Mothers Day

Mother's Day. I really enjoy this day, and I think that it's okay to say. It brings both joy in sadness to people everywhere, and I pray that those who have heartache connected with this day with find the hope and peace that the Gospel promises.

This Mother's Day, of course we attempted a picture. I believe our picture captures the true essence of motherhood. It's not all rainbows and butterflies. In fact, my two year old is having a tantrum in the picture. I'd say that's as about as real as it gets. Well, I guess it would be even more real if my hair was pulled back, and I was in a pair of running leggings and tshirt. But we were on our way to church- my only excuse to look semi-decent :). 

I woke up this Mothers Day to fresh flowers and a breakfast of eggs, grits, toast, and bacon (my favorite, duh). We went off to church and then went to out to lunch! No cooking for me on this day! We had a hard time deciding where to eat, now that our life includes a wiggly two-year old. I ended up choosing a japanese place, the one's where they cook in front of you. Mainly because I thought Addie would entertained and would sit there.

Well. She did sit there. But she WAS SCARED. And started crying. So our chef didn't do anything fancy. I felt bad for the people sharing our table, but oh well! 

The rest of the day was filled with hanging at home and resting. It was nice :)

Life Lately

So, here's the deal. I STILL haven't finished our travels post. I know, it's taking me forever. Did you know it's so much easier to post pictures straight from my ipad/phone than to hook up the camera to the computer and upload pictures?...hence the reason for the delay. We took so many pictures on our real camera that I want to use for the post about Italy/Turkey. 

In the meantime, here's what's been going on in our world! 

(AG is 15-16 months in the following pictures)

Everyday, I come home from school around 12:00 to meet up with my best little friend. 

Every Sunday, we have our house ch-rch, where we entertain AG every possible way. Here, play with these...pearls.

I just love this picture. AG loves to eat our food. If we are eating anything, she will come up to us and expect us to give her a bite. So sweet daddy shares his cereal.

It snows here. A lot. But life must go on. You like my earpuffs? A purchase I made in Italy when I WAS SO COLD.

AG likes to get ready with me in the morning. As I sit to put on my makeup, she waits for me to either pick her up, or give her a make up brush. This day, I did both.

Curly pigtails. 

My 16-month old girl. So big. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I come back to the school for basketball practice. I bring AG with me to hand her over to Eric. 

A friend took this picture. I'm thinking it may have been at a soccer tournament held in November.

Winter in October

The first snow dusting of the season proved to be everything I hoped and imagined. It was beautifully refreshing. Snow capped mountains, the feeling of winter in the air...oh wait. It's October.

The first snow of the season is always exciting for me. Possibly because I've been in school my entire life and the result of a snow means NO SCHOOL!! It means you get to sleep in a little, hang out in your PJs all day, wake up to a warm drink by the fire...its a feeling of cozy around the house. But here...well, if we didn't go to school every time it snowed, we would be out of school from November to April. I'm okay with that. But apparently it's not good for the whole learning thing.

This past week was Fall Break. In NC public schools, Fall Break means no school for two days. Here, we are out for an entire week.  Winning. We slept. We ate. We hung out. I sewed. We stared at each other for hours. Having no car really limits our activities. So, we asked our friends with cars to hang out. We also took advantage of down time this week to practice the taxi system here. Mom, Carlyne, Nana, Aunt ME...you should stop reading now, but if you choose to continue, remember that what I'm about to say is COMPLETELY NORMAL here.  The taxi system here is similar to hitch hiking. Actually, that's what it is. We need a ride, so we hold out our hand, someone pulls over, we hop in the car, they take us where we need to go. Boom. No-car-problem solved. If you have a car, you are a taxi. It's just what they do here. And it is way, WAY, safer than America. Promise. We have already done it three times, and look, we are still here.

The last three days we had a retreat with our team. It was refreshing. A team from NC came in and brought tons of coveted American goodies...and the only thing I really care about...Starbucks. I was so excited about good coffee that I couldn't wait to go to bed so I could wake up and drink it. I even woke up throughout the night from excitement of good coffee and fresh snow. It's the little things, y'all. 

AG was so exhausted from the retreat that she slept in until 9:00 Sunday morning, took a three hour nap, and was out by 7:00 that evening. She is such a people person. She will let anyone hold her and will play with about anything and anyone. She gets passed around so often here, most of the time I have no idea where she is...and she LOVES the attention.

Lately at 13 months

So apparently AG likes cats. Which makes sense since Eric and I don't...of course our child would love cats. Many of our team members have cats, so when we go to their houses, AG gets so pumped to play with the kitties. 

This picture says it all...there were three cats, and she got so excited about all three, she didn't know which one to go to:

Kisses for kitty

Last week, AG and I went to one of the soccer games with some people from our team. AG loved playing in the grass

Last weekend, our school had Fall Festival where the little kids got to dress up. We didn't pack any costumes so the best we could come up with was a little cupcake...which turned out adorable! The Fall Festival was a blast! There were different types of foods, candy, cotton candy, popcorn, face painting, games, talent show, and the popular Air Band competition.

She loved her pet balloon dog. She popped it in less than 5 minutes...

Beach Bummin

Last week we had an easy life. Actually our lives still seem pretty easy...we have no jobs and are bumming off of friends, that takes no hard work whatsoever. The hardest part of my day is making sure not to violate the pet peeves of the friends whose house we are staying. But they only have two. TWO. I am a terrible person because I probably find a new pet peeve of mine on a daily basis. Although they only have two, these two seem quite difficult for me. 

The first is that Josh doesn't like food particles in his dishwasher or on the DIRTY DISHES that are sitting in the dishwasher. Wait. You mean I have to WASH the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? How about I just wash them, then put them in the cabinet. 

And the second is that Jessica doesn't like any spec of crumb on her floors. Omg I just started hyperventilating. I have a very messy 11 month old child. So when I sit Addie down to eat, I sit beside her with a wet cloth in my hand, quickly swiping up every crumb that flows from her mouth, fingers, toes, arms, and head onto the squeaky clean floor. 

This child produces crumbs from nothing. 

 Im not sure if I even noticed it until now. Where did that come from?? Change her diaper. Boom, found a few crackers saved for later. 

But this week they are at the beach, so you should SEE THEIR HOUSE NOW!! We have let loose people. Crumbs everywhere!! 

And when I say crumb, I mean I follow Addie around with a broom. 

But we are so so thankful they have graciously opened up their home to us. They have been so generous, and we love being around them, so that makes this more like a three-week slumber party. 

Hopefully I will be able to cook a few of my gourmet meals to show our appreciation. Josh is the easiest person in the world to cook for...no really. I have never met anyone with so few taste buds. 
He likes salad but with no dressing. He likes baked potatoes but not mashed. He likes spaghetti without the sauce...All I have to do is BOIL NOODLES. Dinner is served!! Help yourself to some noodles, guys. 

Anyways, I originally started this post to share about our beach trip, last week. We started out at Wrightsville Beach with Eric's family, for the weekend. We had so much fun and Addie began to warm up to the sand. Eric's mom roomed with Addie, so Eric and I got to sleep in a little.

Going to the beach with a baby is no joke. 

Have you ever tried to lather a baby with sunscreen? A baby who crawls away or tries to wiggle out from your grasp?...which makes it dangerous since she is already so slippery from the lotion? 

Have you ever put on a swimmy diaper only for her to go number 1 immediately after you put it on? And you are HOLDING HER? Fine. Lesson learned. You will wear disposables IN THE POOL. Your diaper will probably blow up, but we shall take our chances.  (For those who aren't sure, swimmy diapers only hold number 2. That's right. Every baby you have ever seen in a pool has done number 1 in the pool you are currently in).

And the beach. Oh the beach. Crawling around in the sand. THE SAND. I'm not a sand person y'all. Poor baby. When it's time to take her in, this mama holds her out at an arms length. Of course this would be the time she wants to cuddle. Then my heart strings start tugging, so I give in and now mama and baby are both covered in sand. 

Then she must have a bath. This week, the week she needs a bath the most, the week she has sand in every crevice possible...kind of like her crumbs... 

She is hating the bath. 

HATES IT. 

Screaming. 

Trying to stand up. 

Trying to crawl out.

So be it. 

This shall be the quickest bath you have ever had...

I get her out and rub lotion on her. It's more like I am exfoliating her body with the amount of sand still left on her. Oh well. It will fall off eventually, I tell myself. 

Repeat this process 8 more times. 

After the weekend at Wrightsville beach we headed to Atlantic beach for my family vacation.

We beached it up, pooled it up, televisioned it up, ate it up, and slept it up. I may have eaten so many cookies, I purposefully lost count at 10. But that's what vacation is for, right?! 

Both Eric's family and mine threw Addie a "first birthday party" since we will be gone on her real birthday. It was so much fun, but unlike her mom and dad, she did not like the cupcakes. Either time. She didn't smother it all over her face, squish it between her fingers, or bury her head in it. 

So disappointing, I know. 

But I was so proud. PROUD! 

Call me uptight, but I just wasn't yet ready for my 10.5 year old to eat pastries. So when all she did was poke her finger in the icing, stare at it, then whine, I was secretly elated. KEEP WHINING, MY CHILD....THAT'S MY GIRL!!  

I know, it's a bummer for everyone else. 

Confession: it took me months to give AG plain Cheerios....bc there is sugar in the ingredients. No judgement.  This is a judgement free zone, here. And remember, she is my first.

Sugar or no sugar, both parties were super fun and AG got really fun gifts. We had a blast beach bummin for 8 days and are so thankful both families made these trips happen! 

But for now we have 3 more weeks to go...and no jobs...and only time...because we were suppose to be in Central Asia...so if you want to hang out, let us know! 

We are very free :)

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH/ PARTY #1- Hovis Edition:

Opening presents 

Not sure she wanted to touch Uncle Dean's bald head

Laying out

Playing with daddy

Skeptical about her sandy hand

ATLANTIC BEACH/ PARTY #2- Brown Edition:

This is as messy as it got...

More interested in the presents

Because we won't let her eat seashells...

Sandy girl

Sunscreened up and ready to go!

Loving some spaghetti 

My family

Aunts, uncles, and cousins