spiders and pool faceplants

all of us felt pretty beat-up after this week, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  we bought parts and john built a computer with my dad's help (insert applause emoji here), and then we bought a desk off craigslist the next day.  and since we had family coming into town this weekend, (and i can't live more than a few days in a mess), the pressure was on to get the desk painted and computer set up on top of it so that we could start using our kitchen table again.  

so i painted for three days straight. i painted, and then i went from feeding/clothing/changing/napping the girls right back to painting.  hazel face-planted on the pool deck, cora was teething (i think?  you really can never tell until a tooth cuts...), i burned my arm, cut one finger with scissors, and smashed another finger in the door, and we were all generally feeling a little beat-up around here.

to top it off, all the little house spiders in new jersey have decided to take up residence in our household.  as soon as a vacuum one up, the next day another one has taken its place.  it's really quite disturbing and they are making john and i turn on each other ;) i killed six in our house yesterday... but don't tell any of our guests that.  

now {finally} people are starting to recover over here from a very weird week for us.  we made it to the park today with cousin claire, and there's a chocolate pie and fresh whipped cream in my fridge  right now so, not a bad week, all things considered.

blue eyes... don't ever go away.

dancing through life

we've always been pretty skilled at dancing over here.
exhibit a.

exhibit b.
exhibit c:

evolution of dance from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

life lately.

just some photos of this simple, wonderful, low-key life of ours.

ringlets

the other day, i noticed that hazel's hair had turned into ringlets in the bath, and i just had to call john into the bathroom to show him!  it was quite exciting.  maybe this means nothing to other people but to me... it's something i want to remember.

bath time and ringlets from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.

zoo for days!

when we first moved out here, i bought a zoo pass to the little zoo near us.  it's only a 15-minute drive from our house and the perfect size for a 1 or 2 hour outing.  plus, hazel asks to go to the "zooon!" every. single. day.  needless to say, we go a lot.  

these pictures are actually from two different zoo days.  a penguin came right up to hazel to chat, and cora got an up-close look at the fish.  (hazel also asks for "nemo" the second we get into the zoo.

"we're on the train!" - hazel

cora, smiling at her sister moving up and down on the carousel.
this time, hazel chose the tiger:

we are now securely in the phase of weird smiles when i tell her to smile for a picture.  it's amazing.

i am still so in love.

john brunt, you're my favorite human.  you're the perfect blend of adventurous and laid back, patient but hard-working, real but kind.  after a hard day at work you come home and somehow manage to fix everything.  you value things that are important, like being close to the ones you love, and eating only delicious food.  and {even though it sometimes makes me stress if dinner is going to be great,} i admire that about you.  i am in awe at how you still love me despite all my flaws and personality changes {which i am working/praying hard to prevent}.  if i had looked at current self five years ago, i still would have said yes to you on the top of sawtelle mountain.  i love you so much.

these days i am consumed with being a mother.  which ultimately, is the most wonderful thing i could be doing, and i am so grateful to be doing it.  but as i was going though old blog posts i realized how in the consumption of caring for our girls and enjoying every minute with them, i almost forget to document anything about the man that not only loves and supports us, but quite literally gives everything he is and has for us.  i used to quite frequently (and publicly) document how much i love and appreciate my john harman.  all those feelings are still there, but the "us" time gets buried underneath discussions about the girls and taking care of them, and i have shamelessly missed the mark, {except for an instagram post or two}, when it comes to thanking and expression my appreciation for him.

so today i wanted to say thank you, and that i am going to love you for the rest of forever.

a video!

we generally hang out and play with toys/watch frozen for an hour or so in the mornings because i am not a morning person and it is one way i cope with the disappointment of not being able to go back to my bed indefinitely. a mom in church talked about how she thinks back on her child bearing/rearing/feeding/raising years (the stage i am very much in the thick of), and remembers always being so exhausted, that she doesn't even think she was a very "nice" or "good" mom.  

well, we all have that worry, don't we?

i mean frankly, there might be something wrong with you if you feel adequate as a mother.

but fortunately, this woman did say that now she has graduated from that stage of life, when they watch home videos, she can look at a much younger self and see that she actually was a good mother, despite the pure physical and emotional exhaustion.  

and i love being a mother.  it has terrible hours, you have to work holidays and weekends, your bosses are demanding and whiny and pee, poop, and vomit all over you, but the pay sure is great.  and that makes it all worth it.  

i love my girls and this simple life we are living.  i hope that i will always treasure these home videos we make and (maybe) someday they will help me feel like i'm not as terrible of a mother as i sometimes think ;)  and even if they don't do that, they will be fun to look back on and remember how fun and happy our girls were at this stage.  

giraffe kisses for everyone from Paige Brunt on Vimeo.