Memorial Weekend

Did y'all have a nice, long Memorial Weekend?  

We had a very low key weekend with the kids at home and did absolutely no traveling.  Pretty nice for a change!

I took the kids to the park Friday night and posted this picture of Hank on Insta.

I mean is that the face of pure joy or what?  When I go to the park I want to be one of those cool (and by cool I mean completely oblivious to the fact their child is a raging bully that throws mulch, pushes kids down and hogs the slide) moms that just chill on a bench somewhere talking on their phone or chatting with others.

Instead I'm the crazy, uptight mom frantically running around and yelling "don't run!' "watch out!" "wait your turn!" "where's your brother?" "you're too close to the water!" "wait, where's your sister?" to really enjoy any of it.  Its honestly the longest hour of. my. life. 

Do you feel me on that?

We made it to church this weekend and I got some cute pics of the kids on the front steps in one of those rare moments they loved each other.

We had the best weather this weekend and got to enjoy some pool time.  Carsyn went off the diving board for the first time.

Carsyn has really never been scared of the pool.  When she was Hank's age she would just sit on the steps and play with pool toys.  She was afraid to go any further and would not wear floaties so I was ok with that.  I usually just sat in the water with her. Last year I really tried to get her to swim without floaties and it was too hard.  She got very comfortable wearing her puddle jumper and was swimming all around the pool before summer was over.  I figured Hank would love the pool and splash around but he was having none of it.  I barely got him on the first step.  Cracks me up because I always think of him as my fearless one.

Monday we got dressed up in our patriotic gear and went out to eat with Rosie.

And I completely stole my OOTN from Pinterest.

And I already ordered the matching shorts to Carsyn's dress but I really want the dress too.  Have y'all seen it?  Is it cute?

And speaking of cute, how cute is Rosie's dress?  I'm totally stealing it I think.

Moving right along..I'm off to pick out paint colors for the new house today.
I really need some light, happy colors in the blue and green family. Any suggestions?

We have dress rehearsal for Carsyn Thursday and Friday night is recital night!! I'm so nervous for my girl.  She loves, loves, loves dancing but told me last week she got a little nervous up on that stage.  Broke my momma heart a little.  Can y'all say a little prayer for my sweet girl to calm her nerves?  That'd be great!

Weekend Recap

In efforts to return to my normalcy in blogging I'm bringing my weekend recap back. 

I'm aware its Thursday..

Baby Steps..

In exciting news most of y'all know we are moving to Lexington and I'm happy to finally share WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

Pops the champs!

Ok, lets talk about how that was the most stressful, unfun (That should be a word), kill me now time of my life.

Thank goodness for my cuter than words, passionate, devoted, amazing, beautiful, one of a kind realtor, Dana.  Who's already promised to be my Lexington BFF because lets face it;  I don't make friends easily.  Although I think she's just using our friendship to get closer to her real sister soul mate Carsyn.

We can also discuss the fact that I might have been a Veuve virgin until this point and after having a sip I decided I'd stick with Asti.  And save like $50, And in the future if I'm spending more than $15 on wine I'll stick with Cakebread.

Moving right along we bought a home I like in a neighborhood I love.  All's good right?

Its by no means a fixer upper but there's a lot of things I want to do.  Some little and some big.  I'm going to try to be patient and enjoy doing the little projects…we'll see how that goes.

Saturday Rosie came by to work on our current home cleaning around the pool and cleaning windows. W literally worked outside for 8 hours straight so when he and the kids fell asleep I snuck to the lake to jog a few miles.  

I was so proud to finish three miles under 30 minutes because that NEVER happens due to the hills and the fact running in mulch and gravel is tough!  Unfortunately I've had the nagging feeling I've pulled a muscle in my leg for a week and running was probably not such a good idea.  

I really need to start back doing my yoga religiously and stretching before I run.  Any other tips?

We made it to church on Sunday and my heart was so full when I walked out the door.  As far as hymns go every time I hear When I Don't Know What to Do I feel at peace.  If you're not familiar with the song I urge you to listen.  

After I took this pic I realized it was time to trim Hank's curls a bit…Anyone want to vote on that?

Speaking of Hank, does he know how to end a weekend or what?

Mothers Day

I wanted to title this…WAIT! I almost forgot Mother's Day!  

Truth is life is so busy this little blog has been neglected.  And I miss connecting with friends and documenting what's been going on in the little's lives so much.  I really hope to get back in the swing of things soon-bear with me folks!

We had a great Mothers Day weekend.

Pictured here is my mom, aka Rosie, and my sister, aka the BEST sister in the world.  I LOVE these ladies so so much.  They are my role models and I don't tell them that enough.  

Not pictured is my sweet MIL who made Hank a bow tie and Carsyn's "Dolly" a dress in record time without batting an eye.  She's such an awesome woman, awesome wife, awesome mom.

I love being a mom so much and am in awe that God blessed me with these sweet babes.  And of course this guy too.

I hope all you moms had a great time celebrating with your loved ones!

Spring Break 2014

We made the annual Spring Break trip with my sister and her family last month…and SURVIVED!

2 SUVs..

4 adults..

4 kids..

and..

8 hours later we were in Isle of Palms, SC (one of my favorite places on earth).

We had dinner at Morgan Creek Grill the first night there and the kids loved being on the water.

I loved the Firefly Martini.

And dressing baby boy in proper boat clothing.

We actually had a week of really good beach days!

Carsyn has always been my little beach babe.  She could play in the sand forever.

It took a while for Hank to warm up to the sand this year but by day 3 he was loving it too.

We went to Shem Creek the second night for dinner.

Hank spent most of the time outside in the adirondack chair.  I cannot remember what I ate. I'm sure it involved wine.

The girls decided to shop in Charleston the next day.  I chose to chill on the balcony in my favorite pants.

And take OOTD selfies.

I braved shopping for a little while with the girls the next day and tried out my Harrow booties.

Honestly y'all they are pretty comfy for such a high heel.

We took Pineapple Fountain pics and had dinner at Fleet Landing.

I really need to learn to take better food pics because these crab cakes were HUGE.  And topped with some pretty darn amazing fried onions too.  Did I mention they were on a bed of mashed potatoes? Because I'm pretty sure they were.

Did I mention Rosie yet?  You know she's pretty amazing also. She wrangles kids.  She does laundry.  She holds babies in her lap while eating dinner.

I mean the kids all just adore her..And she's pretty darn cute, right?

Speaking of cute….How adorable is my sister's family?

It seems like yesterday they said their vows at this very same spot!

And in conclusion…a few high notes from the trip…

Dinner at SALT.

Mini golf with the future Paula Creamer..

Beach photos..

Loving cousins..

and loving siblings… (for the most part).

on being a dance mom

Disclaimer-I'm not really a dance mom.  My kid practices ballet every Wednesday for 45 minutes and will perform in a dance recital in a few shorts weeks.

And I'm a bundle of nerves.  A straight up mess.

You see I was never a dancer or a cheerleader. I played basketball in my younger days and much to my daddy's disappointment the only 2 points I ever scored was on the wrong goal.  I think I told y'all that.  I played tennis and ran track a few years and thoroughly enjoyed those sports.  I should add here Dad got over his disappointment in my basketball abilities or lack thereof rather quickly and supported me in all the sports I chose to participate in.

My sister was a cheerleader.  In fact she could round off back handspring in our narrow hallway and I always thought that was the coolest thing.  (Hi Mel!)  And I'm pretty sure there's a picture of my mom doing the splits on top of a pyramid somewhere in my grandmother's house.

And don't get me started on the hubs.  Pretty sure in addition to being valedictorian he played every sport his high school offered.

I'm thinking now all these family dynamics are beginning to add up and poor Carsyn might have just inherited her momma's lack of "performance" ability.  So let's back up.

Carsyn has been wanting to be a ballerina ever since she watched the production of the Nutcracker at the local theatre when she was just over a year old.  You may remember this year she was unable to be in it because she wasn't potty trained and that ended up being the deciding factor that girlfriend was ready to wear panties.

All is great.  She's skipping out of dance class every week and I'm not going to lie, getting her dressed up in tutus is kind of exciting.  I mean who doesn't want to wear a tutu?!  Several weeks ago I noticed the other girls coming out of class dancing.  I might have asked one mom (MISTAKE!) if her daughter knew the routine and she might have replied that she knew every bit and performed it for her all of the time.  I might have observed that the same little girl really didn't seem to know her routine tonight while we observed but that would make me catty, right?

Moving right along tonight was observation night and I sat in the back of the class with my camera all ready.  I noticed right off the bat Carsyn did not know the routine and got a little worried.  I tried not to watch the other girls but I noticed a lot of them did not know the whole thing so I'm not sweating.  Its all about fun, right?

Then Carsyn starts crying and runs to sit on my lap.  She's bawling and I cannot understand her at all.  She says she's sleepy and wants to go home.  Then she says she hears Hanky crying and it bothers her. Part of me wants to be tough and tell her to march back up there and do her performance.  But I can't.  I just sit there with her in my lap crying and bite my lip to keep from crying too.  The words mom fail just seem to hang over me.  I smile and console her and then send her back up to get her reward all the while wondering what others think about me.  Imagining them whispering, "look at that mom that wants her child to dance so bad and she's miserable."  I'm thinking she is just tired from not taking a good nap.  And then I begin to wonder if she is just shy.

What about if the crowded room made her so nervous she just crumbled?  Honestly there were times in college when I had a presentation that I could not sleep the night before because I was too nervous I'd embarrass myself in front of my classmates.  I think deep down that is why I want Carsyn to try new things, especially performing.  That may be selfish.  But as a parent I feel I owe that to her.

I was in a funk for awhile after practice just wondering what I should do as a parent.  It dawned on me before dinner that I had forgotten to take her picture for the program.  I asked her if she wanted to go out to the front porch and take a picture.  She could splash some puddles and show me some ballerina moves.  She was so excited.  We had a little chat and I asked her if she enjoyed being a ballerina and she said "Mommy I love it."

So maybe that's not a perfect passé..

I'm just going to embrace it.