Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Our Days Before Baby #3

I haven't posted a whole lot in the last month or so.  Not because we haven't stayed busy and active at all and not because a lot hasn't been going on.  I definitely think we have filled our weeks soaking up as much time together as possible before life changes with the new baby.  Its in these last final weeks when I feel (and my body feels) like I can't go another day, stretch one more inch, and feel like a waddling duck any longer, but at the same time I want to soak in my TWO girls as much as possible. I know in a flash life is going to change and we will find ourselves trying to remember what it was like with only 2 kids.
Since school has started we have slowly gotten back into a routine that includes baton and dance practice, church activities, football weekends, and school activities.  I do love this time of year and now that we have had 2 days where it actually felt a little like fall I am really loving that.  School has been back in for a month and a half now.  I have enjoyed being home with Kate and spending some one on one time with her, and I have enjoyed getting back into things with Cohen.  She has baton and dance twice a week, and I have been helping out at the studio since my girls log in hours there.  Cohen has really been doing well in school, she is my smarty after all.  Kelly and I have both been able to have lunch with her at school and I always love time with her.  Its still so unreal that she is a 1st grader!   Kate and I have continued going to story time each week at the library and she has had some play dates with Carolina, which she loves!  She really loved meeting the donkey and horse that are at Carolina's house!  I have to say that Kate is the one person who has been to EVERY doctor's appointment with me through this entire pregnancy.  I know I have posted some pics from those appointments and we continue to take one when we go which is every week now!  She has just been my little side kick and I cherish that so so much!  I am fighting back tears now just thinking of how special each little day is with her and Cohen too.  I have taken so many pictures on my phone of each little activity that I thought I would just combine them all in one post to sum up the last few weeks.  I know we will take more in the days ahead but we are also at a point that we could meet Baby 3 any time!
Let's rewind now...
Kate started dance for the first time this year!

Cohen, Baylie, & Lexie at practice...Cohen loves these girls!

Some pictures from the library....story time is always so much fun, especially the crafts!
Kate making her magic wand

This particular week was on pirates so the kids made parrots and got a prize to look through!!


Kate and Carolina have had one Chic-Fil-A play time date.  Stacey and I like to visit Seneca's location for this, we just can't do it every week.  It does make it special when we do go though!  Kate loves "Chickle-A".

a stop at Belk's definitely called for a mannequin picture...her name is Kate after all!

We made a quick day trip to Sky Top Orchard one Monday with Carolina and Ava.  The weather was a little messy that day but we still got some yummy donuts and the girls loved the playground.  We are definitely hoping for a trip in October once our favorite apples start coming in.  Kelly & Cohen didn't get to go either so they can't miss out.  Hopefully we will get to meet up with our Charlotte friends!  I love this tradition.



3 Ft. tall for 2014!
A couple of weeks ago Kate got to meet Eeyore, Carolina's donkey.  She LOVED him and has talked about him so much since then!



Both girls with Sterling the horse.  We love the Madden's and their animals!
This is a picture from one of my latest doctor visits.  Love my sweet girl with me!


 Kelly rotates each week taking the kids to school with Dawn.  Sometimes he has to come back by the house after dropping them off for something.  On this particular morning, Kate had gotten into our bed and when he came back home he laid down with her.  I got a kick out of seeing them laying together...laying exactly the same way at that!  I mean why go to work when you can cuddle with this sweet girl.


We recently got to celebrate sweet Nolan's 3rd birthday!  He had a "red" birthday for his favorite color...one we just happen to love ourselves!  After the party, my sweet friend Amanda came and got both girls to play with her kids.  They both had a blast and I got to take a much needed nap!   It was also the GA/SC game so Kelly and I got to watch that without anyone needing me for anything!  Kate came back around half time and Cohen went to the rodeo with Amanda.  She could not stop talking about everything she saw.  I can't thank Amanda enough!  She gave this girl some rest time and gave Cohen a fun fun night!!



Last Wednesday was another doctor's appointment and we got to meet Jessica for lunch since it was on a day she got out of class early.  While we didn't have a mannequin to take a picture with, Kate went right up to the big bulldog statue at Mellow Mushroom!

this is how we spend a lot of our days lately...couch cuddles!

Last Saturday the Bulldawgs were back in Athens for the 2nd home game this year!!  Even at 36.5 weeks I'm still going to cheer on the Dawgs!!  This was a great game to take kids to so Cohen got to go!  Blake and Kasey weren't going to get to go this week so we had extra tickets and Larry, Sara, and Savannah got to use them.  This was Savannah's first game and I think she really enjoyed it ;)  We took the girls to the Dawg Walk before the game even though they don't know the players.  They were still excited and couldn't believe how many hi-fives they got from all the players.  Not too mention from Hairy Dawg and the cheerleaders.  We told Cohen to keep her eyes open for Todd Gurley, #3.  She did get to see him but this week he stayed in the middle when he walked in.

Dancing away


Cooling down during the 4th quarter...it was quite a hot day for sure!


 The whole group of kids after the game!  Its great when your close friends sit behind you!!


Yesterday Kate and I had a lunch date just the two of us...and her Furby.  If you know anything about Furbys, you know they talk non-stop.  Its all jibber jabber and she loves the thing.  Cohen grew tired of it pretty quick after she got it and now Kate is reaping the benefits.  This picture shows how happy she was having her Furby on the table and smiling for the camera at that.  haha!


Before dance she got in some trampoline time at Suzy's.  She loves to jump as you can see.  Those legs were just jumping as fast as they could!

sleeping beauty this morning...she loves to crawl in our bed in the morning.  I hope we can still snuggle when Baby #3 comes!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Fair & Festival Fun

This past weekend was the Carnesville fall festival.  It sure didn't feel like fall outside at all but we did enjoy all the festivities that come along with it.  My girls LOVE the little fair that Carnesville does each year.  I think this is the 3rd year they have done it and it is perfect for kids.  Cohen will ask me about it throughout the year and when will it be time for it to come again.  I didn't tell her until Friday morning that it was finally here again and that we would be going that night.  It sure helped get her out of bed that morning!  We were going with the Harbin's and we decided to all go eat at the Mexican restaurant first then walk down to the festival.   We got these cute pictures of Keyes and Cohen and Elliott and Kate after we ate.


We all then headed down to the fair and the kids were off to ride all the rides as soon as we could get their bracelets on them.  We met up with more friends at the fair and just made it a fun night for everybody.  The big kids were riding all the rides as fast as they could.  They went from the big swings to the ferris wheel to the teacups!  There were also blow up obstacle courses and slides.  I tried to walk back and forth between both girls and I loved watching their faces.  They had so much fun!  Kate was all about riding every ride she could too.  Kingsley was like a little mama with her and would hold her hand and make sure she was coming to ride.  They are so cute.  It was a lot of fun for everybody.  We ended the night letting the kids have snow cones and listening to the band play.  I can't think of a better way to spend a Friday night-having fun with friends!  
bad lighting but this was Kingsley & Kate riding together

Cohen, Elliott, & Keyes riding the big ferris wheel.  They can barely see over the rail

4 Sillies!
Saturday was more fun at fall festivals.  Cohen started the day off performing at the Carnesville fall festival.  The competition girls at her studio performed their solo routines.  She was excited to get to wear her costume and perform.  This was the first "performance" since her recital.  All the girls did great!  I love watching all of them.  It was already unbelievably hot that morning though!  No fall weather here.  Being pregnant probably magnified it for me too!





Later that afternoon we had the Danielsville fall festival and BOTH girls performed.  This was with the entire dance studio so it was group routines and Cohen got to do her solo again.  Kate has a little dance class she is taking this year so it was her very first performance.  Kelly and I both got a kick out of watching her.  We are convinced she is probably going to be our little ball player, but who knows.  She does enjoy her dancing and loves to dance here at home but she also loves to kick and throw a ball so it will be fun to watch her when she is old enough to play soccer or something too.  In the meantime we will love watching her dance!  She was so cute standing up there with all the other little girls.  They danced to a Frozen song so I'm sure that helps!  You can tell from the pictures below when she found Cohen and I in the crowd.  We had moved up front for this routine so I could see her good and Kelly stood to the side to video her.  They were all too too cute!  Cohen did a great job too! Kelly took a few pictures from the side of her but you couldn't see her too well so I'll just post hers from Carnesville.  During her group performance I just enjoyed watching and didn't take a picture.  We were proud of both of our girls!


And she spotted us!!  There's a smile!

She was so proud to see us watching her!


Monday, September 1, 2014

Dawgs on Top!! Its Football Season!

This weekend kicked off Georgia football season!  We live for Georgia football in our house and we have been looking forward to this game all year.  Even though we are having our baby at the beginning of October, we still have season tickets and this 8 month pregnant girl wasn't about to miss this big first game!  Georgia vs. Clemson has always been a big rivalry to me because they played more often when I was growing up.  Now they play every 10 years but it sure makes for an exciting first game.   Saturday morning we got everyone ready and dropped the girls off and then headed to Blake & Kasey's.  We got to Athens just before 1:00 and headed to the tailgate.  This game's tailgate was exciting because Meri Beth and Jess were having their baby gender reveal!  Exciting baby news mixed with tailgating fun makes for a fun afternoon for sure.  We made sure to head to the Dawg Walk too!  I love seeing Coach Richt walk with the players on that first home game and the atmosphere was very pumped up and excited.
It turned out to be a great game, especially for us Dawg fans!  The first half was very close and exciting and the second half, especially the 4th quarter the Dawgs showed out, especially Todd Gurley.  Its always nice to start the season off with a win.  Its even more fun celebrating with our close friends.  I have to say, there were 3 things I was very thankful for at the end of the day...#1 to be a Bulldawg!!, #2 for a paper fan...never underestimate the value of a piece of paper stapled to a stick! and #3, for maternity belts that help relieve the back pain and pressure of an ever growing baby!  I was 33 1/2 weeks on Saturday and I wanted and needed every bit of support that thing could provide. Now if someone has a  remedy to help feet and legs from swelling then I'm all ears!  We have more home games to go before the actual due date but I will make it to everyone I can!  I think our leading names for the baby now are girl...Gurley Michelle and boy...Todd Chubb!  Haha!! GO DAWGS!











Take note of the wonderful fan! Thankful for Seminole County & their fans!  #whereisseminolecounty

I have an app called Memoir on my phone that emails me pictures from that particular day that were taken in the past.  This picture came up from 5 years ago on Saturday.  How fitting?!  This is Cohen and Kelly ringing the chapel bell, her first time ringing it.  Can't believe it has been 5 years!  My how time flies.