celebrating

 

Uncle Clay has a birthday in a few days & since our lil' party animal lives for events with cake....we celebrated over at Grandmama's and Poppy's house before T-ball practice on Thursday. Miller thinks it's pretty special that he shares his birthday month with a rock star of an uncle.
It was a whirlwind of a dinner celebration. But, that's how we roll on Wednesday and Thursday evenings this spring. We have two nights back to back with commitments that require early dinners and organization to get out the door with everybody's shoes and socks on.

Clay always needs a little help making wishes and blowing out the candles. All good uncles share the huffing and puffing job with their spirited nephews.

 

He got the job done with determination. Great practice for his half decade celebration in a few weeks.The happiest of birthdays to Uncle Clay! XOXO to you.

Pirate's Cove

The weather wasn't as cooperative on Friday...the last day of our break. I guess you could say it was acting like a traditional February day, cooler and rainy. We've been spoiled rotten with a mild winter. The sandy indoor beach at Pirate's Cove was just what we needed. The Ward family graciously shared their groupon tickets with us and all five scallywags enjoyed some pirate fun...argghh!

Nothing like climbing on the ship and walking the plank. Notice the short haircuts on both of the kiddos. They both got a nice shearing eh grooming this week.

After being glued to my lap for a half hour, she finally decided to play. This one needs a good warm up before she tries something new.

Miller Sparrow finding his buried treasure. It's hard to believe that almost a year ago, we were celebrating his fourth birthday here.
So thankful for a fun week playing with friends.

just hanging out

It's a week long winter break for Miller this week in GA. With temperatures in the 70's for a couple of days, the sunny weather felt more like spring break. My tutoring routine was still on this week for me though. I'm so thankful for my mom who graciously added Miller into the mix for those two early mornings. The kids are always thrilled for a few hours of play at Grandmama & Poppy's.  They constructed a really neat play fort with blankets. Miller was in heaven.  These breaks are great for family time!

It was park weather on Thursday. Kidzstock, our church playround was calling our name. After naps, the Woods met up with us for an impromptu afternoon of play. The park was packed...everybody had the same idea. See my sockless girly? We left in such a rush that it overwhelmed me to make one more trip out of hundreds up the stairs on the sock match hunt. So on this warm day, she sported her keds sockless.

 Eliza Kate was thrilled that her friend Oweee (Owen) showed up. They enjoy chasing, sliding, and swinging..these two. Of course Miller loved all the activity with the older boys. Caleb even convinced him to climb higher up on the rope playscape. I didn't bring my camera along on this trip...I'm slacking a little these days. Andrea snapped a few cute pictures of the kiddos & shared them.

Soaking in every ray of sunshine on our February warm up this week!  A little vitamin D does the body good.

Boba Baby

Our little Boba baby had the chance to put on her smiley face for the camera this week again. Our friend Andrea asked us to do a impromptu little photo shoot in Downtown Woodstock this week. What a sweet memory for Eliza Kate's baby book to be featured on the company's website this past winter.

We really did enjoy posing together. EK's favorite part was being bounced up & down wildly while strapped to me like all fun kangaroo mommys do....
The wildest part was that I had an out of town friend inbox me that she saw us modeling these carriers on their national website and she did a double take. I really wish that I discovered the wraps and carriers a little sooner with both babies.  I think the babywearing days passed me by as I had summer newborns. Sweaty babies are no fun to cart around plastered to your body to the park. My babies get so fat big early on that my shoulders and back would ache within 30 minutes of strapping baby's on with my other carrier. The Boba is so much more comfortable and the majority of the weight is centered on the hips. This makes it possible to cart around my 30 pound plus cutey with ease. Who knew that toddlers could ride around so comfortably? I really do love the foot strap feature for security for older babies.
If we have a third way down the line...I'll want to babywear so I can be hands free to chase the others around. It really is a luxury to have both hands:)

Eliza Kate loves to be strapped on the front of her momma all snug as a bug in a rug. It really is so cozy. Of course, having a pro wrapper and strapper photographer like Andrea to get baby all situated is a must. She has skills when it comes to babywearing.

I was very careful not to put a large beacon of a bow in Eliza Kate's hair during both sessions. Big bows are definitely a regional fashion trend...as in the bigger the better in the south:) We opted for a more subtle accessory. This girly has to have something to keep her wispy bangs out of her eyes.

Loving my little kangaroo pouch while she's young enough to be worn!

Valentines Day

Candy Bribery does wonders to get these two to show their sibling love on Heart's Day. Miller had a mouth full of gummies so this was all he could do. I sure could kiss all over these two LOVES. XOXO!

While brother was at school, I got Eliza Kate all gussied up in her Valentine's best for a special Valentine's Day mission. Since we're pretty sure that her love language is Mylar Balloons, we journeyed to the grocery store to go balloon shopping. As you can imagine, it filled her little heart with lots of love for mommy. She picked out a pink "pincess" balloon.
We couldn't forget about Miller. Eliza Kate helped me pick out a Froggy holding a heart to win him over after school. The big surprise for him was the matchbox car weighing it down. Oh the joys of little Valentine gifts that bring joy to these two.

Grandmama and Poppy stopped over too on their way out to dinner. They came bearing gifts which sent a flurry of electrified energy throughout the house. Eliza Kate was really into her greeting card with reflective mirror inside:) Precious!

 

We exchanged Valentines with them too. Miller wanted to make special handmade cards to present to them. Our hand print cards really turned out cute!

We capped off our evening with a family Valentine dance party in the living room. Miller and Eliza Kate played a chasing game with balloons in tow around the couch to the music. Bobbing balloons following them added to all the Valentine excitement. Eliza Kate made sure with screams & shrills to communicate a "hands off" my balloon attitude to Miller. As long as he kept his distance, she would chase him. She made it very clear that this was her "pincess" balloon alone. I told you she took this love language seriously:)

Happy Valentines Day 2012 from our family to yours....

While our family loved partying with sweets & balloons, it's our heart's desire that our children fully understand God's love for them on this special holiday. His love fully outweighs our love for them. I  still can't fully wrap my brain around that one. I do know it's true!

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are...1 John 3:1

love bug

There's no other place I'd rather be than in the classroom on Heart's Day. Oh, how I love visits in Miller's class...really any classroom full of little love bugs.  What a pleasure to be able to plan with my neighbor across the street who was also a former teacher. We think alike...and ooh and ahh together over different ideas. She's got bins & bins full of scholastic books for each holiday. And, she's paved the way as a pro on the preschool circuit as she's already conquered the PreK scene with her oldest. What a fun duo we make:)

In case you are curious, Miller is now an expert at sharing his mommy with his friends. Although, he must remind himself out loud to the group during set up time that he is planning on letting me help out with his friends at a different table than his. I think those verbal announcements prepare his little heart to accept the burden of watching his mommy give attention to his classmates. He really has matured this year! No more tears or whines. He's been told that mommies can't come back to help if there are tears instead of smiles. And, he can see that I still shower him with attention when he visits my center. Extra hugs and a little whisper in his ear that I really love his craft seem to do the trick.

Really, it makes all the difference to work with a teacher who welcomes us with open arms. I love her willingness to let us run her centers for the day. This go around, we read the book "Valentine Mice" and made a Hershey kiss craft. The kiddos loved crafting Love Bug polka dot Valentines for their first loves...their mommas. And, every mom of a preschool aged kiddo knows it's all about the frosted cookie decorating with sprinkles galore that really wins the prize in this age group. Ms. C melted my heart with the gift of Miller's handprints in the shape of a heart. Something about a handprint craft makes my heart flip. I snapped a quick picture of Miller and his friend "W" in the hallway between centers. I love how they store all of their weekly projects in their cubbies outside the room. They are learning responsibility, finding their belongings and keeping up with important papers. In a blink, this little Valentine of mine will be posing in front of his locker, so I just had to capture his four year old innocence in front of his nap mat.

And, I'll leave you with our three googly eyed Valentine mice!

valentine's cards

Pinterest has inspired some fun little crafting projects in our house. I am a good imitator of crafting, but just need fun ideas to get the wheels turning. Last year in PreK 3, I let Miller choose pre boxed CARS Valentines for all of his friends in class. He was more than thrilled to pass out Mater & Lightening McQueen. They came complete with pencils and it did the job. This year, I wanted a keepsake card with his preschool faced photo to hand out. As time goes on, I feel like I am much more of a sentimental mommy. I ooh and ahh over sweet hand drawn pictures, and savor his four year old sloppy signature. I ponder my emotions about finding this smiley boy's Valentine in his preschool memory box. I know it will just melt my heart when he's like 12. He surely will be too old to willingly participate in my little crafting projects and photo ops by then, right?

We have done more hand print crafts at home this year as I'm trying to squeeze every ounce of preschooler out of our four year old. It's just going by all too fast.

I added a lollipop, and his card was complete. Every kid knows, it's all about the candy attached to the card anyway. This holiday of love has become a candyfest similar to Halloween. A full bag of candy came home from his exchange...crazy!

On a side note, Miller shirt reads "Most Eligible Bachelor".  It's as Valentine festive as a four year old boy can get. He thought it read most eligible spatula. With a puzzled face and scrunched up nose he asked , "What's a bachelor?" I quickly rambled off some speech about not being married. Didn't want our conversation to get too involved concerning singleness. 

His inquisitive mind tends to lead us down all kinds of avenues these days....so darling! The only other choice of shirt read "Heartbreaker".  And, while I'm not usually a fan of message t-shirt's in the school setting...especially announcing "Troublemaker" or "It wasn't me!"....this one fit the Valentines theme.

So, as anticipated...he announced to his beautiful teacher that he is indeed, "single". They were all in stitches for the Valentines party...More on that to come!