Lately

Lately life has a little on the crazy side/not super busy.  Adjusting to life on a mountain has not necessarily been as easy as I thought.  Add in moving to a new city, Matt and I sharing 1 car, and a much much smaller house (850 square ft to be exact) and you've got some major transitions.  We don't live close to anything...and I mean anything! Can you believe the closest Target is 45 min away?!?!?  Can you even imagine?  Suffice it to say, it's been an adjustment from living in Atlanta.   

All that to say, we are starting to enjoy ourselves a little now!  Here's what's been going on around here!

We got a membership to the TN aquarium for Smith's bday gift.  It has paid for itself over and over and over.  He LOVES it!!

Gigi and Big Daddy came to visit and took us on the incline railway.  It goes straight up the mountain.  Smith loved it and LOVED seeing his grandparents.

A few weeks later a few of Smith's cousins came to visit!  His cousin Alli shares the same bday so we celebrated by having lunch and cupcakes at home then headed to the aquarium!

Cupcakes! My first attempt at making my own frosting and it worked! I'm not great in the kitchen, but trying to get better.  I also bought my first set of frosting tips, which makes icing cupcakes much easier (I know, I'm the last person on the planet. oh well!)

Party favors!

At the aquarium.  I love my nephews face right here.  Seriously one of the cutest kids ever.

I sure hope these 2 are best friends as they grow up.

Amazed at the stingrays.  

This was Smith's actual bday.  Matt leaves pretty early in the mornings so we got Smith up early so he could see daddy and have bfast with him.  

Birthday chocolate chip muffins.  He has started picking out the "special treats" and eating them.  This boy cracks me up.

Blowing out candles! He asked to blow out candles for days after this...so we did :)

Some friends came to stay with us for Smith's bday weekend!  Addy and Smith after bathtime.

At the aquarium...again :)

Dads and kids with the stingrays.  

The next weekend more friends!!  Katie and Jack Allen.  Derrick and Lucy stayed home this time, but we hope to see them soon.  We went down the mountain to the aquarium again and it started snowing!  The boys loved it!

Footie pajamas are just too cute!

Then we celebrated Vday.  My mom always made holidays so so special so I am trying.  It's actually not easy for me and I seriously lucked out that Wal-mart had some stuff in the .97 cent isle.  

And lastly Smith has been sick several times this winter.  Seriously NO fun.  Check out those arms and that face!  

I've started sewing again and have a few reupholstery projects I'm starting, which means I'm feeling settled and back to normal :)

I just added this set of pillows to my Etsy shop.

And I just 2 of these chairs from my grandmother.  I LOVE them.  They are going at our kitchen table.

This is the fabric I'm using to reupholster.  Can't wait!

Anyway, that's what's been going on around here.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Merry Christmas!

Here is our Christmas card this year.  Since we moved we decided to do a postcard with our new address on the back.  Saved a bunch of money, so I think I'll be doing this again in the future!  I had it designed by themunch on Etsy!

It didn't feel super Christmassy this year.  Probably because we have been focused on getting settled into our new house.  Anyway, MR.P, Smith and I celebrated together on the 22nd.  We made bfast, opened stockings and our gifts from each other, and just enjoyed a slow paced day (something we haven't had in a long time).  

Also, this is where Smith thought he was sleeping the night before :)  Didn't want to miss out on Santa.

  

Enjoying some coffee together and watching Smith play with his new toys.  I'm a new coffee drinker, so not sure if it counts since I put a fair  a lot of creamer in :)

Smith with his new grocery cart.  He decided to get in, which is ironic since he HATES to get into a grocery cart at the store unless it's one of those CAR ones.  Silly boy.

"warming" his hands by the fire...we don't have a fireplace, so this was the next best thing.

And "cheers!" before breakfast!

Later that day we went to see Santa.  This is me convincing Smith to sit on Santa's lap.  It did not work.  He decided a safer place was on momma's lap :)

We spent Christmas Eve with my family in Atlanta.  And this little man with his bow tie stole my heart.  I can't believe how big he is!!

Tough to get a good family pic where everyone is looking.

Then we spent Christmas Eve night and Christmas day with MR.P's family!

We had a great time spending time with our families.  Tough not being as close to them all, but it makes visiting all the sweeter.  

After Christmas was over I started to realize how unintentional Matt and I were about really sharing with Smith the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  We definitely shared the story of Jesus' birth a lot, but I wasn't able to do advent with him and we forgot to read the Christmas story when we did our little family christmas a few days early.  I pray that next year I'm able to do a lot with him and that he will then understand more.  Thankfully there is freedom in Christ Jesus and I can share the gospel with Smith every single day of the year.  Praise the Lord!

New House

So we are officially here in Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain to be exact!  We are loving it here so far.  We've visited our new church and our new community group...jumping in with both feet!  

Here is the new place :)

The move went great. We left my parents house Sunday and headed out of town on our adventure.

It was a little sad since we've never moved outside of Georgia.  And technically we aren't outside Georgia.  Lookout Mnt is half TN and half GA.  And we are on the GA side.  Anyway, the drive was only 2 hours and the little man slept the whole way. He was TIRED!  Matt drove the truck and I drove our car.  Once we arrived my sweet friend Joy and her husband met us there to help us unpack.  Thankfully they brought some more help. We had everything in the house before we knew it...thanks to their help :)

We are all settled now, though it took a few days.  Thankful to have all the boxes unpacked and to not live out of a suitcase anymore.  I definitely miss spending time with my mom, but I think it will make visiting all the more special.  

We are moving!!!

That's right, the Peele clan is moving! We are moving to Chattanooga, TN and we are so so excited.  Neither MR.P or myself have lived anywhere other than GA so this is a big adventure for us (except for me when I was 3 and that doesn't count).  We are going to miss our families and friends so much, but it's only 2.5 hours away from home, so we can see them often.  Anyway, the move is this month on the 18th.  Pray for us as we transition to our new home!

Smith and his cousin/brother

These two boys are best friends.  Smith and his cousin, Christopher.  They are 10 weeks apart.

It warms my heart to see them love each other so well.  But don't be fooled...this was them last week.

and that turned to this :)

My sister found out she was pregnant with a boy a few weeks before we met Smith's birth parents.  A week later we found out Smith was a boy.  My sister, Dani, and I were overjoyed that our boys would have each other in a sea filled family of girls!  (Smith and Christopher are #10 and #11 with 9 girl cousins ahead of them.)

So thankful they have each other. And thankful we (as well as our husbands) can raise these boys together.  Yep, Chris, I just talked about you on the blog.  You'll probably say, whatever, but I say whatever first :)

Smith Laughing

I have watched this about a million times. I cannot stop laughing!

Who knew pillows were so much fun?

5 year Anniversary Trip

MR.P and I have been married for 5 years now.  I cannot even believe it.  We were married on July 13, 2007.  It was actually a Friday.  Neither of us believe in superstitions so we didn't mind it being Friday the 13th.  It was supposed to be the hottest day ever with it being July, but it was perfect.  It actually rained a little bit!

Anyway, we feel so blessed.  We've been through a lot in the past 5 years, but we wouldn't change a bit.  Every difficult moment has forced us to remember the one who loves us most.  My faith has never been strengthened like it was the past two years.  God is good.  I feel like my words don't have as much meaning as I want them to at the moment, but that's ok.  I feel incredibly blessed and that's all that matters.

For our anniversary we decided to head to our favorite place! Seaside!  We left Smith with my parents and he had a marvelous time.  We got picture updates that kept us from missing him too much.  We stayed in Watercolor, which is now our favorite place.  It was the best 4 days of our marriage.  It was great to get away and spend time with just the two of us.  Because we have family, we get date nights on a regular basis.  For that we are SOOO grateful! But there is something about getting to spend the night out.  We had a blast.  I encourage every couple to get away if you can.  

I thought I'd share a few pics of our getaway.

We loved the place we stayed.  It was the cutest little carriage house over the sweetest family's garage in Watercolor.  I feel like we made fast friends with them! Hope we can stay there again.  The first day we were there we ate lunch and walked around all our favorite stores.  Then the bottom dropped out and drenched us.  It was pretty fun though.  Not having to put Smith in his carseat while I myself am getting soaked THEN put the stroller in the back and get a little more soaked was great :)  (for real, I absolutely love being a mom, but a small little break was amazing).  

We went out to dinner each night, which was great.  I'm not the greatest cook, so not having to stress over what to make that's healthy/easy to cook was such a blessing.  

We had beach passes to the Watercolor Resort and it was amazing.  

I seriously hope we get to go again.  We rode bikes everywhere.  To dinner. To shopping. And just for fun.  I wish I lived somewhere that people rode bikes all the time.  One day :)  In the meantime, we love where we live.  We loved our trip, but we loved coming home to our little man.  We missed him so much!!  Vacation is great, but home is so sweet!

This child is hilarious

This is what happens on laundry day :)

Happy Birthday MR.P

So MR.P's bday was May 10th.  We celebrated dad all week long with special treats.  One day was starbucks when he got home.  The next was dinner out at Five Guys.  So for his bday we made him a special "cake".  

The MR. and I don't really care for cake.  His favorite treat is a double doozie, so I made my best effort at them.  Oh and he loves baseball.  He was surprised and felt loved, which was my mission. 

That night my little sister Rachel came over to baby-sit (plus my brother Daniel) so we could go out with friends.  

We headed to a new dinner and a movie theater near our house.  Anna and Daniel (our wonderful friends who moved into our neighborhood) went with us.  

We had SOO much fun celebrating Matt's bday.  Happy 28th birthday babe! I can't believe that I get to be married to you.  Each and every day you serve and love me by going to work and providing for our family.  These past (almost) 5 years of marriage has taught me so much about God's love for us.  Through our marriage I am getting to know the Lord so much more.  Thank you for leading me and Smith.  He is one blessed little boy to get to call you "daddy".  I love to see how much he loves you.  I love you babe.  

Happy Birthday Smith!!!

I cannot believe I am writing this, but Smith is officially 1 year old!!  Our sweet little man is no longer a baby.  We had a birthday party with all of our friends the weekend before his birthday.  I'm not sure how we fit them all into our house!  

We had a cowboy themed party.  A friend who is raising money for their adoption did his invitation!

It turned out perfectly!

We took more pictures, but they are on my sister-in-law's camera. So these will have to do for now.

The birthday boy enjoying his cake. He wasn't quite sure how to handle total freedom to dive in :)  We had to help him out a bit, but then he loved it!!  

Smith and his buddy Christian.  His mom Lyndie and I. We love having boys so close in age!

My wonderful friend Katie and her family came as well! Smith LOVES her little girls Turner and Margaret.

Matt and great friends.

At this point Smith was already down for his nap...the party was a bit overwhelming, so we let him sleep for a bit.  Anyway, these women are great friends! 

There were so many other precious friends and family there.  I just wasn't able to get those pictures yet.  

 We appreciated everyone being there to celebrate our little man as well as God's amazing and unbelievable faithfulness.  I still cannot believe we have this sweet little man :)

Smith is growing soo much!  He started walking a few weeks before his 1st bday, which was very exciting.  He is talking/babbling up a storm!  The words he can clearly say are "mama", "dada", "please" (while doing the sign language as well...we worked VERY hard on this one), "stinky" (while waving his hand in front of his face...hahaha!), "tickle", "that" (while pointing).  

So thankful for this little man.  I can't believe I get to stay home with him each day.  Happy Birthday little man!!

Oh and one last thing.  On Smith's actual birthday we had some fun plans, but they were ruined when we went in to get him up and sing "Happy Birthday".  We picked Smith up and he was burning hot.  He had a temp of 104.  I am usually not one to freak out, but I definitely did.  Thankfully my mom knew what to do and his temp came right down.  We headed to the dr. just to make sure.  It was just a virus...thank goodness!   This is one healthy child.  He was back to his normal self by that afternoon :)  

Here he was before he was feeling back to normal...

If you know him, he is NEVER still.  Always has somewhere to go ;)

And feeling better and snuggling with mom :)