Great-Grand Babies

This is the first picture with all three great grand babies on my mom's side of the family. 

In the picture: Nolan 3 years old (our oldest), Rosalie 3 months (Joel & Amanda's) and Nora 2 years old (our youngest). The fourth baby is on the way, not pictured- due in February (Sara & Seth).

Nolan calls my grandparents GrandMo & GrandPo, while Nora calls them Nermo & Pop Pop! 

This seems to be a theme when I'm writing in my blog but I can't believe how fast everything is going! My cousins/sibling are having babies and creating another generation! All of the cousins were lucky enough to grow up in the same town and now are babies will get to do the same:)
They are going to have so much fun !

Half Birthday & Haircuts

At preschool they celebrate half birthdays for those kids that have summer birthdays. They celebrated Nolan's, along with few other birthdays the day before his actual half birthday. I didn't know if he would get the concept but he told me what day it was and that they got to have a treat in class!

After school, my sister and I took the kids to Cozy Dog to eat before she gave them a haircut. This was Nora's first time getting a trim all over! They were so good! 

Having lunch

Nolan was up first

If you know Nolan, he has to clean up after himself!

Nora waiting patiently

Nora's before picture

During...she was soooo good!

Nora's after picture:)

Straying away from our "schedule" on a beautiful fall day!

It was just one of those days where everyone was in a good mood (at the same time) and the fall air made you want to get out and enjoy yourself...and that's exactly what we did!

As a Mom, I have always tried to remember that the days go by so quickly and my little ones will no longer be so little. I will not be able to stop what I'm doing on a nice day and take them to the park and go somewhere special for a treat "just because." They will have school schedules and activities to participate in. I never want to wish time away. I want to soak it all up! Sometimes I do have to remind myself that it's ok to "stop" our daily routine or maybe put the items on our to-do-list on "hold" to take a moment out of life and just sit back and enjoy. This is probably one of my favorite things to do with the kids. Most of the time it is last minute but that's what is most exciting!

After Nora and I picked Nolan up at school, we went home for a quick lunch. I told them I had a special afternoon planned for them...I just love how excited the kids get when I mention "special." We drove out to the Apple Barn to pick out pumpkins (a week before Halloween, a little late but at least there wasn't a crowd!) and get a pumpkin treat from their bakery. After our bellys were full and the apple cider slushy was gone, we were off to Washington Park. It has been so nice to have the park that close since we've moved. The kids love it and I love the convince of it. We played...and we played...and we played! It was so nice to have just my car keys and the tablet in my hand to take some pics (phone in the car=my full attention and no diaper bag needed!) I even let them take a later nap that afternoon because we had such a blast! There was another mom watching her daughter play and we both mentioned that the kids had the park to themselves (probably because it was nap time) and she told me that she was off from work today also and didn't mind her daughter straying away from her schedule...she read my mind! Ryan and I had both been busy with work and the house so it was great to take a time out. Love these moments in life!

Nora turns 2!

This post is long over due! I needed a few more pictures to complete it. My sister took a few and I kept forgetting to have her send them! 

I honestly can not believe that Nora is only two! Most moms would be saying they can't believe she is two but I feel as if she has been two for quite sometime! Seems like she should have turned three! 

Fun facts about miss Nora: she is very mature, loves to "mother" people, plays well by herself, can be very serious, loves to read books, have tea parties with her babies and stuffed animals. She is the doctor in the house, id a great patient at the real doctor's office, loves pickels as a bedtime snack, eats lemons like it's no big deal, is good at pronouncing words and loves to sing and dance. She is very polite. Nora is still in the 90's percentile for both height and weight. Sofia the first, frozen, doc mcstuffins and caillou are her favorite shows to watch. Nora always asks me to watch videos on my phone, Katy Perry "Roar" is her favorite right now. She loves her brother and mimics everything Nolan does. If he wants a juice, I might as well grab two because she is next to ask for it! I feel like Nora was in "the terrible twos" before she turned two and now she has really gotten to "big girl" status! She has her moments but for the most part, is a lot more behaved. Maybe she has settled down since the move?!

Nora ready for the day! With her birthday being the day before Halloween, there is always lots of excitement and things to do. Aunt Sara came to pick Nora up and take her to build-a-bear and ride the horses while Ryan and I went to Nolan's first Halloween party at school! After school, we all went out for a birthday lunch. After Ryan came home from work, we cooked a nice dinner and opened gifts while we ate cake.

Nora chose a Frozen theme for her birthday party. We had it the day after Halloween and it was the first party at the new house. We had a lot of fun!

Happy, happy, happy birthday, happy birthday to you. 

Make a special birthday wish and may all your wishes come true.

We all love you, we're here to celebrate you.

We all love you, we're here to celebrate you!

I feel so blessed to be your mommy! Can't wait to watch you grow this next year:)

Happy Thanksgiving/First snow

This is rare for me but I just took a few pictures of ths kids helping their dad clear the first snow of the year and thought I would post now! It's also the first snow at the new house and there's a lot more to clear! Today is Thanksgiving and we couldnt be more Thankful for all the friends and family who are in our lives. As I'm getting older, I realize having your health is eveything! We are very thankful for this:) Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Trip to Scottsdale, Arizona

Ever need a little break from your busy schedule or a pause from your everyday routine? Well, we did! After moving into our new house, doing my first craft show and planning a birthday party for Nora, it was nice to get away!

I did my very first craft show with my friend Jen at SHG's Shopapoloza. It was a great first show and we had a lot of fun! Not to mention the fact it was nice to get out of the house and visit with people:) I didn't have my new craft room set up until a few days after we moved in so I had about 10 days to get ready for the show. After the kids went to bed, I stayed up every night until the wee hours of the morning making inventory to sell. My days were spent painting, unpacking, watching the kids and working. I was exhausted and Arizona couldn't of come at a better time! I also knew when I got back from the trip, I would have less than a week to get ready for Nora's 2nd birthday party and a month later, throw my sister's baby shower at our new house (so excited to meet the little guy!!!)

People may think this is nuts but I don't mind trying to run around and get things done in time for a party at our house. Sometimes that's the only way things get done around here:)

The kids were in good hands while we were in Arizona. They got a change of scenery while we enjoyed some time away. It's nice to go on an adult-only trip at least once a year. Ryan and I always make the time to do this. I think it's important and rejuvenates you as a parent and as a couple. Every parent needs a little break:) We are lucky to be able to leave the kids in good hands and appreciate the help we get from my parents. Nolan and Nora love staying the night there. My cousin stayed with the kids for part of this trip while my Dad was having knee surgery. The kids loved spending time with her!

We were in Arizona at the Phoenician Resort for Ryan's work conference. This conference always does a nice job with the events and even has activities to sign up for. Ryan always picks golf and this time my friends and I decided to do the hike up to camelback mountain. Beautiful! We had great weather while we were there. Nice and warm when laying by the pool but cool at night when we were outside having drinks on the patio. We went to Old Towne once for a late dinner and the next day for lunch and shopping. My purchases were typical Arizona purchases, turquoise jewelry and REAL cowboy boots! I've always had riding boots when I rode horses but never cowboy boots! It's been on my list for awhile and Ryan insisted I go home with a pair:)

I always enjoy the time I get to spend with Ryan when we are on a trip without the kids but miss them a lot at the same time! I feel like Cinderella when I get home! When you're away, you are not doing laundry, dishes, having kids at your feet whining, giving baths, keeping the house clean, making dinner, going from one place to the other on time...instead I had no agenda, actually had time to eat breakfast and drink my coffee without warming it up, climbed a mountain, laid by the pool, ate out, visited the spa for a massage, (great thing about spas at resorts is you can enjoy the amenities for the entire day that you book) got dressed up to have drinks and dinner every night and just simply did not do our everyday routine...ahhh...until next year!

The Big Move: From Providence to Denison

It has been non stop for quite sometime around here! This past August, we decided it was finally time to seriously start looking (I have been looking for awhile now) to buy a house. Although we loved our first home, we had simply outgrown it. After all, we had six years of great memories to take with us. Some that come to mind: Ryan proposing to me after a nice dinner he made me in our kitchen, getting our first dog Wells, getting married, finding out we would be parents for the first time, bring Nolan home, bringing Nora home...just to name a few!

We started looking for a new house while we were getting ours ready to put on the market. I now know that it's a lot of work to put a house on the market while trying to be organized for the move to your new house. Great friends of ours offered their basement to us after they found out we had packed up half of our house to take to a storage unit until it sold. Lucky for them, it wasn't there for too long! We sold our house in a day! Yeah!!! All of the hard work had paid off. I felt sorry for our kids because a lot of our things were missing in the house and I wasn't sure they knew what was going on:( I knew that in order for the house to sell quickly, I had to "stage" the house so it would be appealing to potential home owners. The kids rooms were packed up and neutral bedding and accessories were put out among other things. We were so thankful we did not have to keep a house clean 24/7 for showings!
We sold our house just in time. The weekend before, we had put in an offer on our home we live in now and they accepted! We were excited but knew if we didn't sell our house, we would have two mortgages...guess you could say that everything happens for a reason!

Not the best picture but the guys were busy and I made them stop moving to document this moment. (Yes, I picked out our matching tshirts and my hubby is the best for wearing it. Made us feel like a team!) We were getting the last load out and my cleaning was done! It's a good thing the kids were with my parents taking a nap or I probably would have cried! Bye Bye 30 Providence Lane!

I do not have a picture of our moving crew because there wasn't a free moment to spare! There was a lot to get done in a short amount of time. We closed on oir old house in thr morning and a half an hour later, closed on the new house. We had to be out by five o'clock that night (October 7th).

My Aunt and Grandma helped load the kitchen and bedrooms on Saturday. Sunday and Monday night were spent taking stuff over to the new house but could only put them in the garage until we got the keys on Tuesday. By Monday night, our parents, grandparents and friends had moved everything out of our house except the blankets and pillows we slept on in the living room for our last night sleep over:) A big thanks to everyone who helped, couldn't have done it without ya!

 Front of the new house

Backyard & Patio

Side yard and garage

Street view. Wish I would have taken the picture sooner, our red tree in front disappeared overnight!

Backyard and side yard...it's a lot smaller than our old yard but still nice...Washington park is only blocks away too.

Side yard

Side yard

Fall Cookout

We were invited to our family's friends house for a fire and cookout. My mom and dad had taken the kids at lunch time so they could put them to sleep at their house while I packed with my aunt and grandma. We were going to start moving stuff to the garge in the new house the next day. Ryan had his family's golf outing that day so we were busy! After a long day of hard work, I took a break for some fall fun at the Black's house. I met up with my parents and the kids just in time for dinner!

Love this time of year! Thanks for the pictures Charlotte:)