Life in the slow lane

How do you slow life waaay down and make it seem like the days have a lot more time?

I have your answer: get rid of your car.

We are not crazy, we did not choose to be carless for 5 weeks, it has just worked out that way (but we only have 3 weeks left!)

Our car had problems and we thought it would make it through until we moved to Utah, then we were going to sell it for cheap.  Well, we were close, but it died right here in our parking lot.  Now we have been so grateful to our dear friends that have let us borrow their cars to grocery shop, get to many doctor appointments, make it to church, etc.  We would be sinking without you all!

We are still functioning, but at a much slower pace and in a significantly more awkward way.

It takes me back to highschool when I would ask to borrow a car, yea, pretty sweet to be back in that phase again, right?

The girls and I are not stir crazy yet and we have had so much fun walking to every park that is close by.  Often we don't even make it to the park because they are so excited about every dandelion that is growing along our way.  They pick each and every one and end up with darling yellow tinted noses from smelling them all.  

This has all been an interesting answer to prayer.  I was feeling like I was only focusing on us and what we needed to be doing, what things we needed to see, get done, etc.  Well, turns out there is lots to be done just within out little apartment complex and by being "stuck", we have had our eyes opened and are more aware.

I wanted to change, but didn't know how to notice the challenges other people were having.

It has been a blessing and a challenge, one challenge that I am glad will be ending shortly.

So what have we been up to with all of this new found time?

We were able to go to Caroline's preschool ice cream social.  She was raving about it for weeks and she and her classmate Liam had convinced each other that the kids were going to get 5 scoops of ice cream!

They would go on and on about it in the most adorable way.

Here are Caroline's vivacious teachers that make her just glow.

Daisy and BoBo the clowns were there and they called Caroline on stage.  The kids could not get enough of their silliness and parents couldn't get enough of watching their kids explode with laughter.

We are still growing a healthy, active little peanut.  My friend, Miranda, did an incredible project with these shirts she designed and it has been fun to mark off the weeks as they pass by!

Here is our sweet little baby at 25 weeks and 28 weeks.

We are now entering the 3rd trimester (see how the color of the numbers changes) which makes me giddy.

Overall I am feeling really good.  I am tired A LOT which scares me a bit because in the second trimester you have the most energy!

I don't really feel like cooking, which has been sad, but Adam is so fabulous in the kitchen.

We all enjoy feeling her push and prod at my stomach, and Caroline loves to guess what she is using to push..."I think that was her toes..."

We are so grateful that our family can be blessed with another little one.

Easter weekend was absolutely perfect.  We enjoyed a family home evening lesson by Caroline, who used  our eggs filled with symbolic things and scriptures to tell the story of the resurrection.  Olive even enjoyed it and sat for almost all 12 eggs.

The girls spent lots of time imitating these silly faces, they loved the cracked ones expressions the most.

I just can't wait until there are three of these little dears.

And a holiday, well any day really, wouldn't be complete without an animated reaction from sweet Caroline.  I know the picture is a little blurry, but it was truly the most adorable expression!  She had just opened her ballerina music box the the Easter bunny brought.  She then proceeded to prance around the room, twirling again and again, just like the miniature dancer.

Easter dinner was one that will definitely be repeated.  We ate with our dear friends and it was nice because with no car, we only had to walk two steps on the landing of our building to their door :)

Our neighbor from downstairs also joined which was fun.  

We had lamb kebab meat which was divine, pitas, a Greek salad, and garlic roasted potatoes.  

The adults all devoured several helpings of the main meal.  Olive did not, but she did lick the table clean after the most incredible brownie dessert!

{Outer Banks, North Carolina}

For Adam's final Spring Break, we decided to take advantage of the entire week off and we headed down to the Outer Banks.  We stayed at a beach house with two other families and we were about 50 yards from the water.  The little beach towns down in the area are packed with things to do and there are 4 lighthouses within the area that so charming to visit.

On one of the rainy days we headed to Jeanette's Pier that was recently rebuilt after Hurricane Irene.  We went to a craft class for the kids and being the offseason, we were the only ones there which was fantastic!

Olive was totally saying with those eyes, "Look mom, I am really trying to use my 'colors' so back off ok?  I am busy right now."  She is obsessed with purple and always says she has her 'colors'.  

The pier was really fun to explore with a couple of beautiful fish tanks to check out with bright tropical fish and also fish that are locally caught.  The girls loved watching people fish off of the pier and would have stayed all afternoon.

The Bodie Island lighthouse is one of my favorite that I have ever seen.

The beach was just amazing.  At night I kept thinking that I was hearing airplanes come in and land, but it was really just the waves crashing onto the sand.  It was a lot more soothing after I realized that :)

The Currituck Lighthouse was more impressive in person than on the picture that I saw.  It is the only unpainted lighthouse in the area and is surrounded by beautiful walkways that run along the water.  We spent a really long time here enjoying the warm day.

The girls loved hanging out with Orville Wright at the Wright Brothers Museum.  It was so fun to see where they took off from on their first glider and plane.  The spots are also marked where they landed the first few times.  I thought it was hilarious that the person that they got to take a picture of the first flight was a lifeguard that happened to be nearby.  

One of the darling families that we spent the week with was the Prince family.  They had a little girl and a little boy.  The Hamilton family also had two girls so the little ones had non stop entertainment!

Here are all the little loves enjoying the bonfire getting heated up.  I was so worried that they would all want to get super close to the fire, but they all just sat so mature like in their beach chairs and enjoyed the evening.  Adam is the cutest dad and bought glow stick wands that were a hit from the dollar store.  They were all in heaven.

I just don't think one can look more sugared up than this!

Brian and Adam went fishing on the pier one day and caught lots of Skate and also a Puffer fish.  The Skate are in the sting ray family and absolutely have the most disgusting mouths.  I will spare you a shot of it.

Caroline was completely shocked to see those skate come out of the water.  Her reaction was priceless!

Have you flown a kite lately? 

I think that the kite flying topped everything we did that week, even seeing the lighthouses which says a lot coming from me.

We bought a real nylon kite and they just soared up in the air and were so fun to control from down on the beach.  We were out there for hours just enjoying them flap around in the wind, it was so relaxing.

Digging in the sand was another favorite activity for Caroline and Olive.  They would just sit and dig and plow in the sand all day.  The beach is the best playmate for any kid.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse has the well known barber shop swirl for it's decor.  It's a toss up between this one being my fave or the Bodie Island one.  

Ocracoke Lighthouse is on an island that you take a car ferry to.  We almost got stuck on the island due to wind and a boat getting stuck.  While we waited to hear if we would be able to leave, we were able to do some shelling on the beach.  Adam was able to find a huge conch shell which is so cool.

Since we waited such a long time to get back onto the ferry, we were the beneficiaries of a beautiful sunset on the way home from the island.  Each side of the road was lined with beautiful bodies of water and the colors continued to become more vibrant.

The Bodie Island Lighthouse looked so picturesque in this light.  

I will go back to Nags Head anyday.