yes, we are fine :)

(this is mainly for my out of town readers ;)
of course you know, we have had a lot of rain in the last 3 days... 20 inches last i heard. the kids are off of school and jack is working from home. i thought i would show you what that looks like in our back yard...
here is a link to the local news website with a video of the water in carolina beach...

so yes, we have had a lot of rain. but we are fine. brooke and i went to the doctor this morning (more on that in a later post) and it was pretty normal out there. some of the roads are flooded... but we are fine!

Updates... finally!

i know, i know, it has been a WHILE since i updated this. sorry! i have been busy... i do have 3 kids :).
so i thought i would just updated everything at once!

madeline
we will start with her. she does the most changing. she now walks about 75% of the time. see the below video! she can bend over and pick up things and stand up on her own... you can see it in the video.
she is starting to say things. she says mama and dada. she barks for a dog (she sleeps with a stuffed dog) and says "dawawg". she claps. she dances to music in the car. so cute! she is just adorable!
and she LOVES her sisters!



brooke
she is doing great in school. we are working to get her to stop sucking her fingers. her teachers in school are working on it too.
she still pulls out her hair. it is not looking great. i am tempted to just chop off the other side so it looks somewhat normal... we will see!
but she is still her brookie self... so cute and witty! you never know what she will say!

hana
she is doing very well in kindergarten. this year was not as much of a transition for us since she went to the pre-k last year. i got to go in and volunteer in her class on monday. i helped with reading groups. it was fun to meet her "friends"and it was cool to see her in class. she is learning a lot! i knew her teacher in college and she goes to port city. which is wonderful! i have been praying for hana's teacher for forever!! i can't believe i have such a BIG kindergarten girl!

me :)
i am still running! i have run 9.5 miles. i plan to do a longer run this weekend. hopefully that will go well! i will be signing up for the half marathon very soon!
i have a lot of photography sessions coming up. i really enjoy doing them. so i am very thankful for the sessions!

ok that is it for now! i hope you feel updated ;)

My 400th post!! ... i heart harris teeter

this is my 400th post! that is so hard to believe! one day i will have this blog made into a book and have these memories to cherish forever! on to the post!


i heart harris teeter!! why you may ask? 2 little words!! S-U-P-E-R D-O-U-B-L-E-S!!
i generally don't spend much time on my money saving trips to harris teetter. they are just a daily way of life around here, so it doesn't seem that interesting. well today was different...

trip #1 origainl total: $58.80 actually spent $4.65 AND got $5 in catalinas (coupons that print at the register) for my next order! so you do the math... they paid me$.35 to leave the store with all of these groceries!
what did i get??
6 boxes of green gaint frozen veggies
3 boxes of betty crocker blueberry muffin mix
5 boxes of pop secret popcorn
2 huggies wipes (one baby, one flushable)
2 (6pack) containers yogurt
3 pillsbury crescent rolls
3 pillsbury pizza crust
1 pillsbury french bread
2 pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough
2 packages oscar mayer hot dogs

trip #1

trip #2 original total $53.28 paid $4.19
and what did i get?
3 containers blue bunny ice cream
2 boxes bagel bites
2 boxes jimmy dean breakfast bowls
1 (ahem open...) cheetos puffs
2 (8box) packs juicy juice boxes
2 butterball fully cooked link sausage packs
4 campbells chunky soups
1 box beech nut banana crackers
2 pack trident gum
2 butterfingers!

trip #2

see what i mean. see why i heart harris teeter and super doubles!! couponing rocks! if you want help doing it... just let me know!

brooke's first day!!

another super big exciting day in the cornwall house... brooke's first day of preschool!
she is going 3 days a week to the same preschool hana went to :) she even has one of the same teachers hana had! i loved the teacher so that is very exciting!
at the open house, and again this morning brooke went right in. today, she hung up her bookbag and went to wash her hands. i guess when you see you sister go off to preschool/ school, you just think it is the normal thing to do!
i called jack after i left and said "2 down!"... that leaves me with just madeline 3 mornings a week!! exciting!i thought i would leave you with a couple of recent brooke-isms...

• after i got out of the shower the other day and had dried off my hair with a towel, brooke walked by. she said "your hair is a mess". i replied, "yes, i know, i just dried it with the towel so it is kind of all over the place." she thought for a long moment and said "is it on my hair too?"...
• yesterday brooke went to the denist for the first time (big week for her!). as a prize, both girls got stamps. they were playing in their room last night and after a few minutes brooke came out with red stamps ALL OVER her arms and legs (of course i didn't know they had the stamp in their room!). i joking said "what, do you have the chicken pox." to which brooke replied... "no, they are bug bites." nice ;)
  

brooke's orientation

it was important for me to make sure brooke felt her school experience this year was just as important as hana's. so... today was brooke's preschool orientation. we went in, looked around her new classroom, met her teachers and some of the other kids in her class. brooke had no trouble and went right on in and started playing. i guess that is one of the perks of being number 2. you have seen your sister go to school for as long as you can remember... so there is no reason for it to be scary!!

big girl brooke!this is what i got when i asked for a smile :)madeline in the room (lately, she is taking LOTs of steps!!)playing in the room with madeline :)

i can't wait until wednesday when brooke will have her first day!!

madeline's first birthday party!

last saturday we had madeline's first birthday party at the beach. it was a beautiful beautiful night!! the weather was perfect (all be it a little windy). we even had our own band! (well, not really, they were playing for the people eating at the oceanic... but it felt like they were playing just for us!!) it was so nice to have friends all get together to celebrate madeline turning one! it was a totally easy, wonderful celebration!

we went to the doctor today for her one year check up. she is tiny! she weighs 15 pounds 15.5 ounces (basically 16 pounds). i had the doctor look up the other girls... they were both 16 pounds and change at a year. so i guess madeline takes after her sisters after all :) she is right on track developmentally. she can stand up on her own, can take 5 or 6 steps together, and jabbers all of the time!! she is also very adorable!

here are the pictures from the party :)

the kids' party favors were buckets with their names on them :)some of the kids playingdaddy and the birthday girl!
singing happy birthday!enjoying her first cake!! :)brooke and daddyboogie boarders!madeline playing with addie :)as we were leaving, we saw the most beautiful sunset. i spent the previous weekend in the mountains. and they were lovely. but there are few things more beautiful than the beach in the evening... especially when you get to see something like this!!

happy first birthday madeline!!