Take Me to the River....Put Me in the Water.

Well, I'm officially OVER the winter. I could use one or two snow days, then I am done. DONE. As I sit here hating the drizzly, frigid weather, I long for summer.....and I realize that I never posted about our last summer adventure this past August. Right before school started, we headed up to Elijay and rented a cabin right on the Elijay River. Such a fun weekend!!

Pondering what bait to use:

Our little free spirits. They basically don't wear pants in the summer. Sorry.

Gonna get in the hot tub!! Gonna make you sweat!!

I think we all gained 10 lbs. in one weekend. We ate very large meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.....then snacked in between. Fatties.

We did a lot of fishing!! Of course, who caught the most fish?? ME!!!! Yet, no one could seem to find the camera when I made my big catches.....they totally did that on purpose!!

Attempting to bait her own hook :)

Ella and her giant stick:

Little monkey:

Some fireside fun:

The next day, we spent more time wading in the water :)

We also spent lots of time on the hammock. My favorite thing EVER!!

All that water, food, and hammock-swangin' made one little girl very sleepy :)

But once she woke up, she got butt-naked (per usual) and was ready to GO!! I'll leave you with a little picture of my exhibitionist:

Thankfully, she has outgrown the "getting butt-naked all the time".....A LITTLE BIT, anyway.

Oh, summer, how I long for you!!

Cheers to summer memories, and the many more to come!! :)

Our New Snaggle Tooth - E-Bobby!!!!

Well, we finally have a new SNAGGLE-TOOTH in the family!! Ella lost her first tooth on January 4th!! While she was initially a little scared of the blood and what-not, she finally let me pull it. Her tears turned into pride :)

Then, she lost her 2nd tooth just 4 days later!! It fell out after brushing her teeth before school. :)

The tooth fairy brought her 5 whole bucks for each tooth. When she found her money on both occasions, she immediately asked if we could go to the "Five Below." :) We decided that we would have a little shopping date after her precious little friend's, Isabella's, birthday party this past weekend.

(Isa, Kennedy, & Ella)

The party was Frozen-themed.....a little girl's DREAM!! Anna and Elsa were there to read books and play with the kids:

And they sang allllllll of the Frozen songs:

She was in HEAVEN!!

After the party, we went shopping with her tooth money!!

She opted for a journal (because they only have 5-bajillion journals), and this sweet, stuffed dog that she named "Hugs.")

She and Hugs have been inseparable ever since!! She even brought him "walking" as we walked Henry. Claira also brought "Baby Jaguar." Baby Jag was the very first stuffed toy that I received from Grandmommie when I was pregnant with Nora nine years ago. For some reason, Nora named him "Baby Jaguar" even though he is clearly a dog. The name has stuck, and he has always been a favorite among the girls.

The tooth fairy is a whole lot of fun!! I wonder when she will get to come again.....

Cheers to snaggles and stuffed dogs!!!

Happy New Year!! 2015!!!!! :)

Happy New Year!!! This NYE was spent at home with our little ones....no place else we'd rather be to kick-off a new year!! Nora had learned in school that many Asian cultures clean out their garages for the New Year, so dang it, that's JUST what we did!! We were Asian this year!!! There's something very rejuvenating about cleaning out the garage :) 

That evening, we came in, and got ready for all the festivities. We continued our "balloon pop" this year, but tried to spice it up a bit with some glow sticks:

Then, we went a little crazy with the glow sticks:

 Even Henry got in on the glow stick fun!! 

 Time to pop the 7 o'clock balloon (yes, Ella is in her bathing suit. She misses summer.) 

 Time for fire and s'mores!!

 Sporting our GT to stay warm!!! 

 Clairy's was a bit big. She looked like a Smurf.

Yummy s'mores!!

 Delirious Nora and I played the silliest game ever that she just thought was HYSTERICAL. She would attempt to say something and I would interrupt her with the word "Doy." You don't get a lot of "Doy" these days. This fiasco started because she asked for both hot chocolate AND hot cocoa. Same thing, kid. DOY. 

 Excuse the s'more in her mouth, but I just adore true laughter. It's the BEST medicine!! :)

Time to pop the 8 o'clock balloon!! 

 POP!!!!

 Unfortunately, the 8:00 balloon was the last one we got to pop. After chilling on the couch with our electric blankets to thaw out a bit, everyone was OUT.....except for Josh, who stayed up to watch the Tech game and snapped this flattering picture. Yes, I am wearing an icy face mask....I had a bit of a headache, and was trying to get in touch with my inner Ninja Turtle, apparently.

 The day after New Year's, the man and I headed downtown to have our own little celebration. The W hotel has great lighting, so we couldn't resist having our own little photo-shoot before heading out.....we are such models.

 Trying to keep up with the kids these days....duck-face, finger pose selfie. NAILED IT!! 

This would have been more GQ had we removed the towels in the floor.....

 The W Bar - we stayed there and talked for hours. When life gets so busy, sometimes it's so nice to just SIT and CHAT.

 A final toast before heading out to dinner in the FREEEEEZING cold!! 

Working on his elevator pose.... ;) 

A quick stop by the infinity pool before dinner. Again, FREEZING!!! But lovely. :) 

 The following day, we headed back home to shoot some fireworks. We had all intentions of doing this on NYE, but us losers were out by 8:45. Oh well. We just continue the party. 

 The goofiest wizards I know. 

 He's so Harry Potter.... 

Who needs fireworks when you have THIS little firecracker?!?!

2014 was filled with many ups and many downs. God doesn't promise that life will always be easy, but He does promise to walk with us through all storms. AND HE DOES. No matter the storm, He grants purpose in all scenarios. I am grateful for His purposes, and thankful beyond measure for my countless blessings of this past year.

Cheers to a new year and new beginnings of blessings and PURPOSE!!

Love to all.