Little Mama

This weekend Ivy got the pleasure of inheriting one of my favorite things as a little girl. This was my mom's doll cradle from when she was little. Ivy is in love. She has been rocking her babies and singing to them. She calls it her "rocking chair." She has been waking up out of a dead sleep and wanting to rock her babies, she hops out of the chair mid meal because her babies are crying, and she is off to rock. She is such a little mama! I enjoy seeing her jump into this phase of pretending.... it is so much fun!

July 4th Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend!! We had our first family get together at our house on Friday night. It was amazing! Anthony and Chelsea got here first... after getting lost and driving a complete circle around Nicholasville. Haha- who can manage the streets of downtown Cincinnati and get lost in Nicholasville.... leave it to Unc! Ivy was so sweet with them, giving them the tour of her new house and having lots of fun in the yard. We ordered pizza for dinner and shortly after we began our meal.... MY PARENTS CAME!!!! My parents had been in France all week and I really missed them. I couldn't wait to have them at our house! I know they were exhausted coming basically straight from the airport to our house and having such a big time change.... I hope it was worth it to come hang out on Lefty Loop!

Ivy and Nana playing with the toys she brought her from Paris!

Ivy and Aunt Chelsea taking a break from golf, by the "barm"!

(yes, we have progressed from Esie)

*****

On Saturday, we hung out at our house in the morning and then got to Nana and Pops house a little before lunch time. My mom made an amazing (nontraditional) 4th of July lunch. Instead of doing a cook out in the cold weather (seriously... on July 4th), we had fish tacos, corn on the cob, and yummy smores dessert! It was delicious. Afterwards the boys and Ivy took a nap while the girls went shopping. We all went to church and then hung out for a while before Unc and Aunt Chelsea headed home. Ivy was so comfortable with them this weekend! I loved it. It melted my heart to see her so enamoured with everything about Chelsea and to see her giggle and cackle at Unc's silliness! I can't wait until we see them again!

So silly!! (She is campaigning for IT!!!)


Rubbing noses :) Special Pops and Ivy kisses!

*****

That evening, we were bound and determined to see fireworks. But seriously, it was cold and rainy!!! We were troopers and we headed to the high school to watch RJ Corman's fireworks. I felt like a real "Nicholasvillian".... I don't know if that is what we are called??? Haha. We put Ivy in her pj's and threw some chairs in the car. Ivy was entertained by all the people and then the fireworks started. She enjoyed them momentarily until about 5 firetrucks came because the alarms inside the school had been set off. Ivy loved the loud trucks and sirens and could have cared less about the fireworks. Greg and I enjoyed them until we were so wet and cold it was time to go home. Overall, it was a great July 4th weekend!!

*****

Guess what time it is??? Almost time for Ivy's 2nd birthday! I can't believe that another year has flown by this fast. Today I had so much fun birthday shopping for her. Now I just have to wait 26 more days... wow that is a long time.... to keep her presents a secret!!!

Discovery Zone

Moving to a new city (well, kind of), a new neighborhood, and having a yard for the first time makes for a large discovery zone. This week was a week of familiarizing ourselves with our new territory. We had a couple of play dates, so Ivy got to show off her new room! We spent a ton of time outside... in the garden, the backyard, and at the neighborhood park. Greg and I have realized what "yard work" really means. We can't believe the amount of time it takes to weed the garden and water all the flowers and veggies! Overall, this was an excellent first week in our new house :)

(I promise I won't blog about our "new house" anymore... I have just been so excited!!!)

Making a New House a Home

We are here! And it is feeling like home. We are loving the space and even more, the yard!! Ivy loves to be outside and that was the hardest part at the townhouse. This morning we watered flowers and the garden and Ivy was in heaven. She even picked the one ripe tomato we had, rinsed it in her bucket, and took a bite! We have met our next door neighbors (a very sweet, older couple) and we hope to meet more this week. We hear there is a family two doors down with a little girl who is 3! HOW FUN!! We are settling in to this new place called home. Here are the many pictures that were promised!

Greg mowing on his new toy!!

Love that I am storing most of Ivy's toys in the chest that was in my kitchen since I now have cabinets galore! It is wonderful to sit in my family room and not feel like I am in a toy store!

I am looking for a mini table and chairs for Ivy's room- any suggestions?

Last night we ventured to dinner and shopping and are learning our way around a new town. We already are enjoying life without Lexington traffic. We notice that we are in the country when we can see the stars so bright and I saw 2 deer on my run this morning! We have made our new house a home :)

Moving Day.... I mean week!!

On Monday, we officially closed on our new house! I had no idea what the week ahead would hold. I have never been a big mover. I have really only moved three times, with that being said I am no expert. And now that I have really moved this time- independent from my parents- I will say it is one of the most stressful things I have endured. It was good for losing 3 lbs in one week.... and good for a new house! Otherwise, it sucked!

In the midst of moving week we tried to take time out to remember our lives in the townhouse, have final picnics on the hill, and spending time at our new house to see what life has in store for the Smorstad family!

Outrider Way is where our family began... but we have outgrown the space!

Ivy and Rantz taking a break from swimming and enjoying pizza on the hill!

Ivy is excited to look around her new yard- discovering flowers, green "matoes", and a "barm" intact with her horse (only in her imagination)!

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Yesterday morning we woke up tired. Tired from a week of painting, packing, and keeping the townhouse spic and span in case of a showing. We missed our time together as a family and we were feeling the stress of the move. But as the alarm went off bright and early, for the last time at Outrider Way, we new the end was near! We were on our way to a new home on none other than Lefty Loop!

Ivy is ready to go!

Goodbye old house, hello new home!

We arrived to find our kitty cat, scared to death in Ivy's closet. Ivy was excited to "comfort" her with lots of Ivy loving!

*****

Last night, after unpacking our life, we slept good (Ivy included-yay) and woke up refreshed. We are putting the finishing touches on our house to make it a Smorstad Home!

Coming REALLY REALLY soon!
Pictures :) and LOTS of them!!!

From 1 to 13... really?

Ivy is all about the pretend play these days. She plays mommy, cooking, grocery store, cleaning, school, and you name it! Anything that she sees happening in real life she acts out during play time. I didn't think that she would ever play "teenager" but that's how I felt today.

Our 1 year old (I get to say that for a month longer) should look like this:

Until she decided with the help of an Easter egg she could look like this:

With the smile on her face... she looks pretty proud of her new buds!

I couldn't miss this photo-op that I will use for blackmail when she really is 13- haha!

The Story of an Impatient Girl

Ivy is a full blown two year old.... a little over a month early. By 9:30 this morning she had approximately 8 melt downs. If she was told no-- fit-- if she couldn't figure something out-- fit-- if I didn't come running when she called for me-- fit-- not wanting to get dressed-- fit-- orange shorts not green-- fit... I think you get the point. This is draining and never ending but sometimes you just have to laugh at their stubbornness! Tonight we got home from the grocery store and Ivy wanted to go swimming. I obliged, considering we tried to swim this afternoon just as it began to thunder. (You can guess what followed as we had to get out of the pool due to the coming storm- FIT!) So, I thought she was following me through the maze of boxes in our garage to go in and get on her bathing suit, only to see that she was headed straight to the pool. Low and behold I got to the backyard shortly behind her to see this:

In the pool, fully dressed- shoes, bow, non-swimmy diaper- and she didn't even drop her sucker on the way!

She was happy to play just like that until her diaper really started weighing her down. She allowed me to strip her down (no fit- YAY!) and then she decided she wanted to sun tan in her birthday suit!

It's a good thing that at the end of a day full of temper tantrums I still can say this little gal is the keeper of her Mommy's heart!