Weekend Stay

While we were gone at a Leader's Retreat this weekend our "middles" stayed with Mr. Eric & Mrs. Erin! Friday morning the girls were up and ready, put their packed book bags on their backs and carried them around with them all day! They were super excited to stay with The Millers! Here are some pictures they sent me during their stay!

Thank you so much Eric & Erin for watching the middles for us, they had a blast!!! Even if Anna threw up at McDonald's while Mr. Eric was by himself :)

What a surprise!

Since we've been married we've rarely bought birthday, christmas or anniversary gifts for each other. Don't get me wrong, I love a gift as much as anyone, we've simply not had the funds to be able to do so...imagine my surprise when I received this beautiful necklace from Jody last week!

It was a combination 30th Birthday, Anniversary (10 years this year) and Mother's Day gift!

I have been wanting some sort of jewelry to represent all of our kiddos, a necklace, ring or bracelet!!!

My necklace is white gold and has each of the kiddos birthstones:

Emma: Red Garnet(January)

Anna: Pink Tourmaline(October)

Lizzy: Blue Sapphire(September)

Jack: Red Garnet(January)

and the heart at the top represents the baby we lost.

I absolutely love my new necklace and have gotten so many compliments already!!!

Thank you to my wonderful husband for my beautiful necklace, you're pretty great :)

Jack's NEW shoes :)

A few weeks ago Jack took his first steps. He really wasn't "walking", but in the past week he's been all over the place walking! We decided he needed to be fit for his first pair of shoes, we did it with all the girls too :) We found a Stride Rite here near us and they were running a buy one get one half off sale too, even better!

Here is Jack getting ready to try on shoes, it took a couple of times to get him to stand up and hold still so they could measure his feet (4.5 wide)! He freaked out every time the guy came over to measure his feet!

Here is a picture of his new tennis shoes! He wouldn't stand up with them on, wouldn't even hold still for me to get a great picture, this was the best of the bunch. After that first day he loves them and is all over the place walking :)

After some convincing (me to Jody) we bought him a pair of sandals too!

He looks like such a big boy in his new shoes!!!

Yard work

Last week we worked really hard on getting the leaves out of our yard. It's starting to feel like spring and there was hardly any grass beneath the leaves! Our lot is covered in big trees (not pines) thus all the leaves. No one lived in the house during the fall season or early winter, so the leaves were plastered to the ground and there were a TON of them! I raked and rakes and raked (during the day while Jody was at work), then we decided to try the leaf hog (can blow leaves around or suck the leaves up). But we quickly realized the bag got full really quick and it was heavy, even though it mulched the leaves as it sucked them up! We finally finished the very front of our yard Saturday evening!

Here is Lizzy, who got the best helper award, picking up all the sticks in the yard. !

She pulled her little wagon all around the yard picking up all kinds of sticks then dumping them in the "stick pile" on the side of the house! And she did it without us even asking her to!

Jack cannot stand to be in the grass (remember this post?) so when I put him down in the grass he stayed there, literally in the same exact spot for a long time! I sure hope he gets over it! But he did a good job supervising us all as we worked!

My task this week is to finish the front yard, let's hope it doesn't take as long!!!

Jack Attack!

Here is a cute Jack moment...

It's finished!!!

We finally have a baby gate for the top of our stairs!!! Since Jody and I have been married we've

lived in single story homes (or apartment), so the need for a baby gate to keep our kiddos from falling down the stairs wasn't needed. We realized the day we moved in to our house here in Georgia we absolutely needed a gate for Jack and right away! Jack like most one year olds sees no danger in anything he does and is fearless, especially with the stairs! We went out the

evening we moved in and bought a gate, but quickly realized the hand railing had to be moved down (a few inches) for a gate to be attached to the wall and the distance between the spindles was wide enough for Jack to fit through! The gate was returned the next day to Target. We moved the hand railing down a few inches so we could put a new gate up and realized plexiglass was the best option for the spindle situation. After 2 sheets of plexiglass, lots of measuring, scoring, drilling and screwing the spindle area is covered and safe! We bought another gate at Home Depot, which worked temporarily but the gate didn't fasten to the wall and used pressure to hold it in place :(

I remembered seeing a baby gate at a friends house in NC that fastened to the wall on one side, the actual gate was shade-like with handles and attached to hooks on the other side. The KiddyGuard Retractable Baby Gate was it! It can be used in doorways and at the top of stairways with widths up to 51 inches. When not in use, it rolls out of theway, leaving no tripping hazards.

Some of the Gates Features are:

*Can be mounted onto different surfaces such as gypsum walls, walls with baseboards, or onto staircase banisters.

*Needs minimum space and almost disappears when not in use.

*Easy to use one-handed operation.

*Locks open and closed to prevent children from using as a toy.

*Clicking sound that alerts parents or caregivers when gate is being opened.

*Tested to be safe and secure. Meets US safety standards & Certified by JPMA.

Here is a picture of the top of our stairs with the new baby gate and plexiglass...

And what it looks like when the gate is open looking down the stairs and then up the stairs.

We decided instead of taking back the second gate that we would use it at the top of the stairs to the basement, another dangerous area! And it has worked really well!

The best part is the girls cannot operate the baby gate without help, so there is no danger of them opening the gate and leaving it open for Jack to fall down!!! What a relief knowing our kiddos are safe from falling down any stairs!!!

Wordless Wednesday...Monkey Walk & a Wiggle :)

Great way to end the weekend...

I wish I had my regular camera with me when we saw this complete double rainbow Sunday evening after church!

Kiddos Books

I recently went through the kiddos bookshelves looking for books with bible stories that I could read to the kiddos every day during devotion time. I didn't really find any that would work for that purpose until I remembered seeing these books, "Read-Aloud Bible Stories" on our friend Tara's blog :) She had this series, (there are 4 volumes) as a child and loved them and now has them now for her own kiddos (who absolutely love them)! I saw that they weren't in print anymore, I found them sparatically online on different sites, but I found these on CBD.com (Christian Book Distributors) where they came as a set, all 4 together!

Here are the stories in each book...

VOLUME 1:
- The Man Who Was Too Little
- The Man Who Couldn't See
- The Boys and Girls and Jesus
- The Wind That Obeyed
- The Man Who Said, "Thank You"

VOLUME 2:
-Simon and His Boat
-The Boy Who Went Away
-The Boy Who Shared His Lunch
-The Man Who Helped
-A Sad Day and a Happy Day

VOLUME 3:
-How God Made the World
-Noah's Big Boat
-God Gives His People Bread to Eat
-Daniel and the Lions
-Baby Jesus and the Good News

VOLUME 4:
-Joseph and His Brothers
-The Baby in the Basket
-Joshua and the Big Wall
-David and the Biggest Man
-Jonah and the Big Fish

We got the box in the mail a few days ago and the girls opened them up immediately! Anna recognized each book from AWANA Cubbies and could tell us the stories in each book!!!

We are so excited and look forward to reading ALL the stories to our kiddos then passing them on, thanks Tara for the tip!!!

I Love a TWO for ONE deal

Yes, they are both in one swing, so much easier to push!!!

Wowee

Today's post is my 500th?!?!?!

I was a little slow at the picture posting and posts in general at first, but as the years have past I've gotten better don't you think??? When did you start reading our blog, I really would love for you to comment and let me know, seriously!!!

Proud Pitner Parents

Emma came home this week with this...

An invitation to the Student of The Month Breakfast!!! She was so excited to share the good news with us and to eat breakfast with the principal :) She loves going to school, doing schoolwork and even doesn't mind homework?! We're hoping this trend continues throughout her school years!

Here she is before the Student of The Month Breakfast...

We love our Emma and are so proud of her!!!

World of Coca Cola

Saturday we visited the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta. Many people (natives and visitors) suggested we visit here, my parents and Jody's Mom were in town this weekend so we decided to all go :) My absolute favorite pop (soda for you southerners) is Coke so what an awesome place to visit!!!

I'll give you some background...The original Coca-Cola Formula was created by John S. Pemberton, a respected pharmacist, on May 8, 1886 (just a few blocks from where the World of Coca-Cola stands today). He was looking for something unique to refresh customers who were coming into soda fountains in the late 19th century.

Here are some fun facts about Coca-Cola:

*Rights to bottle the beverage were purchased for $1.00 by Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead from Chattanooga, TN.
*Sprite was created in 1929, Fanta in 1941 and TAB in 1963.

*Diet Coke was introduced in 1982, the first extension of the Coca-Cola trademark.

*The first change in formulation in 99 years took place in 1985 with the introduction of New Coke.

*In 1985, astronauts tested the "Coca-Cola Space Can" onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. The Space Can featured a special drinking nozzle and a Velcro strip for sticking the can to the space shuttle wall.

*Before it goes to market, each Coca-Cola product undergoes nearly 450 different tests to ensure that ingredient and packaging quality meets the Company's standards.

*The Coca-Cola contour bottle shape is so distinctive it can be recognized in the dark and is one of the few physical objects granted a trademark by the U.S. Trademark Office.
*Today over 450 brand exist worldwide, and you can find Coca-Cola even in the farthest corners of the globe.

*90% of construction waste in building the World of Coca-Cola was reused or recycled.

*If all the Coca-Cola ever produced were put into 8-ounce contour bottles, there would be more than six trillion bottles stacking 468 miles high.

When you enter the World of Coca-Cola there are two levels....

Level 1...

Area 1: Lobby

Area 2: Coca-Cola Loft-Heritage of Coca-Cola, artifacts from yesterday and today.

Area 3: Happiness Factory Theatre-Gives a glimpse of the magic that goes into every bottle of Coca-Cola. A very cute animated movie the kiddos really enjoyed and we adults thought it was pretty funny too!

Area 4: Coca-Cola Polar Bear-Meet and have your pictures taken with the most beloved character.

Area 5: Coca-Cola Connections-Discover hot the global reach of the Coca-Cola system connects people around the world. A movie that shows how Coca-Cola is distributed to the world, by boat, airplane, on foot, by bicycle...

Area 6: Milestones of Refreshment-Revisit the fascinationg story of The Coca-Cola Company and it's products, walk through history.

Area 7: Bottle Works-Step into the center of a real bottling line and get a behind-the-scenes view of the actual bottling process. This was my favorite sign, who knew it was this easy?

Level 2...

Area 8: In Search of the Secret Formula 4-D Theater-We followed an eccentric scientist and his assistant on their quest to uncover the secret formula of Coca-Cola, a multi-sensory movie expereience. We wore 3-D glasses, got sprayed with water, blasted with air, poked in the back by stingers, and were thrown all around by the moving seats, Lizzy didn't like it too much but Jack was amazed!
Area 9: Pop Culture Gallery-see how your world has celebrated the Coca-Cola brand and made it an icon of popular culture.

Area 10: Perfect Pauses Theater-Relive the best of Coca-Cola television advertising throughout the years and from around the world. The kiddos really enjoyed the animation moments and songs.

Area 11: Taste It!-Take your taste buds on a trip around the world, sampling 64 different beverages. This was the best part of the tour!!!

Anna thoroughly enjoyed her tasting, note the redish stains on her face from the drinks (like a Kool-Aid mustache) :)

Area 12: Coca-Cola Store-Take the excitement of Coca-Cola home with clothing, collectibles, gifts and custom-styled bottles. This place was huge and circular in shape.

And that is the end of our Open Happiness Tour, notice we are all holding our FREE Cokes, even Jack :)

Wordless Wednesday...FREE WalMart Cookies

Seating

I've been trying to figure out seating for the kiddos in the play room. We have a small table and 2 chairs, so we needed more seating. I also wanted something that was portable that they could take with them anywhere in the house, playroom, living room, basement or their rooms. My immediate thought was the Anywhere chair from Pottery Barn Kids, I know several families with them and they love them, but the price was the catch for me. Maybe if we had 1 or 2 kiddos, but with 4 they were completely out of our price range. So the hunt was on I searched and shopped and researched and eventually came back to the good ole bean bag chair. They are a seat, portable and if they do happen to get destroyed they were a great price (I got these on sale at Target)! Even Jack loves his chair and hops right in :)

Schmellow Creamwich

One of my kiddos new favorite things is a marshmellow cream sandwich aka "schmellow creamwich". I don't exactly remember where they got the idea or when we tried it out but they love them, could it be all the sugar?! Jack was fussing the other day about his lunch so much that I eventually gave in and gave him his own schmellow creamwich and to say he enjoyed it was an understatement! Look at that face :)

Our new fave

One of Jody's favorite stores is REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.), he loves the outdoors. He received a giftcard from REI for Christmas. After browsing the store he came across this mug: REI Vacuum Infuser Mug. Here's the mugs description...

Always on the go? Use the REI Vacuum Infuser mug to brew your tea or coffee as you hurry from place to place!
•Simply drop your tea leaves or fresh coffee grounds inside the cylinder and pour hot water on top; your drink then steeps inside
•Removable stainless-steel screen filters leaves or grounds as you drink through the bottom half of the 2-part lid; or, remove the screen and simply pour your drink into a cup
•Double-wall, stainless-steel construction keeps drinks warm for up to 6 hrs.; keeps drinks cool for up to 10 hrs.
•Food-grade sipping collar lets you drink a hot beverage without worrying about burning your lips
•Rubber on the base keeps the mug from slipping
•Hand wash; do not microwave

He spent his entire giftcard on ONE mug?! I thought he was absolutely crazy. He used it the first day, came home and showed me that his coffee was still warm (hours later). He kept showing me for the next few days until I decided to use it for a day, SOLD. I went the very next day and bought myself one with my own Christmas money! I have to say this is completely worth the price tag (I don't say that much about anything). I drink coffee every morning and was re-heating my coffee several times a day, with this mug it stays as hot as you pour it in the cup for hours! I don't do any of the fancy brewing or anything, just make my coffee the regular way in the pot then pour it in my mug! If you are looking for a mug that does exactly what it says it will, this is the mug for you, click HERE for the link to REI :) Oh and my Mom liked it so much she bought one too!!!

So much time?

I'm sure many of you are wondering how I have all this time to spend on my blog every day?! The truth is I don't. My blackberry is setup to email pictures or posts directly to my blog! If I take a picture or have a story I want to blog about, I simply send it to my blog right when I'm thinking about it, it stays a draft until I "publish" it. Once a week I go into my blog, edit the post then set it up to publish automatically throughout the week and that's it! It's so easy and a lot less time consuming :)

Fridge Farm

One of my favorite toys is my Leap Pad Fridge Farm, I got it for Christmas from Papa & Wanka, they saw I liked playing with cousin Ashtyns so much :)

I like to look at the animals pieces and try to match them up...

I carefully put the animals in each side and it tells me if I have a match then sings a song to me about that animal...

And I can push the button and it sings more songs to me, I like to dance and clap to the songs...

I LOVE my Fridge Farm!!!

The Worlds Strongest Redneck

Saturday evening our church hosted a Men's Wild Game Dinner with guest speaker Steve McGranahan "The World's Strongest Redneck". We had a total of 377 men/boys that attended the dinner where they ate all sorts of "wild game"! Steve stayed and spoke at both our 8:30 & 11am services Sunday morning. I had never seen anything like Steve, he uses his God-given amazing talent to minister to those who need Christ & Christians in a unique way. Check out all about Steve, his ministry and videos here :)

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 :)