Girl's Weekend 2k13

Every once in a while, someone really special comes into your life. 11 years ago I was blessed to have 2 such people - girls that would become my college roommates and best friends. The best part about our friendship is that throughout the years, even though none of us live in the same state, I would still consider these girls my bestest friends. They've been with me through it all. We laugh together, pray together, and generally just enjoy life together.

Once husbands began to come into the picture, we decided we needed to set aside some special time each year to spend as just us girls. We've been taking Girl's Weekend trips for 8 years now. This past weekend was our most recent one. Amanda and I drove up to visit Rachel who just moved to upstate NY. It was the perfect weekend - we ate good food, sat around on the "beach" by the lake, did some shopping, and talked. A lot. The weather was great and the company even better. I love these girls so much and the time we get to spend together is always a blast!

Here is another pic from our trip:

It looks dreary in the pic but trust me there was plenty of sunshine! 

This trip was made extra special because I got to do it kiddo-less. Jack and Nina stayed with the kids while I was gone so I could get some much needed girl time. They seemed to have a good time while I was gone - they went to the zoo, science museum, had lunch with Uncle Brendan and dinner at the farm, and went to the movies. I'd say all in all, it was a great weekend for everyone! It was sad to leave NY, but I missed my family so much I was ready to get home!

One last pic... Here is Nolan and Abby playing with Pops on the trampoline while I was gone:

Thanksgiving

Each night before bed, Nolan says a prayer. As he is only 3, he doesn't really understand much about praying for someone - even himself. So usually we just ask him some of the things he is thankful for. I figured, since it is Thanksgiving, it would be a good time to recount some of the things he says:

1. Ms. Lisa
2. bath tub
3. Mickey Mouse
4. James and Luke and Solomon
5. Grocery Store
6. Daddy, Mommy, Abby
7. Boomer
8. Food (especially cake)
9. Family
10. Jesus

Now, it seems like a pretty simple list. But honestly, this kid has hit the nail on the head with his list. Here's why:

1. Ms. Lisa is our babysitter, and she. is. Awesome! We truly are thankful to have someone who provides such wonderful care for our children. She not only loves them and cares for them, but teaches them so much - both academically and socially. It is such a blessing as a working mom to have a place where your kids are excited to go and where you know they'll be well cared for! 

2. I bet you never thought to be thankful for your bath tub. But having hot water and a place to get clean really is nice! (especially when you live with a dirty 3 year old boy - or a boy period ;)

3. This is in reference to one of Nolan's favorite t.v. shows. Again, not something you probably think to be thankful for. But sometimes it really is nice to escape the stressful realities of life with some mindless television! 

4. These are some of Nolan's closest friends. This one's a no-brainer. We all need friends - ones to laugh and joke with, and ones to be serious with. I too am thankful for all my friends that I get to do life with!

5. For whatever reason Nolan really likes the grocery store. And if I really think about it, I guess I am really thankful for that too. To have pretty much any food that I need right at my fingertips is something I take for granted. While we aren't rolling in the dough, my family has never had to go hungry. I know there are many people that aren't so lucky.

6. Is there anything better than your immediate family? We truly are blessed to have one another. I love my family! 

7. Growing up our dogs were kind of annoying, but Boomer is one of the best things that has happened to our family. He is always excited to see us and is a great cuddler and vaccuum. He is great with the kids and they love him in return. If you don't own a dog you should! 

8. I guess this is similar to #5 - we are all thankful for food. Nolan apparently is especially thankful for cake. And if you think about it, isn't it nice to indulge yourself and eat something totally bad for you every once in a while? Totally worth it. Good call on the cake Nolan. 

9. I'm assuming Nolan is referring to his extended family here. We really are blessed to have such a wonderful family - and many of them close by. I grew up with lots of family close and big family gatherings, and I'm glad Nolan and Abby get to have the same! So many uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and great grandparents to love!

10. I'm not sure that Nolan really understands why Jesus is important, but I pray that someday he will. For now I am blessed that he is able to learn about him and worship Him freely! 

Update: Jack and Katie

I can’t believe I am about to say this, but this summer Jack and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! Seriously, 5 years already? Where did the time go? Time flies when you’re having fun right? A lot has happened in the past 5 years. We've been through our fair share of struggles, but when I look back over the last 5 years, I mostly remember all the ways we have been incredibly blessed… full time jobs that we love, new (and awesome) friends, 2 kids, a house (however big or small) to live in, family close by, etc. And most importantly, I think I speak for both of us when I say that we are more in love than ever! (sorry for the cheese, but it’s true). If all of this can happen in the first 5 years, I can’t wait to see what will happen in the next 10, 20, 30+ years together!

The other big development is that we moved (again)! We have been blessed over the past year or so to have sold our house (which was draining our finances) and moved into a small apartment on my parent’s farm.  While we all LOVED being there, it finally got to the point where a 1 bedroom apartment just wasn’t big enough for all 4 of us. So, we moved! We are only about 10 minutes away from the farm, much closer to work and such, and have lots more space. We are renting a basement apartment from an awesome family from our church. The phrase “basement apartment” makes it sound lame. But I assure you, it’s not. And easily more space than a lot of small houses. And the best part is that we all have our own rooms! Woo hoo! It was definitely hard to leave the farm, but the space is a godsend. And who knows what the future will bring. Maybe we will be back out there again someday?

Update: Nolan

So... what has Nolan been up to, you ask? What HASN'T he been up to is the better question...

As you can see from this picture he has LOVED this summer and everything that came with it. He loved playing on the farm and going out with Meemaw and Pops to do chores - especially feeding the cows. (This is a picture after he came in from said chores sweaty and dirty). He also loved jumping on the trampoline he got as an early birthday present, practicing his baseball tee (he's getting pretty good!), riding his bike, swimming, and riding on his first roller coasters at Busch Gardens. Notice that these are all outside things? I think he could live outside and be perfectly happy.

He has also been busy potty training. Yes... every mother's nightmare. Well, maybe not every mother's. But definitely mine. This whole potty training thing has been a long process. And it was my goal to make it happen this summer. I'm happy to say that school starts tomorrow, and I will be sending Nolan back to the babysitter 95% potty trained! I left an extra 5% off just in case of the occasional accident. But he really has been doing a great job! I'll probably post more about that later - I want to write down my thoughts on the process so I remember for next time. I just don't want to jinx him right now! (because without a doubt, anytime I mention how great he does at potty training I jinx him and he has an accident).

The other big thing with Nolan is his vocabulary. His vocabulary is growing at an exponential rate. It is really fun to see him putting sentences together and figuring out words like "him/her", and "mine/yours" etc.  Some of my favorite phrases that he says now are:

• "Ah HA!! I found it!" Which he exclaims loudly EVERY time he finds something
• "That's right!" After he asks you a question (whether you're right or not)
• "I almost forgot!..."
• "Hey, what a second!"
• "What the heck!" (which he definitely got from me. oops!)
• "Yeah that's how you do it! I'm so proud of you mommy!!" (which he tells me every time I go potty now... guess that's what happens when you are potty training. Every potty break is a time to celebrate! This is especially funny when you are in a public restroom ;)

I love this stage Nolan is in. He's so excited about life and learning and well, he's just awesome!

Side note: Nolan's current favorite t.v. show is "Wipeout" - If you haven't watched that with your toddler yet you need to! Who doesn't love watching people fall down? Good clean fun if you ask me :)

Here are a few pics of Nolan from the summer:

Nolan enjoying an ice cream cone:

"Helping" with some farm chores:



Slip n' slide!

Riding in the wagon with Abby:

Checking on the horses:

There are more pics I could post but my computer is being slow so you'll just have to make due with those for now!

Update: Abigail

Since I have been such a slacker about blogging lately, I figured I would take some time to update what everyone in the family has been up to lately. First up is Abigail Marie! Our sweet, cheerful, almost-one-year-old little girl. Here is what she has been up to:

It is August, which means it is her birthday month! I can't believe she is getting so old! And so big! She has really been moving around a lot this summer. Her signature move is the army crawl - or, as we affectionately call it, the "dead leg" - because she uses only one of her legs to push and scoots along on her belly. She has been doing a much better job of crawling normally recently though. I have noticed that she mostly gets up on all fours when she is outside. I wonder why she thinks crawling on her knees is necessary when she's outside but not inside? Anyway, I am kind of looking forward to her walking (which is isn't doing yet) just so that her clothes might be cleaner. When she drags herself across the floor, no matter how clean I keep it, she collects quite a bit of dirt. Maybe I should just strap a swiffer pad on her and call it a day? :)

In addition to crawling, she has now started climbing a lot more...

Thankfully we don't have stairs in our place, because she now knows how to climb them! Yesterday I caught her climbing onto the table that was behind the couch. She was up on all fours before I even knew she was up there! Definitely need to keep our eyes on this one!

Besides crawling, climbing, and just sheer exploring, she also loves EATing. I capitalized it to show just how much she loves it. She now has 7 teeth - going on 8 this week. So she is able to eat pretty much anything we are eating. And boy does she love it! Who needs boring formula when you can eat the good stuff? Here she is enjoying some farm fresh fruit. Yummy!

As much as she loves exploring and eating, you know what I think she loves most? Her brother. Well, attention from him anyway. Whatever Nolan is doing, Abby wants to do too. If Nolan gives her any kind of attention she just laughs and laughs. I only wish she wouldn't laugh when he does things like hit her in the head. I guess she will take any attention from him - good or bad. Don't feel sorry for her though - she gets him back plenty. (More on that in another post).

Here is Abby trying to get into Nolan's bath... (in our last place we didn't have a bath tub, so I used a big plastic tub in the shower for Nolan). Like I said, whatever Nolan is doing, Abby wants to be a part of it!

This is just a small snippet of the shenanigans Abby has been getting into. She sure does keep our lives interesting! And I wouldn't have it any other way!

Twins?

I bet you didn't know we had twins... did you? Well, actually, you're right. We don't. But lately I just can't get over how much I think Nolan and Abby look alike (as in, Abby looks like Nolan did when he was the same age). I use to hate it when people would tell me that I looked like my older brother. Not because he wasn't good looking or anything. I just took that as people thought I looked like a boy. But Abby, if you read this someday, I assure you, it does not mean you look like a boy. It just means you are both so stinkin' adorable I can't hardly contain myself!

Recently we had a few pictures taken of the kids. We don't normally do formal photos but wanted something to go on the wall like we had for Nolan. This is what really got me thinking about how much they look alike. Just for fun, I created some side-by-side images of the two of them so you can see their similarities...

Am I the only one who thinks they could have been twins? (only 2 years apart) 

And here is one of Nolan, just so you can see how much he has grown up:

How did he get to be almost 3 years old already!? He wasn't really digging the photo lady too much, so this picture doesn't fully capture his awesome, fun, smilely personality. But still cute! 

Here is one more picture from that photo shoot...

I love this one because Abby is SO happy, and Nolan is just pure annoyed. Abby was having the best time hitting Nolan and pulling his hair. And like a good brother, he just sat there and took it, going simply "ow, ow, ow, ow." 

Here is the link to all of the pictures if you'd like to see more! 

http://click.preferred.jcpportraits.com/?ju=fe2210707d62077a721d71&ls=fe011c707660077d751c7475&m=fef71778776c07&l=fe871c777065037b73&s=fe0215737d60057f73167275&jb=fef01d77776d00&t=

Mother's Day

I have an awesome mom. I really do. And I'm not just saying that. My mom has done (and continues to do) so much for me - I can't even begin to describe the depth of my appreciation, no, my love, for her. She is my best friend.

But you know what is even cooler than having an awesome mom? Getting to BE a mom. Seriously. It is the best thing ever. For some reason this year on Mother's Day I just kept thinking, over and over and over again, how lucky I am that I get to be a mom. I kept staring at Nolan and Abby thinking "wow, I get to be their mom!"

I mean just look at these faces...

Am I not the luckiest girl alive?