Because I Don't Feel Like Packing Right Now...

The First Lemon

Today was a very special day. Not only was it my 27th birthday (how can I possibly be getting so close to 30?!), but it was also the day that we publicly dedicated Addison to the Lord and had her baptized. We had almost all of our immediate family here (minus Aunt Shannon and Uncle Jamie in Charleston), and got to go out to lunch after church to celebrate. It was truly an amazing day.

I am in the process as I type this of getting all the pictures that were taken today organized and uploaded to the computer, and I will post a ton of them probably tomorrow, but I just couldn't wait to share this one. It was taken at lunch after church. I have been waiting for 9 months now for this moment... Addison's first lemon! :)

Bittersweet Excitement

I still can't even believe we have been so blessed by this whole moving chapter of our lives. Our house was on the market right at 3 months when we got a contract! Everything is going great with the selling of our house. The inspection couldn't have gone better, and the buyers just seem SO nice. They are a young couple who have been married for about 6 months. They will love their new house as much as we have I hope! :) Everything is still set to close on Aug. 27 - less than 4 weeks from now - CRAZY!


As excited as I am to start this new part of our lives, I can't help but feel a little sad to leave this last part behind. I bought this house right after I was hired at Parkview. I was 22 years old, single, and so thrilled to be buying my very first house all on my own. I moved in on the 4th of July in 2005 and had so much fun decorating and getting my little house all set up. Little did I know that 7 months later I would meet my future husband. I still vividly remember pacing the kitchen floor while I was talking to Kevin on the phone for the first time. I remember giving him directions to my cute little house to pick me up for our first date. I remember him bringing me home from the second date, and giving me our first kiss in the driveway of this house. I loved having my bridesmaids spend the night here the night before our wedding, and getting ready here the next morning on the big day. I remember getting home late the night we came back from our honeymoon in St. Lucia, and Kevin carrying me over the threshold of the front door, then staying up to the wee hours of the morning sitting on the living room floor opening all of our gifts before going to bed. I remember finding out that I was pregnant with Addison, and Kevin spinning me around in a huge bearhug in our bedroom after I told him the good news. I'll never forget bringing Addison home to this house from the hospital, and taking a million pictures of her just laying on her Boppy in the living room, our bedroom, her bedroom.


I will always remember this house for all the amazing things that happened in my life in the short 4 years that I lived here. I never would have imagined on that July 4th 4 years ago that my life would change so drastically, and I would be so truly blessed. I'll cherish all those memories every time I think of our sweet little Loganville house...

BUT - we are so equally blessed to have found our new house in Dahlonega. I mentioned in my last post that we had put an offer in on a house that we loved up there and were just waiting to find out if we got it or not. I also mentioned that we were going up the next day to look at "back-up" houses in the event we didn't get "our" house. Well, in the process of finding a "back-up house", we found one that we actually like equally as much as the first. We put an offer on it as well, just in case we didn't get our first choice. Well, as it turned out, we were so amazed to find out that our offers on BOTH houses were accepted!! So, we then had a decision to make. We really did love the first house. We had spent the last 3 months talking about and planning our future with that house in mind. But, the "back-up" house was such an amazing deal I just couldn't get it out of my mind. So, we weighed the pros and cons of each house, talked about it, prayed about it, then talked about it some more, and finally came to the conclusion that our "back-up house" was going to be the best house for us and our family.

SO - we have signed off on the contract, picked out the flooring and appliances so the house can be finished (I didn't mention before that it is a brand new house!), and we are getting so fired up to move in. I will show you a picture of the outside, but I want to hold off on inside pictures until it is all finished. Hopefully that won't be too much longer because we are set to close on it the 28th!! Here is our new home in the mountains!!

I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and encouragement as we have gone through this process. Like I said, we have a little less than 4 weeks to get everything packed and moved. And, while I'm still a little sad to be leaving our Loganville house behind, I am oh-so-excited to see what the future holds for us in Dahlonega.

House Update

Well........ I decided to let go, and let God, and.........

We got an offer on our house this week! It was much lower than we were anticipating, but we countered at a much more acceptable price, and they accepted! With one catch... they want us to leave our dining room table set for them. REALLY?! I guess if it helps them feel like they are getting a better deal, and they will go through with the sale, fine. But, our dining room furniture?! It was actually Kevin's dining room table set that he had bought in his bachelor days, and it really is a beautiful table, so I think it kinda made him proud that they thought so much of it they wanted it to stay with the house. So, I got online and made sure we could secure the same table again for our new house, and we can. I guess it will be kinda nice to not have to worry about moving it (trying to look on the bright side here!). We'll just buy a new one and have it delivered to the new house...

Speaking of the new house... I think I have mentioned we found a house up there about 3 months ago that we absolutely love. We were just sitting back hoping and praying that no one else would buy it before we could. So, as soon as we found out we had an offer on ours, we called the other agent to put an offer on the Dahlonega house. Well, wouldn't you know, there was another offer on it the SAME MORNING as ours! So, now we are waiting to hear back if we are going to get it or not. Kinda stressful, but so awesome at the same time! We are going up to look at some "back-up" houses tomorrow, just in case our offer doesn't win out.

They are doing the inspection on our house Tuesday morning, and the closing is set for Aug. 27 (less than 5 weeks!). So, keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer for us that the deal on our house goes to closing, and that we get our Dahlonega house, or find one that's even better!

We'll make sure to update as things unfold! Thanks for the prayers so far!

Let Go, And Let God

OK, I know the title to this post is a little cliche, but it best fit the way I'm feeling this morning.

As I've mentioned (many times), we are trying to sell our house in Loganville and move to Dahlonega. We couldn't be more excited about Kevin's new job in Lumpkin County. He is going to be the Adapted PE teacher for the whole county - traveling around to each school each day offering PE classes to special needs students. He will also be coaching football and girls golf. All summer long he has spent almost every day (and night) during the week up there for football practice, and it's getting pretty old being here without him. I miss him. Addison misses him. I hate it that he misses out on her waking up every morning. Misses out on lunchtime. Misses out on bathtime. Misses out on bedtime. And this is going to sound selfish, but I hate doing those things alone. Without him. We want to be with our Daddy.

We've talked about what we are going to do come August if school is starting and our house isn't sold yet. During the summer, Kevin has been staying with our good friends Tommy and Cory, the head coach and his wife and family, or with a couple of other coaches who have a house. And, when Addison and I do get to go up there, we stay with Tommy and Cory and the girls, too. And, although they have amazingly offered to let us stay there with them full-time come August, I can't imagine being that much of an imposition (I mean a family of 3 moving in with a family of 4!) for who knows how long. So, we have a couple of options... My grandparents have a lake house up on Lanier (about 15 miles from the school), which my grandfather has so graciously offered to us if we need to stay there for a while. Or, we continue to do what we've been doing - Kevin staying with Tommy and Cory (or the other coaches) during the week, and coming home on the weekends. Staying at the lake house is definitely our best option, but it's just not our "home", ya know? We'd still be living between Loganville and Dahlonega, and never actually feeling like either place was our home.

So, needless-to-say, I have been worrying and worrying and worrying about selling this house... worrying to the point that I feel sick... And I pray... and I pray... and I pray... that God would bring the perfect people to our home, who think this is just the perfect place for them to live.

Well, last night while I was laying in my bed saying my usual prayers, I remembered a sermon our minister preached about two months ago... He was talking about the Christian practices of confessing and repenting. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it all came back to me last night while I was praying. Our minister said that when you are in constant worry about something, you are basically telling God that you don't think He's big enough to handle your problem, or that you don't trust Him to handle it the "right" way. So, your confession should actually be that you don't trust God. And, then repenting would be telling God that you are sorry for not trusting Him, and that you are finally laying the problem at His feet and, in full submission, handing it over to Him. I found great comfort in that last night. So, I confessed that I had been worrying about it because I just didn't think He was doing enough to handle my problem. And then I repented. I told Him that it was now completely in His hands, and I would not worry about it anymore.

Amazingly, I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in quite a while. I know our house will be sold... in His time, not mine.

Now all I have to do is worry about keeping it clean! :)

The Stewarts' Staycation

Every year the GHSA mandates a "dead week" from all sports, clubs, and activities. It is always the week leading into the 4th of July, and no team, club, or organization can have any contact at all... no practice, no weight lifting, no meetings, no anything at all. It is so nice because it gives the families of the kids (and coaches) a set week every year that they know they can take vacation and not miss anything.

Well, we debated going to the beach for the week, but finally decided against it for a couple of reasons. One, we weren't sure if Addison would be able to handle it yet... I mean, she might be able to go out for an hour in the morning, and then another hour in the late afternoon, but what do you do the other time - sit in the condo and stare out at the ocean? Take turns going down to the beach alone? We weren't quite sure... Also, we are still really hopeful that we will be moving on up to Dahlonega here in the near future, and I can think of a million things I will want to have for the new house. So we decided to save the money we would have spent on a beach vacation, and have our own "staycation" right here in Atlanta. So, we planned fun things to do all week while Kevin was home, and we had a blast! Here is a breakdown, complete with some pictures! :)

Monday

We went to the Gwinnett Braves game. We hadn't been over to the stadium to see a game yet, and we were very excited about it. It's pretty cool having the stadium so close! We had a great time. We got there a little early and "tailgated" in the parking lot with Subway sandwiches, and then went on into the park. We brought a blanket and paid $5 for berm tickets. We found a great little spot right out in left-center field by the bullpen. It was so nice to spread our blanket out in the grass and let Addison crawl around and enjoy the game. Clint Sammons is the catcher in Gwinnett. He was a good friend of mine at UGA, and Kevin happened to coach him at Parkview his senior year, so we were excited to get to see him for a minute before the game started. We were sitting right by the bullpen, so we were able to see him warming up the starting pitcher. Also, during the game I got a phone call from another great college friend who said she was at the game, so we were able to catch up for a little bit, and she got to meet Addison for the first time. All-in-all, it was a great night!

Tuesday

We didn't do a whole lot on Tuesday. Luke's Daddy came over and talked to us about some of our financial planning, and then Kevin went to play some golf with his brother, Uncle Todd. Addison and I hung out at the house and played in the yard for a while, before coming in and getting dinner ready. After Addison was tucked away, Kevin and I watched a movie, ate ice cream, and relaxed... so nice!

Wednesday

I loved Wednesday! We left here after Addison's nap and drove up to Athens. Our first stop was this little blueberry picking place. It's really someone's house, but they have hundreds of blueberry bushes, and they let people come and pick their own blueberries. So, we put Addie in her stroller and found a couple of really full bushes just waiting to be picked. We had a lot of fun picking berries and Addison stayed pretty content in her stroller for about 45 minutes before she just got too hot. So we finished up with about 3/4 of a gallon. So, we now have enough berries for about a year's worth of pancakes, waffles, homemade ice cream, you name it!

THEN, we went over to my cousin Kathryn's house in Athens (she's a senior at UGA). Addison was lucky enough to get to stay there and play for a couple of hours while Mommy and Daddy had a date night! Kevin had made reservations at this little Italian place downtown (it's on the second floor over Bourbon Street if you are familiar with downtown Athens) called La Dolce Vita. We had a great dinner and dessert, but even better adult conversation! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of our date night. :(

Thursday

We had a great day Thursday. Kevin had to meet with a lady about his dissertation over in Norcross at 10:00, so we loaded up early and headed out for the day. He happened to be meeting her at the Forum, so Addison and I were able to do a little bit of shopping while we waited... we didn't mind! Then, we were off for Atlanta. Kevin had to meet with one more person whose office is at the Professional Standards Commission in Atlanta, so we dropped him at the door to the building and drove around for a little while before going back to pick him up. Once we left there, he was finished with school stuff for the day, so we decided to take advantage of a day in the big city. We went over to Atlantic Station to have lunch at Rosa Mexicano, a great little Mexican restaurant where the food is delicious, and they make fresh guacamole at your table - loved it! Then we went to Ikea- mainly because Kevin had never been, and wanted to see what it was all about. We tooled around in there for a few hours - I mean really, the place is insane, and everyone should experience it at least once. After that, the little one was well past ready to be home, so we headed on this way. Again, sadly no pictures from the day.

Friday

We had a very lazy morning Friday. We enjoyed sleeping in, getting up and having breakfast, and then we all went back down for a "family nap". Does it get any better?! When we finally got our lazy behinds going, we packed up and headed for Powder Springs to spend the night with Pops. Mops was gone to Illinois for a family reunion that we missed out on, so it was just us there with Pops and the animals. I cooked dinner for all of us and we had a great little visit.

Saturday

HAPPY 4th OF JULY! Kevin and I got up extra early Saturday morning, and we were off for the big city again. We, along with 55,000 other crazy people, enjoyed 6.2 miles of 4th of July fun! I ran the Peachtree Road Race for the very first time!! It was so much fun... well MOST of it! It was great people watching if nothing else! Kevin was so sweet to stay "behind" and run the whole thing with me. He probably could have finished about 30 minutes ahead of me, but he said he wanted to experience it together, so we went at my pace... which... was... slow. But, I finished, and got the t-shirt to prove it! I'm so proud of my shirt - I have it on right now! We finished in 1:18:05 and 1:18:06... guess who finished first?! ME! I timed us on my watch, but we didn't know our official times until we got home, and we realized I must have crossed the finish line just ahead of Kevin, which I think is hilarious! So, for at least the next year, I have bragging rights! :) After the race, we went back to Pops' house to grill hamburgers and celebrate the 4th... and by celebrate I mean shower and take a LONG nap. We got home last night, put the little one to bed, watched the few fireworks we could see from our backyard, and crashed out. I forgot to take the camera with us downtown (and really, what would we have done with it while we were running?), so we took a couple of pictures when we got back to my parents' house. My first Peachtree:

Sunday

Our Staycation comes to an end... We've had a great day today... just resting up and letting our bodies recover from our run yesterday. Sadly, Kevin has to be in Dahlonega bright and early tomorrow morning for a week of kids' camp and practice, and I have one more week of the online summer school class that I'm teaching. So, it's back to the real world.

This is Addison "helping" me cook dinner tonight... she fell fast asleep sitting straight up in her walker... poor thing.

We had a wonderful week. Addison and I loved having our Daddy home with us the whole week, and we are now more excited than ever to get our house sold so we can be up in Dahlonega with him all the time. I hope everyone had a great long holiday weekend! Happy 4th!

8 month update

How is it possible our little one is 8 months old?! I guess time truly does fly when you're having fun. Addison is doing all kinds of fun things these days... and she's definitely keeping us on our toes. She started crawling the weekend she turned 7 months and has not slowed down since. She LOVES to crawl, and she'll take off with no particular destination in mind, she just wants to be on the move. About a week after she mastered crawling, she started pulling up. She thinks she is such a big girl standing up, and will pull up on anything she can get her hands on. Just in the last week or so, she has started "cruising" - walking while holding onto a low table, a couch, a walker, etc. It's so sweet to watch her... her little toes stay curled under her feet and she takes the tiniest little steps. She's so proud of herself.

And, she is getting so big... we had to take her in to the pediatrician about a month ago for a little infection, and at that time she weighed 20 lbs 7 oz., so I imagine she is probably topping off at around 21+ lbs now. Obviously, she likes to eat a lot... I'm still making all of her food, but she is getting more and more table food now. She loves chicken and vegetables, but her favorite is homemade yogurt and mangoes. And she is SO tall... I can't imagine where she gets the height from! :)

Addison is such a joy. When she does slow down, she loves to cuddle and will burrow her face into your neck and just snuggle in, which just makes her mommy melt. She has also gotten very good at giving "kisses" ... she'll lean her head into your face and open her mouth against your cheek... and she loves doing it... she'll pull back from your cheek with the biggest smile on her face! I think Kevin and I say about 10 times a day, "she's just the COOLEST kid!"

Anyway... Our little sweetie is doing awesome... doing cool new stuff every day... I'll try to update more often - I know I'm terrible about it! I'll close with a few pictures of our recent goings-on:

First trip to Illinois to visit family - swinging out in Great-great-aunt Marilyn's backyard

Daddy's spring football game:

Addison's first Braves game:

First Laser Show at Stone Mountain:

Dancing to the music at the Laser Show:

Feeding herself for the first time:

Swimming in her friend Ella's pool:

Feeding the animals at the Yellow River Game Ranch:

Our little piggy with a great big piggy:

Playing around: