Easter in Atlanta

This past weekend we headed down to Atlanta for a family reunion and a long weekend of volleyball. Unfortunately this year we did not go to any of the volleyball games, however we did hang out and catch up with my family.

This of course was a difficult trip for John as it was the start of March Madness. He would much rather have stayed at home where he could have yelled and shouted at the teams playing. I promised him though that while in Atlanta he could watch as much basketball as he wanted and I would not argue with him or complain about him not doing things with us. This was the compromise I had to make to even get him out the door to Atlanta. Believe it or not, he was a great sport about all of it - that's my baby, I Love Him!

There are so many things to go and do in Atlanta, last year when we were there we just hung out at volleyball and this year I decided we would go and do more than that. So this year we visited the Georgia Aquarium. It was totally awesome but with a two year old it was extremely difficult. We didn't get in until 3:00, which only left 3 hours for us to see all of the sights. As weird as it seems, they limit the number of people that get to come in each hour. Once I got in I totally realized why...ahhh! So many people and not a lot of room to move around. Brooklyn had so much fun especially with her cousin Charlotte there. I have to admit my favorite part was going through the shark tunnel. Another thing that they have in Atlanta that Charlotte does not have is an awesome mall with awesome stores. Needless to say we did a little shopping...I really do mean a little. I wish we could have done a lot, but no.

Luckily the Easter Bunny doesn't forget children that stay in hotels and came to visit them. Both of them got an Easter basket with way too much candy. Brooklyn also got some Roller Skates, which she has not been able to take off since she got them and Josh got a Diego Helicopter.

Monkey Joe's

We decided to have an afternoon outing with Brooklyn, Josh and a few of Brooklyn's friends yesterday. Back in Texas going to a "bounce house" was a normal activity, but we haven't been in a couple of years and Brooklyn had really missed out on all the fun she had. We found a place here in North Carolina called Monkey Joe's; not quite as big as those in Texas but still fun nonetheless. As usual, I forgot to bring a camera but luckily the other moms brought theirs. So thanks to them, here are some exciting pictures of our great fun with Grant, Hannah, Venice, and Alora.

So John has been requesting that I add pictures of the new member of our family. Well, life has been really busy lately and so this is the first opportunity I have had for quite a while. We had been looking for an animal for the kids to help them learn responsibility and the ability to be nice and tender to someone. John was looking on Craigslist one day and came upon a family that was trying to find a new home for their bird. Their daughter had left for college and didn't seem to have much of a bond with her bird anymore. So while she was out of the house they quickly found a new home...ours. The daughter had named the bird Buddy, but the parents didn't like that so they just called him Birdy. They told us we could rename the bird since they didn't think it was too stuck on anything. We decided to let Brooklyn pick a name. Flashlight and Mr. Crabs are some of the more memorable ones that she picked out. I have not been very good at picking names for creatures other than humans, so Birdy has stuck with me.

Birdy is a beautiful Cockatiel that is just over a year old now. He is very friendly with adults, but still learning about kids. He loves to put his head down and beg for someone to rub him. According to Brooklyn, he loves to get hair cuts and get baths. Long story, but I was up stairs folding clothes and started to hear the bird squawking. I ran down, as that usually means one of the kids is trying to do something, and found Brooklyn hiding behind the couch with a pair of scissors. I asked her what she was doing and just said that she was trying to cut something. I looked around and couldn't find the bird and asked where it was. She pointed to the other side of the room. At first I didn't notice anything, but as I looked around the room I noticed feathers everywhere. I turned to her and said "Did you cut the bird feathers?" She said that he was flying too much and needed his feathers trimmed. She ended up getting grounded from the bird for about 2 weeks - no touching the bird or even getting near the cage. We had to explain that there are special people that cut birds feathers and if you do it wrong they can die. Well he survived and is doing really good now. He is extremely scared of Brooklyn now, but I think one day she will regain his trust.

BYU vs Wake Forest - January 8, 2008

So for Christmas I purchsed BYU vs Wake Forest basketball tickets for John. Of course the game was during the week so we had a difficult time finding a babysitter. John ended up having me go and I took Brooklyn with me. It was her first basketball game. She was very excited to go since her friend Will would be there. When we got there she kept telling me "It's too loud mommy!!" Of course there was nothing that I could do about the cheering, so we went out after half time and got some peanuts, dippin' dots, popcorn, and a drink, hoping that would take her thoughts off the noise and instead allow her to indulge in things she doesn't normally get to devour. It worked!

This game was very sad to watch. The Cougars got killed. Wake Forest just schooled them on the board. It looked like BYU hadn't worked on shooting the ball for quite some time. It was depressing to say the least. We however had a very fun time taking the 2 hour drive there and back and having some girly bonding time.

It Does Snow in the South

So we woke up to some beautiful snow. No, it is nothing compared to the snow we got when we lived in Utah or Idaho, but it was snow none the less. School was delayed for two hours and many places of business shut down for the whole day - including most of the universities in the area.

I decided to let the kids out and go play in the snow. I think after about 5 minutes they were complaining about how cold it was. Of course they didn't have gloves, which makes it a little hard to play but it doesn't normally snow in North Carolina.

Brooklyn kept asking why Santa Clause hadn't come yet. She thinks that when it snows it must be Christmas. We kept telling her that just because it snows doesn't mean that Santa is coming. I think we will have to continue to work on that one.

2007 Christmas

So this was our first official Christmas on our own. Last year we stayed in NC with just our family but because we had just moved here it wasn't quite official to us. The kids had a blast opening their presents and were so excited on Christmas Eve that they couldn't go to sleep.

Brooklyn was continually tracking Santa on Norad, but fell asleep when he arrived in Peru. I think this was the first year that she was truly excited when she saw all of the toys that she got. She begged and pleaded for a Barbie Jammin' Jeep, but are you kidding me? John calls that the lazy toy. We had bikes growing up, you actually had to put forth some effort when you played with a bike instead of just pushing buttons and a gas pedal when you drive a power wheel.

Josh took about 3 hour nap during the day so he was wide awake at 10:00 when we were trying to wrap presents. He had spent Sunday night sick as a dog, with a fever and throwing up. With Josh being so young it wasn't quite as exciting for him when he came downstairs but he is still finding new adventures with the toys he received. Josh is all about cars. Every toy he got involved something with cars.

John and I deceided the kids were more important so we didn't go all out on presents for each other. We got tickets to go to the BYU vs. Wake Forest Basketball game with other members of our ward and that was about it for anything exciting. Everything else was just little games or trinket type things that we didn't really need but decided to get anyway.

So this year we video recorded the kids coming down to see what their expressions were when they saw what they got. Hopefuly I will get that posted soon, but until then you will just have to imagine. This Christmas was great one for our family. We didn't go crazy like past years where we spent an over abundance of money. It's nice to know that you don't have to be rich to have a great and happy Christmas with your family.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas in 2007 and plan for an amazing 2008!!!

My children are such posers. Whenever I say "It's time to take a picture," Brooklyn will hurry and run to the floor and start striking poses. Josh will blink his eyes about two or three times and throw on a goofy smile. It's all good until we try to do a family picture and then they want to run away. So here are the latest pictures that I took of them goofing off around the house.

(One day I had Josh on my shoulders and he was getting kind of whiney, so I raised his arms up and yelled "I'm the King of the World." Now every once in a while he will walk around the house and raise his arms up and wait for me to say "I'm the King of the World." It's pretty cute.)