Time to say Good-bye!

Well the time has come to close out a Chapter in our lives and move on. Good-byes are never easy, yet change is always good and we are so excited and so blessed to be going back to Birmingham. There is NOTHING that we have wanted more! While living in Florida, we have been blessed to have some amazing people cross our paths and we hope to be able to keep in touch with you all. God has answered so many prayers and made this transition so easy for us. We are so excited to move close to our family and childhood friends again. It will be weird not having Kelly and Kevin and the kids down the road though, but it won't stop us from seeing them at all. I see A LOT of Atlanta trips in our near future as we meet half way with the kids. I think we may like those shopping trips in Atlanta, LOL! I still stop sometimes and really think that God is TRULY making our dreams come true. I have a very vivid memory from 6 years ago....dreaming about what is taking place at this exact moment in our lives. My BMW pulled out of Birmingham and I cried thinking we were leaving that place. Now almost EXACTLY 6 years later, my BMW (different one, LOL) is pulling out of Florida taking me right back to where I wanted to go. Prayers do get answered, but we had 6 great years to live, learn, experiment, and grow before the dream could happen. God taught me a lot about being who I am here in Florida and I really think I learned more by living here, than I would have if I would have stayed in Bama forever. I am glad to have had the opportunity!

So as we leave Tampa and all our amazing friends that have been a part of our lives here, we will miss you all and I will definitely keep the blog going. Keep up with us through the blog and continue to email us for sure! I know Alabama is not a "stop" for most people but if you are ever in the area, email me for sure and please come visit. I can show you some good old southern hospitality. As for Heather... who I know will be reading this.... you have to get to Birmingham soon because 33 years ago, he had a plan for these 2 blondes to live in the same place. Who would have EVER thought we would meet on Durrance Street in Florida and then move back to the same place!!! I am ready for you to be there and get to know all my fabulous friends and family that is already there. Now onto my little "cottage" in Homewood for a year and then we will see where we will go. When I say little I truly mean little, but its all about the area, LOL!!!

Wiping the tears away and now.... off to GOD'S COUNTRY! Bama here we come!

Short and sweet

I start out with this peaceful picture of a day in Florida at one of my MOST FAVORITE malls... Mall of Millenia in Orlando. I will miss it as much as International!!! Luckily I got a less than 24 hour trip over there. I needed it because this crazy, chaos house is driving me crazy!!!

The last few days.... busy busy busy, but have been fun! Here are a few pictures, not much time for words so the pictures will say it all! 2 more days... actually less than 48 hours. Super excited, yet soooo over the packing part! My life needs routine and Normalality (yes that is my invented word!!!)

The only reason I have a lot of pictures is because Jeremy's mom took them all! Otherwise, there would not be much to post right now. Charlee Kate is already in Bama, she flew back with her Nana

Eating popcicles which she absolutely loves!!!
Oh how we will miss Ayden and "Pooper" (Cooper is his real name, but Charlee Kate gives him the name of Pooper). Hopefully they will make it to Birmingham very soon because we are all so close!


Charlee Kate was such a "pill" this last time she got to play with Mae. I was so disappointed she was so ill but they still had some fun. We will miss Mae and Jacki! We did lots of play dates with these girlies!

Eating an ice cream cone... yummy!

I think she "sports the mullet really well" lol!!
Taking a "last walk" through the neighborhood. We VERY RARELY missed a night of walking with her and Chloe. They both loved it and she loved all the birds, alligators, etc... We will have to find a new route

Her "hide out" in an empty closet. She loved it and would want EVERYONE to get in there.

I love this smile!

Happy Father's Day!

What a wonderful, relaxing day/weekend that Jeremy and I both needed! Especially before the last move takes place and we have to get all settled into somewhere else. We had such a wonderful weekend and I hope Jeremy enjoyed it! He deserved a fabulous weekend. As I have said before, Charlee Kate is sooooo lucky to have such an amazing, patient daddy who loves her so much! I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband who does so much for both me and Charlee Kate. He truly puts us before him and has SO MUCH patience and a good attitude about everything. We thank God for him everyday!!

I hate that I missed getting to spend Father's Day with my own dad! We are so glad that in a week we will always be near our family for these kind of occasions! I am also very blessed to have both my granddaddy's alive as well. I can't wait to get home and see my family so soon and we will get to celebrate with everyone at the 4th of July celebration in 2 weeks, YAY!!!

So off to the last week in Tampa.... Jeremy's mom (Nana) comes in tomorrow to be with us for a few days then she will take Charlee Kate back to Bama. I can't believe the time is here! WOW, so many more friends to do things with before we are gone. Hopefully I will have time to get to all the posts this week!

Swimming at the pool on Father's Day!

Some last "firsts"

What a title right? Well we are enjoying a lot of last times at some of our "first" places here in Tampa. I will miss some of these places! It seems like every time I go anywhere, I try to get in a last time at some certain place. When I picked Jeremy up from the airport on Thursday, we headed to eat dinner at Daily Eats. This was one of our FIRST places we found in Tampa 4 years ago. We would always go there and eat, most weekends out of a month. This was one of the very first restaurants we took Charlee Kate too so we took her one more time. It was soooo yummy! I loved that little place.

Daily Eats Restaurant!

I have started lots of projects before we move back to Birmingham. I have been really motivated before we move!! Here we are at the Lowes getting paint. Charlee Kate loved throwing the paint scaples in the floor!

This was just another random picture from when Charlee Kate was playing with Ayden and Cooper in the sprinkler. I loved this picture so I added it in it

A little bit of summer time!

Off to just a fun day with mommy! I think she was mad because I was washing her "baba".... blankee!

Heading to the museum with Ayden and Cooper

I absolutely love love this summer and getting to spend time with Charlee Kate. If I could really be picky I would wish for 70 degree temps, but I guess I am stuck with 95. We have tried to do so many fun things in the middle of the packing, doctor's appointments, and everything else. Here are a few pictures of some exciting summer time activities. I love taking my "partner in crime" with me everywhere. She is a mini me... sometimes, LOL. So the countdown is on, only one more week and we are heading to Bama or as we like to call it "God's Country".

Playing in the sprinklers with Ayden and Cooper. She had so much and loved it. They had popcicles again and that was a huge hit, LOL!

This was another picture taken at the Glazer Children's Museum. I loved it!

Time to head to the Glazer Children's Museum with Heather, Ayden, and Cooper. The kids had a blast and it is a fun museum. The kids can play and do all sorts of things.

This is where they could pretend to cook

I still love these bloomers!

Oh they were so cute dancing! The lights were flashing and the kids were having fun!
Charlee Kate loves the mini "Publix". All the shopping carts were full so she would just fill up a Publix shopping bag.

Ayden shopping at Publix! She is such a big help to Charlee Kate and plays so good with her

This is what happens when Charlee Kate disappears and I don't hear anything for awhile. It was much worse. There was baby powder everywhere! At least it smells good!

Baby Powder everywhere!

We met some of our sweet friends for a walk and then time at the park. "Baby Jackson" went to Martys with Charlee Kate everyday so she loved him! She was so used to spending 5 days a week with him and she loved to "mother him". They had a blast together at the park. I am not sure why we have not been doing this a lot more.

Here is that Sweet Baby Jackson! He still smiles at the camera and stays still, unlike my little one who runs everytime she sees me with the camera. Kind of crazy that she does that when I have had it out from day one, LOL