Hello summer!

The last month has been a whirlwind of fun times and great memories, paving the way for what looks to be a great summer for the Pattersons. For Easter this year, we went down to the coast to stay with my parents for another fun-filled visit....a crawfish boil, a church Easter egg hunt, great shopping at the outlet malls, a visit to Keifer's on the way home, and a fabulous dinner at a new restaurant with my parents....kids free! Now, I do realize that most of the highlights involve food and to that I can only say, what do you expect? It's the Mississippi Gulf Coast! Love, love, love the food down there so much and miss it terribly. Fortunately, my parents are really sympathetic and try to stock our freezer with samples when they come to Memphis for visits. Adam and I got to attend our first-ever Kimbrough Woods progressive dinner in late April and are thankful to his parents for babysitting for us. It was such a fun night filled with great food, new friends, and lots of laughter. We also enjoyed the Cinco de Mayo Davenport Cove party with the all the neighborhood kids and the Memorial Day celebration to kick off opening day of the pool. What a fun neighborhood we have and such great people we've met! With the weather so warm and sunny, the kids and I have all kept pretty busy enjoying the great outdoors before it gets too hot! We visited Aunt Mal at the zoo where she is currently volunteering with the camels, and the kids are now convinced she is the coolest person ever! We are so proud of Gray for completing his first soccer program, considering that in the beginning, he cried every time he missed a goal or someone stole the ball from him. I'm glad he (we) stuck it out though, because he was head butting balls and loving every minute of it by the end of it! In other firsts, we took the kids to the circus and even though it was a pretty rinky dink one (no lion, elephant or trapeze!!!), they loved every minute of it. Of course they had nothing to compare it to and the cotton candy kept them pretty entertained too, but it was a fun night either way. The kids had their end of the year school program a few weeks ago and had a great time showing off for me, Aunt Mal and Papa. Both kids sang at the top of their lungs and included lots of hand gestures for emphasis. How did I end up with these hams? As always, we had a great time at the school carnival that followed the program. Both the kids LOVE animals and when you add a bouncer and tons of junk food, it's a winning combination. Now that the gutters have been installed and the portico is complete, we are FINALLY done with the exterior improvements to our home. Can you believe it's the same house? We are so in love with this house we call home and while we still have lots to do, are so excited about all that we have to look forward to in it. Until next time, The Pattersons

Spring has sprung!

I know, I know, another three months has passed and I'm just now updating the family blog. To sum it up, we've been.....just busy, I guess! Here's a three month review in pictures....

Hayes' "get well soon" flowers from Cousin Greer after busting her eye open on the coffee table

Hayes' "Snookie" make-over from Aunt Mal while Mommy was working on Staxtacular

Gray learning to dribble from ex-professional basketball player, Penny Hardaway

Gray's first soccer practice!

While we survived (barely) the interior renovations (scraping ceilings, installing crown molding, building built-ins/mantle,putting in all new door fixtures and several new light and bath fixtures, and paint on every surface), it only scratched the surface of our plans for this home we are creating for ourselves for the what we hope will be a very, very long time.So after a short sabbatical from the constant presence of painters and workmen, we are pressing the "repeat" button and starting on the outside.....gutters, doors, paint, a portico.....the whole nine yards! And then there's the yard of course....but since I have already endured a steroid shot, a round of internal steroid medication, antibiotics, a homeopathic daily scrub, and a prescription topical ointment in the name of banishing the poison ivy I've contracted while trying to tackle it, I'm thinking it's on the back burner for now.

So, other than home improvements, we've been busy enjoying our new neighborhood. From garden club and book club to events like Breakfast with Santa, carriage rides through the luminaires, and next month's progressive dinner, I feel like we have finally found the perfect place to raise our little family and we couldn't be more happy with our big move.

Gray and Hayes with the Easter Bunny at the Kimbrough Woods annual hunt

Gray and Hayes at the KW Easter Egg Hunt - Train ride

That's all for now....hopefully it won't be so long before the next update!
The Pattersons

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

Over the river and through the woods...

As a 9-year resident of Tennessee, I'm ashamed to say that I had never, until recently, been west of West Memphis, Arkansas or east of Nashville. While I still haven't made it to the Smokies, our trip to Heber Springs, Arkansas for Labor Day introduced me (and the kids) to the what I think is some of the most beautiful part I've seen of the South....lush mountains, rolling rivers, and farmland that seemed to go on for days. The 3-hour drive there was picturesque, even amid the shrill screeches from two stir-crazy toddlers. We pulled up to our cabin and it was everything it had promised to be...rustic (yet nice), cozy (but plenty of room for us and Adam's parents), and the perfect place to unwind complete with a front porch lined with rocking chairs. We spent the weekend sightseeing around the "Little Red River", hanging out with our great family friends, The Coles, and making unforgettable memories with our sweet family. It was definitely a tradition I hope we'll continue.

In other news, both my niece, Greer, and I recently celebrated birthdays (just 1 day apart), reminding me how blessed I am to be part of the Patterson clan and living so nearby. Greer's vintage circus-themed birthday party was a big hit with the kiddos and I so enjoyed seeing all of them play together.

We're in sunny Florida right now for our annual trip to the beach so stay tuned for a post with pics of that coming soon!

The Pattersons

Back to school!

School is back in session and the kids are both loving their new teachers, classrooms and friends. They are still at First Baptist, which has been such a blessing over the last year, and Gray began 3k (or "old 3's as they call it) while Hayes began 2k. Gray is really taking his new responsibility as one of the oldest in the class seriously, resulting in MUCH-improved behavior and consistently good reports from his teachers. They too have learned that behavior charts and positive reinforcement are truly the way to go with him...that boy LOVES an "atta boy!". I'm not sure whether it's the recent haircut or a true growthspurt, but I feel like I am watching him grow into a "big boy" right in front of my eyes. While he is crazy as all get out, mischevious in every way, tempermental, neurotic/obsessive compulsive, and a TERRIBLE eater, he is also so many wonderful things that Adam and I cherish.....he is dangerously smart, wildly creative, wickedly funny, inquisitive, and so, so loving. I fall more and more in love with every age and stage he enters and am so excited for all that the future holds.

The minute Hayes turned two, I'm convinced that she decided to run through the checklist of "terrible twos" behavior and make sure she demonstrated each of them with all her might. She is throwing tantrums, biting (or attempting to bite) when she gets mad, asking "why" every opportunity she gets, getting picky about clothes and food, and showing signs of separation anxiety for the first time. But I melt when I watch her "mother" her baby dolls, mimic Gray's every move and sound, and fill with giddy excitement when we go somewhere fun or she sees someone she loves. She is already way too big for her britches, begging to put Mommy's make-up on in the morning, insisting that her "bopper" get changed the minute she tinkles, and literally outgrowing her crib. She has already christened the operating room table, getting her first (and hopefully last) set of stitches in her head last week after slipping in her socks, resulting in a dent in her forehead. She is learning to do so much on her own like getting into her car seat and chair by herself, putting her shoes on her own feet, and following simple commands. She knows most of her colors, can count to 5, and is speaking in 2 or 3 word sentences. Where has my baby gone? Sigh....

My "Adoorables" etsy shop has started to take off, with 18 orders during my first month as well as three requests to wholesale at retail boutiques. I am still having a lot of fun designing new items, fulfilling people's requests, and learning the ins and outs of a small business. The new blog, Facebook page, and etsy shop is a lot to juggle but I feel blessed to take on this new challenge. Check me out at the links below:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/eop1015?ref=si_shop
http://adoorablesdoorhangers.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adoorables-Door-Hangers/164464123620942


That's all for now so until next time...
The Pattersons

Goody goody gumdrops, Hazey just turned two!

The last month has been filled with LOTS of new experiences for both me AND the kids. Gray took swimming lessons for the first time at my friend Shelley's house, along with her son, Carter, and a few of our other friends, and did so great! He is now wearing us out, jumping into the pool and swimming to the ladder every opportunity he gets. He had the teachers in stitches, proclaiming himself a "teenager" when he finally got brave enough to put his head under the water for the first time. Me, Adam, Hayes and P were all there to watch him "graduate" from swim school and couldn't have been prouder of our little fish!

Adam and I celebrated our 9th anniversary by taking a redneck honeymoon to Tunica, Mississippi. We bought an auction package at Harrah's Casino through the Staxtacular event, and decided that we didn't care where we were, as long as we were together. Adam took a half day one Thursday and played golf at the Links at Cottonwoods with a friend while I laid by the pool with a gossip mag and a fruity drink. That night we had a lovely dinner at a quaint little restaurant in downtown Tunica and were surprised with a nice bottle of wine from Lauren and Andrew when we arrived. We wrapped up our trip with massages at the spa and a ridiculously indulgent lunch at Paula Deen's buffet, before gambling a little and heading home to my sweet in-laws who kept the kids for us.

Hayes celebrated her 2nd birthday with lots of sweet friends and family at our house the last week in June with a "sweet shoppe" themed party. We had a candy buffet, cookie lollipops, and ohocolate covered oreo suckers as favors, all in Hayes' honor. It was such a fun party to plan and so fun to see her face as it all came together. We are so lucky to have so many friends and family to help us celebrate such a special occasion.

We headed down to the coast for the 4th of July holiday and spent 6 days there with my family. It was our first trip down in over a year and we were excited to catch up with old friends and see new things. We started the trip with a trip to the beach to play in the sand and enjoy a snowcone (or a snowball as my mom insists that it be called). But before long, the kids were half naked, splashing in the gulf, and I was severely regretting the fact that we had left the towels and a change of clothes at home. We visited the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center and had a great time playing in all of the fun activity centers. What a great children's museum! I had lunch with my oldest friend, Lauren, went shopping at the outlet mall, and actually started reading a book for the first time in a while. We also celebrated Hayes' REAL birthday, had some FABULOUS food, and hung out with my dear friend, Moe, and her kids. We spent the 4th at the Yacht Club with the whole fam, watching fireworks, playing in the sand and water, and running into old friends. P put the kids to bed for us so we could catch our friend, Brooks, play at a local spot and we agreed, it was just like old times as we sat facing the beach, watching the fireworks, with the music playing in the distance. Good times, great trip!

After lots of encouragement from sweet friends, I finally decided to launch an Etsy shop to sell my canvas and burlap door hangers. My friend, Sarah Ella, is a veteran in the Etsy arena, and is coaching me through the process as I navigate a new blog, Facebook page, and Etsy shop, all dedicated to this fun, new venture, Adoorables Door Hangers. Check me out at the following links:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Adoorables-Door-Hangers/164464123620942

http://www.etsy.com/shop/eop1015?ref=si_shop

http://adoorablesdoorhangers.blogspot.com/

That's it for now (whew!). Until next time....
The Pattersons