Waiting for Daddy...Precious!!

A Mall and A Merry-go-round

We ventured out to North Point Mall the day that Mimi came to pick up Chase. Chase was in search of a bathing suit for her Tennessee trip and I was just excited about going to a mall. I don't think I have been to one in years!!! Anyway- right away the kids spotted the Merry-go-round and Kinley was thrilled!! She kept saying, "Horse!! I ride that horse!". Jacob, on the other hand wasn't so sure! I finally convinced them to eat lunch first, and then ride! The mall had the coolest little tables and chairs for the kids to eat at!! Although, they were also the perfect height for standing on and jumping off...later demonstrated by Jacob and Kinley!!

After lunch, it was time for the horses! Kinley was SO EXCITED!! Jacob wasn't to sure about the horses moving up and down while it was going. I was trying to show him that some of the animals didn't move, but he wasn't interested! So, he just watched with Mimi, while Kinley and Aunt Chase rode!

Kinley LOVED the Merry-go-round and didn't to get off. She wanted to walk, so right after I put her down, the grabbed a pole and I had to pry her fingers off. (After taking a picture, of course!)

Fun with Aunt Chase

Back in the beginning of June, Chase came to spend a few days with us!! We loved having her here (especially the kids!!) . While she was here, we went to an inflatable jump place, called 'Big Air'. We all had a great time!! Jacob's favorite thing is the over sized boxing!! Luckily I got a break from this round, thanks to Aunt Chase!!! Jacob ended up scraping/burning his elbow on one of the slides, so our trip was cut a little short because he was ready to go home! Overall, we had fun Jumping!!

Our next adventure with Chase was making colored pancakes for breakfast!! The kids love to put food coloring in the pudding when they do pudding paining, so I figured why not make colorful pancakes!! They looked a little different, but they were good!!

We had a so much fun with Aunt Chase while she was here!! She was supposed to stay with us an entire week, but she got a better offer, so she split! (ha ha ..just kidding Chase) Her friend called and invited her to go to Tennessee with her. Judging by the stories from her trip, she made a good decision! Thanks for coming to visit Aunt Chase, we had a great time!!!

"I'm bakin' like a toasted cheeser"

It has been SO HOT here, so we have been getting out the sprinkler, water hose, buckets and the 5 dollar slip-n-slide. One of Jacob's favorite movies is Sandlot and there is a line in it that has summed up our last few days. "This pop isn't working, Benny. I'm bakin' like a toasted cheeser!! It's so hot here!!!" We have all felt like we were baking!! I didn't mind the heat because of the precious pictures that I captured!!

Our neighbors have a beautiful dog that Jacob and Kinley have absolutely fallen in love with. They have to tell him good morning and good night and have even made him cards! Kinley, the kind girl that she is, thought it would be nice to share her milk with him!! So precious!!

NO, It's MY turn!

We have an on-going issue of "who's turn is it?" at our house! We take turns over EVERYTHING!!! Who's turn is it to...brush their teeth first, pick a movie, get their shoes on, clip their fingernails, wash their hands, get buckled in the car...and so on. We decided to take a day trip to Helen last Saturday and of course it started! Jacob said, "I want to pick what we do first." So, he picked golf. After eating lunch, we played put-put and everyone had a blast!!

After Jacob's turn, it was Kinley's turn, and she wanted to go see the "baby dogs" at BabyLand General.

Puddin' Paintin'

One of Jacob and Kinley's FAVORITE activities/snack is Pudding Painting!! I saw this on an episode of Jon and Kate plus eight and thought it looked neat!! Jacob decided that he wanted more colors that just brown (chocolate) and white (vanilla), so we now mix up food coloring with the vanilla pudding and the kids absolutely LOVE it!!! They even use their paintbrushes as spoons!!

Muddy Buddies

I'm going to let these pictures speak for themselves!!

Mud is more fun with out clothes on!!

Jacob's Feet and Kinley's Feet

Jacob's Precious Gee!

Jacob has come up with several names for Kinley over that past 20 months and they are so sweet I thought I would share! Jacob began calling Kinley "Gee" when she was little. It took us a long time to figure out where he got this, but we finally noticed that "Gee" was all Kinley said. In her baby talk jibbering, she would let out loud bursts of "GEEEEEEEEEEEE". So, it stuck!! The other name is not used as often, but when it is, it is priceless to hear!! Jacob will come up to Kinley and hug her and say, "hey Precious". I just stand and watch. It is the rare time when a hug or kiss is not forced, but done out of pure love and joy. I love to hear Jacob call her his precious.

Jacob took this picture of Kinley. He was so proud that he actually got her, instead of the floor!!

Sweet Siblings

Such a precious moment between a brother and sister!

Jet's waiting for them to drop something!!

ZOO

Last Friday, Nathan took the day off and we FINALLY made good on a promise to Jacob, that we would take him to the Zoo. Originally, this was for his birthday (in March), but with so much going on...the trip has gotten put off! We all had such a wonderful day and actually timed the trip quite perfectly between the raindrops! The kids had a blast seeing all of the animals and especially the Pandas!! They got to see the elephants take a bath, the Panda cub do a hand stand, and ride the train twice!! It was such a fun day!!

The Panda Showing Off!

The Kids LOVED the train!!

Worthey Lawn Service

Jacob and Kinley were outside pretending to be the "grass man" and do all of our landscaping work for us! It's so nice to see them playing and working together and using their imaginations.

Jacob and Kinley re-fueling

Outside at Last

With lots of rain storms occuring since we moved into our house, the kids outside time has been few and far between. Lately, the weather has been so nice, so we ventured out to find a park close to our house! We discovered that Midway Park was the closest to our house, so there we went. Jacob wanted Nathan to go with us, so we waited until he got home from work. When we got to the park, to Jacob's delight they had baseball games going on. The kids played on the playground for a while, but Jacob became more interested in watching the high school baseball teams hitting in the batting cages next to the playground. I was in shock at how still he stood there watching and admiring them. Here are some pictures from our fun outing!

Jacob trying ot get a closer look at the "amazing" batters!

Baseball Banquet

Jacob's first baseball season has come to an end and he had a GREAT time!! His team all got together at Partners Pizza to celebrate the season and have a fun time eating pizza and baseball cupcakes!

Jacob's coach giving him his trophy

Jacob and Billy waiting for their Pizza!!

Jacob enjoyed his first year of baseball and is looking forward to playing again in the fall! We also found out that Jacob was chosen to play on the pre-T All-Star team! Although, distinguishing athletic ability of 3 and 4 year olds is not a common award, we were thrilled that he was chosen as an All-Star. We are so proud of him and look forward to watching him play again!

Finally Updated!!

We have finally gotten our computer and internet up and running, so it's time for some updates! We are almost all moved into our house, although we are still going through boxes and trying to decided where to put things and how to arrange the furniture! It has been a fun but exhausting process!! Here are some pictures from the moving experience!

My favorite thing about our new house (which was a requirement) is the BIG playroom! Jacob and Kinley hadn't seen any of their toys in over two months, so when we unloaded all of the boxes, it was like Christmas!! Exciting, but what a mess!!!

We are loving our house, the smaller neighborhood and, meeting our neighbors!! We have already had a playdate with some neighbors down the street who have kids that are close to Jacob and Kinley's ages! It was a fun day and they all got along really well!!

Growing TOO Fast

Although the challenge of raising two strong-willed children is...well, just that a challenge, I've managed to capture some exciting sweet moments recently. First off, Jacob wrote his name ALL by himself!! I was so proud of him and have showed everyone that I can.

Jacob has been doing such a great job at his baseball games that his coach awarded him with the game ball at Friday's (April 24th) game. He was so proud of himself as were we of him!!

Kinley has been a little more difficult lately, so she doesn't really have many wonderful things to post. She is currently getting over a sinus infection and bronchitis. While I hated that she was sick, we had some great low-key movie days. Kinley was such a champ at the doctor visit and, for one of the first times, was very cooperative! We did manage to squeeze in some outside time and Kinley enjoyed playing with the bubbles!

We are down to less than a week before our move to Cumming. We had our last Sunday at our church today, which was very emotional for me. Lots of mixed emotions, but a definite sadness to leave our loving church family!! We will miss them greatly!!! I'll leave you with a picture that I wish I saw more often, but I was glad that I had a chance to capture this precious sibling moment!