3 months later...

Wow, my last posting was 3 months ago. And boy have our lives changed since then. First of all, I am about to pop with our 2nd child. Only 3 more weeks until my due date. The last few days have been full of washing and organizing newborn clothing, bedding and blankets. Earlier this week we moved Claire to the other bedroom and put her on a twin mattress (that rests on the floor). It made my heart sad to see my baby girl in such a big room in a big bed...but soon enough I know I'll be looking at an adult and wondering where my baby went. It seems all too far away now...but I know my mom and Bradley's mom and probably all moms out there that have adult children, wonder the same thing..."Wasn't it just yesterday that I was holding that little baby infant in my arms?".

Okay, okay, enough of the preggo woman's emotions...:). One of the biggest things to report is that Bradley and I purchased a small business 2 weeks ago. For years, Bradley has wanted to own his own business and for years I've protested (I am NOT a risk-taker)...but when the opportunity presented itself for this particular business...we both realized that this was right for us...no matter how frightful I was of the risk. All of you, I'm sure, are familiar with Sears. But, have you ever heard of Sears Hometown Stores? They are smaller versions of the mega-stores you see in malls. We are NOT scratch and dent stores though! We can order any item into our store that the mega-stores have. The general idea to the Sears Hometown Stores is that we provide all of the Sears merchandise to the local, rural communities. They are all locally owned and operated (the mega-stores are all still owned by Sears Holding Corporation). Our particular store is in Clayton, NC...a suburb of Raleigh. If you are on Facebook, check out our page 'Sears of Clayton' for great coupons and deals of the week. We are super excited about this opportunity. It's been a lot of work and a lot of "new" things for us...but we have really enjoyed working there, and we especially enjoy that we are "working" together. Given that I'm about to have a baby and that we have small children, our goal is for me to continue to stay at home...but I'm doing my part at home...accounting, marketing and keeping Bradley up-to-date on things that may need to be addressed at the store. It's also nice to think about the future....if Bradley has a long couple of days or weeks at the store...I'll be able to step in (once the children are a little older) and go to work for him while he stays at home with the kids. What an amazing opportunity for him and the children to spend more time together.

Below are a few pictures of the store.