Little sister is 18!

We loved our time with family to celebrate 18 blissful years of my little sister! Although I still feel like she should be 4.... guess that means I'm old :)

Little brother is 18 months old!

We had a family day at Cades Cove this past weekend and I thought it would be the perfect time to capture Carter at 18 months!

We took him to a creek there and this was his first glimpse of it. He always take in the world around  normally give the "Oh WOW!" face!

After thinking it over he got excited when you heard Daddy and Griffin were going in and started clapping. Pretty much anything they are doing, he wants to be in the middle of.

 Daddy is so good to let him go at his own speed and he loves being right by his side.

Feels pretty good on those feet... this isnt bad!

 By this age I had big brother trained when I had out the camera with the cheese face. This however is what he gives me :)

Speaking of big brother, he is his favorite person in the world! These two have so much fun together and I couldnt be more thankful that they truly are best buds.

Now that his personality has come alive, I often find big brother watching him to see what he is going to do next. They both love to make each other laugh and will do anything to start the giggles!

This shirt really says it all! Carter is tough as nails and rarely cry when he falls or gets hurt... he save all the crying for when he gets MAD! Oh that temper is a bad one. His new thing is that when he doesnt get his way, he runs as fast as he can to hit something. Doesnt matter what it is.. just have anger and need to get it out quick!

We often see this little hand out. Typically it is to ask for more food, but in this case he is wanting a rock too because he saw Griffin throwing one.

Daddy was teaching them how to skip rocks. I can promise, if there is something a little boy is supposed to know or do... their Daddy will show them!

The boys spotted two butterflies and were watching them fly. Little brother kept saying "buttfly" and then shortly after I took this picture went over and picked one of them up and then threw it down. Again not afraid of anything!

Oh you little stinker! That smile captures anyone and you have filled our life with a lot of joy, even though I do call you "Our little stinker!"

I pray that these two will continue to walk through this life, hand in hand, encouraging one another and pointing each other to Jesus. It is a joy to be your Mommy!


A few other things to remember about Carter at 18 months:
-still taking two naps a day and sleeps from 8pm-7am
-goes to bed a 8pm and still has to have the bottle at bedtime (UGH!)
-loves going to school. will walk into your class and turn around to blow me a kiss without a second thought.
-obsessed with Batman and can sing the theme song
-usually one of two extremes: giggling or screaming
-wearing 18-24 mo, size 4 diapers and 4.5 shoe
-can say just about anything he wants to
-loves puppies and motorcycles

Craft Nook

If you've followed my blog long, then you know I like to attempt to be crafty. Well I am thrilled to say that I now have my own crafty area! We have a corner of our kitchen that was just the spot and I am SO pumped to be able to not only get all my crafty supplies accessible, but also use some of my favorite pinterest ideas to decorate the space. Of course, a crafty area needs to be cute to inspire you, right? :)

I had so many ideas and it was difficult to combine them all but I am pleased with the cuteness and yet functionality of it all. I knew I wanted a "to do" chalkboard and a place to display some of the cute things my boys make at school.

I am also a sucker for cute printables and fancy frames!

The dollar section at Target was my best friend! Check out these magnetic containers... to cute!

Again.. functional and cute!

The trusty Cricut ready to be used

Just call me calendar girl. I love calendars, scheduling and planning ahead. I cant have too many calendars!

My 3 loves pictures to make me smile along with a sweet treat AND another calendar (this time weekly!)

My mom had passed down this baker's wrack many moons ago and it was the perfect addition for all my storage. I do plan to label the buckets, just as soon as I figure out what to put in them :)

LOVE the file folders I found in the Walmart back to school section!

DIY Project: Magnetic boards. Thanks to Pinterest I had the idea to use stove top burners from The Dollar Store, picking out cardstock, cutting the paper to fit, glueing it all together and then hot glueing a ribbon on top to hold it. Wala... a colorful magnetic board that fits your color scheme and is CHEAP!

Pom Pom garland makes me happy!

Again printables.. I am inspired by words!

The whole color scheme was based off of my kitchen curtains which I am also obsessed with! The best part about it ALL was that I did it on a very small budget. I repainted several frames, DIY magnetic boards, and stocked up on the dollar section at Target when I saw anything cute! Total for project. Total for this crafty area spent $22.61!

Hooray for a crafty area.... now to get to crafting some of my Pinterest pins!!!!

In case you wanted to look for any of the things I used here is a list of where they can be found:
To do chalkboard:  gift from Kirklands
fancy frames: Carolina Pottery ($1.99)
circle chalkboard: Michaels ($1.99)
buckets: all from Target (sm $1, lg $2.50)
chevron bin: gift from Target
rainbow pom poms: Target ($1)
small corkboards where art is pinned: Target (set of 3 for $1)
oven burner toppers which I turned into magnetic boards: Dollar Store (2 for $1)
file folders: Walmart (3 pack for .88 cents)

I got my hair did!

 After some contemplation, I decided it was time for a new do! I'm so thankful to have a mom as a hair stylist and so she hooked me up! Thank you Mother!

The side view

 We cut off quite a bit and added some layers. The before was honestly a good hair day at the time... if I was honest it was in a pony tail 99% of the time!

One of the many reasons I love Pinterest is for all of the different hair styles you can find.

 This is Pinterest hair inspiration 1

And Pinterest hair inspiration 2!

The last time I had a major haircut was back in August, 2009.... ha yep I think it was about time!!

Smart boy!

 Griffin has been excelling at home and in school! It amazes me how well he understands how to play games, he knows his alphabet and numbers and so much more!

 He had a field day at school and thought he was so big! Here he is with his award and some of his friends.

 I am so thankful for his continued love for books! I caught him reading to little brother and it made me smile!

 Last Thursday he moved up to the big boy class at Preschool. My director said he was more than ready and his teacher said he did awesome! We celebrated with a Sonic drink....

and big brother went along for the celebration too!

Dollywood with friends

 I have been blessed with new mom friends and I am so so so thankful! We decided to be crazy and attempt to take 5 kids 3 and under (Griffin is the oldest) to Dollywood for the day. We had a BLAST! Picture above is me and the boys, Harrison and Mariclaire, and Sheena with Pryor and Easton.

My boys always enjoy the water/splashpad area!

Our stroller brigade!

So much fun to ride the rides with our friends!!

Date day!

 Today we had a family day with the boys and they wanted to go to the splashpad! These boys LOVE being outside and especially in the water.

Afterwards we were blessed to be able to take them to their Diddy and Susu so that we could have a date night with just the two of us! We love to be able to get downtown and just walk around and do as we wish! We discovered this AMAZING dessert place and will be going back for sure. I'm so thankful for a man who continues to want to spend time with his woman :)