The family celebrated Grandma’s birthday on Saturday, February 9th. All the in-town grandkids were there to eat pizza and cake as well as sing to Grandma.

As always it was tons of family fun. There are so many kids now that the good pictures are hard to get as they all move at the speed of light! They always have so much fun when they are together though!

David is getting ready to go skiing with the guys (and a couple gals). Maggie decided to try on some of his gear. She walked around in it for about an hour. TOO CUTE (and Funny!)!!!!

Twice a year our church sponsors an event called KidVenture. This is an opportunity for elementary age kids to hang out with their small group (think part of a Sunday School class) and their small group leader on a day other than Sunday.

Saturday, February 2nd was BOWLING!

Mommy dropped Maggie off at the bowling alley in Roswell – this would be the same bowling alley that Mommy used to go to as a teenager. And I did say dropped her off – no parents allowed! The church actually took over the bowling alley for the day. An amazing amount of kids in kindergarten and first grade were there to have tons of fun – they did the rest of the kids later in the day.

Maggie had a great time with Mr. John and her small group friends. Most of the kids in her small group are friends from preschool. It is wonderful that she gets to connect with them every Sunday since she doesn’t see them during the week anymore. They bowled, ate pizza, and just enjoyed hanging out with each other.

Mommy snuck back in a little early so she could get some pictures. They obviously were having an awesome day.

Thank you North Point and all that you do for our kids!

Mommy

This is the song about the 7 continents, the 7 continents….

Maggie has been singing this song all week. It’s absolutely adorable, and she really has learned the continents! She can name all seven without having to sing the song – better than can be said of many adults in this country!

While Mommy was in her room for the 100th day of school, the class did the 7 continents song and Maggie did it for the camera. SO CUTE!

Maggie celebrated the 100th day of school on Friday, January 25th. She had a blast counting to 100 by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Her class switched of with several other classes in the morning and then Mommy came in to help with other 100th day activities in her classroom. We even made a cool 100th day snack mix where we had at least 100 pieces of each ingredient.

Mommy and Maggie made a cool t-shirt for her to wear on the special day. We painted a blue t-shirt with 100 dots. Maggie did all the counting and painting herself – Mommy just facilitated and did the writing.

It was a very fun day in Kindergarten!

Maggie had an awesome time Saturday afternoon building her first snowman. She was so excited to see all the fresh snow when we arrived home from Grandma’s that Mommy had a tough time convincing her to go inside and eat lunch before playing outside. Luckily, her neighborhood friends were also going in for lunch when we pulled in the driveway.

Maggie went out all bundled up in her many layers and immediately started trying to build a snowman. Mommy and Daddy taught her how to start with a small snowball and then roll it. After a few tries she was off and rolling. She built several snow friends and had an awesome time throwing snowballs at Mommy and Daddy. Actually, there seemed to be a great deal of Maggie and Daddy throwing snowballs at Mommy.

Maggie’s friend, Julie, came back out after a while and the girls had fun building yet more snow people in the neighbors’ yards and even making some snow angels.

Finally, it was time to go in – Maggie had soaked through five pairs of socks and two sets of leggings and jeans.

It was a wonderful day in the snow, one I know the family will cherish for years. We’ll look back and say “Remember that year it snowed twice in like a week! That was crazy!”

Another round of snow here in Hotlanta – no one can even remember the last time there were two “snowstorms” in one week here!

Maggie had spent the night at Grandma’s on Friday so she could have some cousin time with Ella. They both woke up Saturday eager to see what the weather would bring. By the time Mommy got to Canton at noon, the flakes were starting to come down and Maggie, Ella, and Landry had been playing outside for quite a few minutes. In fact, Ella had already succumbed to the cold and returned inside.

Mommy was able to get a few pictures of cousin Landry and Maggie running around. They also found a cool spiderweb in the rocks that they investigated. Once all the children were sufficiently wet and freezing, we headed inside for warm clothes and a snack. Even Baby Will got in on the snack action.

Mommy then piled Maggie and all her wet clothes into the mini-van to head back to Woodstock with promises of more snow fun to come.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 – Maggie experiences snow for the first time in her memory! We got out of the car a little after four, and there were snow flurries. I pointed them out to Maggie and she was ecstatic. After watching them swirl for a little bit, we went inside to wait and see what would happen. It started to pick up just before five so we went outside to see what we could get on camera. Mags was dancing all around the yard and posing for the camera!

Daddy got home around five just as some real flakes were starting to come down. We took some video and pictures in our yard and then heard the sound of other children screaming “It’s really snowing!” Needless to say we had to go find them!

We found the neighborhood friends in the back of Julie and JJ’s house running around screaming and having just a general good time. They played hide-and-seek and tried to catch snowflakes on their tongues. It was so much fun to watch. I commented that we had “Yankee Snow” falling – the flakes were huge and it was actually sticking! Georgia usually gets just ice.

After about 45 minutes, Maggie’s cheeks were turning just a tad too red, so we headed in for dinner. The snow continued to fall. Daddy went outside and gathered snow and brought a snowball into Maggie for her to taste it.

During the night, the snow turned to rain, but there was still some snow left the next morning. School was canceled so as soon as it was light and not raining, Maggie and I were out for her to play in it some. She was so excited even though most of the good stuff was gone. She fulfilled a lifelong dream by making snowballs and throwing them at Mommy!

Below are pictures we took – enjoy the slide show!

Mommy

We have started a chore chart for Maggie here at the House of Hills. It has been a very interesting process thus far.

It all started when we realized Maggie really needed to learn that she needs to Give, Save, and Spend her money – not just spend it. This always becomes clear at Christmas when she is blessed with so many presents and then wants to take her Christmas money out to buy more toys (which she of course doesn’t need).

Mommy started three jars with Maggie just after Christmas – one for money she can spend, one for money that will go in the bank, and one for money to give to someone in need (church or charity). All the money she had was divided between the three. She liked the whole concept of money she could see in jars a lot! It was also an amazing math lesson – she can now tell you what four quarters equals in a heartbeat.

Of course, then she wanted me to just give her more money to put in the jars. That’s where the chores chart came in. We had been discussing chores and asking her to do them, but hadn’t come up with a good, formal process.

Maggie now has a chart of things she is asked to do daily. Some of them have become a requirement, like unpack your backpack and do your homework, but others are really a choice, like make your bed and do practice work (handwriting practice). For each chore she completes, she gets a sticker. Each sticker is worth five cents. We’ll add it all up on Sunday and split it between her jars.

It has been really interesting to watch her take such ownership of things I’ve been asking her to do forever. This morning she came downstairs and said “I already made my bed!” She was so proud of herself for remembering without looking at the chart. What a big girl she has become!

Saturday night around 2AM I awaken to a small finger poking me in the rear. I roll over to ask what’s the matter. “Cuddles Please” is what I hear.

With a sigh, I get out of the toasty bed and follow Mags to her room to tuck her back into bed with a couple of cuddles. When we pass the bathroom, I ask if she has already used the restroom (as I know that’s why we’re awake in the first place). Her answer…

“I already went. But, I didn’t flush the toilet so I wouldn’t wake up Daddy.”

I didn’t bother to ask if she was worried about waking me up – the answer was obvious.

The Mommy