Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and while it very different from last year, it was lots of fun!

On Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon with Charles' family; eating great food, opening gifts and playing with cousins. Then we headed to the Christmas Eve service at church. The music was great, the sermon was wonderful and the congregation singing Silent Night in the candlelight at the end was beautiful. From there, we headed home for a quick dinner and to get the boys in bed since they had gone all day without naps.

(My boys with their cousins, Phillip-Giles and Naomi)

Christmas morning was hectic but fun. Our boys are still to young to really "get" Christmas, although Caleb definitely knew it was baby Jesus' birthday. But there was no waking at the crack of dawn in this house. Ethan woke at his normal 7:30ish, and we finally had to wake Caleb at 8:00 so that he'd have time to open his presents before church. They both loved all their new toys!

We headed to church for more great fellowship and another great sermon and then to my parents house for lunch. After a delicious lunch and quick naps for the boys we opened gifts. And once again, the boys loved all their new stuff. We had a relaxing afternoon just hanging out with my family and headed home around dinner time.

On Monday we headed back out to my parents house to get together with all of my mom's family. It was great to see everyone, and Caleb loved being the center of attention. He kind of steals the show when we're around crowds of people. He definitely didn't inherit his Mama's shyness. He did some dancing, played some instruments, sang some Christmas tunes, and just generally strutted around the house like he owned the place. Sweet Ethan just enjoys watching his big brother, and being passed around for everyone to play with and hold, although he's quite a dancing machine too. I'll have to try and get a video of their moves to post on here at some point. After lunch and gifts, the Christmas festivities were finally over after a long weekend of fun, family and lots of food.

We've finally caught up on sleep and after celebrating Charles' birthday today are getting back into the swing of things around here.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

I pray that everyone has a very blessed and Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Ethan

One year ago today, I got to meet my sweet Ethan for the first time. He was so little and absolutely adorable. And now I have this not so little but still very adorable little guy.

Ethan is my serious man. While Caleb loves attention and can be on the goofy side, Ethan is more subdued. He has this very serious look about him alot of the time, like he's thinking really hard about something...maybe he is. But boy does he have a smile, and he's not afraid to share it. If you can get him to drop the serious stare then you get to see a big ' ole smile...with 2 teeth. He got his first two teeth a couple of months ago and hasn't gotten any since. Not that it's slowed him down at all in the eating department.

I love the way he looks up to his big brother. Nothing could make him happier than going into Caleb's room to wake him up in the mornings. He gets so excited! And they love to play together. Caleb is so sweet to him and gets him toys to play with. I very often hear , " come on, e-e" as Caleb heads back to his room to play.

Now for a few facts about Ethan at 1 year old:

*He has 2 teeth.

*He weighs in at almost 22 lbs and is 29.25 inches long. Both of my boys are on the short side...which they get from me.

*He sleeps 12 hours at night but still occasionally wakes up around the 10 hour mark asking for a bottle...then he goes right back to sleep.

*He says Mama, Ba (bottle), bye bye, uh oh, and makes tons of other noises.

*While he is more serious than Caleb, he is also much louder than Caleb. I think it's because he has to compete for the attention around here.

*He's not walking yet unless you count maneuvering around all the furniture in our house.

*He's got straight, very light blonde hair. And he needs a haircut badly.

*The boy loves to dance, if you wanna call it that. He just kind of bobs his head and moves his body to the music.

*I know I've mentioned that he's loud but unless you've spent alot of time with him you probably wouldn't believe me. Very often in our car, you'll hear me or Charles, or even Caleb, saying "Ethan, hush!" You can't hear music or have a conversation when he's busy making noise, and it's not crying or fussing, it's just yelling, and it's loud!

Ethan,

I can't believe how big you've gotten. I remember bringing you home from the hospital thinking you were so tiny because you were alot smaller than your big brother was when he was born. But you've caught up. You are now bigger than he was when he was your age.

You are so happy and smile all the time. I love your smile, it just melts me, with those 2 little teeth and those big blue eyes. You love your big brother so much and he loves you too. I just know that y'all are going to be best buddies as you get older.

Your daddy and I are so proud of the sweet boy you are. You've got alot of personality and we love seeing it more and more every day. I'm so blessed to get to be your Mama.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby!

I love you,

Mama

Party Time!

We had Ethan's first birthday party today. He doesn't actually turn one until Tuesday, so you can expect a birthday post then, but for today I'm going to share some pictures from the party.

It was a low key, just family kind of party. But Charles and I have pretty big families so it was close to 20 people. We had pizza, salad and cupcakes and opened presents, Caleb got to play with his favorite cousin, and we just had a fun family day.

some of the decorations my sister and I made

my mom's handiwork

birthday boy and big brother

opening presents - Caleb was a big helper

Caleb and his daddy

not sure what to think of everyone singing to him

but decided in the end that it deserved an applause

tentatively tasting the cupcake

He likes it!

sweet blue eyed boy

enjoying his cupcake

"man, that was good!"

Yay for birthdays!

the birthday boy had a very fun day, followed by a very long nap

My next post will probably be all about my sweet (almost) one year old, so stay tuned...

sshhh... don't tell Caleb

This is one of Caleb's Christmas presents that I've been working on. It took alot longer than I anticipated, but I finished in time for Christmas!

He loves cars right now so I'm hoping he likes it.

So busy...

There are several reasons why I haven't blogged much lately. Things have been so busy around here. Christmas music at church takes up a huge part of my life in the month of December. We have our annual service of Lessons and Carols, children's choir programs, and special music throughout the month.

It was such a blessing to participate in the service of Lessons and Carols this year. We sang some beautiful music and it always gets me really thinking about why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. I know alot of people got the chance to attend, but if you missed it and you want to hear some great music, you can tune into WKNO - FM 91.1 on December 22 at noon and the catch the whole thing.

We've also all been sick around here. Thankfully after several days of just hanging out at home everyone is on the mend and feeling much better, and I'm so glad it was several weeks before Christmas that they whole family got sick and not the the week of.

Throw in decorating for Christmas, shopping for gifts and planning Ethan's first birthday party, and maybe you understand why my blog has been neglected for the past few weeks. But, Ethan's birthday party is this weekend and you can bet there will be a full post and pictures documenting the whole thing. I can't believe my baby is already turning one!!

PS- While you wouldn't be able to tell based on today's temperatures ( I think it was like 70 degrees), we did get some snow last week. Caleb had a blast playing in what little was left by the time we made it outside mid-morning.

Christmas time is here

Have you ever seen a cuter group of nativity participants? These are my sweet kindergarteners who come every Wednesday night so I can attempt to teach them not only how to sing but why we sing.

They've been practicing for months and Wednesday night was the big night. They sang with their sweet little voices for all their families to hear. And they did such a great job!

Its such a privilege to get to teach these little ones about worshipping our Lord and Savior.

Giving Thanks

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and I hate that it sometimes takes a holiday like Thanksgiving for me to really think about all the ways I've been blessed. But thats ok. It's allowed me this week to really focus on what's important, my faith, my family, my friends. I love that, because of my faith, thankfulness isn't just something that happens when things are going well. We can be thankful regardless of our circumstances, regardless of whats going on in the world around us.

There's a lot of bad stuff in this world. Things don't always go like we want them to, people we love get sick, even die, but that doesn't change the fact that we are thankful. We are thankful for a Heavenly Father who, despite our constant failures, loves us, and continues to bless us although we certainly don't deserve it.

I'm thankful this year for the man that God placed in my life, to lead me and our family into a closer relationship with Him. A man that works so hard in all that he does, a man that loves me even when I am anything but lovable.

I'm thankful for my two little guys, who are slowly becoming not so little, for their sweet spirits and kind hearts.

I'm thankful for my family and the closeness we share. God has truly blessed me with parents who have always been such a Godly example of the way marriage is supposed to work, and with siblings who is it so easy to have fun with.

I'm thankful for my church and the strong group of brothers and sisters in Christ that I get to spend time with on a very regular basis.

I'm thankful for friends. Friends that are so easy to spend time with and talk to, friends who thank God for the blessings in their lives, and friends who continue to thank God even when things are not going well.

And ultimately I'm thankful for a God who loves me so much that he sent his Son to suffer the punishment that I deserve for the wickedness in my life and heart. And on top of that, a God who blesses me beyond what I could ever imagine.

Like I said, I have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope everyone has a very happy thanksgiving!

Crafty

I've been feeling crafty lately, so I decided I would start sharing some of my craft projects on my blog. If you don't have children you may not be interested in this because almost everything I make is for the boys.

I'm going to start with my most recent project. It was so quick and easy you wouldn't believe it, but I think it turned out pretty cute. It's a superhero cape and mask for Caleb. All the Halloween costumes I've seen lately inspired this little project.

Supplies - hot glue gun, old adult sized t-shirt, felt

Cost - $0 ( I already had everything I needed) but if you needed to buy felt it would probably cost you about $1-2

Time - 15-20 minutes

Weekend Recap

We had a very busy, fun-filled weekend this past weekend. So I thought I'd do a little recap. I wrote last year about Halloween and how our family chooses to celebrate, which you can check out here, if you're interested.

On Fridays Caleb goes to Mother's Day Out and this past Friday they had a Halloween party. They all wore their little costumes and looked adorable. Caleb went as a baseball player. He loves baseball, and it happened to be quite timely with the world series going on. Apparently it was a huge hit with all the people in the church offices upstairs.

On Saturday, Charles got up and went to participate in "Jesus Loves Memphis". I stayed home with the kiddos but I heard it was a great time of work, fellowship and prayer with a bunch of local churches, all working together to love this city we live in, by cleaning, building, painting, and I'm sure lots of other stuff as well.

Saturday afternoon we headed to a barn party at my great aunt and uncles house. It was lots of fun getting together with some extended family that we don't see all that often, and Caleb had a blast, once again dressed in costume (this time a bumble bee).

He got the chance to play with some distant cousins and he was the life of the party. Running, dancing, and just generally capturing the attention of everyone in attendance. Shy is one word that does not describe this child. Ethan had a good time too, being passed around from person to person, and he looked adorable in his froggie costume.

Ethan and his Aunt Rachel

Caleb and his Aunt Rachel or Ray Ray, as he calls her.

Sunday began with church and ended with a community Reformation service at one of the local presbyterian churches. I sang in the choir along with several hundred other choir members from churches all over the city. It was quite an experience and the music sounded amazing, if I do say so myself. The paster of our church preached the sermon and was, as usual, outstanding.

So that was our busy weekend, lots of stuff but lots of fun. And now, while we won't be trick or treating tonight, I do have my supply of candy ready to hand out to the neighborhood kids who come knocking on our door. I'm just hoping Caleb is ok with sharing his stash of "treats" that I've been using as potty training rewards, which he's doing very well with, by the way. There will be a post on that coming soon, I know you're thrilled ... potty training adventures, what more could you want?

10 months old

My little guy is 10 months old now. It's hard to believe. He had his check up at the doctor and everything was looking great. He weighs 21lbs 6oz. He's a good bit bigger than Caleb was at this age. He's 28 inches long, as the doctor put it ... he's short and stocky. Apparently my children have inherited my height (or lack thereof). The doctor commented that Caleb is short and stocky too and Caleb looked at her and said, "No me stocky... me Caleb", such a cutie! Caleb was with us at the appointment so that he could get his flu shot, and man ... it's hard to entertain 2 little ones in a closet sized room while you wait for the doctor to come, and then wait for the nurse to come back to give shots. Ethan desperately wanted down, but I didn't want to let him crawl all over the floor and Caleb was just ready to leave so he could get his sucker from Ms. Bobbie.

Both boys did great with their shots, Caleb obviously still doesn't associate the doctors office with getting shots (which I'm thankful for) because when the nurse came in to give shots at the end of the appointment, she asked me who I wanted to do first, but before I could think about it and decide, Caleb piped up with " Caleb's turn!" So he went first and cried for about 2 seconds. Ethan cried a little longer, but both were fine by the time we left.

I can't believe how big Ethan has gotten, and believe it or not, his crazy hair isn't so crazy anymore. Something about turning 10 months old tamed his hair a bit (or maybe its the cooler weather). Either way, over the past week, his hair has started laying down instead of sticking straight up. I've gotten several comments that I need to cut it so it'll be shorter and stick up again. Everyone loved that crazy hair, and don't think I haven't considered it, but he's adorable however his hair is behaving at the moment.

At 10 months old Ethan is crawling like crazy, but still an army crawl. He's pulling up on everything, all the time, but hasn't quite figured out how to get back down. So he pulls up and when he gets tired of standing he either lets go and just falls or he cries until someone comes to his rescue. This has happened quite a few times in his crib. He pulls himself up and can't get back down so he cries and cries until I come lay him back down.... and then, of course ... he just does it all over again.

He's still eating some baby food but we're adding more and more table food to the mix, and he loves it. The boy likes to eat. He sleeps great, except for the fact that he wakes for a bottle between 4-6am almost daily. I'm just gonna have to quit giving it to him to break that habit. He does go to bed at 7:30 and after the quick snack in the early morning hours (it only takes him about 5 minutes to drink his bottle of formula) he goes back to sleep until around 8am. So I hate to complain, because I don't know what I'd do if he woke at 6am and was ready to start the day. I'm not a morning person. But still, I know if I work on it, I can get him going a bit longer at night.

He's such a sweetheart. He loves his big brother and would follow him anywhere. His little one toothed smile is the cutest thing ever, and it's not hard to get that smile out of him. He's a happy boy. It's a little bittersweet, but I'm looking forward to when he's a little older and can actually play with Caleb. We're still in the stage where Caleb plays with his toys on the table or couch or on his bed because otherwise all I hear is "no no E-E" as Ethan destroys the beautiful line of cars Caleb has made or whatever he happens to be playing with. But I know it won't be long and they'll be playing like best buddies.

We're so thankful for this sweet little guy!

This post ended up being longer than I anticipated so if you're still reading, thanks.

I have

a very

sweet

husband.

Harvest Festival

On Saturday we headed to a local harvest festival for the morning. Caleb is finally old enough to really enjoy stuff like this, so I knew he'd have a good time. Throw in some popcorn and cotton candy and you've got the makings for a wonderful time.

They had a petting zoo, pumpkin painting, face painting, a hay ride, and a couple of bouncy castles. Caleb wanted to do it all!

checking out the petting zoo

his first taste of pumpkin

Caleb wanted a spider on his face

my boys on the hay ride

hanging out in the stroller

(if you look closely you can see his one and only tooth peeking out)

my sweet boys

We had a great time and will probably make this festival an annual thing. Lots to do, and did I mention it was completely free? Well, it was. Can't beat that.

I'm still planning on taking the boys to another little pumpkin patch we go to every year to pick out pumpkins towards the end of the month. I'm hoping it'll feel a little more like fall by then, cause I can't miss out on taking our annual pumpkin patch pictures.

Remember Caleb's first trip?

and then last year?

Can't believe how big he'll be this year!