Sunday, May 1, 2011
Maddie Turns 3!
Maddie turned 3 on April 29th. Here she is in her adorable ladybug outfit from Mimi.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Our Family this Easter
We spent another wonderful Easter weekend in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida with family (28 of us this year). The weather was beautiful so were able to spend a lot of time on the beach. There was also the annual egg hunt, cousins trip to Target and of course lots and lots of yummy food.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Happy Easter!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... 1 Peter 1:3
Monday, April 11, 2011
More Soccer
Maddie has been doing a fabulous job at soccer these past two weeks so I wanted to post some pics of her now that she is getting in the groove :).
One of my favorite parts of the hour is when the coach gathers all of the kids in a circle and takes turns asking them their name and their favorite movie/food/etc. I always love to hear what Maddie is going to say since she comes up with her answers without any prompting. Some of her favorites so far have been:
Move: Christmas movie
Food: Carrots
Breakfast food: Carrots
Animal: Elephant
Now onto the pictures:
On your mark, get set...
Helping out the coach:
Hanging with big sis afterward:
One of my favorite parts of the hour is when the coach gathers all of the kids in a circle and takes turns asking them their name and their favorite movie/food/etc. I always love to hear what Maddie is going to say since she comes up with her answers without any prompting. Some of her favorites so far have been:
Move: Christmas movie
Food: Carrots
Breakfast food: Carrots
Animal: Elephant
Now onto the pictures:
On your mark, get set...
Helping out the coach:
Hanging with big sis afterward:
Sunday, April 10, 2011
BedTime
Through the ages and stages of the girls there have been some ups and downs when it comes to bedtime of course, but tonight as I put them to bed I couldn't help but smile (and then sneak in to take pictures of their sweetness).
Anna has always been the one to not want to go to bed. I can remember at a few months old rocking her until she fell asleep only to creep across the carpet, gently lay her into her crib where she would instantly wake and the process would begin again. As she got a little older she was that child that was left in her room to cry herself to sleep with her mom sitting in the hallway outside her door crying too in hopes that she would "learn" how to go sleep. As Anna has gotten older, rather than tears, it's endless questions, lots of tossing and turning and many nights that I am going to bed late and find her still awake. She just lays in bed and thinks and some nights I like to lay there with her and just listen. We have talked about our days, planned birthday parties that are months away (Anna and I are two peas in a pod) and often that is when she tells me things that have scared her or hurt her feelings that day. It is precious time.
One great addition to Anna's bedtime has been God's Little Princess Devotional Bible by Sheila Walsh. It gives us a structured nightly reading of scripture with a few questions on Anna's level. I love the consistency it has brought to us reading the bible with her at night.
Maddie had sleep issues of her own in the beginning BUT she eventually became one of those kids that you could lay down in the crib and she would fall asleep on her own (after having Anna and reading all those sleep books, I never would have thought they worked until Maddie came along!). As she got older and moved into a big girl bed she would happily get in her bed with a puzzle and work it until she was tired and lay down to sleep. Even now she doesn't want me to lay down with her and cuddle but would rather be left with her bible to look at. It is sweet to walk into her room at night and see her asleep with her bible open beside her, I pray it would always be so.
Sweet dream!
Anna has always been the one to not want to go to bed. I can remember at a few months old rocking her until she fell asleep only to creep across the carpet, gently lay her into her crib where she would instantly wake and the process would begin again. As she got a little older she was that child that was left in her room to cry herself to sleep with her mom sitting in the hallway outside her door crying too in hopes that she would "learn" how to go sleep. As Anna has gotten older, rather than tears, it's endless questions, lots of tossing and turning and many nights that I am going to bed late and find her still awake. She just lays in bed and thinks and some nights I like to lay there with her and just listen. We have talked about our days, planned birthday parties that are months away (Anna and I are two peas in a pod) and often that is when she tells me things that have scared her or hurt her feelings that day. It is precious time.
One great addition to Anna's bedtime has been God's Little Princess Devotional Bible by Sheila Walsh. It gives us a structured nightly reading of scripture with a few questions on Anna's level. I love the consistency it has brought to us reading the bible with her at night.
Maddie had sleep issues of her own in the beginning BUT she eventually became one of those kids that you could lay down in the crib and she would fall asleep on her own (after having Anna and reading all those sleep books, I never would have thought they worked until Maddie came along!). As she got older and moved into a big girl bed she would happily get in her bed with a puzzle and work it until she was tired and lay down to sleep. Even now she doesn't want me to lay down with her and cuddle but would rather be left with her bible to look at. It is sweet to walk into her room at night and see her asleep with her bible open beside her, I pray it would always be so.
Sweet dream!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Soccer
For months now Anna has been talking about playing soccer again so now that we are settled in our house, it was time to sign her up again (the last time she played was last year). We decided to try the Turf Tikes program at the Factory in Wake Forest again, this time with Anna being in a group without us and she is loving it!
Anna is often the only girl in the group and she is always smiling and skipping as she listens to her coach and kicks the soccer ball. At home, she always wants to kick her soccer ball and pretend that we are goals. I am so proud at how well she is doing listening and I love that she seems to be getting so much enjoyment out of it.
We have also learned that Maddie is not a huge fan of soccer :). She did well the first time, listening and participating but it was rather obvious that she wasn't overly interested in soccer and it lost her attention rather quickly. Today there was a total unwillingness to listen to her coach and so we left - she was content just to watch Anna. I asked her what she didn't like about soccer, she said the ball :). So we'll have to see what really catches Maddie's attention - I'm guessing something with music.
Anna is often the only girl in the group and she is always smiling and skipping as she listens to her coach and kicks the soccer ball. At home, she always wants to kick her soccer ball and pretend that we are goals. I am so proud at how well she is doing listening and I love that she seems to be getting so much enjoyment out of it.
We have also learned that Maddie is not a huge fan of soccer :). She did well the first time, listening and participating but it was rather obvious that she wasn't overly interested in soccer and it lost her attention rather quickly. Today there was a total unwillingness to listen to her coach and so we left - she was content just to watch Anna. I asked her what she didn't like about soccer, she said the ball :). So we'll have to see what really catches Maddie's attention - I'm guessing something with music.
Monday, March 14, 2011
A New House, Our Home
At the end of December Erik and I started discussing a new home for our family. We loved our neighborhood, greatly enjoyed our home that we had put much time and money into remodeling but as we started thinking about wanting to grow our family while continuing to have a place for Erik to work at home (which adds to his job satisfaction) we began to look around. Actually... we began to look at one house in particular. Erik found a house just 2 miles from our house in a beautiful neighborhood that connected to the one we currently loved and it was perfect except that it was a foreclosure. By the time we had the appointment with our realtor we had already driven by several times, peeked in the windows and had imagined what the floor plan would look like (foreclosures don't give you much info). We knew that we would instantly know when we walked through the house if it was the one for us. We had looked at our budget and we knew what we could offer and what we couldn't. And so, after one visit to the house (which apparently most people go 3 times) we put in an offer - I like to say we are decisive :).
I previously didn't know a lot about foreclosures. Yes, the are an opportunity to get a good deal but the banks that own them seem to play by a whole different set of rules. The offer process was a nail biter and through most of it I had little confidence we would end up with the house. Then of course there were the documents removing the bank from almost all responsibilities and waiting for an inspection. Being sold in an "as is" condition, we knew the items identified on the inspection would not be fixed by the seller but if there were any major things wrong with the house we could bow out of the contract. Thankfully, the inspector found little more than a rusty garbage disposal and a few other odds and ends. Praise God!
And so, we moved. We have now been in our new house for a little over 2 weeks and it already feels like home. I feel like we have had visitors almost daily which is exactly what we love. We are loving our new house, our home.
I previously didn't know a lot about foreclosures. Yes, the are an opportunity to get a good deal but the banks that own them seem to play by a whole different set of rules. The offer process was a nail biter and through most of it I had little confidence we would end up with the house. Then of course there were the documents removing the bank from almost all responsibilities and waiting for an inspection. Being sold in an "as is" condition, we knew the items identified on the inspection would not be fixed by the seller but if there were any major things wrong with the house we could bow out of the contract. Thankfully, the inspector found little more than a rusty garbage disposal and a few other odds and ends. Praise God!
And so, we moved. We have now been in our new house for a little over 2 weeks and it already feels like home. I feel like we have had visitors almost daily which is exactly what we love. We are loving our new house, our home.
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