Hello, Friday!

I can count on one hand the number of days Max has been home (and not away on business) this month. Thank goodness for FaceTime!

Max was emailed some sort of travel survey one of the nights he was home this month. He read it aloud as he received it, saying it was sent to the Top 100 travelers at his company. I asked him to remind me how many people were at the company. Forty-four thousand. Thousand. 😂 As Max went on to say, this is not an honor you want. He's already hit and passed the 50,000 miles this year. Business travel is tough; this guy is living on planes and out of carry-ons, and he does it all without complaining (and without sleep!).  He's our hero. 

Our time with him these past couple months has been so precious, so we just soak it all up!

In the meantime, there have been lots of Mama and Parker dates and days! Picnics, walks, strawberry picking - anything we can do to be outside this time of year! We decided to skip preschool and head to Brown Family Farm one morning this week (we've gone every year on a weekday morning since we moved here - I'll do anything to avoid crowds, ha!). 

Parker woke up at 6:45AM, excitedly shouting that it was strawberry picking day, and, no worries, he'd get dressed all on his own. He walked into my room in this get-up, explaining that he put on two shirts because it was a cold day. When I asked how he knew, he said he asked (the Amazon) Alexa the weather and she told him it was fifty-five degrees. I die. 

I was sent this Elemis cleansing balm as part of an Influenster campaign, and I was super stoked to try it. Funny story, one of my Junior League friends saw my post about it on Instagram and said that Elemis is a brand used by spas on cruise lines! (It's also carried by Nordstrom.) So, after using the balm every night for a week, here's my verdict. The pros: the balm does a nice job dissolving makeup and leaves a great texture on your face. Con: it needs to be wiped off with a damp warm cloth, which is an extra step and involves making extra laundry - however using that damp, warm cloth makes me feel like I'm at a day spa so it actually makes it worth it. Overall, I say yes to adding this product to your face care arsenal. The fact that it's a balm makes it a different and unique type of cleanser that's worth having. I was also given the Pro-Collagen creams (one for day and one for night). I enjoyed both, but really loved that the daytime one smelled of orange blossom (I'm all about the scents). 

After two weekends of rain-outs, Parker finally had his first (and second) t-ball games!

This is a different league than we've done the past couple years, and they are "counting outs" instead of letting everyone run all the bases. Once Parker got wind of this, he started running those bases like I've never seen before! He did not want to get sent back to the dugout!

Originally Max was supposed to be on travel for the first game, but since it was postponed he ended up being in town and able to help out on the field! Wahoo!

Having a summer garden is one of my very favorite things! I love being able to pop out to get some herbs to top a dinner dish, or enjoying a cherry tomato right off the vine. It's taken a couple weekends, but we went from the picture above to the photo below. 

I really wanted to get in the last of it (a marigold border) in before some big storms rolled in.

However, I had been nursing bronchitis and a sinus infection (which completely knocked me down and out, y'all) and ended up just plopping myself down right in the dirt from the exertion. Max snapped this photo, and I crack up seeing myself just sitting there in the dirt 😂 It also reminds me how nice it is to not be sick anymore. 

The peony plant I picked up at last year's botanical garden sale gave me exactly one bloom this year! I had read not to expect any blooms for a couple years, so I was stoked! (There would have been even more blossoms but we had a few freezes this month and lost several buds.)

The other peony also had just one blossom since it was also hit by the freezes. I picked up a third peony plant at this year's botanical garden sale and can't wait to see what it will look like - I love all the different varieties! 

Who else is loving spring gardens? 🙋