Update on the kiddos

These little ones are growing up quickly! Here's a little update through the iphone.

Bella took her first selfie. I love this picture!

JT took his cars and went to the door. I asked where he was going and he said "I go to Granddad's house". awwww!

I love when they want to cuddle on the couch with me after school. I can't wait for summer when this is what we do every day after nap time.

JT likes to eat. A lot. At a time. He demolished 3 chocolate chip pancakes. And this was before he had some eggs. Lawd help us when he becomes a teenager.

One of my favorite times of the day is reading after a bath. We had a rare quiet moment when both kids wanted to just sit and read and cuddle. So we both obliged!

"Momma, I picked you a fower". Oh my goodness, y'all! He's so sweet.

North Carolina has beautiful spring time weather. And we have been enjoying a lot of it. The kids like to pick every flower/weed in the backyard and bring it to us. It's hard not to keep them all. Hi, I"m Emily and I'm a hoarder of weeds my kids pick for me.

The kids also like to help me water the garden or, in Jonathan's case, the brick and cars and hose and himself and Bella and his shoes and the flowers and Bella again and his head...

Sweet Bella has been working out with me in the morning time. And she likes to wear her hair like I do. Doesn't she look 15 in this picture?

Told you reading was one of my favorite times!

And last but not least, the kiddos
 called Grammy and Pawpaw on their "phones". They sat there for a long time telling them about their days and what they were doing. This is a shameless plug to see Grammy and PawPaw soon. =)

Bella update

This little gal is a beautiful 5 year old girl. Full of  joy and tenacity and inquisitiveness and laughter. I tell her everyday I'm so thankful to be her Momma. Now she knows I'm about to say it and will say, "I know I know I know". ha! But I keep telling her.


This little gal still loves the outside. She picks every flower/weed she sees to give to me or her Daddy.

Y'all, look at that personality! She's becoming a champ on her scooter lately.

She rode in the car with the buckle like a "big girl" for the first time this week. She's definitely growing up!

Speaking of growing up, check on the adorable graduation outfit. I may have cried a little (ok, maybe a lot) when I got this picture in the mail. Be prepared for a sappy post around the time of her graduation. I warned you all!

Spring Break

My spring break was 2 weeks ago and it was filled with getting up at 4am every day, helping get the kids ready for school, and working on my dissertation until 3ishpm. And, I made some great progress! The next week was the kiddos spring break. And I did not get up at 4am or get much done on my dissertation. But we had some fun!

The little JT loves his fire truck shirt. He was writing Granddad a letter and wanted to send it in the mail. Be prepared for a cute letter, Granddad!

Bella and I spent a full day with just eachother. And thankfully the weather was beautiful. We headed outside with my grandmother's quilt, some snacks, and our books. It was such a joy to read with her and talk about her books. Then we played lots and lots of tag!

Bella and I also made a boat on her bed, decorated her room with homemade moons, stars, and trees, and flew on a pirate ship. This age is so much fun!

Our sweet Bella is getting so grown up! It's a joy to watch her come into her own personality.

The big event of spring break was getting a swing set. I found a steal of a deal on Craigslist and purchased this incredibleness that day, with the help of my sister. It has already paid for itself since the kids love it for hours at a time.

JT grabbed these cars/trucks and went to the door. When I asked him where he was going, he said "I go to Neena and Granddad's house". He wanted to show them his cars and stayed at the door for a while. Poor little guy couldn't understand why he couldn't just go over to their house. So, this is my public service announcement for my parents to move closer. Did that make your break swoon with the story, Neena and Granddad? =)

We also enjoyed some great snuggle time and movies on the couch.

And food. Mike made some chocolate pancakes one morning and you can tell Jonathan approved.

Awww, spring break! Spring is here and we are ready! (Don't mind the no makeup-I didn't even do my hair that day-look. It was spring break and I was busy swinging and cuddling!)

Update on the kiddos - from the iphone

So our main camera is broken. boooo! Hence, the onslaught of iphone pictures that I have not put up in other posts. They still do the job on capturing some sweet moments though.Warning: Some of these pictures go back to Christmas. At least they will make it in the kid's books!

What is one to do on a weekend with a house full of toys? Well, naturally play in boxes!

Uhm, the picture with the cookies is about 3 months old (they were for Santa) but I don't think it made it in my other posts. And it's cute y'all!

The kiddos love to make cutout cookies. So we are still making sugar cookies with those things.

We decided to paint on another snow day we had. Dear Crayola, thank you for being washable!

The kids received some great gifts from our dear friends, Mark and Gayla. They are still enjoying those gifts!

Spring is coming, y'all! We can fell it in the air! Except snow is in the forecast for this week. Oh well!

The kids make some precious pictures that were framed all together in their craft corner. I just love all of them!

Snow day...again

This winter has been crazy and given us lots of snow time! The second snow storm was complete with missing school for two days. So, we had to fill our time with activities! First off was making snowmen out of marshmallows.

I gave each kid 5 marshmallows.  One of them made a snowman and the other...

We enjoyed some wonderful snow with hot chocolate and lots of marshmallows throughout the day.

Just a precious picture!

Christmas post: Take 3

While were at my sister's house for Christmas, Mike and I were able to have a mini getaway to a cabin with a little creek in the back. It was such a great time and we are thankful for my family for watching the kiddos.

The kids seemed to not mind at all. =) They went to the children's museum and played and ate and played and took naps. So they didn't miss us - which is fine with me. That means they had fun! Enjoy the pictures.

I love this picture of JT with dad. JT crawled up in his lap to get a backrub. And he stayed there for a long time. So cute!