I love this time of year! I adore Christmas and everything that comes with it, but there is something so cleansing and fresh feeling about the new year starting.I love sitting down and reflecting about what I want to make better for the new year and new things I want to try. I have missed blogging and having a chance to write down all of our memories. But it has been a couple of crazy, stressful, up and down, blessed years. I keep repeating in my head when I think about all the things that I would love to do...time and a season. So of course one of my goals this year, now that we are in Ohio and things are starting to settle down a little (ha, ha!), is to get this blog rolling again! But first I need to do a little bit of catching up. Too many wonderful and glorious moments have happened in the last couple months not to take note!
You couldn't find a more giddy group of people then the ones in our house days before the Grandma's and Grandpa were coming to town! We were counting down on the calendar and planning all of the things that we wanted to do with them for weeks before they got here! Grandma Debbie came first and with her she brought a gift that left me breaking down and crying in front of the entire airport! My brother and sweet sister in law are pregnant...with TWINS!!! We have been waiting and praying for this sweet news for a long time now! They are going to be AMAZING parents and I can't wait to snuggle those little ones! They announced it in the cutest way and as soon as I get my scanner to work, I will show you! ADORABLE!!! I really only have one outing of pictures to post because we were so busy the whole time that I forgot to take pictures a lot. But, boy did we have fun! We played and snuggled and talked and repeated and repeated the process over and over again!
In these pictures we were driving around Hocking Hills exploring and admiring all of the beautiful leaves! Everything was so pretty! We stopped at a few shops and had lunch at a pizza joint! I was a great day! We were also scouting out places to take Livia's baptism pictures! The little girls had a blast playing outside with Grandma!
We found the cutest little cottages that you can rent and as we were leaving, Ainslee all of the sudden said, "Mom, pull over." I asked her why, and she said, "because I need to take my picture right now, right there!" I of course pulled over and got her out, she walked right over to this spot and started posing! It was hilarious and so dang cute!!! Oh I love this girl!!!
When we were shopping, the kids found this bunny cage...they thought it was a fort for them, until they discovered that it locked, then they weren't too fond of the idea!
One of the things that I love about Ohio is all of the old architecture...houses, barns, buildings! I love to picture what the house looked like when it was first built, who lived there, what was going on around them. I instantly put myself into their story. I would love to go inside...if I thought it was safe...and legal! I just wonder if anything has been left. I would love to talk to the owners to see why it is still standing and maybe answer some of my questions. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to try it!
We went down to the lake in Logan...yes we moved from Logan, right next to another Logan. It kills the kids sometimes...I say, "we are going to a park down in Logan" and Trey gets all excited, and then I have to break it to him that it is 15 minutes away, not three days! The leaves were amazing and the girls had fun showing Grandma everything that they found on the ground!
Ainslee decided that sticks were a good thing to collect on our little walk. She picked up every one that she found!
We love you Grandma Debbie! You are the best!!!
We thought that we had it bad back in Smithfield with all of our leaves...HA...this is just the first time we did this. We had to do this three more times before winter came. We had a total of thirty five big black garbage bags full of leaves when all was said and done! Side note...one of the things we get a kick out of here in Ohio is that they pick up the garbage old fashioned style. You set the garbage out on the curb, in a garbage can provided by us, if you even want a can...you don't have to have one. And the guys ride around on the back of the garbage truck and hop off and dump it. For some reason we find this fascinating. Tad and I have been known to make bets on Monday morning on whether something that we have put out there will really be taken by them. So far, they have taken everything! Back to the leaves...we were shocked when they actually took all of the bags...it lined our whole front yard.
Grandma Debbie was with us for a few days before Grandma Retta, Grandpa Larry and Uncle Tyler and Aunt McKaylee came. I will blog more about what we all did together in the next post! We are so blessed to have such wonderful Grandma's and Grandpa's!
