Birthday Photoshoot

My Sweet Baby Jane turned 5 on July 21st. Here are some pictures from her "Flower Party" I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I wanted. The kids moved from one activity to the next much more quickly than I anticipated!!

When it's HOT outside...

Charlotte

While we were in Charlotte my Mom set us up for the night at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was AMAZING!! The kids had their own little bunk bed kids area in the room and I had a bed, couch, tv and table to relax with after they went to sleep. Of course, I went to sleep super early because the Great Wolf Lodge has a huge water park in the hotel. We spent a ton of time in there while we stayed at the hotel.



Mom also has a great park right by her house. Seriously, I spend a lot of time at parks and this is one of my absolute favorite. It was well shaded, had walking trails, tons of swings, play yards for different ages and lots and lots of sports fields.

Road Trip Pit Stop

The kids and I drove up to Charlotte while Jake was on midnight shift in June/July. On the way up we made a pit stop in St. Mary's, Georgia. If you've never been there you must make a day trip of it. It has a super cute little town and this fabulous community water park/pool thing. We stayed for about two hours and got all of our energy out after eating lunch. It was great!

Graduation

On May 26th Jane officially graduated from pre-kindergarten.

Disney!

Man, oh, man it has been forever since I've updated this thing!! Instead of presents from Mom and Dad on her birthday, Jane opted for a long weekend at Disney World. It was HOT (even though it was only May) but we made the best of it and had a great time.

Garden Bounty

We planted a garden and over the last few weeks have been harvesting the fruit of our labor. It's pretty nice, if I say so myself.

AND, we have enough time to plant another garden before the growing season is over. I think we planted too soon in the season because most of our plants got eaten to bits by bugs. We had to pull our pumpkin vines out by the roots.

Let's hope for an even BIGGER bounty next time!

Alachua Splash Pad!

We went to the splash pad in Alachua a few weeks ago with some friends. It was awesome. I love that place.

I love it so much that I seriously considered buying a house in the middle of nowhere just to be closer to it.

It's awesome. It's gated. It keeps my kids busy for hours and I don't have to chase them.

Kindergarten Round Up

Jane had her official "Kindergarten Round Up" at the end of last month. While I filled out all the papers to register her for school she got to go with a group of the teachers to do some art, see the classrooms and eat a snack. She was so excited! She had so much fun!

I can't believe my little dumpling has grown up so much!!

Speaking of growing up, Jane is starting to become very self-aware and even embarrassed when I say certain things. I told her a couple of weeks ago that she "can't lose teeth (because some of her classmates have loose teeth!!) or grow boobs." Jane was so embarrassed!

To her credit, I would be embarrassed if my mother had said something like that to me. I have to start watching myself though! She's not a little baby anymore. She's a big baby with thoughts, feelings and opinions of her own!

I seriously don't know how I feel about this.

I guess it is a good thing we have a new baby on the way for me to smooch and love on while I start to slowly loosen the leash I have on her. It's now or never, folks. If I don't show her that I respect her feelings and opinions now she won't know it when she is a teenager. More than anything, I want her to feel like she can tell me anything as she grows up.

So, I promise, I won't tell her ever again to "not lose teeth and grow boobs." I can not, however, promise that I won't cry (or at least become annoyingly nostalgic) every time we reach a new milestone that requires more freedom for her and less Jane time for me.

So Many updates...

So little time...

I'm attempting to catch up tonight with my updates so I can stay up to date in the future...

Pester me about it. It MIGHT help.

Going Private

I'm going private. Leave a comment with your email address or email me directly if you want an invite.

:)

Easter/Spring Celebration

Jane's little school had an Easter/Spring celebration last week so I decided to pop on over and take some pictures.

During the egg hunt...

Jane and her little friend making silly faces.
Yummy spring snacks!

I don't want to beat it to death, but...

I LOVE looking out the kitchen window while I am cooking dinner or doing the dishes and seeing this.





I think I'm able to get my chores done in half the time when Jake keeps them occupied outside. I LOVE having a backyard! Seriously, it is the best.

Plus, when the kiddos are done swimming (or so cold we pull them out) I get to snuggle them until they warm up.

We've been busy...

When it warms up in Florida it warms up fast! So, we've been taking advantage of our beautiful backyard.

Here's a snapshot of what the kids have been up to.

Bowlin' off some steam

After spending all of our time working on the house for the last couple of weeks I really needed to get out and bowl off some steam! I think I just needed to have some fun to feel refreshed and ready to keep remodeling and packing and cleaning and blah blah blah.Anyways, it worked wonders. We all had a great time. Jake got to help both of the kids learn some new skills and I worked the camera while chasing Sawyer when he wasn't physically holding the ball and throwing it down the lane.
He's such a cute little rascal!
Jane looks like a woman. I just noticed that and I am so sad.
Sawyers cute bowling shoes. I can't believe that they make bowling shoes in his size!! I thought for sure that he would be wearing his tennis shoes.

We ARE alive!!

We are alive! I swear it. We moved into our house about a month ago but before that we spent three weeks doing this:

and this:

and this:
and this:
AND this:
AND THIS:
Plus, we've done other things that I haven't been so good at documenting with my camera. What you didn't see in the sunken living room (with a fireplace) is the big, ugly, plywood built-in couch that we ripped out before we laid down the floors. That thing was a beast.

In fact, I didn't even want to LOOK at the house when I saw that picture on realtor.com.

BUT, now I am glad that we did. :)

So anyways, I'm sure you will see many more updates as we finish up the kitchen (we need to paint or stain the new cabinets and lay down tile or stain the concrete floor), finish off the sunken living room (we need to add a stair and banister so our children don't fall into the pit), paint the rest of the house that didn't get painted before we moved in, decorate and start in on new projects as time and money allow.

Life gets crazy when you own a home but I wouldn't trade it for anything. That backyard is golden and not having to yell at my kids for running in the house has made me a much calmer, happier mama.