Mall of Georgia

Isaac and I went to the Mall of Georgia today with Ella, Nora (Melissa) and Alexis, Isabelle (Mary). We all carpooled in Mary's bus (Suburban) and Isaac was thrilled to be traveling in the same car with his buddies.

The kids had a great time riding on the carousel and train, playing in kiddieland. The highlight of our trip to Mall of Georgia for Isaac was the train ride. Isaac kept screaming that he was riding on Thomas. I reminded him that the green engine is Percy, but he could care less. He can't wait to go back and have Donavan ride the train with him. He was not interested in riding one of the animals on the carousel so just sat on a bench.

As we passed "Picture People" we were lured in by a salesperson. She promised a free 10 X 13 for us to help train a new photographer. This was our first experience in one of these type of studios. Isaac did so well and smiled intently for the camera. Our free photo is a beautiful close-up of Isaac. I was pleased that we weren't pressured to buy and I was impressed that I didn't buy:)

By the time we left to head back to Athens, all of the kids had reached the end of their ropes, but had behaved so well during our outing. We had a wonderful trip out of Athens with some of our friends.

New Year's Day & Pictures from this weekend

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Donavan went to Orlando with some guy friends for the Georgia Game on New Year's Day so Isaac and I stayed busy by going to the park to play with his new trucks (gift from Mimi and Poppi Yarnall). It's been raining the last couple of days so we've been finding inside activities.

Donavan and Isaac put together the Lincoln Log house (gift from Uncle Brad and Aunt Gina). Isaac's favorite part was tearing the structure down. He's been making cookies out of his play doh by using the roller and mold (from Uncle Phil). The sugar cookies were quite good, but I didn't care for the ginger bread:) He wanted to send some to Uncle Phil, but I convinced him that pictures would last longer than the cookies. He's been really enjoying his new trike (gift from Mimi and Poppi P). As you can see he manages to play with it in the house. Also, the fire truck puzzle has occupied our time (gift from Mimi and Poppi P).

We're glad to be home and Isaac (in particular) missed his pugs during our trip to Indiana. The other day I was getting Isaac ready to go to the park and Quincy brought her leash up to me. Needless to say, she went with. Just call it child favortism--I couldn't manage Isaac and 2 dogs at the park. Honestly, I don't know how all my friends can handle more than one child at the park on most days. Maybe someday I'll learn. Anyway, Isaac has been enjoying playing (aka torturing) the dogs. They are so good with him.

Today after lunch Isaac asked when Santa was coming to bring him his new bed. Donavan and I just stared at each other. As I mentioned in an earlier blog he spent a week earlier in December climbing out of his bed, but we haven't had a "'problem" with that for over 2 weeks. I'm not ready to make the move, so I guess for now the answer is "Santa will come again next December." I'm not sure we all can wait until next December for the toddler bed.

Christmas 2008

Here's a re-cap of Christmas 2008 at the Powell-yarnall house. Santa came a day early to our place in Athens. Isaac has been asking for a fire truck and pumpkin which Santa delivered. Santa also thought Isaac would enjoy an easel so one of those arrived, too. This was the first time in 7 years that Donavan and I have been home for the Christmas Eve service and it was really, really nice to attend the St. Joe's children's service. Isaac slept through half of the service which was nice for mom and dad. I was actually able to focus on the service.

We hit the road on Christmas eve for our annual holiday trip to visit family in Indiana. We arrived on Christmas day, after spending Christmas Eve night in a hotel, and had dinner with Mimi and Poppi Yarnall. We spent the next 4 days celebrating Christmas with the Yarnall and Powell families. It was especially nice to have my brother home from Hong Kong for a visit. We ate very well and can definitely tell it's time to get back into the work out routine by the way my pants are fitting today. Our car was packed to the brim (as it always is) with an abundance of gifts. We've been pulling out the gifts one by one since coming home and Isaac loves all of his new goodies. Isaac especially enjoyed spending time with his family and LOVED his 10 month old twin cousins (Ella and Emerson). He was so gentle, kind and shared the toys very well.

Today is boys last day of vacation (Donavan returns to work on Monday, Isaac's preschool resumes on Tuesday). We thought it was time to put away the Christmas decorations. We've been talking with Isaac about this for about 4 days--the fact that the tree has to come down so we can make room for his train table again. He keeps telling us it's okay for the tree to "go away" until next year. I started to take down our mini 3 foot tree and Isaac had a fit. Then, when the larger living room tree starting to come down, he had an absolute breakdown. Tears, tears and more tears. Sometimes I wonder if we involve and communicate with Isaac too much. I know that if we tear down the tree during his nap, he'll still be devastated. At this point there's going to be tears one way or another.