A visit from Christine

Christine came to visit me.  She left her hubby (thank you Jonathan) and Mikah... her little one year old daughter, to come and hang out with an old friend (and when I say old I mean, I am old compared to her)  :)  Above is her reading the "All about Georgia" book Haley and Hunter made.
Jonah quickly warmed up to Christine... It had been 6 months since he last saw her. 
This is Hunter doing a "I miss Jonathan" dance... it was load, but cute. 
Friends... Christine and I met the last year I was teaching.  It was her first year.  She was a huge blessing to my life and we became instant friends... She knows all my lovely flaws and still wants to hang with me :)
She got to meet some of my friends and even got to go to my church.  

We took her to the Waffle House (above) and Five Guys (below)

We HAD to go to Mayfield dairy... 

We had some LATE nights... It was a BLAST... all my house hold chores were put off til after she left... but it was worth it.  :)  
Thanks Christine for coming out and visiting us in the sticks... :)  We had fun.  It was especially fun kicking your butt in card games.... :)  

All about Georgia

Hunter and Haley made Christine an "All about Georgia" book for her to read.  Here are some of my favorite pages.

My 31 birthday

On April 23rd, I turned 31.  In the morning I had playgroup and went to the park with all the other moms and their kiddos.  My friend, Kimberly, baked cupcakes and all the kids sang happy birthday to me... it was cute.

Below is Joe and his buddy Corbin.... Kimberly's youngest.

That evening, Jimmy took care of all the arrangements... before people came over, he let me take a nap (lets face it, a day at the park is not relaxing with a 20 month old).... he got Mexican food from a restaurant and Jenny baked a pound cake with NO frosting (my favorite)....  Jimmy loaded it up with 31 candles for me to blow out.  Nice.... He took great pleasure in that.  

The kids helped me blow it out.

Pam, Bonnie, scott and Jenny all came to celebrate my birthday!  

The next day, Christine surprised me with a visit.  She flew out from California for a three day weekend.  (Fri-Mon).  It was a great birthday present.  We had so much fun.   (I will blog more about her trip out here later)
For my birthday, jim arranged for my friends and I to have a girls night.  He facebooked three of my friends here in Georgia to find a day that would work out for them.... 

Above is Christine and Crystal... We went to dinner to the Olive Garden

Jenny, me and Kimberly... Rachael couldnt make it. 

After dinner we walked around the Mall of Georgia... Then we went back to my house to play games and eat chocolate covered strawberries.... It was a late night but totally worth it.  We had fun!!!

Spring is here...

Flowers are blooming like crazy!  In California you get smog reports... or levels... whatever, here, you get pollen levels... You can literally see pollen flowing in the air.  Our deck has yellow powder all over it like dust.. instead, its pollen....

Here us a really cute picture of Rainn, Rachael and Chad's daughter.

Haley posing silly.... This is right outside in our front yard

Hunter

Rachael and Chad came over to help Jim out with some computer things and we had pizza and fun.  This is just outside out back door to our backyard.  I am not sure if you click on the picture if you can see Jonah's head  where he fell.... I will take a better one tomorrow and try and post it for you all. 

Easter 09

SO I put these pictures in backwards order.... :)  Above is one of many pictures I have of the kids finding eggs around the house.  Scott and Jenny started a tradition this year with our kids, which I love... taken from Jenny's family... Scott and Jenny wrote out clues for the kids to use to find their eggs.  Haley was able to read her own clues... Hunter had his read to him.  Jonah just had his eggs scattered on the floor while he shouted ball!  :)  The kids really liked the new egg hunt style.  

ON easter morning, haley lost her fourth tooth.  :)

Uncle Scoby helped Hunter with his egg hunt at church 

Jonah even braved the egg hunt.  This was two days from his stitches... (right now he looks great... I will have to post a picture)

And Easter baskets...

Good Friday.... or was it?

Wanna hear about my day yesterday?  Well, if you dont, then dont read :) 

It was a rainy, stormy day and haley was off on spring break, so we decided to have a lazy day.  We all were in our PJ's and just chilled... no cleaning... just relaxed.  I scrapbooked, the kids played... it was really relaxing... 

The kids were dancing to Yo Gabba Gabba... UNTIL... 

BOOM... followed by a loud scream... I ran into the living room to see Jonah covered in blood with a hole in his head walking towards me.  He had fallen on the edge of the fireplace.  I froze in shock.  I dont do blood!!!  AND there was a TON of it... I quickly grabbed the nearest thing I could (Haley's leggings) and put it on his head.  Haley ran to the freezer and brought me a bag of frozen veggies...  Jim was at work.  I called him... couldnt remember what I said... then I remembered scott was off (which is amazing since he works 60 hours a week) so I called scott.  He lives 3 minutes away.  I dont remember what I told him but he came right away.  Apparently I didnt tell him about the head wound because he was in shock when he saw Jonah.  

When Scott arrived I had all the kids in the car loaded and ready... I ran upstairs to grab my shoes (and a few other clothing garments that were missing due to lazy day)... then we were off to the Urgent Care. 

When we got to the Urgent care I jumped out to take Jonah in when I realized that the shoes I grabbed for myself were Haley's shoes... so I had NO SHOES (remember, it is RAINING).

Scott was a huge blessing... He was calm and great.  

I remembered that my friend, Rachael, was childless for the day and Chad, her husband was off, so I called her to see if she could pick up the kids from the Urgent care so they didnt have to see their mom a wreck. When Rachael and Chad arrived... Rachael saw my bared feet and took off her shoes and gave them to me to wear.... she took off her sweater and gave it to me.  The kids were happy to go to their house to play.... THANKS RACHAEL AND CHAD!  Scott had offered to take the kids home, but at this point, Jim wasnt there yet and I needed his calm presence to help me out!

The nurses were great... very calming.  They reassured me that he was doing great.  He had stopped screaming and eventually wanted to get down to play.  He didnt loose too much blood and never lost conscienceness

Jimmy arrived and then Jenny all in time for the stitches... 

Jimmy was in the room when they stitched him up, the doctor had asked me to leave... :)  because I had already been too emotional.  Scott sent Jenny and I for a walk around the building so we wouldnt hear Jonah's screaming...

Jonah ended up with 6 internal stitches and 8 external stitches.  We go back on Wednesday to get them removed.  
When we got home, the storm was getting worse.  Then there was TORNADO watch.  

On the weather channel it told us that Flowery Branch was minutes away from getting hit by a funnel cloud... there were sirens going to warn us... (it wasnt as scary as it sounds... strangely)... So we headed to the basement.
I brought my lap top and a movie, Bolt, and we watched a movie.... It was kinda fun... The storm really only got as bad as thunder and lightening (which I am use to now).  The wind here has never been as bad as the Santa Ana's I am use too... so really... it turned out to be fun family night in the hallway!  
I learned a lot yesterday...

1. Always get fully dressed even on Lazy Day... because you never know... 

2. Head wounds bleed a LOT... and may look worse then it actually is.

3. Tornado watch isnt as scary as an Earthquake.  Because when you are hit with an earthquake (if you are like me) you lay in bed that night wondering if that was a pre-tremor to the BIG ONE... where as when tornado watch is over, you can go to bed and sleep without real worry of a surprise.  (At least this is based on my one experience)

4.  Keep my laptop charged so that when you have to go downstairs in a rush, you can entertain the kids with a movie... 

5. Yo Gabba Gabba is the worst...

6.  Protecting your fireplace with a big thick quilt doesnt fully protect from head wounds... 

7.  It is nice to have family and friends that live close by!

Little of this a little of that

When ever we have people coming over, the kids like to look out our windows on the side of our house... Hunter will pull up a chair and sit there just watching.... it is cute.
This is a swinging bench we have out in our back yard where we like to sit...

This is Jonah, "riding" Hunter's scooter... In the grass... :)

Every Easter Jim likes to dye eggs with the kids... 

Sunday was the Braves first official game...  We went to have dinner at Scott and Jenny's house.  It was fun... we even had a stripper... Jonah :)

Haley did an easter egg hunt at school and the way the teacher did it was that each kid got assigned a word and they could only collect the eggs they found with their word on it.  I thought it was pretty cool.... new idea anyways... 

Lately when my kids come home with a balloon from somewhere, they draw a face on them, name them and then play with them as their "friend".  I liked this picture of Hunter with "Buddy" ... my kids get quite attached and when the air gets low (or say, mom accidently pops it) they get really sad.... 

The hunt begins.... How to Catch a Squirrel?

Our friend, Jamey, came over to help Jim set the trap for the squirrel(s) that live up in our attic.  At least we are hoping it is squirrels... if it isnt, then this rat has big ol' poo.  Anyways... Our landlord dude came over to drop off the trap for the varmint, and had this big smile on his face explaining that once we catch the critter, we can do with it as we please.... I asked him what this meant and he said, (with a smile) "you can shake the cage til he dies, or you can get a gun and shoot him at point blank... " so in other words, when he said we can do with it how ever we want, he meant we could KILL it anyway we want.... WOO....  JIm and I had no idea what to do so we called our friend, Jamey, to help us out.  He went up in the attic with Jim to look around for the best place to set the trap.... While doing this, he found poo.... BIG poo.... He said that it was TOO big to be a rats... so he is PRETTY sure it is squirrels who are coming up there.  Squirrels, I dont mind so much..... RATS... I DO MIND.... Anyways.... the trap has been up there for a week now and NO CRITTER... We hear the squirrels.... but they are smart... Hunter hopes we catch it so we can have a pet squirrel.... Hopefully he wont be too crushed when I tell him that squirrels dont really make for good pets.  

Fire truck fun

This morning at play group, Rusty (our churches youth pastor) brought an older model fire truck for the kids to see.  I believe he is the fire Chaplin dude there.... 

He took the kids for a ride... Above is Hunter and Grady

Hunter and Jonah waiting their turns

Me and Kimberly

Haley brought her friend Farrah, she got to come because she is on Spring Break.

Rusty let us use the hose!

Below is Rachael and her daughter Rainn.  

Hunter, Haley and Farrah.  Hunter loves that Farrah has glasses just like him!  Cute.  I wish you could hear Farrah talk, she has the cutest southern accent!!! (So does Rainn)  I love these kids with their cute little accents... 

Rainn, Hunter, Haley, Jonah, Farrah, and Corbin

Me wearing the mask and tank thing.... Jonah thought it was funny seeing me with the mask, he pointed and laughed at me....

Jonah and I in the truck... 

It was a fun morning....