Cole at Almost 4

Cole is such a fun boy to have around. He is really coming into his own little person, and has come out of the shy shell he was even a year ago. He loves to talk, and has said some funny things in the past few weeks:

(After seeing a Mini Cooper parked in the mall on display):
"Mama, maybe I could have that car for my birthday -- when I'm 9"

Sarah: "Cole, you need to go potty."
Cole: "but there's no pee-pee! I don't need to go potty!"
Sarah: "You need to try. We can't go outside until you try."
Cole:(falling on his back on the floor and sighing) "Well, I guess we're not going outside!"


(A red taxi passes us on the road)
Cole: "What is that car, mama?"
Sarah: "it's a taxi! he has his light on"
Cole: "Maybe he could bring US a pizza!!"

But I think the funniest thing about Cole is his desire to line things up. This doesn't mean he's a neat little boy who keeps everything tidy, but since I can remember he has lined up his cars, trucks...
So a few weeks ago when we had blueberries for snack, he insisted on saving the BIGGEST blueberries in his bowl and putting them back in the fridge to show daddy. In a line, of course.

Fun with Chalk

We had a rare warmer day this week, so the kids and I headed outside to take advantage of it. We find ourselves out in the front yard quite a bit. Cole loves to ride his push car around, and Adison likes to see how fast her little legs can take her down the driveway and up the slopes.

Today for some reason we dragged the chalk is and seeing as Cole is obsessed with roads, road signs, train tracks, etc., we decided to make our own little roadway.

We had a lot of fun drawing it out, and Cole particularly enjoyed telling me where to put the stop sign, signals, rail road signs and even doing some of the drawing himself.

Cole would make Adison and I "be the train" and go across the track while he waited patiently, grinning, for the train to pass.

The last picture, I admit I staged, but it's pretty cute.

The Perfect Reading Spot

Adison is not shy about climing up things, and so far it has not been a problem or on anything dangerous, but I walked into her room the other day to see her sitting on top of her book shelf, happily reading a book.

Of course she can't get down by herself, so she points her little fat finger at the ground and whines when she's done.

Cupcakes on a Rainy Day

1. Dump in the mix


2. Mix it Up


3. Put them in the oven and wait.

What do you do while you're waiting?


Sit in Chairs.


Push Chairs.



Pull Chairs.


Follow each Other.



Do a Fake Cry.



Finally!



Eat Cupcakes.

Adison: Inside. Cole: Outside

It's no surprise that Adison thinks Cole is the most fun, and usually wants to participate in whatever he is doing.

On this particular day, it was FREEZING outside and she had a nasty cold (a sinus infection, as it turned out) and so I kept her inside while Cole and Kevin played hockey.

You might not have gathered this from all the posts about her, but if there is one thing that Adison does not like, it's being told No.

Apron Swap

You might have noticed the Sassy Apron Swap icon on the blog; I signed up to do it and was excited and nervous about it at the same time. Basically this wonderful woman organized everyone who wanted to swap and gave you the name and address of the lady you were making an apron for. Then someone compltely different had your name.
I had 2 or 3 apron patterns I had bought a long time ago, and it was a great opportunity to get them out and try it.

I did it over the course of a weekend and I personally love this apron. I could live without the pocket, but the swap required it. I'll definately make another one for myself, I like the little ruffle at the bottom of this one. It was fun project! I mailed it out last week....hopefully she will like it!

Here I am studying the pattern


The finished product!

I'm-Going-To-New-York-In-June Dress

I've decided to give any clothes I make for myself a name, like in the movie The Waitress.

I am, indeed, going to New York City in June with my friend of over 15 years, Dana, her cousin and a friend. This will be my very first extended trip without kids or Kevin (5 days! I will be missing them after 24 hours...) I'm very excited to be able to take such a fun trip, not only to New York, but with such a great friend.

Of course, I'll need something to wear while I'm there. I'd been looking for a pattern that captured this flowy trend out right now and I found this easy 2-hour (meaning 7 hour for me) pattern a few weeks ago.

Fast forward a week later when I receive the J. Crew catalog in the mail and as I'm flipping through see the very dress I plan to make.

I immediately:

1. Swell with pride as I realize that I am still up on the trends, even though I rarely participate in them.

2. Tell Kevin I have just saved him EIGHTY-NINE dollars.

I think -- if it goes well -- I will make two of these. One in a soft blue grey, and another either in green or a pattern. I'll keep you posted.

That's a Zamboni

And that's me on it!

I still cannot believe it, as I have wanted to know how you get to ride it in between periods for YEARS. At the class, the finaly activity was a drawing and they gave away 3 autographed pictures and the Zamboni ride (actually, it's an Olympia, but I like to call it the Zamboni anyway -- my sister in law calls it the Ice Tractor, which I'm starting to like even more).

So little Sally Spillman got her name drawn out of a hat and just like that dreams are made. :)

Kevin was able to come to the game that night too, and 10 minutes into the 2nd period they took us down to ice level, behind the opposing goalie to watch the rest of the period. We scored, which was exciting.

Next thing you know I'm up on the zambonie with the PR guy yelling at me "Smile and wave! You have to smile and wave!!!"

It was a little unnerving at first to make eye contact with hundreds of people -- I assumed they'd be looking at me, but not right into my eyes -- but it was so fun to sit and take it all in. It was over quick, but Kevin snapped some great pictures!

I'm a Hockey Expert

Ok. I'm not.

BUT I did got to the Carolina Hurricanes "Hockey University" class. It's a 2 night "course" where you basically get the chance to see the insides of the hockey world a bit and learn more about the game. The same lovely lady who always gives us tickets, invites us to the eat-with-a-player lunch offered to take myself and Kevin's secretary to this course.

We hit the ice the first night: no pictures of that, sorry. I'd rather break my arm and leg than break my camera. I got some instruction from one of the assistant coaches and a compliment:

Assistant Coach Kevin McCarthy: "you look like you've been skating for awhile"

Sarah: (blushing, but secretly thrilled): "actually it's been quite awhile...."

Then we took some shots. I accidently hit another classmate.

Assistant Coach Kevin McCarthy: "oops!!"

And finally we had the opportunity for a penalty shot against our mascot Stormy (stop laughing). I scored, but only because Stormy was accidentaly facing the net instead of the shooter.

We also had the chance to tour the locker room and that was a big thrill for me. Here's a picture of Cam Ward's locker, and all his hats. It was a great time, and although it wasn't quite as in depth as we'd thought, it was still so fun.

But the best part? As we were leaving we passed the Ranger's equipment which had just been unloaded. In an effort to put some bad ju-ju out (hurricanes need all the help they can get these days) I licked my finger and wiped my spit on a Ranger's bag. Why? I have no idea.

But we won that night.

New Art

We've been slow to put things up on the wall, and have been here a year now! So last weekend we were discussing what to do above the fire place. I'm not a mirror person, and I've had candles and things there but I always clutter it up so we started brainstorming and Kevin came up with the winning idea.

He found a place that will blow your image up to whatever size you want, and then you can print it out in 8 1/2 x 11 sheets and piece it together. It also changes the image to a series of dots, for a little artistic flair.

So we chose the picture (Cole, the morning of his 3rd birthday. I love those eyes) and away we went! It had a few glitches, but with a little double sided tape and about 30 minutes, we have something above the fireplace. I personally love it, and the beauty of it is, it's paper. So we can change the image to another one anytime we want.

Brother Michael

When we lived in Arkansas, every pastor in the Baptist Church was called "Brother" instead of preacher, pastor, etc....

A few weekends ago Michael was ordained and will be serving as head pastor of a church just outside of Winston-Salem. We were able to attend his ordination ceremony and it was not only a treat to se where he and Emily will be serving, but also to meet some of the people who attend and support the church. We just could not have felt more welcome, and they threw an incredible luncheon following the service. There was so much food, I am not kidding when I say they probably could have fed the whole town.

Having just spent a few hours there, we are so excited to see where the Lord has placed them to serve and to get a feel for the wonderful, welcoming community that they will be a part of.

But I dont' think they're going to call him Brother Micheal. I should have started that during that luncheon...

Just a Moment in the Day

Snow, Finally!

It seems everyone got snow a few weeks ago when a system was moving through the east -- everyone except us. But our turn finally arrived!

While not much snow piled up because the ground was so warm, it truly was a beautiful snow and it snowed for several hours. Cole was beside himself. He's been expecting snow since Christmas (becasue in every christmas special on tv....it snows on christmas!)

I love snow days. It's a license to throw all the rules out the window. So on this day we had some good snacks, played a hearty portion of video games, and Cole and I took a little walk out in the snow too.

Now Cole keeps talking about the #2 snow (He calls it....), I told him it might be next Christmas.

Busy Girl

Adison is 15 months now, and she is truly a busy, busy girl. She is constantly on the move, and is usually literally moving something from one place to another. Daily she will empty out the bottom drawer in the kitchen of all the kids sippy cups and bowls. She used to just put them on the floor, but now I'll find them in baskets of toys, inside their toy kitchen, under the table, in another drawer in the kitchen...

So one evening a few weeks ago I noticed her carrying around some shoes. (We keep a lot of our shoes all lined up at the front door.) And at the same time I noticed this, I realized there was a growing pile of shoes on the couch. Sure enough, Adison was moving all the shoes from the entryway onto the couch. I wish I had video of it. She was working REALLY hard.

She loves to make little sounds when she's doing things like this, and tonight it was her mouth in the shape of "o" breathing heavy. Almost like choo-choo but without the "ch".

She was thrilled for herself when she finished. And immediately started putting them back.