An update on the kiddos

Hi everyone! We are doing good and still busy here in North Carolina. School is going great for me...although it is very busy and I feel like i'm a fish out of water sometimes. But i'm still extremely thankful to be here! Mike is doing great at his church and we are continually thankful for such a neat community God put us in.

Bella is simply adorable...and independent...and lively...and hilarious...and loves to sing...and hilarious again.

Here we are enjoying the fun day on the porch...eating grapes and playing.

This dress was one of Cathy's dresses she had for her dress-up animals.  But Bella decided she liked it so she put it on. And my skinny-mini-toddler fit into it!

"It's bight, mommy"

And, we're off. As you can tell, she likes to run!

Mrs. Cathy bought her first set of overalls.  One Sunday afternoon after Bella's nap, she wanted to go outside to help Mrs. Cathy in the garden. And she insisted on putting her overalls on without a shirt underneath and she wanted her hat!

Doesn't this picture make you smile! I love it! Bella was so proud of her gardening skills.

Here's our beautiful daughter.  We are in trouble when she gets older for sure...her daddy better figure out how he's going to scare the boys away.

We had a "first" in our household the other night.  Bella is getting taller by the day so she was in need of bed clothes.  A friend at church let us have some of her daughter's clothes that no longer fit so Bella wore her first nightgown to bed!  I felt like this was a big turning point because I remember doing that when I was a little girl.  My toddler has entered a new phase in life - marked by the wearing of a nightgown. Doesn't that mean she's older?!?

She's trying to act older too and wear mommy's shoes. 

Here's our little man while his sister was in the garden.  He's so pensive isn't he! I think he's a genius.

And, here is our little man in his collared shirt.  What a handsome little man, don't you think?

 Notice his rolls on his legs? So cute!

 He is nearly pulling himself up when he is laying on his back. He's still rolling both ways, drooling all the time, and as happy as ever.  Seriously, he smiles all the time (unless he's hungry).

Until next time, enjoy your day!

Watch out Dino!

Notice she says "A B C D E Daddy"... So cute!

The resort

When we first arrived in North Carolina, we stayed at an extended stay hotel. The first night we stayed in a one room hotel room.

Brother and sister love in the hotel.

When we finally got both kids down, we were almost scared to move because we didn't want to wake them up. Thankfully, everyone slept all night long. Thank you BabyWise and the cry-it-out method for teaching my children to sleep on a schedule and through the night! After that first night, where I didn't get much sleep because I kept hearing things that I "thought" were my children getting up, they moved us into a one bedroom suite. It was a step-up from the tiny studio room ... but it was still in a hotel. We hunkered down, I decorated a little bit (I had to build my "nest", even if was a hotel room), and Mike got ready for his whirlwind first weekend. We were greeted with a "meet-the-new-prospective-pastor" potluck on Saturday evening. The church family was so generous and sweet to us that night. They had a banner that read "Welcome Smith Family" over in the desserts.

Here's the sweet cake they had for us. They also had some great food!

 

And, were gracious and loving and so welcoming to us!

The next morning was Mike's sermon in-view-of-a-call.

Here's that morning before we left!

And, here's after we got home.
It was a long day for all of us! But such a great day!

That weekend we had also met Mrs. Cathy Wrenn.  And our life was forever changed for the better. ha!  She said that she had a place we could stay at her house.  What we didn't know is that her house should be called a "resort" or "paradise" or a "retreat" or "come to relax"...meet Cathy's house!

Her house is actually on 5 acres with tons of trees and a river and a horse and tons of stars out early in the morning.  We went to go look at it and I was giggling as we drove up in her driveway (Mike can attest to that).  The trees in North Carolina are beautiful and i'm anxiously awaiting fall.  I don't think you're going to be able to keep me inside when the leaves start changing.  We had planned on moving the next day but Cathy and her kiddos said they would keep Bella and Jonathan while Mike and I went and packed up the hotel room to move that night. Yes, ma'am!  What a blessing that was to not have to pack up our hotel suite with two kiddos.  And, they bought us dinner and watched our kids!  Told you we are being taken care of here!  So, we moved in.

They heard that Bella liked princesses so she had presents waiting for her - playdoh and colors and a princess purse with blocks.  They also set up her bed inside a princess castle. And she has slept there ever since.  I'm not sure if we're going to get her in a real bed. ha!  We read and sing to her every night...but Mike has to lay with her like this.  It's kindof cute hearing the hymn "Grace, Grace, God's Grace" being sung from a princess castle. ha!

And, here's Miss B practicing for her PhD.

And, blogworld meet Mrs. Extraordinaire - also known as Mrs. Cathy Wrenn!

Jonathan loves her!  He actually lunges for her when i'm holding him.  She has graciously kept Jonathan while I am going to school and they have quickly become great friends. 

She calls him muscle-man!

We are certainly loving our time here and are so thankful that we have a place to stay and unwind and relax while we are searching for a house.

And, here is Mr. Muscle-Man himself at five months!

As an update, he is rolling over, sitting up, pulling up to a stand, has fourish teeth, slobbers everywhere, and is just happy.

He gets very distracted when he's eating now.  I'll look down at him and if he sees me he starts smiling and playing.  Then eating is over! So, I have to cover him up so he'll actually finish eating and not start playing. ha!

Look at this big boy!  He's about 20 pounds now and about 2/3 the size of Bella in length already.

Jonathan and daddy enjoying a day outside after work.

Mrs. Cathy gave Bella her first set of overalls. So cute!

 

 

This is the doodle-bug...as Cathy calls it.

Here's a view outside of Cathy's house.

We go walking outside while Bella picks "flowers". Doesn't she look pretty in this one?

And, Jonathan sleeps while we walk.

Bella made friends with the neighbor's horse. She named him Teapot.

And, sweet Jonathan looking cute in the hotel.

I'm finally caught up!!!