What’s up May, where did ya go?

May is always the dreaded month for parents with kids in school but May is wrapping up and my kids still have almost 2 more weeks. Part of me is so ready for them to be done but part of me is happy that they are spending most of their days at school instead of hanging around our rental house while there are boxes everywhere.

But still, I am ready for Summer. I am always ready for Summer. It has felt like Summer around here the last few days, we are a good 10 degrees above normal with mid to upper 90’s! These frogs in the pond of our backyard aren’t enjoying it being so hot!

Blake came back down again to attend Moogfest in Durham where he got to make his own Moog synthesizer. We were happy to have him back but man is he an expensive kid to keep flying back and forth. Happy that pretty soon he will be only 3.5 hours away in Asheville.

Andy and I went shopping for a new couch for our house at Pottery Barn. Did you know their couches are made here in North Carolina? Neither did I.

We got this one. Smaller than our previous one but still slip covered. We wanted room to add a couple chairs instead of having just one big couch.

Andy had to leave town again for who knows where so I took Blake and Eva out to dinner. Cole had lacrosse practice.

After that he had to head back to Ohio. 🙁

Eva planted some wheatgrass

Cole loving on his puppy 🙂

House updates

Eva and I painted rocks

We all caught colds and this was my fave from Clean Juice

Taylor graduated from Ohio State University!!

Cole snuggling his puppy again

New fun Summer bandanas for the dogs

Austin and Taylor came down for a bit and celebrated their 4 year anniversary.

We went out to Mapleview Farm for ice cream. We had not been there in 7 years!

An impromptu dinner with Andy to Bartaco. So yummy!

This honeysuckle on the trail smells amazing!

Another day another Clean Juice smoothie 🙂

My fave breakfast. Avocado toast with eggs and Everything but the bagel seasoning from Trader Joes

Love having the older kids in town!

A few more house updates

New fave coffee mug. Spend a lot of mornings with it. I found it at Homegoods.

These two….one of the best things about moving is it has allowed Cole to come out from under his older brothers shadows. It’s hard following along two big brothers with big personalities. Cole is such a cross between the two of them and it has been fun spending time with just him and seeing his personality grow.

Eva finally had her Lion King play. Even though she was just part of the set crew she had to stay after school every Monday all year and it made for some LONG days. We were all happy to wrap up that chapter.

Lap dogs that like to give kisses.

I made the kids wash my car 🙂

Garage door went in

Living in a rental house means we have to leave when they want to show it. And sometimes it’s at dinner time. Luckily there are a lot of dog friendly places to eat around here.

We wrapped up May with a trip to the coast. Very thankful that the drive is only 2.5 hours now instead of 11 plus. That said it never fails that she fails asleep when she gets in the car. I can’t believe that bunny has survived 10 years….she hasn’t touched it in a while so I was surprised to see it on the trip. But also happy to see it on the trip 🙂

We got in and had dinner and then had to at least put our toes in the ocean. The water was warm and people were surfing.

These two came with us of course

The first day we stayed local and went to Carolina beach. Andy bought a new sunshade that he was excited to try out. It worked great and lots of people asked us about it. It’s called a Shibumi and bonus it’s made right here in Durham. Love supporting local companies.

We went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner and sent this picture to Blake because it reminded us of him.

Then the next day it was off to Bald Head Island. My favorite place.

The water was so blue and warm and the dogs loved it. The people did too- great waves for the boogie boards.

Love this house! I remember when it was being built.

I like this bag too 🙂 You can find it here

I know I say it all the time but I LOVE how dog friendly our little island is. I can’t wait to go back later this Summer.

The dogs were so bad on the gold cart at first because they wanted to get to the beach so bad. After we let them run and play they were great.

Cute Coley man

Eva got her face painted and then hung out with the mermaid

We grabbed the best Donuts in the world from Britts and then it was back home for a house check. Carpet was installed in bedrooms and basement floor installed.

And this little guy in the backyard

And that wraps up May. June is going to be a huge month. 3 boys birthdays, a trip to Asheville, and (fingers crossed) move-in day! 🙂