* Kinsey with Cousins

Nolan, Nathan, Carter, Nicholas, and Harrison

* September Happenings

* Preschool Egg Drop

Carter and his buddy Mason ready to test their drop boxes!

Carter’s rocket ship protected his egg from breaking on the two story drop! Success!

* Onward We Go

Practicing for Carter’s egg drop, meeting Emmy Lou, first PSL of fall!

Sarcoma Stompers

A few weeks after my mom passed we were signed up to participate in the Winship Win the Fight 5k race to raise money for Sarcoma research. Our team raised more than $8,000 and we had an amazing turn out in memory of my mom. We had originally signed up hoping she would be there with us, but we definitely felt her on that day and know she was so proud of what we were able to do. Even though our team shirt did not win the contest, one of our runners won the entire race beating out thousands of other participants! She gave her medal to my dad and that was such a special way the end this day.

Thankful to have all these people in our lives loving us and supporting us through such a terrible loss.

* On the Anniversary

Mom would have wanted us to be together so we met in the memorial garden for some reminiscing and a quick prayer and then joined friends and family for dinner. It was a tough day. It’s been a tough year.

Impossible to believe. Impossible to comprehend.

A Year of Silence

It’s been a year of silence. A year since my mom passed away.

It’s been a year of great joy but also a year of incredible heartache that still grabs me at the oddest moments and brings me to my knees. Moments of having to explain to Carter why we can’t go play at Hattie’s house after school and trying to keep myself composed when Nolan points to a picture of me and my mom and says, “Mommy, Hattie!!” clear as day. Moments of driving down the road and having to pull over because the emotion of missing my mom comes over me so hard and fast that it takes my breath away. All of those moments combined and somehow here we are…a year later. There was a time when not posting on the blog for a week felt odd to me and I couldn’t wait to rush back to the computer and write down every single little detail of our life. But then she left us, and the desire to write went right with her. The words weren’t there. The day to day “stuff” just didn’t feel worth mentioning. We’ve definitely had plenty of good times since last September. Holidays, birthdays, celebrations, births and everything in between. I don’t want to give you the impression that I can’t appreciate those moments in life just because of what happened. But the excitement to share, to document, to remember wasn’t there anymore. There was a fog hanging over all of it.

Most days I look like I’ve got it all together. A lot of the times I do feel like I have it all together. But that pain, that intense hurt, that life altering sorrow is always there and it’s been a tough year trying to figure out what normal is now. How to act normal. Some days I don’t cry. Some days I actually am truly happy. It’s an odd thing, to feel happy but still be mourning all at the same time. I don’t know that I will come back to blogging regularly. The desire to document just still isn’t there. But I felt like I owed it to myself to at least check in. To remind myself where I have been and if I do come back to have this post to remind myself why it took so long to find my voice again.

So…all that to say hi. I don’t know if I’m back again or not but thanks for sticking with me. The prayers, emails, texts, and good thoughts have meant a lot over the year. I have made some amazing friendships with people from this little blog world and I am thankful to have all of you in my life.

 

* September is Here!

* Worth the Drive

For these views…I would drive any day!!

* HHI in 24 Hours

When we were in HHI to celebrate Grammy’s birthday, Kristin ended up having strep throat. She was quarantined for the entire weekend and we basically didn’t see her. Dad was really interested in making a move on one of the houses we had seen the weekend before but wanted all the daughter’s input. I hopped a ride with Lee, Sue, and Dad and we met Kristin in HHI for 24 hours! Dad ended up making an offer on a house and we turned right around and came home.

All of these are views from the new house’s beach!

It is third row ocean so although we can’t see the water from the house,

a quick walk down the boardwalk brings us to our own private little oasis!