Easter Weekend – Part Two!

Yes, it is May.  But if you have ever read this blog, you know that is how I roll.  Behind.  I roll way behind.  And I think I may have finally come to grips with it.  I like to take way TOO MANY pictures but I don’t have enough time to go through them and get them posted.  The first step to overcoming a problem is to admit you have one, right?    Anyway, I also should probably quit mentioning this every time I do a blog post too.  Maybe one day I with get there.    Thanks for hanging in there with me until I do. 

Well, I can’t even remember what I wrote in the previous post, but we did have a great Easter weekend!  We spent a rainy Good Friday doing stuff inside (see previous post) and had big plans to go to one of my favorite places on Saturday…IKEA!!!    Yesssss….  So anyway, maybe I will just post the pics and explain as we go along.  

We headed to Charlotte on Saturday morning – with am empty trailer in tow (thanks to some friends who let us borrow theirs ) – and headed to IKEA!!!  I am telling you that I love that place more than anyone should.  But that’s another story.    Anyway, we decided to stop at Riverbanks to do a loop on our way there.  We love to do that.  We go to Anderson/Greenville a lot and will stop at the zoo on our way home a lot to let J&E get out and walk.  We have zoo passes – and if you don’t, I recommend you look into it!  If you go to the zoo pretty much once in a year and do the lights at Christmas, you pay for a yearly membership!  It is SO worth it!!!  We just go right up to the gate, hand them our card and walk in…and this SERIOUSLY came in handy on the Saturday before Easter!!!  We somehow missed the memo that this is apparently the Riverbanks’ busiest day of the year!!!  =/  It was busier than we have EVER seen…the line just to get tickets was almost all the way to the train tracks!!!  Crazy!  But we walked right on past that whole line and walked right into the zoo.  It was beyond fantastic!  But anyway, I just wanted to put that little plug in for the zoo because we LOVE Riverbanks and our zoo passes!!! 

And this is E telling the monkeys to SHHHHHH….

And I don’t normally take pics of animals but every time we have been, the koalas are always sleeping in a tight little ball shape and we can never really see them…but on this day, this one was really hanging out!  And in fact, since Easter, we have been to the zoo twice and the koalas have been very active both times!  I read some interesting facts about those koalas and how much it costs to feed them and it was unbelievable…and then I thought, well, I bet that’s why I don’t remember seeing koalas at any other zoo that I have been to!

And then I have NO idea what came over me but I let Jack hold my camera and take our picture!!!  Not only did he not drop it, but he did a pretty good job!  At least you can see all of us!    And thanks to Jason for taking the one below these…   I am trying to be more conscious of how I need to be in more pictures so that J&E will have some pics of their mom!    Right now, the selection is limited.

  And then we made it to our destination!!!    I will have to explain later why we even made this trip to IKEA.  But I was on a mission.  And I had a list.  And we marked it off without a problem.  There was only one thing they didn’t have that I wanted but of course, they had something else just as wonderful to go in it’s place!And as if the first picture was not enough, I had to take another one. 

And we brought along the usual LeapFrog educational stuff to help J&E enjoy IKEA as much as we did…and then there’s my wonderful husband, who is SO patient with me (most of the time – my fault! )!  I called out the aisle/location of all of the items and he headed there with the cart…are you kidding…IKEA is our kind of store.  SO organized, it is ridiculous!  I would call it out, we would go there, put it on the cart and move to the next spot.  Not one problem.  Except they didn’t have the tabletop color I wanted.    So I just got a different color. 

And then E had enough of LeapFrog, snacks and IKEA…thankfully, it was right when we were headed to the register…this was the nicer part of her meltdown.  Let me be fair and state that she did miss naptime and for some reason, had missed it several days before as well.  So she was barely hanging in there…

And then we had to get a pic of them on top of all of the boxes…seeing that everything in the boxes is for them…which I will explain later!  Only because this post is already long enough to begin with and what is in the boxes is going to require an entire post dedicated to it!  =O

And then if you know me, you know that one of my very favorite restaurants is this one…”Mom…are we going to Daddy’s restaurant?”, as Jack says.    So anyway, after IKEA we headed here for a late lunch/early dinner.  Can we say, GREAT DAY!!?? 

Then, Easter Sunday, we got the kids dressed and they got to check out their baskets.  This year was a sports year for some reason.  E had been wanting a soccer ball and Jack a football.

And then Ella was making sure the couch was ready for our annual Easter morning picture.  Thanks, E. 

And then after church, we went to eat with family and had our annual Easter Egg Hunt for J&E in our yard.    We hid some higher for Jack this year.  (How did he get SO big???!!  YIKES!!!)  And I can’t exactly remember the order of events that day but I do believe there may have been some fishing involved after the egg hunt.  E and I did not particpate in this event so there were no pictures.  But Jason and Jack had fun as always! 

 

We had a GREAT Easter weekend!!!    If there is anything I have left out from our FUN , I will be sure to post it…even if it is in August.    We do have lots of random pictures from the month of April that we will have to share with you as well! 

Easter 2012

Yikes!  I think this could be the longest since I have done a blog post!!!  =O  I almost didn’t remember my password to get into WordPress!  =/  Anyway, life has been extremely busy for us since my last post sometime in February…we’ve had a lot going on, received good news, not so good news, but all in all, God is still good and we are SO thankful!!!    Anyway, enough of all of that, let’s get right to Easter…

Jason always has Good Friday off so we usually have a great weekend full of events planned!  This year, it rained on Good Friday so we had a great day inside dyeing Easter eggs.  We decided to move our day trip to Charlotte to Saturday because of the rain.  Mainly because we were making a trip to IKEA – one of my favorite places! – and we would be bringing some things back in a trailer…so the rain would not work with those plans.    So anyway, Good Friday was fun around the house,  Saturday we went to Charlotte and Sunday was a great day starting with church, lunch with Jason’s dad’s family, then late lunch/early dinner with my mom/Bradley/friends and we skipped naps for an Easter egg hunt at home and then Jason took Jack fishing back over at his dad’s house while Ella and I hung out at home.    It was really a GREAT weekend!  So now, I leave you with some pics from Friday!  I’ll post Saturday and Sundays pics soon… :)

I forgot to mention our birds!  If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen some pics of our feathered friends, but otherwise, here they are!  We had a nest in the bush in our backyard last year and were able to see the eggs and watch the birds grow.  This year, the same birds built a nest in another bush and we watched them too!  It’s SO neat to have them where you can peek in on them and J&E loved checking on them every day!    They are gone now.    In fact, I saw one of them (when I was looking out of the kitchen window) bouncing around the yard on Saturday.  The “mom and dad” were close by chirping away – apparently telling the little bird what he needed to do. 

TOTALLY forgot to mention that part of the day on Friday was spent at the pediatrician’s office!!!  =/  Ella had been coughing for awhile and was pretty congested.  So long story short, since Jason was off work, I thought it would be a good day to take her.  Well, that morning, Jack started with a little bit of a cough and had a low fever.  So anyway, since I had my wonderful husband to go with us, we headed up there with both kids.  And how about Jack ended up being more sick than Ella??!!  WHAT?!  =/  He never acts sick.  That is good and bad.    So this was an example of how it can be bad…he had strep throat and we had NO idea!!!  But anyway, after antibiotics for both of them, their sicknesses have been long gone.    However, I say all of this to say that while waiting and waiting and waiting in the doctor’s office =/, we taught Jack how to play “Rock/Paper/Scissors”…and I think we may have created a RPS monster…this was a pic of him being silly doing it at home.    We hope you had a GREAT Easter!  I’ll post Saturday/Sunday pics soon!!! 

playing + park + forts + soccer + fun = COUSINS!!!

In an effort to not be outdone by my sister, who has apparently had a little more time than I have had to take pics , I decided I should get a blog post on here before the parents get home. ;)  (SIDENOTE:  It didn’t happen.    They returned earlier than expected last night – 6:30 – and the rest is history.  You see I am just now getting this post on here the next night.  So ignore any references to it being another day.  It’s really Sunday night.  But hey, it’s not 6 months from now.  Progress.  )  Anyway…and I am also the favorite aunt so why wouldn’t I want to show all of the fun we have been having?!!    Anyway, kidding about the favorite aunt thing (well, maybe not).  Here’s a little breakdown of the week…Chris and Meredith left on Tuesday night after the kids were in bed and drove all night to a location that I will not say because I wanted to go!    (Ok, they went to Disney World on Wednesday and found out after they planned it that it was Leap Day and Disney was going to be open 24 hours!  WHAT?!  So they did that on Wednesday and had a conference for church Thursday – Saturday. They got back last night.    ) Anyway, we got up Wednesday morning and I took all 4 kids to CBS, we went by the Bakery and went to lunch at Cracker Barrel with Granna and then stopped back by for some dessert.  I had the kids lay down to rest for little while that afternoon and then we went to church.

On Thursday, we got up and they played 2 per room until lunch time.  We stopped by Chick-Fil-A on our way to the park, ate lunch at the park and then they played for a couple of hours.  We came home and I sent them straight to the backyard because we had Jack’s soccer practice that night.  So there was no need for baths yet!  They ate dinner outside and then Jason called and said he was going to have to work late.  So we hurried to get ready to load up for soccer since I wouldn’t have him to help.  I remembered all 4 children and we made it there with one minute to spare!  But if you notice, there was no naptime listed so E was not loving soccer practice!  Jason was able to come about 6:30, went home with us at 7:00 and then had to go back to work (which he was there until 11:00!).  So it was time for baths…these were some DIRTY children!  They had been outside since about 1:00 and it showed!  But the good thing is, they were WORN OUT. 

This one was upset because I just busted her trying to leave the park and go over to the bike circle place next door.  =/  They know they aren’t supposed to do that but I guess she figured she would try it.  =/  And then she wasn’t happy that I was taking her picture about it.   

Living dangerously since mom and dad are away…

And now for Friday…the plan was to stay around the house and let them play but I thought it was time for some “alone playtime”.  So I set up 7 different stations and they rotated every 30 minutes.  The stations were:  puzzles/books, LeapPad, Tag Reader, Click Start (lots of educational stations – we LOVE Leapfrog!!!), they got to choose one 30 minute TV show to watch, time on the iPad (educational games) and then bath time!  Yes, a bath was one of the stations.  I gave them what we call “fast baths” Thursday night but no matter how hard I scrubbed, they still needed to soak.  So that’s why I included a bath in the rotation.    Well, we took a break for lunch in there and finished the stations and went upstairs to read before nap/rest time…and then, it happened.  Let the throw-ups begin!!!  YAY!!!!  =/  But seriously, I was about to sit down to read to them and Ella hollered and there it went…all over the floor in Jack’s room (sorry for all of the details).  I grabbed her up and went to the bathroom and she did it again.  So I won’t even go into how the rest of the day went…it was clean-up and survival from then on out.  But I will say now that we are VERY thankful that she has not been sick anymore.  Just that one time.  But that one time was ENOUGH!  She got to lay on our bed the rest of the day, which you will see those pics a little later.    Then Granna came to pick Hadley, Jack and Norah up around 4:30 for a movie.  (Ella never even knew they were gone!)  Well, that was a bust because the power went out about 15 minutes into the movie!  And was out on that side of town so they drove over to the southside and decided to eat at Sonic – somewhere Jack had never eaten, by the way.  She said he thought it was crazy that people were bringing him his food on roller skates!  They went to pick out some toys after that and then came home around 9:00.  It was baths and in bed by 10:00 – late night for them because they are all used to being in bed no later than 8:00 – 7:00 if they don’t have nap/rest time!

Not sure if you can tell but I covered the bed with trashbags, then put a blanket on that and a sheet over that.    I knew she might not have good aim to put a trashcan on the floor so I gave her that pan.    Thankfully she never had to use it.  She only moved once to the position you will see in a minute and then she fell asleep.  And no, I do not take pics of my kids when they are sick.  But this was E’s first “official” bed-ridden sickness.  And she looked like pure sweetness when she was sleeping.  So it warranted some pics. 

After taking these pics, I went downstairs and thought I should take a pic of the others with the lovely trashcan in the middle of the floor.  Easily accessible to everyone, of course.  Thankfully, no one has had to use a trashcan as of the time I type this.  But they have had them at the ready in each room and by ALL of their beds, just in case. 

And now there is today.  Rainy, yucky Saturday.  But I LOVE it!  I love a yucky day when we don’t have anywhere to go.  And so we were awakened this AM by Jack wanting to get in the bed with us because there was a crazy storm outside…lots of wind and rain.  He pretty much never went back to sleep though.  We finally sent him to his room to play because the rest of the ladies were still sleeping.    Anyway, we all got up around 8:00 and Uncle Jason made pancakes!    Then we let them watch 3 of their favorite shows:  Chuggington, Little Einsteins and Octonauts.  After that, Jason built a train track in the Game Room and I built a fort in the dining room – perfect indoor rainy day stuff.  Hadley and Ella decided to pair up this time and Jack and Norah.  J&N started in the Game Room and H&N got the surprise fort.  Then we switched after an hour.  We read a book before nap/rest time and here we are!  All I know is, these were some tired children from being up so late last night because this house is SO quiet!  Everyone is sleeping soundly.  Even Jason.  I am looking at him on the couch right now.    Anyway,  we’ll wake them up in a little bit, dinner and then it’s movie night!  Baths after that, bed and then mom and dad will be home for H&N to see in the morning! 

Disclaimer:  I typed all of this up yesterday thinking I would post it before Meredith/Chris returned but it didn’t happen because they returned early!  So anyway, I am reading back over it and am posting it today.  And am amazing myself that it is being posted SO soon…this is “hot off the press” stuff for me, I tell you. 

Hadley was in a POSING mood for real.  She was doing all kinds of crazy things and wanted me to take a picture of it.  And then, like most of them are doing these days, she wanted to see the picture.  Which this reminds me…they have NO idea that not long ago, you had to take the film to have it developed and had to wait several days for your pictures, only to find out that a few of them even turned out!  And then, they came up with this thing called “One Hour Photo”…oh wow, I thought that was the GREATEST thing ever.  But you had to pay a hefty price for that, so I was usually just patient and waited a few days for the pics.  The suspense was kind of fun.    But now, wow.  These kids have NO idea how awesome it is to be able to see a picture immediately.  So anyway, Hadley took advantage of that and any “posed” pics that you see in these Saturday pics, were pretty much her idea.    Ha.

And then it was time to “switch”.  Hadley and Ella chose to go to her room instead of the Game Room and it was fort time for Jack and Norah.    They had lots of fun, but as you will see, they left the tent for a moment to make sure that Hadley and Ella weren’t having more fun in her room. 

And looking back at these pics, I totally should have played a “spot the trashcan in every room” game with you!  You will see the trashcan placed to the right side of the fort room in these pics!    HA!

Did I mention since Ella’s episode Friday that there were trashcans strategically placed in EVERY room where there were children?  Just living life on the safe side.  And they got speeches about how to use those trashcans about once an hour.  Poor children.  But I just didn’t want them to forget.  And speaking of forgetting, I meant to take a picture of how each of them had a trashcan by their bed any time that they were going to sleep/rest.  I am thinking that my cautiousness paid off.  But I can say that now that everyone has gone home and this has been a “throw-up free zone” since Friday.    Yessssss….

We’ve had a GREAT time and H&N have been model cousins/guests!  They all play so well together and are very well-behaved.  It’s always fun for any of the cousins to come visit!    We are looking forward until next time but until then, I leave you with some cousin quotes…

“Cousins are many. Best friends are few. What a rare delight to find both in you.”  -Anonymous

“Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends.” -Anonymous

Backwards Night!

It was ”Backwards Night” for our January Family Night!  We wore our pajamas…backwards…wore pants on our head…ate breakfast for dinner (which sometimes happens on a “normal” night)…ate dinner UNDER the table , ate upside down ice cream cones for dessert and had a great time!

Before we begin with “Backwards Night” 2012, let’s take a look back at this Family Night in 2010.  Jack was so young, he doesn’t even remember it.  But I did want to make it different than last time.  We dressed in winter clothes in the spring time, still ate under the table but had upside down cupcakes for dessert instead.  How do I remember all of that, you ask?  It’s why I take so many pictures!    I just pulled up the folder and looked!  And Ella wasn’t even a year old yet…look at her sitting up in the Bumbo having NO clue what was going on!

And then we thought, why not put pants on our head??!!    Well, Jack was not okay with that idea as you can tell.  He apparently thought that having pants on your head is just not right.

And then I look over at Ella and she is “brushing one of Jack’s trains”.  Well, I don’t think it gets more backwards than that.

Breakfast for dinner!  This is good any night but it works especially well for a backwards night. 

Yes, she has a clothespin in her hair.    Her hair is in that annoying in between stage because we are trying to grow out her bangs.  But anyway, they were getting in the ice cream so I grabbed the nearest thing to hold hair and it happened to be a clothespin.    And in keeping with the backwards theme, E thought she needed to eat through the bottom of the ice cream cone first.  Having it upside down in a bowl wasn’t enough apparently. 

And we ended the night with a backwards book, that turned out to not be backwards after all.  =/  We asked Jack to pick a “Five Little Monkeys” book – because the original story counts backwards, of course – but the version he picked did not.  Oh well. 

We had another great Family Night!  February’s night was on Valentine’s Day and hopefully I can get those pics uploaded soon! 

LONG post – lots of words – and a bunch of randomness ;)

Well, I thought it might be good to break the Christmas pics up a bit with an update about what’s been going on in our corner of the world these days…lots to share!  Most of it will probably be very random but hang in there with me.    I actually started a draft of this post several days ago and have been adding to it as I thought of things I wanted to share…some, which will probably not make any sense – some, which you will probably think why in the world is she even talking about that – and hopefully some might be some things you have never heard of before and may give you a new idea like it did for me!    And I think it’s time for one of those random kind of posts. 

(And after typing this whole post, I realized I should probably break it up with some pictures.    So in keeping with the randomness, I chose some recent pics of J&E playing in E’s “new” room.  “New” to her, at least.    We haven’t switched her to a toddler bed or anything but we did rearrange after Christmas to make room for her new kitchen set and also to make her room more “child-friendly” so she could start having “room time” in there like Jack does in his room.  Up until this point, she had been playing in J’s room.  So needless to say, she was SUPER excited when she found out she could start playing in her room.    So I am including some pics from their first 2 days playing in there.  They were playing SO great together that I went and got the camera, kind of hid myself over to the side of the room – or in the hallway – and just took some pics.  )

So here goes…

And to keep it organized and simple, I am going with a list format.  However, these random thoughts are in NO particular order.  They are listed as they popped into my head – dangerous, I know.

1.  I started this post the other night when we had a fire blazing in the fireplace.  So it made me think about how ironic it is that this has been one of the warmest winters ever – hence the reason our gas bill went DOWN this year!!!  Can I get a HOLLA??!!  We do that “Easy Payment Plan” thing (or whatever it is called ) and they average our bill each year so that our payment is the same every month…instead of one sumer month it is $12 and then in the winter it might be $200+/month!  =O  Our first year in the house (almost 9 years ago! ) was crazy because we never knew what to expect!  But anyway, someone told us about this payment plan thing and it has been the best thing we have ever done!  (If you have questions about it, feel free to ask!  I DEFINITELY recommend you doing it, if you don’t already!)

Anyway, this takes me back to the fire in the fireplace.    I think it is ironic that our gas bill seriously went down almost $40/MONTH (instead of going UP $40/month, like all of our bills have been doing these past several years)…AND…we have ordered the most loads of firewood this year that we EVER have!  =O  HA!  You would think we have had the coldest winter ever!  We usually have wood left over from the previous year and usually order one load/winter.  But this year, we received load #3 this past week!!!  =O  HA!  We have been LOVING a fire these days!  I think it is because we have been home more this winter (for many reasons but one being this was our first winter not doing youth…we miss youth but not doing it has freed up some time and apparently we have been spending a lot of it in front of the fireplace!!!).  But anyway, we have been REALLY enjoying a fire this year…and speaking of that, we will be enjoying one the next three nights, since it is supposed to be in the 20′s – and tomorrow is cold all day!    YAY!!!!

2.  Wow.  I didn’t mean for the first random thought to be so long.  Ooops.  I may have lost some of you already. 

3.  Uh oh…my next thought was about something I have not mentioned here on the blog or on FB so some of you may not even know about my injury and it might be another long explanation like #1…yikes.  Apparently I need to do a separate blog post on each random thought!  =/  Anyway, let me cut right to it.  I got my first “accidental stitches” a couple of weeks ago.  I thought it was my first stitches – what I told the doctor – before my sister reminded me that I had surgery with Jack, hence why I call these my “accidental stitches”…and I must say that I am thankful I am 37 and these are my first – and hopefully last!!!  So here’s the back story in as few words as possible.    We took a trip to Anderson on a Friday for the weekend.  I wanted Jack to be surprised about H&N’s new trampoline.  When we got there, they were all on it in the backyard so I decided to cover his eyes and walk him to the backyard.  They have lots of steps down their back porch.  J&I went down the steps fine together.  Until we got to the bottom 2-3 steps.  My new flat shoes decided they didn’t like the steps, protested and we took a little spill.  In an effort to keep myself from falling completely on top of my son, apparently I went down on my left arm (but don’t remember much of it because if this makes any sense, it was all in slow motion, it seems but yet it happened so fast!).  Well, after laughing and shedding some hilarious tears (not from being hurt ) because Meredith and my dad saw us at the bottom but didn’t see it happen, we got right up and went on around the porch to the trampoline.  (And during this whole event, I still had my hand over his eyes!    Ha.)  We made it there fine (no one was hurt – so we thought), his expression and excitement made it SOOOOOOO worth it and he jumped right on and started jumping.  I stood there laughing in my head about what had happened and thinking to myself how I couldn’t believe I pulled that whole thing off after falling and then I felt it.  =/  Dripping down my arm.  Great.  So I pulled up my sleeve – which had no hole in it – and saw the blood.  So I calmly walked inside, pulled up my sleeve and couldn’t see the damage.  But Meredith did and her face and the sound she made weren’t promising for my injury.  =/ She said, “Ooooooooooooooooo.  That doesn’t look good.”

So let me try to shorten this some…I didn’t want to go to the ER.  We got it to stop bleeding pretty fast so I was kind of hoping it could heal up on it’s own.  But everyone that looked at it had the same reaction as Meredith.  =/  And it was positioned on the bottom side of my arm so thankfully I couldn’t see it.  Anyway, after some advice that it did need some stitches, an hour and a half later, Meredith rode with me a mile down the road to an Urgent Care.  That was the best thing I have ever done.  It was so pleasant and the whole check-in, wait and stitches, etc. was only one hour.  I didn’t feel a thing.  Meredith thought there was something terribly wrong with my arm since I didn’t feel the shot to numb my arm nor the tetanus shot, but apparently they knew how to give a good shot.  And oh, I forgot to mention that we thought a nail may have been involved in the fall and that’s why I figured I better go on and get it checked out because I didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night from the effects of being cut by a rusty nail.  =/  And I was glad to hear the doctor say, “Oh yes…you DEFINITELY needed to come in for stitches and a tetanus shot.”  He said I had obviously been cut by a nail and not to gross anyone out, but he said it was cut as deep as it possibly could have been.  Said it was a VERY deep cut.  So he had to do some fancy stitches (some kind of “mattress” stitch) and I had to get 3 of them!    And I also wanted to say that the doctor’s name was Dr. Sunshine.  Oh yes, it was. 

Well, I feel like that took way too long to tell but I still left out a lot of details.    I also wanted to say that because I used a Doctor’s Care in Anderson, all I had to do was walk in the one here in Florence and they took the stitches out for free!  And thanks to Honda’s wonderful insurance, I only had to pay $25 for the whole event.  I am thankful that my stupidity and new shoes didn’t cost us more than that.    I went last Saturday to have the stitches taken out and let’s just say that experience was NOT as pleasant as having them put in.  I was about to ask him to numb my arm and then he mumbled, ”Why did he put these stitches in SO tight?”…but as soon as I was about to ask for the numbing, he said he was finished.  =O  I am thankful that all of that is OVER.  Now to see if I have a lovely scar to remind me of the event.  Let’s just say that I am glad that Jack’s reaction to the trampoline made it all worthwhile!  :)

And I thought this might be a good time to post a couple of trampoline pics from that weekend.    These were actually from Saturday when I was all “stitched up”.    I’ll post some more another time. 

4.  And on a shorter note, we are excited about Jack starting soccer again next week with “Upward”!  We got an email from hs coach and his practices start next Thursday.    This will be his third time playing – he “played” 3K with the Y and then we did Upward for the first time last spring.  And it’s not too far from our house so that makes it very nice too.    If you know Jack, you KNOW he LOVES to be on the move/run.  So that’s why we decided to start him off playing soccer.  And he does love it! 

(Flashback pics from past 2 times he has played soccer…look at HOW MUCH he has grown!!!  =O Yikes!)

Fall 2010

 Spring 2011

5.  Three words:  Words With Friends

I am not into computer games (do love board games though! ) but I added this app when I got my iPad and I can see how it can be very easy to get addicted to this game!!!  I have had to limit my time on it!  I usually only check it each night, play my words and then check it the next night.  But one of the first nights, I had some people playing words one after another and next thing I knew, it was 1:30AM and I was like YIKES!  I have got to get off of here!!!  But anyway, it is fun, I do love the game and if you aren’t playing it, you should!  And if you are, let’s start a game! 

6.  When I first typed this rough draft list, I thought we had a couple of weeks with not much going on - for the first time since….hmmm….maybe, who knows when?  August?  Yikes.  But seriously, this past week was the first week since I can remember that we only had 2 things going on.  Wednesday we had CBS in the AM and then church that night.  And then something came up, Jason had to meet with someone and we had to miss church.  So we pretty much had CBS last week and the rest of the week we stayed home!!!  It.  Was.  Awesome.  I mean, I love staying busy and doing things but it is nice to stay home too.  I do 4K with Jack on Tuesday/Thursday mornings every week but the rest of the week was spent doing whatever we wanted around the house.  Ooops.  Except yesterday (Friday).  I take that back.  We did run errands and had a spur of the moment dinner at my mom’s house because Bradley is in town.  We ate at CFA for lunch, went to the mall and Target.  Had I known there was no school yesterday, we probably would have chosen another day!  It was quite busy out and about!  =O  And J&E acted like they had never been out in public before.  Never EVER.  But that’s a whole other story that I won’t explain right now since it wasn’t on my original “random thoughts” list…

Oh and so much for 2 weeks with nothing going on.  I looked at the calendar for next week and was thankful we had nothing going on this past week.  Next week, things are back to “normal”.    But we are SUPER excited about some of the things we will be doing next week! 

7.  When Ella wants to say “I don’t know”, she says, “I can’t know”.  It is way too cute to correct and I know one day she will figure out how to say it correctly.  And I just had to share it with you. 

(And speaking of Ella, as you can see, she figured out how to reach in her crib and sneak a “pass” – because she’s only supposed to have them when she’s sleeping… )

8.  Oh wow…I had written “homeschooling”.  But I didn’t realize I would spend so much time on #1 and #2.  =O  And I think the topic of “homeschooling” might just need a whole blog post devoted to it.  I wanted to share some exciting things with you but I’ll save that for later. 

9.  One of my new favorite things is to stop by Sonic and get a bag of ice to have at home.   With my nightly Cherry Coke.    However, I am wondering if everyone has been taking advantage of this deliciousness because the last couple of times they said the machine was running low and they couldn’t sell it.  And one time it was apparently the weekend because they said they couldn’t sell bags of ice on the weekend?  So anyway, I came up with a new “plan” when I don’t have my special ice.    I put the Cherry Coke in my Tervis Tumbler (best cup EVA) about 2 hours or so before I want it (more than that if I think about it) and it freezes a 2-3 inch layer of CCoke ice on the top, which I break up with a knife and then it is like a CCoke Icee (or something like that) and it is SO good.

And I will stop now because if you didn’t think this already, you now think that I have COMPLETELY LOST MY MIND!!!  =O  Ha!  But anyway, I do love some Cherry Coke and don’t think I am totally crazy until you try it with Cherry Coke or your favorite drink…

10.  So we have a treadmill.  Which I hate.  Simply because the ONLY place we have to put it is in the office.  In the corner of the room.  So when I run, I have to pretty much look at the corner/wall.  Well, I shouldn’t make it sound that bad.  There is a window.  Where I can watch the squirrels play.  =/  I think you get the point.  So anyway, since we got the treadmill a couple of years ago (I think?),  I have tried the iPod/listening to music.  The treadmill even has an iPod dock!  But it is just SO boring!!!  So I have always wanted to get a small flat screen TV and hang it on THAT WALL I have to stare at.  I mean, we have a cable drop in the office AND the box for the whole deal is in there so all we would have to do is hang the TV and run the wire.  But we have just never got around to doing it.

Until the other day, when this thought popped into my head…I have the Time Warner Cable app on my iPad!!!!!  I can watch TV on my iPad while I run!!!!!  WOO HOOOOOOO!!!!  I wish you knew what a GREAT discovery this was!!!  It was one of those moments when I was like, why didn’t I think of this sooner??!!  So anyway, I took it in there and it worked PERFECTLY!  The wireless router is in the office so the picture/signal comes through SO clearly…it was awesome!!!  The set-up isn’t the greatest right now for where to set it (had it propped in the middle of the window one day – perfect height and place but I needed it to be a little louder – so now I rigged something up on the treadmill) and so now we are going to figure something else out for where to put it when I need to run.  There are lots of options but we just have to decide which will work best for that area.  But anyway, I am SUPER excited about now being able to watch TV while I run and we didn’t have to spend money on a TV that would only be used when I was on the treadmill!  The iPad is used for SO much more!!!  (And let me put a plug in here for the iPad – I. LOVE.  THAT.  THING.  In my mind, it is the GREATEST invention EVER.  If you are thinking about getting one, I encourage you to go ahead and DO IT.  I had a lot of reasons I wanted one but it has SO many more uses now!  There are SO many apps and one of the reasons we got it was for the educational ones.  I can’t believe how many there are!  Anyway, I could go on and on and on about it!  There’s enough about it to dedicate to an entire blog post, that’s for sure! )

11.  I don’t like to talk politics on here or anywhere for that matter – UNLESS you ask me.  And then I will be GLAD to share my opinions.    Mainly because this is an area that people have VERY strong opinions and I am just not interested in debating about it.  I would rather talk with you about my relationship with Jesus.    But anyway, I just wanted to say that I was glad to see that the candidate I voted for in the SC primary is doing much better in the polls these days.    And whether he wins or not, I still think he is the best candidate for the job. 

12.  CROCKPOT MEALS!!!  Need I say more???!!!  I have stuck with my “one new meal per week” resolution from 2011 (continued into 2012 ) and usually we have at least one crockpot meal per week.  But anyway, I am not sure who invented the Crockpot but they are/were GENIUS. 

13.  My teaching certification expires in June.  =/  Thankfully when I stopped teaching 5 years ago to stay home with Jack, I had enough credits to renew my certificate.  At the time, I thought, oh yeah…I’ve got PLENTY of time before it expires!  What was I thinking?!  It’s time to renew that thing already!!!  So anyway, thankfully I can do the classes online but I am SO NOT looking forward to it.  But I do want to keep up my certification.  I certainly would NOT want to have to take classes, retake all of those tests. etc. to be certified!  =O  I graduated from college in 1997 (that sounds like SOOO long ago) and I am SURE that the requirements have changed A LOT since then!  So I think I will get over it and just do the online classes.  I’ve got to take 2 of them so I better get started…

14.  And we just found out that Tim Hawkins is coming nearby in April!  He is pretty hilarious.  I am pretty excited about seeing him live.  April 14 sounds like long time away but if it is anything like me thinking that 5 years was a long time before needing to be recertified, then I must be mistaken.  April 14 will be here next week.

Wow…I can’t believe this turned into such a LONG post!  Thanks to any of you that made it through the whole thing!  =O  And believe it or not, it seems like there is more stuff to share but I will save it for another post and let your eyes rest…until then, THANKS for reading!!! 

It’s only been 6 weeks since Christmas…

…and so that is how I am justifying these next couple of posts with Christmas pics!    But seriously, when I thought about it, I was like, it has only been a little over a month since Christmas!  It seems like SO much longer!!!  So this might be a record that I am getting these pics on here in the same season and they were taken.  If you know me/this blog, you know what I am talking about.    And I could have just left these off the blog and moved on but when I was going through them it was so much fun because I had forgotten about half of them!  Anyway, the pics in this post are actually not even from Christmas but from December.  So here we go…

We do an “Advent Calendar” every year and the kids got to open a box each afternoon when Jason got home from work.  There was candy in some of the boxes but the other boxes had papers in them with a “prize” for J&E.  There were also a couple of other surprises, like making gingerbread men or going to see the lights at the zoo.  Anyway, they REALLY looked forward to seeing what was in the box each day! 

And since these pics are from the whole month of December, I had to include a pic from GIRL’S WEEKEND!!!  WOO HOO!!!!    It was an awesome time with awesome friends!!!  We went on Friday night and came back on Sunday and had too much fun to even document on here!  There was one laugh after another, lots of good food, LOTS of talking, even more laughing, shopping and caramel apples.    I mean, we could not have possibly had more fun!!!  Can’t wait until next time!!! 

And then our annual tradition of going to pick out our live tree!    One day, we want to take the kids to the mountains and cut one down ourselves…but we think we will wait a little longer until E is a little older.    So until then, we head down the road to the greatest tree lot ever – Lambs on Second Loop!  They always have wonderful trees and are very friendly!  I also always take my camera and never get any good pics.  =/  But I keep taking it every year.  Oh well.  One year, it was SUPER crazy sunny and the sun was blinding us, or one year the kids weren’t having it or maybe just one year it was too cold (but that would have only been once because who has ever even heard of cold weather in SC in December?  Not me.  ).  But anyway, here is my attempt at some pics of the event, even though this year, J&E were displaying their “attention deficits” in a MAJOR way!  =O

We go to an amazing Bible Study every Wednesday called CBS (Community Bible Study).    On one of the Wednesdays in December, Jack’s class performed for all of us and it was FANTASTIC, of course!    I am SO thankful for CBS because I have learned SO much about the book of John (and have an amazing Core Group) but more importantly, Jack and Ella leave every week knowing SO much more about the Bible.  And they have tons of fun as well!!!    If you want more info about CBS, I’d be excited to tell you all about it! 

And this could happen any random day during any month but one day, Ella was jumping on our bed (with supervision ) and her super thin blonde hair was flying everywhere…but of course, by the time I got the camera, she decided not to perform what I wanted her to redo.  However, she did manage to show me some other tricks…

I forgot that the first pic was the second time we showed them the Advent box on December 2nd (forgot to take a pic the first night)…it was E’s first year knowing what was going on so I needed to document it.    Anyway, these pics are from one of the other nights when they were enjoying ”the box”. 

Then there’s the whole “close your eyes” thing…

On this particular night, the box had a paper in it and J&E each happened to get something.  I had scored some major deals on some LeapPad games this past Christmas and so we used one of them as J’s prize in the box.  Anyway, we couldn’t give it to him and not let him play it, so the next few pics are of him enjoying his new game…on his LeapPad that he L.O.V.E.S.!!!  If your child is between the ages of 4-9 (I think that’s the ages it is advertised for), then they need a LeapPad!  It is SO much fun, Jack loves the games, it does pics/video and they don’t even know it is educational!  THAT is what I LOVE about it most.  Jack has so much fun with it and doesn’t even realize he is learning.  If you know me, you know I am a HUGE LeapFrog fan!!!    We love and have all things LFrog at this house!!!    (And J got the Explorer for Christmas last year…but since the Explorer games work on the LPad, we didn’t mind buying it…and we gave the Explorer to E.  She isn’t sure how to do anything but watch the LFrog videos on it yet but she thinks she is awesome and big like her brother.    And we know one day, soon enough, she will be playing games and other stuff on it. )

Can’t remember what night we tried to get a Christmas pic in front of the tree in pajamas but anyway, here are a few of the ones that made the cut.    These were taken at night and then I decided to try some more the next morning when they got up, since they still had on the pjs.    But before I post those, I need to share the ones from our bedtime routine after take the pj pics.  Another Christmas tradition we have is for me to take 25 of our Christmas books (mostly that I had from when I taught first grade for so many years ) and wrap each book in Christmas paper.  Then, I put all of the wrapped books under Jack’s tree (probably under E’s tree in her room next year ) and each night they chose one book from under the tree, unwrapped it and Jason read it to them.  They seriously LOVED doing this every night and I am glad because it is a tradition we will have until they move out of the house! 

Not sure how we were downstairs taking the pj pics, then back upstairs to unwrap the book and then back downstairs to read the book (we usually just read it in Jack’s room)…oh wait, I think this might have been the night that Rudolph was on TV and they hadn’t finished their popcorn?  That’s what happens when you wait this long to post pics.  =/  Oh well. 

Oh my…it’s all coming back to me now…   This was a big picture night at our house apparently!  After reading the book downstairs, we went back UPstairs and did the “Jesse Tree” (which I mentioned in another post) for the night.  We did this in E’s room everynight.  They took turns choosing the envelope with the ornament inside, Jason would read about it and read the scripture and then they would go back DOWNstairs to put the ornament on the tree…AND…I should say that of making/finding all 25 ornaments, that night’s ornament was the HARDEST to find!  I can’t tell you how many places we looked for a lion ornament!!!  I even had the girls at our Girl’s Weekend looking for a lion ornament when we were out shopping!  But no luck.  So anyway, a few days before the night we needed the lion ornament, we found a lion toy, Jason drilled a hole in it, put the hook, we tied some string and there you have it!  Our “Jesse Tree” ornaments were complete!    YAY!!!

These few were from them going downstairs to put the ornament on the tree.  And then they got silly.  And since I apparently had the camera out ALL night, I took pics.  And just let them be crazy, wrestle and do whatever they wanted.  In the name of the pics, of course.   

It is finally the morning after the night of pics and so I decided to try some more pics in front of the tree in the daylight.  Here’s what went down.  The good, the bad and the tantrums. 

Something we look forward to every year (and another Christmas tradition of ours ), the Lights at Riverbanks Zoo!  YAY!!!    And this year was even more exciting because The Johnson’s met us there!  YAY again!!!    It was just cold enough to bundle up a little but not too cold  – so it was pretty much perfect!  We had a blast and hope that the Johnson’s will make it a tradition and hope the Drago’s can join us next year as well!    (And I failed to point out Jack’s “breakdancing” – again!  If you saw my FB status awhile back, you know that his dad taught him these moves…mhmmm…you read that right! ) HA!  (And I should also say that we don’t normally let E take her special “dog” out in public but she left it at Meredith’s house and so they brought it with them when they met us.  I felt bad that she had not had it in several days so we let her bring THE dog in to enjoy the lights as well.   )

Ella pretending to be a lion.  Or not.  And then one day in December is when I went in E’s room after her nap and this is what I saw.  =O hahaha  And I was SUPER excited when she let me get downstairs to get the camera, I came back up and those “passes” (as she calls them ) were still in her mouth! 

Christmas festivities up next…   Thanks for reading!!!

“Family Night” that turned into a “Family Day”! ;)

We decided to have a Saturday “Family Day” instead of a “Family Night” in November.    We were doing shoeboxes for “Operation Christmas Child” and so we needed to buy the stuff for the boxes, pack them and drop them off.  So we decided it was best to just try to do this all in one day.  And then to make it a totally random day, we found out that the “Florence Little Theater” was doing a performance of “The Gingerbread Man” so we took J&E to that in the morning.  We realized J&E had never been to a play before.  I had the camera because I planned to take pics of our “Family Day” activities so I took it in to the play as well.  Except I didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves and didn’t want to use the flash.  So anyway, a lot of the pics didn’t turn out because of that, but J&E LOVED it.  Can’t wait to go to the next play! 

Then, we headed to get the stuff for our shoeboxes!    We went to Target first but didn’t find a whole lot so I didn’t take any pics there.    After that, we headed to the Dollar Tree and had the aisle to ourselves the whole time so I was able to get lots of pics.  It was pretty funny.  Jason had Ella and so I just got some pics of Jack at first and then Ella joined us.    Ella didn’t know what we were doing but Jack did a good job of picking out stuff.  In the past, we have packed a girl box and a boy box but as you will see in the pics later, Jack had picked out enough for 2 of each this year!  ;)

Then we went home, J&E took naps and then we packed our boxes.  We realized that Jack was apparently feeling very generous when they picked out the stuff and we had way too much for 2 boxes and it ended up being just enough for 4 boxes! 

The next day, Sunday, was the last day to drop off the boxes so we all loaded up in the car to take them to a church around the corner.  After that, I have no idea how this happened, but we ended up going through the car wash and even though Ella has been through one several times, this time she acted like she was not a fan.  So anyway, I “happened” to have the camera and tried to get a couple of her reaction every time the water came around.  The first pic is of J&E with their boxes/us loading up to take the boxes and the next pic is Ella not loving the car wash and rejoicing that it was OVER. 

If you haven’t ever done shoeboxes for Christmas through “Operation Christmas Child”, I highly recommend you make plans to do it this year! 

Catching up… :)

FINALLY.  I have FINALLY recovered from Christmas!  =O  It took almost a month, but I have finally taken down all of the Christmas decorations, put them in the attic (with Jason’s help, of course), cleaned the house, decorated for Valentine’s Day AND caught up with laundry!  Phew!  =O  So, here I am, back on the blog!    YAY!  I told myself I would do the 2011 posts and then I had to get this house back under control…and after that, I would try to catch up on pics/blogging!  So I am hoping that happens even though I have several busy weeks ahead.  But I must say that I am thankful all of the post-Christmas stuff is done!  And let me also say that I did not take me everyday between Christmas and this weekend to do all of that stuff…we had things going on here and there that kept me from getting it done…but anyway, it’s finally done.  And I am thankful.  And I am also thankful for a husband who asks if I want him to clean that bathrooms to help me out…and he does it…even better than I do!  He does have a new “toy” that he was able to use to do it but he would do it without that too, I am sure.    Because he’s my husband of almost 13 years and he’s awesome like that…

So anyway, now it is time to get caught up on pics…on here and I also hope to switch out the frames in our house and update J&E’s birthday books and some other things.  Just get everything up-to-date with pics…and this reminds me, we also bought a canvas for the den before Christmas and I still have chosen a pic for that yet!!!  =/  Yikes!  So I need to do that ASAP also!  So anyway, lots to do but for now, I wanted to start with our Christmas pics…which means, I have to start with October’s Family Night…I know you are thinking I typed that wrong but no, let me explain…

Long story short, I have been wanting to make the ornaments for a “Jesse Tree” for a couple of years now.  I wanted to get some people together to help make the ornaments but was never able to organize it in time.  Anyway, I knew if I let another year pass, that Jack would be another year older and I wanted to get the “Jesse Tree” tradition started with him as soon as we could.  So I decided that October’s FN would be a night to make our ornaments.  And Jack requested that we make pumpkin pie.    Ha.  So it was about the most random Family Night ever but it was fun!    We bought the stuff we needed a couple of days earlier and then that night, we made the ornaments we were unable to buy/find.  The only ornament we couldn’t find/make was a lion – and I’ll fill  you in on that later.    So anyway, these are the pics from our October Family Night and then the next several posts will be pics leading up to Christmas.  And if you know me, you know that if I can get them on here before Easter, I’ll be doing good.    Ha.

The picture above is Ella playing with one of the ornaments we ended up not using.  I can’t remember what we ended up doing instead but it was our “Jesse Tree Misfit ornament”…we even wrote that on the back and will be hanging it on the tree every year as a reminder.    So anyway, we let her play with it.  And as you can see, she had a great time…trying to make the horn make noise.  Someone should have told her it wasn’t a real horn. 

And below is our finished “earth” ornament.  This is the ornament Jack was working on in most of the pics above.  I didn’t get a lot of pics of us making any of the other ornaments because I was needed to help give instructions on what we were supposed to be doing and also helping Jason police J&E in the process so the camera unfortunately didn’t fit into all of that.  =/

And now for the pumpkin pie…   Last year, for one of our fall Family Nights, Jack requested we make an apple pie so we did that and apparently he remembered and decided to switch things up on us this year.  So he and Jason made the pie, I took the pics and I have no idea what Ella was doing during the process.  She was probably just watching from the highchair…

The pie was delicious - or at least that’s what they tell me…I’ve never been a fan of pie, unless it involves chocolate.    And if you have no idea what I am talking about when I say “Jesse Tree”, there will be more on that in a future post, so stay tuned! 

Bye, Bye 2011 – Part 2! :)

I’m back thinking about 2011 again!    This is the ”Part 2″ I mentioned in the previous post.    I just went a little crazy picking out pictures and thought it might be best to split this up into 2 posts.  The pics in this post are from July 2011 until Christmas/present.  So anyway, here’s post #2!  And maybe at the end, I will share my 2012 “resolutions” with you. 

These pics are from July…Ella potty training herself…yes, she asked to sit on the potty in July…mainly because she sees her brother do it all the time…but by NO means was she ready to be out of diapers.  So we would entertain her whenever she would ask and sit her on it.  And in, I think, October, she started really using it some.  But not consistently.  And with the holidays coming, I was not about to be trying to potty train.  So anyway, just to fill you in, we may start getting serious about it next week.  But it’s bittersweet…SWEET that we won’t have to buy any more diapers but “bitter” that we won’t have any in diapers in the house anymore.  They are growing up TOO fast!!!  And sorry to get off onto all of that…I hope you skipped this part if you aren’t interested in any potty training stories…

These next pics are also from July…a couple from our annual trip to the Isle of Palms with Granna.  I think this may be one of the blog posts that was saved so if you haven’t seen all of the pics from that event, you should still be able to check out the rest on the blog.  This is the point last year when the blog BOMBED and I lost everything.  Sadness.  But we won’t go there – again. 

And also in July, we took a trip to Charlotte to see the “Wiggles”…the full post for this is on the blog because I did it after it bombed.  =/  Anyway, we had a great time!  J&E were SO surprised and couldn’t believe that the “Wiggles” were actually real people!    I am also including some pics from Ella’s second birthday party!  (Post also on the blog! )  I documented her whole birthDAY and I hope to be able to do that for each of them every year.    We ended the day at the “Splash Pad” for her party…it was 105 degrees that day!  =O  If you had to be outside, it was a great day to be in the water! 

 

August 2011!  We went to my dad’s house to surprise him and celebrate his 60th birthday all weekend (I’m not showing more of those pics for a reason… ) and then the rest of the month was pretty much spent at home with me apparently taking random pictures of my children.    Ha.  Oh, and Ella got her first haircut!!!  Not much there to cut but I had heard that if you start cutting it, it might help it thicken up and grow…well, I am typing this in January and that hasn’t happened yet!  =/  Her hair is still SO thin!!!

 

September was busy and exciting!    We started it off Labor Day weekend at the beach and the rest of the month included our first trip to the NC Zoo with friends , a busted up lip (from Ella riding on my back like a “horse” and the rest was SO NOT good…thought I was going to need to look for teeth but thankfully not!),  Jack’s first time helping Jason “paint” (we let him start with the inside of my closet ), a trip to “Sky Top Apple Orchard” (which will now be a yearly tradition with the cousins!), Jack’s first backpacking/camping trip (which will also be an annual event during the ”apple picking weekend” ) AND a cousin photoshoot (Thanks, Erin!!!  ), which was the FIRST one EVER where they ALL cooperated and looked/semi-looked at the camera!!!  YAY!!!  In typing this, I am realizing that September may have been our busiest month of the year! 

 

October 2011 was a HUGE month for us!  It was Jack’s 5th birthday and we took him to Disney World!!!!  We had a blast!  We also visited Jason’s mom/stepdad (Grammy and Grandpa) for the first time at their new house in Cape Coral, FL (more on this week long event in a future blog post!  ).  Even though I haven’t done a blog post on some of these events in 2011 “Part 2″, I still wanted to include them in the post.    So look for more info on some of these pics (and more pics to show) in future posts… 

October was also busy because we celebrated Norah’s 4th birthday at our house, made a trip to the pumpkin patch where Jack participated in his first “punkin’ chunkin’”  (Ha.  ) and we had an unusual, but fun  October Family Night – we made our ”Jesse Tree” ornaments (more on that in a Christmas post) and by Jack’s request, made pumpkin pie. 

(Just realized I had included this first pic…this was taken in October when we made a trip with Grammy and Grandpa to the Gulf Coast to see that side of Florida and see how calm the water is, etc…anyway, this was Ella doing her thing on the beach…

November’s Family Night was “Operation Christmas Child”.    We took the kids to pick out gifts to put in the shoeboxes, filled them and dropped them off as a family.  And this year, J&E picked out so much stuff that we had enough for 4 shoeboxes instead of 2!  YAY!    We also had Thanksgiving at our house this year!  I think we had around 20-25 people and it was great!    So I am including some pics from those events and some random ones of J&E…one of E that is SOOOO her personality these days   and one of Jack in his pajamas, with his camping headlight on his head, pushing a stroller with a beach ball…that’s all I will say about that.    Ha.

And December was just FUN!    We made lots of memories, did all of our yearly traditions and even added a few new ones!  :)  I plan to do a Christmas blog post on all of that fun next!     (But I should mention that the other pic showing Ella’s “pass addiction”  is below…this time she has THREE!  =O  Ha.)

 

And I’ll end this post with our yearly “cousins in their matching Christmas pajamas” picture (thanks for the matching pjs every year, Granna! )…this pic is almost “hot off the press” because it was from just last Tuesday night! 

It’s been a GREAT year!!!  We’ve had lots of fun and it’s been full of SOOO many blessings!  I can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store…I KNOW it’s going to be AWESOME!!!!!! 

And I forgot that I said I would mention my 2012 “resolutions”…most of these are things that I do but need to be more consistent with…and they are in no particular order – except #1 is the most important…so, oh boy, here we go…

1.  Spend more time reading/studying the Bible and also more time reading good spiritual books…I have a list just waiting to be read!    (I have also been involved in “CBS” – Community Bible Study – for the first time this year.  It has been SOOOO awesome!!!  We are studying the book of John and it has been wonderful.  I have learned SO much already and we are only half-way through!  But anyway, I mention CBS because it’s going to help me with this “resolution” this year.  )

2.  Get back into exercise/running.  I know that is something that a lot of people say but I know I need to do it – if for anything, for my health.  It’s just good to exercise and I don’t do it enough.

3.  Continue to plan at least one new meal per week for my family.  I have really been into the “Crock Pot” this past year and I want to continue that…we do the CPot at least once a week.  It’s been fun finding new recipes and there have only been a handful that have been “vetoed” for future use. 

4.  Do better about keeping up with the laundry!!!  I know this may sound ridiculous but sometimes I let it get way out of control!  =/  I want to try and come up with a plan – maybe doing one load per day, if I have to! – so that I don’t get as behind with it as I am RIGHT NOW!!!  =O  Yikes!

5.  Drink more water.  Period.  Because when your liquid intake consists of pretty much sweet tea and Cherry Coke, that’s not a good thing!!!  =/  (But I am not going to lie, it sure is delicious! 

6.  Get caught up with pictures…and I don’t just mean on the blog/Facebook…but in my house!  Like I seriously need to update frames, etc…the pictures in our house need a MAJOR renovation.  Not to mention I need to update the kids baby/birthday books and make sure those are current.  Lots to do in 2012!!!  =O

7.  And this one I REALLY need to do but it’s the HARDEST for me…I NEED to go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier.  I am a “night-owl” if there ever was one.  It’s 1:08AM right now and I am WIDE AWAKE.  Not kidding.  I do NOT function well in the mornings.  I would like to.  I really would.  But I do enjoy the nights – LOVE my kids but it is nice to get things done at night when they are in bed…and yes, I could do those things in the AM but I function so much better at night…and I am NOT a coffee drinker – however, my sisters are trying to convert me (and Jason would probably enjoy having someone to share his coffee with ).  But anyway, if I sound like I am making excuses…it’s because I pretty much am.  I just love the night.  I just wanted to put this one down and we’ll just say it is something I would like to try and start doing.  We’ll see what happens. 

Well, it I feels like I had thought of more but I think that’s enough for now.    If I think of any more, I’ll let you know.  But for now, I think these are enough to focus on for 2012.    HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! 

Bye, Bye 2011…it’s been great.

Seeing that it is New Year’s Day (by the way, obviously it is no longer New Year’s Day…that’s when I attempted to start this post and now here we are on the 3rd…oh well ), I thought it might be good to do a shout-out blog post to 2011!  So this post will be full of some of my favorite pics from this past year.  It’s been an awesome year for us!  It’s been busy, transitional and fun…but most importantly, it’s been another year in our life when God has shown Himself faithful.  He always does.  But each year, I find myself being more and more grateful for how much He has blessed me and my family through the years.  It is unbelievable and amazing how good He is to us.  :)

This year was also a big year in our life because something we had done for 8 years came to an end.  And since I don’t think I have even mentioned it on the blog, I figured this was a good time to do it…since I am “reflecting” on 2011 and all…   Anyway, we were the youth pastors at our church for 8 years (considered part-time…Jason still managed(s) the computer department at Honda of SC and has done so from 2003-present).  Being youth pastors was an AMAZING time in our lives…God was with us every step of the way.  We had SO many good times!  God chose that season for our lives and He also chose when it was to end.  We felt at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, that it would be our last year in youth ministry.  Long story short, we spent that entire school year praying about how we would transition with our replacements and exactly when our time would end.  We felt like it would be at the beginning of this school year (2011-2012) and it was.  Our last night as youth pastors was August 31.  It was bittersweet but we knew it was time to move on.  Things have been very busy since then!  Jack and Ella are at ages where they require lots of attention so they have been keeping us very busy!!!  But we do miss youth ministry, the current group of youth and all of the “G.A.N.G. alumni”!   You all will always have a very special place in our hearts…and if any of you are reading this by chance, please know that we are always here for you guys!  If you ever need us, let us know!!!    (Also, we are starting to feel VERY old…some of the former youth have graduated college and/or are engaged, have gotten married and have even started having babies!!!  SO exciting – but yikes!  It makes us feel old!!!  ;)  To some of them, we were their youth pastors starting in 7th grade all the way to 12th grade! )

Still “reflecting”, last year, I did a similar blog post but I just included some “resolutions” that I had for 2011.  I am happy to report that I did stick with “some” (but not all) of them.  And if you read my blog at all, you know that I lost all of my posts back in July due to something I had done to the pictures on here (but it’s because I read on here that you could do it!)…anyway, that’s not important and I don’t want to think about it because thoughts of it make me CRAZZZZYYYY!!!  =/  So back to what I was saying…   I can’t even pull up last year’s blog post because it is gone.    I do have some new resolutions this year…and some things I want to continue doing from last year.  So I think for accountability sake, I will post them on here again.    But, because this post has gotten so wordy and at the end, you will see I decided to break it up into two posts, I think I will save my new “resolutions” for Part Two. 

So anyway, here we go…a FLASHBACK of 2011 with the Grimsleys…

SNOW!  This was from last January…when we got all that snow.  And this year, it seems like it has been in the 70′s more than anything.  In fact, the high is in the 30′s today or maybe colder (coldest this year, I know!) and it will be back in the 70′s on Saturday and Sunday… =/  Nice but I would just like for it to be cold for a little bit and STAY cold!  It’s been such a weather roller coaster here!  =O

I just wanted to include this pic because this was only a year ago!  I can’t believe how much Ella has changed since then…in looks AND in personality!    Ha.

Jack’s first time skating last February – it seems like this was FOREVER ago!  And I also can’t believe how much he has changed!  I KNOW he has grown because we bought him 5 new pairs of jeans in August that were too long…well, now, you guessed it…they are TOO SHORT!!!  =O

February 2011 – Pics from one of our monthly Family Nights!  Last February’s was a “Valentine” theme complete with a “Love Hunt” (AKA:  Scavenger Hunt)

Ella was cracking me up…she made this face for Jason’s chocolate covered cherries and for my delicious chocolate covered fruit/strawberries…this reminds me that I need to put my “order” in for these with Jason for Valentine’s Day this year!    If you have not had the chocolate covered fruit – specifically the strawberries – from “Edible Arrangements”, then you need to go and get some NOW.  It. Is. Pure. Deliciousness.  But then again, if you know me, you know one of my favorite things is caramel apples…so apparently, I have a thing for caramel or chocolate covered fruit.    YUM.

MACEY JANE JOHNSON joins the “crazy cousins” on February 25!  And let me just say that it seems like this event was FOREVER ago also!  =O  Here are a couple of pics from her debut into the world…and a pics from recently when the twins were here.  We were at the park and Erin was holding Macey.  Erin’s hair was kind of on Macey’s head and so we thought it would be funny to position it as if Macey had a lot of hair so we could see what she might look like in the future (since her hair is red, like Hadley’s).  So anyway, the last pic in this section is what Macey will look like years from now!    HA!

March 2011 – Random Pics…

Jack played soccer for the first time at the YMCA during Fall 2010 because they were the only place that offered a 3-year old program.  It was great, laid back and was only on Saturday mornings from 9-10am.  Well, last spring, we decided to sign him up for Upward Soccer (if you haven’t heard of this, let me know…I’d be glad to tell you all about it because we LOVE it! ).  Anyway, Jack played soccer “officially” for the first time last spring and LOVED it.  He was on a team and they practiced for one hour on Thursday nights and then had a game each Saturday for 8 weeks.  These are some pics from that…and in going through them, I realized that most of the soccer pics I have are of Jack chewing on his fingernails…which is a whole OTHER story.  =/  But anyway, we can’t wait to sign up for this spring and let him start playing again! 

April 2011 – Randomness…

Easter 2011 – We did a Family Night, had an Easter egg hunt and made “Resurrection Cookies”, which we have never done before but will now be a “Grimsley Easter Tradition”.    These are some of my favorite pics from these events…

 

May was a very busy month!  We did a “strawberry” themed Family Night (with a “field trip” to the strawberry patch ), Ella and I went to our first “Mother/Daughter” event,  along with Jack helping Ella eat her first official ice cream cone.    Plus, there are tons of other random pics from the month…and I mean, random.  And no, the ones of J&E in scarves and toboggans is not out of order.  I went in the Game Room one day only to find them both dressed up with their summer pjs on like it is winter – and where did they even get the winter gear?  I have no idea.  =/  Ha.  And the one of Jack sailing through the air is what he calls the “dolphin”.  And yes, it is what I call “me taking it down a notch and letting him be a boy”. 

 

A visit to the beach in June, Father’s Day, Jason’s birthday, Ella’s first time ”brushing her teeth” and lots of other randomness below…and I had forgotten that Ella had put 2 pacifiers in her mouth back in June (see pic below)…there will be another picture included later where she apparently is trying to ”one-up” herself by putting 3 PACIFIERS in her mouth at one time!  =O  I did not realize she had such a “pass addicition” until looking back through these pics! 

Ok…so I didn’t realize how many pictures I had chosen for my New Year’s blog post.    Oops.  Anyway, I think if I include them all in one post, it may be too many and could possibly take too long to load.  So I have decided to spread this post out over 2 posts!    YAY for 2 blog posts for the price of one!    Anyway, so stay tuned for “Part 2″…