Living in a Military Community

Nate and I moved down to NC almost seven years ago. We immediately fell in love with our town. I love being close to the water and being able to go to the ocean as often as I want. I also really enjoy the small town. There are so many local events and great little stores. I am maybe one of the only people who doesn't want a Target or other big businesses to come here. For years I have gently and not so gently suggested to our friends up north to join us down here. We haven't had any success yet. Most of our friends claim it would be way too hard to live away from family.

It is hard to only see our family a few times a year. The reason we have stayed is because of the people here. In almost all of our circles of friends we are the token civilians. I couldn't ask for a better place to be. When Nate is away on trips or working late there is always someone else whose husband is away that I can have over for dinner so we aren't alone. I rarely have to pay for a babysitter because there are so many people who are glad to watch my kids. There is so much strength in these families and I am so grateful to have them in my life. 

The hard thing is the constant good-byes. It never gets easier to watch people we love move away. I ache as I watch my kids cry for the friends that aren't here anymore. It's hard, but so worth it, even if it is for such a short time. 

Last week we said good bye to some great friends. Asher misses his buddy Jack. I am so glad we had them here for four years. 

The Kids' Rooms

So a few of you requested pictures of our house about a year ago when we moved in...sorry about that. I'm going to start posting different rooms. Right after New Years my in-laws took the kids for a week (best gift ever). My main focus was to redo Piper's room and surprise her. Up until then she was in a toddler bed. She is obsessed with pink so we painted the walls. We got her a new bed and bedspread. I love the way it looks, but I sort of regret getting a duvet. It is really hard to keep nice. 

 I wanted to have a way to display artwork, without putting things in frames. I saw something like this at target and decided to make it myself. I got all the wood pieces from Michaels. It was a really easy project to do.

 Dexter followed me around screaming cheese. I finally have a kid who is glad to have his picture taken.

 One of the best parts of our house is the ample closet space.

 Piper likes to have her hair accessories on display.

 I want to do a nautical theme in the boys' room. I love the decals and have some other ideas for the future.

 This closet is HUGE. I love that I can fit their their toy bins in it. It really cuts down on clutter in the rooms.

Their rooms are connected by a jack and jill bathroom, which is really convenient. It is currently not nearly clean enough for me to photograph.

Summer...I Mean Spring

It feels like we skipped spring. Last week we still had jackets on and today Piper broke out one of her many bathing suits. Being outside in the sun has been so good for us. Piper loves to help me water the flowers. She has her own little can and she takes care of all the daffodils.

 The kids got hot pretty quickly and I was going to get the sprinkler out. My little weak hands couldn't get the attachment off so the kids decided to just go with it.

These kids. They keep me busy and laughing all day.

Weekends

Nate has off every other Friday. It's so nice having three day weekends. In theory it gives us one day to work on house projects and one day to really relax and have fun. Sundays we go to church and then I usually have a few tutoring sessions in the afternoon and evening. 

A few weeks ago we went up to Virginia and took the kids to Mt. Trashmore. There is a huge hill that is perfect for kites. 

 My little Piper loves being on the swings. If you don't give her a time limit she could easily stay on for a few hours.

 My climber is also a bit of a rascal. He doesn't have time for rules or safety.

Weekends are the best with these guys.

How I Cook While Pregnant

Pregnancy has never been particularly easy for me. My last three I was sick the entire time, and I don't have any expectation that this one will be any different. My amazing Nate does most of the cooking, and cleaning, and grocery shopping, and other miscellaneous house and kid things. On the nights that he has to work late feeding my kids is really hard. A lot of smells bother me and I just don't want to look at food. My solution has been pancakes. They are easy to make and don't smell too bad. I usually add chocolate chips. The plus side of this is there are no complaints from the peanut gallery. 

Spring Break

The kids are off from school this week, so I need to come up with a lot of fun things to do. Yesterday my friend Patricia and I took the kids up to the Fun Forest in Virginia. It was gorgeous out and all the kids had a lot of fun. 

 Dexter loves having giant spaces to explore and climb. This is his cheese face. Every time a camera is near him he screams "cheee".

 This is his little buddy Stella.

 Asher spent most of his time on the scooter.

This is Piper's current best friend Finley. These girls are so cute together.

Now all I need to do is find things to do for four more days.

Egg Hunt

After my month hiatus from blogging I am back. I'm still feeling pretty miserable, but I have a lot to post.

We had our annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. It was also Dexter's birthday so we combined the events together. I can't believe this guy is two. He loves to be outside so I was really happy we had such a great day. 

 I set up a bubble table to give the kids something to do while everyone was arriving.

 Piper was more excited about her outfit than about the actual egg hunt. She is ready for the warmer weather so she can wear dresses all the time. I have no idea how she turned out to be so girly.

 I am so lucky to have these boys. They are cute and adventurous and just make my day.

 We had to order a sheet cake since there were about 70 people there.

 He was very pleased with the cake.

Happy Birthday Dexty. I am so excited to see what changes this year will bring. And yes I have high expectations that you will be an early easy potty trainer like your siblings.