**Update: I’ve added an updated version of the calendar… you know, one that has all the months spelled correctly. 😉

I’m back!
To say that I’ve taken a little break would be an understatement. I’m not going to give any excuses. Blogging became the least of my priorities. Simple as that. With two kids, a hectic work schedule, a home and a busy freelance side job, I ran out of time. Recently though, I’ve started to realize how much I’m missing out on without my blog. I forget funny little stories and take less pictures. It seems that when I was a blogger mom, I was subconsciously storing up things for the next blog post. Even if I only have two readers, I know its worth the effort so I can go back and reread my posts later. This is as close to a scrapbook as I will ever get.
I will not make promises to post every day, or stick to a schedule. I have enough schedules to remember as it is. I will be trying to make a more conscious effort to make posts regularly though.
As my welcome back gift, I have created this lovely 2013 calendar. I actually started on this last year. Then got sidetracked and left it unfinished. This seems like a theme in my life.

So here’s to 2013… may no good project be left unfinished!

Download your printable calendar here!

This will only be available for a limited time. If you try the link and it no longer works, shoot me an email or post a comment and I will be happy to send it to you personally. Happy New Year!

Its almost July, so that means that Eli will be 9 months old soon. Where has the time gone? Seriously. I’ve already started a birthday party board on Pinterest. Sheesh.

We were invited to do a Summer mini session with Kamin Williams, and had our photos done Mother’s Day weekend, which was my present to myself. Every mom wants beautiful pictures of their children, right?

At seven months, Eli is a chubby, happy little boy who loves his brother…

We’ve been busy as always, leaving little time to sit at the computer… We’ve been filling our time working around the house, trying out new recipes and playing outside. I did backtrack and do posts for Eli’s first 5 months. Six and seven are coming soon. I’ve added links to all those posts on his page.

He’s hit quite a few milestones in the past few weeks and I wanted to go ahead and get them written down, per say, so I wouldn’t forget them later…
Eli’s first tooth – April 26th
Eli started crawling – May 3rd
Eli started pulling up – May 4th
Eli’s second tooth – May 12th

You also may have noticed that I gave the ol’ blog a little facelift. I updated the design, quickly and painlessly, using a fun template from Pugly Pixel and a sweet watercolor background from August Empress. I’m very pleased with the way it turned out considering how simple it was!

I got a little sidetracked on my way to diner with friends. It was misting and everything was bright green and gorgeous. Don’t worry, I was holding my iPhone up to the window and randomly snapping pictures while I kept my eyes on the road.

I am apparently the worst driver in the world.

This weekend we painted our living room Martha Stewart’s Molasses. It’s divine.

Eli is rolling over now and trying to go places when he’s on his belly. He’s also wearing some 6-9 months outfits and eating a jar of baby food for dinner every night. We started veggies today.

Alston is a robot boy. Last night he “runded out of en…er….gy….”

Alston is growing up into a little boy before our very eyes. He’s the very best big brother and Eli is absolutely smitten with him. He keeps us constantly entertained. He has a very active imagination, calls me Molly after his favorite Bubble Guppie, and is knocking at the bedroom door as I type saying, “Its me, the mailman!”.

Eli has gotten really big, quite literally, and is over half the size of his big brother. He’s been playing in his excersaucer and we stuck him in his jumper this weekend. He has mastered the spoon and ate a half a jar of bananas and a third a jar of pears at dinner tonight. He can already wear some 6-9 months outfits. He’ll be 20 weeks on Wednesday.

I’ve downloaded the Blogger app for my iPhone. As busy as I’ve been, it’s hard to find time to DIY* and upload photos, let alone put a whole post together. Lately I’ve been snapping most of my photos with my phone anyway.
This weekend I cleaned my disgustingly dirty house (How did it get so dirty?) and noticed that our Hibiscus tree is gearing up for Spring. Looks like we’ve kept it alive after all.

*this was supposed to say “sit down” not DIY. This is the downside to blogging on your iPhone. Auto correct fail.

A friend of mine from work has a son with autism and has the best stories to share over at Autism Spot. This post is a good one… you should go visit!

Dear Reader,

After much debate and careful consideration, I have decided to make some pretty big changes around here. A Spring Cleaning or a mini makeover is just not going to cut it. That’s right, we’re changing addresses.

No, we’re not packing up our freshly unpacked boxes and moving to another street, but I had you going there for a second, didn’t I? We’re changing our blog address! The White Rockers will be combined with Adventures with Alston to what will become The Scott Stories. With a new baby on the way, I need things to be a little more versatile than they are right now. Posting house stuff over there and posting family/life stuff over here has proven nonsensical and the two have started to overlap.

When I originally started my second blog, The White Rockers, it was to share all things house-related. I didn’t think I should muddle up my Adventures with Alston with paint samples, before and afters and decorating projects. I should have seen it coming, but the two areas aren’t so distinct anymore. Plus, we’ll be welcoming baby #2 this year and our “Adventures with Alston” will soon become Adventures with Alston and (insert future baby’s name here). So, in an effort to simplify my life, I’m combining everything into one neat little package. All of my posts from The White Rockers will be imported over and I’ll be sharing all of our stories in one place.

Hopefully, if the plan goes accordingly, I will only be changing the URL of Adventures with Alston, so those of you who are followers will still be followers. For those of you who follow in Google Reader, or subscribe to the RSS feed, our new web address will be http://www.storiesofthescotts.blogspot.com. Please update your feeds, as I don’t want to leave any of you behind! I wanted to give you all a heads up–the official address change is set to take place Wednesday morning.

Please bear with me as I work to overhaul my blogging life.
With love,
Beth