strawberry picking

I took the kids to Porter Farms after school one day to pick strawberries. We love having a beautiful strawberry field just five minutes from our house. There were so many big, beautiful berries that it didn't take us long at all to fill our bucket. We ended up picking strawberries twice there this season and also stopped once just to grab a bucket of already picked berries.

Lake Wheeler

Ben was out of town for a full week and I needed a break from the usual dinner time craziness at home so when the girls got home from school we headed to Lake Wheeler for a picnic. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water and coming up with crazy games on the playground. I just loved being outside and watching them have fun (and not having to prepare, eat, and clean up dinner amidst total chaos).

bedroom makeover: stenciled wall

I didn't know if I would ever do a stenciled wall again after the honeycomb stencil I did in our last house (seen here). It took FOREVER. But the stencil was small and the wall was big. I decided to give it another try with a smaller wall in the girls' room and a much bigger stencil. It was still tedious, time-consuming work, but it went so much faster than last time. I think I finished in a week, working on it in several two and three hour sessions. I was listening to the Serial podcast at the time so that kept me entertained while I painted. It was actually some enjoyable quiet time for me while Ben kept the kids busy. First I had to paint all of the walls white and then bought several paint samples to find the right shades of coral. I decided to do two colors on the stencil and I'm so glad I did. The best part about a stenciled wall is how cheap it is. It only took 3 sample size containers of paint to do the whole wall.

Elsa stepped in and helped me when my hand got too tired.

After painting one Saturday evening, I came downstairs to find this massive fort the kids had built.

We decided it was time for the girls to sleep in twin size beds instead of the modified Ikea toddler bunk beds Ben made for them when Oliver was born (seen here). Twin beds would fit best in the room that Simon was in so we ended up switching all of the kids' rooms around. Oliver now sleeps on the bottom bunk in the girls' old room and Simon is still in his crib in Oliver's old room.

I had originally planned to do coral and gold but the girls really wanted blue so we went with some teal accents. I still have some things to hang on the walls and we're looking for a few more pieces of furniture to complete the room. The nightstand is an antique piece we picked up at a flea market in Arlington several years ago. It's been through a few different colors. The girls have loved having beds next to each other and have stayed up talking to each other more than they did in their bunk beds. Amelia is obsessed with making her bed. It was always too hard to do on the top bunk. The first thing she does when she gets up is make her bed. Elsa hasn't quite caught on yet. 

And what the room usually looks like.

date night: chuck's

We finally tried Chuck's in downtown Raleigh one night for date night. I tried a burger with roasted beets and bleu cheese that was really good and they had some yummy dipping sauces for their fries. Mostly I just loved a night out with Ben.

back to the azalea garden

We returned to the azalea garden after school one day so Oliver and the girls could join us. It was past peak but still lots of blooms to see. Amelia was grumpy because it was a little chilly (like 65 degrees) but the other kids had fun running around.

arboretum + salted chocolate chunk cookies

A quick walk around the arboretum on Arbor Day.

Not the best photos, but these salted chocolate chunk cookies are a new favorite. Recipe found HERE.