Our trip to TN

One of the things I love about being a stay at home mama is that we are very flexible with our schedule and can do things on a whim. I was having a little cabin fever, and when we Skype with my in-laws, I realize how much fun they could have with Blake if he were on the farm with them. So, I decided to drive with my 2 yr old to Tennessee and stay a week.

I planned and packed many bags of snacks (Cheerios, Goldfish, etc.) and mounted our portable DVD player to the back of the head rest. I also packed a lunch so we could stop at a rest area and let Blake run around instead of a restaurant. That also made our trip go faster. My mistake, though, was taking the mountain roads instead of going the way we usually do. My poor little man got sick about 30 minutes away from our destination. I was able to clean him up, but then he got sick again 5 miles away and that was a mess. Lucky for me, I called ahead and my wonderful in-laws had a bath waiting for us. After washing and cleaning everything we got settled in and had a great night.

Blake slept so well while we were there. He took long naps and everything! We had such a great time. He got to ride on the tractor with Grandpa, the buggy with Grandma, chase around chickens, play with the new puppy, play with the rocks and his dump truck in the driveway, go to the Knoxville Zoo, and the county fair was even in town the week we were there. (I even got in a little house hunting .) Below are some pictures from our fun in TN.

Riding the tractor with Grandpa

Petting the chicken with Grandma

Chasing chickens

Greeneville County Fair

Greeneville County Fair

Knoxville Zoo

Knoxville Zoo

Knoxville Zoo

Paint Creek in the Cherokee National Forest

Watch out Grandpa

When your son asks you to hug his bear and you’re driving, this is how you do it.

 

Projects, projects!

So while my hubby is otherwise preoccupied with work, I decided to see how handy I could be. I’ve wanted a corner bookshelf type of storage unit for Blake’s toys. Unfortunately they are either too expensive, don’t fit our small home or too cheap looking. Solution! Build my own! I’ve never built anything before, but have watched plenty of projects around our house and on the DIY network. Oh, and Bart has shown me how to use the circular saw before to help him cut a sheet of plywood.

I started out small, with something I’ve wanted since Blake turned 2, a small step for the bathroom sink. I found a plan online here: http://ana-white.com/2011/02/plans/vintage-step-stool and went to work. First is the step before staining, then after one coat and, finally, the finished product.

With my first project under my belt, I went onto make something more difficult, a corner bookshelf/storage unit. I bought my bins at Target on sale and measured the corner and bins. Then I drew out my plan and thought about it for almost a week, going over and over the measurements to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  I used MDF for the sides and shelves and bead board for the backing with a little bit of quarter round trim for the inside corner. And here’s my process and pictures below.

The best part was that my hubby couldn’t believe that I did it all on my own. He’s very impressed and that means a lot to me. He even said I should go ahead and get started on our bathroom. LOL! I may have gotten myself in trouble by showing what I can do now. 🙂

This & That

We’ve been pretty busy lately here, but as hot as it is outside it’s hard to find something that won’t make you sweat into a puddle. If we do something outside it has to be early, even if we are in the water.

We went to the park early one morning. We were actually the first ones there. It kind of had me wondering if it was closed, but everyone showed up quickly minutes later.

The library is very close, so I decided to see what Blake thinks and check out some books. He had fun looking at their books and we checked out 5 books for him. We read every one before lunch and a few after lunch again. He loves the train books. I’m so glad he loves to read.

We helped a friend move something she bought from Craigslist. It’s a great piece and I can’t wait to see how she fixes it up! Blake liked it too, but for a different reason.

And lastly, I heard Blake saying “squish, squish, squish” in the dining room one morning during breakfast. I guess he didn’t really want to eat those blueberries.

Our Independence Day

We started out the day meeting at the zoo with my friend and her kids. We got there right at opening time. That seems to be the best strategy for beating the crowds and heat. Blake was so good. I let him walk quite a bit and he stayed up with us like he was supposed to. He listened very well. We rode the carousel, but like usual he wanted to hold onto me during the ride. On the way home he passed out. I think all of the walking and heat zapped his energy.

After a nice and long nap (and break time for mama) we headed over to another friend’s house for a cook out. After too much great food and much fun conversation, we headed home and waited for time to head down to watch the fireworks. Disney Junior always has shows that keep up with the holiday, so Blake was familiar with fireworks from the shows. We kept talking about how fireworks go “boom” and he thought it was funny. About 9 o’clock we started our way downtown, but the fireworks started early. I parked on the sidewalk when we got there and put my chair next to his stroller. I was smart and brought Dennis, his treasured bff and teddy bear, with us. I think that helped. But after the first few he turned his head to the side and buried it in his stroller. I think he was scared a little. I tried for a few minutes to get him to look, but I could tell he was scared. I asked Blake if he wanted to go home and he said “go home” so home is where we went. He never cried, but I think he was just so tired too. He was very well behaved all day and I was so proud of him for being such a good boy. Maybe next year he will be more excited.

And now for some pictures from the zoo.

Sitting on the elephant’s trunk

Riding the carousel

Looking at the anteater

Stealing kisses

Passed out! (after the zoo)

Blake is 2!

Last Saturday our little boy had his 2nd birthday. It’s been such a joy watching him grow and change that I get filled with excitement over thinking about what the upcoming years will bring. Watching him discover new things. Listening to him sound out words and new phrases. Seeing the joy in his eyes and hearing it in his laugh. Experiencing life together as a family.

We had a lot of rain leading up to Blake’s party, but thankfully the day was beautiful. No rain. Not too hot. Lots of family and friends. All of the kids had a blast and we all had a fun time. I also made a video for his birthday of the past year’s photos, but I forgot to show it at the party. Below is the video and pictures from our fun day.

The theme was construction. 🙂

Blake and Grandpa S. eating an early dinner.

The kiddos playing in the sandbox.

The birthday boy in his car.

Blake’s birthday cupcake. He literally inhaled it. There was frosting up his nose! And I think it was on his mouth for at least a full minute before he came up for air. 🙂

One of his many gifts. This set is probably his favorite from his Great-Nana. He loves emergency vehicles and tractors.

Tennessee Fun & Relaxation

Recently we took a family trip to Tennessee to visit Bart’s parents. Blake and I flew up and Bart drove. (Originally, Bart wasn’t going to be home to go and tickets were too expensive last-minute.) It worked out well since I like to pack a lot and was able to send more with Bart. And I didn’t have to take our car seat on the plane. It makes me nervous that they might damage it and is such a pain to carry inside.

We had a fun time around the farm. Bart and I were able to get a date night up in Johnson City and went off a few times to look at areas we might like to live in the future. We even took a trip over to Lake Watuga and had lunch at Captain’s Table on the lake. The restaurant is part of a lake resort that has cabin and boat rentals. This was our view for lunch. The food was delicious and the staff was very friendly.

In my attempt to be healthy while traveling I also got in a race while I was in TN. Memorial Day morning I ran The Hope 4, a 4 mile race. I did my best run ever, which might have something to do with the cool temps. The hills weren’t too bad and downhill was the best! I even won an award for furthest traveled. 🙂

Blake had a great time with all of the dogs. Here he is with Gramp, Shelby, Allie, and Jack.

We went to eat one night at Fatz. Blake sat between his grandparents in a booster seat. He looks so grown up here! I think he ate something from everyone’s plate that night too.

And here Gramp and Blake have their morning coffee. Blake’s, of course, is water. 🙂

And here’s Blake riding the tractor with daddy. He had fun steering and moving the bucket up and down.

Our plane ride home was much longer than anticipated. We flew into Orlando-Sanford and the weather there was pretty bad. The plane circled for about 20 minutes and when they learned we wouldn’t be permitted to land soon we were diverted to Clearwater-St. Petersburg to refuel. We were blessed with an empty middle seat, so we had the much-needed room and Blake was able to move from my lap to his own seat. Also, the nicest lady was next to him and she was a great-grandmother with a great- grandchild near Blake’s age. I don’t think we could have had better person to sit next to us. Blake was well-behaved, but she understood his need to wiggle around a lot and wasn’t put off by his moving around. She even played with him a bit.

Our New Bedroom!!!

It seems like it took FOREVER, but the bedroom is finally complete. It’s been complete for a few weeks now, but I just never got around to the post. Part of our remodel was putting in crown molding (which is back-lit), new carpet, paint, building a built-in closet (since our house is 100 yrs old the built-in closet was badly needed!), and putting a doorway into our master bath. We got rid of Bart’s non-matching dresser and kept my matching set. The built-in closet still needs doors. That we will hire out, but for now I am happy with it.

I posted some before & after shots below. As you can see, the room was very unorganized. It’s been fun, for me at least, to be able to get rid of stuff and edit our space as we go through each room. Bart might disagree because it’s usually a lot of his stuff that somehow gets “edited” out. 😉 He’s a good sport though.

This & That

This past week has been a busy one. If you follow me on Facebook you might have already seen some of this. Last week we had some pretty nasty weather. We were lucky, no trees down or major damage, but LOTS of rain and water! And in true style, my hubby likes to go out in it all. He says he’s checking out things to make sure there’s no damage, but I think it’s his way of playing in the rain! 😉

We went to Splash Park at the St. Augustine Pier with some friends the day before the bad weather came. The weather that day was perfect!

I had a sick little boy who only wanted to cuddle for a few days. I wasn’t complaining. I’ll take them when I can get them!

We found Blake in the dining room one morning fixing his car with his toy drill. He’s really into the movie Cars right now. Maybe he was doing a pit stop?

Bart and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at Kingfish Grill at the marina, walked around looking at yachts and boats after we ate and went for Rita’s at the beach. It was a great night! The 4th anniversary is flowers, so I got him edible flowers. I think he liked it!

One night after dinner we saw a mini car show in the parking lot of Dairy Queen. Of course daddy had to show his son the cars and daddy’s favorite, the Shelby, was there as well.

Last night on our way home from Palm Coast… I think Blake didn’t like mommy’s music… LOL!

And some cuddle time watching Cars before bedtime. 🙂

Our little helper

As our bedroom renovation is winding down (we should have our carpet and be able to move back in Monday afternoon!), Blake has been helping daddy some with the threshold. He’s such a good boy and loves to copy his da-da. He was watching daddy when Bart asked him to get his hammer. He found the hammer and brought it back to help. He’s such a sweetie.

Blake also loves to help out mommy when we are outside doing yard work. Today I pulled weeds while Bart clipped back our jasmine. Blake grabbed my gloves when I took them off and went straight to work. He really just moved some dirt from a pot, but he was pretty darn cute while doing it.

Mud Dogs, Mud Dogs!!!

No, I’m not cheering for SCLSU football. (See the movie Waterboy if you don’t get the reference.)  We, my brother and I, did a mud run today called Mud Dogs. The weather was perfect, nice and cool. That made the water colder, but it felt great! I was a little nervous. The company had many bad reviews from a bad run in South FL right before this race, but after we registered already. They totally redeemed themselves with this race and we had an awesome time! It was a 5K mud run and I think it took us about 1:30 with the obstacles and wait time at the obstacles. I was surprised at how many obstacles there actually were. Many were in the woods, through trails, etc. The fun part, too, was that at the end about 5 obstacles were where friends and family could watch and take pictures. If you haven’t done a mud run and don’t mind getting dirty, I highly recommend one!

And now for the pictures…John made it all the way across.But I did not…Natalie, Vickie, Me and John (we already cleaned off a bit with water)