July 2015: The Fourth and Stone Mountain

In July we got ready to say good bye to Georgia. It makes me sad just going back and looking through all the pictures. We wanted to make sure we hit up all our favorite spots one more time and also see anything we hadn't done yet. 

 But first popcorn! We all love popcorn. I just love this picture of Vivian, she is scrunching it and making a huge mess and having so much fun. 

 Handsome climber at the splash pad!

 On the 4th of July our ward had a float in a local parade. The theme was Families Are Forever. Vivi and I walked in it (or strolled in it) and Henry and Steve watched. Henry chickened out at the last minute and just wanted to spectate. We handed out lots of pass along cards and printed copies of the proclamation, also the primary threw lots of candy. It was really fun and a super small town experience. Plus in the south at a parade it is perfectly acceptable to hand out religious materials. 

Oh and two floats behind us was the Daughters of the Confederacy. They had a cannon and everything. They shot it off towards the North. You can't make this stuff up people. 

 Vivian and I finally had the chance to wear our matching red and white stripes. Thanks for the great picture, Chelsea. 

 We enjoyed a delicious hot dog buffet, some sparklers and fireworks at our friends the Clanton's house. 

 Every summer we read along with the summer reading program, this year Vivi participated and each kid read 50 books. They each won a free meal to Raising Canes and stickers and a free book. 

 We will read books for free chicken!

 Yummy table. Kids are disgusting. 

 We had been to Stone Mountain once the first year we were in Georgia but it was the holidays and it wasn't that great. Well we had yet to see the laser show. We arranged with some friends to brave the stifling heat and catch the lights. But first, silly pictures!

 We were so happy to spend the evening with some of our favorite people. Aaron, Sara, Emily and their kids. The kids had a great time running around until the show started. Turns out all you need is a field and some music to have fun. This evening was a wonderful reminder of how much I do not miss the humidity. We were all sweating through our clothes. So hot. We were also mid-apartment hunting and I was awaiting a phone call about an apartment. Its kind of crazy to remember how stressful our life was there for a bit. 

 The Presidency of the Confederacy

The laser show was pretty good. Lots of local love for sports teams, confederate history and of course Dixie. Ah the south really is charming with its local flavor. And by flavor I mean hicks. 

February 2015

Here comes February! February is a busy month for us with Steve's birthday, our anniversary and Valentine's Day. 

 Oh you know, just an inside out sweater for church. 

 Now that she is standing, she loves to stand by just about anything. She even stands on her tiptoes to reach all those hard to reach places. 

 I enjoyed a fun Galentine's Day brunch at Big City Bread with some of my favorite gals. I have been so blessed to have the most wonderful friends here in Georgia. Ali, Chelsea, Emily, me, Stacey and Sara - yeah for ladies!!

 Swinging through life. Luckily she loves the swings because it is so easy to just stick her in there. 

 Going up or down, who knows! 

 For Valentine's Day, Henry and I made these light saber Valentines for his class. Thanks Pinterest. Seeing all the valentines he brought home, I was overwhelmed that I am incredibly lucky to be at home with him and have time to do things with him and support him. 

 Valentine's morning. Darth Vader and Minnie Mouse were sent from Titi Cindy and Tim, snacks from Mom and Dad. 

 Henry and I went on a date for lunch at McDonald's. Funny story. So we went out later that day to run errands and got stuck in some traffic at UGA. One wrong turn and we were stuck. Everything was going fine if not stalled. All of a sudden Henry says he doesn't feel well and throws up all over the backseat. Well we can't go anywhere, literally. So I hold his hand and he throws up again. Eventually we get out of the traffic and get home. Poor Henry is cleaned up and Steve cleans up the back of the car. It must have been a fluke because he wasn't sick after that. Ah McDonald's! 

 Valentine's Day dinner, heart shaped breakfast for dinner. 

 Every day in February leading up to Valentine's Day, we put up a new reason why we love Henry and Vivian. Thanks again Pinterest! One tip, I cut out all the hearts and we wrote all the reasons we love them before the month started so that each night we could just tape up a new one. 

Pump It Up as a family

 We had a crazy ice storm, lost some branches in our trees and lost power. It was insane. We bundled up the kids and all slept in the same room for warmth. 

 We checked out the Georgia Museum of Art. Henry did pretty good and Vivian liked it too. Here are Henry and I being art installations. 

 After art we got ice cream!

Chocolate makes the best goatee.

 Vivi started doing this funny thing while eating. She would pick up some food and then raise her hands in celebration before eating.

 I think I got the idea for this on Pinterest but altered it a bit. We play Kindergarten Yahtzee. You need two dice and everyone needs a sheet of paper with the numbers 1-12. A small snack or treat next to each number makes it fun. You each take turns rolling the dice, when you roll a number you can eat the treat. Whoever rolls all their numbers first wins. 

 Mischief Maker!

 Sight word practice using Bananagrams tile. 

 We made a goal to read more and read 50 different books in February

Henry's teachers love youtube and Henry has brought home lots of fun channels and things to watch. One thing they would do with the kids is watch Just Dance videos. The music is clean and the kids can do the moves along with the video. Its great for movement and exercise. We started doing them at home too. Its hilarious and really fun. 

Christmas is Snohomish!

For Christmas we headed to Washington to be with my family. Overall we had a great travel experience unlike the year before when it was mayhem. Considering all the luggage, kids and flying across the country, it went well!

Steve and Henry on the train in the ATL airport. To get from Athens, GA to Snohomish, WA we had to take: a car, a bus, a train, a plane, and a van.

Selfies to entertain ourselves.

It was cold in the terminal and Viv rocked my faux fur vest.

My parents don't have a tun so Viv bathed in this bin. She loved it!

Christmas Eve we made name tags so Santa would know who's stocking was whose. Henry left out cookies and milk too. Christmas Eve Vivi also rolled over and crawled away during a diaper change!

On Christmas we all gathered and shared talents. Everyone had to participate. Steve recited a poem in Spanish, Henry sang, I drew mazes, my brother's did funny voices, playing guitars and computer animation. My mom read a children's story and Vanessa made a delicious tray of goodies. My dad taught us all how to draw Santa. It was a fun new tradition.

Christmas dinner!

We also decorated gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve. It actually ended up being so fun! It wasn't a competition but I think Nate and Aaron won.

We had so much fun relaxing and being with family. Here we all are in front of my parent's house.

Chocolate cream pie goatee. 

And with that we were headed back to Georgia with a cheery goodbye from an orca whale.