Great Wolf Lodge

Last week the girls were out of school for winter break.  It was definitely winter, having some of the coldest temps we've had.  This mama is no fan of cold weather, especially when its cold with no snow.  Instead we had some nasty ice.  Ugh!  We had hoped to take Cohen skiing but it was way too cold for that so it was on to plan B.   If we couldn't be somewhere warm and sunny we would try to find the next best thing, so we decided to head to Charlotte to the Great Wolf Lodge which has a large indoor water park.  We had been once a few years ago when Cohen was small and thought this would be something both girls would love.  Plus I am always up for a trip to Charlotte.  The only bad thing was a lot of our friends were in Daytona for the start of the season.  We did get to see one particular waif...Jessica so we were pumped about that.  We left Thursday morning and got to the hotel and got ready to head to the water park.  Suzy went with us to keep Bryce since he wouldn't be able to play in the water.  Kelly and I were able to play with both girls which was great because Cohen was able to ride every slide but one and Kate could only ride a few.  Cohen loved the slides!  It took a little while to get her on one of them but by Friday she was brave enough to try and once she rode it she was begging to ride it over and over and over.  Kate loved her little slides too.  One was pretty big for her and she was very hesitant at first since she had to go down alone.  With a little help and a small push she headed down it and loved it.  Kelly said she was smiling as soon as she was at the bottom.  She also loved the wave pool.  I have 2 water babies and we are already counting down the days until summer when we can get in the pool!
Suzy was able to sit in the water park with Bryce and watch so I think that was some entertainment.  I actually let him sit with me and feel the water from the little fountains.  He didn't seemed to phased.
On Thursday night Jessica came by our hotel for a little visit.  It was good to have some catch up time with her.  Afterwards Kelly and I took the girls to eat while Suzy kept Bryce in where it was warm.  I think Thursday was one of the coldest days that week!  That night they had a character show in the lobby that both girls enjoyed.  It took a while getting them to settle down and go to sleep but finally they did.
Kelly took both girls back to the water park the next morning while I did some errands.  I miss the shopping up there so much!  I actually am glad I had some errands though because I ran into Michael and Amy, some of our other close friends that I thought were in Daytona.  That was a nice surprise!  I had to get back quick because Cohen had requested I come back to ride the slides with her and I couldn't pass that up.  We had a blast with the girls and ended our trip with a pizza lunch before heading home.  The only way we got the girls to leave without a big fight was them knowing they were getting to play with all their friends that night at a surprise birthday party for one of our friends.  It was a short trip but very fun and we made lots of fun memories!  Short trips can still be so much fun.

Thursday night Kate decided she wanted to draw on herself, not paper.

Kelly & Cohen racing down the mat slide.  Cohen was a little too light and always stopped before Kelly.  

a family photo

Kate loved the bear...next best thing when a mannequin isn't available

Bryce 4 months

Bryce is now 4 months old!  (4 1/2 really but who's counting right?!)  He is the sweetest little boy!  I love that big smile that shows off all of his gums and he is willing to show it off all the time.  I think he only fusses when he is hungry or when he gets sleepy.  As long as you hold him and snuggle him close, he will go to sleep pretty quick.   I love cuddle time with him and he is pretty spoiled to it himself.  He is starting to "talk" a lot more, especially in the morning.  Kate will even look at me and ask me what he is saying.  He is also staying awake for longer periods.  I love to watch him find new things.  He loves to reach up and touch his toys that hang above his play mat.  There is nothing sweeter than watching a baby learn new things.  He was a little on the small side as far as weight goes when we went for his checkup so he is getting some formula now and some rice cereal!  I knew this was what he was needing so I bet we are going to see even more growth from him!   Here are some things going on with Bryce at 4 months, and an awful lot of pictures!!

• At his checkup he was 11 lbs 10 oz...barely hitting the scales but we are working on that :)
• 24 inches long
• Has started rice cereal in his bottle and is getting more formula too.
• Has rolled from his stomach to his back but still has not rolled from his back to his belly.  He honestly isn't put down enough.  Does it really matter if they roll?? :)
• Sleeps all night! Woo hoo!  He may lose his paci and start to wake but I pop it right back in and he is good.  He does still sleep in his rock-n-play in our room.
• His nursery is almost finished!  Yes we are late but being the indecisive mommy that I am, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted.  We are on the right track now...I think!
• Can hold his head up really good and can now lay on his belly and hold it up to look around.  I love this too!  
• Loves his fingers!!  He is a drool machine but no teeth or anything.  He can really soak his shirts though!  I may have to use bibs more with him!
• Loves to "talk" especially in the morning.  That is his happy time and usually when I can snap some cute pics!
• Loves to blow bubbles with his mouth.  
• Loves to be held.  He is spoiled to being held but thats ok!

after rolling over...what did I just do?

Kate was trying to snap a few pics of her own

 His sisters really love him!  Kate a little too much at times!  She can be a little rough.  Notice him eyeing her close!

holding his bottle!

first snow

baby wearing

this is how we get things done around the house!

Happy Valentine's 2015

We had a fun Valentine's weekend.  I've always thought Valentine's was a fun holiday.  We tried to think of ways to make it a special holiday for just Kelly and me and also for all the kids too. Since it fell on the weekend this year that helped a lot.  We decided to celebrate Friday with the kids and then go out by ourselves on Saturday.
Friday started out with a Valentine's party for Kate at preschool.  She was so excited to get to hand out her Valentine's because they each had bubbles in them.  She kept telling her friends, "I have bubbles".  I don't know how many times I had to tell her to sit down and eat her snack because she was trying to jump the gun on handing them all out.  Once they got started though she was all into the candy being dropped into her Valentine's bag.  If I had been smart I would have also included a little dog bone Valentine from Kate to her friends!  haha!  I was excited about her Valentine's though.  I thought they turned out really cute and like I said she was super excited about them.  It was really cute watching them all at the party.  They loved their snack and really loved their Valentine goodies.

Kate's Valentine's for her friends

As always she was all excited over Bryce...aka "Bry-cee" to her

That afternoon we got her Valentine in the mailbox that she had mailed on the post office field trip.  She came running to me with half the mail still in the box screaming, "my mailman came, my mailman came!"  She was so excited!  She kept saying "open it, mama" "open your gift card".  That excitement was the best!
Cohen had a fun Valentine's party at school too.  Unfortunately parents aren't invited to come so I had to take her word on it.  She had cute Valentine's for her friends too.  She loves writing all her friends' names on hers and its fun to sit down with her and make them with her too.

As for Bryce, we had a special little Valentine's photo shoot earlier in the week so we could send out a picture to all his Valentine's :)  He is such a smiley little thing which makes it hard to stop taking his picture, so I'm sorry for Bryce picture overload.  I can't help it!  He just opens that mouth so wide and smiles so big...needless to say I'm in love with my tiny Valentine!

On Friday night we decided to take the girls on a special Valentine date.  We let the girls get on their dresses, and high heels for Cohen, and we took them to eat Japanese.  Cohen really loves eating Japanese when they cook in front of you and Kate loves rice so it was a win/win for everyone.  We decided to eat in Anderson so we could pick up some other things while we were there too.  The girls seemed to love it, even when Kate got worried that she was going to be on fire.  She quickly saw that she was going to be fine and enjoyed watching the cook's tricks.  She did keep asking for her "wice" though:)  For once though she cleaned her plate and some of mine.  The girl loves her rice.  When we left we had to make a stop at Target and pick up some special Valentines for them.  We hid them though to save until Saturday on Valentine's.  It was some skates for Kate and a small basketball for Cohen.  Kelly always likes to surprise his girls with Valentine treats which I think is so sweet.  He also picked Cohen out a special Valentine "singing" card.  This girl loves singing cards and we have kept all the ones she has picked out for Kelly over the years.  They still get a kick out of them! It was a great way to spend the evening with our special little Valentines!

On Saturday, Kelly and I had a date night to ourselves.  Kelly decided he wanted us to go to Athens to the Melting Point for a little concert.  We ate downtown at Amici's beforehand.  I love eating downtown and it doesn't matter where, I just love downtown Athens!  We walked back to the Melting Point after eating and enjoyed watching Francine Reed perform.  IT was very entertaining!  We had to leave before the entire show was over to get back home to the kiddos.  Sug and Pop were sweet to pick them up at church and watch them for us until we got home.  We made one last stop before heading home to Insomnia Cookies downtown.  OMG...these were fabulous and it would not do for me to be a student going out downtown because I would be eating these cookies all the time!  They are open until 3 am so I'm sure Hubs and I will be eating more of these the next time we're out!  Happy Valentines!

my Valentine