So Much Change

Whew! I am finally coming up for air after the past few months! Like the holidays aren't enough to keep us crazy busy we decided to throw in selling our house, buying a new one AND renovating all in the month of December. November was full of packing and keeping the house spotless ALL the TIME for showings which was completely exhausting but paid off. We closed on the sale of our old home December 2nd and closed on our new house December 3rd. We really were not even looking to move we just happened to stumble across a house in Atlantic Beach and when we went to look at it we fell back in love with beach life. We saw families riding bikes in bathing suits and all the restaurants and activities the beach has to offer we were sold...even though we found out later that week the house we were interested in was under contract. We had the bug and we had it bad! We looked at a few houses but we had strict requirements since we were really happy in our current home, we were not going to move just to move. We wanted this house to be everything we would want for the next 20 years. That being said we wanted to be walking distance to beach OR have a pool...both would have been nice but last time I checked my lotto numbers we were not winners!!! The problem with the beach houses are they are small and typically need a lot of updating. So after looking and looking we tried our luck on a short sale. Charles and I were nervous because the stars would have to align for this to all work out. I threw my hands up and said a prayer and decided God would make the final decision as to where we should be. We got acceptance from the bank that they approved our short sale offer without us having a contract on our current house. I was nervous the whole deal would fall apart but was also OK with it if that was where we were meant to be. 6 days later we got an offer from a couple who were in Japan on their honeymoon!!! SO CRAZY! They had not even walked in our house. We set the closing dates and it all worked out. We were homeless for the entire month of December which was hard for me to not have my own house and decorations up BUT we stayed at Charlotte and Adams for 2 weeks leading up to Christmas break and they are wonderful. The girls feel right at home there and I absolutely LOVED seeing Brooke every single day for 2 weeks straight!!!! Ansley loved seeing Bogey every single day...Addison could have lived without Kickball and her stinky gas problem!!! :) Then we headed to Vero and then my sister's for Alexander's first Christmas. It was such a great holiday week! We even got to go out in the boat. Only in Florida can you go on a boat ride in short sleeves on Christmas Eve! :) We headed back the 26th to check progress on renovations which had stopped for the week of Christmas and we stayed with Guy and Reva. We are so thankful that family was so willing to open their homes for us and give us a place to sleep and eat! I was hell bent on moving in before Addison and Ansley started at their new school. We luckily got in to the Catholic school literally 5 minutes from our new house (a big change from the 20 min drive I was use to). One child moved so there was exactly 1 random opening for Addison in VPK....again it was meant to be! Addison is loving her new class and has made many new friends. I think mommy was more nervous for her than she was herself. Mommy IS loving the uniform though! :) Ansley is my happy go lucky gal and she loves her new school. She still only goes Tues/Thurs which is plenty for mommy! The house is not entirely done, we still need a back splash, built ins go in this week, tile around the fireplace and then hang my millions of pictures! :) I will post lots of pictures when it is all done! Here are some before/after pics of house and girls. They sure are growing to fast for my liking!

Pumpkin Carving!

Hello!!! It is hard to believe that the last time I posted was the first day of school! I have to say school is going great!!! Addison adjusted great to going 5 days a week. She has started learning site words and can even read a few BOB books which is SO EXCITING! Ansley absolutely loves going to school. She only goes Tues/Thursday from 9-12 but she gets to paint and play and she loves it. Ansley and I signed up for a weekly Gymboree class too. I did it with Addison in Tampa so I thought Ansley would enjoy having some one-on-one time. IT is our weekly date and we have a blast! This past week the weather has been perfect! We have had the windows opened and have played outside as much as we can. Last weekend we had 3 birthday parties and this weekend we had 2. One being Brooke's 1st birthday party which was super fun!!! Yesterday we carved pumpkins! Here are the pictures of the girls! Neither one had any desire to grab the pumpkin guts...such a divas!

For those of you who don't know. We randomly put our house on the market because we got the bug to move back to the beach. We sold our house (have not closed yet but have a contract) and found a short sale at the beach we are trying to purchase. SO now we start the packing process AGAIN! Please say a prayer everything works out with the new house! The first lien holder approved our offer but we still have yet to hear from the 2nd lien holder. We are hoping to be in right before Christmas but I have a feeling we might be out of house until the new year! I hope Santa can find the girls!!! :)

First Day of School

What a summer! I cannot believe we are back at school already! We have been going non-stop! When we got back from the Keys we went straight to Tampa to celebrate Brittany's 2nd birthday. She is our friend's daughter who had liver cancer. We are all happy to hear she is officially in remission and there have been no signs of the cancer returning!!! The party was a rainbow theme since her scar across her belly looks like a rainbow. At the end of the party a huge rainbow appeared in the sky. It was truly remarkable! A sign from God showing he is watching over Brittany! They had a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick's foundation by shaving heads. Charles shaved his head to show his support. It has taken me some time to get use to his new look but it was for such an awesome cause! We were home from Tampa for 2 days and Clare went into labor. The girls and I packed up and headed south so we could meet our sweet new baby cousin (nephew for me). The girls adored him! I am not allowed to post his pic on the blog since it is public. :( SOOOOO you will have to email Clare for pics of sweet Alexander. So here we are on our first day of school. I didn't sleep a wink because I was so nervous for my girls and for me!!! This is my first time being without the girls during the day and I was really sad. I missed them terribly. We leave Thursday for Charles's cousins wedding in Atlanta. After that I feel like I can settle into a routine and I will need to make very clear lists for myself so I am productive while the girls are at school otherwise I will likely sit at home crying because I miss them! :) So back to school...the girls woke up and got dressed fairly easily. Addison of course decided against wearing the outfit she had picked out last night. I don't know why I even try that garbage with her. It never works!!! I printed out the signs and had them ready to go along with their book bags ready last night. They actually cooperated for the pictures which was all I could have asked for! There were no tears at drop off! Addison went first, gave mommy and daddy kisses and never looked back. Once she was out of the car Ansley was ready for her turn. She was Miss Eager Beaver! No tears at all. Just waived at us and said by.

And that was that! I left the house 15 minutes earlier than necessary to go pick them up because I just couldn't stand it! I had to pick up Ansley first. When I saw her trotting outside with her backpack on her back like a little-big girl I started crying and waiving like a crazy lady! She climbed in and told me all about her fun. She did also tell me she cried a "smidge" because she missed me! MY HEART OVERFLOWED WITH LOVE!!!!!! Then she asked where "her daddy" was and then said "let's go get sissy now". We got Addison who was all smiles and she gave me a huge kiss (LOVED!)when she got in the car. Addison drilled ME with questions. She was more concerned with what I had done I couldn't get a word in edge wise. From what I could gather she had a pretty marvelous day too and I have concluded this morning was the most difficult for ME! And that I am the luckiest mommy in the whole wide world:)

Little Lobster-ers

These girls are amazing! Addison and Ansley both were hands on today with the lobsters. Addison actually went lobstering. She held onto a ski rope behind the boat and looked for lobster while we were being pulled. She had her mask, snorkel and fins on. When she would see one she would point and yell for me to go get it! Pretty impressive for a FOUR year old!!! (at least I think so!)

Come and Almost Gone..

I cannot believe summer came and is just about gone! We have been BUSY BUSY BUSY!!! June was busy with lots of traveling. We went to Camp Weed with Guy & Reva the first weekend, then I threw my sister's baby shower down in Jupiter, then she had another baby shower we went to in Vero and then we went to Orlando for a week with the Bond Family for Pa's 60th birthday. The last weekend in June we spent at home celebrating mommy turning the big 3-0!!! We had an amazing time in Orlando, the girls had a blast going to Disney and spending the week with their cousins. By the time we got home we were all exhausted and happy to sleep in our own beds! Ansley successfully finished ISR with lots of road blocks. Her elbow actually ended up being broken but it took the doctors a week to figure it out since her bones are so small. Then her teacher went out of town for 2 weeks but FINALLY she finished and let me just tell you....that girl can swim! She is a FISH, just like her sister. We enrolled Addison in stroke lessons with Ansley's swim teacher. She loved them and it is nice she now knows what the butterfly, back stroke and freestyle are. I think it will take a few more lessons for her to master these strokes but bless her heart she sure tries! Charles and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary July 14th. We went to the Breakers in Palm Beach to celebrate while the girls got spoiled all weekend with Mimi & Grandaddy. :) We are now in the Keys on our annual Lembo Keys vacation. The girls LOVE it here. We cannot believe this Addison's 5th trip down here. Today we went out in the boat with the girls and it was crystal clear. Mimi & Grandaddy bought Addison (during their weekend spoil) a new big girl mask, snorkel, and fins. She tried them out today on the boat. She did awesome! She thought it was so neat swimming in the "deap blue sea". She would spot lobster and swim all around completely enthralled with the wide life that lives beneath. We were all blown away with her courage and eagerness and absolutely NO fear. She fought us when we told her she had to get back in the boat. I am pretty confident we have another lobster catcher in our family! Ansley, was adorable in her life vest but she doesn't like the salt water in her eyes but she still got in and enjoyed it. Hope everyone has had fun filled summer like we have! We are so blessed!

We had a wonderful sun filled family weekend. The weather was perfect! Highs in the low 80's! We enjoyed the pool (4 days in a row) and a full beach day. Ansley is starting her 3rd week of ISR (infant swim rescue) and she is already turning into a fish! She will swim over and over again from someone to the stairs. It is wonderful! The girls are still recovering from all the fun they have. We went to a BBQ at our good friend's house and swam in their pool, ate good food and enjoyed each others company. Ansley hurt her arm jumping on the trampoline but good news was the X-rays showed no broken bones. As you can see from the last picture of her, she was a grump-a-lump the rest of the evening. She is babying it and it hurts her so it is in a splint to help keep it from moving. All in all we had an awesome Memorial Day weekend! We just love living in FL and love being back in Jacksonville! ON a side note: doesn't Addison's hair look beautiful when she actually lets me brush it?! It's amazing what a little conditioner and a hair brush can do to the girl's hair!