Snow Day

The girls saw the snow begin to fall on Friday night as they headed to bed. By Saturday, they were anxiously watching out the window, hoping for the sleet and freezing rain to stop; because, they were desperate to head outdoors into the winter wonderland that awaited them. Though it was not soft, snowball throwing, snowman making, snow angel snow . . . we all had a lot of fun bundling up and wandering around the yard. Daddy even took the girls for rides on the shovel!?!?



Snow Day (click to enlarge):


Snow Kiddos (click to enlarge):


Snow Birds (click to enlarge):


Though our church services were canceled due to ice accumulation (unsafe roads and driving conditions--this is the south, we don't have snow plows or chains on our tires), the girls and I would not have been in attendance. Hannah is sick. She is running a fever and throwing up. So, no second "Snow Day" for Hannah. I am hoping this is only a 24 hour bug, because Madeline ran a fever on Thursday, and felt better by Saturday. Please pray for Hannah to feel better and for the rest of us (especially Emerson) to stay healthy!

Hannah on her "sick couch."

Here's To You Monsieur Seurat

On Fridays, a large portion of our school day is set aside for art projects, art history, music, science projects, creative writing, field trips, or holiday crafts, etc. (you get the gist). This past Friday, I taught the girls about Georges Seurat. You probably know him for one of his most important works A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (seen above left). If you know this painting, then you also know that Seurat is famous for developing pointillism-- a method of painting using dots instead of brush strokes. I knew the girls would have a lot of fun trying their hand at pointillism. I had not attempted this technique since my high school art classes, so we all had a great deal of fun as we set to work on our masterpieces.

Hannah worked diligently for an hour on her painting. Madeline was done dotting her paper after about 15 minutes and then moved into some postmodern art (e.g. stripes of color across her paper). I thoroughly enjoyed the pointillism process, but have always found I have a heavy hand. I told Jonathan my painting turned out to be more of a cross between a Monet and a Seurat-- an impression-a-pointillism.

Seurat used oil on canvas, we used acrylic paint on heavy water color paper. Being that we are novices in the art of pointillism, I did not want to waist canvas. I am not sure whether Mr. Seurat would be honored or disgraced by the artwork we turned out-- nevertheless, here is the end result:

Hannah's work: God's Rainbow

Madeline's work: A Fish
(You know how it is with art--sometimes you just don't share the artist's vision! Haha)

Mommy's work: we'll call it . . . Fall Path

Little Community Organizer

Hannah loves people! She is an uber-extrovert-- sometimes to a fault (e.g. when she freaks out and tantrums over leaving someone's house--because she LOVES spending time with people). I can remember shopping with Hannah when she was an infant and having to triple check that she was fastened in to the cart so nobody would walk off with her. She would have left with anyone that smiled and reached for her. To this day, we can be in a store and if someone makes eye contact with her, it is only a matter of seconds before they no our life history (dirty laundry included) . . . "Hi, I'm Hannah, this is my mom Lori. We're shopping for nursing bra's, because she can't find one in her size. We just had a baby, her name is Emerson. This is her, right here-- you want to see?"

It is Hannah's love of people that will make a visitor feel welcomed or a bashful friend feel at ease. Her outgoing nature often affords me opportunities to meet people I might not otherwise have met. And, it is my prayer that God will hone her gregarious personality and use it for His glory one day, as she matures and grows in wisdom and faith. I think He has big things in store for her.

We were recently traveling home from a shopping trip in Raleigh. It was late. Madeline was sleeping, my brain was numb from an entire day out and about, and Jonathan was driving-- but Hannah's mind was racing. Jonathan and I were both tickled and amazed as she unloaded her thoughts and plans from the back seat. Hannah was very concerned about the people in Haiti; and, for over 10 minutes she pontificated, planned, and shared what she was going to do to remedy the situation. In short, she was going to go to Target and purchase a bunch of stuff. Then, she was going to send our friend Lisa (who has recently been involved in missions) to Haiti on a boat in order to round up people and bring them back to our yard-- where apparently all of the previously mentioned items from Target would be set up in an orderly fashion on tables (yard sale style). The Haitians would have a chance to peruse the tables and take what they needed for free. Meanwhile, Jonathan and some other men would be building new houses (Extreme Home Make Over Style) for the Haitians, and I would be cooking food to feed the hundreds of people standing in our yard. I definitely think we have a community organizer or future missionary/missionary wife in our midst!

Not wanting to discourage Hannah's bleeding heart, we had her think through her senerio and come up with the greatest immediate physical need of the people in Haiti and how she could help. We decided we would find a way to send food or contribute to a food sending organization. She is a dreamer and a thinker for sure. I am both encouraged and challenged by her love for others.

2 Months Old And Growing

I can't believe our sweet little Emerson is almost 10 weeks old. She has grown and changed so much. She is smiling a lot, kind of laughing, and cooing in response to our high pitched squeaky baby talk. The girls are still eager to hold, touch, and hug on Emerson--especially now that she notices them.

Emerson has really been a very easy baby and only had a couple of fussy days. I recently extended her night; and, she is sleeping from 7-7.5 hours (~10:30 pm - 6 am). So mommy is now getting between 5 and 6 hours of sleep and feeling semi-human!

At Emerson's 2 month check up on the 14th, she weighed in at 12 lbs 6 oz (77th percentile) and 24+ inches (90th percentile). She's a big girl, but Madeline still takes the cake. Looking back last night, I found the post and pics about Madeline's 2 month appointment. Here she is at the same age as Emerson (weighing in at 14 lbs and measuring 25 1/2 inches):

Madeline at 2 months old

No wonder she wears a 4T at 2 (almost 3) years old and is almost the same size as her 5 year old sister!

Anyway, Miss Emerson is becoming more delightful each day. She is healthy and thriving. We are very blessed!

Little Foodie!

Madeline: Can I have some peanuts?



Me: No Madeline, you just had a cookie from Harris Teeter.

Madeline: Well, can I have a breakfast bar?

Me: No Madeline, no more food. You ask for food too much!

Madeline: I know, I like food a LOT.

What can you do but laugh?!?!? It's true. This kid spends her life with her head in the pantry. Since she could crawl, I have had to say, "Madeline, get out of the pantry." If I am in the kitchen, she's right behind me asking for some delectable treat. The kid likes to eat (well really she likes to "graze"). I used to call her a hobbit, because she would eat two breakfasts-- "first breakfast" and then (a little later) "second breakfast." She loves food. I love food. We all love food. We are foodies. We aren't those sort of people who eat for nourishment-- you know, the healthiest choice always and only when you are really hungry. We enjoy the experience of eating food-- at home, in restaurants (from fancy to a "hole in the wall"), and with friends and family. We like to shop for food, prepare food, and pretend to prepare food (my kids play Iron Chef America and have cake decorating competitions-- I've even heard them pretend to roll fondant and blow sugar in their room). And, we like to watch food (slight Food Network junkies-- it's a family affair). Most of all, we like food that tastes yummy. Whether it is junk food or gourmet, comes from a box or prepared fresh, it has to tickle the taste buds.

Cold Weather Cuties

I finally had the girls pull on gloves, hats, and big puffy coats and sent them out to the backyard to play this afternoon. Though I only let them brave the cold for 30 minutes, they were thrilled to feel the sunshine on their faces -- to be loud and free.