Meagan Tells All

Easter Weekend

2016-04-27T12:32:00.002-04:00

We happened to move into our new house over Easter weekend so to say it was chaotic is an understatement!! I knew it was going to be crazy so I bought all the kids Easter basket treasures long before the weekend arrived. We were all kind of crazy in our new house but when Easter morning hit, it was all worth it when we saw the look on their cute faces.

The girls had multiple egg hunts in various neighborhoods so we skipped our usual house egg hunt. I found the cutest rain boots at Target for the girls. Owen got a new stuffed animal (where is that thing anyways!?) and a new book for the car.

March also was the month of sickness. Owen got sick first, then Ellie, then me, and finally Brinley rounded the sickness out over Easter weekend. Ryan ended up staying home with Brinley and I joined my parents at their ward with Ellie and Owen. I still have yet to get a pictures of all 3 kids in their Easter clothes! (mental note, make it happen!!). We found their cute dresses and Owen's dapper outfit at Gymboree. I love that store. Such classic kid clothes.

The next weekend, General Conference weekend, my grandparents from Calgary were in town!! We had soooo much fun with them. I really felt like this trip Brinley really remembered them and solidified their relationship. Ellie had so much fun hanging out with Grandpa Great and showing him all her toys. Owen bonded with Grandma Great, no surprise there! We spent the weekend back and forth to my parents house to enjoy time together and also catch some of Conference. I always just love it when we spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Great. And this time, we got to have them over to our new house!!

What We've Been Up To

2016-04-08T12:16:00.002-04:00

It has been a CRAZY few weeks with the Briggs family. Holy cow, life has not settled down one bit since we made the big move to Charlotte. Everyone is happy and healthy and thriving!

The biggest update of all is that we moved into our very own house! well, we didn't buy it, but we are renting it. But--we've never been in a house before so we are still figuring out the square footage and using all the spaces. We found an amazing little 2000 sqft house in an awesome neighborhood that is just a 15 minute walk to Brinley's elementary school. We barely have enough furniture to fill it, but we are loving all the space!

The ground floor has a beautiful entry way and on either side has a dining room and either a den or sitting room of some sort. Currently, the sitting room has boxes and bins and the dining room has my keyboard piano and my exercise weights. Down the hallway, there is an awesome sized family room with a gorgeous fireplace. We love that room. and then the kitchen is just off to that with a big eating area. We have our table in there and it fits perfectly in the space. The kitchen has all the original cabinets and countertops so it isn't fancy by any means, but the cabinets are in great shape and there are TONS of them. And there is an island that I have loved already. The most exciting part about the downstairs is there is a pantry. We've never had a pantry!! Just off the kitchen, there is a half bath and coat closet.

Upstairs there are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a linen closet. And also our washer and dryer are upstairs which has been cool! The BEST part about this house though is the bonus room over the garage. It has been so great for us. This house uses each space so well and I am happy that there isn't any wasted space. We have been so happy here and we have even talked about looking to buy in this neighborhood sometime next year. We would love to!

This is the only picture I have of the house and this is the bonus room. A room just for toys. I LOVE IT!

The next big thing for us has been Brinley going back to Kindergarten this week. It wasn't that difficult of a decision after we found the right house right next to an amazing elementary school. The first day I was very anxious to get her back and have our routine again. Of course she had an incredible first day and has been an absolute rock star ever since. Brinley is a very adaptable kid. She really isn't phased by much. The past few months we have experienced so many life changes and she has gone with the flow so easily! It is very impressive. I have to brag about her for a second though because when we were walking home from school on her first day she told me that she got to pick out of the treasure chest!

So I asked her why and this was our conversation:

B- My teacher asked the class if they knew what it was called when animals are born from eggs.

M- ummmmm (what!?) did you know what it was?

B- Of course, Mom. It's called oviparous. So then I got a prize from the treasure chest.

That girl!! I laughed so hard. We just are so impressed with her. She's made some friends. And even went on a field trip on her second day! She has about 8 more weeks of school and we think it is a great time for her to get to know the school, make some friends and gear up for 1st grade in the fall.

It took me all of 5 seconds to start enjoying life having 2 kids at home. Everything just seems a bit easier when I have 2 kids to entertain and drive around while running errands. Ellie was bummed the first day not having Brinley around, but she quickly told me the second day, "Mama, I not sad anymore." I have plans to get Ellie in swim lessons soon which will help break up our day and give her something to look forward to. We've been going to the children's museum and the library and just having lots of fun together! Owen has been walking up a storm and rarely ever slows down. He's in the "I can't stop walking ever and will pivot and turn and go round and round all day long" phase and it's adorable, but scary at the same time. He crawls up the stairs any chance he gets and loves finding quiet corners in the house. It is hard keeping track of him in this big house!

Ryan just started studying for the North Carolina State Bar Exam...

We were most worried about Ryan's commute getting into the city from our new location, but it hasn't been too bad. Honestly, the city is just poorly designed so it takes a long time for anyone to go anywhere on the main interstate that goes into the city. They are creating toll roads instead of just widening it for everyone. The city is pretty mad about that decision, but I'm hoping that it will lessen the traffic at least a bit. The toll road will be very expensive to drive on, but if it helps Ryan's commute home, I'm not too concerned about it.

And for me, I've been having a great time in the new house and getting settled in. We were sad to leave my parents house and being under their wing, but we've really enjoyed getting our life back and settling into our new life. Instead of it feeling like an extended vaycay at Casa Steele, we have schedules and plans and friends! It is pretty crazy that we have family close by and can see them any time we want. That still feels strange, but so amazing at the same time. We have loved having Ryan's sister come babysit and have Grandma Steele just drop by to say hi during the day. We are so blessed and I still feel like we are living a "too good to be true" life right now, but I think that as time passes, it will feel more and more permanent.

Sooooo who wants to come visit!???!?

February Happenings

2016-03-10T14:40:00.002-05:00

February was a cold month here in Charlotte. We were freezing for most of it! The weather would warm up to the 50's and we had a promise of Spring time coming, but then drop down to the 30's for a few days. It made our days very long because we couldn't play outside consistently. We went to the library a lot and also Discovery Kids Place (a fun children's museum). I really tried to keep the girls entertained, but dang, it was hard getting out the door with all the coat on and off routine that I just wouldn't leave the house. SO MUCH WORK! Put your coat on to go to the car, but then take it off to ride in the car, put coat back on to go inside, take coat off. And then of course the hooks were too high for the girls to put their own coats away so I had to do it, plus taking Owen in and out. So so exhausting. I gotta find a better way to do the coat dance by next winter. Here are some fun pictures from our last month!

Brinley and Grandpa taking the dogs for a walk. Brinley loves taking care of the dogs. She has gotten very confident and helpful with the dogs. Her and Ellie usually feed the dogs and they to help get them suited up to go for walks. Penny has been doing so well with the kids. Remember she is the one who has a record of biting children? We've realized that Penny doesn't really like the 5 and under kids because they're so loud and spazzy. She really likes Brinley now, but she still growls when Ellie and Owen are around. Penny spends most of the day behind a baby gate in the room off of the kitchen and whenever we are out of the house or upstairs, she comes out and has her freedom to roam the house. We have all been much more careful when she is out around the kids and so far, no one has even come close to getting bit. Hope it continues!

I have LOVED having Trader Joe's close by. It is about a 25 minute drive from my parents but it is so worth it. I took Ryan a few weeks ago for his first trip ever and he had so much fun.

Ryan loves to spoil us on Valentine's day. He made us breakfast Valentine's day morning and got us each our own bouquet of roses. Mine lasted almost 10 days!

There are moments when I feel like I'm pretty far down on the totem poll of coolness, so when these girls come and sit with me, it makes me feel so good. The girls have loved being so close to Grandma and Grandpa, but there are times when I'm like, HEY you never give me hugs that tight! They sure love their grandparents.

Owen LOVES being outside! Especially when there isn't any humidity! Charlotte will definitely get hot this summer, but we are soaking in these mid 60 degree days!

We met up with my friend Greta a few weeks ago. I met Greta 8 years ago when I started nannying for her 2 daughters (2 and a baby at the time) and now we are back in Charlotte, I have 3 kids of my own and they added another to their family too! Life is crazy that way! I never thought we would get back to Charlotte and I'm so grateful that Greta and I have stayed friends throughout the years and now we will be in the same ward!

This must have been a cold day...we finished every puzzle we own haha

Our new grocery store has the same carts as our old Publix racing cars! It has helped to have some familiar things for these girls.

We joined some of our new friends at the Library in Uptown Charlotte. It was quite an adventure! We had so much fun watching a puppet show and being in Uptown. After we were there for awhile, we decided to eat lunch in the car on the way to visit Ryan at work!

It was so much fun to see Ryan! This is his building. I'm still pretty intimidated driving into Uptown, but I'm getting more familiar with the area around his building.

When we got home from the library, I was immediately hit with the stomach bug. I texted Ryan and he left work to come and help with the kids. I was pretty incoherent for the next 24 hours, and at about 10:30pm that night, Brinley got hit with it. She got hit harder than I did, but thankfully the bug only got us. For the next 5 days we pretty much weren't around haha Between getting sick and recovering, it wiped us out! I hadn't been that sick in a long time and I definitely don't need to experience that again any time soon! But I did lose 2 pounds! :-)

We were all SO relieved to be feeling better by Monday. And thankfully, the weather warmed up and we were able to play a lot outside! It has been bikes, and plant watering, and chalk every day since.

We have 2 Easter Egg hunts planned and plans to move into our new house in the next 2 weeks. It should be a busy March, but we are so excited!

Homeschooling and Piano Lessons for Brinley

2016-02-29T10:46:00.000-05:00

It definitely wasn't in my plans when we started Brinley's Kindergarten year that I would ever plan to homeschool. We lived in one of the best, if not the best school district of the entire state of Florida. She went to an A rated elementary school. and had a teacher that absolutely adored her. She was progressing and learning and reading and making so many new friends and loving her time at school.

When we knew we were moving to North Carolina, Ryan and I weren't too sure to throw her back into a new school, without knowing much about the district, and then what if we moved again before the end of the school year? Another school change? I just couldn't deal with the parent/mom guilt of potentially having my baby go to 3 different schools her kindergarten year.

When we told Brinley's Florida K teacher that we were moving, she was devastated! I really do think Brinley was one of her favorites. She just loved her. I could really tell when I saw them together. I knew she wanted the very best for her and really helped her learn and grow. Her teacher provided me with emails upon emails of printables to get started and to carry us through the school year. Those printables have saved me! She even gave me 2 brand new Common Core Math workbooks (that I HATE, but still try and use).

When we got to North Carolina, I knew we need a formal school set up and schedule. If it was just Brin and I, we could be more relaxed on our learning, but with Ellie still needing lots of attention and Owen's nap schedule, we needed to figure out the logistics. It took a few weeks to iron out our mornings to find the best time to do certain activities, but I think we have finally found our groove and have been doing pretty good lately!

Brinley on the left // Ellie on the right

The biggest thing for me and homeschooling is that I needed a good schedule and to have a "go and do" activity out of the house, if we can manage it. And what's nice about homeschooling is that you can be very flexible!

Out of the house activities:

Discovery Kids Place

the Library

the Park

playdates with new friends

our "schedule." Might be rigid for some, but it gives us a good outline of our days so we don't lose focus. I don't look at the schedule as much anymore because of the habit we are in at using our time wisely! But--we love shortening or lengthening certain activities if we are having a good time or needing to move on. Again, loving the flexibility!

Brinley has been doing a great job. I know this transition has been hard on her, especially missing her friends. She always talks about them and wonders if they miss her. The social aspect is the hardest part that we are both missing from her going to a public school. She has a Primary class full of girls that she is super happy about. Ever since she was a Sunbeam, she bas been with majority boys in all her Primary classes. Now, the girls outnumber the boys. I'm excited for her to build those friendships.

We applied to a few Charter schools in Charlotte right when we got here. Charter schools seem to be a pretty big deal here because the good school districts seem scattered throughout the city and not consistent. For the area we are looking at to eventually buy at the schools seem pretty good. One of the Charter Schools, Brin was put on #5 on the waitlist. But unfortunately, for 1st grade, it seems like the list hardly moves, but being #5!? We are crossing our fingers so tight that it DOES budge and she can go to school there. It really does benefit all of our kids because if would put Ellie and Owen priority when they apply to attend there. So, we are just kind of waiting to hear back if she gets in.

And as for me (and my sanity haha!), it has been a big transition for me too. I was used to having Brinley at school until 2pm and be able to run errands and run around town with only 2 kids. Also, I had a lot of alone time with Ellie. She craves 1 on 1 time and I just can't give her that much of it right now. Ellie's love language is definitely quality time. She loves having someone pay attention to her and play with her. Even if I play for 10 minutes at a time, our day seems to flow so much better than if I just put a quiet show on for her. She really doesn't like movies or shows (come on kid!). Brinley could watch endless shows and movies if we let her haha Kids are so different.

I'm trying not to get too caught up on the to-do list the internet homeschooling websites have given me. And not to forget, the endless amounts of tears and stress and anxiety those dang lists have given me. There is always something kids can learn. There is ALWAYS something as parents (and now as her teacher) that I can teach her. But, with help from a few trusted friends, I have tried to take a relax approach and focus on those real-life experiences to learn from instead of hours in the "classroom." The hardest part for me to grasp was even though Brinley was at school for 6 hours everyday, she wasn't learning for 6 hours straight. A friend told me that the rough equivalent to public school time to homeschool is about 10 hours a week. I am doing my best trying to exceed that, but for the most part, we are doing it. We are using great resources like the library to aid in our reading. and great literary and math books I found on Amazon.

We are all learning and growing together and we all still love each other, and I think that is what matters in the end. My goal was to just keep on what she was doing at her public school and to get her into a great school for her 1st grade year. Brinley is happy. and thriving. and learning. and really enjoying her time at home. We spend a lot of time playing and imagining together. We utilize every teaching moment. When we play Lego. When we cook together. When we are outside, we talk about science in nature. We have a few times during the week for arts and crafts.

So there you go! Homeschooling is a work in progress, but we are enjoying it!

One of Brinley's favorite parts about living at Grandma's house has been taking piano lessons! She has been at it for 6 weeks now and is crusing! It has been so great for both of them to have this time together.

OWEN: 10 months

2016-02-23T13:26:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I wrote an update about Owen. Poor 3rd child :-(

Double digits!!! I can't believe Owen is 10 months old! I feel like the last few months have flown by and now we are only 2 months away from his first birthday. (don't mind me crying in the corner over here...)

Owen has had such a great month. This kid has been standing for 2 months now and even though we thought FOR SURE he would be walking by his 10 month mark, he has only taken 1 step at a time in the last few days. He is so strong when he stands but it seems like his favorite thing to do is squat, and then stand, and squat, and stand. He is a fast crawler and he's following in his sisters footsteps by doing the bear crawl. Our kids are so funny! Bear crawling!? It is hilarious to watch and he can get around so quickly. Owen is very strong and he loves being apart of the family and will follow us all around the house. We joke that he needs to wear a bell because he is so quiet, but really, it freaks me out! This house is way too big for our little family and he loves going behind chairs and between couches. Can't take your eyes off him for a second. Brinley loves tracking him around the house and making sure he stays out of trouble.

Owen has also FINALLY cut his first tooth!! He has been drooling (more than normal) and a bit crabby over the last few weeks so I knew his first tooth was coming! and this weekend, I noticed a little pokey tooth on the bottom. So happy that mama isn't crazy about his change of mood and sensitivity.

Owen is still the sweetest and quietest little baby. I swear he never cries during the day. He rarely cries from getting hurt. Owen doesn't like being carried around by his sisters (surprise haha!) but he tolerates it. Brinley has become pretty confident carrying him around, even though her parents discourage against it constantly! Ellie rarely asks to hold Owen and gets pretty frustrated having him around. She has her good days and bad days when playing with Owen, but she always asks to kiss him before going to bed. I know she loves him, but I think she is so used to playing on Brinley's level that understanding that a baby just wants to suck on everything in sight is hard for her.

Owen's favorite things to eat are:

avocado

banana

peas

sweet potatoes

rice cereal

toast

baby mum mum's

puffs

yogurt bites

eggo waffles

This past month, I've been trying to wean him away from pureed foods. Now, we are doing most finger foods which has been super fun to try! He's had a great assortment of foods. He definitely lets you know if he doesn't like something by spitting it out.

Owen's average day goes like this:

7:30am awake! I nurse him and change his diaper.

8:30am breakfast. Eggo waffle cut up into bites, banana, or rice cereal.

9:30-10am goes down for his first nap. I usually nurse him to get him tired.

11:30-12pm wakes up from nap. I nurse him and change his diaper.

1:00pm lunch. Something from the fridge haha

2:30-3pm goes down for his second nap.

4-4:30pm if he isn't already awake or I wake him up from his nap. Nurse him after he is awake.

6:00pm dinner!

7:00pm bath, rice cereal, and nursed to bed.

Most nights he is asleep by 8:00pm. He has been sleeping longer stretches since we have incorporated rice cereal after bath time more regularly. He typically wakes up sometime around midnight, and then will sleep until 6 or 7am. I'm feeling much better when I wake up in the morning if he only wakes up once a night. He rarely wakes up more than twice, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes that his sleeping habits only get better.

Ryan and I were talking the other night about our children and the word we kept coming back to describe Owen is JOY. He makes us all so joyful. He is constantly smiling. and giggling. and makes life so easy to be around him. He loves people and loves giving kisses. I am so grateful this boy is in our family. It has been 10 beautiful months with him, and if his easy going personality is any indicator as to the next 20 years with him, I can't wait. He is the best.

OWEN VIDEOS

(9 months)

(right after he learned to crawl)

Snow Snow Snow!

2016-02-10T20:04:00.003-05:00

It snowed in Charlotte the first weekend we were there! We couldn't believe it. The girls were so excited. There was quite a bit of freezing rain in between all the snowfall, so it wasn't nice powdery snow, but we still had tons of fun outside. I swear I have been to the store multiple times since we've been in NC to get MORE warm clothes. This winter, we are absolute wimps. But we are loving the cooler weather and change of seasons.

THE MOVE TO NC!

2016-02-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

The day after New Years is when we signed the official documents for Ryan's new job in Charlotte! Everything happened sooooo quickly, and now that we have been in Charlotte for 2 weeks, I'm realizing now just how fast everything went down. We are keeping the details of the interview process private (but you're free to ask via email or in person!) just for the privacy of Ryan's career and new job. Here is his profile! Check it out.

We were all so excited to make the transition to North Carolina. It hasn't been a secret that we've been itching to get back to North Carolina for awhile, but we didn't really know when or how we were going to the switch. Since Ryan could only practice in Florida, it limited our job hunting. This job kind of came up out of the blue and we knew we couldn't say no.

For now, we are living at my parents house. It is a short commute for Ryan into Uptown (what people in Charlotte call their downtown...NEVER say "downtown Charlotte," it's Uptown Charlotte! *cue eye roll...it isn't that big of a deal to call it both!). We were able to give away a lot of furniture before we moved so fortunately, all our belongings fit in their house. We have about the same square footage living in their upstairs as we did in our apartment in Florida.

The girls are having a great time living at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It has also been nice to see Ryan's family too! They are about 30 minutes away. We can't wait to plan fun things with them as well. This is so new for us! We have never had family around us, so to have both sets of parents, and Ryan's sister, we are so excited!

Pics below are from our last weeks in Florida. We couldn't find the time to go to the beach one last time, and right now since it's cold I'm not really regretting that decision, but I know once it gets warm again we are going to be missing our quick access to the ocean!

trip to target to get some warm clothes for the girls! We have been so cold in NC and poor Ellie didn't have anything that fit.

sleepy boy :-)

Ellie didn't enjoy her first week of Sunbeams. I really tried to hype it up for her, but she just wasn't having it. I kept telling her that if she needed a hug that Brinley was right behind her in a different class. Apparently she started crying just minutes before the end of Church so when I took this picture below, she had a big alligator tear on her cheek. So cute/sad.

sleepy boy #2

Caught Ellie in her element. Always wearing a dress. And always running :-)

new warm clothes!!

Brinley made different stuffed animals for some of her friends at school. Isn't that the sweetest!? She misses her friends so much.

sleepy boy #3

these two playing side by side has been so fun to watch.

Brinley and her best friend Luke at her first and last basketball game. We need to get her back into basketball here because she has such a natural shot! She loved playing.

Sad for the Seahawks, but so excited the Panthers are going to the SUPERBOWL! And to be in Charlotte, Ryan is LOVING it.

Christmas in Carolina Part 5

2016-01-25T15:04:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day! Santa came!!

We had such a nice relaxing Christmas! We had weather in the high 60's-low 70's. It was unbelievable. It felt like we were all back in Florida. I was getting a bit annoyed because we wanted cooler weather and we didn't really have ANY cooler weather! The Carolina's are making up for it now (burrrr).

I hit a HUGE home run with Ryan's Christmas gift this year. I surprised him with a new guitar. He has been talking about getting a new guitar for probably 4 years and I knew this was the Christmas for him. It had been a long year for this guy and he has been so patient. I filled his stocking with guitar accessories so while he was digging through, he kept looking at me with a very confused face. Finally when he said, No way babe. I said, oh yes babe! and ran upstairs and carried down a huge wrapped box with his name on it.

The guy was in heaven! He got a few other presents too, but he always came back to the guitar. Even a month later, he still reminds me that "I got him" and that it was his best Christmas gift ever. Go me! haha It is always so challenging for me to gift him, so when I got this idea months ago, I knew it was going to be a Christmas we would all remember. Yay!

The girls got some fun things too. One of their favorites were these Japanese fans my dad got for them while he was on a business trip in Japan. We plan to put them on a shelf in their room someday so they can look at them anytime they want to, but just not touch them anytime they want to.

I love scenes of Christmas morning. It is one of my favorite things to do. I just sit and watch everyone open their presents and watch their reactions and interactions with each other. Auntie Jilly was such a huge help with the kids and their presents. She always gets them way too much (like they would complain!). She gives the most thoughtful gifts. I need to take a few lessons on her because I'm always coming up short with presents!

new "American Doll" girl for Ellie. She named her Sarah

Head lamp and sewing kit!

It was such a beautiful day so after we opened presents, we went for a family walk down to the lake.

Another wonderful Christmas with my favorite little people! Having a new baby at Christmas was easily the best part :-) Owen just lights up our life and we all just love his spirit in our family. We have been so blessed and I'm so thankful for all that we have been given by our Heavenly Father.

Christmas in Carolina Part 4

2016-01-23T16:29:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve.

We woke up to Jack taped to a window and surrounded by highly armed Lego men!

Our plan for the day was to go ice skating, but instead we found a new trampoline center not too far away. We had SO much fun. I had been seeing so many friends all over the country go to these trampoline places and I wanted to go to one so badly! There is one in West Palm, but that's a far distance to travel for us when we were unsure how the girls would even react to it. Ryan was jumping all over the place. It was fun to watch him do big flips into the foam pits. Ellie wasn't too sure about the trampolines and sat with me or Auntie Jilly the entire time. But Brinley had so much fun. She was getting more and more confident jumping into the pits by herself. She is a fearless little girl!

For dinner, we made fun appetizers. YUM! We had 6 or 7 different plates of goodies and we were all raving about all the fun things we had made. We had bacon wrapped bleu cheese stuffed dates, a ham dip, shrimp with cocktail sauce, cheese spreads with assorted crackers, veggie plate, summer sausage, and a goat cheese roll that had blueberries on the outside. We were all so happy after eating dinner. haha

After dinner, we gathered our costumes to act out the Nativity. Ryan and I were Joseph and Mary. Owen was Jesus. Brinley, Ellie, and Auntie Jill were angels. Grandma was a shepherd and Sophie was her sheep. Grandpa was a wise man. My mom has a great script that only takes about 10 minutes to read through. It is the perfect one to use with kids (and adults!) that have a short attention span.

Jammie time!

Christmas in Carolina Part 3

2016-01-19T17:18:00.001-05:00

December 23rd is Ryan's birthday and every year I try and make it extra special for him. He is always saying "honey, I don't need anything!" but we all know that isn't true :-) I had something up my sleeve for his Christmas present (it cost $$$) so I kept his birthday presents simple; new workout top and a protein shaker water bottle thingy + seeing Star Wars 3D the night before :-)

We went out for lunch together as a family. It was at this new place close to my parents house.

My mom had to go to the Temple that night so we kept dinner low key and I made the Trader Joe's orange chicken, rice and green beans.

Let me just preface this first, the whole day, we had been texting with my sister Jill and my brother David that she was going up to Seattle for Christmas. Then David texted that she wasn't, and with my mom gone at the Temple, it left my Dad and I very concerned and confused. People's phones weren't on and we were getting frustrated that Jill didn't call and let anyone know what was going on.

--ok. so then by 6pm, we were all extremely confused--

I was holding Owen and about to round up the troops to have pumpkin pie with Ryan, when someone opened the door from the garage and I couldn't see who it was right away. IN WALKS JILL. I just was completely surprised. I start crying and screaming. My Dad walks over and we just laugh and hug and we really had no idea what was going on haha

Apparently, EVERYONE except us were in on her flying out here. It was literally one of the best surprises of my life. The entire rest of the day, and even the rest of the week, I just would say "I can't believe you're here. I can't believe you tricked us!!" We had the best time with Auntie Jill. She is a favorite amongst everyone!

sneaky Jack sleeping in the sled!

cutest morning picture of these two

Christmas in Carolina Part 2

2016-01-19T09:47:00.002-05:00

We got to the Steele's house in the afternoon on Sunday and settled into having a fun week with them. We were sad to not have any of my siblings join us, but we were just happy to be IN Charlotte.

gramps and Owie

we realized this is our 9th Christmas together!!

I love seeing all my mom's German decorations out

my request...IKEA!

Our first Christmas activity was to go to McAdenville aka Christmas Town! It was a perfect night to walk through and see all the houses and Christmas lights.

I love playing in my parents playroom because all the toys and costumes are from my childhood! I have the exact picture of Brinley in this cat costume from a few years ago. I love that they love these toys just as much as I did as a child!

trader joes date with mom!

And for Ryan's birthday, we were able to see STAR WARS in 3D! We had the entire theater to ourselves (#smoochysmooch). We were happy to finally have a kid-less date!

Christmas in Carolina Part 1

2016-01-19T09:39:00.002-05:00

Similar to last Christmas, Ryan's parents were going up to Baltimore to spend it with his sister and their family so we had 24 hours to spend with them. We made the most out of our limited time together. The girls had a complete Christmas with their G&G Briggs filled with presents and cookies and songs and Christmas books. We had such a fun time together.

on the drive up to NC. These girls passed out at the same time! It was hilarious.

so excited for our 12 hour day...

cookies and eggnog while Grandma Briggs reads a Christmas story before bed

I am kicking myself that I didn't take more pictures, but I think that limited pictures is a clear indicator that you were in the moment instead of being behind the camera missing everything. We had such a great day with them and we are so so blessed to have 2 wonderful families.

We also joined them at their new ward in Charlotte. Ryan knew a lot of the ward members and so it was fun for him to "show us off!" By the end of sacrament meeting, Owen had completely drooled through all his clothes and bibs and Ellie was a bit manic. We took a few pictures together and then made our way to my parents house to spend for the rest of the week.

I love this pic with Auntie Trisha!

December Happenings

2016-01-19T09:30:00.002-05:00

We love December!! We love doing crafts and getting in the holiday spirit with lots of cookies and lots of Christmas music.

We got our tree at The Home Depot on a strangely rainy cold day (December is still in the 80's). Afterwards, it was still early enough that we decided to go to Chick Fil A for breakfast. YUM!

our elf JACK showed up midway through December. He isn't a super sneaky elf, but he does make the girls happy with his strange hiding places! One day during his visit, we thought maybe he hurt his leg because he stayed in the same places for 2 days!! (#parentfail)

I wanted to get a REAL wreath this year. It smelled SO good when you walked through the front door.

a nice alternative, but it was NOT the same as the real Nog.

love getting Christmas cards! We got so many the last week of December. The entire door was covered.

Brinley's school completely embraced Christmas and she came home with so many fun crafts. We decided to keep 3 to put up each Christmas and see her cute handprints as she gets older.

Our original Christmas plans were to have my parents come down and spend time with us, but when Ryan got the job interview in Charlotte, we immediately changed plans! We were so excited to be in NC for Christmas.

Thanksgiving 2015

2016-01-19T09:19:00.001-05:00

I love Thanksgiving. I love cooking all my traditional family recipes. I love calling my mom every single time about making gravy and how much bacon to put in the stuffing and how long does the turkey cook for? We decided to stay at home this year and just have a low key day.

Ryan went to play at the Turkey Bowl with the ward guys. We were going to come too but I wanted to have the morning to make some of our favorite dishes. AND make my first ever batch of homemade rolls.

me and my homemade roll. I don't think they were the best looking things, but they did taste pretty good!

family selfie!

the grub!

our thankful tree. That bottom orange pieces was put up by Ellie. :-)

Cooking the night before when the kids were in bed was my favorite time during our Thanksgiving week. I just love working side by side with this guy.

our little twins

Ellie, that dress wearing-baby snack stealing-crazy 3 year old!

snug as a bug after bathtime

We had such a fun together. I am so so thankful for this little family of mine. I am reminded daily by how busy and crazy things sometime get that we are in this together. Brinley, Ellie, and Owen are the sweetest little kids and all very different from each other. This year has taught me that each kid needs to be treated as an individual with their own needs. We are so grateful for our good health and our wonderful extended families.

Playing Catch Up

2016-01-19T09:05:00.003-05:00

It has been over two months since I updated the blog last, and a LOT has happened. I took 6 weeks off Facebook during the holidays and it was such a nice break. I did miss seeing friends post pictures and updates about their lives, but for the most part, it was a much needed break. I've always talked about completely deleting, but I just can't get away from the accessibility of having so many friends right there if I need anything! Seriously, social media has so many wonderful benefits.

One of our biggest change has happened recently. Specifically, our new relocation to North Carolina! Now that we are settled in Charlotte, I plan to do a lot of updating. From my last post mid-November up until today, the new job came up and I never ever thought we would have moved in this short amount of time. The chances of us moving to North Carolina was always a bit of a pipe dream, and we are still pinching ourselves that our dream did actually come true!! (is someone punking us??)

So there you have it. I am back to being committed to this blog and updating everyone, but more importantly, for our family journal.

this was from our move! 2 cars and a moving truck. We were quite the sight!

So Much Halloween Fun!

2015-11-14T21:54:00.004-05:00

First up: Downtown Stuart Hobgoblin Family Night! So much fun! The kids trick or treated to each of the businesses and then they had activities and even a live band playing. Such an awesome (and free!) event.

Next up: buying pumpkins and carving them for FHE

Last: Ward Halloween Festival. We had so much fun! Ellie was a witch, along with Grandma Steele. Brinley went as a paleontologist, and Ryan and I were nerds. We even won 3rd place for our costumes. Owen went as a cute baby :-) (mama was just too tired to make another costume!)

So much fun!

Brinley: Turning SIX

2015-11-14T21:54:00.002-05:00

What a birthday weekend! We have waiting since she was born to have a birthday/Halloween weekend! We fiiiiiinally had enough time to celebrate both. We were exhausted, but we had such a great time. Grandma Steele always comes into town during Brinley's weekend. We had a blast with Grandma and the dogs. It is always nice to have visitors.

Brinley's request was to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel the morning of her birthday. Um, okay! Sounds good to me! On Brinley's plate, she asked for pancakes and bacon. We all ended up getting a side of bacon, haha. Cracker Barrel has the best pecan pancakes. I couldn't stop eating!

That afternoon, Ryan took Brinley to the Air Show! It was a hot afternoon so they were only there for a couple of hours, but they had so much fun. Ryan got tickets from work from a client so they had a special tent set up along with a catered lunch and some fun free swag. They got home to have a couple of hours to relax before we left to Trick or Treat with friends.

We went over to our friends house who live in a beautiful gated community and had a yummy dinner together and then spent about an hour Trick or Treating afterwards. Honestly, I was getting so anxious watching these neighborhood kids running zig-zags across the roads never looking to see if cars were coming. Brinley was following some older friends who were doing and after she zig-zagged without looking, or asking us, we decided to go home. By then, those girls were so exhausted and we just wanted to get home. We sure love Halloween, but it seems like on November 1st, we are SO happy to be over our big birthday month.

We are so lucky to have Brinley in our family. She has the sweetest spirit. Since starting kindergarten, we have been so impressed by her ability to adapt, and progress in a setting where mom and dad aren't around. She loves her kindergarten teacher, and I'm pretty sure she loves Brinley too. She is doing so well in her academics (whatever that means for kindergarteners!) and making new friends too. She is such a good friend! Brinley is always telling us the funniest stories about them at recess. Apparently they have a game called "bibble babies" where they pretend they are babies and talk in baby talk. Oh mannnnnn it is exhausting because she brings that baby talk home and it drives me nuts! And Ellie has started talking in baby talk too. We already have one baby at home, we don't need three!

Just some fun things about Brinley at age 6:

-she loves to say the word "actually"

-she knows all about animals. Ask her anything, she probably knows!

-she wears size 6 clothes and still is wearing a size 10/11 shoe in toddler sizes.

-she has the THICKEST hair of all time. It is a monster in the mornings, but she is so cute.

-her love language is physical touch, she loves hugs and kisses and cuddling. She is such a cuddle bug.

-whenever I pick her up from school her hair is frizzy and she is sweaty from playing so hard and it just makes me smile so big because she gets this look on her face when she sees us at the gate :-) best feeling ever!

-Brinley loves Owen. She looooooooooves Owen. and he loves her too. Those two have quite the connection.

-Brinley is the best sister to Ellie. She is always there to take care of her if I can't and she is so good at playing with Ellie at her level.

-she is quite the jokester. She is always making us laugh, and she even picks up on Ryan and I when we are teasing each other or being sarcastic.

-she has the BEST MEMORY! Holy cow it is scary how much this kid remembers. It amazes me.

-she loves going to Primary and she has the sweetest testimony of our Savior. I know she knows Him and loves Him.

We love you, Brinley! We are so lucky to have you in our family!

OWEN: 5 & 6 months

2015-10-23T10:27:00.002-04:00

I've taken an entire month off of blogging! Not on purpose, but it seems like whenever I have a spare moment, blogging is the last thing I want to be doing. Thank goodness I'm not paid for writing blogs because they would never get done. Or maybe someone should pay me to blog, and then they will get done! Who knows.

My sweet little boy is now 6 months old and I'm not sure how I feel about it. He has become so active and alert and funny over these last 2 months. It is unbelievable how fast time has flown by. Here are some fun updates on Owen.

*weight: 15.41 pounds

*wearing 9-12 month clothes

*size 2 diapers, going into size 3

Sleep: Owen usually takes 3 naps during the day. His afternoon nap seems to be the longest at sometimes 3 hours long! That happens when we are busy during the day and he has had a day full of carseat naps. He is able to put himself to sleep (most times) during nap time which I appreciate considering I have 2 other kids pawing for my attention. Bed time seems to be another story though. He struggles to cry it out. He knows how much it tugs at my mama heart strings. He works it. I usually end up nursing, cuddling, nursing, and more cuddling until he finally falls asleep around 9:30pm. We start bath at 7:30pm, right after the girls go to bed, and I know he is tired, but he just has such a hard time when I put him in his bed. We need to be stricter on his bed time shenanigans.

Eat: Owen is still nursing every 3 hours. He has a big appetite and is happy to eat any time I let him. We haven't started any rice cereal, mainly because I haven't found the time to make it happen yet. We've been so busy and I keep forgetting to buy some at the store.

Tummy time: That boy loves tummy time. He just pivots and rolls all around the blanket. Mainly to track me around the room and also the girls. He is so big! He is even trying to scoot around which gives me major anxiety! This house is NOT ready for a crawling baby. We need to get a baby gate and I need to figure out a good system to keep little toys off the floor.

Jumpy time: Owen has been loving the jumpy. He has such strong legs and jumps and jumps and jumps. The poor boy ends up bonking his head on the door frame because he gets so jumpy in it. My mom is bringing an exersaucer down next weekend for him to use. We've actually have never owned one! I've always just used my moms or borrowed from a friend. They take up so much space when you're not using them. I'm definitely of the mindset of getting rid of baby things after the baby uses them, and then if needs be, buy/borrow again when you have another baby. We've done that for a lot of things.

Mama time: Man, I just adore that kid. I am so obsessed. His smell, his soft skin, his fluffy hair, his big blue eyes...I just can't get enough. He seems to prefer me over everyone else too, so we are pretty happy just being together :-) He is a good 3rd baby that he doesn't need to be held all the time, but he definitely lets us know when he wants to be with the group. He hates it when we all leave the room and he's alone on the blanket. I can totally see it now when he starts crawling that we may have a lot of tears and sad crawling towards me when I'm busy around the house.

Dada time: Owen loves his daddy. When he hears him come into the house, he just cranks his neck around until he can see him. His favorite thing to do with daddy is to burrow his head into Ryan's neck. Ryan is usually left with an enormous amount of baby drool, but it is the cutest thing. He loves to jump on daddy's lap and be carried around by him. Over General Conference weekend a few weeks ago, Ryan had a tender moment when he left for the Priesthood session and he thought about taking Owen someday with him. Ryan and my brother have already planned a trip out to Utah in 10 years with all the boys to go to the Priesthood session at the Conference Center. I am all about supporting father and sons activities. Boys need a good male role model and Ryan is about as good as it gets! We are lucky :-)

Outside time: In a normal week, I get outside to walk or jog every day. Sometimes in the morning, in the afternoon if there is a nice cool breeze (ha!!), and almost always after dinner. Owen loves riding in the jogger. He is so cozy in there. He never makes a sound. And he sometimes falls asleep. Pushing him and Ellie in it while I jog is just enough weight to make it manageable. It is still a tough work out and I have only been jogging 2 miles when I push them, but we have a good time. Ellie is a good little companion.

Sister time: Owen still adores seeing Brinley when we pick her up from school. They usually lay together on a blanket and just talk back and forth. She loves giving him hugs and kisses and he loves receiving them. His grabbing reflex has really developed this month and his favorite thing is grabbing hair. He has a strong grip! As for Ellie, I don't know what Owen thinks of Ellie. She usually stays away from him, rarely asks to hold him, and really doesn't pay much attention to him, but when she does, Owen isn't to excited about it. Ellie has a very boisterous personality and she is extremely loud, so when she gets around Owen, he waves his arms a lot (probably to defend himself) and does a lot of blinking because Ellie is always close to his face.

It has been an amazing 6 months with this boy, and it is hard to believe we are half way to his 1st birthday. I want to cry! Ok, no more talking about it. This boy is never growing up!

**(pics taken at 5 months)

Ellie girl is 3!!!

2015-10-23T08:36:00.000-04:00

Can't believe my little squish is 3 years old!!!

She is quite the girl, let me tell you. She has two volumes. Loud and LOUDER. She loves to play with her toys. Her favorites are her new Palace Pet mini figurines (thanks Disney for another mini figurine toy in my life...), she loves to build with Lego and Duplo, she loves to play kitchen and make me "food" and be my mommy, she loves to pretend she is Brinley while Brinley is at school (mama, I be Brinley and you be Ellie and we will play with Brinley's toys, okay?), and Ellie loves to be outside.

For her birthday, it fell on a typical Thursday, so I tried to make the most of it even though we still had our normal routine to do. First thing before Brinley left for school, we opened the present from Grandma Steele because I knew what it was and I knew it would keep her busy all day. It was new LEGO! They came out with a new set called Lego Junior and it has bigger building pieces, but still complies with normal Lego. It was a 2 story house filled with a sink and a toilet, a couch, a bed, an oven, places to sit, 3 Lego people, a swimming pool, and even a BIKE! She played with it alllllll day. It was amazing.

We decided to meet Ryan down for lunch at Chick Fil A. It was so cute, she was telling everyone there that it was her birthday. There was a gentleman there who was kind of helping us get situated and he asked her how old she was and she said, "Its my birthday, today!" and he went back to the registers and came back with a free kids meal card and a free ice cream cone card, just for her! It was amazing! I love that place. It was fun spending an hour with daddy and then we left for back home to get Brinley from school.

After school, we played with endless Lego again. I had to make her cupcakes and per her request for dinner, my famous chicken alfredo, so I had them play in their room for the afternoon. They play so well with each other (most of the time) and when they do, they just giggle and imagine and really have fun together.

We spent the rest of the night opening present, skyping/face timing with family, and having fun with Ellie's new toys.

We love Ellie so much. She makes us laugh all day long. She has the cutest little chipmunk voice and loves to be expressive. She loves making absolute statements like, if you don't listen to me right now you'll be in trouble!! and Ellie loves to yell and scream and basically do anything on a loud level. She looks up to her big sister Brinley so much. She loves to play with her and to just be around her. But, we've also noticed that Ellie is fine being alone and playing by herself. She is graduating from the "parallel playing" that 2 year olds typically do and is playing well with other kids. Ellie doesn't pay much attention to Owen, and lets be honest...he's okay with that. haha. Ellie is just a little rougher than Brinley when it comes to how she plays with Owen and I think it makes me nervous when she is close to him.

We love you, sweet Ellie girl!! So happy to have you in our family!

Fun Labor Day

2015-09-24T12:56:00.002-04:00

A week into school, and we already had a day off to celebrate Labor Day! Not bad, not bad! We decided to be productive and head out early to one of our favorite spots, the Oceanographic Society! We just love this place. We always have such a fun time. Feeding the sting rays and playing in the touch pools are always the highlight. We were dodging a big rain storm that had just hit, so unfortunately, we had to make our adventure short.

Ryan is so brave (and manly ;-)) while feeding the sting rays. Him and Brin have a system, he feeds them and then Brin follows behind and touches the back of the sting ray.

But me, ummmmmmm I'm bit of a WIMP. I kick and scream the entire time. I only fed one and I think I dropped the piece of fish before he even got it haha

I think my reaction to the stink rays rubbed off on Ellie because this was her face the entire time we were feeding them!!

We finished the day off with eating 5 Guys for lunch and going to Target later as a family. Always a good time!

Kindergarten!

2015-09-14T13:33:00.000-04:00

Brinley started kindergarten 3 weeks ago! Even though I am way behind on journaling our family on this blog, I did want to wait a few weeks before writing this post just to make sure everything was smooth sailing.

she put her backpack and shoes at the door the night before :-)

Brinley is absolutely in love with school. On the first day, she jumped in the car from car line and I asked, "how was it!?" Her response, so serious and so Brinley, "Mom, It. Was. Amazing!" And every day since, she has come home with the same enthusiasm. I thought we would both have a hard time being away from each other, but she hasn't had any regression starting school. Obviously, if she was having a hard time being away from me, I would have a hard time as well. But it has been so wonderful seeing her blossom. I think a lot has to do with her age and being older starting kindergarten, but I also think it is her personality just to be excited for new things and new adventures.

Sending your child off to full-day kindergarten is hard because well, they are gone for the full day! She leaves with daddy (yes, that's right...Ryan drives Brinley to school almost every single morning. Hello amazing husband/father to make my mornings easy!) around 7:15am and Ellie, Owen and I pick her up at the front gate of the school at 1:50pm. We tried picking her up through the car line but that dang line was the worst! We were all crabby in the car and it took roughly 40 minutes to get Brin. Obviously, if it's raining we need to sit in the line, but we live so close to her school that I can leave 10 minutes before she gets out, park, and then walk to the front gate. She loves seeing us waiting for her at the gate! We are then home right around 2pm. Easy! The only downside is that at 2pm, the weather tends to be around 100 degrees, so we are all pretty sweaty and miserable when we get home.

One of the mornings I did drive her to school, she jumped out to walk to class and as I was in the car slowly inching through the car line, she was walking almost parallel to me and I just couldn't stop watching her. She is such a big kid! Wearing her cute Pottery Barn backpack (best purchase ever!) and walking to class by herself! And then one morning when Ryan dropped her off, he was doing the same thing and watching her walk to class when she stopped and turned around because a friend called her name and they walked to class together holding hands. Ah! Sometimes my heart just can't take her growing up!

I am so proud of my girl! She just amazes me. I love how independent she is and how excited she is about school. She seriously can't get enough! She loves learning. She has a wonderful teacher who happens to be a huge FSU fan. She loves it when Brinley wears her FSU shirt to school. Brinley reminds me that she "always listens" and "when you get a yellow slip sent home, that isn't good." I really haven't worried much about her transitioning because she is such a rule follower. She loves making her teacher happy and getting those reward stickers for good behavior. The biggest challenge has been getting information out of her about what they do all day! She remembers bits and pieces of her day and it makes me laugh when she tells me. We do her "homework" and read through books together everyday.

School lunches have been going well! I try and do my best to prepare Sunday night, at least my plans for lunches for the week ie. what produce to include in her lunch. She loves turkey sandwiches, but without anything else. She hates cheese, so sometimes I do saltines and pepperoni with a veggie and fruit. Last week I included Pirate's Booty and she came home just freaking out how awesome her lunch was haha! The first week she didn't finish her lunches and was pretty crabby and hungry at school so I kept asking her why she wasn't finishing her lunch. It wasn't because she didn't like what I included, but because, in her words "lunch is really short, Mom and I really like talking with my friends and I run out of time to eat." haha! Like mother, like daughter. I better get used to hearing "talks too much!" from her teachers. She is getting better and she rarely ever leaves anything left.

daddy leaves a note every single day!

I miss her during the day! She is such a huge help for me and I really do miss just being around her and having someone to talk to. Brinley reminds me that she is still my "bigger helper" and that she can still help me when she is home. When she finishes her lunch, we have a special after school treat. The first day of school, I made homemade chocolate chip cookies, and that is our new tradition for the start of the school year. I wanted to have a cookie ready for her every single day, but lets be real...those cookies lasted 2 days!

My days now with just Ellie and Owen at home have been pretty amazing! It is still a challenge going places because of Ellie's big personality, but it has been great reconnecting with her. She had a bit of the "new baby' and "middle child" syndrome happen this summer, but I have really tried to focus on her when Owen naps. Ellie's love language is quality time and it is my goal every day during one of Owen's nap to only focus on her and play with her. She loves reading books, and it seems like that is the only time (besides sleeping!) when she sits still and focuses. More on Ellie when I write her big 3rd Birthday post in a few weeks!

OWEN: 4 months

2015-09-01T11:09:00.000-04:00

4 month stats:

weight: 14.5 lbs

length: 27 in.

head circ: 17 in.

So many amazing pictures of this cutie. But first, a video:

forgive my mom voice! yikes.

and one video of Owen and Brinley:

At 4 months, Owen has started rolling side to side, but not completely over yet. Which I'm fine with. Once he starts moving, there is no turning back! Ellie took a bit to roll and crawl and it was nice. She took her time and I can see Owen doing that too. He is so happy laying on the carpet just watching his big sisters run around him.

mid sneeze!!!!

Owen is such a sweet boy. I love this next age range, the 4-6 month phase. They get stronger and more interactive. He loves to stand and sit with someone supporting him. He always has jumpy kicky leggies and I love watching him get so excited when he jumps. He hasn't yet discovered his toes, but I'm thinking that is coming soon.

Owen looks SO much like Brinley. Everyone tells us that it is his eyes. He has similar serious eyebrows like Ellie. He loves to smile and laugh. Brinley blows raspberries on his belly any chance she gets and he just laughs and laughs. It really is the best sound in the world!

Owen took about a 6 week break of sleeping more than 3 hours at night. He has been doing better in the last week though which I appreciate a lot! His longest stretch has been 10pm-5pm and that was AMAZING. He has yet to repeat it, though :-( His consistent night is 10pm-3am, 3am-5am, 6-8am. He just loves to eat and he loves to cuddle. Night time sleep training is in the works.

OWEN! You are such a ham.

I MEAN, COME ON!

the back of his cute bald head. We trimmed his hair down on top and it is more of a buzz with a big patch in the back.

baby burrito about to go to bed!

look mama, I have long hair!

3 baby burritos!

first real swim in his cute suit his Auntie Julie and Uncle Stu got for him.

always cudding and kissing!

Sophie has become his new bff

The bumbo isn't his favorite, but he doesn't hate it.

smooshy little face!

7 YEARS

2015-08-31T12:48:00.004-04:00

7 Years!

It has been such an adventure being married to Ryan. We have had so much fun together. He continues to make me laugh everyday and I believe that is what has made our marriage so successful. Laughter is such a healer. Often times we have found ourselves just laughing through our trials just because that's the only thing we feel like we can do. Life is just so crazy sometimes! We've had 7 very busy years of marriage, between schooling and children, we haven't had many quiet moments. Trust me, we've had our moments (as all marriages/relationships do), but we have always put each other first. When we have come across decisions that need to be made, we always go to the Lord to seek for guidance. I am so thankful to be married to a faithful husband who loves our Savior just as much as I do. We are always seeking for ways to make our marriage, family, and home more spiritual and righteous.

I am so grateful Ryan asked me to be his wife all those years ago. I get why people like to "renew their vows" because I would love to have another wedding now (no pinterest when we got married!) haha It sounds crazy, but if only I knew how much my love would grow for Ryan after the day we got married...we were so young and in love I don't think we really understood love until we experienced some hard trials together. Now, we are absolutely intertwined in love that our bond seems unbreakable. We are committed and devoted to each other. I just laugh because he truly is my best friend. So cheesy, but true, and absolutely necessary!

People thought we were nuts having kids while in our undergrad and law school years. But let me tell you this, it feels dang good to say that we are in the next phase of our lives to just raise our children. The child bearing years are over, and we are excited to see what the next 7 years has for us. He has been such an incredible husband and father to our children. He is the best dad. Oh, how I wish you could all see him in action. He plays princess whenever the girls ask. He takes them on individual daddy/daughter dates frequently. He has such a strong bond with all of our children. They love him and trust him and sometimes I think they wish he stayed home with them during the day instead of me! Seriously, he would be a killer SAHD. We're always scheming for ways that we could both work from home so he would never have to leave. He always lets me sleep in on Saturday's. He is quick to say I'm Sorry even when it was completely my fault. He is absolutely my other half and I am so grateful to be able to go through this life with him by my side. plus, he's easy on the eyes ;-)

Our anniversary was fun! It landed on a Sunday so we took a family picture after church and then went to the beach after everyone napped. Since we had such a fun birthday weekend the week before, we decided to keep it simple for our anniversary. Our children are our greatest success and it is such a blessing to be an eternal family.

So grateful for this beautiful family of mine!

Mama Is 29

2015-08-28T16:31:00.004-04:00

This past week, I celebrated my 29th birthday. The last year in my twenties! Viiiiiiva 29!

I'm not going to lie, this birthday, I was in a shlump. I didn't want to celebrate. I was having lots of down thoughts on "where my life is" and "who am I really?" and "what have I accomplished?" so lame, huh? I have accomplished a lot, but still, I was comparing myself to others and just not feeling so great. And anyways, I've been so spoiled to have the last many birthday spent on vacation with family and able to have Ryan off of work to hang out with me! (2014 2013 2012 and 2011).

The night before (it being Sunday), we decided to have our bigger birthday dinner because Ryan wanted to make it for me and we had more time doing it on a Sunday instead of when he got off of work the next day. He made the best meal! Filet mignon (cooked perfectly!!), dijon potato puree, asparagus, and a pomegranate/balsamic reduction. It was to die for! Huge thanks to Chris Marcum for the recipe tips! Ryan is quite the cook when he has the time to be, and I realized that he needs to spend more time in the kitchen! What a fun meal.

The day started out rough with many wake ups from Owen. He's going through a growth spurt and has been waking up 2-4 times a night for the past week. I have been exhausted. But Ryan popped out of bed and surprised me with a fresh waffle with fruit and whipped cream :-) He's the best. The girls got me some fancy new earrings and Ryan got me a keyboard! I can finally start playing the piano more consistently and get my talent back. I'm already gearing up to teach Brinley how to play.

The day was like any other day, laundry, making lunches, putting kids down for naps and quiet times, and cleaning bathrooms. So around 3pm, I snapped out of my funk and told Ryan we were going for dinner at the food trucks in downtown Stuart. I was hesitant to go, and even started texting Ryan to forget about it a few times when the kids were melting down over who knows what, but I am so glad we went. We had a fantastic time! And everyone was happy the entire time.

new nail polish

star fish earrings from the girls

It was extremely hot and humid, but the sun was behind clouds so at least the rays weren't beating down on us. There were at least 10 trucks to choose from and Ryan and I decided on this one truck that had grassfed beef and bacon jam. BACON JAM. Forget about it. It was a dream burger. I need to recreate it!!

I am so lucky to have this beautiful family of mine. I didn't get pampered the way I have in past birthdays, but it is pretty amazing that in my 29th year of life, I created a human. That little Owie-bear is so special and I'd say, he was my biggest accomplishment this past year!

OWEN: 3 months

2015-08-04T10:44:00.000-04:00

OWEN!!!

This month, Owen gained many nicknames. I don't know why, but Owen is such a fun name to play around with. Oberto came from Uncle David while we were in North Carolina a few weeks ago. Who knows why, maybe a combo of my dad's name in spanish, Roberto (which we call him from time to time), but it all made us laugh throughout the week. Uncle David also called him Omega and Owi-wan, like Obi-wan.

Owen discovered his hands this month. It makes me laugh when I hear him slobbing and sucking on his fingers when we drive in the car or when it's super quiet in the house and the only noise is coming from him. He is so cute. He's always talking and sometimes yelling and even has started laughing too. But like Brinley, we also have to work to get him to laugh. Ellie was an easy one to get laughing. You just had to kiss her on her chubby neck and she would be giggling so hard. Owen loves talking with us at night. When Ryan comes home from work, Owen stares and smiles and coos at him forever! It's adorable. He knows his peeps and he loves us!

He is still the center of everyone's lives right now. If it's possible, both girls are more OBSESSED with him this month than last. The kiss him, hug him, talk to him, talk-sing to him ALL the time. It gets a biiiiiiiiit excessive at times, but I just can't help but smile when they love him up like that. He hates it when their hair tickles his face and definitely needs some space after too much loving.

His night sleeping habits aren't consistent, but he has been known to go days sleeping 6-7 hours at night. We usually try to put him down at 10pm. His most regular schedule is 10-4ish. 4-6am. 6-8am. And then he's up for the day. Sometimes though he quits sleeping that well and wakes up 4-5 times during the night to drive mama crazy. He is still nursing every 2-3 hours during the day and seems to be chunking up too! He is so long, so the mama milk has further to travel to fatten him up.

Owen, we love you. We love seeing you grow, and change, and develop. You are a DREAM.