Back to School

Our beach trip was so amazing. We had a great time! The girls loved it and we really enjoyed ourselves. The girls favorite part, by far, was the ocean. The first day Caroline was hesitant but after she got used to it she was chasing the waves back into the ocean. It was so cute. Hannah never hesistated- She loved swimming with her daddy and the fish- which definitely kept me with only my toes covered-no further :) We built sand castles, made mermaids of each other, dug for treasure, took walks- early morning and late afternoon. It was absolutely perfect. We also spent some time in souvenier shops, at Barefoot Landing and Broadway- Ripleys' Aquarium and the Children's Museum. We had a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed it. I'm sad it's over but we were happy to get back to our house :) Already looking forward to next year's vacation- although we are not sure where we will be going...
Things around the house are going good- our kitchen is coming along nicely. Cabinets are almost done being painted and I am totally surprised at how great they look. I love them. Our breakfast bar should be finished soon too! I am a little overwhelmed with our home looking like a construction zone. I am ready for the work to be done... or slow down a little :)
School semester is going great- I finished my first course quickly and now I am just waiting on my books to arrive for the next course... Well, actually there is plenty I could be doing without books but I am to wrapped up in the Twilight books to really be concerned about school right now! I started the first book in the four book series last Sunday and now I am just about finished with the final book. I am sad that I am almost done but then again... ready to get back to school and stop feeling so obsessed... haha. What an amazing story though.... amazing author with a great way of writing and expressing feelings to the reader... I honestly don't remember the last time that I have gotten into a book the way that these are sucking me in. Probably Baby Sitter's Little Sister Club back in... like Elementary School. I hope that I can continue finding good books because I love the peaceful feeling I get with a good book. Anyways... time to go get ready for the day! I will write more soon :)

Beach Time

2 days at this time we will be getting close- if not arriving at- the beach!!! I cannot wait. Hannah asks me every morning if we are going to the beach "today?" She doesn't understand when I say Saturday, obviously. She is also very confused that we are going to play in sand, yet she knows her sand box won't fit in our car. She will be overwhelmed with the "sand box" at the beach. :) She is excited about jumping in the pool, swimming with the fish (who would've known this little girl came from me????), playing in the sand, the merry go round... and sleeping at the beach! I am sure Caroline will be just as overwhelmed with excitement when she has something tangible to be excited about :) I can't wait to see her little piggies as the ocean washes up on them in the sand. Ah- why can't they stay little :) Sweet little ladies- love em love em!
Plans for the Beach........
Broadway at the Beach
Barefoot Landing
Ripley's Aquarium
Children's Museum- yay! Just found out this was down there!!!!!!
Dinner at Planet Hollywood
Lunch at the "place on the beach" that no one can remember the name of... but oh so yummy
Perhaps hubby and I will make use of the "babysitters" we are traveling with and go out for his birthday?? "babysitters being Nonnie and Papa"
Playing in the Ocecan
Swimming in the Pool
Playing in the Sand
Playing games with my parents after the girls go to bed
Reading books during nap time on the balcony overlooking the ocean
Sitting on the balcony watching the sun go down, listening to the waves
and praying for ONE GOOD lightening storm because it is oh sooooo beautiful to watch lightening as it crashes into the waves
How can it be that God created such a beautiful world for us to enjoy? A beautiful ocean with the beautiful creatures in it and the beautiful beach that it washes up onto?? What a great God we have!
Anyways... I think I may actually take a little nap today... I feel quite worn out and have lots of cleaning and packing to do between tonight and tomorrow... plus a few errands to run once the ladies wake up.... 1) Verizon- my phone will not make phone calls (great, huh?) and is selectively sending texts... Incoming calls seem to be working though- although, how would I know really if it wasn't hehe and 2) I am down to 5, yes FIVE single wipes! Time to go buy some more!! and maybe some more swimmy diapers and regular diapers while I am there???
I am hoping to have internet access at the beach so that I can keep my blog updated... but then again... it is vacation... computer takes up too much time... can't have that on vacation, right?

It's Been A While

Wow! I cannot believe how long it has been since I have "blogged"- I have never really kept up with a journal but I was hoping to be better about this- mostly so that out of town family could stay updated with what's going on in our lives. So... back to "blogging" and hopefully a little more regularly :)
We are all moved in and settled in our cute little house! I love LOVE love it! It definitely is perfect for our family! All of our rooms are painted (except bathrooms which will get done eventually) family room is a beige-ish light brown-ish color; kitchen is olive green (love it); hallway same a family room; our room- blue; hannah's room- pink; caroline's room- yellow. So we tried the whole "share a room" thing. Not for us.... not because of the fact that they didn't do well with it because, aside from naptime, they did. For nap time it was a pain but i would just move Caroline's pack and play into her bedroom (then the 3rd bedroom) and they loved bedtime together- but- they were getting up too early and there is no way that we could fit Caroline's big girl bed (when she gets it) in the room with all of the furniture that was already in there... so they get seperate rooms. Caroline's room is so empty.... we think "Santa Claus" will bring her big girl furniture for Christmas this year. Anyways, our floors look fabulous- they are a pain in the ass to keep clean... but they look good. Our yard... is still full of weeds... at least they are cut now. There are still ants out there- not as many but we will need to treat the whole lawn for ants and weeds and then work on our land scaping this fall... as well as tear down the deck and put in our patio. The patio won't come until next year though. I am loving it. As much as Gary and I (mostly Gary) are worn out it really is coming beautifully... and we are doing all of the work which makes it so much more special.
We are getting ready to leave for the beach on Saturday. SO excited. Sad to leave our house but ready to get the heck out of Greenville for a week. Things get so old... Time for a change. I am sure by the time we return we will be so happy to be back in Greenville... until next year.. :) Already planning next year's vacation too! (July: New York (Cousin's Wedding) and Pennsylvania (Amish Farm Bed and Breakfast)) This will be Caroline's first time at the beach! and Hannah's 3rd! We are looking forward to the beach, pool, shopping, and just having a relaxing good time! We are going down and staying in a condo with my mom and dad and I think that we will all have a very good time! :) I hope that the girls love it and that we make lots of great memories for them :) Gary's birthday is during the week that we will be down there also so he and I may go out and celebrate after the girls go to bed that night- nice to have babysitters on vacation. :-D
When we get back from the beach.... more school work. My new semester started June 1st and I love LOVE love my classes- I am into my foundations of teaching classes and they are GREAT. Now I know why I am working so hard... because this is SO what I want to be doing :) Love it :) Also when we get back from the beach we are going to remodel our kitchen! Strip/paint kitchen cabinets, new counter tops, build a breakfast bar... and dishwasher, which we already got thanks to a GREAT craigslist deal- brand new Frigidaire stainless steel for $200.00 of store price- woo hoo! (oh... funny story... we went to Lowe's looking for stainless steel dishwashers and I was asking one of the workers about his "sterling silver dishwashers" He looked at me like I was crazy... we both got a good laugh out of it...)
Anyways.. I hear two little ladies starting to wake up... Need to go get them up, snacks... make dinner and finish laundry... Hopefully post again soon!!!

Ready To Move

We are getting there! Only 2 more nights in our cluttered apartment!! I am so excited to spend our first night in our new house- but I am also kind of nervous- I feel enclosed and safe in my little apartment and our house is so OPEN. I don't even know what I will do with all of the space yet. I am sure that will change quickly though. Our house is coming great! Our carpet was installed yesterday and looks fabulous and as I am typing, Gary and my little brother are finishing up our hardwoods. He did such a great job on them and it definitely looks no different, maybe even better, than a professional job. I can't believe my girls actually get to have a pink room. That is one of the most exciting things for me!! :) I am going back and forth about whether they will share a room or have seperate rooms. If they share a room we will have an extra room for toys and computer but then what do I do with nap times? I need my peace and quiet for those 2ish hours a day and if they are in the same bedroom I just don't see it happening. That is my main reason for wanting them to have seperate bedrooms- the sleep situation stresses me out just thinking about it! :) Either way, I am sure they will love their new house- My parents brought a swing over that used to hang on their tree at their old house and hung it on the deck and they LOVE it. Hannah loves to push Caroline and when Hannah has her turn... let's just say Caroline is not as willing to share as Hannah is :) She throws a fit. I can't wait to get rid of all of the ants and weeds so that they can run free in the fenced in back yard! It will be so great. I can just picture Gary and I relaxing on the deck ( or patio once we get the $ and pull down the deck, because it is in rough shape ) while the girls play and explore the back yard. Gary's aunt was telling me a great idea to plant them a "secret garden" that I am going to do. She told me to put down a few garden rocks and nlant sunflowers surrounding it so that they will grow tall and they will have a secret garden. I love the idea and think the girls will get a kick out of it!!! :) We bought our refrigerator today and a microwave, since ours is broken. We didn't really NEED a microwave right now but it was such a good deal that we couldn't pass it up. We went in planning on buying a black refrigerator, even though our appliances (oven/dishwasher) are white, because we were slowly going to switch them all to black but we found the deal of a century. We got a $2200.00 Kitchen Aid stainless steel refrigerator for $900.00. HOW EXCITING! It was sitting there just waiting on us to come and bring it home- well, it's still waiting- but we will bring it home on Friday! :) It's a side by side with water on the door. Never though I would ever have water on the door of my refrigerator. LOL. Can you tell I am just overwhelmed with excitement about every aspect of my cute little house! This is one of the best experiences of my life and mostly because I know all of the memories my family will share in our cute house! Christmases, Easters, Halloweens... all of it! I have to admit I am a little sad about leaving our apartment for good because this is where both of our girls came home from the hospital too after they were born. It's hard to leave a place that you have created so many memories in- but we have so many more to come-and not we have a yard! a garage! a third bedroom! a deck! a porch! YAY! Well, I am going to go and wait for my hubby to get home with our super late dinner- Taco Bell (yum) but boy do I need to start eating healthy again... and then we will watch Lie To Me and The Duel... or maybe just one for tonight so he can get some sleep for his last day of work this week. HIS LAST DAY WAKING UP IN AN APARTMENT TO GO TO WORK! How freaking exciting is that! :) Well, good night.

My Cute Little House!!!

HOORAY! We are homeowner's and I am so proud of my adorable little house! We have been working really hard this week- especially Gary. We closed Tuesday and went over there that afternoon and pulled down all of the popcorn ceilings- It was a pain but now that it is done I am so happy we did it because it looks so much better in there. Next we had to sand each inch of the ceiling, mud and sand again. Then we primed the ceilings and then painted- well, the painting is not done yet but soon... We have had help from family and are thankful for that otherwise I am not really sure when we would be done- lol- We are putting floors in, painting and cleaning and will be moving Friday and Saturday!
The girls are doing good. I think they are enjoying being away from the house today- it was wearing them out lol. Caroline is teething and quite the little grumpy bear :( Hannah is doing good too- She keeps telling me her teeth hurt because she wants tylenol like Caroline. When I tell her that her teeth are already in and they don't hurt her she whines, "Belly hurts, head hurts, need tylenol." Oh boy :)
Well, I am exhausted so that's it for now- more later! And I will try and add some pictures soon!! :)

May 3, 2009 @ 10:15 pm

Gary had to go back to work today- but now he is off until next Sunday!! Yeah!! Plenty of time to fix our pretty house up :) Tomorrow we have to schedule to get all power turned off at our apartment and turn on power and water at the new house... finalize some decisions for flooring, etc. We pretty much make a daily trip to Lowes- Hannah gets all excited when we pull up~ and then when we get inside it isn't long before she is grumpy and then she makes sure Caroline is grumpy too. She must know that we leave quicker that way??? Smart girl. I hated Lowes up until about a month and a half ago. The thought of even entering the store made me cringe. I disliked the smell and everything but now... it's a different story! I love it and can't get enough of looking around, planning, etc. Too funny :)
We had a great weekend- Friday we hung out- ran a few errands- went out to lunch at Cracker Barrel~ We haven't been out to eat in quite some time. It's hard with two kids not to mention expensive. I think we got away with lunch for 14.00 plus a tip. Not bad at all for 4 people!! After that, we met Jennifer (Gary's sister) and her two boys, Hunter and Nate, for ice cream at the Marble Slab- Hannah got strawberry ice cream and we all shared it. Then we went over and showed them all our new house. Saturday we took the girls to the Carnival again. There was a carnival up at the Haywood Mall for the past week or so. Hannah loves the merry go round so we let her ride on it twice. The first time she was all excited to ride the horse but the second time, for some reason, she just wanted to sit in the chair?? Oh well, it is very cute to see how proud she gets walking off of the merry go round like she is a princess!! We played the $.25 rat game a few times but never won anything so we let Hannah go fishing and win a Princess blow up hammer. She loves it. Caroline just hangs out and enjoys everything. She is happy no matter where we are and no matter what we are doing. She is starting to walk a lot now. It's really cute. I think the most steps she has taken is 10 now. She tries to go really fast to get in as many steps as she can. The other day we watched her feeding her baby a baby bottle. She is getting so big so fast! She will be 1 in less than a month- I can't get over it.
Anyways, both the girls are down for the night so I am going to go get some sleep because we have a crazy week ahead of us!!!!! We are driving to Columbia, SC Tuesday morning for our closing!!! Can't wait! :) Good night.

April 30 @ 3 pm

Today has been one of the more stressful days of my life but I think things are resolved for the most part. I thought buying a house was going to be a simple process- I didn't realize how much was involved and how much had to fall in place in order to make it happen! What craziness! We may be closing early- on Monday! I hope so!! :) If we close Tuesday we have to drive to Columbia to close, which I am not thrilled about but it was either that or wait til Thursday which was not happening.

The girls are doing good. Both napping- Caroline put herself to sleep today! It took ONE day. AMAZING. I never thought she would get it this fast! I guess she just had to learn that her crying wasn't going to result in me picking her up- just a quick check. She did great last night and this morning for her morning nap. This afternoon, I put her down, checked on her twice and now she is sound asleep. I am happy she is getting this down because when we move into our new house she won't be sleeping in our bedroom anymore. She and Hannah will be sharing a room together- I have postponed putting them together because I don't want them waking each other up in middle of the night. Hannah is not napping. She is "resting" and examining everything in her bed and if she comes across a fuzz or anything she is unsure about she calls, "Mommy uuuuuh-ooooh!" Definitely all girl. Scared of her own shadow. Flies, bees, gnats, fuzz, crumbs, the wind... you name it, she's scared of it. I think it is cute to see that if Hannah gets upset about something so does Caroline. Hannah is doing great potty training. I don't really even worry about it anymore- she basically just runs to the potty when she has to go. Two hard tasks almost accomplished within a week- potty training Hannah and getting Caroline to sleep by herself!

Hannah is looking forward to Gary getting home from work so that she can show him her new talent- playing the drums (or banging on boxes) She and Caroline have been having a ball all afternoon banging on boxes and copying eachother. I guess whatever makes them happy makes me happy- haha.

Well, I am going to go relax because all of this house stuff is completely wearing me out! I am ready for it to be done already! It seemed like things were flying until this week... ThReE mOrE dAyS (maybe 4) Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 29, 2009 @ 3 pm

So, once again it's nap time at our house- although my littlest lady is not too happy about our new nap routine. Lately she decides that she does not want to sleep in her pack and play at bedtime but would rather sleep in mommy's arms until 11 or so and everytime I finally get her to sleep and set her down she wakes up screaming. Not that I don't love holding and cuddling her- but- after a full day of being a mommy I would like 2 hours or so to spend time with hubby and have some ME time. So starting with nap time today I am letting her soothe herself to sleep. It stresses me too badly to just let her cry so I give her a few minutes and go in and pat her back for a few minutes to calm her down and keep repeating until she falls asleep. She is almost asleep now. I know this is tough on her and I both but in a week or so we will so appreciate all of the hard work- mostly on her part. This is the same method we used to get Hannah to sleep through the night and it worked amazingly. Hannah was a bit younger when we started so hopefully I didn't wait too long. Caroline's advantage is that she is already used to sleeping in her pack and play and Hannah had to get used to it because she was used to co-sleeping (which I refused to do with Caroline because it was 10 months of horrible nights of sleep)
But anyways, on a happier note- I took the girls to the zoo today and they had a ball! We looked at all of the animals. I love hearing Hannah say "byebye" to the animals as we move on from each group. "Bye Bye Elephants! Bye Bye Baby Bob! Bye Bye Giraffe!" Those three are her favorites. She loves feeding the elephants their crackers and we even got to see them drinking water from their little pond today- it was quite cute!! After we looked at all of the animals we stopped and got an icecream sandwich and a bottle of water. It's crazy that I could offer Hannah anything to drink and she chooses water- perhaps she got it from her mommy. So all three of us shared one icecream sandwich, washed up and then headed to the swings. The sun was so hot that we only got to swing for about 5 minutes and then headed back to the car. Caroline, unfortunately, got my skin and not her daddy's so I have to be very careful that she does not get sun burned. Hannah on the other hand gets a BEAUTIFUL tan- lucky little lady :) We headed home and got ready for naps. (By the way, Caroline is sound asleep- Nap #1 a success!!) So now I am sitting here waiting on a phone call about our mortgage. Someone is trying to teach me to have patience!! :)
I am looking forward to Gary getting home from work- eating dinner (have to figure out what to make) and then perhaps going to do something outside??? It is such a beautiful day- I love spring nights- and I bet I will love them even more when I can step into my own fenced in backyard and watch my girls chase each other around, look at the pretty flowers (or weeds for now- LOL) and just enjoy a beautiful night in our beautiful home!!!

April 28, 2009 @ 2:20 pm

It's naptime here in our house. Caroline is sleeping peacefully with all her little stuffed animals cuddled up to her and Hannah is quiety playing in her bed. Hannah thinks that it's time she gave up naps but I won't let it happen yet :) Naptime is my down time and also the only quiet time that I have to do my school work. I figure it's fine if she doesn't want to sleep but it's important for her to have quiet time as well!
We are potty training Hannah and she is doing GREAT!!! It has been 5 days now and she has had maybe 3 accidents. It's amazing. She was definitely ready and I am so proud of her. The only times that she wears diapers now are for nap/bed time and when we are not at home- all other times she is in big girl panties and she thinks it is fabulous. She woke up at 7:45 this morning and was in big girl panties until 2:00 for nap- 6 hours with no accidents- although I do believe she used the potty over 30 times :) I am not sure if she just can't control her bladder yet or if she likes going a million times to get prizes- The prizes would be my guess :) She gets two smarties every time she goes and sometimes special prizes like candy bracelets and marshmallow bunnies. After she uses the potty she says, "I did it! Special prize?" It's precious.
Caroline is learning how to walk. I can't believe my baby is growing up!! She took 4 steps yesterday. She took her first step on April 24th. I can't even imagine what life will be like when she can chase after Hannah- crazy, I'm sure. She gets a huge grin and is so proud of herself when she does it- and might I add a huge TOOTHLESS grin. Still no teeth for little care bear, although she is cutting her lower left tooth- I can feel it under her gum but it still hasn't popped up yet. Hannah is concerned that she won't have teeth in order to eat her birthday cake.
House update- Looks like we will more than likely be closing on Tuesday, May 5th. I was really hoping for this coming Friday, the 1st but it doesn't look like everything will be done in time (paper work and all) It would have been nice to have an extra weekend to get work done but as long as it is no later than the 5th I will be happy! Gary requested the 5th-9th off of work so that we can have time to get work done! The first thing that we are going to do is pull down the popcorn ceilings and then paint them. There was a grease fire in the kitchen so the ceiling was black and then they painted over it with BRIGHT white paint so we would have to repaint all of the ceilings to get them to look normal and we figured while we were at it we would just pull down all of the popcorn. Hopefully we won't regret our decision- lol. The next thing we will do is carpet the bedrooms and hardwood the family room/dining room/kitchen. Then we will move in and do a little each day- painting and lots of yard work. My sister in law is going to help us with our yard work and I am very excited about it because her yard is beautiful :)
Well, I am going to go relax a little bit and the perhaps write my last 5 page essay of the semester! More later!

Monday, April 27 at 4:00 pm

So, I think the idea of a blog is really cool. Some of my friends have blogs and I think it is a really cool way to stay updated with their lives and also a great way to keep memories documented. I have tried journaling and it never sticks, so hopefully since I am on the computer a good bit I will be able to keep my blog updated.

Quick Introduction: My name is LeeAnn- I am 21 years old and married to the best guy in the world, Gary, and we have two of the most beautiful little girls ever, Hannah and Caroline. Hannah will be 3 in September and Caroline will be 1 in May. I can't believe how fulfilling being a mother is and I treasure every minute that I get to spend at home with my girls. I am going to school online and I love it. I was studying to be a Middle School Math teacher but recently changed to Elementary Education- I think it is more my fit. I enjoy working with younger kids and I also feel that I would have struggled learning Math online. I am thinking 4th or 5th grade :)

Life Update: We have a pretty crazy month coming up! Our littlest lady is turning 1 on the 23rd and we will be having her birthday party at the end of the month... in our NEW house! How exciting is that! We should be closing on our house the end of this week (hopefully) or possibly early next week. I can't wait to get in and start pulling stuff apart and making it our own! It was a forclosure and needs some work but I am most excited about doing the work! We have been in a 2 bedroom apartment for the past 3 years and let's face it- 2 bedrooms with 4 people gets kind of crowded! So our lovely 3 bedroom home is going to be perfect and our girlies will have tons of fun in the backyard running around, playing and exploring. I can't wait to plant a garden! Maybe we should plant some grass in the empty patches first though :) hehe
Well, I hear a little lady crying for her mama- I will post again later!!