Welcome to my house

So like I mentioned in my last post we are moving! We have been talking about finding our "forever home" for awhile now. I saw a house I loved a few weeks ago and immediately sent the link to Adam. Fast forward to last week, and we finally decided to go see it. It was love at first sight! It has everything on our list so we knew we had to jump on it. We plan to stay here until our girls are grown and can't wait to make lots of happy memories here. 

 As sad as we will be to leave our home, we know in the long run we will be happy at our new house. Moving is exciting, stressful, and exhausting. I'm not even sure how we are going to swing this with a one year old this time around, but I'm sure it will all work out. We really love our new house for so many reasons, but we will never forget our current home. We have made so many happy memories in this house and really tried to make it our own. I thought I would do a home tour on my blog since Paige will not remember this house. I want both Ella and Paige to remember what a happy home we have. 

Welcome to our home!

This is the main living area and where I/we spend all of our time. I spent a few cold January days painting the living room and kitchen a couple of years ago when we moved in. I absolutely love this color. It's very calming, and I plan to use it somewhere at the new house. 

 I am pretty sure this is the cleanest this kitchen has ever been! I have cooked many meals in this kitchen and bathed Paige in the sink more times than I can count. 

Enter into Paige's room which is right by the main living area. I love her room and plan to recreate it at the new house. 

Adam and I slept in here for about a year when we moved in. Our bedroom is right by the laundry room which is where the dogs sleep at night. Brody barked, howled, and scratched at night time when we moved here. Adam and I couldn't sleep so we slept in here until we made it Paige's room. Luckily by then all the barking and howling had stopped. 

Right across the hall is Ella's room. This paint color seems to follow us wherever we go. I'm going to try to paint it a lighter pink at our new house, but I'm not sure how that will go over with her. 

Across the house is the master bedroom. 

This is the upstairs family room. We recently had the upstairs painted and bought new furniture. 

On the other side is the play room. We spend LOTS of time up here. It's nice to be able to let Paige loose. We will have a play room upstairs at our new house as well. 

Right next to the playroom is my office. I love this space but have not been able to use it as much as I thought I would. It's hard to get away by myself to use it! 

We have loved our backyard, and our huge patio. 

This has served as Adam's office. He loves the office so much, and I can't even imagine him leaving it. He will have a nice, big room in the basement of our new house so I guess I don't feel too bad for him. 

There you have it!

 As much as we love our house we are excited to move on. We took a big risk buying a house before selling this one, but we have faith that it will all work out.

Summer Days

We have had such a nice, relaxing summer break so far. I can't even stand the thought of getting back into the school routine in August. 

We have spent so much more time at home this summer than we usually do, and it has been great. It's so nice not having to run here and there, and not having anywhere to be at any certain time. I'm honestly going to miss that when school starts. 

Our life hasn't been completely boring this summer though. We put an offer on a house last week, and they accepted. Looks like we will be moving hopefully before school starts. If you could say a prayer we sell our current house soon it would be appreciated. It's going on the market tomorrow.

This is a glimpse into our summer so far...

13 months

Our girl turned 13 months old last week. She has had a HUGE month. She went from baby to toddler in what seems like overnight. 

She surprises us every day with the new stuff she does. From walking, to waving, to saying "go go go" she is learning and growing at a rapid pace. Every month I think that it can't get better with her, and every month it does. 

So what's new with Paige...

• When she turned one she only had four teeth and now she has seven. 
• She is walking all over the place but still crawls when she gets tired. 
• She has a short list of words, "mama" "dada" "Ella" "bye bye" "go" 
• She LOVES being outside and throws a fit when we come in
• She can wave bye bye.
• She is done with formula and drinking milk. 
• She loves water and loves being in a pool.
• She moved from an infant seat to toddler seat and loves it. 
• She is well aware of strangers and gives dirty looks and will push away anyone she does not want to hold her. 

Sleep:

Paige is still a star sleeper. Her nap schedule has been a little different since it's summer vacation. Some days she will have one nap and some days it's two. It just depends on what is going on that day. She goes to bed somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00 and sleeps all night. She still sleeps in her zipadeezip. That thing is wonderful. Not only does she like to wear it, but she loves to carry it around too. 

Paige LOVES Ella so much. She says her name all the time and is always curious to what she is doing. Ella is coming along slowly, but you can tell they have a special relationship. I sometimes catch Ella smiling at her when Paige is pulling up on her legs when she thinks no one is watching. 

Eat:

Paige is our little garbage disposal. The girl loves food and will eat just about anything. She eats three good meals a day with plenty of snacks in between. She especially loves fruit with her favorites being oranges, strawberries, and blueberries. 

Paige is pure joy all the time. Everyone always comments on what a happy girl she is. Paige is super laid back and pretty much just goes with the flow no matter what we are doing. Our days are much sweeter because of her. 

Destin, 2016

We just got back from a great vacation to Destin. We love Destin so much. What's not to love about sunshine and a white sandy beach!? The weather was PERFECT all week, and it was just a great vacation overall. 

We left two days after school let out. We were definitely feeling a little burnt out, and in need of a vacation. I was unsure of how this trip was going to go. Paige is not used to being in a car for nine hours or sleeping in a strange place. I was expecting the absolute worst but hoping for the best. 

Paige ended up staying on her normal schedule the whole week. She slept good, ate good, and was all around happy. We got a three bedroom condo so she could have her own room since she goes to bed so early.  I rented a crib, glider, and high chair from Coastal Crib Rental, and I think that is one of the reasons she did so well. I brought along all of her bed stuff and her crib aquarium so it was just like being at home for her. We will definitely be renting a crib on our next vacation as well, because I think that is the main reason she slept so good. 

We left bright and early at 5am in hopes of getting there well before Paige's bedtime. My parents were smart and left the day before and split up the drive. Ella and Paige both did great the whole day. We only stopped a few times and made it to Destin by 4pm. I was shocked how well the drive down went. 

The first thing Ella always want to do is hit the beach so that's what we did! 

Paige was not a fan of the ocean. I think the water was a little too cold for her liking, but she didn't mind sitting in the sand for a few pictures. 

After the beach Ella wanted to jump in the pool. The water was the perfect temperature the entire week. It's so nice going to the pool now that Ella can swim and actually enjoys being in the water. Ella and I went to the pool while Paige was napping, and then we would go back up to get Paige once she woke up. Paige enjoyed floating around and being held in the pool. She did so much better than I expected. We probably spent more time at the pool this trip than any other trip we have been on since having Ella. 

Ella had us back at the beach the following morning. I love the beach in the morning.  Before kids I would sit at the beach and people watch, layout, or read. That just doesn't happen these days, but I know that day will come again many years from now! :) 

We stayed in the Westwinds building at The Sandestin Gold and Beach Resort. It was SO pretty and so nice. I loved all the amenities. It was nice having a tiki bar by the pool where we could get drinks (alcoholic and non) and food. There was also a little shack by the beach that had shaved ice and drinks. 

We had a Gulf front condo. ! If you can't be down at the beach it's nice to at least be able to see it!

We typically go to the Gulfarium the day after we get there, and Ella of course was raring to go there on Sunday. Ella LOVES the dolphins. 

Paige loved watching them too!

We watched the dolphin show and headed out of there, because it was hot. It's also exhausting taking two kids anywhere so I was ready to go too!

The grounds at The Sandestin Resort were so clean and beautiful!

One night the four of us went to Baytown Wharf (which was across the street) so we could eat. Ella had fun doing this bungee trampoline, and Paige enjoyed watching her while yelling "Ella". 

We went back to the Gulfarium one morning so Ella could do Dolphin Discoveries. She loves dolphins and got to feed and touch them. She thought it was the best thing ever. 

On our second to last night we all went to eat at the Back Porch together. It was nice to have one meal altogether. I think everyone eats at the Back Porch when they go to Destin. The views are great, and the food is even better.

On our last day I tried to get a few pictures of Paige at the beach

She was obviously not too fond of sitting in the sand:) 

For our last dinner I wanted to go back to Cantina Laredo. OMG I wish we had one here. It was the best Mexican food I have ever had. I will be thinking about it until we go back again. 

Our trip would not be complete without a few beach pictures. I usually coordinate our outfits, but I just didn't have it in me this time. 

We really appreciate my parents joining us on this trip and helping us out. It's so much easier having helping hands along.

 One last walk along the beach...

It was a great vacation filled with many happy memories we will cherish forever!