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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!!

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!!

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

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!!

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.

My pretty girl

Pierced Ears

Oldies

Found these goodies when I was downloading pictures from the camera to the computer. I think they were taken in June. I'm not positive. My camera saved it as August 2008. Clearly, I need to update the time and date on my camera....

Sawyer <3 Pictures

Sawyer loves to play with our phones, cameras, and computers. He really enjoys looking at himself in the camera picture. Here is our latest photo-op! :D

Pictures

 Annabelle helping Mama make the bed before Aunt Bek gets here.

 Out on a walk

 Sawyer loves to carry around bags. Any bag will do.

 He also likes to use things that are Annabelle's. He's a ham.

 This particular day was a bit chillier, but I think Annabelle had fun on her walk anyway!

 :)

Fiddindit.

Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!!

P.S. BEK WILL BE HERE TONIGHT!!!!! :):):):)

Where's your TV?

For a little over a year we did not have a TV on the ground floor. Yep. For seven of those months the TV wasn't even plugged in. Cr---aaaazy. I know. We do have a TV upstairs now. It's currently hidden in a TV cabinet. We don't want it or like it to be the focal point. We did miss watching movies. I missed working out using our Wii. It's not like we *don't* watch TV. We only get a whooping 2 stations neither of which are the big stations. In fact, most of you probably haven't even heard of them. We watch the few shows that we indulge in after Sawyer goes to bed. We do the same with movies. We have heaps of Disney movies, but I don't want Sawyer (or Annabelle) watching them--at least not yet. Wait? WHY?!
 

This article does a fantastic job of explaining why.
How to Raise a Low Media Child

PS--- Seriously, we were asked on numerous occasions when people visited our house, "Where's your TV."

Really? Is it that important? Has it become that much of a household staple that you can't live with out it?!

Here is our awesome TV hutch that Dean found on CraigsList!

Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!

Facebook

Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted. Most of you I keep up with on Facebook anyway. I must admit, since Sawyer has truly become mobile, I noticed a serious decline in blog posts and they faded away all together after he started crawling on his hands and knees. Eeek. Sorry.

I'm writing this post to let you all know that I'm taking a 6 week hiatus from Facebook. I do hope to post on here at least once a week if not more. I do miss writing and this allows me to do far more of that. I feel like Facebook has become an attachment of my body. I'm not a fan of that and really would like to change. So, I'm deleting the app off my phone for the time being, and I've got a list of things I want to do that I should have been doing lately instead of eating my time up on Facebook.

* Start reading the news (seriously, I found out all of my news on Facebook=bad).
* Projects around the house.
            ~ We are in serious need of cleaning out and donating.
            ~ Pictures printed and hung
            ~ Play room
* Crafts
* Play with my camera (something I haven't really done since I've gotten my iPhone)
* Workout more frequently for longer periods
* and of course...blog more. :)

I'm aware that I have a hefty list of things I want to get done, but I'm hoping that giving Facebook up for six weeks is going to encourage me to use it even less when I do start using it again so I can continue with these goals.

Anywho, I just wanted to give you a heads up as to where I went, where you can still find pictures of my kiddos (if you want), and contact me (here, email, text, or phone call).

Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!

PS--I didn't forget----I don't have any new pictures, but that's ok. I'll get some up later this week! :)