on the road again

Last week was our Winter Break and the kids were off from preschool.  Feeling adventurous I decided to drive the kids to see my sister in Rocky Mount, NC.  It was great to see her and Brian, but driving that far by myself with three kids was a bit crazy :)  It rained all the way there.  All the way.  Hours and hours of rain.  And on the way home, I went thirty plus miles down the highway in the wrong direction ... and then had to turn around and backtrack.  There went an hour plus.  Oops.  Add in lots of "are we there yet?" and "I have to go potty" and it was quite a trip! 

But it was good to be there and see Aunt Lolly and Uncle Brian.  We enjoyed a cook-out and meeting some of their friends.  And Lolly taught us how to play yahtzee, Ryan had a great time with that!  And of course we hit up a Chickfila playplace [and Walmart, but Chloe kicked her shoe off while we were shopping and Mommy was very sad about not being able to find it.  Loved those shoes.  And they were new, I actually bought something new just for Chloe!]. 

We also visited with Auntie Sarah and Maxim on the way to and from.  Hooray for a good halfway stopping point!  [we love seeing you guys too, hope you don't feel used :)].  We enjoyed playing outside on a rare sunny day and running around the McDonald's playplace. 

Thanks to Aunt Lolly and Auntie Sarah for offering us room and board and food and fun! 

The girls at Aunt Lolly's

Welcome to SC - the kids were looking right into the sun
I didn't take any pictures with Sarah and Maxim, sorry guys!

1,049 miles by myself in four days is a long way!! 
Hopefully next time it will be to Tampa - the beach, Disney, and of yeah Aunt Lolly & Uncle Brian too :)
 

another Abby funny

Yesterday while driving to church Ryan said something to Abby, I'm honestly not even sure what.  But apparently she didn't like it and from the backseat we heard: "Don't talk to me like that.  You're not my father.  Mommy's my father!"

I couldn't make this stuff up

Emergency post!  Just now Ryan and Abby are playing in the living room while I've got the kitchen table covered in a plastic tablecloth and lots of paint.  Abby says to Ryan: "Something smells like poop."  Ryan tells her we don't talk like that unless we are in the bathroom.  I reinforce this by telling Abby, Ryan's right we only talk like that if when we are going potty.  Without a word, she gets up, walks to the bathroom, and I hear her whisper: "poop."  She then comes back and sits down on the living room floor as if nothing happened.  I almost bit my lip trying not to laugh.

V-day 2013

On Valentine's day morning I surprised the kids with a breakfast trip to Chick-fil-a.  We feasted on heart-shaped biscuits, along with smoothies we had made at home, while we drove to preschool.  Abby wore her pink Hello Kitty PJ's in honor of pajama day.  The afternoon was a quick blur as we ate lunch super fast in order to get Chloe to her six month checkup [Dr. Bowman was awesome enough to check Abby out too since she'd been coughing all week and had had a bout with pink eye.  Fortunately, while congested, she was infection free!].  For dinner I cut heart shaped pieces of cheeses and lunch meats for grilled cheese and chili.  And afterwards we had a pink-lemonade pie with strawberries, yum!  While we don't really believe in the Hallmark version of the holiday, it was certainly fun celebrating with the kids and talking about love all day. 

we love you!

 

preparing for Valentine's day

We've had fun with Valentine's day this year [and it's not even here yet!].  We've never really been all that into the holiday, but the kids are enjoying it and it's always nice to have something fun to look forward to during the blah winter months :)  So we've embraced it this year, why not?  We even took some cute pictures and mailed out photo cards to the extended family.  As I was addressing the envelopes, Ryan asked if he could color on the back.  I agreed and this is what he did:

 



I love it!  It's great see him learning and being so excited about it.  We've also made Valentine's for their friends at school [Mommy was pretty excited about how those came out :)].

"I'm glad you're in my SCHOOL!"  Abby Loves goldfish.  And Ryan wanted a card with a car, so we decided on "I never TIRE of our friendship!"  More Valentine's day fun coming tomorrow!  Think heart shaped cheeses and pink lemonade pie :)

I needed that!

Yesterday afternoon.
Ryan and Daddy hanging with Nana.
Chloe taking a three hour nap.
I had Abby all to myself!!

We spent most of the time outside drawing all over the driveway with chalk.  Nearly 60 degrees in the sun with my Sweet Girl was just what this Mama needed!  We also played out back a little, sliding and swinging.  We then shared nachos before Chloe awoke and we met our boys at church for a night of worship.

Obviously I love Chloe dearly and I love that I have two daughters to be sisters and best friends for life.  But the baby stage can be hard sometimes and I really don't want Abby to get lost in middle-child-ness.  I was missing my Abby time and I am grateful for the perfect afternoon! 

I love you Princess! 
[I not a Princess, I an Abby!]

And night of worship was pretty awesome too.  The turnout was surprisingly small, but I enjoyed the more intimate setting and having the kids with us.  I heard Abby singing several times, although I'm not sure what words she was saying since I can't imagine she knew any of the songs.  I also love that she prayed out loud during our individual prayer time.  I can't recall exactly what she said, but we'd occasionally hear her say Dear God or Jesus or other appropriate words and phrases.  More childlike faith, awesome :)

the mysterious Poppy

Tuesday morning after dropping Ryan off at preschool, the girls and I headed to Kroger.  I hadn't quite finished my grocery list so we were sitting in the car while I copied ingredients from my recipes.  [ahhh, confined kids :)].  As we are sitting there, a truck pulls in next to us driven by an older gentleman.  I scribbled Abby's conversation down on my grocery list:

"That looks like Poppy!"
who's Poppy?
"I don't know."
about ten seconds later:
"I don't know who is Poppy."
I mumble something along the lines of you're the one who said he looks like Poppy and went back to my grocery list.

The man sits in his car a minute or so before getting out of his truck and walking in between our cars to the store.  As he passes Abby's window, she says again:

"That looks like Poppy!"

I didn't even bother to ask this time.  Most likely this is just the randomness that is two year old Abby, but if you have any insight into who Poppy might be, let me know!

I have two daughters :)

From Abby this morning:  "Chloe wants to wear the same thing I am wearing."  Mommy loves to match her girls and fortunately they are okay with that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

he loves me

My husband is awesome, be jealous. 
Thanks Dear, I love you!!