Brown Family Get Together

So if you read my blog, more than likely you know that my mom broke her hip a few weeks back. I don't know if I have ever experienced a weekend with such a turn of events! It started out as a weekend at The Falls Resort with my entire side of the family to celebrate my mom's birthday. We had the entire bed and breakfast rented out for just our family, the weather was crisp and cool, the trees were turning beautiful colors, and it was perfect. Friday was fantastic. We all hung out by the fire pit and just spent casual time together. This was the first time in a long time our entire family had a "getaway" together. Saturday was gorgeous and we all hit the outdoors. We took a long hike and the kids carved pumpkins. Then a photographer came for family photos, which might even be a Brown family first. Dinner was outside around the fire pit. Around 8 pm the weekend took a turn. Let's just say a coyote appeared, my mom fell, and the weekend was over. I am so thankful for the wonderful days we had as a family. I desperately wish my mom hadn't fallen because it was a scary night and has been followed by a long hospital stay, painful surgery, and a long recovery on her part.

My take aways from the weekend - I love my family. I am grateful for our time together and will not take a single moment of it for granted. I am thrilled my children know and love their extended family the way that they do. My mother is not at all a complainer!! (With a broken hip, you would be entitled to some complaining. Not her - I aspire to be like that!)

Here are a few of the great pictures we came away with from the weekend. These are the photographers, obviously due to copyright, but still favorites.

Kinsley is turning 3!

We had a sweet little birthday party for Kinsley today at KGA. There were 9 little friends that joined us for play, snacks, and cake. It was fun and I think Kinsley enjoyed it. For over a month she has talked about wanting a "Barbie" party. So really the only Barbie aspect was the cake, but she was fine with that! Poor Ella was in school and didn't get to join us. We saved her a piece of cake, though, so she was happy! This is the Birthday week of celebrating. Meme and Grandad came up last weekend, yesterday we took the girls to Disney on Ice, the birthday party today . . . When her actual birthday roles around on Saturday, we may not have anything left to do!

Labor Day Fun!

Since we were staying around here for Labor Day, and also because Ella had 2 days off from school, we decided it would be a weekend of adventures. We had no idea what that statement truly meant! On Friday, we woke the girls up and threw them in the car without telling them a thing. It wasn't until we pulled up in front of Big Splash Adventure WaterPark, in Indiana, did they find out what our day involved. It was a great day and we were at the waterpark over 7 hours. (With the soreness to prove it for the rest of the weekend!) The girls loved it, though, and we all crashed hard when we got home.

Saturday started our "camping" adventure. We decided we would camp in the backyard so it didn't have to be too overly involved if we realized we were in over our heads! I'll be honest, we aren't the usual camping family, so this was a new experience. Ella was thrilled. We put up the tent, blew up the air mattress, roasted hot dogs, and got the snacks ready . . For what you ask? Oh, for the movie that we rigged up on the TV outside to the tent of course! (Like I said, not true campers, and we know it and own it.) With about half the movie remaining, Kinsley was over it. I brought her back inside to get ready for her "inside" bed. A few minutes later, Ella walked upstairs - soaked! That's right, not a drop of rain in the forecast and it came a downpour. Luckily, they had moved the TV inside already. So dad chased the blowing tent around the yard and the lightning knocked out our air. So everyone came inside to sleep in our 87 degree house. It was honestly cooler in the tent, but with the rain, that wasn't the ideal option. So we made it through the night and then it came time for camping - day two.

This time, we put the tent up the living room, had smores, and it was a much better arrangement for the Cordrey's.

So, all in all, it was a weekend of making memories - fun ones, funny times, not so great memories (as we still don't have air!), but memories - a key element in parenting, in my opinion!

1st Day of School!

If you see any of our posts on Facebook, you know we had quite a bit of build up to the first day! We celebrated for what felt like a week . . . to the point where I was ready for it to start. We baked a 1st day of school cake (thank you mom for the idea), filled Ella's room with balloons, had a celebration night of fun a couple of days before school started, met new classmates for a playdate to curb first day anxiety, and the Back to School fairy even came to visit with some starting Kindergarten fun books for Ella.

The first day came and we were all up and ready to go. Uniform on - check! Homemade granola bars (requested!) for breakfast - check!, first day pictures - check!, leaving on time - check!, sitting in traffic for over 30 minutes - check! That's right - we were late for the first day of Kindergarten. The nice thing was that Ella wasn't the first in class, and she also wasn't the last. (It wasn't like we were the last car in the line of traffic.) It was probably a blessing because it was a mad dash to the classroom, put away things in the cubby, and get her to her seat so Mrs. Wagner could start their day. No time for sentimental thoughts, tears, or long goodbyes. So needless to say, we all did fine. And mom will never forget that her child, yes this teacher's first born, was late to the first day of Kindergarten. Off to a strong start! Don't worry - by day to we were extremely early. Now we just need to work on finding the middle ground. :)

Her prayer that night was "Dear God, please let tomorrow at school be just a great as today. It was wonderful." Precious. Our daughter is in love with Kindergarten, and I fall more in love with her sweet heart.

Summer Update

So just for a few quick updates:

- Ella went to camp at White Mills camp for the Overnighter camp. She loved the camp, but wasn't too thrilled with the over night portion. She mentioned that next year, she will be coming home before bedtime.

- We made one last trip to Caneyville before school started and got to visit all the cousins, aunts & uncles, as well as Meme and Grandad of course.

- We had a recent family addition - actually two. Cupcake and Cody (which is the current name of choice for every stuffed animal, baby doll, and pet for Kinsley). If we are getting technical, this is actually a picture of Cody II. Cody I lasted all of about 13 hours - nice.

We are off to celebrate last evening of summer before Kindergarten!

The looming date . . .

Three short years ago, when we moved to Louisville.

Do you ever have a negative countdown? What I mean is . . . "Three more days until vacation is over", or "two more weeks until the big move", . . . When you count down to something dreaded. This leads me to - we are in countdown to Kindergarten. In all honesty, I'm trying not to allow it to be a negative countdown. For Ella, it is exactly the opposite. She is so excited. For me, I feel like it is the countdown to change. I think I am starting to process it a little better, and honestly will probably be just fine one week in when she is settled and happy and our new routine is underway. It is just the unknowns. We have lived here in this home for exactly 3 years (almost to the date). I have been blessed to be home with the girls during this time, and work at their preschool. Change is coming in less than a month :)

I am a creature of habit, a lover of routines and predictability. I know, I know - not all change is bad. We have been through several moves, new jobs, new homes, new additions to the family. All have been great. I know I will miss her, though, and this precious time together. Lots of people tell us that this age is the best, don't wish it away. I'm not - I'm dreaming of time standing still and being in this place of innocence, preciousness (yes, I'm sure it is a word when referring to your sweet little preschool children), and simple joys.

I am just thankful - thankful that I have been able to be home with the girls this past 3 years, and thankful that we strive to prioritize family over a busy lifestyle. I often miss the girl who has disappeared for awhile in place of this mommy at home, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So Kindergarten better watch out - the sweetest little 5 year old is about to take it by storm. (Really, if you know her, "taking it by storm" is probably over the top strong with her personality, but you get the point) She is ready, and mommy knows time can't stand still. I will cherish all the future moments just as much, if not more, than all the past ones.

Sweet summertime

Potty Trained!!

Hello Summer!

Let me explain my lack of keeping up to date on postings . . . It's Summer! We have enjoyed the beach, working in our garden, laid back lazy days, local attractions, ice cream outings, get together with friends, and late evenings in the backyard. It has been wonderful. We went to Santa Rosa Beach, FL, this year. It was fantastic. The beach was beautiful, Ella officially learned how to swim independently, and our sweet family of 4 relaxed together! We even went to PCB one day to partake in some favorites - Sonny's BBQ and the kiddie rides at Emerald Falls Park. Some traditions are too good to break. Since we have been home, we have tried to enjoy our time each day and take every opportunity to maximize the summer. We had a great "Brown" family picnic on Memorial Day at Freeman Lake. We also had some of our great friends from Chicago visit a couple of weeks ago. Ronnie and I went to the Michael Buble concert and ended up front row for part of the show - it was great! The girls got to attend another cooking class at Adrienne's Bakery, one of our favorite sweet little local shops. The rest of our summer probably entails more local outings, as well as simple and laid back times at home - Perfect! Here are few favorite photos from summer so far . . .

Taylor Swift sums it up the best!

Do yourself a favor - scroll down through the music play list and listen to "Never Grow Up". I love it and feel it should be the blog theme song, as well as our family theme song at this state of life. I love it - you will too. Get the tissues ready!:)

This is Happy Easter, Hear the Bluebirds Sing!

I can't think of Easter, and not think of a few favorite lines from old Easter hymns we would sing at church growing up. I'll be honest, that line is probably all that I remember for that song - I think then I would have to go into the "avoid the word" hum, so we can move on!

Easter was great this year. We went to Caneyville and spent some time visiting with family and had a few egg hunts (the church, as well as the "cousin" hunt). Ella found the prize egg at church and was estatic. I'm not sure who was more excited - me or her! I remember always really wanting the prize egg, but it was usually always Marita or Tyler that would find it. Strange what sticks with us, right? Bless her heart, though, she was willing to give away anything out of her prize that Owen or Kinsley wanted. Such a sweet spirit - I find myself praying often that I don't do anything that might crush her generous heart or spirit of thoughtfulness towards others.

We came home, and what a blessing! We had amazing weather the whole trip back, which is saying something since the storms probably let up for the exact amount of time we were on the road. Easter Sunday was very low key, which was nice (especially after Ronnie had 5 services). The girls loved their basket treasures and new lunch bags from the bunny. Apparently, the bunny inadvertedly changed things up this year and didn't do the "hunt" around the house for the basket with clues like he did the past two years. I guess it slipped his mind that he had created a tradition and didn't realize it. I'm sure he will be more on top of that next time around!

On schedule for this week - figuring out something to do to help the victims of the Alabama diaster. We'll keep you posted!

Gatlinburg Spring Break

What a fantastic, relaxing trip we had last week to Gatlinburg! We had never been during nice weather, and we loved it. We hiked, saw a bear, enjoyed the outdoors and 80 degree weather, and spent a lot of laid back time just as a family. I'll be honest, we purposely try not to just throw money at things on a vacation. I don't know if it is 100% to safe money, or more just to help our family see spending money doesn't equal having a good time. The girls love to ride the kid rides there close to our cabin, so we are always frequent visitors there. Ella has discovered "mining for gold". She seriously gets it honest and probably inherited whatever gene is connected to that sort of thing. I LOVED this up until probably college (and only that age because that is the last trip I remember taking there and pursuing the gold mining endeavor). Other than that, we usually enjoy the "hot pool", a.k.a. hot tub at the cabin, enjoy cooking dinner together at the cabin, visited some local parks, and some of the great hiking / outdoor trails. We also like to drive into Gatlinburg (we technically stay in Pigeon Forge) and just walk the strip. If you haven't learned by now, we are simple people and pretty easily entertained! It was a great trip.

Circus!

I remember going to see Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey as a kid. When we heard they were coming to town, I knew the girls would love it. Ella was amazed and sat in her seat watching the whole time. I'm pretty sure Kinsley didn't sit down for one second. She jumped, danced, and waved while screaming HI to everyone and every animal the whole time. I enjoyed the circus too - almost as much as watching our sweet girls experience it for the first time!