Little Sprouts

Our seeds are beginning to grow and Drew is so excited about it. He's just watching his thumb grow greener and greener.

His favorite plants are the sunflowers because the seeds have not fallen off of the plant where they have sprouted. He thinks that is the most hilarious thing too. He laughs and laughs as he points at the seed on top of that sprout. He says it's the plant's hat. It's pretty cute.

We have a good amount of sprouts (especially considering how much they are being watered.... Drew wants to constantly be "growing" his plants). The ones that were drown away and didn't make it have been replace with new seeds.

Drew did pretty well with that too. When we replanted, I had him count out seeds in groups of threes so that he could plant them that way. He did just as he was told and we've got our fingers crossed that we'll have a few more "crops" from that batch. We'll see.

I just can't wait to reap the benefits from our work and make some fresh salads and pasta dishes this summer from all of our vegetables and have pretty center pieces from our flowers.

I'll keep you posted with how all that goes.

I combined a few sprouts into this pot

Looking healthy so far

Here is the sprout with the "hat"

Drew wouldn't let me take the plant's "hat" off.

Emma Starts A Tickle War

Imagine little arms and legs squirming out of a ball of Taylors. Flashes of smiles when faces emerge and bodies flopping around like fresh catch in the cooler. Giggles, squeals, and belly laughs flavor the air of our house.
I am cradling Drew like a baby and Emma is trying to get in. Her strategy is a "tickle out" She very clearly says, "tickle tickle tickle" as she scrunches down on Drew's belly. She laughs harder than any of us. Drew begins to laugh even harder too.

So then we all get into the "tickle war" and everyone is tickling every one else.
It was a moment that will be ingrained in my memory forever, or at least I hope it will.
This is the stuff life is made of.

Funny Little Stories That I Don't Want To Forget

There have been so many little stories that I don't want to ever forget, but haven't seemed big enough for a "post" so I haven't shared them yet.
For example, the fact that right now everything is either "delicious" or "disgusting" with Drew. And if it's "delicious" he "devours" it. His vocabulary is really cracking me up. Well, part of it anyways. There are parts that aren't so funny to me and he's getting in trouble. When I tell him something that he's not too excited about, he says "what-ever" !!!!!! Where is that attitude coming from.... at 2!?!?!?!?!
Our little garden is going well so far. Most of our seeds have sprouted. Drew has done a fabulous job with this. He actually counted out the seeds (3 for each soil pellet) and put them in the little hole I made and then he covered each one up and caringly patted it safely in it's place. His favorites right now are the sunflowers because you can still see the seed cover at the top of a couple of them. He was really interested in the fact that for a short while there was a "green stick" coming out of his seed. I explained to him that that was a stem, but I don't think he really understands it (obviously... I mean, he is two)
He talks a lot about going to Grandmommy's and Paw Paw's (and yes, for those that are psycho-analyzing me right now, I acknowledge that this has a huge reason why I have put off putting this work behind me, but I'm dealing with it). He loves visiting their house and thinks of it as another play area where he gets to play with his South Carolina friend, James. The fact that he asks to go there tells me that the kids aren't "damaged" from our work weekends. On the contrary, they are learning hard work, perseverance, and family values. He has been really cute saying things like, "Mommy, we have work to do" and then he'll grab a tool, usually one of his toy tools but sometimes one of Daddy's "twisters" and tries to install a screw into Lily's cage. We have found quite a few screws in the top holes of Lily's cage. These are the "bread crumbs" or "footprints" of children that I try and appreciate rather than getting frustrated with.
He knows that when we are playing in the front yard or going for a walk that he has to stop when a car comes. He waves at every passer-by.
Hmmm... what else?
Today he has become very protective of his sister. Lily apparently crossed a line with Emma by getting on her hind legs near Emma. Well, Drew thought this was way too dangerous for Emma and went and knocked Lily down to her 4 legs and fussed at her. Then he proceeded to run to Emma to make sure that she was ok. He gave her a big hug. It was a mother's wish come true..... the big brother protecting his little sister. We definitely want him to keep this one up.

Those are just a few of the little things that have been going on around here.

Fantasy Fun with Photoshop

Yumiko

I love Facebook! I rarely run the apps that I see, but I couldn't pass this one up. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it was one I saw from my friend, Lindsay. I figured she's a neat person, if she ran it, it must be cool. (Wow, like I never left high school (: ).
So anyways, this is what came up, and the responses afterward. It was too cute and the epitome of what Facebook has done to on aspect of our social world.

Alphabet Soup

The other night we went out to dinner and Drew had a picture of alphabet soup on his Kids Menu. The object of the activity was to find the missing letters and unscramble them to make a word.

I was working with Drew to figure out the missing letters.

So I started with "A" and asked him, "Drew, what is the first letter when you sing the alphabet?" He said, "A!"

I said, "Do you see the 'A' in this picture?"

He pointed to the "A." We proceeded to do the same with "B" and then I asked about "C." He said, "It's not there, Mommy!" I looked and sure enough, it wasn't there! Then he proceeded to do the same thing by himself for the letters D through H. He didn't need my help at all!!! I couldn't believe it!

Colin and I looked at each other in shock. Drew has never shown much of an interest for letters. He LOVES numbers, but never was very interested in letters. But obviously, just because that's what we think we see, that doesn't mean he hasn't been paying attention.

The next day, I told Mrs. Tonia that whatever she has been doing with him, it was definitely working! She said that he had all of the sudden started showing an interest in their keyboard activities and letter studies that she has been doing with the kids this year. It's amazing!

It just makes me realize that I should always keep working with him, even if I think he's not getting it. He obviously is, he just won't let it out until he's ready, but he stores up for when he is.

You And Me Together Can Do Anything, Baby

Maybe one day I'll be strong enough to write about this chapter of my life, but that day is not today, nor will it be tomorrow, so I think I'll let Dave sing the "silver lining" of it all. These words are what have gotten Colin and I through these past few months.

This is my FAVORITE Dave song EVER!!!! Probably because it is so damn relevant to my life right now. Through all of the trials life has thrown our way, we have learned that we can do anything together. Nothing is impossible when it is the two of us.

After our trials are over, we will sail off to the end of the world and leave our worries behind (and hopefully come back refreshed and with a killer tan!)

Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we'll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We're gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes (x2)

You and I, we're not tied to the ground
Not falling but rising like rolling around
Eyes closed above the rooftops
Eyes closed, we're gonna spin through the stars
Our arms wide as the sky
We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world
To the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We're gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes

We can always look back at what we did
All these memories of you and me baby
But right now it's you and me forever girl
And you know we could do better than anything that we did
You know that you and me, we could do anything

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby

The Taming of the Chop Sticks

We went to PF Chang's the other night for dinner. We picked PF Chang's 1) because we love it 2) the PF Chang's in New Orleans was where we had our first date, so we were reminiscing, and 3) it is close to Daddy's office. So the kids and I went down to meet him for dinner.
I was a little reluctant at first because PF Chang's never had a kids menu before and it just didn't seem that "kid friendly." But our experience was absolutely wonderful!!!
First of all, we walked straight in and got a table right away. That's always a plus when you have the kids with you!
Then we had the nicest waiter. He was so patient with us and SO aware of the children... in a good way. He called us "Mom" and "Dad" as to not confuse the kids and he asked lots of questions about what the kids may want and how to best serve them. I was so impressed!
Then, a manager came over shortly after we ordered our dinner with a plate of cut fruit for the kids. He said that he saw me walk in with Emma on my hip with one bare foot and one baby girl shoe in my hand. He said he totally related because he had a two year old little girl and so he wanted to bring a little something to the kids. It was very sweet.
Colin and I talked about how different this scene was from our first date. Of course, I knew from that moment years ago, that this scene, I even hoped for this very one.... "my million dollar family" as I call them... would eventually be ours.
Then, the icing on the cake.....
chopsticks for the kids!!!!
These were the bees knees as far a Drew was concerned!

He was actually very good at using them. Drew ate more than I've ever been able to get him to eat for dinner that night (he's a morning eater).

Please excuse the pictures, they were taken with my phone.

The kids were very well behaved for this outing. We got lots of complements and the kids got lots of attention from everyone around us (not that that is anything new). Emma was particularly flirty with the table behind Daddy.

She was so cute playing shy with them and them trying to get their attention when they would turn away.
It was all around a great experience. So for those of you out there who have it in your mind that PF Chang's is not a family friendly restaurant, they have changed their ways.
Give it whirl... you'll see.

Little Miss Pouty Face

While we were out planting our seeds, Little Miss Emma decided she was going to throw a fit. Poor thing, it was right at her nap time and we had been out for a long long time. She had done so well for most of the morning...

... but the line had been crossed and the meltdown began.

I hate that I find her pouty face so cute, but I do. Look at this pitiful progression!

I just had to keep taking pictures..... I couldn't help myself!

I love her so much! Even during these times!

"No Mama, Now We Have To Grow Them!"

Drew, Emma, and I planted some seeds the other day. Drew is very happy as long as he has a job that he's in charge of (I know that's grammatically incorrect, but you get the drift). He was happiest watering the soil pellets and the seeds after we planted them. So much so that I worry that he may have "drown them out." But as long as he had fun and learned something new, I'm ok with that.

We planted tomatoes, basil, sunflowers, bachelor buttons, and cucumbers. We'll see how they all turn out.
Drew wants to constantly water his plants, and when I tell him that it's time to go in and leave them in the sun, he says, "No Mama! Now we have to grow them!" He did not understand at all that we have to wait for them.
I guess that would be hard for a two year old though.
I can't wait to see what happens! I'll keep y'all posted!
Here are some pictures of our little boy and his green thumb.

We set up camp out on a blanket with all of our gear and toys. Even Lily joined us in the yard.

Drew is preparing the pots by putting the soil pellets into them.

Both of the kids got dirty planting their seeds in their pots

Drew labeled his pots with his tomato stickers.

Prayer Request

This is a story that I would like to share for a good friend, one of my very best friends, Jill. Weston's family is like family to her and I would like to put out a prayer request for him and his family.
Please read and share this story.
This is the information from his prayer request page on Facebook:


Weston Edwards and Kyle Graham two young boys from Kannapolis NC were hit on a go-cart during spring break today by a hit and run driver. Both boys were air lifted to the hospital.

Last word was Kyle was being kept for observation but has serious injury.

Weston is in critical condition with a broken femur, pelvis, hip, and arm. He had a kidney removed and now possibly the spleen. He had serious damage to a big muscle in his back as well.

We believe that God is A God of Healing. By His stripes we are healed. We ask you to pray without ceasing for both these young boys and their family.

I wanted to share this with as many people as I possibly could. I hope that with the power of prayer, we can help these families.

Holiday Roa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa-oad

I found the other day that when I look back at my children in my backseat, all I can see is this...

and I laugh out loud.
No, really they are cute as buttons in the backseat together....

They pick on each other, but that's what brothers and sisters do. Emma is actually the instigator most of the time. She pushes Drew's buttons by putting her hand over into his area. It cracks me up (but I don't show them that) that she already knows how to do this and she's only 1!
Well, we are off to hit the road!
See y'all later!