Ahh summer. We made our first treck to The Berry Patch last night to pick some of our very own blueberries. What an adventure. I'm not sure what was my favorite part, watching little miss Kyndall eat blueberries right off the ground

or watching Ella very carefully pick the biggest berries for her to eat right there

or maybe it was the gallons of sweat I lost picking blueberries in the field. Maybe it was all of it. It is always nice to go do something fun and out of the ordinary. The fields were huge and were breathtakingly beautiful with the sun slowly setting. It was another moment of pure heaven for me.

Ryan and I traded holding the little dirt monster while we tried to pick as many berries as we could. Ella gave up about two bushes in because she was hot, so she too resorted to digging in the dirt because it was more fun.

Notice Ella trying to hand her a rock while Kyndall is going for the good stuff, a blueberry!
And although we were literally pouring sweat off of our bodies, we had a great time.


That is one hot little girl!
And in the great blueberry field as we were getting ready to leave, a great picture happened. I have realized that these are not that often and although I wish Ella was a little more visable, it is a great picture.

I love the way the sun shines on these precious people in my life. It was like God telling me to look at what a precious thing I have. And I did just that!

And as we left we said goodbye to the lazy cat that was sleeping on that very warm night and made our way back to our castle. Little eyes were getting sleepy and ready to rest their tired blueberry stained hands! What a great way to spend a weeknight!

Can you remember the first time you had watermelon?

Can you remember the first time you tasted that crisp sweetness?



When Nanie offered the girls a piece of one of her homegrown baby watermelons, the girls were all over it.

Of course with the new camera I couldn't resist taking about a billion pictures of this historic moment when Kyndall took her first bite!

It was so fun to watch and although she can't talk you can totally she what she is saying.

Ella of course is very serious about this after all watermelon eating is serious business. And just like me she is methodical in the way she eats every piece. First the seeds must come out, then you can start eating, and finally heave it over the railing onto the back yard.

Have you ever wanted to eat something like this?

Kyndall was in heaven and finally by the time she was done her shirt was just drenched with watermelon juice.

Of course, shirts can come off and playing with her sister can resume after their tasty snack.

Veggie Therapy

I have to admit that summer has got to be my favorite time of year. But the reason it is my favorite time is because of all the great things there are to eat, pick, cook, and grill! And although it sounds weird when I say this canning has become my favorite thing to do in my kitchen. So with the help of my in-laws (THANKS FOR THE TOMATOES!) and my wonderful daughter, we had some veggie therapy today. Or in other words we canned tomatoes.

I loved watching Ella peel the tomatoes.

She was very methodical in her choice of which tomato was ready.


Her fingers were just perfect for this job, little and delicate so that the tomato stayed in one piece.
And as we finished the peeling, she was excited for the next stage in our therapy.
I know you can't tell it by her face but she really was.

She loves the squishing part!

She loves to watch the seeds fly everywhere and then throws it into the colander like she has done this for ages. It is all too cute! Oh yeah, don't worry the knife wasn't sitting there the whole time. Had a get a quick snapshot before she got to wild!

Here is our finished product ready to cooked for hours into delicious spaghetti sauce that we will enjoy far into the winter!
I hope that she finds this as therapeutic as I do and someday I hope she passes it on to her kiddos. Life is so good today!!

Camera Fun

Here are just a few of the pictures I took using our new camera! There will be more to follow when I have had more time to get them resized!

Our Anniversary Trip

Look at us! 5 years ago, just can't believe it!

As of today, Ryan and I have been married for 5 years! I just can't believe that in what seems like such a short amount of time has actually been 5 years. We have so much to be thankful for and wanted to take an opportunity to get away and destress before all the fall craziness begins. We traveled to Osage Beach. It was a beautiful and fun lake side town. We ate some fabulous food from great restaurants and from our own kitchen. This is the view from our room, just gorgeous!

We hit some balls on what we thought would be the coolest day, it turns out that it wasn't. I was looking forward to playing a round but after spending an hour in the "lake" heat, there was no way I would have made it. Ryan later admitted also that he was glad we didn't play. It was just miserable.



We visited The Bridal Cave. This was awesome!! There have been many weddings inside this cave which was one of the most amazing things I have seen. There are all sorts of statistics that our guide rattled off but it was just the coolest! We saw a beautiful lake pool and lots of cool structures. At one point our guide turned off the lights in the cave, wow talk about dark. It was crazy.

The best part of the trip was the winery. We got to sample their wines, eat a delicious lunch on their patio, and enjoy a nice time of quietness! It was heaven on earth!

I know what you're thinking, has she had some wine? Why yes, yes I had!! Everyone should start their day like this.

After being gone for a week, we are missing our little girls and our little man. And although I just loved having my husband all to myself and having adult conversations all the time, I did miss those little fingers and little kisses!

Catch Up

So here is the first of many catch up blogs from the past two weeks! To start out with we have officially celebrated the girls' birthdays privately and publicly. The girls had a great time with all of their friends in the party zone in our backyard. There is nothing quite like listening to 2 or 3 toddlers running around screaming their little heads off while they are running through the sprinkler. Especially when Papaw is running the sprinkler and it goes off anytime they get close, but only long enough for them to inverstigate the lack of water, then it is turned back on only to send them into screaming fits again running in all different directions. FUN FUN TIMES!

Everyone got in on the action of opening presents. We had soooo many to open. It was way too much for everyone to get the girls' something but I know they have loved all the presents.

The kids loved painting the deck with water, it was a great idea for the kids to be creative but with no mess!

Kyndall giving us her awnry face while grandma and grandpa were holding her.

We had so much fun and so did the kids. And then we sent the kids, with their suitcases and a few new toys, off to my parents house while we left for our anniversary trip.

I feel like this today

As I am sitting here reading my fabulous post from yesterday I want to go backwards. Today was not my favorite day although it had its moments, it was a day that will go to sleep like the rest of me tonight. Between the dr's trying to figure out what is wrong with Kyndall and Ella being attention deprived with a sick sister, my patient thread snapped at 10am. We finally figured out she has a uti and is now on meds after another fiasco about when we should start the meds. There were no naps to be had from any of the little ones in our house which no work getting done by me and there is a lot to get accomplished. Add in the stress of going away on an anniversary trip and a birthday party on Saturday for two very deserving little girls, I am slowly losing it. But I guess that is my life and on the flip side of the crazy day I am glad that I have those stresses and not more important ones. We ate today and have a house and have love to keep us going. I am hoping for a better day tomorrow and to eat my girls up for the next three days. I feel a game of memory coming on and lots of story time which is just snuggle time for me :). Good night today !

My Favorite Day

I SO STOLE THIS IDEA: Thanks Kelle Hampton, which by the way if you haven't read her blog especially her birth story of her youngest daughter Nella Cordelia. DO IT, it is a must read and I think you will be hooked on her blog. I read it all the time. She has a fabulous outlook on life and raising children. Ok back to my blog:
Today was my favorite day, even though it was a long one, it still was great. Here is why:
Today I woke up to my daughter in my bed telling me my hair was crazy and loving on me to wake me up. And although it was 6am I was more than willing to get out of bed for her.
Today my babies slept during nap time which allowed me to get some house work done and some craft shows researched.
Today we had to go to the dr for my youngest daughter and although she is doing better and I was worried at the time I am so thankful that we have a dr to go to.
Today as I was at the dr. with my two little ones testing every patient thread in my body. "But Mommy why is there a door" "Mommy why are they doing that" Mommy why aren't you talking to me" Yep that was really said. I realized just how much I miss my son. He is my extra set of hands that I don't miss til theyre gone. I don't know what I would do without theses little beings in my life! Especially the older one!!
Today was my favorite day because after all the chaos of going to after hours care for Kyndall and the chaos at home with bedtime an hour later than normal, I got to sit down to a fabulous dinner with some home grown goodness out of my garden. MMMM homegrown bruschetta on grill toasted asiago bread with a cesear salad and copper river salmon fired on the grill!
Most importantly it was my favorite day because my husband will be home in a few minutes (long day for him too) and I just got to love on my babies who smiled back at me and held me close.
Today was my favorite day!!

Girls Birthday Pictures

We ventured to Target to get the girls' birthday photos taken and boy was it fun!! The girls got all ready for their big pictures and just looked adorable. As we waited they got all sorts of smiles and fabulous reactions from passer by's. Then it came time for us...Ella was first. She of course did great. All smiles and lots of personality.







I mean seriously could she be any cuter!! Then is was Kyndall's turn and well lets just say that she showed lost of personality. Here is where we started...



Good right? Then we went to this..


Oh wow. Oh maybe if we sit sister beside us we will calm down... NOPE!


And finally we thought we had her calmed down a little, we were wrong yet again...



So lessons learned..be prepared for photographers to ALWAYS be late or for your appointment to NEVER be on time...little girls who are from the same gene pool can be polar opposites at every moment in their lives...pictures that are posed are not as fun as those that are real life...sometimes we feel exactly like those babies bent over crying their eyes out, we just don't look as cute doing it as they do!

I love my girls and I am so thankful that they have lots of personality to go around!!

Friends

What a fabulous afternoon we all just had! I'm not real sure who had more fun, the kids playing in the yard or us ladies chatting it away over good food and beautiful weather! I feel so blessed to have these ladies in my life. And although we all started out working together and now have almost all gone on to other things, we remain the same. I love it! I hope that Ella grows up with that same group of girlies. Ones that will be there when you call and even when you don't for a while, they just pick up where we all left off. And we all make the effort, when we think about or are longing for a girls night away, to get together and gossip about our lives/husbands/families/kids and whatever else might be going on. It is the best feeling in the world. So a huge thanks to my circle of girlfriends-I love you all and couldn't make through this thing called motherhood without you!
Sorry no pictures of anything the food or the people, too busy having fun!

Chase's Leaving

I have had this post in my mind for a while just wasn't sure what all would be put down on paper. Chase has left again for his daddy time in the summer. Every year when this time rolls around I always hope and pray that it will be easier, but it never is and I know it won't ever be. Chase has lived this life since he was 2 and he doesn't know it any other way but even with that said his leaving is as heart wrenching as it was the first time he left. This weekend was no different. He had many nights of crying and not wanting to go, which ultimately just means he will miss us. Our trip to the airport was so early which was good, kind of numbs all of us for the goodbye. As we hurried through lines since we were late again, he cried and couldn't even say goodbye to the girls or Ryan. As we got in the gate and checked Chase in, it was already time to load. I think sometimes we purposely do this rush and be late thing, it makes the goodbye so quick that at least for him, he can't see me break down when he gets on the plane. But this time was different. Chase just broke down himself and after several attempts for him to stay, I handed him over to flight attendant who was such an angel. And as my son walked down that long hallway to a life that leaves me out, he came running back. It was comforting and so sad all at the same time. How am I supposed to handle this?! I quickly thought of what to say to get him to laugh so that he could get on that plane as to not cause a stir. I manage to speak through my tears and got a smile on that beautiful face and quickly handed him off again. And as he walked away again my crying had to wait. But after counting to 10 mississippi I was free to let the tears come and boy did they! Looking out at the runway at the people working so hard to take my son to his dad, I just let them come. And after all the people were loaded and the airplane pulled back, there those pesky tears still were, falling like rain. And after realizing that the plane was out of sight, I went home with my tears. I don't think Chase will ever know just how much we and I being one of those we, miss him. But I know that Chase misses us just as much and hopefully someday he won't have to do this anymore. My final thought for this blog entry is a sad one to me at least. As I stood there in the terminal crying, saying goodbye to my son again, and then crying some more I realized there were at least 200 people standing there watching me. Watching this heart wrenching seperation take place and watching this mom stand there alone and cry for the son that she has put on the plane. And of those 200+ people how many came up and gave a kind word or even acknowledged what was happening, not a single one. Im not sure what was harder to realize, my son leaving or the fact that humanity has really taken a turn for the worse. Who can stand there and watch that happen and not say one thing? So sad.
I am glad to say that he made it to his dads ok and after talking to him on the phone, he seems to be having fun. We can't wait for his 45 days to be up and he will be coming home, to his family who misses him so!!

Birthdays

Kyndall turns one today and Ella turned 3, two weeks ago. Wow that is a joyous but bittersweet sentence to type. Where has the time gone? As I was talking to Ryan about this fact of our lives last night he just couldn't believe that it had been only a year, and I agreed. This year has been one long year but looking back in regards to our babies, it has flown by. And as sad as I am that I can no longer cuddle with Kyndall for hours on the couch or listen to her slow breathing while she is asleep in the bassinet right beside me, I know that life has so much more in store for us. I look to Ella as the example. I so miss those nights when Ryan would sneak her into our bed and we would play with her at 11 o'clock at night, laughing and playing peek a boo. We would fall asleep with her between us and I just knew he was counting his blessings just as I was. But life is so different now with her and I wouldn't go back if I had the chance! She is such a huge part of our lives and enriches our whole world with everything she does. From her "oh come on now" when I won't let her have her way to her random "I love you mom" when she just knows I need it to her needing to put on makeup just like mommy, she is the daughter that I have always dreamed of. I already so proud of her acheivements and can't wait to see more as her life goes on. And just as I love Chase and wouldn't go back to when he was younger (although when he has attitude maybe) she reminds me that I need to live life just as it is, NOW. So instead of being sad and reminensent of the year that has passed in our littlest ones life, I am going to be happy to still have her around. And just as there will be times that remind me of how fragile she is (yesterday took a tumble down our stairs face first, yeah that was scary and I am still crying) there will be times that remind of just how strong of a women she will become. Wow that was a hard one to type as well. I am so proud to be their mom and can't believe that all of my kids are growing up so well. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my two girls. You make my heart swell with pride and I couldn't be happier to be your mom!