We Can Hardly Stand Ourselves!!!

I made this title because the last few weeks have been so exciting that we can't hardly wait to share them with you. I do not even know where to start. I am sad that I do not have a pciture of us at the circus, but around St Patrick's day the circus was in town and my dad decided to take us all....10 of us. It was really alot of fun and we got some GREAT pcitures, but they are on Grammy's camara because I could not find mine that night. We went an hour early and it was well worth it because Meredith go ther picture made with some of the show crew and we got to watch some acts up close and personal...clowns, elephants, small ponies, and acrobats. It was fun...we even got to wear clown noses and get some pics of that...I will post them at some point....I promise. We have also had a nice stent of warmer weather here and I think I can safely say it is here to stay!!!!! I could not be happier...our last 3-4 days have been rainy, so that has not been great, but I know we are seeing the tailend of that so I am happy!!! When the weather was nicer, about 2 weeks ago, we went to the zoo 2 weeks in a row.

I have some pictures to share of Hannah and Meredith. They were especially cute waiting to ride the ponies.

I never let Meredith do this because it is 5 dollars, but Claire was given some Zoo Bucks by a customer leaving for the day, so we were able to let them both ride!!

They Really enjoyed their day and I even convinced Claire to go into the Bird house to feed them nectar. Meredith and I had gone in the week before and enjoyed it, even though the birds kept flying to me and landing all over me...it scared me, but Meredith loved it. This particular visit, both Hannah and Meredith got to have the birds land on them. Meredith was a little nervous, but stayed very still while the 2 birds ate the nectar.
Avery has been so much fun to watch the past couple of weeks, she is eating cereal and some baby foods now and also is cooing alot more. She has been a happy bug and of course Meredith continues to enjoy her. She asked to hold her and will do so, but only for about 2 minutes and then she is done. Avery's hair is now quite curly and it is just so cute!!
You can see some of our new couches on the last 2 pictures, and as promised I am going to reveal some new pictures from the Kitchen remodel, new den paint and furniture, and our new Kitchen table....
I cannot tell you how much fun it has been to update these areas and I feel so blessed that things are coming together. I do not know that these pics will do it justice, but for those of you who have been to my home, you will get enough of the picture to see a change. We still have a few finishing touches....curtains in the den and putting up some decor items, but I really do not want to just settle on anything, I want to feel confident that I am picking thing that are right. We still have to decide what we are doing on the shared Kitchen/Den wall. I origanally wanted to separate the two areas with some trim work, then changed my mind to making the shared wall the same color as the den, and now think that I would like to seperate them now, but using a column. Cory thinks this will be too expensive to do, but I remember the price not being very high, so for now we are patiently waiting and enjoying what we have been able to do!! Enjoy the pics, but please come visit and enjoy in person!
And last but not least, we dyed easter eggs today. Meredith was just too excited about this. She did an awesome job, but our only problem is that she is wanting to eat them all now. We started with 12, but are down to 10 already today. I might just have to hide them. We will be leaving a week from today to head to Florida to visit our friends not too far from the Jacksonville area. I hope our weather will cooperate enough to hot the beach one day and spend some time outside while we are there. My WHITE legs need some sun. Watch out world!! I have been trying this week to get some things together for Meredith and I to take with us for the warmer weather. It is between 79-89 degrees currently there. We will be there for 9 days!!I think Cory is looking forward to a little quiet time. I understand because everyone needs that every now and then. I know he will be quite busy with doing some tile work at the new church building, but still will be alone.
The gym continues to pay off for me, I have even taken on a Thursday evening Kickboxing class and have loved this. It has been a good workout. I am half way to my goal and feel good about my results so far. I have had tons more energy and feel better in my clothes!! Sorry for the long post, but I needed to get cought up, especially before we go out of town and have lots more to report!

What is happening in our world?

Well the past couple of weeks have been enjoyable to say the least. We are now having great weather ( I hope it stays) and it has really been a boost! Although I cannot seem to get well, I do not really care anymore. Meredith and I have had some fun times...we went to see Playhouse Disney live and that was alot of fun.
Meredith was so exicted, she started dancing and singing and it was so cute. I have to admit I cried because I was so happy to see her enjoying herself and so glad that we could take her. I wish Cory could have come with us, but he had things he needed to do with the church and I understood. Instead we took Meredith's friend Hannah...they could not be more opposite. Hannah was glued to the show and did not want to talk or be disturbed and Meredith was moving all around and tapping Hannah on the shoulder and trying to get her attention. I guess that is why they get along well!!

We went to the zoo on Friday and I was so mad that I forgot the camara in the van. It was a perfect day and great weather in the upper 70's. We got to see alot of the animals, but I think Meredith was a little disappointed that the we weren't able to feed the giraffes lettuce...we usually do this, but the new baby giraffe, we were dying to see, was sick and they had it closed off to feeding. We were able to see Chrissy, Meredith's favorite one, but not up close, so this was sad. We did do something new and ventured to feed the goats and go into the bird arena and give nectar to the birds. I was not too big of a fan of the birds flying around me and landing on my shoulder, but Meredith loved every minute and kept insisting that she hold the nectar, because she wanted to have the birds around her. It was really cute. Of course, she rode the Carousel. FUN, FUN!!

We also did not have Avery last week at all because Lindsey was out of school on Monday and Gene was off Friday, so he had her, but she will be back tommorrow...with 2 teeth now!! We discovered them last night!! I was so excited I had to show them off to several people!!

Meredith is still surprising me with her memory and language....she doesn't forget a thing and is saying words like "seriously" and "probably" and "ridiculous". She has enjoyed riding in Cory's rental work van and watching her "princess DVD". Cory has a rental because his work van got totaled a week ago when a guy rear ended him pretty bad last week. I think he will get his new work van this week, but I know Meredith will miss the entertaining trips.

I also have to be excited about getting new living room furniture this week...on Thursday we got our Sofa and Love Seat and Cory got a recliner that will be here in 3-4 weeks. We moved around our set up in the den and even got a few of the walls in there painted. It has been a big project for Cory, but the end results are looking great!! He also rewarded himself with and new TV...so far it looks great, but I am looking forward to enjoying it. Every man needs a new toy every now and then? I will have to post some pics of the completed Kitchen remodel and the den soon. Until then....