Family are on their way!

I am super excited! As I type my Mom, Aunt Debbie, My brother Mike, and Cousin Matthew are all on their way to see us! Their flight lands at midnight (poor Joe-he is picking them up!) I haven't seen any of them since November and I am definetly feeling it. I have always said if I am living far from family I need to see them every 4 months or so, and we are past that. So, I am looking forward to this visit!

While they are all here Joe and I are going to sneak away for 3 days to Chicago for our 5 year anniversary! How can 5 years already flown by so quick? We are leaving Owen with the gang and my mom couldn't be happier. Stories and pictures to come!!!

The Bully...

My heart is so sad these days after picking Owen up from the Nursery at church, or having a playdate with other kiddos. He is hitting. I don't know why...everything I read about says he is in a stage and it's 'normal', but it does not fly in this household and I need help on teaching him it's not okay. When we are around and witness it... Joe and I go over to him, make him look at us tell him "no hitting" and have him say he's sorry (that part he doesn't verbally say yet, but you get my point) if we catch him doing it again we then isolate him from the situation. The hitting happens a lot. He will hit his little girlfriend Olivia, he hit Harper (our friend's little boy) when we were in Balitmore and now he is hitting kids in his class on Sunday's. I don't think he is doing it with a malicious heart. Everytime I see him do it he had big smiles before and during. I get the same report from his care giver's, they say they don't think he being mean either. Like I said, I have read up on it and yes it's a stage some kids go through, but it's a stage I want to get out if already!!!

Ode to Uncle Mike and Aunt Chelle

I know I say this ALL the time, but it's SO true! God has blessed in so many ways, but one of the sweetest ways is our friends. We have great friends that we have made here in Atlanta. One of those friends are Mike and Michelle Penny. We met them about the time I was about to have Owen, I think it was like 3 or 4 weeks before my due date. They are a great couple who love the Lord and love our kid too! They are so good to Owen, they love him with all their hearts. Michelle would rope the moon for Owen if she could I think! Owen and Mike have a sweet relationship. Owen has always loved it when Mike holds him, Mike is good about offering when he knows Joe and I are about to run out of patience (even though if Mike sneezes it's scares the poo out of O =) )

We went to the Dogwood Festival a few weeks back and here is some of all this sweetness I have been talking about. Like I said Owen loves his Uncle Mike here in Atlanta. He was on Mike's shoulder's and got so snuggley while he was up there...

Going to see where Obama lives!

We had a chance to take in some of what Washington DC has to offer. We only had one day there and with three small kids we didn't have a chance to see all the museums and half of what there is...there is sooooo much to see there!

We took the train in from Jeremy and Audra's house. It was a 30 minute ride, and was pretty uneventful. Owen ended up falling asleep, but Aynsley was so excited "to see where Obama lives!" We got there about 11AM headed out on our adventure.

First of all Union Station is absolutely gorgeous! From Union Station we headed to the Capital Building-It was so big!!! From the Capital Building we headed to the Mall-a huge grassy area that goes for miles. We decided to set up our picnic and do lunch. We got some great pictures of all the kids playing with famous buildings in the backgrounds. Pictures I will cherish of Owen-Joe and I think it is so cool he will have great pictures of himself, at one year old, in such historical city in our Nation. After lunch, we went to see The Washington Monument. From there, we went to see Lincoln's Memorial. Talk about big...his statue is gigantic! We walked and walked and walked...along the way we saw more important buildings and statues, but I can't remember what they were! Finally, we got The White House and poor Aynsley fell asleep! We woke her up, but I think the novelty had wore off =) The crazy thing was there was a a sniper on top of the house...scary! We were all tired and headed back to the station to catch a train home. By time we got home it was after 6:30 and we were all so tired. I was really proud of Owen. He did great in the stroller pretty much the whole day. He ran around at lunch time, but other than that he was in the stroller. He feel asleep at his normal naptime, which was great and much needed.

We had a great time. We hope to go back up and take another day or two to visit DC and check out some of the cool museum's with Owen when he is a little bigger and appreciate them. I am so thankful to be able to take trips like these and make special memories with my family!

Baltimore Fun!

This past week/weekend we went up to the Baltimore area to visit our friends The Hazelton's. Joe also had the opportunity to hold a small groups training for their growing church the Saturday we were there and had a great turn out and response to the training! We have known Jeremy and Audra since we lived in Colorado. We have worked beside them in ministry there and here in Atlanta. We miss them and their sweet kiddo's Aynsley (2.5 yrs old) and Harper (10 months) so much and it was so good to see them all again and let our kids play together. (more on that in a minute)

One of the fun things we got to do is go eat some big ol' crab! We went to a fun resturant that you order the crab by the dozen and they bring you mallots to crack them open with! They just dump them right on your table and you go at it. I am not a seafood eater, but I will try most anything at least once. Well, that's about all I did when it came to eating crab. I tried it and had enough. It was fun watching everyone else eat it though!

One thing that was not fun to me while we there was Owen's behavior. The whole time we were there he would hit Harper and sometimes Aynsley. I think he knew Aynsley was bigger than him...but poor Harper got hit so many times. As a mom it was very disheartening to see him doing that and disobeying Joe and I over and over. I did the best that I could at being consistent and telling him "No hitting and to be kind" I would then isolate him from the other kids and toys and do a mini time out. Like I said it wasn't just a few times, it was the whole time, I had to watch him like a hawk. The thing is, is that I don't think he was doing it out of anger or trying to be mean. I think he gets really excited...none the less I don't want him thinking hitting is acceptable, because it so isn't in our home.

We just really enjoyed our time with our friend's and are so thankful for time we got to spend with them. I especially enjoyed Saturday night when Audra and I went out by ourselves without kids or our husbands! It was so fun to have girl time and it was much needed. As I mentioned earlier Joe had a small groups training Saturday morning, it was long day of Audra and I with the kids, plus we were recovering from going to DC the day before, so it seemed extra long. So when the guys did get home they were very sweet to say "leave!". We went to the Mall and got our nails done, went to dinner, and then did a little shopping.

Thanks Hazelton's for hosting us so nicely and for loving our family so much. We love and miss you guys!!