March, 2013

Words to describe our life currently:
Whirlwind.
Beautiful.
Chaotic.
Exhausting.
Blessed.


These two have loved being able to go out and play in the sunshine lately. One of their favorite treats is to go play at the playground at Ben's school. It only took Alayna one time to figure out that she can pretty much keep up with her sister on the slides, while Ben and I play safety assists making sure The Fearless One doesn't break any bones.

A rare moment of stillness:

We decided to put our house on the market and try to find a few more square feet of living space.
A few words about moving:
Exhausting.
Decluttering.
Nerve-racking.
Exciting.

And it will all be worth it. I have faith.
I have faith that all of these emotions I am feeling about leaving our little house full of memories is normal. It's like graduating, moving on to the next stage of life but with MUCH more stuff.
(Like seven bags full of stuffed animals and three boxes of cookbooks, to name a few.)

In order for Mommy to retain her sanity and a clean kitchen for showings, we grab dinner out a little more than usual now.

Not that it bothers any one of us too too much:

And this past Monday marked seven whole years since this day:

(Who are those tan, skinny, bright eyed and well rested individuals?? Totally MIA.)



My two sweet shopping buddies and I are always making our rounds somewhere.

Somewhere always includes Target with popcorn and and Icee.

In Murfreesboro? Go to PA Bunks. It is the CUTEST little organic store/coffee shop, and the owner gives out delicious little lollipops, while making my favorite dark chocolate almond mocha.

Still in Murfreesboro? Go to the Discovery Center. The nature walk area is one of our favorites.


Sweet cheeks, still gobbling her up daily.

This is how sweet they are, and how much they really love each other. When Alayna isn't stealing food off of Kaelyn's plate, and Kaelyn isn't screaming at Alayna to get out of her bathroom.
But heaven help you if you get on to one of them because the other comes to their rescue, and then WOE to the parent that upsets the sister.

Kaelyn loves all things rainbow. She has requested our new house be painted with rainbows. And pink sparkles.
Unfortunately Annie Sloan chalk paint does not come in rainbow, so I told her that we'd have to stick to rainbows on our art paper for now.

Peace out.

 

xo dae

A Weekend Away

A couple of years ago, Ben and I discovered the perfect Christmas gift.
A destination.

Instead of big gifts, we plan a little getaway, and it's just plain awesome.

This year Ben surprised me and we headed to a B&B in Gatlinburg, and Dave and Lu came down to hang out with the kids.

(As you can see, they weren't excited at all. Hadn't been talking about us leaving so they could play with Grandmama and Papaw for MONTHS....)


While we were gone we got updates like this: (I hated that she seemed so bored....)

They would go from this....

To this.


 

Now that's a good time.

They got good lovin and lot's of attention, and soaked up every second of someone never telling them no.  =)

Can I get a big fat AMEN for awesome grandparents?

AND, the night before we left we had some fun visitors!!
I miss these faces.

While we were strolling around the Smoky Mountains, we decided to embark on a wine tour. It was so fun. 
(And I've never been to Napa - yet -but this had zero similarities. I'm sure of it.)
But it was a blast. Sweet wines, and I may have come home with half a dozen bottles, but who's counting?

We drove around Cade's Cove, saw about 150,000 deer, found a great walking stick and took a little hike. Perfect trails for going on a bear hunt. It's what everyone does in the mountains!

Ok, so we pretty much did this entire thing for Kaelyn just to send her pictures, because it's one of her favorite songs and it cracks us up.

After three days of sleeping uninterrupted, no cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, no diapers, and no agenda, we stopped to snap ourselves back into beautiful reality on the way home. Pass the caffiene, please.

I love this brown eyed cutie right here. He's the best.