Abby’s Saturday // One Hundred Ninety-Four

Highlight of the Week

Easter was this past Sunday! We had such a fun day together as a family – church, followed by giving Braelynn her Easter basket at home, followed by naps (yes!), then an Easter egg hunt & dinner at my parent’s house. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day – and I have lots of photos! I’ll be doing a “weekend wrap-up” on Tuesday of our Easter adventures, so stay tuned!

Yes, This Happened

• This is the week that winter simply refuses to go away! Even though Easter Sunday was sunny & warm, Monday was a whole different story. We woke up Monday morning to a winter wonderland – about 4″ of snow fell overnight! WHAT?! Braelynn was so excited! One of the first things she does every morning is look out the window, and when she pulled the curtains back on Monday morning, she literally screamed. Derrick texted me & suggested if we were going to go outside, that we better go early, so we retrieved all of our snow pants & boots from the attic (hey! I thought I was safe in putting them away – it is April after all!) and went outside. It turns out, it was the best snow we’ve had all season for building snowmen (to Braelynn’s utter delight – that’s all she wants to do every time it snows: build a snowman). So, we built the biggest snowman we could!
  Derrick was right about going out quick too – because by the time he got home that afternoon, all of the snow had melted off of the grass & our snowman was already drooping.
• So, over the course of 3 days, we experienced 3 very distinct seasons: Sunday was spring, Monday was winter, and Tuesday was summer when we had some really crazy thunderstorms roll through the area. It was after we put Braelynn to bed too & as we heard the thunder rumbling into the area, I told Derrick: “It’s going to wake her up.” And sure enough, a few minutes later, she came flying out of her room, crying hysterically – poor kid.
• I love my job! I love that it’s not just a one-time connection with people that then exit my life forever – I usually get to see the people I photograph over & over again. And this week – I got to see a family I’ve been photographing for 3 years! I met them when they were expecting their first daughter, did her newborn photos, then family photos the two following fall seasons, and then just got to meet the newest member of their family: baby Noah! I have the best job in the whole world!
• On Thursday, Derrick called me with “the vacation itch”. Our vacation plans for this year are still in the works (we’re waiting for a few things to fall into place before we move forward actually booking time away). It’s rough right now though, because almost every single year, we’ve gone away around our anniversary (which is just 2 weeks away). At the very least, the Lake House is typically opened up around this time & we have plans to head down there. This year though, we have no vacation plans to look forward to yet, and with winter holding on extra long this year, the Lake House won’t be opened up for a few more weeks. It’s rough! So, Derrick called me on Thursday & asked if we could get away this weekend, an impromptu trip to anywhere! We went on a crazy hunt, trying to find something reasonable. And we came up with, nothing.
  Needing to get out of the house though, we opted to go to the Altimate Air Trampoline Park in North Versailles, PA that evening (it’s not quite a vacation, but definitely a fun activity!!) We had such a fun time! It was absolutely hilarious to watch Braelynn buzz around the floor – jumping, running, climbing – it was perfect!
• Yesterday, we picked up some groceries for Ellen (our convenient excuse to stop by & visit) and got to see baby Alethea again! She’s doing so good & is so beautiful! Braelynn was a little better about seeing her this time around & we even were able to coax her into sitting next to the baby & (kind of) holding her! I say “kind of” because, I was more holding her than Braelynn was (I mean, she’s only 3!) She held her for all of about 15 seconds & then said, “I’m done, please take her off of me now.” It was so adorable!

Feeling Blessed

This week was the mega Just Between Friends Consignment Sale in Monroeville, PA. It’s a gigantic (like, whatever you’re picturing in your head, triple it) semi-annual consignment sale of kids toys, clothes, shoes, furniture (and almost anything else you can think of that relates to kids!) My Mom & I have gone to every JBF sale since before Braelynn was born & we’ve taken things to consign almost every time we go too. This week, we dropped our stuff off on Tuesday & shopped as “consigners” before the sale was open to the public on Wednesday (one of the best perks of selling – besides the check at the end of course!) Braelynn is now completely set for summer as I was able to find her shorts & sandals & bathing suits & water shoes (plus a ton of other stuff). My Mom & I always have so much fun going to these sales & shopping for the best deals! Not only do we have a grand time, but I can’t even imagine how much money I’ve saved by shopping at sales like this for Braelynn. Most of the clothes, shoes, and items at the sale are like-new (and so many things still have the tags on) and just a tiny fraction of what you’d pay at the mall. I can’t even imagine life with a kid without having access to large consignment sales like this – it’s just the best!