New Year. New Room.

After this Christmas, we started to realize that our little house was going to get quite tight with the new toy additions!  So we moved Lily in with Piper and made a play room/ office for me.  [Disclaimer:  when I say "office", I mean that the old changing table is not my desk....I can sense how jealous you are right now.]  Here is a glimpse into our new set-up:

Playroom....I wish it still looked that good!

Their first night together....they are doing GREAT!

I think she likes being with her big sis.  Sweet girl.

Sweet Dreams....

Winter Update Part 3: More glimpses of the holidays.

Here are the last of the Christmas pictures.....so I think!  I've almost caught up with winter....and it's not even May yet....yippee!!! 

Christmas at the Cushing's with Cousin Eli....Mom, I found one with your eyes open!  Amazing! :)

 

 

 

I'm sure Eli is super-comfy.

Neighborhood Santa and INCREDIBLE lights in Franklin

3 little nutcrackers at the Grove Park Inn Gingerbread House competition

My favorite ornament by far...Sprinkles & Lizzie from Lily's class!

Baby Jesus had some visitors this year....

Our sweetest Christmas treat

So....there you have it!  We might be moving into Spring soon....

Winter Update Part 2: It's beginning to look alot like......Family Christmas!

 Hello again!  This is a miracle that I'm actually posting again.....and don't worry....here are our Christmas pictures!  Like we do every year, we traveled from BM to Nashville to celebrate with family and even though, we aren't "at home"- we are with family which is more important than being in our home.  When you're with family, you are at home and we are blessed to be able to spend every holiday with both families!  Here is a glimpse into our time over the Christmas holidays:

 

We start out every Christmas holiday at home with our own tree and opening gifts for 

our family Christmas.

Then, you throw in a Christmas program or 2!  The girls look so little here.....this is fun looking back and getting to actually appreciate the holidays.  What a blessed time for us! 

 

It was Lily's turn to put the star on the tree while we sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas!"

 Piper was able to participate in her Winter Gymnastics "recital" with her bffs.

 

Piper showing off one of her cute gifts at home.

NEXT....it's off to Grammie & Grandaddy's:

 

 Cookies, Christmas village, the beautiful tree with presents, the dollhouse, cousin Ev, aunts & uncles, B.....we always have a magical time at Grammie & Grandaddy's

 The girls' Christmas room!

 Sweet Lily didn't feel good but still had such a great attitude!

 

Piper putting out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!

NEXT....off to the Cushing's!

 

For some reason, this is the only picture I have of our Christmas, but I love how it shows our growing family!  Uncle Corey joined us for his first Christmas with us and cousin Eli is here now, too.  We played a lot, opened presents, put make-up on Aunt Sandee, played outside, watched movies & loved being together.

Only 9 months until next Christmas!!!!

Winter update: Part 1

I am quite terrible at blogging actually but will try to post a Winter Update in pictures! 

So the most important thing that happened this Winter is that Lily turned 4!!!  We are so thankful for her- she adds a lot of spunk, humor, energy & questions to our household.  She makes us think about why we do things & is always pushing us to be creative.....and to keep up.

Birthday morning with her birthday poster!

 Birthday present time!

 Birthday cakes at home for family party.

 Cool cupcake "cake" at her gymnastics party.

Here's to many, many, many more years of celebrating this girl!

Incredible Gratitude.

The wonders of car camping.

 I never knew something could be so easy & fun.  You can pack most whatever want/ need and DRIVE to your campsite.  No walking (although I do love the hiking aspect of backpacking), but with little kids, this is awesome.  We had a blast with the Darnell's and it was a simple weekend full of a lot of nothing- talking, cooking, drinking coffee, more cooking, walking to the bathhouse, more eating, bathhouse again, fires, etc.  Such a therapeutic weekend to be outside with family.  I recommend it to anyone.  Oh- and we went to the North Mills River campground which is 30 minutes from our house!  Can't beat that!

Here's our set up (minus the Darnell's tent to the left of our's).

Exploring the campground in our pajamas.

We even celebrate a birthday!

And drove away from the campsite (in said cars) to go GEM MINING.  Now THAT is a cultural experience- what am I going to do with all of these "gems"?

And she lost ANOTHER tooth....the Tooth Fairy does indeed deliver to campsites.  FYI.

Got to be with these lovely people....our girls were awesome outside even in the cold!

And have moments like this.........

Summer fun.

So I didn't post all summer because we were having SO much fun!  Here are some highlights of the summer....

4th of July in Black Mountain with Grammie & Granddaddy- complete with small town parade in Montreat & fireworks.  We had the BEST time with them!

Swimming lessons with Ms. Jacki for both of the girls.  Lily learned how to swim "like a mermaid" underwater!

Visiting the Adventure Science Center in Nashville.  We also had a great time with both sets of grandparents, swimming with Em, Dave and Evelyn & meeting our new cousin, Eli!

The Krawczyk crew comes for a quick but super fun visit.

Taking some time out of the sun to do some "Mad Scientist" experiments.

Aunt Sandee & Taylor spend the week with us.  Here we are at Lake Tomahawk- we forgot how long & hot the walk would be. (:

Our new cousin, Eli!  Yay for Chris & Danielle.

Cousin photo shoot in our sweet dresses.

Visiting Great Grandpa & Grandma in New Hampshire.  We LOVED our time exploring NH- the farm, swimming under the covered bridge & visiting Ricker.

The Accardis visited and we loved every minute.  We met sweet baby Alice and Piper loved taking care of Cam and I loved being with Erin.  We all won!

Playing at Montreat park- a summer staple.

The grand finale of summer was sending Piper to Crestridge for a week!  She became our first Crestridge Cutie Pie.