Tiny Dancer

My little angel started her dance classes last Friday. She is taking from a place down the street in a small town called Nolensville at Elite Dance.
Of course, I had to get pictures of her in her outfit, and was excited the teacher let us all come in the first day, so I could get a few pictures of her in action. :)
It was hilarious! At the end her teacher assured all of us moms, that the girls did great for the first day.. But, we all gave each other that look like yeah, right! Ha! No, they all did great, just typical 2 years olds who didn't exactly follow directions the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd time. Presley was somewhat the ring leader in getting them out of line, but that's ok. Miss Personality, was running instead of walking on her toes, staring at herself in the mirrors making funny faces, and even asked the teacher for a popsicle in the middle of class. Gosh, you just gotta love her!! Ignore the very poor lighting.. for the indoor pictures. I was just so happy I captured this very special day. I just can't believe how fast she is growing up.. Times like this I wish I had a pause button.

 My favorite!!

 Notice whose feet aren't together...LOL.. maybe she will make a soccer player instead. :)

She had so much fun, and has been begging to go back! :)

Saying, "See ya next time, dance class!"

The big 30!

It's offical.. I am no longer in my twenties.. I am 30.. Wow.. Really? I still feel 20...most days, anyways! :)
Matt is turning 30 next month, so we went home to celebrate. We had a great time visiting with family and enjoying our special day. Presley had a blast seeing her cousins, Jack and Bella.. and we were equally excited to see my brother, John and his sweet wife, Britt.
I ended up getting to go to lunch this next day with my Mom..on her 50th! So crazy we are entering these milestone years together. I was super excited..She got me my first sewing machine!! Yay.. now, I gotta get busy learning HOW to sew! :)
Here are some pictures of our fun 30th cookout.. My sweet Uncle Mark made his famous ribs!! SO good!!!
We had a blast hanging out and Presley enjoyed swimming in the pool with Jack and Bella!

Strawberry Chocolate Cake.. SO good!

Sweet Laura:)

Cute one of Grammie and the grandkids:)

Catch up!

We have been super busy!! I starting helping out watching a couple of kiddos in the neighborhood every now and then..and I have fallen behind on the blog. SORRY! :)

Just to recap the last few weeks.. 

Courtney and Carter came to visit!!! We were so excited to see them! 

They got her last Monday and left on Thursday. We had so much fun..Ate Mexican ( our fav!), took the kids to Monkey Treehouse, played in the pool and with Presley's new water table, lunch at Newk's, Panera, and my 1st time to eat at Mellow Mushroom ( yum, I will be back!). We also had a fun photoshoot at a park nearby. It has a really cute setup, and Courtney and I were so excited to find it. I took a couple of them, and they did the same for us!

 I am so thankful for our friendship.. one that is going on 10 years!! Presley and Carter had so much fun together, which was just precious to watch! I know Carter is going to make a GREAT big brother! Presley was also thankful for the 19 Disney movies he brought into her life..She actually thanked Jesus in her prayer that night for Cars! lol!! Thanks, Courtney.. we are going to go broke buying Disney movies! :) j/k 

Waiting for Carter...and her face when I told her he was HERE!! :)

Sweet boy playing in the pool

Gosh, I love Courtney's 1.4..these were taken with her camera :)

We love the waterfall!

Fun at Monkey Treehouse..horrible lighting.. but too cute not to share!

Here are just a couple from our mini session.. Much more to edit and share..They were TOO funny!!

We are so glad they came to visit..and hope we can do again sometime!!

Weekends are our favorites!

We had the BEST weekend! Matt got home Friday, and left again tonight for several days. We cherish the moments we have with him on the weekend. We miss him when he leaves and look so forward to the next time we see him.
Highlights from the weekend:
Lunch at Chuy's ( great Mexican place!)
Got some great antiques at a great place in Nolensville
Church
LOTS of time at home chilling, playing with Presley, and swimming ( well she swam, we watched :)
I didn't take one picture. I just enjoyed the moments. It was great!
I did take some really sweet pictures of my babydoll last weekend.. We swim a ton these days!

 Can you tell this girl LOVES her pool!!?

Love her sweet smile and laugh!

 And a popsicle is a MUST..and we always have them when we swim!

A favorite pic of mine :)

We are looking forward to the next weekend together!

Presley's 1st movie

Over the weekend, we took Presley to see her very 1st movie, Winnie the Pooh. She was SO excited about it and was a HUGE fan of the popcorn! She did great the first half ( and wow, you never realize how long the previews are until you take a child) Then she started getting out of her chair, and talking. At one point, she asked to change the channel to Dora! ;) We made the mistake of going at nap time and I wonder if she would have done a little better at a different time. We lasted until the very end, then she was just too fussy. We probably left a couple minutes before the end. All and all, she did pretty good. There are summer movies showing a couple days a week in the morning for $1 and they are showing VeggieTales in August, so I think we are going to try again soon :)

I got some super cute pictures of her and Matt before we left. My great Aunt Linda bought her several adorable outfits..and couple she had monogrammed. Here is Presley in her very 1st monogrammed outfit :) She looked SO sweet! :)

Presley Ruth is 2 1/2!

I am a little late posting about Presley being a 2 1/2 years old, but, better late than never, right!?
I still am amazed that she is!
This year has FLOWN by, probably because we moved twice in 1 year.

Things Presley is doing these days :
She told me she LOVED me for the 1st time.. Melt my heart, and now says it back most times.. So sweet!
She is singing Jesus Loves Me, ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The B-I-B-L-E, Veggie Tale songs and more.
She can count to 20. So sweet to hear.
She says, "Mommy, I have a good idea!"
"Mommy/Daddy, what you doing, today?"
Matt's favorite "Hey, Little Daddy!" lol
She has mastered the stairs, her toddler bed, eating with a spoon, sitting in a chair
(no high chairs anymore:(, riding her tricycle, pushing play on the remote, putting in DVDs (scary, I know!)  throwing away trash, putting dirty clothes in washer and closing door, picking helping pick up toys, jumping into pool from side, coloring, saying please, thank you, yes mam/sir most of time, sharing  somewhat sharing, and many more! She is still working on the potty training. I think when the day comes, I will fall out in the floor in shock!! :) Still pull-ups for now.. She does get super excited and claps for us when we go, Does that count??:)
Things Presley is LOVING:
Veggie Tales
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Princess stuff..so far has seen Tangled and Princess and the Frog.
Dora
Winnie the Pooh
Painted toes/fingers :)
swimming
Monkey Joes ( bouncy house place) No fear, climbs with the big kids and slides down like a champ:)
ice cream/ popsicles
Fruit
playing with her friends
Our Daily prayer for Presley:
Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.. you make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear how much I love you, so please don't take my sunshine away."

We love you Presley Ruth!!! So proud of the sweet little girl you are becoming!!!

 Xoxo,

Mommy and Daddy

My sweet Neighborhood :)

First off, I want to start by saying how great it is to see God 's hand on our little family.

As soon as we moved to Ohio last year, and since we have moved to Nashville this year.. I have seen how God provides. He has blessed us with great areas to live, and some AMAZING friends!! I made some lifelong friends in Ohio, and at times, Matt and I both really MISS it!!
We found a wonderful church, great MOPS and Bible Study groups, and Presley made so many sweet friends. It was hard leaving, which I never thought would happen when we left Memphis.
I prayed as soon as I found out we were moving to Nashville, that God would put us just where HE wanted us, esp. with Matt traveling so much.
I wanted it to be safe, but more than that I wanted it to feel like home. After looking at MANY houses, it was the only one that "stuck out." Matt and I both just knew.

After being here for just 3 months, we moved to the GREATEST neighborhood I could have imagined! We are renting a townhouse (villa) because we aren't sure how long we will be here.. but, we are loving it!! We can walk to Kroger, Subway, a hamburger place, A GREAT MEXICAN place, starbucks, sushi place, etc. They do neighborhood block parties, and movie night on the lawn once a month.. These things are great.. But, the main thing I prayed for is to find other Christian moms.
My prayer was answered!!
We even have a facebook group, where we can plan events, playdates, etc. ITS SO GREAT!!! We also have found a great Church, we are really loving called Fellowship.. And some of the girls in the neighborhood also go there.. Almost too good to be true!!
I love that one of the girls told me the other day she wasn't worried about where someone got there purse or shoes, she wanted quality friendships instead.. LOVE HER!!

We had a FUN Water Playdate in the common area the other day... where the kiddos got to play and the mommies got to hang out and talk.. Looking forward to the next one! Presley had a BLAST!!

Names of all our new little friends: Taylor, Noah, Ben, Joey, Javen, Liam, Cohen, and Juliet

SUCH super cute names!!!

 Presley REALLY enjoyed her popsicle!

A little different edit.. Just love the ones with the popsicle!!

I am just loving what God is doing with our family here in Nashville.. Hoping to start a MOPS with some of the girls in neighborhood in the fall-spring..and thinking about putting Presley in a dance class once a week, and Awana class at a Church in Franklin, too. Lots of exciting things.. Matt is still liking his new job, and we are still just thankful for the time we do get with him! Super excited to take my baby girl to see her 1st movie this weekend, "Winnie the Pooh." I can't believe she is growing up so fast!!!

On a totally different note, I am about to start reading this book.. 

I don't know about you other moms, but sometimes going through this 2 year old stage, my patience can grow thin.. I have heard great things about it..and even though I don't feel angry most days, I thought it would be a good read and help me with going to God's word for it when I do.

Here is a great verse I put on my mirror.. LOVE IT!