Bittersweet....

And we ain't talkin' chocolate. We've recently been given some very exciting news, that of course comes with some bittersweet feelings. We can finally share with friends and family that Gabe will be the new General Manager and will be opening a brand spankin' new store in Murfreesboro!

This is something that has been in the works since Tate was a few days old. We didn't find out the final answer until just recently.

The current plan is for Gabe to be pulled out of the C'ville store in December. At that point we'll be packing up the family and making the move to the Boro. While we are thrilled for this opportunity, we need prayers for our family and the decisions to be made regarding housing, schools, etc.

After 3+ years here we've developed a family and such a strong, loving and wonderful support system. It will be very hard on all of us to say Goodbye to our life here. Please pray for our family as we go through these changes. I know we'll be fine, but prayers are what will carry us through.

Thanks to all of you! We love you!

Saturdays in the Fall

Hot cup of coffee, College Game Day on ESPN, Soccer and Football... oh how we love Saturdays in the Fall! We have a definite routine around here on Saturday mornings and I'm thrilled that today Daddy was around to enjoy in the routine of it all!

Today was Connor's first soccer game of the season. Of the 10 kids on his team only Connor and one other kid have played soccer before, so it wasn't neccessarily a stellar performance but was still fun to watch.

All in all things have been good here, but very very busy. The boys are doing wonderfully! Connor and Tate still play well together and love each other a whole lot. Life is going really great here these days!

And because it doesn't look as though we'll ever have daughter to put hairbows on, we have to share a picture of our pretty little girl and her haircut.

Back To School

Today marked the first day of preschool for Connor. At this point it's become "old hat" for him. I am still trying to hold on to the nostalgia of it all an capture every moment, while he is ready for me to drop him at the door without coming to a complete stop!

Conversations

Today was a day filled with the following conversations:

Connor and Mommy:
C: Are we still going to play at Jake's house today?
S: Yes.
C: Are you just going to leave me there and you go some place?
S: No. I'm going to stay and spend time with Ms. Lacey.
C: But you can leave and I will just stay there.
S: No, it doesn't work that way.
C: Fine. I guess you can stay.
S: Thanks Connor, that's awfully nice of you.
C: Yeah, I know mommy.

Moral of Conversation: I can dress, feed (even if it was an oatmeal breakfast cookie thing on the go) and drive him to a friends house and if I give him no other option I'm allowed to stay too.

Stephanie and Sister Christi:
We were talking about the whole working mom/stay at home mom. And how stay at home moms think their better because they don't work. And how working moms think their better because they work and take care of their family. The conversation went like this.
S: I don't think I'm better because I stay at home. I think I might lose it completely if I worked. I don't get how you do it! How do you manage to go to work and find time to go to the grocery store and run errands and every thing else? I went to take my recycling, go to Walmart and Kroger and it took me almost 4 hours with both boys. I don't know how you do it.
C: I go after work or try to run and get it done during my lunch break. Or we have to go on the weekends, which stinks because it cuts in to family time.

Moral of the conversation: You can stay at home with your kids and spend an entire afternoon running errands and getting groceries and everything else. Or you can work and still spend an afternoon or several early evenings running errands and getting groceries. Seems fairly even keel to me. Argument of the century solved?

Tate and Mommy:
S: Tate I love that you know how to smile and coo, but party time begins at 11a.m. not 11p.m.
T: coo.... laaa.... babble.... cooo.... smile... coo.... smile
S: Tate, really, we should go to sleep now.
T: Hiccup....smile....coo.... cooo.... hiccup....smile... coo.... smile
S: You're so stinkin' cute.

Moral of conversation: When you're two months old and cute as a button, it doesn't matter that mommy is operating on 5 hours of sleep and has a headache. Or that daddy is just getting over a 24 hour bug, you smile and you're in like Flinn.