.Hi there, remember me?.

The past two weeks of July had many surprises for this girl! 

I've been spending a lot of my time caring for the little ones I nanny since their mother recently gave birth to another precious girl.
A trip to the ER..there have been a few health issues that decided to pop up, rather burst, that I have been trying to figure out through prayer and listening to my body. (more on this later in the week)

Our new house had it's very first house guests, besides the girls I nanny, all the way from Minnesota and Michigan!

I got to meet, hold, and love on my sweet niece Lucy. (Read here and here to meet all of the little munchkins in my life!)

And now.. 

It is just Adam, pup, and myself in a very empty, very quiet house.
It's nice..
and rather sad.
There are laundry piles taunting me to wash them, dishes screaming for a soapy dip, and a rug that is begging me to vacuum it and here I sit, typing to you on my blog.
I will rest today and not worry about all of the things needing to get done..there's always tomorrow right?!
Leftovers, comfy pj's, cool A/C, warm blankets, and netflix will be my friends this afternoon and night.
Should I mention it is currently 2:10pm and the hubs and I slept through breakfast..and church..and lunch?
Yes, at 1:21pm we awoke to a cloudy and wet Sunday afternoon.

Life is good!

.Meet Virginia.

It's a GIRL! 

Meet Virginia Belle Basten

 The Basten Family
Joy age 3, Grace age 4.5, and Virginia Belle with their loving parents Mason and Katy.

 Grace and Joy giving their baby sister presents.

 I am blessed--this family has welcomed me in as their own. Here I am holding Virginia Belle only a few hours after she was born.

 I could not take my eyes off of her--so in love!

 Virginia Belle is the first newborn (meaning in "Katie" terms: under 4 weeks old) I have ever held in my adult life and is the first baby I have ever visited in a hospital. She weighs 7.5 lbs.
Holding her only hours after she was born and seeing how perfect and beautifully made she is touches deep down inside of me..to parts I have never felt before.
I am having trouble finding the words to express it..
God is good!
He knit Virginia Belle together in her mother's womb, she is His perfect Creation. Virginia Belle has the littlest toenails, fingernails, and eyelashes I have ever seen. God created her in His image and she is a miracle.
I see Katy everyday and was with her throughout her entire pregnancy and all of a sudden..one day..this little miracle is born..just like that.
She is here and she is perfect!
I am truly humbled by our Heavenly Father and in awe of His creation.

.Love & Prayers.

Today the little ones I nanny will be staying over night..and the next night..and the next night. The reason behind this sudden change of plans is because their mommy is having a baby! I just received "the" phone call alerting me they are on their way to the hospital to welcome Baby Basten #3 into the world! I cannot be more excited for them and I am asking you to send your love and prayers to the Basten family for a healthy baby and mommy as well as a safe delivery. The best part is Baby Basten #3 is a surprise--the family has no idea if it's a boy or girl!

Thank you everyone, I'm certain your prayers will be felt by all :)

Happy Monday!

.Weekending.

After a busy morning and afternoon, Adam and I needed to change the pace of our day..we needed to slow things down a bit and kick up our feet for the night. 

We drove to the beautiful campus of Sweet Briar College to watch my very talented brother-in-law act in the Twelfth Night. It was an outdoor theatre production.

 Outdoor theater, does it get any better?

Virginia blessed everyone with a cloudy and cool night. We met up with Adam's parents to enjoy a little picnic while sitting in our lawn chairs waiting for the play to begin. The Blue Ridge mountains acted as the backdrop for the play and we got to sit in the middle of it all and enjoy God's stunning creation. 

My brother-in-law Alex did a fabulous job playing Sir Andrew and provided the audience with many laughs and some great banjo strumming!

 Alex is not only a good actor, a fantastic banjo player, and extremely witty..he is also adorable.
Exhibit A:

Favorite Alex smirk (and ladies--he's single, wink wink!)

The night was simply wonderful, thank you brother or should I say Sir Andrew :)

.Little Accomplishments.

It's the little things friends..the little things that make a big difference in life.

As a nanny, my work "uniform" consists of the following: 

sweats + t-shirt

jeans + t-shirt

In the winter time simply add a fleece and boots and in the summertime add flip flops, that's it! I understand I do not have to wear these items of clothing but let's be real: I'M A NANNY. Fashion does not matter, make up does not matter, and how I wear my hair does not matter. The girls accept and love me no matter what I look like.

Well, this August will be two years nannying for the same family. Can I tell you something?--I feel kinda like a mom at times, and feel like I dress/look like one. To all of you mothers out there, I mean no disrespect by this, what I mean is all of my time and energy goes towards these little girls. Feeding them, dressing them, bathing them, playing with them, loving them..I do not give myself a lot of time in the mornings just for "me." Every morning I get my shower in but then I throw on my jeans, any t-shirt I can find clean (yes, even Adam's t-shirts) and I'm ready for the day. No makeup and air dried hair with the frizz, waves and all!

I've been noticing my confidence dropping a little after the girls leave (nothing drastic but enough to notice) and when my husband comes home from work and wants to go out I respond, "Oh goodness, just look at the way I'm dressed..my hair..my face..etc." He always assures me and tells me I look great. I believe he sees me this way and we do have a wonderful time when we go out, but I need to feel beautiful myself, need to feel confident myself. Adam deserves a wife who is confident and ready for whatever adventure he has up his sleeve, that is what intrigued me about him in the first place. Side note: Something pretty rad about my husband, he actually prefers me without makeup, for REALZ.

It's awesome.

Well I woke up this morning and decided I needed a change. I needed to focus more time on myself! So today I woke up one hour earlier and I have a secret: It wasn't too bad. I took a nice long shower and even had time to shave my legs and use conditioner in my hair..as the title says, it's the little accomplishments. After my shower, I put on my "dress up jeans," threw on a cute top (p.s. this top has not fit me in a year and a half, hope it's still in style!), dried my hair, and..are you ready?--put on makeup! YES, I got ready for the day :) 

 

 My morning did not end here--I even had time to prepare a delicious Slim Fast shake, eat a banana (HUGE accomplishment for me, I'm a texture eater and a gagger..yea..) and a Fiber One chocolate granola bar as well as drink three cups of water! The little accomplishments in life..I am feeling pretty and my tummy is full!

Dear Day,

Bring it on.

Love, 

Katie

Life is good friends..what little accomplishments bring you smiles?

.Breakfast for Dinner.

I am lucky I found a guy who loves breakfast for dinner as much as I do.

Introducing our one plate, two forks dinner:

 You better believe we cleaned our plate ;)

.A little work goes a long way.

This post is about:

Work, Yard Work to be exact.

But before I get into all of the details about that, let me take a little step back and tell you about our new house. We moved in as renters to our future home on June 1st while lawyers worked overtime to clear up a $35,000 lien on the title. I would love to explain everything that happened but seeing how I only understood about 3% of it all, I will simply skip this step and tell you we are official HOMEOWNERS with a clean and clear title. Adam and I closed on our first house over our second anniversary weekend, talk about a great anniversary gift ;) The Lord has blessed us with this house we now call our home. You can read about the journey here and here.

Since our closing day, Adam and I have been busy. Not on house projects or work, but with life. We have been living life together to the fullest taking advantage of precious quality time with our friends and family. Weekend trips have been taken, hugs and kisses have been spread, fellowship dinners and cookouts have been shared, babies have been loved on, and it has left us: 

HAPPY.

Adam and I have been feeling the joy God is placing in our lives at this time. In life, God gives us different seasons and Adam and I are rejoicing in the season He is blessing us with. We are trying to think on the positive side, seeing that glass (you know which one) half full. We are figuring out our budget for our house and working as one to accomplish our goals..our goals to make this house a home, our home..goals to continue getting our bodies strong and healthy for our Lord..goals to have savings for children in the future..goals to allow us to give more to our church..goals to be young, happy, and living for Christ.

The past 3 days have been spent working hard and working together to complete: Yard work. Because we have been away and busy for the three weeks we have been homeowners, our house began to act out for not receiving the attention it deserved. Let me show you in pictures after all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Did you notice:

- the weeds

- the old and pitiful mulch

- the dead azaleas

- the dirty walk way

- the tall grass

- the random flowers

- the barrel (?)

For those of you who do not know me or the lovely parents that raised me..let me tell you one thing:

1. We are "particular"..especially when it comes to our property.

My parents taught me about curb appeal at a very young age and had me weeding and planting for years. I remember shrugging my shoulders at my father when he would wake me early on a Saturday morning and rolling my eyes at my mother when she asked me to help her de-head the petunias. Even though I acted as a punk kid when these small tasks were asked of me, I always had a secret deep down inside..I liked it! That's right, I actually enjoyed getting sweaty, sunburned, and bitten by bugs because yard work left me with one thing:

1. Instant Gratification

Yes, I am all about this. There are so many forms of work in our lives and only a few leave you with instant gratification. Yard work is a big one friends! I highly suggest you take pictures before, during, and after working in your yard. It may seem silly taking off your gardening gloves to snap a pic, but it is so worth it!

This past Saturday was a hot one here in Virginia but the hubs and I were up early. We had our tools ready, more waiting in garage:

We had our yard work outfits on! Consisting of: Old but comfy sneakers, old jeans, high socks, and a large (very old) neon camp shirt (great color to see if creepy crawlers are on ya!) and lots of bug spray and sunscreen:

 And gloves:

I'll admit, I was a bit dorky and 90's looking, but I am happy to report not one bug bite, sunburn, or ticks! Thank you very much ;) Adam looked a bit cooler than I did:

While he edged around our driveway, front curb, and walk way as well as cutting the grass, I dug..and dug..and dug.

Any guesses why? Let me bring you back to a picture from early Spring when we visited the house, pay close attention to the front bed:

Daffodils. 

Lots of them.

As pretty as they were, only a few short weeks later they were so big that it was hard to see and walk on our walk way. They had to go..therefore, I dug..and dug..and dug.

I was about to "bulb" my mind! Thankfully, my sweet mother-in-law was excited when I offered her some bulbs and she took all of them..ALL OF THEM!!! :) I filled up two large buckets of these white guys:

When I finally finished digging these out, I began raking. I have a plan when it comes to fixing up a flower bed.

I like to..
1. Rake out old mulch
2. Weed, weed, and weed
3. Rake again and level out bed
4. Spray weed killer
5. Sprinkle bug killer
6. Lay out weed paper
7. Add fresh mulch
8. Spray everything with a drink from the hose

I stuck to this routine with the front of our house and added a few tasks, like digging up those darn daffodil bulbs, and removing dead shrubs and replanting the living shrubs to form some sort of  pattern. Our main goal was to spend as little money as possible, even if that means our front beds are rather bare. Next Spring we have big plans for landscape design, this Summer was simply clean up mode! After completing steps 1-5:

Step 6 (yes, those are my sneakers..guess my feet needed a break!):

And my favorite, Step 7:

Adam and I are thrilled with the results. A little work goes a long way! We are thankful some of the shrubs are still alive and plan on giving them extra loving through the year. Our total cost can be broken down like so:

Bug Killer = FREE (Purchased last year)

Weed Paper = $20.00 + some Purchased last year

Mulch = $100.00

Total: $120.00

We know there is plenty more we could have done but our goal was to clean it up, use what we were given, and work hard! I think our work paid off, what do you think?

Before:

 After:

Adam's edging made a huge difference! Now to keep this up :) We had so much fun working on the front of our house because IT IS OUR HOUSE, amazing! And I must say, I am so thankful for my husband..his muscles did the majority of heavy lifting aka MULCH! I love when we can work as team and accomplish things together.

To view photos of the interior click here and the exterior click here.

Thank you for reading and

HAPPY YARD-WORKING ;)

P.S. Our shutters are a deep navy but they continue to look black in photos, oh well!

.July is Going Fast.

Is it really July 10th today? Where oh where have the last two weeks gone? I feel like years (well maybe that's a bit exaggerated) let's just say weeks literally have flown by without posting on my blog. Want to know something?

I've missed it.

Life has been so busy lately that I have fallen behind in my posting and my favorite part of blog world, reading what all of you have to write and share! I seriously miss seeing pictures of your adorable kids, enjoying the family moments you write about, the little things that encourage and bring inspiration to you, how the Lord is moving in your life and what He is teaching you, and the amazing crafts and DIY projects that get my mind thinking. 

Blog friends, you have been missed.

My only task for tomorrow while the girls nap will be to read. Read what you wrote about. I am  planning on taking the girls I nanny out for a nice and yummy lunch at Chick-fil-A because it's a healthy lunch and definitely not fast food..right?..RIGHT ;) Plus, I have a coupon for a free coffee! SCORE! I will bring my coffee home, get the girls ready for nap, and then snuggle up on my favorite spot and do two things:

1. drink my coffee (cream + two sugars)
2. read, read, read blogs

Tomorrow will be another good day. Rain or shine!

HAPPY MONDAY!

.Weekending.

The past 5 days have been incredible. 

(even if 17 hours were spent in a car driving/sleeping/being cranky..I am not a good traveler, are you?)

Highlights include:

- family

- babies

- sunshine

- cigars

- food

- swimming

- dogs

- basketball

- laughter

- love

Adam and I had a fantastic long weekend with our loved ones. 

Our tummies remain full, 

our noses appear pink, 

and  

our hearts are bursting with 

happiness.

I hope you and your family celebrated this July 4th with a bang!