a recipe for happy lately

a recipe for happy lately
• • • 
isla jane
the changing season
sisters, always
mornings with lucy
coffee with whipped cream in a favorite mug
planned visits from faraway friends + family
estes park in only three weeks!
pumpkins + christmas in my heart 
the blooms 
conversations with abel
burning pumpkin spice candles
c h r i s  s a l v a g g i o n e
snuggles
this little platform that God has provided me with to reach so many tiny screens + encourage the lives of those behind them! 

behind the lens || abel

abel loves to take pictures on my big camera, and he's really getting quite good. i always love to go through and see what he captured, and these are just a few of my favorites I found most recently. 
that abel, what a winner. 

things to remember...

isla has been with us for three months now, and my big kids seem big... three months really isn't that long, but pictures don't lie + they all look a million years older. i just love them, big or small. i try and make a note anytime they do or say something especially cute so that i can at some point write it here and remember it when three months from now or three years or thirty, they are doing something totally different. so, now felt like a good time to catch up on the past three months + also share these sweet photos in our favorite L'ovedbaby jammies!

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sweet isla jane... feels like she's been a part of us forever. i know her face + love every bit of her. i love to kiss the sweet spot behind her ear, the space between her eyes, or the spot between her nose and mouth. basically if i could kiss her whole face at once i would. she is the happiest, chattiest, easiest, prize baby ever + the perfect third child. she flirts with me in the mirror + when she nurses, and i spend soooo much time that i "should" be using for the continuous pile of laundry that keeps showing up on our couch, playing with her instead... i couldn't be happier about that. 

the other day, abel introduced himself and arrow to our neighbor as, "i'm captain jake + my matey is minnie."

mornings with lucy 

when we went to the drive in, abel gave me his red sour patch kids, even though he told everyone else it was his favorite color and they could have a different one.

chatting with isla 

lucys hand gestures + head tilting + generally everything about her delivery of conversation... bottle it up + play it back on repeat.

i hope abel never stops saying adventure "adbenture" or calling making smores around a fire "camping" 

please let me never forget the time lucy told me that "harlow ate it" when she finished her marshmallow and wanted another. 

when every conversation with abel during the months of july, august and september starts with him saying, "let's talk about Halloween" -- my child 

lucy's baby talk voice, "awwww baby booo" or the time she told me isla was hungry and to "feed her yours boobs"

"i sure can!"

they're sweet little bodies curled up in my lap

on the 4th of july, i gave abel a penny for the fountain and he kissed it before tossing it in. fairly certain that my postpartum emotions and i cried tears over that preciousness. 

when my stomach growled and lucy told me my tummy burped

"I'm building frosty for Lucy, he's a jolly happy soul" -- abel

abel + lucy's pirate faces, forever

"let's make a baby train and go to target! sometimes auntie comes with us!"--abel
...and by sometimes he means every time.
**all jammies are l'ovedbaby brand! 100% organic goodness, awesome colorways + such great people behind it! thanks for making our morning scene that much sweeter!**

it's good to be isla

two and a half months and chatty chatty chatty. that, plus the rolls and the chins and the smiles and the curly lashes... guys, it's good to be isla. it's maybe even better to be Isla's mom, because duh, I am on the receiving end of all of this greatness. is there a better age for her than now? my prize, my baby, praise God.

hot air balloons + a little film

hello! happy thursday, how awesome are long weekends followed by short weeks?! boom.
we had a great labor day weekend... relaxed a lot, hit up the drive in, spent time with family, watched friends get married + were able to catch up with some of our very favorite people in the world at the same time. saturday morning, we were up before the sun, loaded our sweet yawning babes in the car, snagged some donuts + coffee, and headed to see the hot air balloon launch at the windsor harvest festival. we all loved it. the balloons are SO big + now i'm trying to talk chris into a quick road trip to the international balloon festival in October... fingers crossed.
i hadn't made a little movie in a while, so magical sunrise, my sweet fam + hot air balloons just felt right. enjoy!

a happy birthday party

scenes from when some of our favorite people came to help celebrate our girl... a sweet little "happy birthday party" (as referred to by lucy). we ate, drank + were merry, i was really proud of the "peent" cake i made her, i took next to NO pictures (womp) + she got new dress up costumes, art supplies + bedtime books, huzzah! 
i love lucy, i love birthdays, i love parties, wins all around. enjoy!

two years of sweet lucy

how are we at two again? it mostly feels like she's three, and all at the same time her first birthday + the way she smashed that tiny cake + scrunched her precious lips feels like yesterday. lucy's life has been full speed, more so than abel's. i suppose that comes with the territory when you aren't the only one. focus is shared + the attention has never been undivided. even still, fastest two years, but also the very best. life would be completely and utterly incomplete without our sweet luna, our sunshine girl.

lucy- you're brilliant + beautiful + bursting with life. you run full speed into a hug, throw your head back when you swing, do everything 100%-- from the way you play, to how you melt down, and the way you love. you're arms wide open all the time. this is one of my very favorite things about you, you're brave, you're all i've ever hoped to be, and all i ever dreamed that you would be. thank you for changing our lives, challenging + growing us as parents, for making us laugh a billion times a day, and for being exactly who you are. we love you forever + a million evers.

some of my favorite photos from the last year, and a million more throughout this blog! 
photos from the previous year HERE.