Going to Carolina

Well, actually, we are coming from Carolina. We are officially Alabamians, and our beach cottage is now just a fond memory. Living in South Carolina will always be one of the most treasured times of our lives. There were so many special memories there, most importantly, the birth of our daughter. There are some things that I don't miss: Bike Weeks, 11 hours from grandparents, 9 hours from most of our friends, cut-off t-shirts, overweight women in string bikinis, "the strip", horrible BBQ...BUT, below are some pictures of the things that I do miss and will always miss of my Carolina home.

Family walks on the beach..........

My family away from home.... Lindsey (above) and Brooke (below). I first met Brooke after about 3 weeks of living in South Carolina. Her husband worked in the athletic dept at CCU, so we automatically hit it off. Brooke was my lifesaver in so many instances, and I don't know what I would have done without her the first few months of our move. Lindsey moved to Myrtle Beach the end of the summer last year, and we met her and her husband and son through church. Ironically, her husband also works at CCU as a stat professor. All 3 of us shared similar stories in that we were far away from family and had to learn to do things on our own. I shared many many "growing" moments with them and a lot of "venting" sessions with them when I was worn out from all of Scott's travels and lonely with a 1-2 year old. Girls--- You will always be considered family to me, and I look forward to many adventures with you. Even though I am a few miles away from you momentarily, you are super duper close in my heart. I look forward to the day when Brooke's husband, Patrick, is the Athletic Director at Auburn and can give me all the free tickets to football & basketball games that I want (with free food of course) and also to the day that Nick, Lindsey's husband, can be the Stat professor at Vanderbilt and give my children all A's in their stat classes. (And of course, most importantly the fact that you would be just a hop skip and a jump from us :o))

The Marsh of Murrells Inlet (our sweet town)

Thank you God for all of the precious memories, and we hope that we will be "Going to Carolina" again very soon.

Let's Talk about Six.... and Seven

I forget how much I love the 6 month and 7 month old baby stages. They have so much personality, but they can't go anywhere! Right now, her personality most resembles that of a black bear. She's laid back, extremely cuddly, and quite fun to look at... but watch out, because if this little bear gets hungry, you better take cover immediately (and buy some earplugs). I love the fact that she has some fiestiness in her.

Caroline, at 6 months you were sitting up on your own and babbling "da-da". You LOVE to dance, and Eli has dedicated the song "I Like em Big and Chunky" from Madagascar 2 to you. Now I never want you to be self-conscious about your body, but if your thighs remain their same consistency 2 years from now, I'll be forced into signing you up for Toddler Weight Watchers. You're up on all fours all day long, but haven't quite figured out how to quite move those chunky thighs. You kind of have a bear crawl thing going, which again, fits your personality. I'm really ok with you waiting a bit to crawl, if it's at 25 months, just know that I am TOTALLY fine with that.

We love you with all of our hearts Caroline Bear.

A hungry bear who loves to suck her toe- gross I know-- but what can you do?

Watch out.... she's growling........

A Summer of Blessings

Time is truly something to be treasured. I have spent a lot of time this summer really trying to put a lasso around some of it and hang on for dear life. I'm hanging alright, but kind of like the blood being sucked out of your fingers and face kind of hanging. Instead of doing 40,000 blog posts to play catch up, I have made a slideshow with many of the great pictures that capture our "treasure moments" from the summer. We have had a lot of chaos, a lot of excitements, some disappointments, terrible anxiety, but more than anything, just pure and simple thanksgiving. Our bank account sure doesn't show it, but we are millionaires. God's blessings are endless, and sometimes disguised. Through our house hunting I have realized that the riches I have are far greater than the $750,000 dream house on the Appalachain mountains.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

MIA

Sorry for the lack of updates and pictures, but I hope to be caught up by the end of the week. I have great news though-- we have a contract on our house and are set to close August 20th!!! This summer has been absolutely the busiest yet, I guess because I now have 2 kids, a self-employed husband, my own job, and add looking for houses all in the mix.

I will have Caroline's 6 month post, 4th of July, other summer fun times, and family reunion pictures to post soon!

Summer Beach Fun

It's been a while, I know. I wish someone would pause our video entilted "LIFE" so I could at least take a bathroom break. Can you believe it is soon to be July? The house remains on the market, but it is showing a lot, so we consider that a blessing.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. Back to the fun stuff that happened the 2nd week in June.... a very fun girl's trip with my college roomie and her "little person" Addison. Kristy invited me to the beach, so Caroline and I loaded the car from top to bottom and headed to Destin, while Eli stayed with mom and dad for the week. So, again, I forgot what it was like to take a baby to the beach. Definitely not as exhausting as say, well, my 2 year old, but exhausting enough and SO BLASTED hot!!!!! The girls were automatic friends though so I am glad that I have "find Caroline's college roommate" already checked off my to-do list. We did have some relaxing moments after the girls were in bed and 2 fun dinners. Oh how I had missed my sandy white beaches. AND, I realized that we didn't really stand out as much as we did in Myrtle Beach. There were actually other families there who had their children in smocked clothes instead of gym shorts and a spiderman sleeveless t-shirt.

A few pictures from our trip below..... more posts soon to come!!

BFF: Hooty-hoot!!

Nothing like a little sand for dinner............


Scott calls this her "milk maid" outfit. It was supposed to be for the beach, but I didn't want to deal with another sandy poop.

Hum, maybe 2 for the price of 1? A roommate for Caroline and a wife for Eli????? Mom brought him down the last day we were there.

Settling In

To give a quick update on our family.... we are officially in Huntsville. We are currently very fortunate to be living with Scott's parents until we sell our house in Murrells Inlet. We have one couple that is most likely going to make an offer, but your prayers will be appreciated. We are competing with the builder of our neighborhood since it has not finished being developed. I am trying to remain calm about the situation, but it is definitely a shadow hanging over our heads. Eli started preschool 2 weeks ago at Mayfair Child Development Center--- a part of Mayfair Church of Christ. I was a little apprehensive about how he would react to being in an entirely new place with all new people, but my fears were eliminated when we went to pick him up after his first day and he looks at Scott and me and says, "Leave." Wow, glad you missed us son.

Nana is keeping Caroline 3 days a week while I continue to work for my same CPA firm in Birmingham. I am very blessed to have someone who loves my child so much be her caregiver. Caroline is definitely very attached to her.

Scott's new job as the owner/Director of the Alabama Basketball Academy is doing better than expected. I think it is amazing what God can do if we just open our hands and let him take control. I am so proud of Scott for his vision, his determination, and the guts he had to take a leap of faith and do what he thought God was leading him to do. He is the most content I have seen him since I have known him. He is doing what he was born to do and it makes my heart very happy.

I also didn't realize until we moved back how homesick I had been. It is amazing to be able to hop in the car and see my parents in 4 hours or my grandparents and friends from B'ham in 2. I dearly miss Brooke and Lindsey (I have a new post coming about the 2 of them) but they will ALWAYS be very dear friends of mine and I look forward to seeing them in weeks to come.

Eli is staying for the week with my parents and attending their VBS. This is the longest I have been away from him in his 2 and 1/2 years, but I think that it is good for him to have some individual attention. He is loving life and getting spoiled rotten. He did melt my heart today when he asked me "You coming to get Eli Mommy." Um yeah, I was ready to jump in the car right then had it not been for the fried dill pickes from Buster's. Caroline is with me in Destin with one of my best friends and her little girl Addison. It has been wonderful to catch up with Kristy and get to know her precious little girl. It has also been nice to spend one on one time with Caroline. She has me wrapped-- emotionally, physically (I'm still nursing :o)), and financially---CRUD for all the cute girls clothes!

If you have made it through the end of this post, please say a prayer that our house will sell soon. More updates to come....

Give Me a High "Five"

Five months old and counting-- Caroline-- wow, you are getting taller and chunkier by the minute. So you actually turned 5 months old on May 24th, which was a significant day for 2 reasons... 1) the obvious (your 5 months old) and 2) we moved to Huntsville, Alabama. You seem to be adjusting to the change well because I think you like the new found attention from your Nana, Grandaddy, Meeps and Peeps. You have developed a love and appreciation for squash, sweet potatoes and peaches. I don't feel like I have you on a great schedule yet because of all of our changes, but that may soon develop--- maybe, maybe not. I find myself being a little more relaxed with you and enjoying more of the little things. I don't get as stressed about doing things by the book but instead letting you and I figure things out together. Our relationship is already so special, and I am so blessed to have you daughter. You love for us to sing "Mary had a little lamb" to you, and your brother can make you giggle like no other person can. The two of you are already close, and the bond is sure to be stronger as months and years go by. Your daddy has become quite fond of his "baby girl" and he loves to tickle your tummy and watch you eat your feet. We are always on some kind of high with you and Eli in our lives- and always will be.

I think you may be a little scared here..... Eli on the other hand.....