Spring is here...iPhone photo update

The azaleas are blooming and the pollen is swirling.  The air has that hazy yellow appearance.  It's Springtime in Augusta!!!  Someone should tell Mother Nature that her little "cold weather" games are old!  It's just not right having to light a fire in the fireplace when all of the flowers are blooming and the days are turning longer.  We are having another little "cold snap" and this is supposed to be the last one.  I sure do hope so.  We have gone from shorts weather to jacket/scarf weather over and over for the past month, and sometimes in the very same day.

I haven't blogged in awhile, so I wanted to do an update with some of our Spring-ish pictures. 

We went to Alabama for Ella's 7th birthday.  It was lots of fun.  I still cannot believe that she is SEVEN!!  UNREAL!  We got to meet Baby Jackson, and he is a doll. 

Rara had a birthday, and the kids made it extra special.  They had a great time celebrating with her.

Hudson had his St. Patricks Day parade at school.  I was so glad that I could go.  We were out of school on that day for a furlough day.

Mom and I took Hudson to the zoo on a Saturday when we were having beautiful weather.

T-ball has started, and Hudson is loving it.  He's doing really good and I am so proud of him.  I can't wait until his games start.  My boy loves playing ball.

 

Hudson had a skating party at school that he was so excited about.  He did a great job on skates!

 

Here are a few more iPhone pictures of more Spring fun...

 

Okay Winter, YOU WIN!

The beginning of 2014 will be one that we won't soon forget. We have met our quota for bizarre natural disasters and weather here in Georgia over the last 3 weeks.  Let's do a quick recap..

snowstorm....check

catastrophic ice storm that is being called the worst one in history for our area....check

4.4 earthquake....check

3.2 earthquake 2 days after the 4.4 earthquake....check

We do live in GEORGIA!!!  These past few weeks have truly been unbelievable.  The damage and devastation that the ice storm left is indescribable.  It's never a good sign when Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel comes to your town and broadcasts live during a storm. Our tall pine trees are not made to handle ice accumulation, and when there is an inch+ built up, they start snapping.

 The only way to describe the sounds is to compare it to a war zone.  It messes with your mind as you just sit and listen to the trees snap and hear the HUGE branches and trees hit the earth with such a loud BOOM.  You just sit, wait, and pray that one does not come through your ceiling.  Very unsettling. 

After the precipitation was over, day light brings so much disaster and destruction.  Our streets were not passable, and trees littered the ground everywhere. Many homes had trees come through their roofs.

(These are very large trees that were just doubled over and broken from all of the ice accumulation.)

  During the storm, almost everyone lost electricity.  To put it into perspective, here are some numbers for ya.  85% of our city lost power.  That's more than 600,000 customers.  SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND!!  That's a lot of cold people.  Thank goodness that our city prepared for this storm and had power crews ready to go before the storm even hit.  There were over 8,000 linemen brought in from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and even other states.  They worked 24 hours a day to restore power.  It's day 6 now, and there are still people without power, but they are still out in full force working.  The sight of power poles, transformers, and lines laying all over the grounds was unreal. 

Bless those workers who left their families and worked LOOONG hours to help get our city up and running again.  They worked in the ice and sleet and even during the earthquakes.

 

Our area was declared a "state of emergency", and the governer came and surveyed the damage.  We have missed 6 school days in the last three weeks due to incliment weather.  The days of the ice storm put everyone into survival mode.  Generators and chain saws flew off the shelves.  I heard someone say that it seemed like we had experienced a tornado, a Winter storm, and black Friday all at the same time.  It's safe to say that many people will now be creating a survival kit after going through this. 

I could not be more thankful that all of my family and friends came out on this side of the storm unharmed.  There may be damage to houses and cars, but at least everyone took proper precaution and we are all safe.  It's nice to see so many people coming together to help each other out. 

Two nights after the storm, we had our first "big" earthquake.  It was really scary.  The whole house shook and the loud noise sounded like an 18 wheeler was coming through the wall.  We had another one 2 days later that was a little smaller.  Whew!  We just aren't used to all of this.

I purchased a new pair of flip flops in hopes of Spring coming SOON!  I am ready for our 98 degree weather, and won't even complain about the humidity being high enough to swim through the air!

Valentines Day was mostly forgotten this year due to the fact that most people were still in "survival mode" on that day.  I am glad that I did get to go out and spend some time with these funny little Valentines.  I love them!

The past few days have been gorgeous!  We were able to get outside and play while we enjoyed the warm Spring-ish weather.  It's not supposed to stay, but we will gladly take it for as long as we can get it!!!

Winter Update

Spring fever hits me every year about this time. This year is no different. I long for warmer days where we can throw on a pair of shorts and flip flops and daylight outlasts supper time. This Winter has been the coldest one I can ever remember. We usually have a few really cold days here each year, but good grief, this year has been COLD for weeks!!! I don't even like wearing a jacket and most of our Winters are mild enough for me to get by without wearing one most of the season. Not this year! We have had school delays, NEGATIVE wind chills, and temps in the teens and twenties for weeks!!! Seriously??? This is Georgia. If its going to be this cold, at least give us a little snow. We have been trapped indoors for days and we are all SO over it. Having to pile on layers and layers of clothing, constantly running the heat on high, and keeping a fire in the fire place day in and day out has become old. We just want warmer weather. That groundhog better have a good forecast when he comes out soon if he knows what's good for him!

All kidding aside, I am so thankful for a warm home and warm clothes. There are many places that are suffering from much colder temps than we are, and I constantly think about people who don't have heat, and poor animals that get left out in the cold. :(

So far the start of 2014 has been good and busy. We rang the new year in at Lake Oconee with our great friends, started back to school, and have celebrated quite a few birthdays. I had Hudson's mid year conference with his teacher to review his progress, and I'm so proud of him. He may be the youngest in his class, but that does not stop him from doing well. He's doing great with academics as well as everything else. I just love his teacher, and thank the Lord for her. We have been so blessed this year and last with the best teachers we could have ever asked for. We are so thankful for his school and the wonderful program that he's in. He has learned so much.
It's hard to believe that it's time to register him for kindergarten. I cannot believe that my baby is going to be in the grade that I teach. This time has come so quickly, and it's so bittersweet.  He had a dentist appointment yesterday, and it was discovered that he has his first loose tooth. WHAT???? He's too little for that!!! I'm not ready for this! People always say that kids grow too fast, but they really do. These times are so short and go by so fast.
We are gearing up for t-ball season. Hudson is so excited to play this year and can't wait for it to start.   We're also looking forward to all of the fun things that Spring brings.  Birthdays, Easter, and warmer weather will be welcomed around here soon!

I'm guilty of not taking one single picture this year with my real camera, so here's a little update in iPhone photos.

2013 Year End Review

I always like to do a year end review each year before I get my blog printed in an effort to highlight the special moments and fun things that took place over the year.  I have not blogged as much this year as I have in years past, so I really wanted to get this post done before 2013 was over.

January: Hudson had his first trip to Build A Bear where he created his friend, Jake.  He loved it of course, and we've been back several times since to create more friends that he loves and sleeps with every night.  

February:  My funny little Valentine continued to make us all smile as we made our way through the dreadful Winter months

March: March was a fun month. Spring was finally in the air.  Hudson's class had a St. Patrick's Day parade at his school, and a fun Easter Egg Hunt with his class at their Easter party.  We started our first season of soccer, and our sweet, beautiful, Baby Charlotte turned one.  We also celebrated our risen Savior on Easter at the end of the month.

April: Springtime brought the Masters golf tournament into town.  It's "kind" of a big deal around here.  We had fun during our week off from school/work celebrating at all kinds of Masters events.  We made our annual trip to the zoo, had Spring pictures made, and finished up the month at the monster truck show on my birthday.  You can imagine the excitement of this little boy!

May:  We celebrated Mothers Day with our annual "group" photo shoot and were so excited to have Brantley included this year. Hudson and I both finished up the school year, and he completed his first soccer season. 

June: SUMMERTIME arrived.  While we were SO excited for this time of year, it also brought the rainiest season that Augusta has seen in decades.  I think we ended up with over 50 consecutive days of rain this summer.  We resorted to embracing the puddles and raindrops because there was no avoiding it!  Claire turned 4 this month, and had a fun ballerina birthday party. 

July:  This month was the highlight of our year.  We went to Disney World for Hudson's first trip.  It was such a fun trip.  We went with my family, and spent a week visiting Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Sea World.  We stopped in FLA on the way home at Dave's grandparent's house.  It was nice to see them as well as visit with cousins.  We went to the beach with Dave's parents to Hilton Head and had a wonderful time as usual.  My little fish swam his hear out.  We were at the pool everyday (that it wasn't raining).

August: Even though this is my least favorite month because school starts back, it's a special one because my sweet boy celebrates his birthday in August.  He started pre-k this year, and we made a trip to Alabama for showers for Jackie and baby Jackson as well as Holly's wedding shower.  Hudson turned 4 at the end of the month, and had his party at Hoppy Feet.

September:  This was another big month for us.  Brantley turned one and had a fabulous birthday carnival.  Holly's wedding was at the end of the month, and we had a good wedding weekend in Alabama.  We were so happy to be a part of their special day that turned out beautiful.

October: We enjoyed celebrating Fall during October.  We had fun at several pumpkin patches as well as the dairy farm with friends.  We carved pumpkins and loved the cool weather.  Hudson finished his 2nd soccer season and even got the "Golden Cleat" award for his team.  He was Jake the pirate for Halloween. 

November: We were so excited for Baby Jackson, our new cousin to be born at the beginning of November.  He is so precious!  We had family pictures made for our Christmas cards, and went to the mountains with Aunt Marie, Brantley, Jennifer, Char, Claire, and Rara.  It was absolutely gorgeous there.  We had so much fun and the weather was perfect.  We visited Babyland Hospital while we were there.  We also enjoyed being our of school/work for the week of Thanksgiving. 

December: This month has been filled with fun festivities to celebrate Christ Jesus' birth.  We have had fun at Christmas parties with our friends and family, and Hudson sang during church at the Share the Light service.  He also did a great job at his school singing in their Christmas program with his class.  They were so precious.  I was thankful to be able to be a "party mom" in Hudson's class for their Christmas party.  We had a wonderful Christmas and we are certainly enjoying our time off before school starts back in the new year.

Happy New Year.  May 2014 be a blessed one for your and your family!