five on friday (1/08)

Posted on January 8, 2016 by tara

I think I just keep pretending we’re still on vacation… so I know I still haven’t posted any photos from our Christmas day yet (maybe because I took too many and still haven’t gone through them all… ha), but we had a good week, and I couldn’t let it go undocumented.

These small, seemingly-mundane posts usually turn out to be some of my favorites when I go back and read them later.

ONE. Winter has finally arrived on our little hillside- we had our first snow! It didn’t really accumulate, but it came down in big, fluffy flakes, so I’m counting it. The girls were quite excited… especially Kaelyn, since she is too young to remember the many blizzards we had last year!

TWO. What better food to eat during the cold weather than warm, gooey pancakes? Kaya and Kaelyn have had pancakes for breakfast every single day this week. My mom gave me a griddle for Christmas, so I put it to good use by making a double batch of these and freezing them.

THREE. We also tried a couple of new recipes this week, including these buffalo chicken wings and these cheesy potatoes. Both were keepers!FOUR. We did get back on track with our homeschool preschool this week, after taking a couple weeks off for the holidays. Kaya has been SO excited and asks me to “do school” almost as soon as she wakes up every morning. We did the letter “D” and so of course, we had to make a “dog” craft.

FIVE. We had some fun times with Karl (and Kaitlyn) this week! Mario Kart Wii and Apples to Apples Pictures will never get old. I also love that Karl loves my guinea pigs as much as I do!Happy weekend! Keep warm (like Freyja)! 🙂 _MG_0708

seeing santa (2015)

Posted on December 21, 2015 by tara

On the day that Santa was scheduled to come visit our neighborhood, Michael was out of town on a business trip. It was sad that he couldn’t be there, but I wasn’t going to miss taking the girls for their traditional Santa visit, so we decided we would go anyway. Luckily, Karl and Kaitlyn came along with us, so I still had a few extra hands to help out while I snapped the pictures.

Plus, I think it was pretty magical for my brother to see Santa through a child’s eyes again.Kaya was so excited to see Santa. For several reasons, I told Kaya the truth about Santa this year (I was on the fence about this ever since last year, and I really could write a whole post just about this topic alone). Anyway, she knows he’s “pretend”, and it’s all just for fun… and this is the first year she hasn’t cried when meeting him (besides when she was a half-asleep three-month-old). She was still just as happy as can be.

She looked forward to this moment for weeks. She was still shy around him, but her joy was obvious.Santa babies.Of course, there has to be (at least) one totally crazy picture.Santa gives everyone who visits him a special button from the North Pole. Each child gets to close her eyes and choose one out of the bag.The biggest of all hugs. 🙂
I was surprised that even Kaelyn remained tear-free and managed to choose her own button.I absolutely love watching my little girls discover the magic and excitement of the holidays.

4 more days!!!

five on friday (11/13)

Posted on November 13, 2015 by tara

Happy Friday!!! 🙂

ONE. We’ve still been enjoying amazing weather here lately, and Kaya pleaded for me to let her ride her bike this week. The catch was that she also wanted to go to the playground, which meant that she’d be riding for over two miles. I wasn’t sure if she had enough stamina to go that far (or if I could help her on the hills while pushing the stroller), but I always try to give her opportunities to have fun, learn something, and get stronger… so I said yes. To my amazement, she rode for 2.25 miles, only fell once, and figured out how to walk her bike up the hills.

TWO. We had Karl and Kaitlyn over for a small (belated) birthday celebration on Wednesday night. There were tacos and Wii Party and brownies with ice cream. That’s pretty much the ultimate birthday shindig, am I right? I love my goofball brother. Happy 23rd, pal!THREE. We started our co-op preschool group this week, so for the first time ever, I dropped Kaya off and left. I was worried about how it would go, but she was just fine and had a great time.

Kaelyn and I then had some time to run errands all on our own… which really means that we ended up at the fabric store for forever because it was busier than I have ever seen it in my lifetime. Kaelyn loves these little “beanie boos” (beanie babies) and gets so excited anytime she sees them anywhere. Naturally, she had to cuddle them all (and tell each one “hi!” as she hugged them).

Aaaaand we might’ve come home with one… because my kids are only going to be little once, and sometimes it’s fun to give them a surprise gift for no reason. “Blue Kitty” hasn’t left her side all week. 🙂 _MG_0035 Of course, we brought home a surprise for Kaya, too- a baby dragon!FOUR. That moment when you’re folding and hanging laundry, and look over to see your baby wearing underwear on her head… Hahaha. She has another pair halfway up her leg because she wants to be just like her big sister and wear undies (only over her diaper, of course. No way are we ready for potty training again)!

FIVE. #awkwardselfie award. I won’t tell you how many of these are on my phone, just from today (maybe because there are too many to count… haha)!

Linking up here today!

trick-or-treat at the mall 2015

Posted on November 5, 2015 by tara

Late Halloween afternoon, we took the kids to the mall to do some easy trick-or-treating! I always have a really hard time getting decent pictures in the mall with the way the lighting is (and I totally grabbed the wrong camera lens too, whoops)… but here are the few photos I did take. 🙂

We met up with Karl and Kaitlyn and had a good time goofing off while walking around getting candy. No matter how old I get… I don’t think picking on my little brother ever will get old. We are kind of obnoxiously goofy together. Our kids were pretty tired (due to a shortened nap/no nap), so they just rode in the stroller the whole time. This made the event go a whole lot faster and easier, and I was surprised when I realized we had been through the whole mall in about 30 minutes. Kaelyn had never had a lollipop… but she sure figured out how you’re supposed to eat them! She just missed that one very important step… taking the wrapper off! I finally let her try one for real, and not long afterward, we noticed that she had a completely different flavor pop in her hand, and the first one we had given her was nowhere to be found. Our little Lollipop Bandit pulled this trick a few times before we wised up and confiscated her candy bucket.

Sneaking candy on Halloween… she learns fast! 😉This is my last Halloween post for this year… sad! I can’t believe our first holiday of the season is already over and we’re less than three weeks away from Thanksgiving!

pumpkin patching

Posted on October 21, 2015 by tara

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday! This was the first year that we’ve been out there and had sunshine to help keep us warm! I was prepared for colder weather after last year’s freezing temperatures, but we really lucked out this time.

Having sunshine also made it harder to get decent photos, and while we were there, I was honestly a little frustrated because I didn’t think any of my shots were turning out well at all. Michael lovingly reminded me that not every picture has to be “pinterest-worthy”… and he was right. These actually turned out to be some of my favorite photos, ever, just because of the memories they represent.

Kaya was in love with the goats and Jersey heifer calf (although she called them all cows), and even asked to go see them again at the end of our visit.
We met up with Karl and Kaitlyn. He held Kaelyn for almost the entire trip (partly so I could take pictures). That’s one happy uncle! 🙂As tradition goes, Michael did the pumpkin slingshot (but didn’t make it as far as the pond this year).
Cuddles in the line for a hay ride! We took the tractor up to the pumpkin field, and Kaya had a great time running around and looking at all the pumpkins. There were so many HUGE ones this year, and of course, she was trying to pick them up herself. Haha.She was also running away from me because she didn’t want her picture taken (#herecomesthethreenager)… But she gave me the happiest, cheesiest little grin later on, so she more than made up for it. 🙂They had an awesome corn maze this year! We might have hit a few dead ends, but we had a blast doing it.
Brother & sister shot! I can’t remember the last time we took a photo together, so it was on my to-do list for the day. Sometimes I can’t believe this tall guy used to be a tiny baby I could hold in my little 4-year-old arms.Karl and Kaitlyn picked out a giant pumpkin! So glad they could come with us.
We had the perfect afternoon. I love my family and these beautiful days we get to spend together.

Since I’m apparently becoming the queen of cheesy home videos, I’ll include this one to sum up our adventure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZElkscNU_so

family weekend

Posted on June 30, 2015 by tara

We had a busy, family-filled weekend, which I think was just what we needed after the shock of this past week. Being surrounded by loved ones definitely helped take our minds off of what happened, at least temporarily.

My dad has been fixing up a tricycle for Kaya for a while now, and he recently finished it! My mom brought it up this weekend to surprise her. This little girl cannot stop talking about her “bike” and wants to ride it all the time. We’ve only been letting her practice in the house and on the porch until her head is healed up and she can wear a helmet again.

Kaya also enjoyed plenty of bubble blowing this weekend… On Friday night, we headed out to Mom and Dad Irwin’s campground. Karl and Kaitlyn met us there to visit for a while, since they would be working the next day during Kaelyn’s birthday party. We had a fun time hanging out, swapping stories, and making s’mores. Saturday was Kaelyn’s birthday party, which will be a whole separate post! I will give you a sneak peek of my cute little one-year-old though:

Sunday was church, followed by a mostly-failed attempt to take naps, and then more time at the campground. Mom Irwin made this amazing stew in the Dutch oven over the fire. Seriously… I need to go camping just so I can eat this again.

Love spending time with this group. Kaelyn didn’t have any stew, but she did put down some apple-blueberry puree. Grandma loved feeding it to her!We had such a great time with family. I’m excited to share pictures from Kaelyn’s party later in the week! 🙂

cookin’ out with karl

Posted on June 2, 2015 by tara

We got to see my brother this past weekend! He brought Kaitlyn over too, of course, and we had a great cookout. They really enjoyed seeing the babies! We tried some grilled chicken (using this recipe). I am so picky about my meat that I barely tried it, but everyone else said it was great. Even Kaya ate a ton of it, so it must have at least been decent! Michael is awesome for manning the grill, as always. We also enjoyed some corn, barbecued beans, and cookies. Jax’s mouth was watering the entire time, as usual! He really earned a piece of chicken though, since we had a great 6.35-mile run earlier that morning.Of course, there was some serious Mario Kart playing afterward. Hopefully we’ll see them again soon- we’re hoping to go tubing down the river later this summer. I’m looking forward to it!

five on friday: pigtails, a sleepless night, and a polar vortex

Posted on January 9, 2015 by tara

Happy Friday! I haven’t linked up for Five on Friday since October… so I’m excited to jump back into it today!

ONE. Kaya’s hair seems like it’s grown SO much over the past few months, so this week, I decided to try and see if I could actually do something with it. I wasn’t disappointed to find that she now has enough hair to make two adorable, tiny pigtails! We video chatted with Daddy to show him right away. Having her hair pulled back makes her look so much older! We also tried out a side ponytail (and what you can’t see very well in this picture are her fuschia corduroy pants… helloooo ’80’s fashion)! TWO. This little lady seemed to forget what sleep was on Wednesday night. I stayed up too late working on getting my photos backed up, and not 15 minutes after I crawled into bed. She was awake and wouldn’t stop crying until around 6:30 am when I finally brought her into our bed. At least she woke up happy! THREE. I never knew what a polar vortex was until last year, and now it seems like a phenomena destined to repeat itself every winter! We were hit with one this week, so I enjoyed cuddling up inside with my babies. It’s so easy for me to get cabin fever during this winter weather, though. FOUR. I’ve been going through “old” photos to get them backed up/print albums, and this series of my brother from last Christmas had me laughing. I call it “just keep taking pictures until he finally smiles”! He and Kaitlyn came over for dessert and games on Monday night, and we had a good time.FIVE. My birthday is in just under five weeks… and I just keep dreaming up all these different cakes I could have. Right now, a cookie dough cake is ranking high on the list!

Tara Irwin’s pin on Pinterest.

Linking up with Natasha, April, Christina, and Darci today!

memorial day weekend

Posted on May 28, 2014 by tara

We had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend! The weather was amazing and it actually feels like summer is coming, which I couldn’t be more excited about.

I finally decided on Kaya’s new bed. I ordered a twin-size mattress for her, and it arrived on Friday. Now, we’re just waiting on the bed frame to get here! We had tried converting her crib into a toddler bed, but she never wanted to sleep in it. So far, she likes her “big girl” bed and actually sleeps on it!

We had a lot of grandparents come up to visit this weekend (which meant that Kaya was incredibly spoiled)!

One of her surprises was a new “Kitty” from my mom. The old one has seen better days, but I still might have cried a little when Kaya immediately took to the new stuffed animal. I guess I can blame pregnancy hormones… but that old Kitty has had so many adventures with us! My happy girl was so excited to take a picture with both her kitties 🙂 Her grandmas also lavished her with new books, dresses, and toys. It was almost like Christmas around here! We all went out to dinner on Saturday, to church on Sunday, and then to the pool on Monday! The first day of the swimming season always feels a little extra exciting. Love these two (and Michael’s tan line)! Kaya actually didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the water, since it was still a bit chilly. She mostly just stood next to the pool and threw her ducky and ball in for us to toss back to her. We planned a cookout with some dear friends after our swimming. We probably had the best spread of food we’ve ever had at any of our cookouts (hot dogs, bratwurst, salad, pasta salad, chips, lemonade, and all manner of desserts)!At the end of it all, Kaya was more exhausted than I think I’ve ever seen her.

It’s after time spent with family and friends and days like these that my heart feels so full of gratitude.

life is good

Posted on September 16, 2013 by tara

About a week ago, Brittany and I were talking about how fast summer went… and she suggested that we have one more cookout all together before the warm weather disappears for good. So on Friday, we did just that! We grilled and then planned to have a game night (which really just turned into all the boys playing Xbox and all the girls sitting around and chatting… which was still a lot of fun)!

Karl even came! It’s been a while since we’ve been able to do anything fun together. Nothing beats picking on your little brother 🙂

We had hamburgers, hot dogs, Amanda’s amazing pasta salad, and I made some s’mores bars that actually ended up NOT tasting like real s’mores… but you can’t go wrong with something covered in chocolate, so they were still a big hit.

Jeff and Lelia joined us for games, and Chris and Cerina were in town (from North Carolina!) so they stopped by. These BOYS. ARE. CRAZY when they’re together! Love it. (This was a tickle fight in case you can’t tell. Jeff versus everyone else… haha!)

On Saturday, I worked pretty hard to get everything ready for Kaya’s one-year photoshoot. I finished the cake, Michael bought her some balloons, and we got her dressed. I LOVE how these turned out and I can’t wait to share the rest.

She loved her balloons so much (even when they had already fallen to the ground the next morning).
We had our awesome friends over again on Sunday night, because someone needed to eat the cake left over from Kaya’s photoshoot (which she didn’t smash)! We played some more games and laughed a lot.

Life is good.

Michael and Tara

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Category Archives: Karl