Chicken and Slides

My sister and I decided it was time for a visit.  Sarah, Lailey, and Maddox came to spend the night.  I had ambitious plans to go to the library and the park (a really awesome park with a big sand pit), but alas, it rained.  So then we thought Monkey Joes would be a great plan B.  

Matthan

Lailey

Maddox

Unfortunately, I found out that the one near our house closed a few months ago.  Then it got too close to lunch to go to the library.  So we finally wound up at Chick-fil-a (thanks to some last minute suggestions from the Facebook community) with a compromise of food and indoor playground.

My cautious child almost made it to the third step

It was a hit.  Indoor playgrounds at food places are genius.  Genius!

I think he wanted more ice-cream

I turned around for two seconds and Matthan took advantage of me not paying attention to my lemonade.

thief

A good time was had by all!  And they all napped happily that afternoon.

Mostly From Last Week ~ PHFR

I know, the theme for my {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} post is creative, no?

{Pretty}

I'm pretty sure that all of you not living in the South are very tired of winter, so I only sort of apologetically say that the weather here the last few days has been beautiful, and I was sweating during my errands today in the 70-ish degree weather.  I didn't take a picture of said sunny weather so as not to rub it in.  

{Happy}

I was texting my sister-in-law about my pretty new bike (you know, the one that I purchased right before all the snow hit?) and she texted "so where's a picture?" and I realized that I had missed a few opportunities to get a picture of me on my new bike, so I ran out to the garage to snap a quick picture.  We went riding this past weekend and there was still piles of snow in the shady areas of the park.  Only in Georgia can you experience all four seasons in less than a week.

It was good to get out of the house and into the sunshine.  Little Man was pretty happy with his new ride... minus the helmet.  We've utilized the "throw-the-helmet-on-the-kid-and-ride-away-quickly-so-the-little-guy-doesn't-have-time-to-think-about-it" tactic.  Otherwise fighting and tears commence.

Bundled up and ready to ride!

{Funny}

The morning of Valentine's Day, I went into Matthan's room to get him and change his diaper and I found this...

Well played Hubby, well played :)

Valentine bear magnet from Grandma and Grandpa

{Real}

The other day I started talking to Matthan during dinner and I got the idea to see how many words he could say.  Some I knew he could say, and some I tried for fun.  I've reached the point where I can't keep up with his exploding vocabulary, and I wanted to capture as much as I could now.  Even after I took this video, I remembered a few more words that he knew, and since I took the video, he has added several more words.  Hope you enjoy!

Go check out more {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} posts at Like Mother, Like Daughter

Snow Day #2 Brings Excitement!!

Not only did we get snow once, a couple of weeks ago, but we got snow twice!!  I'm so very sorry for all of the people who have had issues with the snow, losing electricity and have branches fall and what not (prayers continuing to come your way), but we have had a blast with the snow this year!  This morning I woke up to this...

{Pretty}

I know you'll laugh at me, but the first thing I thought when we were looking at this property to buy it was "A lamp post!  Just like Narnia!".  

Now it really looks like Narnia! Except for, you know, the house behind it...

{Happy}

We have taken full advantage of the sledding because we don't get snow very often.  The driveway worked really well and sent us shooting out into the street.  I almost bounced up into our neighbor's yard.  We tried a few different streets and at one point The Hubs hooked up a rope and pulled us around the streets, but our driveway and the back yard worked the best, even though this video doesn't really show it that well.

{Funny}

On day 3 (today) of playing in the snow, Matthan seemed to just get the drill.  He sat there so patiently while I layered piece after piece of clothing on him and he didn't fuss when I put the scarf and mittens on him.

Giddy-up Daddy!

About two minutes after this video was taken, I took out the flower pots like bowling pins.  Unfortunately there is no video of that, but I assure you it was awesome.

{Real}

I bought a bike (pictures to come soon) earlier this week, because what else do you do before impending snow and ice storms?  It's stuck at the shop at the moment.  We've been thinking about this purchase for a long time and some Christmas money made it finally possible.  

The Hubs was working on his bike while I was starting this post and he asked me what I was doing.  I told him I was typing my post for the Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real link up, and he said, 

"Are you the "pretty"?".

"No, but that's awfully sweet." - Me

"Matthan could be the happy, and me pulling my shoulder while building the snowman could be the "real"." - The Hubs

"That's a good idea."

The cause of the pulled shoulder

And in the middle of the above conversation, Matthan decided today was the day!  And Daddy got to be home for it!

Check out more {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} at Like Mother, Like Daughter

7 Quick Takes (vol. 8) ~ Camels, Cards, and Cozies

I'm so very behind with posting, but instead of catching up, I'm going to distract you with a 7 Quick Takes post and adorable pictures...

--- 1 ---

See... you've already forgotten that you haven't seen all the incredible family pictures we took over Christmas yet.  But here is a little gem to whet your appetite.

--- 2 ---

And, I desperately need to do a Matthan update.  He changes so fast that I can't keep up.  Like, he's getting into stuff.  And no, I could not get them all back into the box.

52 Card pick-up is for amateurs... 500 Q-tip pick up is for the pros.

Some things don't change, he still loves books :)

Clearly I need to clean out my bathroom cabinets because it looks like I have little monsters living in there. :)

--- 3 ---

Matthan is starting to get the hang of feeding himself and is starting to be more adamant about doing things himself.  But he has figured out that when it comes to spaghetti, it's more efficient to have Mommy feed him, and he begs me to feed him.

--- 4 ---

I wanted to do as many homemade items for Christmas as possible.  I thought it would be fun.  I did have to cut some projects, but here is what I managed to do.

Coffee cozies for my sister and sister-in-law

Including their initial on one side

My grandmother gives out handmade birthday cards to all of the people in her Sunday school class and she mentioned that she doesn't have pretty envelopes.  So I made her envelopes.

Painted a Batman piggy bank for the nephew

And probably the one that I'm most proud of is the painting I did for The Hubs.  It wasn't this painting (that I haven't accomplished yet for lack of the canvas size we want), but I pulled this one off without The Hubs finding out.  It was inspired by a huge, very expensive painting that we saw in an art museum.

--- 5 ---

Continuing with the homemade theme, I made envelopes a while back and wanted to have cards to go with them, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  I discovered embroidery cards, so I embroidered cards to go with my homemade envelopes.

--- 6 ---

The Hubs and I noticed this year that our nativity set doesn't have a camel.  A friend of ours, who lives in Israel, sent us a Christmas package (more about this another time), and wouldn't you know it?  It had a camel!  We're delighted!

--- 7 ---

I get such a kick out of watching The Hubs and Little Man interact in their unique way.  Little Man definitely loves his daddy.

King of the Daddy hill

That's all for today folks!  

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Our Snow Day 2014 ~ PHFR

(You know the drill - poorly lit, slightly out of focus pics are mine from the phone, and the good ones are from the camera... likely taken by The Hubs).

Last week, I did a great job of putting off the grocery shopping, and after telling The Hubs that it was likely going to be a take-out kind of evening, I decided to take a nap instead of put a grocery list together.  I woke up to my phone ringing with The Hubs telling me we should probably get to the grocery store ASAP because we had snow coming.  And we all know what it is like down here in the South when we're told snow is coming.

From Google Images

From Google Images

So I high-tailed it to the grocery store in time to grab five of the remaining ten bananas left on the shelf (they did restock as I was leaving the store) and then went home to enjoy my snug house after discussing with The Hubs what the plan was should we lose electricity.  My husband has mad skills...that he rarely uses...but they make me feel safe.  :)

{Pretty}

I love snow.  No, like I L-O-V-E snow!  I have fond memories of my dad building couches and igloos  out of snow (my family isn't originally from Georgia in case you didn't already guess), hot beverages, and sledding down the hill in my back yard to see if we could hit the fence (I was never big enough to go that far).  I've kept my snow suit (that I recently found in a certain sister's closet...eckhem) for the one snow we get every other year because it's worth it!

I just think snow is beautiful and peaceful and it makes me feel all happy inside.

Listen to the peacefulness.

{Real}

But of course, I love snow like most people do...conditionally.  I love snow as long as it's not causing me any hassles and I'm all warm and snug in my house and it stays outside of my snow suit.

Before

After - less than an hour later

Unfortunately, it caused a lot of other people a lot of trouble.  We found out that one of The Hubs' clients spent 23 hours in the car before abandoning the car on the side of the freeway.  I'm sure you've read all about the mess in the news.

Before

It took The Hubs extra time to get home from work...because he stopped at the store on the way.  Needless to say, snow and I are very good terms this year.  So I prayed for all the people having trouble and I relished the snow day with my family.

After - less than an hour later

{Happy}

It was Little Man's first snow!  We broke out the Southern Sleds (i.e. laundry baskets, cookie sheet, and TV box.  We've really gotten our money's worth out of that TV box...that was a gift...so the box was free, and it has been loved and used in so many ways.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!)

I tried all three sleds, the TV box won out hands down.  I'm sure watching me try to sled on the tiny cookie sheet and sled crammed into the laundry basket was a comical sight.

Do not be fooled by that momentary smile

I was very happy to be out in the snow with my family and to introduce Little Man to the snow.  He, however, was not thrilled with all of it.  He was not happy about sledding down the hill by himself in the laundry basket.

Less than thrilled

{Funny}

However, he loved sledding with Mommy or Daddy so I didn't feel like snow day was a total failure for him :)

He also loved watching us sled down the hill.  He just giggled and giggled.

Our little snow bunny

Sorry for the lack of pics of The Hubs, here's a video to make up for it.  Snow day 2014 was a huge success for our family.  

Now go check out the other Pretty-Happy-Funny-Real posts at Like Mother, Like Daughter.