Thursday, May 15, 2014

This one is for Michael!


My husband gave me one of the best Christmas gifts ever. It's up there with his best gifts. Helping to fly mom out last May for Mother's Day would be ranked about equal with it. What is it?! He offered to help one of my very best friends and her family come visit for a few days!! Michael, Beth, and Olivia came to visit for three days! It was such a wonderful visit. I seriously loved every minute. It's fantastic talking on the phone, texting, and using FaceTime, but spending some quality time together with our kiddos and hubbies was very special.

Some special memories.....

* making chocolate covered strawberries
* baking brownies
* going on a picnic (buggy and I forgot like 3 things...one of which was a spatula to flip burgers...oops)
* Michael quoting Steel Magolias at the lunch table (still trying to convince Dean that it's the best movie ever).
* watching our kids interact and play together
* Olivia giving Annabelle kisses
* chats with Beth

And so, so much more!!

They are headed on there way to spend time with her parents and brother in Florida. BUT we get to see them again in about a month! 

Oh... An interesting fact.... While the they were here, my daddy and Beth's daddy were in NY together at a conference. Ironic.


Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!!!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Imitation is a form of flattery

Sawyer loves to imitate what we do. Sometimes I don't think we realize how much exactly he mimics us. I think both Dean and I have picked up on things that the other person does that Sawyer has since started mimicing. For instance, Dean snaps. He snaps when he walks. He snaps pretty much where ever he goes. Sawyer started snapping around a year old. Dean pointed out that I kick the dishwasher up when I'm shutting it. I've honestly never thought about it. I just do it absentmindedly, I guess. Well, Sawyer now shuts the dishwasher with his foot. Dean taps his toothbrush on the sink when he is through brushing his teeth. Sawyer points to the water for me to shut it off, and then taps his toothbrush on the sink. I hit the floor when I'm telling Dudly to drop his toy. Sawyer does that now, too. He also helps with Annabelle. He knows that Annabelle doesn't like to be on her belly, but that's the only direction she can roll so she ends up there quite frequently. Sawyer noticed that we inevitiably end up rolling her over. When she rolls over, he goes over and points to her and makes a rolling over motion. He'll "count" aka point up three times when we get her out of the bathtub (we count to three). And many, many other things......

So beware....he's watching! :D

Hugs and Kisses from Norlina.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Inflatable Furniture

Yep. I had it. I was thinking about it today and how utterly stupid the stuff was. Let's see. I had a chair, ottoman, couch, and maybe an end table? I don't remember. I do remember that my set was blue. I thought it was the coolest invention ever. Oh. Did I mention I had a cat? Not just one but two. Blow up furniture and cats? Right. Stupid. Anywho, I'm pretty sure I thought I was the coolest cat on the block because of my blow up furniture in my room. Obivously, that wasn't the case....because I had blow up furniture in my room with TWO cats. :D

I have no idea why I was thinking about this today, but it definitely traversed my brain. 

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

<3


My little princess!
Playing guitar with papa

Dressing up in Mama's clothes

Wearing the moby!


Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Many Changes

A friend of mine made this taggie for Annabelle. I snapped a picture right after she was born and I took another today as she was happily chewing away on it. I can't believe how much she's changed in less than 6 months!



Friday, April 4, 2014

Nostalgia

My grade school is closing. I feel like it's the end of an era. It's not completely closing down, but it will be different than the school that I knew. Different than the one I grew up with. Now, I'm not in a position to send my children there. In fact, I don't even see it and most of the teachers I had...actually ALL of the teachers I had...are gone. I honestly think the last remaining teacher that I had there was my dad and he took a call in 2012. Still, it feels strange knowing that future generations won't have nearly the same experience that I did growing up. Riding the bus to the other center, singing at both Trinity and St. Paul, having a big kid feeling when you move from grade 2 to grade 3 and are at the big kid school. 

Thinking back, I really only keep in touch regularly with two of my fellow students, and they weren't even really "fellow" students. One was a class older and one a class younger. My "bosom" (to quote Anne Shirley) friend in K-8 I rarely talk to. We do chat on the occassion, but it's far less than I ever figured it would be. Both friends that I keep in contact with also went to high school with me. One friend lives a very similar lifestyle. The other.... not so much! :) We're ok with that! 

This event made me realize that, yeah, we make memories and we make friends, but I do remember the lessons that I learned at TSP, also. They've helped me my whole life and I'm SO thankful to the teachers that I had over the years who taught me not only the things they were required to teach but also about life.

Monday, March 31, 2014

More


Mommy made a yummy peanut butter dip. It is delicious! Sawyer thinks so, too!


Again in another of Annabelle's toys. He couldn't sit in it without the toy strap on top. 

Playing guitar with Daddy
My beautiful little girl!




The usual


A very happy little girl in her Cards gear

She is perfectly content sitting in the bumbo and watching her older brother get into mischief!

Sawyer is caught in the act. We can no longer leave food on the table. He will find it and eat it. I put strawberries on the table the other night for dinner. I caught him up on the table taking bites out of the strawberries and putting them back in the bowl. Goober.

I'm going to try and upload a video that Sawyer took. We'll see if it works! If you don't see it....it didn't work!

Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!!




Friday, March 28, 2014

5 months

It's hard to believe our little girl is already 5 months old!!! She's gotten so big! When we first picked the carseat carrier up with her in it, the carrier was SO light. Now she's not so light...

She's such a happy, sweet, and content little girl. She LOVES smiling. Ask anyone who looks at her. She'll give a smile to anyone!


Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Poor Horse

This horse looks beaten and weary. Why?
Sawyer just tried to ride it. He got very angry when it didn't work.

The positive side is: he clearly knows what to do with horses!

One Year

It's hard to believe it's already been one year since Grandma has passed. We miss her so, so much. I know it is much worse for me when I am in Illinois. Her absence in my parents' house is felt keenly. It is the same way when I walk into Opa's house. I still expect her to be sitting in her chair watching her shows. It's amazing how much can change in a year. We are all slightly different people because of it. Missing a piece of the puzzle so to say. Grandma has three new grandchildren and one new granddaughter-in-law. 

I keep thinking of all the stories she would tell us. When I was younger Grandma had the most fasicinating life of anyone I knew. Her stories were (and are) still the best. She told us stories about when we were younger: picking up acorns in North Carolina (I think about her everytime I walk outside and am surrounded by acorns), bees on David's head, going for morning walks in North Carolina when she came to stay. Stories from when Mom and Dad were younger: Mom avoiding Dad and asking Nana to tell him she wasn't home, Nana putting powder on the stairs to see if anyone had gone up or down, Aunt Dee and the cookie jar, the huge number of people that came traipsing through her door when Mom was in middle school and high school. She told the stories so well, too. 

When she lived in Maryland, she'd come out for one whole month each year. We LOVED it. She'd come to school with us (even missed recess one day because she wouldn't eat the peas either) and play games with us (four square anyone?) She even had a special place in her heart for a girl who was quite mean to me. I think she knew that one day Emily and I would be great friends. She always asked about Emily. We absolutely loved watching her play games on the computer. I've never seen anyone so animated play maelstrom. Ever. I'm pretty sure someone in Kansas could have heard her. 

We'd go visit for a few weeks every summer. The last years she was in Maryland she lived with my aunt and uncle. I'd often head down there to find peace and quiet. Dorothy often joined me. I loved spending that time with Grandma and Opa--although Opa was often at work. Grandma also had the added perks of tuna and PB with sugar! Before they moved into my cousins' house, Grandma and Opa were at their house almost every day we were there. We loved every minute of it. Grandma would play games with us in the pool and Opa was a human diving board. One year Grandma and Opa went with us to Prince Edward Island. I still think that trip, as miserable as it may seem to an outsider, was still the best trip we took as children. "Hey, Grandma! Watch me throw!" Was only one of the disasters that happened during that trip, but seriously, Best. Trip. Ever. Aside from the vomiting, rock crashing, camcorder death, car breaking, and teddy bear leaving...it was great!

So many years and so many memories. The memories will continue to be made, but they just won't be the same without you. Miss you and love you, Grandma!

Love,
Lauren, Dean, Sawyer, and Annabelle

Monday, March 24, 2014

More cuteness!

Budding pianist
With baby


Sawyer loves slides!!
Out fora walk in MD
Annabelle is there, too, but she's a bit hidden!!
Always the musician.
Auntie love

Watching cousin Tim


Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!!











Sunday, March 23, 2014

Spectacular Family

As many of you know, I have two of the best sisters-in-law ever. It's true. Both of my sisters-in-law are extraordinarily talented--in more than one way. However on this post, I'm referring to there super-natural photography skills. One is a photographer for a living, and one is a kind of free-lance photographer. They both do excellent jobs. Like....the best. 

Jessica took awesome newborn, Christmas, and family pictures of us when she was here in December. I posted those pictures on FB. They turned out so ah-mazing!!

Meaghan took pictures of the cousins when we were out in February. Here's the link to these pictures.http://mbarringerphotography.com/weedoncousins If you looked at the pictures, you'll notice they're pretty stellar.

I'm super-duper excited to get both sets of fantastic pictures printed out and hung up!

We're a little outdated. These will be the first pictures of Annabelle to be hung up. Needless to say, I'm excited!!

<3

In mama's dress
He's climbing everything he can at the moment.


Snack time is a favorite!

Sawyer loves his sister's toys. Ham.