kc time

a couple weeks ago my mom and i, along with the boys, escaped to kansas city for an overnight stay. because the boys get restless in the car and are quite tricky going to bed, we'd never done any long trips with them or stayed the night anywhere other than grandma and grandpa's, so this was an interesting experiment.

i realize that some might not consider a 3 hour car ride a long trip, but for me, that qualifies. amazingly, miraculously, happily, the boys did very well in the car.

we left around 3pm, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the boys would nap in the car. and they did!! for about half the way up!!


mom and i enjoyed the time to talk and the glorious cloud displays. as much as i don't like riding in cars, the flint hills really are a pleasure to drive through.



i love clouds.


when the boys woke up and were getting restless after a pit stop, we were saved by the DVD player.


(ben's tv stare kinda freaks me out.)

we had such a great time spending saturday evening and sunday with my brother and his family. the boys loved cousin time...


and new electronic toy time...

and it was so nice to just get to hang out with my brother and wonderful sister-in-law since we usually only get to see them at big family gatherings where it's always a little (or lot) hectic and overwhelming.

plus, i finally got to see their oh so cool house in it's completed form. tim and i had seen it the summer before they moved in when they were still finishing it, but we hadn't been back up that way in almost three years and had only been able to marvel at it in pictures.

i totally have a crush on their house. i didn't want to be creepy and take tons of pics of their living space, but their house is just so. dang. cool. (if you want to read more, the house was featured in dwell magazine here.

i love the clean lines, the unconventional use of building materials, and ALL THOSE WINDOWS. definitely not your average suburban ranch! i have to admit, if i had just seen this house featured online and hadn't personally been in the space, it would seem a little sparse and a bit cold-so much open-ness would seem uncozy i suppose. but it is the perfect blend of cozy and private in the bedroom areas and open and peaceful in the living room/dining room/kitchen area.


they designed this gorgeous wooden room divider to basically create another "room" in the big open living room. so, so beautiful. (i was super thankful my wild ones didn't slam into it and break it.)


did i mention the windows?! such a view!

on sunday afternoon my kind and patient sister-in-law took me to trader joe's, which i had been longing to go to for a long time. although the store had been open for over a month, it was like it was the opening day and was totally packed. i'm sure part of that was that it was the weekend-it seemed like a lot of people where checking it out and just wandering along. although it didn't live up to the utopian grocery i had built it up in my mind to be, i would be happy if one came to town. some of the prices were pretty good, some just the norm. the selection was interesting and it would have been fun to just wander and look but the crowd just made me want to grab a few things and GET OUT!




we honestly waited in line for about 20 minutes. but the company was good and the people watching was top notch.

after checking in with the boys and picking up mom, j took us to urban arts + crafts-a totally awesome fabric/bead/yarn/crafts stuff shop that is within walking distance of their house.


it would be seriously dangerous to our budget if i lived so close to soooo much beautiful fabric.

it was cool to see anna maria horner's fabric in person-i have long drooled over it via the interwebs. the voile feels as soft and light as she describes it to be and would be so delicious to make skirts and dresses out of if i had those skillz. serious fabric lust occurred at that store.

after a little more time back at the tree house snuggling the sweet little princess we had to get on the road.


again the boys did well in the car. thankfully grammie is very, very patient and i'm pretty sure, loves the boys more than i do.



a long post for a short trip, but it twas a good trip.