Big news over here, BABY NUMBER FOUR is on the way!!!  I still cannot believe that this is our reality, even though one more baby was always a deep down hope for me, I truly never thought it would actually happen.  Our sweet little bonus baby, it feels so, so special.

Joe & I both come from families with four kids, so we always laughed that we would follow along but when it came to the actual time for that, all the practical and “responsible” reasons pointed to stopping as our family of five.  I had gone into my pregnancy with Remie mentally preparing myself that she was probably our last, and honestly felt so genuinely happy with life with our three girls that most of the time I really felt we could be complete.  Yet there was always this feeling deep down that I couldn’t give up, even when I really wanted to, so we never completely closed the door even though as time has kept moving on it looked more & more like we would do life as a family of five.

This summer we had a few more very real conversations about it, and I so badly wanted to feel at peace with whatever decision we made, so I hoped & hoped for a sign of what we should do.  And just a couple months later, even though we weren’t trying, I got my sign — the strongest feeling I had ever had that I was pregnant.  Even with three prior pregnancies, that feeling had never happened before and definitely not nearly as clearly.  Sure enough, that night, I got a very faint positive test super early, right before I was even three weeks along.  I was so shocked, I took five more pregnancy tests that week — all positive, each line darker than the last.  Truly the sign I was waiting for, I just never knew it would come so clearly. 🙂

So here we are, it’s about 9 weeks later.  We took some time to process what a huge change this will be for all of us, and we still have so many of those practical things to figure out, but really all that matters is that we know we have a LOT of love to give.  Joe & I told our girls a few weeks ago, it was one of the sweetest moments of my life.  Waverly cried tears of joy and said “I feel like I am dreaming”.  Me too, girl. 

We are all so excited to get to do this one more time, and to officially complete our family with the baby who we can’t help but feel was always meant to be. Baby B FOUR, due early June 2022 (three days before Avalon’s birthday, our fourth summer babe!).

So, so, so excited to meet our littlest love!

Happy Friday!!!  Stopping in to share about one of my favorite collabs EVER, a deep cleaning service from our local friends at Home Clean Heroes.  This was such a treat for me, especially this crazy time of year with all four of us girls back in school.  I am the first to admit that I hate paying for things that I feel like I can do myself, but after getting this done I realized how worth much it’s worth it.  Home Clean Heroes came + deep cleaned our home one Friday morning while we were at work/school, and it was sooooooo nice coming home to a sparkly clean home to kick off the weekend.  I could not believe how much time we had back, we usually spend a lot of our Saturday cleaning so this was such a TRUE GIFT!  It was one of the most relaxing weekends we have had in a while. 🙂

If you are local to VB and want to get some of  your time back (and a super clean home!!!), here is their website.  This also would be such a fun gift with the holidays coming up!  Happy weekend ahead! XO

We are three weeks into school & I am finally getting around to sharing a little bit about what back to school looked like this year for us.  Thankfully there were no big transitions or tears this time around, all three of my girls returned to the same school as before, with lots of friends & familiar faces!!

Waverly and Avalon are in their second year of being at the same school together, I always looked forward to this time so much and it really is so sweet watching them walk out at the end of the day together.  Waverly is in fourth grade (doesn’t seem possible!), I promise I was just following her bus to kindergarten and now somehow next year she will be the OLDEST at the school.  She loves her Spanish immersion program, her friends, and has turned into very much a rule follower and is super focused about school.  Avalon is loving life and being with all her little friends in the first grade, her main goal each day is to have all the fun 🙂  This is so funny because they used to be the other way around, but I guess it comes with the territory of their ages too.  We are just very thankful that they love school and are all around happy kids.

Remie moved up to the 3s class at preschool, she has the same teacher that Avalon had when she was three.  One of the highlights of my every day is walking in to pick her up right after nap and seeing how precious she is sitting with all the other kids in her class.  She plays school almost every night, exactly like Waverly Maye used to do when she was that age, it’s so sweet to listen to her recite the names of all her classmates and pretend like she is the teacher.  She loves books, painting, and will 100% of the time pick the color purple for anything she creates.  She is also on her way to being potty trained (!!!), I am so proud of her and how quickly she transitions after being home all summer with me.

Hope your school year is off to the best start!  So excited to begin all the fall festivities! XO

We are finishing our first full week of school today, it has been very busy & definitely an adjustment getting all the places again after a summer at home, but it also feels good to be back in a routine.  My big girls love their teachers and have tons of friends in their classes, and little Remie Rue is back at her same preschool from last year & has done so well.  So very proud of all three of them and cannot wait to see all the fun things they will do this year!!!

One of my favorite parts of back to school when I was younger was the shopping of course, & Waverly Maye has definitely inherited that trait.  We were so excited to team up with our friends @jenzykicks to get new shoes for all three girls, we have worked with them before and they make shopping for little people soooo much easier.   Their app is super easy to use, it has a place to size your kids and then matches their feet to the shoes that will actually fit them.  No more returns or the craziness of having to take your kids to try on shoes, it is such a gift for busy mamas!

Here in VA, September is still super warm so I picked out sandals for Waverly & Remie.  I LOVED the red for back to school, they are such a fun change to our normal neutral shoes.  Avalon chose her own, glitter pink of course, these are so very her and I know she will get a lot of wear out of them all year long.

The app to shop is called @shopjenzy, and you can also shop at jenzy.com.  Use the code ASHLEY for 15% off.  Wishing you the happiest school year & all the HAPPY shopping! XO

We celebrated our Remie Rue a couple weekends back with the sweetest tea party, excited to share photos of her special morning with our family! Full disclosure, I decided on a tea party after seeing the cutest tea set at Home Goods a few months ago.  It was before all three of the girls birthdays & I knew that Remie was my best chance since she doesn’t care about a theme yet and would just be so excited to have everyone there for her.  She ended up loving it so much, she was the sweetest pouring her “tea” (apple juice) and having all the big girls help her with it.  If only I could keep her this age forever, a three year old Remie Rue is something special.

After getting the tea sets, I added some pretty butterfly plates & then these butterflies made ALL the difference.  They were super afforadable & simple to use, perfect to create detail on the balloon garland and the table.  My sister-in-law came through on the most beautiful cake everrrrrr (almost too pretty to eat), and we added some butterflies to that as well!  The sweetest set-up for our littlest sister.

To celebrate on Remie’s actual birthday, we watched the sunset on the beach & ordered pizza with friends — it was so much fun and the perfect way to kick off her THIRD year!  She is so easy to celebrate.  HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY REMIE RUE, we love, love, love you!!!!!!!!