Hello.

It's been, what, a month? Yikes.
Here's what we've been up to!
1. The bachelorette pick the wrong guy #teampeterforlife
2. School started for James! First day pics are coming!
3. I started selling Lularoe on the side and I LOVE it!
4. Emmie Lyn got sassier. Sigh.
5. James has stopped napping altogether (and is a total BEAR in the evening and then passes out within 5 minutes of us leaving his room at night)
6. A Pelicans snow cone place opened up within a 2 minute drive from our house. (Hellloooo tight pants)
7. I've started working out again (see #6) and I hate burpees even more than before.
8. Donald the goat died.
9. I survived the summer with two hormonal toddlers.
10. I gave up my daily naps.

Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Cooler weather
2. FOOTBALL
3. Two of my friends just had tiny squishy babies and I want to love on them!
4. The return of leggings and cardigans and boots and scarves...
5. Apples and caramel dip.
6. Opening up the windows in our house to let the cool breeze in!

See y'all!

MOO

Cow Appreciation Day 2017 (EL ripped our spots off before the picture was taken)

There's a First Time for Everything

Introducing...SMORES!

Neither kid was too fond of the first round. But then by the second day, Emmie Lou got the hang of it :)

When Vacation Ends...

The fun stops. Ha!
We came home Saturday (6:00) to a house without power. The internal temp was 84 and getting hotter. The power finally came back on at 8:00 but our AC unit wouldn't turn on. We put the kids to bed naked, with the windows open and their overhead fans on. We read that if you turned the breaker off for 30 minutes, it should reset the AC unit and then it would come back on. No luck.
I found a 24/7 AC man at 9:00 at night who was going to charge for overtime when the unit finally kicked on.  Praise Jesus. I like the air conditioned life.

We saw 2 black widow spiders the next day. This was the smaller one. The second one had a bubble butt the size of my thumb!

 Sunday afternoon, Grey and I did some yard work and realized that we had a wet patch in our front yard. Having had the huge water break 5(?) Months ago, we immediately knew to check the water main. Sure enough, it was ticking away even though nothing was running inside the house. Thankfully our small group came over and helped us fix it!

Vacation #2

Was filled with lots of beach time and lots of snuggles. James played hard every day in either the pool or the ocean (so much so that he developed an ear infection and by Thursday we had to take him to the Dr). Emmie had a blast and literally would dive right into the pool whether you were ready to catch her or not. That girl is FEARLESS. 

Donut Date

Our first donut date of the summer was a success!

 Meaning: No one cried, pouted, or threw a temper tantrum :)

Duh, there were donuts involved!

Vacation #1

Was filled lots of treks to go get donuts from the Donut Friar,

 Family bonding,

 Little girls that insisted on doing their own thing

 Snuggles

 A port-a-potty since little sis slept in a pack-n-play in the bathroom,

 LOTS of pool time,

 LOTS of snack time,

 A little taste of home when things seemed overwhelming,

 And cheese puffs. Lots of cheese puffs.

15-16 month update

Emmie girl is now 16 months old!

Emmie,
You're a complete fire cracker. A sweet and sour patch kid. 80% of the time, you're literally the sweetest kid ever, always giving me hugs and kisses, constantly crawling into my lap and snuggling. The other 20%? Holy cow. You SCREAM, throw yourself down, throw whatever you're holding, bang your head on the ground, you hit other people...girl. You've got a TEMPER and you're SO stubborn. Whew.
Between your brother learning his boundaries as a three-nager and you learning your boundaries as a mini toddler, you wear me out.

You're getting the hang of running and love to chase your brother around the house wearing super hero capes. You have absolutely no fear and will step right off the stairs or right into a pool. You literally consume 100% of my attention every day.

You are rapidly picking up words! Yeah, no (a favorite), momma, dadda, goat, help, up, more, snack, bubble, night night, bye bye, hey...I feel like you pick up a new word every day or so. You've got a few books that are your absolute favorite and refuse to read anything else! Babies on the Bus, Touch and Feel Ponies, Ten Little Ladybugs, and Colors Popup Peekaboo. Seriously, if I read those, you'll crawl in my lap and ask to read them over and over again. If I try to choose a different book, you either smack it shut or go play by yourself. You also are convinced that you NEED a snack right after every meal. As soon as you're done eating, you immediately go into the snack cabinet and pull out whatever your tiny fingers can grab. You know where your eyes, nose, ear, hands, and belly button are, and you know what a cow and a horse say!

Your last 15 month appointment at the pediatrician was interesting. You had a minor allergic reaction to one of your shots and had to stay at the Dr's office for a little bit. You're still in 9-12 month clothes and you finally moved up to size 3 diapers (purely because we ran out of size 2's). You will go down the slide all by yourself at the park. You refuse to go to anyone else but me which gets really draining. Even when your daddy comes home, you'll run up to him but then immediately run back to me. If he picks you up, you usually scream and reach out for me. Girl. He loves you just as much as I do. You've got 12 teeth! 4 on the top front, 4 on the bottom front, and a molar on each side on the top and bottom.
We love you bunches Emmie Lou Who!

Summer goals

1. Don't let EL and James kill each other. 
There's already a bit of sibling rivarly going on. "Mommy! Watch me! Play with me!" "EL! Don't hit your brother!" "James! Give that back!" "When Daddy comes home, he can play with me and you can play with Emmie."  Sigh. 

2. Survive the first summer with Grey working and two toddlers. 
(Send chocolate and wine. Can I even say that on here?)

3. Have an activity planned each day!
Monday - splash pad
Tuesday - Go to the (shaded) park
Wednesday - Swimming at the Y
Thursday - library for story time
Friday - Kindergym

4. Paint our kitchen and living room!

5. Ultimately, SURVIVE. 
Tis the season. Survival of the fittest is upon us. Bring it on. 

Summer Days

Summer days consist of homemade koolaid popsicles,

$8 swimming pools,

 White shirts that will forever not be white again, 

 Soaking every inch of your body in water, 

 and demands for milk. 

School Days

Well.
Cue the tears. Here are your first and last day of school pics.

My little man

Singing in the Rain

 (James wore my raincoat and EL wore his!)

Selfie Sunday

This Season

Come out of sadness
From wherever you've been
Come broken hearted
Let rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh sinner come kneel
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can't heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can't heal

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You're not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

(Come as you are by David Crowder)

This current season has been tough. I have bouts of peace and bouts of severe anxiety and panic. Whatever may happen though, I know that there is hope. Hope from my risen Savior that all will be well again. 

This week in pictures

I made it back to the gym. 

Grey celebrated his last birthday in his twenties! (Baby.)  James ate some toast.

EL perfected the long drawn out NOOO as she runs away from you. She also got in her first shoving fight at school.

James perfected picking out his own outfits and even figured out how to dress himself. Sometimes he went to school with his underwear inside out and his pants on backwards but hey, he did it!

I left the sunroof open in my car the night it rained and now my laptop doesn't work.
EL had a minor allergic reaction to her 15 month vaccination and we had to hang out at the DR's office for 90 minutes. (Little bit still hasn't broken 20lbs yet)

Chickfila and live music downtown were our treats after the DR's office (especially since Grey was on a 36 hour trip to NYC)

I chopped 6 inches off. 

Catch up

Since my last post, EL boycotted nap time

 And ate chocolate chip pancakes

 And was happy :)

 She grabbed her snack from the cabinet and crawled into the chair by herself.

 I got some succulents!

 We went to Spartanburg's annual hog fest with live music

 And we ate some pork rinds.

 EL learned how to feed herself with a spoon

 We made healthier muffins from rotten bananas.

 Jesus died and thankfully rose again. Not pictured is my husband who forgot his darn khaki pants.