Guess whaaat….it’s gonna be Mayyyy! (All my N’Sync fans will get me! And if you don’t get the reference–go google that.)
JK….May is already here and in full force! But before another day passes at lightening speed…here are some highlights from our April.
Girls Night Out. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…I love me a girls night out! For me, it is so important to 1) not only stay connected with my close friends outside of social media, but 2) just being able to enjoy some relaxing adult time away with good food, drink, and conversation can really just rejuvenate a mama! Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone out there, but for ME that’s important. My husband has his monthly whiskey club, and I get my girls night out every so often. And its good for us both!
Pinot Noir wine flight–yes please!
Friends fo’ life!
Home Improvement Projects. We’ve had a lot going on over here at the Rutten house. At least a lot for us. In addition to completing an DIY Plank accent wall, we’ve started the process for our kitchen renovation later this summer! I’ll do a post soon detailing what we are changing in there, but right now, there are so many balls in the air and so many decisions to still make! It’s fun, but a little nerve-wracking when you are the most indecisive person in the world…aka, me.
New Eats. We tried out two new restaurants this month. First was the Paladin Bar & Grill which is right up the street from our house. Kid friendly atmosphere with really good burgers–mine was topped with spinach, pimento cheese, fried green tomato, and BACON JAM. Need I say more? Then we stepped out of our comfort zone a bit for lunch one day and tried a new to us restaurant downtown called CrepeWorx. It was really yummy and we’ll definitely be back–especially for the nutty banana which was peanut butter, banana, and nutella. Amazing!
Baby Shower. My sweet sister-in-law is expecting her first baby in a few weeks and we celebrated Mom, Dad, and baby girl with a couples baby shower. My other sister-in-law is expecting her first in September–a boy!! Babies, babies, everywhere. Kinda giving me the fever! 😉
This cute banner was super easy to make. A pack a cute onesies and some inflatable letters–done! Best part is the decoration doubled as a gift. 🙂
Superhero 5K. Aaron and I completed our second 5K together and it felt so good to race again! The weather was perfect and while the course was a little hilly, we made it and both improved our time from the race before. Josie ran the 100 yard dash and was the third kiddo to cross the finish line! She got her first ribbon and a coupon for a free Ledo’s pizza–score! Next year, she’ll be able to run the kids mile since she’ll be over 5 years old. Love seeing my girl get excited about being active!
Community Event. My girlfriend invited us to a fundraising event for a local independent school that was held at Winchester Brew Works…just one of the many local breweries near us. Lots of activities for the kiddos, a beautiful day, and good brews. Perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon. There was face painting, live music, animals, arts/crafts, etc. Josie had a ball and of course didn’t want to leave. Oh, and funny story….while Josie was painting a bird house I set my beer down to help her…next thing I know she’s rinsing her paint brush in my cup! Totally mom’s fault but the people there were kind enough to pour me another on the house. We all got a good laugh out of that–Haha!
Patio Sitting. Since the weather has been nice lately, we brought out all of our back patio furniture from storage. It’s one of our favorite spots to hang in the summer! After, we kicked off the warm weather with burgers on the grill, and Aaron started a fire for s’mores. Just chilling with my people on a beautiful night–my favorite place in the whole wide world to be.
Outdoor Fun. The weather has been pretty nice lately so we’ve been getting outside as much as we can! Some days have been particularly hotter than others so we’ve pulled out the ol’ water table to play in. Despite Josie’s best efforts of convincing me to get her pool out, she did not succeed. But ended up just climbing in her water table instead. She sure showed me!
Josie’s Countdown to Five. I did a whole blog post about my big girl’s upcoming milestone birthday. You can read it here! By the way…taking a child into Party City is no different than Toys’R’Us or Disney World most likely. She was oooo-ing and ahhh-ing over every little thing in the store!
Date Night. The hubs and I have been long over due for a date night, and since he was about to head out of town for a long work trip, I decided we needed to just call the sitter and make this happen! We drove out to Bluemont Winery, which is one of the first wineries we ever visited together, one time being the weekend we got engaged!
Look at these babies! The day after we got engaged. 😉
We had 7pm dinner reservations at Magnolia at the Mill which has quickly become a favorite spot. I had the most amazing “Spicy Pepino”, a cucumber jalapeno martini that I am still dreaming about. So dang good. At dinner, Aaron had a glass of water spilled down his back, but on the bright-side they comped us both free dessert. Worth the drenching in my book! Sorry babe!
The time alone together was so great. It can be hard to make your marriage a priority with two kiddos constantly needing your attention, but just being able to talk, laugh, and reconnect for a few hours can really make all the difference and is so healthy for a marriage. Money well spent on a babysitter!
May is a Super busy month for us and honestly probably won’t slow down much as we go into summer! Josie’s 5th Birthday, our 6th Anniversary, family coming in to town, a concert, Memorial Day…and to kick it off my husband is out of town for the first 8 days of the month, then continues with a crazy schedule once he’s home! Life is crazy…but crazy good. My biggest regret in life will be to not soak up these moments and enjoy them while we can. We truly have so much to be thankful for and I try to be mindful of that daily.
Thank you for reading! I hope you’ll stick around for a while. 😉
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