Brick Pond

At the end of March my pregnancy became really hard physically and mentally.  My doctor was positive I would come early because of my past history and mentally I was not sound at all.  After thinking it over and over Darin and I decided to ask my mom to come help me with the boys.  We really wanted the baby to not be premature and for me to be healthy.  It was such a blessing that my mom could come.  We did a lot of walks while she was here at Brick Pond and spotted a lot of critters...

 We saw 8 different alligators while she was here.  This was the largest we spotted...

 

 If you look closely in the weeds you will see another gator.  They were everywhere when we finally knew where to look...thanks to photographers that watch the park often. 

Visiting India...

We found out that our little neighbor India was in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) dealing with some strange muscle issues.  On our way out of town we decided to stop and give her a cheerful visit.

We then spent 3 hours searching for Darin's phone that was left in the conference room at the hotel.

Allentown Friends...

 We were only in Philly for a weekend and I knew there was a big storm coming in so the kids and I dropped off Darin at the hotel and then headed to Allentown to see some friends. Stacia was sweet enough to let us stay the night at her home.  I guess the drive was so exhausting on this pregnant mama because I fell asleep putting my kids to bed and didn't even get to visit with Stacia.  

 The kids had so much fun playing together, and my kids were so happy to be out of the car and able to play with toys.

 We miss all these boys so much.  They are all such great friends and really were Nash's brothers for years before Asa came along!

 We spent a couple of hours with the Bova family too.  They were our first friends in Allentown and I couldn't come into town without stopping by.  We love their family so much!

We didn't have time to see anyone else as the storm was about to hit and we had to get down to Philly before it got too bad and I got stuck on the turnpike.  I am so happy were able to see the Smith's and the Bova's. I wish I could make a world where I could have all my friends in one place.  I miss all of them so much!

Peds Conference in Philly...

Darin had a Pediatric Emergency Conference in Philadelphia in March. Darin wanted to drive rather than fly, and insisted we go with him. 

I wasn't all that excited about going because the pregnancy was not all that comfortable and sitting in a car for 12+ hours didn't seem like a load of fun.  Also there was a looming storm coming to the Philly area which hit two days into our stay.  This is what it looked like outside our hotel...

 Which made me NOT want to go outside much with the children.  SO I made them do a photoshoot with me.  Our hotel room was so nice with incredible lighting!

 Asa was calling Granny on my lens cover...

Nash wasn't as cooperative as Asa...

 If you ever need to kill time bathtime is always a sure win.  However I didn't have any toys so shampoo bottles and room service pans make GREAT toys!

Camping in the Living Room...

Darin was the 11 year old scout leader and Nash got to go with him each Wednesday night. Darin isn't home a lot so it was his way of spending time with Nash.  Nash thought it was the greatest thing EVER!  The boys were getting ready for a hike and camp out.  Nash was determined to prepare so he asked me to set up the tent in the living room.  I text Darin at work with a picture of the tent and said "Guess where you are sleeping tonight." :)

 I set up the twin air up mattress for Darin but Nash felt he needed it for him.

  They had to have a fire too...

I don't think Darin got much sleep.

Terrible Twos...

Asa started his terrible two's a couple of months early when he decided to make our kitchen into a beach with the cream of wheat...

Ice Storm 2014

When we moved to South Carolina we were told it NEVER gets cold.  They said to get rid of all snow gear.  Well our first winter here the South experienced a HORRID ice storm.  I have never seen anything like it.  The weather became bitter cold and the trees started to crack from all the ice.  Trees were snapping everywhere and taking out power lines.  We lost power for 3 days and others were out for a week!  Luckily we had gas fire place that kept our home nice and toasty.  This is how we spent Valentines Day...

We even made a family valentines card...

 The boys enjoyed playing in the snow but I wouldn't let them go out there for long for fear of a tree falling on them!

Notice the tree leaning on the other trees...

 We lost a lot of trees that just snapped in half.  It was crazy!

 In the middle of the night I heard a loud crash.  I thought a tree fell on our house but when we looked outside we couldn't see anything.  In the morning I saw this big branch is what hit our house.  I am glad it didn't go through the window.

The clean up was fun especially with this cute little helper!