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!

quick thinking

Sarah and Maxim are in town visiting for a couple days, yay!  We [Nana, Sarah, Coleson, and I] took the kids to see Frozen this afternoon at the theater and then came back home for a dinner of Publix chicken and apple slices and carrots and chips.  Abby spilt her milk on herself while she was eating, so as Nana was leaving she said: "goodbye Ms. Wet" to Abby.  Abby didn't miss a beat and responded right back with: "goodbye Ms. Dry."  Impressive, way to go Abs! 

BK

There are no pictures to prove it, so I thought I'd make a quick note of it here.  I sent a facebook message to some of our random, local friends that we'd be going to lunch at Burger King today if anyone wanted to join us.  We had a blast!  We ended up with four families, fourteen kids!!  Ms. Erin and her three, Ms. Kelsi and her four, and Ms. Becky with her three plus a niece.  All the kids played together very, very well and had soo much fun.  We love the Burger King playplace.  It has its own separate room, so we can eat in there and linger and socialize while the kids play.  We don't bother anybody else, and there's only one door in and out.  I can't figure out why it's never crowded!

Ryan played mostly with our neighbor Jacob.  Jacob is in second grade, and he's just about as cool as they come.  Asher joined in pretty well when he got there.  Abby sort of did her own thing.  I saw her with Georgia a couple times.  And poor Max wanted to play with her so badly, but she'd just keep right on racing around that playplace.  Naomi loved on Chloe and came back multiple times to give her kisses.  Once I freed Chloe from the highchair, Georgia and the other big kids helped her all through the play area.  A little nerve racking, but I kept reminding myself: it'll help her toughen up!  She's almost seventeen months by golly! 

I'm loving having all three of my kids around and being able to do some of the things that have become hard to do with an elementary school schedule.  I just wish the break weren't going by so fast! 

Merry Christmas 2013!!!

so sweet

Last night I went out with Christa and Alicia, woo-hoo!  I said all my goodbyes to everyone and hugs and kisses and I love yous.  As I'm walking out Ryan says, "I-L-o-v-e-Y-o-u!"  It was so cool and unexpected, he's never spelled like that before.  I truly felt loved!  I love you too, my Little Man! 

loved it

I've been babysitting our neighbor-friends, Max and Grant, some recently.  Usually only once or twice a week, but it adds up.  Ryan's so funny, he'll say he doesn't want to play with the little kids, but of course once he gets in there, he has a great time.  He asked me a couple days ago if he could have some of his friends over.  I told him I'd work on it and see what we could come up with for Thursday since it was supposed to be a warm and sunny day.  We are waterlogged here. 

So we had Jacob, Georgia, and Sam over yesterday.  It was wonderful!!  They played together sooo well.  I just got to sit and watch them have fun.  The three boys played soccer for quite awhile, which just made Ryan's day.  Georgia and Abs played babies and watched the game from the sidelines.  They also played monkey in the middle, ring around the rosy, and all sorts of run around like crazy things.  I can't believe how well they all got along.  They planned and talked and came up with the games all on their own. 

The afternoon was originally planned for Ryan's benefit, but it was a great day for me too.  We've had a CRAZY busy December trying to do Christmas parties and class plays and Christmas cards and teacher gifts and baking goodies and all sorts of stuff, on top of everyday living.  I'm working hard to keep perspective and enjoy it all, but I will admit I am exhausted.  So a couple hours of watching kids laugh and play and be happy was just what I needed!  I love our neighbors! 

no cooties here

Uh-oh, watch out Daddy!  Abby had her first kiss today!  Mommy and Chloe were at Ryan's school for the Christmas party, so Abby rode home from preschool with Ms. Alyson and Dylan [and Seth too who happened to have today off for parent conferences].  They went back to Alyson's house for peanut butter & honey sandwiches and clementines.  After playing for a bit, Dylan had to go down for his nap; he's a younger man, only two years old.  Apparently Abby asked to say good night, so Ms. Alyson brought over a stool.  She stood up on the stool next to Dylan's crib, and Ms. Alyson prompted Dylan to give Abby a hug and a kiss on the cheek good night.  They both completely ignored the "on the cheek" part and gave each other a big ole' kiss on the lips!  So there ya go, I guess it was bound to happen eventually! 

good question, Buddy

Ryan and I were talking about numbers yesterday.  He said the biggest number he knew was 1,999.  And then he realized 2,000 was higher and then we talked about all the thousands, and then the millions, billions, and trillions.  He asked me what the biggest number I knew was and I said infinity.  I explained to him that infinity basically means forever and higher then anyone could count and the numbers never stop.  His response: "Oh, is God still thinking of new numbers?"  I thought that was a great, very insightful question!  I love the way his little brain works so hard to try to make sense of everything! 

Chloe, 15months

Our sweet Chloe-Chlo-Chlo is 15months old!  Or at least she was a week ago; we're just observing the event today with a checkup to Dr. Bowman :)  Our Itty Bitty weighed in at 19lbs, 6.5oz.  I was shocked she hasn't hit 20lbs yet.  But Dr. Bowman was very happy with her weight.  Albeit at the very bottom, she is soundly on the weight charts now.  She was 30" long with an 18" head.  Dr. Bowman was very excited about her physical progress.  She's not worried at all that she's not actually walking yet, but she was very happy about her standing and pulling up and cruising along the chairs, woo-hoo!  Like her sister, she appears to be a wheezer.  Her ears looked great, her chest was clear, but alas she just has a bit of a wet, gunky wheeze and cough.  Sounds like someone else we know and love :) 

Chloe has eight teeth up front and three molars in the back.  Her fourth molar is on its way in and oh boy does it look painful!  It's all swollen and big and ouchy looking, poor baby.  The molars would explain the recent fussiness; Chloe has not enjoyed getting any of her eleven teeth.  When she's not busy with erupting teeth, she's a super sweet, laid back little one.  She's very observant, both Abby's preschool teacher and the doctor today commented on how aware she was.  She loves to laugh at her siblings.  She's a pretty good eater, loves to drink milk and smoothies, sleeps great - all night and three-ish hours in the afternoon.  She babbles a lot, but doesn't say any words on a consistent basis yet.  She points at everything with her one little crooked pointer finger.  She claps and blows kisses.  She can wave, but that's so a couple months ago, she's too cool for that anymore.  She loves to put things in and out, in and out, in and out.  She's into the fine details of everything.  She sucks her left thumb and is still very attached to her pink elephant.  Mommy's her favorite person in the whole world which I'm totally okay with :)  Her favorite foods are cheese, quesadillas, chicken, pureed veggies, applesauce.  She's got a dramatic flair to her; if you tell her no, she'll turn her head and pout and give you the most pitiful eyes ever.

I love you my sweetest littlest Love!

 

to compare:
Chloe at 15m: 19lbs, 6oz, 30" tall, 18" head
Abby at 15m:  20lbs, 5oz, 31" tall, 18 3/4" head

dreams

I don't often remember my dreams, but last night I did.  I dreamt that Chloe stood up and walked across the room, woo-hoo!  Since Ryan and I were running ahead of schedule this morning, I took a minute while he was eating his breakfast to ask him if he knew what dreams were.  We talked about dreams and how your mind pretends things while you sleep and sometimes you remember when you wake up.  So I told him that I had dreamt last night about Chloe walking.  He then told me that he had dreamt last night also.  He was at the tennis courts for the neighborhood Halloween party.  He was wearing his bat costume and then he started flying.  It was so great to listen to him talk about his dream. 

Anyways, it was just a really neat conversation.  I felt like we were actually talking, there was no agenda, no plan, no pulling teeth to get information, it just flowed naturally.  We were bonding, you know?!  So often I feel like I have to ask leading questions, and he usually gets silly or distracted and gives one word answers.  Which is fine, he is a six year old boy after all.  But, I don't know, this conversation was just special and really nice :)