Peveler Family Blog

Goodbye training wheels!

2009-10-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Bella can ride a bike without training wheels! Over the Summer, we went to the track by our neighborhood and Jason took the training wheels off of Bella's bike. She let daddy help her for awhile then took off without him! We were laughing so hard. Jason was very proud!

She is such a big girl!

I love how happy and proud she looks!

Isabella is six!

2009-08-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yep, our baby girl is 6 years old! Here are some pictures from her party.

We played "Stick the fairy on the flower"....

Made princess picture frames...

ate lots of food and cake...

and opened presents...

It was a wonderful evening with our friends and family!

Happy Birthday Baby!!

Busy Summer

2009-08-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Actually, to say that this Summer has been busy, feels like a huge understatement. Jason and I celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary! EIGHT years!! I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world. We always take a picture of ourselves on our special day...

We accidentally blinked on this one but I think its cute!
Does it look like Im getting old? Hmmm. If so, maybe its because Ethan keeps doing things like this:
He was running on the river rocks at the creek and slipped. His face slammed down on the next rock and blood was gushing everywhere. I posted this picture because he looks ALOT less beat up here. I swear, having Ethan might just make me go gray before I turn 30!

We spent alot of time at our neighborhood pool and Bella is now a great swimmer. Poppy and Mimi bought swimming lessons for her again this year. She can jump in the pool and swim down to the bottom to pick up toys! Here she is with her instructor, Karen.

Bella also performed in her very first ballet recital. (Second girl from the left) She did such a great job and she was so pretty! The best part was that she got a trophy. We are very proud of her.

We spent the fourth of July in Arkansas with Jason's family. As always we had a wonderful time! There was homemade icecream (amazing) and lots of quality family time. The very best part was when Aunt Linda came out with curlers in her hair and scared Ethan. He covered his eyes everytime she came close which made us laugh so hard.

Back in February, we bought tickets to the Schermerhorn to see Diana Krall. It was such an amazing performance. Diana Krall is my favorite! She sang some songs from her new album and 3 or 4 Nat King Cole covers. Very romantic night- thank you Jason!!

I'll leave you with some recent fishing pictures. This is the kids favorite thing to do with their daddy!

We had a great summer and I hope that you did too! Big things ahead for us- Bella starts school in 2 weeks and its going to be just me and my boys during the day. I've been crying about it alot but Im also so happy for her. Kindergarten is going to be so fun- but I will save that for another post!

Spring update!

2009-06-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

So much to share with you!

We have had a very eventful Spring! We go to a new church called SlowBurn. They have an excellent children's program and the kids love it so much. They love to tell us all about their time in class and the things they learned. For the Palm Sunday lesson (We actually meet on Thursday nights), their teacher, Mr. Steve (Cherrico) apparently got on a stick horse or donkey and walked along the palm branches that the kids laid out for him. They were so excited telling me and Jason all about it. They screamed "Hosannah! God save us!!" in the car the WHOLE way home. We had to reenact it for a couple of weeks until the palm branches had enough.

Easter was wonderful. We spent the whole day at Poppy and Mimi's house. We had a wonderful lunch and the kids spent alot of the afternoon flying kites with Poppy and having easter egg hunts!

Bella is kind of competetive...

We also went to the Franklin Rodeo! They have a big parade when they come to town and the kids loved it. The cowboys throw candy out of their trucks and the marching bands from the different high schools make it really fun.

On the way out, we met Ms. Teen Rodeo Tennessee and Bella was just SO excited. She signed a picture for Bella (and the boys) and as soon as we got home, I had to tape on the wall in Bella's closet. When we were driving home from the rodeo, Bella said it was the best night of her life :)

Memorial Day was fun- we woke up early and took the kids fishing at Centennial Park. Of course they just catch sucker fish and we throw them back but its still very exciting for them. Bella is so good at casting her line now. The kids think daddy is just the greatest when he takes them fishing!

There is a new duck family and they kept coming up to us so I took alot of pictures of them. Arent they just the cutest things?

After that, we took the kids to get pizza and parked to watch the airplanes take off and land. The boys especially love when we do this..

The kids are so easy to entertain right now, obviously. We are very close and really enjoy being together! The neighborhood pool is finally open and this year the boys are actually getting in the kid's pool instead of crying about the water!

I am looking forward to long days at the pool. Bella starts Kindergarten in the fall so I need to make every moment count. See you soon!!

Bella has lost her first tooth!!

2009-03-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought Bella couldnt get any cuter, this happened:

She cant quit smiling at herself in the mirror!

I found some great homemade tooth fairy pillows on Etsy.com but since we didnt have one by the time her tooth fell out, she used the one I bought for the boys at Christmas Village. (Tennessee fans, you might want to look away)...

She wanted to leave her "Fairy Crafts" book out so the tooth fairy would know how much she loves fairies

In other news, I registered her for Kindergarten. Im pretty sure it was just yesterday that I brought her home from the hospital and rocked her in the glider chair. I wanted her to be a baby forever. I thought that was the best it could get. Then she started walking and saying "I love you too" and I thought THAT was the best age. Now, we get excited about 99 cent munchkin day at Dunkin Donuts together, and checking out crafty books from the Library- and Im pretty sure that THIS is the best age. The days are flying by too fast if you ask me but I am excited about the next best age! Cherish every moment!!

Cabin Fever!

2009-03-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

Is it spring yet? Because we are bored to tears being stuck inside. We have been bundling up with coats and hats and play on the playground even though its really cold- Im sure we look crazy but the kids are tired of being indoors. We are paying for it now too because all of us have a head cold. We are busy with playdates and activities though and I thought I would post a few pictures of what we have been up to! Bella is still loving dance class. She goes once a week and practices ballet, jazz, and tap lessons. Her recital is going to be in June and her class is already practicing their dances. She is so nervous and actually didn't want to continue but we really felt like she would regret it. She is going to enjoy performing and I know she will be so beautiful! She is tall and thin- a perfect, lovely ballerina! Here are some pictures of her practicing in class.

I joined a Wilton Cake decorating class at a local craft store and had alot of fun learning the Wilton techniques. I had to make my own icing to practice making roses and piping all the details. Obviously, the kids really enjoyed when I would come home from "cake school" too!

Not going into the cake business anytime soon but I still had a good time. Here are some pics of my fellow graduates..Mom, Lisa, and Megan!

We had such a good time at the Lewis' house on Superbowl Sunday. Mom and dad always watch the big game with Joel and Anita- and this year, we were invited too! Jason and I really enjoyed spending time with Kristen and Kyle. It was fun for me and Kristen to see our moms together with their grandbabies!

Valentines Day was fun. I really try to make holidays exciting for the kids. They make holidays alot more fun for me! I hung streamers and hearts everywhere so when they came down to breakfast, there were lots of oohs and ahhs. I made fairytale pancakes and heart shaped eggs for breakfast and they each got a box of chocolates.

Bella has another new best friend from school named Alexis. They go to each other's house once or twice a week and have such a good time together. I took them to paint pottery at the Factory a few days ago and they did such a good job.

Bella wants to celebrate her 6th birthday at Third Coast Clay because she just loves painting pottery, then she wants to eat at her very favorite place- Logans! cute!

Until next time!

The world through my little girls eyes

2009-01-25T20:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know Im not alone here. Have you ever had one of those days where you just dont enjoy being a mom? I hate even asking that. I love being a mom and most nights I go to bed asking myself how, of all the kids in the world, I got the three very best ones. But this day was different- I was so irritated with being the drink getter, potty trainer, chicken nugget and tater tot maker (hush!) that I told my kids I seriously needed some quiet time. I let the boys color in the office and I gave Bella her camera. I told her that she could walk around the house and take pictures of things that were special to her. Well, she brought the camera back to me about an hour later and I let everyone know that it was (finally) time for their nap. Once everyone was napping, I plugged the camera in to import the pics for her and I started crying. I dont even know why. Then I just started laughing! It was just so touching to look at pictures of what is special in Bella's 5 year old world. I thought I would post them- you might look at these and think I am so weird for getting so emotional over these pictures but really, how stinkin cute is it that she tried so hard to set up all of her Barbies perfectly in front of the castle? and that she took a picture of...a picture? a picture that is so special to her. and that she put her Bitty Baby and Kit doll in the Bitty Baby bed with little books?

How sweet is it that her brothers made it in the pictures? It threw me off to see pictures of Bella cutting her cake and posing-but as it turns out, she figured out how to hold the button down so the timer would work (by herself!)

There are alot more pictures (she actually filled up the memory card) but I just wanted to share a few of them. So of course, after I pulled myself together, I went to Bella's room to see if she had fallen asleep (of course not) and just held her, told her how much I loved the pictures and what a great job she did and that she could get up and hang out with me. I cant remember what we did after that- probably water colors or something small but even though it wasnt a big deal to me, Im sure it was very important in her world.

What I do remember is, when I was leaving her room that night after her goodnight kiss (and the sign language for "I love you", and about 20 thumb-kisses), I paused outside her door and felt that feeling of overwhelming love inside- just welling up. Im feeling that right now. I love being a mom and feel so thankful that God trusted me with the three best kids in all the world.

Snowy day!

2009-01-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

Well, this is funny. I just realized that I did not post the pictures of our amazing snow day! How is this? We never really get anything but light flurries here and that is usually in February. Back in December, we were getting ready for Bella's Chistmas program when I got a call from the room-mother letting us know that it was canceled because of the snow. What?! We looked outside and could not beLIEVE it! Big beautiful snowflakes just coming down. I am pretty sure I have never seen snowflakes like these. We raced outside and played until none of us could feel our hands or feet, then came inside for the boys first hot cocoa. We went right back out to play in it the next morning too. Here are some great pictures of the kids enjoying the snow!

So this is Christmas...

2009-01-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hello family and dear friends! I hope that you are doing well and survived the holidays. Our December was definitely different but we made it through and we are looking forward to this new year!

Amy and I celebrated our birthdays together at Maggiano's this year. It was mom and dad's treat.We ordered everything "Family style" and it was amazing. The server just keeps bringing more and more food until you leave! and I loved the atmosphere-very nice!

Amy and I always read our cards out loud to make sure we get fair treatment from mom and dad. Then we exchanged gifts...

Lots of family pics of course.

Amy started feeling really tired and achy and just not well. We thought she had a bad flu but then we found out it was Mono. We decided we would let Amy heal so she could enjoy Christmas.

We went ahead with our usual plans and celebrated with the Pevelers on Christmas Eve. They always have the best food and we really just love being with them and hanging out most of the day. We played Scrabble and opened presents and just had a great time!

When we got home, Jason read the Christmas Story to the kids and they made peanut butter cookies for Santa. They were very proud of their cookies and walked very carefully to put them in front of the fireplace...

On Christmas morning, the kids ran out to see what Santa left for them. Bella was so excited that she ran right past the tree! so funny. and Garrett screamed everytime he opened a gift...

Jason and I were worn out from removing all the toy packaging and twisty ties. Each kid wanted to play with their new game or toy right when they opened it. We had a wonderful day and just loved watching the kids play with each other and their new toys.

Well, the day after Christmas the boys turned 3...

and my sister was taken to Vanderbilt Hospital with an enlarged spleen and liver. She was placed in the ICU and monitored. I have never been so worried in my entire life! We decided to let the boys open a couple of gifts from us and eat some cake of course! Then I went and spent the night at the hospital with my mom.

Amy was in the hospital for a few days. Definitely scary. Then she chose to go home and heal. Who wants to lay in the hospital on their Winter break? We celebrated New Years Eve at home...

...played Twister, had a dance party with our kids, and made Smores (you know-what all the cool people do on New Years Eve!)

Then we spent New Years Day at my parents and finally had our Christmas with them!

So, we survived the Holidays! I know I am blessed. I felt like all I wanted for Christmas this year was for my little sister to be okay. We go way back...

Well, I have about 20 loads of laundry that I need to do, and 3 very adorable little ones to play Hungry Hungry Hippos with! Looking forward to a happy, healthy 2009!

Christmas Time is here!

2008-12-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas! Ive been listening to Christmas music since October and Im not ashamed to admit it. To get the kids in the spirit, we took them to the Opryland Hotel to look at the Christmas lights. They were very excited...

So, one of the wonderful things at Opryland Hotel is the beautiful fountain show. We stood right in front of the fountains while they danced to beautiful Christmas songs. Pictures do not do it justice but here is a sad attempt to capture the show...

Well, for the grand finale, the fountains change all different colors and go up all the way to the ceiling while the Hallelujah chorus plays loudly. It looked like the water would splash down right on top of us. Jason and I loved it but we noticed that the kids were scared to death.

We took alot of pictures of them in front of the Big Christmas tree. I love the one where Garrett is standing in front of the gold bow. I didnt realize he was smack dab in front of the thing and it just makes me laugh!

Funny Picture...
They thought the Waterfall was soooo cool...

and the horses made Bella's day of course!

So...for an inexpensive Christmas tradition, you just have to take your family to the Opryland Hotel! I know we will be going every year.

So much to be thankful for...

2008-12-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for all of our family. We know how lucky we are to be close to so many loved ones. We decided to go to Arkansas to spend time with Jason's family this year. We had a great time. As usual, we stayed with Gary and Linda. They made us feel right at home!

We spent alot of the time outside. Jason took the kids out on the 4 wheelers and they had so much fun. Gary drove them around the property too and then took them on a nature walk- which they loved of course!

We rode on the gator alot too...

Okay. Here are some pics of Jason doing dangerous things with the 4wheeler. I was cringing the whole time he was doing this, but I took some pictures in case I needed to turn them in for life insurance purposes...just kidding...

Nobody thought this sticker was a big deal- except me.

One of the highlights of the trip was the bonfire night.

The kids roasted hotdogs and marshmallows.

Garrett had too many marshmallows and grandpa had to cut him off.

Bella loved helping Uncle Gary prepare the stuffing and the boys enjoyed pestering her and throwing bread at her bowl.

Then on Thanksgiving Day, we woke up and watched the parade, ate wonderful food, and just hung out. Here is Ethan with grandpa Ezell...
We all had a good time. We headed back home that night so I could wake up early for "Black (wonderful) Friday"! I left our house at 4:15 am and headed to the mall. I was in one line for TWO hours! It was still fun. We met up with mom in the food court so I took a quick picture- then we split up again...

On Sunday afternoon, we went to my parents house for their Thanksgiving lunch. Again, wonderful food and hanging out most of the day...

Poppi and Garrett

Mimi and Ethan

We spent alot of time on the Wii and playing board games

I am thankful for my family...

November

2008-11-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

I could have waited longer to post pictures but with the Holidays just around the corner, I know I will have plenty of pictures coming up. Last weekend, our Arkansas family came into town to visit and be with Nana for her ordination as a pastor!

Here is a great picture of the family

It was such a special service. We all lined up and Nana served each of us communion. Here is a picture of her with her father.

Bella was able to sit through the entire service but the boys were restless. I sat outside with them on the floor. They were still very cute and they were very proud of Nana!

We loved being with Jason's family all weekend. On Saturday we stayed at Grandpa and Nana's house all day. We just enjoyed being with everyone and eating great food! Jack made me a gluten free version of lunch and it was amazing good (of course!) I made two (ungluten free) cakes which I obviously didnt eat but they smelled good.

Later that night we celebrated Aunt Christy's birthday...she was a good sport. The kids love her!

We had a great time and cant wait to see everyone again soon!

Bella had her Thanksgiving Family Feast at school this week. Her class began the feast by saying The Lord's prayer. so precious! The first picture is Bella peeking (she is in the middle). How cute!

Jason could not be there so I asked Mimi to help out and thank goodness she did because Garrett just screamed and cried about all the food he saw that he did not want to eat. I finally gave in and let him eat yeast rolls (ewww) and grapes.

Here is my grumpy Garrett

Here is a picture of Bella and some of her friends

and here they are laying on the floor talking about something very important

One last picture of her with her BFF Maya. We had Maya and her mom, Christina over for pancakes last week and had a great time. Bella is such a free spirit. I love how she is always so happy and carefree...

See you soon!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

2008-11-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

Well, Fall is here. And you know what that means....We have decorated for Christmas! Dont worry- I will wait until a December post to show you our Christmasy pictures. Right now I have some catching up to do!

First of all, we have been pretty busy with school festivities and just really enjoying the beautiful weather. Fall in Tennessee can be fickle because one day it is freezing and the next day, your wearing shorts again. My mom took some great pics of the kids on a beautiful day...

We wanted to get some shots of them barefoot in the creek...

It was a fun afternoon! We also spent many beautiful afternoons at the Pumpkin farm. Last year the boys busted a few pumpkins but this year we had alot of fun!

The kids love the animals-especially the goats:

A couple of Family shots...

(It was a bright day and obviously I couldnt find many pics with Bella's eyes open!)

Halloween was fun. Bella was Tinkerbell at school. Here she is with her class:

(The sad little girl in the banana costume cracks me up!)

The boys were Buzz Lightyear:

Then on Halloween night, The boys were superheroes and Bella was a Snow Princess:

We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving now. I will post more pictures soon!

Our Summer

2008-10-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a fun summer. It was so nice to have Bella home from Preschool and just relax. My mom stays very busy now with her photography but we did sneak in some days of shopping and eating! We still love to eat on the Franklin Square together and now Bella does too...

Our family usually stays very busy and this last summer was definitley no exception! Bella turned 5 years old and she wanted a Birthday party that her friends who are boys could come to and feel comfortable, so instead of the usual princess theme, we went with a Buggy Birthday Party. It was so much fun! I love baking and decorating cakes so I made her a Beehive cake and then I added bumblebee cookies and ice cream with gummy worms...

The kids put foamie stickers on doorknob hangers and visors and all of them were so proud of their crafts!

We blindfolded the kids and had them stick their licked oreos on a poster I made for the "stick the spot on the ladybug" game. Bella won both games. Im not kidding- every party she goes to, she wins the game. She was nice and gave the prizes to her friends though.

My parents helped with the kids downstairs and my mom took pictures of course, while Grandpa and Nana helped with Garrett and Ethan. Im so thankful!!

Bella loves her girlfriends...

Jason and I have alot of immediate family here, so we separated the friends party and the family party for my sanity. Im glad we did! Bella had a wonderful time at her family party too....

I made a Butterfly cake this time and it was so cute- she loved it. I propped the wings up with m&ms but the stinkin things started breaking anyways.

For part of her 5th year celebration, we suprised Bella with a trip to Dollywood. Its so funny because everytime the commercial came on for Dollywood, her eyes would get huge and she would say "Oh my gosh mom, we gotta go there!" She does not do this with Disneyland commercials.This might be because she knows I love Dolly. Anyways, now she does too. We had a good time!

Here she is at 11pm in the hotel reading the Pigeon Forge brochure...too cute!

We spent alot of time at our neighborhood pool. Poppi and Mimi bought swimming lessons for Bella so she had a great time.

But the very best part of our summer was the trip to Destin. We took Bella to Hilton Head when she was a baby but she doesnt remember it and the boys have never seen the ocean. I wasnt sure they'd even get it at 2 years old but they did. The kids played in the sand every day and had so much fun.

Jason even invented a beach "time out" chair...

The condo we stayed in was dreamy. It belongs to the Crooks and let me tell you, Scottye did an amazing job decorating it. I told Shannon that it felt like Shabby Chic Heaven...

The condo is on a golf course so there was plenty of this...
There was a dreamy bed on the deck overlooking the green...

We will be visiting the beach every summer. We made some wonderful memories!

Shortly after we got back from Destin, it was time to get ready for the first day of school. Bella goes to a wonderful Pre-K program and the boys started a Mothers day out. Here they are on their first day of school. (Ethan did not cooperate for the pictures).

I was a nervous wreck leaving the boys. They kept saying "you okay mom." When we got there, they were trying to run ahead of us to their new school. They were waving goodbye to us but they kept looking back to make sure we were still there!

There was a "First day of school" cake waiting for them when they got home...

We love being surrounded by our family. Here they are spending Firetruck day with Grandpa...

And then Jason had a great idea....

We are now loving our new school routine and just enjoying the beautiful Fall weather.

We love meeting Poppi and Mimi for picnics on Poppi's lunch breaks!

Im sure I will have plenty to share with you as the holidays draw near. Talk to you soon!

Greetings friends!

2008-10-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our site!

I have decided to start a blog of our family so that our friends and relatives that no longer live close by can feel like they are right here with us! The kids are growing up so fast. It feels like just yesterday Isabella was crawling around with her Winnie the Pooh toy. Now she is 5! She plays with makeup and wears dress up clothes and has best friends. Bella has been in ballet for a few months and she loves it! She does jazz and tap as well. She is so sweet and makes friends wherever she goes.

Garrett and Ethan (please dont call them "the twins"!) are 2 years old. They will turn 3 on the day after Christmas. Can you believe it? On Christmas day 2005, I was at my parents house and we had just finished opening our presents and I knew I was about to go into labor. I remember when they were born, how I looked at them in their incubators. They were born two months early and they looked so small with wires all over them and tubes in their mouths to feed them. I cried and felt so angry that I was only able to hold them 30 minutes a day. All I wanted to do was take them home! I wanted them to get in my way in the kitchen while I tried to cook dinner. I wanted to experience the terrible twos (times two!). I got my wish.

My sweety sweet husband is Jason and he is the best dad! The kids love when he comes home every day! The garage opens and they start screaming "daddys home" and run to the door. He is a builder and has run his custom trim company since 2000. His work is amazing. Some of his projects include the model home in West Haven and a house in the Brentwood Parade of Homes! I am so proud of him. We are going on 8 years of marriage and still crazy in love!

I hope you enjoy our new site. I thought I would play catch up first, show you what our summer was like, then just post updates as we go about our (crazy) life! Stay tuned... I will have alot to share with you!