its Monday, friends! I am sitting here after scarfing my breakfast, Justin Timberlake playlist on pandora, and my second cup of coffee is brewing. I woke up for bootcamp this morning without a struggle (every day is a struggle!) and I feel ready for today. maybe its because Jordan is home for the next two days and he’s promised a few uninterrupted hours of ME time outside the house. he’s been working a lot this month- cold and flu season is hitting hard and he’s been picking up extra shifts at the hospital on his days off from the fire station to help out. so we haven’t seen him but in short spurts here and there- the babes went to bed last night really excited to have their daddy home!

this weekend was a fun one! Saturday we kicked off the day with the most fun birthday party EVER! such a fun idea and kudos to my girlfriend, Diana, for putting it together. I want to have my birthday party there.. Jacob, who is just a couple weeks younger than the twins, celebrated his 5th birthday with all his friends at a local  horse riding place called ride with pride. 

we dressed in our denim, plaid, and boots and got ready to ride some horses! these girls. Parker’s knee pop, Jo’s sweet smile, and BAKER. I swear she acts bigger than the baby two year old she’s supposed to be!boyfran was there, too. look at those boots! G was stylin’!

just a little note about Baker’s giant bandage on her hand. she fell out of the wagon when her sisters were pulling her (too fast) on Thursday evening. she basically ripped off two fingernails and scraped all the skin off of her thumb. its ugly, but could be much worse. she didn’t have another scratch on her- thankful she didn’t bust her face or chip some teeth or something like that!  we got to walk through the barn with all the horses before hitting the pastures for some real horseback riding! Brady was very concerned about the horses behind me and refused to look my way- but sweet Carter was grinning ear to ear, as usual. the most gorgeous horse, EVER. I want her. look at that amazing platinum blonde hair!time to ride! Each of the kids took multiple rides around the pasture with assistance from the ride with pride crew.  those girls were so sweet and really patient! Parker and Jolie got a taste of riding horses when we did their 5 year photos with the “unicorn” and we talked about getting them into riding lessons in the Spring.

well this weekend just confirmed it for us. they LOVED IT!

the ‘Parker selfie”. I have about 37 on my phone everyday. I love her!picture struggles #1.picture struggles #2. again, Brady wasn’t letting that horse out of his sight. 

all four of the babes were OUT before I even left the parking lot! it was such a fun day! I can’t wait for spring when we can get the girls on a horse regularly!

Sunday we slept in, exhausted still from the day before, and got dressed to leave the house for brunch at our favorite spot! 7 mile cafe is a place we frequent often.. they know who we are and what we order- I suppose when you come back to a place a few times, and have a brood like we do, people start to remember 🙂 if you ever make it to this place, be sure to try the 7 mile latte (I get skim milk + caramel) and you MUST try their Bloody Mary.  I like mine very spicy and this one is GOOD. Jolie always asks me if I’m going to get my “tomato drink” when we visit.

you bet I AM!another frequent activity for our visits to 7 mile.. the white brick wall for a photo opp. some of my favorite pictures are in front of this wall! including these ones we snapped yesterday.BAKER + BRADY!!  little BFF’s and I am obsessed with them. Jordan left from brunch for another 12 hour shift at the hospital and the girls and I went to grab some milk.. or all the milk.. from the store before heading home for naps.

the twins fought me on going down, but slept for three hours. it was the perfect post-pancake, lazy afternoon!