mama winn

Family vaca: Isle of Palms, Charleston, SC

Sunday night we got back from Charleston, SC after a week of pool, ocean, and family time. We stayed in a gorgeous spacious home on the ocean in Isle of Palms. It was a very relaxing week, where our biggest problems of the day were whether to go swim in the pool or in the ocean, or what we were going to choose to eat for dinner, or whether we wanted to dress up at all and get out of the house... We did get out of the house a couple of times, twice to go to downtown Charleston to just walk or have dinner (just young couples of the family), and once to the children's museum. The children's museum was obviously intended for the two little cousins, Mae and Annika, but the older crowd managed to make it fun for themselves too: they placed bets and raced little kid boats. I hear someone won a buck.

These types of vacations aren't that good for your skin, but how amazing are they for your soul! You wake up early to the sound of the ocean waves and can already taste salt on your lips. You creep downstairs to greet the sleepy crowd and you all quietly sleepily fuss around the kitchen making breakfast and then sit and eat and lazily sip coffee on the balcony. No one is moving much except the two little always energetic two-year-olds. Already you feel so accomplished that putting on your swim suit and sunscreen seems like a lot of work. But then you do and the pool/ocean time is so worth it, although it does exhaust you even more:) Then you put babies (and some adults) down for a nap and the only sounds in the house are of more coffee brewing and fans running and muffled voices and again those glorious ocean waves. The evening is filled with play time, talk time, more pool or ocean, and then prepping things for yet another delicious dinner... Speaking of delicious dinners... My favorites were probably the Chinese dinner that my brother-in-law's girlfriend Weishan made and the low-country shrimp boil. I'm not sure I will attempt the Chinese dumplings, but the shrimp boil will definitely be offered at our next friends dinner (instead of the usual taco night or grilled brats or grilled chicken marinated in Winn Teriyaki sauce:)).

On Monday, my year as a stay at home mom began and it's been amazing so far. More on that later.

And here are some random photos from the vacation, in no particular order.

Now that the cat is out of the bag (as in, the news of our house is out!), I can finally start talking about it. Can't stop me now.

I have to say, I always thought I would want to buy a new house, or at least a move-in ready house, where nothing needs to be even painted, let alone remodeled. Little did I know... That house doesn't exist, because I can always find something wrong. So buying a house at a good price left us some wiggle room for remodeling and it's been so fun perusing Pinterest for ideas.

The list of things that need to be done is quite long. One good thing - a lot of it won't be done by us:) As much as I would love to channel my inner Sherry Petersick and do everything by myself, I'm just going to stick with my inner Phoebe Buffey and say "Oh, I would love to! But I just don't want to!"

So here comes the seemingly never ending list.

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege to take these senior pictures for Tara. Tara is a an avid reader and it was fun to capture that side of her. She is a sweetie too - she went with everything I threw at her. Climb a tree, Tara. Sure! Roll in the leaves, Tara. Alright. Sit on the road, Tara. Okay!

What wasn't fun, was this prego lady trying to, for example, take pictures from the ground level. Can't really stretch out on the ground much these days. But I'm happy with this moody, romantic shoot!

Last Saturday morning I got to sleep in and later we headed to the zoo. We'd been talking about the zoo all week to get Annika enthusiastic about it and right before we got there I asked her what she was most excited to see. She said "ocean". Naturally:)

About half the universe had the same genius idea of taking their children to the zoo on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning. The place was packed. I was thisss close to considering buying one of those awful leashes you see children wearing at the airports, because the little lady had her own agenda and she didn't care that mommy and daddy wanted to go feed the giraffes.

It would have otherwise been a regular zoo trip, except we had Annika and that's just never regular.

First, there was the lunch that consisted of some terrible zoo food. But you know how everything tastes 100 times better when you are travelling or visiting touristy spots? Apparently, Annika even thought a PBJ with ketchup was a good idea. (Did you by the way know that an alternate spelling for the word ketchup is catsup? I'm an English teacher and I just recently found out. Whoa.)

Then there were the hopping kangaroos and of course Annika started mimicking them right away. She does that hop all the time now. And the way she says "kanga-Roo" (2 distinct syllables and a very stressed American "r") is hilarious.

Next came farm animals and I was so excited for her to pet them. But that girl couldn't care less about the goats, because there was GRAVEL! Go figure, you never know what strikes her fancy.

And then there was the GOOSE. On the way out, daddy had to use the restroom and Annika and I spotted a large goose just wondering around. The fearless child of mine came up to it, first just looking... Of course I was on my knees at that point taking pictures. She got closer and closer and I though, awe, how cute. She (not the goose, mind you!) started quacking and then real fast disappeared from my viewfinder. Daddy appeared out of nowhere and gave me a reproaching look. Apparently the goose was hissing at Annika and that means it was going to attack. It seems like I should feel more guilty, but it was just kind of funny.

Mommy and daddy didn't get to feed the giraffes due to the crowds but we all had fun nonetheless. When we got home, we were so wiped out; all we wanted to do was lay motionless for hours. But no such luck, what with a monkey/kanga-Roo/little monster in the house...

Annika says...

-I NEED mommy's foam to watch the pictures!" (phone)

- Annika, who made you so cute? (expecting her to say mommy and daddy)

-God! (thank you, daycare for picking up my slack!)

Comes up to us with hands on her cheeks:

-Look at me! So cute!

- A lee blit more raisins, please! Right now.

- I need more lion water! (lime water)

Before bath:

- Annika is so naked!

- Annika's butt little. Mommy's butt big. (Um, thanks, girl!)

Sometimes, instead of "more" she says "harder". I was pouring some water for her to drink and apparently didn't pour enough:

- Mommy, pour harder!

Or when I didn't give her enough grapes:

- Give grapes harder!

After I accidentally dropped blueberries on the floor:

- Mommy, go to timeout!

- Annika, what are you doing?

- Going crazy!

(but what else is new:))

*** And the clothes in the last 3 photos are from Polarn O. Pyret, by the way! Such good quality stuff!***

Winn House Saga

You guys! WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Heck yes, I'm shouting! Because... A HOUSE!

It may seem like out of the blue, but it’s been a long and nerve-wracking 8-month-long process. Not only was it excruciating to wait that long and not know where we will end up in a few months, it was also painful to see God close door after door after door. We never lost faith and now clearly see that God closed those doors for a reason.

You won’t believe the number of houses we looked at. And, ohmahgosh, was there, like, drama, you guys.

Let me tell you a few house stories that I hereby officially declare chapters of the Winn House Saga.

1. House #1

Perrrrfect house. Long-term, big, amazing floor plan, move-in ready… But the price tag was high and the location, albeit on the lake, wasn't the most prime. As in it was probably one of the worst on the lake.

We loved it enough and made a low-ball offer. We countered 2 more times and were thissss close to getting it, when 1 hour before our final offer was to expire (and before the seller was going to accept it, according to our realtor), someone came in and offered “significantly more” on the spot. It was a little odd how it all happened, because the freaking house had been on the market for 2 years without a single interested party. Door shut!

2. House #2

Short-term, small (although with an extra bedroom for the babe), not on the lake, but close enough in a great location in our town. Perfect price tag and move-in ready.

But we have to rewind to 2008, a month after our wedding. That same house was for sale then and we offered. We were outbid by a member of a wealthy family in town. (Ended up being a good thing for us, since I was able to go to school without taking out a loan). Since then the original owner had bought the house back and just a few months ago (that’s 6 years later!) he contacted us again and said he was selling if we were interested. We looked and offered what he was asking. And that same day were outbid by a member of the same freaking family. The odds!!!

3. House #3

The final one and a short-term one (about 3-5 years). Perfect little house, although needs a lot of remodeling to suit our taste. Great price and with an access to the lake via a channel. And wait till you see our backyard, people!

We looked at the house twice and debated. Then we heard of another guy who was interested and decided we would be stupid to pass it up and made an offer. It was quickly accepted and now we are about to begin remodeling. We will not move until it's remodeled, so it might be a few weeks. Can. Not. Wait!!! Hopefully, before the brand new Winn is here (which is July 17th).

And by the way, the guy who was interested in this house is super excited about renting our cottage for a few years:). It all worked out!

All that to say... I'm glad the search is over. We still have bigger plans for our Dream House, but we won't be talking about them for at least a few years. What we will be talking about is remodeling, decor, DIY, and moving and grooving:) Hopefully. If we have time:)

Stay tuned. Eeek!

And here is our attempt at looking scared of home-ownership (in case you can't tell by the questionable face expressions)!

Annika is Two!

Our bunny turned 2 on May 12 and yesterday we had a sweet birthday celebration for her. I tried to make it simple and didn't even choose a theme for the party. But then I ended up in the party section at Target and went a little crazy, because... hello... SPRITZ collection. LOVE!
I decided that even though there was no theme, I wanted it be bright and colorful. I even thought maybe "2 bright" should be the theme, but that was voted out by some people whose last name rhymes with Shwinn! (I'm glaring at you, Greg!!!)
I didn't start planning anything until a week or so before the party. There were no formal invitations, just a good ole text message:) I honestly didn't have time to do any more than that. I tried to keep the party small, but it ended up being 30 people or so. Toddlers and babies in tow.
It was a simple party, but I thought it was perfect. And the best part - Annika was so happy the whole time. This girl loves attention, so she was completely in her element.

I'm so thankful to those who took time of their Saturday afternoon to come shower our girl with love!

And just to think, only 2 years ago this was the most traumatic day of my life. Gosh, I love her and I don't even need to say any more than that!