5 on Friday!

Happy Friday, y'all! Thanks for stopping over for Five on Friday.

Train Table: Henry will turn two in three weeks. Shocking because it seems like he was just born. I had a train table made for him this week and cannot wait to paint it. He's going to love having his own special place for his choo choo. I decided to have one made because then it can become a Lego table as he gets older. Carl has some grand ideas for painting it but I think just a solid color will work just fine.

Ice - Cream Days: It has been super hot this week! I always thought that I loved summer but Carl just pointed out that I probably just loved having the summer off from teaching school. Cold weather is not my favorite either but at least it's easier to wrangle kids in the cold than when it is 96 degrees outside. We stopped for ice cream after camp yesterday. Henry was perfectly content to use his thumb as a spoon inside the cone and was covered from head to toe in chocolate ice cream. Chocolate covered Henry!

Bojangles: Imagine my surprise when we went a new way yesterday and happened to see a Bojangles. That's right, a Bojangles less than 10 minutes from our house. I immediately pulled over to snap a picture for Carl. We are already planning our first biscuit run this weekend. YUMMY!

Change: I am trying hard to attempt something new or different each day. It's good for me to challenge or stretch myself just as Evie and Henry feel when asked to do new things. Change can be hard. It's easier just to do what is comfortable. So, this week I have attempted to embrace change by working out a different YMCA - excited to see that there is Subway inside, tried a new burger from Fresh Market, tasted a Coke Zero rather than my daily coke treat and ran at 5:30 one morning. Surprisingly, I enjoyed all of this change with the exception of the Coke Zero. That's just not for me! It helps me to show more kindness and patience with Evie and Henry when they try new things when I am willing to do it myself. 

Summer Schedule: It's felt like a busy summer so far. I need to scale back on our commitments because it is just too much for us with the daily swim lesson routine. Not sure how to do this yet because it is so fun spending our days with friends. We love our friends and love sharing life with them but I crave those lazy days of summer hanging out in the hammock, sipping fresh lemonade while splashing in the baby pool. Gotta work on this for next week! 

Girls Day!

 

Evie missed her first day of camp with Leah due to a middle of the night fever. She was not happy about dropping off Henry and then walking right out the door with Mama. Evie perked right up when I mentioned a girls day.

 

Casey was thrilled to meet Evie and treated her like a little princess during my hair cut. Sprite, pink perm rods and more attention than you can even imagine made Evie's day special. 

After my much-needed haircut, we decided to hit downtown Franklin - my favorite venue for a Girl's Trip. Evie was elated to park in a parking garage and take the "everator" which makes me smile that the little things mean so much to our littles.

 

We lunched at Merridee's Bread Basket - be sure to stop in there if ever in the area. Skip the chicken salad but everything else is divine! I had a tuna melt yesterday while Evie opted for a chocolate muffin and fruit. Delicious! Pimento in the tuna salad elevated my sandwich from the everyday tuna melt. Evie refreshed herself with a tall glass of homemade lemonade that was outstanding.

Then, we did a little window shopping and picked up a present for Carl for Father's Day. It took some convincing because Evie said she had already made Carl a present. Ahh, the sweetness of a 4 year old is purely magical. 

Evie warmed up to shopping and decided on a stack of bracelets with charms. I indulged her because she remarked, "Mama, I need something special to remind me of this day - just you and me." How could I not after that?

We walked around a bit holding hands and chatting about important things like when Evie is a Mama and why she loves having girls day but she likes Henry too. Good to know, Evie! She said, "I had so much fun today but it's fun with Henry too because he's pretty and he is sweet."

That unexpected fever turned into a blessing with the girl who made me a Mama. I love her so much and wish she could stay four years old forever.

8th Anniversary!

Whew, we made it through the 7 year itch and are thrilled to be celebrating our 8th anniversary. It's been our craziest year yet with two kids close together in age that are both mobile, heavy travel schedule for Carl and of course being far away from our family.

Carl is the best husband that I could ever ask for truly exemplifying -  Love is Patient, Love is Kind at all times even on the hard days. If you've been married for anytime at all than you know there are hard days in marriage.

I am the luckiest girl in the world to have a fabulous husband with two beautiful kids and enjoying a wonderful life in Nashville, Tennessee. God has granted me so many blessings in life.

We look forward to celebrating a fun night together without our two children reminiscing our wedding day and the early years of marriage.

I think of our marriage with this song. The refrain gives me chills:

I wanna love like Johnny and June Rings of fire burnin' with you  
I wanna walk the line, walk the line Till the end of time
I wanna love, love ya that much Cash it all in, give it all up  
And when you're gone I wanna go too Like Johnny and June
I wanna hold you baby, right or wrong 
Build a world around a country song  
Pray a sweet prayer, follow you there Down in history

Happy Anniversary, Carl -  I wanna walk the line till the end of time with you!

Weekend Wrap-up

It was a nice low-key weekend. Just what we needed! Henry and I ran some errands on Saturday morning while Carl trimmed the bushes with Evie. She thought that climbing ladders was super fun!

Carl took Evie to the pool while Henry slept which gave me a few minutes to think about Henry's upcoming party and tackle some laundry. It was good to have some one on one time with my little buddy. He loves puzzles and play-doh. 

We went to a friend's house for a cookout. It was so much fun and baths were necessary before bed even though bath time had just occurred before dinner. They had lots of sand in their hair- so much that it appeared like we had just left the beach.

Carl woke up with Henry giving me an extra thirty minutes of sleep. We rushed around to prepare for church and made it in the nick of time. Evie did not want to wear her typical Lilly dress - she asked if she could wear white dresses like those people at church. It took me a minute but then I realized that she was referring to the acolytes. Henry was not happy to be left in the nursery but was fine with a few minutes obviously. Evie did an amazing job in church and it's so nice to have her with us. 

We had an easy afternoon at home. Carl took a nap with Henry while Evie went with me to run errands. Carl took the kids to the pool while I did a few things around the house. Courtney and her family came over for dinner. Evie was so excited. She had asked me if we could have our own cookout yesterday so I was happy to oblige. Carl grilled chicken and I just threw a few things together. I think life with 2 is finally getting easier for me although it sure was nice that Carl took both kids to the pool.

We had a blast with The C's. Henry has a new best friend in Christian. I should have taken some pictures but it just did not happen. It was so fun playing outside and catching fireflies. Campbell can catch them easily. Evie put the death grip on a firefly and told me that she wanted to put in her room. Jars are on our list for the next firefly night.

I love weekends like this with no formal plans that gives us lots of time outside, with friends and hanging out as a family.

Five on Friday!

Linking up for Five on Friday. Another week come and gone! Summer is supposed to be slow and easy - at least in my mind but it sure has not been slow or easy around here. Henry has been boycotting sleep of all types - one night he slept eight hours with a two hour party in the crib around 2 AM. Carl is swamped at work. Evie has had lots of change in one week between swim lessons, camp and Mama going to work. I have just been busy trying to keep it all together and not doing that great of a job. Life has a way of taking over without any notice. We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

 

Camp Sanity: Evie started summer camp this week and adores her teacher because her name is Miss Claire just like Evie Claire. Mama loves camp too because a little break does us all good! Henry was mad as a hornet that he did not get to stay at camp. Carl picked Evie up from camp on Tuesday and she was thrilled. Evie came running across the playground and leaped into his arms. Carl told me that made his week. Evie and Henry are attending a new school this fall so she is testing the waters with a few days of camp. It was wonderful to have two days with my favorite 23 month old.

Birds in the Garage: Our garage has been an eyesore for quite some time. Walking in there put me in a tizzy trying to navigate the sea of toys, tools and trash so I decided it was time for a clean-up day. Evie helped me drag everything out and I accomplished quite a bit of cleaning until a bird came flying in the garage. That bird was flying around like crazy, flapping his little wings. Birds have always seemed harmless to me until this one made it's way into my habitat. I opened both garage doors and took the kids on a walk. Then, the bird became stuck under the blinds in the window so I raised the blinds. I think that scared the bird so much that he decided to hang out on the window sill for three hours until finally gathering the courage to fly away.

Leaky Bathrooms: Carl and I are fortunate enough to be the proud owners of not one but two leaky bathrooms. We are so excited! It's been crazy trying to find someone, anyone that is willing to tackle this project because we do not really know the problem until pulling out the 1984 tile.  It all started with two wet spots on the carpet in our bathroom. Everyone wants carpet in their bathroom, right? Wet carpet is even better! Then, our Guest Bathroom Shower began leaking through the ceiling into the foyer. I have had nine people out here to give advice regarding what needs to be done because no one wants to touch this job with a 10ft pole. I just want someone to find the problem and fix it. Guest Bathroom is an easy fix but the Master Bathroom fix is all over the board. Three people think we have a shower pan problem, two people think it is a leak behind the tile, one person showed up wearing expensive shoes and designer clothes and he suggested that we gut the bathroom. Never trust a restoration company representative that is wearing Ferragamo loafers and looking like he just left the runway. I told Carl that is has been really weird hanging out in the bathroom with all these men especially the one that appeared to have just left the runway. Courtney's husband, Christian, offered us the best advice combined with the plumber that smells good - we have a temporary fix and no water is leaking. Evie told Ray that she had never met a plumber that smells good . That made us all laugh but his hands were super rough so that's a sure sign of knowledge in my book. Carl and I are planning to start researching tile and looking at bathroom designs because this temporary fix is guaranteed to last from a few weeks to a few years. I never imagined showering to become such an adventure. Evie has chosen plumbing as her career path because "we have not had any girl plumbers yet."

 

Swim Lessons: Evie began Boot camp Swimming Lessons this week and it has been a whirlwind of emotions for my sweet girl. It's a lot different than lessons in the comfort of our local YMCA. The pool is cold - frigid might be a more accurate term, tear-free is not part of the deal and there is absolutely no coddling. Not to mention that childcare for Henry is not an option and all parents are required to stay on deck. Did I mention there is no childcare for Henry? That means that I spend the entire lesson running around the perimeter of the pool attempting to prevent Henry from joining Evie in the pool. These lessons have been great for Evie. Monday she hated it and cried all the way home, "I do not like these lessons. Girl's need girl teachers for swimming. Taylor is my teacher not Brandon." Then Tuesday and Wednesday were great with lots of progress including floating and big smiles. Thursday was horrific according to Carl and the babysitter, Stephanie. Evie was not thrilled to put her face in the water and let everyone know it. It really is true that learning to swim is a journey and even with tears - she has to learn to swim even if it involves every afternoon at the Boot camp Swim Lessons. Between swimming and camp - Evie has been exhausted at bedtime.

Meal Swap Monday: Nap time on Monday was spent in the kitchen. I made Shrimp and Grits for 5 families and was pleasantly surprised that it was much easier than assembling a casserole. Evie served as my sous chef and Henry kindly slept through the meal prep. Someone brought us Shrimp and Grits when Henry was born and I loved it especially since they prepared it dairy free since that was my diet at the time. Shrimp and Grits do not freeze or keep well so everyone knew that they needed to plan to eat these within a day or two. Everyone made delicious meals, the lettuce wraps were my favorite - so healthy and perfect for a summer supper on a hot day. Best part of a meal swap is having a variety of meals to fill in the gaps on busy weeks. 

That's my Five on Friday. Happy Weekend, y'all!

Pullen Mill Farm

I had a wonderful time at the farm with my new fourth graders! One of the board members at the school invited us all out for some bonding before school starts this fall. It was a blast! Terry's house is gorgeous and she has Southern Hospitality down pat. She thought of every detail and made everyone feel so welcome. 

Terry and her son, Chandler had the schedule jam-packed with activities from 4 wheeling, archery, kayaking, spoon races and even pie making. Every detail was prepared for in advance and the kids really soaked up that country atmosphere. Nothing was off limits and that's so good for kids to experience life without boundaries. 

We made homemade ice cream this afternoon and then enjoyed a pot luck dinner in the dining hall. Everything was delicious and food always tastes better after spending so much time outdoors.

Terry made Summer Breeze which was new for me. Simple syrup, grapefruit juice, ginger ale and rosemary. All the girls thought they were so fancy drinking out of their flutes.

What a gorgeous home and decorated so beautifully. It was a pleasure to spend the afternoon there soaking up the simplicity of life in the country. Cellphones do not work there, Internet is spotty and there is way more to do than sit inside.

My new students are lots of fun and full of giggles. I have 10 girls and 2 boys and will teach reading a few hours on Tuesday and Thursday while my kids are at preschool. Pretty excited about sharing my passion for reading again. Can't wait to get back into the classroom with these kiddos. It's going to be an adventure!