In a nutshell...

I have neglected my blogging for entirely too long.  My New Year's resolution this year is to write a post at least once a month.  I've even set my iphone reminder this time because we all know if it's not on my phone, it's not gonna happen!

So much has happened since my last post! It's no wonder there hasn't been time for blogging.  It's amazing the kids have been fed and properly clothed over the last year!  Well, as you saw in the last post, we said goodbye to the old house, moved in with Gig, built a new house (and in record time I might add, 3 and a half months!) and moved in!  I can't believe we have almost been here a year.  Time has flown by so fast.  We still have a few little things to finish up on the house.  Just this past weekend we finally put up our mantle over the fireplace.  I know, a year later, really?  I told Chris today we have to have all of these little things wrapped up by March.  That's my deadline!  Here is the house in progress...

 

 

 

 

As soon as we moved in we got to celebrate  with a little party for the birthday girl! Ava turned 4 one week after we moved in.  Check out this extra special princess cake from Nonnie...



And since then, we've had a little baseball...

 Mother's Day...

Some fishing...

A day trip to Oark...

The Peach Festival...

Back to school...

A weekend trip to St. Louis...

Thanksgiving...

And...Christmas!

 

2013 was a whirlwind!  Bring on 2014! I'm ready to relax!

 

 

 

 

 



Saying Goodbye…

Today, more than 10 years after Chris and I bought our first home, we said our final goodbyes to the place we came home from our honeymoon, the place we brought home our babies and the only place we have ever called our home.  I remember when we decided we were going to live in Clarksville when we were still planning our wedding.  Chris was working at Whitson-Morgan and I was off for Summer break.  I rode around with our realtor, Tony Warren, and looked at every house in our price range.  Nothing seemed to click with us.  At the very last moment, Tony told me he had one last home.  It was a little out of our price range (actually a lot!) but he thought it was just what we were looking for.  The moment I saw it I fell in love and knew it was the one.  I called Chris and he felt exactly the same way, it was love at first sight.  Looking back, its funny to see how young and naive we were.  The house was fairly new, only built 4 years before, but it had quite a few things that we would have to "finish".  The entire yard was hard, clay dirt.  There wasn't a blade of grass to be seen, much less any landscaping.  The exterior doors were still light blue primer and if you opened the back door you were a mere 6 ft from the ground!  The previous owners built the house but never got around to fixing those last few "little" things.  Since we were young and Chris is the "handy" guy we decided to go for it and ended up getting a pretty good deal.  We jumped in feet first and with a lot of help from both of our families, we made 834 CR 3546 the beautiful home that we said goodbye to today.  It was bittersweet and I cried the entire way home from our closing, but the little family that purchased our home reminded me of us in so many ways.  The Warrens were newlyweds who recently left the Air Force.  They had been stationed in Alaska and decided to move back to Clarksville to start a family.  Laura is about 6 months pregnant.  They fell in love with the house just like we did over 10 years ago.  I love the fact that someone else will bring their babies home to our sweet little home and make as many wonderful memories there as we did.  As we embark on our adventure of building our dream home, I can't believe how far we have come since our little family began July 20, 2002.  The adventures are just beginning.

Move in day…July 27, 2002

First Christmas...

Our first snow!

Margarita party...

Ethan's first day home...

Ava's first day home...

Moving out...

Last St. Nick...

My Knight in Shining Armor and My Little Devil

This year Halloween was so much fun!  Ethan and Ava are at that age where everything we do is such an unforgettable adventure. Ethan chose to be a Knight this year.  I think he was most excited about his sword.  Ava didn't really request a certain costume, but when I saw her little devil number, I know there would be no better match for my cute little devil.