Beautiful Beautiful…Dirt

I don't think I have ever been so excited about a pile of dirt in my life, wait I KNOW I have never been so excited about a pile of dirt in my life.  This big pile of dirt is going to be our new home in approximately 4-5 months.  Woohoooooo!  Now Chad just asks that everyone keep their fingers crossed that move in day does not disturb deer season!  

My Favorite 1 Year Old (Girl)

That's right Ms. Violet is turning the Big O-N-E!!!  I can't think of a better way to celebrate than having a little photo shoot with her family.  She is just starting to master the whole walking thing so I did have to spend some extra time photoshopping out her extra bumps and bruises, but it was totally worth it!  She's quite the looker and her parents aren't half bad either.  Happy Birthday Violet, can't wait to celebrate tomorrow! Bring on that cake smash!

Mini Family Reunion

I had some old friends contact me because their whole family was going to be in town, which is a rare occasion for this bunch, so they wanted to do some family pictures.  We headed down to Main Street to try and capture a few shots of everyone together.  There were a few members of this crew that really made me work for it I can't lie…but I tell you what whether they look and smile at my camera or not they sure can't hide their cuteness!!  Sorry girlies, gonna have to try harder than that!

Great to see all of you.  I was so glad we had some extra time to catch up as well.  

Hope you enjoy!!

New Addition

You guessed it another one of my friends had a little bundle of joy.  Meet Emersyn, she is PRECIOUS.   She's a tiny little thing, who I can already tell adores her Mom and her Mom...well lets just say I think the feeling is mutual.  A few of us stopped by the other day to meet Ms. Emersyn and of course I decided to steal a few pictures of her.  I didn't dress her up in bows and tu-tus just yet (yet was the key word there), but give it time and I certainly will.  Welcome to the world Emersyn!

Sorry Robin and Jason, I'm not sure she's as big of a Mizzou fan as you were hoping she would be...

Room To Grow

We are in the middle of Organization H-E-Double Hockey Sticks right now.  We moved into my parents house and are basically still living out of boxes for the most part.  So yesterday Chad took a trip to the Container Store (really that's the name).  Oh my gosh, it was like Christmas morning to him.  Though I would never say Chad is the MOST organized person I have ever met, I will say he TRIES to be organized and I'd dare to say he THINKS he is organized.  So this new found Container Store was a HUGE HIT, and he only went to the closet section.  Can you imagine all the possibilities?  Anyway, like I said we are struggling with some major organization issues right now and this is what Chad came home with for me....

That's right folks, a scarf organizer.  Now am I appreciative?  Absolutely.  Do I think it was the number one thing we needed on our list to get organized right now?  Nope.  Chad apparently had a "run in" with my scarves the other day when he was putting my clothes in the closet.  I heard some crashing and some choice phrases, but I didn't know it all boiled down to the annoying scarves that I had thrown delicately placed on hangers.  Though it was not the most important thing we needed I'll tell you what, I did in fact drop everything I was doing to hang my many many many scarves on that contraption and I will also tell you its pretty darn fabulous.

So what is this a picture of you ask?  This is what I like to refer to as "Room To Grow"...looks like I have a few more scarves to buy after-all.  I guess I have Chad to thank for pointing that out to me.

Joy

If you were wondering what Pure Joy looks like, your prayers have been answered…

Happy Friday…I know ours was.

First and Last

Well, last night I vacuumed our home for the last time.  Unfortunately...I think some spots in the house might have been vacuumed for the first time last night too according to the dustballs laying around.  My dirty home however is not the focus of this post.  As I vacuumed the empty house I couldn't help but get a little choked up (okay a lot choked up) about the memories we had made there.  It was our first home and with that came a lot of great memories.  I think most importantly though, it was the house we brought both boys home from the hospital to.  So it will forever hold a special place in my heart.  Chad and I learned how to be parents in this house and though some days we make mistakes in that area, most days I look at the two boys and know we must be doing something right.  So it is with a heavy heart that we say Goodbye to Canal Street and all the wonderful neighbors and friends (inclusive of Nolan's first Girlfriend) that came along with it.  Our first house was so much more to us than just a place for shelter, it was a place where we became a family.

I was standing at the doorways of both boys empty rooms and remembering all we had shared there, all the books we had read, all the rocking we had done, all the arguments we have had (surprise: we're not perfect).  Then I turned the corner and saw this on Nolan's wall and I lost it.  This is something that meant so much to me.  Yet it is something that will probably be promptly painted over by the new owners as soon as they move in.  I wish I could cut it out of the wall and bring it with me, but I think they might get mad.  So I did what I do best, I took a picture to preserve the memory (and then shut the door, wiped the tears and ran away).

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this move.  I LOVE the neighborhood we live in and my biggest fear is that no neighborhood will ever compare to this one.  It is full of parks and kids and festivities and restaurants and bars...did I mention bars?  Bars with sandboxes to boot.  It was the perfect setting for our boys and I can say with complete conviction that choosing this location for our first home was one of the best decisions we have ever made.  But two growing boys means two growing toy boxes which means it's time to expand.  So we are now on a journey to find our second perfect home, one that I can only hope will provide us as much joy as our first.

Our New Kitchen Table!

Yep, this is what we have resorted to.  Nolan successfully ate his dinner on top of a toy drum last night.  We have hit a very depressing part of the moving process, and there is no end in sight.  Yikes!  On a positive note though, we did find the missing drumstick to this toy after about a 2 year hiatus so moving is good for some reasons!

And this is why eating on top of a toy drum is neither fun nor productive…

I Like to Move It Move It

Actually that's a lie.  I hate this whole moving thing.  It is absolutely awful.  It's amazing what we have accumulated over our almost 7 years in this house.  It would almost be easier if it just burned down and we had to start over fresh (as long as the kids are out of course).  But I don't see any sparks flying so I guess we're just packing it all up.

This finally arrived and is a new attraction in our driveway…..

 

Maybe this can give you some indication of how the moving process is going…

Here are my little movers, one helpful…one not so much.  Nolan just keeps dragging stuff out.  His comment with this one was "Dad, how did my 4 wheeler get so small".  Sorry buddy, it's you getting large that is the problem, now put it back in the POD!

Mr. B wanted to have some packing fun too I guess.  He saw me putting everything else into boxes so I guess he decided to put himself in a box as well.  And though I think it would be a lot easier some days to just pack him away with the other boxes something tells me I would miss his cute little smiley face so I promptly took him out of his box and decided to keep him with me.

Good times I tell ya! 

Sarcasm at it's finest.

One with Nature

Friday Fun Days…ahhhh.  Beautiful weather, a cute little group of boys, some excellent adult company and lots and lots of fun with nature that's what made up our Friday Playdate this week.  My sister in law had taken her kids to this new park, and when I saw pictures of it I knew I needed to check it out.  It is pretty awesome I'm not gonna lie.  They have a "nature classroom" that consisted of all kinds of different little stations.  Music, Art, Sand, Building, Balancing, Water…etc etc.  The boys had a great time as did the adults.  At one point I even let Bennett get out of his stroller to explore nature a bit, and by explore I mean eat whatever he found on the ground basically.  It was a short-lived exploration for Mr. B.  Nolan's favorite part was finding a "Ninjago hat"…which I believe was actually some sort of dried acorn or shell of some sort?  No clue, but add a sword and I had a very happy little Ninja.  

It's also a pretty fun place for the adults, at points I couldn't decide if Matt was the parent or the child…he was as cooperative with my camera as the children that's for sure!