Recapping in 200 words or less

This seems to be about all I can do lately...play catch up. With Cory and I's busy summer schedule blogging gets moved aside for various other activites. I am sure when school starts back September 1st I will have a little time...maybe?? There are a few projects at work they want me to take on...so who knows?? Where to start?? Well as most of you know Meredith, jumping, bean bags, and bedtime don't go well together. In fact, just writing that makes me shiver!! Meredith broke her humerus (and it was not funny) exactly 5 weeks ago tommorrow. She sported a purple cast for 3 weeks and has had it off for 2 weeks. Tommorrow we go for a check up to see how the healing has progressed. Pray that we will have a good visit. Although the arm is much less swollen and bruised and she uses it quite a bit, I am concerned about a knot that has developed at the site. Call me superficial, but I really am not excited about her having a lump on her arm forever...its gross. But I know in the bigger picture it could be so much worse and at least she can swim without her cast protector now. All kinds of fun stories go along with this adventure, but I really do not want to relive them now. In spite of the set back she has had a fun summer. We have been to the movies a couple of time and swam quite a bit. Being that we have a good bit of summer left there is lots of swimming to be had! I honestly did not take a whole lot of pics of her in the cast...I was just to preoccupied to stop.

We did get to spend some good times with our friends in Florida. Meredith got to know Natalie and Bailey alot better and they seemed to hit it off well. We are so blessed to have amazing friends.

Fourth of July was nice. We spent it with another set of awesome friends; grilled out and went out on the lake for the evening. The fireworks show was beautiful and we had front row seats. Meredith went down in the cubby as she was not impressed with the noise the fireworks made. Not to mention that she was tired...we were out for 5 hours straight...it was all great fun though and I hope we can squeeze in one more trip out before too long. There is so much to do in the summer time and not enough time.

Cory will be happy/sad that I am updating now, you see I have been very sick for 5 days now and he wants me to be in bed. I got up to go to church this am and he sent me back to the bed. I am feeling like today might be a good sign of improvement and it could not come at a better time. I have 24 hours to pack up my entire house for 2 weeks...yes that is what I said. And I better not forget anything or mom will have my backside. Tuesday, we are hoping to leave for Kids Kamp...that is Meredith and I. A sister church in NC will be hosting again this year a vacation bible school on Psalms. Meredith just cannot wait...she has been asking to go everyday!! Hard to explain time to a 3 year old. She knows she will get to see alot of her friends and do crafts. Not to mention singing...her favorite. They will have a show on Friday evening and Cory will join us there for that. She is our heart, as you can imagine, and we look forward to seeing her on the stage!! Then on Saturday we leave from NC and head to the beach for a week with my family. This is a new adventure for all of us to be able to rent a house at the beach together. I hope it goes well so that we can do this often. I know that Lord will bless it and I really look forward to alot of things, but mostly watching Meredith play in the sand, frying myself in the sun, and eating some seafood somewhere along the way. I tell you that is the life, and I feel very blessed that God has allowed us to be able to go this year.

Well I will close with this...prayer request. Good doctors visit and clean bill of health. Meredith really wants to start back to Gymnastics and soccer in September...and of course we want that for her too, but more importantly that she will be well. And clarity of mind to get everything in order for our wonderful trips drawing nigh....especially in the aftermath of being sick!! Until next time I will leave you with some pics....

It has been too long!!!

If I even tried to play catch up , it would be ridiculous!! So I thought I would do so by posting some recent pictures...I hope you enjoy. Hopefully this will get me back on track! This first set is from our time in Florida over Easter...we got to do and see alot!! Great Fun!!


The next set is some May pics from Meredith...she had a birthday week this year!! She got to celebrate at school, have a Build-A-Bear party, and have fun in the mountains...those pictures are to follow, I still have quite a few to upload from my camara. These May pictures also include some from fun times swimming in May as well!! This will bring us up through mid May!!

So I am super excited about making my first pillowcase dress...thanks to my friend Ashley, I hope there are many more to come!! I had to show it off here...just too precious, except did I mention Meredith untied the straps and it fell off completely in Sunday School..oops, still needing to fix the dress so that it is a little more user friendly!! By the way...I cannot post any more pics tonight...the blogger page is acting funny, so wait to see pics of the dress on my next post...when this thing is working better...until next time!

We Can Hardly Stand Ourselves!!!

I made this title because the last few weeks have been so exciting that we can't hardly wait to share them with you. I do not even know where to start. I am sad that I do not have a pciture of us at the circus, but around St Patrick's day the circus was in town and my dad decided to take us all....10 of us. It was really alot of fun and we got some GREAT pcitures, but they are on Grammy's camara because I could not find mine that night. We went an hour early and it was well worth it because Meredith go ther picture made with some of the show crew and we got to watch some acts up close and personal...clowns, elephants, small ponies, and acrobats. It was fun...we even got to wear clown noses and get some pics of that...I will post them at some point....I promise. We have also had a nice stent of warmer weather here and I think I can safely say it is here to stay!!!!! I could not be happier...our last 3-4 days have been rainy, so that has not been great, but I know we are seeing the tailend of that so I am happy!!! When the weather was nicer, about 2 weeks ago, we went to the zoo 2 weeks in a row.

I have some pictures to share of Hannah and Meredith. They were especially cute waiting to ride the ponies.

I never let Meredith do this because it is 5 dollars, but Claire was given some Zoo Bucks by a customer leaving for the day, so we were able to let them both ride!!

They Really enjoyed their day and I even convinced Claire to go into the Bird house to feed them nectar. Meredith and I had gone in the week before and enjoyed it, even though the birds kept flying to me and landing all over me...it scared me, but Meredith loved it. This particular visit, both Hannah and Meredith got to have the birds land on them. Meredith was a little nervous, but stayed very still while the 2 birds ate the nectar.
Avery has been so much fun to watch the past couple of weeks, she is eating cereal and some baby foods now and also is cooing alot more. She has been a happy bug and of course Meredith continues to enjoy her. She asked to hold her and will do so, but only for about 2 minutes and then she is done. Avery's hair is now quite curly and it is just so cute!!
You can see some of our new couches on the last 2 pictures, and as promised I am going to reveal some new pictures from the Kitchen remodel, new den paint and furniture, and our new Kitchen table....
I cannot tell you how much fun it has been to update these areas and I feel so blessed that things are coming together. I do not know that these pics will do it justice, but for those of you who have been to my home, you will get enough of the picture to see a change. We still have a few finishing touches....curtains in the den and putting up some decor items, but I really do not want to just settle on anything, I want to feel confident that I am picking thing that are right. We still have to decide what we are doing on the shared Kitchen/Den wall. I origanally wanted to separate the two areas with some trim work, then changed my mind to making the shared wall the same color as the den, and now think that I would like to seperate them now, but using a column. Cory thinks this will be too expensive to do, but I remember the price not being very high, so for now we are patiently waiting and enjoying what we have been able to do!! Enjoy the pics, but please come visit and enjoy in person!
And last but not least, we dyed easter eggs today. Meredith was just too excited about this. She did an awesome job, but our only problem is that she is wanting to eat them all now. We started with 12, but are down to 10 already today. I might just have to hide them. We will be leaving a week from today to head to Florida to visit our friends not too far from the Jacksonville area. I hope our weather will cooperate enough to hot the beach one day and spend some time outside while we are there. My WHITE legs need some sun. Watch out world!! I have been trying this week to get some things together for Meredith and I to take with us for the warmer weather. It is between 79-89 degrees currently there. We will be there for 9 days!!I think Cory is looking forward to a little quiet time. I understand because everyone needs that every now and then. I know he will be quite busy with doing some tile work at the new church building, but still will be alone.
The gym continues to pay off for me, I have even taken on a Thursday evening Kickboxing class and have loved this. It has been a good workout. I am half way to my goal and feel good about my results so far. I have had tons more energy and feel better in my clothes!! Sorry for the long post, but I needed to get cought up, especially before we go out of town and have lots more to report!

What is happening in our world?

Well the past couple of weeks have been enjoyable to say the least. We are now having great weather ( I hope it stays) and it has really been a boost! Although I cannot seem to get well, I do not really care anymore. Meredith and I have had some fun times...we went to see Playhouse Disney live and that was alot of fun.
Meredith was so exicted, she started dancing and singing and it was so cute. I have to admit I cried because I was so happy to see her enjoying herself and so glad that we could take her. I wish Cory could have come with us, but he had things he needed to do with the church and I understood. Instead we took Meredith's friend Hannah...they could not be more opposite. Hannah was glued to the show and did not want to talk or be disturbed and Meredith was moving all around and tapping Hannah on the shoulder and trying to get her attention. I guess that is why they get along well!!

We went to the zoo on Friday and I was so mad that I forgot the camara in the van. It was a perfect day and great weather in the upper 70's. We got to see alot of the animals, but I think Meredith was a little disappointed that the we weren't able to feed the giraffes lettuce...we usually do this, but the new baby giraffe, we were dying to see, was sick and they had it closed off to feeding. We were able to see Chrissy, Meredith's favorite one, but not up close, so this was sad. We did do something new and ventured to feed the goats and go into the bird arena and give nectar to the birds. I was not too big of a fan of the birds flying around me and landing on my shoulder, but Meredith loved every minute and kept insisting that she hold the nectar, because she wanted to have the birds around her. It was really cute. Of course, she rode the Carousel. FUN, FUN!!

We also did not have Avery last week at all because Lindsey was out of school on Monday and Gene was off Friday, so he had her, but she will be back tommorrow...with 2 teeth now!! We discovered them last night!! I was so excited I had to show them off to several people!!

Meredith is still surprising me with her memory and language....she doesn't forget a thing and is saying words like "seriously" and "probably" and "ridiculous". She has enjoyed riding in Cory's rental work van and watching her "princess DVD". Cory has a rental because his work van got totaled a week ago when a guy rear ended him pretty bad last week. I think he will get his new work van this week, but I know Meredith will miss the entertaining trips.

I also have to be excited about getting new living room furniture this week...on Thursday we got our Sofa and Love Seat and Cory got a recliner that will be here in 3-4 weeks. We moved around our set up in the den and even got a few of the walls in there painted. It has been a big project for Cory, but the end results are looking great!! He also rewarded himself with and new TV...so far it looks great, but I am looking forward to enjoying it. Every man needs a new toy every now and then? I will have to post some pics of the completed Kitchen remodel and the den soon. Until then....

Growing up too fast

It is hard to believe all of the thing Meredith is now doing. I remember longing for the days when she would be able to do more for herself and express herself more, and now I wish things would slow down a little bit. It seems there is less time to do anything. Especially Blog!!! HAHA. Along with the rest of the world, our last month has been busy. Cory continues to stay extremely busy between work, being out at the Church Property working on the building, and even a side job or two...WOW!! I joined the gym a week and a half ago and so far so good. I actually feel awesome and have enjoyed the hour that I am there. I just knew I would not have more energy....but I DO!!! Eating better seems to be trying as I crave all the things I should not have!!! Isn't that life though? I am really doing better with what I eat and how much. Spring seems to be fast approaching as we have had a lovely stent of great 70 degree weather....LOVE IT!! It makes me feel so good. I cannot wait. It does look like for the next few weeks we will be cold again, and I guess that is okay.



As for Meredith, she told me today.."I am going to my room the get some comfy clothes on." It was so cute. So we found her some sweat pants and a t-shirt and socks and she was happy. We have made it the the Athletic Center for a Puppet show and some free play gym time, which she LOVED!!!

She was doing everything with no fear!! Jumping in the foam pit, balance beam, trampoline, and and even swinging from a rope.

We will go again soon. She came home with some really cute Valentines on Thursday from school. I cannot keep her out of the Candy though.....she has a REAL sweet tooth!!! She loves to be told made up stories about make believe things. She even entertained me with a story about her crashing in an airplane last night....really cute. She loves to play on the computer doing games etc. Avery continues to be her "friend" and she is not very fond of her crying. Meredith either cries too or tries to cover her mouth.

When Meredith wakes up to find Avery gone...she gets so mad and says" Lindsey took her, she took my friend, Avery my sister, call Lindsey, she needs to share." I am glad she loves her so much. All I can say is that I am really enjoying Meredith and the little girl she is becoming! She prayed on her own for the first time the other night.....she named over 30 different people with her head bowed and hands folded. My heart just melted. It started off by her saying her finger was hurt and I told her she needed to pray about it, and sure enough, she did!!

Thanks to a free moment...

Shout out to Aunt Lindsey who gave me a minute to have to myself today....Meredith begged to go to her house and Lindsey said okay, so now I have a few minutes to breathe...I had a lot of time alone last week, but definately not productive since I had the worst sickness I have ever experienced. I just knew there would be a butt print in my couch from me being there so much. Come to find out I had a bacterial respiratory infection and a double ear infection...YUK!!! I still have not regained hearing in my left ear (the same one that Cory has no hearing in...we are a fine pair)! Cory took 2 days off of work and between that, mom, Drew, Lindsey, and Mandy---it takes a village I swear...they got me through the week. By last Friday I made it to the MD and got some meds. I am almost finished with a 10 day course and I am feeling better....the only thing lingering is a cough, so needless to say, I haven't had too much to report on, nor have I really felt like it. I think sometimes God wants us to appreciate our good health and not take it for granted. I have not worked at all in the past 2 weeks and I will work tommorrow and be off for 2 weeks again. With cut backs and all, there haven't been any extra shifts for me to pick up. February should pick up though because I am working some then. We have been staying busy though....Cory is almost done with the kitchen and I cannot wait to share with you guys the big...and I do mean big, reveal. I am having a Tastefully Simple party on Monday evening and I hope it can be done by then, everyone will be so surprised. Cory is so talented. I know I will enjoy my new sink and tile!!! Cory has also been out at the church property when he hasn't been working in the kitchen, alot of late nights this week. Next week he is on call, so I know we will really be missing some daddy time!!! As far as Meredith is concerned, she somehow made it through my sickness without catching it...Thank God!!! She did round up a cold/cough though, but I am thankful she is getting through without a trip to the MD. She got back to school and loved it and looks forward to that every week. I think I can now say she is offically potty trained. Although she has been working on this for some time, I cannot remember her last accident and some night she is even waking up dry, or dryer than normal. Praise God to be done with that!!! We went this week to play with her friend Rilee Hope and went to see another friend, Hannah's, dance recital. It was so cute watching the girls dance. Meredith wanted to be up there so bad...especially the gymnastics bit! I know she would love it, but now is just not a good time for us. School is her activity for now, maybe during summer break we can sign up for a semester....we will see. She also went to story time this week at the library. This was the first time we went to this particular location...it went really well. There were about 7-9 girls between 2 1/2 to 5. Meredith sat in the front on a mat and listened really well to the stories and even tried to do all of the hand motions to the songs and finger plays. I was impressed, she is growing up!!! I do not have any new pictures to post, but hopefully by Sunday I can put some up of the kitchen. Continue to remember us as a family, this will be our last month on our medication to have a baby. I am at a cross roads right now and I have peace about whichever way things go. If this month is not successful, than we will stop for now and see where the Lord leads. This has been another year and one month gone to trying to expand our family and Cory and I do not feel led at this time to go any further with our treatments. I am exhausted with the medication and the toll it takes on me physically and emotionally. I know God sees and understands our hearts, and I also know He can work a miracle.....Meredith is proof of that! It is good to know when He works a miracle, the result is awesome and we are to thankful to have been blessed with the gift of Meredith in our lives. Financially and spiritually we are not at peace about going to a fertility doctor, please pray with us for wisdom.

It was the Season to be Jolly!!!

I am pleased to report that we all survived the holidays and remain intact and. better yet, unsick. You know I have listened and read several people...and all their gripes, about the holidays and what a crazy time it is, etc. But I have to honestly say, it is one of my most favorite times of the year. Maybe it is just me, but I never mind the busyness, because it is all so much fun. So I cannot really agree with all the hectic nature that I hear so many speak of, because it is really just a great time to enjoy my family and friends and watch the kids enjoy it all!!! There is no Scrooge at our house!!!
I use to think that Cory was pretty Scroogeish, but I can say that this year he really enjoyed himself. I don't know why he is not big on the holidays(I could speculate some different reasons) but none the less, he admitted this year to being one of his bests. I think it has alot to do with the fact that Meredith was at such a fun age....that really helped his spirits!! I as usual enjoyed every minute and every activity. One of the best things we did this year was going to see the Lights at Saulda Shoals. It was really beautiful and definately a tradition I hope we will continue. Meredith and I piled into the back of Cory's truck bed and covered up with LOTS of blankets (it was cold the 3 nights following up until Christmas...go figure). It was a great show of lights everywhere. We really enjoyed it. Maybe next year we will plan a little more time to get out and see the other activities they had there. Meredith also got her goody bag from church the Sunday before Christmas...she thought that was pretty neat to get a bag of chocolate, fruit, candy cane, and Christmas tree cake!!!

Christmas Eve proved to be fun as we shared it with our "extended" family. After that was done, we headed to mom and dad's to spend the night....I still do not know how Santa managed to find us there....it MUST HAVE BEEN quite a trip for him. The night went better than I or Cory expected. Meredith watched Ice Age with mom and dad until she fell asleep (rather late I might add) but slept through the move to Aunt Drew's room to sleep and throughout the night until about 8:30 or 9:00 the next morning. She was really a good sport. It was so funny to watch her check out all of her gifts. We vowed we would let her find everything, but we all kept finding ourselves saying "look at this Meredith". You can't help but be excited about Christmas with a toddler around. She was very patient when we opened all of our gifts. She waited her turn and played with her toys in between.

Although she loved all of her gifts....just as Cory and I expected....she loved her egg carton full of "baby balls", the small bouncy balls, the most. If you ask her today what she got for Christmas, she says "balls." So in other words....we really could have saved alot of money and she would have been happy with the balls only!! That really makes us smile when we think about it. Isn't that how it is with kids though....it really does not take alot to make them happy.

She has loved her other gifts...big and small. She is enjoying everything from her doggy toothbrush holder all the way up to her kitchen. For a few days after Christmas, she was really busy checking everything out and making the rounds to everything. She still isn't tired of anything and I am hoping these things will keep her occupied for a while. Cory and I realized we really do not buy for her throughout the year. I was always under the thought that we don't want to spoil her...even if she is our only one. So I know this was special for her!!!

She has missed being in school very much and has asked about it several times. I know she will be glad to get back this week. She also continues to make us laught with her speech. Soooo many things are coming out. A little adult is emerging...and it is really cute. She is doing so well with the potty.....I cannot rememeber the last accident.....I hope not to speak too soon. I wish I could remember all of the cute things she says. The cutest are the little comments like "okay mommy or okay daddy." Last week she told me something scared her and it "might make me cry, cry, cry all my tears out my eyes." Precious. She insists on answering the phone now, every time it rings....note to all: Great way to get rid of Telemarketers. She says "hello" followed by "whose this" or "whose that?" Her current obsession is her monkey purse. A TINY purse that she insists on sleeping with and taking everywhere she goes. It holds her "baby balls", a play cell phone, and her "moneys" aka a stack of business cards and misc. receipts. Enough about her....I could go on forever!

Cory has been his busiest this past week. He put in 22 hours of overtime at work and also started our Kitchen remodel. For the past 4 years we have been in our house, we pick a project to do after the holidays. We are getting down to the last few areas...and of course the hardest. Right now he has already taken down our cabinets, painted the kitchen, put back the cabinets, installed 2 different over-the range microwaves (he had to have the perfect one, but that is Cory :)), installed under cabinet lighting on one side, bought our tile/grout/new sink/and faucet, and taken off our baseboards. I think he said the taller baseboards will be next along with the other side of under the cabinet lighting. I cannot wait for my deeper sink and taller faucet.....funny what you can get excited over. I have been busy playing with Meredith and putting back/reorganizing my cabinets and pantry. I hope to try and turn over a new leaf this year and to try and be more organized. I do not consider myself a slob by any means, I am lazy and do not take the time to put things away neatly. I am wanting to do better. So that is one of my New Year's Resolutions, along with exercising more (even if it is just walking), and worrying less.....trusting God. I know He has my best interest in mind!!