The Garrett Family

Our Spunky 18 month old!!

2012-01-20T11:52:00.002-05:00

Presley is definitely keeping us on our toes these days! This 18 month age is so much fun in alot of ways and also SO exhausting in others. She is communicating so much more now with constant words such as Mama, Dada, Book (Brooke), baby, milk, ball, eyes, more and a few more that I sometimes cannot make out. I feel like it must be so frustrating for her sometimes to not be able to fully say what she wants to say since they don't have the full language development yet. She will just scream at things when she doesn't know the words!! She and Brooke are playing so much together and of course the sibling fighting has begun. As Brooke is getting better about sharing, Presley is getting worse as we enter the whole 18 month-2 year phase! She is wanting to do everything that Brooke does from drinking out of open cups(and then dumping it all over herself and the floor) to sitting in a booster seat instead of her high chair. Lovely!! I have to say though Presley is a spunky, hilarious, cuddly, full of life and sweet little girl! She loves to smile and to gut laugh so that makes of course can make my day! Love this little girl.... Playing under the table with Brooke!

Loves wearing glasses!

Finally got her hair in a ponytail!

Pigtails!!

This and That

2012-01-08T21:28:00.001-05:00

Here are some pics from the last few weeks! I'm back to the blogging world again! WOW..that was a hiatus. :)

Christmas

2012-01-08T21:06:00.007-05:00

The month of December was so festive starting off with getting our Christmas tree! It was a gorgeous day out (very mild) and we headed to our favorite place to get it. The girls ran through the rows of trees holding hands and creating such a great memory for Scott and me. Presley would run in fear every time the chainsaw what cut off a tree stump and she would jump in our arms!

Mid-December we headed to Hollywild for our 2nd annual trip to see the wild animals and lights! This place is like no other...really...you ride through a bunch of lights and then end up in a field of wild animals!! There are enormous cows (seriously the biggest I've ever seen and to be honest, a little freaky), zebras, donkeys, deer and horses. Then we got out of the car and went to see more of the animals that were in the petting zoo. Just as we did last year, we laughed so hard and had a great time!!

Brooke and Nana waiting to see the animals!

Presley was pumped!!

Brooke feeding the camel!

Every year the 1st weekend of December, my Dad and Edie come to visit for Christmas! We look forward to them coming so much and always love seeing them! We had a wonderful time catching up and the kids loved spending time with Pop Pop and Mom Mom! (Camera is not working so only pictures I have are from my phone!)

My Dad and Edie always send our children and my sisters kids matching pajamas to wear the night before Christmas. We all text each other to say Merry Christmas on xmas Eve and it has become a tradition that I look forward too!! I love seeing the new pajamas! This was the text that we sent out on Xmas Eve right before the kids went to bed.

Christmas morning was filled with fun, surprise, love and exhaustion!! :) The girls had a blast with all the new toys! Brooke loved opening her presents and also opening up Presley's too. Presley could have cared less about opening her presents! She would wait for Brooke to open and then check out what she got! So funny... After presents we went to my Mom's house and had a wonderful day with my sister and her family. We ate a delicious meal, the cousins all played, and we all got to catch up. Our new Christmas day tradition is so special to me.

Brooke is very into Barbie's and asked for her big house! She was so excited to see that Santa brought it! :)

One of her other big "wants" was a spider girl costume!! Wallah!....

The day after Christmas, Scott's Mom, (Mama Suz) came to visit for 4 days. We were so happy that she came down and it was so nice to spend such quality time with her. We miss you Mama Suz!!

Thanksgiving

2012-01-08T20:57:00.007-05:00

This year we headed up to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and had fun visiting Scott's family! We had a awesome feast at Katie and Steve's house as they worked so hard to make so many delicious dishes! The weather was great while we were up there so the girls got to play outside with Mama Suz, John John, Aunt Katie, and Steve. They had a blast!! I got a chance to meet up with my close girlfriends for about 3 hours on the Friday morning after T-giving and loved getting to see them and some of their children!! Love you and miss you all so much!!

Thanks so much to Scott's family for having us and doing so much for us! We all had so much fun!!

Our camera is not working so this was the only picture taken (on the airplane) the whole weekend (with my phone!). boo...

Brooke's 4th birthday!!

2012-01-04T12:44:00.005-05:00

We celebrated Brooke's 4th birthday the weekend before Thanksgiving here at our house! She wanted a princess party so I tackled this venture with having it at our house and she invited 12 other girls. We did our 1st drop-off party so parents left while myself (and 7 other BRAVE moms helped me!) - Thanks again to my girlfriends and family for helping me with this!! The girls came dressed up in their princess outfits and we kicked off the party! The made princess charm necklaces, had their nails painted, had a dance party to a princess DVD, had a crowning ceremony where they received their tiaras and wands, and we finished off with a tea party, pizza, and cupcakes!! The girls had a blast and quite honestly, so did I!!
We are so proud of our big girl! She is such a kind, determined, focused, funny, thoughtful, sensitive, smart, and beautiful person. Brooke, thank you for being the wonderful person that you are and bringing so much joy into our lives. We love you! Homemade cupcakes!

Making the princess charm necklaces!

The girls from her dance class!

Getting their nails painted!

Our big girl!!

Dance party!

Tea party!

Cupcake time!

Family :) Love you girls!

All the girls!

Aunt Judy, Uncle Kurt and Jill made the trip over from Mississippi!!

Presley was in and out of the party with Scott. At the end of the party we headed outside to play and Presley was so excited all day! She loved the party and we had to snap pictures of her too!

Love our baby girl!

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-02T11:15:00.008-04:00

Halloween was so much fun! We love this day in our neighborhood because the night is always kicked off with a visit from the local firetruck and a parade that leads us to the clubhouse. At the clubhouse everyone ate pizza and then headed off to get the candy!! The girls had a blast and we couldn't believe how many houses Presley went up too!! She was a trooper and Brooke was on a mission! Such a fun time! Playing outside before Halloween!

She's getting so big! :(

Our gals!

They have been loving the leaves..they play in them so much!

Carving our pumpkins!

Brooke drew the faces and Daddy cut them out!

Our princess and kitty!

Sweet girl

Brooke, Melaina, and Clara waiting to go down to the parade!

Presley and Clara!! (Brooke and Melaina wore these outfits when they were this age too!!)

The neighborhood gals and the kiddos (we're missing 2 families from this pic). LOVE our neighborhood!!

Family pic!

Here comes the parade!

Princess Brooke

BFF's :)

Caden's 5th birthday!!

2011-10-23T16:17:00.003-04:00

Our nephew, Caden, turned 5 last week and we celebrated at his Pirate party this weekend!! It was so much fun to see my sister and her family, my aunt, uncle, and cousin! I love birthdays when we all get to see each other! Nana and the birthday boy!

Trying to get a family picture! (One of these days we'll actually get a decent one) :)

Uncle Kurt, Aunt Judy, Jill, Presley, and I!!

Sisters!

All the gals in the family!

Cousins!

Brooke and Adelyn have a BLAST together!!

More cousin time!

And the winner is...

2011-10-15T20:03:00.002-04:00

Brooke!!

One of Brooke's favorite things to do is to color. She loves to color by herself, with us, with Nana, with pretty much anyone who will color with her. About a month ago, we walked into Publix (our grocery store) and there was a sign saying they were having a coloring contest. We told Brooke and she immediately said she wanted to do it. The deal was that you colored a picture, brought it to the grocery store, and the winner would get a 1/2 gallon of ice cream for free! Sweet! Brooke colored her picture, we submitted it, and last Wednesday we got a call that she had won her age group (3-5 yr olds)!! She was SO excited so we headed straight there to get her free chocolate ice cream!!

Our Little Author

2011-09-29T19:29:00.003-04:00

Brooke is a very focused, determined, and observant little girl. She is really into doing workbooks (I find these at AC Moore and they are awesome for writing/reading skills), coloring, and writing all her letters. She writes all the time and is constantly asking me how to spell things so she can write. The workbooks she does have all types of exercises (matching, spelling, math, you name it...). We sat down and did a workbook the other day for over an hour while Presley took a nap. I am so excited that Brooke is so focused and loves doing "school" type work. Hopefully this will continue on and she'll be much more studious than her mother was. :)
Below is Brooke's 1st book that she has written. Mom Mom Suz sent Brooke this blank book that you add stickers to and have room to draw pictures. This is what she chose to do with it. We are so proud of her! Title of the book: King Triton looks for Ariel, Ursula, Flounder, Sebastian

Brooke's 1st Field Trip

2011-09-29T19:19:00.003-04:00

Brooke's school took a field trip yesterday over to Niven's Apple Farm. They got to ride a hayride, pick apples, pick a pumpkin from the patch, see the animals, do the corn maze, and play at the playground! It was a beautiful morning with my gals...even though Brooke was feeling pretty shy she still managed to have fun by the time we were leaving. :) Picking her 1st apple of the day!

She and Presley jumping at the playground...this thing is always a hit!

Looking at Bubba...the calf

The girls with their pumpkins...Presley had just been running with hers and fell. She was so mad!

Trying to get a picture of the 3 of us! It never works!

FSU/Clemson Game

2011-09-28T20:32:00.002-04:00

We were so glad we got to see FSU play this season, even though it was a tough loss. The game was at Clemson this year so we headed down with good friends of ours (who also went there) to spend the day tailgating and going to the game. I have to say that I absolutely love going to games at Clemson. It is such a fun school and reminds me lots of being at FSU. Hopefully the Noles will get our hurt players back and have a better rest of the season! Hanging at the tailgate!

Fallon and I before we headed to the game!

Zane, Christine, Patrick, Fallon, me, and Scott after Clemson won...boo....!!

Before we headed out... Even tough we lost, we still had a GREAT time!!!

A Week with Daddy

2011-09-20T20:44:00.009-04:00

Scott was off of work all of last week and we had such a great time! We kept saying to each other that we could get used to that...if we won the lottery!! We got to spend lots of family time together and while Brooke was at school we got lots of home projects done. It's such a challenge these days to find time to get projects done so we tried to take advantage of anytime that we had. We definitely had the girls helping out too when they could. They loved it!! Daddy's back to work and we miss him!! On Tuesday we rode our bikes from the Zoo to the Children's Garden so the kids could walk all around.

Daddy repainted the deck and had the girls out there scrubbing it! They were out there for about 2 hours!

On Thursday we headed to Sky Top Orchard in North Carolina for some awesome apple picking. It was great to go up there during the week since it was less crowded and there were still lots of apples to pick. Our gals! Brooke picking her 1st one this season!

View from the orchard

Daddy and his girls! Go Brooke!

The gals! (I'm hanging on to Presley so I could get 1 picture of the 3 of us together!!)

Having fun with Daddy!

Presley's 1st time ever picking an apple! She loved putting them in the basket!

Daddy cut down some bushes and the girls were having so much fun watching him!

Hello, FALL!!

2011-09-20T20:25:00.003-04:00

I have to say that I am really excited that Fall is here! The weather is getting a bit cooler, our schedules are much more normal, and it's FOOTBALL season!! I love every part of FALL!! Brooke is back in school 3 days a week and is LOVING it! Presley comes to Stroller Strides with me and we get to get some alone time together. Brooke is back in dance class and is so thrilled with her class. Ahhh...goodbye summer...hello FALL! Mom Mom Suz was in town when Brooke had her 1st dance class this year! Look how excited she is!

1st day of school!

Wearing her mermaid outfit that Nana got her!!

At a friends birthday party enjoying her pizza! Like mother, like daughter! :)

Seriously?!! This was after eating a cupcake!!!

A Day with my Man

2011-09-04T22:28:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was a day that I have craved for awhile now.... I got to spend the day with my incredible husband!! With the past couple of months being so busy, stressful, you name it... it was time for us to get away and really have a great day together. My Mom was so great to watch the kids for us while we jumped in the car and headed off. We decided to head up to Table Rock and hike for the day. I have to say that this was by far such a beautiful day (in many different ways). We hiked for 7.2 miles and loved going to the top of Table Rock. The view was so pretty and it felt great to be on the mountain and feel so connected to my love. We laughed so much and just loved being in nature together. After the hike we headed out to dinner in downtown Greenville to one of our fav restaurants, Rick Erwin's. We had an awesome steak dinner with a dessert to die for. We stayed overnight downtown and enjoyed coffee on the river and a long walk there this morning. I love being with my children everyday but the times I get to have Scott all to myself, I just soak it up. Thank you Mom for hanging out with our children so we could have such a great time hanging out with each other. It means so much to us to be able to do that. We love you.

Here are some pics from our day yesterday:
We stopped at the last gas station before Table Rock and found this ostrich behind the store. We thought it was a little random. :)

Start of our hike! Yes, we were already sweating since it was still about 90 something degrees in the mountains!

On our way up... this rock looked like a sleeping dinosaur!

Pretty view on the way up

Nice view heading to the top

At the summit!

Scott looking out at the beautiful view

This was what we climbed yesterday. This was taken when we left the mountain. The pics right above this are taken from the top of those rock cliffs.

End of August

2011-09-04T22:10:00.004-04:00

We cannot believe that summer has come to an end especially since it is still about 97 degrees here! The last couple of weeks of summer have been so much fun! Mom Mom Suz came to visit for a week and it was so great to spend time with her and get to all be together. She and the kids did so much together and had a blast!! The last night she was here she came with us to the annual neighborhood Dodgeball tournament!! This night is so much fun..the Dads play dogdgeball and drink lots of keg beer while the ladies and kids have fun outside the game!! We love this night every year! This year our Dads called themselves the "Millbillies" and they won the whole tournament (12 teams played)!! So fun, we got a little rowdy afterwards to say the least. :)
We also celebrated Nana's birthday too with yummy Italian food and a fun night all together!! We love you Mom Mom Suz and Nana!! All the gals and kids at the dodgeball game!

Scott taking a break and hanging with Brooke and Melaina.

Mom Mom Suz and Nana hanging out!

Nana's birthday night!

Me and my girl celebrating! (Yes, Brooke does not have clothes on...she pretty much rips them off everytime we walk in the house!)

Summer Days

2011-08-14T20:06:00.012-04:00

Below are some pictures to show what we've been up to from late July until now. We've had to get creative with some fun indoors activities since the heat has been almost unbearable!! Cool days ahead..I can already feel them starting! Presley and Abby got to meet in Pennsylvania!! (Abby is Chad and Ali's daughter - Scott and Chad grew up together and are pretty much just like cousins!)

We celebrated my birthday in PA and had a delicious chocolate cake thanks to Mom Mom Suz!

Brooke played with friends at Bryson's birthday party!

Who doesn't love a good hula hoop?!

We created hop scotch in our garage so it wasn't in the sun. You should see how much we sweat out there, even in the shade! They have a blast though!

Presley joining in the fun!

My friend, Carrie, and I took our kids up to Hendersonville, NC, to the Hands-On Childrens Museum. It was a great place to take them for a couple of hours and they had a blast!!

Luke and Brooke playing in the "Vet Hospital"

Brooke went grocery shopping!

Couldn't even tell you what this contraption is called but it was so cool!

Who knows what she's doing?!! Just having fun!

Presley turns 1!

2011-08-14T16:27:00.009-04:00

Our baby girl turned 1 on July 4, 2011!! What a wonderful day it was to celebrate her big day! We had a joint birthday party with Clara (our best friends little girl who was born on July 5th!). We had a pool party at our neighborhood pool on July 4th and served pizza, fruit, and cake! What better way to spend our Independence day, right?! It was so fun to see all our friends and family and to all be together! Presley and Clara had a blast but the older sisters probably had more fun! Brooke and Melaina were all over that party...they loved it!

First of all, I am still in shock that the past year has flown by as quickly as it has. Presley is growing and thriving and we couldn't be happier with our little munch. (or "Puppy Puppy" as Brooke calls her, don't ask?!). She is now running everywhere and we feel as though she is 1 going on 6 years old. She is a climber, seriously, on everything...anywhere. I hear loud thugs all day long from her falling off stuff but she is tough as nails. She barely ever cries...a little different then our older child. :) Presley loves food..she will pretty much eat anything, which is SO fun for us!! She prefers to eat what we are eating and makes it very easy to prepare food for her. She is saying Hi, Da, Mama, Dada, and that's about it. She babbles some but overall those are her main words. She is completely off the bottle and has preferred the sippy cup since a couple days after her birthday. She just wants to be doing everything that Brooke does so now she struts around with her sippy cup and shows it off to Brooke. Presley is the "panty thief" around here. I know it's weird and it sounds like something a dog does but she LOVES Brooke's underwear!! Clean, dirty, it doesn't matter, she will grab them and run!! Cannot tell you how many times a day I am saying "No more underwear, Presley!" She has 6 teeth (4 up, 2 down) and lots more coming in. She drools all day, everyday. Our little girl is truly coming into her own and we love every minute of it! We love seeing our 2 girls playing together and learning what it feels like to have a sibling. That is a love that will last forever.

At Presley's 1 year check-up, here are her stats:
Weight- 20.94 lbs. (63%)
Height- 29 inches (30%)
Head- 18 inches (73%)

Here are pictures from Presley and Clara's party!!

Our niece and nephew, Caden and Adelyn enjoying some cake!

Presley and I will Aunt Judy and Uncle Kurt!

Uncle Devin throwing Caden high in the air!

Everyone enjoying the beautiful day!

Happy big sister!

Presley loving her pizza!

Presley and Clara got their own cupcakes!

Look how sweet...SISTERS!

Singing happy birthday!

Presley ready to get the red goob off!

Look at that sweet face!

Trying to attempt a family picture! Never works!

Ahhh.....now that is a nice family picture!

Melaina, Lydia, and Brooke all loving being the big sisters!

I will never forget...

2011-08-05T15:28:00.006-04:00

I will never forget Thursday, July 7th receiving a phone call that my brother-in-law was missing.

I will never forget Saturday, July 9th learning that our worst nightmare had come true.

I will never forget the week of June 18th-June 26th spending an incredible week at the beach with Jamie.

I will never forget saying our goodbye to Jamie up on the mountain.

I will never forget Jamie being the DJ down the mountain. He was there, no doubt.

I will never forget the beautiful words my husband said about his brother standing at both podiums.

I will never forget the family flag football game at the base of the mountain.

I will NEVER FORGET my vibrant, extrememly funny, intelligent, wine loving, sensitive, snuggly, live life to the fullest, always in a good mood, and people loving brother-in-law.

Jamie, we miss you and will always love you!

This Native American prayer was read at both Memorials in Vail and in West Chester.

I give you this one thought to keep-

I am with you still- I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awake in the morning's hush,

I am the sweet uplifting rush,

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not think of me as gone-

I am with you still in each new dawn.

Jumping Bean

2011-07-03T15:54:00.002-04:00

We stopped in Burlington, NC on the way home from the beach and found this great shopping area where we stopped for dinner. We saw people jumping on this trampoline contraption fun ride and just kept walking by. Brooke was so in awe of it she wouldn't stop saying how much she wanted to do it! We got her on and she had a BLAST! So glad that we stopped at this place..it was a great pit stop along the way home!

Beach Trip

2011-06-29T21:20:00.017-04:00

Last week we headed up to Dewey Beach, Delaware to vacation with Scott's mom and her fiance, his siblings and their significant others, cousins, and friends!! It was great to be back in Dewey and it was so fun to spend time with everyone! Thanks for a great week! Scott's brother (Uncle Jamie) dancing with Presley. He was SO great with the kids! We miss you Jamie!

Mom Mom Suz and John John!

Our family:)

The fingers come out when little one gets tired :) My precious girl..she hung in there so well all week.

Dancing!

My girl!

The girls LOVED the beach. They loved playing in the sand and Presley loved the water. Brooke wasn't loving getting in the water but she was digging playing in the sand!

Look at this pose! Too funny!

Cousin Marie and Brooke! Marie and George are Scott's 1st cousins that live in Wyoming. They are such great people and we absolutely loved spending time with them! We miss you both and congrats to Marie for her upcoming wedding this Saturday!!

Brooke, Scott, Uncle Jamie, and Marie

Marie keeping up with Presley!

Me and my big girl.

Presley loving the sand.

Family moment :)

Uncle Jamie loving on Presley!

John's daughter (Amanda), Marie, and Aunt Katie (Scott's sister)!

Big family pic at the restaurant! So fun because it was right on the beach..tables in the sand!

Scott and I took the girls to Bethany Beach one night and had a blast! We ate Five Guys, had ice cream, played at the park, and walked around the stores. It was such a great night.

Our good friends, Lauren and Brian, drove down from West Chester with their son, Dalton, to come and visit with us!! It was so great to see them and so fun for the kids to play together. We miss you guys and thanks again for coming down!!

Dalton is seriously the cutest little boy!!

Dalton and Presley sharing sand toys!

Brooke and Dalton playing...

Surfer girls!

My Dad and Edie drove over from Medina, Ohio to come and visit with us too!! We headed down to a beach bar with them and had a great time getting to see them. Thanks so much for making the trip and coming to see us!! We love you.

My love.

Our close friend, Amy, drove down with her daughter, Kaitlyn to come see us!! Kaitlyn is my Goddaughter and such a smart, beautiful, and sweet little girl. She has grown SO much since I saw her last. It was awesome to spend time with both Amy and Kaitlyn. We miss you and love you both so much!

We had a mini 1st birthday celebration for Presley. Only 5 days till her real birthday!! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone :(

Lauren, Amy, and I ... (Lauren and I have been friends since 6th grade and Amy and I have been since 9th grade). Love these girls.

A Little Bit of This and That...

2011-06-16T16:59:00.003-04:00

These are some pictures that I have had on my phone over the past couple of weeks. The girls crack me up so much in some of these pictures. Just a glimpse into our daily lives...which right now consist of a walking/crawling hilarious almost 1 year old and a chatterbox, vibrant 3 1/2 year old. I'm not kidding...Brooke, I love ya, but GIRL YOU TALK ALL DAY LONG!! Trust me, I'm as thankful as the next person for my gal and her talkative ways but man, sometimes I think about hiding in the bathroom just for a moment of silence!! She doesn't nap or spend anytime in her room during the day, so we are joined at the hip from sunrise to sunset. Can you tell it has been a long day?!! I wouldn't want it any other way though..I love being with my girls. Brooke and Melaina playing Princess Lacrosse!

I had gone to my room for a moment the other day and when I came back Brooke was in Presley's crib and they were jumping up and down! I just died laughing..it was so cute!

This was taken right before their bath while Scott was in Ireland. Presley looks like that pretty much all day. She is so smiley and so happy all the time!! They are interacting and playing so much together now. I LOVE IT!! There is nothing like sibling love....

This video was taken a couple of months ago while Brooke was feeding Presley. Presley loves to spit her food out at us so Brooke got a little taste of it too. They make me laugh. :)

Our baby girl is walking!

2011-06-13T19:15:00.003-04:00

Our baby girl starting taking her 1st steps last week and has really progressed to walking more and more on her own!! She is so proud of herself as we are too..of course! She is such a sweet, laid back, and happy child...She makes us so proud everyday!

Enjoy this video of her today!

Brooke's Big Day!

2011-06-05T15:14:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was a big day in our daughters life. Brooke makes Scott and I so proud each and every day and yesterday was one of those days that I think none of us will ever forget. The day started out at Lydia's birthday party (one of our neighbor friends!). It was cowboy party and the kiddos got to ride horses. I was so proud of Brooke because she was very cautious and hesitant to get on the horse but she decided she wanted to do..and she did it! I was so proud of her and just couldn't wipe the smile off my face nor hers!!

THEN... the day continued with the night of her BIG dance recital!! She's been taking dance since September and it is a ballet and tap class. She has LOVED dance much more than school or anything else. Pretty much everyday she asked me if she is going to dance that day. I knew this night was going to be a blast for her. They had a rehearsal the day before but this was different..there were going to be lots of people in the crowd! The recital was held at the Peace Center, which is the place where all the big musicals, plays, and lots of concerts take place. The recital was 3 hours long and Brooke did GREAT!!! Her class was so cute and they danced to "Wake Me Up" by Wham. The whole recital was a throwback to the 80's!! I cried the entire time she danced and I just cannot tell you how proud me, Daddy, Nana, and Candace were!!

Makeup by Mommy and hair by Candace!!

Family pic before we left!

Our beautiful big girl!!

You make our world shine!

After the recital!! She was so excited! Getting her flowers!

All the dancers received medals..she was so pumped!

Wanted her bun taken out on our way to the car..she was exhausted..it was 9:30pm! After taking about 20 bobby pins out...her was her pretty blonde locks!

Pop Pop and Mom Mom come to town!

2011-06-02T11:11:00.004-04:00

Memorial day weekend was pretty much all about the pool! Our neighborhood pool opened on Saturday and we were there right at 10am as the lifeguard was unlocking the gate. Excited, you think?!! The girls are doing great in the pool and Presley pitches a fit when we get her out! Monday my Dad and Edie came into town to stay for a couple of days. We had a great time with them and they enjoyed the pool as well!! WE LOVE SUMMER!!

Pop Pop and Mom Mom got Brooke a new scooter since her old one got ran over by Mommy. :)

Mom Mom and Brooke!

Thanks for coming to see us!! We love you Pop Pop and Mom Mom!

It's been way too long...

2011-05-26T20:14:00.004-04:00

Wow...this month has come and gone like the blink of an eye! What a great month it has been and I feel like we haven't stopped! What a great month of seeing great friends, family, and starting our new business.

Let's see...where did May begin?
The last weekend of April, Scott's great college friend, Pete, and his wife, Melissa came down from New Jersey to spend the weekend with us. We had such a great time spending time with them and loved that our girls got to know them. They are a great couple to be around and so much fun!! Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures except for this one (Pete is in Brooke's princess tent!). I'm so bummed that we didn't take anymore but we had such an awesome time with them. It's our turn to head up to see them!! On Wednesday, May 4th, we held my Grand Opening of Stroller Strides!! It went great and I have been teaching classes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday ever since. Starting in June I will have an instructor teaching on Tuesday and Thursdays so we will cover the whole week. I LOVE teaching and feel like I have found a great fit for me!!

Mother's Day was so special this year. I feel so blessed to have 2 incredible little girls. They are my gift. They are the light of my life. What a great day that I got to spend with my family!! We headed out to lunch and ran into friends of ours (LeAnne, Kevin, and their girls!).

The weekend of May 13th we headed up North to Jeremy's wedding (one of Scott's good college friends). It worked out that we went back to West Chester, PA on Friday night and got to see lots of great friends and Scott's Mom and sister. It was such a fun night and great to be back in PA. Saturday we headed to NJ to celebrate Jeremy and Michele getting married and had an awesome time!! It was a blast hanging out with Murph, Ali, Jodi, and Timmy! We loved getting to see everyone and for Scott to catch up with old friends. I headed back to Greenville that Sunday while Scott headed on to Ireland for a week with Timmy. They had a wonderful time and the girls and I did great on our own!! We were SO HAPPY when Scott got home though. We missed him so much! Now we are just running our daily lives and so pumped that our neighborhood pool open this weekend!

Easter Day

2011-04-28T09:07:00.003-04:00

We had a great day in Atlanta with my sister and her family! The kids played hard and we had an awesome meal my Mom made!! Thanks for such a great day, Lisa and Devin!!

Nana with all her Grandkids!

Birthday Parties and Sunny Days!

2011-04-25T22:38:00.005-04:00

We have realized that we shouldn't tell Brooke about an upcoming birthday party until the day of (or maybe the night before to get her to go to bed easier!) because we will be asked ALL day when we're going!! She LOVES birthday parties and cannot wait to sing happy birthday and eat that good ole b-day cake!! (I don't blame her..nothing better than some pizza and birthday cake!). We all went to Luke's 3rd birthday party and Brooke had a blast! It was a kindermusik party so a teacher led them in different music activities and then they played for awhile afterwards. We all had fun catching up with all our friends and seeing the kids have so much fun.

Afterwards we spent the day outside as a family and had such a good time. We pushed the girls on the swings, played out front, and then our good friends came down for a couple of hours to hang out that night. What a great day... B and I playing during the party!

BUBBLES! Not going to lie.. I totally got in there too..had to pop some bubbles!

Mommy and Presley! She is a trip...she makes us laugh all the time!

Just a swangin....

Our big girl...

Our little girl...

Little munch...

Forever Friends

2011-04-25T13:43:00.003-04:00

One of my closest friends, Laurie, came to visit 2 weekends ago. I have known Laurie since 6th grade and her friendship has always meant so much to me. We have so much fun together and can talk so freely and easily about anything and everything!! She has 3 beautiful daughters and a wonderful husband, whom she left for 4 days to come and visit me! I tried to make that weekend as relaxing and fun as I could because I know how precious that time is while you are away!! We had a great time of going out to dinner, hanging with my kids, eating yummy BBQ, exercising, and a wild girls night out! I had talked to my girlfriends here about all of us gals going out on the town that Saturday night and there ended up being 9 of going out! Saw a great honky tonk band, hit the new local bar hotspot, and had an adventurous ride home....HAHA..SO fun! Laur- thanks so much for coming to visit and we all miss you so much!

Mama's going back to work...

2011-04-18T21:45:00.003-04:00

and ohhhhh I am SO EXCITED!! I now own my own company here in Greenville and I am SO excited I cannot even contain myself! Scott and I now own the rights to this entire area for Stroller Strides (my legal business name is Garrett Fitness, LLC). Stroller Strides is a great workout that Moms can do with their children in the stroller. I will be teaching Mon,Wed,Fri at one of the most beautiful parks here in the area! I have an awesome instructor who will be teaching on Tues/Thurs as well! The classes are an hour long and will be held outdoors unless the weather doesn't permit. My Grand Opening is May 4th and I cannot wait for that day to get here!! I have had so much interest so far and am thrilled to meet new people and take my children to work with me (they will be in my double jogger while I teach)!! Wish me luck!! (I will keep you updated as we go...) Had to share these pics....Presley is so pumped for the class, she just couldn't contain herself..had to get her outfit all ready! :)

Grandmotha and Grandfatha

2011-03-28T20:47:00.007-04:00

My Aunt Laura Beth and Steve came into town to stay with my Mom for a week last week. We just love getting to see them (Aunt LB is my Mom's sister) and have so much fun hanging out with them. Brooke cracked us up last time they were in town because she out of the blue called Aunt LB "Grandmotha" and this time was calling Steve "Grandfatha". It makes me laugh so hard because she has been saying it so much since they left too. Steve made us a delicious dinner that consisted of homemade shrimp thai spring rolls and a curry shrimp rice dish. It was YUMMY!!

Pops Comes to Town!

2011-03-28T20:14:00.006-04:00

Pops (Scott's Dad) flew in from Texas two weekends ago and it was such a fun weekend! The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had such a great time spending time with each other. The guys having fun with the gals!

Pops and Brooke spending time together... so cute.

Family pic! I think Presley is looking at me wondering why I'm not getting her out of the stroller?!!

Brooke learning to play golf...I love that she is liking to play!!

Can't wait to get her out on the course!

Me and my girl...and the fingers. :)

TOO CUTE!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T10:21:00.001-04:00

Wishing you a great day from Snow White and Cinderella!

The Many Looks of Presley

2011-03-08T21:08:00.008-05:00

The last weekend of February we were so excited that Sheila, Justin, and Aunt Dell drove over from Mississippi! We had a great weekend with them and the weather couldn't have been better.

They got to see a little bit into the world of Presley. The world of smiles, wild hair, lots of drool, lots of spit-up, and honestly the most easy going child I have ever been around. She makes us laugh all the time with her smile, laugh, and general disposition. One hilarious/frustrating thing she does is when someone is feeding her she eats a bite of food and then puts her 2 fingers back in her mouth. AFTER EVERY BITE. Yes, time consuming and very messy. Hence, she pretty much wears bibs all the time. She doesn't mind the mess and in fact is probably just plain ole used to it!

When our family was here they caught these shots below.... Mom and Aunt Dell

Presley playing at Nana's house!

Her bed head! She had just woken up from her nap!

Loving meal time!

Nana, hurry up, will ya?!!

Yep, there they go!

Daddy Love

2011-03-08T19:42:00.005-05:00

I have to say that I feel extremely blessed to have a husband who is such a devoted Dad. The moment Scott comes home from work, he is truly all about family. We all play, give baths, read books, puzzles, you name it (right now Scott and Brooke are tiling our master bath!), and just spend time together. I love giving him time with the kids too (and me some Me time!) at some point during the night because they absolutely love being with him and he loves being with them. Presley is crawling everywhere these days and pulling herself up so she is able tobe in the mix more with some of the rough-housing with Scott. She LOVES it and in fact last night showed her first sign of jealously when he was playing with Brooke! Too cute....here are some pics I caught last night after he came home from work. I love this man so much.

PS- I realized that next time I photograph Presley, I should take the dirty bib off. Not so appealing. :) She still spits up SO much!!!

What do you think?

2011-02-20T20:50:00.004-05:00

I constantly am told opposing opinions about how our girls look. Some people think they look so much alike and others say that they look nothing alike. Here are the girls at the same age....what do you think???Brooke at 8 months
Presley at almost 8 months

We've got a crawler!

2011-02-19T20:03:00.006-05:00

Presley has been trying her hardest to crawl forwards for weeks now. She was crawling backwards, able to push her self to sitting position from being on her stomach, and was rolling all over. We weren't sure when she would take off crawling. Last night after dinner we were hanging out and she wanted Brooke's computer and she took off!! So fun...of course you don't see right after this where she kept going for Brooke's computer and princess dolls...Brooke was getting so mad!! Too funny...let the sisterhood sharing begin. :)

The video is a touch dark but hopefully you can still see her!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T10:50:00.004-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! It seems like we have been celebrating this heart filled occasion for the past 3 days now. :) The weather has been awesome here so we've been doing lots out and about. After church on Sunday we went to a nice brunch at one of the hotels here in town. Yesterday at dance class Brooke wore her new heart tutu (thanks Aunt Katie!) and had a blast handing out her Valentine's to her friends. This morning my Mom went with B to school to Grandparents day where they did all kinds of Valentine's stuff. We've had our fill this year and now ready to just enjoy the nice weather!!
After church ...
Presley's face lights up like this anytime she touches Brooke!
Dancing outside in her new tutu....

Sweet little valentine!
Brooke and Nana headed to school!

Big Day for Presley

2011-02-10T20:48:00.004-05:00

First of all, happy 7 month birthday to our little love. She is doing so many things now and growing so much each week. She is trying her hardest to crawl with getting up on all fours and swaying back and forth. She rolls every where she wants to go so I really cannot keep her contained at this point! Today was a big day for little miss:

- I discovered her 1st tooth has poked it's way through!

- She road in the "red car" that Brooke always loved and honestly still does even though her knees hit the front :)

- Presley and Brooke took their 1st bath together!!

It makes me so emotional when I stop and look at how much she has grown....

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

2011-02-10T20:42:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday Scott!! We celebrated last Friday after he got home with this yummy, ice cream cake!! We sang happy birthday and gave gifts while Brooke was still awake (Presley was already asleep) and then Scott and I headed to eat sushi with Candace and Tom. I think he had a great birthday (if I do say so myself)!! :)

Girls Weekend!

2011-02-10T19:40:00.002-05:00

The last weekend of January I headed to Orlando to see my best friends from college. As one of my Christmas presents, Scott surprised me with a trip to see my gals! I couldn't believe I would be kid-free for 3 days! Oh, don't get me wrong.... of course I missed the kiddos but OHHHHHH.... it was great to just chill out with my ladies!! We all met that Friday night (Cori came from Ft. Lauderdale and Patty came from Naples) at Brooke's house. We caught up and played with Brooke's daughter, Emily. She is such a cutie pie and so much fun to play with! Scott and Justin (Brooke's husband) were so sweet and surprised us with a hotel room for Saturday night! WOOT WOOT! Saturday, we got up at breakfast and headed off. We got mani's/pedi's, sat outside for lunch (it was beautiful the whole weekend), went to the hotel and hung out, went out to a great dinner, and headed out to have some fun in downtown Orlando. I cannot tell you the last time I got home at 2am! Sunday we got up and went out to breakfast, went to a movie, went for a long walk, and made dinner. Ahhhhh...... SO relaxing!! Thanks girls for such a great weekend. I miss you everyday. Scott and the girls had a great time and I just felt so rejuvanated! Thanks again babe, you're the best. :)The four of us Sophomore year of college....
The four of us 12 years later!!

We were thrilled we got ID'd at the club. :)
Emily piling on the bags!!
Having fun with Em.

Presley and Clara

2011-01-24T15:41:00.003-05:00

Last night we went over to Candace and Tom's for dinner and had a blast! The older girls played so well and ended up playing in Melaina's room for a long time. Downstairs we got to enjoy Presley and Clara playing together too! This was the 1st time they really were grabbing for each other, rolling over each other, and trying to talk in their own little language. These two gals are 1 day apart and it's going to be a blast to watch them grow up together as well!!

Ice Ice Baby!

2011-01-16T22:17:00.003-05:00

After church today we headed over to the local ice skating rink to take Brooke for her 1st skating experience. As we were standing in line to get our skates we realized it had been almost 15 years since Scott and I had ice skated! We had no idea what to expect out of ourselves and out of Brooke. When we first got out there she was pretty hesitant and we thought we were going to be heading home pretty fast. But after one time around the rink she was so into it and wanting to go faster!! It all came back to Scott and I and we all had a blast! After an hour and a half we headed home and Brooke was asleep in the car within 5 minutes. It was such a wonderful day!
We cannot wait for Presley to be able to skate too!! My Mom was with us hanging out too! She was snuggling with Presley while we were out on the ice.
I forgot how much fun it is to skate to fun music! I was having my own dance party as we were going round and round!

SNOW DAY!

2011-01-10T19:52:00.002-05:00

We have gotten hit with one of the biggest snow storms that this area has seen in almost 20 years!! We got about 7 inches of snow last night and today was so much fun! Brooke had never seen this much snow and was amazed by it all. She loved walking through it and it wore her out! The funny thing about having snow here is that there are no snow plows so the roads are pretty bad. People are anticipating that this snow will cause the schools to be closed all week long. It makes me laugh because living up North they are so prepared for this weather but down here, not so much. It was great having Scott home today too! I think he'll be home tomorrow too...woohoo!
Daddy's girl...she refused to zip up her coat. :)
Our backyard!
Presley was loving the fresh, cool air!

Babyland General Hospital

2011-01-10T19:13:00.004-05:00

Growing up, my parents always took my sister and I on road trips and I can say that I have visited some of the most random places in this nation. I LOVED our road trips and now being an adult I love that I have been to some really neat places that were just along the way. One of those places was Babyland General Hospital. This is the Cabbage Patch kids hospital where they are born and nurtured by the sweet doctors and nurses that work there. :) My Mom reminded me last week that Babyland General was in Georgia so we looked it up and saw that we are only 2 hours away from there. My Mom and I packed the kids up and headed to Cleveland, Georgia on Saturday to go visit the babies. I think we were more excited than Brooke was to go there! Once we got there, we realized that it was a new facility and it was beautiful. It is a huge, white mansion (I forgot to take a picture of the outside) and on the inside is different rooms with cabbage patch kids in their cribs. All babies are adoptable in the whole place. The rest of the house is mostly a huge store with different displays of the kids. It was adorable. Of course we bought both girls their own dolls but how could you not?!! We spent about 2 hours there and had so much fun!!
The reception area when you walk in. Everyone who works there is either a "nurse" or a "doctor".
My little kid!
Nana and Brooke checking out the babies.
My girls!
These kids were bigger than I had ever seen!
Sweet girl!

She loved playing with this doll and putting in her extensions!

Presley was all smiles here...
The girls playing with their dolls once we got home!
Sisters!

Brooke feeding Tanya (her baby).

Presley turns 6 months!

2011-01-09T15:36:00.003-05:00

Happy 6 month birthday baby girl!! What a quick 6 months it has been. I look at her some days and just get teary eyed that she is growing up so fast. I understand now why parents want to keep the baby, a baby. Here are a few tidbits about Presley:

- She smiles pretty much anytime you look at her. She would smile all the time if she could but I think her cheeks get too heavy. :)

- She loves to have something in her mouth at all times. It doesn't matter...fingers, hands, toes, toys, blankets, my shirt, my hair, etc...

- She loves her sleep. She is taking 3 solid naps everyday and goes to bed between 6-6:30 pm. She wakes up around 6am and plays in her crib till I get her at 7:30am.

- She is amazed and in love with Brooke. She stares at her all day long.

- She is loving her baby food and am keeping my fingers crossed that I'm going to turn her into a good eater!

- She spits up all the time! Brooke never spit up. Literally, I don't think she ever did. Presley spits up a ton and smiles right after. Ugh! I'm just glad it's not hurting her.

- She has been turning over and rolling all around for about 2 months. She is trying very hard to crawl and it seems like it won't be long till she is.

- We thought she was losing her hair but we were wrong...it's growing! Yeah... I love her curly brown hair. The hair coming in is very light so we may have another blondie!

- She is talking a ton and loves to babble very loud. I think she is trying to talk over Brooke. Good luck with that one, Presley, your sister talks ALL DAY LONG! :)

- Presley is sitting up on her own now but certainly still takes a spill every now and then.

- She is my little love bug and I could just kiss on her all day long.

At her 6 month checkup this is where she measures:

Weight- 16.5 pounds (60% percentile)

Length- 26.5 inches (77% percentile)

The Joy of Christmas

2010-12-28T21:06:00.003-05:00

It is so amazing being a parent and experiencing Christmas with your children. It brings all of the wonderful memories I have of Christmas from when I was a child back and I love making our own memories as a family now. I was looking around at my incredible husband and precious children just thinking about how blessed I am to have such special people in my life.

Two days before Christmas I still did not have a star/angel/bow or anything at the top of the tree. I have been looking for the perfect something to put up there but still hadn't found it. Out of the blue Brooke says to me that she wants to make a yellow star to put at the top of the tree. She is very into using scissors now so I drew the star and she cut and colored it. I am in love with this star. I am going to laminate it and use it every year from now on. This was exactly what I was looking for.
Christmas Eve we went to church and attended one of my favorite services of the year. Candace sang "O Holy Night" and the whole service is so touching and emotional. Then, we had a great morning at our house on Christmas and Santa was very good to us. Brooke had a blast opening all of her presents and Presley's too! She's not going to know how to handle herself once Presley starts opening her own stuff!
Mom Mom Suz, John John, Aunt Katie, and Uncle Jamie sent lots of wonderful gifts!! She had so much fun opening and playing with all of them!
Mommy putting together her Barbie Pet Vet Center that Mom Mom Suz gave her!

That afternoon we headed to my Mom's (she lives a mile away!) and met up with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Devin and the kids! What a wonderful day!! God is good.
Trying to get a group shot!
Brooke and Adelyn patiently waiting to open Nana's gifts!
Time to open!
Uncle Devin getting the play-doh all set up!
Play-doh time!
It was a white Christmas!! First time in over 50 years that it has snowed on Christmas in Greenville! It was awesome!
Brooke had a blast!
Today out riding her new bike that Santa brought!

Hanging out

2010-12-28T21:03:00.002-05:00

I walked by the bathroom the other day and Brooke was sitting here just like this. I said "What are you up to? She replied "Just hanging out." I burst into laughter! I love this girl so much!

Christmas in Atlanta

2010-12-28T20:48:00.002-05:00

The past 2 years we have gone to my sisters house the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, who fly over from Mississippi. We have such a great time playing with the kids and just catching up. I am always so amazed at the strong bond these kids have..they know they are family and they love each other so much. Brooke and Adelyn instantly play together and I could see this time that Presley is dying to get in the mix! Next year, she'll be in the middle of it all!
Trying to get a picture of them all together!
Brooke and AdelynLook at Presley wanting to get in on the hug!
Family pic!
Nana, Presley, and Aunt Lisa
Presley showing off her new outfit!
Everybody chit chatting after presents!
Aunt Judy, Uncle Kurt, P, and I!

Pop Pop and Mom Mom's Christmas Visit

2010-12-28T20:41:00.002-05:00

Mom Mom and Pop Pop drove from Ohio to come and visit us before Christmas. We loved when they come to visit and the girls ate up all the attention!! They always buy all the grandkids matching pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve and Mom Mom and Pop Pop always match the grandkids as well! Too cute...this was this years pajamas just previewed a few weeks early!Building with Brooke....
Pop Pop reading to B....
Presents!
Presley in her new pj's!

2010-12-28T20:06:00.004-05:00

A couple of Fridays ago we decided to jump in the car and head to Hollywild Animal Park to see the Christmas lights and the animals that roam free. We have heard of this place ever since we moved here but hadn't made it there yet. I had heard that it was pretty neat to see the lights and the animals roam free. That's it. That's all we heard. We were not expecting the night we ended up having. You pull up to the animal park and it is definitely in the country but with about 10 rows of cars waiting to pay to get in. As I'm looking around I see minivans, trucks, SUV's FULL of people and all kids out of seat belts, car seats, etc.... We thought we'd join in and let Brooke out of her car seat. I seriously was waiting for a cop to pull me over! She was thrilled! She climbed up and sat in the middle console and smiled with glee. We paid to get in and then road through a glorious light display that was much more than we expected....THEN....we pulled up to a couple of guys that were selling food for the animals and that's when Scott asked, "Do we just follow the car in front of us?".... "Naw... you just go where you wanna....it don't matter where." We looked ahead and it seriously is a free for all of cars and animals all over roaming free. We (me, Scott, Nana) burst into hysterical laughing because you look around and you see hundreds of deer and there were donkeys, zebras, horses, and enormous cows. The funny thing was it was a gigantic pasture and you could go anywhere you wanted to. We ended up having a zebra in the window and a donkey that was using the grill of our SUV to warm it's nose. To end the night on the right note, Brooke used her travel potty outside just as we left the big field and was screaming hysterically thinking the animals were going to get her!! Don't worry, we only looked a little white trash with our child going to the bathroom where everyone could see. :) It was truly one of those nights that you would really have to experience on your own. You better believe we will be there next year!! :)

The deer and the pretty lights!
Presley enjoying the scenery! :)
Brooke and Nana feeding a donkey!
The donkey and the zebra coming up to us!
Here little zebra!
Brooke standing out of the sunroof!
There was an area after the roaming animals that you could get out and see more...these guys couldn't be out in the wild. They may hurt my car!
Santa was there! Brooke is still a little afraid of good ole St. Nick!
Feeding the goats..Brooke loved doing this!

Let's try that again...

2010-12-28T19:57:00.004-05:00

I think one of the hardest thing to accomplish is to take a good photo of a child, especially multiple children! I have learned to click away and hope that at least 1 shot that I get will turn out. The girls and I laughed so hard a couple of weeks back when I was trying to take some pictures for our Christmas card!! As most of you know...none of these ended up being the pic but we had fun trying! Thought I'd share of couple of them.Soon after this picture Brooke screamed in horror because Presley spit up all over her! I couldn't stop laughing...
Yep...no one is looking at the camera. :)

Thanksgiving

2010-12-27T21:25:00.006-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in Greenville with Scott's family. Mama Suz, John John, Aunt Katie, and Greg came from Pennsylvania to visit!! It was a great visit with lots of good family time, relaxing, and kid time. We were so happy they came to visit!!

Mama Suz and Presley!
Celebrating Brooke's bday with all of them! I think she thought her birthday was 5 days long! :)
My baby girl!
The fam!
Our family of 4!
The girls! This is the picture I used for our Christmas card this year...
Mama Suz and her grandbabies!
John John and Brooke having fun!
Aunt Katie and B being silly!
Out at Barley's having some drinks and pizza!
Presley loving the cold weather....
BURRR!!
Hanging at the park..COLD!

Dedication

2010-12-05T13:42:00.004-05:00

We had both girls dedicated at our church the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It truly was such a special day for all of us. One reason it was so special was it was Brooke's birthday that day. Also, it was great to have family in town as well to be with us. Aunt Judy, Uncle Kurt, Jill, Justin, Lisa, Devin, and the kids were all there to see them. We feel so blessed to have found our church and to have made such wonderful friends. Our Sunday School class has a wonderful bond, even though we are all at different places in our lives. We are so thankful to all of them for their friendships and also to our Pastors who have an incredible way of making each person feel thought of and prayed for everyday. Right before their dedication!

Daddy and Presley!

Nana and Brooke!

Look how happy Presley is that Pastor Stephen is holding her!

Pastor Stephen taking Presley around the whole sanctuary so everyone can see her. Scott followed behind him carrying Brooke so they could see her too!!

Uncle Kurt and Aunt Judy playing with P out to lunch afterwards!

Aunt Judy playing with Presley's booties!

Brooke's 3rd birthday!

2010-12-05T10:01:00.006-05:00

We celebrated Brooke's 3rd birthday the weekend before Thanksgiving. Brooke wanted a "Princess Jumping" party! We had it at a blow up jumping place and the theme was all princess. She and her friends had a blast and I think the adults did too (by the end of the party most of the Dads were in the big blow-ups jumping around!). We cannot believe our little girl is 3 years old! We love you so much Brooke!!

There is a slideslow at the end of this post with more pictures from her party!! Family pic!

Brooke and her friends eating some pizza!

Blowing out the candle!

Yummy cupcakes!

JUMP!!

Eating her yummy Belle cake!

Presents!

Fun Times!

2010-11-16T20:22:00.002-05:00

Aunt Judy is here to visit and to help me out this week and this is how much fun my girls are having! I LOVE, LOVE having her here!

Presley at 4 months!

2010-11-14T19:31:00.005-05:00

Time is flying by so fast. I cannot believe that our little Presley Anne is now 4 months old! She is such a calm, sweet, and charming little girl. She smiles at anyone and ADORES Brooke so much. She smiles in awe when Brooke talks to her and plays around her. Brooke is so sweet to her and is constantly saying how excited she is for Presley to grow up. She cannot wait to: have Presley sleep with her, take baths together, share cookies, and share popcorn. Sounds like sharing will be a breeze, right?!! HAHA.... I know, a girl can dream, right?!

Presley went for her check-up and here is her growth chart:
Weight- 14.75 lbs. (72%)
Height- 25.5 inches (88%)
Head- 16.24 inches (56%)

This is how Presley sucks her fingers! She doesn't really like the pacifier, this is her version of sucking her thumb! Too funny!

Yep, we produce some big cheeked babies!

Ready to get in the car!

Loving some tummy time!

Halloween!

2010-11-04T19:50:00.005-04:00

We had a such a great time Halloween weekend! We went to a Halloween party Saturday night with just adults and we were so impressed with how much everyone dressed up! Scott and I were cereal killers (get it?!!) and we had a blast! We loved hanging out with everyone and danced our little hearts out! Sunday was so much fun with the kids. This was the first year that Brooke really got what was going on. She had SO much fun in our neighborhood parade and loved trick or treating!! It was so much fun watching her and her friends running from house to house...they were so excited! Our outfits!

My 2 little princesses!

The fam!

Brooke making us all laugh!

Nana and P!

Isn't this hat hysterical! Love it!

Sleeping beauty...

Princess and Cinderella :)

So sweet..

Candace and Clara!

Our neighborhood parade...

My girl!

4 of the 6 babies that were born in our neighborhood between April-September! So fun!

Look at those big girls!

Bridget, Marc, and the kids come to visit!

2010-11-01T20:51:00.002-04:00

Bridget and Marc took a road trip from Florida to come up and see the leaves changing! They went to Savannah, Greenville, and then were headed onto to a couple of other cities. They were craving some Fall weather and wanted to show their 4 year old son what the leaves look like this time of year. We had such a great 2 days with their family and are trying to persuade them to move here. :) We loved seeing their 2 adorable children (Phelim is 4 and Shamus is almost 3 months). We cannot wait to see them again soon!! How precious is he?!!

Brooke had a blast with Phelim!

It had been way too long since we had seen them!

Such a great family!

Phelim is welcome in our family any day!

Tiffiny and kids come to visit!

2010-11-01T20:40:00.002-04:00

One of my good friends from college, Tiffiny, came to visit with her 2 children. Her son, Rhett, is 4 years old, and her daughter, Chloe, was born 2 days after Presley! Tiffiny lives in Hawaii but had been on the mainland for about a month while her husband was working in Virginia. Her husband is headed overseas for a while so she decided to take a road trip to see friends and make her way down to Florida to see her family. She stopped here for a night and we had such a great time hanging out. She and the kids came to Brooke's dance class with us and then we went downtown for lunch and some park time. We miss you Tiffiny!! Brooke still asked where "that boy" is!!...hee hee Presley and Chloe!! So cute! Chloe is the sweetest little girl...she smiles all the time!

These 2 got along so well...Brooke kept calling him "that boy" the whole time! Too funny...

HUGS!

We haven't aged a day since college, right Tiff?!! :)

Too cute!

2010-10-22T17:07:00.002-04:00

I wanted to share these couple of pics of the girls and our family. I love Presley's smile so much and the one of the 2 girls is one of my favorite!

Look at those sweet cheeks!

HAHAHAHA!!

Family pic from Melaina's birthday party!

Happy Anniversary!

2010-10-10T21:26:00.009-04:00

Happy 6 year anniversary to the most wonderful man I know. I cannot believe that 6 years has gone by so fast and feel so blessed that our lives are so full of love. 6 years of so many eventful times....having 2 children, buying 2 houses, moving to a new city/state, job loss, new jobs, moving away from friends, making new friends, finding a wonderful church, date nights, and so many more. Through the ups and downs of day to day, there is no other place that I would rather be then with my man and our children.

In saying all of this, I am promising myself that we will never plan another anniversary trip again! This was the 2nd year in a row that our anniversary plans have been voided due to sick children. Last year Brooke had pneumonia and this year the strangest thing happened to Presley. We were planned to leave for Savannah, GA last Saturday morning to spend the night there. Friday night my Mom stayed at our house since we were getting up early on Saturday. At 3am on Friday night, Presley woke up hysterically crying and was having a hard time breathing. She had lots of mucus stuck in her throat and nothing we were doing was helping her. We jumped in the car and headed to the ER because she was having a tough time getting air. Of course by the time we got to the hospital she was smiling, cooing, and was in a great mood. We had her checked out anyway and everything was fine. They said it was just mucus that was stuck in her throat and to flush her with saline often. Even though we knew she was fine, we still couldn't leave her just thinking that it could happen again. SO...we ended up having a great day anyways. We left our house around 11am (without kids) and headed to the big restaurant festival downtown. We stayed there for about 4 hours and ate, drank, and had the best time!! Next we headed to a friends house to watch some football and then we went out for a fancy steak dinner at a restaurant we've been wanting to try. It was such a wonderful day together and it didn't even matter that we didn't leave town. We were just so excited to spend the day together.

These are some pictures that I took last week and some my Mom took this weekend.

The girls!

Brooke playing with the neighbors... Coloring with Nana...

We took the kids back to the festival on Sunday. So much fun!

Presley was awake! Trying to get a family picture!

Dancing in the Rain

2010-10-10T18:24:00.003-04:00

About a week ago we got a decent amount of rain. Brooke was so excited to get out and play in it one afternoon. It was so much fun watching her dance around having a blast!!

Apple Picking

2010-09-25T16:50:00.007-04:00

Today we went up to Flat Rock, North Carolina to visit the Sky Top Orchard to go apple picking! They had pretty much every type of apple one may want. We were searching for the Gala apples but they were almost all picked over and the heat had gotten to most of them. So, we ended up picking Granny Smith apples instead. Brooke was not so into it at first and then once she got into picking the apples off the tree, she was unstoppable! She picked and ate and picked and ate...it was so much fun watching her in the trees having a blast.

This was taken this morning before we got dressed to go. Presley is smiling so much and is doing great with holding her head up. She is growing up WAY TOO FAST.

Sweet girl. I'm having a blast with her hair because it is naturally curly! Brooke nor I have an ounce of curl in our hair so I love playing around with Presley's.

The fam...

The camel hauling his luggage... :)

Me, Nana, and P

Smiles!

I didn't realize Presley couldn't see anything..OOPS... hee hee

Getting started...

She's got it!

Delicious!

And eating some more!

School and Dance Class

2010-09-14T13:37:00.002-04:00

Brooke's teacher sent me this picture that she has taken with her iPhone while the kiddos were playing outside. My precious girl...

Brooke started dance class this week and absolutely loved it. She asked me if the girls in her class could come home with us when she walked out of the class!! She was showing Nana and Daddy her new moves last night. They do ballet for the 1st part of the class and then switch to tap for the 2nd part. They will have a big recital with the rest of the dance studio in June. Is it sad that I'm already SO excited for that?!!

We went to lunch after her dance class to celebrate!!

Airplanes and Mom Mom and Pop Pop's Visit!

2010-09-09T12:05:00.007-04:00

Labor Day weekend was absolutely beautiful here!! There was a coolness in the air in the mornings and the sun shined so brightly that all we wanted to do was be outside. There are 2 airports in Greenville, one is for commercial flights and one is for small, private commuter planes. We went to the small airport on Sunday and had lunch at the new cafe they just opened. It was such a fun place to go for us adults and for the kiddos. They had a plane you could get in and then the kids could also watch the planes taking off and landing. Such a neat concept to have the restaurant right on the runway!

My Dad and Edie came on Monday and we ended up taking them back there to hang out! There was a model airplane show going on so we just watched those and got a chance to visit. After that we headed to our neighborhood pool for the last time this summer. Boo.. but it was GREAT to see them and Brooke had a blast playing with them!! Me testing out the plane....not quite sure I would want to be riding in it though!

Scott, Brooke, and Melaina checking out the scenery!

Presley and Clara enjoying the view as well. :)

Attempting to get a family picture!

The girls!

Mom Mom and Pop Pop with their girls!

Such a cute picture of Mom Mom and Presley!

Pop Pop and P!

Coloring outside....I think Mom Mom was having just as much fun as B was!

Playing puzzles..

Sisters!

At the airport....

Sweet face...

Presley slept to the sound of planes...

At the pool that night!

Babies, babies, babies!!

2010-09-09T11:59:00.002-04:00

It has been such an exciting summer with so many new babies around us!! It was so much fun being pregnant with so many friends and now to meet all the new little bundles! We got to meet Patrick and Fallon's precious little girl, Kesely, this past weekend! I also got to meet Julie's baby boy, William. He is so adorable and looks just like his big brother, Thomas! Patrick and Scott...these girls have them wrapped already!!

Fallon and I...2 proud Mama's!

Candace, Carrie, and I visiting Julie and William in the hospital. Side Note: Candace had Clara the day after Presley was born and Carrie is due in January!! SO FUN!

Proud Parents

2010-09-09T11:56:00.002-04:00

I walked into Brooke's classroom on Thursday and there was this on the wall. She was "Artist of the Week"!! I was so proud of her giraffe that she drew and just so proud of her in general. Everyday I am proud to be her Mommy!! Of course I had to take a picture with her and her teacher of this moment!

Presley's 2 month visit

2010-09-09T11:50:00.003-04:00

Presley had her 2 month check up last week and everything went great! She is smiling so much now and just cooing away!! Below is her growth chart:
Weight: 10.69 pounds (50% percentile)
Length: 23 inches (75% percentile)
Head: 15 inches (35% percentile)

Dodgeball and Birthday Surprises

2010-09-09T11:36:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago was the annual dodge ball tournament between our neighborhood and a few others in the area. The Dad's play and each neighborhood comes up with their own team name. This year the Dad's wanted to be "The Love Handles". Yep, click on the picture to enlarge and you can see they cut out where their love handles are. Too funny!! It is one of my favorite nights because all the families hang out on the grass while the kids run around all over the place. Brooke was playing with all the kids while I just relaxed and chatted with all the fantastic ladies!!

That same weekend Aunt Judy and Sheila came to visit my Mom and to surprise her for her birthday! It meant so much to my Mom to have them here and we LOVED getting to see them and spend time with them. I was so glad that Presley got to meet Sheila and that Aunt Judy got to see her again! Love you both so much!!

Our proud men!

Back of the shirts... "Let it ALL hang out."

Patrick, Scott, and Tom...

Presley amongst all the action. :)

Sheila and Brooke coloring...

Downtown at Mast General Store...too cute!

At Mom's house...the three of them had so much fun together!! Brooke still asked me where they are!

All the ladies went out on Saturday night for dinner!

1st Day of School

2010-08-21T14:48:00.002-04:00

Brooke had her 1st day of school last week and loved it! She is going to the same school that she was at last year but is in a different class with a new teacher. She is loving the new room and her new teacher. She is going 2 days a week and was in the best mood both days I picked her up. When I picked her up the 1st day she said "Mommy, I love my big school!!" . It makes me so happy to see her so excited about going. The teacher has told me how much she enjoys their art projects, blocks, puzzles, and looking at books. Those are her favorites things to do at our house too. She can get so into a project and it just amazes me to see her level of focus at this age. My big girl...she makes me so proud everyday.

2010-08-21T14:25:00.004-04:00

Lisa, Devin, and the kids came in town last weekend. We always have such a great time with them! We had an early birthday celebration for Nana where the kids made cupcakes and sang happy birthday! Presley and her wild hair!

Singing to Nana!

Cousins!!

Yummy ice cream!

Aunt Lisa and P...

Me and my baby girl...

The girls...

All Girl....

2010-08-17T09:56:00.004-04:00

Besides for my Dad, I grew up in a house of all girls (my Mom, sis, and dog!) so I should be used to life with girls. It has been so much fun for me to watch Brooke grow up and becoming such a girly girl! She has naturally migrated to loving all things frilly (princess dress-up, makeup, nails and toes being painted, bows, dresses, crowns, you name it...). She is loving to dance and constantly wants us to put on music so she can show us her ballet moves. I think dance classes are in her near future. I think she would love them!! I walked into the family room and she had my lip gloss out and had done her "makeup"!

She and Melaina playing dress up.

Me and my girls "cuddling up"...as Brooke always says. Every time she has anything to drink she always ask me or Scott to "cuddle up" with her. I love it!

Happy 1 Month Birthday, Presley!!

2010-08-09T10:07:00.004-04:00

Our little girl turned 1 month on August 4th! It is so crazy how fast time flies. In some ways I cannot remember life without her but in other ways it seems as though she just arrived. What a wonderful month it has been getting to know this beautiful little being. Before bed last night I was on the couch feeding Presley and Brooke was cuddled up next to me with her head on me and I felt like the luckiest person in the world. To have these 2 little angels in my life is such a blessing. My life is complete.

We had P's 1 month checkup on the 4th and here is where she is measuring:
Weight- 8 lbs 14 ounces (40% percentile)
Height- 22 inches (83% percentile) - Maybe she will be tall!!!
Head- 14.37 inches (36% percentile)

Happy 1 month my love!! Daddy, Brooke, and I love you SO much!

Life since July 4th...

2010-08-01T22:22:00.011-04:00

We are back in the swing of things around here. I'm not saying we're not sleep deprived but we're back to a somewhat normal schedule! Brooke has been playing lots with Nana and kids in the neighborhood. She is loving to play hide and go seek and just doing anything outside. Presley is doing great and doing what she does best....eating and sleeping!! Here are some pictures of what the past month has looked like around here! Brooke heading to Nana's house to play. She wanted to wear her "tutu" dress so she could wear Nana's crown when she got there!

Aunt Judy and Uncle Kurt came to visit!

Mama Suz and Presley hanging out!

Trying to get some pictures with Mama Suz...it was pretty comical trying to get a picture with her and both girls!

Got it!

Brooke and Aunt Judy making brownie cupcakes...Brooke had a blast making these!!

P just hanging out...

Daddy making Presley do some tummy time and floor time!

Brooke's new big girl Jeep...this thing is hilarious...she cruises around in it but doesn't understand how to steer it yet! She motors around in it in circles...too cute!

My sweet girl...

Melaina and Brooke eating their strawberries...the 2 big sisters!

Presley puts her hands up like this alot...we laugh every time because it looks like she is putting up her dukes!

Happy as can be...

My girls...

Pop Pop and Mom Mom came to visit last weekend and it was great to see them! Here is Pop Pop with his girls..

How sweet...Pop Pop and Presley.

First picture of them holding hands...makes me smile...

I love looking at this little one all day...

Right after Presley's first bath...Brooke loved seeing her get her bath.

Self family pic after their baths...as you can see Presley was thrilled! :)

Family of Four!!

2010-07-22T12:21:00.009-04:00

On Sunday, July 4, 201o at 9:57am our family grew from 3 to 4. Our precious little girl, Presley Anne, was born weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She came to this world with a ton of beautiful jet black hair. There was no better feeling than hearing that little cry when she arrived. We are so blessed. She is now 4 weeks old today as I am writing this and WOW...time has flown already. She is doing great and growing everyday. Her hair is turning curly, which I love!! She is as sweet as can be except when she's hungry...watch out...the girl has some lungs! She cries much louder than Brooke ever did so we just have to laugh sometimes at how mad she gets!! Brooke has adjusted so well. She wants to be involved with her as we are doing things with Presley. She helps us change her diaper (she actually is mostly curious about Presley's "poops" as Brooke calls it). She likes to help us feed her and loves to tickle Presley's feet. The only time Brooke doesn't really care for Presley is sometimes when Daddy is holding P. Brooke wants him to hold her instead but besides for that...all is good. We are amazed at how fast the past 4 weeks have gone by. We were so blessed to have had help from Scott's Mom, Aunt Judy, my Mom, and so many friends that have brought us countless dinners and gifts. We feel so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. Thank you all so much for being so thoughtful and generous. Right after our little angel was born...

She's here!!

I am still in amazement that we have 2 little girls. God is good.

Proud Papa!

Aunt Lisa!

Look at that hair!

Brooke coming to meet Presley for the 1st time..she was thrilled!

Checking her out...

My loves...

Our Pastor, Stephen

Presley and Clara (Tom and Candace, who are 2 of our good friends, had Clara the day after Presley was born! It was so much fun being in the hospital together!)

Mama Suz!

The proud Grandma's!

Our new family photo!

Trying to teach her to be gentle with this little one....

My girl...

SISTERS!!

This and That...

2010-06-30T21:16:00.002-04:00

The past couple of weeks we have been doing a little bit of everything. One thing we've especially been doing is trying to stay cool!! It's been crazy hot here so we've pretty much spent most of our time either at the pool or indoors. My swollen feet can't take this heat! :) Brooke cracks me up so much because she is loving laughing at herself these days and trying to make me laugh. I love this little girl so much...I feel so blessed that another little angel is about to arrive. Showing off her shades...she is just now liking to wear sunglasses. She never has wanted to wear them before!

Ready for bed but wanting her glasses!

She got her 1st haircut in probably a year! She did great and couldn't wait to get a lollipop afterwards!

Strolling her bear around with her oven mitts and sparkly shoes! I am loving this total girl stage she is in. She loves anything princess and wants her toenails painted all the time!! Too cute...

Playing with her friends... Melaina and Lydia.

Weekend Fun!

2010-06-06T16:18:00.006-04:00

Lisa and the kids came back to town on Thursday and stayed till Saturday afternoon. We stay BUSY when they are here and the kids have so much fun together!! Brooke kept saying "my cousins" all weekend! She absolutely adores Adelyn and Caden and love spending so much time with them. We were busy swimming, playing at the park, riding George the Train, flying kites, going to the farmer's market, and eating lots of yummy food! Brooke in her fish floaty. We cannot believe she loves to hang out in this in the adult pool and just float around. Such a change from last year when we had to hold her the whole time!

Adelyn swimming around!

Lisa and Caden hanging out!

Me and baby girl... 34 1/2 weeks prego!

All the kids riding the train at the park...

Caden trying to fly the dragon kite...

Adelyn and Brooke waiting in line for their turn to fly! (We had to make them get in a line otherwise they were all fighting for the kite!)

Brooke flying the princess kite!! We had much better luck with this one instead of the dragon kite. (To be honest, I cannot believe this one flew at all because there was not 1 drop of wind!)

Go Brooke Go!!

Adelyn running fast to get it high in the air!

On Saturday morning, we met our Sunday School class at the dog park for a little doggy date. Roxy was SO happy! She got to play in the creek and have fun with the other dogs. It's been a long time since Roxy had a play date. :)

Of course she had to get cozy in the creek muddy water. :)

Back at Nana's after Lisa and the kids left. Nana has the perfect painting setup in her garage that Brooke loves to play with. This time there were no brushes...just hands. She painted her entire stomach and had a blast!

Great weekend...it's only 4:30 right now...we're off to the pool in just a bit! I LOVE SUMMERTIME!

Happy Cow Creamery

2010-06-03T14:34:00.003-04:00

Last week I took Brooke to the Happy Cow Creamery and met up with Carrie, Julie, and their boys. The creamery is an organic dairy farm and they take you on a tour to see where the cows are milked and show you where the milk is bottled. It was such a cute little place and we got to ride on a "trolley" ride but really it was a tractor pulling us in a row of seats. The kids loved it and we had a good time too!! We got to sample their delicious milks afterwards. It was the first time Brooke had ever had chocolate milk...she kept saying "this is my FAVORITE!!". It was too cute.

Me and my girl on the tractor ride!

Watching all the cows eat. They LOVED this!

Trying chocolate milk..YUM!

Brooke Update and Baby Girl #2

2010-05-20T14:12:00.004-04:00

Scott and I are constantly looking at each other and saying that we feel like the 2 luckiest and blessed parents there are to have Brooke as our daughter. I'm sure every parent feels this way but having this little ray of sunshine in our lives makes us so grateful everyday. She is full of personality, whit, creativity, sweetness, fiestiness (if that is a word), kindness, will power, and so many more things. Her speech amazes me everyday with full sentences and it's great that we have normal conversations now. We were talking yesterday about her baby sister coming and we had about a 20 minute conversation about it. It depends on the day about how excited she is that she has to "share her toys" as she puts it. She has no idea how much she is going to love having another child in the house. I know it may be difficult at first for her but she will grow to love her little one.

These days Brooke is into painting, play-doh, and using glue to make art. We glue everything...shapes, balls, you name it...it gets glued! She loves to play outside and swing and ride her scooter. She is still learning to ride it but is inspired to go fast like the neighborhood kids. I can see it in her eyes when she is riding it. We water our plants every night and it is one of my favorite times of day and favorite things to do with her. She loves to help me water and she has 2 plants of her own that she is responsible for. Her plants are looking better than mine! She has her 1st crush on the boy next door...ugh! He is 5 years old and a sweetie pie (he is in the picture above). We watch her little face light up when she sees him and plays with him. It's really cute ....Scott and I just look at each other and smile. Our little girl...watching her is a dream come true.

This pregnancy has been different than mine with Brooke. There is an OBGYN that lives in our neighborhood and as we were talking the other day I told her about how this one felt different. She starting laughing and said "Of course it will...you weren't chasing after a 2 1/2 year old last time!" . She's right, keeping up with Brooke has definitely challenged me but has made the time fly by. Overall, this pregnancy has been good, just little differences that I'm sure are going to happen as your body expands again.

Foods I have craved versus last time:
- Oreos ( I seriously have to limit myself to 6 per day....yes, I said LIMIT!)
- Cheese-its (Not the hot and spicy ones though like I craved last time)
- Ice ( I cannot stop chewing it...weird)
- Bagels and cream cheese (I think I have had one everyday)
- Cereal (pretty much all kinds but specifically Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, Crispix, Multigrain Cheerios)
- Ground beef (cooked with anything... I know Scott is so sick of it!)

When I was pregnant with Brooke I would have an egg/cheese bagel sandwich pretty much every morning. This time, I have to choke down eggs...not feeling those.

7 more weeks till this little one arrives and we CANNOT WAIT!! The nursery is partially ready, we are using the same bedding we had for Brooke and are just going to change up the wall decor. Other than that, I just need to get a few more things. Brooke is in her big girl room and doing great. Naps are a challenge right now because she continues to get out of her bed. But, nighttime is great and she wakes up about 2 times a night to go to the potty. She just wakes up and says "Daddy" and he takes her to the potty and she goes right back to bed. Off to paint, glue, or play something else...!!

Lisa and the kids

2010-05-16T21:18:00.006-04:00

We love living so close to my sister and her family! They only live a little under 2 1/2 hours away, which makes it so easy to visit each other. Lisa brought the kids over on Saturday and they stayed for the night. We had such an awesome day with the kids...it's amazing how they just know they are family. Brooke loves Caden and Adelyn so much and is constantly asking to see them. It is the sweetest bond... Nana playing play-doh with the kiddos at her house!

Lisa and the kids swinging on our porch! Brooke and Adelyn checking out Roxy in the backyard.

Adelyn was so sweet and loved feeling my tummy. I think she really gets what's going on inside and kept wanting to feel the baby. I loved it!

All the kids swinging at the park!

Brooke just went down the big slide and was probably screaming "AGAIN!!!"

Our little climber!

Caden and Brooke collided and Adelyn was checking B to make sure she was okay!

Scott is awesome with all the kids together! He keeps all of us motivated and keeps them running and seriously wears them out!! We love it. :)

Baby Shower

2010-05-16T21:06:00.002-04:00

Our Sunday School class is so much fun and we have loved getting to know everyone. We've been in this class for about 1 1/2 years and we love being with all the couples. Every month different couples get together at someones house and have dinner and great conversation. Our class gave us and Candace and Tom a Couple's Shower last Friday night. Candace is due 10 days ahead of me!! We are both having our 2nd girls and Brooke and Melaina are only 1 month apart in age. We are so excited to be having these girls together too!! They got some good ole BBQ and each made a side to share. The food was delicious!!

My love...

The 4 of us have such a great time together!!

Love our Neighborhood

2010-05-10T14:18:00.003-04:00

We love our neighborhood so much and have found some great friends here. Brooke loves playing with the other kids...especially Melaina. Below are some pics of Melaina and Brooke playing in the playroom...stuffing themselves in Brooke's baby crib! Also, we had a neighborhood garage sale 2 weekends ago and got rid of alot of stuff!! So nice to have more space now!

Mommy and Me Morning

2010-05-10T14:13:00.003-04:00

At Brooke's school about 2 weeks ago they had a Mommy and Me party. I was there with her for about an hour. We made some crafts, watched them sing songs, and ate a snack together. It was so much fun seeing her with her little classmates!! They are all so cute...it was a special morning for me to watch her there. I'm so proud to be her Mom!

Mountain Beauty

2010-04-29T13:53:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday Scott had business up in Asheville, NC, and was staying at the Grove Park Inn. I have heard so much about this Inn but we had never been. I was so excited that Nana was able to watch Brooke for the night so I could go up and stay with him. This place is GORGEOUS!! Right in the middle of the mountains and it is so old and quaint. Side note: (President and Mrs. Obama stayed there last weekend!) I had no idea that so many people knew of this resort/spa but it was awesome. It is very well known for the spa portion but we didn't get a chance to do any of it since it was such a short trip. We had such a romantic night though of a delicious dinner and just cruising around the resort. It feels so good to have alone time together and get a chance to really talk and spend time together. View of the resort that faces out looking at the mountains. The Inn was pretty much built going down the mountain.

View from one of the many terraces.

Down below near the Spa looking up at the rest of the Inn.

View from our table. (they had awesome garlic, cheddar biscuits and shrimp and grits!!)

Such a pretty view... what a great night!

Our Little Gardener

2010-04-28T13:58:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we finally got a chance to get out in our gardens and pull weeds and plant some new stuff. We still have many more to plant but we at least got the flower beds looking better. Brooke loved helping Daddy plant in the big planters. She picked out 2 purple plants of her own at the store that she is going to be in charge of watering! Showing Daddy where she wants these to go...

Putting the flowers down in the potting soil!

Charleston - What a great town!!

2010-04-21T21:59:00.004-04:00

Last weekend we headed to Charleston to visit with my Aunt Judy and Uncle Kurt. They were celebrating their anniversary and had been since they left our house on Tuesday. We didn't think they would mind if we intruded on the last 2 days of their trip!! hee hee.. It was such a beautiful weekend with azaleas in FULL bloom and we couldn't have asked for prettier weather. We got down there Saturday around noon, had lunch, went to a plantation and toured around the grounds, and went to a delicious dinner!! Sunday, we took a carriage ride tour of the city (such a great way to see the beautiful sites) and then went to see the Blue Angels perform on the waterfront. Brooke loved seeing the big jets!!
B and Daddy at the plantation. The flowers were gorgeous!

Aunt Judy and Uncle Kurt celebrating 31 years of wedded bliss!

Mommy and B!!

Such a sweet pic of my loves..

This tree was awesome and especially with the azaleas underneath...

Brooke and Daddy at breakfast....sharing some yummy bacon. My girl likes the good stuff! :)

Waiting for the Blue Angels to begin!

The big jets were LOUD!!

Luke's 2nd birthday party

2010-04-15T16:31:00.006-04:00

We all headed to Carrie's house on Wednesday for a birthday party for Luke. Her husband came home at lunchtime to join in the festivities too! It was a gorgeous day out and the kids had a ball playing outside and eating their cupcakes! Beep beep!!

Playing in the water table!

Brooke about to pin her nose on the lion.

My girl!

Thomas and B

Trying to wait patiently for their cupcakes!

Carrie and Mark singing to their little man!

B and Melaina chomping down...

Birthday boy!!!