Interview with Hope

One evening this interview transpired. As always… growing up way too fast!

What’s so funny?

Hope went through a phase a few weeks ago of fake laughing all the time. I have to admit it makes me for real laugh. I love laughing with my girls!

Just because

Because I have been absent from blogging for months now. Because out of town family hasn’t seen our girls in a while. Because I realized I am totally guilty of the age-old notion of how the poor third child hardly has any pictures or video of his or her life. Because our girls are growing up way too fast. Because our girls are just so stinkin’ cute and I am totally and utterly crazy about them all!

Budding artists

We got a new dining set off Craigslist today. (I’ll post some pics someday.) Super excited. My parents had been kind enough to lend us their old dining set to use for as long as we needed it but it only sat 6 people and with us now having 5 in our own little family, if we had more than one person over for a meal, we were obviously quite crowded. So, I have been checking out Craigslist on a semi-regular basis looking for a dining table that would seat at least 8. I found a set of furniture that included a table, 8 chairs, china cabinet and sideboard and I loved it! We got a good deal on it considering all the furniture we got and the fact that it is all solid wood, in perfect shape and made by a very reputable manufacturer. Anyway, enough about the furniture… our girls had a great time playing in our empty dining room today and my favorite was their painting at the easel. Make sure you notice the “artist berets” that Annie had to be sure they both sported.

Christmas Tree 2010

The rain stopped just in time for us to make our annual trip to Buttermilk Farms and cut down our Christmas tree. Actually, last year we didn’t get to cut our tree down because the weekend we were planning to go, Hope got sick so Jon and Annie took a drive to Lowe’s and picked out a beautiful tree there. Buttermilk Farms is run by a dear man in our church family and we are so thankful for his farm and his trees and the girls would add, his hot chocolate! It actually didn’t take us long to find the tree for 2010. We got it home and got to work putting on the LED lights (of which, Jon is not a fan), ribbon and ornaments. I think we only had two ornament casualties this year, which I thought was pretty good considering all the little hands that were a part of the decorating. Oh, and after Hope woke from her nap, she had a temp of almost 101. What is up with her getting sick on our Christmas tree days??? Boooo!!!

One Halloween Weekend

One round of baths in the last three nights.

One too-small infant pumpkin hat.

One two-year-old who would not wear the “planned” strawberry outfit.

One last minute, homemade kitty cat outfit (minus a tail) for said two-year-old.

One beautiful senorita.

One pot of chili on a 70 degree day because tradition holds that our family eats chili on trick-or-treat night.

One disturbing looking red-neck-dressed dad.

One 45-minute round around the block that normally takes less than 10 minutes.

One tiring and but very, very fun weekend!

Weekend getaway

Annie had fall break this past Thursday and Friday so we packed up and headed up to the mountains for two nights. A sweet family at church offered us their cabin for two nights as a gift to us. They have the cabin booked for every night in October except for the two nights they allowed us to stay there. Thank you God for such a sweet blessing! Our first stop was at a roadside market for fresh picked apples and a taste of homemade kettle corn! We continued on to the cabin and the girls were giddy with excitement of the adventure of staying somewhere different and unique! They were so excited that the had a hard time going to sleep and woke way before the sun came up the next morning! We spent the first day doing the Cades Cove loop and it was so fun to let the girls ride in the car unbuckled from their car seats with the windows down looking for deer, turkey and bears (never saw any bears but we did get to see lots of deer and turkeys). It was beautiful!!! We made some fun memories and had lots of laughs together. (Click on a picture to enlarge)

Hope while we were stuck in traffic.

Annie while stuck in traffic.

Teague girls in the old Methodist church in Cades Cove

At the mill.

Picnic lunch

Our girls!

We gotta get one of us!

Looking for bears

Climbing a tree with daddy

Playing in the cabin

Dancing in the cabin

Little Greenbriar School

Crossing the creek

Haircut and Lipgloss

Well, 24 hours to think about it and I decided, yes, it was time.

Profile shot. Even after a good trim she still has plenty of hair. Crazy.

Note to self... Don't ever unbuckle 2-year-old from her car seat until physically able to remove her from car.

Baby dolls and pony tails

Hope is going through another serious baby doll phase. She totes around at least one or two at a time and loves to put them to bed, rock them and push them in the baby doll stroller. She doesn’t have names for any of them but her favorite is the one she got from her Mimi on her first birthday. This baby is simply named “my baby” for now. Annie has the exact same doll, which she also received on her first birthday but funny thing is, Hope can totally tell the two apart. I can only tell them apart because Hope’s has a short pink thread that is still attached to the side of the baby doll’s body. Hope can tell if it is indeed her baby or Annie’s baby doll from three feet away. It amazes me. She usually wants all the baby dolls undressed at all times but today we sat down and dressed several of them and she left the clothes on all morning long!

Norah is six months old now and although she isn’t the best napper during the day, she does usually take one long 2-3 hour nap and does sleep a solid 12 hours at night. She is sitting up all by herself now and I believe is due for a pretty serious haircut. I am taking a poll on the haircut dilema. Check out the picture of it in a pony tail and tell me what you think. Do I cut it or continue to let it grow? It is a little rough looking now, but I don’t want to regret cutting it at the same time.

I mean, really.

Look at that hair... and that precious girl sitting up!

 

Norah eats

Why are we so amused to watch an infant eat cereal for the first time? I mean, imagine having a foreign object thrust in your mouth, leaving a new taste and texture behind. Your mom, dad, sisters and a camera all closing in to watch your reaction and cheer for you and then laugh at you! Sounds pretty rough. And yet, we have exposed all three of our girls to this momentous event with great enthusiasm! With just 9 days until Norah turns 6 months old, I finally decided to try rice cereal. I have been putting it off because to be totally honest it is just one more thing to add to my daily schedule and one more thing to have to prepare and clean-up. Now when traveling I have to actually pack more than just diapers and clothes for Norah. Now we have to have infant spoons, cereal, bowls, bibs and soon baby food too! Whew! I don’t mean to complain… yet, I guess I am. It is also another reminder to me of how fast my sweet girls are all growing up. Norah is almost half a year old! No way! This is not happening. I mean, she is just supposed to stay floppy, happy, sleepy and tiny… not grow up! Love you, sweet No-nah!