Snow Days

Here we are, Snow Day 2015 #4.  Good times.  We were off last week for winter break, Ryan had school on Monday, and we've been out since then.  So the girls have missed two weeks of preschool.  Oh well.  Tuesday morning we woke up to a blanket of snow.  It melted away, but they were predicting another storm to hit at lunchtime on Wednesday so they went ahead and cancelled Wednesday [soo grateful we didn't repeat last year's mid-day storm!  That was awful!].  The snow hit about 3pm on Wednesday, and we're still recovering :)

Wednesday was the best day.  Since there wasn't actually any snow, we went to Burger King with our friends for lunch.  It was a blast!  It was very nice to be out of the house.  I mostly visited with Kelsi and Beth, but we had a full playplace.  I love it when we are able to all get together!  It's so great to socialize and be out and let the kids play.  The food's not great, but man, that playplace is the best around.  So we had Kelsi and her four, Beth and her three, Alyson with two, Erin with three, Tara [not my Tara, a second Tara] with two, Ericah's nanny with their three, and a friend of Alyson's named Ashley with two kids.  Aly from our small group stopped by with her two, but they are little and were very overwhelmed, and they didn't stay.  So I have no idea how many kids that is, but it was a lot and it was great fun!  And hey, our next door neighbor said the Chick-fil-a line was literally out the door.  I'm so glad no one else seems to know our secret!

Daddy came home early on Wednesday, hooray!  I think most of Atlanta learned from being stuck out in the storm for hours and/or even days last year :)  The snow started right about 3:00.  It was snowing fast and hard - huge, fat flurries.  We went outside about four and we lasted two hours - Mom of the year right here!  I don't always love the snow, but I do love that everything seems to stop for a day or two.  Everyone's home and the neighbors all come out and I love the sense of community.  I loved visiting with our awesome neighbor-friends while the kids all played together super well.  Ashley and her three boys hung out with us most of Wednesday afternoon, as well as next door neighbor Naomi and family.  Kelsi's kids were out playing with us [she herself gets a pass since she's due any day with number five!].  Nana gave us three sleds for Christmas, and we sure got her money's worth out of them this past week, thanks!  The kids LOVE sledding.  We didn't actually build any snowmen or anything, but there were plenty of snowball fights amongst the kiddos.  The snow was thick and hard and icy, perfect for rolling.  And perhaps best of all, Coleson built us a fire in the firepit Wednesday afternoon.  It didn't last long since the snow was still coming down hard, but it was fun for awhile and created a really nice atmosphere. 

Wednesday was a lot of fun!  Thursday not so much so though.  I was over it!!  But we made the best of it.  I can handle my kids; I know most people complain about that, but I really do enjoy having them around.  It's the snow and the lack of sun that get to me.  I don't do well without sun, and that really caught up to me yesterday.  So after lunch, I packed up the kids and the pup, and we went on a car ride.  Heat up and radio on!  It was a much needed change of scenery.  Chloe fell asleep and I drove through Starbucks for a rare hot apple cider.  Boy, did that hit the spot! 

Today, Friday, we are pretty much back to normal.  The roads are fine, the sun is shining, and the snow's just about gone.  Daddy's at work, Chloe had speech, and Ryan & I are on day three of the world's longest Monopoly game - a little routine is probably good for us.  I am really, really grateful to see the sun.  I told Coleson the other day that all I need to be a good person is exercise, coffee, and Jesus - although not necessarily in that order ;)  But I need to revise my list to include sun!  Lots of bright sun!  I am now officially ready for Spring!  Please hurry up warm weather!

Truer Words

Abby just looked around at us and randomly stated:
"Mommy and her coffee, Abby and her pancakes, Ryan and his Oh's, Chloe and her noodles, Maya and her dogfood."

Yep, that sums us up perfectly.  Truer words have never been spoken.

Sorry, Daddy.  When I questioned Abby about Daddy, she said "Daddy and his coffee."  Ryan says she's already used that.  But they haven't come up with anything else.  We do love you Daddy!!  We wish you were here!!

Waffles!!!

So Ryan's in a waffles phase.  Everything is waffles.  Waffles is a noun, verb, and adjective.  I have no idea why, no idea where it came from, and no idea when it will end.  It's been several weeks already!  :)  Waffles this, waffles that.  Waffles waffling waffles.  Waffles, waffles, waffles.  Waffles!!! 

Valentine's Day 2015

You know how some days just don't go according to plan?!? :)  That was our Valentine's this year, but in a really good way. 

We've been wanting a new puppy for awhile.  We knew we couldn't get one while Nellie was still sick, and then we were busy and grieving and it was Christmas and all that.  So just in the last week or two I had contacted a couple of golden retriever breeders, and we'd also been researching a lab rescue group.  Obviously, after our first dog attempt, we were a little scared to get another dog, and I wanted to know exactly what we were getting this time.  I love goldens and felt confident that one would be good with the kids and have a nice, friendly personality.  But we weren't having much luck; it looked like the soonest we could get a puppy would be June.  We decided that was okay though, we could wait.  And then we decided to stop by Petsmart, just to see what they had.  We knew the chances of there being a golden at adoption day were non-existent.  We were super prepped, we even had the kids convinced that we were just going to look at the dogs and visit the fishies and birdies [Petsmart is basically a free zoo].  And you know how that works.  Yep, we have a new pup!

Welcome to the family Maya!!  She's a super sweet bundle of furry joy.  She looks like a black lab and was hanging out in a kennel full of boxer puppies.  Turns out they are all from the same litter and have a terrier mother.  Our Maya is literally the black sheep of the family :)  The pregnant mother was turned over to the humane society, and thus the mother and babies have been raised together.  And actually in one of the volunteer's homes, with her four and two year old kids.  So in theory, we know what she is and what she'll be like!  Super comforting.  I picked her up and held her in my arms and she fell asleep on me.  The kids loved her right away, even Ryan came up and pet her on the head and kept saying hi to her.  So of course, we were hooked.  While it may have been impulsive and emotional, we were all five in on it together, so it's okay! 

She has been amazing.  She is sooo good with the kids.  She sleeps pretty well.  She whimpers when she needs to go out and hasn't had very many accidents at all.  And I'll even take the blame for some - it was freezing rain yesterday and very hard to get outside.  She does great in a crate.  She loves, loves, loves to be outside.  She chases her little tennis balls and chews on sticks.  She isn't great on a leash yet, but we're practicing and hoping she'll like long walks one day soon. 

We love our little furry baby!!  What a blessing and a perfect addition to the family!! 

30 months

Chloe is two and a half!  She had her official checkup with Dr. Bowman.  Everything looks great and no shots were needed, what more could you want?!  :)

She is 36inches tall and weighs 28pounds.  She is steadily increasing on the charts for her weight, woohoo!  I'm guessing she's about 30th percentile for weight now, which after being below the charts for a couple of visits, makes Dr. Bowman and Mommy very happy.  Her head circumference is 19inches and her BMI is 15.19.  Medically speaking, she's good and is all set until she turns three!

Chloe continues in speech therapy with Ms. Shannon [yes, both her preschool teacher and therapist are named Shannon].  Chlo-Chlo drops syllables and doesn't finish words.  But she's making good progress!  She tries hard, and Ms. Shannon is very pleased with her.  She has just started putting two basic words together : "help me," "Abby no," "shoe me," that sort of thing.  Shannon really wants us focusing more on getting the syllables correct though, before we add more words and everything becomes a jumble!  We've got to get the basics down before her speech takes off and it's harder to correct. 

Chloe thinks every color is either yellow or purple.  She loves to eat "noo-noos" [noodles, mac &cheese].  She thinks Abby hung the moon.  The only day the girls are ever really apart is on Wednesdays when Abby is at preschool and Chloe is not.  Chloe must say "Abby??" every fifteen minutes.  I hope Chlo's not devastated when Abs heads off to kindergarten in August.  Chloe thinks she can do everything and very rarely wants any help.  I'm sure this will be a great character trait in the long run, but when we're in a hurry, it'd sure be nice if she would just let me get her dressed!  She is a whiz on the new tablet.  She likes to kick a soccer ball and is super cute when she says "ready?" right before she kicks a ball or slides down the slide.  She likes to pull up a plastic lawn chair and watch Ryan and Abby play in the backyard.  She can "pedal" her bike, as long as Mommy is pushing too. 

We love you sweet Chlo-Chlo!!  Happy two and a half!! 

Planning for the future

I won't get this exactly verbatim, but here's a pretty close recollection of Abby's announcement this morning while at the grocery store...

Totally randomly :  When I grow up, I'm going to be a mommy and I'm going to be a drummer for my work.  And you're going to keep my kids!

Excellent :)

Ryan brought home a progress report that has him reading at a half-way-through-second-grade level.  Excellent!!

Great job Buddy!!  We are super proud of you and how hard you work!!

"yellow!"

Everything, and I'm mean everything, is yellow according to Chloe.  And what's super crazy about that is yellow really should be the last color name she learns what with all those Y's and L's.  But she annunciates it very well and has latched on to it for her answer to everything.  Any color is yellow, any shape is yellow, even letters and numbers can be yellow. 

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!!