strawberry picking

JB was in India for 11 days and the pickin' was good out in Pungo so I recruited BB and Grandad to go strawberry picking with us. I figured they would enjoy the fresh berries and watching the kids harvest (plus the extra sets of hands while berry picking are very necessary!)

Jackson furiously picked berries, remembering what I taught him last year and chanting it to himself and others. "Don't pick the green ones. Only the red ones". Last year we took home lots of green berries on accident. This year the berries were huge and delicious, as Rachel can attest to. She literally ripped them apart with her hands and devoured 10's of them. 

J loves to play motorcycle spotting games, and we were in luck on the Pungo country roads! 

VA Beach and Grandparents

Hi, from our fun-loving, wacky daughter and our talkative 4yo boy.
Aunt Dwyn and Uncle Kenny stopped through VA beach on their tour of the east coast and we had a blast visiting with them! It took rachel about 5 minutes to warm up and then she and Aunt Dwyn were best buddies, snuggling and laughing the whole time. 

Beth hosted a lovely Easter lunch which we pushed back to dinner time so JB could make it this year! Good conversation, good food and party hats :)

J and Grandad were in charge of the trifle and they did an excellent job of layering, smoothing and perfecting the dessert. Jackson also got an A+ in spoon-licking when they were finished. Doesn't he look so handsome in the button-up shirt? Yes...that was an epic battle between the two of us on Easter morning. We struggle to get him to wear anything except "soft shorts" and ratty t-shirts. 

sneaky card face

The long day ended with Rachel running around, diaper sagging in her bloomers and tights, both of the kids binging on chocolate and apple pie. Doesn't she look like the copper tone baby? 

We went to Busch Gardens with BB and Grandad on the first day of the season! It was slightly chilly but we had a blast. The FestHaus, normally a great place to cool down felt more like a ski lodge where everyone went to warm up. We all had a blast on the bumper cars and both of them loved Land of the Dragons. We pretty much go to BG to play at the play ground and drink beer. Worth the drive. And there were about 100 people total in the park. It was amazing. 

Time at BB and Grandad's is so fun that sometimes Rachel just can't handle it anymore and she goes face down in the tupperware to rest ;) 

4 1/2 year old Jackson

Jackson, you are a delight. You are almost 4.5 years old and are a nice, charming, handsome boy. You are growing taller and more agile. Your sparkling blue eyes shine with your curiosity, humor and mischievous personality. Your brown hair looks good short, leaving us at the barber every 4-6 weeks or you look scraggly. You play hard, with dirty calloused feet, skinned knees and elbows and dirt under your fingernails. Like your mother, you hate wearing sock and shoes and prefer to wear comfy pants. You would live in flip flops, a baggy tshirt and athletic shorts if we let you. You can dress yourself completely (even buttons!), although you usually plead for help from me each morning because you like the attention. 

As we have said before, you are silent J no more. Your loud, high voice echoes throughout the neighborhood as you call out for Luke and Katie or yell as you zoom along on your scooter. 

Things you say: 

Mo-veels: It's some combination between motorcycle and vehicle that you came up with years ago and still use

You say "th" now! As in THREE. We worked on it for a few days and you were very agreeable to learning that correct part of speech. 

"Won!"Whenever you win at a game, let's say UNO since you seem to beat us most of the time, you play your last card and simply say, "Won". 

Mom, this cornbread tastes like skin. Real skin. (Note: my child has never tasted skin).

Likes:

Counting, math, board games, flashlight tag, scooter, running, playing, make-believe, action figures, baths with Rachel, chicken nuggets, flavored water, sprinkler, collecting rocks, TV, organizing items, trucks, I Spy, phonics, fruit, gummy vitamins, friends, zoo, park, flossing, preschool, giving money to church, wrestling with Rachel, Kashi, toys

Dislikes: 

Veggies, art/drawing/painting/coloring, naps, baths, getting your nails trimmed, time out, sitting still

Dinner with Blair, JB's college roommate

You have finally started to understand phonics and recognize most of your letters. This is a fascinating process to witness and I love watching you grow and develop more language. Your teacher, Becca, has really been a gift for you and we are so thankful for how you have responded to her methods of teaching. Whenever you talk, you either find words with the same sound like Ball and Blueberry or you find rhyming words. "There's a car. Rhymes with far and star!" You can recognize more letters and numbers when we are out driving and ear learning that we read left to right, which we practice with speed limit signs since you are much more confident in quickly recognizing numbers. The other day at the library, you colored a picture (!!) and wanted to give it to dad, so I encouraged you to write a D on it for daddy. You told me, No mom, that would be confusing. I'll write a J on it for Jonathan. (Again, note, that we do not let our kids call us Heather and Jonathan). However, Jackson wrote a legible "J" for the first time without tracing and I wept in the library I was so proud of him! Right now I'm trying to reign myself in with my excitement at his language growth and find subtle ways to work on it while keeping it fun, most of all. 

J beating us in UNO

You think that Rachel is pretty great most of the time. In the morning, you want to be the first one into her room, at which time you jump into her crib and hug her tightly. You two eat breakfast together (she only wants to eat your food). You have trouble sharing your toys but every so often will be generous and it usually sounds like this. "Here Rachel, I don't like this toy anymore. I want to give it to you". You will push her in the wagon and like to go down the slide with her. Your favorite time of day is the bath and bedtime routine. You two splash in the bath and giggle a lot. Then, once you are in PJs you two wrestle! Our favorite book is still "Tickle Time" by Sandra Boynton. Rachel picks it out and comes to me saying, 'tickle tickle' and then you jump in the action and we have a tickle fest! Rachel then starts to hug and body slam you around her room. when it's time for her to go to bed, you crouch down, reach out to gently hug her and give her a tender kiss on the cheek, saying, "Goodnight baby. I love you. You are so sweet". It is the perfect end to every day.

Cousins Riley and Piper

Here's your typical day:

You stay asleep/in your room until your green light goes on at 6:30am (what a HUGE success!). You find me, either reading my Bible or still sleeping sometimes and we cuddle for a few minutes while you still wake up. Breakfast typically consists of a bagel thin with cream cheese, fruit, yogurt and milk. We play or watch some TV before school, which is 9-12. You adore Ms Becca and your friends at school. After school we play outside until nap time and attempt to rest/nap from 1pm until at least 2. Some days you are very tired and you sleep the whole time. Other days you play (loudly...) in your room and protest the nap time. In the afternoon we play, outside, at the park, the zoo, the library, wherever! You love having Luke and Katie next door and hang with them most of the time. You play hard, stopping briefly for a snack and water break. You protest coming in for dinner but eventually comply. Dinner takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on what veggie you have to eat that night and how long it takes you to eat it. You clean up your dishes, and get ready for bath. When Rachel goes to sleep, we play games or occasionally have a movie night before reading 2 books and tucking you into bed. We pray for you, rub your back and give you "kisses and tight hugs". You still sleep with a night light and a dim overhead light on and are protesting your sound machine right now. 

Fun with Fine Motor!

You are organized, type A, have a vivid imagination, play well by yourself and with others. You are a leader. You like structure and routine but you don't like to be told what to do. You are helpful to dad, Rachel and me. You love to have a few, close friends. You are still shy and prefer not to talk to new adults but you are very outgoing with people you already know. You love face timing or being with your grandparents and easily transition to weekends away with them. Every so often, you come up to dad or me and give us a huge bear hug, gently saying, "I love you SOO much." You want multiple kisses and hugs from me before you go to school or I go to work. 

Best friend, Aurelia

As I tell you often recently, God gave you to dad and me to be our son. We love you dearly. But, if we got to choose our children, we would still pick you and Rachel to be ours. You are perfect for us and we are so blessed to be your parents. We love watching you grow and learn and are so excited to continue to see who you are becoming. 

Fun with co-worker and friend, Cass

Rachel and Grandad

January and February 2016

Blogging has not happened recently. I've been struck with the winter blues and have been hibernating, it feels like! It's been great to do lots of good Bible studies, read some good books (currently the Cider House Rules) and enjoy time with the family. Here is a recap of some hi lights from the past few months. 

We did a Murder Mystery party with some friends from church on New Year's Eve and got to explore our Pirate sides. Arg.

The kids have loved many sleepovers with BB and Grandad. I love being able to get things done around the house and love that they have grandparents so near by. 

I just discovered that J's school has a Facebook page and I found all these cute pictures of he and his classmates. Here he is with his beloved teacher, Ms Becca, doing a craft project. He adores school this year and has really done well with phonics, improving fine motor skills, listening to directions and becoming a leader.  

Random family picture from Christmas! 

Kaely, Ally and I hosted a shower for Kaitlin who had baby Julia in late January. It's so fun to watch my friends become mothers to more children and I love how our friend group continues to grow!

This dreamy 2 year old nephew of mine has the best eyes

We loved spending a few days visiting with Grandmom, Pop Pop, Matt, Chase and William in Springfield for New Years. William is such a sweet boy and it was great to hear how much he is talking now and see him interact with Rachel, who still wants to knock him over with her full-body hugs! 

And isn't this the cutest? JB had worked a rough month of shifts and I came down one morning to find this on the dining room table when he had gotten home from work late one night (aka early one morning)

Rachel 17 months

I haven't posted since Christmas so I really don't know where to begin. So we'll start with Rachel, now that she is 17 months (on March 1st).  Rachel, dear. You are our spunky blonde-headed beauty. You are so joyful and curious. You love so much of life and want to be involved in everything.

Your days begin between 6:30-7:30am and you wake up chattering to yourself in your crib. You are normally talking to the 5 stuffed animals in your bed. Your hair is everywhere, normally crusty with some snot...long-haired girl problems, that's for certain! When I come in, you systematically hand me your baby doll, blankets and all the animals in your crib. When my hands are sufficiently full, you ask to be picked up. We snuggle, change your diaper (that's not a fun process for either of us right now) and then go eat breakfast. 

Breakfast consists of a bagel thin with cream cheese, fruit, yogurt or oatmeal. You feel so-so about milk, either avoiding it completely or downing glass after glass during the day. You are getting quite proficient with utensils but I can't bring myself to try you consistently with a non-lid cup. You are much messier than Jackson, throwing your plates when you are done eating (but still with food on them) or just tossing food off your tray to Lincoln. You and Link have a great working relationship around meal time. 

Your favorite things in life right now are socks and shoes. From the moment you first wake up, you point at your shoes until i hand you the right pair and you carry them around all morning. You love to help put socks on and take them off during nap times. Your sparkly shoes are your favorites but since you've outgrown them you are now rocking some Pumas and grey Sauconys. Your typical outfit is a pair of leggings and a shirt with a light jacket and/or hat if needed. We average 2 outfits a day with how rough you play. Bows look super cute in your hair but they don't stay put in your silky blonde locks so we opt for the whale spout/fountain/pouf/mini-bun in the front. Your hair completely covers your neck in the back and is somewhat curly depending on the day. I think my straight-hair genes might win out...sadly! 

You still mostly enjoy the stroller on our run or walk to take Jackson to school. You'll drink your milk or play with your  music box. The best thing about dropping him off is Ms. Meg, the director of the preschool. She started in December and you two adore each other. You peer into her office when you get there and she swoops you up in a big hug and you two tell secrets to each other. It's precious. When you are not in her arms. you are giving your brother massive bear hugs on his way into the classroom. You hug with such fierceness that you usually throw him into a wall. You desperately want to go into his classroom, but you'll have to wait until you are 3 or 4 my dear. 

You and I normally hit the gym or play outside (not recently! Too cold!). When we get to the gym you run into the stay and play room without even looking back. You and Jackson are so different! Instead of wanting to be held the whole time (like you still do at church), you run right to the baby dolls and play happily. The car is your least favorite place to be. you are still rear-facing and I just like to think that you are bored or car sick (I know that is probably not possible for a 1.5 year old) because you are super unhappy even with books, toys, snacks, etc. You seem to enjoy the "Find a big truck!" game, like Jackson did around this age. Hopefully that can keep you entertained and peaceful. 

Lunches are whatever is in the house...sandwiches, veggies, fruit, beans, leftovers. You eat pretty well. 

Favorite foods: anything jackson is eating, fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, sauces (A1 is your fav!), peas, peppers. Least favorite foods: cheese (surprising), deli meat, spinach. You still eat a lot and all the time and have developed a Byrne baby belly like J had. We're sure you'll lose that in time too but right now it's very cute, esp at bedtime when you are full from the day and your belly looks like it will pop!

Morning nap happens about 50% of the time depending on when you wake up. Sometimes you sleep happily for 2 hours and other times you yell and scream for a while before we get you. Speaking of yelling...you totally have a stereotypical girl scream. It's not our favorite sound ever. Afternoon nap is pretty good, 1-2 hours starting at 1pm. You wake up yelling but you are very happy once you wake up and want a snack and play time.

Afternoon play time consists of: blowing bubbles, drawing (eating) with chalk, going to the library, going to the park, playing outside, wandering inside, coloring, doing play-dough, singing, dusting (yes...you love to dust). We are all very much ready for winter to be over so we can really get outside more and run! But, all things considered we have faired very well in the winter. You get HANGRY (for all who don't know, that is angry because you are hungry) around 4:15 so we often have dinner at 4:30. A snack, even one with loads of protein, is not enough to tie you over. You want a full meal, a real plate of real food. It's a challenge to have a real dinner ready in the 4:00 hour but the crock pot has been my saving grace during this season. We do lots of burritos and the like. 

When I say it's time for bath you exclaim, "BAH" and run to the stairs. You love bath time! Your new favorite thing is to drink the water, either from a cup or straight out of the tub. It's pretty disgusting to watch and you are starting to realize that. You love splashing around with Jackson and don't mind being washed. We took you to the inside pool yesterday and it was a little too cold for you to love it as much as you love a nice warm bath but we think you'll adore the outdoor pool this summer and will be a real water baby. 

Your favorite books are: Goodnight Gorilla; Tickle Time (Sandra Boynton); Brown Bear Brown Bear; Where is Spot?

Favorite things to do: Tickle/be tickled; play hide-and-seek; play music; sit on the stairs and sing; be outside; eat chalk; play with play dough; drink from your (or anyone's) water bottle; eat snacks; put shoes on. 

New Words: You have words for many things. But recently you just talk/sing all the time in completely gibberish! You raise your arms and flap them around while you sing with lots of throaty gg sounds. You proudly exclaim, 'Bye DaDa!' whenever he leave for work. When you see me enter a room, you yell at the top of your lungs, "Mah!!!!!" and run to me. It's the best feeling ever (most of the time....). You cuddle a lot with dad and will sit there for books, snacks, relaxing time. You two play really well together. You are quite whiny for me, however, which is slightly draining at this point in time. You always want to be held and I know we need to break you of that but it's so hard. Hopefully I can find the strength to do that soon. 

Friends: You just can't get enough of Jackson, or "Da!" as you call him :) You want to be in his room, sitting on him, pounding his head and eating his food. You carry his backpack into school and want to play with all of his toys. At night, you run up to him and body slam him with a hug. It often ends in an injury for one/both of you but it's really cute to watch. We're watching you two negotiate the ins and outs of being siblings, wrestling, sharing, etc. He also thinks you are the greatest thing ever, honestly. He is a very gentle and kind big brother and I hope that you two actually like each other and stay friends as you get older. You love little babies, which is tough because you are also very aggressive with yow well you want to love other people. So, we usually have to keep you far away from any little child. 

You are growing up so fast, our little one. You are showing signs of readiness for potty training (yikes!) and we have gently started that. You throw things away in the trash. You wash your hands and put your dishes near the sink. You love getting dressed/undressed and brushing your teeth. You climb, run, roll, laugh, sing, explore. You love face timing your grandparents and aunt/uncle/cousin. You love figuring out how things work. You love watching older kids and trying to be part of the group. 

We love you little Nugget. We hope you always have a joy for life, a willingness to explore and an ability to be so easy-going. We hope you follow God's path for your life. We love you our happy one.