Vacation Is Officially Over!

The blog is back! And, the blogger feels refreshed, rested and ready to document our lives again. As you can see, the blog itself had gotten a little much needed refreshing - still in progress and needing some tweaks- but getting there. So where to begin? We have enjoyed and taken full advantage of our very short summer together. And instead of focusing on what we did not accomplish (potty training and training wheels off of Tyler's bike), let us highlight some things we did tackle and tackled well!

Top 10 Events of Summer (in no particular order):


10. Visited with Family- went to Nashville and Oak Ridge to visit grandparents and cousins. Also attended my cousin's wedding and managed to drive home with sore feet from busting moves on the dance floor late into the night!

9. Swim Lessons- Tyler has taken weeks of group and private swim lessons and can confidently jump off the diving board and swim to the side to get himself out. Carson and Ella have both had plenty of pool time too. Since we postponed having tubes put in Tyler's ears, we have all taken full advantage of playing in the water.

8. Tyler Turned 5- big boy rang in his birthday with a river rafting party and went with Tommy to Dollywood Splash Country for an entire day.

7. Ella Is Moving. Everywhere. And fast. She has also cut 4 teeth now and her blond hair is turning curly! She is eating anything she can physically get into her mouth(is really partial to carbs) and getting so big (and also a little attached to me)!

6. Carson. He has become and event in himself. Carson is talking nonstop about everything and also has had his hair turn curly. He has really gotten into imaginative play and spends hours a day playing with his tractors beside the end table. Carson is switching preschools this fall and is going to be in an excellent 2 day a week program that we have been on a waiting list for over a year.

5. Getting Healthy- Tommy and I actually took some time for ourselves this summer to get in better shape. Nothing drastic- just getting healthier for ourselves, each other and our kids. We have either run or swam laps every day since June, have eaten cleaner and dropped a few pounds . Tommy claims he is back to fighting shape. I just claim to now be capable of running from a fight if it presented itself without passing out.

4. Celebrated our Anniversary- Since August 2nd Tommy and I have been married for 7 years, no itch.

3. Mini Road Trips- from blueberry picking to going to the Aquarium in the Smokies. While we did not hit the beach for a week, we still managed to squeeze in some day trips around Tommy's work schedule.

2. Fruit Basket Turn Over- we have jumped around every room of this house while getting the kids on a good sleeping schedule during this first year of Ella's life. And at the beginning of the summer we made the leap of faith to put Carson in Ty's room and Ella in Carson's room permanently and it paid off! Everyone has their own room upstairs and goes to bed and wakes up at the same time AND we have our downstairs back. Life is good.

1. Getting Ready for School- Back packs have been purchased, lunch bags are lined up on the counter and we hit Asheville to shop for clothes for the fall. The boys are outfitted and ready. Tyler starts kindergarten in a few weeks and could not be more excited. Our house is more organized than it has ever been and we are prepared to start the school year and this new chapter of our lives. Let the adventure begin...