Happy valentines

With the snowstorms, we had a lot of indoor time! This led to creativity (and a little stir crazy madness!!). Here are some pictures.. Pretty cute!

Random cuteness

Vera has grown into quite a handful these days. She's into everything, spending a lot of time in the refrigerator climbing or pulling everything out of cabinets and selectively throwing things away. She still prefers to yell BALL as her favorite word though her vocabulary has expanded a bit with Rhett (also typically shouted, wonder why? Didn't learn it from me!), outside, more, baby and a few others. Her hair is starting to grow but still seems darker than the others at this age, so we shall see! 

Vera - 12 mo

With the holidays, moving etc.. We were a little late for our 12 mo visit but here are her stats:

Weight 23.5 lb (60%) 

Height: 33" (95%)

Head:  18" (80%)

I would have lost by bet on the weight! She feels MUCH heavier but I suppose that is because she always wants to be held! Here she is waiting on her dreaded shots...

The Bulls

Rhett started basketball recently. This marks his second year and is highlighted by Dad as coach! His team is the Bulls. Go team!

Snow days

Crazy weather shut down most of the southeast not once but twice this year! Sadly, we didn't get as much actual "snow" as predicted but we got three days off of school and had fun watching and waiting, and whoever said the south was not prepared obviously didn't know you could sled on a surf board!

Interesting, it was almost four years to the date of the last "snow"! Ah... How time flies!

Remley turns SEVEN

Its hard to believe my first born is SEVEN already! The years have flown by with so many changes. I often times look at Vera and then turn to Remley and back and wonder how it happened! Remley has certainly grown to be a unique and amazing little lady. She is a well-mannered and kind girl, always eager to do the right thing and try her best at whatever she is working on. She is determined, artistic and can always manage to find a hidden treasure in any situation, figuratively and often literally!!. 

We enjoyed celebrating with her for two birthday parties!

The first, on her birthday proper, was at the Japanese Steak House. We had a fun chef named Mel who made the night special, with sesame seed messages, volcanoes and tinfoil art!

Bday Girl (morning)

My Three 

Japanese , please!!?? Vera was not so sure about the flames....

Ah, so sweet! Mush anyone?

Umbrellas and Candles

FIRE!

Mr. Mel's Tinfoil Art

Remley's birthday party with friends was held at MUSC Wellness Center and was a pool party. Many friends came to splash and play, both in the pool and batting the pinata. Her party theme was rainbow, as everything she likes to draw is also! She quickly memorized the sequence of colors comprising the rainbow even without the old ROYGBIV trick!

Martha Johnson

Covey, Reece, McKenna, Elle Baker, Elle VandeWiel, Emma, Adam, Cally, Ella Duffy, Bella, Remley, Cannon, Rhett, and Charlie

Pinata Time!

 As usual, GG made an amazing cake to follow suit. Not only rainbow on the outside... but inside too!

Personalized Pop-Up Card by Cally

More rainbows!

Thanks to all friends and family for making her celebration so special! We love you Remley!

XOXOXO

Christmas indeed!

After some playground time and a game of chess, we had an early dinner and settled in for Christmas Eve!

I am pleased to report with the help of our elf, Elfin, Santa was able to find us on the14th floor of Tower 5 in Orlando. He must have known about our close quarters as he wisely chose small sized gifs for the children, the highlight being iPod touch. Oh no! Definitely will be establishing rules so we don't loose them to technology! 

After a very early morning (thank you Vera) and presents, we ventured to Ice! at Gaylord Palms. The hotel itself was a mini city and beautifully decorated. The displays were amazing!

The theme of the ice sculptures was Frosty. It was very well done but the highlight was the ice slides! And a very intricate nativity scene. It was nice being cold (7 degrees!!) on Christmas. Although, I have to say getting out of there felt good too as we headed to the 75 degree weather and pool outdoors! We grilled for dinner and all enjoyed a quiet early night after a very long day!

This brought us to our last day and the kids chose to go back to Epcot. We managed to get in a few big rides before lunch in Mexico and of course spent the evening at the pool. It was great week and although I am sad to see it go, I am ready to get "home" and start building this house! Merry Christmas to us! Thank you God for all of our blessings but mostly your son! Happy Birthday!