February 2013

February 1- co op, house showing, a little school, sunny but COLD day:), played with my babies, Poppy came for his birthday gift (UNC game tickets), went to the bookstore so dad could get the spelling bee participants books, and dad/brian watched airplane.
**elbows/garlic cheese biscuits/veggies

February 2- Lilly came over for the morning/mid afternoon, Kinsey's game..Poppy came!, Brian and dad to the UNC game, dad played Pente with the kids, watched Ephram make pudding for dad, cailey fed kinsey chapstick...yup., helped braden with his bear (scout) book and his rock presentation, lots of laughing from Ephram with poppy (light saber fights).
**sausage/potato/pepper bake/salad

February 3- church, qt with brian, went to see Les Mis with Marsie, braden did his rock presentation at scouts, kids to choir/mission kids, went to Leslie's so the boys could play and we could catch up, and Super Bowl Sunday yummies!

February 4- piano lessons, school, (cailey did most of hers last night), lots of playing in the sunshine, curled the girls hair for their daddy/daughter date, photo shoot, lots of preschool fun and crafts with ephram, made snowflakes with the kids, and played with the boys while the girls were on their date.

February 5- school (another super fast day for cailey), preschool for e, science class for the oldest two, haircut for braden, more school, free afternoon full of playing outside, met the Klick's at IHOP for free pancakes, and read together.

February 6- lab work for me, school,  (cailey did it last night), lots of free time, BINGO at CFA with the kids, eye dr for my contacts, jump rope class for c, awana, running/biking/scooter racing up and down the hill, outside play, and watched videos of the chicks that hatched at Laura's.
**bbq sausage and roasted sweet potatoes

February 7- school, preschool for e, run for braden/daddy, everyone else slept late, grocery shopping for produce, obgyn, braden's eye is bad again, magic school bus video during apt, outside play in the dreary afternoon, and cailey's basketball game.
**pizza

February 8- co op, AHG, field trip for cailey, watched alex, talked with cheryl and caught up:), cailey's jump rope performance with NLC, kinsey went home with lilly for a sleepover, cailey went out to eat with the morgan's, braden's eye still bad, took the boys to the mall to drop off braden's car, and Auntie Anne came over!!

February 9- waffles for breakfast, kinsey's basketball game (scored 8 points), braden's pinewood derby, AG party for Kinsey, karen came, went on a walk with anne and karen, hung out, kids loved playing with karissa and asa, went out to dinner with the girls, and did a TON of laughing:)

February 10- church, lots of singing for ephram's gotcha day, cloudy turned nice and sunny, kids played ball outside, tryouts for choir, mission kids, choir, played with ephram, and braden went to bed with a bad stomach ache.

February 11- dreary Monday,  piano lessons, braden had a bad tummy ache all day, school, book reports (MLK and Civil War), canceled playdate with Speiers b/c of sickness, and pillow fights.

February 12- preschool for e, science class for c+b, car school with K, baileywick park for lots of playground time then exploring in the woods, (braden still had a tummy ache), school, and two Asians alseep on the hall floor lol!

February 13- a little school, science museum with the klick's,  krispy kreme on the way home, valentine's day crafts, grocery shopping, awana, and brian went to brandon's for the carolina game.

February 14- fun fun day of making red/heart meals, playing games, decorating, baking, staying home, making crafts, last day of the countdown to Valentine's day hunt, lots of YUMMY food, went to Cailey's basketball game where she scored 4 pts, and came home to make red velvet pancakes and heart shaped bacon as their second dinner:)

February 15- co op, didn't watch alex, went to Spring Forest park with the keels, kinsey went for a playdate with lilly, cleaned/prepped for the Valentine's day party, hosted, planned games, had a blast making kids happy and feeding people, laughed,  daddies talked, kids competed and had fun, gave out AWESOME prizes, fed kids WAY too much sugar, abby stayed for a sleepover with cailey...so they played, watched a movie, then crashed. UNTIL Cailey came out at 12 because she couldn't sleep after finding out the exciting news that she had a main part in the spring musical!

February 16- woke up with doughnuts for the girls and went to cheer kinsey on at her basketball game (she made 2 baskets), looked out the window near the end of the game and it was snowing HUGE fluffy flakes, went home with excited kids who played in the snow all day...until it melted off the ground, and 'de-valentined' the house...cleaned and got it back to normal.

February 17- woke to snow..yay!! black ice kept us from church, up early and out for three showings, sledding in the back of the neighborhood (plus snow angels, snowball fights, Golden Corral for Brian's birthday, sunny snow day, went to look at another filigree house but didn't like it as much, choir,

***Kinsey's been asking a lot about her birth mom lately and today said, "mommy, how did the mommy whose tummy I was in know your last name to send me to you?"  We are always VERY open with her and answer the questions to the best of our ability, always quick to point out how thankful we are for her birth mom and what a sacrifice she made. She is thinking about it... a lot.

She has asked if the 'other mommy' had more children to which I said yes...one that I know of. Then she asked how she had enough money to feed that child but not her.

 Ephram has also asked me TONS of questions about it..which surprises me. Today he asked, "what's my adoption name?"

February 18- piano lessons, brian had the day off, school, haircut for e, showing that didn't happen (grrr), family time, ephram started getting sick, and star wars movie night.

February 19- school, science class for the oldest two, no preK for ephram because he was sick (high fever/clear constant nose/constant cough), last minute showing, eye apt for braden, girls played school all afternoon, and got lots of snuggles from my boy.

February 20- school, library, house showing, park, ephram was feeling better, awana, went out with kelly and molly for dinner, listened to excited children tell me about awana, and prepped for the next day.

February 21- school, preschool for e, out all afternoon for two showings, mall play place where Cailey was just AMAZING with the toddlers while the others played or read, cailey's last basketball game, awards, did a ton of reading with braden, and everyone crashed early.

February 22- co op, watched Alex (delayed b/c of ice), AHG for the girls, played with the three boys, ashton came over and played,  boys played with the little legos for hours, told cailey about the ladder system, hung out with cheryl for the afternoon, cailey went home with the lawley's for a sleepover, and we had movie night.

February 23- house showing, coupon shopping, cheered kinsey on at her last basketball game of the season, more house showings, picked up cailey,  brian did our read aloud while we waited for people to leave, ephram aka Peter Pan was THRILLED beyond belief to find his shirt and wore it all day..along with his hat and pants, he napped in the car,  and went to Braden's blue and gold ceremony where he ended up winning the 'slug' award:)!

February 24- church, busy day for cailey...she went home with the chapmans then skating with route 56/early choir/bible study/choir, we played outside all day, baked brian's cake with ephram, caught up with cailey, hug out with braden, played games with ephram (and read a ton)

February 25- piano lessons, mom came, school, nonny played games with the kids,  school, mom took the kids out to Ruby Tuesday's while I took Brian out to Casa Linga for his birthday, shopped with him, Penny aka Dot (the Easter Hen) joined our family, fun birthday cake/dessert time as a fam, presents, brian crashed while mom and I watched White Collar together.

February 26- got up and drove to Laura's (said goodbye to mom), had a croupy boy, kids did a GREAT job of playing inside all day even though it was rainy, caught up with my sweet friend, kids had a brief 30 min of getting some outside time in the evening, dennis watched the kids so Laura and I could go to dinner AND a movie...we saw Safe Haven, stayed up talking to L&D until Ephram threw up...which started a very.long.night.

February 27- after a night of no sleep from Ephram being so sick decided to come home instead of going to Charlotte to help mom, got a morning nap thanks to laura, crashed with ephram when we got home (though he and kinsey both slept most of the 2 hour car ride), school, didn't go to activities, had family time as brian read.

February 28- crazy early last minute showing so we cleaned first thing, took e to the dr (found out it's just a cold), school, snuggles and nap from my Peter pan (yup...wore it again today), chatted with beth about TSFL, another last minute showing in the evening, basketball awards ceremony, and ephram had a rough night coughing and coughing.

It's raining SNOW!

This was the BEST and most surprising snow of the winter! We went into Kinsey's basketball game with nothing and by the time it was over there were HUGE fluffy flakes falling from the sky. The kids played outside in it for a few hours until it turned to rain and melted. Ephram asked if he could bring the umbrella out...sure!

Short Story

Once upon a time there was a silly waffle.  It was wearing a clown hat with a doggie on top.  There was a little bear who came up and said, "woah! that's a funny hat!" The waffle and bear both ate the hat together. The waffle spoke Spanish and when it was winter they had to go inside their house because it was very cold. Mary (the little bear) came and said, "What are you doing?" And the waffle put his coat on and said, "I have to go home". Mary said, "bye bye". Finally he got home in the snow. There was a little baby waffle who was naked without butter or a diaper. The baby ate all the food so they had to go to back to Mary's house.  The baby came back and bought them some new food they would like. Jr, the waffle was a box shape who came.

The baby waffle and Jr. went on a picnic and their mom said they could have a special crispy apple pie but then they got sick. They laid in the bed being sick until a MONSTER came in the room. Then an angel came in the room and said, "monster, go away or I have my secret weapon and I will cut your head off." The angel cut the monsters throat and he died. Waffle and Jr. stepped on the monster and saw his guts.

The baby gave a plate of cookies to everybody to eat them.  Little bear thought they were the yummiest. The cookies turned into  rice krispie treats!  There was an old man who came and said the monster came back alive to eat the treats.  The monster ate the old man instead and he died. But it was okay because the old man came back alive and ran away to his car. The old man drove to see God in Heaven.  He saw the cross there. The old man said, "Hey, God!"

Baby waffle and jr. were taking a bath at Bear's house and splashed all the water down in the pipe.  It made the house explode. They had to go to waffles house and they didn't do anything wrong. They just sat there and ate their cookies.  Then they jumped on the bed.

A different day they went on a picnic to the beach and found a special shining golden candle which meant an angel was coming. The angel was coming in case the monster came. But it never came and they had a good time building sand castles. That's the whole story.

By Ephram Barbour
2-12-13

Ephram said he had a story to tell me and I asked if I could write it down because he thinks of the BEST stories!  He has such a great imagination and it's so fun to see how he keeps with the same characters (while adding along the way) for the entire story.  I must say I wrote exactly what he said...even when it turned gruesome. I guess that's the 'boy' in him! 

Brian's birthday

We had fun calling daddy all day at work to sing 'Happy Birthday' to him! The kids made him cards in the morning and he had cinnamon rolls plus orange just for breakfast. Two of his favs!  He got a UNC cup holder from the kids, a pixar short films dvd from me, and the biggie...a nice rolling desk chair...which won't be opened until we either move or the house goes off the market.

Mom was here so I was able to take him out for dinner....and get some cute family pics! He chose yummy Italian at Casa San Carlo! Afterwards we went shopping before heading back home.  Since there was a house showing Mom took the kids out for dinner too...to Ruby Tuesday's.

Oh how Brian LOVES orange juice!

When we were all back home we sang to Brian and he had his favorite snicker bar cheesecake that Ephram helped me make.

Happy Happy 38th birthday, Brian!

vitamin d

The weather has been wacko around here lately...60 one day and snowing the next!  When the weather reaches high temps we like to spend as much time outside as possible...soaking in the Vitamin D!

We went to Spring Forest Park with the Keel's after co op for a couple hours and it was just gorgeous.

Ephram was super brave on this...and Cailey joined the bravery with climbing a tall tree (though she MAY have needed help getting down:)

Braden wanted me to watch him do the monkey bars. After he was three bars in Kinsey decided she wanted to race him and since they were wide enough they had plenty of room.  I was shocked to see how fast Kinsey sped down those bars!

We let the older kids walk around the 'track' but halfway through they decided to cut across the grass and Ephram ran (carrie from Little House style) with arms outstretched to meet them and give hugs.

It was the perfect day for a picnic!

glasses

Cailey has always wanted to wear glasses. You always want what you don't need/can't have!  She's also always wanted braces and will most likely get that desire...though we try to tell her otherwise. I have worn glasses since I was 15 months old (would have been younger if they did that at that age) and I just couldn't wait to get contacts at 12 years old. Her desire for them cracks me up!

We were at the mall for Braden's pinewood derby and had some time to kill. Since she's wanted glasses for so long I decided...why not? She picked out these cute turquoise ones and wore them everyday at first. It's been over a week and now she wears them only when she remembers.  She loves people thinking she 'needs' them but then fesses up that they are fake:).  On Sunday she was nervous to go into her Sunday school class with her friends who were outside (and ALL 4 of them wear glasses!) They were excited that she got them too but one said, "I can't wait until I'm 12 next year so I can get contacts"...lol!

Though she looks adorable in them, I'm thankful that she doesn't need them...which is amazing with Brian and I as her parents! We think she's a cutie patootie with or without the glasses.

soakin' up the sunshine!

We went to the park while the weather was warm to soak up some sunshine! The kids had fun playing on all the usual equipment and chose to go to this park. It was a nice break in our day, something that we will do more often as it warms up (and before it gets TOO hot for this mama).

After an hour of playing we decided to go on a nature walk and it was our favorite part of the day!  We explored and could have stayed for HOURS if poor Braden didn't have a tummy ache.

stumps were used to jump off of

they found fallen trees and used them as balance beams

of course they needed walking sticks:)

Braden even found a tree that was perfect for doing flips over and pull ups

i'm pretty sure this is my favorite picture of all time. they are just being kids. and it was captured. pure innocent fun..digging, playing with rocks and sticks...just being.

we went to another wooded area that reminded us of "Where the Red Fern Grows" (a read aloud we've done together). 

They were trying to be like Billy and 'chop' down a fallen tree. They were using sticks...and the tree was rotted so it was pretty easy. (Unlike Billy who spend over 24 hours trying to ax his down!)

There is an open field on the way back that my Kinsey girl just couldn't resist doing cartwheels on...all the way to the car:).

SO blessed and thankful to have these fun times just playing outside together.

Museum Field Trip Day!

We packed up and went on a field trip to the Science museum.  It's been a while since we've gone so the kids were super excited!

Braden and Kinsey studying the rocks and seeing if they could identify them since Braden just did a research paper about them.

WOAH! Look at that giant whale, mommy!

The Klick's came with us too.

We spent a good deal of time in the research room where the kids got their science done for the day! They learned about different animals, sounds, life cycles, pulleys, bones, and a ton more!

lunch break...complete with rock candy

we went to the discovery room after lunch where they did more learning and exploring. there were smelling bottles where the kids would have to guess what was inside (vanilla, coffee, lemon, cinnamon, etc.) 

research topics...i LOVE this room because it has info for kids young and old.

weaving spider webs

Cailey was teaching the little boys about different textures and sea creatures. She's awesome with them!

and stealing some snuggles from Charlotte:)

(along with singing songs and reading books)

we stayed and toured the third and fourth floors too.  there were booths set up with people teaching about types of spiders, bees, and other things.

kinsey had a butterfly land on her leg! they always like to try and identify each butterfly they see.

Krispy Kreme is on the way home so we stopped off so the kids could watch them being made and have a treat. We also picked up heart shaped ones so they could have them for breakfast the next day (Valentine's Day:). 

We had a great day together and it was filled with FUN hands on learning.