Graduation & Sesame Street Live

Where did the weekend go? Seriously. Before I knew it I was back getting things ready for the upcoming week at 8 o'clock on Sunday night. May always seems to go in morph speed with all the celebrations and activities that fill the month. This weekend of was full of all of those things! 

Saturday we went to the WKU graduation to watch my brother-in-law Eric and my brother's girlfriend Sarah walk the line. There are three or four WKU graduation ceremonies each semester but they luckily both happened to graduate at the same time! I wouldn't have minded to sit through two but I'll be honest and say I'm glad it was just one :)

Paige and Eric had their families over before graduation to celebrate Eric and his twin sister Ariel who also graduated Saturday at the same time! Eric and Ariel were able to sit by each other and walk the line together. I'm sure their momma's heart was about to explode.

These two met at WKU so it will always be a special place for them no matter where they end up in life. Paige was so excited to stand as a spouse of the graduate :) I thought she looked very wife-like in her adorable polka dot dress! Congrats Uncle Eric!

These two also met at WKU. We owe Big Red a lot of thanks for all the relationships he has been involved with! Cody was able to be in this weekend for Sarah's graduation which was great and this week he is packing up his apartment in Wichita to move to Orlando for a new job! We are so excited for him. Orlando sounds much better than Salt Lake City which was the original plan. And Sarah moved to Nashville yesterday for the summer and then will be headed to Louisville in the fall for grad school at UL. We are so proud of both of them!

I have to give a big shoutout to my baby girl. This is her THIRD college graduation since she has been born. Third! It's obvious I am the oldest sibling ha! She has taken them all in stride and has been the best thing at all three. When we walked into the arena she said "Go ball" ha! We've even mapped out Diddle Arena to find the aisle with the most leg space for her to roam...we are seasoned WKU graduation attendees.

Sunday Sesame Street Live came to SKyPAC and we took Georgia Grace to her first show. It was really cute and fun. She had a big time and her favorite of course was Elmo. The first segment she was attentive the whole time but after intermission she decided climbing in the seat and making friends with everyone sitting around us was more fun.

Lots of pointing, squealing and grinning!

The Sesame Street Live papparazzi caught us :) It was a fun girls day out. Mom had told me about the show so I was really glad she got to join us. She made it extra special!

And finally, there is something I am really excited about...

I danced at The Dance Academy for six years and some of my most vivid childhood memories are practicing at Moira's studio and performing our routines at the auditorium. And now my Georgia Grace gets to be a dancer too! What's so bizarre is about a month ago I started brainstorming ways and connections to get dance offered in our community. The timing couldn't have been more perfect! This is a wonderful asset to our little town.

Bring on the leotards and hair buns!

Five On Friday-House Pinspiration

Since finding out that our house had officially sold, we have been in full-blown building mode. We are so very excited and slightly overwhelmed by it all to be honest. And maybe a little green. For example I realized yesterday that I had never spelled out the word backhoe so my dear husband received a text with the word "bacco" :)

I'm learning y'all.

And I'm learning through lots of ooing and ahhing on Pinterest and Houzz what I want on my wish list.

You can follow my Pinterest boards here and Houzz ideabooks here. 

Here are five ideas for Five On Friday that I am swooning over that will definitely find a spot on my wish list.

One

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I never knew a simple staircase could be so beautiful. I am in love with the molding and wooden stairs. So clean and cleanable.

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Our stairs will probably be broken up with a small landing halfway due to our ceiling heights and layout of our upstairs and will look something like this. I have noticed a common denominator in all my stair pins-white molding and wood steps.

Two

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For some reason no one in my household likes to shut closet doors, myself included. I don't know if this is true for all families but you will find our closet doors open more often than closed. I love this idea of having a visible kid's closet that you can decorate and paint for a pop of color. It would also give you a good reason to keep it organized. But inevitably it won't always be clean so I also like the idea of no closet doors and putting up curtains instead so you can hide a mess if needed.

Three

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In our plan there wasn't an area for a desk or as I have called it causing my husband to cringe a "command center" ha! When I saw this picture on Erin's blog it looked like the perfect solution for me. I don't need a big area if I can maximize space with lots of drawers and cabinets. This will make bill paying and mail sorting a little more enjoyable.

Four

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I took a poll on Facebook last night on side-by-side or a stacked washer and dryer. I really love this laundry room and the idea of stacking units to maximize space in order to have room for a sink. The laundry room was originally upstairs in our plan but I think downstairs is best for our family so I had to make room for it with a little bit of space. Stacked just makes sense to me as long as they're functional (not too much bending over or reaching high, etc.) 

Five

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 If I could capture the style we want for our house in a picture this would be it. I love the texture the wicker chairs add and the haint blue ceiling to match our southern style house plan. The only problem is I don't think I would ever want to leave this porch. Or maybe that's not a problem at all :)

Did I mention how fun this is? Because it's sooo much fun!

Happy Friday all! College graduations and Sesame Street Live are on the agenda for us this weekend. It's going to be a good one!

For My Georgia

I really wish I could bottle you up and keep you this age forever. The exhausting infancy stage is over, the learning-to-walk toddler era is behind us and we haven't reached the terrible twos so we're in an easy place right now. Everyday you learn something(s) new and make me the proudest mom. I want to make sure I remember this special time in your life.

On Mondays we go to MND (Monday night dinner) at Grandmomma's house. You are already there since she keeps you on Mondays so Mommy and Daddy just come there to see you and eat supper. You are always the center of attention and I think it's obvious you like the limelight.

On Tuesdays we go run/walk/stroll/chase birds as a family after supper. This is a new tradition we started this spring and we all four look forward to it. Your Mom and Dad both know how important it is to exercise but we don't want to take time away from you at night so you join us!

On Wednesdays you spend the day with Mamaw Carolyn and we go to Mamaw Embry's for supper and to church. You are privileged to get to grow up knowing all four of your great-grandmothers.

On Thursdays we watch out the front door for Daddy to come home from school. Owen is always by your side because he is equally excited to see his favorite person. This is our favorite part of the day! You like seeing the "school bah" and "kids" walking home too.

You are always smiling and waving. Even at your crazy Mom taking a picture of you in the front yard.

On Fridays you paint me beautiful pictures with your preschool friends. Even though you are the youngest you feel like you should get to participate in all of the things they do. And of course they let you and love the days that "Baby Georgia" is there. You have learned so much from them and hit milestones early following their lead.

Our weekends are pretty easy and laid back. We usually sleep-in (8am) on Saturdays and have a fun day at home. Now that summer is almost here you will probably find us at Gammy's pool a lot too.

One of my favorite times of the day is when you first wake up from your nap. You are so cuddly and happy to see me it makes my heart want to explode.

This past weekend I washed our bedding and when I pulled out our blanket I let you feel how warm it was. You loved it so I wrapped you up in it like a baby. Before I knew it you were sound asleep, way before your normal naptime.

Back in November I blogged about setting up an email account for Georgia Grace that we can use to send her little tidbits that she will enjoy reading when she is 16. Or maybe she won't but I will be glad we did it :) Here was the most recent email sent to her. Marcus usually doesn't contribute to the blog but I asked if I could post this and he obliged. Of course I cried. Of course.

May 9, 2014

Georgia Grace,

Last night, I took you to the ballpark with me to watch some of my students play baseball.  It was just you and me.  We had a fun time!  You got to see your cousin, Keagen, play 2^nd base and pitcher for his Little League team, the Cardinals.  My favorite part of the night was holding you in my lap and eating sunflower seeds with you.  You were very curious about what I was eating, so I cracked the shell of a seed and let you bite part of the seed inside.  You liked it!  You observed that I was spitting the shells after I cracked them in my mouth, so you started trying to spit as well.  You looked up at me with those darling, big, brown eyes, then leaned over and tried to spit on the ground, just like you saw “Daddy” doing.  It melted my heart.  I loved that you wanted to be like me.

All my love,

Daddy

You had us from the moment we laid eyes on you. We are putty in your hands :) A year and a half new suits you well but no matter how old you get my baby you will always be.

Love,

Mommy

Mother's Day 2014

Monday mornings aren't as difficult when you've had an amazing weekend leading up to it. My family love tank is full. I have been so blessed.

Mother's Day 2014

This is my third Mother's Day since knowing this perfect gift from God was on the way. I pray I always give her my best because she is my most important piece of work. Even though she is a devout Daddy's girl she loves her Mama an awful lot too :)

She's my first born and my first daughter. I want to pour my everything into my relationship with her and be the best example. She deserves every sacrifice, opportunity and ounce of love I can give her.

2013 & 2014

My last Mother's Day at our first house. What a special place to spend these first memory-filled years.

After church we went to my Mom's for a day of relaxing. Pie, strawberries, sunshine and the pool made it a pretty perfect day. We have been so consumed lately with the house project it was nice to take some time to just kick back.

Georgia Grace is getting braver each time we visit the pool. She got all the way in Sunday and everytime someone would jump in and make a big splash she would say "Oh no!" and laugh!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! I am thankful for my Mom and Grandmothers who showed me the way. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree so I hope that's true for me.

Thank you Jesus for giving me the gift of motherhood.

Sunny Days

TGIF friends!

We are savoring the last few weeks in our home. We are also trying to do a gradual move by moving things a little bit at a time so it's not so cumbersome when we do actually leave. To be honest we don't have much stuff compared to most moving families, the size of our house prevented us from overbuying ha! That is a beautiful thing now :) 

This girl has played her little heart out this week. She has endless energy and loves to be outside. This is the picture I received Wednesday while she was staying with her great-grandmother (Mamaw Carolyn). Such the southern belle!

Wednesday night we headed to Rolling Oaks farm for supper. They have cows so you can guess where we ended up. She is actually "mooing" in the picture ha! I think she's cut out to be a farm hand.

Thursday morning was my time to do my weekly errands which included taking O-dog to get his yearly shots. He was so friendly and they said he never acted like he felt the shot. I will say veterinarian visits are much easier than pediatrician visits these days!!

Thursday afternoon we went to Gammy and Gran Stan's pool for the first swim of the season! She was really excited and brave when we first got there but wasn't crazy about leaving the pool steps just yet. Fine by me.

I think she had more fun running around in her bathing suit and playing with the pink ball anyway :) Mom set up her kiddie pool and she played in it a while but stood up the whole time. Just like she does in the tub. I think we are going to get her a water table since she obviously enjoys doing water activities standing.

Happy early Mother's Day to all the moms out there! We should be celebrated everyday but it's nice having a special day devoted just to us :)

Goodbye Starter Home

Last week we signed our names on the dotted line and sold our house! It is time to say goodbye to our first "Harrison Homeplace".

This has been a long time coming (since Georgia Grace became mobile) and we decided after Christmas last year that it was time. A friend of mine told me a year ago to contact her when we were ready to sell because her out-of-town parents might be interested. Long story short, they fell in love with all 895 square feet of our house just like we did almost five years ago. We didn't even have to put it on the market and they gave us an offer two weeks from the first showing. It couldn't have been easier or come at a more perfect time.

It has been the perfect little house for us.

When I say we are going to miss this place I mean those words. This is the place where I started my life as a bride. We celebrated our first holidays together between those walls. Our Georgia Grace spent the first year and a half of her life in this home where she took her first steps and spoke her first words. It has been four great years filled with living, learning and love.

Closing day isn't until the middle of June so we have a little time to enjoy what makes this place so attractive-the 15 minute mowing job, the small amount of space to clean and Marcus's ability to walk to work every day. :) Oh how he will miss those extra minutes of sleep.

The new owners will take a little piece of my heart with them when the final box is moved. I know they will enjoy it just as much as we have. And we have a lot to look forward to as we plan for the future and growing our little family.

So what's next?

We are moving in with my Dad while we build our forever home!!

It's going to be a fun summer. Let the packing begin!

The Best Weekend

We had one of those busy but blessed weekends around here. We are entering a stage where it's really easy to go places and stay out past bedtime because our little lady is a trooper and doesn't want to miss anything. She makes life so much more fun. We embraced the season this weekend and made a lot of fun memories.

Happy Derby Day!

We went to our cousin Marley's first birthday party in Sweezertown. It was an adorable farm-theme and they had this little plush horse that Georgia Grace rode and rode. The perfect addition to her Derby day attire :) 

She jumped in a bouncy house for the first time independently. Where did my baby go??

The birthday girl! She was such a big girl opening her presents. I cannot believe she is already one. We had such a great time celebrating her. We love you Marley Moo!

We went to my Mom's after the party to watch the Derby. Our friends James and Ashley were at Churchill Downs so I lived vicariously through them. I will go to the Kentucky Derby someday!

Saturday night we went to watch Uncle Jake race. I didn't know how this would go with all the loud noises and the late night it would be but of course she had the best time. She watched her first dirt track race, ate her first frito chili pie and saw her first fight ha! It was a very entertaining night and I'm so glad we got to go support #23 :)

My good friend Jan snapped this precious picture Sunday at church. Our little politician was swooning everyone sitting behind us. I love that she captured a picture of us in our element.

Another one of the highlights of the weekend was helping host a wedding shower for my childhood best friend. She is getting married in June and I am honored to get to stand beside her on that day. I decided to have a cutting board engraved with a hand-written recipe on it by her Grandmother Regina who passed away last year. Her mom found the perfect one-her wonderful orange juice cake, the last thing she baked for Shira and Wade. We both cried! She was such a special lady and I'm glad I was able to honor her on such a special day for Shira.

Here is a close-up of the cutting board. It turned out better than I could even imagine. I am amazed at all the ways we can personalize things now.

The beautiful bride and her bridesmaids
Love these girls!

We had one more event this weekend and it was a cookout honoring me for my YDOY award. Marcus took care of everything and all I had to do was show up :) We had both of our families over and he grilled on the Big Green Egg. Some of the neighborhood kids joined us to play cornhole and eat dessert. It was a great night of hospitality and I am blessed to have a husband that honors me like he does.

Making some final memories on Tyler Street

It was one of the best weekends I can remember. We are a blessed family with a full plate but it's the best kind of full. And we are so ready for summer so the easy late nights can continue!