Big update over here, friends: we are under contract to buy a new house. !!! This came to pass in a quite unusual and stressful manner, because the house went on the market while we were in Maine. (Our realtor, to boot, was also on vacation.) We submitted our offer on Sunday night, learned there were multiple offers and submitted a new offer (and then another one) on Monday, and finally found out our offer was accepted on Monday night. We came home on Wednesday night and saw the house for the first time on Thursday night. While we hadn’t stepped foot inside, we were familiar with the house – it is in our same neighborhood, right around the corner from one of Shep’s buddies, and is one we had had our eye on for over a year. It checks a lot of our boxes – cul-de-sac location, flat driveway, separate dining room, bigger backyard, space for an office, even the possibility of a mudroom – and we are super grateful. That does not mean that the last few weeks have been without challenges. I wish I could say we’ve been uniformly blissful and brave, but alas I am a person who deeply dislikes change. In addition to staying on top of the piles of paperwork required to buy and sell a home – as well as fixing things up around our current home, coordinating completion of the rest of the punch list, streamlining our belongings and beginning to pack what remains – I’ve been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I am excited, of course, and grateful, but also fearful of leaving the security of our current corner of the neighborhood and all the good we have here, fearful of something “better” coming on the market in

June is home from camp, we have sunny + cool northern travels to look forward to, we’re still enjoying summer and yet have also eased into back-to-school prep — in short, I’m feeling good. I hope August finds you in a contented place, as well! If you, too, are straddling seasons, I pulled up a few posts that might be of help for us both: Our favorite family read aloudsMy takeaways from Habits of the HouseholdSimplifying kids’ artworkOur kids after-school jobsThe email I send to my fellow parents in both kids’ classesAnd my series on Christians in public school (start here) And now onto the goals… On my calendar:— Our annual trip to Maine! This year, we’re going further north to Acadia for part of the time and traveling with friends. I’m looking forward to experiencing something new on this very-familiar (and very-beloved) trip.— Shep and Annie’s joint birthday adventure. We’re once again taking the train ride to Greensboro’s children’s museum with a few friends and they are so excited.— The first day of school! Fourth and first grade for June and Shep and a new Montessori preschool for Annie. What I’m loving right now:— Good news on the concealer front: since Counter no longer carries (at least for now) my beloved formulation, I ventured to Sephora to find a replacement. A kind gal led me to Kosa’s clean brightening concealer and I’ve been very happy with shade 2.3N. (I rounded up all my current clean beauty favorites here if you’re in the market! These are the products I use daily, except for the perfume which is for special occasions :))— My dear friend Nancy’s podcast has been turned into an ice cream flavor! Triangle locals, I think her creation (that’s it up at the top) goes back into the vault now that July is

We are settling into a nice little summer rhythm over here. The kids get up when they’d like, make their own breakfast, consult the day’s plan, then play outside for (at least) an hour. They come inside and are usually happy to scamper upstairs and work on something together: crafting a tiny lemonade stand for Mouse Town, playing school, constructing a fort, building with LEGOs, messing around in the kitchen. Around noon John and I break from work and we eat lunch together, then I read a chapter or two from our current readaloud. We’ll take a zip around the block if it’s not too hot. After lunch it’s quiet time for an hour and a half in their rooms (they usually read or listen to the Yoto, while Shep sometimes draws or plays with LEGOs and June sometimes plays with her American Girl). Once they’re released, June practices piano and they do any clean-up that needs doing, then they can watch a show or movie for 30 minutes to an hour as I finish out my work day. After that there’s time for a bit more play before the kids change into their suits and I pack dinner into our cooler. We eat in shifts poolside for two hours or so while the kids cycle through swim team practice, then it’s back home for quick showers and another chapter or two of our readaloud before a little solo reading in bed. Of course, not every day proceeds exactly like this — or as smoothly as this short litany makes it sound (especially now that, as of yesterday, Annie’s co-op has ended and she’s in the mix at home). But these are good days, and I’m grateful for them. More of this in July! (Most of) the completed watercolor landscape

Sweet summer! We’re in our last week of school but it feels like it’s already in full swing in some ways. All school-year extracurriculars are over, we have our summer planning TTT on Thursday (excited to fill these out!), we’ve printed out summer reading challenges, and our first swim meet is tonight – whee! Here’s what else we have planned this month… Wrapping paper courtesy of Annie + a watercolor penguin card by yours truly = a sweet Father’s Day package On my calendar:— Swim meets! Our neighborhood swim season has begun and it’s a fun vibe to spend many of our evenings at the pool surrounded by friends and neighbors. Since practice runs from 6-7:45pm across all three kids, we’ve packed sandwiches for dinner most nights alongside this 8-compartment bento box filled with fruit, veggies, pickles, chips, and cookies.— Father’s Day! I’m once again organizing a pastry bar from a local favorite cafe for the men at our church, and celebrating my own wonderful husband, Dad, and father-in-law.— Our 20th high school reunion! We fly to Connecticut later this month and can’t wait to squeeze our friends and revisit some of our favorite haunts on the shoreline. What I’m loving right now:— I picked up The Detective Dog from the library on a whim and it is a new family favorite picture book! The rhyme scheme is excellent (thank you, Julia Donaldson!) and the illustrations are equally charming. — I am late to the party but I recently made my first (and then second) purchase from Bookshop.org! If you, too, are late, their goal is to give readers the convenience of online shopping while supporting independent bookstores at the same time. You get to choose the local bookstore you’d like to support and they’ll earn 30% of the purchase