Little Charmer

We picked up a friend to go to the park one day. We hadn't been in the car more than a few minutes when Miles had taken her hand, and gave it a kiss!

Before and After- Miles' Room

I had so much fun decorating Miles' room!  I can't believe my little boy is in a big boy bed!

The Joy of Children

The kids were so happy the day we moved in. Miles recognized our street before we even bought the house.  We would turn onto it and he would exclaim, "Miles' house"! The day we moved in the kids ran (or crawled) from room to room just laughing. They have reached the age where they really enjoy playing together. It is so sweet to hear their laughter. Here is a video of them "wrestling" together.

Keeping it real

Moving is not fun!  Especially when all your items get dirty in storage. But we've been blessed by friends and family that have come beside us to help us unpack and get settled in our new home.  We are  finally fgetting settled and hope to have some before and after pictures soon.

 I also have a little boy who can be a great helper! 

We bought a house!!

We are now officially homeowners!

This is our amazing realtor, Bond Matthews, who helped us through the crazy process of buying our first home! This picture was taken right after we signed the closing papers.

After closing, we picked the kids up and went and had a Chick-fil-a picnic at our new house. Special family memories!

Playmate

From Alabama we were in the home stretch getting ready to close on our house. We made our way back to Clemson. We were able to stay at a friend's vacation cabin while it was vacant for a few days and then went to live with that same family for our last few days. We are so thankful for the Hollands opening their home to us! They have four kids, one of them Miles' age.  Miles and Eloise both loved having a playmate. They were adorable together.  I hope to see Jordan and Miles playing together like this as they get older.

Happy Babies

We are so blessed to have such happy, smiley babies. I love to hear their laughter and watch them play!

Jordan loves to steal hats

Miles love to be upside down and play with Daddy

Love the sparkle in her eyes!

I love watching Miles' personality develop!  He had such a caring, tender heart. He also loves to work projects and is very focused on what he is doing. He loves working with Daddy and his tools and can do puzzles all day long way above his age range. He is very determined.

Jordan LOVES to eat. And make a mess.

Alabama

We were so excited to get to all go to Alabama together, but sad that Grammy had to have surgery when we were there. I'm glad that we were all there to support her through her two hospital stays.  Even the time we spent with her at the hospital was nice because it was quality time that we got to spend together and talk. We love you Grammy!!

The kids we such troopers enduring long days at home. We did get to take them out to the park and to visit some family with a boy Miles' age. 

It's humorous to me that when I was growing up the living room (orange room pictured below) was pretty much off limits to kids. As you can see, the same rules do not apply to GREAT-grandchildren. 

My big boy getting into mischief . . . again!

Look Alikes

Carson's mom sent us this picture that she found of Carson. I can't get over how much Jordan looks like him!

Nana and PawPaw's house

Riding the buggy with PawPaw looking for turtles

 Lovin from Grandma Thomas. She was in town for a consultation with a doctor and resulting surgery.

Love these girls!

 Visiting Grandma at the hospital after her successful surgery!  Got to see Uncle Lou and Aunt Gerrie too!

Uncle Matt

While we were in Alabama, Miles had a great time playing with Uncle Matt.  He would eat so well if Uncle Matt fed him and they enjoyed playing together so much!

Orlando Time with Gigi and Pops

We spent three weeks in Florida during our summer of moving. I went down to teach a culinary summer camp class at the church I grew up in.  Then we stayed an extra few weeks until we went to Alabama to spend some time with Grammy while she had surgery.

Gigi and Pops got Miles a trampoline because he loved to jump and it was the easiest way to get some energy out. I also had one of these when I was a kid!

Here is a song that Gigi taught Miles while I was teaching.

Miles also loved to ride his choo choo. If you'll look closely you'll see the iPad in his lap when he was Facetiming with Carson one night. He wanted Daddy to ride the choo choo with him!

One evening we went to check out the food truck event in downtown Windermere. We didn't think about taking the stroller so things got hot and messy quick. However, it was a fun experience overall and the food was delicious!

Even though we were only an hour from the beach, we decided to make a beach on the back porch instead.

Time with the Snipes

Carson's sister Lizzie came to stay with us for a couple of weeks this summer. We had a great time going to the pool, the lake, the park, downtown Clemson, and just getting to spend some good quality time together. We also got to see Nana for a few days too!  

Playing with Nana

Miles feeding his little sister

Dance Parties

While we were so thankful for all of the places we were able to stay, our first stop was very special to us. We were able to house sit for some friends while they were away for the summer. It was in Clemson and had great neighbors. Next door lived Bennett, a boy Miles' age. Miles and Bennett played together almost every day! The family that owned the house where we stayed had specifically prayed that their house would be a place of rest and peace for us. . . an it sure was! Carson and Jordan's health problems (the reason we moved) began to heal the first few days we were there. I just feel like it was a very peaceful time together as a family.

One fun thing that we did would be having dance parties with Miles after Jordan went to bed at night.  It was such a fun time to spend some special time with Miles as we cranked up the music and danced around! 

Daddy Date

Carson has been taking Miles to some of the Lowes and Home Depot workshops for kids. Miles loves to build and hammer and is just giddy every time Carson gets his tools out. What a special time for them to spend together. Pops and PawPaw got to take Miles to classes while we were in Orlando.  

Nine, Ten, and Eleven Months

Jordan is still our sweet happy little baby. She seems to be growing up quicker than I remember Miles, because she has a big brother to keep up with and big brother toys to play with. Or maybe I don't remember much because when Miles was this age, I was pregnant with Jordan and was very, very, sick.

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

The big news is that Jordan started walking when she was 11 months old!  She will also make the mama and dada sounds but other than that is not talking much. 

Way too long!

The last three months have been some of the craziest of our lives!  So here is a brief summary:
Our fun adventure turned into a crazy one. We decided to buy a house but we were on a tight time schedule to find one before our summer housing ran out.  We ended up living in 5 different places! The kids and I were in 3 states and spent 5 weeks apart from Carson.  We were so blessed to have generous friends and family take us in as we worked hard to find a place to live for our family.  The second house we put an offer on stuck and we moved in over three months after moving out of our rental.  In the course of that time, I went to Orlando to teach a Culinary Summer Camp Class, and to Alabama to be there for my Grammy as she had surgery (and then got an infection). Spent some relaxing days at a mountain cabin, and stayed with some friend here in Clemson for the final stretch.  Looking back God truly went ahead of us to prepare a way.
The kids did great with all of the transition, but are a little bit clingy to me still.  They were so happy the day we moved into our house. It's amazing that at such a young age they seemed to relax and know that they were home.  They just ran (or crawled) from room to room laughing and screaming.
We are still unpacking boxes, but are finally feeling like we are starting to get settled.  It feels nice to own our home and have our family all back together again!
The OCD in me wants to put all of the following posts in order, but I'm going to just be lucky to get them posted. Bear with me while I get caught up.