October Beach Trip

Ok, I'll be honest. When the Donaldson's invited us to come to the beach in October, I was thrilled to have the chance to get out of town, but I wasn't expecting a true beach experience this late in the year. WRONG. If there had not been a calendar, I would have sworn it was late May, early June. The weather was PERFECT. It was sunny and warm and breezy. Even the ocean was warm enough to swim in! The pool was a little too cold for the adults, but the kids didn't seem to mind. We had SO. MUCH. FUN. It was so relaxing, and our families mesh so well. I was SO thankful to have one last trip to the coast before Garrett arrives... babies and the beach just don't mix well! We're still trying to decide if we are going to invite him to come along on our beach trips his first couple of years of life. :)

Curtis took Hayden down to the beach at sunset one day and had a totally impromptu photo shoot... he got some cute shots!

And a belly shot: 32 weeks!

October already?

It is definitely October, but I am posting this update from the coast of Alabama, and it feels like June out here. We are having a great mini-vacation, but everyone is inside watching football, so I am seizing the opportunity to update the blog.

We haven't been up to too much lately. Last weekend Curtis' sister got married, and we were thrilled to get to see Curtis' brother Josh who just returned from Afghanistan. Later that day, we met up with Elizabeth Ann from eakphotography for a family photo session. So far we just have a few sneak peeks from our session, but we know she got some great shots that day and we can't wait to see the rest!

Curtis was sick in the bed all week with a terrible virus, but he bounced back just in time for our trip to the beach with the Donaldsons (we are here now... I will blog about the trip after it is over!) I have been so busy with work at Neverland's Cove, I have literally been working until the wee hours of the morning to stay caught up. It is definitely overwhelming, but it is very satisfying running a successful business from home. God has blessed me so much! I recently bought a second embroidery machine, and it is fun to see my little business growing! I will be closing for maternity leave at the end of November, so I forsee a pretty busy 6 weeks preparing for the close, as well as the arrival of the newest member of our family! Now 32 weeks along and things are progressing wonderfully! We don't 'technically' have the house ready for Garrett yet, seeing that we are still kind of in tandem between 2 houses, so we are just taking it a day at a time and I am not stressing as much with the preparation as I did with our first. We have everything we need and I know everything will fall into place just the way it should.

Hayden is loving school, and we were SO proud when he came home with this 2 weeks ago:

And I am going to finish this post with a "Fall Survey" my friend Jamie tagged me to do!

1. do you like starbucks? and are you a fan of their seasonal coffees?
Pumpkin Spice Lattes make me happier than a beverage should make a person.

2. how do you decorate and prepare for fall?
We don't do much inside, but outside we usually do some haystacks with pumpkins and mums. "Harvest" is the word that comes to mind... I like to do something that can last until Thanksgiving (not just -straight- Halloween decorations! I think those can get kind of tacky anyways...)

3. will you participate in your college's homecoming activites?
Homecoming usually means football, and I hate football, so NO. Sorry Blazers, I'm not a very good Alumni.

4. what is your fav fall clothing item or accessory?
I am definitely a sweater/jeans/boots kind of gal, but this year I will wear anything that will fit on my body. I have 8 weeks or less left in the pregnancy, so if I grow out of what I already have, it looks like my favorite accessory will be garbage bags, because I am not spending any more money on maternity clothes! :)

5. what was your fav halloween costume as a kid?
A hippie. I think I dressed as a hippie 2 or 3 years straight, because my dad had an awesome pair of bell bottom jeans that he had covered in patches back in the 70's. I seized any opportunity I could to wear them out of the house.

6. do you like halloween/horror movies? do you have a fav?
I'm gonna say no, but secretly yes! I always make Curtis watch scary movies with me, even though I know I will hide my head under the covers and force him to let me sleep with the lights on for weeks.

7. what is your fav fall activity?
Definitely love the yearly trip to the Pumpkin Patch, and trick-or-treating!!

8. what is your favorite fall recipe?

Pumpkin PIE! Yum, I think I want some right now.

Quick "Housing" Update

Just a quick update on where we stand with our housing situation! We have been on the market about 5 weeks now, and we have a potential buyer. The airport is buying her house in October, and our property is her pick for a new place. Our agent and everyone involved is confident enough that everything will work out, that she convinced us to put a contingency on a house ourselves. We went back and forth on the area we want to move. I 'really' wanted to end up in Trussville, and for a short time we actually looked at houses there and started thinking seriously about it. But after MUCH consideration, we quickly tuned back into St. Clair county, either Springville or Moody. There are countless benefits to living over the county line, and we feel it is a more responsible decision on our part. I am a stay at home (work at home) mom, and Curtis' job is in Irondale, so we have no need to be in the middle of the city.

I liked a lot about Springville better, except for the distance. We were shocked however when we sat down with mapping software and learned that the amount of time it would take to get to Springville was 5 minutes or less of a difference from the amount of time it takes to get to our house now. The distance is a little greater, but the difference is that now, we are about 15 minutes off of the interstate. Stop and go traffic, red lights, etc. The neighborhood in Springville we like is only 1 minute off of the interstate. We actually did several trial runs over the weekend and were stunned to find that it really is the same amount of time.

Sooooo, low and behold, we put a contingent offer on a new construction... it is everything we want. It is the same floor plan I was eyeing in a neighborhood in Moody, only it sits on a larger lot with a perfect sized back yard. The back yard butts up to an open field that will never be developed with houses... if anything there will be neighborhood amenities put there (a soccer field or tennis court.) The neighborhood playground and pool and adjacent to the property as well. We know that one small change could throw the whole thing off course, and that is ok! We are staying obedient and faithful to God's plan, but as of now, if everything continued to roll on the path it is now, we would be calling "Legacy Springs" home before the end of the year.

Looks kind of small from the outside, but it is actually almost 2500 square feet! The interior layout and features are what we want and need to a "T"

September Birthdays

Curtis and I both have birthdays in September, and this has just been a really great month!

My birthday is on the 7th, and this year Curtis and Hayden took a day trip to Atlanta with Chris and Will to see a NASCAR race. So I started my birthday weekend with a day completely to myself. I got a prenatal massage, picked up a Pumpkin Spice Latte on my way out and snuck it into the dollar movie to see Eclipse. All by myself. It was glorious! It's been a long time since I had a day like that, and it was much needed!

The next night we had a small get together on the patio at Cocina Superior. Great times! Great Birthday!

27 Weeks Celebrating my 27th Birthday

Ella showing off her twirly dress

Hayden and Brannon (One of my dearest friends from College who now lives and teaches in Arkansas - we miss him dearly!)

We also made it to a Labor Day Festival that weekend. It was hot, but we had fun! Curtis even won a cake at the cake walk!

Hayden was not a fan of the "Jazzercize" Demonstration

And Curtis' birthday was this past weekend on the 17th! We celebrated with a family cookout at Crystal's house on Friday, and then he had a guy's night on Saturday night. He had a lot to celebrate this year. His career is going phenomenal, family life is great, and everything just seems to be following a really great path these days. We feel very overwhelmingly blessed and thankful!

Is it September Already?

Just a few updates for the past couple of weeks!

Hayden officially started 4 year old preschool 2 weeks ago! He is there 3 days a week until 1:00 and he has transitioned very well. I am able to get a lot of work done while he is in school, so the time we have together at home is spent more wisely. His teacher is Mrs. Sheila and I am so excited about all of the things on their curriculum for this year. This week he has started learning how to write (trace) his name, but I love seeing him start to learn handwriting. He is such a bright little boy!

He refused to take a picture for me the first day of school. That's my boy!

I am now 27 weeks pregnant with Garrett. I have reached that point in the pregnancy where I wake up every morning and have doubled in size. I am getting HUUUUGE! And very uncomfortable. Baby Garrett is a wild one and he is constantly practicing the latest ninja moves in the womb. His big brother is so anxious! He wakes up every morning and asks if his "baby brudder" is ready to come out yet. He rubs on my belly and talks to Garrett every day. These are definitely sweet moments to cherish! I hope he is that sweet to him once Garrett arrives!

Curtis has been working a lot lately, so we have been laying low. Last weekend we did get away one night and spend the evening with the Donaldson's. Chris is Curtis' cousin, and they are very much alike. They have 2 little boys, Will (who just turned 6) and Henry is 18 months. Hayden and Will are like 2 peas in a pod. Besides the fact that they share a passion for all things "Nintendo," they also share very similar temperaments and personalities. And their mom Melissa is a doll and we get along great! We don't spend enough time with them! Curtis and Hayden are actually taking a day trip with Chris and Will today to Atlanta to see a Nascar race. Should be interesting!

We also got to spend one evening last weekend at my sister's house. Their computer was acting up, so they traded us a home cooked steak dinner in return for Curtis' computer repair service. Curtis hasn't been in the IT industry for 5 years, but people still come running when they are having computer issues! Luckily he was able to get them up and running. John is passed the halfway point on his chemo, and he and Curtis had a great time talking about life on the porch. I got a couple of pictures of the kids playing with Uncle John!

Look at that sass! Ella will only wear dresses that twirl out really big, so Crystal has a blast picking out clothes for her every day :)

Hayden got his hands on a "science toy."

Disclaimer: He is only shirtless because the kids insisted on swinging outside in the pouring rain when we first got there!

The house has been on the market 22 days now! Very slow moving, but we're not getting discouraged! I know people aren't necessarily lining up to purchase a house in this area, so it will just be a matter of finding that person. We... I mean "I"... am not the kind of person to question God's timing, so I will continue to sit and patiently wait for things to happen. On another note, I will say that having the house "show-ready" all the time is getting a little old! But again... happily, patiently waiting. :)

Maybe we shouldn't have named him Bowser...

Bowser always gets defeated in the end. Named after Mario's arch-nemesis, maybe we should have thought twice before naming Hayden's pet bearded dragon "Bowser."

Just a few months ago, Hayden started asking for a puppy. I have been very reluctant to get him a puppy, because I have never had any luck house training dogs. I was just not to the point that I was ready to give my house and my clean floors to a dog, so we began searching for other options. (I should mention, we have Romeo, a 14 year old Redbone Coon Hound that sits on our front porch, but he is too big and too old to play. And he is strictly an outdoor dog!) Anyways, Curtis found a bearded dragon, and completely against my will, got it for Hayden. I was not a huge fan of the reptile, because he was creepy and a little high maintenence. Must be fed a daily salad of greens, carrots and mealworms (dusted with calcium powder) and also 10 crickets a day. But we got into a routine of feeding him and he was surprisingly a very social animal! And the best part, he doesn't stink! I'm very OCD about animal smells, and I have to admit, his cage was completely odorless!

A week ago, Bowser developed an intestinal prolapse. Actually a fairly common condition in some reptiles and birds, but we assumed he would pass very quickly. We told Hayden that he had gotten very sick and was going to have to live on a special lizard farm where he could be taken care of. In actuality, we put him in a box in the basement and waited for him to pass. Saturday and Sunday passed, and Bowser was still kickin. We had talked of finished him off with hedge clippers, or maybe putting him in the freezer... but we could never bring ourselves to actually do it. Monday rolls around... Bowser is more alert and actually looking better? Very confused at this point, we had to start making decisions so he didn't suffer any longer. To complicate matters more, Hayden found Bowser in the basement and thought it was a miracle on 34th street. The little thing had quite a will to live, so we started talking about actually putting him through surgery to fix the prolapse. Tuesday morning, Hayden and I took him to the vet to have corrective surgery. It cost less than a car payment, but more than a week's worth of groceries. He made it through surgery and was able to come home that night. Here are some pics from his "homecoming" ... Hayden was very excited:

Here is the last picture of Hayden holding Bowser... as you can see, he was white as a ghost. He never regained his color and his condition continued to deteriorate after he was home. He would not eat or move. We had to force feed him his liquid antibiotic drops every 6 hours, and we were having to nurse him around the clock. Thursday I took him back to the vet to have a tube feeding, as he still was not eating and was still colorless and stiff as a board. That afternoon, he actually had quite an improvement in his mood and I thought things were looking up, but he quickly deteriorated and passed away that night. It was absolutely heart wrenching watching him suffer. Never in a million years did I think I would develop a heart for a lizard, but this guy made quite an impression on me during his last week of life.

So... we are going to put hardwood floors throughout the entire main floor and staircase of our new house, fence in the backyard, and get Hayden a pug after we get settled in. I'm actually kind of hoping maybe he will be under the Christmas tree this year! :)

Ice-skating.... and Science!!

Last Saturday morning, we woke up and discovered that Hayden's bearded dragon, Bowser had had an intestinal prolapse (yes... his intestines were hanging out of his body!)... Assuming this meant sudden death, we told Hayden that B had gotten sick and was going to have to go live on a lizard farm. He was absolutely crushed, so we decided to just go out and spoil him rotten that day. He has been asking me to take him ice-skating for quite a while, so we seized the opportunity to do that. I stayed off the ice for baby Garrett's safety :), so Curtis and Hayden went out on the ice and had a blast. Hayden got the hang of it very quickly, and they skated for almost 2 hours straight!

He looks so much like Curtis here!

Next, we took him to Toys R Us and let him pick out some new toys. Hey wait... aren't we supposed to be keeping our toy load to a minimum with the house being on the market? Oh well! He picked out a remote control truck...

...and a deluxe science kit. This kid has been all about "science" lately, and luckily his dad is a big ol' nerd who knows just the things to do to peak his curiosity. Here are a few pictures from a few weeks ago when Hayden and Curtis did experiments with Cokes and Mentos:

and here is a collage of them making slime from the kit.