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- It’s that time of year: time for the annual can-I-squeeze-my-two-children-plus-the-dog-into-the-laundry-basket photo. And the answer is a resounding: NO.
The concept of putting Abby in a laundry basket was originally a photo I took in our first house in 2014: Abby’s Saturday #30. Then in 2017, I put both Abby & Braelynn in a laundry basket for Abby’s Saturday #170. And then, we added Leander to the mix for Abby’s Saturday #267. Last year, we did Abby’s Saturday #363 and now here we are at #418! - If last week felt like a whirlwind – this week felt like a tornado.
We had a lot going on last week – but so much of it was travel-based. This week, we had a lot going on, but it was all centered at home (no driving across multiple state-lines this week).
But, I feel like I’ve been hit by a tornado. And my house has definitely been hit by a tornado. Welcome to busy season. - This week is the semi-annual Just Between Friends sale in Monroeville. It’s a massive kids consignment sale that I’ve attended since Braelynn was a baby. I LOVE this sale. I love thrifting, so I love going to this huge convention-center sized mega consignment sale. You never know what you’re going to find – so it’s like treasure-hunting every single time.
I also take items to sell (which is a ton of work in and of itself, but I knew I had busy busy days coming up, so I was prepped and ready for the sale a while ago). Besides all the prep that goes into pulling, cleaning, sorting, importing, printing, tagging, and organizing all of the items I take to the sale, I actually have to take all of my stuff to the convention center. I’ve done it so many times, I have a super good system, but what really threw me for a loop this time was actually getting to the convention center! Multiple roads were closed – the roads are an absolute mess from my house into Monroeville – so it took me longer than usual.
Regardless, I got there on Tuesday, dropped off my stuff, and then on Thursday I went to shop. I must say: I was hit with a very wide range of emotions as I was walking down the aisles with all of the baby stuff. Once upon a time, I came to the sale specifically shopping for all of that stuff, and now my kiddos have outgrown all of it. Why do they have to grow up so fast? - On Wednesday night, Derrick and I jumped over to the other side of Pittsburgh for a media event at Three Rivers Karting. Nope – they don’t have any roller coasters there, but they are an indoor go-kart track, with axe-throwing, a big arcade, and (the reason for the media night) new food and bar options. We captured a ton of footage (and I’ve been dying to put that vlog together, but my photography stuff has to come first right now) and had a lot of fun! It was so cool to chat with the owner and hear him talk about how opening an indoor go-kart track was a dream of his, how he made it a reality in 2019, how he survived the pandemic, and how he’s continuing to grow and expand. The staff there was INCREDIBLE – obviously, we aren’t go-kart people, and most of the people at the event were, so we felt a little out of place. But the staff made us feel right at home. They were so friendly, so encouraging, so helpful – they really made the entire event a fantastic experience.
- We watched the new Jurassic Park movie last night – well, correction: we started it last Thursday night, but only made it half way through. So, we finally finished it last night. I love the Jurassic Park movies – but this last one was an awful dud. If you haven’t seen it – skip it – you aren’t missing out on anything.
- Besides the 90 minutes I took “off” last night to watch the second half of Jurassic Park, I have been working my butt off this week. I have so much editing to do – I feel like my eyeballs might just fall out of my head. Lots of hours logged in Lightroom, lots of podcasts listened to, lots of very late nights, lots of coffee.
- Speaking of nights: Leander has hit the age where he is officially afraid of the dark. It’s absolutely incredible to me how that switch can get flipped and suddenly kids can go from perfectly fine and comfortable in the dark, to terrified of it. We got him a new “fancy” nightlight and so far, it’s helped tremendously! Previously, we had given him one of Braelynn’s old nightlights – a projector one that shines onto the ceiling – then he would steal my book-light and want it shining out into his room every night – so this replaces both of those.
- I delivered a wedding album this week! I LOVE being able to deliver wedding albums in person – it’s so much fun to put a beautiful, finished book into someone’s hands! Jen & Justin had an album made from their wedding this past spring and I love how it turned out!
- So, we had a wedding last weekend (did you see it? Caleb and Juliana’s wedding was AMAZING, literally one of my favorites ever!), I have a wedding this weekend (today), and I have a wedding next weekend. (Now you know why I’ve been pushing myself harder than ever to keep up with editing!) I’m super excited for today though – it’s going to be a beautiful day, a venue I’ve been wanting to shoot at for a long time – stay tuned for sneak peeks and highlights!
