January Randoms

IMG_20160102_095728284 We had so much rain in December and January that our local dam had to open the floodgates completely open.  This is a big event in our area and doesn’t happen often at all.  It was quite impressive to see that much water spilling over into the river.  They had to keep them open for over seven days and had to open them again in February.  It’s been a very rainy winter.IMG_20160102_182149667 Bryants pre-cut ‘do.IMG_20160108_085358414 The kids are really enjoying watching Studio C.  Now they think they are all shoulder angels.IMG_20160108_085404086 That attack dads.IMG_20160108_085405821 IMG_20160108_191219072IMG_20160108_133933157_HDR Halo adjustment meant a post-appointment meal at Chick-fil-a.  This is getting to be a fun tradition.IMG_20160108_134003537_HDR Emmie had two sidekicks who braved Atlanta traffic with me. IMG_20160108_191906200 Emmie selfie. IMG_20160108_195047176 Frodo enjoys family worship and holding feet.IMG_20160111_115311821 What happens when your awesome son thinks that dishwashing soap is dishwasher soap.  IMG_20160111_115321553 IMG_20160111_115325597 Bubble time!IMG_20160111_115327733 Thankfully, it didn’t overflow and our dishwasher got really clean!IMG_20160111_193330432 Bryant lost his first tooth.  That little tooth has been with him since he was two months old.  No, I am not kidding.  He had two teeth at two months of age.  Still hard to believe he is growing up.IMG_20160112_091537325 Malachi’s normal stance.  Always ready for action.IMG_20160112_091615042 Just because cuteness.IMG_20160112_091736672 More Emmie pictures.  IMG_20160112_103507169 Emmie is great teaching assistant and takes her job very seriously.
IMG_20160112_202021686 Flowers in the hair for nap?  Of course.IMG_20160115_080547793 Emmie putting her little owl to sleep.IMG_20160119_101030720_HDR Zoe is a big help when we need letters translated in to Ukrainian.IMG_20160119_125121979 How Ace practices his Awana verses.  He was reciting by memory, upside down.IMG_20160123_203041471 “They” say that whatever you wind up with while playing Apples to Apples describes you.  These were Mark’s cards.
IMG_20160124_081221523 Our latest addition.  Winter.  She’s a sweetie and has become a good companion to Frodo.
IMG_20160127_140257866 She wanted her “bank” this afternoon.IMG_20160129_101656201 More Emmie selfies.IMG_20160129_123741819 One afternoon, Emmie wanted to sit in her chair to eat lunch.  We pick our battles around here and she was the cutest thing pulling her plate down and reaching up to grab what she wanted.  She ate the entire meal like this.
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Beautiful day for a fun walk with the boys.

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Jump Jump

In January, we decided to take the plunge and try out the indoor jump park that opened up last year.  We’ve been quite nervous about injuries, but I have to say the only injuries that occurred were just sore and tired muscles after having a blast!

Our jump park offers a huge family night discount on Monday nights.  Our whole family jumped for an hour for $35 total!  On the way there, I also discovered that we had won free jump passes for five people.  We’ll definitely be going back again.
IMG_20160201_184238601 Emmie wanted me to sit on a trampoline while she sat on the side and daddy stuck close by.  Isn’t this the sweetest picture?!IMG_20160201_184312717 A ninja course.  It was so hard but so fun!IMG_20160201_184409712 That’s me.  Catching some air.  Pretty interesting jumping after having eight kids.IMG_20160201_184447876 My pants kept falling down, which is normally a good thing, except when you are jumping.IMG_20160201_184530413 Ace hitting the trampoline grid.  I have to say that everything appeared safe and secure.  As long as you followed the rules, there was no need to worry about injury.IMG_20160201_185117203 IMG_20160201_185202307

Malachi’s words when he realized where we were going, “I don’t want to jump on the twampo-ene.”

“Okay buddy,”  we said.  “You can just watch.”

I kept him and Emmie down by the shoe cubbies while we scoped out how things were set up and then decided it was safe to take her where everyone was jumping so she could watch.  As we’re taking our shoes off, more protests came.

“But I don’t want to jump!!!”

I gently reminded him that he didn’t have to jump but that we had to take our shoes off to go watch everyone else.  I fully expected him to be content with sitting on a couch and watching.  Then this happened:

IMG_20160201_185242169Um, but you told us you didn’t want to jump.  Silly boy!IMG_20160201_185318308 IMG_20160201_190458854 Silk rope swings.  Um, yes.  This was my favorite part once I realized how to swing on them.IMG_20160201_190505190 IMG_20160201_190819539

Ceili Rain and Bryant loved the foam pits!  Personally, I consider those the workout of all workouts.  It’s near to impossible to get out of those things without using every. single. muscle in your body!

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Look Ma! Snow!

About a week after Snowfest we got the real white fluffy stuff.  If only we could have predicted the future.

This is what I like to call “The Perfect Snow.”  There was a dusting when we woke up and it snowed throughout the morning and left us with about half an inch.  By lunch, however, it was almost completely gone.  No worries with travel or power outages or any other problems.  Just some pretty white stuff to enjoy for a few hours.  Yep, I’m a total Southerner.
DSC_4560 DSC_4563 DSC_4565 Emmie’s first official snow.  She was fine with it as long as she stayed warm which was hard to do with the halo.DSC_4566 DSC_4567 DSC_4571 DSC_4582 DSC_4589 Her main priority was to get in the cozy coupe.
DSC_4599 DSC_4603 Snow angels???DSC_4605 DSC_4611 Then we took a walk on the trail.  It was so neat to see the woods and water covered in snow.DSC_4622 No one had made it to the playground yet so the snow was fresh and ready for some snowball fights.Familysnowpicture A sweet neighbor was out with her family and just had to get a picture of our crew.IMG_20160123_102949702

This is what winter looks like, sometimes, in the South.  Okay, very rarely.  So much so that we have to document it on our blogs and such.

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Snowfest 2016

Our local community puts on a Snow-fest every year.  Since we are in the South, this is about as close to seeing the fluffy white stuff as we can get.  We’ve never been but we were blessed with a few tickets and scored the rest at half price.  That made the afternoon trip well worth it.DSC_4504 DSC_4506 Emmie’s favorite thing was the train.DSC_4509 The rest of us enjoyed the slides.DSC_4510 DSC_4513 DSC_4516 DSC_4520 Bryant didn’t want to go alone so he got to ride with me.DSC_4526 DSC_4528 The littles loved the slides and the “snow” pile (okay it was ice…a big ol’ pile of ice shavings).DSC_4531 DSC_4533 DSC_4534 DSC_4542 Cabela’s had a booth set up with BB guns to shoot.  DSC_4543 DSC_4547 It was quite interesting watching the kids hold the gun.DSC_4554 Emmie made friends with a panda bear.IMG_20160116_114127593 And Zoe borrowed my phone to get pictures.IMG_20160116_120616298 Okay, my super favorite selfie ever.  These girls are a piece of my heart.IMG_20160116_120624200

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