Happy Anniversary Cow Bird Lane!!!!

A year has passed here on Cow Bird Lane.  It doesn't even remotely seem possible.  I still feel like we've been here forever, but yet we've not been here long at all.  Does that make any sense at all?

I was so hesitant when Travis suggested that this be the land we build our home on.  I wanted the 'perfect' location.  Trees, winding road, yadda yadda yadda.  Our place has zero trees, well none of which offer any kind of shade or could even possibly be strong enough to hold a tire swing for Carter.  All those thoughts are things of the past now.  I love it here.  I love everything about it. I love the smell of "the farm" aspect, I love our long bumpy dirt driveway, I love the sound of the train that I once hated.  I love the moos you hear in the wee hours of the night.  I love that my children can run outside and play and not worry about a car speeding by.  I love the fact that it's where my husband grew up.  I just love it.

I can't imagine ever moving again.  We're already busting at the seams as far as stuff goes, but I don't think it matters how big you build your house, you'll never have enough room.  We're comfortable.  The boys have their rooms, which I foresee them eventually sharing a room because Carter likes a sleeping partner.  Tucker, not so much.  Maybe bunk beds.  :)  I want this to be the only home my boys to remember.  I want to see them grow up here, and bring the children "home" to visit.  

I remember vividly the day/night we moved in.  Carter sleeping ever so peacefully in his big boy bed.  The bubble bath my mom gave him because he was covered in our signature black dirt.  I remember how exhausted, and pregnant I was.  The screaming train that I no longer hear.  I remember sitting on the couch and thinking, I was home.  I didn't feel out of place at all. It was meant to be, this is where I was supposed to be.  

Not much has changed.  With a new baby, Tucker Bear, and all the other things that have gone on in the past year... we're still not fully decorated nor is the yard landscaped but I've come to learn... who cares.  My home is what I make it.  It is the hand prints that lined the wall within the first month.  It's the green paint from the kitchen chair that goes down the wall in the breakfast area.  It's the greasy A&D ointment butt print that Carter accidentally made just weeks after we arrived.  It's the night he bathed in our big tub and let his dinosaurs look out the window at the cows.  It's the endless times he's peed off the back porch, and laughed hysterically about it.  It's the playing in the yard, and feeding Lulla Belle.  It's the laughter that fills the hall.  The bubbles and water that fill Carter's bathroom floor every night.  It's the mountains of laundry that remind me I'm needed.  It's the smell of fresh sheets and blankets as I snuggle with my babies.  It's home as long as my family is here.  All the other 'things' are just extra joys.  

I look forward to many, many more years here on Cow Bird Lane.  We've made so many memories in just the past year I can't wait to see what lies ahead.  

Trav... thank you for our home.  Thank you for suggesting this be "the" place.  It's perfect, and I love it.  You are wonderful in every way!!!  I LOVE YOU!  xoxo  ...Jen