:our new hang out:

We have found a new place to go and play/hangout on Saturday's after we drop Andrew off at church, Barnes and Noble! It is perfect, HattieJo plays with the train set, meets new friends, reads, and plays with the toys. I am excited too, because it will give me a chance to talk to the moms that are there as well! Before we left we hit up the Starbucks and HattieJo was thrilled to have her own cup of water for the short ride back to church!

.fishing.

Last Sunday night we(HattieJo and I) loaded up in the back of the truck and headed across the street to go fishing! It was SO STINKIN' FUN! Andrew caught us a bunch of brim to put in a bucket for HattieJo to play with. She wasn't a fan of touching the fish, but she loved splashing in the nasty fish water... the best part was when I looked over and she had her hand in our bread bag chowing down! At one point she tried to eat the bread that she was "feeding" to the fish in the bucket. It was a blast...LOVE my family and am so thankful for these fun memories we are making.

LOVE this picture of HJ and her daddy with the little brim... she wouldn't smile, because she was eyeing that fish:

PRECIOUS picture:(this little girl ADORES her daddy)

.21months.

Ok so this is a "wordy" post, because HattieJo is chatting up a storm these days!!! The girls talks non stops it seems-I say she gets it from her daddy..haha...No really from me! So here are some things that she says consistently: butterfly, horse, dino, cartoon, picture, sit, puppy, diaper, names our dogs, playdough, draw, bath, cookie, cracker, donut,teeth, couch, church, work, snack, chip, chair, puzzle, swing, push, cow, down, milk, walk, pizza, french fries, chicken, okra and that is all I can think of right now. Here are some of her favorite and frequently used phrases:

*"good catch"

*"good throw"

*run fast"

*"set, go"

*"catch it"

*"window down"- funny post to come about this one

*"oh cute" as she looks at a picture on the camera

*"I see it"

*"where are you?"

*"I hungry, sleepy, happy"

*"Hold you" we are working on her pronouncing this right, she says, "shoo, shoo" hahaha!

*"brush teeth"

*"i pray"

*"I catch you"

*"It locked"

*"it hot" and she scrunches her face as she says this!

*"Oh no"

*"Stop, Biscuit" from her favorite Biscuit book

*"zip it"

*"go outside"

Here are some other fun facts:

*she LOVES okra

*recognizes pages in books

*counts to 10 with only one or two helps

*says the alphabet with some help

*LOVES to say, "in house" as she is in her playhouse and then shuts the door as you start to come and in and laughs hysterically!

*asks to swing everytime we are outside

*LOVES to take 4wheeler rides with her daddy

*coloring with markers

*playing with playdough

*reading for books, she always asks for books when we are in the car and will "read" them as we drive!

*enjoys being outside

*blowing bubbles

She is AMAZING- She brings us so much joy and so many laughs! I tell her all the time that I could eat her up. Funny story: The other day at my dr. appointment I told her that we were going to hear the baby's heartbeat, so the whole time leading up to it, she was walking around saying, "baby heart, baby heart" and shrugging her shoulders! Then the dr. let her turn the doppler on and she heard it and grinned from ear to ear. As we were leaving, she was holding the paper and saying, "baby heart, baby heart!" and then showed all the ladies my paper. Such a happy little girl!

Here are some pics of her "shopping" (Thank you Kyley for the sweet purse! HattieJo loves to carry it around with her)

Please continue to pray that we will be the parents that HattieJo needs, that the Lord will continue to give us wisdom as we raise her and point her to Him. Also, pray for HattieJo in the upcoming weeks as the time for the baby's arrival comes! Pray that she would transition smoothly!

.cooking out again.

We had another cookout last week! Yeah, we love to cookout :) This was a fun night for us to get together with some old and new friends and introduce them all to one another as well. We had fun eating, playing bocci ball, and just hanging out together.

:Gigi and Poppa Part3:

Monday morning I had to get up and go to work. But Gigi was so excited to have her "gigi day" with HattieJo. They had planned to go to a local farm and check out all the fun things there. Well, when they woke up Poppa asked Gigi if she thought Andrew would let him skip out on the morning of working to go with them to the farm! Of course Andrew did and they had a great time...Here is some pictures of their fun time together:

*This was HJ before they even left the parking lot! I think it's safe to say she was exhausted and had had a great time!*

:Gigi and Poppa Part2:

Andrew had been compiling a list of things that he wanted to get done while his dad was here, so we were all up and at it on Sunday morning! We had some pancakes and bacon then the guys started on "the list." They worked so hard! Andrew's sister has 3 boys, so she sent up SO MUCH boy stuff for us. HattieJo LOVED the bag that was full of toys! So I spent a good chunk of the morning sorting through the stuff and making piles.. I LOVED IT and am SO THANKFUL for all the clothes, baby boy is going to be set on clothing til he is 2 years old! Once HJ became bored with all the sorting she and Gigi went outside to play. I found them 45minutes later swinging... HJ didn't want to get out and had been swinging the whole time they were outside! Then we helped, I mean watched Daddy and Poppa trim limbs, clean out the dog kennels, and many other little tasks. Then it was time for 4wheeler rides for everyone except me(don't think baby boy wants to ride this close to delivery!!!). One night last week Andrew climbed a tree and so since then HattieJo will walk up to the tree and say, "climb tree, climb tree." So Andrew did again on Sunday morning and then HattieJo wanted to get up with them, well for just a minute! Her face was PRICELESS when she wanted to get, "down, down, down!"

We had such a fun busy day!

:Gigi and Poppa part1:

This past weekend Andrew's parents came up to visit. We had been telling HattieJo that they were coming and she was so excited. Everytime we would talk about it she would say their names and then say "frog, frog. izar, izar!" haha... Good memories of catching lizards and stomping frogs when we were in FL. So when HJ woke up from her nap on Saturday they had arrived and she was so excited! Not long after they arrived Andrew and his dad headed out for church, us girls stayed home and played til it was time for us to leave. HattieJo was THRILLED that her Gigi got in her house with her too. Gigi and Poppa brought HJ the playdough duffle bag of goodies and a fun new puzzle too!

.cookout.

HattieJo is a social butterfly and I LOVE it! She is the life of the party where she goes and isn't shy when it comes to meeting new folks, its perfect for ministry! Last Thursday night the Young Pros ministry kicked of the summer by having a cookout. It MONSOONED 20minutes before it was set to start, but the weather was fine after the rain and we proceeded and had a great time! HattieJo enjoyed meeting new people, she would repeat their names and shake their hands..hahaha! We had a great turn out and were able to meet lots of new people who are excited about getting involved with this ministry at our church. We are excited to see how the Lord is going to work this summer.

.bugs.

We have these little black bugs on the sidewalk leading up to our screened porch. HattieJo is quite fascinated with these bugs because they will crawl up onto her hands and all around... Crazy to me that she likes to let them crawl on her because she doesn't like dirty hands! So the other day we were outside playing and she started asking for "da bug, da bug, where are you?"

.driving.

So as mentioned in yesterday's post, one of HattieJo's new favorite things is to drive. When we pull up in the driveway in the afternoons she says, "idive, idive, mommy" So I unbuckle her and help her into the drivers seat where she immediately asks for "da teys, da teys"... It is so cute. She loves for you to help her beep the horn too!

:pajama craziness:

Saturday nights are late nights for us because of church and we usually have dinner out with different families each week to help us get to know the Saturday night crowd better. HattieJo is always a champ considering its a long crazy day. This past Saturday she was WORN OUT. She fell asleep before we left the parking lot at church and when we arrived at chickfila to have dinner she wouldn't wake up! So we had dinner with a great new family and HattieJo slept through it until I asked Andrew to go get me a brownie ala mode (which is AMAZING!) and she woke up! So she had some of my ice cream which I thought for sure would keep her up, but it didn't she fell back asleep on the way home. So I took her upstairs and dressed her in the dark, so she wouldn't wake up... the next morning this was her attire (next time I should turn on a little light!)...(I love that this one caught her mid nose scratch!)

.Sunday.

Sunday was such a great day! It was my 2nd Mother's Day :) We got up and had a delicious breakfast together as a family then we all headed outside to play and plant for a bit(HattieJo loved using her "shobel" to help me)... For lunch Andrew went and got us Hibachi take out...YUMMY! Then I took a nap...After our nap we headed back out to play before heading to Walmart and Sonic Happy hour. Then we had pizza and more time together as a family. (HattieJo is at a stage where she LOVES to "drive" the car... She sits in the driver seat and presses every button and honks the horn)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these two pictures above of HattieJo!!! She was peeking around the corner at her daddy as he was digging a hole for our flowers.

.playtime.

On Saturday HattieJo and I were ready and waiting for Andrew to finish getting things together so we could leave for church; so HattieJo and I went out on the porch to play! She fixed her baby a bottle then fed it to her! However, she wasn't a happy camper when I told her we had to leave....

.little bathtub artist.

HattieJo got some new bath crayons in her easter basket in SC... she LOVES them and is quite the little artist!

.mommy's little helper.

The other night HattieJo wasn't feeling well and just wanted to be held, but I was in the midst of getting dinner ready. So she came and stood right on my feet and held on to my leg... this was my view...yes, the big green thing is my belly! haha

.baby shower.

My mom and sister threw me a baby shower while we were in SC, it was so great to catch up with friends at the shower. A lot of my friends have had babies so it was fun to see them. HattieJo had a BLAST holding baby Hank for most of the time, then she played with Merritt and Kyley in between eating the cupcakes and helping me open gifts.

We had such a great trip to SC. So thankful for all my family and friends and all the FUN things we were showered with for baby boy

.trip to SC.

Last weekend we went to SC for a missions conference and I had a baby shower. It was such a fun weekend to hang out with friends and my family! On Friday afternoon when we arrived we had lunch with my family and then we went downtown Greenville to show it off to some of friends who were with us.. and every trip downtown MUST include Spill the Beans ice cream..YUMMY! On Friday night while the crew attended the missions conference HattieJo got to hang out with Grandma, Grandaddy, and Aunt Bec. She had a blast and was SPOILED rotten with lots of gifts!
*more pictures to come from the shower!*