Brooke and Savannah

Our first trip to downtown Savannah two weekends ago. 

--Downtown Savannah is awesome! We've been so lucky with the weather.  Each weekend has been beautiful and pretty warm.  Two weekends ago we walked on the Riverwalk and then to City Market.  Both are wonderful and we can't wait to show them to everyone that wants to come and visit!  We went back to City Market this past weekend.  There is live music, big open spaces with fountains for the kids to run around in, great food, and it is dog friendly (we haven't been brave enough to take Reagan yet, she would wear us out but we want to try it sometime!). 

--I'm really enjoying our house.  It finally doesn't feel like I'm staying in someone elses house. Not sure I can say it totally feels like my house yet, but we are getting closer!   We need to hang some pictures and get some things put up in the shed and then we will have it pretty much unpacked and settled.  We are waiting for someone to come next weekend and haul away a shed full + half the garage (literally) of junk the previous owners left behind.  Crazy.  That was the most frustrating part of the whole move.  They left so much junk behind for us to deal with.  And the toilets and sinks.  The plumber was here so often we started thinking of him as family!

--Our neighborhood seems great.  It is a huge neighborhood with huge trees everywhere.  There is a park in the neighborhood too!  It is too far to walk with the kids (and expect them to walk back after playing) but we rode our bikes there the other day and Bryce did great!  CeCe still rides in her seat on the front of my bike so she's always ready to ride!  She and I have been out riding a good bit. 

--I love Bryce's school.  I love that he's happy there.  I love that it takes me three minutes to drive there.  I love that they don't start until 9.  I thought that this would be too late, but the kids sleep until 7:30ish, we are lazy while eating and watching two shows and then we play and get ready for school.  It is a nice laid back morning for us (which we love!)  I don't like that he doesn't get home until 3:50 but with the weather so nice we come home and go straight outside until it is time to cook supper.  We leave here around 3:25 to get Bryce in the afternoons so you know what that means??? CeCe can take a nap again!!!  WooHoo!!!  She doesn't always sleep, but is back there for quiet time for an hour-1.5hrs. each day.  Gives me such a nice break to work on things around here or sit and relax.  I had forgotten how nice and needed nap time was!  Bryce doesn't have specific homework each night, usually just a list of things to work on with the kids at home so I choose one thing to work on each night while I'm getting supper ready or right after we eat.  I know this won't always work, he is going to need help with homework one day but for now it works great!  CeCe likes to sit in there with us while he works on homework and color or read books too.  With school start time being so much later we can be a little more flexible with bed time.  Bryce's official bedtime now is 8:00 but we often extend it without worrying he's not going to get enough sleep.  CeCe's bedtime depends on nap time but she usually is in bed by 7:15. 

--I'm not happy with our pediatrician's office.  It is a big practice which I wanted to avoid, but we had 30 days to get Bryce's shot records transferred and had to get in somewhere quick.  The Dr. is great with the kids but the office is just too big, too busy and not clean enough for me.  Not sure what we will do about this...

--I'm ready to meet some friends.  I did meet one mom today who lives on my street, has a 5 year old boy and a 2.5 year old girl.  Sounds promising, right??!! 



Bryce and Savannah

Bryce's room before..

He loves his bunkbeds!  His sister does too actually, she can climb up and down no problem, and does so frequently throughout the day! At first we would take down the ladder to keep her off the top, but after seeing how well she could climb we decided to leave the ladder up. We also started out having Bryce sleep on the bottom bunk some, but he loves the top and sleeps great up there, so he's been mostly a top bunker since we moved in!

His super hero tin signs look great by the beds.  We have a Thor one on the say to complete the bottom row.

Bryce lucked out and got these great built in bookshelves in his room.  He also lucked out and got the hot water heater in his closet (random!)

The kids bedrooms and the guest bedroom have these beautiful mirror and gold closet doors!  We thought about replacing them, but the kids both love them so we're just leaving them for now.

Bryce is doing GREAT here!  He likes school so much more now.  I think it is a more laid back atmosphere with a little more free/play time built into the day.  They still do lots of work and he's reading great.  The teacher sends home a book every night and he reads it to us before bed.  I love that part of the day!  They are studying maps right now and he is picking up on things so fast.  He told us where at least 15 states were last night!  He gets out of the car in the morning with a smile on his face and comes home talking about the fun things they did that day.  LOVE IT!  Bryce is playing basketball at the YMCA on Thursday nights.  He has a great time playing on this team.  The coach is great and works well with the kids.  He is very timid on the court (soccer was the same way!) but still enjoys running around and passing the ball.  Their first game is next week and you bet I'll have my camera there for that!  He's been invited to a birthday party tomorrow for a little boy in his class so we are both looking forward to that.  He's super excited and I want to feel out the other moms and see what is normally done here for birthdays.  His is coming up soon!!

CeCe and Savannah

Here is the before of CeCe's room...

And the after!  We decided to let the kids pick the paint for their rooms knowing exactly what they would say.  Pink and blue!  We went very light in each room though so it isn't in your face too bad.  Well.....the paint in CeCe's room isn't but everything else is bright pink and she loves it!  She runs to her room and looks around and says 'I love my pink room'! 

We decided a while ago to get bunk beds for Bryce's room and let CeCe have his old bed.  I was going to put the crib and the full bed up here and let her decide when she was ready for the big bed.  She was still in her crib when we left Pensacola in December but while at my parents house my mom wanted her to try out the twin bed there.  Cappy was in the room with her so I thought it would be party time all night but little bird surprised me again and made the transition like a pro!  No more crib for her since that first night.  She is doing amazing with it!  And sleeping better it seems, I'm sure the pillow top mattress and all that space are much nicer than that tiny hard crib mattress! 

Bird canvas made from scrabook paper, felt buttons and mod podge and little bird houses covered in scrabook paper and mod podged.  

Her bird sheets.  I've had these for months now just waiting to put them on her bed!  I had to take a picture of her two lovies.  Lambie has always been her one and only but since moving she needed a little extra protection in her bed to keep her from being scared.  I bought this lion when I was pregnant because I thought it was precious but she's never had much to do with it until now.  The other night she was pretty scared in her room so I put this 'my special lion baby' in her bed and told her to hold its hand when she felt scared.  Well, that sweet baby of mine grabs lions hand every time she gets in her bed now.  It is so sweet! 

CeCe used some Christmas money to buy this cradle for her babies.  It stays in her room and she picks a baby each night to sleep in her room with her.  Here she is rocking baby Rutie Toot (long story!) to sleep.  

She can also loves to read to the babies

This picture perfectly describes CeCe right now.  She is always taking care of her babies.  Always.  She got this nice double stroller from Santa and pushes it all over the house.  She makes sure to have milk and sippy cups for them with her at all times and she feeds them meals every day.  One of her babies is usually sick at some point during the day and need extra cuddling.  We had been walking around the neighborhood for a while the other day when she insisted on stopping and getting baby Sally out of the stroller.  Sally's feet were cold so she carried Sally while pushing Hugh and Papa in the stoller.  It made it much harder for her to push the stroller, but a Mama's got to do what a Mama's got to do, right?  

I think out of everyone CeCe is having the hardest time here.  She is still happy go lucky CeCe most of the time, but when asked if she likes living in Savannah she says 'no, I like MY house in Pensacola, I go back there'.  She makes up stories about her friends in Pensacola and everytime we talk about going somewhere she thinks she is going to see Kate and Mrs. Kelly there.  I know this will get better for her, she is such a social butterfly that once we get her around other kids she will feel happier here.  She starts a gymnastics class at the YMCA on Tues. and I think that should help a lot.  I have fallen in love with a preschool program close to the house but they don't have any spots open in the 2s so she is signed up for the fall in the 3s class.  We are just going to wait until then.  As much as she misses school and would love to go somewhere I don't want to put her just anywhere for these few months.   Earlier this week she was so scared in the house if someone else wasn't close by (thankfully her pink room was her safe zone and she felt safe enough there to sleep and nap!).  Luckily we have gotten past that and she is back to running around here by herself.  Now that Bryce's school hours are 9-3:30 CeCe can nap like a 2.5 year old should (which is at least going back to her room for quiet time every afternoon from 1:30-3).  It has been wonderful!  The kitchen has a short bar and the previous owners left some barstools.  This has become her fav. spot in the kitchen.  I love having her sit there and chatting with me while I'm getting lunch together or making dinner.  She has been the best helper in getting the house set up.  She loves to shop and help me measure and hang pictures up.  I know my little bird is going to love it here soon!

Some house pictures!

So many of the rooms are still not close to being finished but I thought I'd share some pictures of the ones we have pretty much settled into (or at least I could take pictures at an angle to hide the junk!)

First, here is the front of our house from the street. 

And the huge backyard and playset.  Hours have been spent back here already!

The back of the house 

The playroom before....

And the playroom after!



This room is HUGE!  And is perfect for us to use as a playroom!

I love all the windows looking out to the backyard



Hallway to the bedrooms before...

Hallway after

Guest room before...

Guest room after

Hall/guest bath before...

Hall bath after 

No before pics of the laundry room, but it had yellow and blue plaid wallpaper that we had painted over (gray).  I love how big this space is!  

And no before pics of this 1/2 bath either because we hadn't planned on doing much to it.  Turns out the only thing we didn't get rid of was the toilet and even that had to be taken out, fixed and put back in!  This is off the kitchen and doesn't get used by us much, but it looks good now!

Love, love, love this huge pantry!!!  We got a Sam's membership since I finally have a place to store extra food!! 

I'll be doing more posts about the house with pictures as we finish rooms.  This is by far the most work we've ever done to a home and it is exciting watching it all come together.  I also want to update on the kids and how they are each adjusting to the move. 

May Howard Elementary

Bryce's first day at his new school. 

May Howard Elementary. WE LOVE IT!!!! His teachers are great, yes they have assistants in Kindergarten here! I think one big negative about his old school was not having an assistant in the classroom. Too much for one teacher to deal with! They wear uniforms which I avoided telling Bryce about for weeks because I thouht he would hate it, but shockingly he is embracing them and loves wearing a belt! His day seems a little more laid back than at his old school with more free playtime and outside time. But at the same time Mrs. Kowalchuk expects a lot out of the kids and it shows. Bryce brought home a 30 page book the other day and read the whole thing to us! He quickly made some good friends in his class. Right now his closest friend is a little girl named Taylor. Mrs. K said they are joined at the hip all day! He has a smile on his face when he gets out of the car in the morning and when he gets back in the car in the afternoon. This Mama is happy! 

Cappy found this table and chairs set for cheap at Home Goods (my new favorite store!!) and CeCe and her babies love it! 



Tybee Island, GA

The first two weeks we were here in Savannah we stayed at a beautiful beach house on Tybee Island (Savannah's beach).  Tybee is only about 15 minuntes from our new house so it was a perfect place to stay while all the work was being done on the house.   The beach here is definitely different from what we are used to.  The sand is grayish with TONS of shells and the water isn't as green but it is still great!  Every time we went out there we had a great time.  We had fun looking through the shells and picking out our favorites, and CeCe had fun 'making piles' of shells with her shovel.  There are huge barges and container ships that go very close to shore so that was fun to watch too.  Two of the days we were out there were seagulls everywhere.  CeCe would get so tickled at them!

The sand seems harder (as in easier to walk on top of and not sink down in the fluffy white stuff like Pensacola).  There were people riding bikes on the really hard sand right by the water.  When the kids get a little older I want to try that!  I don't think you would ever want to go barefooted on the beach here, way too many shells and broken shell peices.  4 pairs of good water shoes are on our list to buy.  The hard sand makes for good chasing though!

We could see Tybee's famous light house from our kitchen window.  This picture is taken from the beach in front of our rental house. 

 

Bryce is going through a football phase right now and the beach was a great place to play!

Lots of dead jellyfish this day.  Kiki was pointing them out to the kids. 

I never saw Papaw Duke get in the sand in Pensacola so I was surprised he came out with us.  He said he wanted to find some shells for his sweetheart! 

We are super excited to be living so close to the beach here.  There are great bike trails, restaurants and parks on Tybee so I know we will be going out there regularly! 

We're BACK!

Sorry for the month long delay, but today I've posted 5 new posts about Christmas.  Scroll down and start with 'The week before Christmas' and then go up from there. 

I know everyone is waiting to hear about Savannah....but that will have to wait until another day.  We are super busy but enjoying it all!  Bryce is so happy at his new school and we love our house (after MUCH work has been done).  I have taken 'before pics' that I will post once we are able to take 'after pics'.  (lots of little things left to do though!)  I've got some great pics from Tybee Island that I'll try to post tomorrow.

Christmas at the Lake

The Tuesday after Christmas we packed up early and drove from West Point to Montgomery to the Borden Family Christmas Brunch.  It was great seeing and visiting with everyone that was there. 

The next day Aunt Sandra and my mom's cousin Milton came to the lakehouse to celebrate with us.  We grilled out and of course Sandra spoiled the kids again this year with tons of great gifts!

The Herrington Family.  Minus 3.  It was an emotional day missing my Grandmother, Grandpa and Uncle Charles.  It was the first Christmas without them and it hurt.  As we were eating lunch, sweet CeCe whispered in my ear "Uncle Chawles".  Sniff, sniff!

Christmas in West Point

Around lunch time on Christmas Day we headed to West Point to celebrate with the Dukes.  We had a great visit with them.  

CeCe helping her Daddy put together her new desk

Excited about something!

Papaw Duke, Bryce and Daniel spent hours building with the magna-tiles

The four Duke cousins: CeCe-2, Bryce-5, Chandler-15, and Daniel-7