He's OFFICIALLY doing it!!!

I can finally say that Jonas is WALKING!!! He now walks more than he crawls. He has been toddling around for a while but he just preferred to crawl most of the time but now he finally chooses to walk. He's a BIG BOY now!!! (13 1/2 months old) Here's a short clip of him walking. He is also nodding his head yes when I ask him a question. This is his new thing to do and we think it's so funny b/c he says yes to almost everything. He does know how to say No though. He's a funny boy.

Since this was such a short blog I'll go ahead and update you on Jonas' last appt with the doctor at Duke Eye Center. He went last Thursday and even though last time we went she talked like surgery wasn't even a thought in her mind for his ptosis(droopy lid). But this time she walks in and checks him for like a minute or two and says "Oh yes, were going to need to do surgery on him when he's 2 or 3 years old." Now if he needs it, then he needs it but what changed in the short 4 months between his appts. It's not like there would have been a huge improvement in 4 months anyway. Oh well, like I said I'm just giving you all an update. He goes back in Aug so we'll see what is said during that visit.

Bunny and Eggs

Back in March the Easter Bunny came to the Chic-Fil-A in the mall, so we took the kids to see him. Of course Maddie was excited to see him until she actually SAW him. After that we had to literally push her into line. When it came our turn we sat Jonas on the bunny's knee and Maddie refused to go. I did finally talk her into going with me and sitting on my knee and this is what we got.
After this photo disaster, Jason took Maddie aside and talked to her about it. He told her that it was like Pee Dee and it was just a person in there but that the real bunny well bring you candy if she was good and took a picture with him and that there was nothing to be scared of. And that little talk she said that she wanted to go see him again. So here is a picture the second time around.

Sorry it's so dark, our camera is stupid sometimes but at least you can see that she was willing to sit with him and smile. And Jonas was actually looking this time too, all the other times he was too busy checking out the fur on Mr. EB.

Here is a picture of the eggs that we dyed this year. I really had fun doing it with Maddie. She thought it was cool that her egg turned pink and it had her name on it.

We all had an egg each that had our names on it even Boomer and Bayleigh. We had one that said Happy Easter and an "Go UNC" and an ECU that was half purple and half gold. We also did a few of those shrink wrap kind, Maddie liked those too.

Easter pictures

Well first of all I want to tell you before you are wondering why Jason isn't in any of our pictures...Ok so we had planned to leave to head back home to Greenville after the first hour of church and have my brother take a few pics of us and the kids but it ended up that I stayed in Charlotte with the kids for a few extra days since it was my sisters Spring Break. Well the whole pictures after sacrament didn't work out b/c Maddie fell asleep. So Jason had left and the kids and I just took a few after we got home (back to Mom's house) from church. I really hate that Jason is missing from this photo.
Here are a few of the kids individually.

Picture 1: Maddie posing with one of her baby chicks. (She always talks about having baby chicks after she saw some as Grandma Avery's, so the Easter Bunny brought a little basket with some baby chicks in it.)
Picture 2: Posing with the bubbles that she got. (Isn't her Easter dress cute)
Picture 3: While I was just snapping shots of her, she heard an owl and this was her reaction. "Ohhh, Mama you hear that owl?"



Isn't he just so cute?? I wish you could have seen Jason and Jonas together, they matched. They both wore blue shirts and khakis with light colored striped ties. Both were very handsome!!! ( WOW, I just realized that in that second picture it is like looking at Jason. That's his mini-me)

Here is the best one out of the pictures I tried taking of the two of them together. Not the greatest but hey at least they are both looking at the camera and neither of them are crying or running away, so that's gotta count for something, right??


And one last picture, this one is of us siblings. This is my sister Laura (14 yr old), my brother Matt (19 yr old) and Me (not telling). This is probably the first picture of us all together and dressed up nice in years and probably the last in a few more years since my brother will be leaving for his mission soon. It's so weird to look at us like this b/c I still see us as "kids" but we aren't anymore. Gosh, where did the time go???

Easter Sunday

Well sense we were in Charlotte instead of at home, we made sure that the Easter Bunny came to see the kids (and yes he still comes to visit Jason and I as well) at GiGi's house. The Easter Bunny was very thoughtful this year and brought all kinds of things for us, the kids especially. Here's a picture before any damage was done.

From L to R: Lena's, Maddie's, and little basket of chicks for the kids, Jonas' and Jason's.

Here's Maddie with first site of her basket. Jonas wasn't as fast.

Here's pictures of Maddie as she goes through her basket.

Let's see, she got some gum, a big butterfly cookie, ring pops, pink(white chocolate) solid easter bunny, lots of books, Frisbee, princess puzzle, sidewalk chalk and some other little stuff.

Here's Jonas with his first real easter basket since last year he was only two weeks old.

The first thing that he pulls out is his football. He also got some Yogurt Melts and Baby Fruit Snacks. The only real candy that he got was a blue solid bunny. He got a Mickey Mouse puzzle, lots of books, bubbles, farm animals that make sounds and a Mickey kite.




And here's the two of them when it was all over. (Jonas trying really hard to get into some Smarties, LOL)

Easter Weekend

So as it says down below we went to Charlotte on Thursday. On Friday we went to the zoo and also met up with Jason's mom and her side of the family at the hotel they were staying at for the wedding. It was fun seeing Jason's grandad and aunts and uncles. They live in California so we don't see them much but we definitely enjoy it when we do. They are a lot of fun. So after we left the zoo we drove to the hotel that Jason's mom and grandma were at and waited around for everyone to arrive. We had planned to go swimming (thought it was an indoor pool) but we stuck one toe in and it was FROZEN. Of course, Maddie wasn't having it so we let her get her swim suit on and she stood on the steps of it and played. Yeah it was even to cold for her. There was also a little showering faucet and Jonas figured out how to turn it on so they both were soaked but had a ton of fun. After everyone had arrived, we went to dinner with Sharon, Grandma Jo(Oma), Uncle Tommy, Linnie (Oma's sister) and her boyfriend, Darrell. It was a nice restaurant and a little pricey. Thanks to Sharon and Tommy for our meal. Then we headed home.
The next day was the wedding (Sat). So we left the kids with my parents and drove back to Columbia (1 1/2 hour drive). It was Jason's cousin Britney that was getting married. She is originally from California but met a guy from SC and so she got a job transfer there and now they are married and living in SC. It was an outside wedding and it was such a beautiful day. It was the perfect wedding day, well besides mine :o) The reception was way nice. The food was great and it was just nice to be with the family. They are really a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed being myself and dancing with Jason's cousin in law if that's such a thing. Valerie, if you are reading this, You are a lot of fun and I had a good time. Valerie and Raymond live in the Fayetteville area so we'd like to spend more time with them when we move back home. And I wish that Opa (Jason's Grandad) and Tommy and Doug, Aloria and Shawn (Britney's Family) all lived here too. We miss them.

And to add some pictures to the post. Here are pics of Jason showing off his manliness. As we were waiting in the hotel until time for the wedding, Jason found the Columbia phone book. When he saw how thick this phone book was he just couldn't resist...he just had to see if he could tear this one in half. Here are the results...

I laugh every time I look at those facial expressions. LOL!!!!

One happy little girl!!!

On Easter weekend we headed to Charlotte and stayed with my parents. We drove up on Thursday after Maddie's Easter Party at school. Our plan was to go to the Columbia Zoo on Friday and then on Saturday, Jason's cousin was getting married in Columbia as well, which was our main reason for going. So this was Maddie's first time going to the zoo and she was way excited. I think I was more excited though just to be able to take her and see her reaction. There were 2 things that she was really anxious to see. Can you guess what they were?? Oddly enough they were the crocodiles and owls. So of course we HAD to take some pictures of those, so here they are...

The second picture does have the croc in it, on the right of Maddie. There is a restaurant in the back there too. We had lunch there which was neat b/c we sat right there at that window that you see and so Maddie was watching the crocodile the whole time. She liked that.

One other thing that she really liked was petting these turtles. She stayed there a looong time. She didn't want to leave.



And when she saw this little guy, she had to have her picture taken with him.

We also got to see a baby giraffe which I could have bought home with me, he was so cute. We also saw zebras, elephants, (the following not pictured)monkeys, bears that were wrestling(it was cute), a seal, penguins, koalas, wallabies, lions, baboons (which I have a funny story about).


Here is a picture of one of my favorite things...frogs. I just think they are so cute, this one especially.


Here's a picture of the kids together.


And the family at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC.

Madison's 1st Real Easter Party

As most of you know Maddie goes to pre-school. She attends pre-school at Jarvis Methodist. She is in the 2 year old class that goes Tues and Thurs. Well the Thursday before Easter Maddie's class had an Easter Egg Hunt and a party. I didn't get any pictures of the Easter Egg Hunt which I regret but I did get it on the video camera. She found lots of eggs and was super excited to know that there was candy in them. After the Egg Hunt, they went inside to have their party. Jason and Jonas came too.

But here is a picture of Maddie showing her excitement about her Easter egg.









Maddie enjoying her cupcake.












Maddie showing Jonas the train set.









Madison was the line leader that day. So here she is posing in the front of the line and being silly, of course.

Cuter Owl

So this is a new background and it's a lot cuter than the other green one and I can make Maddie smile when I show it to her. By the way, Maddie told me that for her birthday she wants a pink baby owl. Along with a pink car and a pink computer. Do you think she's a little girl or what? A little girly girl that knows what she wants!!! LOL I love her!!!

It's ok, you can laugh too

So going back 2 weeks ago, on Monday, April 6th which is the same day that the Tar Heels won the National Championship, GO HEELS, but anyway the day started out the same as always. We woke and had breakfast. I decided to give the kids their baths in the morning so that we could get them to bed earlier than usual so we could sit down and watch the game that evening. So after their baths I let them go outside so they could warm up in the sun. In the early morning it had poured down rain for like 15 mins but then it was so beautiful outside. As the kids were playing outside, I was folding some laundry and could see Maddie from the window but I could only see her back. So as I'm folding the clothes, I keep hearing her laugh and it just goes on and on and on, so of course I had to go see what was so funny. I walked out onto our patio and I almost had a heart attack. This is what I saw!!!!


Do you see now why I almost had a heart attack?? I had just given them baths. Sure it was funny, and I did laugh after the initial shock was gone. But I just couldn't believe it!!! Maddie was digging in the mud and flinging and throwing it on Jonas. And of course Maddie was laughing at this b/c, I mean LOOK at Jonas!!! But he didn't seem to mind. He actually started crying when I took him in to give him ANOTHER bath. But seriously, when I went out there, all I could see of Jonas' face was his eyes blinking. Poor little guy!! It was all in his mouth, ears, and his eyes too. And of course, Maddie was clean except her knees down and her hands and a little on her clothes but they both had a second bath. See...


Well after baths, it was then time for Jonas' nap. While I was in his room trying to get him to sleep, Maddie put her clothes on and decided to help herself to a snack. The chosen snack was a Strawberry Milkshake Pop-Tart. Apparently, her busy morning was just to much for her so this is what I found when I came out of Jonas' room.She had fallen asleep on the kitchen counter!!! Can you believe this??? I couldn't!! I kept saying her name and nudging her, thinking that she was just playing opossum b/c she got caught up on the counter getting her own snack. (Note the pop-tart there beside her.) But she really was asleep. I don't know what she was thinking. I mean the couch was 10 steps away and she couldn't climb down and go lay on the nice soft couch?? I don't know, maybe she's narcoleptic. LOL J/K Thought it was a funny story so I wanted to share. Maybe someone out there needs a laugh at my expense. HAVE AT IT!!! :o)