hide n' seek

Micah's current favorite game is hide and seek. He's not picky about where he hides but very picky about where you do. He has been know to tell me, babysitters, Zach, friends, etc. that they did not have a good hiding place! He's a little particular sometimes :) Yesterday he yelled for me to come to his room to find him. I seriously looked everywhere and couldn't find him, a definite first! Finally he started giggling and woohooing to help me and I just had to laugh...

That was a pretty darn good hiding spot!

thanksgiving week

It was the Mays' family Thanksgiving this year and everyone, except Beka who is coming home from Mexico Friday!, was in Gainesville. We had a great, exhausting, but great time! There were 10 adults and 7 kids under 6 years old!

Linda woke up with a stomach bug Thursday morning which meant Jessica and I were in charge of all the food. It was super yummy, if I do say so myself, but geez louise is that tough work! After naps we went to the park down the street to work off all that turkey :) Micah fell in love with the scooter and helmet and rode it all the way there by himself, rode around the tennis courts the whole time, and then rode it all the way home. It was immediately put on his Christmas list!

The rest of the kids, and adult type kids, spent their time playing on the play ground and timing themselves running around the cement circle that in closed the playground. Very humorous!

Instead of shopping on Black Friday Linda, Jess, Zach and I took all the kids to Monkey Joe's. It was a hit! Micah was a little more hesitant this time but I think it was because there were a lot more kids there. Connor, our little daredevil, went down the HUGE slide all by himself. He couldn't climb the stairs along though so at least one of us had to go with him every time. Sadly he was much braver about it than I was. After a pizza lunch we watched the Iron Bowl, WAR EAGLE!, then I spent the next little bit taking care of Micah who caught the stomach bug that had already hit 3 other people in the group. Since the family is only going to get bigger we all need to prepare ourselves for more exhausting, yet super fun holidays together!

one little indian boy

This morning Micah had his Thanksgiving program and feast. I had gone to the school a few weeks ago with some other moms to help the kids (and teachers) decorate their costumes and centerpieces so I kind of knew what to expect. They were each dressed up as an Indian and they were all so cute! They sang one little, two little, three little indians..., thank you God, My God is So Big, and their prayer. Micah did such a great job. His last 'performance' he spent the entire time looking at the ground, too shy to sing, dance or even wave to his parents. Today he had a huge smile on his face, waved when he saw us and did ALL the hand motions. He still did it in his little shy way but he did it :)

After the performance we ate the traditional Thanksgiving meal we just did it with LOTS of children around...let's just say it wasn't the most relaxing meal you'll ever eat but at least everyone was in the same boat! It was great meeting some of the other parents of kids in Micah's class. I finally got to meet Ben's mom and learned that he talks about Micah just as much as Micah talks about Ben. (yay he made a real friend all on his own!).

By the time we left both boys were exhausted which resulted in a minor Micah meltdown on the ride home when I told him he had to take a nap. FYI to those who aren't parents yet, when your kid cries when you tell him he's tired it just proves he's tired :) I was so glad Zach was able to work from home today so he could watch our sweet boy being so big!

birthday present

As I said in my last embrace the camera post, I turned 29 last Monday. That means I only have 51 weeks until I turn 30. Not that I'm counting or dreading it or anything. Seriously I'm just kidding I'm really not counting that down. I'm not quite that pathetic! Anyway I had a G.R.E.A.T birthday. The weekend before we went out with some of our favorite couples to dinner and a movie (sans kids) and had a wonderful time talking, laughing, acting like adults (kind of) and just being out past 8:00 :)

I am a huge fan of presents, both receiving and giving. It's one of my love languages. Words can not explain how happy it makes my heart to give someone something I believe they will truly love and cherish and will make them feel special because it is so perfectly suited to them. Because Zach knows this about me, he does a great job finding som

ething for me that is perfect. This year I gave him a hint, ok I straight told him please I want this. He spent a whole Saturday (before the AU/UGA game) cutting, measuring, and nailing cute boxes under the chair rail in the kitchen to give us the 'look' of wainscoating. He then came home from

YL the night of my bday and stayed up late to finish painting the pretty blue color I have always longed for in my kitchen.

Now my house is still for sale and I am still hoping it sells and soon if truth be told, but until then I get to look at my beautifully calming blue kitchen, knowing my husband loves me enough to give me my perfect gift :)

Before:

After:

close up of the finished product. ignore the red ball

underneath the table.

my wall with connor's 1 year old pics added

another angle of the 'dining room' wall :)

above the stove

'kitchen' side

sunday song: thanksgiving service

Every year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving our church, Christ Community, has a special Thanksgiving service. We set up tables, complete with centerpieces, and sit family style while enjoying a morning of worship through songs and testimonies.

This day has never failed to be a blessing to me and many others because it's real. It's real people telling real stories about real struggles and a very real God who rescued them from their pit and brought them to be with Him. You can not help listening to the hearts of others and having yours open up to what God has done in your life and see how easy it is to just share that with those around you.

I have the perfect song for today and for this week leading up to Thanksgiving. It's old...I mean real old, but every time I see the words and hear the melody my heart opens up in Thanksgiving to our God!

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amen!

Here's a great performance of this song by David Crowder Band

stickers

Micah found some stickers that came for free in the mail

and soon decided that if one sticker is cool a whole sheet is awesome!

embrace the camera: birthday dinner

I turned 29 on Monday. The last year before 30. Yeah, not a huge fan, but not depressed either so it's all good! My boys took me to our Japanese Steakhouse for my Bday dinner. It was yum-o!

I love a yummy {embrace the camera}

18 months old

Last week Connor turned 18 months old. A year and a half!! Pure craziness. It's really hard to keep up with the new things Connor is learning lately. If the next six months is anything like Micah's, I expect a FLOOD of newness coming our way! In the meantime Connor...

*continues to add new words every day...yogurt, wiggles, drum, snack, candy (thanks halloween :/), ready, set, go, and more I'm sure.

*knows the animal noises for a duck, dog, cat, elephant, rooster, lion, tiger and dinosaur
*has fallen in love with the Wiggles VHS that my parents gave to Micah. Micah still loves and they dance dance dance the entire time! His favorite song is Quack, Cockadoodle Doo and every time he sings it he runs around it a circle while quacking and cocadoodle dooing!
*can say Waaaaaarrrr Eagle hey! It sounds like (war lulu hey). So cute!
*is entering the dreaded 'can't take you anywhere' phase. You know the one where their old enough to think they're independent but too young to understand they're not. Yeah we won't be eating out for the next few months I'm sure!
*started following along/remembering simple songs and do the hand motions. His favorite right now is If You're Happy and You Know It.
*needs a haircut...bad! My sister made the comment that he's looking too much like me as a kid with the long hair!
*would snack all day long if you let him (just like his big brother). I will be eaten out of house and home when they're teenagers!

My sweet little squishy is so big, so sweet, so challenging and so cuddly all at the same time!

playtime pictures

We had a plethora of playtime this week :)

A little bit of rhythm

Being a Tiger on the prowl

recreating Goliath mega block style

Massive mud pie making

Harry Potter practice

Staying Shady

Growling practice

embrace the camera

We stopped in the middle of play time to take a picture. I really need to remember to hide the clicker button ;)