Spring Break...

begins tomorrow, and we're headed to Japan!!

My sweet father is dropping us off at the airport really, really early tomorrow and we'll make it to Tokyo 19 hours later. :) We'll be taking a bullet train to Nagoya on Monday for an overnight trip, and then head back to Tokyo for the rest of the week. We're quite excited {and I'm nervous as I don't know the language!!}. Hopefully we can update the blog when we're over there.

Happy Birthday Lucy!!

Happy Birthday Lucy Lu!!!

This is so Lucy. :)

One of my favorite pictures. :)

Can't wait to have dinner with you tomorrow!!! LOVE YOU, LUCY!!!

Life lately

We had a really good weekend. It's the first time in a while that we've been in Charlotte for the whole weekend. We had our friends, the Macks, over on Friday night. As of 4:30pm I had no idea what to make for dinner. I finally decided that it would be good to have options. I made up a recipe for a yummy broccoli cheddar soup, there was a platter with fixings for paninis, and stuff for a salad. So take your pick: soup, panini, or salad. Or all three! For dessert I pulled out ALL of the leftover Valentine's candy we have in our freezer (from my kids at school.) We sat around eating Pixy Stix. Good times.

Then on Saturday morning we had our neighbors over for brunch. Waffles and fruit. Doesn't sound hard, right? Yes, well, they're our friends who happen to be the head chef at local restaurant, and it's them I was making the meal for back in January when I blew up and flooded half of our apartment. Saturday morning I had just started on the waffles when we blew a fuse. We had the microwave running, coffee brewing, and the waffle maker running. The SAME feeling came over me. Power is out in the kitchen and I am freaking out. (This has never happened, and I swear to Andrew that we're never having them over again because strange things happen when we do.) I tend to be dramatic in times like these. Luckily I'm married to a calm and collected person who turned on the power again and I resumed normal activity. It made for a good story when they came over. :)

I've had a really hard time thinking about my sweet Gigi. I've never had to wait and watch someone die. It's pretty awful. My heart aches a lot just thinking of her. Last night when Andrew and I were praying for her, I prayed that the Lord would give her joy as she silently waits for heaven. My Uncle Hunter wrote in his blog recently, "what a hope that this is not all there is". If anything, these past few weeks have given me an incredible perspective on life. Can't wait to see her on Thursday.

P.S. Ginnawin and Jeff's anniversary is coming up soon!!!

Happy Spring!

I'm just tickled pink that spring is here! I snapped this picture last night before a meeting at church. Still can't believe it's almost been a whole year since we got married. Love these flowers planted out front.

One of my sweet kiddos surprised me with tulips yesterday! It was such a thoughtful and unexpected gift.

When we were in Charleston this past weekend I went for a run and the little neighborhood where we were staying had a ton of yard sales. I ran back to get some money and found this little treasure. I've read reviews that say it's the "it" cookbook to have if you're from Charleston, and a must have for Southerners. After I bought this gem for $0.50, I went home to look through it. I might not make too many things from here as it often calls for ingredients I don't use {quail, shortening, gelatine ...to name a few}.

But! I did use one of their recipes for cornbread and baked it in my great-grandmother's skillet. That felt pretty Southern, but not very spring-y as I served it with a vegetarian hot soup. Oh well. Can't do it all.

Happy spring to you!!

Weekend Update

We had a fun weekend in Charleston visiting one of Andrew's college buddies. It was his birthday and his wife threw him a super hero themed party. Good times. (forgot to take pictures, though)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Saturday we met Andrew's brother, Peter, for lunch and he showed us all his high-tech gadgets.

Andrew is a super hero.

Sunday morning we went to downtown Charleston for bagels...

and to celebrate our almost one-year anniversary!

We should've stayed there forever because when we came home we found a few ants in our kitchen and when I went to look under our bed for something, I found mold growing under our bed (from the Great Flood of 2012). That will explain why I have been feeling quite sick for a few weeks now. Bleh. Who knows if we'll have to move or if they can get rid of it.

Here's to another week! :)

Things to remember

A lot of what this blog feels like is a personal journal {for all of you to read} of happenings, recipes to make again, and things I don't want to forget. Like the following.

Here are some important things to remember for when I have a 2nd grader.

1. Time. Be sure to have analog clocks up in your home. I've recently thought it'd be so good to put one in the kid's rooms just so they're exposed to it. {You don't know how many times I pull kids to work on telling time.}

2a. Money. Introduce them to pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and bills. Have them pay for things and become familiar with coins.

2b. Counting. Have them count by 5's, 10's and 25's. Also, count by 10's starting at 15. {so, 15, 25, 35...} This will help when they think about counting money.

3. Main Idea/Comprehension. Have kids read and then tell you what they read or about the main idea. It's one thing to read, and another to understand it.

4. Timed tests. A lot of my kids have 50 math problems they have to answer in 2.5 minutes. It's good to practice adding/subtracting.

5. Read. Have I mentioned reading enough? I can really tell a difference with the kids whose parents sit down and read to them. It's also so good to check your kid's homework before they turn it in. Sometimes that counts as a grade. Plus, reading is so fun!

Life lately

You just can't get enough pictures...

together.

Quick drive through Hamilton Lakes, my old stomping ground.

Sunday night birthday party for my friend Jessica.

Beau & Jess!

Andrew surprised me by buying Fruity Pebbles. A once a year treat! ;)

Speaking of treats... thanks Ginnawin!

Happy Birthday, Paparoni!!

I never want to forget the fact that I used to live too far away to come home for simple celebrations. This weekend we had a little party for me and my Dad. It was so fun to have a family dinner where we said things like, "don't sleep on the apples" or "of all things!" repeatedly which would cause us to erupt in laughter. I think Andrew is getting used to the fact that when we're all together, it can get pretty loud.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, birthday buddy! And check out the amazingly delicious birthday cake that Ginna girl made for us:

Oh, and not sure what's in my hair? I like to think it's some kind of pixy/fairy dust.

Dr. Seuss week

Ok, wow. Having never worked at an elementary school before, I never knew how huge Dr. Seuss' birthday week was, nor the 100th day of school. It's been quite a week. Monday: twin day; Tuesday: crazy hair day; Wednesday: crazy sock day; Thursday: wearable word day; Friday: red, white and black day with Dr. Seuss hats

My wearable word on Thursday was 'colorful'. We went to get sushi later that night and I felt a little silly in all this color. But I know Perryn would be so proud. :)

I really wanted to make green eggs and ham for breakfast on Friday morning (Dr. Seuss' birthday). But that didn't happen. Andrew had the great idea to make a broccoli and bacon quiche for dinner Friday night when our new neighbors, Charlie & Megann, came over. It was much more enjoyable than actual green eggs.
I'm still on my children's book buying rampage and got these two this past week. I had Andrew sit on the couch with me and read them. What a trooper.