The Pattersons of Germantown

Where do I even begin? So many times over the last couple of months I have sat in this same spot on the couch, feeling the guilt over having not updated our blog. There have been vacations, birthdays, and life-altering decisions and yet the more that happened, the more overwhelmed I felt by the task.....and so here we are.....three months from my last post. Well, never a better time than now, I suppose!

It is Christmas Eve and I am sitting by a warm fire, looking out a wall of windows into my beautiful backyard.....a view that I am still struck by the novelty of and yet I also feel like I've known it forever. But I am getting ahead of myself, so let me back up.

In mid-September, Adam and I took the kids to the beach for what turned out to be one of our greatest vacations yet. The weather was perfect, the summer crowds were long gone, and the kids finally fell in love with the beach, allowing us to stay there for hours at a time each day....bliss! We went to the seafood market, watched the fish come in at the pier, rode the golf cart to get ice cream at night, and even got a date night and a tennis match in, thanks to my mom! We are so thankful to Adam's Aunt Judy for once again allowing us to stay in her family's beautiful home that we have grown to love and look forward to seeing.

Gray celebrated his fourth birthday with a super hero themed party at a bounce house in Southaven a few weeks later. He had a great time jumping around with his friends and soaking up all the attention. He got his first big-boy bike, which has quickly retired to the garage after he rode it down a hill and flew over the handlebars:(

Four sounds so big, and looks even bigger! Adam and I continue to be so amazed by how smart he is and how quickly he is learning things. He is so sensitive, loving, silly, and handsome. Can you tell how much I adore him? I'm pretty sure he can too....

Halloween was such a thrill this year because it was the first one where both Hayes and Gray "got it". Hayes wore her bumblebee costume every day for a month leading up to Halloween and our little Optimus Prime pushed through a fever virus so he could trick or treat with his Northwood pals, Sutton and Annie.

We had big plans to head down to Gulfport for Thanksgiving this year but we had a little change in our plans (ehr, our lives, I mean). While we were certain we made a good decision not to move to Orlando last fall, we weren't so certain that we wanted to stay where we were either. We love Memphis and couldn't stomach the thought of leaving the family and friends we've acquired over the last 10 years, but we couldn't ignore our desire for more living space, a room for my parents to stay in when they visited, and a neighborhood and home we could live in comfortably forever if we chose. To make a long story short, we found a home that we felt gave us all of these things, so we stuck a sign in our yard and sold our home on Northwood in less than a week, without a realtor. Things fell into place so quickly and easily on both ends that we knew it must have been meant to be. So, here we are, three weeks into our new home and knee deep into renovations already. But we love it and are so excited about making this house our home over the next couple of decades (and it may well take that long!). Merry Christmas from Kimbrough Woods!

Love,
The Pattersons