Sunday, March 22, 2009

Pictures from The Hand's On Children's Gallery in Hendersonville NC

Playing doctor
My little Picas-so
At the rice table
racing their lego cars     On stage

Spring Break

Flying the kite Nana brought me from Florida

Playing together outside
Ladybug and Monkey masks we painted
Showing off the safari hat he made


So, question is don't Mommies deserve a spring break?! Ha! I know funny joke right! Well, J.Riley was out of Pre school all week and I tried to keep him busy. We actually had a great week. On Monday it rained, we headed out to Fun Expedition with our friends the Wiljhelms. We played on the great indoor playground and then met up with the Berry's for lunch. Tuesday we had a woman from TEIS come and do an evaluation on Ava for speech. She is just a little slow picking up words and TEIS services are free until your child is three years old. So we have decided that if she would benefit from these services why not use our resources. We also went to Michael's and got a few crafts for the remainder of the week. On Wed. we hit the park with our neighbor's. We spent nearly 2 hours playing outside! Oh how the nice weather just makes everything easier! Thursday was a clean house day, and Friday we were at the gym for a much more successful trip than last week. 

On Saturday we decided to take a family far away field trip to Hendersonville, NC. This quaint little town is just beyond Ashville and was such a lovely surprise. We spent the day in the historical downtown area where there were plenty of shops, great places to eat and a fun Children's Gallery where we played for a few hours. We are definitely planning on going back again soon to enjoy some of the outdoor activities they have in the area. 

We also had a surprise visit from NANA over the weekend! We had so much fun playing in our backyard with her! She brought a few goodies from her trip to florida. Thank you nana! On top of such an exciting week, God has blessed us with good health these past few weeks! Praise him! We have some friends that are still dealing with the sickness and we are praying for you! Praying for recovery and strength for mommy and daddy!

A few pictures from March



Daddy's Little Girl

Loves riding the tractor

Bad hair day???

New favorite activity


Monday, March 16, 2009

Pre School Pictures


J.Riley goes to Pre school two days a week. Let me tell you, this has been a long road. We went through weeks of crying when I dropped him off, to him telling everyone how much he dis liked going to school. Now he is in love. He LOVES his teacher, talks about his funny friends all of the time and waves good-bye and tells ME to have a good day when I drop him off! Wendy Wilson took the pre school pictures at CBCP this year and she did an amazing job capturing each child's little personality. Here is a sneak peak of my BIG BOY! He actually looks like he is having a good time!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Baby Piper Arrives!

Piper Adelle Hixon

The Hixson's are a family that we are so blessed to have in our lives. Brent and Clay have a small real-estate business together and Kelly and I are involved in a few things at church together. We have been praying for baby Piper for a long nine months now and we finally got to meet her today! She was born late last night. Congratulations guys on another beautiful baby girl! We love you!

Campell the big sister and Piper


Happy Family

      The Girls

Piper


Open Gym

Every Friday I try and take the kids to open gym at a local gymnastics gym here in town. They love it! They have so much fun running down the tumble track and jumping in the pit! Ava loves the trampoline and dressing up in the dance recital costumes. It has been a great way to spend our Friday mornings especially during the winter months. Here are a few pictures I took this morning... Usually our mornings at the gym are very successful ,this however was before we had to leave because J.Riley hit me and continued to scream "No Mommy!" at me...LOVELY!

Ava on the tumble track
Such a pretty fairy!

Swinging on the parallel bars
               In the pit

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Out of the mouths of Babes

At the park on Monday

Austin (another 3 year old) to J.Riley "Can you talk?"
J.Riley: " Yea, I can talk Spanish"
Austin: " I can too"
J.Riley: " Yea, but girls can't talk Spanish"



The other night J.Riley is standing in the shower..yes he likes to play in the shower.
He is standing with his legs spread apart.

J.Riley " Hey Mom look, I am stretching my butt."


At the picnic table while Playing or should I say eating playdough.
Mom: "J.Riley please do not eat the play dough."
J.Riley: " I am just smelling it Mom."
a few seconds later..while he is eating the play dough again!
Mom: " J.Riley does Mrs. Lisa let you eat play dough at school?"
J.Riley: "Yes, she doesn't get mad at me, but Tyler and Emily tell on me."

Friday, March 6, 2009

Sick Day


Well, it never fails!! This weekend is suppose to be full of warm weather and sunshine and one of my kids is sick! NEVER FAILS! UGH!! I had a Kelly's Kids party last night which was a big success! Lots of fun shopping with friends. Ava woke up at about 10 o'clock which is not normal and sure enough was running a fever. So we are quarantined for the day. This is always a challenge. Trying to keep J.Riley busy without throwing him in front of the TV and holding my baby girl ALL day because all she wanted was her mommy, paci and lovie. This too shall pass! Thank you Lord for giving me the strength to get through this day!

A few things we did to stay busy. We broke out the sand and water table! Thank you great Aunt Cindy and Great Grammy! He played in it for a good hour!! You brought sanity to my day and lots of fun to him!

    We made many paintings

     My sick baby girl
Pitiful

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Date Night

As a couple Brent and I have decided that a date night once a week for us is vital. Having a date night in the middle of the week is an ideal way for us to connect when it seems we are running in opposite directions all week. We have a set date night every Wednesday night, because going on a date requires special forces planning around our house. We decided on a set night because you never know when something is going to come up and it always seems to be the night you have planned some quiet time together. One of the kids gets the sniffles, my sister is in a crisis, Brent is out of town on work, You're both exhausted and as much as you want to do something you can barely keep your eyes open. So if it is on the calendar and if something does happen to come up, then there is always NEXT Wednesday! But I am here to tell you that not much comes before date night.  So here are some things that we have done

1. Groccery shopped ALONE TOGETHER!
2. Mall
3. We have seen 2 movies in one month, Slumdog millionaire and Gran Torino
4. EAT of favorite thing to do alone!
5. Painted pottery
6. Visited with friends
7. Ice cream and a walk in the park
8. Lobster Fest (TONIGHT!!) The one time a year I eat at red lobster! 
9. Proud Annie's Dinner Theater
10. Look for places to build the next house

So, these are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. The time with just my husband is so minimal but so treasured. I always look forward to Wednesday nights. They make my week!

 Forgot to mention that we are beyond blessed to have our wonderful babysitter Miss Heather that is so dedicated to us, she loves our kids and allows us to have this time together every week!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Disney On Ice

We took J.Riley to see Disney on Ice this weekend. He was absolutely mesmerized by it all. I told Brent I think it is time for a trip to Disney.  Three is such a magical age! This gave J.Riley some needed one on one time with just mommy and daddy. My mom offered to take Ava for the weekend...Which I know she just loved! She came home saying "Nonie, Nonie" We will take any new words we get! We had such a great weekend getting to know our big boy just a little better. We also got several things done around the house! Thanks Mom!

Daddy being silly

Dancing in the aisle