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Finally getting week 6 up! I am so bad about doing this on time!

We had a great Valentine's weekend. Friday afternoon Finley and I made cookie to go with her Valentine's cards for her friends at church. That girl loves to bake and help me in the kitchen! Friday night I was able to go out for a "Galentine's" night with some girlfriends. 

Saturday morning we woke up and Matthew suggested we go to breakfast. I am always about going out to eat and not having to cook! That afternoon Matthew helped some friends move into their new house while I got ready for our date night!

Finley got to spend the night with Kylie on Saturday. They have been asking to have a sleepover for weeks now and we have been telling them no. They haven't spent the night together since Finley's birthday last year when Kylie started to get sick. So this was a big treat for them!

Saturday night Matthew and I had a double date night with some friends. We went for sushi at Matthew's favorite sushi place. We had a great time and ate way too much! After dinner we came back to the house and had a relaxing evening just the 2 of us. It felt strange to not have Finley in the house.

After church Sunday we came home and relaxed some more. Finley was having a hard time at church and I could tell she desperately needed a nap. We were also on a winter storm watch. So we decided to just stay home and wait for the storm to hit.

The storm never came. The weather guy kept pushing the arrival back and we were suppose to wake up to snow Monday morning. All we got was rain. They said the rain was going to turn to ice, but again nothing happened. It was nice to stay at home and hang out though. We stayed in our PJ's all day. We watched a lot of TV. We played with every toy Finley owns. I made beef stew for dinner and we cuddled on the couch. 

I was very disappointed that the weather never developed into anything other then rain. But this is morning we woke up with snow!! There is nothing like an excited southerner when it snows :) Finley's face this morning was priceless. Her eyes lite up when she looked outside and instantly asked if we could build a snowman. Hopefully we will get enough today that we can make that happen!

Have a great rest of the week and stay safe if you are where there is a ton of snow!

2014

Well 2014 is just about over and I have to say I am not to sorry to see this year end.
I wouldn't say it was a bad year... but it has been a rough year.
We are ending this year with a second cancer diagnosis, this time it is close to home and it has been hard to take.
I also had my OB/GYN appointment yesterday and walked out with a few answers and more questions then I walked in there with. The doctor no longer sees the cyst they saw in the ER, but the original diagnosis of the blood clot is correct. Right now we are still doing pain management while the doctor figures out how to treat the clot. This is not a deadly clot, which means it is not in a major artery, but it is still very painful. The type of clot is called an Ovarian Vein Thrombosis, and is pretty rare in general. It usually only happens with other conditions (i.e. sever appendicitis), none of which I have. So the doctors are stumped.

OK. I am done with all the downer stuff... now on to a recap of this year.

January: We got our first snow storm since we moved to Chattanooga. Finley loved going out and playing in it.
February: We got our 2nd snow storm and got snowed in for 3 days! This is the most snow Finely has ever seen and she loved it! She has been asking for more snow every week since it melted.
March: Once the weather got nice we spent a lot of time out at Coolidge Park. We also had my best friends wedding shower.
April: I turned 30 and Finley turned 4. Erica got married and Finley was a flower girl for the first time.
May: We planted our first garden and it did wonderfully. We will definitely be doing it again this coming spring.
June: We spent a lot of time at the pool. By the end of the summer we had Finley swimming without her life vest.
July: July was hard. We had a great 4th of July cookout, followed by Kylie's (Finely's best friend) leukemia diagnosis.
August: Matthew and I celebrated 8 years of marriage!! We also went on our first family vacation since Finely was 1.
September: We spent a lot of time outside and at the parks. We were trying to soak up as much quality time as possible before we left for Nepal.
October: We spent 2 weeks with great friends in Nepal. When we got home we had a great family day at a pumpkin patch. Followed by the coldest Halloween I think I have ever experienced
November: We had a group camp out in our backyard. It was so cold, all the mom's and kids ended up inside and left the dad's out in the cold. We spent Thanksgiving with Matt's mom's side of the family. Matt's dad and nephew came and spent 4 days with us after Thanksgiving. We went and got our Christmas tree and got to see the light at Rock City while they were here.
December: We stayed pretty busy with a lot of Christmas parties. I wasn't feeling well this month, so we kept our days pretty low key. I spent the Saturday before Christmas in the ER trying to figure out what was going on with my body. We spent Christmas with my family and Finley made out like a bandit. We finally ate at the Taco Mac in downtown Chattanooga for Matthew's birthday.

We are now ringing in the new year having a nice low-key evening with family watching Georgia Tech whoop up on some Mississippi Sate at the Orange Bowl!

Happy New Year! Here is to hoping 2015 is a great year!

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. We stayed in town this year and had a BBQ with some friends.
There was a lot of yummy food and fun games.
There was also a lot of baby holding :)
The kids, and a few adults (I may have been one of them...) jumped on the trampoline.
We were able to see fireworks from a few different places around the city in our friends backyard. Which was the best. No crowds and no freak outs from Finley. She is not a fan of loud noises, so I have always been a bit hesitant on taking her to see fireworks. She loves watching them, just not hearing them. So this was a awesome option for her.
We played with sparklers. Finley wasn't too sure about them at first. Then she really started to enjoy playing with them. That was until she dropped hers and then tried to pick it up before I could stop her. Bad idea little one. She wasn't hurt bad, I think it just scared her that it was hot. But after that she was over the sparklers. She wanted to glow sticks and flashlights.
We were up late, obviously... who isn't up late on the 4th of July!?
I was hoping for a morning of sleeping in on Saturday. Matthew got up early the next morning to go boating, and Finley woke up promptly at 6:15 am. So much for my morning of sleeping in!

All in all it was a great weekend with friends!
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and was safe!

Valentines Day

Tomorrow is Valentines Day and we have been keeping busy with fun Valentines themed crafts and activities.

We had a Valentines themed play date a few weeks ago. I bought those cute cupcakes and powdered donuts for a snack. Finley and I made crayon hearts to give as a gift. They were a bit more labor intensive them I had expected. But they turned out really cute.

I found a really cute Valentines day card set in the dollar section at Target. Finley able to do everything her self. She enjoyed decorating them and picking which card was for which friend.

I have a few more things for us to do today and tomorrow. It should be fun!

Have a good Valentines Day!

Good bye, Hello

Good bye 2013.
Hello 2014.

2013 has been an eventful year for us. Here is our year in review.

January:

* We moved to Chattanooga.
* 2 weeks after moving and starting a new job, Matthew broke his face and needed surgery.

February:

*It snowed the only snow we have seen since we have moved to Chattanooga.

March:

* Finley got her first haircut.
* We spent Easter at Matt's Nan's house and then at my parents.

April:

*I turned 29.
* Finley turned 3.
* I decided to go to Nepal with Matthew.
* Matt's sister and nephew came to visit.

May:

*The weather got warm and we started to spend a lot of time outside.

* Matthew set up a pool for Finley in the backyard. He used a level to make sure it was flat.

* We spent a lot of time at the fountains in Coolidge Park.

* We had a Memorial Day cook out at our house.

June:

* We had our first camping trip with Finley and she loved it!
* We spent as much time as possible at the local pool.
* My best friend got engaged!

July:

* We made a trip to visit Erica and go dress shopping for her wedding.
* We spent more time outside and made ice chalk.

August:

* Finley started her first homeschool co-op and we started to do preschool homeschool.

September:

* We did some hiking getting ready for our Nepal trip.
* Heidi, Krystal and I went to the dotMOM conference and had a wonderful ladies weekend.
* We also started weekly services for the church.

October:

* We left for Nepal and had an amazing trip. (I promise more posts for the rest of the trip are coming soon!)

* We arrived home just days before Halloween and went to a friends house for trick-or-treating and dinner.

November: 

* Just days after getting home, Matt's grandmother (Nan) passed away.

* We traveled to Georgia for her memorial. Then back for Thanksgiving 2 weeks later.

December:

*Traveled back to Georgia to help my mom out after having eye surgery. The continued down to visit with Matt's mom and step-dad.

* Finley and I made Christmas ornaments.

* We spent our first Christmas without Nan, and my heart broke a little bit knowing things would never be the same.

* Finley got her first bike and also had her first fall.

Now here I sit on New Years eve just relaxing and hanging out with my husband. We knew this year would be different. It had its highs and lows. The good times were really good, and the low times were hard. But we made it through and we did it together. 

So here is to 2014 and all the surprises it has in store for us!

Christmas Recap

This year, we spent Christmas eve at my brothers house. For the last few years we have hosted Christmas, and it was kind of nice to not have that pressure this year. For dinner we made pizza. Finley seemed to really enjoy it. We may have to start doing that in our house on a regular basis.

This year was different. It was our first Christmas traveling from Chattanooga and without Nan, Matt's grandmother. I wasn't really sure what to expect for this year, and plans on what to do were up in the air until just a few weeks before. For the past 11 Christmas' we have spent them at her house or Matt's aunt and uncles house. With Nan being gone, and other family members schedules we just weren't able to do Christmas eve the way we have in the past. It didn't really hit me that this year was different until late Christmas eve night after the kids had gone to bed. I sat on the sofa in my brothers house, and my heart ached realizing that things were different now. Mostly that Finley wouldn't have any memory of spending Christmas with her great-grandmother. 

Christmas morning, Finley and my niece timed waking up perfectly. They came down the stairs together and were both some-what overwhelmed with everyone looking at them and cameras flashing. 

Finley got a bike. She has really enjoyed riding it and she is getting really good at pedaling it herself.

She had her first fall on Christmas when we took her out to ride it. She cried and said she didn't want to get back on. Matthew would have given into her and let her go back inside, but I told him she needed to get back on for one more round. One thing I learned while riding horses, that is also a great life lesson, is when you fall get back on. If you don't, the fear will fester and you will never get back on. The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys and cousins and dogs. There were lots of laughs shared and memories made.

Here are some more pictures from our Christmas... enjoy!

 She watches her feet and not where she is going!

The only picture I got of all 3 cousins together! :( 

Have a Happy and Safe New Year!