Merry Christmas 2014!!

Speech Therapy 101

Chloe put two words together!  Abby had rubbed a big raw spot on her ankle last weekend while roller skating.  As she was getting in the tub just now, Chloe pointed to it and clear as day said: "Abby boo-boo!"  And in a super sweet voice to boot.  Go Chloe!!

Ryan!!

Happy 7th Birthday to my Little Man!!!!!!  [alright, yes, it's a little bit late, just a wee bit.  But better late than never.]  We had a great celebration - Mommy came to lunch at school, the bus stop greeted you with noisemakers and hats and cupcakes, dinner at Wendys and dessert at home with the Grandparents, a fun fall party at the birthday party playground.  I know it's cliche, but I just cannot believe you're seven!!  Thanks for being a great kid and an awesome brother and an amazing person!

Ryan's seven year checkup was on October 2nd.  His weight was 49lbs 8oz, just under the 50th percentile curve.  His height was 47.5", again hovering just under 50th percentile.  His height and weight are staying very consistent on the charts. 

heartbreaker

Ryan and Daddy left for boy scouts a couple of minutes ago.  Ryan gave me a hug [at Daddy's prompting], but he had no interest in giving his sisters one.  And they were running late, so out the door they went.  Chloe tried to blow him a kiss as he left, and she burst into tears when the door shut behind them.  The girls were sitting next to each other at the table in their booster seats, and Abby leaned over super sweetly and put her arm on Chloe's shoulder.  In the most sympathetic Abby voice, she told her:
"Chloe, that's just what boys do.  He didn't even give me a hug and I wanted one."

Dawgs and Dirt

Our Abby is a chatterbox.  She's always talking.  She talks out loud, thinks out loud, narrates her life - and the life of her sister - out loud.  She's always mumbling and pretend playing and chatting up her babies or stuffed animals or anything else.  It's fun to eavesdrop and try to figure out what's occupying her thoughts.  Today had two very distinct themes : Todd Gurley and Dirt.  Yup, I'm raising her right! 

If you happen to not be a die-hard Bulldawgs fan, Todd Gurley is our amazing running back.  Abby has latched on to his name.  Todd Gurley this, Todd Gurley that.  She called Chloe by the name Todd Gurley.  I even heard her use his name in vain while doing the Highlights picture search.  "Todd Gurley!  I can't find it!"  Fortunately she doesn't know many true curse words, because this girl has a mouth on her. 

Her other preoccupation has been Dirt.  Dirt is Florida-Georgia Line's current hit single.  And one of Mommy's [and therefore Abby's] current favorite songs.  We listen to it a lot.  She asks for the Dirt song as soon as we get in the car.  She hasn't latched on to any specific lyrics, simply the word "dirt."  Dirt, dirt, dirt.

I love her little, well actually huge, personality :)  She's a mess!  And she's so different from me, there's times I just don't know what to do with her!  She can always make me laugh, and she has the cutest things to say.  She's certainly the most extroverted of the family.  Although, in her old age, I have noticed she seems to be scaling back.  She's not nearly as talkative or comfortable around strangers [not necessarily a bad thing!].  She takes more time to warm up when we get somewhere.  And when she's done, she's done.  She has a blast at playdates or school, but then she needs to come home and chill and regroup [which I think makes her an outgoing introvert instead of a true extrovert.  psychology 101 expert right here.].

I love you my Abby-Girl!! 

spontaneous dessert playdate

On Monday, I made Christa's triple layered yumminess for small group.  [think chocolate chip cookie dough, Oreos, brownies.  think lots of leftovers and not much willpower on my part.]  Eager to find some friends to help us finish up the dessert, I randomly started inviting people over for an afternoon snack.  Abs had lunch bunch today, so I didn't pick her up until 1:00 and she had already eaten lunch.  So from 1:15 until we left for the bus stop, we had friends in and out.  It was so much fun!!  I love when we are able to get some of the "littles" together.  So often I feel like the girls' friends are Ryan's friends and their sibs and they tag along with his activities.  [or actually in reality, I suppose, their friends are my friends' kids :)].  So having a house full of preschoolers was a fun change, that doesn't happen enough these days! 

We had Ms. Erin and Max, Grant, and Grace for awhile.  They weren't able to stay too long due to nap times.  Ms. Beth and Jack and Smith came; we haven't seen them much recently, so that was really nice.  Ms. Kelsi and Naomi and Alice came by, as did our newest neighbor Ms. Ashley with her twins, Sam and Jack.  A houseful of little guys was so much fun!  Abby, Naomi, Sam, and Jack are all the same age [as is Max, but he left early].  We love watching those four play together and thinking [aka, worrying!] about them being in kindergarten together next year. 

We do talk a lot about moving, but I have been pretty content the last month or two.  And days like this remind me how blessed with are with amazing friends and neighbors.  Our bus stop is already pretty awesome, and it'll only get better next year with all the rising kindergartners.  I love the thought of Abby riding the bus with her big brother and all those friends.  I'm starting to think we really are stuck here forever! :) :) 

brotherly love

Last night Chloe was up throwing up.  All sorts of fun, crib cleaning, laundry loads, quick rinses in the bath tub, you get the picture.  Not much sleep for us!  We moved Abby to Ryan's bottom bunk so she could sleep better, which meant it was really hard to get Ryan up for school without waking her up.  And then Chloe had diarrhea on our comforter and Nellie missed the litter box and Ryan wet the bed.  And Chloe had her Babies Can't Wait eval at 8:30, so no time to clean up or even think about getting back into bed!  Needless to say, Mommy was pretty frazzled by the time Ryan got on to the bus and coffee was a must-have. 

But ... right after Ryan got off the bus, he immediately asked, "how's Chloe doing?"  My heart melted!!  What a sweet big brother!  I love my awesome Little Man! 

Mommys

I know this is a pretty similar statement to the one she made on her questionnaire a few days ago, but so cute and sweet that its worth repeating.  When asked today what she wants to be when she grows up, here's Abby's answer:  "I'm going to be a mommy so I can turn mommy into a grandma."  Love it :) 

Chloe's two year

After some crazy scheduling, Chloe had her two year appt.  Her original appt was with Dr. Bowman, but when I thought we'd be leaving any minute for Great-Grandma's funeral in Massachusetts, I cancelled it.  They didn't have any openings for a long time, so we left it at I'd call back to reschedule.  Of course, by the time I realized we could still make it to our original appt it had been filled already.  We ended up still going in, we just saw a nurse practioner instead of a doctor.  That's my only complaint with Roswell Pediatrics - they're so good everyone wants to go and it's hard to get an appt! 

So anyways, Chloe got a referall for a speech therapy eval.  She also failed her hearing in her left ear.  They did it four times, cleaned her ear out in between, and she was amazingly cooperative.  So I'm not really sure what's up with that.  She will be rechecked at Ryan's seven year and if she fails again, they'll refer her to an ENT. 

The nurse was super happy with her weight, hooray!!  She weighed in at 24lbs even, which is somewhere around the 15th percentile.  But she's steady on the charts and that's what they look for the most.  She actually said that most kids dip on the charts at this age, once they start eating real foods and getting picky.  Of course, we did discuss Chloe's love of whole milk.  She is drinking too much milk, which I'm sure helps her weight.  Apparently, too much milk can affect iron absoprtion.  So we'll work on less milk, more water, and 1% milk instead of whole.  She was 33.5" inches tall, roughly 45th percentile, again this has been a very steady line on the charts.  Her head was 18.5" which is fairly average I think.

Happy happy birthday Sweet Chlo- Chlo!!

Abby Caroline, age four

Ryan Hazen, age six

1st day of 1st grade

Ryan started first grade today! He's growing up way too fast in my opinion :) Whenever asked about school, he's standard response all summer has been : "a little bit excited." He will have the same teacher, Mrs. Sheffield, she looped up with his class. Almost all of his classmates elected to loop with her as well, so it really feels more like starting back after a long break than it does a new year. It's nice having the familiarity, and Ryan wasn't upset at all to leave this morning. The only thing he said he didn't like about school returning was getting up early [Mommy doesn't really care for that part either!]. Once again, he'll be a bus rider this year. We have the same awesome bus driver and the same route, but a shiny new bus! I still can't believe summer is over and he's gone, sad Mommy! 

ABBY!!!!!

Chloe has learned a new word :  "ABBY ABBY ABBY!!!!!"  She cracks herself up.  And of course this cracks Abby up too.  It's quite fun when the girls get going.  "ABBY ABBY ABBBY!!!!!"  [yes, she seems to be capable of saying Abby only at the top of her lungs.  wonder if that's any relation to the fact that Abby does everything at the top of hers....].  Occasionally, Abby still comes out BA-bby which also cracks Abby up.  These girls!    

Ahhh me, Ms. Shannon is certainly going to have her hands full with our littlest Chase!  Hopefully she can teach her to talk better than I've been able to :) 

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

on our last day of driving, we played the ABC game, except instead of being on our way to Great- Grandma's, we were headed home, and everything we named had to be something that was in the car!  silly, fun, good times  :) 

Amy, Abby, and Apples  ::  Bananas and Blueberries  ::  Coleson, Chloe, and Critter  ::  Dirty Drawers and Detergent  ::  Elbows, Ears, and Eyes  ::  Flip-Flops  ::  Gooey'ed Gummies  ::  Hairy Heads and Hearts  ::  an Iphone, an Ipad, and an Ipod  ::  Jewelry  ::  Kidneys and Keys  ::  a Lost Lego  ::  a Maid of the Mist Magnet  ::  [finger] Nails  ::  Odd Odors  ::  Pale People ::  Quarters  ::  Ryan, Rio, and a Radio  ::  Silly Soap  ::  Tasty Tacos in our Tummies  ::  Underwear  ::  Vital Vitamins  ::  Wet Water and Windows  ::  Xylophone  ::  Young Yahoos  ::  Zippers

Day nine

Home sweet home!!  We left Granddaddy's about 6:15am.  Thankfully, the girls both napped early on for about an hour.  We stopped for breakfast at McDonald's, lunch at Taco Bell [the slowest Taco Bell ever], and arrived home at 5:30ish.  The kids did really well in the car.  We played the ABC game [I'm going to Great-Grandma's house and I'm bringing...].  Throughout the week we did three different versions, they got a little silly, but what fun would they be if they didn't?! 

We came home to a HOT house, bummer.  The upstairs AC was out, but thankfully it looks like Coleson's got it fixed for us.  We were able to get quite a bit unpacked before heading to Nana and Pop-Pop's for a home cooked meal, yumm.  Thanks for the invite!!  It was great to put the kids in their own beds at a reasonable bedtime.  Should we take bets on if they'll sleep in tomorrow or not?!  I doubt it, but one can certainly hope :) 

Huge thanks go out to Nana and Pop-Pop for checking on the house a bunch and caring for Nellie and cleaning up large amounts of throw-up.  Thanks to Grandpa for mowing our yard and Grandma for cleaning out Cakey's tank.  Thanks to Aunt Betty for taking good care of us up North and to Granddaddy and Grandma Jo-Ann for taking good care of us in DC.  It was one of our best trips yet; summertime is absolutely the way to travel!!  So grateful to see Great- Grandma and to experience some new and exciting places along the way. 

PS, in case you were wondering, I just checked, we went 2,550 miles. 

Day eight

On the one hand, it feels like we've been on this adventure forever, and yet at the same time I can't believe we're wrapping up our road trip.  We've had a blast, it's been a great time.  Lots of fun family time and exciting new sights.  The kids are old enough that we didn't have to bring everything we own, for us we traveled fairly lightly.  It's been nice not having to worry about baby things and bottles and nursing or being pregnant.  We've been able to be a little more flexible and spontaneous which has been fun.

Today we hung out with Granddaddy and Grandma Jo-Ann at their house in Ashburn, VA.  We munched on cinnamon rolls and fruit for breakfast, and I got in a run.  Not my best run, but I've certainly enjoyed having more chances to get out.  We played here in the morning.  Ryan loves the ping-pong table downstairs, and Abby went straight for the babies.  They have some great dollhouses and baby accessories.  I think our trip has caught up with Ryan.  He became nauseous at breakfast and threw up a wee little bit.  He continued to play, but would occasionally say that his belly hurt.  I'm pretty sure it's just a combination of exhaustion and being out of routine and lots of excitement.  Hopefully it was nothing and he'll be all okay tomorrow.  We had a good lunch of sandwiches and chex mix before taking a walk.  Ryan didn't like the idea of staying behind and resting, so he got to ride in a stroller :). The kids loved playing at the neighborhood playground with Granddaddy.  He did the slides and pushed them in swings and all sorts of fun things.  Chloe finally got in a good afternoon nap, as did Mommy.  Dinner was fabulous; Jo-Ann made red beans and rice and pork and salad, complete with key lime pie for dessert.  More playing after dinner and coloring with Grandma Jo-Ann and ping-pong with Granddaddy (silly Abby and her "knife manners!") We also looked through more old pictures, although the kids had zero interest in that, oh well.

Tomorrow will be a long day of driving, so we plan to get an early start.  While its a little sad that our big vacation is coming to an end, we've got lots of great memories and I've got lots of great photos to sort through when we get home.

Day seven

Totally gonna cheat here.  For the first time, I missed my nightly blogpost update last night.  It's Saturday morning, but I'm going to change the posting date from automatic to Friday night.  Ha.

So this morning, Friday morning since its Friday night :), we woke up in Great- Grandma's apartment.  We had breakfast and loaded up the car before heading to the rehab center.  We had a nice visit, Betty joined us there too.  The plan is to have Great- Grandma back home at Loomis Village in time for her birthday, hopefully moving day will be next Friday.  The kids played with some small teddy bears that Great- Grandma had.  Abby would slide them down the hospital bed railing and, surprise surprise, Chloe had to try it too.  It was a nice time, sad to say goodbye.

We had a long drive down to Granddaddy Clay's house in Virginia.  Coleson, our awesome navigator, found us a Chick-fil-a so we could celebrate Cow Appreciation day.  This was harder task than I had realized it'd be, there are not many Chick-fil-a's up north.  We stopped for lunch in Union, NJ.  At home, in the deep south, in the heart of Chick-fil-a territory, everyone goes all out.  I rarely see anyone not fully costumed, and we are often way out-dressed.  Not so in Union, NJ.  They don't get Chick-fil-a up here.  They didn't even have a cow walking the restaurant, can you believe that?! :)  We ran into a family from Georgia, they went to Lassiter and UGA.  They said they were so excited when this Chick-fil-a opened a few months ago and they would drive out of the way to eat there.  So all that to say, we were very very overdressed!  And we didn't even do any face paint or anything.  I think Coleson was a wee bit embarrassed initially, but when the bill went from $30 to free, it was pretty awesome.  We were a sight in the crowded NJ parking lot that Chick-fi-a shared with an old gas station.  But it was fun!  I'll have to get Coleson to a cow day back home one year so he can better understand the excitement.

There's no good way to get out of New England, so as usual it wasn't one of our favorite driving days, and we hit some traffic, especially through Harrisburg, PA.  But we made it.  At one point, we were driving over a river and train tracks, and we happened to glance down, and you know who we saw?!  Thomas the Train.  How cool is that?!  Another highlight, in my opinion at least, was passing a couple of jetskis being towed.  Abby exclaimed : "there's some motorcycle boats!"  We arrived here in Ashburn about 7:30pm and had some yummy Subway subs for dinner.  The kids played for a few minutes before heading up to bed.  Unfortunately it took a long time to settle down and it was close to 10 before they were asleep, yikes!  Us adults stayed up looking through old Chase family photo albums.  It was really cool.  Most of the pictures were of Great- Grandma's side of the family, her parents, Elmer and Olive, and her sister Betty.  Sadly Betty passed away from leukemia at age 20.  I love all the history in the Chase family, so interesting, lots to ponder and think through.

Day six

Life's been good today.  I woke up early for a run, great way to start.  We enjoyed breakfast here at Great- Grandma's apartment, fresh fruit and muffins.  We then headed to Aunt Betty's new condo.  It's a nice little place and we took her dog, Belle, on a walk.  She's a little bichon, perfect size for the kids and they liked holding the leash.  We hung out at Aunt Betty's for a bit and the girls had fun playing with an old wooden dollhouse that Great- Grandma's grandfather had made.

Betty had to leave for work, and we went over to the rehab center to visit with Great- Grandma.  She was up and about already for some therapy, so we stayed in the hallway in a little sitting area.  The activities people brought the kids helium balloons again, and for the second day in a row, Abby managed to pop hers on the ceiling.  They made her another one and that has lasted, although they are about out of helium now, thankfully!  Great- Grandma seemed well, and it was nice to see her sitting up in her wheelchair.  She's an amazing woman, her mind and spirit are still all there, unfortunately her body just isn't quite keeping up, her lungs aren't doing too well.  We left about noon so she could get her lunch.  Betty had suggested we go to McCray's Farm and it didn't disappoint.  We had a great lunch there, soups and wraps and hot dogs.  The kids picked a special pink strawberry milk since its all made right there.  It didn't go over well though, it tasted sorta like a smoothie mixed with pepto bismal.  Coleson had a bottle of Coke, and we didn't even realize until we'd sat down and he had been drinking it for a bit, that it was personalized with Ryan's name, how awesome!  After lunch we strolled around the petting zoo for a few minutes.  The kids took turns sitting on an old tractor and had fun watching the goats jumping up into their food troughs.  It was a great place, I wish we had something like that at home! 

Early afternoon was spent at the apartment napping.  Well, for Daddy and then Mommy at least :). Chloe didn't sleep well for some reason.  The kids played house under the tables for a little while and Ryan played with the typewriter.  He was so cute : "I've heard about these, but I've never seen one!"  He really got a kick out of typing his and Abby's names.  We spent a little time outside running the kids in a grassy area and playing with our shadows.  Uncle Rick picked Great- Grandma up and brought her back here for the evening.  We had dinner and dessert at Phylly's again.  Betty joined up with us after dinner since today's her late day at work.  After stopping by to check on Great- Grandma and eat some dinner, she went and picked Cousin Ricky up and brought him over too.   It was nice having Great- Grandma here at her home and everyone together visiting.  Ricky and Ryan had a good time, playing with the squishy baseball and chatting.

We'll visit with Great- Grandma again in the morning before beginning our journey to Granddaddy's down in DC.

Day five

This morning began in Victor, NY with another hotel breakfast.  After checking out we began our long journey across 90east, the New York Thruway.  We bought a big thing of chicken strips at a service station, and supplemented with some of the food we still had remaining, for lunch. We arrived in Holyoke about 3pm and headed straight to the rehab center to see Great- Grandma.  Honestly, it wasn't that great of a visit.  Her oxygen levels were in the 70s, low low low.  Her hands were purple and I think they were bothering her.  She seemed very fatigued, almost like she was drifting in and out of sleep.  When she did talk, her voice was strong though and of course her mind still very sharp.  We didn't really know what to expect and what her new normal would be like.  We visited for about 30minutes before running to the Stop n Shop for groceries (yay for milk and fresh fruits!) and then to Great- Grandma's apartment.  We unpacked and washed some dishes and started some much needed laundry.

Aunt Betty called about 4:30 when she finished up work.  The rehab center had called her and after talking to them and us, she went straight over there.  This had me pretty worried.  Great- Grandma's oxygen was indeed way too low.  Betty tinkered around with the machine and was able to get her levels back up into the 90s fairly quickly (not sure why the nurses hadn't done this sooner?!).  She then came here to the apartment and we were joined by Uncle Rick for dinner at Phylly's.  The food was good, and as always, we enjoyed cookies and ice cream for dessert :).  The kids ate pretty well, especially Abby with Uncle Rick's help.  We enjoyed catching up on the family, especially in regards to Cousin Amy.  It sounds like there are some exciting new treatment options, and for the first time in a long time, Rick says she is hopeful and talking about the future. We also visited with a few other residents and people, everyone here always seems to know Dorothy Chase and wants to see the kids!

After regrouping and a quick Chloe bath (she spilt lemonade down herself at dinner), we all went back to the rehab center.  I am so glad we went again tonight.  Whatever Betty did to help Grandma and get the oxygen going again made all the difference in the world. It was wonderful to see Great- Grandma back to herself, certainly made me feel tons better.  She had her color and she was alert and life was so much better.  Abby does the best with her, I think Ryan is a little scared or nervous or something around her despite my pep talks.  He did well though, he got pretty close and blew her kisses and posed for a picture or two.  And I know that Great- Grandma enjoys watching them, even if she's not always interacting.  Abby, on the other hand, was right up there sitting with her in the hospital bed.  At some point Rick gave them his phone and the almost 97 and the 4 year old sat there hunched over the phone together for a really, really long time.  It was a neat sight, really special.  Chloe did well, she wandered up to her a few times and she actually wanted to get her nose, but what with the oxygen issues and all, we wouldn't let her.  But she did show off her tricks and she was able to convince Uncle Rick to let her do back flips off his knees.  She also blew kisses and waved.  She would wave to Great- Grandma's roommate too, which I thought was super sweet.  It was a good, good visit.  The Red Sox were on in the background and all was right with the world.

So grateful to be here and visiting with Great- Grandma.  Looking forward to another awesome day tomorrow!

Day four

Greetings from Victor, NY, a little south of Rochester.  We awoke this morning in West Seneca, right outside Buffalo, NY.  Without too much of an agenda for the day, we enjoyed the continental breakfast and indoor pool.  We researched some options for the day, and we were able to call ahead and reserve spots on an Erie Canal boat ride.  The drive was only about an hour, although not wanting to cut it too close, we ate lunch in the car.  Literally.  I climbed around and was able to make some peanut butter and honeys along with some dried apples.  We arrived at noonish and boarded shortly thereafter.  The tour was about two hours.  We went up two different locks.  Pretty cool!  The gate opens, the boat drives in, and it fills up slowly like a bathtub taking you up to the next lock.  We went through locks #34 and 35.  It rained on us shortly after the tour began.  But luckily we were planning for that, and we had saved and dried out the ponchos from the Maid of the Mist.  Life was good and most everyone else headed downstairs leaving us prime seats in the upper deck, first row.  We went back down the locks and also under two lift bridges.  Unlike draw bridges, the entire bridge goes straight up.  We also went past some old houses and churches made from "freestone."  As they were digging the canal, literally out of nothing, there was tons of rocks and debris and people could come and take as much as they wanted for building. There was nothing where the canal was, they had to dig the entire thing out, all by hand.  We thought it was hard planting Lelands and building a fence in rock, imagine an entire canal.  Despite the weather, I think the kids enjoyed it, although the whines did start to creep in at the end, two hours might have been just a few minutes too long for them.  However, tonight at dinner, Ryan did tell us he liked the locks better then Niagara and that the locks and COSI have been his favorite things so far.  He's got that science-y, engineer brain :).

After the locks and a stop at the gift store for a magnet (the locks were a success and deemed magnet-worthy; Coleson didn't want to buy the magnet beforehand in case we didn't like the tour!), we started off towards Rochester.  We came a little north to see the scenic route and avoid tolls, so it was a nice drive.  And we even found a McDonald's for my coffee fix and yet another bathroom break for the kids.  We arrived at our Rochester hotel about 4pm.  Unfortunately, this was the cheapest hotel and without a pool.  We had thought we'd be doing Niagara today and thus not arriving until after the illumination.  Without much to do at the hotel and with the rain, we headed to the local mall.  We parked and had to stay in the car and wait out the storm though.  There were crazy winds, I put the parking brake on because even in park the car felt like it moved.  Rain was blowing sideways.  It didn't last long though and we were able to dash inside.  We walked for a bit and let the kids throw pennies in a fountain (can we say distraction?!?  They had spotted the food court carousel).  Of course Chloe the copycat wanted to throw a penny, and you know what? She did it!  Sure it wasn't a straight shot and it bounced its way in, but we were all surprised to see it splash in the water, go Chlo-Chlo! Nothing in the mall appealed to us for dinner, so we went to UNO Grill just down the road.  It was quite tasty and we happened to stumble in on kids eat free night, score!  Ryan and Abby loved making their own pizzas.  After assembling them, we wrote their names on popsicle sticks and stuck them in the pizzas and they cooked them for us.  It was a fun meal.  The place was hopping.  Apparently they are celebrating their grand re-opening and they were the only restaurant around that hadn't lost power in the crazy storm.  This was when Ryan said his favorite parts of the trip were the locks and the COSI museum.  Abby liked Niagara Falls the best.  Chloe had no comment, although she did manage to get pizza sauce on her forehead and in her ponytail.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for bed.  After two late nights in a row- the Clippers game and Niagara Falls- it was nice to get the kids to bed on time.  Hopefully some good sleep will cure the whines and fits that have been creeping in.  Although all things considered, it hasn't been that bad, we've got pretty good kids in my humble opinion.  Thanks to my awesome hubby for taking the stay-in-the-room-in-the-dark-without-making-noise-so-the-kids-can-sleep shift tonight.  I enjoyed an amazing run!  It we seriously one of the best runs I've ever done, it felt so good.  I am not sure what happened, but all of a sudden I actually enjoy running.  Weird.  So anyways, I think I got all of today's highlights.  Tomorrow we see Great- Grandma!!!

PS fun fact : auto correct tried turning "roadtripping" into "roast ripping."  Not sure that I am a big fan of auto correct.

My Little Man

Ryan seems to have inherited his Mommy's fearlessness of heights.  It's a little nerve-racking being on the parenting end of this, especially for Ryan's Daddy.  Ryan never attempted anything silly or dangerous, but he did walk right up to the edge of everything and loved looking straight down.  Poor Daddy.  

Day three

What a great day, but oh boy am I tired!  We started our morning with the hotel continental breakfast in Columbus.  We left town pretty quickly, a few minutes before nine.  I was excited about driving near the Great Lakes and had hoped for a nice picnic spot.  Coleson didn't disappoint, he navigated us to the perfect place!!  We pulled off at a small town called Geneva-on-the-Lake, still in Ohio.  It was pretty much exactly what I had pictured in my head that a small town on the Great Lakes should look like.  We stopped at a park right on Lake Erie, and knowing our time was limited, we left the food and went walking instead.  We walked down a boardwalk right to the lake.  It was windy and choppy and I climbed the rail to stick my feet in :). The views were awesome.  The kids played on the playground for a bit.  I went ahead and put together our sandwiches and lunches, and we ate in the car after we left.  Way more fun to hang out by the lake then eat!  Ryan and Daddy played some catch with the squishy baseball they caught at the game last night.

The weather was decently stormy most of our drive through PA and NY.  We were following 90, basically around the curve of Lake Erie and the storms were staying with us.  We checked the weather and radars as much as we could with minimal cell signal and changed up our plans a couple of times.  It ended up that we went straight to Niagara Falls.  What a place!  We stayed on the American side.  We got our bearings and then started off with the Maid of the Mist boat ride.  Amazing!!  Wow.  It was so surreal being in the Horseshoe Falls with huge walls of water all around and the mist was so thick it felt like pouring rain.  Loved it, I had no idea it would be that cool.  And yep, we got super spiffy blue ponchos.  After the ride there was a short boardwalk that we started to walk up, but it was wet and the kids were not interested, guess it was best we didn't try for the Cave tour behind the falls!  Just like Disney, the Maid of the Mist dumped us out in a gift shop where we got our customary magnet and we splurged on tshirts for the kiddos, we're pretty awesome parents :)

After the boat ride, we got some dinner.  We ended up just outside the park at some crazy, touristy food court.  It was expensive junk food, but it served its purpose well enough.  We wandered some more, checking out as many scenic views and taking as many pictures as I could get my family to agree to.  Thanks for being good sports and humoring Mommy!  Such a pretty place.  We walked the pedestrian bridge to Goat Island and saw the falls from the top.  We saw lots and lots of birds, which is always exciting to the kids.  We hopped on the Trolley for a bit and hopped back off to walk out onto the Three Sisters Islands.  We then rode the Trolley back to the main visitor area where we headed out the observation tower to await the 9:00 lighting of the falls.  After a day full of tourists and feeling out of place as Americans, we enjoyed chatting with a family from Indiana while we waited on darkness.  Unfortunately, it has to be really, really dark to see the illumination.  We stayed til about 9:30 and it was pretty cool.  I got a couple good pictures and we were worn out and ready to move on.  Our drive to tonight's hotel was only about 30 minutes, although it did start storming on our way and getting our stuff and three kids inside in the rain wasn't overly ideal, but we managed just fine.  We've really been blessed with good weather, lots of rain and storms around but we haven't been caught out in it.  Hopefully that will continue tomorrow, they are calling or some serious thunderstorms, glad we had a nice window of good weather today for Niagara.  And now here we are tucked away in our hotel in West Seneca/ Buffalo NY.  It was 10:30 by the time the Big Two were asleep and well after 11 for dear Chloe, who happens to be asleep on me as I write this.  Here's hoping she'll stay asleep when I try to put her in the pack and play.  And here's hoping everyone Sleeps In Crazy Late tomorrow morning!!  We don't need an early start tomorrow and we are thinking indoor pool.  Nighty night.

Day two

This morning we woke up to a continental breakfast followed by a swim in the indoor pool, always great fun.

Our first adventure of the morning was to the Ohio State University campus.  We parked at the stadium and wandered for an hour.  It rained on us for just a couple minutes when we first got out of the car.  We hid out in a covered bus stop which was kinda cool I suppose.  Fortunately the rain passed quickly.  We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful brick buildings and pretty grass fields.  The kids "climbed" a few trees, and Mommy made them pose for some photo ops.  We had fun in the math major area; there were big statues of numbers and we took pictures of the kids by their age.  Hopefully the pictures are cute and Chloe's 2nd birthday pictures will include photos of her with a huge #2, how cool would that be.  We drove to the other side of campus and ate lunch at Potbelly's.  It looked like an awesome little local sandwich place, however we realized once inside that we've eaten at one in DC.  So much for trying to be different.  But it was super yummy and still really cool and we can't get it at home, so it worked out very well.

After lunch we drove to the arena/ Scioto river area.  The views of the city and bridges were great, unfortunately the river is being reconstructed so it didn't look all that nice.  But it'll be great when it's all done in a couple years, lots of paths and green areas and whatnot.  We walked for awhile before venturing into COSI, the Center of Science and Industry.  The kids seemed to really like it.  There was a ton to do.  Highlights included the water play area within the kids' area.  Chloe was so cute squealing as she put balls on this waterside thingy over and over again.  We also saw an Oceans area with a submarine and a Gadgets area where we could shoot balls out of a huge funnel.  And there was a heartbeat drum that was really cool.  You hold the handles and it detects your heartbeat and beats a drum to your rhythm.  When we came out it was raining, but again it passed within minutes and we were able to continue on.

After COSI, we walked to the Columbus Clippers baseball game.  They are the triple A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and they were playing the Pawtucket Red Sox.  We sat in the bleachers in left center.  It was still overcast, which was great, otherwise we would have been looking right into the setting sun.  Dinner was nachos and pretzels, nutrious?!  And to top it off we had dippin' dots too :). Coleson caught a plush ball from one of the promo things between innings, way to go Daddy!  We left at the beginning of the 7th inning and Columbus was leading.  I had hoped to make it through the whole game so the kids could run the bases.  But as it was, we left at 8:30 and even though it was a good one, it was a long day!

Fortunately the kids went to bed a little better tonight then last night.  Tomorrow we drive up to NY!

Summer 2014 road trip, day one!

In hopes of avoiding the seemingly inevitable cold and illnesses and limited daylight hours and traveling on thanksgiving, we decided to move our annual road trip from November to July this year. Also, Great- Grandma was sick recently and is still recovering in a rehab center; we are eager to see her!  We've spiced up the trip this time, and we are swinging way west of our normal route.  It's not that much longer in terms of drive time and seeing some new sights is exciting.

We left this morning at about 9am.  We took 75N- it was all three kids' first time in KY and Ohio.  We stopped at the Kentucky welcome center for a picnic lunch (egg salad, of course! at least for the adults).  We enjoyed a fun dinner at Skylines Chili.  It's a local chain based out of Cincinnati.  Yumm!  Coleson had a bowl of chili and I had a 3-way : spaghetti noodles, chili, and shredded cheese.  It was nice to eat somewhere different and unique.  We even bought a few cans of chili for some special dinners back home.  The kids all ordered hotdogs, despite us trying very hard to talk Ryan into chili.  We reminded him that he loves chili, chili is what this place is famous for, and that you can get hotdogs anywhere.  But he wanted hotdogs and what do ya know?  We were right!  After trying our chili he really wanted his own.  Sorry Buddy!  But we'll have some fun chili nights back home.  We also treated ourselves to funnel cake fries for dessert.

We are staying in a hotel in Columbus Ohio tonight, as well as tomorrow night.  We will have all day to explore without any big drives and no packing, hooray!  My first impressions were great.  It is July though!  Everything is lush and green and there's a nice river and old buildings, what more could you want in a city?!?  Looking forward to getting out and wandering around in the morning.  And yes, we have breakfast and an indoor pool so the kids are thrilled.

Hopefully I can update regularly with my fancy new smartphone :). Plus with all five of us in a hotel room, there's not much else to do at night.  No lights or noise or tv after bedtime.  In fact, I am writing this with my right thumb while lying on the bed with my left arm on Chloe.  Hopefully the excitement will wane and it won't take an hour on future nights to get them to sleep!

Bowser

It took awhile but I finally figured what Abby means by the "Bowser song."  It's a song by the Florida Georgia Line called This is For my People Back Home.  There's a line that says "we're always thinking about you," however Abby sings it "we're always thinking of Bowser."  I've tried to suggest the correct version, but of course Abby doesn't want to hear it :)  Mystery solved, point Mommy!

planes, birds, and kite surfers

Chloe loves anything in the sky.  She goes crazy for airplanes and helicopters.  She'll hear them, point up, look around, point to her ear, point up again.  She gets so excited when she spots them and she'll watch them until they are out of sight.  She is pretty fond of birds too.  As we discovered on our beach trips, just about anything in the sky is cool.  She'll point to parasailers and kite surfers and anything else that flies by.  Love it! 

 

seagulls

Last week, Coleson had meetings in Nashville so the kids and I drove to Tampa to see Aunt Lolly and Uncle Brian.  Among other things, the Big Two did a word puzzle that announced Aunt Lolly's pregnancy!  Hooray for another cousin!! 

Other notable memories: 
*Abby, upon spotting a bunch of seagulls at the beach, "Chickens!!!!!"
*Whilst eating lunch at a beachside restaurant, a brave and obnoxious seagull swooped by and grabbed a chicken finger right off Abby's plate!  They proceeded to fight over it in mid-air.  The seagulls and pigeons were waayy too unafraid of people.  :)

Peppin and Joy

We have some crazy conversations around here.  To the best of my ability, here's the recreated version of our chat in the car this morning:

Abby is singing "peppin and joy" over and over in the backseat.  It sounds like it could be to the tune of "heaven and nature" so I ask her if that's what she means.  Ryan and I start singing "heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing."  Abby says with certainty that is not the song she is singing.  She is singing "peppin and joy."  Ryan asks her if she means "heaven and joy."  Abby is still adamant "PEPPIN and joy."  Ryan tells her that's not a real song.  They banter back and forth.  A minute or two later, Abby takes the conversation for a left turn and says "oh Heaven and Taylor in the morning?!"  We try to explain that it's Kevin, but it does rhyme with Heaven.  By now I'm feeling a little looney trying to keep up with what's going on.  Fortunately, Ryan and Abby start bickering over a water bottle and the craziness is over and my brain can rest for a quick moment.  But never for long.  We are pretty silly around here!

[If you don't know, Kevin and Taylor are the morning show hosts on the local radio station.]

Love

Last night I was driving the kids home from Jacksonville.  I stopped for gas and I passed a random, small, sketchy gas station.  I kept going and Ryan asked why.  I told him I liked the other gas station better - it's bigger, brighter, safer.  As we pulled up to the pump, he read the sign : Love's. 
"Oh, I know why you like this one.  It makes you think of Daddy!" 
:) :)

preschool bffs

Tomorrow is Abby's last day of 3yr old preschool, crazy!  Last night I sent an email to her class that we'd be at Burger King for lunch today if anyone wanted to play.  It worked out perfectly - all her bestest friends came.  Lyla was there and the twins, Larsen and Levi.  All three of them also play soccer with us.  Virgil came too; he's a super sweet little guy who was also in Shannon's 2s class with Abby and Lyla.  All four moms get along well and the kids played together great.  We had a blast!  I love our preschool, and we've made some wonderful friends there! 
[I wish I had thought to take a picture of all the kiddos, but I didn't, hence the desire to type up a short post]

go Raptors!

Ryan's been playing baseball this spring for the first time.  He's always been a soccer playing kind of guy.  But he knows that Mommy likes baseball and Grandpa does too.  I didn't want to push him into anything, but after he gave it some thought, he told me he'd try baseball this spring and then he could go back to soccer in the fall. 

The season started a little slow.  As in most things unfortunately, there are politics in his league.  He's new and the coaches didn't know him and the team mom didn't know him and he got stuck in the outfield.  Which is totally fine, he even likes it, please don't hear me wrong, if that's the best spot for him I'm all about that.  My concern was that he didn't get a chance and that there was so little time spent on fundamentals and the basics of baseball.  But he's a champ.  He liked the outfield and he gave baseball one hundred percent with his Ryan-like focus.  We play catch together in the afternoons and he has improved so much.  'Can we play catch' is usually asked before we even get inside from the bus stop.  And oh boy, does he hustle on the field.  He's the first one on the field every time.  And he backs up everybody.  If the ball's hit anywhere in the outfield, he's usually the one to get it, the other outfielders are too busy playing with the grass or sitting on their bottoms or don't even have their gloves on.  I saw an outfielder on an opposing team doing somersaults one time :)  He's also a very consistent hitter.  He doesn't appear to have the natural power that some of the boys do, but he seems to squeak out a single almost every at-bat.  He's worked his way up to 6th in the lineup [out of 11 or 12, everyone hits]. 

Tonight is his second game in the end-of-season tournament.  They won their first game on Saturday to continue on [single elimination].  What a game Saturday was!  The coach called him in during the second inning to play pitcher.  It's coaches' pitch, but they have a position player there for the fielding.  He rocked pitcher!!  He stopped almost all of them and threw out, I don't know, four or five kids?  That's saying a lot in 5/6 baseball, usually contact guarantees a hit!  But what I loved most was his excitement.  He was more alive during that game than all season.  He was punching his fists and jumping up and down.  He was involved and it was awesome.  I loved seeing him love it. 

Ryan gets the tournament style elimination, and he does not want his season to end.  He is excited for tonight, and so am I!  It's going to be a great game.  I sure hope he is the pitcher again.  I've never cared about wins and losses, but I'm really hoping for a win tonight!  I'm not ready for the season to be over!  Currently, Ryan says he likes baseball, but he still likes soccer too.  He even said a few days ago that maybe he'd play baseball this fall and wait until spring to do soccer again.  We told him to think on it over the summer; we don't have to decide right now. 

Thanks for always giving it your best and for the hustle and the energy and the enthusiasm.  I love you my little all-star!!

 

 

two things of note

I've been wanting to mention these for awhile now....

Chloe can get both shoes and her right sock off if she so desires [which is anytime we are in the car!].  She can't get her left sock off though.

Chloe loves raisins, anytime, anyplace!  And when you're as picky as she is, this is pretty impressive. 

Thing One & Thing Two at four

At their four year checkups:
Abby was 36lbs 3ozs and 39inches tall
Ryan was 37lbs and 40.5inches tall. 
Pretty similar!

Abby's stats

I don't have time for a nice, long, emotional, sweet blog post about Abby's 4th birthday right now.  But I am really, really tired of this huge stack of paperwork from her checkup that's been sitting on my kitchen counter for over a week.  So here are her stats so I can file away all the papers :)

She's 39inches, 36lbs 3oz.  Both are right smack in the middle of the charts, perfectly average. 

Phew, check that off my list, hehe!  I'll come back and compare to Ryan's 4yr because its interesting to me.  And hopefully I'll write something fun about her birthday and the party and all the wonderful things we've done the last couple of weeks.  But until then, off to dinner and baseball!  April is always soo crazy busy!  but lots of fun!  I love you Abby Girl!!

Happy Belated Birthday

Ryan was making paper airplanes today after school.  He came over to me at the kitchen table and handed me a simple little paper heart and said "Happy belated Birthday!"  What a great present!!!  I absolutely love it when he does thoughtful things like this without any prompting. 

 

Easter

Ryan pretty much gets Easter this year, at least the UpStreet version.  He'll tell you that Jesus died to be our Savior.  Abby, on the other hand, has some super cute, random thoughts about Easter.  She told us last week that Jesus "undied" on Easter.  True enough :)  Today she asked if Jesus lived on Earth and I told her he did 2,000 years ago.  When I asked her about Easter, she told me that "on Easter Jesus started growing again."  Gotta love my Abby Girl!

Abby!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Abby Caroline!!!
We love you sooo, sooo very much!!!

Chloe's words

Walking, check, on to talking next.  Chloe mostly just points, grunts, and nods.  But she does have a few words.  And hey, Dr. Bowman counts sign language as words, so she's not a bit concerned, and I'm not worried either.  I am actually pretty convinced one day she's just going to start talking complete sentences.  It'll be scary and rock our world.  Guess only time will tell. 

As of March 2014, 19months old:
*"Mama!" yep, I'm her favorite person in the whole world and I'm okay with that :)
*"hi!" Chloe one hundred percent knows hi and is adorable when Daddy comes home from work.  Or when she peeks around a corner.
*"eee" she poses and says eee for cheese when she sees my camera.
*"up" sorta kinda.  I know she can, she just usually doesn't.
*yes and no.  Again these are sign language head nods, but hey it counts.  And she absolutely knows her yes from her no.  My current favorite is when I lay her down at night, and I say "sleepy tight" and she nods yes.  It's almost scary how much she can communicate just with her head shakes.
*"Dada" I'm almost positive on this one, but she's not quite consistent.  I swear I even heard her say "hi dada" a couple days ago. 

the white trees

We have a beautiful pear tree in the backyard that blooms pretty white flowers every spring.  For some reason, it's always a little behind most other flowering trees.  Abby and I have been watching the progress of the tree for a week or two now.  She's been really interested, and I've picked her up several times so we can peek at the blooms and see how they are coming along.  And of course, we see lots of white trees around, so we've been talking about how our tree is going to look like that soon. 

On Sunday after church, we stopped by Kohl's.  Abby had been coughing that morning, but while we were in Kohl's she started feeling feverish and eventually she feel asleep in my arms.  I carried her around for a bit, but then we left to sit in the car while the others finished up.  We're sitting in the passenger seat, she's asleep on me, I'm all but asleep, when she sits up a little and opens her eyes.  There is a little island with a white pear tree right next to us.  In a totally normal, not sick or sleepy at all voice, she says something along the lines of: "look at that pretty white tree, that's what our tree is going to look like."  Then she closes her eyes and is back asleep.  So silly and so sweet!

We had not looked at our tree on Saturday; we drove to Maxim's birthday party [happy happy day to Maxim!] and back, so we were gone 12hours.  When we got home from Kohl's, Abby settled in on the couch and I opened the curtains on the back door.  Our tree was in full bloom!  I asked Abby if I could pick her up and show her something special to which of course she agreed.  We finally have white flowers on our tree!  Yay! 

eighteen on nineteen, two weeks ago

Wow, umm, so happy 18month to Chloe?!?  Chloe's eighteen month checkup was scheduled for a long while back, but it got snowed out.  We weren't able to get another appointment until her nineteen month birthday.  Which apparently was already two weeks ago!  Time flies!  Her paperwork has been sitting out as a reminder for me to type up this post since then, oops. 

So alas, happy eighteen month birthday to Chloe! 

 

 

Alright, so thinking back to what Chloe was up to at 18months seems a little too challenging, so I am just going to post about what Chloe's up to now.  At 19plus months old...

 



Chloe finally took up walking!!  About three weeks ago she finally decided it was time.  We've known she was able to walk for a long time, but she had to decide it.  And that's really what happened.  She was ready and she stood up and started walking.  She was so cute with her arms up balancing.  She's gotten better and can walk with her arms down for the most part now.  And she can even walk with her tasty left thumb in her mouth.  Hopefully the thumb is a little cleaner now though that she's not rubbing it on the ground.  I love having her walk!  It's adorable and fun and I really do think its easier.  And hey, I've been waiting nineteen months for crying out loud :)

Chlo-Chlo started her Music Class last Thursday, so she's been twice now.  We are in class with Ms. Anna, just like Abs did three times.  It's even the same CD that Abby and I did one time, so we already know the music.  Last week Chloe sort of took it all in.  Today she got into it a little more.  She still prefers to suck on the bells and eggs instead of shaking them.  But she did walk and dance and participate more.  So much fun! 

She doesn't say much of anything at all.  "Mama" is about the only word I am confident that she knows on a consistent basis.  But oh boy does she know what she wants!  She points and grunts and shakes her head yes & no.  She really, truly, 100% understands everything.  It's borderline scary sometimes! 

Speaking of understanding everything...
*A few days ago, Chloe and Abby were eating some goldfish out of a plastic bag.  Chloe ate the last one, picked up the bag, and walked it over to the trash.  She can't open the childproof cabinet door, but she can crack it open a couple inches and stick her hand in. 
*I shaved my legs on Tuesday.  It had been a looong time!  I collected all my stuff, including a brand new razor that I sat on the counter.  I did a few things, picked up the shaving cream, and walked to the tub.  I started to sit down on the edge of the tub and Chloe went nuts.  She was pointing at the counter and grunting.  Yep, I had forgotten the razor.  How did she even know what it was or that I needed it?!  It had been weeks since I'd shaved and several minutes since I got the razor out of a cabinet in the hallway. 

I love you my sweet Chloe!!

in case you were wondering

I went back and looked for pictures of the shamrock shirt.  Over the four years of St. Patrick's Day celebrations with girlies, I found three pictures with the shirt.  I don't know what Abs wore in 2012; there are no St. Patrick's Day pictures from that year.  I don't think it was the shamrock shirt though, I am thinking it was a green and navy floral dress.  So three out of four ain't bad.  I think I got my couple dollars worth out of that little dress/shirt! 

sneaky spinach

In honor of St. Patrick's Day [and thanks to Christa's love of pinterest], we ate a green dinner!  Pureed veggies are already green, but then I supplemented with lots more green.  I stuck a bag of raw spinach in the blender to make our own food coloring.  I added just a little water which wasn't enough, so I added just a little more and it was wayy too much.  Our green coloring was much too soupy.  I added it to mac & cheese and that worked really pretty well.  And tasted exactly the same.  I also added some spinch to rice krispie treats.  They also tasted the same; however since the spinach had gotten too runny, the rice krispies had a wet, squishy texture to them which wasn't overly appealing.  It was a fun dinner I suppose, although the kids weren't nearly as excited as I'd hoped.  Kids and change and colored food don't mix well.  Too bad. 

Ryan was all about dressing up in green this year.  As the kids get older, they get more and more excited about these little holidays.  He looked super cool in his new green no-pinching tshirt.  And Chloe-Chlo wore the same shamrock outfit that the girls have worn for years :)  It starts as a great dress and then becomes a great shirt.  Mommy's pretty cool like that.  I should look back and see how many times its actually been worn by one of them. 

So, happy St. Patrick's day!

happy heart

After church today, we drove down to Kennesaw to meet Mommy's high school buddy, Ms. Valerie, and her family for pizza and visiting.  It was great to see them!!  We all love Baby Milo, especially Abby :) 

We got down there even earlier than I thought we would and since it was pouring rain, we didn't want to get out or stop.  So we kept driving around.  It was a great drive though!  Chloe fell asleep, always a good thing.  And then we realized that Ryan was reading out loud from his big ole' Berenstain Bears collection of books to Abby.  Happy Mama here!  Ryan is really catching on to the whole reading thing; I love it!

shark tooth

Ryan lost his first two teeth!  With a little help from the dentist :)

A few weeks ago, Coleson was brushing Ryan's teeth and called me to the bathroom.  Ryan had a new tooth erupting on the bottom of his mouth, behind his baby teeth!  It was pretty far back, making its own row, not even wiggling the baby tooth.  So of course we talked to the dentist about it last week at his checkup [which went great, no cavities, everything looks good].  Dr. Miles says its not all that uncommon and called it a shark tooth.  After an x-ray, he recommended that we wiggle the baby teeth out of the way.  If we wait too long, the adult tooth will come in fully and set itself permanently in that wrong spot.  However, if the baby teeth are out of the way, his tongue can push the new tooth into place, hopefully avoiding future corrections/ braces. 

So on Wednesday, we went back to the dentist and Dr. Drew pulled the two front, bottom teeth.  Ryan did awesome!!  They gave him some happy, laughing gas and then numbed his mouth a little.  He did great, didn't even cry or anything.  Dr. Drew said he had "monster roots" and that pulling the teeth was the right thing to do, they weren't going anywhere on their own.  So now he has an adorable, toothless smile [well, sorta toothless, you can definitely see that adult tooth set off to the back :)].  He did great with the recovery.  I gave him one dose of Tylenol when we got home, but that was it.  I kept asking if he was okay, if anything hurt, but he was fine.  The doctor had said we'd need to alternate Tylenol and Motrin all day, but apparently not.  I made him some orange jell-o salad and he also had applesauce, but he got back to normal eating pretty quickly.

The tooth fairy came that night and left Ryan two dollars and a cool note.  She also left the teeth so he could show them off and put them in a baby book if we so choose :) 

let it go

We've joined the American masses ... Disney has wormed and wiggled its way into my children's thoughts and minds.  Ryan isn't much for movies or songs.  Like his Daddy, he's just not wired that way.  Abby is more like me though, songs stick with us.  We pick out lyrics and after only a handful of times hearing a song, we've got it down.  And so now that Abby's getting older, she's picking up on the trendy songs, movies, and other such stuff.  We have watched the "Let It Go" music video half a dozen times today.  It would be five times that amount if I didn't limit them!  We are now cool, pop-culture people.  We did see Frozen in the theater.  And we've been playing clips of the song during UpStreet at church.  [Abby's not in UpStreet, but she loves hanging out during our rehearsals].  Then, today at gymnastics, Ms. Danielle played Let It Go for their free time at the end of class.  Abby was sooo excited; she told me dancing to the Frozen song was her favorite part :)  So of course she wanted to play it at home too.  And so it begins! 

Fortunately, I do like the movie, and I thought it had a surprisingly good & wholesome plot, especially for a Disney movie.  I am also a sucker for sisters, even more so now that I'm raising a set of sisters.  You better not tell, but I'd love to get Abby the movie for her birthday! 

daughter of a Florida native

Abby:  "Mommy, can I just sit in my chair in the sun?"

and then once set up in her chair: "I'm enjoying the sun!"

brainwashed?!

Friday night it was supposed to rain, and we were figuring that would wash away the snow still on the ground.  So as we closed the blinds, I said : "goodbye snow!" 

Abby responded : "goodbye snow, bring us some warm weather!" 
and then Ryan : "goodbye snow, hope I don't see you again!"

Snow day #8

Word World on PBS at 2:00. Quite possibly the best thing about snow days if you are Ryan!

this and that

- Early on in last week's snow day adventures, Abby misplaced one of her zebra gloves. [we are having a hard time learning to be responsible for our own things!].  I found it Monday morning when I went to make Ryan's lunch for school.  It was inside his lunch box inside his backpack.  I can't believe I hadn't thought to look there.

- The other night at dinner Ryan announced: "online at shaneco dot com"  Hmm, I knew Abby was good at catching words and phrases from the radio, but Ryan's not usually like that.  Good marketing.  Gonna have to pay even closer attention to the radio stations we listen to!

- Abby has always loved music of course, but now she's into loud music.  Really loud.  If I had a dollar for every time she said "can you put it on a little louder please?" I'd be a millionaire.  She also thinks I am her personal DJ, and she is constantly requesting songs.  I've actually been compiling a mixed CD of all her favorite songs to surprise her with, but I haven't finished yet.  It'll be great to not have to change CDs every five minutes! 

- Chloe is throwing up :(  She was crying in her bed when I woke up at 6:40ish.  Before I even got all the way in there, I could smell the throwup.  Poor thing!  She's thrown up three times, including once in her carseat.  I've seen a lot of yuck as a mom, but throwing up in a carseat really does top the list.  The carseat is in pieces, the padding and straps are in the wash, the carseat has been sprayed out in the driveway, and Abby is home today since I couldn't drive her to preschool.  We tried calling two friends for rides, but both had already left for preschool.  Just as well, I'd have to leave about now to pick her up, and Chloe is still asleep and her seat's not put back together.  Hopefully she is sleeping off whatever bug got her! 

one last word on snow

I'm really over last week's snow.  I'm getting sorta tired of people asking about it and making small talk, time to move on, is it spring yet?!!  But before we do, I wanted to make a note of how cute Chloe was.  This was her first snow and she did great!  She was a little hesitant at first.  She's a thumb sucker and was not a fan of the gloves.  And the snow falling and accumulating on her while she rode in the wagon couldn't have been fun.  But you know what?  She did very well.  And she really grew to like it.  By the end of the snow days, she had mastered getting dressed.  She would point and grunt to her hat and gloves and try to put them on herself.  She liked the snow and loved being outside.  She rode in the wagon lots, she swung on the playset swing, she slid down the slide, she even sat in the snow.  But the image of her trying to pull on her own hat is what's stuck with me, so cute.  The kids had so much fun in the snow!  Although truth be told, they [well mostly just Ryan :)] were pretty much over it too by the time it had melted away.  Ryan thought it was too cold, wonder where he gets that from?!

So here's a few cute snow pictures and then I'm officially done with snow for the next few years!

The slumber- partiers

Ryan and Abby are having a sleepover tonight, I love it!  They came up with this all by themselves.  Abby is fast asleep on Ryan's bottom bunk.  She packed her backpack with her pjs, a blanket, her pillows, and her animals.  Daddy put sheets on the bed while she unpacked.  They did great, they both feel asleep right away.  I love it that they love each other!

snow, snow, snow

So Atlanta has been shut down for days.  We had 2.5" of snow.  Yup.  It was pretty scary though.  We were supposed to be north [yes, north!] of the winter storm warnings.  Our county was expecting a "light dusting."  Certainly not what happened!

The storm came in on Tuesday morning.  The southern parts of the state were supposed to receive 3-5", but we were going to be okay.  We really had no warning, we had no idea.  About 10:30, I got word that schools were dismissing two hours early, 12:15 for Ryan's elementary.  It still wasn't even snowing at that point.  I figured, I guess they are worried about the middle schoolers who get out last, so they have to back everybody up.  Shortly after that I got a call from Abby's teacher.  She just wanted to make sure all the parents, especially with siblings, knew about the closing so we could coordinate getting everybody.  Since preschool ends at noon, I told her I'd come in a couple minutes early to get Abby, just to make sure I was home in time for Ryan's bus.  I sat down to feed Chloe some oatmeal before leaving.  It had started snowing by this time, and I watched it come down out back while she ate.  It was snowing fairly hard, but wasn't really sticking or accumulating.  But it was a very weird snow.  Here I was thinking I was leaving early, but in reality I had probably waited too long.  The snow was sticking to the roads first, that never happens here.  I got to Abby okay and walked in to get her.  [flashback to here, I probably should have picked Ryan up from school at 11:15 on the way to get Abby].  After getting Abby, we headed to Jed.  I was planning just to let him out and give him his meds.  But in that span of 30mins, things went downhill so very fast.  The roads were already freezing.  I got stuck behind two accidents trying to get to Jed.  I actually saw police with sirens pass a guy who had driven off the road; I guess things were worse farther down the road.  By now, I am really starting to worry.  I'm not usually a panicky person.  I called Coleson a couple of times, and his mom, and my neighbor Ericah.  I decided to bring Jed home with me in case we couldn't get back.  And I really, really, really wanted Ryan home.  I was scared to have him on the bus. 

The girls and Jed and I made it home, an HOUR after we left.  It was crazy, it shouldn't have taken more than 30 or 40 mins, tops.  I was really worried about Ryan at this point.  We were guessing the bus would be home about 12:35.  At 12:18 Ericah called me exclaiming that the bus had just gone by, say what?!  I locked the girls in the house as I went running out just in time to greet Ryan.  Apparently the school had decided to dismiss buses as soon as they were ready.  I am grateful for that, just really grateful for Ericah and the heads up!  Hugging my Ryan and having all three babies at home was an awesome, awesome feeling.  I still can't believe how fast it all happened.  Ryan ate lunch in his classroom; I think it was probably fairly chaotic in there, but fortunately the kids all just thought the snow was cool. 

Of course as soon as Ryan got home, everyone wanted to go out and play, I couldn't even convince them to eat first.  We piled on layers, loaded up the wagon, and headed out.  We visited with neighbors and threw snowballs and made it around the corner to Ericah's house.  We played with Anna Wynn and Asher, as well as Hilary's family.  There were kids out everywhere.  We stayed out about an hour.  By the time we got home, our wagon tracks were covered over and the wagon itself had a thick layer of snow in it.  It snowed steadily from about 11 until 5.

I had pleaded with Coleson to leave around 11:30 while I was out picking up Abby and Jed, but he had meetings and couldn't leave until 1:30.  In hindsight, he should have stayed at work.  Most counties closed school two hours early.  Fulton county didn't, instead they just had some sort of mass dismissal at 1:45.  Everyone in Atlanta, and I mean everyone, hit the roads between 1 and 2.  We have very few snow trucks or supplies.  And they weren't out since we weren't supposed to get the snow.  And it was so cold, the roads were instantly freezing.  It was crazy out there.  I still can't believe how crazy it was.  Coleson left work at 1:30.  At 8:00 he exited 575 at 92 to stop and rest.  Yes, 6.5 hours later!  Jim tried to come down and meet him and drive him home, but the roads were literally littered with cars and he couldn't make it.  People were spinning out everywhere.  Cars were stuck and abandoned.  The ones that could drive, still couldn't, simply because the roads were parking lots.  Coleson stopped for about an hour, before continuing on.  All this mind you, without having eaten lunch.  And he didn't have any water in his car.  Fortunately, he had a full tank of gas.  He had a cup of coffee at the gas station that morning and a donut at work at 11:30.  Since East Cherokee was impassable, he continued across 92 to his mother's independent living home.  He had to park across the street and walk over.  He made it about 10:30. 

Dad//Grandpa had left around 2:00.  Hours and hours later, he was still in front of Wills Park.  Eventually we were able to convince him to head for Barbara's also.  He arrived there a few minutes after Coleson.  His car had spun out and he walked the last few minutes, but he made it.  I am so very grateful they were able to get someplace warm with food and water.  So many people weren't as blessed as we were.  I have a neighbor who left his car up near the Canton Marketplace and walked.  Walked.  Seven miles.  I have another neighbor who drove from the Canton Marketplace.  It took him nine hours.  Even if Coleson had gotten all the way up 575, we weren't sure how to get him home.  I have another friend who stayed in his car; he got home at 7am.  The roads were clogged, jammed, parking-lot-ed for 24hours plus.  I have never seen anything like it.  I still can't even really believe it. 

On Wednesday, Jim drove down and picked up Coleson & Dad and dropped them off at home.  Thank God for his 4wheel drive!  Dad just picked his car up today; Coleson's is still there.  We aren't even going to worry about it until tomorrow.  School's have been cancelled for the rest of the week. 

Coleson made it home 24 hours after he left work.  We were soooo happy to see him.  We greeted him at the front door!  Ryan had drawn him a picture that pretty much summed up how we all felt.  Daddy walking up the driveway, all of us standing at the door to meet him.  We missed him!  But as crazy as his ordeal was, we still feel like one of the lucky ones.  What a blessing to have Barbara's work right there, where both Coleson and Dad could get to.  And they had food and water and rest. 

The kids and I went out twice on Tuesday and again Wednesday morning.  We went again Wednesday evening with Daddy.  We tried to sled on swimming pool boogie boards, but that did not work!  We ran into Zach and Art sledding on Wednesday.  They had a real toboggan sleigh thingy; it was awesome!  Mr. Zach took Abby and she LOVED it!  We also played with Max at some point.  Right now, we've got Georgia and Naomi over.  What a wonderful thing it is to have such great neighbors.  They were also amazing on Tuesday night when I was so worried.  It was a really rough night, knowing that Coleson and Dad were out there.  But the wonderful emails, texts, facebook comments, etc made it a little more bearable.  I can't imagine going through something like that without technology.  Being able to stay in touch with the guys was awesome.  And having a support network was great.  My neighbor Kelsi even offered a couple of times to come keep me company!  While I didn't want company right then, the offer really meant a lot.  Erin told me to call her anytime of night.  Christa, as always, wins the award for constantly texting and emailing me encouragement and asking for updates.  I am so blessed!

So here it is, Thursday afternoon.  There is still snow on the ground.  School's out tomorrow too.  Our neighborhood appears fine, although we haven't driven anywhere.  I see pictures on facebook though of shady spots that still looks just as bad as they did two days ago.  I think cancelling schools was the best call.  Even though most roads are better, we're all still recovering.  There are still abandoned cars everywhere.  Some families are just now reuniting.  And then there's all those poor kids that were trapped at school.  I can't even imagine that.  I can promise you this though, I would walk to school before my kids would stay the night.  Actually, we did see a news story last night about a dad who walked seven miles to his kindergarten daughter's school and spent the night there with her.  That's awesomeness.  I loved seeing the stories of people stopping to help strangers.  One news article was titled: "bad storm, good people."  Love that, I hope that's how the rest of the nation sees us.  While I know they are having a good laugh at our expense, hopefully they can see that most people really were gracious and awesome out there.

old, but good!

Abby had a classic Abby-ism awhile back and I texted the quote to myself ... and its been sitting in my inbox since November.  We were leaving for our roadtrip to Great-Grandma's, and we got a bright & early start.  From the backseat, Abby tells us: "When its dark nothing looks like anything."  There ya have it!

Ryan's reading

From Mrs. Sheffield :  I wanted to let you know that Ryan is reading on level 7 which is First grade level.

Woo-hoo!! I'm not entirely sure what that means, when I google reading levels there are, of course, many different scales and systems. I'm not sure which one they use, but any way you look at it, this is a good thing :) Way to go, Ryan!!

Bible reading

Me to Abby just now:  "would you girls like to go on a walk?"
Abby:  "Yes!!  after I read Chloe this B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me!!"

Too bad it was a little baby, paperback book.  Not an actual Bible.  Hmm.  She is all about the Bible, too bad every book is the Bible.  We're gonna have to work on that. 

And yes, despite the fact that one week ago today it was 3degrees, we are headed on a walk today.  It's 60degrees and sunny!!  But don't worry, they are calling for snow tomorrow.  I have a serious love/hate relationship with Georgia weather.

snow day, number one

A snow day with no snow.  that's GA for ya!  It is bitterly, bitterly cold out there though.  We are setting records for cold supposedly.  And they did call for rain/ snow last night, which would have just been a nightmare.  It was about 20degrees all day today, although we are now steadily falling.  They are calling for 5degrees overnight!!  Windchills are well into the negatives.  So the snow days are not as much about snow, as they are the safety of children at bus stops and other such outdoor things.  [and yes, I said dayS, they called tomorrow at 2:33 this afternoon!!].  I do actually wish it had snowed, believe it or not.  I know I don't usually speak such nonsense, but now that I'm a mother, I put my children's wishes above my own in these sorts of circumstances.  My poor kiddos really, really, really want some snow.  And hey, a couple of cute snow pictures would be fun.  Followed by much, much warmer days :)

I loved having an extra day of winter break.  Having my kids all to myself, staying in, being lazy, it was wonderful!!  We did do some learning, which was also fun.  Ryan practiced site words and writing his ABCs.  We also had some great lessons with his maps.  He can tell me how many states there are, as well as the continents.  We also drew the time zones on his US map and practiced questions such as, if it's 5:00 in Georgia what time is it in Texas?  He got them all, of course.  I even tried to trick him and asked him what time it was in London.  Despite having not talked about London since New Year's Eve, he got that one right too.  [we watched London's countdown to midnight, which happens to be 7:00pm here since they are five hours ahead].  Abby can sing her ABCs perfectly almost every time now!!  woo-hoo!!  We also practiced writing the letter A. 

In addition to true academics, we spent a long time playing with Legos.  It took a lot of convincing to get Ryan to pull out his boxes of loose Legos; he loves instructions.  But we got going and spent maybe an hour building.  I really think they enjoyed it; I know I sure did!  We also had a great game of follow the leader, a play-off of Abby's lesson at church yesterday about following Jesus.  Lunch was pizza [and pears to say we had some nutrition], and we roasted s'mores over the gas stovetop :) 

More snow day fun tomorrow, hooray!