waiting to exhale

I've hit a wall. 

There I said it. 

The last week and a half has been tough.

For lots of reasons.

It's the end of summer push.

We all need a major vacation.

It's rained nearly every day.

 Tisha, my Knoxville BFF and her family moved to Winston-Salem.

I miss her.

Every boy in my house has a attitude.

I'm bored.

I'm tired.

There's been too much time for this mom brain to dwell.

My mom reminds me that we all have times like this.

That a lull in the action,

down time,

laziness,

a moment of sadness,

it's just what happens before you pick yourself up again and start a new. 

I've taken in a big breath,

 I am gathering up the energy to end this summer with some sort of grace. 

There is a lot yet to come.

a much needed visit home

a wedding

my sisters

Becca and her kids

lots of memories yet to make. 

I'll exhale come September. 

Until then I cherish all the good.

Give myself permission to forget the bad.

{like this morning when I yelled my fool head off}

Pray for strength to face some loneliness.

Celebrate that God has His plan.

This past weekend we were fortunate enough to visit our friends Lance and Summer{and Kailey and Kara} in North Carolina.  We had a really wonderful time.  Their life, well...it doesn't suck{Lance's words exactly}.  They live on a beautiful lake and it seems as though it's a 24/7 vacation.  What fun we had!  The boys tubed and swam and slipped and slided their hearts out.  I tried surfing{behind a boat!} I almost did it, but then I swallowed half the lake and decided to wait until next summer to try again :)

So here is to making memories....

peeks

So I've been on a mad rearranging streak this summer.  You know, we've been here two years and I get itchy.  But really, it was just that we needed to use some spaces differently.  To me it is not really a challenge to live in a smaller home, but I do find that you have to take "inventory" of spaces more often.  We decided to flip the boy's bedrooms, get rid of our guest room{sorry guests} and then I stole the craft room from the kids to make it my own.  We are all able to spread out a little better, and don't worry guests, there is still a space for you but I won't lie-it's not as nice as my lovely pink guest room was. 

These are the sneak peeks.  Lots of work yet to do.  This fall I'll be able to make a little more progress on it all, but for now....

4th of july revisited

Wow, I've been away for a bit.  Lots happening, even some stuff worth blogging about, but summer is in full effect so we seem to be going at two very different speeds...lazy and busy. I'll get back to some routine, but for now here are some shots from yesterday. 

I love how close these people sit to each other.  For brothers who nearly kill one another every other minute of the day, there sure is a lot of love.  This is best friend sorta of sitting.  Makes my heart swell.

This was the first southern parade we had been to. While It was very much just like any ordinary parade, there was certainly a twist or two.  Like this one.  How many local parades have the Andy Griffith Show Reruns Fan Club in attendance.  It was pretty fun to see.

It was hot, two boys thought there wasn't enough candy thrown, Sloan thought the whole darn thing was great, but it's pretty easy to please a three year old :)

Have a great weekend and I'll be back soon with some sneak peeks of my rearranging marathon.