Animals with the girlies

Animals seems to be the theme for the last two weeks. Thursday we went to the zoo and last week to the farm.

We made a day trip to the zoo with Brooks and Ellie. It was the perfect weather and such a fun day. How fun to experience the zoo through the eyes of 2 (and almost 2) year-olds! We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of our membership there. The HUGE male gorilla came up close and gave us quite a show by rolling around, yawning (yikes - those teeth!), and stretching just on the other side of the glass from us. Hannah was constantly labeling the Mommies, Daddies, and Babies of each animal. Also a hit was the ride on the zoo tram (aka choo choo).

Last week we went to one of our favorite annual events - Farm Days hosted at NCSU. All the spring baby animals are on display - baby chicks, bunnies, colts, calves, lambs, piglets, etc. And, free NCSU ice cream! Unfortunately, word has gotten out about this event and it was super packed. Hannah and I met up with Christy and her girls, Emily and Kate. So fun to see them! Not sure what Hannah enjoyed more - the farm or the picnic lunch at the playground with Emily and Kate!

Hannah saying "Cuuuute!" She loved the baby chicks.

Melts my heart!

Daddy Playdate

Last Saturday, Daddy took Jackson and Hannah to the park with our buddies Mr. Kevin, Elizabeth, and Jacob. They attempted to fish, fed the ducks, played on the playground, strolled the greenway, and had a blast together!

Oh, the sassiness

We have some new Hannah-isms to share with you:

She will hold up a hand to us and say, "I'll be right back".

Already she wants to pick out her own clothes, own socks, own shoes, own hair bow. I hear, "No, Mommy. I DO IT". And yes, we've had some interesting wardrobe choices - pink shirt, jeans, brown socks, rain boots, and bright green bow! Lately she wants to wear her sassy pink heart rain boots everywhere and ALL THE TIME.

She loves to pray to "G-Z" (Jesus). Often it is just, "Thank you, G-Z. [insert weird babble words] Aaaaahhmen". It's a start! :) She's almost got the words down for "Yes, Jesus (G-Z) Loves Me".

Hannah loves to come up and ask me a bazillion times a day "Whatcha dooooo-ing?". I always turn the question back around to her. Her response is always "Ummm...[insert weird babble]. Ok, Bye".

Name game. She will just ramble off the names of people she knows. And she often asks about the whereabouts of family members and friends - "Daddy is sweeping [sleeping]? Daddy at werk? Jackson school? Mimi and Pete is all gone? Rees at house?".

All things come in families. She named the Mommy, Daddy and Baby polka dots on her jammies. The ducks at the park are also labeled a Mommy, a Daddy, and a baby.


Thank you for the smiles, little one!

Grandparent visit

Mimi and Granddaddy Pete came for a visit last weekend.  We were beyond excited to see them!  The weekend was jam-packed with activity - boys went golfing, girls went shopping, eating out, playing at the park and in the backyard, watching the Carolina v. Duke game (yay heels!!!), and did some projects around the house.  We painted 4 outdoor light fixtures (bye bye brassy ugliness, hello bronze beauties!) and planted a new flower bed. I'm sure they were glad to be back home just to catch some rest!  We sure appreciate your help!

Had to snap some shots of my 'lil Tarheels.  Hannah now says "Go Heels!"  :)

Hello Sunshine

I hear "Outside. Slide.  Peez." everyday.  She loves 'em!

Monkey see, Monkey do.

new favorite pic.  :)

blog? What blog?

I didn't plan on a month long blogging hiatus.  Oh, life.  A bit crazy around here.  Good stuff, hard stuff... all God stuff. 
Here's a snippet of things we've been up to:
1.  My laptop is currently infected with its 3rd virus.  (Yes, I had anti-virus software and yes, I am getting a different kind).  And Mike's laptop finally died after many many years.  We are blessed to have some tech savvy people in our church that are helping my poor laptop!   Mike has taken over my laptop for the time-being, so I've had little time online.  Which is both refreshing and yet, very frustrating at the same time.  :)

2.  It's basketball season and we are in the throws of ACC play.  My Heels had a rather dismal start, but have had such a dramatic turn around.  We LOVE watching the games together.

3.  I seem to go in Reading Frenzy spurts.  Right now I can't put books down.  Have you read Radical by David Platt?  Wow.  Life-changing, hard, and refreshing all at the same time.  I'm reading it with a friend from church and it is kicking our tails!  I'm also diving into Inside The Revolution: How the Followers of Jihad, Jefferson, and Jesus Are Battling to Dominate the Middle East and Transform the World.  It is so very insightful and yet terrifying!  My dad introduced me to author Joel Rosenberg and both his non-fiction and fictitious books on Middle East tensions and what Bible prophesy has to say about it.  In light of all the chaos happening right now, believers need to know how to pray.  I also highly recommend his The Last Jihad series (fiction).

4.  I'm looking for part-time work.  So the little computer time that I have had has been job searching and resume tweaking.  Ugh.

5.  Home Projects.  Mike just replaced our kitchen and Master Bath flooring.  Love it!  We have a long list of things to tackle.  Mike is not a giddy kind of guy...he is about as mellow as they come.  Except when it comes to some power tools.  Seriously, a nail gun made him hyper with excitement.  So funny to me!

6.  Sickness.  Off and on all of us have had something for the last month.  Jackson is the latest - he was devastated to miss the Valentines exchange at school.  They saved them for him, though.

7.  The house is alive with the sound of music.  My kiddos are nothing short of obsessed with the movie The Sound of Music.  Hannah tries so hard to sing along with Jackson, but it usually comes out "Doe... a doe.  A doe doe doe.  Ray.....Yay!".  She begs me often to watch the movie (we fast-forward to all the singing parts). 

8. Dancing Queen:  Hannah's got some new moves. I have NO idea where she picked them up. She made a grand performance at a Super Bowl Party we attended. Oh my!
Video below shows both her trying to sing Doe a Deer AND her little shaking moves...

winter what-nots

My kids.  They drive me crazy.  They make me laugh.  I utterly adore them.  With Jackson still Tracked Out, the freezing cold weather, and an ice storm, we have had a LOT of time together indoors.

They may be 4.5 years apart, but they certainly know how to pester each other.  Going for the full sibling experience, I guess.  One minute they are chasing and giggling... the next they take toys from each other and scream out.  Hannah is not so sure about having Jackson at home with us during the day as she definitely acts out when my attention is centered on him.

Jack is wii-obsessed.  He would happily play all day long if I let him.  I took cue from my friend and set up new parameters for his play:  However long he spends on homework or reading, he gets that same amount of time to play wii.  No more arguing and he's more motivated than ever to get school work done.  He is really impressing me with his reading abilities lately.

Caught!

Hannah has entered into a new phase I call the "stinker phase".  She is quite mischievous and active!  The girl is ALL over the place and very sneaky...  Hides my hair brush.  Sneaks candy.  I went upstairs to grab her shoes and in the 30 seconds I was gone she had climbed onto the kitchen table, grabbed and pencil and decorated my notebook.  She is testing the limits in virtually every area.  Where is my sweet, docile little thing??!  :)

For all her recent rambunctiousness, she has become the extreme snuggler.  She often leads me to a chair, tells me to sit, and gathers all her beloved objects (usually nite nite blankie, sippy cup, doll, and magnadoodle) for a lengthy snuggle time on my lap.  I love this!  However, she does have a knack for picking inopportune times - like when I'm cooking dinner or helping Jackson with homework.  Hannah gives me hugs and kisses all day long, and often tells me "lub you".  Melts my heart!

Her vocabulary has really multiplied and she will chat up a storm.  She will sit on my lap and go on and on with real words mixed with babble.  She's putting more words together: "Mommy, cups.  Juice.  Peeeez.  Yummy Yummy"  (translation: I am thirsty. Please give me yummy juice.)

doesn't she look like a stinker?

Other cute quotable moments:

Hannah calls the Chewbacca action figure, "Lion", and makes it roar.  It's a new favorite for her.

At a blended service our church had with another church that is primarily African American, Jackson said to me, "Mom, they say AMEN alot."

Jackson: "Well, I love Beauty and the Beast.  It's not a girl movie.  They do lots of cool battles."

"Fake Birthday" (aka Lego Star Wars party)

Jackson has taken to calling his small friend party the Fake Birthday since it wasn't ON the actual day.  So funny.  This year's party was very small, but memorable.  Since he is the big 6 year old, he had a lot of input into the party this year.  The theme was Lego Star Wars.

Not just Lego.  Not just Star Wars.  It had to be Lego Star Wars.  Which ended up being a very fun and easy theme to work with!

The boys went through vigorous Jedi Training with their trainer (Daddy).  We had the soundtrack playing as the young Padawans (that's SW speak for Jedi's-in-training) arrived.  They were presented with their own Light Saber (small inflatable ones that light up). In case you are wondering... 5 & 6 year-old boys LOVE love LOVE light sabers. There was quite the exuberance!
The first activity was Light Saber training (keep balloons in air as long as possible using the light saber). 
Next, they worked together to free Hans Solo from an ice prison (Hans action figure frozen in ice block).  Then, it was Blaster Training (nerf guns taking out a line of 6 bad guy action figures). 

We then took a break from training for a little present opening and refreshments of Yoda Soda, a light saber cake, ice cream and a few other snacks.  The table centerpiece was the Millennium Falcon (courtesy of daddy's childhood collection).  These young Jedi were raring to get back to training!

The Padawans then had to tackle the biggest obstacle yet -- Destroy the Death Star (ball pinata we painted silver).  Jackson was insistent that he had to have a pinata this year.  This worked perfectly with our theme.

We then lined up the boys for an Awards Ceremony where each received a Jedi Knightship certificate signed by Master Yoda himself.  They REALLY got into it and were so excited!

The remainder of time was spent playing with Star Wars action figures and ships, playing a Lego Star Wars wii game, and whopping each other with light sabers.  Hence the importance of them being inflatable.  :) 

According to Jackson, it was the "coolest birthday ever".  He was grinning from ear-to-ear the entire time.  Even Hannah loved it.  She stayed in the middle of every activity just like she was a 6 year old.

Christmas in TN

So, we learned that even if your cul-de-sac is plowed... that doesn't mean that both lanes of I-40 will be clear for travel.  It took about 8.5 hours to make a usually 6 hour trip to TN.  We went 9 miles in 2 hours through the mountains with no place to exit.  Praise God the kids were really good... having a DVD player and goldfish for dinner probably helped.  :)

We had a fabulous time with family in Knoxville. Presents galore, great food, lots of resting, and fun.  The kids both loved seeing Elle and Emerson again!

Mimi got Elle and Hannah matching jammies!

Granddaddy, Mimi and all the grandbabies!

Gearing up to watch the bowl game.  Daddy had a UT shirt on under his sweatshirt, and Uncle Tyson had a UT sweatshirt he wore to the game.  Who would've thought our teams would ever meet up in a bowl??