Time

Let's just be forthright and get this out of the way. No, my last post was not July 16th of 2011 as you might think with just a quick glance (although we could pretend...?) but instead, more than one year ago. Just take a quick look back at the post "Bad Bloggers" and you'll know that this is nothing new and it looks like I've been up to my old antics again. I'm not even sure what those old antics are. Procrastination? Laziness? The last person likely to maintain a blog? Yes, that must be it. But, here I am to try and prove myself wrong... again... at least for a few weeks that is.

I originally started this blog to capture our lives as parents and all of the little day-to-day happenings as we began our family. You know, something to show Ella in ten years. "Wow mom, look at the thousand of entries you've written about us!" You know, in addition to maintaining her baby book, scrapbook and yearly photo albums. Hopefully I've done better with those other things than this or we're really in trouble. My purpose still remains the same; even with two followers, thats ok. I like this blog just for us. And you, if you decide to follow along.

Moving on.

A lot has happened in the past year. Babies. New friends. Babies growing up. New jobs (Justin, yup, almost a year ago now). Job-sharing. Travels. House-hunting.

Did I mention my friend, Sarah, started her own cupcake business? Probably not, but this is note-worthy! Clip*Cakes she is and while she might still be in the honeymoon phase of her business, baking is nothing new for her, she is definitely talented, works hard and won't disappoint! Be sure to check her out here. You never know when you'll need some yummy cupcakes!

Very Very Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

I won't attempt to make up for the past year that I haven't blogged about, but I will share that we've been busy making those important life decisions as of late. The exciting arrival of Baby Cook #2 this coming December (we must secretly love holiday babies!!) made us get a bit more serious about our plans for our next home. After learning we were adding to our family, we spent what seemed like several days a week house-hunting for several weeks. While I love looking at homes, let's just say I was happy to see this process come to an end (we hope). We put an offer in on a house mid-June. I wish we had news to share but... we're still waiting to hear back as it's a short sale. I've been patient and we knew what we were facing...wait, wait and wait some more. I've tried to refrain from thinking about paint colors, the new nursery, the deck we'll one day build, where we'll build Ella a swing set and playhouse, and just the fact that I'll get to clean a house triple the size of our current one. Yup, pretty excited about that. So we're remaining hopeful and when it's all over I'm sure the wait will be worth it!

In the meantime, remember how cute and quaint our house is? With a newly updated kitchen and finished basement? Don't you want to be our renters? :) :) Click here to submit your application... ok, just kidding (for now).


Besides NOT thinking about our potential new home, Justin and I took a weekend trip to Cape May a few weeks ago... also my first night away from Ella. I'm proud to say that I did well although we were so happy to see her again when we returned; however, based on the video texts I received over the weekend and her"oh, you're back?" attitude we received proves that she too had a good weekend away. Justin and I definitely enjoyed what was our five year anniversary celebration, going out and just relaxing on the beach with no one to chase down.

If you asked us five years ago what we'd be doing to celebrate, the answer would have been a return trip to the South Pacific where we honeymooned. I specifically remember laying out on the deck of our over-water bungalow saying "we are definitely coming back here in five years!". We acknowledged that we would likely have at least one child, but nothing could stop us, right? Hmm... mark my words, we'll be back before or on our ten year anniversary, or at least I hope! What is living without dreams?

Admist our dreams, we're enjoying our summer days and have a checked a few things off of our "Summer Bucket List" although there is still more to get to than we've accomplished so far. Mostly our days consist of the small little moments that make us smile...to be honest, just everything Ella. Hopefully come December the little moments will be doubled, although yes, I am quite prepared to have my hands full for awhile!

Meanwhile, do you think Ella will be ready to babysit come December?

We'll see :) Happy Friday Eve! We're looking forward to a great weekend!