SCHOOL DAYS!

Poor Cason has had some rougn days at school those first couple weeks...got some serious seperation anxiety going on! One day when I picked him up from school, he looked like this...so sad they said he cried alot that day! Ummm, yea, I could tell! He actually turned out to be sick that night so that was part of it. However, I am happy to report that he has been doing great lately, yesterday no tears at dropoff AND the teachers said he had a GREAT day! (Well, until nap time, I forgot his blanket and he couldn't sleep...I have managed to get both of my children SUPER attached to their blankets! HA!

This is Finley on her first day of Preschool at her new school! She goes T, W, Th...and she LOVES it! I was nervous about her going 3 days but lately she has been upset on Friday mornings when she doesn't get to go again! Ha, that is a great thing! She has a lovely teacher Miss Denise and Finley loves being her little helper! Her vocabulary is so amazing, if she is in the right mood and you can get her to jabber about school, I find out the most interesting things! Like which kid was being "annoyming" that day cause he wouldn't obey the teacher! HA!

Cason's 1st day of "school"/MDO

Today was hard. My LITTLE man had his first day of Mother's Day Out. I know, I know...He seems so little to be going...Finley went at 14 months and seemed tiny then. So now sending him at just over 10 months was really hard. I know that it will be good and I have to work and he isn;t much help at the store...but still hard...especially when he is so attached to momma or maybe it is the other way around. :) Anyway, he is adorable, see for yourself.


This just melts me...so glad Chris caught this pic with his phone! These two really, really love each other and this morning Finley was teaching Cason how to sleep on his napmat for when he went to school today! And when I told Finley I was sad cause I thought Cason was gonna cry at school today she said, "It's ok mom...I'll just stay in his class with him!"
Seriously, my kids are awesome...two amazing little souls, living in my house! Thank you Lord, how did I get so lucky?!?!

Inspiration

Haven't been blogging, which makes me sad cause I feel like life is flying by so quickly lately and I want to remember more details. But life feels crazy again and I feel too wiped out each night to have inspiration to blog. Having a baby, a toddler, a maternity boutique, a children's boutique, and a husband is proving to be quite the task for this little woman! Most days feel kinda crazy but also feel like this is a season of life where I am learning more than I can explain. Mostly I just learn that I am utterly dependent each day on God's Grace. That's all I have for tonite, I am tired, last one in bed again! Blessings!

Finley is 3

I have no idea how it happened but somehow we have a 3 year old! Finley turned three, July 10th and we had a great weekend with lots of family and friends to help us celebrate our sweet girl. She really wanted a princess party & cake so that is what she got. So funny she is in such a girly phase, really won't wear anything except dresses and is WAY into princesses. It is funny to watch especially since we haven't encouraged the princess thing but everyone told us just wait, she will find it on her own and boy has she! It is so sweet, she only refers to her dad as "prince" when she is in character.
On Saturday, her actual birthday, we went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch and celebrating and then on Sunday we had her party. Lots of friends came and we had a great time with a bouncy house (borrowed from a friend), princess cake, and REALLY yummy food. We worked our butts off and big thanks to KK, Alissa, Pam & Alison who were all here to help...it takes a village and this day that was so true!

Cason is at such a great age...so wanting to interact and he is full of smiles! And I know I am biased but seriously he has the BEST smiles! He loves to play with his sissy and with mom and dad and mimic our sounds! He is BUSY, BUSY...very different than his sister, always into something and so fast. Chris thinks he has some serious Schields in him and will be a good wrestler...just this morning he said, "man that kid can get out of any hold!"

Finley's 1st Movie & One Really Great Daddy!

We took Finley to her first movie in a theater on Father's Day...Toy Story 3! We loved it and so did she, just delighted, it was SO much fun! She did cry during the loud intense previews before though and said she wanted to go home but had to explain that that wasn't the movie and it would be over soon. She did great, sat SOO still and was just enthralled with every moment. Funny thing is a few days later I overheard her playing pretend with an imaginary someone, (probably Connor) and she said, "Ok, we are gonna go to a movie! The first part will be scary but you just sit still and then you get to watch the real movie!" :)

My kids are so lucky! They have such a great daddy! This was, "ummm, daddy will you put ALL of my hairclips in my hair." Of course it was while they were watching soccer together too! He is so good with them and I love watching him delight in our chidren and teach them! I am just so thankful for such a great husband and father to my kids! Don't want to ever take that for granted... what a huge gift Chris is to my life!

Mobile CD!

Ok, so this video was taken when we were on our beach vacation, been meaning to post it...however, this video is NOTHING like what he is doing now. In the past week Cason has gone into lightning speed...he is crawling fast and PULLING UP ON EVERYTHING...he loves to climb and now suddenly my whole house feels dangerous. OH BOY...these male versions of babies are a whole different deal, aren't they?!?!
Anyway, here is the beginning stage of Cason crawling. It is so cute, kinda like his own version of the worm. He really uses his little toes to push off...I can't believe how fast he is already at 7.5 months old REALLY FAST!

Ahh, the beach!

Finley was so fun to play with, she LOVED the pool and did great on the beach, still has to warm up to the ocean but as the week went on she did get braver. And she made sure to tell everyone she saw all about it. She is certainly not too shy to talk to others...does it all the time! HA!

We just got back from a lovely beach vacation with Grammy & G-Daddy. We were in Seaside, Florida area and had so much fun at the beach with the kids. It was great to just be away and have days filled with swimming, relaxing, playing and eating great food! We LOVED it, what a blessing. Thanks Doug and Pam!!

NEW CAR!!

Hooray...so excited about my new car...to be completely honest this is the EXACT car I have been secretly building online for the last 2 years!!! I LOOOVE IT! I am so thankful for this amazing gift...I had been very patient driving around that dang jeep forever...thanks honey!

This is our good friend, Kirk, the night we got it! I love this picture...he is giving us his best, "What?!? Umm, hell yea!" face! It is fun to have such great friends to share stuff like this with, friends that get as excited as you are for great things in life! BLESSING!!

Woops!

Ok, wow, it has been too long. So, I am realizing that when you go too long without blogging, you don't know where to start, so you just keep putting it off. Kinda like the thing I do with my ironing or my filing...til my mom comes and kicks my butt in gear! So I have a million things to share but gotta start somewhere. So here we go! Here are a few fun new things and happenings in our life:

Happenings!!

My Son is gorgeous...I mean look at those blue eyes!! Oh and he is so fun! Smiling at us all the time, making lots of funny noises, laughing at his "silly sissy" and LOVING him some MOMMA!!

Dad and Finley cooking breakfast on the porch during all the crazy rains. We were without power and water for almost a full day! So glad I have such a resourceful husband!

We lived through the worst flood ever recorded in Tennessee!! This is a picture of the river, I mean street in front of our house! We did not have any water damage thankfully but it was pretty crazy in our town for awhile!

Family Movie Night!!
I love this picture and yes, I know we aren't normal, our snack that night was sardines on top of an avocado spread on baguette! Yes it was delicious and yes, Finley ate it too!

Franklin Main Street Festival Fun!

Finley being brave, riding the pony! (Probably mostly because Samantha, her BFF, was doing it with her!) Oh and we all did a little advertising for Little Star with our new matching shirts!!
My favorite street vendor treat! Krazy Kut Taters!!!!!!! We also had kettle corn, roasted ears of corn, corndogs, and polish sausage, ugh! We had so much fun with our good friends the Lees and we all left with stomach aches, so, I'd say, mission accomplished!

MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN!

Well, this has been a major parenting breakthru week for us! Finley went from Zero to Full speed on potty training. I have been floored by it all, FLOORED! Potty training used to be my nemesis, people would say when she is ready, she will just do it...it will be easy! I DID NOT believe them for one second! We had tried, oh we had tried, but when she decided to do it on her terms...it was sudden and immediate. It has been so fun getting to praise her all week and see her be so proud of herself. It is crazy how much more grown up it makes her seem! Wow, where did the time go!
Secondly, Cason FINALLY decided to start taking a bottle! This has been a major issue too, he would get so mad and no matter what we tried we could not get him to take a bottle (which has made for some serious challenges as a working mom!) It all feels rather magical and like a HUGE GIFT! Thank you Jesus! You heard my desperate mommy cries and amazingly you even care about potty training and bottles!

DeTrays in Mexico!

We had a really nice vacation in Mexico...definitely not long enough and very different vacationing with kids but so fun! The kids did great and Finley loved every minute of it! She is such a delight right now...so thrilled with everything, so full of wonder so full of WORDS! She is hilarious and getting SO into fairytales and pretend play lately! She has taken to referring to herself as Ariel and dad is King Triton. So obviously I couldn't just stay mom and she decided I would be Sleeping Beauty and Cason is Desperaux! It is really funny she does it all the time and won't allow us to call each other by any other names. This was an especially big game at pool time where she would where her Ariel swimsuit that she just HAD to have. So much fun!


Cutie Beach Babies!

SOO our life right now...Cason is crazy fast at grabbing sister's hair! And our hands are full pretty much most of the time!!

Amazing View from our Private pool deck!

My "Pool Boys!"

Funny Finley Musings!

We are still in Mexico, really enjoying our family time! Had to share some fun Finley stories so far on this trip.
First, we had been telling her lots about the trip...she is a girl who wants to know all the details! So we left out crazy early 4:30am on Wednesday morning and Fin couldn't sleep...so excited! Well, she asked us several times that morning: "when are we gonna see your ami?" Well, it wasn't til about the 3rd time that we finally understood what she meant...because we had told her, first we fly to Miami...Chris and I were laughing in amazement, of course My Ami, Your Ami!! HA!
Second, when we finally got into Cancun and trying to get off the plane...Finley was saying "Hola" to everyone (such a great little spanish speaker!) Well, the nice French couple behind us thought she was adorable and said, "Do you speak French too?" To which Finley replied without missing a beat, "French Fries!" So funny!
Third, we were ordering at the pool bar yesterday with lots of other vacationers around and after ordering our drinks, the bartender said jokingly to Cason, "and what for you little baby, tequila?" And Finley yelled back at him, "NO, HE WANTS BOOBIE MILK!"
Such a funny age, she certainly keeps us on our toes and laughing!

WOW!! This is where we will be tomorrow!

Ok, so my husband is amazing! He is REALLY good at his job and often times that carries over into being "Super Manager" for his family too...like when you get an email 3 days before you are supposed to leave on vacation saying that your resort has overbooked and you have to be moved to another resort! So he handled it all...they were giving us great options very fair swaps but we had booked a suite since we were travelling with the kids and wanted a seperate room so we could nap them and put them to bed earlier and we could still hang out and they weren't finding us another suite. SOOOO, Chris researched it and found this SWANKY resort that did have a suite available and shot it to him as an option, aaannnnddd THEY DID IT! It is a way more expensive place (not for us...they are paying the resort to move us there) And we have the Platinum Suite with this amazing balcony and our OWN PRIVATE POOL! WHAT?!?!? It is kinda hysterical to me and I am sure we are ruining Finley since this is our first major vaca with kids. Anyway, we are so excited...our family really needs the time away and we all need the rest. We all need to unplug from the craziness for a bit and just be together!
We will post more pics!

We are open!! I can't believe it! We have worked so hard and we are SO tired but our 2nd store is officially open! Hope you all get to see it sometime. It is so fun and exciting. Our husbands and families have worked so hard and are very tired too, we are so lucky to have such amazing helpers! I am thankful, thankful, thankful!

Finley "Reading"

This video really makes me laugh...it is Finley "reading" one of her Valentine cards. She is hilarious the things she makes up and she tries to sound so formal too! Enjoy!

Our Newest Kitchen Adventure!

Wheat Bread

Ingredients

1. 4 1/2 C Flour
2. 2 tsp sea salt
3. 1/3 C oil
4. 1/3 C honey
5. 1 1/2 C Warm Water
6. 1 Tblsp Yeast
7. 2 Tblsp lecithin

Directions

1. Pour warm water in machine. Add half of the flour. Turn on low speed add yeast and mix on low. Rest 5-10 min. Add flour, leaving a cup out, oil, honey, salt, lecithen. Mix while going add 1 C flour @ at time until completly leaves sides of bowl. Kneed for 10 min (level 2). Fill greased pans. Rise 30-40 min. Bake 350 for 40 min.

Search, share, and cook your recipes on Mac OS X with SousChef!

FUN STUFF!

I spend alot of time lately looking for cool things online for our new kids store and it is so fun!!
Just look at some of the fun stuff I get to discover like these awesome shoes I found tonite that I LOVE! Hope we get to carry them in our store! Oh and on a funny note Finley is really excited for our new store but can't get the name right.
"Little your kid star"
"Little kid gear star"
"Little your kid is a star"
It is hilarious to hear her go through her list and laugh at herself like oh man that wasn't right either! HA!

Still here...Cason is doing better, we are barely getting any sleep though and man that overflows into so many areas of your life! Someday I will get sleep again and remember what it feels like to function in a somewhat normal fashion but today is not that day. Lord, please let it be soon though...my brain hurts!
On a brighter note...I had such a special night with Finley...she has been needing some extra attention with all this sick brother attention lately and Cason was napping in his swing and Chris was working late and we had so much fun together! TV and phone off, full attention on her and she was thrilled about it. I am realizing that her love language is quality time, at least right now it is. She is so much fun and I am so lucky to be her mom!

Haven't had much time to do anything lately, let alone blog. Life fills heavy right now...hard to carry! I do know that this will pass and I do know that I continue to count my blessings, always knowing that things could be worse and that I AM NEVER ALONE. Thank you Jesus! There are so many moments as a mommy when you feel alone...you know that voice that says...if someone could see me now in this ______ (fill in blank) (crazy, overwhelmed, exhausted, messy, frustrating, etc.) moment! Well, He does and sometimes I have to remind myself that.
Anyway, seems like I have had a lot of those moments lately. Cason has been SOO sick, scary sick, taking ALL of my time and sleep sick! We are wading through it. He seems better tonite but has been wheezing and coughing so much that we are doing breathing treatments every 4 hours, on a steroid and also started Zantac for his Acid Reflux and Colic. Poor sweet boy just has had a rough go so far! Good thing we didn't have him first, ha! Anyway, here is a sad pic of him getting his breathing treatment...he is usually so good during them, just sits calmly like he knows it is good for him! I love him so much! His smile is amazing!

One more pic from the sweep! My sweet little shopper! Too bad those carseats are so big...I could have gotten more!

SUPERMARKET SWEEP!

This was a favorite show at our house...I remember watching with my sister Bronwyn and planning our foolproof winning run around the supermarket. Gotta go for the big bonus and the meat! Ha!
Well, anyway last week I came across a real live supermarket sweep of my own. A local Food Lion was going out of business and put EVERYTHING in the grocery store 60% OFF!!! What?!?!?
It was dangerous! I am telling you it was like crack to this little miss cheap, ahem, I mean bargain hunter. So I got there around 9ish, it was crazy and I had both kids with me...ok I know, I am the crazy one. So there I was living it up for over 2 hours and finally conceded to leave as Finley was starting to melt down. Ok, but here is where it gets really crazy. I took the kids across the street to Sonic, raised Finley's blood sugar, nursed Cason AND WENT BACK!!!!!!! I couldn't help it all I could think as I left was all the things I should have gotten. SO, after another 2 hours there I again decided to leave when I knew Fin had had it. How did I know you ask? Well, I turned around to find her with a package of marshmallows hanging from her mouth, hands out to the side and spinning in circles! Yea, time to go!
I did some serious carnage that day! My husband was horrified...good thing we have been married so long! Took many days to find places for all of it but I am happy to say it is now all away, or at least in a pile out of sight, heehee!!

Ok, kinda hilarious and sad when you see the time between posts...I really wanted to start doing the blogging last year. But alas, almost a year later I am picking back up! Oh and our family looks a little bit different this year. We have added sweet Cason Dean and what a full life we have! Once again I am so thankful and so in awe of all that the Lord has given! The gift of family is the best gift ever!
PS - I am really gonna do it this time...gonna send out my blog link to family and then they can nag me to post!