Snow Day!!

Wonder of all wonders, it snowed more than 1/2 an inch in Atlanta! In fact, I'm pretty sure we ended up with between 3 and 4 awesome inches of the white stuff. Crazy enough, this was Hannah Claire's first experience with snow. Last year, when Atlanta got a dusting, we were in South Carolina. It was quite ironic since Atlanta was supposed to get rain and South Carolina was supposed to get snow and ice. So we drove to the snow only to sit inside and watch it rain all weekend. Sad...

But this year certainly made up for it; the snow was beautiful! And Hannah Claire loved playing in it. Since it started melting yesterday, she's taken to staring longingly out the front window asking where the snow went. I'm sure she wishes it would have stayed around a little longer.



Personally, I enjoyed the brief winter wonderland but I am SO ready for Spring!

Dancing Queen

I work from home, and I usually try to spend a couple hours each morning in the "office" (I use that term loosely seeing as the room is our office/guest room/Ryan's closet/catch-all) because Hannah Claire is pretty content to play on her own for a bit after breakfast. The other day she walks into the office and says "Mommy, I'm ready to go to dance class. I have my dance bag. Help me with my dance skirt." This was the result of getting dressed for dance class...

By the way, she's never been to a dance class, nor have we talked about one. I have no idea what prompted her sudden urge to don a tutu, but it was darn cute!

Me & Mommy at the GA Aquarium

If you live in the Atlanta area and have children, you should totally take advantage of the current Me & Mommy deal at the aquarium. $20 pays for you, your kids (up to 4, 5 and under) and parking. Laurie and I took Hannah Claire and Henry last Friday, and we had a BLAST!

Hannah Claire especially loved Deepo, the aquarium mascot, and she’s still talking about the beluga whales. We had a near tragedy when we realized the penguin exhibit was closed for renovation, but thank goodness for behind-the-scene tours! All in all, it was a fabulous day. Enjoy the pics!

Feeling the love...

Happily Ever Laughter… I swear, some days this could be the official motto of the Jowers household. Probably so for most families with a toddler! But, I can’t take credit for the creative phrase since it was actually the title of the mini-marriage retreat Ryan and I attended a couple weekends ago. Thanks to some great gals at SRBC, we were able to have a night away at Simpsonwood Retreat. We thoroughly enjoyed the couple-only time and loved getting to know other couples from our church better. Friday night included a bonfire and Saturday included renewing our vows in the sweetest little chapel. We even celebrated with punch and wedding cake petit fours! Never thought I’d be able to claim being part of a group wedding ceremony…





We celebrated the universal day of love by taking Hannah Claire to the Big Apple Circus at Stone Mountain. Nothing says “I love you” like front row seats at the circus! Our friends, the Boltins, joined us and Hannah Claire and Henry seemed quite pleased with their Valentine’s Day date. In fact, Hannah Claire spent the majority of the show sitting in either Laurie’s or Chris’ lap. We’re sure she was just trying to get closer to Henry, so Ryan and I pretended our feelings weren’t hurt. I think my favorite part of the day was during the picture taking before we went into the circus tent. Hannah Claire stuck one finger out and asked Henry to hold her hand. Ah, the fickleness of a female!

Horsin' around!

Okay, so if you bet that I wouldn’t be able to update our blog regularly, cash in your chips now. Sad, I know, but I always seem to be playing catch up! Oh well, better late than never.

Those of you who know me well know I spent the majority of my adolescence in a pool, swimming competitively. What you might not know is that I also had a love for horses and secretly always wanted a horse of my own to ride. Perhaps this is a common wish for little girls because I remember my friends and I spending hours on the play ground ‘playing horses’ – trotting around and such. I even attended horse camp for a week where I had my very own horse, Dolly. But, I digress…

At the tender age of two (and a couple months), Hannah Claire has already ridden a horse! My brother, Ryan, and his girlfriend, Kristina, live in Gaffney, SC and have a horse named Cricket. We visited them about a month ago and took Hannah Claire to see the stables and to ride Cricket. I fully expected her to enjoy the horses from a distance, but was prepared for her to pitch a fit if we got too close or, God forbid, tried to get her to ride. Boy was I wrong! Once she got comfortable being around the horses and rode Cricket for the first time, she didn’t want to get off. Every time someone else would try to ride, she’d tell us it was still her turn. I think Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kristina are going to have to add a pony to their stable. Maybe I’ll get to live out my horse dreams vicariously through Hannah Claire!