Update on the Boys

I didn't blog in September, I took very few pictures, and I barely took any video...I have been setting up/decorating our home like a mad woman; working/shopping at the fall consignment sale here in town; changing our address; and figuring out our new insurance/ finding new doctors and dentists for all. It makes me tired just thinking about it...

The other day, I started feeling a little bit sad that I haven't kept up with the boys "records" like I used to. I don't want to forget, but our lives have been so crazy! So here you go, an update for the record books with a few cell phone pictures mixed in (sorry about quality...it's all I have for this post:) this is what I can remember at the time!

MILES

This little cowboy will be 17 mos old tomorrow! I can't believe how fast time flies. He keeps us going strong. He runs/climbs from the time he wakes up to the time he collapses in his crib out if exhaustion. He loves his brother so so so much! He has to be doing exactly what Carter is doing at all times - no exceptions. The other day I had Miles at home by himself, and I found him calmly playing on his own the way I remember Carter playing at his age. It made me realize that he is not as different from Carter as I thought...he is just never free to play by himself. Ahhh the life of the 2nd child! What a precious little boy he is!!!

"Hey mom! Want to take my picture?"

First real haircut!

Post haircut trip to Wendy's! His 2 food loves: ketchup and white cheese dip :)

A real cowboy! Love it!

I told you he is a climber... he loves the coffee table!

Some bullet points:

• @ 15 mos: 31.5" tall and weighs 25lbs. 7oz. 

• The rest of his teeth (molars and canines) came in over the past 3 mos...no fun, but glad it's over!

• He sleeps great! About 8pm to 7-8am. 

• Wakes up super happy!

• Starting to really try to say words...some of the common ones are haa (hot and or hi), mama, dada, nana, bubba (probably my favorite:), muh (milk), nie nie (night night), duh (dog), and more I am sure. He is talking more and more every day

• We dropped his morning nap over the past month. He now takes one long afternoon nap, and we have more time in the mornings for outings.

• LOVES Carter! He tries to touch him at all times...drives Carter a little crazy! 

• Favorite toy is Mr. Potatohead - he could play with it for a long time!

• Getting good at playing in our playhouse! He can go up the stairs and down the flat slide on his own, and he is super proud of it! 

• Loves to throw balls for Fischer

• Loves to knock daddy down while wrestling... over and over and over
• Really likes books and reading - although for only a few seconds at a time. Loves to sit down with a stack of books and turn pages and point and grunt say the words :) 

• Favorite activity...climbing. Climbs on Carter's bed and jumps...Climbs on my bed and throws all my pillows off.

• Discipline: testing boundaries / strong-willed / starting to throw mini-tantrums

"Funny" story: While trying to get ready to go on a walk = hat and tennis shoes, the boys were playing...after some quiet (never good) Carter came running in my room saying "Miles put poop on me!" Sure enough...Miles had gotten into his diaper and wiped some on Carter (luckily nowhere else)... After cleaning that up, I ran to get my socks while they were playing in the living room...when I got back, M was sitting on the kitchen table in a pile of frosted flakes he had poured out for himself! Goodness, they keep me on my toes!!

CARTER

Big policeman brother is 3 years 2 mos old now and he keeps us busy and laughing! Consistent discipline has been huge with him recently. I have been trying really hard to start having Carter memorize some Bible verses to go along with my discipline. The ones we have worked on the most are "children obey your parents" (he adds "and your family") and "be kind and compassionate to one another" (he adds "and Miles")!  When he gets a spanking (which is multiple times most days at this point) he will many times say "I forgive you, mommy" when it's over. Glad he doesn't hold it against me! :) He is a loving big brother and really enjoys M on most days. We have what are known as "Don't look at me Miles" Days as well. That phrase pretty much says it all as far as those days go... Carter is such a fun 3 year old boy. He is loving living near his grandparents! We are spoiled and loving it - living so close now.

First arcade game!

Petting a rabbit at Sandy's Stables.

"Miles, you sit in the little chair because you're a baby. I'll sit in the big chair because I'm a big boy."

Great climbing trees in our driveway! Terrible pic...sorry!

Daddy and Granddaddy took C to his first high school football game. He came back saying "Bulldogs in the house!" (Not something either adult he was with cheered while there) Ha! He is a sponge.

Here are some bullets: 

• @ 3 years: 40" tall and weighs 39lbs. 3oz

• Wakes up at exactly 6:45 am almost every day. Like. Clockwork.

• He is so smart! He has great spacial reasoning. He dropped 3 toys on the floor and looked at them and said "look daddy, a triangle!" 

• He has a great imagination too! Kevin had a camp chair and 2 moving boxes in the back yard. Carter put the boxes on either side of the chair and said "look daddy, an airplane!" He later told me it was just a "tend" plane (pretend).

• We have had to talk seriously about safety. He told me he was going to push his button and fly like Buzz Lightyear off our back porch (about 20ft high)!!! Not. Kidding. 

• Obsessed with Jake and the Neverland Pirates!!! Got a pirate ship and plays pirates a lot...

• He loves to "dress up" right now. I got a bunch of hats at the sale for him to use...policeman and cowboy are our favorites...gonna be a pirate for Halloween...saving that costume for the end of the month...

• Loves climbing the trees in our driveway.

• Started really learning how to catch the ball and play catch with daddy.

• Can hit the ball when Daddy pitches it to him!!!!
• Daddy reads Carter a book or two before bedtime everynight, then mommy sings him some songs.
• Favorite bedtime songs are "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus (there's just something about that name...)" and "Amazing Grace" After singing "Amazing Grace to Carter the first time one night, he asked me what amazing grace was. I explained to him that it was God's amazing grace that sent Jesus to die for us to save us from our sins and live in our hearts. He replied "yes mommy, and dinosaurs live in my heart too." :) Now when I sing it, he really listens to the story. The other night I was in the middle of "I once was lost but now I'm found..." and he said "Mommy, did she lose something?" So we talked a little about being lost and then finding Jesus. I highly recommend singing the old hymns to your toddlers. They will like them, and I can't imagine a sweeter way to share the gospel with my son.

These are our boys and we love them both with all our hearts!!! Here's a picture just for smiles: 

Miles liked the bike ride more than he let on in this picture!

Happy Fall Y'all! 

10 Years Later

Today was Kevin's 10 Beauregard High School reunion! We had a fun time at the Opelika Municipal "Monkey" Park. I had to explain to Carter that there wouldn't be any monkeys there.

We had a good time with old friends. It was fun to see people we hadn't seen in 10 years - especially since we were dating at the time he graduated back in 2003 - I wish I could find a picture of us then to post now. I have one, but it's in storage :) That's my excuse for everything right now! Here are some pictures from the day at the park.

Class of 2003

...and their families...

Senior Basketball Team Members

We had fun riding the Rockybrook Rocket! We rode this train as kids :) I'm pretty excited that our new home is walking distance away from this park!!!

Choo Choo! 

The last 10 years has been SO FULL of wonderful memories, here's to 10 more years!

I'm Glad He Has Plans for Us!

Oh my, how our life has changed recently. Here's a summary of this past month for my own memory...

Background - we have felt led to move closer to family for about 9 months or so now. We have been praying and applying for jobs here and there, interviewing, etc... Didn't really think anything would come-up, and if it did - we didn't think that it would be "good enough" for us to actually consider.

May 20th - Kevin received a great job offer - in Auburn (where both sets of our parents live)!

I cried because I was happy; I cried because I was sad; I cried because I didn't want to leave friends; I cried because I couldn't believe God did it - exactly what we had asked; I cried because I didn't want to leave our church; I cried because I didn't want to stay in Huntsville and miss an opportunity we had prayed specifically for; and I just cried because I needed to cry; AND we prayed hard for the next few days...

May 29th - Kevin accepted the job offer! I called the realtor, and started cleaning the house like crazy!!!

May 31st - Our home was listed on the market. 

June 2-5 - Mom came up and helped me pack the kitchen (biggest job ever - why do we need so much stuff to cook food!?!?!?!)

June 3-7 - I helped with Willowbrook's 4th Grade VBS while trying to keep our house spotless for possible buyers who didn't seem to be coming....

June 7th - First family came to look at the house! 

June 8th - They came back!

June 9th - They made an offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 10th - We accepted the offer :) Side note: My mom, dad, and sister were all in Mexico for the week on a mission trip, and it KILLED me that I couldn't call them to tell them about all of this!!!

June 13th - Our Sunday School Class had a going away party for us. We LOVE them all so dearly, and will miss every. single. family. We almost couldn't make this decision to leave because we sooo did not want to leave these dear friends!!! Tears.

June 16th - Sad: Our Last Sunday at Willowbrook :( Happy: Father's Day! & Kevin's parents came to help finish packing up...

June 17th - Home Inspection...More packing...

June 18th - We moved to Auburn. We put all our stuff in storage, and we now live with Kevin's parents in Auburn. I believe the appropriate Southern term here is, "Bless their hearts." I am trying not to be in the way, but we are. It's impossible not to be, but they have been nothing but welcoming, helpful, and patient...so very patient! The boys have loved every minute at Nana and Papa J's house so far. They have a pool, so we can swim - a lot. The down side? Well, a 1 year old, a 2 year old, and a pool = no relaxing...don't want kids to drown! I will not be buying a house with a pool!  

June 20th - Kevin started his new job, and I started the home search by looking at 18+ homes all in one day. The plus side: Nana watched the boys and Grandmama came with me :) The down side: I think it almost killed my poor (& preggo) friend & realtor! 

Today: We are still house hunting... Kevin is really enjoying his job! 

Our lives have changed - QUICKLY and DRASTICALLY! 

but, 

God surprised us!

God has blessed us! 

God has provided for us!

God is in control, and he has a plan for our lives!

"For I know the plans I have for you,"declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

PS. I will be back later with Miles's 12 month blog post. LOOOOOONG overdue... Haven't had much time for blogging, but I think things are slowing down for a minute or two before we find a house :)

Early Works

We went to the Early Works Children's History Museum with a playgroup this past month. It was so much fun. This was our first experience with a children's museum, and I don't think it will be the last! We loved it!!! Here are some pics...

Musical Instruments, Water Tables, Wagon Rides, Grocery Shopping...

Post Office Fun, Picking Corn, Digging for Potatoes...

Bugs, Crawler's Corner, Train Tables...

and so much more!

Snow Day

On January 17, 2013 we had a snow day! This was Miles's first snow experience, and it was Carter's first time to really enjoy the snow! Kevin came home for lunch that day, and ended up getting "snowed in." How fun to have him home for the "big snow!" We had a lot of fun, and we were so glad that Nana and Papa J had given us a sled this past Christmas.

Carter busted it in the snow & mud! 

Miles was not a fan of bundling up...

Fischer was all up in the action.

Miles found a place he could enjoy the snow from. 

Carter, Daddy, and Fischer had a snowball fight.

The sled was popular with everyone!

We did LOTS of sledding!

We went down to Ansley and Abby's house to let them sled with us. 

We even hooked Fischer up to the sled at one point - we caught that on video...

What a fun, fun day!!!

A Visit to the Dentist

Carter had his first experience at the dentist yesterday. He was such a big, brave boy! He did great :) Daddy had, of course, prepared him the night before by practicing saying "ahhhhh" and then sticking his hands in his mouth and tickling his teeth. Carter thought this was hilarious! The real dentist wasn't quite so funny though. He was so serious the whole time, but he did everything they asked him to perfectly. Here are some of the memories from his first dentist visit...

The train table in the lobby was a hit.

This is Ms. Angela, she's the dentist's helper. She is a "sugar bug catcher!" Check out the TV's on the ceilings! Cartoons while you get your teeth cleaned - not a bad deal :)

Miles came along for the ride too! He was pretty impressed...

Looking at the Pirate toothbrush he will get if he listens and obeys.

He got to feel the toothbrush tickle his finger before she put it in his mouth. He did think that was funny.

Ms. Angela cleaned Carter's teeth with strawberry toothpaste. 

Then she "lassoed all the sugar-bugs" in his mouth (flossed). 

Dr. Moffet is the dentist. He counted his teeth and then "painted pictures" of Mickey Mouse and his friends on Carter's teeth (it was actually a clear flouride treatment:) 

At the end of the visit Carter got a treat bag and balloon! 

Then we went to Chick-fil-A for a celebration lunch because we got an A++ from the dentist! 

NO CAVITIES :)

We go to Madison Pediatric Dentistry and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area!!! 

Making Movies

Confession: I'm a nerdy-techy at heart. 

I don't know how many of you saw that coming, but I actually love technology! Clarification: I love technology that WORKS CORRECTLY - don't get me started on fixing technological problems...all I can say about that is, "Put me on the phone with somebody who speaks English, please." So anyways, this year one of my "resolutions" was to get our home videos on DVD. We got a video camera last Christmas, and we'd been recording tons of cute footage for over a year, and I wanted a way for our family to watch it: 

1.) Easily

2.) On our TV

This is the part of the story that I'm actually very thankful that I have a Mac (up to this point it was an investment I wasn't sure was "worth" the extra $$$)...

First, I put our videos on our computer. Simple task - pretty much like putting pictures on a computer. 

Second, I edited the videos using iMovie. Thank you, Lord for Mac technology! 

This program makes it so easy to add text, backgrounds, transitions, etc to your movies. It's A LOT like creating a powerpoint - most of you have done that. I was also "trained" in a Technology for Education class in college how to use iMove - way back when! My good ole' Elementary Ed major came in handy there! 

After I had created my movies, I created a DVD menu using iDVD - again, thanks to Mac technology!

This program is my FAVORITE part of the whole process!!!!!!!!! Here's where you are remembering: I. am. a. nerd. :-) During this process, I get to pick out pictures to scroll across the screen and music to play to create my very own, custom, DVD Menu. You know what I'm talking about - the annoying menu that when you fall asleep plays over and over and over again 150 times until you wake up and realize that you have a cramp in your neck, you drooled on yourself, and you are REALLY TIRED OF THAT SONG! Here are some of the menus I have created for our family videos: 

This one plays a song called "Simple Phrases" by Carrie Jo - a local artist from Opelika, AL

This one plays "Little Boy Heart Alive" by Andrew Peterson, and YES, you can click on those selections at the bottom and watch videos from the respective months...I know - AWESOME!

This one plays "We Are FAMILY" by Sister Sledge

This one just has pretty classical music playing, and when you select "Beach Trip" it takes you to this screen: 

Which plays "Surfin' USA" by the Beach Boys of course :-)

...and if you click on "Carter's Various Skills" it takes you to this screen:

Which plays "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys - Ha!

If you can't tell, I have had a little too much fun with this, and Kevin would probably agree :-) It's fairly time consuming, but since I have taken the time to do this, we have actually sat around watching home videos for hours on several different occations, and it's pretty much our current life - ha! What a treasure these videos will be years from now! I certainly am not wishing the years away, but it's going to be so very fun to watch these in 10-15 years :-) 

What Have We Been Up To?

I don't have any pictures that we've taken lately - I should get my camera out soon!!! I've taken some video, but we've been too busy to load it to the computer, so for now, I'll just post an update on what we've been up to lately...

1. Kevin's grandfather - Daddybob - went to be with Jesus in late January. We did a lot of traveling during those last weeks and spent a lot of time with family grieving his loss, but celebrating his special life.

2. I've been smocking a lot lately. I've got Carter's Easter outfit and a few other projects up my sleeves. I'm neck deep in it right now, so I've been doing that in ALL my spare time...and trying really hard not to neglect everything else in life - I get so addicted :-) Kevin surprised me with a serger for Christmas, and I can't wait to actually use it! Once I get all my smocking done, I'll be ready to sew. I can't wait - I'm trying some new patterns, and I think it'll be fun!

3. We celebrated Valentine's yesterday with the rest of you. I baked a Red Velvet Cake from scratch for Kevin. It's my annual labor of love - a 3 year "tradition" and holding at this point :-) Carter and I made cards for Daddy. We also made a card for Gran (this weekend) and sent it to her knowing how much she would be missing Daddybob on Valentine's Day. Sorry to the other grandparents who did not receive a card...it's almost impossible to get Carter to sit down and make 1 card, much less 2...he was D.O.N.E. at this point. Last night our great friends the Lossers offered to babysit for us to go on a date (they had already done their V-day date last weekend). We took them up on it because this does not happen often for us. We had a nice baby-free dinner, and Carter had a blast singing Justin Beiber songs with Mrs. Bethanie and Mr. Kevin :-) This Friday, for a special treat, we are going to see Bill Cosby live in Birmingham! Kevin and I love to laugh, and we can't wait!!! He's supposed to be absolutely hilarious.

4. We've had 3 doctors appointments in the past 2 days. The first was my glucose screening - which I passed - yay! Now I can help eat the red velvet cake and chocolates that Carter and Daddy got me for V-day :-) Carter and Kevin also went to their doctors to get meds for a sinus infection that we've ALL had since late January (ugh!) ...hopefully it will knock it out of them. Carter has not been himself lately - waking up at night, not napping well, more upset than usual, running a low grade fever off and on, etc... I want my happy buddy back! Luckily his eyes, ears, throat all looked good - just a bad, bad cold!

5. I'm doing the Beth Moore James Bible Study on Thursday mornings at church, and we are also doing a couples Bible Study on Hebrews. I love in depth studies of books of the Bible! I have been feeling like I'm really growing and learning a lot through both studies. It's a lot of homework on my part, but that keeps me in the Word which is so important, and I need that accountability!

6. I've been working to transform the nursery into the new baby's room and another bedroom into Carter's big boy room! The new nursery theme is "transportation" (trucks, trains, cars, boats, etc..). Carter's big boy room is coming together too. We are keeping his room a sports theme.

7. Kevin built some step stools out of the leftovers from the toy storage project! I was getting tired of trying to pick Carter up and hold him to wash his hands. Now he loves to get on the stool and wash his hands, brush his teeth, etc... He's such a big boy!

8. In the midst of all of this, I'm 27 weeks pregnant, trying hard to coupon/meal plan/grocery shop on a weekly basis (which has been going great!), cook, keep the house reasonably clean, attend my MOPS group every other Friday, meet people for some play dates (mostly at indoor playgrounds bc it's been cold), be a loving wife and the playmate of my 18 month old lil' man!!!

This life is a crazy life, but we love it! We are thankful for everyday that Lord gives us to love each other and serve him.

Returning to blogging....

I just wanted to let you all know that over the past 11 months (almost year), I have let Carter tell the story of our lives in (basically) 1 very large post per month. Well, with his first year coming to a close, I've decided to go back to the small here and there posts, so hopefully you'll see more posts all along! That's the plan at least! In the mean time....here's a little bit of what I've been up to lately...

Me and my boys are headed to Seattle, WA tomorrow to visit my sister and her hubby! We'll be back with more next week - Happy Friday!!!