Friday, December 7, 2012

I am a blog CONTRIBUTER

Yes I know I have been away from this blog for awhile.  I have exciting news though my business Theresa's Bows has been selected to do a guest blog spot over at the The Ribbon Retreat Blog!

Check my Crazy bow tutorial here http://www.theribbonretreat.com/blog/!!!






P.S. I promise I will get back to filling everyone in on the CRAZY few months we have had as a family of 3!!! 

Monday, August 27, 2012

The BUSY Small Family

The past few weeks have been very busy for the Smalls.  We started back to small group with our church at the beginning of the month.  We love our small group so much and are so happy that we decided to join.  WE have made a great group of life-long friends and so have our little ones.

We also took a small weekend getaway to Atlantic beach with the kids.  This is the first trip Don and I went on by ourselves with the 3 kids.  We always go with family or friends but this time we decided to brave taking 3 kids 5 and under on vacation.  IT WENT WONDERFULLY!!!  The kids had a blast on the beach playing in the sand, swimming in the pool, and going to the aquarium was the highlight of the vacation.

Then the biggest part of our month has been preparing our little Ashlynn for KINDERGARTEN.  We were not sure until recently what we were going to do about school.  My plan was to homeschool Ashlynn but she really wanted to go to big girl school.  Don and I have said for the past year we would homeschool unless she asked to try out school.  She begged to go so we gave in and decided to give it a try.  Not to say I won't revisit the homeschool option again but for now we are going to give public school a whirl.  Ashlynn's 1st day of school was today and she loved it.  I have been a mess for weeks because I wasn't ready for my baby girl to be 5 or to go to kindergarten.  However, she is so happy with her decision.  She loved today and went on and on about how much fun it was and how much she liked her teacher and how she cannot wait to go back.  So for now we shall see how big girl school goes...


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Vacation part 3

The most recent vacation we were able to take was to Myrtle Beach, SC.  Some very generous friends of ours the Millers invited our family along on their family vacation.  This was perfect because their grandchildren are the same ages as Ashlynn and Everett and they are really good friends. So over the 4th of July week we packed our van and headed to South Carolina.  I will say even though we went south it was a nice escape from the 100 degree weather we have been plagued with all summer long.  I really dislike NC summers and cannot wait for fall.  We stayed right on the beach with pool access which was absolutely perfect for 4 kiddos 5 and under.  Hunter traveled ok he is not a fan of long car rides which means for now all traveling will have to be done as a team!!!  However, he did wonderfully staying in a new place, being on the beach for hours at a time, and he LOVED being in the pool.  He also loved all the extra attention from everyone else too.  The weather was warm but like I said not the 100 degree weather they were having back home.  The ocean was perfect everyday we were there but 1 which was great because I am a fish and Ihave come to discover I have 2 little fish babies who love the water as much as I do.  Being on the beach for the 4th of July was pretty awesome I would say it was the 2nd best 4th of July I have had.  I spent one 4th when Ashlynn was a year old in Houston, TX they have one of the biggest firework shows in the states and it was simply AMAZING.  If you ever get the chance it is well worth the trip to Houston for the 4th of July.  Anyway, the fireworks on the beach in SC were pretty good many of the hotels and people on the beach put on huge firework shows.  There was literally tons of fireworks going off in both directions as far as the eye could see.  This went on for over an hour and Ashlynn LOVED them.  Cian like the fireworks ok and Everett and Anya were not interested at all.  Hunter slept through his 1st 4th of July fireworks show.  The trip was wonderful and we are really grateful to the Millers for inviting us along on their family vacation. 



Monday, July 30, 2012

Vacation part 2

If there is one trip we love it has to be camping hands down.  Don, I, and the kids absolutely love everything about camping.  The tent, the camp fire, the lake, cooking out doors, s'mores, it's all so much fun.  So we try to camp at our usual primitive campground at Badin Lake 3 or 4 times a year especially through the fall and spring when the weather is nice.  So for our last camping trip before the fall we headed out for a Friday through Memorial day Monday trip to Badin Lake.  Since we are in the Uwharrie Mountains (err hills if you ask me) so close to Asheboro we purchased a zoo membership that we keep up each year.  It comes in handy because we visit the zoo often and even get into other zoo's and aquariums across the US for free too. The weather was a bit warm for my liking but not as bad as Labor day last year when I thought I was going to COOK but I was also 5 months pregnant.  The kids both enjoyed helping set up camp, cook, catch fireflies, go for walks, and most of all visit the zoo. I would say that camping has to be one of my favorite vacations.