Time for a change

After about 2 years of blogging, I finally figured out what my blog should be called! I know it seems so simple to name a blog, but if you look around in blog world you will see what a big deal it really can be. So with out further ado (what does that really mean by the way?) Please visit my new blog where all new posts will be  - Better Days.

I have to apologize now to all of my 12 followers for dragging you all over the internet from tales of the lives of Gracie and Caroline to littlebitandgrace, but now we're on to better days. It should be getting better ;) I would love for you to follow me at the new site!

Also, please read this post about why my blog is named Better Days.

Peer Pressure

There's nothing like a little peer pressure. Wednesday, I read Heather's blog about her bucket list. Today, I talked to Jen about her bucket list.  This makes me think about my own list - which has been in rough draft form for a few years now. I think I need to finish mine up and just go ahead and put it out there.

From what I can tell all bucket lists are based on each individual's perspective on life. My definition is simple - a list of things I would like to do before I "kick the bucket". These aren't mandatory to me and there are lots of things that are much MORE important than accomplishing the bucket list. I have a separate list of musts that is very personal to me.

1. travel to Boston with Jon - we have been talking about this since before we were married. A Red Sox game will be on the agenda

2. take Gracie to New York - she is so impressed with it. I have to take her there so she can see what it's all about. Ice skating in Central Park is a must!

3. take Caroline to a Dude Ranch - she LOVES horses and farms - this will be a challenge for me I think.

4. swim with the dolphins

5. take Jonas (our dog) to the beach

6. take Anna Kate to Disney World

7. take all three kids to Washington D.C.

8. plant a garden and harvest it

9. see London - still not positive about this one

10. make amazing memories with my family that none of us will forget! This one may be the hardest of all.

11. be a better blogger ;)

Happy New Year!

Back to Blogger

After being attacked by a no good, worthless hacker on my WordPress blog, I have decided that I just don't want to fight with that, so I am moving back to blogger, but keeping my domain - www.littlebitandgrace.com. I thought my twelve followers would like to know...

Crazy (sometimes) Beautiful Life & HHI Vacation

I finally feel like it's time to start keeping up with my blog again! Whew! That last month of pregnancy was hard on all of us! This picture was taken the morning we went to the hospital to meet Anna Kate.



This is where the (sometimes) comes in to the title since I'm not really feeling beautiful here!


We are all so thankful she arrived safely and is a healthy girl! Our world has changed so much since her arrival!





For the past 5 months I have been generally exhausted with life! Trying to keep up with a 10 year old and an 8 year old while taking care of an infant apparently isn't easy. Anna Kate has had lots of life experiences by now that the other two had never seen at this point in their lives. I can tell she is catching on quickly though.

Gracie and Caroline have proven to be awesome big sisters. They enjoyed a summer of playing outside with our neighbors and the occasional visit to a friend's house which was a welcomed break from the door opening and closing all day long for me! We had to get some WD-40 a few weeks after the baby was born because every time the door opened, the baby woke up, and I was ready to SCREAM! I love WD-40 now!

We have taken two trips since Anna Kate's birth. She enjoyed her first trip to the cabin at Oak Haven Resort in Sevierville.

It was really a good trip. The kids had a good time visiting with the Hall family. Anna Kate got tired with all the traveling and different schedules, but she made it okay too. We took this trip to meet most of the Halls for a family reunion. There was good food and fun for all. We rode go carts and Caroline let me drive her around the track...she may never want me to do that again because my competitive side came out! I think we won, but it has been a few months since the race.

It is a family tradition for us to go to the Chop House on the first night we arrive at the cabin and then we usually end up there at least one more time while we are visiting. We held to tradition on this trip and it was delicious as always! I guess that is just a small piece of Josh that we like to hold onto when we're there. He would order the biggest steak I have ever seen every time we went! I think it's called the DelMonico Rib-eye. I'm just waiting for Gracie to ask if she can order it one of these times when we go. I think I will let her just so she can say she ordered it.

We also just came back from Hilton Head Island. This was my first visit there. It was a really nice place and the beaches were prettier than I expected them to be. I have been to the East coast before and my memory of the beaches was not good...

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip - the colors just came out perfect - almost postcard worthy!

It was so windy when we first arrived! There was some rainy weather moving out and the wind was totally unbelievable! I took the girls to the beach on that first day - this picture shows just how windy it was!

Caroline is cracking me up here, but it really is that windy! I don't know if there is a picture of it or not, but one of the days Heather and I took a blanket to sit on while the kids played and the blanket ended up wrapped around us while we were sitting on it and the kid's toys were about half a mile down the beach by the time they caught them. CRAZY!


We did manage to get a family picture that I think will be on my wall soon!

I'm not thrilled with myself in this picture, but everyone else looks good...it's kind of hard to get 5 people to look at the camera and all smile without someone's hair getting crazy or eyes blinking, etc...

I love how the baby is looking at the girls because that is pretty much how it is when they are around.

Caroline spent most of the week hunting for shells and sand dollars while Gracie and Andy were more interested in getting out to the "big" waves. Caroline was very successful finding 3 sand dollars and 1 starfish. We tried to bring the starfish home but it was not happening - it broke into a million pieces. She gave one sand dollar away to a lady who wasn't as lucky as she, and we brought the other two home - one for us and one for Andy.


I can't say that we will go back to HHI anytime soon. We much prefer the emerald coast with its white sand and crystal clear waters, but I'm glad we experienced it. I don't know that I've ever been that close to a gator before unless I was at a zoo! There were some different things to do there like ride bikes! The kids loved being able to ride all over the place with us.





We were able to take the kids on that awesome Exploring Savannah tour that Jon and I took last year while we were there. Savannah is only about 45 minutes from HHI. It's a walking tour and the weather couldn't have been better! Anna Kate got to "ride" in her favorite position most of the time. The kids got to sit on Forrest Gump's bench and see Forsythe fountain. Mr. Bobby Davis taught us all about the great city in his own "southern" way! We ate chicken tenders at Spanky's on River Street and ice cream at Leopold's Ice Cream shop. I would recommend this tour to anyone!

If you get the chance be sure to ask Caroline about the "certificate of appropriateness" that she learned about. She has a great southern belle impression!

I have a few more things to blog about, but I feel like they deserve their own post. I will get to those soon...I think!

Jonas and Stella

I have been trying to get a video of this for several months. Each time Stella gets Jonas's toys, Jonas will just stand there and cry and bark and whine until we give her the toy. Here, Stella has a black tire toy that belongs to Jonas and even though this wasn't her best performance, Jonas ends up getting the toy :) At the end, you will hear Caroline say "Good Luck, Anna Kate" because she says that at the end of every one of her videos now. (If you haven't watched Disney's "Good Luck, Charlie" show, you should!)

I was thinking as I was typing this post about how we will soon be videoing Anna Kate instead of our dogs...we have about 9 weeks left until we meet her!!!

Sweet Caroline

Press play to enjoy a song while you read (because I have tried for at least an hour to figure out how to get this song to play automatically when you open this post)


These photos are being posted in the order that they were taken last night...It has become a bit of a family tradition to make a cake or cupcakes on the night before the birthday - usually because we are taking them to school the next day - so Caroline wanted her picture taken with her cupcake:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I think she was about to blow out the candle:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUT WAIT!!!! She forgot to make a wish!



 

 

 

 

 

 

These pics made me laugh this morning!

She was properly named Caroline by her Daddy - she just couldn't be sweeter if you ask me!

Happy 8th birthday ,  Sweet Caroline!

Memory Lane

Life is not measured by the number of breaths that we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Five years ago today, the world lost a truly great guy. His memory lives on through two beautiful little girls who I am lucky enough to call my daughters :)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Josh and Caroline:



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a good one of Heather, Josh, Andy, Gracie, and Caroline:




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We miss you, Josh!