Easter Fun

This Saturday we had two Easter Egg hunts to attend. The first was put on by our church and the second was put on by the city of Villa Ricca. The kids really enjoyed themselves. We were surprised by how much fun Sydney had finding all of the eggs and putting them in her basket. She couldn't get enough of it. Dylan also had fun but was more about the candy than anything else. Go figure. Here are all of the Primary kids of the Carrollton, GA ward

The kids had fun meeting the Easter bunny, playing in the jumpy house, and of course, collecting eggs. It was crazy busy, but the kids had fun. Hopefully this Easter Sunday will be just as fun (and I am not in the hospital). We shall see.

Soccer Boy!

I was able to get Dylan signed up for soccer this year, and man it wasn't a moment too soon. I was wondering how he would handle playing on a team, but he picked it up quick and can't get enough. Just as an FYI, we went to the meeting to get all of the information and Dylan left crying in the parking lot because he thought he was going to start playing that day. He was screaming, "I want to play soccer" while all of the kids and parents were leaving the building and getting in their cars. It was a bit annoying, embarrassing and sad, but I think it goes to show how amped he was to start playing. Poor kid cried the whole way home until I told him we could play for a bit out front before going to bed. It was already dark outside. :)Dylan has only had a couple of games so far, but he is a runner! The first time he played I think he really thought that the object of the game was to run and fall every time down the field. Not only did he just fall, but he would take other kids down with him. We had to give him a big talk about tackling, and the next game he did much better and really went after the ball. You might even call him the bully that doesn't really give the other kids a chance...urgh...he just goes and goes and goes! He even scored his first goal (in the other teams goal...but it was exciting all the same!). Go Dylan!
I have to mention how hilarious it is to watch these kids. During the kickoff part of the game the kids just stare at the ball wondering who is going to get it. The parents each yell hoping that their kid will go after it, but as you can tell, a lot of the kids just stand around waiting for the action to come to them. Too funny. The kids also, ages 3-7, just want to be running. They run after eachother and not so much the ball. They kick the ball out of bounds just so they can touch it, and the real kicker is that they kick the ball towards the mud out of bounds so that they can have a moment to jump, play and get dirty...who doesn't want to do that? We can't keep Dylan out! A lot of the kids often times will also get distracted when the ball goes out of bounds over by the hill and they will start rolling down the hill one after the other. It is hysterical! Oh What I would give to be a kid again!

Musical Acts that I have Seen

Here is a list of Musical Acts that I have seen. Thanks to SUS for giving me this idea. It was fun to look back and remember each one of these.

I know these are totally random, but it goes to show that I really do listen to any and every genre. So…in no particular order:

• Alanis Morrisette
• Foo Fighters
• Weezer
• Jimmy Eat world (more times than I can count)
• Beach Boys
• Keith Urban
• Tim McGraw
• Ben Folds
• Rusted Root
• Plain White Tees
• Green Day
• Rufus Wainwright
• K.D. Lang
• Reba Macintyre (whoa, that was for stadium of fire July 4^th)
• Taylor Hicks (Ditto to the last)
• Rascal Flatts
• Zack Williams
• Peter Brianholt
• No Doubt (I was a security guard for her…what?)
• Bob Dylan
• Elvis Costello
• Oakridge Boys
• Aquabats
• Tenacious D

St. Patrick's Day Atlanta

This weekend we went into Atlanta to be a part of the St. Patty's day festivities. Dylan loves parades ever since the SB one where the horse went crazy and nearly ran over the people in the crowd. That was gnarly! He also thinks that every parade should have confetti eggs too. Bummer, maybe I should make those and introduce them to the south. I explained them to my friends out here and they think we are crazy for putting paper in salmonella infested eggs and crushing them on people. (If you put it that way it does sound pretty gross, but I love the Fiesta tradition).

This parade was full of all kinds of strange people:

Random clowns with giant tooth brushes...

A Bono look alike (I could have sworn it were him if it weren't for the plastic chair he was sitting on in the back of a chevy pickup)

Cute dressed up dogs with not so cute (or happy) owners

Random statues of men making moves on my daughter...

And my very favorite: Several middle aged women twirling batons in teeny, tiny, dresses with their junk hanging out. Classic south.

Since that bizarre experience, Dylan and Sydney have pulled out their instruments at home and have begun having their own parades. Dylan must be the drummer and Syd follows behind with her little noise makers. I love watching what those two come up with when they play together!

Random Syd

Syd has been doing great lately. It has been almost a year since her last seizure (May 5th), and she finally seems to have adjusted well to her medications. Hopefully, she will only need them for one more year, but only time will tell. She needs to be seizure free for 2 years before they even think about taking her off her meds. Continue to pray and cross your fingers for her. Sydney has been making huge strides in these last few months, and so I wanted to post about it. As many of you know she has struggled since getting on her medications with eating, talking, and managing her discomfort. But lately she has been doing better than ever:

She finally is using her hands again to eat! For the last several months she has only accepted food that we physically feed to her, and she has been extremely picky with what goes into her mouth. Recently however, she has decided that she likes the fork and that she will eat or grab anything that she can poke at. The possibilities are endless...finally! She is eating again! I was so excited to get a picture of her messy face, the last time I saw this she was 9 months old!

Ok this is nothing new, but I wanted to post how long her hair is getting. It is crazy! Where does she get all that hair?

We recently bought a pass to the zoo since this is the one thing that Sydney is most fascinated with, and that seems to keep her attention for long periods of time. She still doesn't have a ton of words, but she is learning all of the animal sounds. Anything involving animals such as movies, books, pictures, etc, are helping with her language development. Rawrrrr!

Here is Syd in her little Scottish kilt! Love it! She has started to help get herself dressed in the morning. She knows where her legs and arms need to go, and she LOVES shoes. She is my little girlie girl!

I am excited for my little girl to turn 2 next month, and even more excited to see her with her baby sister. I think that she will have a hard time initially, but I know that she will eventually LOVE being the older sister. She already is great at giving hugs and kisses, and running to comfort Dylan when he cries. She is a sweety!

Men at Work

The tiling is finally done! WOOHOO! After our house was flooded over Christmas we decided to go ahead and not only tile the kitchen floor, but the two upstairs bathrooms also. Cameron and his dad decided they could figure it out together, and they did! They did an excellent job on the floors, and there is NO MORE MOLD! WOOHOO! I know Cameron could have NEVER done this without his dads help. Jim knows so much about home improvement! It was fun seeing them bond over the span of a few weeks. Thanks Jimmy Dee!

Here is Jim hard at work.

Like father like son.

Fun At Grandma and Grandpa's House

Jim and Elaine are once again starting the remodeling process but this time it is on on their new home. It is going to be AMAZING when it is done. Meanwhile, the kids are enjoying playing with all of the building materials and machines.

They have sand...

Cement trucks...

fire pits for roasting marshmallows...

and Dylan was even lucky enough to leave his handprint in the cement before it dried!

Grandma and Grandpa's house is so much fun!

Quote of the day:

Dylan told Grandma, "mommy has to stay home and take care of herself so that she doesn't become a Grandma like you".