strawberries!

We all love strawberries (Wade has even come around!) and have been enjoying eating them much more lately now that they're in season.

Tuesday we went to pick strawberries with some friends. We had a bit of rain and then it turned out beautifully. Lydda Grace had a lot of fun and ate her fill of strawberries. She also was so sweet to Wade and would feed him berries while he sat in his stroller and watched us pick.

if they don't win it's a shame

It was a shame the Tigers didn't win but the baseball game Saturday night was an experience nonetheless. Pop Pop, BeBe, Lydda Grace and Mama went to the game while Daddy was home with Wade. Lydda Grace had missed her nap earlier in the day and was beyond tired... she made it to about the second inning and then BeBe and I took her home to bed and then we went back to finish up the game! She did like all the clapping and pregame music and the people watching!! (this little girl is a serious watcher of people.... whenever we are out walking and I'm holding her hand I have to be very careful b/c she is constantly looking one direction while walking in another and it's easy to just start dragging her along!!)
This was LG lying down before the game even started... that should have been a clue......

First weekend in April we went up to Y-ville to meet Debbie's boyfriend Richard's family and for Jon to go to the Martinsville race with Nick (Jon's Christmas present from Nick). On Sunday afternoon Memama came down to visit and we all (except Jon who was at the race) went to the park and out to dinner. It was a fun afternoon. The kids loved the park! Wade really loved the slides!! (Sorry pictures are posting so small! This is as big as I could get them!)

Lydda Grace-isms

Last night in the bath.....

I took Wade out and was drying him off while LG was still in the tub. I said, "Whew, Lydda Grace, mama's back is hurting tonight." Lydda Grace said, "It's okay Mama when I get dried off I will kiss it!"

My heart melted and my back immediately felt much better. Then.....

Lydda Grace said, "I need go poopoo!!!!!!!"
Mama asks, "Did you already go in the tub?"
Lydda Grace... "yeahhh"

Good thing she had melted my heart just a few second before!!

Lydda Grace-isms

I was cleaning up the kitchen last night while LG was finishing her supper. This was our conversation.

LG: "At night when I'm in bed Jesus is there."
Mama:"That's right Lydda Grace God is everywhere, remember your questions, Where is God?"
LG: "He's everywhere!!!"
Mama: "That's right!"
LG: "He's on the floor by my bed."
Mama: "Who is?"
LG: "Jesus, He talks to me"
Mama: "What does He say baby?"
LG: "I love you!!!"

Amen baby girl! That is what He says!!!

Happy Easter

We had a really wonderful Easter. BeBe and Pop Pop came up Saturday morning and Aunt Bethy and Uncle Mark came up for the day Sunday (we missed you BekBek and HaHa.... though we did get to skype with them!). Sunday was a restful and wonderful day to celebrate our Risen Savior! It was so special this year to see Lydda Grace starting to understand the amazing truth that Jesus is Alive!!!
We made resurrection rolls on Easter morning. It kind of made me pause trying to figure out how to explain the analogy of Jesus being put in the tomb with a marshmallow and a crescent roll to a 2.5 year old. But LG understood that Jesus was the marshmallow and when we opened up her roll she said, "He's gone!"

Pop Pop's present

My dad's birthday was yesterday so for his gift I dressed the kids up in their Clemson-wear and we had a photo shoot.... I took TONS of pictures! The last picture in this series is what we actually used for his gift, but the process in getting there was exciting :)

he doesn't look like a baby anymore!

Wade got his first haircut yesterday! The lady that cut it was so sweet and patient with him. Wade did really well, he kept trying to turn around and see what she was doing and he looked a little surprised when she wet his hair down, but he didn't cry or fuss at all.

When Jon saw it he said, "I don't like it! I don't like it at all!!" Because the new cut definitely makes Wade look much older and his baby curls are gone :(

BEFORE

DURING
(notice he lost the apron-thing!)

AFTER

baby bird in her nest

As mentioned in the previous post we're talking a lot about nests right now. So the other day we made our own next out of pillows and a comforter. Lydda Grace loved it! What did we do in our nest.... we read lots of books and had a snack!

N is for Nest

We're on the letter N right now and our theme is nests. Evelyn came over on Tuesday and she got to join in on the N egg- citement (haha). We were going to make those butterscotch haystacks and put eggs in them to make birds' nests. But I let LG taste a butterscotch chip before we started and she didn't like it at all! So we regrouped and used melted chocolate chips and peanut butter instead. The girls had lots of fun putting the eggs in the nests and even more fun eating their creations!

Sweet little cooks!
LG sneaking a bite



Evelyn sneaking a bite
And they both looked and smiled at the same time! Amazing!!

"Then came the Chocolate Chins. They were all eating chocolates. And the chocolate was slippery and slickered all over their chins. Some of them spattered the ends of them spread the brown chocolate nearly up to their ears. And then as they marched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle they stuck their chins in the air and looked around and stuck their chins in the air again." (The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was In It, by Carl Sandburg)

Lydda Grace says "I'm a chocolate chin!" When she makes a mess with chocolate. That sounds like we let her eat it all the time... it's a special treat though :)

a day in the life

These pics aren't all from the same day, but here are some of things we've been up to lately.

way too cute

This little stinker is just cuter than any baby should be allowed to be! And he IS a stinker... he has already gotten the "I'll just smile and laugh at you and be really cute even though I'm doing something I'm not supposed to do" routine down pat.

In these pictures I was trying to capture a silhouette shot for a project I'm wanting to try.... I think I took 40 pictures easy and I'm still not sure if any of them are exactly what I wanted! You try capturing a precise position of an 11 month old's head though!!!!


This video is his first attempt at coloring a picture. He actually sat for a long while and had fun.

party time

Jon had a fundraiser for staff senate last night at the Woodburn Historical House, it was a family event so we all got to go and it was a lot of fun. The house and grounds were amazing. They had food, music, and you could buy little plastic eggs with numbers in them to win prizes. Lydda Grace got to pick one of the "kid eggs" and her prize was a hula hoop which she was SO excited about! At the end of the video she says something about being a hula hoop girl. :)

Lydda Grace-isms

For some reason LG has starting calling us Mama-Dama and Daddy-Doo. I LOVE it!

She is getting very interested in relationships. We talk a lot about the fact that she is Wade's big sister, and he is her little brother. She's also starting to think things that are wrong are funny. So she'll say, "I'm the little brother!" and then she'll laugh about it. Then we talk about the fact that Mama is a big sister too and who my little sisters are. She's also talks about being married a lot. Usually she wants to marry me :) but sometimes she wants to marry Daddy or Wade.

Words she says a lot.... "sure.... actually... usually.... m'yeah" (apparently I say these a lot.... who knew?!)

school time

Lydda Grace's school time is going well.

The best parts are: she LOVES it, I really like having structured activities planned instead of just aimlessly doing stuff with her, she's making good connections based on what we talk about, and it's really just fun! The worst parts are: some days I'm a slacker and don't plan well enough. So it works out well that we're just doing this for fun!

We do a new letter every two weeks and starting in August I'm going to switch to one week per letter mainly because I don't want it to drag out forever. Lydda Grace already knows almost all her letter sounds so we focus on these types of activities:
- identifying lowercase and capitals
- distinguishing between different letters
- reading books about something that starts with that letter
- focusing on a theme that starts with that letter (i.e. this is R week so our focus is rainbows)
- doing crafts related to the letter (we did a rainbow color by number and made a "Rainbow Fruit Salad")
- we use her easel a lot to draw pictures of everything we can think of that starts with that letter or to practicing "writing" letters (aka.... she draws lots of lines and says, "look Mama a "K")
- and then we have some structured games/activities that we mainly do during school time (i.e. her opposites puzzles, color games, and the tangrams that she's doing in the picture)

I'm sure a lot of people would think this is overkill for a 2.5 year old, but it is so neat to see how excited she gets about learning and I'm a firm believer that kids really thrive with structure. It's nice that this isn't truly school in that we don't HAVE to do anything and if she doesn't seem to like an activity I just don't force it.

Sorry to blab on about this, I'm kind of curious when Wade is this age what I'll do the same and what will be different with him. I am seeing so early on how each child is different in their own sweet ways!

baby shower

I was so excited to help host a baby shower for my friend Molly last week. It was the first "event" we've really had since we moved into our home and it was so much fun! Lydda Grace got to come to the "party" and she looked forward to it all day. About an hour before it started she pulled one of her little chairs into the den and said, "I want to watch Miss Molly open presents!"


She had to wait a little while but she enjoyed watching Molly open gifts and had sweet little comments to make.... "I like that boat... those are cute pajamas.... Do you remember that book?!?! That book is in my bedroom" (and then she ran back to her room to get her copy of the book to show to everyone)

We can't wait to meet baby Miles! He's due May 9... maybe he and Wade will share a birthday!

dress-up

The other day LG put on my sports bra and said, "It's like a necklace!!"

She said, "I look like Mommy!" Then she wanted to feed Wade, so we got out her baby bottle. He "cooperated" just long enough to get a couple pictures.

bubbles

Jon gave LG some bubble wrap to play with the other night. I love how her tongue is kind of sticking out because she is concentrating so hard. She gets that from her daddy :)

I heart VA

Back when we lived in Blacksburg Jon mistakenly got me an "I Heart Virginia" shirt instead of the typical "Virginia is for Lovers" shirt. I actually loved the shirt though and pretty much wore it out. Recently I saw a blog post for making pajamas for kids from old t-shirts and knew this was the perfect one to use. Here's the finished product. My pattern-making skills leave a lot to be desired since the shirt is super tight.... I've already got a plan for another pair!

Sunday at the park

The Sunday after the party we left after church and went to Greenville to hang out at the park with Aunt BekBek, Uncle HaHa (and Gracie and Rachel and DJ and their dog Lucy), Granna Wylie and Richard before they all headed home.

surprise

For my 30th birthday Jon had a surprise party the weekend before my birthday. It was so much fun to celebrate with friends and family (I was very shocked to see Rebekah and Javier all the way from VA!). Everyone brought yummy food to share and we just hung out in the backyard and the kids played, it was wonderful!!!

I wish I had thought to get a big group shot of everyone there, but here are a few sweet ones of the kids...

The Arrowoods brought some fun toys to share! (boxes in the background are for our garden)

Kisses for HaHa!

This picture just makes me laugh!

Wade had a deli sandwich for the first time and devoured it!