at the moment

Over the last few weeks, life has sort of passed by in a blur for me (with the notable exception of this little end-of-summer trip).  We've been even busier than usual with back-to-school stuff, the return of school year routines, and one other really, really big thing:  

We sold our house.  

Before we put it on the market. 

For real.  (See "with the house" below for a bit more explanation)

So instead of editing vacation photos and posting those today like I had planned, I've had to put that on hold for a little while longer and try to find some calm among the craziness (good craziness!) that is our reality these days.  Here's a little list of what I'm enjoying at the moment...

in my basket

 I'm still knitting away on Annabel's sweater and am really happy with the way it's coming together so far.

  One of my high school friends started her own photography business and requested a blanket for her newborn shoots.  I'm working with these pretty grays to make something gender neutral.

I also picked up a sweater pattern for Tommy since none of my books have sweater instructions in his size.  Just picture that little girl as a boy and that sweater in a navy blue.  I think he'll like it.  Can't wait to get started!

at the table

I know I show you this cookbook an awful lot, but I really can't say enough good things about it.  In fact, I love it so much that I've decided (in light of our recent house-selling and the need to not think so much about dinner) to start from the beginning and make every recipe.  Yes, every single one.  There will be a back-up cereal/oatmeal/toast option for those who decide they aren't fond of a particular dish.  This week we're having Breaded Chicken Cutlets, Curried Chicken with Apples, and Porcupine Meatballs.  I'm ridiculously excited about this and can't wait to tell you our favorite recipes.  

My new go-to lunch:  field greens, gorgonzola cheese, honey-roasted almonds, dried cranberries, and a slice of deli chicken or turkey (not pictured).  With a simple oil and vinegar dressing, it's perfect in every way.

on my nightstand

With so much knitting happening here these days, I've put down the novels for now and have just been slowly reading through the activities in the "Fall" section of Jennifer Ward's I Love Dirt!. Can't wait to try some of her ideas with the kids.  

in the mail

 The newest issue of taproot arrived in the mail and honestly, I think this is my most favorite one so far.  And look what's in it...

...The most adorable sweater I think I've ever seen.  So naturally, I immediately got online and went to Quince & Co. to buy the yarn.  That package arrived a few days ago and ohmygosh I'm so excited to start this project.  

with the kids

 Spending lots of time outside shooting hoops with my favorite boy and watching him zoom around on his bike with his buddy Grant who lives down the street.

 Tea and cupcakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Annabel...

 ...or the Red Ranger, depending on the day.

 So proud of my big first grade boy!  Here he is on his first day of school looking awesome.

 Mornings at the playground with my monkey girl.  She'll climb up anything and everything...and then try to jump off.

 Annabel dressed herself the other day:  a long-sleeved shirt as pants and her top on backwards.  She came running into the bathroom yelling, "I did it!  I did it!"  Adorable.

at the gym

I didn't end up signing up for the Super Spartan since we were going to be gone for so long right before the race, and it's a good thing I didn't because I came home from vacation with a lovely case of tendonitis in my right ankle.  It hung me up for a good three weeks, but I'm back at boot camp three days a week with longer cardio days in the gym on the off days.  Glad to be back in a good routine.

in the garden

 With such a long vacation right in the middle of the summer, I missed most of my tomatoes this year.  Thankfully, our awesome neighbors were able to enjoy them in our absence, but you can imagine my excitement the other day when I walked out there and found all of these beauties waiting for me.  Plenty of tomatoes for a pie and one of Dani's pretty tarts!

in the morning

with the house

So.  Let me tell you the too-good-to-be-true story about our house.  In early August we decided to put it on the market some time in the fall.  We got a realtor, hired a guy to come in and paint the trim, clean up the grout in the kitchen and bathrooms, and do a few other odd jobs in preparation for selling.  Getting these things done put us right at Labor Day for listing.  I mentioned in passing to some of my friends that we were going to put our house up for sale and see what happened.  So the Wednesday before Labor Day, the day that our realtor was bringing her team over to stage our house, one of my friends texted me and asked if one of her friends could come take a look at the house.  I said sure.  Long story short, instead of staging our house that day, we signed a contract.  We close at the end of this month.  Ridiculous!  But feeling so fortunate to have avoided showings at odd times and trying to keep the place clean all the time.  So after many nights of some serious "where do we want to live" and "what do we want in our forever home" discussions, we've finally made some big decisions...but more on that later  :)  In the meantime, we're getting an apartment until things come together.  So now our house looks like this:

In case you were wondering, no, we don't order liquor by the boxful.  Our local ABC store was kind enough to let us take these boxes off their hands.  I'll be hunting around town for a whole lot more in the next couple weeks.

So that's a little look at what I'm enjoying at the moment.  What are you loving right now?