it has been awhile

wow...I have been gone for a while.

So much has been going on I don't even know where to start
so I will just talk about one thing.

Norah started preschool!

She loves it!

Joe had to drop her off the first day because I had school {of course}
and she was so excited to get in there she did not even say good-bye.

It broke his heart.

Her teacher told us she does not have a shy bone in her body and I believe that.
Just the other day we were shopping for clothes and she picks up a shirt
marches right over to the first person she saw and asks if the shirt was on sale.
That person was another customer and the entire situation was hilarious!

She is a tiny woman...the tiniest person in her class, it is soo cute.
I always thought she was tall until I saw her with her other classmates.

Speaking of school, I am on a two week break from school and will begin
7th quarter in October. That is right...7th quarter.

Only two more to go...I am elated by the thought that I might actually make it through this school thing!

Hopefully more posts to come...I have been crafting!

...another great trip

Hilton Head is one of our favorite places on earth...
When we get home we always spend like a week daydreaming about moving there.

enjoy the pictures...

Norah Claire being a pirate...
arghhh!


everyone doing their thing!


this year we played bocce ball on the beach....a lot!

we like to travel all together!

the things people throw away

I am always amazing by the things I see laying on the side of the road on garbage night.

I hate the days I have to pass up an amazing looking desk or dresser
because my car is tooo small.

These two chairs were generously picked up by my parents
{my mom is always excited to bring me new furniture
and my dad always feels the need to apologize to Joe}

I decided to put them in our den so I spray painted them brown.
Joe asked why I always seem to paint white things brown and brown things white...
I have no idea why I do this, so I did not have an answer.

They turned out better than I ever anticipated...enjoy!

Hilton Head, S.C.

Things I love about Hilton Head family vacations

• The beach and the pool
• Riding bikes every morning to Starbucks {treat!}
• Hanging out with our ever growing family
• Shopping
• Long afternoon bike rides
• Long afternoon naps in a raft on the pool
• Dinner out
• Playing games at night
• Popping popcorn and watching movies
• Walks on the beach
• Playing with Norah in the sand
• Day trips to Savannah
• Looking at Real Estate and dreaming about buying a home
• Spending endless minutes with family!
  

We are praying hard for good weather...reports right now predict rain all week...booo!

Picture projects

Project 1: So I woke up 2 days before Mothers day and realized I did not have a single thing

for my mother-in-law or my mom. I panicked.

I started looking online and found somewhere {I don't know where}
this picture idea. So I quickly went out bought the frames and needed to take NC pictures.
Unfortunately it was raining...so Saturday morning at 7:00 the sun was up
{it was supposed to rain all day!}
So I decided to wake Norah up, throw a dress on her,
and take her outside to get these pictures taken!
I was desperate.

We got the pictures...had them printed off, and voila, we had gifts!
The moms loved it of course, complete success!

{sorry about the picture qualities}


Project 2: This wall of pictures has been a project in the works for months!
I bought the frames, picked out the pictures, and finally had them printed.

To make sure the frames were in the right place I got a big sheet of paper
outlined the frames, hung the paper on the wall, nailed through the paper, took the paper down then hung the frames {I saw that once of a tv show}
It worked like a dream!

I love this wall, and I love our den.
{again horrible picture quality}

I promise I will show you our office, den and upstairs bathroom someday!
We are getting a "new to us" couch in a few days and then I will get some pictures of the rooms!

Caio for now!

Norah Claire

Norah is full of surprises...

She is witty, dramatic, over the top crazy,
and countless times throughout the day breaks into song and dance
when something amazing is happening.

She is indecisive, loving, and did I say crazy.
One of her favorite things to say is

"mom...I love you very very much"

with her lips pursed and in a sad wimper voice
it is adorable
or

"that's cuuuuutttee"

in the same tone that my mom, sisters, and I use over and over again in the
Macys INC clothing department.

She loves to talk about rainbows and that God made rainbows.
She has an out of this world imagination.
She plays non-stop, everything between going potty and nighttime
is a made up adventure game to her
and she is usually the only person who knows the rules.

Don't get me wrong... not everything is blue skies and rainbows though.
She is in training...strict training.
She is stubborn and has attitude that brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.
Discipline is a regular occurrence in our house usually due to disobedience.
Like I said...she is in training.

But GOD!
Has given us grace in loving her and reminds me how much he loves me and that is why he disciplines me.

And that is why I discipline her...because I love her "very very much!"

Our church has been doing a parenting series and I would recommend if you have children,
think about having children, or know people with children to listen to the sermons.
It can be found at www.grace.org

On a different note...I am currently on break, just finished my 5th quarter in school
...I am moving on! whoohooo

Enjoy the pictures of Norah!

She will absolutely kill me for the first one when she sees that someday
and don't be fooled that wasn't one of those times she dresses herself, I picked that for her.
What was I thinking?



Fathers Day 2011

7th Anniversary

May 22, 2004
Our Wedding Day

I can hardly believe it has been 7 years.
{I do not have any pictures of our wedding day because digital widely used back in those days and facebook did not exist in my world}

...but here is one of our honeymoon!

Marriage is amazing.
After all of this time I am still a huge fan.

Joe is amazing.
He is gentle with me when my own sin is blinding me.
He is calm when I am crazy.
He gets me. He wants the best for me. He wants to see me win. He prays for me.

Since we got married a lot has happened in our lives.
1. I finished school {the first time...whoohoo speech comm. degree!}
2. We moved to Stanford, KY for almost 2 years
3. We had Norah
4. We bought a house...and renovated it
5. I started school {for a second time}
6. Many many trips {we love trips}

This year was the first year we actually went somewhere for our anniversary.
We wanted to go to Chicago or the beach but instead went to Cedar Point
{it was a good deal!}

We left on Friday afternoon
On the trip we decided to listen to Tina Fey's book "Bossypants"

It was REALLY funny
A little gross at times and she used words I never like to hear
But overall....FUNNY, Tina is pretty cool.
{side note: she actually read the audiobook so I would recommend borrowing it from us if you want to read it...it was so much better listening to her voice}

When we got there we walked the beach, check out our retro room, and went to dinner.
It was a pleasant evening.
One thing I love about hotels is cable TV...there is nothing better than getting to watch HGTV all night long...yes I am a nerd!

We woke up the next morning, hoping to sleep in, but both of us were awake by 6:50.

Got breakfast and headed to the park...it was a perfect warm sunny day...it was great!

Sunday we got up and drove home. It was short but fun. Fun to talk about the last 7 years...dream about the next 7, and really just enjoy being together!

It was fun but we just kept saying, "we wish Norah were here"
Next time we will take her...she is pretty cool!