Movin' on up!

John Clay helped Tami move furniture from her mom's house this weekend. On Sunday, Mamaw Katherine and Papaw Hubert made breakfast for everyone before they got back to moving. Drew, Anna Kate, and I joined in for breakfast (not so much for the work/moving part!).  After breakfast at Mamaw & Papaw's we packed up their bicycles and headed to where everyone was working so we could play, and supervise (and get in the way!).  The weather was wonderful. It was sunny and somewhat warm. Drew and Anna Kate rode their bicycles up and down the driveway, in the house, around the house, ran through the yard, went up and down the steps, and played on the front porch. Before we knew it, it was time for lunch! Drew was completely fascinated by the "big truck" and it's lift gate and was able to con just about everyone there into giving him a ride up and down on the gate at least once.  Uncle KT had the great idea that Drew should ride in the big truck to Tami's house were they were going to unload all the furniture. It took a minute to convince Drew that it was a good idea but as soon as he got in, he was so excited! He wanted everyone to come look at him in the big truck! His excitement was pretty precious. It is a good thing he liked that truck because he will be seeing a lot of big moving trucks in the near future. We sold our house!! We are supposed to move out February 28th. The final details of where we are going to go are still being worked out so stay tuned...
After playing (mainly running) for a little while longer at Tami's, we headed home for lunch and naps. After they got up, we went to DotDot and Grandaddy's house for dinner with Aunt Ashley. Drew and Anna Kate are always very excited to see Aunt Ashley. We had a wonderful weekend getting to spend lots of time with family!

 Riding the lift gate with Daddy & Uncle Kris.

 Bicycle ride with Papaw. One of my prerequisites for our new house (where ever it may be) is to have a driveway that they can play and ride their bikes in.

 Playing airplane on the front porch.

 I think this picture is hilarious!

He was so excited!

 Anna Kate started thinking she might have missed out on something so she rode with them while they turned the truck around and backed it up in the driveway.

Such a big girl painting her own toes (it was really cuticle conditioner). She started off painting they with Aunt Ashley. They she decided she wanted to paint Drew's toes. He didn't want her to do it so she went back to her own. Drew wanted to help out a little. 

Happy Birthday, "Peoples"!

Saturday was our first sunny day without rain in over a week!  It was a bit chilly but not enough to keep us inside! Since the ground was completely saturated, I took Anna Kate and Drew over to DotDot and Grandaddy's house so they could ride their cars and play in their driveway. The fresh air did us all some good.  Before we ate lunch, we made birthday cards for Pepaw since we were going to a celebration for him Saturday night. Anna Kate kept saying she was making a Pee Pee card. I'm not sure how a birthday card for Pepaw translated into that. I took them home for naps and as soon as they got up, they told John Clay they needed to go to "Peoples" and Ann's house. Ha!
We had a great time celebrating Pepaw's birthday and getting to see the Garner side of the family. Drew and Anna Kate are the only children (for now... Baby Rylee will be here very soon!) so they always enjoy the attention. And of course, they loved torturing playing with Barney, Pepaw & Ann's dog. They like to chase him all around the house while he tries to find somewhere to hide from them.

 Talking to Pepaw about his ice cream. I tried to get them to sing Happy Birthday but the best I was able to do was some Itsy, Bitsy "Fider".

 Petting Barney.

 Chasing Barney..... Poor, sweet Barney!

Watching videos on Uncle Doug's phone. He had videos of tractors on his phone which pretty much qualifies him as the coolest Uncle ever in Drew's book. Wait until he figures out Uncle Doug has real "Catepewars". They'll be best friends in no time!

SNOW!

It happened! We really did get snow! It happened quite quickly too! I went upstairs after lunch and it was really coming down but not really sticking. I went back down to my desk to make a phone call and when I came back up, the roads were completely covered! That 15 minute phone call cost me a THREE hour commute home!  We had what they called a thunder snow that dumped a couple of inches of snow in a couple of minutes and caused all sorts of problems with traffic.  It was a heavy thick snow.  Knoxville got more than Maryville did but there was still enough for Drew and Anna Kate to get to have some fun. 
By the time I got home, it was dark and pretty cold so instead of taking them outside, I brought the snow to them! I got a bowl full and gave them some spoons and let them go to town! They stirred and held it in their hands and even snuck a taste or two. John Clay talked them into dumping it in their bath tub before they took a bath to see what would happen. They weren't sure how they felt about it when it melted!
Friday morning we suited up and went out for little while before I left for work. There wasn't much snow left on the ground and what was there was starting to melt but they enjoyed a good 20 minutes out there just running around checking it out. I hope it will snow another time or two this year and that they will be able to least sled and make a snow man!

 They actually stood next to each other and looked in my direction on my command! Maybe we are starting to make progress!

 Running!

 She wasn't buying my story about needing to go inside! :)

Sweet little red nose!

Rain, Rain, Rain

And more rain.  That is all it has done for the past several days. There is standing water everywhere and schools are closed because of flooding.  The bright side is that there does seem to be an end in sight. Although, after the rain ends they are calling for snow tomorrow. I'm not going to lie I am little excited about some snow! Drew and Anna Kate are ready and fully equipped should it happen. Thanks to DotDot, who got them snow boots and snow suits for Christmas. I hope they will at least get to use them a time or two this year.

Below is a video I took of Drew last night.  Sometimes he says things that are as "country as cornbread". :) He also refers to his body parts as "the ____".  He will run through the house, intentionally fall down, then yell, "I hurt the knee, I hurt the knee!". Strange little guy! We still can't figure out why he does this!

 

Ashwey didn't ainser so Drew could tell her that he hurt tha knee. All while Anna Kate pops a heewie (wheelie) on her truck (listen for it in the background). So much awesomeness in one video. Hahaha! (And just in case you are wondering, he is telling "Drew" that he hurt "the knee" because I had my camera turned on reverse so he was watching himself while I was making the video.)

And I can't leave my girl out of a post! It seems we may have a little hoarder.  Do you see the mess around them?  She specifically gathered all of these things to go sit with John Clay. She tried piling it all in the chair on top of him but he wouldn't let her. She will also usually try to take a number of things with her to bed, to the bathtub, or with her when we leave. Her clutter free mama is going to have to work on her!

Crossing my fingers that my next post will be about a snow day! Apparently, I am still 5 on the inside. :)

"I just playin'!"

That is Anna Kate and Drew's new favorite thing to say. Especially when they are doing something they aren't supposed to be.  We will get on to them for doing something and they will most likely respond with an "But I just playin'!" It's a good thing they are so cute because they are also very rotten!
We have been laying low these last couple of weeks.  We're still recovering from Christmas I guess. Their first day back to school in three weeks was last Wednesday. I was a little nervous there would be tears but they did great and didn't seem to even notice when I left!  The weather has been quite rainy but this past weekend we got a break from the rain and a heat wave! It was 75 on Saturday! We spent a lot of time outside and enjoyed it while we could because today it is in the 40s and raining. And it looks to be that way for most of the week. 

 Playing at DotDot's house last weekend. They both kept wanting to get in that box. Anna Kate had a hard time deciding whether to give up the "reading chair" or the box to Drew. She was thinking she really just needed both of them.

 Playing in their sand table Saturday in the 75 degree heat! We hadn't opened the sand table in a couple of months but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't overrun with stink bugs and spiders!

Drew reading his book.
 



1 Year Anniversary

It is Garland Squared's one year anniversary and this is post number 101! I cannot even begin to put into words how happy I am that I did this! I get to remember what our days were like, what Drew and Anna Kate's personalities were like at all of their different stages, funny stories, and new experiences from throughout the year.   I have to be honest that I doubted myself and whether or not I would keep it up. I wasn't sure what I would write about. But it is for sure that my two little sweeties will always provide the material. I certainly plan to keep the blog up. I hope that one day Anna Kate and Drew will appreciate it and think it is special that they have so many of their experiences documented. I know I will cherish it. I already do. I was just reading my first post. I would not be able to tell you what we did last January 1st if it weren't for the blog. I feel confident that it has fully served it's purpose. It is mind blowing to see what we have crammed into one year's time. I can only imagine what 2013 will be like.
Here are some fun facts to close out our year.

• According to our doctor visits last week, Drew weighs 27lbs. & Anna Kate weighs 23lbs.
• They have started watching a little bit of TV (TT as Anna Kate calls it). They LOVE Barney. We must to watch "Catepewars" (Gold Rush, a reality show about gold mining in Alaska) every night before we go to bed. Drew likes to watch football and when Anna Kate gets up too early in the mornings, we will put her in bed with us and she will request to watch the news. That will last for a little while until she decides she would rather watch Barney.
• Drew's favorites are building with blocks and his trucks and "caterpillars" (bull dozers, diggers, etc...). He likes anything he can pull and will try to make just about anything into a trailer. He really combines all of his loves when he makes a trailer out of his blocks and then hooks it to his truck.
• Anna Kate's favorites are her babies. She is a very good mother. She puts them in her high chair to eat, gives them a bottle, covers them up, and will even try to put a diaper on them. She also likes jewelry and clothes and likes to dress up. She still enjoys looking at her books and she loves to get my phone and look through pictures and watching videos I have taken of them.
• Drew and Anna Kate both enjoy drawing and using their imagination. They will scribble something and then tell you what they have drawn (a tractor, a tiger, a sun, letters, numbers, etc....).
• They are both very smart. They can sing their ABCs, identify primary colors, count to 10 (they both sometimes skip 4 &5), and Drew can identify all the capital letters of the alphabet and several numbers. Anna Kate knows several letters and numbers as well! They can work a smart phone, tablet, and remote control better than their grandparents. :)
• Anna Kate loves to sing and dance. She picks up on songs very quickly and is just getting to where she can sing songs correctly all the way through. Some of her favorites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. If there is music on she will usually dance and always wants Drew to dance with her.
• Drew's favorite song is the "bitsy fider" (Itsy, Bitsy Spider). When I start to sing other songs, he will start yelling, "NO, bitsy fider!".
• Neither one are very good eaters. We still haven't found their favorite food. They like pizza, macaroni & cheese, chicken nuggets (they call them chicken lovets!) ham deli meat, green beans, broccoli, and corn but it is never a guarantee that they will eat it. They really like yogurt and most any kind of fruit. Breakfast seems to be their favorite meal of the day and Drew will usually request oatmeal or a muffin and Anna Kate will ask for pancakes. They could eat their weight in fruit snacks.
• Anna Kate is in general more demanding and temperamental than her brother but he has a stubborn streak like you've never seen. Once he makes his mind up about something, he is a hard nut to crack. Most of our big fights have been over what he is wearing. He has a couple of t-shirts that have a motorcycle, a digger, and a dump truck on them and getting him to take them off are like an act of Congress.
• Both of them will "pet" their lovey when they are sleepy and when they are going to sleep.
• Both are very happy and sweet spirited. They love to laugh and give hugs. They still won't give kisses but will lean their head in so you can kiss it.
• They both have wonderful manners! They say please, thank you, and will say bless you when someone sneezes.
• Drew likes to go and usually wants to go "bye-bye" at least once a day. Anna Kate seems to be more of a home body and is usually more content to stay in. She has just started requesting to go home when she is tired even if we are DotDot and Grandaddy's where they normally nap.

Their little personalities are awesome and change daily. I love seeing the little people they are turning in to.

A picture of our New Year's Day breakfast. John Clay's band played New Year's Eve so the babies and I had a slumber party at DotDot and Grandaddy's house. Our New Year's Eve and Day were much more low key than last year but that is okay. I am excited to see what my post will be like on December 31, 2013!