Life Lately

It's been a while since I've shared a round up of life lately, and my oh my has it been busy. I was telling Shane last night, I now remember one of the reasons we loved Nashville so much -- because as busy as we were, life was relatively slow. Being back in Louisville, we're rooted in history, relationships and family. And therefore, with all of that comes a very full calendar. I'm not complaining, because our personalities are more "go-go-go" than "chill-chill-chill" but we've got a full plate that's for sure and life is busy, busy!

We've been driving all around Papaw and GoGo's property and taking advantage of these spring like days.

 We've picked out some delicious after school snacks.

 We've visited the zoo and had so much fun with the animals!

 Because my parents live on a farm like setting, when we head over the GoGo's for a "we ran out of eggs, do you have one" kind of stop ... we all pile in the front seat and take turns driving. (we're going like 2 miles an hour ...)

 We celebrated sweet little Maple who will join our gals group next month!

 We've had some playdates and my children have proven to be monsters.

 We've rocked our USA pajamas.

 We've snuggled sweet Maggie who is now LOVING her new space.

 We've had sleepovers with our cousins.

 We snacked and partied and watched football last Sunday. I love party food.

 We had our 3 month doctors visit in Nashville (no scans this time around, so it was pretty uneventful - which is just how we like it!)

 We gathered supplies for Bennett's homemade "You're one in a Minion" Valentines.

 We've shared treats (perks of living behind your grandparents).

 Our Lainey gal had her 15 month check up. {Length: 32.75 ~ 98% | Weight: 24.5lb ~ 70% | Head: 48cm 95%}

 Bennett had his last basketball game of the season and SCORED during the game! The whole family showed up to cheer him on, and he was SO PROUD of himself! He earned his medal :)

 And lovingly let baby sister wear it!

 After the game we shared Valentine's with the grandparents.

 And then Sunday we surprised the kiddos and took them to the Circus!

 There were hundreds of things you could get your picture taken with ... a snake, spiderman, the ring leader, the camels, the elephants, you name it ... and yet Mister Bennett saw the pig and had his heart set. (Because he LOVES the three little pigs of course). He met the farmer and pork chop the pig and his life was complete. God love his sweet heart.

 Little sister came away with a purple monkey and her day was made.

 And we wrapped the weekend with homemade chocolate covered strawberries and snuggled up to watch the Grammy's and start of Love week with full bellies and fuller hearts!

LOVE YOU: From the Bottom of Our Feet

Love YOU: From the Bottom of our Feet! Here's a few photos we took for our grandparent's to show them a little Valentine Love <3

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

No More Walls or Minions

No more walls, no more walls, no more walls! And believe it or not, this post has absolutely zero political affiliation, I'm simply talking about the construction on our new house. Ha! So, you may remember, demo day was scheduled for Thursday, January 26 ... and quite a few hammers have been thrown since then. We're down to the studs in most of the rooms, the foundation for the addition is complete, demo will be finished this week and they'll be framing the new addition and layout of the interior space as well. We're so excited to see it coming together!

Seeing the remodel sign in the yard, makes it feel so official! I've been trying to head over every couple of days  to snag a few photos so we can share the progress, and I realize this isn't much to look at and probably really confusing to someone who hasn't even seen the house - but this will be the most photos I share of the demo space, and then I'll start adding a few photos intermittently here and there, so we can all stay up to date (because I know you're as excited about staring at 2x4's as I am! HA!).

First up, we removed all the fixtures we wanted to save or resell (lighting, appliances etc.). And then they started excavation on the new addition.

And this is the addition if you were walk out from the back of the house. To the left is the new great room, and to the right is the covered porch. 

Next up, inside craziness. First was removing all the existing flooring and cabinetry. And marking the walls that were coming down.

Bennett walked into his room and looked at me "MOMMY! WHERE DID ALL OF MY CARPET GO??!?!"

It was also super fun to uncover all of the wall coverings that had been in place over the year!

Then it was time for drywall and framing to get out of our way! And with that came the mess!

 Here's a look at little Lainey's soon to be suite! Two rooms will become one!

 These walls come down and this is the kiddos playroom.

Kitchen!

 Bennett's bath.

 Mudroom/laundry and craft room (this was the old dining room you may recall).

And I'm sure your confused and overwhelmed with the mess, so that's all I'll share with you for now. I'll check back in when some more of the framing has taken place and I have some drawings of the new cabinetry etc. to share. But today, I'm off to celebrate Valentine's Day with my little man at his school. I'm one of the room mom's for his class party and I'm so excited to help him pass out his little creations we worked so hard on this weekend!

Twinkie Minions!

All it took was some sticky blue felt, googly eyes, a sharpie and some Twinkies!

 Cut the tiniest pants in all the land.

 Glue eyes to twinkies.

 Slap it all together.

Add a "You're one in a Minion" tag. Complete!

 And then throw a few nail polishes together for his teachers and off the carpool line!

XO XO - It's Love Month

Happy February! It's LOVE month!! Ahhh Valentine's Day. A day that is such a Hallmark holiday, yet so sweet all it's own. To be honest I was never much of a "Valentine Girl" in that I never put too much emphasis on it, or needed it to be a big over the top thing. My friend's dad always used to say Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve were for amateurs and honestly, I kind of agree.

That being said, I did always want Valentine's day to be acknowledged and maybe get a card, or a special coffee delivery or something - but big over the top gestures have never really been my scene.  When Shane and I got married we started a tradition where we would go to the grocery together, pick out ingredients and make heart shaped pizza dinners. We've done it every year since and it's just perfect for me.

And then we had kiddos, and  they got to join in the fun (although looking back at literally ALL of my Valentine posts for the last four years I have somehow managed to NEVER blog about it! Seriously! I guess that proves I don't make it a big deal.) But speaking of kiddos, I will say since they've entered the scene, I've probably put more emphasis on the holiday. I mean, a day of the week I get to make things special for them and show them how much I love and adore them and make it cute and fun?! YES PLEASE! Sign me right up!

For a look on Valentine's passed:

• 2013 - Valentine Heart Petit Fours for sweet treats and pre-natal massages
• 2014 - I failed to blog Valentine's Day in 2014, but we spent it in the Bahamas and took  sweet photos of our little man (ugh tug at my heart strings, he was so tiny!)
  
• 2015 - More delicious and festive treats plus dipped krispy yummies and some weird questionnaire I created (what was I talking about!?) and per our usual tradition (although somehow I managed to miss blogging about it nearly every year?! what the heck) we made our homemade pizza and cake batter blondies to celebrate!
• 2016 - I had a fun little photo session with the kiddos and again, then little man got sick, but we made the most of it ... and on the actual day we once again headed down to the Bahamas (part 1 , part 2 and part 3)

Which brings us to 2017! I'm excited for this month! House demolition is well under way, so that's keeping things fun and fresh. I've got a 3 month check up for health stuff - but we get to skip scans this month, which makes me way less nervous about it.  We have our annual Galentine's day with all of my gal pals where we gab and eat entirely too much.

I get to be a Room Mom, for mister Bennett's class party and I am pumped. I remember when I was a little one and my mom would be a room mom at our class functions and I LOVED having her in my classroom for fun stuff. So, hopefully B will enjoy having me there too! I've been emailing with the other mama's to get everything prepared (because basically it's up to us to plan the party) and we're going to focus on a craft or two, a snack, a game and a story. Currently we're thinking of a heart scavenger hunt (think Easter eggs but with hearts), making  heart finger puppets and sign language I love you hands plus treats. So looking forward to it!

Per tradition, I'm also planning some fun sibling photos of my little cuties for grandparents Valentines which is always one of my favorites. We'll have a special Valentine breakfast and make some arts and crafts, because that's what we do round here. And let's be real, I'm a sucker for the Target dollar aisle. And of course we'll be having our homemade pizza night!

It's a short month and once we're finished it will be so close to spring and another month closer to being into the new house! Yippieee!