Month: August 2016

Summer was so fun with our season-specific list of things to do that I think we just HAVE to create another fun-filled bucket list or this Fall! Here are some of the things that we will be up to in the new few months:

1. Attend Disney’s Food and Wine Festival
2. Go for 25 days total at Disney this year (making the most of that Annual Pass)
3. Go camping
4. Go to the mountains (any mountains will do…)
5. Pumpkin carving
6. Decorate the house with Addie’s old Halloween Photos (I read a book that mentioned each year decorating for Halloween with photos of past costumes and fun. I love the idea!!!)
7. Make s’mores
8. Make a thankful tree (similar to the Advent calendars that are hands-on for kids)
9. Finish my thankful tablecloth prior to Thanksgiving this year (Every year family members sign the tablecloth and I embroider over their messages during the rest of the year. This will be year number 3 of this tradition and I love how precious of a keepsake that this is becoming).
10. Go to a Fall Festival
11. Take 3 year photos
12. Host a Fall baking night
13. Celebrate Addie’s Day (birthday #3)
14. Conduct a birthday interview with Addie (yearly tradition)
15. Host Friends-giving
16. Buy (at least one) special Fall decoration
17. Go to a corn maze
18. Go see a drive-in movie
19. Go to an Octoberfest
20. Build a fire

This is an example of what it will look like in a few years!

We bought my Outlander in 2012 in anticipation of growing a family within the near future. My previous car had been a Scion TC (read: very, very small). I loved that car because it was blue (my favorite car color) and cute and sporty. But….for all that is was, it was not a baby-mobile. So, we traded in my midnight blue TC for a sky blue Outlander.

Years later, the new vehicle has certainly served its purpose. It has hauled our little girl home from the hospital, carried me safety to and from work in Savannah each day, and taken our family on many, many trips. As happy as I was when we bought the outlander, I have never been happier with the SUV than today. You see today we made the last payment on the car! This is one exciting step on our debt-free journey, and I will tell you it feels great!

We still have a way to go and there will always be hiccups along the way, but to see progress, to gain some momentum….that feels oh so sweet!

Well it’s official….Addie was invited to her first birthday party! Our friends that we have met from church have a sweet little daughter that Addie just LOVES. We have to pray for her and her family most every night (I say most nights…because, well she is two and to be honest some nights the prayers are a little random/crazy. For instance, some nights she wants to pray for pickles and trees….).

Last Saturday we had a blast at Summer Waves and celebrated Kendall’s 4th birthday. We had Peppa cake and Kendall opened lots of Peppa presents. It was such a blessing to get to see these crazy girls (and Kendall’s baby brother, Kyler) in action. They took on that waterpark like pros!

Be a parent has crazy highs and lows, but one of the best parts is being able to relive all of life’s firsts! I am sure that there will be many “firsts” that I will be less excited to walk my daughter through in life, but this was definitely a lot of fun.

I am thankful for godly friends to walk along side in this journey of raising little girls…

I have never been to Disney World as an adult without a kid. We had a great time just wandering aimlessly around the park, eating at the newly-opened Skipper Canteen restaurant, and catching a glimpse of the new show, Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire. While I will always love seeing Disney from the eyes of a child when I watch Addie, I have to admit that I had a blast just going with a friend! I hope that many more friend-cations are in our future!

In case you were wondering, Addie and I had a FABULOUS Summer. We (ok, mostly me) were driven by our Bucket List and determined to make the most of our time together. Check out some of our adventures below!

Summer Bucket List—2016 Edition

-Go see a $1 movie: I actually don’t think that we ever saw a $1 movie…but we did see a couple of full-priced ones. We saw Finding Dory and Secret Life of Pets. While Pets was pretty cute, it doesn’t get much better than Disney…. Addie sat through the entire movies with no potty accidents. Addie even shhh’ed me when I was trying to ask her if she was having a good time. Apparently you are not supposed to talk during the movies!

-Make homemade ice cream: Yeah, no we didn’t do this.

-Go camping: Or this…I have high hopes that maybe this will happen in the fall. It is just way too hot around here for this to be very much fun.

-Tiedye t-shirts: We took care of this task during our Friend-cation weekend with Tori, Mariah, and Addie.

-Pick blue berries/strawberries: We actually picked blackberries. It was hot, but it was fun!

-Make jam & can tomatoes: Blackberry picking was followed by blackberry jam making. YUM! Waring and Addie grew tomatoes together, but we ate them all!

-Host a yard sale: Done and done! While we didn’t sell a ton, we had so much fun!

-Paint Pet Rocks/Character Rocks: Addie picked out her favorite rocks in Granny Layne’s yard, and then she painted them. This year her character traits that we wrote on the rocks were “loving” and “silly.” While I would argue that “sassy” would probably fit as well she was not into it…

-Go to the Library: We have fallen back in love with our local library. They have story time each month and Addie loves to go. I love that we get to read new books instead of the same ones over and over!

-Finish Thanksgiving table cloth: I am very, very behind in this area. I need to get on it before November, but to be honest I have just gotten lazy.

-Make flash cards: Nope. We didn’t even start this. She has two more years until pre-school….She will be just fine.

-Homemade pizza night: Does picking it up from Little Caesars count?

-Oatland Island nature walk: Let’s be real….it is waaaay to hot for this!

-Throw a Tea-Party: We had lot’s of pretend ones in the playroom. We will have real ones when she gets just a bit older…..

-Make a Pillow Fort & hold a Disney Movie Marathon: We watched Aladdin and Tangled on repeat!

-Play Make-up: YES! We all got makeovers by Addie.

-Make a Stepping Stone- The stepping stone turned out to be the cutest thing ever, thanks to the help of my Papa, Granny Layne, and Aunt Jenny. I can’t wait to make this a Summer traditions and get to see these precious pavers in the yard for years to come!

-Take swim lessons- Addie had a blast swimming with Mrs. Loren. She talked and talked about her each day until we finally arrived for her lessons!

-Paint Pottery: check!

This bucket list was so much for to think about and check off. I think that we just may have to make another one for Fall! What do you think?