Lately

A few weekends ago we headed to Barnes and Noble in Franklin for their story time which included the new Fancy Nancy book. Noelle was so excited and dressed herself extra Fancy Nancy-like just for the occasion. And she of course loved it, especially since she got a crown.

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at a pizza place (the cauliflower crust was delicious!) and then headed home for some downtime. Those quiet, family filled Saturdays are kind of nice.

thanks for the picture, Noelle!

We finally got to meet up with some of our wonderful friends who moved from MD to TN almost a year and a half ago. It was SO good to see them and catch up. The goal is to see each other once a month (at least!) I am so thankful for wonderful friends who love the Lord and who are so familiar with moving a finding a whole new set of friends. We love them!

We have the occasional warm day (well, my definition of warm means it has to be at least in the 60s and sunny) and we try to be outside for at least a little while on those days. Sometimes we'll go to one of the nearby playgrounds for the kids to run around and get out some energy after we pick up Noelle from school.

And even with MOPS, Bible study, and the once in awhile play date with my sister-in-law, our lives our much slower here than in MD. There's a lot less running around since we don't have to drop Noelle off in the mornings, and with Jonah out of school, there's one less place to be. Usually one morning a week, I try to get as much cleaning done as I can, and try to remember to throw a load of laundry in whenever I can. It is a game changer having our play room UPSTAIRS! All of the kids toys are out of sight (for the most part!) and not in the main room of our house like in MD. You can find Jonah, Clara, and I playing and reading up there on our slower days!

There is a Books A Million right in our town, and a couple of weekends ago, they were having a Harry Potter day. Noelle and Jonah both wore the sorting hat (Noelle was Hufflepuff and Jonah was Gryffindor), "played" quidditch, and answered some trivia questions to collect some stickers.

And our sweet girl who hates naps. On weekends, I'll sometimes nurse/bottle feed her to sleep and then just sit with her in my arms while I read or scroll Instagram. She's only little once and is already growing way too fast! I'm sure it's not helping the whole napping on her own situation though. :)

Noelle had another math test last week, and her treat of choice afterwards was froyo, much to Jonah's extreme glee (he's OBSESSED with froyo!) It was delicious and I spent way too much, but they enjoyed it. 

The end of our street just kind of dead-ends into a field. There's a sign posted that our city has approved for more homes to be built, but it doesn't look like that's happening any time soon. Jonah had fun showing me "his" rock collection and shooting his nerf gun into the grass. I'm sure come spring/summer we'll have to be careful of ticks and other bugs. But it is nice having that open space within walking distance!