Tupelo Honey

catching up.

SPRING(ing forward)

just wanted to post some of my favorite photographs that we’ve taken over the last couple of weeks. most of these were taken on my phone, so a lot of you have already seen them on my twitter feed or facebook page. ((do you twitter? feel free to friend request me!))

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madeline and sophia

our good friends harry & jessica live in pennsylvania, have a daughter named sophia, and are expecting a little girl in october. jess’s due date is one week before mine and we’re so excited to go through pregnancy # 2 together! madeline and soph absolutely adore one another and have a ball during playdates. we try to have dinner with H.J.S once a month, and jess and i usually get the girls together whenever we both have a free day off from work. the drive is about an hour to see each other, but it’s always worth it. 

*hey, jess! thanks for being such a loyal friend and reader. love you!

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the flower market

each year, wilmington hosts a flower market in our neighborhood the week leading up to mother’s day. the flower market has been around since 1921, donating all monies raised to our local children’s hospital. our aunt runs a flower/annuals tent there and asks all the women in our family to volunteer. this was my first year in the tent and i had a blast! i met people from all over my community, chatted it up with my city councilmen, and got schooled in the art of creating the perfect ‘english garden’. 

on friday, the day before i was scheduled to work, my mother-in-law and i took advantage of the lighter crowds and accompanied madeline to her first ever flower market. she had a ball, playing carnival games, watching the big kids ride rides, taking a bite of her first hot dog, and touching everything and anything she could get her hands on in the crafts tents (don’t worry, we were respectful;).  

andy, stephanie, & madeline meet me @ the market once my shift was over on saturday so we could check out the live bands, grab some lunch, and just enjoy the gorgeous spring day. the ladies in my tent also helped me pick out the most beautiful flowers to plant in the pots on our front porch. after spending the day learning how to care for plants, flowers, and gardens, i was stoked that we were about to have an english garden of our own!

(above) stephanie, mads, and i outside my tent. (below) andy, mads, and some lemon gelatto. 

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mother’s day, 2011 

i made andy promise not to buy me anything for mother’s day. my only request was that we spend the day together, doing some of my most favorite things- breakfast on the porch, planting our new flowers in the early morning sun, take a trip into philly to eat lunch @ stephen starr’s stella in society hill, or check out the farmer’s market in headhouse square, or walk around our old neighborhood to visit the piazza at schmidts. our number 1 rule about going to philly though is that we cannot leave without a quick stop at brown betty’s dessert boutique in northern liberties for a vanilla almond poundcake cupcake or a couple of scoops of vanilla yogurt with toasted coconut & crushed oatmeal cookies from scoop deville in center city. we didn’t take any pictures of our adventures, but andy managed to snap a few of madeline and i planting our miniature english garden(s). it was a perfect day, start to finish.

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belly update! 

this picture was taken last week in our bathroom (classy, i know)- i was 19ish weeks and just starting to show. we’re currently 20 weeks, halfway there!

also, i went back to blonde! as much as i loved being a brunette, it just wasn’t me. the second my stylist colored my hair, i could feel my old self wash over me… the right change in hair style will always boost my self esteem.

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madeline grace, beaners 

right before we moved, madeline got her first big “boo boo” (which is why she’s double fisting mini-ice cream sandwiches… can you say, “mom guilt”?). i was dropping her off at my in-laws one morning and i forgot to shut their porch door all the way. next thing i know, madeline falls face-first down a steep concrete stair and cuts her head open on the sidewalk. i almost called social services on myself, but madeline was a trooper. after 30 minutes of consoling and crying, she was back her normal self again and i headed off to work. i told my mother-in-law what signs to look for with concussions, and i’m 100% positive my MIL watched her sleep during nap time. i tried not to beat myself up over the whole situation, accidents will happen! 

madeline is a big fan of the toddler table in her playroom that she received for her 1st birthday. we’re teaching her how to sit like a “big girl”… she learned quickly that mommy and daddy do not like her standing on chairs! she’ll sit at the table and read books, play with puzzles, or just wiggle and giggle because she’s so proud of herself- she’s a big girl now and well aware of it!

daddy playing with madeline right after we moved into the new house.

homegirl is loving her musical instruments these days. we just attended our last rock-n-roll music class before summer break, but i have no doubt that andy and i will continue pumping music through those tiny little veins of hers…

madeline has also become quite the “reader”. we keep a box of books in every room in the house, and even though we’re constantly tripping over them, this decision has really paid off as far as we’re concerned.

one of my proudest moments as a parent took place just the other day… she picked up a book that was upside down and instantly flipped it right side up. we’re convinced she’s a genius. (kidding, kidding… kinda… not really. she’s a genius.)

madeline’s 1st race, april 9th, 2011

andy and i signed the whole family up for madeline’s first- and definitely not last- 5K! when we got there, we were informed that you can no longer run with strollers, so we had to speed walk the whole race while andy ran with our friend pete. 

madeline and i received 1st place for the stroller division! i took madeline out of the stroller long enough to cross the finish line together, and andy and i couldn’t help but laugh when we overheard some people discussing “the baby that walked the whole race”. 

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katie and danny’s wedding/trip to NC

2 weekends ago, the whole family packed up and headed south to celebrate my cousin katie’s wedding. she got married on the beach, and had the most incredible reception at the NC aquarium. i would even go as far as describing the whole event “magical”. 

madeline and i flew in a few days before andy drove down… i had some matron-of-honor duties to attend to, and i wanted to get in as much face time as possible with friends and family. first stop? raleigh to visit with my haley, adam, and of course, EMMA FINCH! as always, the turys rolled out the red carpet for us… picked us up at the airport, set up an amazing breakfast spread (crispy bacon, y’all. my jam.), but the best part was just getting some uninterrupted quality time with haley and my best girls. 

my parents rented out a house for the week, my brother and his girlfriend flew in from seattle for the special occasion… i can’t say enough about this family of mine… one of the best weeks i’ve had in a really long time. 

teaching maddie girl how to fish… she can’t hold the pole but she can reel them in!

the ferris girls <3

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so there you have it, a little glimpse of what we’ve been up to these past couple of months! i’m really looking forward to diving back into tupelo honey… next week i’ll post some pictures of the new house, write a long overdue post about how i keep my grocery bills down but still manage to feed my family healthy, hearty dinners each night, and my favorite post of all- revealing the gender and name of baby 2.0! 

hope you all are enjoying your memorial day weekend. can’t wait to read all about your recent adventures too!

xo,

lindsay