Love for August...

....not because of school being back in session (who would).  Not because the weather is cooling (yeah right).  Not because of my bday (yup just turned 31...I am now "IN" my thirties!!!!) or the many other bdays around this time.  BUT BECAUSE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL!

 

Yes I get giddy this time of year b/c of college football.  The Tennessee Volunteers to be exact, but I will watch it all.  John is a Razorback fan, so I guess I have to mention them too.  AND we are season ticket holders for Vandy (hey it is SEC football in our hometown, so we are going).  So....we have plenty to watch.  

 

We kicked it off last night at the Vandy game.  It was so stinkin' hot that there are NO photos to be had.  Let me just say that football is made to be in chilly weather with some hot chocolate and a blanket!  But none the less...we still had fun.  Vandy did NOT pull out the win.  So disappointed...there is something about those Ole Miss fans I just don't like!  Of course, there are the exceptions (my college roommate and her hubs & my bosses & a few people that John works with), but overall I could do with out their fancy tailgates where the girls wear pearls and heels.  I mean come on, it is FOOTBALL and it was HOT!!  I am good with my t-shirt and flip flops!  Ha!

 

So this Labor Day weekend we will have the TVs (yes I said TVS b/c Arkansas and Tennessee games are likely to overlap) on some college football.  All while we continue to unpack of course!  

GO BIG ORANGE! Oh how I love the site of the checkered board end zone!! 

P.S. Kelsey sides with me on this one! 

We did it!

We moved.  All of our belongings are in our house.  The house that we own.  The house that we built.  There is more space in there than what we know to do with.  Here is an album with the building progress which was not all that bad.  In fact, we enjoyed it and would recommend our builder! 

It is still hard to believe, that we have this place to live that isn't in my parents basement.  We were very blessed to be able to stay with them for 10 months and save some (a lot really) money.  But we had a routine and it had become "life".  Now we are making a change.  A good change, but a change.  

Kelsey has seemed to adjust pretty quickly and well.  She does miss her Mimi and Grandaddy and each time we drive by their road she waves.  She likes her room (the only one in the house that is set up and organized).  We have to buy her a bed and dresser and hang decor and curtains, but she loves the pink and purple.  And she has a huge closet!

And this is the rest of the house.  (Not really at all actually...just the dining room which is the catch all at the moment.)  We have unpacked the kitchen.  I guess technically my mom and aunt did that all day Saturday while we moved furniture and more boxes in.   

Let me just take this little tangent to say that I have an awesome family that came to help out over the weekend.  My grandparents took Kesley Friday night and brought her to us Saturday evening.  Mom and Dad not only let us live with them for 10 months, but helped us move, unpack, wash laundry, get food, run errands, etc....  My cousins, Molly, Chase and Chad all came to help us move along with Uncle Mark.  And Aunt Debbie helped in unpacking the kitchen and washing all my dishes that had been in a stinky storage locker for several months!  Uncle Kelly was our agent and patient with us while we figured out what we wanted.  The in-laws and great grandma were huge blessings during this time as well!  Thanks to all!

OK back to the post.  There is nothing on a single wall just yet.  Oh I take that back.  I hung one picture in Kelsey's bathroom the other night and her bow holder in her closet (pictured above).  But no curtains or other pictures hanging yet.  It will come and hopefully soon!  John's parents are bringing his grandmother to see the house next weekend and we will have curtains and wall hangings by then.  YES WE WILL!  

So more unpacking and organizing for us tonight and tomorrow and the next day and the next.......

First week of school

Well I guess the first week of school went off pretty well.  We were caught off guard by K's class being combined with the 4 year olds this year, but b/c of the lack of 3 year olds registering they are in one class room.  The good thing about this is that K gets to stay with the kiddos she was with last year.  Her teacher started a Faceb@@k page and shared some photos.  I will share this one as it is just of K and I don't want to share the other kiddos photos without permission. 

Writing letters in chocolate pudding

They learned about creation last week and K loved it!  Week one down....however many more to go. 

We are back!!!

I keep telling myself that I need to work on the ole blog of mine!  Yet the time continues to pass and nothing is done.  I am not a writer and maybe that is part of my problem, but I am going to try to keep some of our happenings posted on here.  So.....

There have been a lot of changes since I last wrote on here.  Kelsey is no logger a little girl and refused to STOP growing.  She will be 4 in November and is loving every minute of testing her parents patience.  HA!  

First, we have moved.  We said goodbye to St. Louis last October and made our way back down south.  John was able to find a job in Nashville and we moved in with my parents while the condo was on the market and I found a job.  Well....me finding a job was MUCH easier that selling that silly condo!  Finally in February we closed on the condo and could start looking for something here!  While we left some great friends in St. Louis that we miss dearly, we are all very happy to be around family and in the south.  

Once I found a job it was time to find care for Kelsey.  We really wanted to find something that she would love and learn.  We put her in a private Christian school back in January and she LOVES it!  She has done wonderful (for the most part) and made lots of friends.  She just started back to pre-school this week after summer break and was so excited.  

K's spring picture at school last year

K with her teacher and best friend at school

Collecting coins for a fundraiser at school

First day of pre-school this year

After the condo sold we started looking for a place around here.  Luckily my uncle is an agent and was there to help!  Anything we would look at would sale before we could even get there to look at it.  One weekend we 1/2 jokingly told my uncle that we were looking until we found something.  Well...we found something...that we could build!!  So that is what we did.  The building started in May and we will have our finished product August 23rd!  The process has been great and alot more relaxed that either of us thought it would.  

Seeing her PINK room for the first time

I guess that brings us to now....although there sure was a whole lot more that went on during that time (birthday parties, trips to St. Louis, Arkansas and Indiana, concerts, graduations, swimming, picnics, new babies, and LOTS OF FAMILY!  Here is to updating more and keeping friends and family informed.  Wish me luck!  

Kitchen Time

Oh my how this girl loves playing kitchen and with her baby dolls.  So why not put it all together.  K can be so funny!!!  There are nights where we really just laugh all night because of her imagination. 
She needed her apron and had to have the hat with it.  

Opening her food 

Baby needed to match with her apron and hat too 

Now she made baby Mac & Cheese (Kelsey's favorite) and fed her. 

We have a little mommy on our hands.  :-)  

Kelsey's First Easter Egg Hunt

One Saturday we randomly decided to head to a local Easter Egg Hunt called the Hare in the Air b/c the Bunny was flown in on a helicopter.  Yes....and Kelsey loved it.  In fact, the other day we saw a helicopter while driving down the road and she asked me if the Easter Bunny was in it.  Ha!  Anyway...it was a great hunt and Kelsey had a blast. 

Fred Bird was even there!  

She liked the petting zoo too 

She LOVED the fire truck and even got to "drive" it. 

 

And....she took her picture with the Easter Bunny.  While we were in line waiting she kept saying "Hello Easter Bunny.  I love you".  Too cute!

Clothes

So our little girl has more clothes (b/c it is soooo easy to find adorable stuff for girls), but our favorites are the handmade outfits we get from Kelsey's Great Aunt Debbie.  She has a great talent with the sewing maching (& much more too).  She uses lady's clothing that she finds at thrift stores, etc...& makes them into these...   

 

 

You can visit her etsy store here she also has a blog about her creations Dump Truck & Divas.

Daddy's 31st Bday

Yes, his bday was in Feb. but at least we are getting it posted on here. 

John's parents were able to come in town for his bday.  We had a great time and enjoyed catching up. 


Kelsey with Daddy and the card that she picked out for him.
She was so excited that Cinderella was on the card she had to get it! 

The Red Velvet cake that I made.  I should have put Daddy instead of Johnny, but oh well.
It was pretty good... 

 

Kelsey was trying to re-lick the envelopes.  This pic cracks me up!   

Potty Training Weekend

Back in February I took a couple of days off of work to stay at home and potty train Kelsey.  Let me just say it was way better than I thought it would be.  Not b/c I didn't believe that she could do it, just b/c I was dreading the accidents and clean ups.  AND you can't get mad when there is one even though you want to scream!  (be honest mommies, none of you enjoy the mess that comes with potty training most of the time).  All of that to say that it hasn't been that bad.  K did struggle a bit with pooping in the potty but got that down in just a week or so.  So we now have a 27 month old in big girl panties (that she LOVES by the way).  I am not saying that we are done by any means, b/c there will still be accidents I am sure.  But it is a great relief to have the initial few days behind us.  :-) 

This pics are from the first time out of the house in panties!
It was just the front yard...but still.  Ha!

 

 

 

 

Snow, Valentines, and a Haircut

Yeah the photo a day thing died quickly! haha

We have stayed busy around our house, but it has been on our own terms here lately. We have spent many weekends since Christmas getting our condo ready to put on the market. Finally it is! So now we just have to keep it clean ALL THE TIME! It isn't as hard as I thought it would be actually. So....if anyone knows of someone looking for a 2 bedroom condo....

Last weekend I took Saturday for a day to myself. I had a massage, haircut and mani/pedi. It was a very relaxing day. While I was out and about, John took Kelsey to the Magic H0use. She loves that place and John loves taking her! She also found a new love for cash registers.

It also snowed here a few days ago. Kelsey has not been a fan of the snow in the past but for some reason this time she asked to play in it. Of course John and I were more than happy to take her out to play. He tought her to eat it and make snow angels. She had a blast. I can't wait to do it again.

And there was Valentine's Day....we don't usually do much. So this year it was cooking dinner at home. We got some stuffed salmon from Sams. It was very yummy. The stuffing was crab-cake-like. My favorite! Then we went to Chili's for dessert. John also brought Kelsey and me flowers!Kelsey had her first haircut this week. I probably should have done it a while ago, but every mom knows how time just seems to pass really quickly. Anyway...here are some photos of the haircut and Claudia's house. Claudia is the lady that watches K every day and her daughter Tracy cuts the whole family's hair. She said that she had to be the first one to cut K's hair. So of course we let her.