BEACH!!

Jonathan had planned on taking a week of vacation off of work where we decided we would get our house in order.  The second floor is currently undergoing a four-room-swap and we have chaos everywhere.  The county fair is also in town and we were excited about taking the girls.  On his last day of work before vacation he called me and said, "Tomorrow, instead of taking the girls to the fair, do you want to take them to the beach?!"  When someone asks you if you want to go to the beach, the answer is absolutely always "LET'S GO!"  By that evening we had already reserved a room in a small family-owned hotel right on the beach, decided to take the dog with us, and were ready to pack.  Wednesday morning we left at 7 am, girls and puppy in tow, headed to Myrtle Beach.  Madelynn and Annabella are excellent travelers. I bring a bag full of car approved toys with us and keep them up front with me so I can rotate them without the girls getting bored during the 6-7 hour trip. They are also great sleepers, so that always takes up a good 1-2 hours on the road.  


Since we only had three days at the beach, we made every second count. Once we got into the hotel, we made sandwiches, changed and hit the beach. Our children are fearless.  Annabella ran into the ocean the second we hit the sand and Madelynn fought the waves with nothing but laughter and squeals. They made tons of sand castles, talked to everyone they saw, and had the time of their lives.  The weather was a comfortable 80 with no wind and not a drop of rain.  

Dexy loved the beach, which was pretty surprising because he usually hates to be anywhere but home.  Even though he didn't like the water, he was more than happy to lay on a beach towel and people watch.

  
Madelynn and Annabella shared a bed for the very first time.  Jonathan and I would turn off the lights and TV and wait for them to fall asleep.  Once they fell asleep, we would turn everything back on again until we were ready to go to bed.  On the first night while we were waiting for them to fall asleep, Madelynn yells, "Tell Annabella to get her stinky feet off of my face!!"  Well, the next night Madelynn got her back.

"This is for the feet!"

The thought of being 5 1/2 months pregnant and taking a dog, 3 year old and 18 month old to the beach is usually not everyone's idea of fun.  But we seriously have the BEST kids and couldn't have had more fun.   They travel and sleep so well that it didn't even faze them that we weren't at home following their normal daily schedule.  It was a GREAT trip full of sweet memories and tons of fun!  All thanks to my awesome husband who isn't afraid to suggest crazy 24 hour notice, 7 hour road trips!

Madelynn & Annabella's New Room

With the upcoming arrival of Baby Noah, we've had to make a few rearrangements in our home.  At first, Madelynn and Annabella had separate rooms.  Then with the influx of toys that came along with a second child, I decided to move them into one room and turn Madelynn's old room into a playroom.  That was a great situation because not only did it contain most of the toys in one room, but it kept them out of their bedroom and didn't tempt Madelynn to sneak out of bed and play.  Also, Jonathan was able to keep his man room.  Now that we have another baby on the way, it only makes sense for the girls and their toys to all be in one room to save space.  Unfortunately for Jonathan, that room has to be his man room.  Besides our master, it's the largest of the bedrooms and will house all of their toys and beds with plenty of room to play.  Then Noah will have his own room and the other bedroom will be the downsized man room/spare bedroom.  After I cleared out most of Jonathan's belongings, the room looked like this:

The walls were gray with burgundy accent walls.  To save money and time, we decided to keep the gray and paint the burgundy a nice, soft pink.  When we decide to sell the house we won't have to worry about any bright colors to tone down before we show it.  Madelynn was already sleeping in a twin bed, but Annabella was sleeping in her crib.  With the transition to a new room, I figured it was time to transition Annabella into a twin size bed as well, so we went on the hunt for two matching beds.  It turns out that beds are expensive!  Especially when you're shopping for two of them, plus the mattresses, box springs, and new bedding.  Since we're a family of four with a baby on the way and on one income, I just didn't have enough in the budget to buy them new beds.  Instead, I found two second hand bed frames online for $25.  In the future, I'm planning to hang canopies over each bed and dressing up the wall behind them, but they're still very cute for now.

I bought the duvets from Ikea for $8 a piece and found the sheets on sale for $8 a set.  Once it gets cold, we'll buy some inexpensive plain comforters to slip inside the duvets and they'll be nice and cozy.

We opted to take the closet doors off and hang a tension rod with the curtains from their playroom.  It's a huge space saver since the bed can be closer to the closet, plus it looks cute.  Their chest of drawers and some larger toys are inside the closet.  You can also see the pink and gray wall combination in this shot.  It's a very soft and girly color combination.  

Directly across from their beds is a storage cube and a lot of their toys.  Each cube is organized (and will soon be labeled) for quick clean up and toy hunting.  There are two baskets like the pink one in the corner holding the stuffed animals and I got them both from a yard sale for $5.  With a quick wipe down and a can of spray paint, they couldn't have looked better.  The doll house can easily be moved to floor when they want to play with it, but stays on top of the cube to give them more room to play.

Adjacent to that wall is their cabinet, dress up closet, and music station.  The cabinet has three large storage bins inside of it with the less organizable toys.  The music station is a basket with all of their musical instruments and microphone next to their drum set.  Their dress up closet is an old book shelf with the shelves removed and a tension rod for their clothes.  I repainted the inside and outside of the shelf and added two bins on the bottom for all of their jewelry and smaller accessories.  Here is a close up of the dress up closet:

And here is a close up of the storage cabinet.  I wound a pink rope light up the side for their bed time light.  It casts a soft glow and is dim enough to keep on all night.  

I still have art to hang on the walls, the mirror next to their dress up closet needs to be hung, and I'm keeping my eyes open for a rug that will work.  Like any other makeover, we'll be adding more and more touches as they live and grow into the room.  They've been living in it for less than a week and they're head over heals in love with it.  Miraculously, Annabella has adjusted to her bed with no issues.  

I'll be creating new posts with any additions that we make to the room. 

Thanks for reading!

What are the girls up to?

Madelynn and Annabella are growing faster than I ever thought possible. There are nights where Jonathan and I sit and flip through our phones and Facebook pictures wondering where on earth the time went.  It's so cliche and I rolled my eyes at my parents every time they said it to me, but it's so true. Here is an update on what the girls are up to.

Madelynn, 3 years and 3 months

Madelynn is THE entertainer.  She sings, dances, pretends, impersonates, tells stories; you name it, she's doing it.  Her favorite singer is Taylor Swift and she has memorized at least six of her songs.  She still loves to sing and dance with Jonathan and Annabella to youtube videos.  She also has a Barbie microphone that connects to an iPod.  We gave her my old iPod shuffle and loaded it with Taylor Swift and Sugarland songs.  She'll spend an hour singing along with them, dancing, and putting on a show.  She's constantly making up new dance moves and showing them off every chance she gets.  Another new thing she's started doing is convincing me to allow her to do something because "daddy said yes".  Or if she doesn't want to do something it's because, "daddy said no".  Of course, it works the other way around.  She's still a great sister to "her baby" and is always sweet and teaching her new things (when she's not refusing to share).  She's often telling us how proud of us she is and how much she loves us.  She will not hesitate to correct us, either.  I've gotten elbowed and been told, "Mommy, don't be rude" on more than one occasion.  

Madelynn is also ecstatic about "the baby in mommy's tummy".  She talks about him/her frequently and convinces us all that it's a boy.  She can't wait to "teach it how to eat, how to sleep, how to walk, how to dance and to change it's diapers and help mommy".  I really hope she holds up her end of the bargain, ESPECIALLY the diaper part.  

Annabella, 16 months

Annabella has been talking up a storm!  She's also started putting short sentences together which is really surprising us.  So far, she can say:

• kit, kit, kit, kit... (kitty)
• pup, pup, pup, pup...
• down
• up
• tickle, tickle (while tickling herself or us)
• bye bye
• night night
• I go down
• she's working on "i love you"
• sissy
• mama
• da-da
• nose

Every now and then, she'll repeat exactly what we say, but she hasn't started saying those words on a regular basis.  I'm sure I'm missing some more words, but those are her most regularly spoken.  

She also loves to dance and sing, with or without Madelynn.  She's started singing the "ooooooh" part of 'I Knew You Were Trouble' by Taylor Swift and asks for it on a regular basis.  When I put it on for her, she dances and squeals so hard!  She'll eat anything we put in front of her, sleeps like an angel, and is learning to walk in public without having her stroller.  She's listening pretty well and always eager to help.  Lately she's been trying to walk with my shoes on and she uses anything with a handle as a purse.  Her favorite toys are books, baby dolls, and doll houses.

Annabella is extremely affectionate and is always loving on all of us.  She'll walk right up to Madelynn and hug her.  Neither of them can go to sleep without "sissy hugs and kisses".  

We are extremely blessed with two amazingly well-behaved, smart, and loving little girls.  We definitely see our share of tantrums and selfishness, as is expected, but they usually dissipate quickly.  While I still can't believe they are already as big as they are, we are enjoying the stage they are in right now so much.  I absolutely cannot wait for our new baby to get here and add his/her flare to our family!

Our Love Story

Today is a special day.  August 22, 2000 is the date Jonathan and I started dating.  I was a mere 14 and he 15, but we fell for each other quickly.  We met the Friday of my first week of high school through mutual friends and it turned out we had drama together.  We were instantly drawn to each other and after flirting throughout the day, we ended up at a football game that night.  He was wearing a pair of cargo shorts that had these ridiculous zippers all over them and every single one of them was unzipped.  It drove me crazy!! I couldn't help but point it out to him (even going as far as zipping them myself) and he couldn't help but leave them unzipped just to get my attention.  I can't tell you who won the football game, but I can tell you that we sat and talked until my mom dragged me away.  When we hugged goodbye he asked me for my phone number, but neither of us had a pen.  He had no choice but to memorize my number (I thought the chances of him calling me were SLIM).  Turns out, he was smarter than I gave him credit for.  Not more than thirty minutes after I arrived home, he called.  We talked for a couple of hours or more; learning about each other's families, favorite foods and colors, etc.  When I hung up the phone, I was enamored.  I later found out that when he hung up the phone, he told his friend, Thomas that I was "the one".  And even though Thomas thought he was crazy, Jonathan was right.  The next 8 years were a whirlwind of new love, short term break ups, him moving to Valdosta for college, me moving to Athens, very hard times, and very happy times.  But we survived.  The break-ups never lasted long and the happy times always outweighed the bad.  

In 2008, we decided we needed to change our lives for the better.  We began going to church regularly and realized that our lives were empty, meaningless and we needed to improve our situation.  That July we purchased our first home together and in September we got engaged.  June 30, 2009 we were baptized together at the beach where we got married the next day.  May 1, 2009, I married my soul mate on the beautiful white sands of Panama City Beach.  We got married at the very end of the beach (where there were no more hotels) and we completed our photos right at sunset.  It was the perfect wedding for us.  We were blessed to have our Pastor travel to Florida to marry us and all of our closest friends and family celebrated with us.  

And here we are now, 13 years later.  I can still remember the very first time I saw him, our first kiss, when we said "I love you."  And while we were just kids when we met, we got to grow up together and experience the ups and downs of life together.  We were never together because we felt like we had to be, we tested our relationship and put it through the ringer.  In the end, we only came out stronger.  God has blessed us beyond anything I ever thought possible.  We owe who we are and where we are to Him.  I couldn't imagine it any other way.