Cousins

My sister Carrie and her daughter Taylor came in for the week while Carrie's husband painted the spare bedroom that will soon be Taylor's room. Thursday we decided to meet at the mall to let the kids play. Rebekah and Joshua had so much fun climbing and playing. Taylor was a bit hesitant, but once she got to playing with my kids in the toy car and after a number of children left the play area she branched out some.










It has been so interesting to see the kids' different personalities. Rebekah was always pretty shy, although she could be a bit of a flirt when she was a toddler. Taylor is extremely cautious. And then Joshua is a social butterfly once he is comfortable in a new environment. He was walking around to a couple of the dads talking to them and even holding his arms up to them to pick him up! It is really cute, but I'm going to have to watch this boy!

First Flurries

Last year we never got snow, but this year it looks like we may get some...hopefully. This evening we got a few flurries, and Rebekah was so ecstatic! Joshua had never seen snow before, and while he and Rebekah watched it lightly fall out the window Rebekah wanted to go play in it. Unfortunately, it did not last very long, and by the time we got ready to head out the door the snow had stopped. We went outside anyway and the kids just had fun playing in the freezing temps.



I'm very hopeful that we will have at least one decent snow this winter. Maybe we should do a snow dance.

Holiday Playdates

Over the holidays I had planned to get together with some of Rebekah's friends and their moms whom we don't see all that often due to scheduling conflicts. We only got to schedule a couple of playdates since Rebekah has been really tired lately. I figured it was important to let her have some extra downtime at home, particularly after all the Christmas activities and excitement.

However, we did get to meet up with LeeAnne and Maggie as well as Jennifer and Emmy. New Year's Eve we went to LeeAnne's house. Maggie was very eager to have a friend play with her in her new Rose Petal Cottage she got for Christmas, and I am not sure how much the girls played with it, but by the time LeeAnne and I headed upstairs they had moved on to other toys and activities. The girls had a great time dressing up, Rebekah as Tinkerbell and Maggie as a princess. They proceded to go downstairs to put on a show for us, complete with flying and singing.

Rebekah began by singing, "Gloria!" (the chorus to "Angels, We Have Heard On High")


A funny little story and background to this song: One day I was wearing one of my Christmas sweaters with children angels singing on the bottom of the sweater, complete with a dog angel and a cat angel joining the children. Rebekah asked what they were singing. I told her that maybe they were singing...and then I broke out in "GLO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-RIA!" Ever since then Rebekah would sing it and would ask me to sing it as well. If I sang the verse she would tell me no that it wasn't the same song. Funny, even with explanation and trying to sing the entire song she only liked the refrain. It is so funny to hear her sing the latin, "In exelcis Deo" as well. You can imagine...


Maggie sings one of her songs from her church Christmas program.



Singing "Jingle Bells" together


Rebekah loved fluttering as Tinkerbell, and the girls had such a blast performing in their costumes.


The next day Emmy came over to play with Rebekah. They had not seen each other in over 3 months, so their playdate was long overdue. Rebekah was still in the mood to dress up while Emmy had other interests. Joshua particularly liked having Emmy over as well. I didn't take many pictures, but they seemed to have a good time.

Fun in the...Water

Saturday evening our playgroup met for a family night at Riverpark. We don't get together much with the dads unless it's for a birthday party, and we thought it would be fun to have a family night to mix and mingle and watch the kids play. Boy, were we in for an evening!

It had sprinkled and lightly rained off an on throughout the day, and while we were hanging out under the pavilion a pretty good shower came through. One of the dads started pushing kids in a little toddler car back and forth out in the rain and back under the pavilion. The kids had much fun getting a little wet then escaping the rain for a few moments before riding back into the rain for a few seconds again.

A little while later the children noticed a big puddle just outside the pavilion where the concrete sloped into the grass. Oh, my! What fun they had splashing, jumping, and running through the water! Shirts and tops came off (good thing they are all age 3 and under!) while they played in the water and even the leftover drizzling rain.

Poor little Joshua was cranky the whole evening. He is teething like crazy, plus he wanted to be down to play, but I was concerned about him scratching up his knees on the concrete. It was a rough evening for him, but Rebekah had a blast!

Rebekah stepped out into the rain for a moment then returned to dry safety under the pavilion.


Joshua snuggling with his Daddy


Water fun!


Joshua had fun riding in this car for a little while. At least he was content while riding. This was also the car used to push the kids out in the rain.


Rebekah and her friend Pia



Even the walking babies, ummm, toddlers joined in.



And this pic is too good not to post. Rebekah's friend Maggie turned her head upside down in the water. It was too funny!

Messy Fun

While trying to keep her preoccupied while I did some housework I decided to let Rebekah have some shaving cream fun on the window in the kitchen. Boy, did she have fun! The only thing was that every two minutes she wanted to wash her hands, so it didn't give me much time to get stuff done

Darrin got home from work to see Rebekah's masterpiece. You should have seen the look on his face! It was priceless! He was not sure at all what to think. He looked at the window with this funny look like, "What in the world????!!" then asked me what was on the window. When I told him it was shaving cream he said, "My shaving cream?" Yeah, I didn't use much. Ha! He thought it was going to be a mess to clean up. Just wipe with a wet cloth and you've got a clean window! The next time I want to keep Rebekah busy, though, I may strip her down and let her play with it in the bathtub.

A Visit from Carrie

Last week my sister Carrie, her daughter Taylor, and their babysitter Lindsey came to visit Chattanooga for a few days. Daniel needed to work on the kitchen, so he sent Carrie and Taylor out of the house, and they chose to visit us for the holiday.

They arrived town on Monday, and since Rebekah didn't have preschool on Wednesday they came over while the kids played in the kiddie and baby pools and other outside toys. Friends of ours, Tina and and her baby boy Caleb, came over as well. We had an enjoyable afternoon with each other and the kids.

Joshua did not last long in the baby pool at all, so in the play gym he went. He wasn't too happy about this either. I did manage to calm him down with a Hot Wheels car, and he stopped fussing for a moment when a garbage truck drove by. Funny thing, Caleb and Joshua noticed the truck, Joshua moreso, but Rebekah and Taylor could care less. It's funny to see how different boys and girls are even at such a young age.


Fussing - he's teething again. It's about time! He only has 6 teeth!


Taylor and Caleb enjoying the baby pool. Taylor outlasted everyone in the water!


Nothing like a toy on which to chew!


Taylor


Caleb


Rebekah enjoys her pool too.



Tina, Joshua, and I, and Carrie


After some water fun we went down to the swingset to play.


Rebekah pushes Taylor in the infant swing


Rebekah introduces the sand and water table to Taylor


Cute pose


Carrie, Taylor, and Lindsey