Christmas Home Tour 2014

Welcome to the Christmas Home Tour! Nester said it doesn't have to be perfect so I'm trusting her! Ha! I even took all the pictures with my phone and am using my blogger app to post! I've wanted to join in for years but the 15th always came and went so this seemed like the way to just go for it! 

This basket holds our Christmas books and toys. I love reading Christmas books with my babies all month. 

I love this beautiful white nativity I found last year at Goodwill! 

When we returned home from school one day, an elf had left these cute Santa covers on our chairs! #myMamaisbetterthanyours

I love my new print from Jones Design Company and this little baby will not leave this Nativity alone! Maybe I will post some more pictures later...or maybe not! Merry Christmas! 

10 Months for Blue

Blue, here's your 10 month update! You are so precious to us and we all just love you from the bottom to the top! :) You like to stand up by yourself and show off your skills!

We've been enjoying fall and having fun spending the beautiful fall season with our little pumpkins. You went to a school carnival, a pumpkin patch, had a bonfire, celebrated Pate's 3rd birthday, and  of course were the cutest Skully the parrot for Halloween! You love to clap, wave, laugh, and smile. You're the sweetest baby and are so good! :) You have two bottom teeth now! You are a very fast crawler, cruise around all the furniture, and I'm sure you'll be walking soon! You don't have many favorite toys...just everything you're NOT supposed to have! ha! You get into everything and have a ball doing it! You like to eat and are eating more during the day and are doing a little better getting up at night. ;)
We love those sweet dimples and are enjoying watching you grow and learn!

Pate is Three!

My sweet boy turned three last month! Usry Pate, you are the prettiest boy I've ever seen with those beautiful long eye lashes and that sweet little face and tan skin and great hair! You've come into your voice lately and we just love to hear you talk and put words and sentences together. You still don't pronounce everything just right...which I love!:) You say "dis" (this), "dat" (that), "right dere" (there), Baby Boo, Mi Defey (Mrs. Stephanie), "Cay-yub" (Caleb), "pwaygwound" (playground), and the list goes on! You still say things very slowly with pauses between words but put large sentences together. Every now and then, a very fast sentence comes out! ha! I just love that sweet voice and hate to see it change! :(
You love to play outside in the dirt. That's probably your favorite thing to do. You also like to play with your train set and with your cars and trucks. You will do most of what Alabama tells to you do when y'all play together. You say, "I Daddy. You Mommy."  You are very good at puzzles and like to put them together. You are even better than ever at driving your jeep and tractor. I have never seen a little boy drive so well! Everyone at your birthday party was so impressed! You also love to play football and "tackle myself!" You're very, very good at throwing and kicking and are working on catching! ;)
You have started to want to sing a few songs, too. It's so precious to hear! You sing by yourself: ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old McDonald, Jesus Loves Me, and God our Father. You like to play with the instruments, too!
You are just so smart! You can count to about 15, know your colors, some shapes, can sing your ABC's and know that A is for "Aaa-gator" and B is for Bumblebee.

You are very interested in construction sites and know the names and jobs of lots of the equipment. We have lots of practice with that since there is a major construction site for the new road in front of our church.

Your favorite shows to watch are Jake and the Neverland Pirates (but not the witch one), Sesame Street, Barney, Curious George, Letter Factory, and Bob the Builder.
You love your teachers, Mrs. Stephanie and Mrs. Jane at school and are learning so much! Your favorite friends in your class and at church are Brooks and Bennett, (Bwooks and Ben-nett), John, Caleb, Jackson, and Jack.
I love you so much, Pate and am beyond thankful that I get to be your Mama! You're the sweetest boy I know and I am certain God has a perfect plan for your life and will use your mightily for His kingdom! Your tender heart and willingness to serve are such a blessing to us all!  

Pumpkin Patch

9 Months

Baby Blue! You are 9 months old! You're such a good, content, sweet baby! Every single week when I pick you up from BSF they ask me "Is he always this good?" ha! You're always on the go, though. And into everything. You know well what "no no" means! You just stop and grin at me. Those dimples! You are wearing 12 month clothes mostly, now. The foods you like to eat are carrots, mango, green beans, bananas, yogurt, applesauce and some table foods and puffs. You finally have one tooth in on the bottom left and the right one is just about to come through! You can wave, praise the Lord, "snap" your fingers (too cute!), and give high five! You are crawling fast and standing up every chance you get. even in the buggy at target. You cruise along the couch and we've seen you stand alone a few times. You ride in the car so well and are still in the infant seat. I don't want to mess up a good thing. :)  You went to your first football game last week! You did great but didn't like SheBone too much. Your hair is getting so long (but nothing like Pate's!). You like to play peek a boo and are so ticklish and Pate likes to play football with you. You are a joy to our family and we love you so much! We know God has great plans for you and created you for His purpose!

Fun time in the elevator!

Guest post from my husband Adam on his adventure today!

Today, we went to the mall as a family to celebrate our 18th dating anniversary. That's what we did on our first date. Well, that and go to Hardee's in Grovetown. Big spender that I was. So, after we ate, Gin wanted to go to the Gap to buy shoes for Bama so I waited outside with our boys on the bench. She motioned for me to come inside and hand over the debit card and said that Alabama needed to go to the bathroom. I said, "Ok, I'll take her" and started to head out the door with her. Then Virginia said, "Oh, no no no. Take all of them. You're going to the family bathroom. You can take them all." I said, "Ok, I'll take this crazy train." So off we go in the double stroller with Alabama walking with me. We get to the elevator and there is another family waiting, too. There's a Mom, 3 girls, and a boy. By the way they talk, they ain't from around here. I spent a few seconds trying to figure it out. She had on a Montana t-shirt and one of her kids was named Dakota so I'm still not sure exactly where but for sure "up there" somewhere. She was nice to let me on first. "Dakota, get out of the way. This man's got a stroller." I got a stroller alright. The limousine of strollers. While we were getting on, one of the little girls, about 11, said quietly "I'm afraid of elevators." She said this several times and her family kind of kept talking about what they were going to eat at the food court and kind of ignored her. I thought they were laughing at her, but looking back....maybe not. So I don't know what come over me. We got in the elevator and a thought popped in my head. "Oh, I can have some fun with this." I smiled and looked at Alabama to see if she thought this was funny, too. She grinned back at me and I was wondering what she was laughing about. About halfway up the ride, the little girl said it again, "I don't like elevators." When she said it, it just happened. I jumped. A short jump from my toes and when I landed, you can imagine the impact from a man of my stature. The elevator shook with more of a jolt than I expected. I didn't see it, but Alabama told me later that the little girl grabbed hold of her sister very tightly. I smiled and laughed to myself but the mom was not pleased. She immediately looked up from her phone and said, "What was?" then looked at me and gave me an evil look. It was then I realized they didn't think this was funny! I looked at Alabama to see if she was laughing and by the look she gave me, she thought it was hilarious. This is what I would do to my own kids, but where ever they were from, there must be lots of elevator accidents. The mom must have been really shaken up, because when I walked by her later in the food court, I heard her telling someone else about the incident! Everything is funnier in elevators.

Alabama's first Georgia game

The Zoo

We went to the zoo on Labor Day and had a great time! It was the first time Adam has went with us and it was Blue's first trip! He did great as usual! It was hot but it's so shaded that we were okay. After we left, we went to eat at Fudrucker's.

 

 The gorilla laying around eating bamboo. Pate showed his monkey to him and he seemed interested! Then he waved at us with his feet. We loved it!

 The elephants were getting some water to drink and washed off.

 Showing the monkey his monkey!

 The tiger was walking around the area then went back into a cave. We couldn't see him but heard this HORRIBLE super loud roars coming from him! Crazy!

 Daddy and the Monkeys! :D

 Pate was brave to sit on the big lion this year!

 Alabama the Lion Tamer! :)

 Here is Alabama imitating how the flamingos sleep! ha!

We heard nothing but "when are we going to have ice cream???" about the entire time! When we finally got our ice cream it melted at super speed but it tasted good. :)

My boys

I know I just wrote a post about Blue being 8 months and I will soon be telling all about Pate at 3, but I just wanted to write down a few things about their personalities now.
Blue, got his first tooth yesterday. Ask me how I know. :(
Also, he learned to clap this week! So cute! He's standing up more than he sits these days. Getting pretty confident....
He also is becoming so mischevious! ha! He gets into something he's not supposed to and looks at you and grins and sometimes gives this belly laugh. ;)

Pate....he is just growing so so much! He is talking so much now and can say about anything he wants! He learned his ABC's!!! It's so funny how one day they just know all this information! ha! He also knows his colors and some shapes! Love when he says "twiangle." He also is so so funny! He makes us laugh all the time. He tells me "Go Ti-gahs!" then just laughs and laughs when I say "No! Yuck! Go Dawgs!" ha! He thinks that is the funniest thing ever! He also was walking around the Salvation Army last week saying, "Hey! Check dis out!" ha! I think his pre-school teacher, Mrs. Stephanie had something to do with that one! A lady in the store walked over to see who was saying it! ha! The way he says "What you do-ing he-ah?" cracks us up. Also, "How YOU do-ing?" This morning, we went to Krispy Kreme for Talk like a Pirate Day and he was sitting in Alabama's seat while I got him ready. He tells me, "You get my doughnut, I wait he-ah." ha! Later, I threw his passy to him but it fell down between the seat. He tells me "What you throw it for?" He's just so cute I could eat him with a spoon!!! I was amazed the other day when he got out a big plastic baseball bat and ball and could throw it up and hit the ball. :O 
I'm so thankful for these boys and the chance to be their Mama!

8 months

Blue, you're 8 months old!

 You are such a good, good baby! We are blessed! Everyone in nursery and Bible study tell me how thankful they are for you! You win the gold star! Your theme word is "content." You are pulling up on EVERYTHING now! So big! A couple times you have cruised down the couch but too much. You like to climb up the little slide at church. You like to play with anything you're not supposed to! :) You like your piano sometimes but mostly like to see what you can get into...especially in Alabama's room. You're so great at riding in the car...which is good because we're in it a lot! You eat bananas, peaches, green beans, yogurt, carrots, pears, and baby mum mums. You love to wrestle with Pate but I try to make him play gentle with you. You have a fun personality and like to play and squeal. You don't have any teeth yet! You tried cheerios but weren't a fan. You say Mama and Bama! :) You will sometimes wave but mostly just for Nana! You still wake up twice at night. :(

I keep telling myself it won't last forever. ha! You went on your first trip to the zoo this month! Daddy, Alabama, Pate and I all went one Saturday and you did wonderful! We started music at preschool this month and you're doing great going with me to all the classes. Your hair and eyelashes are getting so long and beautiful! I love you so much and just kiss those sweet cheeks all the time!