a look back at May

I am continuing my stroll through the memories of the last few months to fill in blanks of our blog hiatus. Slip-n-slide 5K fun run

Mother's Day

UGA in June

Our Niece Caroline participated in Band Camp at UGA. And, we all went up at the end of her week to watch her performance. We are so proud of Caroline, she is the Drum Major at her High School this year!! Congratulations Caroline!! We look forward to watching you in action this season!

Also, I took the plunge and cut my hair VERY short! I haven't had hair this short since high school.

We have had a hot summer. And, we took every opportunity to go to our neighborhood pool or play in our back yard with the wading pool, water guns & water hose.

At this point in September, the weather is cooling down a bit. We are looking forward to fall and all that it brings us!

Stone Mountain

This Labor Day weekend we visited Stone Mountain and we traveled around the mountain on the Choo-choo train. Zachary had so much fun on his first train ride! But, the train whistle was a little frightening. As bravely as possible he would say "That's weak sauce" any time the train tooted it's whistle. Which is a saying his Daddy says to him often. During the ride Zachary practiced reading his park map to keep up with our location.

"That's weak sauce"

After the ride we met up with the conductor for pictures

We had a great day at Stone Mountain. We look forward to staying for the laser show once Zachary is older & can stay awake long enough to enjoy the show.

July Skate Party

We took a long break from posting messages on our blog (from Late April- Late August). However, our schedules were very full and we took a lot of pictures. And, after every event we thought this was going to be the next post on our blog...though it took us until August to make that happen. Generally it takes over an hour to create one blog on blogger. And, because of this we are researching other options in the blog sphere. Should we decide to move our blog we will let you know. However, if you continue to link us through our web address (www.mrmnjewel.net) you will automatically be directed to our new location. I thought I would fill in the blanks a little and make a few posts catching our blog friends/family up on our life April-July. I'll go backwards starting with July. Late July we went to our local Skate rink to celebrate our Friend Monica's 40th Birthday. It was Zachary's first time on skates and he impressed us all! When I was learning to skate they did not have a "crutch" to lean on. And, I realized very quickly that it was the best invention for new skaters! With out it I would not have been able to be on skates along side Zachary. I certainly would have been on the floor with my tennis shoes. By the end of the night Zachary was able to skate walk around the rink with out falling. And to my surprise, I didn't fall to the ground one time. However, getting in to the rink was the hardest part for me because of a single a step down from the floor to the rink. As you can see I needed a little help from my Brother-in-law.

Zachary skated the entire 3.5 hours!! I had to make him take a few breaks (mostly for Mommy's sake). We all had such a fun evening! We look forward to going back sometime, during the day, and Matt promises to put on a pair of skates with us!! I am going to hold him to it!

Learning to read a map

One of our joys of camping is going on adventures around the camp ground. We set out after breakfast to walk one of the many trails. We brought with us a map of the camp ground which Zachary carried & at any split in the path we showed him how to read the map. Zachary determined which direction we should go. Through his direction we ended up near the horses. And, we fed them the dandelions and other wild flowers we had gathered along the hike.

Camping

I have been camping since I was roughly 10 years old (give or take a few years). My family had a pop up camper which we towed all around Georgia. I have many happy memories with my family camping, playing hearts, roasting marshmallows, hiking and exploring the near by sites of each location. So, when Matt purchased us a tent one Christmas, early in our marriage, I was over the moon. And, over our 14 years together we have enjoyed tent camping. The last few years we contemplated purchasing a travel trailer camper, figuring it would be easier to camp with Zachary & our 4 Chihuahua's in tow. We spent some time researching campers, educating ourselves and determining exactly what we needed. We ended up going in on the purchase of a Coachmen Catalina travel trailer with my parents. None of us have a vehicle that is capable of towing anything so we found a campground in north Georgia that offers storage. This past weekend we enjoyed settling into our new favorite vacation spot- the North Georgia mountains! I have found camping a great time to pull out my camera and practice with ISO & F stops! Here's a few of my favorite pictures from this weekend: Nacho Padre & Bingo Patoodoe

Zachary had his first experience fishing at the campground lake. Luckily, the only thing he "caught" were worms for this excursion. Though I am looking forward to seeing his reaction when he actually catches a fish. I have no idea how he will react & if will continue to want to fish or give up the hobby all together. Until then he is content to cast his line with Nonnie by his side.

Every now and again, Zachary takes a well deserved break from the arduous task of fishing visit the near by horses.

I hope to get more pictures of our trip up later...it's night night time for one little 3 year old boy.

Hello to our dedicated Blog readers!! We are so sorry we have been missing in action since April! Wow! What a whirlwind adventure we have been on. Every time we did something special I thought to myself, this will be the picture we add to the blog...but, time continued to slip past us until now it is August and we are finally sitting down to check in. We recently celebrated Zachary's birthday and, what a way to restart blogging! He had 3 Birthday celebrations. His first was at his grandfather Poppi's house. The second celebration was on his actual Birthday with Mommy, Daddy & Chuck E. Cheese. And, finally his final celebration was with Nonnie, Bop-Bop, Aunt Camie, Uncle John & cousins Caroline & Maggie. We are sure we have set a precedence that Zachary will grow up thinking he has a Birthday week not just a single Birthday!

We still have a camera full of pictures we have yet to download. Until then, thank you for checking in with us and we'll talk with you soon!

Happy Easter!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16 NIV 

Easter is a promise. God renews to us in each spring. May the promise of Easter fill your heart with peace and joy! Happy Easter!

Life has sure been busy for us! I'll do my best to catch you all up in this blog post. At the end of February Zachary visited our local library for the very first time. We went to check out the children's programs. And, to our delight there are quite a few weekly story time options at various library locations. Since our first visit we have been to a few & Zachary has a blast! During our first visit to the library, I couldn't help but take a few iphone pictures of Zachary choosing books to bring back to Mommy to read...

 

I was surprised to find that the library has a handful of dedicated computers for little ones to play games on. Zachary LOVES spending time with the ELMO software and a mouse and keyboard that Mommy doesn't mind him playing with!! I had a hard time getting him to leave the library...but, I encouraged him by suggesting he "drive us home" ...

he felt brave, and sat behind the wheel to pretend to drive Mommy around town. He was so cute!! Though it made me realize one day he certainly will be old enough to be doing just that! And, I couldn't help but get a little choked up at how fast time has already gone by, our little boy is growing up way too fast and we need to do our best to cherish each and every moment.

During the recent Super Tuesday, we took Zachary with us to vote. And, he was pleased to receive a special "I voted" sticker too! We are sure he didn't understand what was going on, but it was important for us to demonstrate one of the fundamental privileges we have in this GREAT country of ours!

Zachary's 2nd haircut was done in our living room! My great friend Monica, came over to do a much needed trim on Zachary (between scrap booking with me). I requested for her to just cut it as short as she could. I was less concerned about style this time :) and more concerned about just getting the cut to last as long as possible. We turned on his new favorite tv show (Umi Zoomi) and she managed to age him 12+ years! LOL, the short haircut made him look like a teenager.

My sister hosted a Mardi Gras party for our family. We had a wonderful day! I had created some St. Patty's Day photo props and "forced" a few members of the family to allow me to document the moment with my camera. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day...

And, my Father was the lucky one who found the baby in the his slice of king cake.

during a recent trip to our local Hobby Lobby craft store, I came across this spring flower hat. I am positive there will be a day when requesting such pictures from Zachary will be met with much resistance. But, for now I managed to get my way.

We've been "suffering" through some very warm weather. It has left us wondering what happened to winter and where is our traditionally 70 degree spring weather? We are in full swing of the yellow cast days of pollen & allergy season. And, we are keeping our fingers crossed that Zachary manages to skip the allergy season that most Southerners experience.

That's all for now. Thank you for making it through this very long post! 

The Z-Man playing with bubble stuff!

We recently took Zach to Monkey Joe's, which is one of his favorite hangouts. Zach and his daddy took another run down the enormous slide, much to the delight of the Z-Man!

Zachary's Valentine's Day cards

Happy Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day, Easter & Christmas are my three most favorite Holidays! A few weeks ago I came across a Valentine's Day themed Thomas The Train activity book at our local grocery store. Zachary spotted it as soon as I did! He went CRAZY over it! It had stickers, coloring pages, a few (not as many as I would have liked) Valentine's cards, counting pages, etc. Finally the time had come to put his Valentine's Day cards together. First Zachary colored each page then he got to chose stickers to add to the cards. He is getting so much better holding a crayon/marker. He certainly seems to be left handed! Also, he has more patience to sit and be creative! It wasn't long ago that he just didn't want to sit still long enough to color, paint, play with play-dough. Luckily we were able to accomplish his Valentine's Day card creations in one sitting before he was off chasing a ball down the hall with his inflatable bat!

The final cards, front & back...He did a fabulous job!! the Cards

Have a love filled day! xoxo

Lunar New Year Stamps & Final Party Pics

I recently decided I like to have pretty stamps on my hand made card envelopes. I figure, if I take the time to make a handmade card every aspect of the final product should be special! And, my current stamp collection is somewhat diminished. So, yesterday I was browsing the USPS website stamp section to make a few new purchases. Somehow I totally missed the news that the price of stamps has increased by another penny! Anyways, our local post office rarely has in stock any of the adorable stamps available on the website. So, over the years I have learned to go online for the best selection. And, I came across the most beautiful Year Of The Dragon Stamp!! Last year we purchased a few of the kumquat year of the rabbit stamp so it just seems fitting to get a few of the 2012 Lunar New Year stamps. I am excited that the Chinese NY stamps are even an option from USPS!! The dragon stamp is so pretty!!!

Also, thanks to my talented Father, here are a few of my favorite pictures from his camera during our Chinese New Year party...

This is just a quick post to let you know that SHADOW OF THE MASTER, the short novel collaboration between Matt and his mom, is now available in a print edition as well as the e-book for the Amazon Kindle. There is also now a study edition of the book available, also in print. This edition is intended for individual or group bible study and is tailored toward young people (7th grade and older).

Matt has his own "author" blog which can be viewed here. He has also set up an "e-bookstore" which gathers together the links to view or purchase the various editions in one place, just to make it easy, which is here.

We had a fun day yesterday celebrating the Chinese New Year at Bop-Bop and Nonnies home! Zachary LOVES a party (Well, don't we all)! When Zach went down for his nap we decorated the dinning room with banners, confetti, dragons, noise makers, etc.

Nonnie and I planned a home made meal full of Chinese delights. Our dinner consisted of chicken dumplings, fried brown rice, Chicken stir fry, fortune cookies & oranges. We have already made menu plans for next years celebration! Here's Nonnie making the chicken dumplings...
Zachary and me looking at all the decorations...
Nonnie & Bop-Bop gave the grand kids their very first "Red Envelope" which contained $$Cash. Traditionally red envelopes are passed out during celebrations such as the Lunar New Year, Birthdays, Weddings & other Holidays. Red envelopes are mainly presented at social and family gatherings. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits. The amount of money contained in the envelope usually ends with an even digit, in accordance with Chinese beliefs (for instance 88 and 168 are both lucky numbers) as odd-numbered money gifts are traditionally associated with funerals. There is also a widespread tradition that money should not be given in fours, or the number four should not appear in the amount, such as in 40, 400 and 444, as the pronunciation of the word "four" resembles that of the word "death" and thus signifies bad luck for many Chinese.

During the Lunar New Year, mainly in Southern China, red envelopes are typically given by the married to the unmarried, most of whom are children. (In the North, money is not given in envelopes.) The amount of money is usually a single note to avoid heavy coins and to make it difficult to judge the amount inside before opening. It is traditional to put brand new notes inside red envelopes and also to avoid opening the envelopes in front of the relatives out of courtesy.

Before Dinner Zachary was playing with his cousins and they taught him a "magic trick". After doing the trick we all clapped at him and he voluntarily just bowed at all of us, which tickled us all! I am not sure where he learned to bow (I suspect it may be from his favorite Oswald cartoon, but I'm not positive on that) and I managed to capture him mid bow! too adorable!
Our dinner plates were full of Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry, Fried Brown Rice & Chicken Dumplings! It certainly looks very healthy! And, it reminds me of how we noticed while in China how they ate vegetables for every meal of the day! We need more of it in our diet. Our local Chinese restaurant gave us the Chinese Zodiac place mats for our party. They were a festive touch to the decor! And, PTL for Party City! We found all our decorations on an aisle end cap.
A few festive photos...
Aunt Camie & Uncle John (my sister and her husband)
Cousin Caroline (our oldest niece)
Cousin Maggie (our youngest niece)
Zachary
Us
We took pictures of Bop-Bop & Nonnie in their festive costumes but those pictures are on my Father's camera. So, I will have to share those pics at a later post.

The night before our party Matt and I made fortune cookies! They were time consuming to make but at the same time lots of fun too. We drew a 3 inch circle on top of parchment paper. And, with our chef knife we spread the teaspoon of dough to the edges of the circle. As per the recipe we were only able to cook 3 cookies at a time because you had to work quickly when they came out of the oven, bending them into shape, before they hardened.
We had a lot of fun coming up with fortunes for our cookies. A few of our favorites were..
I think, you ate your fortune while you were eating your cookie.
The harder you try to not be like your parents, the more likely you will become them.
If you never expect anything you can never be disappointed.
Try? No! Do or do not, there is no try.
Those who walk in other's tracks leave no footprints.
Some men dream of fortunes, others dream of cookies.
If you eat a box of fortune cookies, anything is possible.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
Help, I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese cookie factory.
Alas! The onion you are eating is someone else's water lily.
Word to the wise: Don't play leapfrog with a unicorn. On our plates the fortune cookies & orange wedges were the cherry on top of a wonderful evening!