1st cookout and random photos!

The family came to our house on the 4th of July for a cookout. It was a fun time and we love making memories in our new home. Finnegan asks often if we can move back to Asheville,  listen to Alicia Key's "Empire State of Mind" (as we talk about NYC), and even mentions our 2 month stint in Belmont longingly but this morning as we pulled out of the driveway she said "I love my new house!" Phew...hope this girls knows that this one's a bit more for keeps. 

The crew inside

The outside crew

Nana Grace with our Gracie girl

Blowing rasberries (and do my kids always have food on their faces or in their hair?)

Momma and her girls

Aunt Alli and Finnegan

Uncle Seth and Quinn are in town!

Sisterly love

CHEESE

Quinn brought Finn some new batman stuff

Pool time

Finn did a face plant but wasn't phased

It's offical, we are homeowners

And this is where we call "Home Sweet Home"! It's pretty darn exciting and we really love the house...but at the end of the day it's all about these girls:

And we are seriously IN LOVE! We have two busy little bee's that fuss and cry and lean in for kisses and tell us that we are loved and we just feel so very thankful.

Gabe's crazy schedule has begun (he is still in the academy) so we don't get a whole lot of time together and the time that we do have together has been a bit stressful but I think that just comes along with the territory. We are still looking for a church, friends, community, etc., but having family so close has been a gift and it helps me to not feel as lonely.

Weekends have been spent in the yard doing fun things like this: Be prepared this is an exciting picture!
New vents! 

Hoping that the next few months allows us some good family time and hoping you can find us here

I have a bunch of other random pictures to share but it's not letting me upload anymore so I'll have to revisit it later this week. 

I really shouldn't be blogging....

But I'll call this my 5 minute stress reliever.
We are amidst another move but this one is for a good long time. In a real house. With a real yard (although we have become quite fond of the apartment parking lot). And with kitchen cabinets and counter top. Pinch me!
To say we are excited would be an understatement, but first we have to do all the hard stuff. Like pack while watching two active kids...I pray for little Gracie's safety as she can be found in some pretty crazy spots these days. She has started fussing when I tell her no and move her from potential danger (think toilet and dogs water bowl)- it really starts so much younger then you realize.

BUT here are some recent pics of the girls and friends.

The Breedloves come to visit!!

I swoon. This girl steals our hearts daily. She is such a big girl  crawling and pulling up on everything. She also eats a bit of what we eat at meals times and LOVES it.

Aunt Crystal and Uncle Bryan would be very proud, Finn can do this puzzle all by herself now!

Finn's new police car. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa

My best friend , Kelli, (college roommate) came to visit last week with her two little ones and we had such a fun time catching up while really not doing much with 4 little ones. I really wish they lived closer (and so do the girls!).

Emmy and Finnegan

Caleb was such a champ amongst all these ladies. I wish I had a picture that captured his amazing personality. Such a sweet little one. We had not seen him since he was like 3.5 weeks old so I loved getting to "meet" him. 

Long legs like her daddy!

Words

Since Gracie has been born this blog has had very limited words. Not sure if that is bc I am at a loss for words or bc I am literally talking all day long. Finnegan is no joke and talks nonstop and thus I am answering her all throughout the day. I'm a happy, tired momma!

We do have lots going on right now though. We moved to Asheville almost 2 years ago so that I could stay at home with Finn. We still miss NY dearly...that life seems like a lifetime ago but we have been back twice and each time we are worried we might not make it back to NC. 

After a year in Asheville and Gabe working for himself (during that time we added Gracie to our mix), Gabe decided that freelancing--although he loved editing and it was going well--just wasn't for him. So we went back to the drawing board...fast forward and we now live in Charlotte (2 hours from Asheville) and Gabe is in the police academy. Yes. You read that right. Editor turned police officer.

It had been a dream for him since high school and one that I never encouraged. In fact, I was 100% against it. But I want to have a happy husband and so one morning I woke up and said "Do you still want to do this"? I have never seen a smile so big and within 30 seconds he was applying. I still don't know why I brought it up. It wasn't being discussed at the time but God put those words in my mouth and that is the only explanation. I won't go into detail but this would have never been my first choice.

And so now we are here. We are renting another apartment and starting to get antsy. It's hot in Charlotte. We are a bit lonely (the girls and I) and we are praying for community. We thought we would be buying a home in a cute little town called Belmont but after a few weeks I realized it might be a little too little for me. Sooo we have a home in contract in Huntersville. 10 minutes away from family. 

You just can't plan life, can you? Lots of things surprise me but I can honestly say although I wouldn't have planned much of this, it's right where I (and the family ) are supposed to be. Sometimes that is what carries me through the hard, long, HOT (did I already say that?) days. I feel an overwhelming peace being with my little family of 4--doesn't really matter where we live or how much money we have. Gabe and I could be called a little crazy, but as long as we are living this crazy together you will find us content.

**please don't edit this, Gabe is the editor and I STINK at grammar and punctuation, but if you want words, you're going to have the misplaced commas etc....** Update- this post drove Gabe so crazy with all the mistakes that he did make some edits. 

Life

There were two whole strawberries in there but she gummed  it and enjoyed every minute.

Spring Time

STICKERS!

Feeding her babies

Reading to Gracie

Family Walk time!