The Children's Museum in Greenville!

These are from a few weeks ago (go figure!) from our visit to Greenville!   Troy, Ansley and I spent a Friday morning at The Children's Museum.  We've been there once before but it was right before Ansley turned 2 and really didn't have a ton of interest in a lot of things.  This time she had a blast!!

 Hmm, where did she learn to steer that buggy like that I wonder?!

 Troy wanted to see how he fit in a 'smart car'

Good times were had by all!!

Some extras from awhile ago!

The date on these in iPhoto say they're from the end of January!  Must have been the first warmer day we had this year!  We've spent many many days outside jumping, swinging, and sliding since this!!

edited with Picnik...

 

The Zoo!

We met my mom and Jim at the Riverbanks Zoo last Saturday!  Ansley is a lover of anything animal so the zoo is really her ideal place to be in life!

 She enjoys animals, but the bigger ones mostly from a distance!  She didn't want to get close to feed the goats but she overheard another mom walking by telling her son to hold his hand flat while he was feeding.  If you look in the picture below you can see that she has perfect form, just nowhere close to any animal!!

 She managed to time her emotional breakdown of the day with our first attempt in a long time at a family picture of all 3 of us.  

Here's take 1...

 Take 2...

 Take 3...the best we could manage!

Feeding the ducks!

I am not sure of the exact moment I went from having no life and all of the days blending together; to having no time to myself and always having something that has to be done this moment...but it's happened.  This blog unfortunately has fallen to the bottom of a long list of priorities and for that, I apologize!  I have several different posts in the making but I can't promise they'll all get up this afternoon...

Since the weather has gotten nice, one of Ansley's most favorite new things to do is go and feed the ducks at the Winthrop Lake.  I can remember skipping class in college to go lay out there, and now I go there with my 2 1/2 year old in tow...my how times have changed (in a good way)!  A few Saturdays ago we picked up some Chic Fil A and headed out for a nice little picnic with the ducks.

 She's so brave...

 most of the time!

 Such a great little Daddy/Daughter moment!

 The we played a "soccer game" as Ansley called it!  (There was another family there that day that was kicking around an actual soccer ball so we talked about it and then Ansley decided her ball was a soccer ball too!!)

I love my family and I love sunny warm days in February!

ABC/Jesus Loves Me

Picture Catch-Up!

 NYE play date with Asher!

 Dress up!!

 Snow, Part 2!

New Years Resolutions...

This is a little late, huh?!  I don't usually make New Years Resolutions.  Honestly, I can't tell you the last time I made any.  This year I decided to make some.  I wanted them to be ones that were attainable and really relevant to struggles I have on a daily/monthly/yearly basis.  So here they are...hold me accountable!!

1.  Read the Bible, in its entirety! - One of the things I asked for from Troy for Christmas was a new bible.  I need to do better about making God's word a part of my daily routine.  Troy got me a very nice journal bible that has a one year Bible reading plan in the back, so now I have no excuses!!  We also bought Ansley a new 'age appropriate' Bible and have been taking time after her bath every night to have a family devotion time.  Troy and I also have joined a new Journey Group at church that is making marriage its focus.  We have just started reading the book "Love and War" by John and Stasi Eldredge which I am very excited about.  Its amazing to see how God is already pouring into me on a personal level as well as in my role as a mother and a wife.

2.  Try at least 1 new recipe a month! - I've gotten into a pretty good routine of cooking the same things in a 2 week rotation.  I need to do a better job of introducing new dishes on a regular basis.  So far I've cooked 2 new recipes this week!  I'm on a roll, people!

3.  Build our savings account! - Last year was not a good year for us when it came to financial obstacles.  Almost anything that could break in a house or on a car, broke on ours.  I'm not sure even if we had a good stash in savings we would have been prepared for all that came our way.  So, I've made it my mission this year to build our savings account to help soften the blow if 2011 happens to be anything like 2010 was.  Please stop now and say a prayer for us that it won't be!!

4.  Get into and have an actual start date for nursing school! - This also encompasses me doing well in my Anatomy & Physiology (and possibly Microbiology) classes I will be taking this year.  I am attending an information session later this month for my ideal nursing school in Charlotte.  I hope to have a better plan after that as to what my next step will be in applying and an idea of when I'll be able to start!

So there, my goals for 2011!