New Home

For those of you who might be delayed in coming for a visit, I wanted to give you a blog tour of our new home. Below is the living room- if you are standing at the front door and enter, you will find guest bathroom in front of you and stair leading to upstairs bedrooms and bathroom.

Other side of living room- windows look our onto mountains.

Dining room- in front of dining room is eat in kitchen that I think we are going to use as sun room/office.

Kitchen- the door you are looking on the other side is a closet- if you turn right it leads to our master bedroom. The cutout looks into the living room. On the other side of the kitchen is the eat in and dining room and doors that open to the porch.

We Have Landed

I am finally starting to exhale. We are 99.99% unpacked. While the majority of our stuff had been moved a little at a time over the past few months, I realized we still had a lot to unpack. Since arriving in North Carolina this past Saturday, we have taken our time unpacking and spent the majority of our time trying to spend quality time as a family and getting adjusted to our new surroundings. So far, we have hit the Asheville mall- where Tyler tried out the jumpy trampoline and had his four year portrait taken.

We also went exploring our new stomping grounds, aka- the playgrounds. Below is a picture of one of the playgrounds at the local rec center, and today Tyler and I went and found one about 2 miles down the street that we love. Yesterday, all of us loaded up and went a few miles down the road to the local swimming pool for a few hours. We have eaten in all week and Tommy has made a point to get up early and make breakfast. As we sit out and watch the sunset over the mountains at night, we both have made the comment that this house feels more like a vacation resort. So far, life is really good and we feel like we are already at home.

Night At The Water Park

Tonight we took Tyler to meet a friend to play in the water fountains at the Worlds Fair Park. Tyler talks about his good friend Elijah from school all the time, and we wanted him to get in a little extra time with him before the move. Everyone had a great time getting soaked. Tyler is going to miss all of his great friends he has made while living in Knoxville.

Tommy gently introducing Carson to the water...

Tyler with his good friend Elijah.

Carson ready for action!

Birthday Bike!!!

July 12th is Tyler's 4th birthday and we have been talking about getting him a bike for a while now. Since our last official weekend living in Knoxville is this weekend, we decided to get one now and let him ride while we still have a parking lot (and since 99% of all his toys are in North Carolina). Tonight was the big night and we headed to Toys R Us. Tommy and Tyler tried out every bike in the store and finally settled on a green and blue one- and a snazzy new riding helmet. Tyler being properly fitted with his helmet and posing beside his new ride before taking off.

And he is off!

Poor Carson trailing behind holding "Peanut" while Tyler rides off into the sunset.

A Shell Of A Find

Tyler spotted a turtle tonight after we had a huge storm. It was not shy and trying to crawl as fast as I have ever seen any turtle move to avoid a portrait session. It was not successful. Nothing gets a free pass on getting out of having their picture taken on my watch.

Walk Around The Sun

Today was a really big day for Tyler. First, it was his last day at June Bug Camp (which is held at his Montessori school)- and also Tyler got to celebrate his birthday early with a wonderful Montessori tradition. The event is called "Walk Around The Sun"- and since Tyler has a summer birthday, his teacher Mrs. Ella let us celebrate early. Apparently this ritual is very exciting for the birthday child, and not knowing what to expect- we came with camera and video in tow.

The event started with lighting a candle, while all the other classmates sat in chairs around the table watching.

Tommy and I were asked to bring in a birth picture of Tyler, one year picture, two year picture and three year picture. Mrs. Ella then held up each picture for the class to see and Tommy and I were able to share stories about each picture and talk about that time in Tyler's life. (And no, I did not cry- I was so proud of myself. I kept the stories very light- especially his birth story).

Then came the exciting part! After each picture, Tyler held a globe of the Earth and made a circle around the candle- symbolizing the Earth traveling around the sun for every year he was old. The class sang a special song each time Tyler traveled around the room.

After Tyler completed his four times around the sun, he got to make a wish and blow out the candle. Then we all sang the traditional "Happy Birthday" song and feasted on peach cobbler and ice cream. His wish by the way was to go and get to play in the pool. This was such a sweet and special way to recognize Tyler's birthday. Thank you Mrs. Ella for always putting such thought into each child.

24 Weeks

I am 24 weeks and one day. This morning I went to my doctor to have an overall workup and everything looks fantastic. Our little girl has a strong heartbeat (and strong leg muscles- she can kick!), she is just above the 50% in development and was moving all over the place and yawning during the ultrasound.

As for me- my blood pressure is so low that I could be in a comma (90/60), I have only gained a total of 10 lbs...not really a bragging point if you knew what I started at, and I passed my gestational diabetes test with flying colors!

I am so thrilled everything is progressing along and feel so blessed that my little girl is strong and healthy. Below is a picture of her face in 4D and then a picture of me...in 4D.