Rhea Family Thanksgiving

London and I jumped on over to Booper and Andaddy's house for a pre-thanksgiving visit. It would have been a lovely trip, but I think I came down with strep throat while we were there so I slept straight through the visit. Boo. We did get to have a great night/dinner with Din Din, my uncle Barry and aunt Doreen though! They are precious. Truth be told, I forget how delightful my uncle is when I'm not around him all the time, then, we visit and I'm completely rejuvenated by him! He is so much fun and says the most clever things! Example: he told a story about his dog being dogatonic... (instead of CATatonic!! Har har! I loved it!) He has all these little quips that are so unexpected and funny! I loved visiting with him, even if I did look like death warmed over!

The next day, we had grand plans for a good ole family christmas tree decorating party. I'm sure it was lovely, but again... slept through the whole thing. Atta girl for bucking up and making family memories. I'm still upset with myself for missing out! Here are a few pictures I snapped before I was dead to the world...

 Pictures mom took from Din Din's annual Thanksgiving feast. I think this was my first year ever to miss out on this grand event! We had a lovely Thanksgiving but I did miss this visit! It's always so much fun! (Not to mention the food is out of this world!!)

London's thanksgiving feast

Wow. I have a lot of blog posts to update. Instead of doing one massive post like normal, Im going to break these into subjects, which usually annoys me because you get like 12 email alerts, so I apologize for being a pain today! Trying to keep all these thoughts organized!

Well, it's official. I should not go to any of London's mid-afternoon events. This is #2 for the year and apparently when I come and see her, and she gets all excited, then I quickly leave to go back to work, London makes it known for the rest of the day that she is NOT okay with how these events are taking place. Event #2 of sobbing for the rest of the day! Poor teachers!

London's class had a pre-thanksgiving feast, which was so fun! I love watching these kids in their zone... it's totally parent free and they just act different... act like themselves, I presume!

They provided a lovely lunch of ham roll ups, crackers, cheese, cookies, etc. London's meal was as follows: 1 piece of chocolate candy (that she held in her mouth until it oozed down her chin and onto everything she touched), 4 oreos, and 1 chocolate cupcake. That's it. She is her father's child.

She is stinking cute though and I love her!

A weekend in the woods

A few weekends ago, the ole fam packed up and headed for Columbus. We invited some friends from Birmingham to come and spend the weekend with us! Their family has recently moved here from Australia and I thought they may need a little break from apartment life! It was so fun having them come home with us! Everything was new and different and the first time they'd ever done any of the normal stuff we do. They ASKED to go down to the field and pick pecans! ASKED to do that! That's like being grounded!! :) They were precious and we absolutely loved hearing more about their lives and families. Powers even took the dad, Scott, to his first american football game and we got a text before the game that said nothing more than 'OMG'. Hilarious! 

My favorite part of the weekend was when one of their girls was doing something she had been asked not to do, Scott said 'Faith, if you do not stop doing that, you are going to get an unhappy tapping on your bottom.' Whew! Fierce! We have said that phrase 500 times since then! 

Thank you mom and dad for letting us have visitors! And thank you for having the most fun house ever! I love you! Now for the pictures...

We went to visit papa Friday and found him getting his ears lowered! How cute is this?!

 He also had a super fun 'toy'... a magnifying page to layover whatever he's reading. He was worried to death that the kids were going to break it, but once they saw how funny it made the other one look, there was no stopping them!

 A visit to the horses.. who didn't want anything to do with us! 

 A few laps around the lake... in which London and I chased the sole duck around the lake the whole time. She was certain we could catch him and look at him up close! We gave it our best effort!

 Renny showing off fresh water clams. Gross. 

 Emma and Faith posing for pictures

 Most unlikely outfit for Scott ever! 

 Renny showing her snake head hands.

 FOUND! One unlucky ladybug! He didn't have a chance of escaping! 

 Said ladybug in my favorite fat hands. How he departed alive is beyond me! London was fascinated by him!

 Fast forward. Here were are at the emergency room this weekend. London had a high fever all weekend and I can't miss any more work, so we went to the emergency room to get some medicine. The trip started with London in a splendid mood! She made everyone there laugh! 5 hours later we did not look this happy. I was a basket case, London was exhausted, and Powers was ready to break free from family time. They did chest x-rays on her and they had to bring people in to pin her down on the table. She was losing her mind. I could not stop crying. It hurt my feelings so bad to watch her so upset. Ugh. All to find out it was the blasted fever virus that has no treatment. I HATE THE FEVER VIRUS. It was a STRESSFUL day. She still has no voice, is coughy, and has an awful runny nose, but according to the doctor, she's healthy as a lark. Riiiiiiight. At least she's been in a wonderful mood! Just sounds awful! 

Here's a video of some of our new words. I know momma's are supposed to brag on their babies, but this child can say ANYTHING. She is such a good talker! I love it because you can have a complete conversation with her! Smart little cookie!


We love you all! Hopefully I'll have thanksgiving pictures up soon! Have a happy and relaxing holiday!!

House full of Ralph

We've had the stomach virus this week. All of us. London got it Sunday night. Let's just say she ate way too many cashews that afternoon (one of her favorite snacks). They were scattered all over our house. Yesh.

Nothing more sad than a sick baby. However, I slept with her that night and she would wake up in the night, grin at me, and say 'Love you, Mommy'. Love you too, my baby girl.. forever and ever and ever. I stayed home with her Monday to which she was obviously feeling better...  she got in trouble for jumping on the bed and not napping!

Fast forward to Tuesday am. I received two texts from my husband that said 'I feel like I'm dying'. His go to line when he gets sick! He's still struggling with getting back on his feet. Poor guy.

Tuesday afternoon. Picked London up from daycare and immediately pulled over to be sick. It hit me all of the sudden out of the blue. When we got home, I turned the tv on for London and told her I was sick and would be back. She meandered into the bathroom to see what was going on and the look on her face was of total confusion! However, every time I would get sick, she would say 'Bless you, Mommy!' and then she'd walk over to the potty, lean over and make barfing noises.

As awful as it was, it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen her do! So, ill take a half day tear down to watch my baby be adorable anytime!

Other funny/cute things:
She can sing all of the happy birthday song and it sounds exactly right! She's been singing it a lot lately and I love it!
After we slept in the 'big bed' Sunday, she's decided that's where she wants to sleep. Every night this week after we've read our books, she's hopped off my lap, curled up on the big bed and said 'Nite Nite Mommy.' I asked her a series of questions the other night about if she wanted to sleep in the big bed now, etc etc. She answered yes to all of big bed questions, so I guess we'll start shopping for a toddler bed at some point!
She LOVES our sweet neighbor Mr. Keith (Keif) she cried twice over him the other day. Once because we saw him driving in when we were leaving for school and we couldn't stop to say hello and later that day because after his obligatory 1 hour visit with London, he had to go home... and she was having none of it. :( I don't blame her. He is great!
We walk outside to say hello to the Moon every night. It's her new favorite thing to do.

This age is just darling! I love her so!

Such a fun weekend

We had a lovely weekend! Lovely is the perfect word for it! London was in a darling mood all weekend, we hung out with some great people, we cooked and made a total mess of the house, then miraculously cleaned it all up so it's mostly spick and span! Hooray! 

London has a thing for birds. She loves them and talks about them all the time. We showed her the murmuration video below and she loved it... to say it mildly. Here she is letting her Noah toy watch the video too! :)

 With the holidays rolling around, I'm looking around every corner for money savings tips. Im about 3 months past due on BADLY needing a haircut so I asked Powers if he'd give me a trim. Not our first rodeo with home haircuts... he cut my hair while I was preggers and it turned out really cute! However, right before he was about to go for his first cut, I told him I wanted a specific style and only a half inch to an inch trimmed off the ends. Here's his try at trimming my hair.

 See the really short hair up by my collar bone? Yup. That was my half inch trim! He was promptly fired and a dear friend of mine came over and fixed it yesterday!  :) Good times!

Hubbers and his girls!

Here's a video of London snapping her fingers while we listened to music. One of her favorite songs is 'Oh Praise Him' by David Crowder Band. She asks for it all the time and sings 'Oh paise him' when it comes on! I love that about her!


I started this post last night, and stopped immediately when she started throwing up. School just called and I'm going to go get her in just a few minutes. :( Bless her heart. Pray she feels better!

Murmuration... Amazing

I could not take my eyes off this video. Amazing. And the video's not skipping at the beginning like I thought it was! :)

Halloween weekend 2011

Whew. First time as a 'were going to celebrate Halloween' mom. Last year we just stopped by the church trunk or treat at the end of our block. This year we made PLANS. I am so very glad Halloween is over! This stuff is exhausting!! :)

Our weekend started great... I drove to MS to pick up Renny cakes!! Woo hoo! She hasn't been to Bham in forever so I was PUMPED to have her come visit! You know who else was pumped? London Lane. She couldn't have been more excited! We had a really whiney weekend, but between the whine sessions, she was in a constant state of laughter at Renny! A house full of happy girls is a joyful noise! Here are a few pictures and video's of our great weekend!

 Church pictures! Our church is under constructions..which is why there is massive equipment and barrels in the backdrop! But London was chasing the geese that hang out in the parking lot and the opportunity for pictures was there... so I wasn't passing it up!

She'll say anything you ask her to say!

On Monday, London's class had a halloween party. Which was awesome!! I have never seen my baby in her element before and it was so interesting! She was so confident and in charge there! I am used to "Home London" which I guess is just our shared space and she has her own personality there. At school she was completely different! I loved seeing this independent, happy little girl! I tried to get a few pictures, but she was running a million miles and hour and was completely covered in sugar and nasty in about 2.5 seconds. Oh well! 

Precious Little Brother Yoda that came to the party!

 Yes, all that white stuff caked all over her face... donut icing. And hair do was just something!

 Showing off her mad climbing skills!

 This is Mason. London is already betrothed to Colin, but Mason sure is a fine young man! He tells his mom that 'London's cute' everyday! Sure would love a man to tell her she's beautiful every day of her life! He's on the right track! 

Circle Time

Monday night we went to a church trunk or treat extravaganza!! There were HUNDREDS of people there! Im not good a estimating, but easily 5-600 people there. London was NOT putting her costume back on and we didn't stay long, but it was fun to see all the sights! I think we'll attempt something a little more low key next year! 

The twins halloween costumes. I haven't heard much about their night except that they SPRINTED from house to house and were so excited to be trick or treating! Caden was Superman and Liz was a beautiful fairy!

 Charley was the Sun Drop girl. I had to google this. She dressed up as the girl on the commercial! Funny girl!

Till next year Halloween....