weekend fun

We spent the weekend visiting cousin Maxim, Auntie Sarah, and Uncle Christian in SC.  We had a great time as always!  The kids adore cousin Maxim and they all play together really well, especially the boys.  We mostly just hung around the house and out back, it was so nice to finally have the sun out.  The new trampoline was a bit hit, and yes Auntie Sarah even caught a photo of my super-star bounce.  Abby had a great time trying to get the boys to do Ring around the Rosy with her, even if she didn't quite know all the words [ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes].  We ventured out to a park and the kids rode bikes and scooters.  Abby did sooo well on her bike.  She pedaled all by herself and rode it the whole way, maybe a mile?  She's finally got the hang of it!  Now getting her to stop is an entirely different story.  She'd much rather just run her bike into something than pay attention to Mommy explain the whole step-backwards-on-the-pedal concept, crazy frustrating for Mommy.  After the park we feasted on pizza, yumm!  Sunday we enjoyed some more time outside riding bikes and playing at a playground.  After Mexican [where I made sure not to order and eat an entire burrito], we headed home.  It's always sad to say goodbye, but we'll look forward to another fun trip sometime soon! 

 

 

ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes!

Abby on water:

"I'm gonna bring this drink in.  Then if I get thirsty I can put it in my mouth."

quotations

When blogging, I try to put the things the kids say in quotes.  That way you'll know it's straight from them.  In order to keep their quotes as accurate as possible, I often scribble things down on scraps of paper or napkins or receipts or anything else handy.  These scraps then inevitably end up in my pocket or the bottom of my bag, usually lost or put through the wash.  But some of them make it into a blog post :)  So here's a quote off the back of Ryan's memory verse from church last week.  I believe this was from Thursday.  When I'm driving I can't see Chloe, so I asked the Big Two if she had fallen asleep.  Ryan's answer:  "Her eyes are a little bit open and a little bit closed.  She's half in the middle."

[and this is probably very accurate.  Have you ever seen her sleep?  It's pretty creepy how open her eyes often are.  And usually her eyeballs are rolled back, so it's solid white in the slits of her eyes.  Pretty creepy indeed.]

Wendy's

Awhile back I took the kids to Wendy's for lunch.  You know how sometimes the world comes together just right and you have a near perfect experience?  That was Wendy's in early December.  All three kids were super well behaved; Chloe even peacefully feel asleep in her carseat.  Everyone ate all their lunch without fuss and we enjoyed a game of Ispy.  And for whatever reason, our Wendy's is old people hangout.  I'm not kidding.  We are always the youngest by several decades, which means lots of attention from the grandmotherly types!  And while sometimes a playplace is just what you need, sometimes it's not.  Without a playplace and lots of loud kids, Wendy's can be very nice and stress-free.

   

So off to Wendy's we went again today, trying to re-create that perfect outing.  We love going out with family and friends, but there are occasions when I just need some mommy time with my kids. :) Chloe was not quite as well behaved today, but we still had a great time.  I apologized to the elderly, retired couple at the booth next to us for her fussiness.  But they both quickly assured me that she was fine and then proceeded to engage me in a conversation about how I remind them of someone and how old were the kids and they are so beautiful and so on.  Ryan's kid's meal toy was a minute to win it game and we had a fun time setting that up.  He had to wear a headband with a hook and try to pick up some keys.  He did pretty good with it!  I treasure these special times with them and I try not to think about the fact that Ryan will be in school next year and these outings are numbered.  I am thankful for these three amazing kids and I love days like this! 

 

 

Ryan hung the moon

While they were watching tv together yesterday, I asked:
Abby, you sure do love your brother don't you?
"Yes" cute little shoulder shrug "I do"

Chloe at five months

Chloe Marie is five months old!  How did that happen so fast?!

*She smiles all the time and coos.  She seems to recognize people and she definitely knows her name.

*She can roll over, she just doesn't.  I've seen her do it.  She can go belly to back and back to belly.  I don't know if she's lazy or doesn't like to roll or what.  Ryan and Abby both rolled all over the place.  Remember Ryan?  He never even really crawled, he rolled everywhere. 

*She's started eating real food.  Rice cereal, bananas, and squash so far. 

*She's an avid thumb sucker.  It's cute sometimes.  It's not cute when we're trying to feed her solid food. 

*She sleeps about twelve hours at night.  In a perfect world she'll nap about an hour in the morning and take a three hour nap in the afternoon.  She has a five year old brother and two year old sister; it's not a perfect world.

*She thinks her feet are crazy exciting.  They are the coolest things ever.  You should be jealous that your feet aren't as awesome as hers.

PS - I posted this on time!  Aren't you proud of me?  I didn't cheat and back-date it like I've done once or twice recently :)  Perhaps a new year means a new start to my blogging.  However, I doubt it and I'm certainly not going to make any promises!  I do enjoy blogging though, especially since I'm not current at all on my scrapbooking.  And I've started printing books of my blog posts, so I really do want to do a good job with this blog and keep it up to date. 

Doctor Abby

Abby just listened to my belly with her stethoscope.  When I asked her what it sounded like she told me: "a wolf eating." What?!!  Where does she come up with these things?!

top 42 of 2012!?!

This time last year I posted my top 21 pictures of 2011.  I enjoyed doing it and hopefully all two of you that read my blog enjoyed reliving the highlights of our year in photos.  So here is 2012 in pictures.  And yes, I doubled the number of photos this year.  Hey, it was an eventful and exciting year for us.  And it's my blog so I can post as many pictures as I like.  Top Ten's are boring :)  Here's my top 42 pictures in no particular order [or at least that I can figure, you'll have to ask picasa and blogger if it bothers you]. 

our family of five in Washington DC, Nov2012
 

love this picture! NP mall, Jan2012

Chloe Marie!!  Aug7th, 2012

sweet sisters

Our family!!

daffodils, Feb2012

Happy Valentine's Day

swinging! ponytails!

Abby's new turtle

Ryan the soccer player with Assistant Coach Daddy

Things One and Thing Two :) 

biking with Cousin Maxim

beautiful Baby Girl on Easter

silly!!

the petting farm for Abby's 2nd birthday

heading out for a weekend alone to celebrate Coleson's 30th!

strawberry picking, April2012

we LOVE summer!

climbing trees is fun

Destin with our best friends!

my kids have a thing for goofy glasses

baby belly

summer fun

Happy 4th of July!

Cow Appreciation day is becoming a family tradition

fun with my baby belly and photoshop!

love these crazy kids!

girls!

we have three kids

my babies

eight kids,  love it!

go Georgia Bulldawgs

swimming, swimming, swimming

apple picking as a family of five

sweet Chloe Marie

woo-hoo!  big ole' family photo on Ryan's birthday

smiles!

Mommy's girl

meeting Great- Grandma

chillin' with Cuz Maxim on Thanksgiving

laugh!

Happy 5th birthday Buddy!  How'd you get so big so fast?!

how to shed unwanted baby weight

the flu, or at least flu-like symptoms, suck.  [to actually know if you have the flu, you'd have to go to the doctor.  but i'm the mom.  i don't have time for such silly inconveniences.  and i like to think i'm tough.  some say stubborn, but i prefer tough.  i am mom of three.  i am woman.]  a lingering cough for the past two weeks is no fun.  but none of it compares to the joy of being beaten over and over again in the chest by a baseball bat.  no wait, that's not what the doctor called it.  i think she said something more official, she called it pneumonia with a cartilage tear.  easy to say when you're on the other side of that xray table.  but in layman's terms, in plain english, what she meant to say was beaten over and over again in the chest by a baseball bat.  except of course when you cough, then they switch the baseball bat out for one of those cavemen clubs with spikes on it.  and yes, to get the doctor's diagnosis you do have to go see a doctor.  but if your stubborn, i mean tough, like me, you wait until you can barely move or breathe, and you end up in the e.r. on christmas day.  pretty rotten way to spend christmas.  but a great diet plan.  how many people can say they lost weight over the holidays?  trust me though, eating christmas dinner, even if it means gaining an extra pound or two, is much better than not remembering christmas with your babies.  so at the risk of being belated, but they do say better late then never, merry christmas to all!