February 2019 Randoms

Three years ago, Emmie made history and got a strong neck! THREE YEARS! It’s been such an amazing three years looking back at how far she has come.

We celebrated, as usual with a homemade cookie cake (her choice).

We briefly had a ball pit/baby jail and Tobin had a blast.

Emmie loves to explore with scissors and made this person on her own with no prompting.

Four years ago, we “met” a sweet friend who ran in his undies to raise money for Neurofibromatosis with Cupid’s Undie Run. I say “met” because we have only talked on Facebook. Mr. Cliff decided that Emmie was pretty awesome enough to be the one he ran for. And so, four years later, he has consistently been in the top 3 fundraisers for Atlanta. He always runs with a fun heart with Super Ems on it. This year his costume was, well, let’s say, a little lacking and Ems heart kept falling off but throughout the day it always found it’s way back to Cliff. He sent her his medal from 2018 when he got second place in fundraising and Emmie was thrilled beyond belief. Our mission is to make sure we meet Cliff in person one day. Oh, and if you want to hear about the run and see the infamous heart, check out this video by a youtuber who participated this year (Warning…this is people running around in their skivvies…most are covered though. Just preview it for the younger eyes.).

I say “met” because we have only talked on Facebook. Mr. Cliff decided that Emmie was pretty awesome enough to be the one he ran for. And so, four years later, he has consistently been in the top 3 fundraisers for Atlanta. He always runs with a fun heart with Super Ems on it. This year his costume was, well, let’s say, a little lacking and Ems heart kept falling off but throughout the day it always found it’s way back to Cliff. He sent her his medal from 2018 when he got second place in fundraising and Emmie was thrilled beyond belief. Our mission is to make sure we meet Cliff in person one day. Oh, and if you want to hear about the run and see the infamous heart, check out this video by a youtuber who participated this year (Warning…this is people running around in their skivvies…most are covered though. Just preview it for the younger eyes.).

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The Statue and Memorial

Liam has said that this was his absolutely favorite sightseeing experience. It was pretty impressive. I wish we had had more time at Ellis Island exploring the history was so interesting. We’re pretty certain both of our families came over before the Civil War and probably even before the Revolutionary War. So, we didn’t know a lot about Ellis Island.

We visited the 9/11 Memorial and the 9/11 Tribute Museum. We weren’t sure what the Tribute Museum held because it was a walk away from the 9/11 Memorial Museum and Memorial. It turns out it is the museum put together by first responders, survivors and families of the victims of 9/11. I have no words to describe that experience nor the guts to even take pictures at the museum. It was really an opportunity for us to see the larger and personal impact of the 9/11 attacks. Not only that but it gave Liam an opportunity to really grasp the brevity of the attacks. He couldn’t even speak after we walked through the exhibit. It was a tough but necessary visit for us to honor the families who have suffered and remember the victims who lost their lives.

The Oculus is a mall/Subway stop across from the 9/11 Memorial and next to One World Trade Center.

Out of the ashes…One World Trade Center. Please, never forget!

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Seeing the Sights

Our first stop was the Empire State Building. Liam decided he wanted to see this because Ace went to the St. Louis Arch and he wanted to try and get higher than him. Brothers and their competitiveness!

Pretty amazing view but a little costly.

After church on Sunday, we headed out to the USS Intrepid. It’s an aircraft carrier turned museum. It also housed the Enterprise shuttle that was used for test flights. We only had a short time here and Liam told me later he wished we had a longer time, but we all still enjoyed it.

All of us were quite impressed with the to scale lego model of the Intrepid. The ice on the river was quite impressive too! No. Us Southerners have never seen that before.

Up next, the Statue of Liberty and our visit to the 9/11 Memorial.

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New York, New York

Liam turned 13 in December last year and ya’ll know what that means in our family…time for a 13th birthday trip. Liam chose New York to begin with then flipped to San Francisco when we thought Mark had a work trip out there but when that was canceled he swapped back to New York. I was excited to get to go with him since I had to miss out on Ace’s trip (we had two swimmers that had district competition that planned weekend). So, ya’ll get ready for a few posts about this special trip with Liam.

Getting ready for the first plane ride!
Riding the air train to the subway.

First stop was Lombardi’s. We didn’t go to the very first Lombardi’s restaurant but it was a chain of it. Obviously it was yummy and didn’t disappoint. However, later, we tried out the cheap pizza ($2 for two slices and a soda) and it was just as good.

While we’re talking about food, these onion rings were almost as big as my head! Juniors Cheesecake was so yummy. Let me give ya’ll some advice though, order an entree to share with one or two other people so you have plenty of room for cheesecake!

So, I have zero guilt that we totally devoured these milkshake creations. That day we had eaten light and climbed the stairs of the Statue of Liberty from the base to the crown. TO THE CROWN. 708 steep small stairs total! We walked everywhere too. There was not a day we were there that we didn’t walk over 12, 000 steps. So, these Black Tap milkshakes were our big reward. If you go to New York, Black Tap is a MUST!

Time Square!

We passed Radio City Music Hall.

Rockefeller Center. We watched the ice skaters and stopped in at the Lego Store and Nintendo Stores.

We had our first Uber ride!

This reminds me, please make sure that when you Uber or Lyft that you verify your driver…especially after the tragedy in South Carolina recently.

Mark, of course, can’t go anywhere without doing a Geek Tour (for instance, we had to go by where the first HP was built when we were at Stanford…and the Android statues). Our New York stop included a walk by the B & H store which is consisted of a full block in New York City!

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January Randoms 2019

Three years ya’ll! 2016 on the left. 2019 on the right! Oh my super hero!

This boy is literally always into something. Ball box, oranges, a big bowl or just an empty box. He loves to get into things.

We got an exercise bike with some Christmas money. It’s supposed to be for me and Mark, but the kids are on it a lot. I’m not telling them that they are getting healthy though.

Trying to, and failing at, demonstrating how to fold a fitted sheet.

We painted our dining room, added two new reading nook chairs to the sitting portion of the dining room and I’m happy. The kids love to curl up with a book in one of the chairs. I think there is a kid in the nook at all times during the day.

My Lulu does whatever she can to get snuggles when she wants them. Sweet girl!

She also likes to read…and fall asleep reading.

After the Women’s Conference, Mark and I were re-capping our weekend and he lost it sharing a story about the kids. Ya’ll there were tears of hilarity. I love seeing him get tickled like this.

Ace scored jackpot of a holy chip! We’re not iconic people so to us, this was hilarious!

When my kids play together without fighting, we have to capture it in pictures.

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While Mom’s Away

For Christmas, I asked Mark for an opportunity to attend a conference with a friend about Biblical counseling for women and the theme was on suffering. He immediately agreed and signed me up right away. It was a wonderful time with my friend and her friends’ from church who were so welcoming. And the speakers. Ya’ll, if you don’t know who Katherine Wolf is, go to Hope Heals and grab her book. She’s got good stuff to say about praising God in the darkness and the unknown. Very encouraging for me.

While I was gone, Mark manned the fort solo and did a wonderful job. I so enjoyed seeing the pictures of my kids having a blast and making memories.

Forts were built and I didn’t have to be the one to tell them to clean them up.

Outside play. Note the four year old is without a jacket and the bigs have one on. Not Mark’s fault…these kids don’t notice climate differences (and seriously, she has a big ol’ brace on that holds in a lot of warmth).

At least she got bundled up for s’mores.

Needless to say, Tobin has no qualms about getting dirty and marshmallows are now on his happy list of foods (which is quite long).

Fire pits! Yes! See the 13 year old, in the middle of the polar vortex, in a t-shirt.

Babies bundled up and ready to go are my weakness.

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Happy Birthday Silas, 2019!

Silas started out our birthday year turning 12! He enjoyed all of his building gifts and totally loved his ice cream cake. We also got to venture out to see Into the Spider-verse thanks to the discount Tuesday nights!

This was our third birthday with Silas! Each year we are all growing and learning and hopefully, showing Christ to one another. I can’t wait to see how much he grows this next year. By the way, he is already plotting his 13th birthday trip next year!

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Murphy’s Law Camping

We decided to start out the new year by going camping. Yeah, it was fun BUUUUUTTTT…it was not an ideal camp.

Point one: We drove our Crimson Cruiser pulling the camper through monsoon rain. Once we got to the site, in Florida, we were setting up. I stepped in the camper and noticed the ceiling was coming down.

Touched it. Wet.

Walked to one of the beds. Looked up. Wall paper was bubbling.

My heart sunk.

Tobin had croup (but thankfully didn’t need steroids). Emmie began running a fever on Saturday.

Emmie and Malachi, the fever kids, got to enjoy a movie while everyone else explored.

By Sunday, with three kids actively running a fever and my dread at the wet spots on our camper, we made the call to head home early. We used our extra day to extensively clean the camper and start tearing it apart inside as well as sealing it.

Needless to say, our camper is about to get a giant remodel instead of just the paint and fabric upgrade I intended.

Now, on to the fun pictures.

Tot and Lulu did great…they really wanted to eat all the squirrels but nary a squirrel was injured during this trip.

Aunt Yaya and Uncle Jay gave us a projector and projector sheet. Ya’ll, a new tradition was started and it was a blast!

Sick baby Tobin got nestled up all warm and hammed it up.

Mark took Georgia’s hands-free law literally and shed a few months off of Zoe’s life.

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Neuro Adventures

Emmie had a check up at the start of the year with her neurologist and orthotist. We had noticed that her neurologist, Dr. Wolf always wears crazy socks. So, I searched online and found some super superhero socks at John’s Crazy Socks. Emmie was so excited to give them to him and he made a big deal about it.

He was so excited to see how awesome Emmie is doing. We go back in six months. She didn’t want to pose with him so he went to her and gave the goofy pose. By the way, her amazing shirt, I purchased from Littlest Warrior. I absolutely love these shirts! I have plans for her to rock the “Rare Jewel” shirt soon.

We have some amazing friends in Atlanta right now and they offered for our kids to come over and play the next time we went to Atlanta. We haven’t seen them in a few years and the kids were iffy on going. But once we got there, they settled right in. Needless to say, they had an absolute blast!

Meanwhile, Emmie and I had a girls’ day complete with ice cream.

After I picked up the kiddos, we headed out of Atlanta (which is an adventure in and of itself) and made a pitstop for pizza where I learned that Tobin likes olives. He is so my son.

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