Snow Day

Well, in case you are living under a rock and haven't heard ... it snowed in Atlanta! Crazy I know! And not only that, but it's been so cold that the snow actually stuck to the ground and is still there over 24 hours later! Needless to say, we Southerners don't have a clue what to do about this, and I think just about the whole city has been shut down. We enjoyed having Daddy stay home from work today, although he did work very hard on his computer & phone, so we had to practice being quiet & staying out of the way. Eventually we gave into the stir-craziness & watched Shrek 2. Ryan and I had watched the first one about a month ago, so he was very excited. "SHREK!" He sat in between us and watched the whole movie, it was super nice! However, I'm hoping to get out tomorrow and get some fresh air, doubtful though as the high is still not above freezing. This was fun for a day, but I'm ready for summer now :)

Preschool

Ryan started preschool this week, so hard to believe!! He goes two days a week, for three hours each day. It's just enough to get him out and interacting with other kids his age. And it gives Mommy some quiet time, especially now that Ryan's given up napping :) We're still working on the adjustment, but once we get used to our new routine, we know it will be good for all of us. Ryan has cried both days when Mommy dropped him off, but I'm told that he stopped within five minutes and did great the rest of the time. It's so weird that he has a life of his own now, independent of me! He does his own thing and I don't know what that is! While his speech is improving greatly, he still can't tell me what he did at school. But I know it's good for him and I'm told it's good for me too, although right now I still miss him and feel like the world's worst mom for leaving him crying in a strange place!

Ryan amd Mommy decorated Ryan's placemat. The school will laminate it and he'll use it each day at snack time. Fun idea!

 

Ryan's spiffy school bag. What a big boy!

 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

This morning at church, they gave all the kids a cake mix and frosting to celebrate Jesus's birthday. We had a great time this afternoon making the cake together. Ryan helped us pour and mix the ingredients, and we waited patiently while it baked. We frosted the cake and then added sprinkles. It was great fun, even though it got a little messy a few times! And of course, what's a birthday cake without candles?! Check out a video on our youtube link over there on the right to see a smidgen of the celebration :)

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

It's a ....

Girl!!

We are super excited to know that we'll be having a little girl in April! It was great to see her on the ultrasound today! Haven't settled on a name yet, but hoping to have one picked shortly. Also looking forward to planning her room and buying lots of pink :) Coleson brought me beautiful pink roses today, and we picked out a little pink elephant blanket for her! So fun!

Kitty Cats & Corn Dogs

Today when Ryan and I got home from running errands, the neighborhood stray cat was sitting in our driveway. Of course Ryan saw him from the car and his first reaction was "kitty!", followed immediately by bursting into a cry as the cat ran away. All I can think is he thought it was our Nellie kitty and she had run away. So I managed to convince him to come in the house (he really wanted to go find the kitty). Once we found Nellie and said hello to the kitty, all was better!

Then for lunch, I pulled the pregnancy comfort food card. Ryan still ate his veggies, but after that we both had a corndog and macaroni. Yummy!! It was Ryan's first corndog, and he loved it! No surprise though since he enjoys hotdogs so much. It was fun eating the corndogs together, dipping them in ketchup and then eating them right off the stick. Ryan really enjoyed that we were eating the same exact thing and most of our corndog bites had to be taken at the same time. Silly but fun! And yes, I promise we usually eat a little more nutritiously than this- I can't remember the last time I had a corndog. But sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do!

Ryan's Hat

Last winter, we could not keep a hat on Ryan. He was always pulling them off and wanted nothing to do with them. Yesterday I put a hat on Ryan at about 4:00 in the afternoon, while we were babysitting and playing outside. Not only did he not immediately take it off, but he decided he liked it a lot. A whole lot. He wore it all evening and slept in it all night. This morning it was still on. I have made him take it off for a few seconds every so often to make sure his ears were okay. But other than that he wore it all day today too. Then just like that, about 7:30 tonight, he took it off, handed it to Daddy, and the 27 hour hat marathon was over. Or at least we made sure it was - he has since had a bath to clean up all the matted hat hair and we didn't give him the option of putting it back on! Two year olds are so much fun and so silly!!

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a nice, relaxing four day weekend and lots of time with family. It was good to stay in town and not have to pack or travel :) Thursday we had a delicious feast at Nana and Pop-Pop's house. It was great to have most all the siblings in town (missed you Mackenzie!). We ate, kinda sorta decorated for Christmas, played cornhole (Chrissie and I beat the boys!), and just hung out. The girls enjoyed some time away too - saw New Moon, yay!

Today we got our tree and spent the afternoon decorating the tree and house. Hard to believe it's already Christmas time! Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Catch-Air Playdate

Yesterday afternoon Ryan and I went to Catch-Air. We had a great time playing with our buddies! Here are a few photos of the fun:


Madeleine & Ryan lounging in the ball pit


Cole got Ryan upstairs and play with the really big balls!


Peyton and Ryan in the balls

Pregnant!!

In case you couldn't guess from the title of this post, I'm pregnant!! I'm 17 weeks along, due April 20th!! We are so super excited and blessed!! Not sure yet if it's a boy or girl, should know in a month or so, although we don't think we care either way. Ryan is looking forward to being a big brother... alright, alright, I don't think he understands at all. When we ask about the baby in mommy's belly, he does point to my belly. But of course, he then points to his belly and to Daddy's belly. As we get farther along and my belly gets bigger, I imagine he'll understand it a little more. :)

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween!!

We went to a fall festival with Nana on Saturday

Trick or treat Pop-Pop

and trick or treat to Grandma & Grandpa too

our little scarecrow

visiting Madeleine, the hula girl