All the colors of the rainbow

Charlotte is currently all about coloring.  She loves sitting (or standing) at her coloring table and coloring or just pointing out the things that we've colored already.  Her favorite things to ask people to color are Elmo's and kitty cat's ("meow meow's") with bunny's made from the letter B's, bows, and fish being right behind.  She mostly just scribbles but occasionally tries to move her hand in an arc to try and make a C. 

Her new love of crayons might have even finally allowed her to learn her first color -- purple!  She will correctly pick up a purple crayon if you ask her for it about 90% of the time and in the picture above I had asked her to show me the purple crayon and she was correctly holding up the right now.  She will also sometimes point to something colored in purple and say purple.  And the only crayon's that she will draw with are the skinny purple one's.  She'll pick up the other colors to play with but there is no coloring with those.  Jason and I were discussing last night how upset she got when I tried to offer her one of the fat purple ones and how her transition to kindergarten where she has to use the fat crayons might not be pretty.  We'll hope she's over it by then!

It is neat to watch her progression as she gets older.  We're trying to compile a list of words that she knows and it grows every day!  She can repeat almost anything that you say now (except "I love you", of course) but is starting to learn the meaning of words and using them correctly which is amazing.  One example, is that she will say "Watch" when she wants to watch you do something like brush your teeth or cook but she also knows and will verbally say "Watch" when she see's one on your arm!  It's amazing what these little brains can do!  It's so much fun watching her learn!

A decade and counting

First picture, Jan 2001, FBC Lockout at the Bowling Alley

A little over ten years ago I met the man that I would marry. 

(Since this is my blog I'll tell the story my way, although you should know that the details of exactly when we met are to be debated between Jason and I.)

Prom, April 2001

I walked into IMPACT (our Wednesday night youth gathering) one night and spotted someone new.  A guy that I had not seen before wearing his letterman's jacket.  And I thought he was pretty cute.  Later that evening our mutual friend Tim introduced us.  A few weeks later I had to get a splint put back on my arm from having sprained an old injury and Tim and his friend, Jason, came and sat down next to me during IMPACT and they asked if I was ok.  After that we started sitting together but it was still more just a manner of happening to sit down rather than planning it.  A few weeks after that we had a band come in and perform a special program and I left the room in tears because one of my friends had died.  Jason will tell you that he felt really bad for me that night while I was really embarrassed.

Freshman formal, November 2002

We continued to see each other on Wednesday night's only because he didn't come on Sunday's and we went to opposite high school's so our path's didn't cross even though we lived in a fairly small town.  In December I was talking to some friends about trying to figure out who I should ask to my sorority's formal in January (the girls asked the guys -- it's crazy to think about and seems ridiculous to set it up that way looking back on it) and Tim suggested that I asked Jason but I quickly countered that I barely even knew him even though at this point I had developed a crush on him.

At Jason's baseball game, April 2003

Our high school's played each other in basketball and when those games came they were held at a nearby community college since neither of our school gym's was big enough to hold the crowd.  When the teams played in January Jason and I kind of waved to each other across the court but stayed on our respective sides until after halftime.  Once the second half started Jason caught my eye and did his head indicating that he wanted to go outside and talk.  Since I didn't really care about basketball anyway, we met in the front lobby and talked for a while.  At the end of our conversation he asked for my number and my screen name (yes, we were on AOL back then in the dark ages and had screen names!) and I invited him to come to formal the next night with his friends.

At Kevin's Graduation, May 2005

I was going to formal with a friend of mine and there were no romantic feelings between us so I didn't feel bad continually watching the door waiting for Jason to show up.  He never did. 

Wedding, July 2006

Regardless, I was a sucker I guess, we started chatting online every night.  Our conversation's were always easy and friendly.  We continued to see each other at church on Wednesday's and we started purposefully sitting next to each other but we were just friends.  We discovered that we had younger brother's who were the same age and, conveniently enough, they were playing each other a week or so after we started chatting online.  Suddenly, both brother's had a very supportive big sister and brother!  When I got to the game with my family Jason was already there and was sitting with some of his friends.  I almost immediately went and joined them and my Mom told me later that she leaned over and asked Suzy with a decent bit of confusion who in the world that boy was.  After Suzy told her that his name was Jason and that we had started sitting together at IMPACT some of Mom's confusion as to why I was so eager to attend one of Charlie's basketball games cleared.  :)

Cabo San Lucas, Honeymoon, August 2006

We still were just friends but a few weeks later our youth minister announced on a Sunday night that he was leaving the next week to take a new position in a different city.  Jason wasn't there because he still only came to church on Wednesday's, so when we started talking online later that night I told him about Robert and he wanted to call to talk about it.  Jason told me that he had learned a lot from Robert and we were both pretty upset that he was leaving.  The next Sunday morning, Robert's last, Jason came to church and joined the church.  I was in Tuscaloosa for an honor's day that I couldn't miss because it was required for a scholarship and so missed church but Jason called me on the way home and told me what he had done and I was so happy for him.

Tim and Libby's Wedding, August 2007

That night we met at the church for the Super Bowl party and Robert's last gathering and Jason asked me to go out with him.  I think it might have even been at halftime while we were eating pizza.  :)  And we've been together ever since.

Bob and Melanie's Wedding, May 2008

Most people, I'm sure, stop celebrating their dating milestones once they get married and probably one day we will too.  But right now it leaves us with a celebration roughly every six months between this anniversary and our wedding anniversary and we got so used to celebrating while we were dating that it seems weird to stop now.  We're not actually going out tonight but are going to enjoy the night with Charlotte at home.  So even if we only remember the day and don't actually go out to celebrate it's still an important day to us.

Charlotte's Newborn session by Erin Cobb, May 2009

I am so very, very blessed to have fallen in love with my best friend so many years ago at church.  I am glad that we were able to get married at First Baptist so that we could take that next step in the place where we first decided we might want to get to know each other more.  To this day Jason is my best friend and I am so thankful to be his wife.  I'm so glad that we found each other so early because it makes all of those memories of high school and college even more special.  Thank you Jason for loving God and loving me and choosing to spend the rest of your life with me.  I love you more and more each day!

Christmas 2010

All About Love

Last weekend Jason and I had the priviledge to travel down to Montgomery for my friend Sarah's wedding.  I met Sarah back in 2004 when we both interned for Senator Jeff Sessions in Washington, DC.  Sarah was a definite answer to prayer in that we wanted similar things out of her internship (to learn about Congress and explore the city) and so we spent the four weeks of our internship pretty inseparable.  Once we got back to Alabama she returned to Samford and I continued on in Tuscaloosa but we kept in touch.  We got to live in Tuscaloosa together during her first year of law school and my first year of marriage.  If you know anything about those two things you'll know that we didn't have a lot of free time to get together but we occasionally met for lunch during the year.  After we moved north we continued to keep in touch and I was so excited to hear from her a little over a year ago that she had met someone and that they were seriously dating.

Sarah was in our wedding four and a half years ago and I was so blessed that she was able to stand by my side while I said "I do."  So as the years progressed I continued praying for Sarah and for her future husband.  When Sarah called and told me that she had met Brent she described him in the most glowing terms and it seemed like they were very well suited.  We didn't actually get to meet until one of their bridal showers in October but when we met I knew that he was just as Sarah had described and that they were pretty perfect for each other.

So I was excited to get to join her for her special day last weekend.  Jason and I left Charlotte with his parent's and enjoyed a night away and time to enjoy the wedding festivities.  They got married in a beautiful old church in Montgomery and then had their reception in the church hall which, honestly, looked more like a beautiful museum than what you would expect in a church hall! Everything as beautiful and I was so glad that I got to be with Sarah as she joined her life to Brent's.  Here's wishing them many, many happy years of marriage!

Before the wedding with Sarah

At the reception with Jason.  Since our dresses were tea-length and strapless I opted to add my jacket for the reception because it was freezing!  Notice the beautiful room in the background, it was gorgeous!

Recipe Wednesday - Low Maintenance Lasagna

It's been forever since I has a Recipe Wednesday post but I'll just have to say that life got in the way and I reverted back to tried-and-true recipes to save time rather than making something new.  But with all this snow I tried a few recipes that I had pulled from magazines and this one turned out to be a hit!

I've only made real lasagna a couple times (one being the Pioneer Woman's which was wonderful but took a sweet forever) and so when I saw this crock-pot version I figured I'd try it because there's nothing that Jason likes better than lasagna.  This recipe was really easy and quick and turned out great.  I'll probably add beef next time but the beauty of it is that you could add anything -- spinach, meat, different cheeses -- and it would still be really easy and good!  The recipe does call for carrots which I liked and I cut them up really small to try and sneak them past Charlotte.  She ate everything for a little while but by the end of the meal she was putting bites into her mouth, eating everything but the carrot pieces, and then spitting the carrot pieces out.  You can definitely feel the texture of the carrots -- they don't go completely limp in the crock pot -- so if that's something that weirds you out you might want to try it without it.  You could also double the recipe to make it taller if you need to feed more people, that way a serving could be smaller but have the same amount of food.

Low Maintenance Lasagna
From Jan 2011 issue of Parents magazine

Nonstick cooking spray
1 26 oz jar pasta sauce
3/4 cup water
1 15 oz carton part skim Ricotta Cheese
1/2 c Shredded Carrot
6 regular lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cups part-skim Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1. Coat a slow cooker with cooking spray.  In a large microwave-safe bowl, stir together the pasta sauce and water.  Cover with wax paper and microwave on high for about 3 minutes.  In the meantime, in a medium bowl, stir together ricotta cheese and carrots; set aside.

2. Spook 1/2 cup of the sauce mixture into the bottom of the slow cooker.  Break half of the noodles and arrange over the sauce.  Spoon half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles.  Continue layering in the following order: 1/2 c mozzarella, half of the remaining sauce, remaining noodles (breaking them to fit), the remaining ricotta mixture, 1/2 c mozzarella, the rest of the sauce, and the rest of the mozzarella.

3. Cover; cook on low heat for about 3 hours, until the noodles are tender.  Remove slow cooker from liner; let stand, covered, for about 20 minutes so lasagna is easier to slice.

Race

Ever since our trip to Orlando Charlotte has been all about racing.  She is good at saying the word "Race" and will either come up to me and say "Race" or "Go" indicating that she wants to play.  She doesn't even have to race against someone to have fun, just standing on one side of something, having me count down, and then running to me is enough fun for her!

On Friday I woke her up from her nap and decided to have a little impromptu photo session in her room.  I threw the curtains and shutters open wide to let the sunlight -- that had been missing for days -- into the room and the sun was reflecting off of the sun making it even brighter in her room.  We had fun racing around her room, playing hide and seek behind the door of her chest, and taking pictures with the self timer.  It was a wonderfully fun afternoon of play and I ended up with some great pictures.  I especially love the sequence of her racing. 

She raced to me over and over again to allow me to try and get more pictures and she was happy to do it.  After running to me she would squal "More race! More go!" and then run back to the other side of the room.  Even though some of these are a little blurry I still love them because you can see the pure 20 month old joy on her face at racing back and forth!

I also posed her a lot while trying to prompt her to smile by asking her to say "Cheese!"  She always makes funny faces while she says cheese which I love.  But near the end I noticed that her phone from her kitchen was under her chest of drawers and I pointed it out to her and told her to get it.  She got down on the floor and tried to get it but wasn't sure enough to reach under the chest and pull it out.  So she stood up and said "Momma, Phone" so I crawled over and got it.  When I got back, she was holding my camera (the big one!) up to her eye saying "Cheese.... Momma, Cheese....".  So precious! I wish I had had another camera with me so I could have gotten that shot!

SMT - Verse 2

My second verse for the Siesta Scripture Memory Team is:

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

- Hebrews 12:28, NIV

Snow Day

On Sunday night we got the largest amount of snowfall that I have ever seen in Alabama.  Starting about 7:30 on Sunday night we got about nine inches of snow.  We had borrowed a snowsuit from some friends (thanks Isabell!) and so were ready to have a fun morning of playing in the snow with Charlotte.  Except....Charlotte has other plans.  Getting her dressed was one of the most painful things I've ever done.  She screamed and cried and kicked the entire time.  And then when we got out to the garage she would only stand on the concrete and wouldn't touch the snow.  She eventually did warm up to it, but only once Mom and Dad got down to our house!  We did enjoy a few minutes outside before we were too cold and came inside!

C was happy to see the snow...she just didn't want to have to touch it!

We're thankful that someone braved the snow to make tire tracks that we could walk in.  It would have been a lot of work otherwise!

Charlotte wanted Memma to carry her back.  Good thing we hadn't gone too far!

When we got back Dad and Jason started working on a snowman.  Unfortunately the snow wasn't the best for snowmen and wouldn't pack.  So for a while they were just making a snow mountain.  Which, to Charlotte, was just as good as a snowman!

We tried to get her to stand next to it but she was having none of it!

The boys did get smart and started filling up a bucket to make him.  Charlotte did eventually get in to helping with that!

Here's their driveway snowman.  Or snow-Frankenstein as I like to cal lhim.  He turned out kind of funny. 

By being in this picture I'm not insinuating that I helped build him.  We were hoping C would come get in the picture with us but no dice.  And since this is the only picture of me from Monday I thought I'd include it!

The guys did think about it and realized that Charlotte wouldn't be able to see him from inside which kind of defeated the purpose.  So Jason suggested that they go around and build one in the front yard for Charlotte to see.  GREAT idea since he is still standing today and Charlotte LOVES him!  Too bad she gives credit to building him exclusively to Papa and Char-Char (Charlie was at work and wasn't even here!) and doesn't say that her Daddy had anything to do with him.  I told him that I would make sure and document for posterity on the blog, so there you have it.  Jason's sad story of the week!

The front yard snowman doesn't look this good now.  His Oreo eyes were halfway pulled out by deer and one has now fallen out.  His Pirouette nose was eaten by deer on Monday night.  And his Pirouette mouth has mostly fallen out now too, but he is still serving his purpose because no matter what we looks like, Charlotte loves him!

Another negative to this snow is that it still hasen't gotten above freezing.  We actually had a cold front come in Tuesday night so we're hovering in the mid-twenties during the daytime now.  The first time I got out of the house was to take Charlotte to the doctor this morning but we did eat lunch out also.  The roads around our house are still pretty bad -- it took us a handful of tries to make it up this small hill to get out of our  neighborhood -- but the sun did melt a good amount today and hopefully the temps will rise above freezing tomorrow and finish the rest.  The snow is definitely beautiful, but it is hard being cooped up inside with a 1 1/2 year old for so many days in a row!  But I'm guessing that we won't see this much snow again for a very long time, if ever, so I will try and enjoy it!

Cooking School

Last week I needed to get dinner ready before Jason got home from work so I decided to capitalize on the new monogrammed measuring spoons that Charlotte received for Christmas and set her up with her own cooking station.  I set her up with two bowls (one with cornmeal in it) and her measuring spoons.  She refused to wear her cute new apron but I'm sure she'll come around soon!  She had the best time "cooking" next to me and I loved watching her play.  She did eat at least a few spoonfuls of cornmeal but after a few tries I think she figured out that it wasn't getting any better with subsequent tastings.  It was so special to me to get to share Charlotte's first cooking experience.  I look forward to making cookies and other things as she gets older!

She put her first measuring spoon full into her mouth.  By her puckered lips I'm thinking it didn't taste very good!

But she did eventually start taking spoonfuls and moving them to the other bowl.

Handfuls work well also!

Very carefully moving a heaping spoonful!

So happy! (And messy!)

We had a lot of cleaning up to do but it was worth it!

The rest of the story

We woke up on Friday and Jason and Charlie headed off to play golf.  Charlotte and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with Mom and Dad before they had to get ready for a luncheon.  Charlotte and I then spent some time in our room and Charlotte agian took full advantage of the iPad!

Dad had offerred to keep Charlotte while Mom and I made a quick trip to the outlets so I put her to bed in Charlie's room and once Mom and Dad got back from their luncheon we went to the outlets.  We only had about an hour and a half but we managed to be quite successful in that little time! I got Charlotte lots of cute outfits from the Ralph Lauren outlet and also lucked out at the Columbia outlet and found Jason some snow pants and a few other odds and ends for our ski trip.

By the time we got back from shopping Jason and Charlie were home and, since everyone else had other plans that night, the three of us set off to the Disney Boardwalk for dinner.  We were glad that we left early because when we got to the restaurant where we wanted to eat we were some of the last walk in guests that they took for dinner!  We ate at Kouzzina by Cat Cora which was an American/Greek restaurant that was extremely good.  If you go there definitely get the cheese appetizer -- it was fantastic!

Looking at the ducks on the Boardwalk before dinner.  Charlotte had a hard time keeping her sunglasses on and couldn't get them back on very well after she took them off!

This is Charlotte's "sun/light in my eyes" look.  As soon as I took the picture she raised her hand to her face also!

But she did let me take this cute picture!

On our way out of the restaurant Charlotte was given two Mickey Mouse stickers and she quickly learned his name and began pointing him out on bags and shirts wherever she saw him!  We headed back to the hotel and put Charlotte to sleep.  It was an early New Years Eve for us but I wouldn't want to spend it with any other people!

Saturday was game day!  Charlotte and I weren't going to the game so that she could take a nap and hopefully have a more peaceful plane ride back on Sunday.  But she did wear her National Championship dress again this year (only as a top instead of a dress)!  Before everyone left for the game she enjoyed wearing their lanyards and shaking the shakers!

We enjoyed watching a fun game for us and then enjoyed a relaxing dinner with everyone at a restaurant in the hotel for dinner.  It was a very fun day!

On Sunday we decided to put Charlotte down for a short morning nap in hopes that it would make the afternoon go smoother.  So after breakfast we set out to tire her out by letting her run and climb all over the atrium at the hotel.  Then she and Papa started racing!

All that running did the trick because she fell right to sleep at 10 when we put her down and slept all the way until we woke her up at 12!  Going through security was a little hairy due to the number of people and the lines but somehow Mom, Charlie, and I managed to get Charlotte and all of her stuff through security fine while Dad and Jason returned the rental car.  We enjoyed another very uneventful flight and returned home with some time to decompress before bedtime.

We had a wonderful trip and are very thankful for the opportunity to go.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  Roll Tide!