Last day of school

How can it be?!? The last day of preschool for the 2013-14 school year? My little one is really growing up so fast! We couldn't have been happier with our experience this year. We were so lucky to even get a spot in the preschool and only found out in June that she had secured it. It was certainly a "God thing," as we like to say. And certainly an answer to prayer for me! You see, H's very first friend in NC just so happened to attend that school. The girl's mom connected us to other families in the preschool during our first weeks in NC. Those women and children have been our core group of friends over the past year. I'm not quite sure what we'd do without them. 

H's experience at the preschool was wonderful! She learned so much and grew by leaps and bounds. Her teachers were two of the most caring individuals and made each child feel so special. I'll have to create a seperate file box for the beautiful art work brought home throughout the year. I hear these teachers are the best at personalized artwork! I made sure to save most things H made. 

First day of school 9/4/13:

Last day 5/21/14:

This moment...

While I was cooking dinner recently, Hannah told me she was "going to work." I peered into Wes' office and this is what I found.....

27 weeks

Wow, another 5 weeks have gone by in this pregnancy. It is flying by this time around. I think chasing a preschooler has a lot to do with it. Our days are filled and time slips by, much more so than the first time. 

BV2 is on the move all the time! The kicks are getting stronger by the day. Wes finally felt some kicks about two weeks ago. That was fun! Most movement is in my lower left groin area and upper right rib area. Recently, it's been reaching up under my ribs. 

I haven't had another doctors appointment since the last baby post. I've have had a great pregnancy and no medical issues, so they allowed me 7 weeks between appointments this go around. My next one will be at 28 weeks where I get the pleasure of drinking a wonderful glucose cocktail and getting my blood drawn. Lovely! 

I haven't started craving anything just yet. I know that's around the corner! I do, however, really enjoy a five guys burger and find myself pulling into that parking lot every week :) My energy levels are still pretty good, although I've noticed my workouts are getting tougher. My belly has really "popped" over the past 2 weeks and I'm pretty much in all maternity shirts now. I have noticed that if I skip a work out or two, I get terrible heartburn and my joints hurt at night. So, exercise it is :) heartburn has been my chief complaint and most anything will set it off..even a salad. Again, exercise helps and a tums or two when it's really bad. I started having Braxton Hicks a few weeks back, so that's been interesting. I don't remember having them that early with Hannah, but I also know what they are and feel like this pregnancy.

Hannah has really come around over the past four weeks to being a big sister. She constantly talks to the baby now. During a birthday party, she hugged my belly and kissed it (and subsequently hugs my belly a lot now). She told the baby she loved it. It was precious! She also regularly dresses the baby up by holding various pieces of clothing up to my belly. Her conversations with BV2 are great! She asks the baby questions and then pauses as if the baby is responding. After a few seconds, she'll announce what the baby's answer was. She now believes she's having a brother and it's been that way for about a month. We'll see if that holds true! 

That's the BV2 update! More to come.....

This moment....

I'm a bit behind on posting, but I've just been having too much fun with this love bug!

Easter 2014

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

We had a wonderful time celebrating our first NC Easter as a family. Our friends invited us to spend part of the weekend with them in Oriental. We love being so close to the coast! This was an easy trip for us and it was super fun, too! Hannah and Emerson are three months a part and play really well together. Ashley and I are both pregnant with our second and, if all goes according to due dates, these two will be two months a part. We are so fortunate to have met a family we really connect with that have children the exact ages of ours. 

The girls had a blast playing with one another. They dyed Easter eggs, made Easter cookies, and just had fun being together. 

We headed home after naps on Saturday. Riding back through small town NC was fun for us. We stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint for dinner and we were in heaven! I see more small trips through NC and exploration for us in the future. 

Sunday, we got up early to see what the Easter Bunny left before heading to church. He did not disappoint! 

We were proud of ourselves for getting up and out of the door in time for the first service at our new church. That was a miracle in and of itself :) The service was very nice; however, we missed our PRUMC church family tremendously. I really missed singing in the choir with Scott. There's nothing like singing, rejoicing, and worshipping on Easter Sunday with Scott and the PRUMC choir. I've been stalking the website waiting for them to post the service online. Wes and I have missed that church more than words can say, especially during the special holidays. It's the church we met at and where our story began. Although this blog is really dedicated on keeping folks up-to-date on the kiddos, I'll have to write about that one of these days. It's a pretty neat story and one I didn't even fully grasp until Wes proposed..... I digress. 

After the service, we headed back home. We weren't able to get a good family picture this year,  but did manage to snap a few fun ones. 

Hannah had only a few minutes to peruse what the Easter Bunny left before church, so she enjoyed looking back through her basket of goodies. While I cooked lunch, she and Wes watched Frozen (an Easter Bunny treat) and ate bunny marshmallows. It was sweet hearing H explain the movie to her daddy. We had the typical Easter meal of HB Ham and I cooked broccoli and sweet potatoes to go with it. We had a wonderful family meal, just the three of us and were able to focus on all our many blessings. 

Happy Easter to all!!

Family fun!

I'm a couple of weeks behind, but we welcomed all the Vances to our house a few weeks back. Hannah had a blast with her grandparents and cousins. She could hardly contain herself over the weekend. 

H had such a special time with her grandparents. Mimi brought a special craft to do each day she was in town. H loved this!!! They made a graham cracker bird house, stained glass Easter eggs with tissue paper, a big foot/handprint bunny, and culminated their craft making with sugar cookies. Mimi really honed in on H's interests and jumped right in when asked to play princess, tea party, blow bubbles, and so much more. They really had a special time together. 

Hannah loves reading with her Smooth.

Time with the Vance cousins was a special treat. H let the boys stay in her room for the night and had her first "sleepover" with Madeline. We set up their air mattresses wight beside one another. M was a big trooper! I heard H did great and slept through the night, but that she got up a bit early. 

Cannon was precious and set up "the perfect" dollhouse for H. He took out all of her furniture and arranged it in a way he thought she'd like. He did a good job. It stayed that way for over a week before she changed it. That's a big deal!

Bailey was, as always, ever patient with H and she soaked up every bit of attention he'd give to her. 

We were so happy to host family and spend special time together. 

H had a hard time saying goodbye this visit. She's always gotten a bit sad when we've had to say goodbye to family, but this is the first time she's had a complete meltdown. I'm talking reminiscent of the scene from Hope Floats. She begged her Mimi not to leave and just boo hooed as hey pulled out of the drive way. She had true crocodile tears in her eyes and wailed. It took all of the strength I had to hold her in my arms. She was ready to run after them and jump in the car, too. It's always sad to see family leave, but it lets us look forward to the next visit even more. 

Disney Part 4

Day 6: Magic Kingdom

We were out of the door bright and early on our last day at Disney. Again, there were very few lines when the park opened. We rode Peter Pan and Small World multiple times in a row with no wait! We were also first in line for a great character meet and greet with Donald and Daisy! 

I didn't want our trip to end! Hannah's smile and happiness were unbelievable the entire trip. On our last day, I tried to plan activities around H's favorite things she'd done and also squeeze in a few she hadn't done.

Our last flight on Dumbo!

We'd yet to meet Princess Tiana, so that was a priority. We arrived early enough to make the character cue on the first try! This was one of my favorite meet and greets. H was a complete ham! Tiana was so good with her. Hannah started by asking Princess Tiana to sign her book and then promptly pointed out her picture on the princess shirt. Tiana acted so excited when she saw her picture. She then asked Hannah to join her at the ornament tree. They looked at a few ornaments and talked about frogs for a bit. Then Tiana asked H what her favorite food was and she said frog legs....HA! She and Tiana laughed and their interaction was priceless. We thank this Tiana for making H's trip so special!

Small world fun!

A trip around the carousel 

A final meet and greet with Princess Aurora

One of my favorite pics from the trip! A final trip on the Tomorrowland Speedway