Decade

June 16.  10 years of marriage.  Crazy beautiful.

Officially, we weren't planning anything big, but, unofficially, we were both working on secret surprise trips.  Scott's plan worked out, and luckily, I suppose, mine did not.

We ended up having the most amazing weekend away in Nashville, thanks to this wonderful woman who watched our kids, cleaned our house, did our laundry, etc, etc!  Thank you SO much, Carol Ann!  What a tremendous gift! 

We stayed at an aquaintance's condo, right downtown.

It was so refreshing to talk, catch up, have no deadlines or worries...

....or kids running about.

We went for early morning runs,

followed by breakfasts out...

aimless walking and sightseeing,

one morning at the farmers' market,

a dinner at a Taste of Nashville outdoor event,

  

reading and napping and sitting by the pool,

 

and, of course, picking out treats to take home to our two most precious gifts

(who apparently did a pretty good job being without us).

So thanks, Scott, for a truly memorable moment away. 

I'm looking forward eagerly to our next decade together.

Their royal highnesses

 I have been inspired by another mom to pick a letter of the week and try to find ways to incorporate it into our daily activities.  So this week, I picked K in honor of Kipster. 

Today we read the story of Daniel and talked about kings.....and then made crowns.  The kids had a blast!  Gus actually participated in an art project (something that's pretty rare around here) and Kip decorated her own (and much of her hands and face in the process).

Before:

After:

  

 

Aren't they precious??

So far we've learned about Koala bears, colored some K letter sheets, listened to the Kookaburra song and eaten ketchup.

I'm having a blast planning all these things to do!  Tomorrow we're going to look at pictures of Korea (where Scott was born) and buy some kiwi fruits.

"The Ants" by Gus

The ants go marching two by two.  Hoorah.  Hoorah.
The ants go marching two by two.  Hoorah.  Hoorah.
The ants go marching two by two and then they go and buy some pizza
and then...they...all...feel better.

Lunchtime Fun

This morning on the way home from errands, Gus asked if we could have lunch at Taco Bell.  I immediately said no, but then thought I should at least try to make things fun for the poor, disappointed kid.  So, today we had lunch at "pretend Taco Bell."

 I took their orders in the car: cheesy rollups with a drink.  Easy, peasy Japonesy.   I got rewarded with a "Thank you, Taco Beller!" which is apparently what you call someone who works at Taco Bell.  I was also told that I should work at Taco Bell (when Scott is home from work, of course) so I guess the food was pretty good!

Berries

 Our kids are rocking mulberry season this year!

 They spend A LOT of time outside collecting the ripe ones that fall from our tree, and they are both literally purple from head to toe when they come inside.

 Laundry has been interesting lately, to say the least.

P.S.  I discovered why these berries have absolutely no commercial value: those little green stems you see in this picture do not come off.  So you either have to eat them (which my kids do) or cut each and every one off (which I'm not willing to do).

Three blocks down

The wind in our willows...

....well, actually, our hackberry trees, if you want to get technical. 

It started this morning with lots of clouds and a gentle rain.  During breakfast, however, I noticed that the rain was becoming more horizontal and the wind was picking up.  The lights started to flicker.  I heard a soft thump, but didn't think much of it, until Scott walked out of the bathroom where he'd been shaving and calmly announced, "There's a tree on our house."

It looks pretty rough all around the neighborhood.  This is across the street from us:

This afternoon, I went outside to take pictures and couldn't help noticing the constant noise: firetrucks, people out surveying the damage, chainsaws going already.  And I'm pretty sure I saw a Red Cross Natural Disaster Response van at the rec center!

We're so thankful that we're not hurt, but I'm mourning the loss of our one large shade tree.  Sure, hackberries aren't really pretty, it's growing through our fence and it makes these tiny berries that I have to constantly pull out of Kip's mouth.  Plus our garden will be getting a lot more sun!  But, it was shady and our windchimes made beautiful music hanging up there.  I'm going to miss you, old girl!

Lone Star state

Kip wore this today....

...and it reminded me that I am extremely late in posting the photos from our wonderful trip to Texas a few MONTHS ago.  Yikes.  So here you go!

First we headed to Houston to be with the Noll side of the family.  We stayed with Scott's Aunt and Uncle and made trips over to see Mimi and Grandad at their new apartment. 

Three of the 4 Guses

 This was also when Kip finally decided to take her first steps!  Crazy lady.

Then we were off to Dallas where we spent a few days with Aunt Dee Dee and Nonnie Lewis.  Who knew we would have to go to Dallas to get our third snow of the winter!

It was a long drive.  Between TN, two cities in TX and the trip back we logged over 2,000 miles in 6 days!!  The kids did great though and we so enjoyed seeing Scott's family.

Thanks so much for hosting us, everyone.  We had a really wonderful time!

Porsche

Gus and I (Scott) ran some errands earlier today.  At one point, he said, "That's a cute car."  I saw the car to which he was referring and it was an old Porsche.  Good man, Gus.  Good man.  Now, if I can just get him to use a more manly adjective than "cute."  Hmmmm.  I think he must be spending too much time with the girls.

Amy 31. 25

I decided a while ago that I should write an update about myself, just like I do for the kids.  It's actually been a really good exercise for me to stop and think about what I am interested in and working on these days.  So here it goes!

Being a full-time stay at home mom, I have found I need a schedule for my days and weeks.  Here's ours in brief:   Each day I try to get up a little before the kids and do some yoga or just get ready for the day. Then the kids are up; we attempt to do breakfast, dressing and teeth brushing before settling down to watch "Dinosaur Train" on PBS at 9:30.  I take those 30 minutes to finish getting myself ready, clean up the kitchen and occasionally work in some more easy exercises, which Kip loves to "help" with....Gus is much too busy learning about dinosaurs:)  Then we play or run errands or clean the house (depending on the day) until lunch around 11:30 or 12.  Then it's "rest" time.  Usually about an hour for Gus, unless he falls asleep, and an hour and a half to two hours for Kip.  This is when I hunker down with my daily cup of Scottish tea (with sugar and half-n-half, of course) and my Bible or devotional book (currently it's Shepherding A Child's Heart). 

If no one's up yet after that, I have time for a project or dinner prep.  Then we have more playing, or visiting Scott at his office, or other errands (seems like I do those a lot!) depending on the day.  Then dinner, some more playing, and bedtime for the kids between 7-8.  Then we sort out the mess in the house and collapse on the sofa. Seriously.

Having 2 kids under the age of 4 is exhausting, but I'm excited by the fact that it's much less tiring than last year!  I feel like I have more energy and time to try some new things and get out of the house more.  I really enjoy running with some other ladies 3 morning a week.  Scott has been so sweet to watch the kids those mornings!  Last weekend, the girls convinced me to go on a "long run."  I honestly didn't know if I could do it, but I hung in there for 7 miles through the woods.  It was such an empowering experience, that I think I might be hooked....but we'll see if I actually do it again:)

I've taken on the task this year of starting a second garden area in our backyard.  Last weekend, I ripped out all the grass and weeds, and this week I've been working on widening it a bit.  Our tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli sprouts are happily growing on the windowsill in Scott's office, and we have a few things popping up in the backyard garden, too.  I find so much joy in gardening, and I'll admit, I even like to pull weeds!

I have decided to make this a year of organizing: culling, decluttering and clearing out.  Part of me wonders if the Lord has encouraged me to do this because some major change is on our horizon, but I think really I'm just motivated to try and clear stuff out to make my own life easier.  It's so darn annoying to have to sort through tons of stuff just to find what you're looking for, you know?  So our house is slowly getting more orderly, which I'm really excited about, but, please, DO NOT go into our attic.....because that's as far as all the extra stuff has gotten :)

Other random things I like these days are reading good books, watching The Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights (Scott and I finally succumbed to watching it after 11 seasons!), bringing in fresh flowers from our yard, couponing (my record is $60 worth of groceries for $20), baking and trying new recipes.

This stage of life is really good.  I'm so thankful to be able to stay home every day with my kids and relax at night with my husband.  I'm sure I'll be jumping back into the working world soon (somedays I wish it was right now), but for now I'm enjoying being here, and taking it one day at a time....even though there are some days, like today, when I realize much too late that I haven't brushed my teeth yet.....

Kip 1.25

This is classic Kip.  Always climbing, exploring, moving and having a great time doing it!

At her 15 month appointment, she weighed in at a slight 18 lbs (5%), but is 30 1/4 inches tall, which is 50% (and a whole inch taller than Gus was at 15 months!). 

Kip's favorite things to do these days are playing outside (she cries when it's time to come in),

pushing her cart around so she's fast enough to chase Gus,

(sometimes she lets Gus help)

 reading books (she grabs them and then plops herself down in our laps),

wearing hats,

being with her dad,

and walking!

She has finally decided to try it on her own, and after so much time practicing with us, she's already a pro.

Some of our favorite things about Kip are the way she giggles when Gus clowns around,

her husky little voice,

her hugs,

her fondness for animal noises,

the way she folds her hands, especially while sulking,

I think of it as a toddler version of crossing her arms

how she says "Amen" after we pray,

and how all her attempts to sing sound like, "O-bey".

She is a joy to have in our lives each day, and we are so thankful for her!