Spring forward and fill-ins

Bonjour!

(sorry this may be long!)

I always mean to write, but as life goes...

It goes fast. And, I rely heavily on documenting life via Instagram.

So, where are we now?

Back in January I decided to try Kix out at Kie's little preschool, for two days a week. Kix always begged to go to 'school' with Kie and since he was being dragged there in the mornings (Tues/Thurs) and afternoon to get Kie, I figured, we might as well!

Initially, it was so nice.

I was amazed at what I could get done in that span of time without both boys. 

My house was cleaner than ever, dinner was done and I was even going back to the gym. I was showered and dressed with makeup on my face. I was thinking this cant be real life!

Life seemed so perfect for that first week until....everyone got sick.

It seemed we spent the majority of January through March swapping germs and coughing up our lungs.

Kie would come home with a cold, then give it to Kix, then give it to me and as soon as Kie was over it, he would get another virus.

I even managed to get the flu.

First time ever! It was awful. But, luckily no one else got the flu.

I pulled Kix out of Mother's Day Out to prevent him from getting any sicker. My little break in life was over before it began. He was 'officially' registered January and February but he missed more than he went.

Anyway, to say I'm glad that winter is over is an understatement.

I don't do well with cloudy, cold and wet weather.

Now that it's been a lovely few weeks of Spring, here I am.

We have been working diligently in our yard and on our house as usual. Now for bullet points to make it easier to read, lol. Sad.

• Justin finished up our floor to ceiling shelves in the playroom. It's finally looking how I imagined it years ago :)
• We planted even more trees and plants in the yard. My goal is to make our backyard a small little forest for the next generation.
• Justin built me a beautiful swing to sit out and enjoy the weather in.
• I also painted our entire living room an airy creamy white. I was in need of light during those wintery, long days.
• We are in the midst of getting a new roof (seriously overdue and goodness it's expensive!)
• I'm also redoing our breakfast bar. More on that later.

As for other things,

• We went to see the 'Three Little Pigs' at the Zach with our sweet friends, Malu and Mario the other month. It's always so nice to see them! And we love the theatre, so it's double the treat. It's becoming our tradition. Anytime we see a new play, we coordinate and our two sweet boys get to enjoy it together.

• Kie started his first season of T-Ball. We enjoy it so far. He is left handed and is a great batter! He hits the ball so good and runs so fast. It's pretty adorable to watch. His team is called the Lil' Strikers. We love all the parents, boys, sponsors and the coaches. I feel very blessed Kie is part of the South Austin Little League. It's a great, wholesome program. Also, he is #5 which is one of his favorite numbers.  #100 being his favorite but it's too big for his jersey. 

• My parents have visited us a few times. We took them on a surprise birthday dinner cruise on the lake last month. It just happened to be during SXSW so we also got to see free concerts at the Four Seasons. It was so nice! Justin got it all together and it was probably one of the best nights I've ever had in Austin...so that's saying a lot!  --- We had amazing catered Mexican food, Justin drove the boat and it was a perfect night to be on the water. We caught a sunset and watched the bats fly from Congress bridge. Also, later that night we ran into Joel McHale hanging out. He was nice and opened the door to the hotel and let my entire family go through before him. Little did they know who he was....but I did. So then I stalked him for a good 10 minutes debating to ask for a selfie...but, I decided against it. (Darn, no photo evidence so you will have to take my word for it!) 

• Mom and I also got to see the Jersey Boys together a few weeks back and now I'm slightly obsessed. I think I was meant for the 50s-60s decades. I also tried out Uber with her for a ride back home after the show...and it was a hilarious! We accidentally managed to 'car-pool' with this guy who was going to a pinata party down the road from my house. So, not only were we sharing a Prius with two strangers but also with a a massive pink elephant Pinata. It was an interesting ride, to say the least.

• Also, we've been subbing some in Sunday school which we love. I was thinking about going back to teach next year but I think I'll give it another year or so before we commit. Right now we are in the midst of a lot of uncertain times with my grandparents, unfortunately.

• This past weekend we spent a lovely Easter together with our sweet friend, Allison. And our church home also had a great event for the kiddos the Saturday before Easter. They always host the best Easter party with lots of egg hunts and games for the kids. I also ran into some old friends I've not seen lately. It was a beautiful weekend! The Easter bunny was good to the boys and had them a colored yarn maze to follow to their Easter gifts. (Thanks to Justin.) The Easter Bunny left them a new play tent and some sand toys to play in their sand box. They've been playing outside nonstop. We also got the little pool out to splash in. It's official, spring in Austin is here and we love it!

 And lastly,

• Justin and I have also gone on three dates in the past few months, which is a record. We went to Swift's Attic (definitely recommend) great food and service. We got to go thanks to Parent's Night Out at Westlawn Baptist. And then we also got to go to Fixe, Austin's Southern House. It recently opened up and so we decided to try it out. It was interesting food and had amazing service...the food was too new-age weird for me. (Dehydrated, micro foods?) But worth a try. And then one night my parent's were in we went to The Park on S. Lamar for food and drinks and karaoke. It was the perfect night out for patio drinking and people watching. I'm so ready for another date night soon.

That's it I guess!

We've got a lot of things to look forward to the next few weeks:

Lots more baseball games, tball games, Express games and also going to watch UT play OU this Sunday with friends.

Our 5th wedding anniversary, my Meme's 90th birthday party in Dallas with all our family, a trip to Atlanta, a trip to the beach and hopefully getting back out there to wake board soon. 

Sorry this is so long and probably not that interesting to read.

I just wanted to write it while I remember...

and heaven knows I probably already forgot a ton.

Happy Friday!

-HK

Off hiatus

As per usual, I have more posts in draft then what I have published. 

Blogging for me, has definitely died off.
It's not that I don't have something to say (when do I not?) but finding time to sit and put it into something coherent for others to read is the issue. I definitely prefer my IG account to keep a day-to-day update on life. (come find me @mommak918)

That said,
hellooooooo NEW YEAR!

I'm so glad to see 2014 GONE.

It was a year of challenges and mistakes, growth and self realization and lots of other things.
It wasn't the worst year by far, but last year started off badly. So I felt like I got off on the wrong foot.
I was sick with bronchitis, I had my first panic attack in YEARS...and I got sicker and sicker until I had (gallbladder) surgery in July and it was only until late August that things got better (health-wise).

It wasn't all bad, from August on to December life was pretty wonderful.
We had tons of fall fun, pumpkin patches, UT football games, times out on the lake fishing, lots of family time, date nights out, trips to Atlanta, ACL fun & Kiddie Limits, seeing theatre plays, birthday parties, Cowboy football games, Thanksgiving and lots more! Definitely more good then bad...but, nonetheless, 2015 is already looking up (least how we started vs. last year's!)

This Christmas we got to spend it with the entire family in Atlanta. There was nearly 30 of us!
It was wild but it was nice to have everyone together. Being around family is great, but it's also bittersweet. We realize these precious days are numbered. We have been blessed for years to spend it with grandparents who are healthy and sound, but as years past, we realize that those years were more blessed than we knew. I don't want to divulge much else, but that if you have grandparents or elderly family still around--give them hugs and kisses now :*)

As for this past NEW YEAR, we had a wonderful one!
Justin cooked a huge meal of lobster, crab legs and steak. After dinner, we then spent the rest of the evening outside around a big fire with sparklers and wearing lots of comfy layers. It was so cold out! I loved spending it with my three guys. It was such a relaxing and sweet night. Btw, we didn't even stay up till midnight. Ha! Justin and I got in bed not much after we put the kids down :)

The next day Justin spoiled us by cooking all three meals and cleaning up around the house. We also packed up Christmas and I started to spring clean. I like to start early.  As much as I love Christmas, I love a fresh new start from the New Year.
I've been decluttering, purging and re-organizing.
One of my typical goals of a new year is to live with less.

I do like my stuff, but I also love having less stuff so it takes less time away from what's important! Less stuff means less to clean! :)

That's another reason I'm getting to sit right now and blog some. I have been working hard the last few days to get things in order and now that I'm nearly done, I'm able to breath easy and do some things I enjoy.

Now that everyone is caught up to speed, I will do my best to post on my goals for this year.
I've got lots of ideas and house projects for this year.

I can't wait to see what 2015 has to bring!
God bless!