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!!!

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.

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. 

Sawyer

Loves taking care of his little sister.

<3

My little princess!

Playing guitar with papa

Dressing up in Mama's clothes

Wearing the moby!

Hugs and Kisses from Norlina!!

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!

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.