Family Pictures

Mark's sister, Katie, visited us last month and took our pick-cha.

Love you Katie, you're SO talented.  

Some of the favs:

"the most wasted of all days is one without laughter"

E.E. Cummings

A Sunday Hike

Today we spontaneously went to Shenandoah National Park to hike. Yay for spontaneity! We packed some lunch and snacks and lots of water and headed out.

It took us about an hour and a half to get to the park. What a beautiful day it was to see the colors of fall changing before our eyes.

We ate lunch in the car/parking lot to get fueled up for out trek.

Lily's favorite food is banana! 

We decided to hike Robertson Mountain. We were told it wasn't as strenuous as the well-known and popular Old Rag Mountain, although it is Robertson Mountain is 5 feet higher at 3296'.

I carried Lily in the Moby wrap to the top. Whoa, baby. 

We did it!

 Man, was it gorgeous!

(a bit windy in the video, sorry)

We did not see a single person the whole way up but after we were at the top for a bit (and I changed shirts), two couples and a dog joined us and they were from OHIO (yeah!) One guy was even a Miami alum. What are the chances?? 

They graciously snapped a photo of our little family:

check out the view behind Mark(!)

 Definitely the most awesome place to nurse a baby!

What goes up, must go down.

Almost to the car and sweet girl fell asleep with Mama.

where in the world

Where in the world have we been?

Here's what has gone on since I last blogged (2 months ago!?!):

We moved to Virginia, just South of DC, for Mark's job. He is still in landscaping but doing a lot less manual labor and a lot more meeting with clients, designing, etc. He loves it!

Lily is changing before our eyes. It seems like she is hitting new milestones left and right. (8-month post will happen!)

We moved again. Wait, what?
Yep. If you haven't heard through the grapevine, we moved again. For those of you who haven't heard, here is the full story:

Back in August we moved to a townhouse in Woodbridge, Virginia. Mark and I randomly chose this location, mostly because it was cheaper than the other suburbs. Mark saw the townhouse in person while I was still living in Ohio. I'll be honest, I wasn't too excited about it after seeing the pictures. The kitchen looked old and the open-backed stairs scared me with Lily beginning to crawl. I told myself it would be okay and once we got all of our furniture and pictures up and put away, it would feel much more like home. Long story short, it didn't.

We lived in Woodbridge for 6 weeks and 4/6 weeks we had a handyman doing something. For the first 4 days we didn't have a functioning dryer. For the first 4 weeks we didn't have a functioning oven. Then water spewed out of a drain in the laundry room and we couldn't do laundry again for 4 days. Ugh. Did I mention it wasn't very fun?

To the meat of the story..

Once the laundry was "fixed", I caught up on all of our laundry and didn't do laundry again for 3 days. When I went down on a Tuesday night, I found water all over the floor in the basement (laundry room in basement) and the washing machine 1/2 full of sewage. DISGUSTING. A day later, it was COMPLETELY filled and all over the floor in the laundry room. Unfortunately, we were renting from landlords who were not willing to do what was necessary to fix/clean the basement and since they live in New York, our hands were tied. We stayed in a hotel for 4 nights because the air was so bad. Honestly, they are very lucky we didn't get a lawyer. At one point the landlord told me I could get some bleach to clean out the washing machine. Um, no. (In a nutshell, that's the way they wanted to handle the situation).

While at the hotel (Thurs., Fri., Sat., Sun.) we frantically looked at new places to live. Our realtor was very helpful and understood that we needed to find a place within a few days. We prayed and prayed that one of the five places we were going to see would work. The fifth place we looked at is where we live now.  (Big happy face!)

We are so incredibly thankful for all of the help we received from our new church family. With only a few days notice, 15-20 men came on Saturday morning and had us packed up and moved into our new place all within a few hours time. WOW.

I am still in awe of how God comforted me during this awful time. Even when I wasn't sure if the health department was going to condemn the property (and all that implies) I knew God had a bigger plan for us than to be in Woodbridge.

Thank you to Barb and Katie for all of your help(!!) and to all of you who prayed, we are loving our new home.

6 months!

Lily is 6 months today!

About you:

• You weigh 16lbs, you're getting SO big!
• You have changed a lot in the last week or two, your personality is coming out and I love it.
• You nurse 4-5 times a day and you have started to eat some solid foods. 
• The growth spurt you just went through was rough on you (and me), waking up every night around 10 or 11. This week has been better, going to sleep at 7 and sleeping until 3 or 4am.
• Like Mama and Dadda, you're an early riser, up by 6 or 6:30.
• You like to chew on everything and reach for everything, too. The other day I turned around for .02 seconds and turned back around to see you trying to eat a piece of spinach from my lunch. SPEEDY!
• You are very inquisitive. You love studying people, objects, anything and everything around you. 

Month 5 should be called the "month of many changes", I can't believe how much Lily has changed in such a short time! 

cereal for the first time

3 years and news

Yesterday, Mark and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Whaaat?!?

To 3 years and many many more...cheers!

While enjoying our coffee & breakfast, we talked about our life in 3's:

• 3 years of marriage
• A new family of 3
• 3 moves: Oxford, Delaware x2
• 3 popcorn makers (insert guilty faces)
• 3 brands of cars: Honda, Ford, Toyota

...and now starts what might be the craziest of all 3 years.

NEWS:

The rumors are true, we are moving. Mark accepted a job in Virginia, just south of DC. Exactly one month ago (to the day) Mark received a call from Independence Landscaping asking him to interview. Two days later, on the 4th of July, he was on an airplane to meet the owners in person. It was a crazy day; there and back before 3pm, and it has been crazy ever since. 

Our house is on the market and we are praying a buyer will come along sooner than later because we are moving regardless if it sells. Our tentative moving date is August 18th so if you're in the area and want free pizza (and help move a box or ten), come on over! :)

We're excited, nervous, sad, tired, and anxious all at the same time. We both grew up in Delaware and besides our small-town college experience, it's all we've ever known. Did you know both of our parents live here too? 1.2 miles from each other to be exact. It IS definitely going to be different living outside of our "hometown" and away from our family and friends. 

Without a doubt this is bittersweet. We are excited. We're excited about Mark's new job, exploring all the area has to offer, meeting new people and all of the other 'firsts' and 'new' things for us and for Lily. 

I have been doing a little bit of packing each day. One closet and one room at a time. I made some time to make this little frame (from Pinterest) for our anniversary. It's three maps of where 'we met', 'we married' and where 'we live'. I've been planning on making this for a few months and the whole time I thought about how funny it was going to look with the same map for all three...but not any more!

(t-minus 2 weeks)

My newest and most favorite picture of Lily. 

Lily, some day we will look back at this time and laugh as we describe all of it to you. 

Summer is here!

Summer is officially here today!
It was in the lower 90's and sunny today. Hot, Hot Hot.

We stayed inside all day (except for the little photo-op on the patio this am).

Lily cooled off with ice-cold teething rings. She is getting so good at holding them herself and reaching out for them from me or when I have a few on her Bumbo tray. (The Bumbo is the blue seat she is sitting in.)

Lily will be rockin' a tri-colored mullet this summer:

Business.

Party.

Happy Father's Day!

 Happy first Father's Day to a wonderful husband and father!

There is no doubt, you are a hard-worker. Just like the sun, you rise early and set late. Why? So you can provide for your family. 

I know you are tired after hot days in the sun...

...but still you show our daughter how much you love her

...even when she doesn't express it back.

God has blessed me with an amazing man who loves Him and his family. 

Thank you, Mark, for being such a wonderful Dadda to Lily. You are doing a great job.

I love you! 

(and so does she!!)