Happy Birthday Avonlea!

My sweet girl. Today you are two years old. I can't believe that it seems as though just yesterday I had you and held you for the very first time. I can't even begin to tell you how much you mean to this family. We love you so much.

Leaving the hospital 2 days after having you

You turned one and had your very own cake

You are two years old today! My gosh!!!!

Milestones:

*You speak A LOT! Maybe not clearly, but if we listen carefully we know what you are saying.

*You graduated from your crib just last night to a toddler bed and even though we struggled keeping you there, you finally fell asleep at 10pm and woke up this morning without a problem.  

*You love your 'baby' doll so much that you sleep with her and take her almost everywhere.

*You eat almost everything.

*We've started trying to potty train you and you've gone to the bathroom three times!

*You are a spider monkey-you climbed out of your crib for 2 days (not anymore)

*You can eat all by yourself and eat almost  anything we put in front of you.  

*You enjoy 'reading'.

*You weigh only 22lbs.

*You are wearing a size 4 diapers and 12-18 month clothing still.

*You know a lot of nursery songs (mostly because your older sister sings them all the time)

*You love to dance

*You want to be independent so badly when it comes to being in the swimming pool. You can't stand being held or being put in a floating devise.

*You sleep about 12 hours.

*You can climb stairs and open doors without a problem.

*You like to climb on the sink and open the faucet to get water.

*You can drink out of a big girl cup now (with adult supervision)

Avonlea, you bring laughter and so much love to this family. Thank you God for such a beautiful blessing.

Yes, I'll take your trash!

If you know me, you know I'm not one to be easily embarrassed when it comes to shopping at Goodwill, garage/yard sales, consignment stores, flea markets, etc.... Take me wit ya! I love me a good bargain!
Well, when I was little, my dad used to be a bell-hopper at an expensive condo unit. Every once in a while, he would bring goodies home that he'd find in the trash. Really. He would find leather coats, perfectly good dishes, clothing, and jewelry that rich people would just throw away. So I guess I learned this from him. Someone's trash is another person's treasures. This is going to sound super wierd, but sometimes we'd be driving through rich neighborhoods on purpose to find some good stuff.
Any ways, I was driving the other day and came across this stuff.

Okay, so it's not fabulous and it's not a big deal, but the stuff looked good to me. I brought my car to a complete, middle of the road, stop. I'm sure I embarrassed the person I was with :) (I'll leave it at that).Why would anyone throw away a perfectly good basket and perfectly good looking pumpkins and fall stuff???  Look, I love fall and I love the 'thought' of decorating. I will put this stuff to good use! People, if you are going to get rid of something, take it to goodwill or give it away. Don't trash it if you can make money!!! So if I see 'stuff' in the trash, you better believe I will stop. Not ashamed at all. Now, if the owners are outside just walking around their yard, I will drive away and come back. :) hahaha.

First Haircut

Arianna's hair (my 4 year old) a litttle less than 2 years ago looked like this. No joke. I mean this is Avonlea below and she's just now turning two.

I think I waited long enough to not cut it. This is how long it was.  

 It was time! I got a little sad about this.

 So I took her over to this cute, little and so much fun kid barber shop called Snip-its.

 Such a big girl. She definitely felt special.

 Getting her hair done!

 Props to her because she did sooooo good!!! She loved every minute of it.

 And the after. Too cute huh?!

 We had fun getting her first haircut. I didn't mind spending a little extra just to make her first haircut  special. It was worth every penny.

 Oh, and this is how they entertain them: Cartoons on a screen

 and lots and lots of suckers!

 and to finish it off, I thought I'd throw in a couple of pictures of Avonlea showing off her backstreet boys moves. 

Happy Friday!

I'm excited about today!!! Why? Three very special reasons:

1. Because my beautiful blonde haired 4 year old Arianna is getting her very first haircut!!! Yes, her first. It's taken forever for her hair to grow and well, I waited because I hated to cut it. It's time!!! She wants repunzel hair, so this may be a toughy today.

2. I get to spend the afternoon with my best friend, Kristy. Today is a must hang out day. That's all! Love you PW. We're going to shop, talk and just have a good time! 

 3. And lastly, I get a date night with my favorite man in the world. My mom randomly asked me if she could keep both girls tonight and of course I said, YES YES YES!!!! Those don't come around often. So we're taking advantage and going out!!! Now, how late can we stay out??? Who knows, we're going to try though!!! :)

Happy Friday!!!

The Amish!

If you know me, you know about my LOVE and PASSION for the Amish. Why you ask???? I don't know. They just intrigue me. I think they're just an amazing and simple group of people. I learned of the Amish when I was 16. My best friend Kristy and I took our first trip to the Amish and we were in heaven. I mean, Kristy even asked her dad if there was such a thing as an Amish camp. :) We would have been all about it.
This is going to sound wierd but I wish I could honestly stay with them for a week/a few days even and learn their every day lives. I know, wierd! But I just think they're lives are so interesting! I mean, they remind me of the "Little House on the Prairie" times and I loved loved loved that show. When I was little, I would imagine myself at the church/school being best friends with Laura and Mary Ingalls. I mean, I even loved Albert. Oh my, I can't believe I'm typing this out to ya'll. My sisters always made fun of me and would say how boring that show was. Nope, not for me.
So yeah, I think of 'Little House on the Prairie' when I think Amish. I would love to be with them for JUST A FEW DAYS! I could not live with them for too many days because I'm so spoiled with our modern day technologies and comfort. I can't walk barefoot (on poop as I saw a little boy doing!), use outdoor houses, have a ton of children, wear the same freakin' clothing and color every day, wake up at sunrise, work the fields, clean all day, etc... I couldn't do this every single day and wake up to do it all over again. But just for one day or a few days I would. I would love to know what they think about, talk about, dream about, etc... When they see us do they refer to us as 'the others'? hahaha. Doesn't that make you think of Lost. To them I'm sure we are though. But really think about it.
Any ways, my family and I visited the Amish in Lawrenceburg, TN a few weekends ago and I just love it! Robert thinks it's almost mean to visit them because he thinks I only go to stare. he doesn't get it and it's not true. I love their organic fresh vegetables that they sell for so cheap. ;)
Here are the only pictures I could get. They don't believe in pictures because according to them it's vain. All the dolls they make have no faces. There's a verse in the bible they go by but I can't think about it right now. So out of respect I didn't take pictures. But if you look below you can see a little boy going into that small house. Their typical colors are dark blues and blacks.

 This is what most of their homes look like...simple, white, and nothing special to it. However, I would die to be able to just step into their homes. They don't allow non-amish people to go into their homes. I would love to see every.room. 

We enjoyed buying veggies and visiting the Amish. The kids are precious. You can try and talk to them, but they won't. I tried asking severals kids at several of our stops for their names and they would not dare! They stare back at us as if we're contagious of some disease. Really. Truly wish I could ask them a zillion questions. Kristy and I will be visiting again in the fall to buy pumpkins. I can't wait!!!

And VBS is Over!

So what have I been doing ALL WEEK LONG?! VBSing. It was my first time ever! Really. I mean I used to do VBS as a kid, but as an adult I had never done it. I've always worked and haven't been able to participate/volunteer in years past. I've always wanted too and this year was the year.
So this weeks theme was Pandamania.

Where God is Wild about You!

It was fun, a blessing in disguise (I'm done having children), definitely an experience, but such an EXHAUSTING WEEK! Let me tell you why....well, I decided since it was my first time, to volunteer as a 'Crew Leader'. I was going to give this a shot. You know what? I had no idea what I signed up for. Oh my goodness! I thought a crew leader was taking kids to different stations and that's it. Yes, that's true to some extent, but I couldn't just take them, I had to stay with the kids the entire time. ENTIRE TIME! Thank God Almighty it was only 3 hours even though it felt like an eternity! I had 5 kids all by myself with the exception of one day I had help. My kiddos were all the same age and I got 4 boys!!!!!!! Only one girl. Now imagine 4 boys the same age?! HYPER is the only word I can think off. Bless all you teachers out there who do this all week, 8 hours a day. Ya'll are my heros!
Now let me just say...I enjoyed VBS. Really I did. It was an experience because I don't deal with many kiddos at the same time much and well, I only have 2 girls at home. I loved all my kids. I really did. I had a special love for each of them. I hadn't met any of my kids before and they all go to my church. I hope to see them and give them hugs everytime I see them from here on out because I truly enjoyed each of them. They were fun but they also gave me headaches. I think they liked me though. At least I hope they did.
So here's what we did a lot of: Sing, Dance, Sing, Dance, crafts, bible stories, pandamania movie, sing, dance, play outside (in the horrible heat), snacks and more sing and dance.
Here are a few pictures of all the kids singing and dancing (this was my favorite out of everything!):

 Here's the special guest for the week-panda!

And here above are my kiddos dancing and actually being so good.

Awwwh, at times they were such good listeners. I had them all line up like this every time. Notice behind my kids that not very many kept their kids lined up or together. It was so chaotic!

Now for my kids...individually:

My most well behaved child (he sang every song, danced every move and listened to me everytime).

Robbie. 

This is Mason. Isn't he a cutie?! His parents are beautiful people and this kid has moves. He can dance good!

 Awhh Mason. He was fun and hyper! I loved how he people watched. :)

My sweet Peyton. She was the quietest of all and really well behaved too. She didn't like being the only girl in the group. I almost think they thought she was a boy when they read her name and assigned her to this group.

This is Will. He didn't really care to particpate much in the singing or dancing, but he was an interesting little individual. Put him, Mason and Jackson together and you've got an exhausted teacher.

 and finally, a picture to show you how we all felt at the end of the day....

VBS is fun. Next year however, I will not be a crew leader. I will volunteer elsewhere. Perhaps singing and dancing, crafts or drama. Maybe older children. :) Thank you God for a great fun week and thank you for giving me patience.

Lovin' Blues and Greens...

Yes, these are the colors I'm obsessed with right now.

As a matter of fact, I'm doing a complete 180 in my formal living room. I'm taking a whole different turn from what I had before. Come back in a few days and you'll see the little changes I made with the help of my best friend that have made my living area pop, clean, fresh and crisp with these fabulous colors! Yay!

And the hubs returns....

Okay, so I have to admit something. I'm going to be honest once again as I was with this post. Ya'll are going to be like, "OMG!" Well, first of, I'm not going, or I'm going to try not to be the type to write just happy things on here all the time okay?! I'm normal-I think! Hahaha! Look, I am very happy, don't take me wrong. I love my God, my family, friends and my life. But come on, it's okay to not write such happy blogs all the time too. I mean seriously peoples, we all know you don't have a perfect life.  No one does. Some people just write about how happy they are and how perfect their lives are, but then don't actually ever write the 'down and dirty' crap that goes on behind closed doors right?
So with that said, let me just say, my hubby has been gone for the last 2 weeks with his job, minus the weekends where he's returned home but then leaves again when Monday returns kind of gone. But honestly and really - IT'S BEEN FABULOUS!!!! LOL. So are you like "OMG Shut the front door"?! Okay, I know. This sounds bad, but it's so true. I was telling this to one of my friends tonight and I admit, I don't want him gone like this all the time, really! But dang peeps, a good break from each other is needed every once in a while. Now listen to what I'm going to say for just a minute (I guess you aren't listening but you get the point, ha!). I think when Robert is gone like this, like every once in a while for a few days straight, I honestly learn to appreciate and love him more. I love my husband very much. It's a - I can't imagine my life without him- type of love okay. I'm actually quite dependent on him. It's not like I'm wanting him gone so I can do bad things or anything, but a break is needed for every couple every once in a while. A breather let just say. Now again, I'm not talking about being gone ALL THE TIME. I'm talking like 2-4 times a year kind of gone.
With him being gone as he has been, I've had a little more freedom to do what I want to do. I'm not saying I'm controlled or in a prison or anything like that when he's here, but you know what I mean I hope. When he's not around, I don't cook, my house stays clean (yeah it does-he's messy!), I can get up and go freely wherever, etc... When he's home we like to do stuff together and not do too much during the week because he's been at work all day. So time together is also necessary. I don't like to just get up and go out with friends when he's home because I do want to spend time with him, whereas now that he's been gone, I have been able to do this freely. There's this little 'freedom' thingy. Does this make sense? Maybe it doesn't, but it does to me.
But in all honesty, Robert and I got into this huge argument over this stupid something right as he left and well, with him being gone like this, it's been good. We almost needed this break for a bit. It came at the right time. No, I'm not mad anymore and I know or at least think he isn't with me either. But basically we were both being selfish and both thought we were right. You know, one of those type of arguments where no one wins! So yes, I have to admit, him being gone has been a blessing/a medicine. God knows when we need time away from each other and He gave it to us at the right time.
Honestly though, I truly miss him and I can't wait to see him. I'm ready for him to be home and have some quality time with him. Our marriage isn't perfect by no means, but I hope when we're old that we can look back and just know it was a path we had to take in order to get us where we are at that moment. Whose marriage is perfect? If you are reading this and it is, please tell me, because I want to know.
So please, don't judge me. I love my husband, but time away is healthy too. I can't wait to see him tomorrow night, but him being gone these last two weeks as I said earlier has been.........FABULOUS! :)  The time I've had to myself once girls have gone down for the night has been oh so nice too.
Now for a picture, because I feel like ya'll need to see what we look like and because I feel a bit guilty for feeling the way I do. I mean you see the love right?! :) There's definite love there.

*If you read this Robert, I promise I love you.* :)

And I leave you with this....."However much you love your work, you still need a vacation. However much you love your family, you still need some time alone. People tend to feel guilty about taking time for themselves. Perhaps they wouldn't if they realized that doing so gave them more energy to devote to the ones they love."

4th of July!

All the 4th of July's for the Eddy Family is a huge deal. I mean, I'm talkin' B.I.G! We can't miss them because my husband is a part of the show. Robert's dad spends thousands of dollars on fireworks every year to not only create a magnificant show, but to sell and make money too. Any ways, our 4th of July weekend was spent like this:

Swimming

 It was so freakin' hot!!! I mean so hot it was unbearable. My cute little one here got a heat rash! There's no better time but to be at the pool right?!

 I got to hang out with my bestie-who so far has not missed one. :) Love her!

 Spend time with my girls of course!

 Got to spend a lot of time with the family since that's what the 4th is all about and well, Robert got an extra day to hang out with us. Oh, and dressing my girls in their red, white and blue attires. :) So fun!

 More picnics/food and friends. We ate way too much!

And the best part of all, Seeing the fabulous fireworks go off that my father-in-law and husband throw (along with other men who help of course)!

So if you're in the Middle TN area next year, please stop by. We'd love to have you!