It’s been over a year-and-a-half since we welcomed our sweet little guy into our family, and what joy that time has been!  I catch myself watching Addy and JoJo and am so overwhelmed with with gratitude for their love.  I remember when I was pregnant with Josiah, being concerned (like most Mom’s I’m sure…) that I wouldn’t know how to handle two children, or that Addisyn would feel slighted in some way.  Then I look at them now, at ages 3 and 1, and they are inseperable. Truly inseperable… and it’s so beautiful. Addisyn is busy enjoying summer. Each day she requests the beach, the pool, or the park. She just…

Recently I have felt the pressures of time slipping away as my kids continue to grow, days are ever jam-packed with to-do lists and adventures, and the calendar continues to turn.  I find myself asking where time went at the end of the long but way too short days. I feel like I’m always asking myself “How is it already the end of this month?” or saying, “we’ll blink and it will be Christmas”.  It’s even more eerie that those things are all true. We all quickly get lost in the day to day, but step back to see that those moments between have quickly passed. My position on this is when our…

Yesterday, Josiah turned 17-months-old. That boy has made so many advancements in a short one month time span, and continues to keep us on our toes.  His current obsessions are dancing any time and all the time, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Bubble Guppies, making people laugh, and WATER. He has been loving the summer time pool and beach trips and definitely finds his happy place while getting down and dirty in the sand, sun, and salt water! He even requests “the beach” frequently throughout most days. He loves being outside, climbing on everything, throwing things in the trash can (yes, that one’s a fun one), feeding himself independently, bubbles, playing with cars and…

It’s beginning to look a lot like SUMMER (on most days)!  Good ol’ Virginia weather has been it’s typical unpredictable, slightly bipolar self. Just as soon as I put away the cool weather clothes for the kids, it seems I have to dig them back out for a day or two. However, it’s officially looking like summer has arrived as we spent this weekend making the most of the Memorial Day holiday and the outdoors. Memorial day is always a somber holiday for our family, the barbecues and long weekend vibes are always met dually with excitement and implicit sadness.  It is not lost on me sitting on the beach Memorial Day weekend…

Fifteen months, roughly 456 days, and close to 11,000 hours have passed since we welcomed our baby boy last year! Time is fleeting and I cannot believe how fast he is growing, the new leaps he is making in his development and milestones, and the eruption of his personality that has completely bloomed in the last few weeks. I’m mesmerized at his handsomeness, his intelligence, and his sense of humor daily.  I look at him and his sister and I cannot begin to describe the love that pours out of my heart for them. I remember feeling the anxiety that I assume creeps into all moms when preparing for the arrival of a second child in the…

Last week we had some pretty major storms in the Hampton Roads area. Several tornadoes touched down in the span of a few days with a series of severe storms that moved through the area. The first evening, when the alarms started going off simultaneously on our phones and home alarm system, I didn’t think much of it and proceeded with fixing dinner and our usual evening routine, finding out later that tornadoes touched down very close to us. The second time, I took notice and we “hid” from the storm with flashlights and books in a briefly fun adventure with the kiddos. That afternoon we were eating lunch, and…

Last week, our princess and first born turned THREE years old. Three. Three short, beautiful years of life in the books! I look at how she is grown and realized how quickly her first three years have flown by. We are surprised every day at her abilities. Addisyn never really took on a toddler role. She began talking so early that she’s been a little person ever since she hit one. I gaze at her…amazed by her beauty, her tender heart, her compassion for others, her love for Jesus, her sense of humor, and her intelligence.  How can so much awesomeness be packed into such a tiny person? Three-years-old finds us in…

There’s a joke among my husband and I that one day, I’m going to speak one simple phrase that will send him racing out of the door, late for work or any place that doesn’t involve listening to the rest of my question because it will definitely lead to work for him, those words are, “What do you think about….?” When we bought our current house in 2013, we knew it could be our forever home. We bought far more house than we needed at that time to plan for our future family. We loved the floor plan, the amazing neighborhood and all it offered, we loved the central location, and we…

  So the recent weather trend in Hampton Roads has been pretty bipolar. One day it’s almost 80 degrees and you spend your afternoon watching your children happily frolic in the sand at the beach, and the very next day it’s 40 degrees and your toddler is super confused why she can’t wear her sandals and head out to play. Nevertheless, we have been busy enjoying whatever the day brings, whether that be bike rides to the docks, or family movie night on the couch with hot cocoa. We are enjoying a little spring during winter.   Josiah turned 13 months old this week. A fact that is still surreal to me.…

There’s a really dangerous trend going around with late teens and early 20 somethings that is driving me insane. That’s this trend of becoming rebel degenerates, protestors, and “advocates” for whichever cause they choose to wave their flag and declare injustices for on any given day. This trend of opposing authority, refusing to accept or respect others opinions, demanding tolerance but displaying none, and impeding the everyday lives of others with their actions, words, strife, and conflict. Guess what? You all need to GROW UP! I’ll be the first to admit that I live in a bubble, a very happy one actually. I  choose to continue to live in this bubble because I…