Life these last few weeks...

The last few weeks have been a blur and I've slacked in my blogging. We wrapped up the holidays and then geared up for AG's first birthday. So I feel like I'm finally catching my breath and bracing for the next few weeks...here's what we've been up to:

--AG has mastered walking and is quite pleased with himself...he's now a pro at creating mischief and mayhem. :) Samson has adjusted to this latest milestone well. When he's had enough he retreats to the guest bedroom and hops up to nap on the middle of the bed...perfectly out of AG's reach.

--AG is quite taken with Andy's guitar hero drum set. I need to upload the video we've captured of AG playing it and watching himself on the tv. Quite amusing. Also, he seems to be walking in his Daddy's footsteps when it comes to soccer. He's started kicking the ball around the den. We have video of that too. (See how far behind I am?!) Needless to say Andy is pleased on both accounts. They practice soccer at night when Andy gets home from work. Won't be long before he's on the sidelines while Andy coaches.

--Samson had conjunctivitis in both eyes and had a trip to the vet. He seems to be on the mend but is not a fan of the ointment we have to smear into his eyes...can't say that I blame him.

--The weekend following AG's birthday I went away with a group of my college friends. We were all in the same freshman class in WinShape and we've decided to take an annual trip together. This was the first year and it was wonderful to hang out and fellowship. April couldn't join us this year (she's over seas doing missions) BUT we were able to video chat with her and that was fabulous! I'm sure the locals at the coffeehouse were amused at 5 ladies gathered around Laura's laptop speaking loudly for everyone to hear. But we didn't care. Andy gets major points for handling AG all weekend while he cut his 8th tooth.

--Yes, we are now up to 8 teeth...I feel like we are in the calm before the storm and I'm preparing to batten down the hatches as we gear up for molars and incisors. His incisors we can already see moving down and see where the gums are swollen.

--We've transitioned to whole milk and cups only now. Last week was hard (another reason why I'm behind) because AG was learning a new sleep routine. Up till then he'd been taking a bottle before naps and bedtime...we've replaced that with a story in his rocking chair and then putting on his lullaby cd. AG has adjusted and seems to now enjoy our new routine now that he's familiar with it.

--Thursday nights continue to be one of the highlights of my week every week...due to the cold, nasty weather we've been having Jess has declared our weekly tv time a pajama party. So we do dinner and then later everyone shows up in the sweats/pjs to watch Grey's and Private Practice. Jess wins the award for most original with her glow in the dark footie zip up pjs.

--Things at church are great...our church has teamed up with several other local churches to launch Project 127 Rome to address the foster care needs of our community. I find this refreshing. It's about time that churches took a stand to shoulder the responsibilities that they are called to do. On average there are 10,000 kids in the GA foster care system on any given day. 200 of those live in Floyd county. We have a 140 churches in our county...that is the highest per capita in the country. I'm looking forward to seeing God work in our community as we band together to do his will.

--Andy is not coaching this spring. This is a nice change of pace for us since he's been coaching since we got married. He's planning to get his next coaching license later in the spring. Due to this next license being on the national level it requires more time to obtain it...this is hard to juggle when you are in the middle of a season. So Andy is looking forward to moving on to the national level and we are enjoying having him home during the week and weekends.

--I'm planning and dreaming out the laundry room...our next and final major project on the inside of our house. In reality it's not major in comparison to the master bathroom and the kitchen overhauls that we did. But it will be the last big thing we do inside the house. I'm looking forward to it. I have an idea of what I want but I haven't picked anything out, yet. I'm waiting till we get back from our travels...

--At the end of the month we are leaving on a jet plane and bound for the west coast. Wahoo! I'm excited. We are doing a week long vacation with Andy's family in San Diego. We are looking forward to taking AG to the zoo, Sea World, and Disneyland just to name a few. Andy's looking forward to taking a Ducks game in...too bad the Thrashers won't be in town but Andy did see them last week when they played in ATL. We are also thrilled to be able to drive up to LA to see Michael. (Our dear friend who is in the Masters program for Directing out at USC.) We can't wait to see him and let him show us around. He keeps telling us that he's going to get AG a tshirt that says "My big brother goes to USC" I guess we will investigate that while we are out there. I told him as long as it had nothing to do with football. :)

--Last week after much pressure from multiple people I decided that I'd pick up the Twilight saga. I started the first book Monday evening after AG went to bed. I finished the fourth book Thursday night. Needless to say I couldn't put it down and I read fast. I consumed something like 2500 pages in four days. I haven't gotten a chance to read like that in a long time...I throughly enjoyed myself. And I'm not going to lie I could hardly keep myself from busting out laughing as Bella went cliff jumping in New Moon...I know it's a serious moment BUT one of our students happened to get rescued off the same cliff this summer by the coast guard and they reported it as a crazed Twilight fan trying to reenact the books! Which is completely bogus because he'd never even heard about Twilight till he was on the cliff and the coast guard was asking him if he liked vampires! Ha. If you need a good laugh and haven't heard this story remind me next time I see you and I'll tell it in person...it never ceases to make me laugh...

--I need to post about AG's birthday but I'm waiting for the pictures from the photographer...I promise I'll post it ASAP.

--This weekend we are headed to ATL to spend the weekend celebrating Andy's birthday. My parents are coming up to take care of AG and visit with Caro. We are looking forward to seeing the Hawks on Friday and the Thrashers on Saturday night. Should be a great weekend.

I'm sure there are plenty of things that I left out but this is a start. Hope everyone is having a great week...