Memorial Day 2016 (and TWO years in our house!)

I just sat down to write this post, and realized that we totally forgot that this past Memorial Day weekend marked TWO years since we moved into our house!  Time really flies, and I hate that we didn't officially celebrate it (silly, I know).

A little throw back picture from our move in weekend...

 

 We did, however, have Nani and Papa in town for a quick visit which was really nice.  Most of our plans got switched around since my car ended up needing some major repairs and I couldn't drive it out of town, so they came to visit us instead.  We dodged most of the bad weather from the inbound hurricane, so it was a nice and humid weekend!

I didn't take that many pictures, and I just realized that I don't exactly know where my camera is right now, but I got some cute ones while at the park and hanging out at home :)

Nolan insisted on going to the park Sunday afternoon, so we made it in between rain showers.  I wasn't in my "park" clothes since it was so last minute, and almost died of heatstroke, but everyone had a good time!

 

Sometimes I feel like somebody's watchin' me...

 

This was the coolest kids' swing ever!  They both just had a blast singing the ABC's and swinging :)

 

This is why you don't let them wander the toy aisles for too long!

 

These two pictures CRACK me up...Nolan just plopped down like he was one of the guys...fit right in!  His expression in the second picture kills me...I know he thinks he's so cool!

Friday Night Concert

I truly am so thankful for our next door neighbors.  They are great people and are just so easy and fun to hang out with.  They have a little boy only 4 months younger than Nolan, and are expecting another little boy in early July!  Our houses will be lots of fun over the coming years with three boys bouncing back and forth :)

Justin's stepdad was playing a free concert on the Clayton Square last Friday night, so we were invited to join them.  I have seen the ads for these concerts many times, but we have never gone until last Friday.  IT was awesome!  We made it home from work just in time to pack up some dinner for Nolan and change clothes.  There was a chance of rain, but we ventured out anyway.

 

We ended up getting a parking space right around the corner and front row seats thanks to Justin and Jasmeen.  It was loud, but Nolan sat right with me and got used to everything and actually ate most of his dinner.  Once he got a little more comfortable he ran around with the other kids and of course had a treat from the food trucks parked nearby!

 

 

If I was a real photographer I would use this wall all the time as a backdrop!

 

Mommy and me Sperry's...

 

 

We hung out for a couple of hours, and then the rain started right as we needed to head home anyway.  It was a great night - the band was great and it was so easy to move around and watch Nolan at the same time.  I don't know why we haven't done these more often, but will for definitely make sure to go the next time one happens!

 

 

Checking out the train going by behind that building...





The Next Time I Get an Idea...

ESPECIALLY if I saw it on Pinterest, I gave Anthony full permission to tell me "NO" and ignore my repeated attempts to do it - ha!  I began to really want to start a garden this year, and so I turned to the Internet to get some "ideas" and start learning about how to start this whole garden process.

I found the "Square foot" gardening technique, and figured it would be something manageable that we could try.  I also read up on raised beds, and decided that I would rather do this than fight with our soil.  I figured I better do it right to start with!

I also found this beautiful tiered raised bed idea on Pinterest, and knew it would be just perfect for what I wanted and I have the perfect spot for it.  Our whole yard gets full sun, with the backyard getting morning sun, so we have the ideal conditions to grow anything.

Now I have to say, that while I LOVE the results, and SO happy with our garden, I may have slightly underestimated the amount of work that went into actually building it (#famouslastwords).

It took me about 2.5 hours just to dig out the sod from where we wanted to place the bed.  It measures 8 feet long on two sides, so that is a lot of digging!  Plus, the yard has a slight slope on that side, so I manually graded it with just my shovel too.  It was so much work, but I absolutely love being outside, so I didn't complain too much :)

Once we got that done, Anthony got all of the wood that we would need to use, and we started assembly late on Saturday evening.  We were able to get the bottom layer of the bed put together in a relatively short amount of time, so we were feeling pretty good about our progress!

We finished the remaining portion of the bed early Sunday morning, and I forked the first truckload of dirt over the fence and into the beds before Nolan's nap time.  I was very close to just ripping down our fence to get this accomplished, but I refrained :)  After two more truckloads of dirt (Anthony thankfully did one...in about 10 minutes no less), we were ready to plant the plants!

 

View from the truck bed, over the fence!

 

I really tried to follow the plans I had downloaded, but ended up winging some of the spacing and locations.  Here's to seeing what grows, and I couldn't be more excited!  However, it may be a few more months before I feel like tackling anymore "projects..."

 

Spreading organic potting soil over my compost/loose soil mix...

 

So far, I have planted tomatoes, various hot peppers, herbs (cilantro, thyme, basil), sweet potatoes, carrots (by seed), squash, zucchini, lettuces (also from seeds), cucumbers and bell peppers.

 

 

Isn't she a beauty?!

 

View of the "salsa garden" on the left...sweet potatoes/squash in center.

 

Rosemary, cucumbers and bell peppers (lettuce seeds planted in front).

 

I will have to do an update once it has a chance to settle in...wish us luck!



Mother's Day 2016

I just looked back at my three past "Mother's Days," and have almost been moved to tears.  Tears of joy, tears of completely overwhelming love, and also, sadness.

My "first" Mother's Day I celebrated with a little baby boy IN my tummy, but was thrilled to join the "mom" club.  Full of excitement, anticipation and complete joy.  I had no idea how much I would love being a mom!

My second Mother's Day was with my sweet little 7-month old, and I was recovering from a horrible stomach bug (thanks to my little man...haha).  We were able to spend time with my family, although lunch at a seafood restaurant wasn't high on my list :)  We had JUST moved from Atlanta to Clayton, and life was stressful to say the least.  But, I look back at those pictures and remember my sweet little chunk and how he was the reason for all of our sacrifices - and was so worth it!

Last Mother's Day brings me sadness, as I spent the day with my Grandma in the hospital.  She was such a mother figure in my life, that remembering the last year and losing her just a month later is very sad.  But, although I miss her dearly, she was the epitome of a selfless, loving, nurturing mother, and thus I am so thankful we all got to call her Grandma.

THIS year was a whirlwind and was so much fun with our little man running around!  He just brings so much joy to any room and is so much fun to play with.  We traveled to Concord and back in the same day to spend the day with Granny and that side of the family.  Even though we were super tired, Nolan had a blast and I could just see the look of happiness on Granny's face watching him run around.  We had a nice early dinner (of which Nolan at a TON sitting on his sweet cousin Maddie's lap!)  He found himself a little companion and she was so cute with him!

 

Got a hold of Daddy's glasses during a diaper change...silly boy!

He stayed up until about 9:45p.m. on our way home, but thankfully fell asleep pretty quickly after we got home and changed and got him to bed.  He only woke us up at 6:45 the next morning, so I could deal with that :)

Anthony went and got him and I was greeted with their cards plus a cute homemade sign that Nolan made at daycare.  I didn't have any real plans for the day, but I knew I would rather spend it with my boys than giving up "mom" duties for the day!  I guess some ideas of "Mother's Day" result in you not having to "mom" for the day, but in this season of my life, I was happy to just have a normal Sunday and do what I love doing - and that's being a mom and hanging with my hubby!

We ate breakfast at a quick little gas station joint, then took the wagon and scooter down to the river to walk (and ride).  The weather was absolutely beautiful, and even though Nolan was a little bit "tired," we had a great walk and I got some cute pictures!  Nolan's favorite part is picking up rocks along the way to tote to the bridge so that he can throw them in.  Such small pleasures I tell you :)

THIS is why I love where we live...people remember you and are so sweet and kind!  They made Nolan a Mickey Mouse pancake...which he devoured!

The boys took an epic nap, so I used the free time to make my grocery list and do some cleaning.  I guess having a clean house is pretty high on my list of things that makes me happy, so I had a happy day!  Once the boys woke up, I headed out to run some quick errands and pick up some groceries.

The highlight of our day was eating some Mexican food with G and Ollie - I can never say no to Mexican food!  Nolan ate his weight in chips, and we all had a great time.  I ended my evening being able to read a magazine in bed and watch some tv...something I hardly ever get to do!  It was a perfect day in my book :)

 

Making G's Mother's Day present in the driveway.  And yes, I am in my PJ's :)

Around the House - Picture Dump!

 

Trying out my skills with chalkboard art - this is the sign for his room...

 

Just another picture of him NOT being still :)

 

Taking pictures of his dinosaurs.

 

Our every-other-month date night :)

 

 

Late night picture, but I finally got our dining room painted!

 

 My mom is officially a "published author" now!

 

 

Morning selfies in the car to send to Daddy while he was out of town!

 

On his new motorcycle from G and Ollie (plus, he will NOT ride it without his helmet on...WIN!)