Wordless Wednesday, I like cake!

Schedules

Since moving to Georgia any schedule we had has went out the window, no matter how hard I tried to keep them :) I am a very schedule oriented person (even before 4 kiddos), so schedules are key for me!!!

Our church schedule has stayed pretty much the same, Sunday mornings we have Sunday school at 9:45, worship at 11:00am (same as NC) and Sunday evenings 6pm (instead of 7pm) youth group and the kiddos have childrens choir (just like in NC). On Wednesdays, dinner at 5pm, AWANA is from 6-7:3opm here (6:30pm in NC) and we have youth from 6:30-7:30pm.

Jody has to be to work at 8:30am instead of 7am everyday, with the exception of Fridays, his day off! This is awesome for me because back in NC Saturday morning was the ONLY morning he was home and able to help with breakfast, or helping the kiddos get ready for the day! In NC he was home usually by 4:30pm, but had meetings many nights during the week. Here he gets home just before 5pm, so we are able to eat as a family fairly early in the evening and he has very few engagements during the week!

Instead of Emma starting school at 9:05, she starts school at 7:45! She has always been an early riser and is up by 7am, no matter what time she goes to bed. In NC she was always ready for school way before we needed to leave! I drove her to school and picked her up every day (we lived about 13 minutes from her school and the bus really wasn't really an option for us). I sat in carpool for a super long time every day and had to think of new creative ways to keep the other 3 busy :) She gets out of school at 2:15pm here and since we live so close to the school (less than 1 mile driving) she is home by bus at 2:20pm instead of getting home around 4:15pm!!! She still goes to bed at 7:30pm.

Anna has basically kept her schedule. She too goes to bed at 7:30 but usually doesn't fall asleep until later, we usually find her clothes changed in the morning (always in a skirt)! She needs the most sleep out of all the kiddos and is up by 8:30am :) But if she goes to bed later, she gets up later :) She does not take naps.

Lizzy has decided lately that she doesn't need a nap, we beg to differ! Since moving here I've tried laying her down earlier, on other days later, since she shares a room with Jack I've tried laying them down separately, but no luck. She stays in her bed (she will not get out of her bed until we come to get her), but no sleep!!! By dinner time she is so grouchy and grumpy we are ALL wanting it to be 7:30pm :) Emma and Anna both stopped taking naps around 2 1/2 so if this is the end of her napping I'll be ok with it!

And Jack has adjusted his sleeping schedule...he normally wakes up around 7am, eats breakfast, plays and then back down for his morning nap by 10am. Wakes up around noon, eats lunch, plays some more and back down at 3pm for his afternoon nap and up by 4:30. Then back down for the night between 7-7:30pm! He doesn't wake up at all during the night (since he was a couple months old) and we are very thankful :)

Even though we have developed new schedules, they work for us and our family :)

Skype

For those of you who don't know what Skype is, here's the definition: Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and calls over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a nominal fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for their additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer and video conferencing.

We started using Skype a few years ago when Jody's Mamaw was very sick with cancer and we were not able (due to her chemotherapy & the kiddos germs) to see her in person! It was a great way for her to see her great-grandchildren and talk to them! Since moving to Georgia it has enabled my parents as well as other friends to see and talk to the kiddos LIVE!!! The dowload is free, all you do is setup a username/password, account info, then add contacts and you are all set! Some of our friends have even used this while overseas! What a great way to stay in touch and virtually free (you use your internet connection)!!! Click here to dowload Skype :)

SNOW

It snowed again here in Georgia (last Tuesday)! I saw on the news that the average snowfall for our area is 2.4 inches for the year but we blasted the record and are now at 4.4 inches for the year :) Jody said he saw the first snowflake as Emma got on the bus and was pulling away. It started snowing quite a bit more very soon after that! Here is a shot of the parking lot of our church from Jody's office a little before 11am...

He came home just before noon, just in time to walk down to the bus stop to pick up Emma who had a 2 hour early dismissal...

And here's a picture of the snowman Jody & the girls made! I snapped this picture the day after the snow as Emma and I were walking down to the bus stop! She had a 2 hour delay :)

gummin' It

Although Jack has only 8 teeth (4 front top & 4 front bottom), he can gum an entire piece of pizza! We figure this out by mistake, I had asked Emma to give Jack the crust of the pizza and she gave him an entire piece?! But he ate the entire thing, this boy can eat!!! His two bottom molars are about to break through his gums so he's been drooling on everything and chewing on anything he can get in his mouth!

On another note he is still not walking, he's 14 months! His pediatrician has assured us that only 50% of kiddos walk at one year (the window for normalcy is between 9-16 months) and since he does have older siblings he would more than likely walk later! This is because all he has to do is point and jibber jabber and they get him whatever he wants! He has taken up to 3 steps at a time, but I don't consider that walking! He stands alone and can cruise around holding on to just about anything! His favorite toy is his "truck", a walk behind toy he pushes everywhere, he's even figured out how to move it when he runs into a wall!!! I am not looking forward to the walking, he already gets into everything just by crawling :)