Some Good Reads...

The Shack by William P. Young
This is an awesome read and it comes highly recommended from me. I know that there is some controversy surrounding this book, however, you just have to know that it is fiction. I was moved and changed by this book and it made me think so much that I had to pause many times to let my mind rest. This is why the author wrote it.. " I wanted my kids to enjoy a story and through the story to understand there own father better and the God that their father is so in love with." Anything that can challenge you is worth the read. If you have any comments about the book, I would like to hear them. (You either hate it or love it.)


Girl Talk by Jen Hatmaker
You can not judge this book by the cover. Honestly, it looks like a book I had growing up in my teenage years. It is an incredible book about your relationships with your girlfriends and Godly community. I am doing this with the ladies in our bible study class and so far it has brought around some great conversation.

A New Skill

This week has been rather slow, frustrating, and germy. Keegan came down with a stomach bug almost as soon as he was done with the hand, foot, mouth disease, and Jack had a fever for a couple of days and we will find out tomorrow what is going on with him. Keegan decided click the the off and on switch several times to the power strip that my modem was plugged into and he killed it. I had to wait for another modem to come in, so now I feel back to normal and part of society. He is just getting too tall and can reach everything...especially when he really wants it. When there is a will there is always a way.

I meant to post them a while back but never got around to it. A few weeks ago we went with Christine and Zach to Discovery Green downtown and had a great time. We played on the super playground that they have, ran around in "the green", ate at "The Lakehouse" and Keegan learned a new skill.





I shot this picture from behind because it looked a little strange. 2 guys and 2 babies. It seems as if everyone around them was trying to figure it out as well.

Jack is still unsure about facial hair.

Happy Happy Birthday Jack: Round Two

We had family over last weekend for Jack's birthday. He was unusually fussy (tooth coming in and ear infection) but had no problem eating his cake. What child would not perk up? Ironically, his cake was a smily face because his nickname is "Smiling Jack".






Aunt Fitine made this awesome HUGE cupcake for his birthday and mini ones as well. I lerved it!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Jack: Round One

Jack had double the fun for his birthday. We had his friends over for a playdate that was on the brink of craziness, but it was lots of fun. Check out these pics.

One of the twins, Kyla and Krysten, brought this wand over. Keegan took it over when left unattended and he kept pointing it to the tv like he was playing Wii baseball. It was cracking me up. Notice his hair...we ran out of time that morning! :)


Billy and Gavin


Jackson and Colton


Shawna and Lesly with all the kiddos holding down the fort in the living room.


Busy Busy Busy...and this was not everyone.


"MMMMMM Mom..so why didn't you feed this to me before?" Jonathan made all the cupcakes for the party decorated and all. He was so proud of them!

It's ALL good...

Keegan is doing great in his bed and has not attempted yet to get out of his bed. He looks so darn cute, but so big boy. I took Jack to the doctor yesterday and found out that he had a bad ear infection in one of his ears. So, now he is getting medicated and hopefully getting better.

Phew!

The inevitable. This weekend was Jack's weekend. We had his family birthday party yesterday and today we had his baby dedication at church. Our whole family participated and had a fabulous time. However, Jack did not like his weekend what so ever. He had a tooth break through his gums yesterday and he was one VERY unhappy baby. (I am questioning if he is getting his one year molars as well.) The boy is throwing tantrums almost every minute he is awake. To make it worse I took his bottle away last Monday because I had a narrow window before another tooth came in or he caught a cold. Of course he had both last week after the bottles were thrown away. I think he is suffering from separation anxiety because his security was in his bottle. I am the only one that he wants and most of the time he can't make up his mind if he wants to be held. On the positive, for the few short minutes when he dug in his cake or was prayed over in the church service, he did not cry...and I am very thankful for that.

Tonight we are putting Keegan in his big boy bed. My family helped us transform his room and I am a little emotional to see his crib leave. He is growing up and I can't stop it. So, if you can...please PLEASE say a prayer for this already tired mama, and that he will stay in his bed.

I have more to write about this weekend soon...but until then I let out a little whine.

Considering a house with lots of trees?

I spent 3 hours today racking leaves...just in the front yard. I hear a lot..."I love your neighborhood because of all the trees." Yes, it is very pretty until the leaves start falling. I was coming home the other day and noticed how terrible our yard looked. Everyone around us have yard crews that come and fix the leaf problem. However, we don't have an envelope for that, so we are enslaved to our yard. It is always a sad scenario to be working so hard only to see more leaves fall. I do however feel as if I got a good work-out!

When my brother and I we were little used to rake leaves for my mee-maw and earned some cash doing it. Her yard was a 20 bag job at the minimum. So, I am counting my blessings that I only bagged 6. But dang...If only I was paid for it!

I am pretty sure our next house (if there will be one) will be without a gigantic tree in the front.

Resolutions

As I am writing this post, my children are screaming at each other. Not in a negative manner, but for fun. They try to out-do themselves and their pitch and volume get louder and louder. I am loving that they are starting to play together and this makes it to where I can sit here and write a post while they are awake. Yeah! I guess I just need to invest in some earplugs in order to concentrate.

I have considered my options in my new year resolutions. Some I will keep and some I will am sure will suffer.

*One of them is that I am gong to try to relax a bit more. Not let every crazy scenerio leaving me ripping my hair out. (Jack is eating paper right now.) I have to admit that this is a process, am I am doing much better. :) Thank you very much..a pat on the back for me!

*I am going to kick the laziness. Not that I am "slothful" but being a stay at home mom is hard. You can easily stay in your pj's all day and eat all day if you wanted. It snowballs until you can't even make yourself tackle your to-do list. So, I am making it my mission to search deep down for Mrs. Organization that was apparent before children.

*We are going to use the envelope system this year and see how much money that saves us. This means that we have certain areas of our budget, (groceries, free money, etc.) that we have separate envelopes for. When it is out, it is out. It keeps us from spending too much and shopping smart.

*Stop buying Jeans that the zipper falls down. Seriously, it happened twice yesterday and one time I found it down after we came back from the doctor's office and the second time after the grocery store.

*Stop dwelling on mistakes and consider for once that I can not be perfect.

*For Keegan to be in a big boy bed in a couple weeks and start the potty training beginning of February. Lord, help this to be fast and painless. (I am reading my first resolution back to myself now.)

Christmas Highlights

I will forgo most the details, but let you look at some cute pictures. We opened lots of presents, ate A LOT, played Uno a lot, played bowling on the Wii a lot, and conversed a lot. There you go...our Christmas holidays. We had a blast and so did the boys.
Among Keegan's favorite presents were his Mack Truck, a conductor hat and this train whistle. (Thanks Aunt Char!) He literally squealed when he found out it made a noise!


Brianna's new princess dress. This alone made me want to have a girl!! (It was short lived!)

Aunt Laura and Brianna

Jack and Keegan searching through their stockings!


The matching pajamas that mom and dad gave to Jack, Keegan and Jacey.

Jacey was all about loving on her cousin "Kee". Keegan was tolerating it.

The Belgian Santa

What would you do if you won the lottery? Check out what this man from Belgium did with his winnings.

Toddler Meet Flour

On Christmas Eve, we made "Happy Birthday Jesus" cookies while my niece Brianna was over for the morning. Keegan and Brianna were enamored with the flour and it ended up everywhere, but what is the fun without it getting on your face? If you look closely you will see that we used our play-doh roller because we could not find our adult size cookie roller. It was perfect for their little hands!

Jack is ONE!

This past year has completely flown by and we have arrived at Jack Jack's first birthday! This little guy has been an unbelievable blessing in our life and his laugher and smiling eyes are the highlight of my day. When I first found out that I was pregnant with Jack, I was scared. Keegan was 8 months old and I was so new at the mom business. What was God thinking? Obviously he knew that I could handle it. I knew that the next couple years of my life were going to be hard and exciting all in the same. The day he was born, (on his due date) I was going in for my 40 week check-up. It was one of the coldest days of the year, and I just knew that the doctor was going to send me home. I was dialated to a 2 and 90% effaced for a few weeks and he was so low that it was miserable to walk. Keegan was a month early so, the last month was not my favorite. The doctor looked up at me after my check-up and in the calmest voice said, "You are going to have this baby today...you are in labor, let's send you upstairs". I nearly kissed the woman! So, up I went and had an easy delivery with a few hours of pushing and Jack was born. My family got larger and I got smaller. Amen!

The days in the hospital were so calm because I knew the game plan. I had just gone through it with Keegan and it was very fresh. We headed home, and I became very scared again. I was not sure how I was going to do it with Keegan who was 18 months and a newborn. Mainly, how I was going to love another human being as much as I loved Keegan. Almost as soon as I got home, I went to lay down on my bed with the door closed and lights off and cried. It was a very low point, but as fast as it started it ended and I went back out to the living room to embrace my two boys who were going to keep me busy for many years. Life just started to get fun.

Jack makes me smile. It is in his very nature to light up a room. He has this laugh is unmatchable, because no one can mimic it. Maybe one day I can get some video of it. He has been a wonderful night sleeper and barely wakes up in the middle of the night. He likes to be in control over some things. His naps are forced half the time and he tells you what he likes to eat and what he doesn't...by throwing it on the floor. He did not start eating ANYTHING until 10 1/2 months. He crawls with his rear end up in the air and his legs straight like Mogli in The Jungle Book. He loves for you to kiss his head and will slam his head into your mouth over and over again so he can get some kisses. He loves cars and buzzes his lips to make the car sound. He started doing that at 10 months by watching his older brother. Keegan loves to call him Jack Jack and will make sure to tell him when he is doing something wrong. He has lots of energy and which keeps me on my toes. I find him in my bathroom a lot throwing things out of my drawer or getting in the dishwasher. I would never trade him for a million years and I would do it the same way. Keegan and Jack are going to be best friends and it is sweet to watch.

Happy Birthday Jack Jack, I love you!