Fresh Mommy: September 2011

North Meets South

Ater seven busy days and nights, littered with more boxes and seemingly making bigger messes after opening each one instead of it resulting in a more organized home, we left it all behind and crossed the bridge that separates the bay from the white sandy beach of Clearwater.

I closed my eyes and let the sound of crashing waves come in and wrap my soul in warmth... salty, ocean warmth. Little brother ran to the coast line and back, chasing the receding line and running from the white froth of an oncoming wave like it was his passion in life and sister followed daddy out to let the ocean caps toss her around a bit before digging her feet into the white powder beneath them.

We wanted to take our houseguests somewhere fun. You know, after making them help hang our TV and build our office furniture. So after plucking shells from their resting place on the shore, we headed to Frenchy's, a local favorite seafood joint and downed grouper and burgers, chips and gravy fries in the cheerful outdoor setting of yellow, blue and orange. Oh, and deep fried oreos, we ate those too.

And then jogged the 13 miles back to our house... or not.

This was their stage, and they danced, danced, danced.

But we did wave goodbye to a burning sky hovering over the dark waters as two salty and sunscreened little babes fought sleep in the backseat.

Though, when we pulled into our driveway, we had the privilege of carrying each one to their beds and tucking still-sandy feet under the covers.

It was the perfect juxtaposition to the fall show that is breaking out in my house. Starting with a pumpkin stuffed Chrysanthemum and an apple spice candle that's getting a workout each day, thanks to a couple of housewarming gifts from nearby friends, and the scent of our first pumpkin bread of the season.

And we can't have fall without the candycorn adornment on the counter, one of those random grab-it moments where I swipe it from the shelf as the cart whirls by.

I'll be digging in the garage soon (since there are no basements in Florida, our boxes are in the garage) to find the one marked Fall Decor to let the season fly a little higher in our home.

Because it definitely isn't happening outside of it right now.

With only a touch of sharpening, this is just how the sky looked, no color adjustments or other enhancements were done to this photo.

But this? This pretty much makes up for it.

Hump Day Dump ~ New Places

Welcome to our tradition here on Fresh Mommy Blog... on Wednesdays, when I try to be wordless, I'm just going to dump the previous week's photos from my phone. A little piece of where we've been and what we've been up to. And the resulting collage? Well, I think it speaks so much more than I could. Welcome to Hump Day Dump. Link up with us... whether wordless or word-full, one photo or many, you're all welcome here!

For more fabulous Wordless Wednesday memes, check out Supermom Alysha, 5 Minutes for Mom, Better in Bulk and Wordless Wednesday

Moving Days

by Chris... aka, Fresh Daddy

Relocating always brings a suitcase full of ups and downs. We decided to move our entire lifestyle and family from our suburb town of Flint, Michigan to the softer appeal of west Tampa Bay, Clearwater to be exact. I would be lying if I said, “This was my dream place to live!” Actually, my wife and I have visited Florida on many occasions and love to VISIT Florida... but moving there is an entirely different situation.

I love to explore and venture into my new world each day. I love to discover something I rarely experienced in my former dwelling place. For instance, when I relocated to Oklahoma for college, I went on a walk one morning and was excited to discover some neighboring farms with cows leisurely grazing about. I was thrilled to encounter such a rarity to what my former city had offered. Now, it is not that I had never seen a cow before. But the mere fact that I could have a talk with a grazing cow on a dirt road within a minute’s walk to my house was altogether AWESOME to me. I digress… I have been taking in all the scenery of our new hometown. I stumbled across this sign and once again… I am excited to be a part of something different than my former residence. Sure, I miss some of the routines and landscapes of Michigan. But I choose to find beauty and bewilderment in all my surroundings and make the most of them. So far, the incredibly fast rising water in the streets as Mother Nature shows us how small we are during a two hour rain storm to the simple signs of BEWARE of ALIGATORS scattered in the background of everyday life, those are just a few new discoveries. I venture on in this new quest… ready to take on each challenge, but willing and purposed to share each discovery with my family.

Can’t wait to take my kids on a swamp boat soon.

Sunday Citar ~ Friendship

It's Sunday again that means it's time for one of my favorite things... Sunday Citar!!

Here's where we all share a quote or two... a favorite, a new find, a laugh inducing or tear inducing quote you love this week. (Citar = to quote in Spanish)

"Friendship is just a word, but my girls give it meaning."
~Anonymous

Just before our big cross-country move, I had the pleasure of throwing a surprise party for one of my best girls, Briony. Only a couple of days before her actual birthday, a large group of some of her closest friend's and family huddled in her favorite restaurant, surprising the staff as a seemingly never-ending stream of smiling people made their way to our end of the place, peeking through the window shades and waiting for girlfriend's grand entrance... it would be the first surprise party she's ever had, and we wanted to make it a good one.

After a few weeks of planning and sharing secret emails with her mother, my accomplice and the one bringing her into our lair disguised as a "family" affair, my heart gushed a little extra happy at the shy yet gape-mouthed smile she gave upon entry.

We were loud. We were happy. We attached shiny paper hats to our heads and blew party blowers into each other's faces. We shared stories, we gave toasts and caught flying food with heads tipped back in laughter. And most of all, we surprised her.

It was a very Happy Birthday to a dear sister-friend.

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And on that note, I do love my girls, and our fabulous nights out. Like a recent visit to Lush, for a private pampering party (Only $25, and you get $25 to spend in the store! And they didn't pay me to say that... I'm just sayin').

Just the scent of that place makes the corners of my mouth turn up... and so does the small, and quickly fading stash of bath bombs stacked on a pretty little tray on my bathroom counter.

This one happens to be one of my faves for soft skin, and I'm head-over-heels with this one for the kids.

Enjoy the rest of your hopefully not-so-quickly-fading weekend!

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I would love to have you join the Sunday Citar inspiration and have all of us come to your blog to read what quotes inspire you! Simply write your own post on your blog, link within your post to my blog, and sign up with the linky below, leaving your name and the link directly to your Sunday Citar post. Just click here if any of that sounds confusing. There you'll be able to get the complete rundown, as well as learn how to link back to my blog if you don't already know how. Take a moment a visit at least three of the participants around you... you'll be glad you did!

Fall Settling

Toto, I'm starting to think we're not in Michigan anymore. To commemorate the first day of Fall, we're doing what we've been doing for the past three days... taking much needed breaks from the unpacking, working from home, organizing, figuring out what-goes-where and where we packed Aliyah's underwear by taking a dip in the pool and letting a little babe wait patiently for his mama to get in only to have him hovering the edge saying "Eddy? Nnn, two, tee!" (Ready? One, two, three!) before jumping in and then doing it all over again.

We're settling, and enjoying Fall very differently than usual... with the only remnants of what we know of this crisp, cool season being the Apple Spice scent wafting through our sun drenched rooms and a half peck of Honeycrisp left from our apple orchard visit the day before we left.

Brayden has been attached to my side, a clingy phase while we get used to this new place, and Aliyah has been exploring her new boundaries... so this mama's arms and patience is a little on the tired side.

All this to say, we're good. We're home... our new home. And I'll be back soon.

Hump Day Dump ~ Changes

Sunday Citar ~ New Beginning

It's Sunday again that means it's time for one of my favorite things... Sunday Citar!!

Here's where we all share a quote or two... a favorite, a new find, a laugh inducing or tear inducing quote you love this week. (Citar = to quote in Spanish)

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”
~Seneca

We will wake and spend our last 12 hours enjoying the fall season that has swooped in and made claim on our homestate of Michigan, enveloped in the love and warmth of our family and friends before we head out on a great adventure where state lines become a blur on the 1200 miles of concrete we cross as our family plants roots along the Gulf Coast of Florida.

For some reason I've been thinking back to the day Chris and I exchanged vows of unconditional forever love and I smile. For all of the wonderfully ridiculous dreams we shared, a couple more are about to come to life.

Today we say goodbye to a part of our history. It's the end of what I've always known... life in Michigan, and the beginning of something new and even greater.

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