tuesday

It's been fairly quiet around here, and quiet is good, in my book.

It's nice to not blog for a few days, but then I miss the picture taking and the recording of simple things, so here I am again. My favorite blogs to read are the ones that record the simple,
the ordinary, just real life. 

This morning Kevin took Boyd to school, on his way to work,
and Boyd thinks that is the best thing ever. 

I was craving an iced coffee, even though it's freezing outside.

I grabbed one and came back home for some more quiet time.

I really wanted to cook today, but didn't want a bunch of leftovers for the week,

so I treated myself to thai food for lunch.
My favorite foods are mexican, thai, and then sandwiches.
I saw a thai salad the other day somewhere, and then when my friend Kris posted about one today, well, I knew what I wanted.
I love to eat alone in a restaurant. Do you?
I had a spicy thai chicken salad, and it was fabulous.

I needed to pick up a few groceries before I picked Boyd up from school.
He has asked so many times for an angry birds toy from this vending machine, and I always say no.
Today I decided to surprise him with one.
I wish that a 50 cent surprise would always make him this happy.
{you know you are picture crazy when you take pictures of vending machines, in walmart}.

I obviously didn't read the fine print, because the toy is an eraser with tiny pieces that you have to put together, and I'm not a put together kind of mama.
But, we figured it out.
And, we've already lost a piece.

Boyd colored this in school today.
I think he was in a hurry because he usually stays in the lines a bit more,
even though it doesn't matter either way to me.
He asked me if I liked his coloring, and I told him I LOVE it.
I bet Jesus loves it too.

We're going to have some down time, then spend the rest of the afternoon playing outside.

wishing you a good afternoon.

love,
nicolle

tuesday

Boyd painted this at school today.
Each student painted something, and then told the teacher what it was.
 It's a giant meteor.

Can't you tell.

Sometimes I take a lot of pictures of Boyd, sometimes I go for a few days and don't take any. I realized I didn't have any for this post, so I had him run outside real quick. 

This is as good as it gets today.

Lately, I mainly take pictures with my phone.

coloring with boyd yesterday.

late night cup of coffee.

coffee this morning and a surprise overnight snow. 

a new max lucado book.

the back cover, beautiful words.

a cozy fire today.

a new bible.

boyd's macaroni snowflake that he made in school today.

homemade chili tonight, with a hint of cinnamon, delicious.

Simple and ordinary, but still things I want to remember.

have a good night.

love,

nicolle

monday

Hi.

I hope your day has been a good one.

My email was hacked yesterday, so if you received an email from me yesterday evening, with just a link in it, it wasn't really from me. 

It put me in a really crabby mood for a while, then had me changing passwords, checking my bank account, making sure nothing else was messed with. 

{hackers are mean, and you know what they say about mean people}.

Boyd and I are having a simple day today. 

No errands, no leaving the house for anything.

Snacking, movies, cleaning, re-arranging, playing outside, cooking a store bought lasagna for dinner, relaxing and things like that.

So really,

that's all I've got.
It's been a good day.

have a good afternoon.

love,

nicolle

ordinary days

This morning we ran a couple of errands,

and now we are home.

It's a good spring cleaning kind of day,

although it's 100+ degrees out, and in the middle of July.

I'm washing sheets and sprucing up the kitchen.

Boyd is resting.

He went to bed at 5:30 pm last night,

and slept 13 hours.

He is wiped out from all of the summer fun we've been having.

I couldn't pass up this hydrangea that I saw today.

Kris, you were right,

Boyd's pumpkin seeds have already sprouted. 

He is so excited.

I just made some iced tea,

and it's so good.

I'm hit or miss when it comes to making decent iced tea.

This is where this post gets super exciting.

Lettuce.

{Thank you Whitney S. for the tip}.

Costco has these baby romaine heads in a 5 pack.

They are perfect for wraps.

We had chicken salad lettuce wraps last night,

and I just had one with buffalo chicken.

Perfect, and so healthy.

Boyd is watching Handy Manny,

then he wants me to play a game of marbles with him.

I'm making Thai red curry chicken for dinner tonight, with quinoa.

What are you having?

I hope your day is good.

love,

nicolle

pumpkin seeds

I think we are itching for fall,

even though this summer has been so much fun.

Yesterday Boyd put on his garden gloves

{thanks meemaw},

and we planted some pumpkin seeds that he got when we were in Austin.

We planted our seeds in a terra cotta pot.

Yes, I know.

We may not see any pumpkins.

Would it be so wrong of me to buy a tiny pumpkin in a few months,

and put it in the pot?

We will see what happens.

Boyd asked me if we could pick a pumpkin in a few days.

Sweet boy.

I snacked on these yesterday.

I got the idea out of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

Cucumber slices topped with spicy pimento and cheese.

They were perfect.

I'm also going to top some with chicken salad.

Kevin just left for work,
and I'm drinking coffee.
 Boyd is already asking who he can play with today.
That's the usual morning around here.
These are definitely the best ordinary days ever. 
I love these days where we wake up and just wing it.
I love these days where we can play with friends,
see family, go see Kevin for lunch, and so on.
It's hard to remember what I ever did with myself 5 years ago,
and I can't imagine what life will be like 5 years from now.
I know these days are so fleeting,
and I'm squeezing the life out of them.

have a good ordinary day.

love,
nicolle

ordinary days

It's been a good day. How about you?

We were expecting strong storms today, but we escaped with a cold front, winds, and a little bit of rain. Even though I've lived in Texas all my life, I always get a little nervous with a severe storm forecast.

Boyd and I hung around the house, made a trip to McDonald's, played ultimate crash with his cars about 100 times {his made-up game}, watched cartoons, the usual.
Boyd spied me with his new magnifying glass.




Have you had the green mint shake from McDonald's? It's really good. Boyd and I shared a small one today. I guess the people at Chick Fil A thought I was crazy yesterday when I asked them if they still had that green shake, and they said nope.


These are my favorite days. I've shared it with a few people, but I'm already feeling the anxiety about kindergarten, and he still has a year and a half to go. Will he love it? Will he think I've abandoned him 5 days a week? Will I miss these ordinary days that I thought would last forever, but they have passed by before I could catch my breath?


Oh wait, I won't miss this part.


It's bath time for this little one.
Because, as much as I love these days, I love his bed time too.



good night.

thursday

This morning I decided I would ask Boyd what he wanted to do today for fun, and I would go with it, no matter what he said.

His first 2 choices were QT and Walmart.
Good thing mommies can change their minds.
So then he decided on McDonald's, and we went, and it was actually nice. Not too crowded or loud. He played hard for 2 hours.

We came home and rested and watched some tv.
Boyd ran in his room and got his head lamp.
My new favorite picture of Boyd.


Then we played outside.
I love messy hair and pb&j stained faces.
Then he said no more, and covered his face,
with his cute little chubby dimpled hands.

Lately Boyd has been playing next door, in the backyard, with a four year old, from about 4 - 5 pm. I sit in my garage alone, with my coke zero, and I veg out. {Is that weird?}. I really enjoy this hour. A lot. When he is done playing next door, we play with the other big kids out front for about 30 more minutes.

Today I popped some popcorn to go with my coke zero.
This is cheddar jalapeno.
The spicy one I had the other day was Valentina hot sauce flavored.
love.


It was a good, ordinary day. I used to think each day had to be some wild adventure, but I've learned from several of you to cherish these ordinary days the most. Thank you for teaching me that.


good night.


xo.

ordinary days

It is cold and wet. We tried to play outside today. We lasted about 15 minutes.

I feel like my sister and I have had 5 gallons of coffee in the last few days, so I'm having my 2nd favorite this afternoon, coke zero, in my mom mug.


These are the best kind of days. When nothing big happens, when Boyd finds a new cartoon that he likes {so I can have 30 minutes alone}, when I get a few minutes to read, and the house stays clean for longer than an hour. Dinner is ready, and I feel a sense of calmness in our day. I'm thankful for that, because most days I look for the calm all day, and never find it. Know what I mean?!



We've been reading a lot, about Clifford.


And dragons and turtles.


And, dinner tonight is my version of lasagna soup, minus the pasta. It's one of our favorites.


Who knew cold, wet leaves could be so fascinating. You know, the whole through the eyes of a child thing. I love it. I have learned so much from my baby boy.


I hope your day was good.

yesterday

We were not brave and we didn't get out in the cold yesterday. It was colder that I thought it would be. I even thought about driving out west to see the snow. We got in the car for 2 quick errands, then stayed home the rest of the day. I am not sure what Boyd was doing in these pictures, but I guess it's his cold face. We lasted about 2 minutes on the front porch.

We watched a ton of cartoons, we read, we ate pretzels, we played.
{It's going to be a long winter!}.



I attempted to get a few bokeh shots of our christmas tree lights. My friend Karina took a beautiful one the other day, here.


I'm grateful for:

1. my bathtub.
2. ordinary days.
3. vitamin b.
4. raw peanuts.
5. books.