First time at the beach!

Miss Belle is 7!

I am pretty sure that header should say "Miss Belle is 13"! She is all about friends, has mounds of sassiness and loves to be fabulous, all signs of a teenager! Oh, but then she snuggles, calls me mommy, holds my hand in public, still let's me carry her and she loves her stuffed animals, Polly Pockets, fairies and butterflies. That's when I see my sweet little tiny baby come out of this big girls body.  Happy birthday Stinkerbelle! I love you loads and loads!

It's been 1 Year!!!

365 days ago, we arrived in Sweet Home Alabama. It has been an awesome ride. We have learned a lot about ourselves, each other, what truly matters and what we thought mattered but in the end doesn't really.
I have thought a bit about what I love about Alabama. There are so many things, but these things are what I smile about every day.

• I have really enjoyed getting to know what southern hospitality is all about, especially in kids. I love that kids call me Miss Stacee and when asked to do something, they say Yes ma'am. My kids have even picked up Yes ma'am. I think it is adorable.
• There is an over abundance of water in the south. It rains a lot. All summer there has been at least a 30% chance of rain everyday. All that rain brings lots of standing or moving water. I mean, there is a pond on every corner, a couple of lakes down the street and a swimming pool in every neighborhood. And then, add the Flint and Tennessee Rivers- you really don't have to go far until the map turns blue. Which is nice because it is nice and hot here. Except for right now, apparently a nice big cold front is moving through and it feels like late September (low 80's). 

• With all that overabundance of water comes an over abundance of green. Green trees, green grass, green beans, green cotton. Green is everywhere. The trees are so thick here that there are houses on the hills surrounding our house that I didn't know existed until all the leaves fell. It is so beautiful! In the summer there always seems to be a nice fog settled around the fields. It has a dreamy/romantic feeling. I love it!

 

• There are fire flies! I really don't need to say more then that about this one. The kids love running into the woods and watching them. I screamed like a little girl when I saw them swarming in the field by our house. It was so amazing. 

• There is a constant smell of BBQ in the air. And not the grilling hamburgers BBQ smell, but real BBQ. Smoked BBQ! Its delicious and fattening and on every corner. Our favorites have been the ma and pop shops on the corner. But when you want a clean table and a regular chair (instead of a beach chair), Teds BBQ is the place to go. 
• I love the way southerners say July. It's JOO-LY instead of JA-LY.  They also say Sawyer how it is spelled SAW-YER instead of how I say it SOY-YER.
• The weather is awesome. I don't love the super humid days, which aren't really that often at least not in the two summers we have been here. It's humid most days of the summer but it's not stifling. I L_O_V_E the fall here. It is so nice! It's still warm but not hot. We went trick or treating without a coat covering out cute costumes. The leaves take a long time to fall, so the fall colors are around for a while. The winter was also very nice. We went to Chattanooga on New Years Day and the kids didn't even have a jacket on. I will admit I missed the snow on Christmas, but that is the only day I missed it. I loved not having to fight with it in the driveway and on the streets. We did get some snow this year. Just enough to sled down our road for a couple of hours and then it was gone. That's enough snow for me. But lets not forget the spring!!!! I LOVE Spring. It was so beautiful as everything started to turn green. And it was hot enough that we could go swimming by the end of April.

That is just a small list of things I love about living in Alabama. We have been on so many adventures and seen some beautiful country over the last year. I am so glad we made this trek.

Our Memorial Day weekend

We have had a very fun Memorial Day weekend. Dave was home and I encouraged him to be more spontaneous. I got what I asked for. 

Saturday we spent the day in Chatanooga. We visited the aquarium again and had lunch at the Mushroom, found this adorable brick couch and then played on The Passage. Those stairs that have water running down them were right next to the aquarium and led right down to the river. I adore Chatanooga and I adored those steps. They were the perfect spot to cool down on a hot day and they are free to play on, what's better.

Sunday, we decided to take a family venture out to Decatur to see the hot air balloons. Loved it! I think balloons will always fascinate me. They were gorgeous and the kids loved it. There was also a killer fireworks show, everything is better with fireworks.

Today, Cait and I got up super early to go hand drinks to runners for the Cotton Row Run 10k. Our ward apparently has handed out water at this spot for years now. It was a ton of fun and we even got soaked at the end of it all. Caitlin got me the most, which included two cupfuls of water to the face!  

Then later today, and by later I mean 11 a.m. we went to Guntersville beach again. It is oh so convienent and it is super easy to just let the babe sit and play on the edge of the water. Our summer is off to a most fabulous start! 

One more little note.... The kids are out of school and Miss Cait is out of elementary school! What? Yep that's right, she's a big kid now, moving on to middle school. This picture is of her first day in elementary school too her last day of elementary. So sad and look how big she is now! Sickening!

Keeping up....for Sanities sake!

So, last week the unthinkable happened to a family in our community- a mom turned left in front of an 18 wheeler and her five year old boy was killed and her two older girls have very serious head trauma. I grieved for their family all week last week, but what has gotten me the most is thinking of my own family and how every moment is special and precious. And the fact that my kids will only be this young today. Tomorrow they will be a little older. Days are not guaranteed, only the moment you are in right now. So, I have done some reflecting and a lot of crying over the last week.

When I was pregnant with Sawyer I was really angry and I let that reflect in all aspects of my life and also onto my children. I feel like I missed a whole year of their childhood. I barley remember anything from July 2012 to March 2013. I don't want to forget what it was like when they were little. Good grief, Cait will be in middle school in August and I can barely fathom where the last 11 years have gone.

So.... My goal is to write in my journal the very personal things and try my darndest to keep up with the fun things on this blog. Nothing is too small to blog about, sorry if you get bored but I can't forget these moments.

Caitlin is the best four leaf clover finder....EVER! She has found so many, and she just sees them, she doesn't even have to look that hard.

Bean has cute little feet in his cute little flip flops :)

David saved this turtle a couple of weeks ago. We were fishing at the dam and saw this little guy on it's back and he had a hook in his mouth. So my sweet husband works hard and gets the hook out and takes cute little thing back down to the water. Awe!

Lake Guntersville we love you! It is so pretty there and it is so big, we haven't even seen half I am sure. The kids loved the "beach" and for the second day of May it was actually very warm, yay Alabama spring! But look at Buddy in the back ground of the first picture, he had barley gotten in and it looks like it wasn't as warm as he was hoping for.

Sweets CeCe's yogurt just because I'm cool like that.

Beans loves trains! Dave and I wanted to have a picnic lunch for our weekly lunch date so we went to the train park and lucky us a train came by. Bean was completely fascinated. 

Just a few of the silly things this kids does on a regular basis.

Well, this post wasn't meant to be all about Bean, but apparently I love to take pictures of the kid. Note to self- take more pictures of the other kids.

Wait here's a good one that has us all in it...

Good night, y'all.

Cait is 11

What!!! Yes, you heard right, my baby is 11! One year away from young womanhood! One year away from hormones, and tears and "why do boys hate me!" (Heaven help me). But gosh I love that kid! She is my left hand and I really can't make it through the day without her. I am enjoying watching her grow and mature but my heart aches for my little babe. I just can't think about it too much or I would cry daily.

But, on to her big day.  She requested stuffed French toast for breakfast but it turned out soggy :p not so good of a start and then she spent the rest of the day at school, boring! I on the other hand have spent the last three days getting her present ready. She wanted a remodeled bedroom. I can't blame her it was pretty bland. But due to my awesome mom skills now it is gorgeous! She had to wait all day for daddy to get home for the big reveal and it was killing her. So while we waited for David we had her dinner of choice-steak and salad. And then finally, daddy came home! 

I wish my cell had had more memory available so I could share her reaction. It was awesome! I love how it all turned out and by the thousands of thank yous I got I think she likes it too. 

So for all of you who cannot see it in person, here are the fabulous pics!

Before! Told ya it was blah!!!

After.... Super fabulous!!!!

They all decided they needed to sleep in the coolest room in the house. Can you blame them? 

So..... Happy birthday, Sweets! I love you loads and loads!

Well hello there!

Whoops! The baby turned one and I dropped off the planet. Sorry about that. Well this post is just going to be a catch up of pictures. Enjoy!

Caitlin got to enjoy Space Camp at NASA's Space and Rocket Center. She loved it! It was a week long field trip with excellent food (thats pretty much all she talked about everyday). I am so glad we were here this year so she had the chance to go (only fifth graders do this specific camp). 

The other kids and I went to her Space Camp graduation. This is the Saturn V rocket on its side in the building. One word, HUGE!

Mardi Gras Parade.

My parents came to town the first part of March. Now, these pics are a bit out of order, but you get the gist. We had a great time. 

Country Music Hall of Fame

 Decatur

Now Grandma and Grandpa didn't play in the creek but the kids thought it was a good idea.

Green Moutain

Kite Festival

My birthday morning!

I got a bike and baby wagon and so we have been bike riding fools!

The Parthenon in Nashville.

The cutest picture of this kid, EVER!

David and I building Cait's headboard for her newly remodeled bedroom. More pictures of that to come on Wednesday after the big reveal.

This is Cait's nightstand! Makes you just a little excited to see the finished product, huh?