Ramble Ramble

I was so excited the day Brad brought me home an Iphone- I finally joined the ranks of the "tech" savvy phone elite. It is amazing...so amazing that it has stolen all the glory from our good 'ol faithful laptop. Which has lead me to this revelation- I am not blogging or taking as many "real"pictures because I am using the phone. I don't even have to check my email on the computer anymore, so I really never open my old friend. I can send pics, videos and so much more at such ease that our family and friends are getting the videos and pics that way instead of the blog. So I apologize to my blog friends...attempting to make a better plan. Any thoughts on uploading iphone pics to the blog?

The girls have been going full speed ahead and we are loving the spring weather. We have been busy with fun play dates here at our house each Tuesday, Thursday Bible study, and all sorts of fun in between. Its amazing how fast these days/weeks/months are flying! It seems like someone has flipped the "fast forward" button on us without our permission. Some fun news on the girls-

Emily is walking- well, has figured out she can! She finally decided Tuesday night, at 13 months to give it a go. She was chasing around a beach ball in the living room and all of a sudden took 5-6 steps like there was nothing to it! She continued through out the evening and we all celebrated and watched her go at it when daddy got home. We cheer and clap and praise her like she is winning a world medal. She EATS IT UP! She smiles, giggles, and laughs along with us. She still reverts to crawling most the time, but with coaching, she loves to try to walk. SO ready for it...I think. Watch out world. The 3 Hobbs girls are now up and moving!

Emily started saying "uh oh" with her sweet sweet little voice. She does it appropriately when something falls or drops. She babbles all the time and will give us mama, dada but that's about all as far as the words go. She has designated sounds that mean- I want something, pick me up, I'm tired, etc. But any day. She signs "all done" and "more please" sometimes, but usually baa's like a little goat. Sweetness.

She adores her sister- not new news- but their playing has become so much more interactive. Laughing, giggling, dancing, playing with a ball, tickling, has all become a "team" event. I love it. Caroline LOVES to play with her and screams "I TEACH SISSY THAT!!" and is so proud when Emily does something new. She is such a cheerleader...I love it.

Which leads me to our sweet almost 2 1/2 year old....
Miss Caroline is such a blessing. She is so busy and inquisitive that our days are NEVER dull. She has officially hit the "chatty" stage and my ears are usually about to fall off at the end of each day. (What will I do when Emily starts??) Caroline is SO smart that it blows my mind the conversations we have...but also a bit draining. She asks these questions about 245,678 times a day-
"What's your name?"
"What kind?"
"What color?"
"Where is it?"
And please know for future reference that generalized answers do not cut it. She wants specifics. Everyone who walks by, dogs, cats...they all must have a name. She needs name brands, real colors (like aquamarine, topaz, you know, the fun names), specific locations. She won't settle until she has a concrete understanding of the thoughts at hand. She develops such an amazing schema and connects ideas that I would never expect her to. Lots of fun to watch and see...a bit tiring like I said. She also has no fear of strangers which leads us to meet a lot of new people. I know that my "embarrassing moments" as a mother are only beginning, but at Kroger the other day she approached our cashier in her extremely "up close and personal" way (literally as CLOSE as she can get to your face/eyes) and asked her "What kind of hair?" This particular cashier was the sweetest, most congenial, wonderful African American mommy of 5....so thankfully she had a great answer for her....something like corkscrew rows....anyway, Caroline soaked it in and I could tell was dying to explore it even more. Thankfully, we dropped it at that. Oh what fun we will have with her intriguing mind at work.

Caroline asks where Emily is each morning when she wakes, and usually after each nap if I do not already have Emily with me. She told me the other morning that "Emily is my best friend" out of the clear blue. It melted me. I hope and pray the girls will truly be best friends for life. And again, she loves to say that she "taught" sis how to do everything. So sweet.

As a parent, my biggest fear, challenge, and hope for my life is to be a walking, talking, Godly example for my children. I have attempted to start ingraining the Truth into their lives in every way possible. I want Jesus to be part of our everyday conversation. I want them to know how much God loves them and is their friend. I had such a proud mommy moment the other evening when this conversation occurred:
Me:Let's talk about something!What should we talk about?
Cgh-Jesus!!
Me-Great idea!! Let's talk about Jesus. What do you know about Jesus?
Cgh- Jesus loves ME! Jesus loves YOU!
Me- Ahh!! That's right! What else do you know about Jesus?
Cgh- He live in my heart!
Me- Ahh!! Yes, that's right! He wants to live in your heart one day! What else??
Cgh-He die on cross (this is a new one...with Easter coming up, so I didn't think she had processed it yet.)
Me- Yes! That's right! ....and I proceeded to tell her about how He is Alive now and so on and so on. Thank you LORD for these moments...where my effort and prayers at least give me a glimpse of the fact that my sweet little one's are learning who He is. I know this is so very elementary, but she is only 2 and already starting to gather her knowledge of her Savior- I love it!

Which leads me to 2 more sweet stories...there have been several times where Caroline will out of her care and concern look at me and say, "I pray for you" . I asked her, "Who says that?" And she answered, "Daddy say I pray for you". Which made me happy that she associated her daddy with praying for people.

A more comical use of "I pray for you mama" came at bath time the other night when the girls were splashing and dumping water everywhere...I lost my temper a bit and raised my voice. After a second, I apologized to her for raising my voice, and asked her to forgive me. Which she said, yes of course. Then a few seconds later she says, "I pray for you mama. Dear Jesus, mama, dada, amen." Basically- she thought I needed prayed for after my outburst...which was probably right on target. It made me giggle. But once again, such proof of her BIG heart and sincerity.

Today she told me new baby was a boy, and that it had on a blue shirt, blue pants, and blue shoes. And we would put a blue passy in his mouth. New baby is always on the forefront of her mind and at random moments she needs to check and make sure my tummy is still there. Not much fun when you feel like the Pillsbury dough girl, but I don't mind. OH the stories go on and on. I wish you could all walk a day or two in our lives and share the pure JOY and excitement they bring to my life!

On a totally different note- Brad is celebrating being done with a big presentation that he presented to all his faculty, coworkers, and bigwigs this past Tuesday. He stressed majorly over it but did an amazing job. He received several kind emails from his faculty that complemented his hard work- THANKFULLY! We have all been stressed and craving some daddy-time. This is his first weekend off in what seems like eternity. Hopefully he can rest some and find some rejuvenation.

I am trucking along doing the same old thing. I am super thrilled that tomorrow night I get to go see Beth Moore LIVE here at Verizon arena. She and Travis Cottrell are here for 2 nights and my sweet friend rounded me up 2 tickets at no cost. I am OVERLY confident that God has some amazing things to show me this weekend and I am so excited! I am a HUGE fan of Beth's. I have done several of her Bible studies and look forward to leading our own Bible study in one of her studies this next fall.

My mom is coming to town on Saturday to spend the week with us! She is on spring break, or some other kind of break, and I have been counting the days until her arrival. We can't wait to see her. Wish dad could come, but his schedule and hers didn't match up this time. Hopefully while she is here we will get Caroline's "big girl" bed and set it up. Big challenge, but we must face it! I think Grammy will be on nighttime duty to make sure she stays in it...lol...JK. I am praying she will do well with it. Laugh if you must, but she has crossed every other milestone effortlessly and I am hoping she does the same with this.

And my novel ends now. Sorry for rambling, but at least I documented a few fun things. More to come...next time I put my silly phone down.