Southern Babies: February 2016

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Goodbye February

The month is almost over. They go so fast.

Yet somehow last week went by fairly slowly. I kind of liked it. The week was quite boring. I took dinner over to Ed and Jamie on Monday at lunch and got to lay eyes on Ellie. Stupid runny nose and sore throat kept me from holding her. Pure torture to be around her twice and not hold her!

Wednesday the kids had an early release. The afternoon was full of crazy thunderstorms. We had a major storm for about 10 mins and then it blew on. It caused crazy damage all over town. Little did we know that it took trees down which then took power lines down right outside the kids' school. We pulled up to the stoplight on Thursday morning and it was out and police were directing traffic. We were so confused when we pulled up to the buildings because the classrooms were dark but there was a light on in one hallway (later we found out it was an emergency light). There was no power! There had been a robo call that morning - which we didn't get - that said the power was out and to bring flashlights. I'm 100% sure they thought we'll bring them to school and the power will come on at some point - but it didn't! They went all day with no power at school! Thankfully it had been 70F the day before and wasn't very cold outside. The kids thought it was great! They normally go to afterschool on Thursday but I went to pick them up since they had been there all day in the dark.

Thursday morning Lindy did go on a little field trip with her vision teacher and friends from school. The visually impaired camp she attends in the summer received two new buses and they had a celebration of the buses arriving. The news was there and Lindy was on TV that evening. She was so excited about her field trip. She woke up 30 mins early that morning!

Our weekend was a fairly quiet one. We went out to eat Friday night - against our children's wishes. They are such homebodies. Lindy hates to go out! Will wanted cereal for dinner and therefore didn't want to go out. We forced them to and they both enjoyed their meals! Saturday we spent the morning cleaning and exercising. We cleaned up Saturday afternoon and went downtown with my boss and her boyfriend while her daughter babysat the kids. We had a great time and the kids did too! Today we've had church, laundry, and we took a walk because the weather has been beautiful this weekend.

I took almost no pictures. Here are the couple I took. Actually I didn't take any of them. Drew took the two of Lindy on the trampoline with her crazy static hair and Lindy's vision teacher took the other two at the fieldtrip!

Lindy and her pals at the fieldtrip on Thursday. Standing by one of the new buses.

Lindy and her friend Khloe. Apparently she was cold!

Lindy had a wee bit of static on the trampoline on Saturday! Aren't these pics amazing?!

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Welcome Ellie!

We had two exciting things this week - one we had been waiting 9+ months for!!

I'll start with Monday and the snow day. School was cancelled Sunday night so we knew we could sleep in. I knew it was supposed to rain during the afternoon so after a slow start we got dressed in lots of warm clothes and headed out back to play. It was more powdery snow that wasn't worth much for building snowmen or snow balls but it was snow. We stayed out an hour before heading in. As we were heading inside I realized I didn't have my phone. I couldn't find it anywhere. I was running in the backyard kicking a ball with Aiden and I knew it must have fallen out of my coat pocket. 30 mins later I finally found it in the snow. It was off but thankfully turned back on and has worked fine all week. We made snow cream in the afternoon for a treat. Strange but yummy southern recipe. We played inside all afternoon because it did start raining. And rain it did. We woke up at 3am to the hardest rain I've ever heard. It was crazy. We woke up Tuesday morning to our back patio that looked like a small tornado had gone through. The grill was on it's side and the table and umbrella were in the yard. The kids had a two hour delay on Tuesday morning and thankfully all roads were great by then.

Tuesday was the big day for Ed and Jamie! They had a baby! Jamie's water broke on Monday afternoon and they headed to the hospital. Eleanor "Ellie" was born at 1:40pm weighing 8lbs 6.5oz! We were so excited to hear she was here! I picked the kids up from school and we grabbed dinner before heading to the hospital and meeting up with Drew. We were so excited to meet baby Ellie! I loved holding her! She was like 4 hours old!! So sweet!! There was no couch or great place for Lindy and Will to sit with her so they just got to look that day.

The rest of the week flew by and wasn't nearly as exciting as a baby being born! Friday we ordered pizza and hung out at home.

Saturday we met up with Bob, Lynn, Anna and Brian for lunch and then we went to see Ellie again! Lindy and I had come down with sore throats towards the end of the week so we just looked at Ellie yesterday. Which killed me!! We hung out for the afternoon and headed to Sam's and the car wash before heading home.

Today we've had church and nothing exciting. We always have some Sunday chores to finish before the week starts so we did all those. It started raining right as I was taking Aiden for a walk.

Pics of snow and Ellie!

Super cold playing in the snow on Monday!

Aiden loves the snow!!

Foggy glasses!

Snow cream!

Welcome Baby Ellie! Aunt Jamie loves you!!!

Lindy and Will were excited to have another cousin!

Uncle Drew and Ellie

Sweet newborn baby!

Proud Papa!

Aunt Anna and Ellie!

Long fingered Southerns! Ellie fits right in with Drew and Will!

She's awake!

She already has them wrapped around her fingers!

Mama Jamie and Ellie!

Have a great week!

Monday, February 15, 2016

February Catch Up

The first week of February came and it went and I didn't get a blog post written. The week itself was pretty boring for the family. It was a busy work week for me though. I had a parent teacher conference with Lindy's teacher and vision teacher on Thursday morning. Lindy had been having some motivation issues at school and we had been struggling with homework. We got a new plan in place to finish out the school year. I have seen a huge shift in homework the past two weeks which has been awesome. She does well in school and is on grade level or above, but she doesn't love to do the work because it's hard to see.

The weekend was a fun one for me. I had 4 friends from college come to visit me! Drew loaded up the kids and headed to Chapel Hill to check it out. They walked around Franklin St., ate lunch, and headed to the Planetarium for a 2pm show. It ended up being sold out so they didn't get to see it so they headed home. They grabbed their stuff and the dog and they headed to Lynn's to spend the night. Our house just isn't big enough for our family and 4 friends. My friends and I walked around and shopped in some shops downtown and ate out downtown. We came back and hung out at our house and had fun catching up.

Drew and the kids brought the dog home Sunday morning on their way to church. I made breakfast for my friends before they headed out later in the morning. We did our normal morning Sunday chores before heading out to Super Bowl parties. The kids partied with Lynn at her house and Drew and I went to a party hosted by his friend Ross. It was his 40th birthday party/Super Bowl party and he rented a private room at a restaurant. We ate well as we watched the game. The Bryants were there so we got to hang out with them. Because Mimo lives 5 minutes from the kids' school, the kids spent the night with her Sunday night and she took them to school Monday morning. We all got to sleep in which was nice. It was PJ/100th day of school celebration so she didn't even have to dress the kids! Perfect night for them to spend the night! ha!

This week was another normal week. Aiden - the dog - had an appointment on Tuesday. We got all his shots and checkups since he turned 1 year old in Dec. He weighed 31.3lbs.   We finished Valentines during the week and the kids had parties on Friday. Will actually had a special snack instead of a party. They had cupcakes and popcorn but didn't even get to open their Valentines. Lindy had an actual party that parents were invited to. Will had a winter party and they alternate their parties. Lindy's party started at 12:45pm, their normal lunch time. We had pizza - except Lindy - who insisted on eating the lunch we accidently made for her. We forgot she didn't need lunch but she didn't want pizza so she still ate it. After lunch the kids got to open their Valentines with their parents and then they had dessert - chocolate fondue! Wow - they were some brave room moms to plan that! It turned out really good! Lindy only wanted to dip marshmallows but I went back to dip other things in her chocolate. The party ended 30 mins before school ended so I went and moved my car and then waited for the kids to come out.

The kids both had playdates after school. Will's friend rode home with us and Lindy's friend had her dad drop her off. They each played with their friend, not together at all, but they both had a blast. Both friends seem like nice kids.   We ate dinner and watched Oliver. Will watched the whole thing. Lindy got bored, Drew fell asleep, I talked to my mom on the phone for a bit.

Saturday we surprised the kids with their Valentines present. We gave them tickets to the circus! I did a short scavenger hunt for them to figure it out. We have never taken them to the circus and I think it's been about 30 years since I've been. Our tickets were at 11am but you could get there at 9:30am to see the animals then do the preshow fun down on the floor. The entire trip turned out to be awesome! The before show stuff was neat and we got some great pics with clowns, performers, and on the motorcycles. The show started at 11am and two hours later it was over. We were shocked how long and awesome it was! I didn't realize it was that long and it was during lunch. We ended up eating chips, popcorn, cotton candy and soda for lunch. Oh well - it was the circus! Will, Drew and I loved it. Not really sure exactly how much Lindy sees. I bought front row seats so she could hopefully see some of it. I think she saw the big animals walking by but not sure how much else. She didn't get bored till the very end so maybe she saw some of it.   We left there exhausted! We felt like we'd been performing ourselves for two hours! We went home to recuperate before we headed out to dinner with Martha and Lynn. A little early Italian Valentines dinner with some friends and family. We had a yummy meal before heading home to bed.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. We don't really celebrate the day too much in our house. Except for the kids I guess. Drew got me some hot tamales candy! We had church and then my parents came over for the afternoon. They brought Sadie so Aiden had a play date. I think he actually got too excited and kept throwing up around the house????? Never had that happen. We ate lunch and then played games with both the kids. My dad cut down a bunch of brush out behind our shed for us.

In the late afternoon it started snowing and snowed most of the evening. They called school off in the evening so we knew we could sleep in this morning. The kids stayed up till about 9pm and then they had a slumber party in Lindy's room. Snow day today!!!

That sums up the past two weeks. Here are pics!

My college friends came to visit!! Joanna (pot luck roommate!), Nicole, Julie, me and Heather.