Live. Love. Chickens.

I'm a little ashamed to admit that I didn't always like my daughter. Yes, I've always loved her, but we butted heads early on and I was afraid that we would never get along. Big and I are completely alike. He's my rule follower, my type-A personality, my people pleaser. Pea is none of these things, which made it hard for me to parent her. We both shed many tears, especially in her second year, and I was already dreading her teenage years. One day I was talking to a friend about her and how different we were, and my friend told me to never try to put out that spark that she has for life. Yes, she is a strong-willed child, but she is full of life. And I don't know when it happened exactly, but it seemed like one day I woke up and saw just how absolutely AMAZING this little person was. I really started enjoying our time together and discovered that while I was trying to teach her the important things in life, it seemed she was teaching me some equally important lessons...

The best 39 seconds of your day. :) :)

 My in-laws called a few days ago and asked if they could take the kids to their house for the weekend, and of course we said yes! Aaron asked if I wanted to take an overnight trip somewhere, so I started looking for Bed & Breakfasts that were not far from his parents' place. One that popped up was Mansfield Plantation in Georgetown, SC. Mansfield Plantation, which was founded in 1718, was a rice plantation, just like most of the Georgetown area back then. I'll be honest and say I knew nothing about the history of rice (and it actually sounded kinda boring) but as it turns out, it's fascinating! I'm not going to go into details about it, but you're welcome to read up on some history of the plantation and rice history  here . The plantation is only about an hour away from Charleston and Myrtle Beach, which makes it an ideal spot if you have a few days to tour around. I wish we could've had a few more days in the area and made a little day trip to Charlest...