^ our house has become a bit of a pumpkin bread factory as of late ^

This week has flown by terribly fast, blame it on the commuting (we got home from DC on Sunday night) or the fact that it's getting dark at practically seven making me think it's ten, but Wednesday came surprisingly soon. But I'm not complaining. It meant we get to Friday faster and that's just grand as far as I'm concerned since we're making our annual family pilgrimage to Chincoteague for the weekend. The promise of bike rides along the beach, the best Greek salad I've ever had at Maria's and legendary ice cream cones have been tempting me all week. 

It's been a "homey" week full of work and laundry and baking pumpkin bread but life isn't perfect and we had a few rough nights with our little lady that I'm sure we can blame on teething. We've had weeks and months where we just pushed and pushed ourselves regardless of how much sleep we got, regardless of how sane we felt and regardless of darn exhausted we felt. Sometimes it's ok, we're up for the challenge, but this week I just knew that pushing would result in - breaking down. So we didn't wait. We didn't wait until the snappy comments worked their way into our daily interactions. We didn't wait until crying. Until endless sighs and messy beds and the "I just don't care anymore." We pressed pause. 

On Tuesday we had friends over for tea. We tidied up the house together and baked and entertained our guests. And we sipped our tea long after they left and watched the sun disappear behind the mountains from our dining room table littered with bits of pumpkin bread and discarded tea bags. On Wednesday we had a proper breakfast as a family complete with some morning cartoons and a quality cup of coffee courtesy of papa bear. He's the only person in the whole world who knows how to make my coffee exactly how I like it, which in case you're wondering is as the Beastie Boys rapped "I like my sugar with coffee and cream." 

Later that night I decided that since we're officially in fall, pumpkins, fallen leaves and all, I had nature's permission to dust off my nordic themed onsie pj's. Though terribly impractical when it comes to visits to the bathroom they are wonderfully cozy and feel like traveling back in time and finding yourself five years old again. We unfurled a bevy of blankets on our bed, filled our nightstands with bowls overflowing with apples and put You've Got Mail in the dvd player. Our room felt so cozy and the sound of the Cranberries "Dreams" began to lull us into a state of complete relaxation. We fell asleep somewhere between "you're nothing but a suit" and "someday I'll explain everything." We didn't mind not finishing since we knew the ending by heart: "Don't cry, Shopgirl, don't cry" and "I wanted it to be you.  I wanted it to be you so badly." 

And we woke up on Thursday and Thursday morning turned into Thursday afternoon and...

And then before we knew it today came and it was THE WEEKEND!!