August Adventures

Summer is coming to an end. We’ve wrapped up the last of our family travels and the boys’ backpacks are all set out on the table to start school next week. While I am looking forward to the structure and routine that school provides our day to day life, I’ll miss our carefree days of summer. We were lucky enough to get to tag along with Chris on several work trips, visit family, and have visits from lots of our friends. Most of all, I’ll miss spending the whole day with my little guys. I know I’m beyond blessed to have the opportunity to spend every day with them, and I’ve especially loved getting to see new places and go on “adventures” with them over the last few months.

Some of my favorite times with my boys were the small, silly moments when they were just all boy-sweet, innocent, and loving life! They wore super hero jammies to the mall, rode their toy dinosaurs around the house, and made me laugh all the time!

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The boys were super excited to have a visit from their Auntie Jill (my best friend!) We showed her around downtown Raleigh, all our favorite parks and took a day trip to Chapel Hill…where we had the best BLT’s of our lives! Brady gave it a big ol’ thumbs up- or is that a Donald Trump impression? Either way…

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One of Brady’s favorite trips was when we went to Hickory, NC for Chris’ work. Not only did the museum there have an aquarium (Nolan’s favorite!) but they had a remote controlled dinosaur exhibit (Brady’s favorite!)

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The boys also got their back to school haircuts. Have I mentioned how much Nolan HATES haircuts? It’s torture for all of us. But, we got it over with. These are the best pictures I got of their new do’s. Nolan is covered in a chocolate ice cream sample and Brady wanted me to get a picture “like this” so he could see what he looked like with his eyes closed. Sigh.

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We had a fun day at Wrightsville Beach as a family this month. It’s about 2 hours from the house (our closest beach). I just love how much our boys have become little water babies this summer!

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We also had a visit from our friends the Richards. It was awesome catching up with them and the boys loved hanging with their cute kiddos, Lynlee and Bennett!

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We made another trip down to Savannah this month as well. This time we toured Fort Pulaski with Grandpa and Nana. The boys loved hearing the big cannon firing demos. Nolan wasn’t quite sure if it was fireworks or what.

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It’s always fun when you’re taking a selfie on the second story of a big fort and you happen to see on the phone screen, in the background, one of your kiddos climbing over the super high wall of said fort. We were all, “cheeeese- AHHH!”

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From Savannah we headed to Charleston for a few days. We ate yummy food, walked around downtown, hit up some cool parks, and checked out the South Carolina Aquarium.

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Me and my love in Charleston!

I had to capture the boys on the way home from our last trip. We came home later in the evening and Brady slept the entire way. Nolan slept about half and then spent the rest of the time watching Pharrell sing “Happy” on repeat. So typical.

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The boys and I spent one of our last days of summer at one of our favorite places, Pullen Park. It’s right by downtown and we had fun riding the train, playing on the playground, and we can never leave without getting a Loco Pop.

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This has been a great summer. It was full of celebrations, travel, friends and family. We had big adventures and small moments that I’ll always treasure. The boys will never be 2 and 4 again, so I tried to soak up as much of their sweetness as possible. Boo for summer being over, but yay for Fall adventures to come!

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Sweet, lazy days of summer!

July Adventures

Is July seriously over? That went fast! It’s hard to believe we’re onto our last month of summer before the boys head back to pre-school. We had a fun month- it was a mix of relaxed summer days, travel, and visits from friends and family. Oh, and it was also the month of the big red cast.

Not that it slowed us down at all!

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It was also the month that Nolan showed us that yes, he is indeed in his Terrible 2’s. That delightful mix of sweet and crazy.

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We had a very All-American 4th of July weekend. We had sparklers, cookouts, fire pits, S’mores, time with neighbors, adult beverages, and of course, fireworks over the golf course.

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Chris had meetings in Virginia Beach, so we decided to keep him company and tag along. I’m always surprised at how much I love that area. The boys were obsessed with all the fighter jets going over the beach, and we enjoyed some awesome seafood and great views.

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And yea, that cast was very full of sand by the time it came off.

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We had a fun visit from our friends, the Hootens. It’s so cute to see our kiddos growing up and getting to know each other.

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Me and my sweet Goddaughter, Taylor!

After 3 weeks, Brady got his cast off. The bone did not heal completely, so he had another 2 weeks of wearing a boot, but he sure was excited to get that cast off. Although, I have to say, he really did not complain about it at all. He’s our lil’ trooper.

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One of our favorite parts of the summer, has got to be our trip to the Outer Banks. Again, Chris has customers out there that he had to visit, so we tagged along. (The perks/trade off for having a husband who travels a lot)

Our first night, Nags Head greeted us with an amaaaazing dinner with the best view I could imagine. Right away, we knew we’d be coming back to Outer Banks as much as possible!

 

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Cornhole and drinks on the water? Yes please!

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While Chris was at work, the boys and I explored the beach at Kitty Hawk. Holy waves. It was truly the prettiest beach we’ve been to. (Sorry Daytona & Clearwater! We still love you!)

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Nicholas Sparks, I so get why you love North Carolina.

After Chris was done working, we were able to explore more of the area/ plan our next vacation!

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One of our most memorable parts of the Outer Banks was exploring the Sand Dunes at Kill Devil Hills. They were…breathtaking. Such a cool experience. So obviously, it goes wihout saying that pictures do not do them justice. There’s no way to properly capture the magnitude of how big and expansive those sandy hills are! If you look closely in each picture you may be able to see tiny dots in the background (people in the distance) that give you an idea of how far they stretched out. Oh, and props to Chris for carrying B up those hills with his big booted foot kicking him in the face. Poor kid. Poor daddy.

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As soon as we got home from the Outer Banks, Grandpa and Nana came up for a long weekend and we celebrated Chris’s birthday. They kids had a blast planning his little family party. I let them loose in Party City and they picked out the best decorations!

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This month also marked Nolan’s first time going to a movie. He did surprisingly well. For Nolan. We’ve been going to $1 movies they show for kids in the mornings, but we even went to see the Minion movie with Grandpa and Nana one afternoon. He mostly loves the popcorn.

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We also had lots of ordinary, every day moments, that helped pass the lazy days of summer and remind us just how precious this time is with our sweet boys.

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July…memory making at it’s finest!

 

June Adventures

June might be my favorite month of the year. For our family it’s full of celebrations, travel, and enjoying summer to the fullest. This year, in addition to celebrating lots of birthdays, our anniversary, and Father’s Day, we also threw in a 12 day road trip to Florida. We were able to visit with lots of friends and family and hit up some of our favorite spots along the way (and only came back with 1 broken bone!) Here’s our recap of the month of June and our big road trip!

We started the month with a visit from my mom. She was able to come stay for a week and we got to hang out, eat lots of food, and she was a big help at Brady’s birthday party.

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We celebrated Brady’s birthday early in the month because we knew we’d be busy traveling on his actual birthday. He had lots of friends from school and our neighborhood come help him celebrate.

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In the middle of June we set off on a trip to visit with our family in Georgia and Florida. We stopped for a night in Savannah and stayed with my dad and step-mom (Albert stayed with them for over a week while we traveled.)

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The boys shared a bed for the first time during the trip and we were nervous about how it would go, but they did surprisingly well. (Much better than when we tried it in Charleston and Brady threw up all over Nolan in the middle of the night…)

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We then set off for Clearwater, but had to stop in Gainesville along the way to get lunch and show the boys where their mommy and daddy met!

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Brady helped us find the Smith Family brick on UF’s campus.

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Nolan was a BIG fan of “pizza by the slice.” (aka the pizza consumed by many a Gator student after a night of partying on University Ave.) Here’s his best “GO GATORS!” with a mouthful of pizza.

We then spent a few days in Clearwater. We spent our first evening visiting with Chris’s family. They loved hanging out with their Aunt Kim and playing in her pool. Then, we spent the weekend at the beach visiting with friends and celebrating my birthday.

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Yay for Auntie Jill time!

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Super happy that I finally got to meet baby Bennett!

From Clearwater we headed to Daytona to visit with my family. I was so excited I got to spend my birthday with so much of my family. We spent about 4 days there and got in lots of beach, pool, and boat time. Chris and I even managed to get a night to ourselves at the beach. We loved spending so much time with my mom and Aunt Claudia too.

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Probably one of my favorite pictures ever! See the dolphin I’m pointing out to the boys?! Ahhh, an amazing day!

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After we left Daytona, we headed back to Savannah. We took the scenic route and drove up A1A (beach front avenue!) and stopped in St. Augustine for a quick lunch/site seeing.

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We spent our last weekend in Savannah visiting with Grandpa and Nana. We had fun eating, shopping, and celebrating mine and Brady’s birthday.

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Check out the sweet yellow jackets Grandpa got the boys!

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Somehow Chris and I were still smiling at the end of a 12 day trip. It was ambitious of us, but so fun! Leave it to us to dare to take a trip that long with a 2 and 4 year old.

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After we got home from our trip, Brady had his 4 year check up. He had a slight limp from where he tripped over a mat at Monkey Joes when we were celebrating his birthday in Savannah. I didn’t think much of it, but the doctor had us get x-rays just to make sure it was ok. I should mention that Brady does not do a good job of communicating when he’s in pain or something is wrong. He was actually in a really good mood and the doctor was quite surprised to see that he had fractured the base of his big toe bone! So, June brought us our first cast.

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Funny story- every time the x-ray tech would take an image, Brady would turn to us, pose, and smile. I’m not sure what kind of pictures he thought we were trying to get, but the tech said she felt like it was a magazine shoot!

Brady was excited about getting a RED cast. He asked about 12,000 questions during the process. The PA who did his cast was quite, um, “entertained” (annoyed) by him! I thought he was a champ during the whole thing.

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On June 24th, Chris and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. I have to brag about the thoughtful gift he got me. I have always LOVED crème brulee and wished I could make it at home. For our anniversary, Chris surprised me with a cookbook from a restaurant I had visited on a girls weekend in Greenville, SC. I thought that was pretty thoughtful, and then I saw the rest of the gift. He pointed out a crème brulee recipe in the cookbook and gave me the ramekins, and a torch to make my own. He had also gone to the store to buy all the ingredients. He knows me so well! I think I will keep him.

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We ended the month with a special Brady/Mommy date day. We spent the afternoon at the Science Museum and saw a 3D Dinosaur movie together and had lunch downtown. He was the perfect date!

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Hopefully the rest of the summer will continue to be a perfect mix of travel & adventure and family time & lazy days.

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Thank goodness for waterproof casts!

 

 

 

Brady-Boo is 4!

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Our sweet Brady is turning 4. It’s amazing how much he has seen and accomplished in his short life. He’s lived in 3 different states and visited at least 10! He’s gone from a shy, momma’s boy-baby, to a funny, adventurous little man.

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He loves exploring, analyzing and building. He takes everything literally and holds you to every promise you make. He’s a stickler for “following the rules” (especially if he notices his little brother breaking them.)

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Brady dislikes too much attention, thunder, and friends who don’t share or “act grumpy.” It should be mentioned that he himself can be quite the grump when he doesn’t get enough sleep! He’s also a perfectionist and hates to make mistakes.

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His favorite days are spent in water and he’s pretty fearless around it. He loves to play with Nolan and can be quite the bossy big brother when he needs to be.

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When I did a little interview with Brady, here’s how he answered…
Q:What’s your favorite food?
A: Hot Dogs!
Q: Who’s your best friend?
A: Ava (from preschool)
Q: What’s your favorite show?
A: Paw Patrol (sang the theme song)
Q: What’s your favorite movie?
A: Dusty! (Planes Fire and Rescue)
Q: What’s your favorite animal?
A: A T-Rex. (Naturally)
Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: Red. (Tells us that about 10 times a day)
Q: What’s your favorite sport?
A: Golf! (Daddy’s heart melted)
Q:What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: Um, a firefighter AND a paleontologist.

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We love Brady’s innocent nature and wish we could keep him this age forever. His love of books, space, airplanes, dinosaurs, and trains make him just about the cutest 4 year old ever.
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Happy birthday B-Man! We love you to the moon and back, sweet boy!

RAWR! Brady turns 4!

We had a fabulous time celebrating Brady today! While he doesn’t officially turn 4 until June 21st, we decided to have his party a little early because we are doing a lot of traveling later in the month. Our little dino-lover had a dinosaur theme complete with a (Publix!) dinosaur cake, a triceratops piñata, and lots of dinosaur presents from his friends. It was a perfect day spent with friends and family-Brady is so blessed to have so many people who love him! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the party.

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Good friends, perfect weather, water balloons, slip-n-slide, pool, and candy- being 4 is pretty awesome!

May Adventures!

If I was a scrapbooker, May would have been a fun month to document. We celebrated Mother’s Day, Brady finished 3 year old preschool, and it was the unofficial start of summer. Seeing as how I don’t have the patience to scrapbook, a blog post full of pictures will have to do! Here’s how our month went…

We hosted a neighborhood Cinco de Mayo party at the beginning of the month. Because, we’ll take any excuse to eat tacos, drink beer and hit a piñata.

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I got to attend the sweetest Mother’s Day Tea at Brady’s school and we had a mommy/son park date afterwards.

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Mother’s Day weekend was full of yummy food, personalized gifts, and time spent with my boys.

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The sweetest gift from all my boys!

We also checked out the Greensboro Science Center over Mother’s Day weekend!

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A selfie with a penguin! Happy Mother’s Day to me 🙂

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The boys were staring into the aquarium desperately waiting to see a shark. I snapped this picture right as Brady gave up and said, “I can’t find a shark anywhere!” Umm, buddy, TURN AROUND!

We were pretty busy with house projects this month (as usual.) We have been working in the yard a lot and finally got around to painting our deck.

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The boys really got a kick out of hanging out on the deck that “they painted.” Brady cracks us up when he puts his legs up and says, “This is the life.”

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May was the perfect time to go strawberry picking (several times!) As usual, Nolan ended up with more on his face than in his basket.

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Brady had his last day of 3 year old pre-school. He had such an amazing year, and we can’t wait to see how he flourishes next year!

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Once school let out, it freed us up to begin traveling a little more. We have a few big trips coming up, but we also like the freedom of being able to take some day trips around the area with the boys.

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Our new favorite pace to visit- Jordan Lake. It’s as beachy as we can get in the middle of North Carolina!

When Chris has somewhere cool to go for work, we try and tag along every once in a while. This month we hung out in the middle of a state park in Virginia while he met with clients. Never a dull moment!

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Boy, this was a precious moment…trying to get a picture of the boys hugging, then realizing they were wrestling on the side of a cliff overlooking a lake.

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The weather has warmed up in a hurry and we’ve been thankful for our backyard kiddie pool and neighborhood pool.

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May was also full of dinosaurs for us Smiths! We visited them at the museum, sorted them, drew them, found books about them at the library, and watched them on T.V. And now there’s a dino-themed birthday party for Brady in the works for June.

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May was nice and busy, and now we’re looking forward to an even busier June. Hooray for Summer!

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Dinner at the neighborhood clubhouse…ah, the charmed life of the Smith boys!

 

Mommy/Smith Boys weekend

This past weekend my hubby went back home to Texas to visit some old friends and family. It was a much needed trip, but unfortunately it came on the heels of him being away for work, so me and my little guys had a real nice stretch of quality time without daddy. And by that I mean, I had to get pretty creative to come up with fun stuff to entertain them so they wouldn’t spend all weekend looking at me saying, “When’s Daddy coming home?”

As a teacher, I loved lesson planning, so I was up for the challenge of planning some engaging activities that went beyond watching Paw Patrol and playing in our front yard. I’m not saying we didn’t do that too, but it was a long week/weekend so I needed more in my arsenal. Here’s how we spent our time…

Friday was a rainy day, so we spent it trying out a new game, playing with shaving cream, and going to the mall.

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Sweet Brady was obsessed with this fish game!

When all else fails, play in the kids area and eat Chick-fil-a at the mall.

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Straight from my bag of old teaching tricks…kids LOVE shaving cream!

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On Saturday, we had gorgeous weather. It was the perfect day to check out the Museum of Life Science in Durham. Or as I now like to call it, the Disney World of Durham. Good gosh, this place was amazing for kids. We were there all day and could have stayed longer! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to whoever created this place.

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Train selfies!

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On Sunday, we got up and made banana muffins together.

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Then we went to the airport to watch the planes take off and land, and of course, pick up Chris!

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We went straight downtown from the airport for a food truck rodeo.

And blissfully, Chris will be working from home ALL week this week. Woohoo!

I loved my one on one time with my boys, but it always feels better when our foursome is back together!

1 Year North Carolina-versary

This weekend marks one year since us Smiths moved from Lititz, Pennsylvania to North Carolina. In some ways we still miss our friends and small town that we left behind (heck, we still miss Florida too!) but in most ways, we feel like we’re finally home. This last year has seen our boys reaching new milestones- Nolan learned to walk and talk and Brady has completely blossomed into an independent pre-schooler. Our kids have gotten to experience so many new things since moving to North Carolina. They’ve explored lakes and trails, visited the mountains and beaches, and have been to tons of downtown museums and festivals. Here’s some of my favorite pictures from the last year of getting to know North Carolina.

If the weather was nice, we were at a park. Lots of biking, running, playing, and boating took place this year, and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the amount of cool parks to check out.

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We’ve tried to spend a lot of time enjoying all of the lakes near us as well with picnics, swimming, fishing and boat rides.

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We’ve celebrated all of our birthdays since moving to North Carolina…Brady turned 3 last summer and Nolan turned 2 this Spring. Side note: This summer Brady will celebrate his 4th birthday in his 4th house. Time to stay put for a while!

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We’ve really gotten to enjoy all 4 seasons. In fact, that might be my favorite thing about North Carolina. You get a taste of each season without ever feeling tired of any one type of weather. Just when the Summer heat got annoying, Fall gave us a welcomed break. When Winter got on my last nerve, Spring began to give us some relief. It’s just gorgeous here.

Summer

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Fall

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Winter

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Spring

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Some of our favorite memories were when we ventured out of Raleigh and checked out what else North Carolina had to offer.

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Visiting Boone, Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain.

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Checking out UNC Chapel Hill

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At Oak Island, NC

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Day trip to the NC Zoo

While we know the state of North Carolina has a lot to offer, we’re especially happy that we chose Raleigh as our city. We’ve had so much fun checking out the museums, shops, parks, restaurants, festivals and Farmer’s Markets downtown.

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It has been a fun year of exploring this area, and now that we have built our forever home, we are really looking forward to seeing what else there is to discover. I’ll always miss seeing Amish buggies in PA, and I’ll never be as close to the beach as I was in FL, but, despite the fact that NC has the worst Spring pollen I’ve ever encountered, it really feels like the perfect fit for our family. We’re looking forward to seeing what else this area has to offer and making lots more memories!

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Somebunny is 2!

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In some ways it’s hard to believe it has already been 2 years since Nolan came bursting onto the scene of life in an oh-so-dramatic fashion. In other ways, it’s impossible to think that life ever existed without his larger than life personality.

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It’s been 2 years of laughter, exhaustion, questioning our sanity, and thanking God every day for the gift that is Nolan. He continues to keep us on our toes and crack us up with his mood swings, catch phrases, and ridiculous obsessions.  He is also just about the easiest thing in the world to fall in love with thanks to his cuddly, smiley, thumb-sucking cuteness.

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While I admittedly never thought I could love anything as much as I loved Brady, (even while pregnant with Nolan!) I am forever in awe of how much my littlest man changed everything I knew about love. Like, heart exploding, best thing in the world, how did we ever live without you, love. Brady taught me what real love was, and Nolan taught me the infinite capacity that my heart could love.

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While it is bittersweet to think that our baby is no longer a baby, I’m too excited to see what life has in store for our sweet Rolie Nolie to ever wish for time stop. Even the surgeon who delivered him said that he must be destined for great things in life and was definitely sent to us for a reason. (Insert proud mom face.)

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So this Easter, as our little Bubba turns 2, we’ll be farther away from all the sleepless nights of his infancy and one step closer to the sleepless nights that he’ll undoubtedly cause us in his teen years. He’ll be going full throttle (as usual) and we’ll be there just trying to keep up with him (as usual.) His big brother will be desperately pleading with him to “follow the rules”  and “stop stealing my food!” all while laughing throughout the house, chasing each other or wrestling on the bed. He’ll be the maniac that he is and then stop for a quick snuggle and thumb suck (all while pulling my hair, no doubt.) We’ll soak up the good and try to get through the terrible 2’s with the mindset that this is all going by much too quickly.

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Thank you, Nolan, for the most challenging, hilarious, and love filled 2 years of our lives!

Love you,

Mommy, Daddy, & Brudder

Winter Weather Wackiness!

Ah, Winter time. That lovely time of year where noses never stop running, feet never seem warm enough, and cabin fever sets in. Admittedly, this North Carolina winter has paled in comparison to what went down last winter in Pennsylvania, but when you’re a mom of two small kids, cold is cold. No outside playtime and always having to bundle up to go anywhere is a drag. Then when you add snow or ice that keeps you housebound, well, that’s a lot of togetherness!

So, I’m sharing what we do to keep sane in Winter months.

First of all, without a doubt, there is more T.V. watching and iPad time. I just don’t know how to completely avoid that.

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At least it’s educational!

 

We have literally played with every.single.toy. in our house. We build and take apart various train tracks all day long. We paint pictures. We play with Play-doh. We read and re-read our favorite books. We do puzzles. We make buildings with Legos and blocks. We have races around the house. We jump on our trampoline. Aaand, that gets us to right around lunch time. Whew!

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Working on those fine motor skills!

 

Another life saver during winter months is a new toy added in the mix. Anything new that can be a distraction, is always a win! Except for this toy. It’s called a Wubble. It was described by Brady as, “The BEST toy ever!” And, it popped the day after we got it. We didn’t even have time for the novelty to wear off! Ugh…

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The real winter fun begins when we can get out and play in some cold weather. Last week we had this weird ice/snow storm that froze everything, made roads impossible to drive on, and canceled school all week. Thankfully we were stocked with lots of food and Chris was home with us as his travel plans were canceled for the week because of the weather. We couldn’t go anywhere, so we just used that time to bundle up and play on the ice.

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Nolan kept saying “Pretty Snow. Wow.” but he only kinda tolerated being outside in the cold. He refused to wear gloves and was much more interested in coming inside the warm house to eat breakfast.

While North Carolina does have it’s share of warmer winter days where temperatures reach into the 50’s, for the most part it’s much chillier this time of year and you are forced to find inside activities to fill the day. Some of our go-to places to venture to are the mall play area (if I’m up for dousing the kids with hand sanitizer afterwards), the train table in the children’s section of Barnes-n-Noble, a friend’s house for a playdate, the Chick-fil-a play area (so mommy can get an iced tea and a moment of sanity), story time at the library, Marbles Kids Museum (definitely getting our money’s worth out of those annual passes!) and the North Carolina Science Museum.

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At the “World’s Largest Dinosaurs” exhibit at the Science Museum.

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Dino dig at the Science Museum. Brady was in heaven.

When all else fails and we just can’t think of anything else to do, we make music, play music, and dance.

Another winter pastime of ours is finding a house project/re-decorating. It must be all that time spent sitting around the house that makes me start to critique every piece of furniture, paint color or throw pillow. Our house is new, so theoretically I shouldn’t have that much I’d want to change, but my dining room table has been on my mind for sometime now. I’ve always loved the table as it used to belong to my grandparents, but the chairs were not my style. During our week of being stuck inside, I finally bit the bullet and ordered some new chairs. Then, our first outing after the ice storm was to Home Depot for a new light fixture for the dining room. Thanks to winter storms, my hubby was in town all week and had some time in the evenings to put this all together for me!

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I’m a much bigger fan of the “After” look.

We try to make the most of our time together during all the cold weather, cabin fever loveliness, but some days seem to turn into a blur of baking cookies, watching movies, and taming toddler madness. I’m sure Spring is right around the corner, but for now we’ll keep searching for our lost gloves, watching the Planes movie on a continuous loop, and checking the news for school closures. cbn1 cbn2

Keep warm, friends! And for goodness sake, if you’ve got some better ideas for entertaining kiddos during the winter, please share them with me!