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!

Happy Memorial Day

You are probably SHOCKED...2 updates in 1 week....I know!!!! But not writing much just posting a pic of the start of a fun Memorial Day weekend! She is a HOT Mess!!!!

Long time, No Updates!

Hello All, I have proved to be a very poor blogger in these last few months. So much has passed since my last update. Our beautiful girls both had birthdays! Addison turned 4 and Ansley turned 2 (tear). They are growing up so fast and frankly it makes me sad. We had a big joint birthday bash with an Ariel & Nemo theme. Addison pretends she is a "real live mermaid" and Ansley LOVES Nemo & Dory. SO naturally a joint underwater party seemed perfect! Charlotte and I started a company called Cotton Candy Cottage. We sew and embroider children's gifts/clothing and bridal party gifts. We have a website www.cottoncandycottage.net and an etsy site https://www.etsy.com/shop/CottonCandyCottage. We were asked to sell items on Zulily in January and this has kept us VERY busy. I blame trying to actually work again on my lack of blog updates! :) We are so thankful to have this opportunity and it is proving to be somewhat successful so we are very pleased with our work so far. We went to Vero for Mother's Day and Grandaddy & Mimi surprised the girls with a new playset in their back yard! Addison wishes we could live there forever. They have a pool, pond, huge yard and now a swing set! It is a child's paradise!!! Addison just completed her 1st year of "school". She went Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-12. She did awesome and really enjoyed the interaction and crafts that school provided! We just got back from a quick trip to TN to visit Mama Jo & Daddy John. On the way up to TN we passed beautiful wild flower patches so we stopped to snap some pics and let the girls stretch their legs. The girls had a blast up there and the older they get the easier that 9 1/2 hour drive gets for mommy and daddy! So that is our quick, get you caught up with our past 4 months!!! Oh and Ansley has done GREAT with being potty trained! She only wears a pull up to bed at night (not at nap!!!) and she loves being a big girl (much to my dismay!). We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Gerard. The girls are thrilled to be big cousins!!!

Bye Bye Diapers

This is bittersweet for me! I think every mom longs for the day that they can shop the aisles of Target and NOT have to spend $40 on diapers and instead on some of their super stylish clothing! Well Ansley decided last week at the ripe old age of 21 months she is no longer wearing diapers and is going potty like a big girl on the potty. I figured it wouldn't last and I was not going to pressure her, she is not even 2 for heavens sake! But even outside of the house she asks to go potty..... Well she more or less announces that she has to pee pee and starts to drop her pants wherever she is standing. :) that led to some interesting looks at Panera a d Chucky Cheese this weekend. I am so proud of her though. Her biggest challenge is when she is playing outside she does not like stoping to go inside but if I remind her then she does great! So the bittersweetness comes when I realize my baby is not a baby anymore. She is no longer wearing diapers (except at night) and she speaks in complete sentences (3-4 words) and she yells (more or less demands) that I do not leave her room when I put her down for a nap or bedtime. She is growing up entirely too fast and that is because she idolizes her big sissy and does whatever she does. Their relationship is so loving and fun to watch. We truly are blessed! As for "big sissy".... My new favorite one liner came tonight before bath when I asked her repeatedly not to do something and she chose to ignore so I had to show her the consequences of choosing not to listen....( think stern border line loud voice) " I am THREE years old, do NOT challenge me mother!" Alrighty then.....how in the heck do I keep a straight face to that?!?! Part of me wanted to pop her, the other part of me laughed and laughed and hugged her for be so independent! If I only knew what God had in store for me in about 12 years......

Quick Update

Hi All, It seems to have taken me longer than years past to get back into the post holiday swing of things! We had an amazing Christmas having all of my family at our house. The girls were so much fun Christmas morning and needless to say, Santa was extra good to them! Quick update on our friend's baby girl, Brittany, who has cancer. She completed round 2 of chemo and her cancer marker which was originally over 200,000 was down to 1,800!!!!!! That is remarkable. The tumor shrunk 40% but the surgeons in TX who will perform the resection thought it would be an easier recovery if they did one more round of chemo to hopefully shrink it a bit more. Surgery is scheduled for January 28th (I think). Please pray for the entire family!!!! They will have to be in TX for a month and leave their older two daughters back in Tampa. Brooke & Brianna will fly to TX a few times to see Brittany, mom and dad but this still has to be incredibly hard on all of them. The recovery will be pretty hard on baby Brittany too since they will take a big chunk of her liver. All in all, I think they are happy to be going over the final hump of this disease and be on the road to recovery. All prayers are appreciated and her response to these drugs just show the power of prayer really works! Happy New year to everyone! Hopefully 2013 will be wonderful for everyone!