March has been full of FUN both here in Franklin and abroad! Charis, Bethany, and Hannah stayed with us for a weekend a couple weeks ago, and the following week, we packed up our kids and headed to Figgy and Pops's house in Harrisonburg. Pictures of those fun times are below! Being the former English teacher that I am, I took note of a beautiful milestone last week: Susannah used her first simile. (If it's been a while, a simile is "a comparison using like or as.") "Mommy. I love bananas like candy" were her exact words. Such a smart girl! She also has 2 favorite questions these days: "What is that sound?" and "Why?" Right now, it's hilarious how many times she asks us those questions in a day; after a few weeks, I might change my adjective. We'll see. John Boy is 10 months old, and I'm pretty sure he's teething again. Hopefully they'll come in quick! He's still sleeping really well (God knows I need that), and he's saying "Mama" and "Dada" intentionally. "Mama" is all day, but it's very cute. The cutest thing going on with us lately is the kids' interactions in the car. They can see each other just over the sides of their carseats, so Susannah will look over and yell curtly (almost sternly), "JOHN!" and we'll see John's head turn to look at her, and they'll both smile real big and giggle. Then Sus will yell his name again, "JOHN! JOHNNY!" and John will go, "AGH! AGHHH!" back at her; and then the giggles erupt again. It's adorable. Now for Cousin Camp pics:
Susannah's holding her nose up as high as she can because she's about to drown in all the junk food groceries we bought for our cousins' visit! It was SO FUN picking out all the guilty pleasure foods!
The girls have arrived, and Suster is in heaven.
Ready for the Easter Egg Hunt (and for the front of a magazine, sheesh...these girls are just glowing with love and happiness!)
Such fun!
The final bounty!
Uncle Petey spent the next almost-2 hours on the trampoline making popcorn out of the girls.
Not any fun at all. If you listen really closely, you can here cautious Susannah saying, "Be gentle, Daddy, gentle!"
John was a happy spectator, plotting how he'll get in on all the fun soon enough!
Uncle Petey keeps a scope on/near the dinner table to look at deer in the evenings, and this picture of Hannie attempting to look at them is just priceless!
4 out of 5 are engrossed in Cinderella -- can you tell who's just happy to be alive? Two of the 4 girls asked to go to bed before the movie was even over, and the other two just about fell asleep on the couch before the final credits. We were wiped!
Susannah and her BFF Bethany matched for church on Sunday. Their faces in this picture adequately express their emotions about wearing the same dress -- these two absolutely adore each other.
And our trip to see FiggyPop (as Sus likes to call them):
Pops and Boy Child
Pete's best friend, Matt, and his daughter, Hannah, came over to play while we were there. Pictured is what I like to call, "Competitive Coloring." Each girl took turns pushing the other off her page. But they really did play sweetly together.
We got some snow while we were in Hburg! Susannah and John got to sled for the first time, and poor John may never do it again after his face-plant...
Now that I know everyone is fine, I wish I had held the camera up for just a second longer to get the full effect of the fall!
Sleepy John hanging out with Aunt Vicky
Sus got to help Aunt Sarah add the candles to Aunt Chipley's birthday cake.
Blowing out some candles with her fav person of the day, Aunt Chip!
Susannah looks slightly troubled here, but trust me; hiding on the floor with Figgy for a special treat was DELIGHTFUL to her!
Pajamas in the snow!
Lastly, Pete finally shaved off his beard yesterday, and after a second of getting used to the new look, John LOVED it:
As of John's 8 month birthday, he had a whopping EIGHT teeth, and that's the count as of today, too. If I remember correctly, Susannah was getting her 3rd tooth at 9 months old... He's ahead of the curve there, for sure! Which I guess makes up for his percentiles being a little lower than we'd like them to be; but the doc says he's a heathy, thriving babe, so we're happy and thankful. One new thing he's doing is giving kisses upon request, and it's so, so sweet. He still could not be happier and is absolutely adored by his sister. Though her constant loving (and occasional scolding, "John Acker! No do dat!") occasionally gets on his nerves, he is so entertained by Susannah's antics, which encourages her silliness like crazy. It's wonderful entertainment!
Susannah's vocabulary has absolutely blown up over the past 2 months. Her two favorite phrases are "Ohhh, that's right!" and "Just one more minute." She's talking in full sentences all the time now and is a little parrot, repeating everything we say; so now we've really got to watch our tongues. It's amazing the little things we say (i.e. crap, dumb, and other accidental words I'd rather not type out) that we don't even realize and don't want our little ones taking to church nursery! One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 18:21, "The tongue has the power of life and death..." We need to be really careful that not only are our words adding to the LIFE of our children, but that the words they repeat to their little friends are adding life to them! That's a real convicting and challenging lesson.
We were also so happy that Pops and Figgy came for a visit in February! Susannah and John had the BEST time with them (as did Pete and I), and Susannah even had a bunkmate in her Figgy! (Had I mentioned that Susannah now has bunkbeds?) Susannah now often says, "Toodaloo!" thanks to Figgy. It's the cutest!
And now for the picture highlights (in no particular order):
Susannah and Daddy went on a fancy date to the Daddy-Daughter Banquet! AND I COULD HAVE DIED THEY WERE SO CUTE.
See? I MELTED UNTIL I ALMOST DIED.
And this is where I almost died again, right before they left.
John's not loving the seating arrangement here.
Ready to be in the woods!
The just about summarizes our boy's personality perfectly. So happy and excited all the time!
These two buds...
Susannah is practicing to be a flower girl this summer!
Baking and smiling HARD about it.
She loves to look at books by herself now before falling asleep at naptime and ends up falling asleep with the book.
Loving life!
My pretty girl!
The boy loves the swing more than anything in life (besides his mommy).
Hanging out in her bunk bed!
Tickling the ivories
We had some snow at some point over the past 2 months...?
"Fing owl towel!" (that's "swing" owl towel in Susannah.) These kids love for Daddy to swing them every single night after dinner in this one particular towel.
Out to dinner with Figgy and Pops!
And a fun video for you, too:
Here's hoping it won't be all that long before I post again!
