We are Tennesseans!

Wow! It’s been a long time since we’ve updated here. I welcomed Noah a month late and now we are six, SIX months later and I’m just now writing a new post. Well, a lot has happened. We have sold our home in Florida and moved to Tennessee, so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! We have prayed about this for years. At one point I was against it and then, prayerfully, I reconsidered and God helped with that a lot. My heart totally changed and I was ready to move, pronto! But then God said, wait a minute and let Me set this up. “Let go, and let God”, right? It’s so much better when we do! I had such a peace about selling our home, moving away from family and all that we know (and my home town). Our family and friends might not have liked us leaving, but they were encouraging. And our church family, they were amazing and prayed us through this. Everything was easier and better than I would’ve imagined. We didn’t even get our first choice house and the one we did buy we love more than we though we would (and spent WAY less).

A little about our home now… we LOVE it! The neighborhood is peaceful. We have a wonderful view. Our neighbors are kind (and quiet). The kids love our yard and house (as do we). We have a nearby recreation trail that we ride bikes on regularly. During the summertime the local baseball team, the Greeneville Astros, have games with a free fireworks show that you can see from our home! Even though we are in a quiet, peaceful area, we are close to shopping and my in-laws too. The people in Greeneville are so nice! Everywhere we go people are pleasant and if I mention that we just moved I always hear “Welcome to Greeneville, you will love it here”. I’ve even already made friends with some ladies I met at the Y and a local mom’s group. Johnson City is nearby and has all of the big box type of stores and where we have to go if we want Panera or Chick-fil-a. You can bet if we go into JC that we get one or the other!

We have been pretty busy getting things done around the house lately. I’m slowly figuring out what colors I want to paint the interior and Bart is doing the outdoorsy, guy stuff. We got an invisible fence for Penny this past week and she’s getting it pretty quickly. We also got the fireplace inspected finally and had our first real fire (and there’s a need for it here, too). There’s something so relaxing about sitting by a crackling fire, especially when the kids are in bed! This week I started on painting the guest room. That’s a priority for me since the cabinets for our built in desks will be in this week. I want to get the guest room finished up so we can have company visit. That’s the only room that is out of sorts and the OCD in me needs it completed! Well, that’s about it for now. I’ll finish up with some photos of the kids. If you’re on my FB account you probably have seen them already.

First snow

Fun at the park

Blake bird watching out of our back door downstairs

Tumbling class at the local YMCA

Welcome, little Noah!

I probably should have written this post sooner, but with a newborn it’s just hard to find time to do along with my 3 yr old, chores, etc., etc. I know all parents understand that. I almost titled this post, “For this baby we prayed”, but it’s more like, “For this labor we prayed”. I was scared to death to birth Noah after my first experience and knowing that my husband would be at work. Not that the first one was terrible, it was just terribly long! And so was recovery. I decided this time I was going to give it to God, ask for prayer and wait. Just as before, when you let God and let go, the experience is so much sweeter. My wonderful ladies Bible study group, friends, and family covered us with prayer, and even though my hubby was not able to be there, this labor was so much sweeter.

Noah was born July 2nd in the afternoon after only about 7 minutes of pushing (Thank you, Jesus!). My amazing friend, of about 10 years, was there in delivery. And I cannot thank her enough for her presence. She was wonderful! During labor Bart and I were able to chat on the phone multiple times and he called just as I began pushing, so he was able to coach me through on speakerphone. That was so special for me because I didn’t think he would be able to experience any of it, being at work. After Noah was born, we were able to Skype and Bart was able to meet Noah via video chat. Erin (my friend) was so sweet and even asked Bart’s permission when offered the chance to cut the umbilical cord. She will forever have that bond with Noah now, and that’s so sweet.

My wonderful mother-in-law (Jane) and sister-in-law (Sterl) came to visit for the birth. Blake had a blast at home with all of the company (my mom, Jane and Sterl). He wasn’t too keen on seeing Noah in the hospital. He was more interested in running around my room and seeing what I had for him. Ahh, boys! I did manage to get a picture of him kissing Noah on the head. I had to bribe him with a brother gift to get it, but mommy’s gotta do what mommy’s gotta do to get the cute picture. Bart came home 5 days later and met Noah. It’s been a whirlwind of feedings, no sleep, playing with Blake, chores, etc, but it’s been fun and we are enjoying our new life as a family of 4.

Mommy and Noah

Having a blast with Aunt Sterl

Kisses for new brother Noah

Daddy and his boys

Happy 3rd Birthday!

We celebrated Blake’s birthday a little early since Bart would be at work for the actual day. It was a fun afternoon with family and friends. I usually make almost everything, but this time I left it up to our wonderful Publix to make the cupcakes and Papa Johns to deliver pizza. The rest was store-bought and put nicely into a bowl. With being 8 months pregnant, I was not going to spend all day cooking and baking. We had a blast and Blake loved the party. He even sang “Happy Birthday” to himself while everyone else sang to him. He’s quite a character and we love watching him grow. It’s such a blessing to be his mom and dad!

Here are a few pictures and the video from his birthday slide show that I do every year.

This & That: It’s been a while… and we’ve been busy!

I haven’t posted anything here since late February. We’ve been pretty busy with daily life and I’ve been resting when I can fit it in. Ya know, being pregnant and all (and chasing after a 2 1/2 yr old).

I totally forgot to announce that we found out we are having another little boy. We’re beyond excited. I always thought I’d like to have one of each, but strangely I was a little relieved when I found it was another boy. I think God knows I’m not cut out to be a girl mommy. 🙂

In late March, Bart started playing softball with our church’s league. We’ve had a wonderful time at the games and I think he’s had a great time too. Blake enjoyed playing around the ball field too.

There’s a festival each year in the spring at the end of our street. All week we watch them prepare for the festivities and then for 3 days they are open. This year, Blake watched everyday we passed and kept saying how he wanted to ride the school bus ride. When the time came we went and this was the result… He definitely didn’t have fun! He kept yelling “stop the school bus”. Yes, that is my child that you can hear over all other noise at the festival. Even after that, he still wanted to try other rides. We tried one more, but he wasn’t excited about it either and the ride was stopped so he could get off.

We had a lot of fun for Easter and Blake happily ate way too much candy before church on Easter morning. Aunt Sterl even came for a weekend visit to celebrate in the festivities.

We also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Bart set it all up, reservations at the Raintree, beautiful flowers waiting at our table, and tickets to see a play at the Limelight Theatre. It’s the first time we’ve been to the theatre and it was really enjoyable. Dinner was amazing, as it always is at the Raintree. And the best part was dessert (pregnant or not!). Yum!

To top it all off, drum roll, please…..

Our master bathroom is finally finished!!! Bart has really outdone himself this time. We had a few disagreements over the set up (corner shower vs. stall, double sinks vs. single with more counter space), but I love the way it turned out. With a little persuasion he finally figured out the best way to get it done. It wasn’t the easier route, but the hard work paid off and we love the finished product!

 

 

What a busy February!

This month has been filled with so much! We found out that we’re having another boy! We’re so excited and I’m pretty sure God knew that I couldn’t handle a girl. 😉

At the beginning of the month, Bart’s sister, Sterlynn, invited us to a charity BBQ at the Central Florida Zoo. She got some free tickets and we got to spend a fun day with Aunt Sterl! The zoo is a little smaller than our local one, so we were finished early and had lots of free time before the BBQ. Out come our phones to find local entertainment and we were soon off to the local arcade. And just in time because it started raining. The arcade was lots of fun. It was Blake’s first time with all of those cool games. We all had a blast and he was such a champ (especially since he didn’t nap all day!).

The following weekend was the annual auto show. My dad and I go every year and dream {drool} over what we would like to have if our budgets were unlimited. Last year we left Blake home, but this year I knew that at 2 1/2 he would really love to go. He’s ALL BOY and loves anything with an engine. We started off our trip with a short detour to get a double stroller for the new baby and Blake. We met at Starbucks and while we waited for the seller to show, Blake had his first Starbucks – a hot chocolate. I think he enjoyed it, though he didn’t finish it. At the car show we all had fun. I didn’t get to see the cars like I usually do, but that’s okay. Blake had so much fun going in and out of the cars. I kept him out of the more expensive ones since he was just playing around and made him behave in the other cars. I think his favorite was a Nissan (gasp!), but only because they had the ignition turned on and he could touch the radio controls that lit up to change stations. He definitely loved the trucks though and spent a lot of time sitting in those drivers seats.

For Valentine’s Day I had planned on making a fun breakfast, but the night before Bart said he wanted me to sleep in. He and Blake were going to make me breakfast in bed. No arguing there! I’m so blessed to have such a thoughtful husband and that he’s passing it onto our son. At lunch we had Blake’s favorite, mac & cheese, and I made sugar cookies so he could decorate one for lunch.

The next weekend was President’s Day weekend. The fort, Castillo de San Marcos, was free to enter, so we went to check it out. Toddlers have such a short attention span, so we don’t dare pay for some stuff when he won’t spend much time there. We met some friends downtown for breakfast that morning and set off with our kids for some history. It was a good time and Blake thought the cannon firing was “pretty cool, mom.”

A few days ago we decided that it would be a good time to take Blake camping. The last time we went camping was when I was 6 months pregnant with Blake. We figured we’d go locally so that it would be quick and easy and only for one night. We set up our tent and then picked up Blake from school. He thought the tent was his big fort and loved being outside all night. We cooked hot dogs on sticks and had smores later. Blake didn’t want me to squish the marshmallow and ate his on top of the graham cracker, not “smooshed.” We stayed up really late and he finally fell asleep between us around 10:30-11 (very late for him). The next morning we got up and had muffins and grapes for breakfast. Blake got pretty upset when I started to take down the tent. “No take down my fort!” followed by crying. I felt so bad and tried to explain we had to go home before the rain came. He got over it eventually and we got it all taken down just as the rain started.

January, January…

It’s been a busy month! Bart’s been away for his two weeks of Navy duty in Norfolk and I’ve been dealing with morning sickness (which comes and goes all day) and exhaustion. I didn’t announce it here yet, so here it is… we’re pregnant with #2! Blake will be a big brother in early July (or late June if the baby comes early like he did). Bart’s also finished up our hallway and will finish the bathroom up soon, I hope. Here are some cute pics from this month.

I made pancakes while daddy was out of town. Pancakes are daddy’s thing, but I decided we needed a fun breakfast instead of the usual Eggo’s, fruit and yogurt. You can see how happy he was here. I guess sometimes pancakes aren’t enough. 🙂

It’s been pretty cold here. I love it, but I’ve heard otherwise from friends on FB. We still get our walks in when we can and this time we bundled up and took a stroll.

And our latest adventure… potty training. At school Blake gets an M&M if he puts something in the potty. He seemed like he was doing well enough there, so decided to try at home. I bought many pairs of underwear (about 20 pairs) and a bag of M&M’s. We’re giving it 4 days of trying (with no diapers) all day each day and will see if he can get it. I don’t have much faith that he will get it this go-around, but here’s hoping.

Christmas fun!

Christmas is such a fun time of year! And now that Blake is 2 1/2, he’s so fun to do stuff with and understands more and more about the holiday. It’s also a busy time of year with lots to do and see! We decided to make sure we start traditions that we want to share with him. One of the things I did this year was try and find an advent calendar for our family. I never found one that I liked (or wanted to spend that much on), so to Pinterest I went and made one for us! I put an activity for each day such as: making cookies, watching a Christmas movie, reading a Christmas story, making a neighbor a goodie, go downtown for lights, do a craft with Santa, snowman or tree, etc.

We went out for a Christmas treat one night. Shakes at Sonic. Blake loved his and he and daddy had fun goofing around with the spoons as well.

We decorated for the holiday right after our return from Maine. This year we put the tree next to the fire place and I’m so glad we did. It makes the tree more enjoyable. Blake had fun decorating with us this year and we were able to use more ornaments (read: decorate more than just the top half of the tree).

I also helped with our churches Family Christmas Gathering. We had around 100 people. I cooked two deep fried turkeys and a ham and helped decorate for the occasion. Everyone brought side dishes or deserts and we all had a wonderful time singing carols, reading a story for the kids and we even got to see Santa! Blake thought he was pretty interesting!

We also went to the Christmas parade. We met up with a family from church and watched with them. Blake had fun sitting with the other kids and we all enjoyed the floats and mounds of candy thrown out. See, we’re at the beginning when everyone still has plenty of candy, so the kids get A LOT! The parade is also at the end of our street, so that makes it easy to go and enjoy!

One night we walked downtown to enjoy the lights. We see them all the time when we drive through there, but wanted to enjoy it up close. Last year Blake had a blast running around the Lightener Museum gardens area and this year was the same, but he’s much faster! Our town has recently made it onto many lists for his history, charm, living, etc and the lights are no exception. We will do the Holly Jolly Holiday Trolley later in the week with some friends, and I know listening to the carols while riding the trolley seeing all of the lights will be just as fun!

This is the tree at the town square area. Every year the city has a large tree with wooden block gifts. There is always a handful of people snapping pictures while it’s there. On the weekends, there are many, many people snapping pictures as the downtown area hosts large crowds enjoying the lights.

And last, but not least, our little ham in front of the tree. He likes playing with the singing, dancing Santa. He also loves wearing his Santa hat around the house.

Thanksgiving in Maine

Whew! It’s been almost two months since my last post. I finally sat down today and figured out why my iCloud wouldn’t sync my photos to my pc from my iPhone. I’m just too lazy to plug in the phone and move them myself! 😉

We have been pretty busy lately with life, in general. For the week of Thanksgiving, we flew up to Maine and visited Bart’s family. We had a wonderful time, as we did last year. Bart’s grandfather celebrated his 90th birthday while we were there. We saw lots of family and friends.  One of the days Bart, Blake and I drove out to the lake that Bart grew up swimming in during summertime. On the way we stopped at Raymonds, the town store, and bought Moxie (Yuck!), red snapper hot dogs and oatmeal pies for the drive there (which was not long at all). Blake tried his first sip of Moxie (and his first taste of soda) and didn’t like it. I think this should be all kids first taste of soda so that they will never want soda again! We also tried Red Snappers. They are hot dogs with a red casing and they “snap” when you bite into them. I wasn’t interested, so I got chicken fingers, but Blake and Bart had the hot dog. Blake ate the bun and I think Bart was a little disappointed that Blake didn’t like the red snapper or the Moxie. Hey, he is still from the South! 🙂 The guys had fun throwing rocks into the partially frozen shoreline. I watched and then they went to walk around where there was still snow on the ground nearby.

Thanksgiving day we had a lot of family over and had a wonderful time eating, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and playing games. Blake also got a new desk that we shipped home. This desk first belonged to Bart’s grandfather when he was 3. That makes the desk 87 years old. It has been used by all of the kids, grandchildren and now the great grandchildren! We were so excited to have it come live with us until it’s time to pass it along.

Here fishy, fishy!

Today Bart decided he wanted to teach Blake to fish. As a dad, I’m sure he’s been waiting for this moment since we knew we were having a boy (this, and when he can finally play with Nerf guns and baseball). We both grew up fishing with our families. I like to think my grandfather was looking down on us this afternoon with a huge smile on his face, knowing his great-grandson would develop a love of this with his father.

We went to Wal-Mart and bought a small pole, weights, hooks, bobbers, and hot dogs. After, we went to Treaty Park to fish from their catch and release pond. If you have not been there before, there are many ducks and turtles. We’ve been before to feed the ducks a few times. Usually we end up feeding over a dozen turtles too. I don’t think Blake was as interested as Bart wanted him to be, but he is almost 2 1/2, so I didn’t have high expectations. That’s why we also bought bread to feed the ducks. 🙂

Immediately, Bart caught 4 fish. One after the other. They were small and his last one was slightly bigger. Blake lost interest by the third fish. Enter in mama. It was tricky keeping the bait away from the turtles. I fished while the boys fed the ducks and caught a larger one than Bart, almost immediately, and I also caught a bass! I know grandpa would be proud watching his granddaughter today! He taught me well. The boys had already went to the playground nearby, so I took a picture quickly and let it go.

On a side note: Bart told me not to use too large a piece of hot dog because the small fish couldn’t bite that. I told him I was going for the big fish, not the small ones. I showed him! 🙂

Below are pictures from our fun evening.

Rigging up the pole

Showing Blake how to bait the hook

Showing Blake the fish

Fishing

Daddy’s fish

Daddy’s fish

Mama’s bass

This & That

Yikes! It’s been almost two months since my last blog entry! Needless to say, we’ve been busy! (And mama’s been tired!)

September was fun and flew by! That was good for us because my hubby came home in October, so that made that approaching date all the easier as we kept busy.

At the beginning of September, I adopted Penny from SAFE Animal Rescue. It wasn’t planned (I was on a fact-finding mission to see about the process when we’re ready), but I was in the right place at the right time and so was she. She’s been such an amazing dog and LOVES our family. Blake plays with her all of the time and, I think, has found a new best friend in her. Below is a picture of her when we adopted her and the larger picture is of her a month later after her first grooming. It was a rocky start for her since she was neglected at an animal hoarders’ home in Jacksonville. She came to me very underweight with kennel cough and a double ear infection (discovered after I got her and took her to the vet). She’s definitely a blessing for us and we love her so much already.

Next up, our trip to the Alligator Farm. Blake has never been even though we pass it frequently. We went with two other moms and their kiddos and had a wonderful time. Thanks to Kristen for the great pictures! And to Erin for joining us! Blake loved the show. We were the only ones there and got a private show at the stage. The kids were able to touch the wildlife instead of just looking from the audience. He was not afraid of the snake, turtle or frog and tried to grab them away from the handler. He also liked the baby alligator we got to hold and touch. He’s a very brave (or blissfully unaware) boy! We were there from open until about 12:30 and with all of that running around, Blake still didn’t nap. Ugh!

Note the Dangerous Animal picture… yes, that could be true on days he doesn’t nap. Especially the closer we get to bedtime.

At the end of September, I decided that it might be fun to get out of town overnight and check out Sea World. I’ve been before and so has Blake, technically. I was newly pregnant when I last visited, so it’s been over two years since I’ve been. My sister-in-law has a season pass to Sea World, so she joined us and we had so much fun! We drove down first thing Saturday and hit the park as soon as we checked into our hotel. We stayed until about 3 and then went to the hotel pool for a cool down. Sterl was such a trooper after having run way too many miles before we picked her up. She hung in there the whole day. We saw about half of the exhibits that day.

The best thing I think we did was stay at the Doubletree at Sea World. That was a short walk into the park so we saved on paying to park at Sea World. The hotel was great, and had multiple pools. We went to the family pool and Blake had a great time with the other kids around.

The next day we went to Sea World again to see the rest of the park and catch the dolphin show we missed the day before. Blake loved this show. It was very fast paced with lots going on to keep his attention. We also got to see the penguins this day. However, since Blake didn’t want to do the ride before, we got to go directly into the penguin area. In other words, he threw a crazy fit and since he wouldn’t stop crying and sit in his own seat we weren’t allowed to do the ride. I was a little nervous that the door they were leading us to just went outside (that we would miss the exhibit) and was pleasantly surprised when it went right to the penguins.  We did run into the people who we were supposed to ride with and they said we didn’t miss a thing. So, if you don’t want to ride before seeing the penguins, just throw a fit and they’ll let you skip that part. 😉 We left the park around 1 and took Sterl home and drove back home. Blake had such a great time at the park and with his Aunt Sterl. He continues to ask where she is at least once a week since we’ve been back (sometime more). That kid definitely loves his aunt. 🙂