Tweetsie and Boone Weekend

With Labor Day weekend approaching quickly, we didn't have any plans although Brian had already taken the weekend off at church. After thinking about it a little more, I decided we needed a mini getaway. Brian rarely takes weekends off at church and with me being in school on Fridays now, we never have a full family day together. I knew the beach would be packed, so I looked into the mountains first.

Sitting in class Friday morning, (tsk, tsk) I was googled kid friendly things to do in Boone and Tweetsie was one of the first suggestions. My boy LOVES trains. Always has. I was pretty excited about this option. Brian was taking the red eye out of California Saturday morning, so we decided it was best to go Sunday-Monday. I texted Brian with the idea and he booked the hotel within an hour. I was pretty proud of us for being so spontaneous. :)

Tweetsie was great! It wasn't really crowded. We waited in line for maybe two rides. We got there around noon and planned to stay the remainder of the day. The first thing we did when we walked in was ride the big train around the mountain. The ride was full of pretty scenery and a live show of cowboys vs. indians. Landin LOVED this!! 

The rest of the park had a bunch of carnival rides, which were really fun for the kids. I'm so glad we did it this year because Landin was almost too tall to ride the rides. Right now he's 44.5 inches so next year I think we would have been too late. 

There was also a little petting zoo with llamas, pigs, and goats. The sweet little baby goat got out of the fence and was wondering around with us. Very kid friendly little goat. The kids loved it.

Suggestions if you want to go visit Tweetsie: 1. The park is only open until 6pm, so if you go after 3pm your ticket works all day the next day. I don't think we needed the extra time, but it would be nice to have the cushion if you were worried about time. 2. If your kids are over 45 inches, it may be boring. There are some rides for bigger kids, but it's mainly for the younger ones. I don't think we will go again for this reason. 3. Bring your own snacks and water. The only food served are unhealthy carnival foods like hotdogs and pizza. We did each lunch there and the kids got a fun little Tweetsie lunch box, but I'm so glad I brought snacks for them. 

Sunday night we went into Blowing Rock and had dinner at Mellow Mushroom and ate some yummy Kilwin's ice cream. I love downtown Blowing rock! It's such a sweet little town. Best part is the big park in the middle so the kids were able to play while we waited to eat! 

We had our first hotel stay with the kids, which I was VERY nervous about but luckily everything went really well. Landin fell asleep in the car and Clara went to sleep right away when we got in the room. Then they both slept until EIGHT O'CLOCK! WHAT! It was a mountain miracle. My kids wake up between 6-630 every morning like clockwork. It was amazing!

Monday we spent the day with our friend, Hayley!! She just started her first year at Appalachian State University. We're so proud. :)  She took us for a hike around Price Lake, which was beautiful! It's perfect for those of you with little kids because it's mostly flat.

After hiking we ate lunch in Boone and went to the Mast General store for some fun toys, then headed home. We were so thankful for some time with Hayley! :) 

It was an AWESOME weekend. I'm so thankful for a little getaway with my people! 

First week of eCadamy!

This week was the kids first week of eCademy! eCademy is the AWESOME preschool program given to Elevation staff kids. When I started praying about nursing school, I had such a hard time figuring out what I was going to do with the kids. The preschool Landin attended the year before was so great and I didn't want to leave, but I needed a program that would keep the kids all day. The Lord provided BIG time. Landin and Clara are both so blessed to have amazing teachers and spend their week with friends. I feel unbelievably grateful to know that my kids are safe and so loved while I'm gone.

I forced the kids to take some school pictures. (there may have been cookies involved..)

They had a great week. Landin's class learned about the letter A and the color red. Clara ended up missing two of the last days of school because she was running a little fever. Notice this top picture...he's the tallest in his class!! 

Brian had to go out of the town the last part of the week so we stayed with some friends of ours, the Roses! This family does SO much for us. We are unbelievably grateful for them! Here are a few pictures from our time with them. We were excited to celebrate Papa Joe's big 5-0 birthday with him! Thanks for taking us in, Roses!! 

Nursing school started back this week for me! It's a little weird because it felt like I've never left. The routine of everything came back really quickly. Hoping to get more sleep this semester...maybe. There is so much reading for every class I'm not sure if it will happen. My favorite class so far is the Peds/OB class. Surprise, surprise! I gravitate to those kids and pregnant mommas. We start back in the hospital next week and I'll be at Levine Children's Hospital. Excited to learn from the best.! Praying to find my sweet spot in the hospital this semester! 

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Secret's out! #NursingSchool

Today I started my second semester of nursing school.

Eek. I can't believe I am admitting it to everyone now. A little over a year ago, I felt like the Lord was telling (or shoving) me back into school. I was happy as a stay at home mom, but Brian and I decided that it was time for me to go back to work. I had no idea what that looked like for me and I prayed about it for a while before someone very dear to me mentioned going back to school for nursing. I started college the first time around with the intentions of completing a nursing program, but my priorities were a little different and I switched majors. I have always felt the pull back into nursing so I decided to do a little research and found an accelerated nursing program for people that already have a bachelors degree and that would have me graduating in a year with a BSN. That's right, nursing school in a year. I was sold. (and I was CRAZY) I talked to the wise people in my life and prayed pretty hard about making this decision that would completely change our lives. Completing nursing school in a year means that I am gone all day, every day and then work after the kids go to bed every night. It meant a lot of changes for our family. 

Things seemed to fall right into place. I took a step and the Lord provided the next one. My friend ended up working in the nursing admissions office at the school I was applying to and she helped me get all my stuff together. I figured out how to take all my prerequisite classes online. My (awesome) church started a preschool program for staff kids that is completely amazing. (I'll post on that later) Brian had a good, strong team around him at work so he was able to support me more. My mom's cousin gave us a car for me to drive so that Brian could drive the "mom" car. I mean right and left, the Lord was telling me to move. 

So that meant I actually had to move. Terrifying. I read a story in a book that talks about this guy that tight rope walks across Niagara Falls. People come and watch him, amazed. One time he put a pet (a dog maybe?) in a wheel barrow and pushed it across the tight rope. All the spectators watched in shock as he pushed the wheel barrow swiftly back and forth across. He asked the onlookers if anyone would volunteer to get in the wheel barrow, but of course no one would.  They had just watched him easily push a pet across, but no one trusted them with their own life. No one had that much faith. Jesus asks us this all the time. Do you have that much faith in me to take a step of obedience?  Nursing school for me felt like this. Okay God. I'll be the crazy one to get into your wheel barrow. I'm scared to death, but I trust you. I trust you to help me figure out this new chapter of life. I trust that you will take care of my family in my absence. I trust that you will protect my kids. 

So, I got in. I started nursing school this past summer. It is by far the hardest, most exhausting thing I have ever done. I've learned to lean in to God more than ever. I've learned what it means to come to the end of myself and have to fully rely on Him to get me through and fill the gaps. I've had to learn to let people help me. (something I've also learned I'm not that great at) But there was SO much goodness in the midst of the chaos. My kids have thrived in school and didn't struggle like I anticipated. My husband really stepped up and has done EVERYTHING around the house from laundry to dishes. He packs the kids lunches and gets them ready in the morning. He is AWESOME and I couldn't do this without him and all of his help. My friends have prayed for me and supported me endlessly even though I didn't have anything to give them back. I met awesome girls on the very first day of school that keep me going. I'm thankful for how much my faith is growing and strengthening. I know when this is all over in May, I will be better off than I was when I started. My family will be better. My marriage will be better. Our finances will be better. I will be better. 

Starting back today was a little bittersweet. I'm excited for some of the classes I'm taking this semester, but I'm not excited about the stress and long hours. I'll be taking 21 credit hours, yikes. Another semester of stretching, I'm sure. 

I hope to keep up the blog. I can't promise the posts will be regular or the content long, but I do want to share life. I was feeling the urge to start this up again and I wasn't so sure because I didn't have time to do anything last semester, let alone a blog. Then I scrolled down to this quote "Sometimes the best ways to share our faith is to simply share our lives and our stories" and I thought, okay I can do that. So here's to sharing my story: how a mom of two makes her way through accelerated nursing school. Ha! (prayers appreciated ;) )

Ash

 First day of clinical last semester. Excited to get back in the hospital!

Clara's First Birthday/ Snow days

Clara's first birthday is one I will remember forever. It was so special to me. Her birthday fell on a Thursday and Brian was supposed to be out of town from Wednesday to Saturday. To say I was disappointed about this would be an understatement.

Earlier that week Pastor Steven had released his 3rd book, Crash the Chatterbox, and had a radio show all day. Brian played a huge role in making the radio show. (so cool... I know) Anyways, that day it started snowing. Big time snowing. At first the roads weren't sticking, but by the early evening it was sticking everywhere. Now, I am a born and raised Charlotte girl. I am not made for the snow nor do I drive in it. (and yes, I already gotten my milk and bread) Therefore, I don't expect my husband to either or any other person for that matter. So when it started sticking, I was more than ready for him to come home. When we were all together safe and sound, it started coming down..hard. I LOVE it when it snows. I'm like a little girl waiting to find out if we don't have school the next day. I have the weather channel running all day.

But then, it kept on coming. Brian's flight was trip was pushed back a day. The Charlotte Airport completely closed down. Massive waves of snow came through the night into Thursday morning. We had 9 inches people! Brian, an Ohio boy used to this weather, was convinced he still was going. He was ready to drive in the mess to get to the airport. Luckily, the wonderful airlines called and cancelled his flight just as he was about to walk out the door and give me a heart attack. YES! A birthday miracle! :)

By Thursday, we had a ton of snow and it was still coming down. The Elevation offices were closed and we had an unexpected family day where no one could go anywhere. We spent the entire day outside playing in the snow. We built, well Brian built, our very first snowman! We took a nice walk and Brian pulled Landin in the sled. Clara, my birthday girl, was bundled up hanging out in the ergo on my back. We even enjoyed cupcakes at the end of the day for her. I couldn't have picked a better way to celebrate my girl turning one. 

Saturday we celebrated with a birthday party! And in true Carolina form, the snow had almost completely melted. Clara was surrounded by all her favorite people and had a blast! It was so fun to open all the girly presents!

Here are some pictures of our snow days and Clara's birthday:

This girl did not like her snow suit at first! What a face!