A model in the making

A friend of mine is probably the most awesomest (is that a word?!?) photographer known to man - well the Knoxville/Nashville area anyway. You can find a link to her page on the upper left corner of my blog page!! I was lucky - and grateful to her - for taking a few shots of Savannah a few weeks ago!!

You can see more in my picture folder. I highly recommend her for anything. Her wedding shots are phenomenal!!

Connor joined his first organized sports team. We decided to give soccer a try. We signed him up with AYSO. They practice for 30 minutes then play a game for 30 minutes one night a week. This is my kind of practice/game! He was super excited about it. He couldn't wait to make new friends. He was ready to play, that is until we got there. The first night was very chaotic - he doesn't do so well with chaos. But once the craziness settled down and he got with his team he was ok. Here's a picture of him (the #2 in the middle) and the rest of his team - the Lightning Pirates - on their first night of practice.

He decided the first night that #3 - Joe was his buddy. We found out that Joe was also excited about making new friends, so #2 and #3 have become good buddies. These are a couple of pictures of Connor and his buddy, Joe.

A little summer painting

This morning I was looking online, searching for some crafts to do with 2 year olds for work. I came across a recipe for sidewalk paint. All it called for was corn starch, water & food coloring. I actually had everything so we made some and went out to do a little painting.
They really liked it. It was pretty neat. It looked kind of watery when you started painting but when it dried it was really bright. Savannah didn't want to stop. Then I realized she and Connor had both painted their hands and she had it all over her legs so I then had to go search how to get food coloring off of skin - baking soda and a toothbrush did wonders. They are still a little green but I figured it will eventually wear off.

Connor had just as much fun cleaning up because he got to use his water gun!!

We have spent quite a lot of time up in Danny's dad's garden. Connor and Savannah love to go up there and play in the dirt and help pick beans. We went up to get some squash, zucchini and cucumbers and Savannah decided to pick up a small squash. She put her fingernail in it and then said, "Look, he's crying." (there was juice coming out of it) She then started carrying it around like a baby, bouncing, rocking, and ssshhhh-ing her "baby." She does love her babies!!

I feel the need to make a new post since it's been almost 2 months since I've posted and I'm sure you're tired of reading about the dreams. These past couple of months have been very busy and extremely fun!! We have gone to Arizona to see Mom and Dad; we've been to Dollywood a couple of times, Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, Nascar Speedpark, to play putt putt, a carnival, the park, fishing, swimming and working/playing in the dirt in the garden! I have tons of pictures to upload and stories to share. And probably can't think of half the stories! All this to say....keep checking back and hopefully you'll see a few new stories and a bunch of new pictures!! :)

I spoke too soon in my last post. Things had been quiet and then last night they both had bad dreams. Up until last night they've had them on different nights. Last night for me was a short one because Danny and I stayed up to watch the UT men's basketball team win. The game didn't start until 10:00 so it wasn't over til around midnight. Connor cried around 12:30. Now, him, I can't figure out. I don't know if he is really having bad dreams or just wakes up and wants someone to tuck him back in. This is why. Every time he has a "bad dream", he apparently wakes up, gets out of bed, goes out of his room, opens the door to the loft, goes back in his room, and then starts crying. I know this because as soon as I hear him cry (which is usually maybe a second after he starts) I turn on our tv to see what he is doing. (We have a camera in each kids' room that runs directly to our tv so we can see them in bed.) Every time I turn on the tv he is sitting in his bed crying. So, I get up and go out to the great room to go up the "tornado" (or spiral - as everybody else calls them) stairs and the door to the loft and his room are already open and he is still sitting on his bed. He can't move fast enough to do all that before I get up there. Last night I began wondering even more if he is really having bad dreams because when I asked him what his dream was about and what scared him his reply was, "It was about the ninjy chop." (See link and you'll understand what a "ninjy chop" is www.youtube.com/watchtv?v=GuigcXvcy1A ). Now, this is something he has watched several times, laughs at it and goes around quoting it so I'm not really sure if he would be scared of it. Also, all I have to do is put him back in bed, tuck him in, give hugs and kisses and then leave.

Savannah had another 2 hour-break-in-sleeping night. Apparently a barrette had gotten into her bed. At some point in time she woke up and could feel it but couldn't see it. She has a nightlight in her crib, a TykeLight Jr, and she couldn't find it. I woke up at 2:40 to her crying, "No, no. I wanna see it. I wanna see it." I couldn't leave her crying like that so I went up there, got her light, picked her up and saw the barrette - it was right by her pillow. She probably laid on it and was sitting on it with her leg when I got her up. I rocked her for about 30 minutes and she was about asleep. So I put her back to bed. She cried for a couple minutes then was quiet. I got online for about 30 minutes to make sure she was down for good. Went to bed and had to check the tv. Of course, she wasn't asleep, just sitting there petting her blanket. So, for the next 30 minutes I laid there watching her. She finally went back to sleep around 4:30. She slept til 9:15 so we just skipped naps today and had a GREAT day painting with friends, going to the park and playing outside today. You could tell every so often she was a little off but we had a good day anyway. Tomorrow it's supposed to be pretty again so we'll probably spend most of the day outside again and hopefully I'll get some pictures!

Who would have thought ladybugs could be so scary!

Ladybugs.....that is what plagued Savannah's dream last week which kept us up 'til 3:30. Something led her to believe she had ladybugs not only in her bed but all over her room. We get ladybugs in our house and always have so she sees them often. She has even held live ones in her hands. But that night they weren't cute little bugs. They were something that had my little girl frightened in a way I have never seen her in her short 2 year life. It started around 11:00pm. She cried and I tried 3 times to rock her for a few minutes and put her back in bed. She would last about 30 - 45 minutes. By the 4th time I was a little frustrated because at that point I wasn't sure why she was crying. I thought maybe she was just wanting to rock and I sure didn't want to at 2:00 in the morning. The last time I let her cry for 20 minutes and when I went in she was standing up in the back corner of her bed on her toes. She was not just wanting to rock she was scared. It took me about 10 minutes to get out of her what was wrong. Even in the moment one thing was a little funny. I was asking her what was wrong. I told her, "Tell Mommy what's wrong." And she told me, "What's wrong." Once I figured out she thought there were ladybugs in her bed I got her out and went to the rocking chair. It took about 45 minutes to convince her there were no ladybugs. She kept asking, "Whaz dat?" Once it was a shadow, another time a decoration on her wall, and once it was even my shirt. She had her legs drawn up, was facing me and covering her eyes. Finally she said, "No wadybugs?" I said, "No. No ladybugs!" She thought for about 2 seconds and said, "Ok." She then settled down and went off to dreamland around 3:15. At 8:30 (when she woke up) I went to get her and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Wadybugs tickle?" For the past week almost every time we go to bed either for a nap or night time, she asks if there are any wadybugs. And when I get her up just about every time she informs me that wadybugs tickle. I'm just glad my mom got her a the bumblee pillow pet instead of the ladybug one.

It's just the house of bad dreams. Connor has had a few too, but none that make us stay up until 3:00 in the morning. His are a little funny. Once it was about rain and pigs....that's all I could get out of him. Another had a monster that was chasing him, but it was telling him to not be scared because he was nice. And earlier this week it was about the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. That's pretty much all the details I got out of him.

The past few nights have been quiet so hopefully the bad dreams are over.

Finally......we're back!

Sorry for the 2 month hiatus but I honestly didn't feel like blogging. Not really sure why. But, I'm in the mood once again and thought I had better get on it while I wanted to.

Life around here has been busy with just usual every day stuff with a few fun activities and a few meltdowns here and there.

Connor's big thing right now is writing. He goes to preschool 2 days a week and they have been working with them on their writing skills. They have done 1 letter per week so they are almost finished with the alphabet. They had a valentine party and Connor actually wrote all 14 names on his Phineas and Ferb Valentine cards. We broke it up over a few days because it was a bit of a slow process but he was so happy and had fun doing it. When he gets paper and markers, crayons, pens, whatever he is constantly writing his letters. His favorite thing to do is write things like, "MMKILECNTA" and then asks me, "Mommy, what does that say?" Savannah tries to follow in whatever footsteps Connor has so she gets her paper and crayons and marks many, many straight lines and circles and names the letters she's "writing." She's very into writing and drawing right now too. But like I said, she's into whatever Connor is.

Savannah's new thing is.......lieing....telling fibs....trying to get her brother in trouble. For the past 4 days she has, on more than one occasion, done her fake crying and say, "He hit me." I usually believe Connor because he is pretty honest and will tell me if he's hurt her in some way or taken something from her. So, if he says he hasn't I usually believe him. I also believe my own eyes. Yesterday they were sitting at their picnic table, which is in the kitchen area, and I could see them from where I was standing. Connor was busy writing and she did her crying thing and said he hit her. I've been telling her to stop lieing all the while trying to figure out how to teach a 2 year old what lieing is. (I didn't have to cover that with Connor 'til he was 3 - almost 3 1/2). She informed me, "I not lieing." Today, once again, while they were at the picnic table coloring, she did it again. Connor was very emphatic about not hitting her, and I knew he didn't. She then said, "Connor, stop lieing." I think I'm in trouble!