Easter Bunny

*Insert Music*
Here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail....Hippity Hoppity......
*Music stops*

Wait daddy you want me to sit where?

Our MiniVacation

There are some times when you have to just say "That's it! Let's get the heck out of dodge!" so we did.  We did a lot of travelling last week.  We went from Augusta to Newnan to Dillard to Augusta. We basically made a < in the state of Georgia on Friday alone!  We visited Cleveland, Ga at the Babyland General Hospital (Think Cabbage Patch) and then spent 2 nights at the Dillard House.  If you haven't been, I definately suggest a trip.  It was a much needed time for just the 4 of us to get away and remember what's important.  We also took a day trip up to Cherokee and had lunch at the Paula Deen restaurant. Yummie!

Jacob was in absolute heaven. He calls it the "Farm House" or the "Dinner House" depending on what part of the Dillard House he is thinking of.  He also got a chance to ride on a horse again, this time it was Patches.  (RIP Shortey). 

I hope everyone who reads this takes some time to smell the roses and remember at the end of the day, your babies and your husband (or wife) makes your little world turn...at least mine do for me.

So much fun!

As I sit here and type this I'm exhausted, in a good way!  We have had a very busy week but I feel more relaxed and happy than I have been in a very long time.

Mark has virtually stopped snoring and we are getting really good sleep.  I finished 2 Bubble Skirts this week and have sent the fabric off to get shirts made to match for Madison and her best friend Bailee.  I took another sewing class last night and now can sew shorts for the Jacob.  The biggest news is Madison got her ears pierced! She was a trooper. We have gone back and forth since she was born about when was the right time.  She has actually been asking for them for the last month off and on so we took her to get the "earwings" she has been asking for.

3/26/11 Madison took the plunge in to the world of earwings

Jellybean Shorts

Chocolate Festival

Most of our Facebook friends know how much we love Reed Creek Park. We try to spend a least a little bit of time each weekend there. We love the boardwalk paths and the turtles and frogs we encounter. Well tonight they had their 2nd annual Chocolate Festival and we really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures of the fun.

The 1st Station and our fave!

Jacob enjoying the dessert!

Jacob was definitely enjoying it!

She just had a Chocolate Covered Strawberry

I was trying to take a picture of the lighted paths but instead you can see the POLLEN!

A frog!

The video was the sound of the frogs!

Sewing

So I'm finally less afraid of my Christmas present...I took a Bubble Skirt class at the end of February and I have just completed my 2nd skirt for Madison. I'm really proud. It's a reversible Easter Egg Skirt so it's Eggs on one side and pink on the other for after Easter.

I would like to thank Jordan from Jeff's Sewing for being a great teacher and having great instructions to refer back to.

Here is my model Madison...can you believe the look on her face?  This is the pink side.

And the Egg Side....

Picture Fun

I have been looking for one picture my dad has asked me for and unfortunately I don't think I have it.  I did find some fun pictures that I thought would be a good then and now show....

Disney:  
I'm guessing I was about 4

 1996 Before Basic Training

 2010 with Jacob who was 4

  
Again I was probably 4 in this pic

 2010..Man I wish I would have got the same horse!

 

My Babies.....

The day I prayed would never come

Since 2008, we have struggled with correcting Jacob's vision.  I noticed around the time he was 2 from time to time he would cross his eye during meals or coloring.  I finally let my mother's intuition lead me to call our pediatrician. He didn't seem to worry but suggested we go on to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. 

We went to the referral and the doctor seemed ok with his vision as well but wanted to get an MRI so we could ensure there wasn't anything causing it like a tumor, etc. When we went to the MRI, I was pregnant with Madison and having a 2 year old going through something I could not participate in was heart  wrenching.  The biggest mistake we made is letting the nurse suggest not sedating him because he was doing so well.  Looking back, we should have sedated him so that he would not have been traumatized by being held down.  Some of the struggles we have at medical appointments to this day can probably be traced back to then. We changed doctors shortly after that because when they called me with the results, they asked that we immediately bring Jacob in because we had to discuss surgery within a week!  Once we got to the doctor with Jacob, they did a "uh oh" this isn't the right kid.  Ok so "Uh Oh" isn't good enough when we are talking about my child. 

We left that day and that's when Dr.Goei was brought in to our lives.  She has been very patient and has exhausted all the treatment options.  We have had a good run of treatments like patching and drops and at one point she even took surgery off the table.  However, over the last 3 months I noticed he began struggling more and more even when his glasses were on. I can't tell you how many hours I have spent praying about this.  When she told us at our last appointment that she would be doing Jacob a disservice not to do the surgery and if it were her child she would be doing it, I was a peace with the decision though every part of my being prayed for some way not to put him through this. 

Today we went in for his surgery and I have to say that MCG is an excellent Children's Hospital. They even gave us a DVD the night before to watch to set the expectation for Jacob.  I think it probably eased our minds more than Jacob's.  I know the hardest thing I had to do was walk out of the room before he was wheeled to the operating room, it took all I could not to grab on to my baby and run out of there but I was thankful that when we made it to the waiting room my parents and Mark's parents were there. As my dad said "Jacob will be fine, it's you we are here for".  He was right.  Jacob has been a trooper. We have had some hiccups throughout the day and I think he was in a little more pain than we both thought he was going to be in but I can tell you he learned how to page me and it would get a response. 

I made Chicken Noodle Soup and Monkey Bread for dinner tonight.  The kids are taking their baths and it seems like, for now, all is right in the world except for one thing. We asked my dad before he left if he got his soap out of the shower...he said yes.  The soap is there....so what did he take from the shower?  If it's my favorite shampoo someone is getting back in car and bringing it back! I'm just saying!  For those of you curious, here is a pretty good article about what Jacob's condition entails
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001999

Here's a pic of him when we first got back to the room this morning......

As PaPa says..."Do you see the look of concern on my face?" ha!

Are you ready for some football.........

We are! If you don't know already, we are huge Packers fans.  We are so ready for the game on Sunday.  Here is our weekend menu:

Saturday Dinner:

Southern Style Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches

Vinegar Slaw

White BBQ sauce

Baked Beans

Chips 

Bread and Butter Pickles

Sunday:

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

Biscuits

Ham

Super Bowl Fare:

Bratwurst freshly made today by Bruekner's Meats in Augusta

Hot Dogs for the kiddos

Veggie Tray

Suped up Rotel Dip and Chips

and if they arrive by Fed Ex in time:

Cheese Curds and Cheese Balls fresh from Wisconsin!

When Valets Attack

You may or may not have heard but my Munchkin Machine was attacked.  When we went to Atlanta for the kids' birthday weekend, we handed our keys over to the trusted Hotel Valet.  A little over an hour later, we went down to go to dinner and the hotel's valet manager provided us with a special surprise. I'm glad to say after 12 days, the van is back in my possession but it's not been with out a lot of frustration and high blood pressure!

Here is what he hit, as you can see it never made it in to the garage:

 Here is the damage it did:

Here is a picture of the kids speaking to the nice Altanta Police man on his segway, it was super cold that evening:

 Now 12 days later, here is what it looked like this morning:

So glad to have the Munchkin Machine back home but wish the van didn't smell like paint! Agh!

Packer Princess

Here is Madison in her Super Bowl Tutu I just made!
Thanks to my honey for helping me talk it out.
It's my 2nd one but Madison adores it and at the end of the day that's what matters to me.
I love you my little Packer Princess!

Our blessing

As Jacob's 5th birthday comes to a close, it's now time to start shifting our plans and attention to our wonderful princess Madison. I was hoping to have more time over the weekend to blog a little bit but I will try and squeeze some in this week. For now, I wanted to present pictures of my baby girl throughout her first 2 years....I'm so proud of this little girl and can't wait to see what the Twos bring us!

7 days....

For some reason today I'm feeling a little sentimental. Maybe it's because we ordered the balloons and bought the decorations for our home celebration but I can't believe my baby is turning 5. Where does time go? I miss him so much as a baby but can't imagine him not walking and talking. This little boy is one of my best friends and despite the time outs and disciplining, I couldn't ask for a better son! I love you Jacob!

Chocolate Gravy

So this morning I decided to try another Southern Plate treat..Chocolate Gravy. I had my doubts, Mark had his doubts but it was so yummy!  Here is a picture of sweet Madison lovin' her Gravy biscuits....man if I knew I would get this sweet face every time I'd make Chocolate Gravy every day!!!  Thanks again Christy Jordan! You are a  working mama's best friend!  I've learned so much from your cooking over the last 2 months!

Test

Stop what you are doing...

I just made the SouthernPlate Old Fashioned Hot Chocolate...I'm not sure how I can go back to a mix ever again! If you are at home with the kiddos right now, make this! This was Mark's he added whipped cream and mini-marshmallows.

It is time!

So I've been tinkering with the blog move for a while. I can't seem to get the old post from the other blog moved over but I figured I'd go ahead and post out to the world on Augusta's 1st Snow Day of 2011 and Jacob's very first snow day from school.  What a difference a year makes, Jacob hated the snow last year and Madison didn't mind it. This year Jacob loves it and Madison hates it!  Since my concussion last year during the snow weekend, I'd rather just stay inside and watch. I did deliver hot cocoa to the kids outside with whipped cream and marshmallows, it wasn't homemade but my Keurig did a good job at it.  Maybe I'll try to whip up some of the cocoa that Christy Jordan has on my newest favorite website...I'll just have to see.  For now, everyone be safe and have a wonderful day.  Baby it's cold outside...(insert Jacob's voice..No it isn't!)

Here are the kids February 12, 2010 when the big snow first started:

Here they are today, as you can see Madison was not a happy camper!

Welcome!

Welcome to our new blog!  We have had to move, I'll update when I can. I am really excited that it's 2011 and January is a really busy month for us!