Words!

I love being a mom! It's so incredible to watch your children learn. Hannah has a definite interest in letters and words, so I've started unofficially helping her learn to read. I'm sure I'm breaking all the rules of how you're "supposed" to do it, but that's okay. We're both having fun! :o) Lately we've been working on sounds and recognizing and spelling simple words. Well, the other afternoon she was playing with her magnet letters and spelling different words like "cat" and "hat," etc. I was multi-tasking with the laundry pile, and when I returned she had obtained the Eucerin out of the bathroom cabinet and spelled out "lotion" by copying it off of the container. I realize that copying a word isn't overly impressive, but considering that I've never told her that L-O-T-I-O-N spells "lotion," I was rather amazed to have her tell me that she had spelled "lotion." And for the record, "lotion" is a very non-prominent word on the Eucerin bottle! :o)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

We love, you, Grandpa H.!

Hope you have an extra special day!

Officially Transplanted

I have never felt more "southern" than I do tonight. I have made, for the first time in my life, a Red Velvet Cake. Tomorrow evening we're joining some friends from church for dinner and one of the members of our group is a dear sweet lady who celebrated her birthday this week (of an advanced age which shall remain numberless!) :o) Since I'm bringing the dessert I called to ask what her favorite might be. "Just make a Red Velvet Cake, dear." Gulp.

After some research on Google, I found a recipe which seemed to be a reasonably doable collection of the general ingredients in the multitude of recipes available. Two Tablespoons of Red Food Coloring!! Yikes!

Today was my first time making such a thing and tomorrow will be my first time to eat one. (Please pray that it comes out well!)

From the Kitchen of an Official Southern Transplant

Girls' Night Out

Hannah and I thoroughly enjoyed a girls' night out last evening! :o) Chris has been a bit under the weather, so he stayed home and put Peter to bed while Hannah and I went to BJU's Gold Rush Daze Faculty Body, singspiration, and fireworks display. :o) We had a great time, and Hannah did really well sitting still and quiet for the parts where that was important. :o)

The fireworks display was beautiful!

However, Mommy thoroughly wore her little girl out. She fell asleep nearly mid-sentence as she was telling Daddy about her adventures. She was so sound asleep, we were able to change her into pajamas and put her to bed without waking her up!

Daddy's Big Helper

I couldn't help myself when I saw Peter playing with his toolbox while wearing his "Daddy's Big Helper" shirt!

And this was too funny! I was folding laundry while he played with Little People on the bed. He began urgently requesting me to help him off the bed so he could acquire . . . Corn Squares. Why? Because every baby in a high chair must eat!

And being a good boy, he shared every bite with the baby before eating it himself! :o)

A Window of Opportunity

Why play inside when you can play outside . . .

or why play outside when you can play inside . . .

Let's just take the best of both worlds!

Little Helper

Grandma had a "helper" as she worked on her cross-stitch this visit! :o)

Visits Fly By!

We thoroughly enjoyed a quick visit last week from Grandma and Grandpa M., but unfortuntately, the only time I remembered to bring out the camera was Saturday morning when we took the opportunity to introduce G&G to the art of flying model airplanes!

The batter's cage makes a great spot to watch the airplanes without Daddy having to worry about little ones stepping on the plane!

Even Grandpa tried his hand at flying! (The second box allowed Chris to take over when necessary.) :o)

"Is it my turn next, Daddy?"

Daddy and Grandpa decided to take the "short cut" home. :o)

We love you, G&G! Thanks for coming to visit!

Couch Treaures

So what's under your couch cushions?

I found . . .

1 penny

1 bobby pin

2 raisins

1 cheerio

1 rubberband

1 sticker

1 screw

4 popcorn kernels

1 empty vitamin packet

3 beads

1 Christmas ornament

1 used lipgloss container

1 doll shoe

lots and lots of dust

I think I need to clean under there a little more often!

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Firsts and Not so Firsts

The last week or so has been a bit random with the snow day and some illness, so our schedule has definitely been a bit off. However, we've enjoyed extra time together, so that's been a huge blessing. Just thought we'd share some fun pics . . .

Hannah had her first piece of bubble gum -- notice the blue teeth and tongue. I suspect she'll steer clear of it for a while though . . . she wasn't real keen the blue rasberry flavor. :o)

This was a surprising sight . . . Peter was determined to feed dolly (and has since fed Taggy and multiple other buddies.)

However, lest anyone be concerned, he followed that up by earnestly killing a bug on my behalf . . .

We've been amazed by Hannah's scissor skills. She loves using them and will cut anything and everything she's given permission to cut, so she's developed quite a lot of dexterity with them. We thought her dolly was impressive for a not-quite-four-year-old. She colored and cut it out on her own . . . then she glued it to construction paper and cut it out a second time! God job, Hannah!

And we had fun with new playdough! Yeah for soft playdough!

Peter was obviously very pleased with his creative decorating skills . . . :o)

We had fun making a tent this morning . . . (And yes, Hannah's jeep shirt has been washed--she just pulls it out again EVERY time it lands back in the closet!)

And this picture is especially for Grandma H. . . . Enjoy!

Southern Snow Day

Thought we'd share a few pictures from our snow day! :o)

We went out just about first thing in the morning, so it was still very cold and the snow wouldn't pack, so alas, no snow man . . . but we still had fun! :o)

I did learn, however, that proper snow gloves are crucial to extended snow time. We were only able to stay outside for a little while because gloves soaked through and hands were cold. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted. :o)

Happy Shoveling!

Snow! . . . REAL Snow!

March most definitely came roaring in like a lion! We have real, honest-to-goodness snow! Yeah! And since the roads are absolutely treacherous and the police are asking everyone to stay off unless it's an absolute emergency, we'll actually get to enjoy it! :o)

Snowplow appreciation for you northerners . . . it's solid black ice on the roads due to three days of rain preceding the snow and very cold overnight temps.

My pansies are bravely trying to perk their heads up . . .

Our rain puddle has iced . . .

Grlled hamburgers, anyone? So much for my idea last night as I was contemplating a way to make hot food for my family without power. We lost power around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. Thankfully it came back on around 5:30 this morning! :o) Lots of blankets last night . . .

Happy Monday!