Onelife Ribbon Cutting!

God is so good! We have been blown away by the life change and excited things going on at Onelife… and we’ve only been here 4 months! Come Sunday, we will officially be launching our 2nd campus in a nearby city called Halls. It was so awesome to be there to experience the ribbon cutting and grand opening last week.

This sweet couple is Kendall and Dylan. They are newly engaged and ALSO will be the pastor and soon-to-be wife of this new location. Our church’s dream is not to have a giant mega-church somewhere but instead to have smaller churches in every city in East Tennessee. It was very natural for our next city to be Halls, as this is where almost half of our church members live. We are very big about everyone living and serving alongside the people in their communities, whether it be at work, with neighbors, fellow parents of their kids peers, etc

It was a huge transformation for our new building. Although we know that “church” is not a building, but instead the people of Christ, we are excited to have a place to call our own. The building used to be a night club so there was lots of remodeling to take place. I actually helped paint this adorable toddlers room!

Sheena and Harrison have been such a huge blessing to me! They are staff wives also, as well as moms to young kids. They both have taken me in from day one and made me feel right at home. So thankful that God gave these two to me as friends!

This Sunday will not only be our first Sunday at this new campus, but also our Back to Church Sunday at our first location in Powell. If you live locally, we would LOVE to have you come and check it out! Services are at 9:30 and 11:15.

Cant wait to see what God has in store for Powell and Halls this Fall!

Tristan is playing some football!

Our adorable nephew, Tristan, is now officially a football player! He has followed in the footsteps of his uncles and daddy and is a Rockwood Ram. We were excited to get to see him play his first game last Saturday!

Daddy JC is helping coach

The whole family lined up cheering him on!

This little stinker had no idea what was going on but had fun playing outside.

Carter and Olivia, our niece.

The 4 Isham cousins after the game

Uncle Jar Jar had a team huddle afterwards to discuss their celebration treat… going to the concession stand!

Griffin (3), Carter (1), Tristan (4) and Olivia (2)

Griffin said, “Tristan, I liked coming to watch you play!”

A week with friends

Last week our preschool took the week off in between summer and the new school year and so we enjoyed some extra time with friends!

My friend Elena brought her adorable daughter Scarlett over and she is such a good baby! I dont remember either of my boys ever being that quiet ha!

Griffin practiced holding the baby and was asked if he wanted a baby sister to which he emphatically said, "NO!" Oh silly boys!

Super pumped that one of my best friends from college just moved back to Knoxville to get her MBA. Adrienne joined us for dinner and the boys loved Aunt A-tay's story time!

Some of our closest friends from Wake Forest, the Ownbys, have family closeby and so we were THRILLED when they asked us to join them at the park while they were in town visiting. Griffin and Ella Claire giggled the entire time... and its funny how every other girl he is around he acts like they have cooties, but not EC!

A long overdue visit from the Angels also came this week. We went to high school with Shawn and his family lives so close to us now. We loved getting to have them over and seeing his precious daughter Mattie too!

Crazy PK!

We were in Lids this past weekend and Griffin came around the corner to show off the hat he picked all by himself. He was so proud :)

Crazy PK! We are in for a wild ride I am sure lol! You know what they say about the Preacher's Kid!

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)