoon strolls, and plotting to take down our hamster, spongey.

 

but above all of it...she is loved and loved. 

 

 happy 1st birthday, sweet girl! 

blooms and busted teeth

my goodness has it been a day...the kind where you oversleep a bit and wear the same thing two days in a row and spend 3 hours at the urgent care dentist fixing up a little boy's busted tooth from a roller skating injury at school. i've never met a friday i didn't like...but this one has maybe worn out it's welcome.

 

it's going to be a drown my sorrows in pizza kind of night...and plenty of reflecting on the more than beautiful week this was...spring tree blossoms and baby kicks and summer warmth and sweet packages in the mail from amazing friends!

 

here's to a happy weekend!

fingers crossed...

how does your garden grow

i'm daydreaming over my garden today...itching to get my bare hands in the dirt and seeing what pops up!

i've found a sweet kind of therapy in sowing seeds and pulling weeds. this year's garden will be a good soulful place for me to find some peace while we wait for our own little sweet pea sis to pop up come july!

 

we're hoping for lettuce and radish and squash and cucumber this year...and i'm already looking forward to being barefoot and pregnant and filthy.

there's just something about garden soil under the nails that can take a gal to the heavens!

when life gives you lemons

max set up a lemonade stand this past weekend to raise himself some money for skates!

 he's always been a bit of an entrepreneur...a planner and a schemer, that max. it's been funny watching his passion for starting up little businesses.

 

roller blades aren't that expensive these days...but our guy is fickle when it comes to the things he's interested in...so instead of buying him skates that he might only use for a few days we told him he would have to do chores to earn them. but he is just as business savvy as he is fickle...and decided he would rather gamble in the lemonade business than help me fold laundry or pooper-scoop the back yard.

and so saturday, he made out his shopping list and delegated tasks and tried to sell his lemonade for $25 a glass. i guess he was proud of his product!

we set up in front of matt's studio and after a couple of hours, a handful of lemonade buyers, and a $20 tip from one of matt's sweetest clients, max closed shop and bought himself some skates!

it was so funny and wonderful watching him walk through target with his little mason jar of money...

he was forever proud. it did us all some real good!

i've only had scold him 5 or 6 times for going down the stairs in his skates and crashing into the cars...

and he may or may not have gotten grounded from them already and forced to help me fold laundry anyways...

he's learning some hard-knock business lessons..haha. 

happy wednesday, friends!

it might as well be spring

spring is finally here and everything all around is blossoming and singing right on cue. i can't help but see sis in every bit of the colors and smells and delicate new things growing. only 16 more weeks to go!

 

for now i'm letting the season bring about all the lightness and easy breathing and hopefulness that only spring can do...along with bare toes and cut grass and an ache to put chickens in the yard (next year for sure!)

happy happy new spring, sweet friends!

xoxo