Addie dancing

Our little Addie's favorite new hobby is dancing. We constantly have to have music on at our house for her. She wakes up in the morning signing "Please!" and then dancing. Hilarious! When we took this video, we were trying to find some upbeat music on the music cable channels and this is what we ended up with...Spanish music! No, we do not speak fluent Spanish so if you do and we happen to be listening to something obscene I apologize...we had no idea! :) Addie seemed to like it! Ugh - is she not the cutest little thing ever!!!?? (Don't mind the "soiled" sticker on her back, we had just gotten home from church and apparently she gave the nursery workers a little present in her diaper - nice, huh?)

Redneck Sledding

When you live in Georgia you learn to make due with the gorgeous 50 degree weather in January! I know you are playing your violin for us, aren't you? Well, John and I feel that we have finally arrived as Georgians and we have performed our first, "You know you are a redneck if..." Check out the video and you'll know what I mean. If you are in the blizzards of the north make a snowman for us too, okay?

Making and decorating cookies...

Yes, we definitely had our fill of baking and decorating cookies during the holidays, and plenty of eating them too! We started just before Thanksgiving with "Thankful" cookies. Zoe and Jackson are at a great age to really teach them and have them understand being thankful for all the blessings God us provides especially our close friends and family. I had each child think of five people they are thankful for and didn't coerce them as to whom to choose. Then we baked and decorated sugar cookies in fall shapes (turkey, leaves, pumpkin, etc.) and wrapped them up real pretty and handed them out to their choice of people. Along with the cookies, was a note reading, "Zoe/Jackson was asked to choose people they are thankful for and guess what? They chose YOU!" Then they wrote (in their own words) why they were thankful for that person. It was so cute to see who they came up with and why they were thankful for them. I think this is definitely a new family tradition we will continue to do. I'm not sure which they enjoyed more, making the cookies or delivering them.

Each year my mom comes over and we make Christmas cookies, what a special time for us to have her with us to do this! The kids LOVE their mom-mom (and pop too, of course!). What a blessing to live so close to them! Below are a couple fun pictures of them together. We all wish we lived closer to John's parents (or Grammy and PaPa to the kids) and my dad (Pop Purdy), but we cherish the time we get to spend with them when we get to visit. The kids are blessed with amazing grandparents no matter where they live!

making the "thankful" cookies

Jackson and mom-mom (my mom)
Zoe and mom-mom

it's impossible to get a "normal" picture of him - what a goof!

time to sample some cookies!

Each year for Christmas we make something for our neighbors and friends to give out at Christmas. Usually, it's just something little. This year I saw these adorable Peppermint Pinwheel cookies on Paula Dean's Christmas Cookie Swap on Food Network and I thought, "I am going to make them!" They are so cute and really yummy too! They are swirled red and white cookies and then you put them on a lollipop stick so they look like a lollipop. I put a plastic bag over them and tied them with cute Christmas ribbon. So cute! I wish I had taken a picture of them. All the kids we gave them too LOVED them! Here's a link to them if you are interested: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/peppermint-pinwheels-recipe/index.html

Sisters! Addie and her sitting spots!

Seriously...I don't even know where to begin to backtrack on all the things I want to post on our blog! I haven't been very diligent in keeping up with this thing and sometimes even wonder if anyone ever reads it anyway! Even if no one is reading about the happenings of our family, it's still fun to reflect on them for ourselves, ya know?

Anyway, as I finally downloaded the 158 pictures off the digital camera (I haven't done that since November) I came across some fun moments from the past couple months. Buckle up, here it goes!

The first are some sweet pictures of my two beautiful daughters. It is such a joy to see them love on each other and grow as sisters. When Addie was first born, it took Zoe a while to warm up to having a baby around the house. She never wanted to hold her and pretty much ignored her. She was very polite about it, never in a rude or jealous way, she just never had an interest. When I would ask her if she wanted to hold her or feed her, Zoe would "cough" and say she was getting a little sick and didn't want Addie to get sick, but thank you anyway. A few months into Addie's life Zoe showed more signs of playing with her and now she positively adores her and couldn't be a sweeter big sister to her! I love watching them! I think part of it is I always wanted to sister growing up and it thrills me to know that Zoe and Addie will always have each other.

Addie and her sitting spots!

Okay now, onto something else...Addie and her favorite spot to sit. She is a truly hilarious little girl. She is best known around here for sitting against the wall in any corner of the house - not because she in trouble (she's only 14 months, not sure she would understand time-outs yet) but because she loves to sit there. She will grab a doll or many dolls and simply sit in a corner. Crazy girl! Maybe this is why Santa brought her her very own chair for Christmas, it really made the most sense of any toy out there! Recently she has found some other fun spots, although the corners are still her favorites...

...sitting on top of the vent while it's blowing - notice the flying hair!

...against the wall in the dining room

...in her new pink chair

...in the refrigerator

...and lastly...in her corner

Well, it's getting late and I need to get stuff ready for church tomorrow. I think John is also wondering if I'll ever come back downstairs, I've been up here blogging too long! I'll post more tomorrow with more of the 158 pictures! (Don't worry, not all of them!) Good night!

Lunch box survey

Yes, I know, I have been HORRIBLE at updating our blog during the holidays. With so much going on, I had no time for blogging. And to be honest, when I did have time, I didn't feel like blogging. I will post some Christmas pictures and plenty of fun stories later, but I don't have much time (as I hear little Addie talking through the monitor) so I thought I'd share a darling idea for your kids. I found this idea in a wonderfully cute magazine, Family Fun (thanks Nana for the subscription). It's a fun survey to print off and put in your child's lunchbox. I love it! I always include an "I love you!" message on a napkin for Zoe and Jackson and sometimes include stickers or a piece of candy. This just takes it to the next level! Just thought I'd share.

http://a.familyfun.go.com/Resources/global/printables/templates/LunchSurvey.pdf

Better late than never, that's what I always say!

These are some pictures from our trip to Myrtle Beach back in September. Better late than never, right?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Getting THAT phonecall...

It is every mother's worst nightmare to get a phonecall about your child in distress and you are not there to help them. Last night, it happened to me. First let me start by saying, in the end, all was okay. Anyway, I was at my weekly bible study when I heard my voicemail ding on my cell. We must've been talking too loud and I didn't hear the phone ring. I immediately thought it was John asking about Addie (we were trying a new bedtime routine as I am weaning her from nursing). I checked the voicemail and this was John on the other line, "CALL ME NOW! I NEED TO TAKE JACKSON TO THE HOSPITAL!"...click...

uh...yeah, it was THAT phonecall.

I frantically called him back to see what in the world could have happened. When he answered all I could hear was Jackson screaming in the background yelling, "Daddy, help me!" As the horrible thoughts went running through my head, John explained that Jackson had swallowed a Skittle wrapper (the "Fun Size" from Trick or Treating) and he was having a hard time breathing. Zoe and Jackson were playing downstairs while John was upstairs giving Addie a bath so he wasn't sure of what exactly happened. All he saw was one side of the wrapper on the floor and Jackson screaming that he couldn't breath. While John was explaining what happened, Jackson was still screaming in the background, this time saying, "Please God, don't let me die! Save me!"

I told John to call 911, because I was 25 minutes away and he needed help now! So we hung up and he called 911. Needless to say, driving up to my house with the flashing lights of a firetruck and ambulance is NOT fun. (by the way, it only took me 15 minutes to get home - shh!)

I ran in and there were 4 ENT guys there with Jackson and he was okay. As soon as he saw me, he started crying and melted into my arms. He asked me, "Is it okay if I cry now?" (I guess John had been telling him to stay calm, for fear of the wrapper blocking his air passage, and to be brave.) I assured him he could cry now and he just let it out. I don't think I let go of him for a good 20 minutes. The ENT guys had checked his airways and windpipe and everything sounded fine. The wrapper must've stratched his throat and that's why he kept saying "It's right there, I can feel it in my throat." In the end, they said it would pass through his system. With our extreme thanks, they all left and Jackson got a bowl of Sherbet to help his throat and then off to bed. He wanted me to sit with him until he fell asleep so I did. As I sat there with watching him sleep, I thanked God for keeping him safe and showing me in just another way how much my children mean to me. I truly couldn't imagine my life without each one of them.