My name is Jordan and I'm a Pinner...

Yes, you heard it right. I'm now addicted to Pinterest!  I kept avoiding it, no solid reason, just lots of little ones like not having the time for something else, not wanting to jump on the 'band wagon,' I'm not crafty so there wouldn't be anything for me on there, and on and on.  I finally caved when I got a invite via Facebook.  Just a couple weeks later and I'm totally and completely hooked!  If you don't know what Pinterst is, a brief run down is here (they explain it better than I ever could!)

I'm not typically a person that can look at a cookbook or read a recipe and decide if I would like that dish or what it would taste like. But with Pinterest, most of the time you get photos, other peoples opinions, descriptions, etc. And of course the more you see it pinned, I'm guessing the better it will be! ha  So I decided to give a few new recipes a try. Plus, Jeff really wants to add some different stuff to our menu rotation so this has been perfect!  So far, I have made crock pot pulled pork, sliced baked potatoes, toasted ravioli, cupcakes in a cone, and white chicken enchiladas.  They have all been so good! I would add them all into my menu rotation. Success!! I have quite a few more desserts and things to fix over the next couple weeks.  So excited! (and I'm rarely excited about new food like this!)   If you want to see what I've got cooking, check out my "Yummy Things" board.  Here are some photos of things I've made (I'm not a food blogger so I was not diligent on taking photos of the process, final product, etc)

White Chicken Enchiladas. They were soupier than I think they were supposed to be, but still tasty!

Pulled Pork in the crock pot - cooked with Diet Pepsi!

Pulled Pork Sandwich and our sliced potatoes - very good.

Charlotte's Birthday Cupcakes baked in a cone! Just like I remembered as a kid :)

And no photo of the ravioli. We did add some pizza sauce to dip them in and that made them even better.

I also get to dream about my future house!  Knowing that the home we are in is not a permanent one, and that we'll be moving again within the year, it seems to make this more exciting.  I know there is no way I am going to do most of the stuff I am pinning, but it may inspire me for some decorating of my own in the next place!   We would also love to build a home sometime years and years down the road, so I can already start some research, right!? ;)  Check out  my "Home Ideas" Board. There are also tons of tips and tricks that I can start doing now or save for my future home(s) on my "Smart Thinking" Board!  Anything from a easy way to hang frames, how to best store produce, or great organization tips.  I always find great ideas in magazines, but you never get to remember them.  Now I can pin them and know I can come back to them later.  Genius :)   I haven't done anything from these boards yet, but I'm planning on it!  This is my latest project that mom and I did, while I didn't get it from Pinterest, it is artsy so I thought I'd throw it in here:

All the shadows make it look crooked... or maybe it is crooked :(

I have a board, "Pins for Charlotte" that has, guess what? Stuff for Charlotte! Activities, room ideas, party ideas, etc.  I have done 3 of these so far - which is huge for this non-crafter! and have 3-4 on my to-do list for the next week or two.  Again, Pinterest is great for organizing all those great ideas and knowing where to go on a rainy day to find something to keep us entertained!  I think it'll help me be a better mom, ha!   Here are some of the great things we've done so far: A balloon curtain and butterfly art during her birthday party, and today crayon art!

The girls had so much fun running through the balloon curtain during the party!  It lasted much longer than I thought it would too :)

Our craft during the party was a butterfly made out of their footprints!  I'm realizing now that I should have done the feet the other way to make it look more like butterfly wings... oops! :)

We glued crayons to a canvas and melted them with a blow dryer!

Finished product! Definitely like the reds more - the blues turned too blackish. Still, fun art for the playroom!

So there you go. My latest obsession!  If you want a Pinterest invite, just let me know!

Autumn Crafts

This post is going to make me look a lot more crafty then I actually am :)  The crafts are either made at the library's story time or ideas I pulled off some websites, but I thought it would be fun to share the crafts that Charlotte and I have done.  On a side note, it's funny how its story time for toddlers but the mommas end up doing most of the work!

Our first craft at our new story time was about falling leaves, so it was a pretty simple project of glueing leaf cut outs on a piece of paper.  But, it was C's first time to use the glue stick on her own, so she had fun.  And it's a pretty on the fridge!



For Halloween we made a spider at the library.  It was really easy, just a small plate turned upside down and colored black (or in C's case any color) and then we accordion-ed 8 black strips of paper to be the legs.  Top it off with some googly eyes and you have a spooky spider!



We made a pumpkin during the library's trick or treat event.  It looked like a pretty simple idea - glueing the strips together at the bottom, then pulling them all up to the top and glueing them together at the top.  Slap on some leaves and you've got a pumpkin!  Somehow this mom screwed it up and our pumpkin turned out totally lopsided!  Oh well... it's cute, right??



This past weekend Jeff's parents came down to Huntsville to see the new house and visit C of course!  Charlotte loved having them here, and we talked about the next time we were gonna see them - at Thanksgiving.  Well, for a 2 year old, we deal in the matter of "tomorrow" not 2 weeks from now.  So we made a paper chain to count down the days until Thanksgiving!  I've been trying to explain that we only tear off one ring a day just like we only take 1 vitamin a day (weird analogy, but she understands it!)  Then we count the rings and talk about how it's that many days until we get to go to Granna and Grandad's house.

Anyway, I got out my scrapbooking scissors that are somewhat child proof and cut out cool patterns.  So Charlotte got to do some cutting for the first time and loved it.  Of course she burned out pretty quick and I finished the cutting.  Charlotte got to help with the stapler, but we ran out of staples, so we resorted to glue!  It was a fun little project to do.



Today we had a turkey craft day!  We traced Charlotte's hands and feet to make a special turkey for daddy to decorate his office at work. She usually loves having her hands and feet traced so this was the perfect craft for us!  The brown turkey is actually made of her two feet traced (without defined toes) and laid on top of each other, spreading them out just a bit at the bottom.  Jeff thinks it looks more like a potato, but oh well!  Charlotte loved being able to do all the glueing and putting the eyes on.  She was super excited to show daddy when he got home.



We also had to have a turkey to put on the fridge, so we made a Thankful Turkey.  On each of the turkey's feathers we wrote a name of someone we were thankful for - Daddy, Mommy, Granna, Grandad, Nan, and G.  (sorry to everyone else, we had limited leaves!) I think he is a pretty cute turkey!  This is something I hope we can do every year to remember what we are thankful for.



That wraps up our Autumn crafts!  If you have any cute winter or Christmas ideas, send them my way!  I want to be more proactive on doing arts and crafts with Charlotte a couple times a week, especially things she can do more on her own and less that mom has to do!   Happy Fall everyone :)

What a Beautiful Morning!

If you read our potty training post you know we have been cooped up inside most of the last week.  So we took to the outdoors today!  Charlotte has been begging to go outside and I finally feel like she is up to the challenge!  It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day - sun, clouds, nice cool breeze.

We started out by going for a walk, we usually only make it a house or two away and today was no exception. We found this little field and she had so much fun just running and jumping around.  I love these pictures of her - just 2 year old fun :)  (Ok, I'm taking the easy way out of things and putting all the pictures in a gallery instead of posting them one by one under their applicable paragraph.  Forgive me dear reader. Click on the photos to make them larger)

Next up - flying a kite!  We bought this Yo-Gabba-Gabba kite like last year sometime and have yet to use it!  Now we have a yard big enough and today was a easy windy day so Charlotte and I decided to give it a try!   We had soooo much fun!  It took a bit for me to remember how to fly a kite :)  Then I had to fly the kite, figure out how Charlotte can help, and take photos for the memories of course!! I took some video too, I'll try to post it over on FB, I dunno if it will work.

After kite flying we spent a bit long riding scooters and such, Charlotte had a really good go at peddling her trike by herself.  So glad we got outdoors today and got some fresh air!!! Hope we can do it again tomorrow too.

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Potty Training!

We have delved into the wonderful world of potty training!!  I was a little apprehensive because in our discussions before about potty training, Charlotte said she only wanted to go in her diaper, she didn't want to go on the potty.

Tuesday - we went to Target and she picked out her big girl underwear (Minnie Mouse), pull ups for nap time and bedtime, got step stools, prizes for poopies, and smarties for pees.  That night while she was sleeping I got the bathroom all ready!  Prizes, toys, sticker chart, books, seat, stool, etc.  I was pretty excited :)



Our rewards:  We have a great sticker chart too, she gets to pick out a heart or butterfly or star to put on her chart if she pees or poops.  Then for pees she gets 2 smarties, and poops she gets to pick a toy out of the bowl (I picked up a few toys at the dollar bins at Target)  I'm writing this on Tuesday and we have pretty much forgotten about smarties and stickers, just hanging on to the toys for the poops!



Wednesday: Charlotte was actually excited about picking out her pair of underwear when she got up!  We set the timer on my phone for 15 minutes and C got to pick out her ringtone noise (the Xylophone)   Thus began our day!  I read in a lot of books and such that you had to give them a lot of juice so their bladders are full and they get used to the feeling of needing to pee.  Its hard to know if it actually worked or if we would have made the progress we made without it - I do know though, that it gave us a lot of huge accidents!   Carpet, hardwood floors, tile, her pottery barn chair... I think we had 7-8 accidents all together.  I finally made her sit on this little mat to watch her shows. :)  It did look like my 15 minute timer worked though!  She got all excited when it went off and we ran to the potty.  Finally with all this, we finally peed in the potty 3 times!  I was frustrated with the accidents - I felt like I was cleaning up pee all day!  But the fact that we got 3 times in the potty, it felt pretty successful.



Thursday:  We continued with the timer method!  She wouldn't go at all in the morning, even through like 3 timer rounds, and then playing kitchen we had a major accident - I guess I learned she can hold it when she wants too!  haha.  However, once we had this accident, the rest of the day went great! She had no more accidents but went on the potty many times.  We are using pull ups for naps and bedtimes, it seems like she is saving her poops for the pull ups cause we had that happen today!



Friday:  She has really started understanding the feeling of peeing and gets so excited when she realizes she has to pee, runs to the toilet and hears it hit the water - so fun!  I've had a couple times where I've just about cried because she was so happy and I was so happy.  We had out first (and so far only) poopie on the potty.  I think it was a fluke, she was trying to toot and ended up pooping - she was so very proud of herself and she got to pick out a toy!  It was a fitting choice - noise putty that makes tooting sounds, and she loves just throwing it around and squishing it.  She really wants the other toys in the bowl but she knows what she has to do to get them :)



Saturday: We stopped using the timer, Jeff and I were both home all day and were able to double team her so we could see when she needed to go and she got really good at telling us too.  It was so cute, she even told Jeff "I don't want to pee on your floor!!!" and took off running out of his office to get on the potty.  She did tinkle a bit on her way but the fact that she was able to hold it in as much as she could and didn't let go til she was on the potty - 2 thumbs up kiddo! She did start putting up some resistance when we would ask her to go and she said she didn't need to - like we make her go when she wakes up or lays down, its time to eat, etc.  I was very proud of another day with no accidents.

Sunday: I was a little nervous because as of yet we hadn't been out of the house with her in 4 days, and we were gonna head to Spring Hill!   Jeff was invited to go the the Titans Bengals game, Charlotte and I can't turn down a trip to see friends and family and the potty training was going really well so I thought we'd give it a try.  We did put a pull up on for the trip, but even when we arrived at my parents house she was dry and peed on the potty immediately.  Yay!!! I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I was happy about it. :)  I had packed my bleach cleaner and carpet cleaner because I was so afraid of Charlotte having an accident at my parents or Nana's house, but she was fine!! No accidents either place we went to!  What a big relief for this momma :)



Monday:  Jeff, Charlotte, and I were all under the weather so Jeff stayed home from work.  We watched way too much TV (as we have been since this potty training thing began.  Most of our accidents happened while playing and getting side tracked, so Netflix has been our friend) but we just enjoyed relaxing and hanging out together.  Again, a day with no accidents!  She is starting to refuse to wear pull ups at naps and bedtime, but we haven't gotten up dry yet so I don't think we are quite ready to give them up! (I love her little wedgie in this picture! lol)



Tuesday:  We played outside!  I have been afraid of playing outside cause we'd get so distracted playing and have an accident.  Today we actually were outside for an hour taking a walk, flying a kite, and riding scooters and such and had no issues at all.



So what's next?  Pooping in the potty instead of waiting for the pull ups, staying dry overnight, and being able to run errands and go out to eat, etc  All in all, after a week of training, I feel pretty darn good about Charlotte and her progress :)

Halloween Weekend

We had a fantastic Halloween weekend!  We journeyed back up to Spring Hill Friday night, visited with friends to catch some of the World Series, and spent the night at my parents house.  Charlotte looooves sleeping at Nan and G's house up on the Ridge!  Saturday we just got to enjoy the day and prepare for the bonfire!

During Charlotte's nap Jeff and I got to have a little afternoon date - lunch and a movie, we saw "In Time" - it was great!  When we got back it was bonfire time!  I love having bonfire's at mom and dad's house.  I remember when our church was small enough that we all gathered at the Ridge to fellowship around the fire at least once a year!  Charlotte really got into the bonfire this year and was very excited about G starting the fire.  We had hot dogs, smores, and just enjoyed being outdoors with friends and family!

The next morning we got to head back to The Bridge for church - it was like we'd never left!  That afternoon Jeff and I got another mini-date - we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch Titans game!  It was nice just being together :)   When the game was over and Charlotte was done with her nap it was costume time!  She was the cutest ballerina ever!!!!

We headed to the Bridge for our church's annual "Trunk or Treat"  and Charlotte had a blast jumping in the moon bounce, trick or treating around the trunks, petting the pony, and seeing friends.

Our little family was exhausted that night and headed back to Huntsville.

Monday was officially Halloween, and that morning Charlotte and I headed to our public library for their trick or treating!  They had story time, crafts, and of course trick or treating around the different areas in the library.  It was a very nice and safe thing for them to do for our little ones.

Sadly, we got no trick or treaters at our door that night :(  I was all ready too!! I guess we'll just have to eat the candy.... oh well.... hehe

Enjoy the gallery below of all the photos from our Halloween Weekend!

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Tanglefoot

Hello everyone!  It has been just over a month now that we have called Huntsville Alabama home.  Well, maybe not "home" yet, but it is our new residence!   The house starting to feel homey though, we are getting used to where everything is and settling in well I think.  My mom and/or mom and dad have already been down like 5 times, Jeff's parents are coming down this weekend, and we have a couple friends that are starting to plan visits.  The next thing on our priority list is to find a church and start making some friends!  I have kept myself pretty busy with moving and Charlotte and all our Spring Hill trips already, so I haven't found time to really be homesick yet!  With all the holidays coming up, it may be awhile before I feel disconnected from life-as-we-knew-it, and I'm ok with that!  Anyway, enough of my rambling, I just wanted to share some pictures of the house.  Most of you probably have seen them on Facebook, but I wanted to make an official blog post too :)

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If you ever find yourself traveling down I-65 and want to swing by for a visit, just give me a heads up!  We'd love to see you all :)

P.S. Our street is Tanglefoot, if you're wondering why the blog title is what it is :)

Emotional Day of "lasts"

Today has been the most emotional one (thus far!) for me.  It is Thursday.  We move on Saturday.  Where did all the time go?

I had to contact the Williamson County Animal Shelter just now.  We haven't been able to find any other options for Brady.  He has driven me crazy lately, but still the thought of him not being around and even worse, being in a shelter with tons of other dogs waiting to be adopted... That awful ASPCA or whatever commercial with Sarah McLauclan is playing over and over in my head.  The lady I spoke with was very positive that being younger, and a small dog, with a specific bread, will find a new home easily.  Plus, they will make sure he gets all his needed shots and whatnot updated.  I think this could be a good thing.... Its just hard to actually do.  I don't want to take him and drop him off tomorrow.  Not one bit.

Charlotte and I went to our last story time at the library today.  Oh, I'm sure we'll find another one at the Huntsville library or Barnes and Noble, but still, this one is familiar and C loves going to Her library.

I have a friend coming over today to pack the last 2 rooms - the kitchen and playroom.  Once those are done, we'll literally have most everything packed.  I'm not ready for it to be done.  That means we have to move to unpack these things in a whole new house. I think the excitement of a new house, a new challenge, etc had taken over the last few weeks but it's a little more daunting now.

Charlotte spend her last night in this house tonight. Ever.  That make me extremely sad.  She has slept in her room since the night we brought her home.  2 years and 9 months of that being HER room and now it won't be.  C is very excited about her new house and her new room, etc.  She doesn't grasp the concept of what that means and what will change, I'm afraid for the time when it does sink in to her that we won't live in the house she remembers anymore.  We won't go to the Home Depot where her Nan works, won't go to the Bridge anymore, won't go to her favorite Target store, won't have her Daddy home every day.... won't, won't, won't.

We had our weekly play date with Allison, Hazen, and Laney Combs yesterday.  Had a great time at their house, and then at the park for lunch and time on the playground.  It wasn't until we were leaving that I realized that's the last time we'll see them as Tennesseans.  We have already talked about plans for them to visit us in Hville or us to make SH trips, but still... it won't be the same as living less than 5 minutes from each other and just getting together to play during the mornings.  Because I didn't realize that this was the last time I'll see Allison for a while (she is leaving to ATL tomorrow and won't be back til after we move) I didn't get to actually saw bye like I wanted.  Maybe that's a good thing...

Our last Sunday at the Bridge was Sunday.  Eesh.  The Bridge is what brought my family and Jeff down to Tennessee/Spring Hill in 2003.  (Jeff and I weren't part of the Bridge for a few years as we leaved in North and East Nashville, we came back in 2008)  Josh recognized all the website, video, and tech work that Jeff has given to the Bridge over the years... it seemed so final.  There were so many people I wanted to say goodbye too, but then it just felt like a normal Sunday and I know we'll be back to visit so in some ways it didn't seem necessary.   And then we were done.

The night before, we had our last "hoo-rah" with a bunch of people from church to hang out and watch the UFC PPV.  We love hosting these events.  I had a moment during the night where I just stood and looked at the full room as we pulled chairs in from all the different rooms so everyone had a seat and I wondered... when will this happen again?  How long will it take us to find a new group of friends, a new church, a new UFC bunch ;0), to fill up our living room?   As my mom pointed out, I love playing hostess, and the thought that I may not do that again for a while was a little depressing.

My dearest and oldest (old like we've been friends forever, not that she is old!) friend Sarah also came down Saturday afternoon and stayed the night and went to church Sunday.  Sarah lives in Bowling Green KY, which is only an hour and a half or so away.  It's totally close enough that every 1-2 months she'll come down for a weekend, especially if it is a birthday or special get together.  And she is friends with Josh and Jana Howerton and loves the Bridge, so that's an added bonus for Spring Hill visits!  Now with us being in Huntsville, it is going to double the drive from BG and not have the Bridge and the Howertons to share a visit with.  We've already talked about how she can still come to Huntsville, but I know it won't happen near as frequent.  I'll miss our times together!

Jeff's parents came down Sunday afternoon for lunch and to watch the Titans game.  They live in BG as well, but sadly we don't see them near as often as we should!  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a full or queen size bed for a guest bed instead of just a twin, and then they can actually come down and stay a weekend! We will be much more intentional about visits with them.

We had a last dinner with my parents too.  They took us to Pancho's mexican restaurant to celebrate Jeff's birthday.  I'm so used to my parent's being 10 minutes away.  We can just decide, hey, lets do dinner. We see them at church, they stop by the house just to say hi, we go out to the Ridge to use their hot tub.  It's easy and comfortable.  Plus, we have built in free and reliable babysitters that charlotte loves!  I know I'll still talk to them all the time, and we'll make many visits. But it won't be the same.  It won't be the same for my Nana either.  We would make pretty regular trips on Wednesday to play at her house and eat dinner (she lives in Nashville, about 30 minutes away from us)  We are all going to miss our time together.  She has already talked to my parents about making plans for her first trip to Huntsville, so that makes me happy :)  I love my sweet family.  Hannah has already moved to Cincinnati so I know I won't see her til Thanksgiving probably, but still, it feels different now.

Wow... this post went long.  I was just gonna write about Brady and our last story time... oops!  I guess is this probably more of a journal entry than a blog post that people will actually want to read!  So don't worry if you aren't reading this, or if you are and you skipped right over a bunch of stuff!

Oh and no, I didn't read over it and do any type of proof reading so no judgement!!