Time to Reflect

This morning at 5:50 am, I was sound asleep. Next thing I know, I heard a sweet little voice next to my ear whisper, "Good Morning Mommy, I love you." That sweet little voice then said - "Scoot over, I want to snuggle you."

First thought to pop in my head is how very early it is. Second thought, (once my brain had a chance to wake up a bit) is how extremely blessed I am. I sometimes find myself taking the little things in life for granted. Sometimes I even take the big things for granted.

How much must God love me? This is what I realized early this morning. On one side of me, I have my darling little girl and on the other side I have a loving (snoring) husband who just happens to be my soul mate. Wow. This is what it is all about. The daily grind, the working hard, the struggles, the frustrations, the typical "grown-up" stresses. Without these, we wouldn't have the ability to reflect and see how very, very blessed we are.

Thank God for what he has given me in life and for what is to come in the future. As Thanksgiving rolls around this week, I am going to savor every single second spent with my family and my dear friends. And, I hope everyone that reads this blog realizes how lucky they are!

You pick, I pick...

Its Saturday morning and its the first one in a LONG time that neither Jay or I have work to do. Wait, let me take that back, I have work to do, but its the kind that can be done from home in under an hour. This day is gonna be a good one!

Jay is finally feeling better after battling a terrible cough and cold all week long. I have gone through an entire big aerosol can of Lysol in 4 days. I am not kidding. I have turned into a true germ-a-phob It seems to have paid off though because Grace and I are still pictures of health.

Since we both have open schedules today and Jay is feeling better, we do not want to just hangout at home. In the name of fairness, I will get to pick something to do and so will Jay. We might even let Miss. Grace pick as well! My pick is to drive out to the observation deck at the airport and watch the airplanes. Not only do I truly enjoy doing this, but it is even more wondrous now that Grace gets so excited to see the planes take off and land!

To be honest, I am not overly excited about Jay's pick. But, I must remind myself - "in the name of fairness," right? He wants to go to the fairgrounds to the classic car show. This is something that ranks right up there with going to a golf store with him and watching him wander around with drool coming out of his mouth! Both are tedious and require a great deal of patience on my part!

Thank God that the nor'easter has moved on and we will not experience another day of cold, windy, rainy nastiness. We will actually see SUNSHINE today. I am sure that most of Raleigh is experiencing a huge vitamin D deficiency by now. I miss my friend, the Sun. I also miss wearing my sunglasses. Silly, I know. I really like them though! What I really miss is be able to wear sundresses. Only about 6.5 more months until I get to pull out my summer clothes.

Speaking of clothes, Jay and I might need to go buy some new ones in the near future! We have been trying to be a bit more frugal with our money, so we have spent less on eating out and less money sitting in bars! Not only is this helping our wallets, it is helping our waistlines. The big fella (Jay) has lost 13 lbs and I've lost 7lbs! I am so excited to see if I an get down to the weight I was the day I found out I was pregnant with Grace! It will be hard with the holidays right around the corner and my weakness for freshly baked goodies and all things bad for you.

Time to stop blogging - off to enjoy this day! Goodbye for now!

Oops, I did it again!

Once again, I slacked on this blog. I have thought of sitting down to start one several times, and of course something else would pop up and distract me! I am going to make no more promises to myself to write on a regular basis - it just doesn't work and I end up breaking promises I made.

We have had a nice fall so far. Grace is the most adorable 3 year old and so interested in everything. She is loving school and her friends there. What a wonderful place MUMPS is. I have found a group of "Mom friends" there and they are all so awesome! Grace is learning so much at school. She surprises me almost every time I pick her up by telling me something new. For example, she knows the difference between "alto" and "soprano" and can sing to you the way they sound different! It is really neat to watch her at this age - she is like a sponge taking it all in. I thank God everyday for such an amazing, beautiful, kind, compassionate, smart little girl. Boy, she is something else!

Grace is into ALL things girlie. She was a fairy for Halloween, she loves to dress up, she loves watching Princess movies and pretending to be a princess. She loves to pretend to put on make-up and try on my high heels. Uncle Buddy and Aunt Heather got her a princess night gown for her birthday in August. She wears it just about every night. I of course have washed it many, many times by now and she sees it in the laundry basket, and game over! I can't get her to wear warm snugly pj's if she spy's the pink, shiny, silky, soft princess night gown! She even asks to wear it out to school or when we go shopping! I think that Santa will be asked to bring Grace some more Princess dress up clothes.

Speaking of Santa, we are getting pretty excited for the Holidays. It is very hard to believe that it is just right around the corner! Time flies, for sure. I can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Other than summer, this is my favorite time of year. There is just something so magical about the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the hustle and bustle!

Alright, this is all the time I have today. Grace is climbing on me, Jay is sick in bed, Luke needs to go out, I've got work to do for Zip, etc.. all in a days work- *and its only 7:30am*

Goodbye for now dear friends!

Well HELLO my long lost blog

I know when I started this blog, I promised that I would keep up with it! Well, clearly, I lied to myself. I can't explain it. Life just got busy, I guess! We have had SO much going on since my last blog. I don't even know where to start. Surely, a great amount will be left out! To start with we had an amazing birthday party for Grace! With family and friends, we celebrated her 3rd in style!



We have also been enjoying going to some football games. While our dear Pirates have not been doing so well, it most certainly has not stopped us from having a good time tailgating! Here is hoping for a better rest of the season! We stayed with our great friends, Andy and Anne at Anne's parents house for the ECU/ASU football game and always love staying there! They are such nice people to have put up with us so many times over the years!





We also wrapped up the beach season with a fun filled trip to the Pool's beach house at Kure Beach. We are so thankful that they have shared their little slice of heaven with us so many times.
While we were down at the beach, there was a hurricane WAY off shore, but it kicked up some huge swells and it was so neat to watch. Jay and Murray attempted to swim in it, but quickly got out when they both saw their lives flash before their eyes!
Grace and Preston are so cute together and such great friends! It is so fun to watch them interact with each other. During this trip, they had a slight obsession with the movie Cars. I do think that it must of been on repeat the entire week! At least it has good music for the adults! Grace and Preston also found the candy machine at Buffalo Wild Wings fasinating! Needless to say, we spent quite a few quarters on Reece Pieces.

After a busy and fun filled August, we quickly moved into September. Grace started her 2nd year at MUMPS and loves it. She is so excited to see all of her friends every school day. I've made some friends through her school mates and I am so thankful to have more "Mom Friends!" September also bought my 29th birthday, which I was not very happy about. One more year until the big 3-0. Whew. I better make this one heck of a good year! One amazing thing about celebrating a birthday is that I realize how much I love my family and friends. We had a birthday dinner at Ken and Whitney's house and then another at my mom and dads house. Jay and Grace took me out to a birthday lunch and NOELLE showed up! All the way from Florida. I was shocked. Jay and Noelle had been coordinating the surprise for months and it was so cool! While Noelle was in town, we all went to Justin and Jamie's wedding and it was such a beautiful wedding. It so great to hangout with a bunch of friends we hadn't seen in a long time.





I am going to try and be more diligent about updating my blog, I promise. October promises to be a pretty exciting month so there will be lots to blog about!!! Keep an eye out for more frequent blog updates!!

The Big 3!

I can't believe it, but tomorrow morning at 9:26, my baby is going to be 3 years old. Time doesn't seem to slow down no matter how hard you wish for it to. She is just the most amazing, caring, kind, sweet, intelligent person I have ever met. Thank GOD we were so blessed with such a jewel of a child.

We are having her birthday party today! It is the 3rd annual pool party for her birthday! Should be a lot of fun and the weather should be perfect.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET GRACE!

Its a busy time here on Ivy Lane. Jay is busy with his real estate and text messaging and I am starting to see a pick up with my real estate as well. I took the nicest couple out yesterday to see homes. It was like a breath of fresh air to be around Wes and Sheila! People like them are why I love my job.

As summer is dwindling, its also busy around here on a personal level. For one thing, we are celebrating Grace's 3rd birthday next weekend. I can't believe my sweet baby is going to be 3. Time goes way too fast. The plans for the party have kicked into high gear. We got her a playset for her birthday and Jay, Patrick and Lee worked really hard transporting it and getting it put back together. It still needs a bit of work, but Grace is completely in love with it.

Also, as summer winds down, its time to start thinking about Grace going to Millbrook Methodist Preschool again this year! The check has been written, the forms have been filled out and mailed and now the only milestone we need to conquer is potty training. We have had the worst time with this. Any advice will be much appreciated. Poor Grace pees on the couch , on the floor, etc - any where but in the potty. I am hoping this is just a phase and will be problem of the past very, very soon.

We are very excited about tomorrow! My family is camping at Kerr Lake for the weekend and we are going up to join them for the day! We have done this once before this summer and had a BLAST! I can't wait for a great day! Hopefully it will not be too humid but being that its August in North Carolina, I am sure that it will be.

I'll be sure to add some pictures soon!

Early Bird Gets the Worm, I guess.

I woke up at 4am and have been sitting on the couch watching the news and working since then. Now I'm out of work, I guess I'll update the blog. I can't stand days when I wake up so early. Oh well, it could be worse! Not much exciting has happened on Ivy Lane since the last post. We are just working hard and enjoying Grace as always! I uploaded the pictures from our Alderson OIB trip on my Facebook! Go check it out if you are on Facebook!

Speaking of OIB, in a few hours Grace, mom and I are hitting the road for a trip down to OIB. I am really looking forward to being back at the beach, smelling the salt air and having the sand in my toes. The one thing I don't like is that Jay won't be there. I will miss him. I am sure it will all be fine and both of us will have a great week!

Check back later for OIB updates!

Alderson's are Awesome!

Here I am, still enjoying my week of heaven at OIB with my wonderful, crazy Alderson's. I don't know how I got so blessed to have a family of "in-laws" that fit me so perfectly. I do know that I love each and every one of them and I am so glad they are related to me and that Grace gets a chance to grow up with such a loving group of people.

I am a tiny bit stressed. Grace is turning 3 in less than a month and I have not done a single thing to plan for it. I need to get the ball rolling on that. I am thinking we will have another pool party! She does love the water!!

I am feeling depressed that the day to go home to Raleigh is quickly approaching. Its time to make the most of every moment and I need to keep in mind that Grace and I are coming back down to Ocean Isle in a week. My Aunt Martha invited us girls down for a girls week at the beach! Boy, I am really looking forward to getting caught up with her and my mom. We are going to have a BLAST!

Beach Blogging!!

As I sit here, I am looking at the ocean and drinking my coffee. I am totally relaxed and loving every minute of OIB with my family. Jay, Lee, Grace and I came down to the beach on last Thursday and stayed at Seth and Heidi's house in Wilmington until Saturday. It was so nice of them to lend us their home when they were not there. Unfortunately, I got sick on the first day. I had either strep throat or tonsillitis. It was rough going for me - also for the boys because they were in charge of Grace! I slept a lot and took lots of medicine. I am almost back to 100% now. What a bad way to start the beach trip! At least its over.

Grace is in love with the beach and the ocean. She did not even want to leave the beach yesterday when Daddy offered to take her to get icecream and a new toy! She is such a little fish! She will put on her "boat jacket" and just spend endless amounts of time in the ocean with her Daddy or her Uncle Lee.

This is the best time of the year and I am trying hard to cherish every moment that I am here. I have such an amazing, crazy, fun family and I am looking forward to 6 more days of them!

Friends and Summer Fun!

We have been busy having fun as we progress into July! We had a weekend full of activities 2 weeks ago when Heidi came up from Wilmington for a visit! It was so nice to see her and get to spend some quality time together! On Friday night, we hung out at the house and had a few people over. In honor of the King of Pop, we had a Michael Jackson Dance Party. I am glad no one had a video recorder going, or else I'm afraid we would be a huge You Tube joke!



On Saturday, we hung out by the pool and enjoyed Heid's company for a while, then it was time to get ready for a road trip to LaGrange, NC to help Ramsey and Rachel celebrate their upcoming wedding with a "Lawn and Garden Shower." We had a great time on the way there, while we were there, AND on the way home! It was a little of an hour away and we just partied hard the whole time. Then on Sunday, Murray, Danielle and Preston came over for a pool day and we took the kids to the driveway for a "Driveway Party!" It was a lot of fun and we were all pretty tired by the time that Sunday evening rolled around!










I am so thankful for Heidi and her coming to visit us. She is a blessing in my life and I love her like a sister. She is such a great friend and I wished we lived in the same town!!

Quiet mornings mean time to finally Blog!

Well, well, well - shame on me for not blogging in over a week. I told myself that if I started a blog, I would be extremely diligent about it and I have already slacked off. I will not do it again! What a busy time its been around here. My last day at Triangle Spine was yesterday. I am nervous but extremely excited about my new venture at Zip Realty. The training for that starts on Monday morning at 9am. I've got my fingers crossed that this is the direction that I need to take in life at this time. I am sure it will all work out perfectly. I am going to be lucky enough to be able to work from home so I am super pumped about spending more time with Grace. I will be able to volunteer at her preschool more in the fall, and that is great!

We had a great Fathers Day last Sunday, well all weekend really! On Saturday, we hung out at the pool until the sun was shaded by our too tall pine trees. Once that happened, we scooted to the driveway for a famous driveway party! I set up the hose so that it was shooting straight up in the air like a sprinkler and got out the dish soap. Grace absolutely loved it and I can't wait to do it again. It really was a lot of fun!



On Sunday, we went to a great dinner at 18 Seaboard with some wonderful Alderson's. We had so a nice time sitting on the rooftop, overlooking downtown. There was a beautiful sunset, the food was delicious and the company even better! If you need a nice place to go out to eat, I recommend this restaurant! I managed to get a few group pictures after a long of begging and pleading with the guys and it was worth it because I love the pictures!





What a fun evening it was! Thanks to Margie for organizing this Father's Day dinner!

All of this Alderson talk reminds me that I forgot to write about a couple of weeks ago, we went to Todd and Jeannie's house for a cookout. We got to meet the youngest Alderson's and they are so cute!!! We had a great time and it was so nice to see a lot of relatives we haven't seen in way too long!






Yesterday, Jackson Monsees turned 1! We went to his birthday party and had a great time. Grace didn't want to leave. She was having such a good time with her friends. The grill was going and the burgers were big and tasty! Kim and Lee did such a great job with the party and I think everyone had a blast. Thanks to Kim and Lee for letting us share in Jax's special 1st birthday!





This is going to be a FUN weekend - Aunt Heidi is coming for a visit and Grace and I are very excited. She will be here this afternoon and is staying with us all weekend. I am so ready for what I call HeidiTime! Yesterday, Grace had her fake phone and was pretending to talk on it. I asked her who she was calling and she said - "I am calling Aunt Heidi and telling her to hurry up and get here!" It was precious. My child is just one amazing kid. We are also going to a "Lawn and Garden Shower" for Rachel and Ramsey on Saturday night. Lots of good times to be had! I'm going to relax and have a good weekend and get ready for my new career that start on Monday!

Hot Summer Days!

Once again, my favorite day of the week has arrived. ITS FRIDAY! Grace and I are meeting friends at Shelley lake for a fun play date this morning and maybe hanging out at the pool. Its going to be H.O.T. today and I LOVE it. This is truly my favorite time of the year. We went to North Hills last night and it was great to see Murray, Danielle and Preston, but the band was not the best so we left early. I guess they can't all be fantastic, eh?

I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. I plan on watching the U.S. Open and taking a few naps on the couch. Check back at the end of the weekend for a long blog with pictures!

A Weekend of FUN!

I am sad that today is Monday, but so very thankful for the amazing weekend we just had. On Friday, Grace and I went to the "splash ground" with our friends, Margie and Julia. We had such a nice time and Grace threw one heck of a temper tantrum when it was time to come home. We will be going back again for more fun in the sun there this summer! It is such a fun place for kids (and adults too!)

On Friday night, Pee Paw came to watch Grace for us so we could have an adult evening out! We went had a few drinks at the Fox and Hound and went to the movies to see The Hangover. It was a hilarious movie and I highly recommend it if you need to laugh for a couple of hours!

We had quite the adventure on Saturday morning. We want to start riding bike as a new hobby. Well, our first attempt was not a successful one. We had to put Grace's seat on the back of my bike and my bike is one clucker of a rusty mountain bike. We made it all the way to Chris and Margie's house before we realized that Grace and I could not go any farther in the condition our bike was in! She was basically sitting on the back tire the whole time which gave my legs quite the workout! We had to hangout at Chris and Margie's while Jay rode his bike back to our house at warp speed to get the car and come get us!

The rest of the day on Saturday was spent poolside and Grace decided that she is just like Daddy! She spent a good bit of time just "relaxing" in her float in the baby pool!


Sunday was a very eventful day for our family! We went to visit a farm, and a lady by the name of Farmer Mary. Grace was so excited and honestly, so was I! It was a day we will not forget anytime soon! If you want something fun to do, please go visit Farmer Mary at Winterpast Farm! She is such a nice lady and so good with kids. We even got to take a billy goat on a walk through the wood on a leash!







After such an exciting weekend, we are looking forward to a relaxing week!