Mother's Day Weekend

Sometimes, in the midst of what feels like the busiest season of your life, a breath of fresh air blows through and you can breathe again. That's what last weekend was for me. The Captain was off on a Big, Fancy Civilian Business Trip to Florida the week prior and I was finishing up my last week of classes for the spring semester. Stresses were high. In between all the working, there were hearing appointments to attend and life to be participated in. We planned on celebrating his arrival back in town and my (hopeful) success in excelling in my classes by getting away for a little R & R, as much of that as you can have with two toddlers anyway. We ended up in a place that has shaped my family in more ways than one. My papaw was able to buy back his family farm after his family lost it many years ago. It means so much to him and has been a blessing to me, as well. It's a little oasis near the Tennessee/Georgia line called Ducktown, TN and you won't find Internet or Cell Service there even if you try.

It was perfect.

A weekend to celebrate my boys and the fact that I get to be their mother-

Completely unplugged from the world-

Unless we ventured into Blue Ridge, GA-

For the most part, we walked around the property-

Hiking-

Looking at the chickens-

and relaxing in the fresh air.

I'll cherish that weekend as long as I'm living. It's times like those that keep me going. I didn't fret about looking up signs to teach every time I talked. I didn't worry about tests or papers or appointments. I didn't use the t.v. to passify my toddler. I was just there with my favorites and it reminded me of what a happy life I have. Thanks be to God.

It was a very happy Mother's Day. I hope yours was just as sweet.

2013 in Review

What a crazy quick year 2013 was for the W Family! Here's a 12 month recap:

1. In January, I wrote this post marking the beginning of my journey toward fitness. It's funny how I say my goals are to get fit and not get pregnant "especially the latter." Oh, how comical. After having Baby A I weighed 132. By the end of the year, I'm holding steady at about 118! I'm proud of my progress.

2. February brought a new move onto the horizon. The boys and I settled into life in sunny Florida and J finished up training for his new job out of state.

3. In March, we got crafty with a toddler activity board!

4. Then we took a few trips south in April. We left Jacksonville for Orlando and Sarasota and made precious memories with our kiddos.

5. In May, I set my sights on a goal of running 100 miles in a month. I hit my goal AND broke a new personal record. In addition to that, my family came in from TN to see my cousin get married. We had a good time showing my sister and bro-in-law around our new home in Florida.

6. June was so much fun, too. My husband graduated with his MBA from Norwich University in Vermont. It was my first time visiting the state and I fell in love! Then my pal came to Florida to visit us.

7. Still plugging away at getting fit, I created the Burpee Sprint Challenge in July. Then something Amazing happened at the end of the month! J secured an interview within his company for a job in East Tennessee and we soon heard back that we were moving HOME!

8. August was obviously crazy. We packed up our house in a weekend and I drove with two under two the full 8 or more hours home. We celebrated K's second birthday and Baby A turned 8 months old.

9. Thrilled to be home, we set out to hike the cumberland trail with the boys when we weren't busy shopping for a house in September. I also set and achieved a goal of running 50 miles that month.

10. In October, we finally moved into our new house!

11. November, my birthday month, was pretty uneventful. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in TN in over five years or so, though.

12. December has been insane, too. Lots of new developments. Baby A turned 1! We found out our family is growing again!


We are looking forward to the new year. I'm still formulating goals in my head, but I'll be sure to share those with you when I get a chance. Thank you all so much for reading and supporting me in 2013. See ya next year ;)

Christmas List

My man always waits until the last minute to go Christmas shopping. Not me. I like to buy in advance so I'm not stressed out by the time the big day rolls around. I almost always have a few that I need to pick up a few days before Christmas, though. It never fails. I'm not where I'd like to be on our list, but hopefully we'll get there. As usual, I thought I'd make it easier on J when he goes out shopping. Not that he's not good at choosing gifts for me- he is. BUT...I am diggin' these:

Do you shop well under pressure? I don't. Yesterday, I was feeling the stress of SEVEN DAYS and I wandered around aimlessly after the two gifts I went after were nowhere to be found. I was power walking through our tiny little mall like no one's business, but I wasn't getting anywhere. Sigh.

Tis the Season.

Thoughts on Baby #3 and Friday Link Love

Thank you all so much for the congrats and in case you haven't heard:

We are expecting! I tend to tell people when these things come about because I'm just so excited and because, well, I'm a writer. I need to write. I need to document. My feelings get all sorted out this way. While this was such a beautiful surprise for us, it's also a little scary. I wonder what the transition from two to three will be like! We'll be outnumbered after all. It was a surprise, but we do want a big family and so this is just perfect for us. We know these years will be precious and fleeting and perhaps a bit crazy, but we are thrilled to have this blessing and a new adventure as a family of five. I'm newly pregnant so of course I would appreciate your prayers for a healthy baby. I won't be going to the doc until after Christmas because the schedule was just too crazy, but I'll know more then. I wanted to share our news on social media because I knew if anything happened to this precious life I wouldn't grieve silently. I'd have to write about it. We are hoping and praying that this little one grows to a healthy, happy babe in about 8 months. Thank you for your support and love! Also:

It's time again for...

1. It's nearly Christmas and I still haven't done my annual (virtual) Christmas List! My husband really depends on that, but I just haven't had time. I thought I'd throw this in the ring, though. I want P90X3! Get ripped in 30 minutes? Surely I can do that ;) Anyway, here's my favorite Beachbody lady, fellow blogger, Alana!
2. Also in the spirit of Christmas, my favorite web designer posted a Joy To The World free printable! It's pretty. I'd print it if we had any colored ink left. Ink cartridge is on my list of "crap to get".
3. If you don't make any other cookie this holiday season, make this one! My mom makes the best thumbprint cookie EVER. Not an exaggeration. You will definitely want to hop in that kitchen ;)

Anyway, what else did I miss on the world wide web today? Send me the good things you've found!

December Goals

I made some blanket type goals for 2013- the kind those in the psychology world know to be Crappy Goals (ok, I made that up). I wanted to get fit. I wanted to read more. I wanted to write more. There were others, but as I typed out just what I wanted to accomplish this year, it was only half-heartedly that I did so. Goals should be measurable and specific, something all of these lacked. When I saw Laura write out her goals for this month alone, I started thinking- Why wait until New Years to get crackin' on the things I want in my life? Here's what I'm working on this month:

1. 10,000 words on novel- I have begun writing the next great fiction novel. Get excited, folks! Seriously, though...I want to reach at least 10,000 words making the total word count around 13,000 by the end of the month.
2. Drink 3 camelbaks of water daily (at least!)
3. Workout 4x (at least) per week
4. Bring Christmas Cheer to our neighbors (deliver cookies, write a sweet note, caroling) (bahaha on that last one). What an odd practice caroling is...so I'm totally kidding with that one. I can't carry a tune in a bucket.
5. Start and Finish homemade gift for my sweet Cray K. I look forward to showing you all this one!

What are your goals for the last month of 2013?

My weekend in pictures

Top of the mornin' to ya, friends! How was your Thanksgiving? Great, I hope. We had a good one here. It was nice to have J off for a four day weekend. He used to get those pretty frequently in the military but now they are scarce (and more treasured!). We spent time with extended family, got some work done around the house, visited the Chattanooga Aquarium, and celebrated Baby A's first birthday.

From Top Left to Right: 1/My great aunt feeding the babe 2/ The boys playing in the leaves we raked up. Those faces! 3/ Cray K was super thrilled about the butterfly conservatory 4/First slice of birthday cake!

I'll share more about the birthday party later this week. I'm going to show you how to create cute, inexpensive ornaments as fillers for your Christmas tree! Also, there'll be creative foods and crafts for a camping themed party. I hope you'll come back and check that out.

Tell me- how was your weekend?

P.S. In celebration of Cyber Monday, ad space is 50% off TODAY ONLY. Email me or comment for details.

Also? All these items are for sale, too. Gently used.

The ones with arrows are cute with leggings! You pay shipping...unless you're local and we can work out a way to meet up. There's more for sale here. Make me an offer I can't refuse. 

Have a very happy Monday!

Small Business Saturday

In honor of Small Business Saturday, I thought I'd run a special on all ad space! Below post ads are booked for awhile, but take $1 off sidebar post options--TODAY ONLY!

I hope you've enjoyed some quality time with your friends and family for Thanksgiving and now you're busying yourself with shopping for all the folks on your Christmas list. I was so happy to wake up to a well-lit house. Christmas trees everywhere! Anyone else having trouble keeping the baby from pulling all of them down? Or is that just me?

We'll chat soon!

XOXO

I'm in a good place.

As a prior-military family, you can imagine that we don't really have a routine Thanksgiving that we normally do. In 2009, we spent the day in Fairbanks with new friends after J served his soldiers a big meal. In 2010, we were on a boat floating around Alaska and Canada. Our cafeteria food wasn't quite what we had in mind, but I treasure that time for more than one reason. The photo above was taken shortly before we got on the boat. Then in 2011, I had a sweet (but colic-prone) squishy baby and tensions were high. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Louisiana by ordering a pizza and waiting on his family to get there the next day. Last year, in 2012, I was very pregnant and tired. J's parents came down to Louisiana to fry a turkey with us.

This year, we're planning on making the rounds at my grandparents' houses and counting our blessings.  Chiefly among these are:

These two sweeties. I can't get a blur-free photo for nothin'. I'm thankful for their lively personalities and good health and development! I love them so very much.

My husband- he works very hard for our family:

My health:

This year has been a quick one, but I'm proud of the changes I've made in my lifestyle. Exercising and attempting to eat better has changed my life (and body!). No turning back.

Being back in Tennessee:

I still can't believe it. I look out at our street and can see the church steeple in the distance. We're in town, but we still have an element of seclusion. I feel as if God picked us right up out of the largest city in our nation and placed us in exactly the right home. It was no sweat for him. One day we're settling into our new lives in sunny Florida, the next we're nestled around our dear mountains of East TN.

*Family, friends, a God who never leaves me, coffee, patience, and many many more are also on that list. I'm in a good place, y'all.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
(and a very happy birthday to my sister, Paige. Love you.)

Phooey

Every year at this time, an uneasiness sits heavy on my heart. Call it dread or call it paranoia, but I just know it as memories that won't go away. Thanksgiving is often bittersweet. Life goes on, though...the years passing quickly. Despite the worries that this time typically brings for me, I find it so easy to look around and count all the many blessings that have been showered upon us. For the first time in five years, I'll be home on Thanksgiving day! I can't believe the journey that has brought us back to Tennessee. I know it was orchestrated by the Almighty God; that's the only explanation. We are home and I'm so thankful for that. Even more, I'm thankful for my two delightful, healthy boys who are currently running circles around each other laughing and playing. This post is taking forever to write because I keep pausing to admire K's little curls on top of his head and the sweet smile Baby A gives out to everyone. They are mine? Yes, they really are. I'm so very blessed.

To celebrate this time of year and finally being home, I've already started decorating the house. Every year, I have to fight my husband on this. He would prefer I wait until after Thanksgiving, but because I like to deck (all) the halls it is often a process here. I've been decorating for days now and I'm not even close to being done. I get that from my mama.

To those of you who would say I'm hurrying through life, I'm not thankful, or I'm skipping Thanksgiving to that I say:

PHOOEY!

The excitement my kids express when the trees are all lit up is something I hope to never forget. I want to savor the 5,437x a day I hear K shout, "Christmas Tree!" which sounds a lot more like ChiscasTee. What's so wrong about counting your blessings around holiday decor on Thanksgiving Day? Nothing, I tell you. 

My house won't be complete until we get the real tree up in the den in December, but here's a peek at what I've been up to lately-

6 trees up and at least two more to go!

Do you go what my husband calls "Christmas Crazy" with decorating during the holidays?

The Little Mermaid: Family Costumes

Let's talk about how I place such a huge emphasis on Halloween every year and how ridiculous that is. I mean, whyyyy? I have always loved Halloween and I've dressed up every single year (except one and that was because I was vacationing in New Zealand and they don't really do that there). It honestly confuses me when people hate on Halloween, especially kids! My 9 year old nephew decided he was too old for it this year. I almost cried. Kidding. But I do have a ridiculous need to have so! much! fun! on that night of the year. And I want my kids to have fun, too. 

This year's theme for the W Family was: The Little Mermaid

I planned on being Ariel, J would be Eric, my prince and the kids would be King Tritan and Sebastian. Cray K was NOT having his costume (much like last year):

 

He loved Baby A's, however:

So I just did the switch-a-roo so we could actually go trick-or-treating without people thinking we were torturing the toddler. The kid is so dramatic, bless his heart.

I promise Baby A was perfectly content. Ha!

Anyway, J and I threw our costumes together easily and then walked around the neighborhood introducing ourselves to our new neighbors. It makes me smile to think about. I'm sure we were immediately labeled the weirdos. But, whatever. We were having fun!

Ariel has always been my favorite Disney gal. I had my 15 minutes of fun, pretending I was the underwater princess, but honestly I just wanted to get out of that fabric pronto. It was a little hot this year.
We ended up giving out candy, watching Hocus Pocus, and eating pizza.
Perhaps the kids will be more excited next year.

 

What did I learn? 

Toddlers don't appreciate handmade and/or pieced-together costumes. It's best to just get a costume they can't escape and MAKE ALL THE LITTLE PEOPLE HAVE FUN.

;)

Kidding again- sorta.

Land That I Love

(First things first, I hope you'll all come out from behind your readers and check out my new blog design by the lovely Angi. I love it! She is affordable and thorough and so very timely. If you're lookin' for a new design, I'd totally recommend her to a friend. )

I hope you all had a fun holiday weekend. Mine was pretty great. My military man turned energy device sales rep was off for a four day and we took full advantage of it. Not only did we celebrate our nation's independence but also my old man's 30th birthday!

It was a sunny, gorgeous Florida day, one that made you forget all about the daily thunderstorms of the week before. We packed up our backpacking bags, strapped them on, and hiked out to a beach that was oddly private for it being the fourth of July! 

We caught flounder and redfish-

 And snapped deliciously cute photos of our newest addition who is now SITTING! 

For the most part, our beach trips are becoming more and more enjoyable. We've lived here for nearly 6 months and we're beginning to figure out the easiest way to do the beach thing with two small babes. We stayed all day and looked out at this view of Anastasia Island:

I hate to say "then we came home and fixed hot dogs and burgers and watched fireworks" because that's sooo typical, but alas that is precisely what happened. 

And it was exactly what the doctor ordered. I was ill over the holiday break, but feeling a cold beer slide down my sore throat and watching my boys play happily in the backyard was good for my soul. 

We had the opportunity to reinforce our reputation of "the redneck neighbors" when we fashioned our redneck grill for the evening meal-

After putting Baby A to bed, the three of us shot off tiny fireworks and enjoyed the display our five billion neighbors provided. Cray K was unsure at first. Bless his heart, his whole body was shaking as he curled up in my lap each time a new one sounded. I didn't mind the snuggles, though. It was a sweet night.

'Merica.