JAMs Jams. Pure. Real. Fresh.

The girls are off school tomorrow so I took the day off to spend a long weekend with them. We decided to journey to Chattanooga, spend a night in a hotel & go to the aquarium tomorrow. We took our time driving down today, stopped in Monteagle on the way. Before we left Nashville we had to take a trip to Build a Bear workshop for Eri to spend her gift card. She got a new white kitty. Because we have a shortage of stuffed animals in our house (not!). She also spontaneously decided to get her ears pierced again. She had it done when she was 4 but let them more or less close up because they kept getting infected. So she's back in business! We are staying at The Chattanoogan - it's pretty nice & has an indoor pool so we went there when we arrived. Then we ordered Chinese & had a little picnic. Eri thinks we are in another country. How awesome is that - kid thinks every trip is to a new country. I love it! we have a "kingdom" bed in our room. That's Eri...

I feel compelled to share a story of one morning last week - it was Tuesday morning I believe. I have to start by setting the scene - our house is usually pretty chaotic, stressful, tense, loud, etc. in the mornings before school. The routine is pretty standard and the timeline each morning is well known, but somehow just doesn't always get followed... Typically Kendall has to go in each girl's room at least once & often more than that each morning to be sure they are getting dressed, brushing hair & teeth, etc. Well Tuesday he went to prod them & came back to get me, saying I needed to "see this". He & I peered from the hallway into the kitchen where we saw Eri, fully dressed sitting at the kitchen table. She was reading to herself. It was one of the sweetest moments. One of those snapshots in time when you feel like you're doing everything right. Magical. Last week Kendall was in Seattle for much of the week, work was frenzied & the week ...