Taking Stock 01

Making : ridiculous amounts of fresh veggie juice daily.  i guess i am a real hippie.
Cooking : much cleaner than i used to.  it feels good.
Drinking : my morning cup.  it's still really hard to wake up and get moving.  even after 2 kids.  even with exercise.
Reading: design blogs and dreaming of our future home.  
Wanting: more beach days.
Looking: at my boys everyday and thinking…oh my gosh they've really grown.
Playing: at the park; puzzles and trains.  
Wasting: our evenings on the couch, watching way too much White Collar with my hubby.  Addicts.  Thanks Court.
Wishing: these babies would stay the same forever.  forever needing me.
Enjoying: all the high fives.  how avett says "yeyow" for applesauce and uses his baby sign language.
Waiting: for his teeth to come in so we can all get some relief.
Liking: the spring weather in Charleston.  Perfect, warm and breezy.  I know too well what's around the corner.
Wondering: where my husband will accept a job and what new city will welcome us next.
Loving: that graduation is around the corner.  july.  i can't believe its here already.
Hoping: for lots of visitors this summer.  i love when people come.
Marveling: at how beautiful this city really is.  
Needing: a haircut.  i can't even say how long its been.  i'm too embarrassed.
Smelling: my boys.  hoping i never forget what they smell like as babes.
Wearing: shorts way more than i ever have in years past.  yoga has given me a new found confidence in my athletic thighs.
Following: up with everything is hard to do.
Noticing: how lovely my indoor plants make me feel.  i love bringing nature inside.
Knowing: i have to clean my whole house within the next 24 hours for company.
Thinking: about when to return for nursing school.  Is it really what I want to do?
Feeling: strong.
Bookmarking: activities we can do during the day.  art projects and such for almost 3 year olds.  omg, he's almost 3.
Opening: packages because i found something on clearance.  score.
Giggling: when griffin's pants fall down because he has no hips or bum.
Feeling: so blessed.  so lucky they're mine.

Taking stock found via Meet me at Mike's

I forgot to post about Halloween.

Back in October (5 months ago or something), we had Halloween.  I've never liked halloween or even really counted it as a holiday.  does it count?  I don't even know.  I always thought of it as a sugar-ridden rampage.  I mean, what exactly are we celebrating?  plus i scare easily so there's that.  But this year ( I mean last year), I experienced it with my two year old.  I want to remember this day and just how fun it was for him.  

Griffin dressed up as an elephant and Avett was the lion- G's costume from last year.  Can I just say how rad it is that I have 2 boys and we are able to recycle clothing around here?  I get so much use out of their clothes and shoes- I think it deserves a medal really.  Back to Halloween.  I listened to Griff talk about dressing up all week long, how he would be the elephant.  And then he would do his elephant voice, using his arm for a trunk.  Thank you Sesame Street.  The day of halloween, we practiced what he would say at a doorstep while trick or treating and I taught him how to hold out his pumpkin bucket for "treats".  Oh it was all so adorable watching him listen and then repeat my instructions.

We met up with his little friend Caroline and her cousins for trick or treating.  I wasn't quite sure how he would react to this whole walking around at night in costume, knocking on stranger's doors thing. He can be really shy around strangers.  and, rarely is he outside by the time it's dark.  Avett fell asleep the second he hit the stroller.  Stroller rides are his jam.  It took a couple of houses before G understood what we were doing.  Once he had it figured out, I could see it written all over his little face, he thought this was brilliant!  He started running to doorsteps, holding hands with Caroline, shouting "ready set go guys, go guys, go guys".  Every time he received more candy he would run back to the street and show each adult the new loot he had collected in his plastic pumpkin bucket.  He was so darn proud of that loot.  

By the end of the night, Griffin was carrying on conversations with strangers at their door steps.  He would let himself in, not stand on the porch but walk right into their homes, have a little chat and pet the family dog.  The best part was- Griff had no clue he could actually eat the candy he had collected.  It was all the thrill of the hunt for this boy.  Also, clearly chad is a professional when it comes to carving pumpkins.  I think I gave up half way through my preschool looking triangle-eyed one and made him finish it.  Halloween is not my favorite, but it sure was Griff's.

Throw it way back.

I guess this is what you do on Thursdays, post old photos??  I don't know, I'm a first timer to #tbt.  Maybe my hip and much younger siblings can give me some pointers.  Anyway, throw it back to Ogden, Utah- the week we were married in 2011.  And my pregnant hips!  I had hips folks, once upon a time.  These photos were taken just days after Chad and I were married.  We have no photos of us on our actual wedding day- which yes, bothers me a little.  Our story however, doesn't bother me one bit.  I love that we eloped to Florida that February.  I love that we had no plan.  I had no flowers, no guests, no lavishly expensive dinner and no 4,000 dollar wedding gown.  Wait, okay I'm sad I didn't get to wear the gown, not sad I didn't have to pay for one.  It wouldn't have fit me anyhow.  That day nothing I owned fit me.  I was 5 months pregnant and we were flat broke.  I wore a plain Old Navy sundress purchased the day before, flip flops and my engagement ring.  Chad had spent every penny he owned having it made for me.

The idea of marriage really scared me then, it still does.  Something about promising your forever away no matter what just doesn't seem natural to me.  Things change, people change and that's okay.  I didn't want to get married just because it was the respectable thing to do or because it seemed like the next step in our relationship.  I just wanted to be with Chad.  I wanted us to be a family.  I didn't need a marriage license or a ceremony to tell me how much he really loved me.  I knew enough about him then to know that he was committed, married or not.  For me, this day was like any other day- about nothing more than our love for each other and our desire to stay together.  I love that our baby was there growing inside me as we promised to take care of each other.  For us, it was perfect and the feeling of peace I had that day remains with me still.  Two babies later, I still feel it.  There is a sweetness and a fullness inside my heart.  It's as simple as that.

More Asheville.

Last weekend we drove up to Asheville again to visit our friends Wes, Jenny and Will.  I think it's become a March Madness tradition.  Yes, I do fill out a bracket.  Yes, my bracket does beat out Chad's.  We all went to the park Saturday morning for some fishing and soccer.  The men did their basketball thing while Jenny and I found a yoga class and cruised around downtown.  The little boys have become great friends and it's so much fun to watch them play together.  Griff and Will are only 2 days apart.  Jenny and I were pregnant together back in Utah before we all up and moved to the south.  While visiting, we let the boys camp out on little cots when it was time for sleep.  There was a lot of giggling involved but they did surprisingly well for being outside of their own cribs.  Griff keeps saying, "will is my best buddy".  We adore our friends and I never tire of Asheville.