One week down...too many to go!

We have one week of first grade under our belt. I seriously can not believe Emory is in first grade! I think I blinked and missed the part where she grew up! So far the school year is going well. The only issue we have had is the bus. We took Emory to school the first day. Chase took off from work and we both took her, walked her in, and attempted to set up camp outside the classroom. We settled for coming back at lunch! 

She looks so big yet so small at the same time! Why can't they stay young and innocent? Most days I want to scoop her up and put her in a bubble so nothing bad will ever happen to her! 

We got there early enough we had to go sit in the gym before school. 

Sitting at her desk. She looks so small here. She was so excited and set to work coloring her paper. Didn't even look back. We expected tears and all we got were smiles!

Emory and Ms. Mott. She is a new teacher to Northwest this year. Actually she's a new teacher, period. She has been a teachers aide at Northwest for several years, graduated from ECU in January and took on a full time teaching position this fall. 

Ok so the bus story. We've had three good, no issue days/rides. Monday she didn't ride at all, Tuesday she rode in the morning, well she was suppose to. The time we were told was 7:25. So we got out to the end of our driveway at 7:20. Fifteen minutes later a neighbor drove by, stopped and backed up to tell us the elementary bus had come at 7:05! So, after a small amount of complaining on my part, I woke 2 sleeping babies to take Emory to school. Tuesday afternoon she rode it home. I got outside the house just in time to see it pass our house! I ran down the driveway, leaving Gavin on his bike, while pushing Riley in her stroller. Long story short she was told the wrong house number. I asked Emory why she didn't say anything when she passed our house, she said "well I just thought she knew what she was doing!" Wednesday morning went smoothly, Wednesday afternoon I got a call that our bus would be an hour to an hour and 15 minutes late--that would have put her home at 5! Chase went to pick her up instead. Thursday morning it was running late, 50 minutes late. I had woken the babies up to take her to school and as we got to the end of the driveway, it pulled up. I put her on just so I didn't have to walk her in and explain why she was so late! Since then we haven't had any issues. Our driver is very nice and makes sure to watch out for Emory. I'm blaming the first week of school on the messed up buses. Hopefully next week will be better! Now for a fun-filled long weekend!

Ice Bucket Challenge

Yep. We did it. And we had fun! Chase was challenged by a friend, I was suppose to be challenged by my brother but he wusses out (I was getting ahead of the game) and Emory was challenged by her cousin Sam. Gavin wasn't challenged but we thought it would be a fun thing for ALL of us to do...sans Riley. 

Why not do it?! Yes you get cold but the reason for dumping ice water on your head is so you feel, for a few seconds, what someone with ALS feels ALL the time. Your nerves on fire. ALS is a horrible disease that affects a "small" number of people. I say small because unless you know someone affected by it, it seems like a world away. Because it affects such a small number, it's hard to raise awareness and money for this disease. This is what the Ice Bucket Challenge was created for, and it has done its job! When I went online to make our donation, their website says "welcome ice bucket challengers!" After donating it gave me the stats...88.5 million dollars from 2 million people, in 29 days!! Seriously, that's A LOT of money. I hope it jump starts them to a cure! 

Getting ready. Gavin had no idea. :/

The "before" shot. I love that Chase gave us buckets that matched our "size."

The "after." While Gavin wasn't a fan of me pouring water on his head, he spent the next 20 minutes doing it to himself! Now when he sees the buckets in the garage, he says "I pour head!"

See he loves me even though I dumped cold water on him!

If you are challenged and haven't done it...go do it and donate money too! Just because you pour cold water on yourself doesn't mean you get out of a donation! 

A little behind.

We've been busy and I've done my best to document our adventures. However, I haven't had much time to sit down and actually blog! A week ago Chase's parents came to town to visit. It was so nice having them here. Nancy may kill me for posting some of these pictures. Oh well! 

We tried to pack in as much as we could during their visit. They arrived Thursday in time for dinner and we took them to our local grill, Rudy's Too. Very yummy. Friday, Chase went to work in the morning and I took them on them on the short tour of Goldsboro. Friday afternoon we drove to Raleigh and went to the Farmers Market, which is awesome by the way, I could spend hours there! Dinner was spent grilling chicken and fresh corn on the cob we bought at the market and roasted veggies from our recent CSA drop off.  I love summer!!

Saturday was a great day...beach day! We decided to try Carolina beach this time. The beach was great, the water wasn't the best, it was brown, but the waves were fun. Emory finally made it back in the ocean. Our last few visits she has refused to get in. Chase wouldn't let her chicken out this time and took her kicking and screaming. She LOVED it! Turns out someone told her there were sharks in the ocean that eat and kill people. And while that might be true, the likelihood of it happening is rare! 

Dudey and Emory testing the water. Love this picture. Might need to be framed. 

I'm usually behind the camera or with Riley, but having dude and G there with us, allowed me to be able to spend time with my little man. 

She loved it at first...

Then a wave came and knocked her over. She wasn't a fan after that! Poor baby! And all mommy did was laugh and take pictures! 

Then I snuggled!

Gavin and Emory loved jumping the waves with their Dude and G!

I love this man and his ability to be a kid with our kids!!

Finally got a picture of all five of us. And everyone is looking!!

Saturday night Emory wanted to do s'mores. So we brought out the fire pit and roasted some marshmallows. It didn't last long. The bugs were eating us alive!!

It's serious business, roasting marshmallows!

Testing out their new chairs. 

The gang.

Riley and dude. We left and went inside right after this picture. It was peanuts bedtime. 

His first s'more. He's had bites of ours but never gotten his own. He was so excited until his hands got sticky!

Chase was the designated marshmallow roaster. 

Nancy is trying to hide from me in the picture! 

Sunday we all went to church. Surprisingly we made it on time. Well, relatively on time! They left Monday morning after we returned from taking Emory to school. 

We REALLY enjoyed their visit. Hated to see it end. There's not a whole lot in Golsboro, NC but we are here, and would love the company so PLEASE come visit!

Let's Be Honest

I'm tired. I'm stressed. I'm overwhelmed. I miss my family and friends. I miss our church. I miss home. 

Moving is hard. And we've done it twice in the last 2.5 months. The first move was with a lot less stuff since we were moving into a furnished apartment, but it was still a move and with 3 young kids it's even harder.

I have felt like the last 7 weeks have been an extended vacation. I keep thinking I will see my family next weekend when we drive down "just because" or I will call Jess because I'm "bored" and need my partner in crime to make some new jam or jelly recipe I found or to visit a new store in Nashville. But you know how towards the end of your vacation, you just want to go home. You're ready for the comfort of your bed and your stuff. Ready for the familiarity and the structure of home. The other night when the kids were driving my crazy and I felt like I couldn't get a handle on anything, I almost screamed "I just want to go home" before I realized, we are home. 

While the weeks have flown by, I still feel like I have a small hole that isn't being filled. Our nights in the apartment were spent going to the pool and on the weekends we went to the beach, because that's what you do when you live an hour from the coast. We had great family time and didn't seem to have a care in the world. We found our perfect house and moved in 2.5 weeks ago. For the last 2.5 weeks reality has begun to set in. This is our new home and our friends and family are 9 hours away! Gosh I miss them! 

Now don't get me wrong, we have really enjoyed our time here. I went into this move with a good attitude, not at first I will admit. But I decided that this move would be what we put into it. If I went in with a bad attitude and believing this was going to be horrible, then yes, it would be horrible. But if I went into this move with a good attitude and made the best of it, then "good" would happen. For the last 3 days my devotion has been on our emotions and thoughts. We can choose to act on our negative emotions or thoughts or we can choose the positive. I choose the positive. And while it's not always easy I know that this is where we are suppose to be. So I can worry myself sick about school starting back on Monday and let my negative thoughts take over, OR I can trust God knowing His plan is perfect. He will never leave us nor forsake us. I have certainly needed that reminder. With school starting back it means this is real life. New state, new city, new house, new school. It's a lot to take in and a bit overwhelming at times. 

We have been working tirelessly the last 2.5 weeks to make this house our home. Most of the boxes are unpacked and we are beginning to settle in. Things are slowly going up on the walls and our personal touches are being placed throughout the house. I'm sure missing our friends and family will not go away anytime soon, well...ever...but Goldsboro will start to feel like home as our day to day routine returns. I promise to post pictures of the house soon but I'm a perfectionist and I need everything in order before I can post! 

Like father, like son

Moments like this make me smile!

Riley 8 Months

So I'm a few days late but I've been a little busy! I can't believe this sweet girl is 8 months old!!

Ok here we go...

Things Riley is doing now:

-trying to pull up (this needs to slow down)

-waves

-claps

-gets on all fours and rocks (this needs to slow down too)

-she's somewhat mobile in the fact that she can roll from point A to point B via point C!

-puts everything in her mouth

-finally likes solids so she eats at least one "meal" a day, sometimes two

-still won't take a bottle--we've got to work on this--but nurses like a champ!

-pincer grasp is getting there, certainly not mastered just yet

-makes sounds like "meh, meh" "mama" "ba" "hi" these are not directed at anything so I call them sounds, not words...

-she now has 3 teeth, the fourth is trying to make an appearance but not going fast enough if you ask Riley or me!

-sleeping 8-10 hours at night, I think I jinxed myself by saying she slept 12 hours...it's been a long week. I'm going to blame it on teething and moving to a new place!

She is a well loved little girl! I came into the playroom the other day because I heard her fussing and found Gavin on top of her. He very quickly looked at me and said "I love on Riley!" Ha! We always tell him "we don't ______ we love" which leads to him hugging his sister. Guess he thought squishing her was loving her! 

Happy Birthday to the Man I Love

Today is a very important day. 31 years ago today Chase Martin was born! He is a wonderful, loving, caring, thoughtful, hard working man. In the 11 years we have been together, I've watched him grow into the amazing husband and father he is today. I try every year to give him the day he deserves and I usually fall very short.

Our birthday celebrations have definitely changed over the years. We use to go out and celebrate until late into the night. Tonight we ate sloppy joes and homemade fries (one of his favorite meals) and had Rice Krispie treats for dessert (also his favorite, he's not a huge cake fan). We then spent 2, yes 2, hours trying to get our kids to bed! It wasn't quite what I had planned but it all worked out. 

Happy birthday Chase! I love you more than you know!

One Box at a Time

We moved in a week ago. One week. For whatever reason I thought we would be settled by now. I knew we had a lot of boxes to go through but I thought it could be done. I even planned to have people over for dinner this weekend, thinking everything would be in its perfect place. Luckily, they weren't able to come because we are still buried in boxes!! To say I am overwhelmed is an understatement. I guess I forgot to factor in 3 kids into my unpacking equation. This is the first move I've made that I haven't had my mom here to help. They came to visit the week before we moved but couldn't come back the week we moved because she had to go back to work. She had already been off 8 weeks post hip replacement. She ends up being the decision maker on where things go and helps me stay on task!! 

In the week that we have been here I have managed to unpack the kitchen, living room, playroom, and Emory's room. Chase and I go about unpacking very differently. He unpacks a box just for the sake of unpacking. Placing the contents where ever he feels like putting them. I, however, unpack and places the contents where they are suppose to go. That's probably why it took me almost an entire week to get my kitchen organized. I LOVE the extra space we have but I have so many options on where to put stuff that I can't make up my mind! It's a good problem but it has slowed down my unpacking and organizing. 

I've honestly had to suppress my type A, OCD, personality so that I can sleep. I am a NOW person and I am quickly learning that NOW is not going to happen. My most productive time is when all he kids have gone to bed, of course, but that puts me staying up WAY later than I should. I'm exhausted but still have so much to do. I made a list on my phone of each room just so I can mark it off as it's done. Although, until it is COMPLETELY done (pictures hung, etc.) I can't bring myself to mark it off. See, told you I was type A! 

Chase has been awesome. He spent all day today putting together his new grill and then came inside and started working. I wouldn't have blamed him for wanting to sit on the couch and do nothing!

We love our new house and have been working hard to make it our home. Most days I feel like we are on an extended vacation. It's been fun so far and we look forward to what's ahead. School starts back in 2 weeks, I'm sure my feelings of "vacation" will end then! 

Pool Days

We have had a great summer. While it was busy and involved moving twice, we have been able to have wonderful family time. We have had access to a pool this summer and definitely took advantage of it whenever we could. When the summer began Emory couldn't swim and was scared to, really. Now she is a little fish. Even Gavin has gotten braver and will take off kicking around the pool, while wearing his puddle jumper of course. 

"Look mommy, I sim." He's such a goofball but so much fun! 

He had to have goggles like his sissy. He doesn't wear them on his eyes but must have them on his head. See he's a goofball!

This was a few weeks ago. The only way she would jump in was when she was wearing her puddle jumper. Now she jumps in and swims until she can touch or reaches the edge! So proud. She has come a long way!

Last night she let Chase throw her! 

Riley gets to float around in style in her ladybug float. She is starting to take on the "third child role" of being laid back. She loves just watching her brother and sister. I have to agree with her--they are certainly entertaining!!

Now he's really swimming in his "baby soup." That one is going in his baby book. I just have to find the box it was packed in....

I love these 3. They make life so much fun!

Gavin "learned" how to flip last night.

She's turned into a little fish! We've joined the YMCA here and plan to continue swimming year round in hopes that her swimming continues to improve. 

Last night was our last night at our apartment pool. Chase turned in our keys today. While I WILL NOT miss the people who lived above us (pretty sure they stomped instead of simply walking) we will miss the pool. 

We made it a "tradition" to go eat yogurt after swimming. We have gone so much we have already filled 2 cards and earned 2 free yogurts. The calories are worth the memories made!