getting out

With the nice weather lately, we have been trying to get out for walks often. Sometimes we walk around the neighborhood. Sometimes we go to the park. Everyone loves to get outside!

painted lady

Mema and Papa gave Nathan a Painted Lady Butterfly caterpillar. Their church gives them to the kids to watch and then lets a bunch of them go on Easter morning. Well, the one Nathan got almost immediately became a chrysalis after he arrived at our house. We've been keeping an eye on it. On Wednesday, we moved it from the little cup it was in to a larger jar where it would have room when it emerged. It wasn't so fond of the move. In the process, it began flinging itself back and forth violently. I was actually a little afraid that I had hurt it. It eventually calmed down. I think it was just "protecting" itself. Anyway, I was hoping that we would be able to watch it emerge, but...last night while we slept, it became a butterfly. Around lunch time, he was fluttering around the jar, so we decided to let him go. He was pretty. Now we're in the process of making pictures to remember it. Kids are funny.

gimme gimme gimme

I was reminded today that I have not updated on Caroline's eating. The last thing that was posted said that her eating had calmed down. Yeah...well...that only lasted a few days. About the time I posted, she jumped right back in. She eats and eats and eats. It's a wonder that she doesn't weigh 900 pounds!

a duck and run moment

Last Thursday afternoon, the kids and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. As we were nearing the end of our walk, we spotted an older lady walking toward us. Nathan commented that there was a lady walking and I acknowledged his comment. As we got a little closer, Nathan started another comment. I just knew what was likely to come out of his mouth and quickly tried to stop him. Since we were getting within earshot of the lady, I tried to be discrete in my attempt. As you can probably guess, I failed. Next thing I knew, out of Nathan's mouth comes a very innocent statement of a logical observation..."Mommy, maybe that lady is walking because she wants to exercise because she's fat." Sudden embarrassment for Mommy. By this time, we were about to pass the lady and I gave a polite "Hello" as did she. You could tell from our expressions, however, that I was embarrassed and she knew what had been said...but neither of us had to verbally acknowledge it. Thank goodness for that! Once we got out of earshot, I explained to Nathan that he shouldn't say anything about people being fat when they could hear. I acknowledged that he was correct, but explained that nobody wants anybody else to say that they are fat. He didn't really understand. To him, it's just a fact. Some people are fat. No big deal. I think...I hope...that he at least got the point and will be more discrete next time. Here's to hoping!

caught reading and writing

a new hairstyle

Caroline's hair is getting pretty long these days. It has really been getting in her eyes. Usually we don't worry about it at home, but we try to put barrettes in her hair when we go out. However, they don't usually last very long. She pulls them out pretty fast. So, we decided that it was time for a new hairstyle. We haven't perfected the look, but she seems more willing to leave them in.

a trip to see snow

On Friday, Matt emailed me and said "I noticed that it's supposed to snow in North Georgia tonight. It would be fun for the kids to get to play in snow. Maybe we should randomly drive up there tonight and play in the snow in the morning just to do it." So, we did. We spent the night at the Unicoi State Park Lodge. When we headed to breakfast in the morning, it was snowing. Here is a picture of the kids just before we checked out. It's a good illustration of the difference between then. Caroline loves the wind in her face. Nathan can't stand it.


We drove up to Brasstown Bald because Nathan wanted to "climb up a mountain." We figured that we would ride to the top and then maybe let him go down and back up the trail a little bit. Anyway, when we got there, the road up the mountain was closed. So...we headed up to Hiawasee for lunch. Here is a picture of Nathan in the blowing snow while we were waiting on Daddy to get Caroline out of the car.


After lunch, we went over to the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds to play in the snow. It wasn't snowing where we were playing, but it was still snowing in some of the surrounding mountains.


Caroline really wanted to get down and walk around in the snow. Mostly, she just wanted to be free. Well, not 30 seconds after Matt let her get down, I turned around to see the following scene. She had apparently fallen face down in the snow. Part of the problem is that this coat is one that we bought for her for next year and it is WAY too big at the moment.


Nathan had lots of fun making snowballs and throwing them at everyone. Even Caroline was attacked.


It was quite cold when we were playing. There was a good bit of wind where we were. We didn't stay out too long and we did the best we could to stay warm while we were out.


Daddy also did his fair share of snowball throwing. In this case, he was taking one more shot at Nathan...after previously putting a snowball on his head. Nathan was busy sticking little snowballs to the ice on the side of the car.


After playing the snow, we did some more driving through the mountains and looked for a mountain to climb. We never did find one, but we did get to see a waterfall. We headed over to Toccoa Falls. Since it is a very short walk to the falls, it was a good stop. However, while we were there, we discovered (don't ask how) that we had forgotten to change Caroline's diaper all day.


After visiting Toccoa, we headed home. We were going to try to stop and see some family in the Winder area, but Nathan ended up getting sick. We think it was just some motion sickness, but we didn't want to take a chance and get somebody sick. Anyway, we had a good trip. It was nice to just do something spur of the moment and get to have some enjoyable family time. If you're interested, there will be more pictures from our trip over on Dropshots.

yummy cuddles

For a while now, I have been getting lots of yummy cuddles from Caroline. It's so great! She'll climb up in my lap or get me to hold her and then stick her thumb in her mouth and lay her head down. I love it! I try to take as much time as I can to let her cuddle. Nathan was never cuddly and Caroline hasn't been much to this point. I think some of it may be a result of not nursing. I think this may have become somewhat of a substitute for that time. She doesn't really cuddle with anybody else. One of the reasons that I try to take the time to let her cuddle is that I want to foster a loving relationship with her. I know that mothers and daughters can often butt heads. I fully expect that will happen, but maybe some cuddles along the way will keep it to a minimum. :) If nothing else, I enjoy it and Caroline enjoys it, so it's worth it!

don't forget

There are more pictures located on Dropshots. The link is over on the right. Mostly, I just put additional pictures from the sets that are on here, but occasionally there are extras. Just wanted to remind you.

ant progress - day 9

Well, after several days of not doing much, the ants are back to work. For the last several days, they haven't been doing much digging at all. They mostly just huddled together in the bottom of the tunnels. There were usually a couple moving things around at the very top, though. I was actually a little concerned. Anyway, they decided to get back to work last night. So, here's a new picture of their progress. The new tunnel is the horizontal one across the bottom.

ants, a bed, and yogurt

So...here is the ant progress as of yesterday (day 5). It doesn't look much different today. It's been neat to watch them and guess where they might go next. I hope that they will eventually fill in the other side with some tunnels. To answer a question from a comment...the ants are supposed to live one to three months. The blue stuff should be more than enough for them to live on for that long. We could order some more ants after that if we want...but I don't know if it would be as much fun without watching them make new tunnels.


On Saturday, we finally bought a mattress for Nathan's top bunk. He's not allowed to sleep on it yet, but at least it could be used. At the very least, it looks nicer to have an actual mattress on top. Plus, he's enjoying climbing up and down. I just hope he doesn't break his arm. He's already fallen a couple times. I'm not exactly sure how high he was since he did it during his down time. I heard the bang, but he didn't cry. It must not have hurt too bad.


As for Caroline, she is getting pretty good at eating with a spoon...at least sticky things. Below is a video from yesterday. Also, make sure to enjoy Nathan's playing noises in the background. It's a taste of "normal" life around here.

meet Pentamagna

Here is Pentamagna. She is one of the 23 ants in the ant farm. Now, you may be thinking "how do you name an ant?" or "how do you know which one she is?" or maybe "how do you know 'she' is a 'she'?" Well, here are your answers. We know that "she" is a "she" because all worker ants are female. Male ants only live long enough to mate. We know which particular ant is Pentamagna because she only has five legs. Now, that should give you a clue about the name. When we decided to name her, I suggested to Nathan that we name her "Penta". He agreed and quickly added "magna". He actually wanted to give her a middle and last name as well, but I thought her name was already plenty big for a little ant. So, there you have it. The story of Pentamagna.

ant progress - day 2

Here is the progress that our ants have made in about 24 hours. (We know you want to enjoy the ant farm experience vicariously.)

we have ants!

all of the sudden

There are some changes that happen slowly over time and there are others that seem to appear all of the sudden. About two weeks ago, Caroline seemed to hit a couple of those "all of the sudden" changes. She suddenly seemed to understand instructions and follow them. It's always a guess at how much a baby understands until they can respond in some way. Caroline has begun to do things like "go play with Nathan" or "leave your cup in the kitchen" or "don't touch the trashcan". Previously, she would cry if we told her "no" about something, but she didn't necessarily follow positive instructions. Along with this seeming leap in understanding has come some added independence. The most evident example of this (to me) is Caroline heading for bed on her own. When she starts acting tired, I will ask her if she wants to go to bed. Often, she will stand up, gather a blanket, and head down the hall to her room. It's very cute. She does a similar thing when I tell her that it's time to brush her teeth at night.

Another change that has happened in the last couple days is a sudden halt to unending eating. For months, Caroline has eaten like she may never get another meal. Many times, she would keep eating until we just didn't give her anything else. She could have seriously kept pace with many adults! We were beginning to wonder if she was ever going to get over the growth spurt that we thought she was having when she started eating like this. Well, a couple days ago, she stopped eating like mad. Just like that. I guess she's slowing down for a while. I don't know if it is directly related or not, but Caroline is also sleeping more. For a while, she wouldn't take a morning nap most times and her afternoon nap was often short. However, she has begun taking a morning nap again, and her afternoon nap has been rather long several times. This is a nice change for me!

Word Girl Book

Presenting...the first book written and illustrated by our very own Nathan Eli Moseley! (make sure your sound is turned up)



The story behind the story: One of the shows on PBS that Nathan really likes is Word Girl. Unfortunately, it doesn't come on around here very often. Well, he decided a while back that he would like to read a Word Girl book. We asked at the library, but they didn't have one. I looked online, but it doesn't look like they make any. Well, fast forward a bit...for Christmas (I think...could have been birthday) the Murrays gave Nathan a book making kit. Nathan decided that he would write his own Word Girl book. We finally made the time to get it out this week. The video above is the resulting book.

a few pictures

time changes things

All dressed up for church - and having to look into the sun - how do we deal with this camera happy Mommy?

We have a few new happenings around here. First off, last Wednesday was the last day that Caroline nursed. We had passed the one year mark, so it was about time. I actually thought that we may stop several weeks back because I was having some problems, but I just wasn't ready. This time, however, I was. I was motivated to go ahead and stop because I am taking prednisone (a steroid) for my poison ivy/oak/whatever. I didn't really want to feed that to my child. Anyway, Caroline has seemed to adjust pretty well.

On Nathan's side, for a very long time he has slept with two blankets and William. The blankets are not specific (though there are favorites - the ones with the "right" kind of tags), but there have always been two. Several times lately, he has decided to leave either his blankets or William in the playroom. As parents, it's kinda sad to see him begin to leave this stage. However, we also don't want him to still be sleeping with them when he's 15!

As the kids grow up and we leave certain stages, we feel a sense of sadness. Our little ones will never be this little again. We remember, though, that we are grooming them to be adults. We have to keep them moving toward being the people that God created them to be. It's such a huge task - overwhelming at times. But it is a calling most great!

a few pictures

I haven't gotten many pictures of the kids together lately. This one isn't the best, but it is the best I have at the moment.


They have fun playing together.


Look at Caroline's new tutu! It's a late birthday present from Uncle Jason and Aunt Jenn.


Nathan has always thought it was fun to hang out in boxes. Those diaper boxes used to fit a little better, though!

a carpet spot and a climbing tree

Caroline has a new favorite spot to sit. I have not figured out what the draw is, but she seems to really like to sit on the carpet remnant that we use for a door mat at our side door. She will often come into the computer room with a toy or two and head to that piece and take up residence. Oh the funny things that little ones do! If only we could get into their heads on occasion.


While cleaning up some very overgrown bushes in our backyard on Saturday, we discovered that we have a tree worthy of climbing. Nathan and I have looked around the yard for something with good climbing branches, but we couldn't find anything. Well, this weekend he was very happy with our find. As soon as I pointed it out to him, he was ready to head up. He's a boy after my own heart! (I have to say, though, this mother's heart was a little nervous at my child climbing on up a tree on his own.)



An afterthought...

On Friday, Matt and I took both of the kids to the doctor. They are both healthy and growing. Nathan is now 41 inches tall and weighs 37 pounds. Caroline is 29 inches tall and weighs 22 pounds. That puts Nathan at around 50% for height and weight and Caroline at about 55% for height and 70% for weight. They both had lots of shots to get. Nathan got five and Caroline got four. In addition, they both had to have a TB test. Apparently, it's more common around here. Nathan also had his hemoglobin checked. It was not a pleasant trip to the doctor. Previously, both kids have done as well as can be expected with the shots. This time, however, Nathan pretty much flipped out and Caroline took forever to calm down because she was tired. Luckily for Nathan, he only has one more shot to get before he is 11. (It's hard to even imagine him being 11.) Maybe Caroline will be in a better frame of mind next time she has shots!