There's No Place I'd Rather Be

I have an entire list of blog ideas for this next post, yet as pregnancy brain will have it, I'm being pulled in a thousand different directions and STILL end up with a brand-new post - thought up in the last few minutes after a wonderful play date this morning with good friends.  Soon, I'll be sharing our successes and failures of big girl bed transitioning and potty training, house preparedness in a not-so-sellers market, and yummy fresh finds from the farmers market among others, but now? Right now?  I want to focus on where we are as a family unit and how much I'm loving these moments RIGHT NOW.

at Uncle Bubba's busting a move at a friend's rehearsal dinner

she enjoyed herself immensely! :)

holding hands at the wedding

There are so many "happenings" this weekend, places we'd love to be, it's not even funny - places we would be in a HEARTBEAT sans kids and prego bellies.  We had tickets to Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons 3-day concert in Tulum, MX (purchased with room and flight 3 weeks before we got pregnant - heh) but reluctantly canceled those plans shortly after thinking 6 months pregnant in Mexico at a raging late-night concert (x3) isn't the best plan! Ha! :)  Then there's Wanee Fest at Spirit of the Suwanee Park in Live Oak, FL.  Man, that place is FUN, and a music festival with some of our favorite bands to top it off - think Tedeschi Trucks, Allman Bros, Buddy Guy.  Yes, please.  We've been before and will go again, but it's certainly not in the cards for us this year. Even Savannah has a fun fest this weekend - our very own Earth Day Festival in beautiful Forsyth Park, but we'll be missing it too!  Activities and places we love to look forward to, yet we just can't attend.

ha. caught mid-bite.  a rather common occurrence these days!

Deddy set up her water table. Happy early birthday, Naomi!

And you know what?  There's no place I'd rather be this weekend than where we're going and who will be there with us.  Can you guess it?  Yep. Back to the lake (oh yeah) but with my sweet little brother in tow this time.  Our time with him these days is precious, and Naomi absolutely adores her Uncle Alex.  It's truly a blessing to be able to spend some quality time with him!

Even if we weren't going to the lake, my favorite part of each day is definitely Deddy/Naomi time, hands down.  We run to greet him at the door each day, Naomi squealing "DEDDDDDY!!,"and those few minutes before 6:00 each night are the minutes we count down our days for.  Our family's whole again after 6pm, and it feels good!

mama and omi after water time

24 weeks!

So what about trips to Mexico? Trips to Florida?  Concerts or festivals?  All are so much fun, sure, but Naomi would be missing from those trips.  I truly miss our little peanut after even one night away.  So, our next trip to Florida? Well for us, it will most certainly be a place where the entire family can get together and enjoy each other under the sun.  So, I'm thinking Disney.  lol.  No really though, it's the memories made as a family that truly make me the happiest.  Andrew and I will have our second honeymoon someday (wanee, I'm calling for you).  But for now, our dreams are coming true each and every day spending our time growing a family and lifetime of memories for our little one(s) and us.  Play dates in the park, baseball games with the family, backyard time, THE LAKE!! There ain't no place I'd rather be!! :)

"Smile!" HAHAHAHAHA

Easter Sunday

 

Below are a few pictures from Naomi's second Easter at the lake.  We visited the methodist church up the road from the cabin where Naomi got to meet the Easter Bunny himself and take part in her first ever Easter Egg Hunt.  Easter Sunday was spent at the cabin followed by a nice long visit with Uncle Alex - the highlight to our weekend.  Doesn't he look so good??? :) We are proud of the fine young man he's become!

She loved meeting the Easter Bunny and was quiet and polite! HA!

face painting fun before Easter Egg Hunt

checkin' out the goods

before the big hunt - scoping out the good spots

Get 'em, gurrl

What kind of egg is THIS??

found one!

coloring pages the Easter Bunny brought

yes. why yes it IS a Jellycat bunny pocketbook!! The Easter Bunny sho knows how to pick em! :)

sharing candy with Uncle Alex

:)

framer.

my sweet little brother.

Bouncin Very Well

This past Easter weekend, we had the pleasure of heading to one of my favorite places on this green planet of ours - the lake house at Lake Sinclair. Gahlee, I could live out the rest of my days in perfect bliss sittin' in the grass at that place.  Maybe it's the childhood memories of every summer practically living up there or maybe just maybe it's my urge and desire to always live near a large body of water, but whatever it is, I find myself sucked back in to the quiet calm that the lake house provides.  It certainly isn't the miniature cabin itself - built in the early 1950s by my grandfather himself - a one bedroom, one bath sitting on cinder-blocks. 

No, it's the outdoor living that makes it so sweet.  And to think that while growing up in a family of six, we never cared about the space or lack thereof and were able to make it work so well..long, hot summer after long, hot summer.  We spent our time playing games on the porch, swimming or fishing at the dock, or boating on the water.  When it was time to eat, we'd all gather around the picnic table, hand wash dishes, and put in a tired movie for the thousandth time (I can quote the entirety of most all Disney movies, Ace Ventura, and The Big Lebowski to name a few).  It was really the time shared that made it all worthwhile - "turns out not where, but who you're with that really matters."  

So now, instead of following up with pictures from the past weekend at the lake, I've slowly convinced myself (to change the direction of this post and) that our next home could and should easily be a shack by the sea, "fresh cut flowers and octopus cocktail, just close your eyes - it's easy to see" ....humming the lines to a favorite song thinking, could we make it work?  Could we have the little house by the sea?  Is space so vital to our everyday needs?  If we're spending lots of time outdoors, not necessarily, especially if living in a larger, newer, nicer home means living in the suburbs.  We certainly didn't move to the coast for all of that.  Just thinking out loud - it seems much easier to embrace a large family in a smaller home where everyone is a part of each others' everyday lives.  Am I crazy?  Maybe I am, but I'm also just as foolish, so this may just work! :) A girl can dream, ok?? :) 

The inspiration behind all of this is the song below. FF to 6:40 to hear my favorite line of the song. Thank you, Jerry Joseph for making me want to live in a shack by the sea!! :)

March Madness

No, this is not a post about basketball.  Fortunately, that's the only sport my husband doesn't like to watch throughout the year! No, this post is more about our own March madness - events that made the month so much fun and fly by too quickly!  Naomi and I are both worn out from all the festivities, and as she sleeps STILL (it's 9am - she's usually up for at least an hour by now - gotta be a growth spurt), I am slowly but surely convincing myself to take it easy.  I have the most fun being pregnant, but I can also feel when it's time to slow it down a bit.  Now is the time!

We started off the month with lots of playdates in and around town - trips to the parks and the beaches.  Andrew took us on a quick overnight trip to Charleston the second weekend of the month - his favorite musician was playing a solo show at The Pour House, so we joined him for the night - except we played at the hotel while he went to the show.  We had a lot of fun while we were there though, but I think he had the most fun of all. :)  We played tourist as we strolled King St, and we took the littlest Lee to the Charleston Children's Museum to get a preview to what's to come in Savannah.  We have our very own Children's Museum opening in June, and we are too excited about it especially after our trip to Chucktown.  Naomi had a fit over the water room, and I about flipped over backwards when I saw the mock Publix they had set up - complete with shopping carts, grocery aisles, and scanner lines.  You would've had to literally peel me out of there when I was a little girl.  And I would've gone home with the notion of building my own in the family playroom too.  It was that awesome.  And for $7 a head, it was a fun, affordable thing for us to do as a family that Naomi absolutely adored!

After our weekend visit to Charleston, we had our first family outing to Tybee of the year the weekend after.  Andrew's been incredibly busy at work these days, so we were excited to be able to take the Friday he was off for St. Patrick's Day and enjoy each other in the sand and sun.  Yes, St. Patrick's Day is an observed holiday around these parts!  This year is actually the first year since we moved here in 2006 that children did not have a day off from school to celebrate! I was shocked! :)

I won't go into details about St. Patrick's Day in Savannah.  I will say that you have to experience the craziness first hand someday though.  We took Naomi to the parade bright and early Saturday morning, and for the second year in a row, left before the parade finished.  It really is that long of a parade!  We sat and watched from 10:30-1:00,and after the Clydesdales, eagles, and everything in between, we were ready to scoot.  It's certainly a lot of fun, and we got lots of great pics of the Ganz.  She's the whole reason we go, after all!

We ended the month with a visit to Macon for Cherry Blossom, and Naomi's North Carolina grandparents came for a visit last weekend.  We have been busy, busy, but so glad we were able to spend time with family.  Naomi has a new "trick" she's learned from Papa, so as soon as I get it on video, I'll post it.  All we have to say to her is "do the Papa," and she raises her arm from side to side - hard to describe, but it's learned from him.  He's a hoot, and so is she!  Mess with a capital M!