YUM.....O YUM!

Lily is absolutely fascinated with what happens in the kitchen and she has a big ENORMOUS sweet tooth. I really shouldn't be surprised because all Terrell, Eckel and now Longmire women have a crazy sweet tooth. It really is a wonder that we are not all two ton Tonys (to borrow Graces euphemism).

Bob called me from work the other day with a hankering for fruit pizza. After Lily and I took a walk to the grocery store I started making the pizza with a very eager little helper. The marshmallow creme and cream cheese frosting was the hit of the afternoon to be sure.


Once I awakened her palate with a marshmallow creme finger lick, she was pointing, grunting, doing "more" and giving all of her signs to me in an effort to keep the fluffy white stuff coming.


I gave in and gave her a spoonful of the sweet goodness. You never would guess that when I handed her the spoon with marshmallow fluff on it she was actually clean. It is simply amazing how quickly these little kiddos can go from clean to dirty and sticky. Seriously, by the time she was done, she had it in her hair and everywhere. Oh well, thats what baths are for.

What a TASTY treat!

A trip to the Farm

This week Lily and I got to go to the FARM! The North Carolina State University has a week of "farm days" which is specifically for kids. It was so much fun! Since Grace is an NCSU alumni, she knows all of the ins and outs as well as several of the people involved. She and I took the little ones to the farm earlier this week and we had a blast. One of our friends was celebrating her daughter's birthday at the farm too so it was great to get to experience all of the animals, have lunch and get ice cream!


Lily is walking like a pro these days and all that she wants to do is be free to walk wherever she wants. She is a quick mover too so getting a picture of her is challenging at best.

We started with the turkeys and then moved onto the bunnies. Lily wasn't really sure about the bunnies, but once I pet one of them she was only too excited to give it a try.

We headed to the cows next and Lily was absolutely enthralled with them. It was so cute to watch her retreat in terror the minute the cow started coming over to where she was. This picture was taken after I rescued her from the big cow looking at her. You can tell, she was still very concerned with the location of the furry creature.


The little baby cows were so "udderly" cute. Lily and Jancsi loved watching them through the fence. We saw dairy and beef cows as well as a horse and philly.


After the cows lost there attraction we headed over to see the baby lambs and the baby goats. Sheep are not my favorite creatures, but when I saw the sheep and the baby lambs, I just had a vision of the Lord as a Lion. Lambs are just so innocently vulnerable, and the image of the Lion and the Lamb is very moving and powerful to me.


We are working really hard these days on teaching Lily to have soft hands with the animals. Her version of petting usually looks like aggressive pounding. Having to try to explain to your toddler that not every animal is as tough as her Rocky is a concept far lost on her. Overall she does a great job, but it is a constant "gently Lily, gently."


My absolutely favorite time was holding the baby chicks.


There were literally 20-30 children vying for the opportunity to get their little hands on them and I was shocked that we didn't witness several of them jumping to their deaths to dodge the onslaught of little fingers. Poor baby chicks. I picked one up and it immediately fell asleep in my hands. Lily was fairly impartial to the little bird, but quickly got her little pointer out to be sure I knew where its head was.


After visiting the animals we met the birthday party and had our lunch. Lily had a sandwich and a juice box. Look at her.....she is all grown up!


Our day at the farm was so much fun.

Spring has Sprung

I love the Spring time. Life just bursts from everywhere possible. It gives me hope, it gives me joy and it gives me the anticipation of new beginnings.


I will have to be completely transparent here and tell you that the past month has been...well....depressing. There is just no other way to describe what we have been feeling and dealing with around here. Today I feel more hopeful and more at peace than I have in a while so I think it is now time to really talk about what is going on in the Longmire life.





Putting Rocky down last month really was hard on me. It was really hard on all of us, but me most of all. I never would have guessed the overwhelming guilt that I felt following his passing. It was OVERWHELMING. Since Lily came on the scene, Rocky had really ended up on the bottom of my list. Actually at times I don't even think he was on my list. All of a sudden every "doggie" thing that he did (ie, eat trash, pull while walking, smell like a dog, eat anything that could be considered food) was the biggest annoyance and at times I wanted to donate him to the nearest Goodwill. Over the past year, I found myself struggling to really love him unconditionally especially when he added more stress to my life. Just another mess to clean up. This lead to me forgetting to get his rabies up to date. The day we put him down he bit the doctor out of pain and instead of having him cremated they had to send him to animal control to be dissected and tested. It sound morbid and it felt so morbid. He was a good boy, he was a loyal boy, he deserved better than that. So the guilt just held me. It has been a slow healing process and I have since let go of the guilt, but the pain of not having Rocky is really hard at times. There is an ever present emptiness around here that will only diminish with time.


Lily and Jansci just love being outside, even if Lily looks less than excited here.


Our biggest valley these days has to do with Bob's employment. There is a lot of uncertainty on the horizon and we are desperately trying to figure out what the plan is. It is frustrating to have to be wondering where the Lord would want us to be. We really have very few ties here in North Carolina and it would be so wonderful to move closer to family, but we have to go where the Lord wants us. The uncertainty of income plays into everything including our current living situation. Our lease is expiring in a few months and all of us are trying to figure out where we are supposed to go next. When we decided to live together, I thing we all thought that in a year we would be more confident of our income and be moving up in the world. Instead we find ourselves wondering how all of our "ends" are actually going to "meet." Gods waiting room is sometimes a hard place to be in.


All the kiddos loved the calf at Ag Awareness on the campus of NC State. Fun outing!

With all of this rheumenating in my mind, depression has come like a lion. For the past month all of my time has been spent either worrying, wishing, or working on whatever I can to feel useful. I have found myself consumed with it and depressed that none of my questions have answers. Oy!

But.....Spring has come! Trees are blooming, new life is coming and the next chapter of our lives is around the corner. For the first time in a while I woke up this morning with a great sense of hope. We still have no idea what our future will hold, but I know who holds our future, a God who is good, faithful and true. The same God who brings the new life of Spring out of the cold dark of Winter. Praise His Name!

Sweet Baby Nathan

Last Saturday we got a surprise call from Darcie and her litte one decided to come 4 weeks early! It is so much fun to be an Aunt and Uncle and we simply could not wait to introduce Lily to her new cousin, so after the race we packed up our car and headed to Charlotte. Our legs barely worked when we arrived at the hospital and we found ourselves glad to have wheelchairs close by, but we couldn't wait to see the new little family.



Nathan is simply adorable and so tiny. It sounds so cliche, but it really is so hard to believe that Lily was ever so little. What a blessing and a treasure to hold and love on the little guy. Lily was so busy and uninterested in the little squeaky bundle until I was holding him. Once she saw that her Mommy was holding the baby all she wanted was to be on my lap and would keep saying "Uppeez, Uppeez, Uppeez." For those who aren't sure what that translates to it is "Up, Please." She definitely was not prepared to share her Mommy with a baby. She was so sweet, gentle and quiet even though she was a tornado of energy. Bob and I were so proud of her.


Lily is such a smart little lady. Every time we went to the hospital we stopped by the nursery to look at all the tiny newborns. By the end of the trip, Lily would point into the room and say "Beebee." So precious to watch. Seeing Nathan and watching Lily with him definitely made us realize that we would love to add another one to ours :)

Congratulations Darcie and Brent and welcome to the world Nathan!

Tobacco Road Marathon 2012

Call me crazy, but one of my biggest goals this year was to run back to back marathons starting with the Disney World Marathon and finishing with the Tobacco Trail. I remember back a year ago to when the idea started blooming in my mind. At the time Lily was a mere 5 months old and the idea of doing a marathon still seemed in many ways impossible. I remember dropping Bob off for the race and thinking, "How cool would it be if I could run this next year." Bob quickly pointed out that it would be only two months after the Disney World Marathon and kind of a lofty goal. I know, but what an accomplishment it would be, yes, and a little crazy. Well this past Sunday, I did it. Completed two back to back marathons in 2 and a half months. WHEW!


Grace and I trained together and pushed the babies many miles in preparation for our 26.2. The weather was threatening rain and we spent all day Saturday praying that it would hold off. That many miles in the rain could have been miserable! Sunday morning was cloudy and overcast, but no rain. It was perfect.


At 7AM, the gun went off and we headed towards the trail.

The course for this race was really mentally tough because it was all an out and back. To get a good idea of its mental challenge, mile 2.5, 14 and 23.5 were all in the same spot. You got it, we had to do two separate out and backs, passing the road home right in the middle. There really is nothing more demoralizing than seeing every mile there and back, twice. Grace and I ran 17 of our miles together and passed Bob twice. It was nice to see him during the race just to know that he was hangin' in there. I started slowing up as we kept on going farther and farther away from the road home. I stretched and ate, stretched and drank then kept plugging away at the miles. Miles 21-23 were super long for me and I definitely had a few moments where I was sure I was going to be out on the road forever. Thankfully I wasn't and I crossed the finish line at a nice 4:45.



I was certainly ready to be done, but so accomplished.


Running goal for 2012 done! On to the next........

Oh and keep posted for who we got to meet after the race.......

March Memories

2012 is shaping up to be a very surprising and interesting year to be sure. So much is happening and has happened in the past 3 months. I really have to break down and do a major "life update" blog, but the reality is that I have a whole lot of questions and not a lot of answers, so I am holding out for a bit longer. Stay tuned though, a lot is happening.


Living across the country from family is really challenging sometimes, but it makes you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the times when they come for a visit. Feddy and Kemo made their annual trek out from the mountains this past weekend and it was such a wonderful time together. Lily just loves her Feddy and let me tell you, there is no love lost the other way.


Feddy is more in love with Lily than anyone. What a blessing and what a wonderful thing to watch. Lily and I picked up Feddy and Kemo at the airport on Thursday Evening. We got there quite a bit early so Lily and I decided to do laps around the terminal. All of that open space provided a large incentive to walk, walk, and walk. She even explored a fellow travelers luggage.


She has truly taken to walking these days and has found herself a big dose of independence. Of course with any new independence comes the following tantrums. She is getting far to ambitious for her britches! Holding Bob and Kemo's hand while walking up and down the road was a blast.



She took them over to see Dewey and enjoyed traipsing around the neighborhood. Later Lily came into the kitchen and dramatically pointed at the cupboard while saying, "Buuuuuubbles, Buuuuuubles," so Kemo whipped out the bubbles and Lily was mesmerized.


We took a big adventure to the Museum of Natural Science while Feddy and Kemo were here. Luck for us parents, the museum was free admittance so we decided that it would be a perfect outing to take our little ones on.








The museum was exciting and Lily was pointing, climbing and walking all over. She discovered butterflies, waterfalls, and all sorts of museumy things.

All weekend long Lily wanted to hold her Kemo's hand. It was so cute because she would pick her walking supporters very carefully. "Now I want Daddy and Kemo, Now I want Mommy and Kemo, Now I want Feddy and Kemo, Now I just want Kemo." It was so cute and we were all only to happy to oblige the little dear.



I think my Mom's favorite day was Sunday not only because she got to be in charge of the baby's church attire and spend the whole morning with her, but because we got to catch up with Uncle Sherman and Uncle Stuart too.




Monday was a super special day for Feddy and Miss Lily. To start, Mom got the itch to make monkey bread. Lily got a first hand experience cooking sugary treats with Feddy. She always lets you sample the goods before the finished product is done. Before any of us knew it, Feddy was teaching Miss Lily how to stick her finger in the frosting bowl and then lick said finger clean. Once Lily connected it, she fast figured "why only put one finger in the bowl when you could stick 5 and an entire hand in the bowl." Smart girl.



So Feddy and Lily spread the frosting over the monkey bread and licked the spoon and the butter in the process. YUM

Later in the afternoon we decided that Lily was ready to ride the Carousel for the first time. I am not sure who was more excited about riding the wildly painted horses, Feddy or Lily. Lily picked a pretty white pony and away she went.



It took her a couple of times around to get into it, but she was happy as a clam. Kemo even paid for Lily and Feddy to go around twice. The second time Feddy rode double and they waved together.



Such a pretty princess! Wonderful parade wave! It was especially special when every time she would go around she would see me and say "Memmmy!"

The hardest part of the afternoon was convincing her that we had to go home and not ride the Carousel around for eternity.
She kept pointing at all of the horses, pulling us that direction and peering through the fence.


Can't wait to take her back!