Halloween Happenings

Last year for Halloween we stayed close to the house and Amelia Grace wore her costume for all of 15 minutes before she decided she'd had enough of being a little chickie. This year was way different and has me even more excited for the future! Our little strawberry had more fun than I can express in these simple words as she went to a few houses and then hung out with her new pal, Addie. She even got to enjoy a piece of her candy behind our backs when she somehow managed to get a KitKat bar open without our help! I think it's safe to say we have a Halloween fan in our fam. What made the day even more special was when we got to introduce her to Carter-Finley Stadium for her first tailgate and football experience. This year is going to be hard to top!

Go Pack!

Our little cheerleader went trick-or-treating in the parking lot before the game.

SO much joy in this little one's heart!!

Love Ran Red

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend the Women of Faith conference which included a performance by the awesome Christian band, Building 429. That was my first ever "Christian concert" and it was incredible! I've been to lots of concerts over the years (thanks, Mom, for taking me to see NSYNC and not complaining about your ears bleeding), but that one was a totally new experience. As luck would have it one of my most favorite acts was performing later that week in Raleigh. I had been bitten by the concert bug and knew I needed to go. I talked to David about it and while he would have gone if I had begged and pleaded it wasn't really his thing, but my mom on the other hand was totally up for it, so later that night I bought tickets for us to see Rend Collective and Chris Tomlin!

You may remember me mentioning Rend Collective a few months ago when I wrote about "Amelia Grace's song". She and I would rock out every morning to "My Lighthouse" this summer while living in the apartment so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Aside from that spectacular work of music, they have a bunch of wonderful, Christ-focused words put to music that reminds me of Mumford & Sons. That's a win-win if I ever saw one. So while I was "eh" about seeing Chris Tomlin I was stoked to see Rend Collective! 

Neither act disappointed as we spent the evening worshipping the Lord with a couple hundred other friends. Rend Collective kicked off a great show with a few of their classics (including "My Lighthouse"!) and Chris Tomlin rounded out the evening with a few songs of his own. Both acts were great and well worth the money! If you have the chance to see either I would highly recommend taking that chance!

Me and Mama!

My Lighthouse!

Got To Be NC!

Every year for as long as I can remember I have gone to the Carolina Renaissance Festival in the Fall. When David and I got married he joined in and it became one of our favorite traditions (recaps can be found here and here) and last year we added Amelia Grace to the adventure! Following our big move this summer we knew we would have to replace this year's Renaissance Festival visit with something a little different-the North Carolina State Fair! Many moons ago (okay, like 8 years ago) David and I started going together when we were in college. Little did we know that we would be returning with our sweet girl down the road! 

My two sisters heard we were going and decided to join us for the adventure. Mandy and her husband, Tyler, provided the trip with the awesome camera that took the following pictures. Abby and her boyfriend, Mark, brought his kids who provided lots of entertainment. It's definitely more fun to go with kids who appreciate the fair with a child-like wonder that is often lost on adults. 

Rides were ridden, food was eaten, and lots of fun was had! Here are a few pictures from the day. . .

We all paid for our adventures dearly as we are all fighting a nasty cold but it was worth it. Hopefully the next time we go we will all stay healthy!

First Birthday Shindig

This past weekend we were fortunate enough to celebrate our little love's first birthday with family and friends! It's so hard to believe that this sweet girl is already one year old. They aren't kidding when they say you blink and your baby is gone. Our precious nugget has been replaced by a wild, child toddler with no fear. Don't get me wrong, I love every stage, but I definitely wouldn't mind if she decided we needed a day of cuddles like old times ;-) Anywho, enough mommy sob time and onto the pictures!

We did an owl theme and my mom really went above and beyond making that possible. I don't have any pictures of the decor but it was impressive! We are so thankful for all those who pitched in to make this such a wonderful day!

Owl fruit tray

Owl veggie tray 

Owl cupcakes 

More cupcakes

The SUPER impressive cake TJ's sweet girlfriend, Rebecca made!

 3/4 of the baby date crew 

(We missed you, Adah and Rachel!)

And when it came time for the cake, Amelia Grace definitely showed that she belonged to us by diving headfirst into her cake!

Here, momma, you get a bite too 

The yummy cookies Aunt Lisa made! 

The babes loved the water table and bubble machine 

My heart is so full!

We were truly blown away by all those who came from near and far to celebrate our precious girl's first birthday. And this truly was a group effort. We are so thankful to all who made this wonderful day so special! I think it's safe to say she had a good time. . .

Fourth of July Fun

Our family has always loved cookouts. I mean who wouldn't love an excuse to drink, eat grilled yumminess, and play fun yard games?! We congregated at my parent's house for this shindig and managed to capture a few (okay, okay, A LOT) of pictures of our fun!

Our first family photo in a while since Daisy has been hanging out with my parents. 

4/5 of the Wardlets with their compadres and Amelia Grace! Oh, and Trout too;-) 

Gigi and Pop Pop with the littlest princess. 

Gigi's impressive creation! 

Pop Pop's impressive creation!

We had a great time hanging out and catching up while also celebrating this great nation. An incredibly large thanks to all the servicemen and women who made this relaxing weekend possible!

Florida Fun

We are blessed to have so many family members who love our little girl SO much and this past weekend we were able to take her to Florida and spend time with them! We got to introduce her to David's wonderful Grandpa and GrandBobbie, uncle, aunt, and cousins while also taking her to visit his sweet grandma at the rehab facility she has been in since suddenly completely losing her sight a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, David has most of the good pictures on his phone so I'll just share the few that I have of our girl loving the time she had on the beach!

What better way to kick off a road trip than with Chick-fil-A? It was an all outdoor Chick-fil-A too! 

 Sitting in the same high chair that Grandpa grew up using!

 A beautiful morning on Jax Beach.

Enjoying the tide pools.  

What's that thing flying over there? 

Pondering the world of babyhood.  

 David and his mini-me. 

Hey, ma, how come we're this close and not at the beach?!? 

She loves her daddy!

 When some random guy at the beach offers to take a family photo, you let him!

Enjoying her very first balloon. I'm pretty sure she would have been over the moon if it had been a red balloon ;-)

You Know You're a Nurse's Kid. . .

The fact that our mom is a nurse has proven to be both helpful and harmful at times in our lives. Not harmful as in "we're all gonna die" but harmful as in "well, maybe we should have done something about that". If you have a parent in the medical field, I'm sure you can relate to one or two of these little tidbits. . .

You know you're a nurse's kid. . .

. . . if you can't make your own appointments

Straight up, I was spoiled. I didn't have to start making doctor's appointments for myself until I was 23 years old with an autoimmune disorder. My mama always used her connections across the greater Charlotte area to get us an appointment that day with the best of the best. That leads me to my next point. . .

. . . you're not good at waiting

If you follow me on Twitter you know for a fact I am not good at waiting for doctors. All my life I've just been whisked into the doctor's office without more than a minute wait. Now that I've been reduced to the life of a normal patient, I'm not sure I like it so much. Bring back my special treatment!

. . .you don't understand why you have to pay for a prescription

Don't these pharmacists know who you are?? Don't they know about all the free samples you grew up receiving??

. . .you rarely saw an actual doctor

 Whenever I felt I had an ailment of sorts I often heard "oh, you're fine" or "you think that's bad?" and "you should hear about what I saw today". Kind of made my throat tickle seem pathetic.

. . .you are a bit of a hypochondriac

This developed in part because of my previous point. I will admit that I am the first to go visit Dr. WebMD thanks to growing up hearing about everyone else's problems and how mine really weren't that bad. In fact my brother ran the mile-run in elementary school (more like hobbled) with a fractured foot. Needless to say I'm now convinced that if my arm so much as itches I should see a doctor.

Obviously I lived to tell the tales and was made stronger through my struggles, but life wasn't easy. Any other nurse's kids out there relate to my first world problems??

Beachin' It

One of the wonderful (because there are SO many!) perks about living in Raleigh is the close proximity to the beach. We are close enough now that a day trip isn't out of the question, and for this beach-loving Carolina girl that is a major win. Another perk about living in Raleigh is that with David's new job he works four days a week and has Fridays off. Another win! What do you do when you have this many wins? You schedule a beach trip and introduce your baby girl to the sand and salt water!

We originally planned on heading to Wrightsville Beach early Friday morning and coming back that same day, but with her still taking two naps a day we decided to stay overnight. Our trip was made even better when we discovered David had racked up enough points that we earned a free night AND they upgraded us to a suite with a separate room! We were so thankful for everything aligning so perfectly and allowing us a precious mini-vacation with our little family:-)

We hit the road on 1-40 East early Friday morning and after a quick pit stop for beer and Jersey Mike's (beach necessities) we headed for the coast. I have about 3 million pictures of the same thing because I was so excited to see Amelia Grace's reaction, so I'll spare y'all the craziness and just showcase a few of the cutest (because they were all pretty stinkin' cute)

What is this stuff? 

 This is fun!

Hey, mom, can we bring some home with us? 

Dad, let me help you with those. 

I think I like this place, Dad

After a few hours our little princess started reaching her limit so we headed back to the hotel for naps. She was a champ and took a great nap which allowed us to rest as well. Then we headed out for supper where we gorged ourselves on seafood. Amelia Grace took her first few bites of shrimp and decided she liked it so much she needed more. She ended up ending FIVE pieces of shrimp herself. And this was after she ate her full regular meal. We then picked up frozen custard (because what's a beach trip without a little frozen treat??) before heading back to the hotel and putting her to bed.

Mmm this is yummy 

 Sometimes eating is exhausting. . .

The next morning we hit the beach again for a nice stroll before hitting I-40 again. It was a fantastic trip and we can't wait to bring our baby girl back again!

Lovin' on my daddy

Mother's Day Love

This was not my first Mother's Day, but this Mother's Day was the first one I had a little love to hold in my arms, and boy did she make it special! 

This past weekend Amelia Grace decided after weeks of propping herself up and rocking back and forth that she would finally crawl a few "steps"! It was so exciting to see her do it after trying to piece together the process for so long. She still seems to prefer to roll about, but she's getting used to doing it more and more!

She (i.e. David) also surprised me with the sweetest journal with her little hand and foot print. So, now, instead of years of cards piling up I will have one place for all of them AND I get to see her grow and change throughout the years. LOVE IT! She also decided to gift me with the fancy hair cut and color I so desperately need. That baby girl knows the way to her mama's heart ;-)

We started the day at church and ended it relaxing on Lake Wylie with a stellar nap and some shopping in between. All-in-all it was a fabulous day!

Easter Rewind

I know I'm a few days late, but I still wanted to share some of our wonderful Easter weekend with y'all!

Friday started off a little different than most Fridays in that we got to have a playdate with our baby friends! The school was on Spring Break so we were able to hang out with some sweet mommas and babes for a bit. It's so much fun to see them toddling around and really getting into things. Gone are the days of quietly meeting in a coffee shop!

They were not having it when we asked for a picture!

That evening my mom came down so David and I could go out on a date. What he didn't know was we weren't going home! While we kicked off the evening with drinks at Carolina Ale House I surprised him and told him there was a suitcase in the back of the car and we were staying the night at his parents' condo on Lake Wylie! He was so excited and we completely changed gears for the night. Instead of a quick evening out Carrabba's and Babies 'R Us (whoooooo), we headed to NoDa to hit the breweries and chow down on some delicious food. We even snuck over to the new outlet mall for a wee bit just to wander around. Gotta love when you're not tied to a baby's bedtime!

The next morning we woke up and ventured over to IHOP for breakfast. David has been talking about getting a stack of their pancakes for about a thousand years so I finally caved. After he drowned them in syrup and thoroughly enjoyed them we returned home to our babe and a busy day of visiting with my side of the family. We've recently discovered all the neat breweries that are pretty much in our backyard! Okay, so maybe they're like 10 minutes away, but that's close enough for us. My dad, brother, and sister-in-law joined us for the trip around town before we all ended up back at the house for supper and yard games. 

The next morning we awoke early and headed to church to celebrate the glorious day! Every Easter Sunday our church comes together for a delicious Easter breakfast and this year was no different. Afterwards we all roll ourselves into the auditorium and fight to stay awake with our full tummies;-) There is always an Easter egg hunt following the service and this year was no different. Amelia Grace even "found" an egg! What that really means is we sat her down next to egg and she picked it up. Hooray! Haha. 

Amelia Grace's first Easter!

After service we headed to the Mobley's for Easter lunch and visiting. We all enjoyed more delicious food and had a great time catching up. 

It was a busy weekend, but a great one as well!

Me on the left in 1989 and Amelia Grace in 2015 wearing the same dress!