Snow Day

Snow Day!!!!!! What a great day today was. Daddy was home because school was canceled for him(we love for daddy to be home), Mimi came to visit in the hopes we would have some snow to play in, Catch got to go to school and have his Valentine's Party and he was the helper(thank goodness for that, he has been waiting so patiently, asking me daily when he would be the helper at school), and last but not least, in this run on sentence......it snowed!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had such a fun time in the snow. You know it doesn't snow that often here when I told Catch earlier in the day it was going to snow and he almost cried because he thought that meant another day we had to stay inside instead of going outside to play. Little did he know, playing in the snow is so much fun. He made snow angels, we had snowball fights, and we made baseballs out of the snow and used our arms as bats. We play snow football, made snowballs for dagz to jump up and catch, and best of all, we made a snowman, a real one, where we got to roll the snow to form the body. It was so much fun. The snow falling was thick and so beautiful to see. Catch had a great time, while Kate I am afraid was just a little too young to understand being that cold could be that much fun. She was a sport though, coming back out a second time in the day to check things out.

As much fun as Catch, Matt, Mimi and Myself had, I think Dagz had the most fun of anyone, which is the most surprising. This is our sweet water dog who hates to go outside if it is raining, or has been raining, or if dew is on the ground, etc. He would rather just hold it than go out in rain/wet, but that was not the case with the snow. He really did bring a smile to my heart watching him run through the snow, eat the snowballs we were throwing to him, and try and play football with us. He was in pure joy/delight that day!

We enjoyed the day until it was too dark to see, ensuring to Catch that the snow would be there tomorrow for us to play with. When we woke up the next morning, Catch was very eager to get out and play some more before it melted away. And that is just what we did. Again, having snowball fights, games etc. Then Mimi and I decided we needed to create a slead for him to go down our very small slope in the backyard. All we could find was a box to slide on, but it worked perfectly. Catch loved it and also loved seeing Mimi and me give it a go too. Snow days are fun. I will say, I am glad I do not live where it snows often, but I welcome it ever now and again.
Kate taking in the view.
Catch loves to make snow angels!
Our poor snow man the next morning, kinda leaning over wishing he were inside with us getting warm! HAHA.
Daddy and Catch building the snow man.
The backyard.
Are we up for this....Kate is not so sure!
Catch loved playing on the slide in the snow. He didn't care it was soaking his pants.
Dagz having the time of his life.

A Few Reason to Live/Love/Laugh

Short post today, but I want this so I can be reminded later of memories that may tend to be forgotten. My kids really bring such great joy to me. Here are a few things I just can't get enough of.
Catch wearing his Georgia jersey everywhere, all the time.....and I am not kidding, all the time. He wears it everyday(switching back and forth between the red and the black one, preferring the black one, # 2.4. he calls it). I am sure his teachers at preschool think we own no other piece of clothing, as do his friends and family. He even sleeps in it.

• I love that Kate's new phrase is "oh baby" She says it all the time. She may say it when she almost runs into a wall, when she drops something, really for any reason at all. It is the funniest thing to hear that come out of my 15 months old mouth. So sweet. Catch's phrase at that age was "Oh yeah".
  
• I love that Catch tries to hug and kiss Kate all the time and sometimes she is for it and sometimes she is not, but he doesn't care....he loves her all the same, whether she takes his hugs and kisses or not. Sweetest boy I have ever met, he will have such a lucky wife one day!
• I love catching Kate dancing, and Catch too for that matter. They have some boggie in their pants and it lights up my day to see them enjoy music so much.
  
• Loving lately to hear Catch say "And a 1,2,3,4" and then start drumming on the Rock Band drum set. What a little rocker I have.
  
• Seeing Kate exercise with me has been quite the laugh lately too. She just looks up at the t.v. and starts walking in place super fast and lifts her arms up and down. She is so proud of herself for exercising with mommy. I truly laugh out loud when she gets those sweet legs moving faster than she can keep up with.
  

There are so many more things and I want to do better about keeping them in written word so I don't forget them later. My children may age me and give me gray hair and wrinkles, but at least my wrinkles will be laugh lines that will remind me of the joy they brought me. Ha!

Christmas 2009

Ok, so it is mid-January, I mean late January and I am just now posting our Christmas pictures. Life...where does the time go. Anyways, Christmas was a blast this year. We had such a great time with the kids, seeing their joy from even the smallest thing. I will say, moments like these make me want more kids. The joy that they have with each other and for each other was really overwhelming to me.

Well, this was the first year we didn't travel during Christmas break. I was so excited because I finally got to cook the big Christmas dinner. If any of you know me well(which if you are reading this blog, you do), I love to cook many different things and I love to cook in large quantities. Moments like these are the best times to do that, and I was in heaven. Thanks family for coming to us this year, we had a great Christmas day with you.

Back to the kids...or rather the night before Christmas. Let me just say first, I have a great husband who knows me and loves me for all my shortcomings, i.e. he had to finish wrapping all the gifts, and decorate the gifts from Santa. I just had lost all steam at about 9pm and he picked up the slack without a thought of it. Thanks Matt, I love you.

So Christmas morning was so much fun. The kids got up basically at the same time(I will say I am enjoying the days where the excitment of Santa doesn't wake my kids up at 4am.) They slept till 7 and did the normal come to mama's room and tell us goodmorning. When Catch said goodmorning he had practically forgotten it was Christmas until I said "Catch do you know who came last night to see you?" He said in his sweet voice "I think it was Santa, is he waiting for me in the living room?"

This year Catch got a bike from Santa and Kate got a table and chairs and a tea set. The funny thing was that instead of noticing the big bike sitting in the middle of the room, Catch notices the small GEORIGA baseball hat tucked up under the tree. For those of you around Catch much, this seems very logical due to his obession with Georgia football. It was very funny though. Kate immediately walked over to her table and sat down. She loved it and the tea set and has used them everyday since Christmas. It was truly a great day just enjoying the kids and having such wonderful gifts in them to love on each day. Oh, So thankful. Below are some pictures from the day and some video.

Besides the bike, this over the door basketball hoop has been Catch's absolute favorite. He plays tons of it and when I have to tell him to stop, he says "But mom, I have to get my exercise!"

Loves to talk just like her mama.
Finally, the excitement about his bike.
Kate also got a music player. She and Catch love it.
Watch out!
Isnt' that the sweetest smile evee!


Dagz enjoyed the day too. He really can put a smile on your face when he gets so excited about a new bone or toy. The best dog in the world!

Catch's Christmas Program

Today was the last day of school for Catch before Christmas break. His preschool does a little Christmas program with the 3k, 4k, and 5k classes. They all learn some songs(which are taught by our friend, Mrs Justine Hogan). Catch loves music class and has been very excited about the Christmas program he was going to be in, or rather, in his words, the concert he was going to be in. Ha! He would tell me about the stage he was going to stand on, and the songs he was going to sing, and the surprise he was going to say at the end.
This morning, Catch had asked me if I would call Daddy at work to see if he could come to his concert. I called, but no answer, so I thought he wasn't going to be able to make it due to exams, but to our great surprise, Daddy was there and Catch just lit up, which melted my heart to pieces. I think I am too emotional to be a parent. I continue tearing up as the class walked into the sanctuary(they were doing nothing special, just walking)...then I got misty-eyed when Catch looked out into the crowd to find us and gave a big wave. After that, I got all emotional when they were singing and the big tears came rolling down my face came at the end when he and his classmates threw up their hands and said "Happy Birthday Jesus". In all the frustrating moments there may be in parenting, nothing is better than knowing what a priveledge it is that God has entrusted these two children for me to take care of and enjoy moments such as these with. I will be forever grateful.
Grandma, Mimi, and Kate got to come enjoy the concert and Catch really loved having them there!

Rain Rain Go Away

So, as much as I would love for the sun to come out and for us to be outside playing, that is not happening in Macon too much these days. We have seen a lot of the inside of our house and as much as I love our house, I was going crazy. Today I decided we needed to do something a little different to liven the mood around here and get some energy out of the kids. So I vaccumed and told Catch to find all the pillows he could in the house and pile them high on the living room floor. Well, wouldn't you know, Catch and Kate had the best time ever and were occupied by that pile for hours, I mean hours. Catch loved throwing himself on top of the mountain. Kate loved climbing over and back over and back over, but she also was thrilled with the fact she could now get up on the couch by herself since all the pillows were taken off and laying in the floor. We had the best indoor play day we have had in a long time and will definitely be doing that again. Thank you Lord for the rain, and thank you that kids love to climb "mountains" of pillows.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma. Today we went to McDonough to celebrate my mom's(grandma's) birthday. We love birthdays in the Evans family. Before leaving, we made a chocolate mousse tart from her. Honestly this was the most fun I have had in the kitchen with the kids ever. Kate had the best time helping me make the crust and part of the mousse. She did a little dance every time I gave her a little taste of chocolate(just like her mama). Catch helped me with the rest of the mousse, making the whipped cream for me to fold into the chocolate. He loved every minute of it, knowing he was going to get to lick the spoon and the bowl in the end.
It was a fun day for the kids at Grandma's. Catch loves getting to see all his cousins and play with them. It really is such a joy to see what family means to him. He is the youngest(besides Kate) of all the cousins, so he spent the whole day trying to keep up with everyone else. He would have had it no other way though. I think Grandma enjoyed seeing everyone and loving on sweet baby Kate(who, because of age, is the only one you can get a hold of long enough these days to love on, as you can tell from the pictures below. She's working on getting fast enough though to get away from us.) Anyways, here are a few pictures from the day. We love you Grandma. Happy Birthday.




I think it is so funny that the two boys will not take their eyes off the cake while everyone else is posing for a picture.

Uncle Chris and Baby Kate

Chloe, Taylor, Brooke, Christopher, and Catch

The dreaded kitchen cleanup.

Happy Late Thanksgiving

Ok, sorry it has taken me over a month to blog on anything. Seems sickness keeps being passed back and forth between the two kids and I am just now recovering from that, finally sitting down to blog on our last month. I actually can't remember much of what has gone on this past month, except for our fun week out of town for Thanksgiving. Matt had the whole week off(Yeah!). We so needed some good family time together, so we went down to Tybee for a few days and then to matt's parents house(in Savannah) for a few days. The weather wasn't what we had hoped for, but honestly, we had a great time. Matt's parents actually kept the kids for us Friday and Saturday night(which was the best gift ever) and then we brought them down to the beach until Wednesday. We had the best time. The weather was cold and wet, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the beach and the great playgrounds Tybee has to offer. It is so fun to just let the kids go run free on the beach, no worries of destroying anything, no worries of anyone getting hurt, just a good time to let lose. Catch ran himself silly, loving every minute, while Kate tried to just figure it all out.
From there, we went to Matt's parents house to spend Thanksgiving with them and see Uncle Jason and Aunt Tina. Thanksgiving day was a fun day of cooking and looking forward to the dinner that was ahead of us(I love holiday food!) Pam and I took forever to complete anything because we stopped every few minutes to do something for the kids, but it was really enjoyable and laid back. As a matter of fact, after Pam spent about 2 hours(due to the kids loving mimi's attention) on her sausage dressing, she walked away from it for 30 seconds and Dagz face planted himself right in the middle of the pan and ate the dressing! Memories, and another sausage dressing to prepare! Even though we had planned on eating dinner around 5pm, we didn't end up actually eating until around 8pm. I will have to say it was probably one of the best Thanksgiving meals we have had though. Catch had had such a full day that in the middle of dinner, Matt was talking to him and he looked up and said "Daddy, I can't even concentrate on what you are saying, I am so tired!". Lots of laughs, but I love for my kids to have enjoyed themselves so much that at the end of the day, they can't even concentrate on what we are saying anymore....to me, that is a good day!
Then on Friday, Uncle Jason and Aunt Tina came over for an oyster roast and some wii time with Catch. Catch could hardly wait until they got there. The entire time we were doing the oyster roast(which for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why we would eat something that looked and smelled as it did), he was trying to be so patient for us to finish so he could "dominate" anyone who challenged him in any wii game. He is the biggest trash talker, well, right behind his father, of course.
Overall, it was a fun time visiting with family and being able to spend time together as a family. Happy late Thanksgiving!