Making Dinner with Crying Babies

There is a phase that all three of my kids have gone through. It is called “Let’s give Mommy a hard time while she tries to make dinner”! When Hayes was crying at my leg the other night, I knew I had to take a picture of him because I have pictures of both of the other two doing the same thing.

Hayes…

Sam…

Reese…

Lessons in parenting

Reese: says something unkind to Sam...I can't remember exactly what

Me: "Reese, please speak kindly to Sam. Words can hurt feelings and we want to be kind to others."

Five seconds later...
I am trying to merge, teenage boy speeds up so I can't merge.
Me: "Nice, Jerk!"

Ugh! Luckily she didn't call me out this time.


- Posted from my iPhone

Sunday, Sunday

We started our Sunday morning off super lazy. A church that we are visiting has a service at 9:30 and 11:15. We usually go to the 11:00 service at our church so we just jumped to the 11:15 at this church. Part of me thinks it would be great to go to the 9:30 service and have the rest of the day to do stuff. But a big part of me loves not having church until 11:15. There is never any other time of our day/week where the five of us just hang around the house being lazy together. It was kind of nice to have that time together.

After church we came home, had lunch, and then sent all the kids to their rooms for some quiet time. While they were all sleeping/playing in their rooms, Lance and I hung the rest of our lights outside. I love how they look and I can’t wait to use them more often.

 

Once every one was up, we headed to Lance’s nephews baseball game. There is a baseball complex that backs up to our neighborhood and that is where he was playing. We can see the lights from our back patio and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons we can hear the cheers of parents as their kids play ball. It is one of the many reasons I love our house and neighborhood. We can also hear the high school games on Friday nights and I love to hear the band playing and the announcer calling the game. When we bought our house we were told there was a trail from our back yard over to the baseball complex so today we set off to follow that trail. It was so fun for all of us to walk over to the game together. I am sure that is only the first time of many we will make that walk.

Sammy is FOUR!

Our Sweet Sammy is four years old now! I can’t even believe it.

He woke us up whispering, “It’s my birthday! It’s my birthday!”, in a sing-songy voice. It was so cute. We pulled him up in our bed and snuggled him for a few minutes before anyone else came in.

I call him my “lovey” because he always sneaks in to our bed in the middle of the night. However, we are working on him staying in his own bed now.

We decided to take everyone to the airport restaurant to celebrate his birthday since all of the kids love it there. We got to see a lot of planes come in.

Every time one would go by the window, Hayes would get so excited and point at it.

They have a new drink call a Liquid Nitrogen Martini. We decided the kids would love to get a special treat and see the excitement so we ordered the virgin Shirley Temple version.

They thought it was super cool. And yummy too!

While we were eating dinner this big jet came in and parked right outside the window. Everyone in the restaurant was glued to the window to see who would step out of there. Unfortunately no one did except the pilots. I think people were about to board it when we were leaving. It was fun to see such a big plane that close but it blocked our view of the runway.

We had a great day celebrating Sam and we are so proud of the big boy he is becoming.

Celebrating Our Boys

Yesterday we had a family birthday party for Sam and Hayes. We had aunts, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents at our house. It was a nice day celebrating our boys!

Our November Birthday Gang

Brody, the baby whisperer. Hayes wanted nothing to do with picture taking and cried while trying to get pictures. When I sat him in Brody’s lap for a quick picture he immediately stopped crying and just sat there relaxed.

Hayes wasn’t feeling good at all. He was whiny and whimpering most of the day. But outside where he could walk around was perfect. Lance squatted down to take his picture walking and he got so excited….

You can tell Hayes wasn’t feeling well looking at his eyes. Poor buddy! He didn’t feel well for several days but seems to be doing better today.

After some pictures we did birthday cake. I just made cupcakes for everyone and made little small cakes for Hayes and Sam. Hobby Lobby had some mustache and neck tie themed plates that said “Happy Birthday Little Man” so we ran with that theme. I just ironed on the mustaches to Sam and Hayes’ shirt to go along with that theme. 

Doesn’t he look so pitiful?

It took Hayes a second to get going but then he dove in to the cake.

He loved every bit of the it…but wasn’t sure about everyone singing to him.

Next it was Sam’s turn to have everyone sing to him. He enjoyed the singing and the icing!

Yesterday was also Lance’s dads actual birthday. After the birthday party for the boys, his family hung around for a cookout to celebrate Pop. We cooked out and then made s’mores. This is a bad picture but the only one I got of the evening. A few days ago we started stringing lights up over our patio but are waiting for a few more strings to come from Target. I can’t wait until they are all here and see how beautiful it is in the back.

Happy birthday to our sweet little men!

Hayes is ONE!!

Happy birthday, Sweet Baby Hayes!

We made it! I swear the first year of a baby’s life seems like it is infinitely long but is over in a flash. As they say, the days are long but the years are short.

At twelve months old:

*Hayes is officially a walker. About a week after turning eleven months old, Hayes took his first steps. He would take a step or two and then dive in to our arms. He was so determined and really picked it up quickly. I would say he walks about 70% of the time now. This past week he finally figured out how to stand himself up with out pulling up on anything. If he falls down, he gets right back up but if he is in a hurry he will drop to his knees and speed crawl to where he is going.

*He is weaned! I have to admit that nursing him was not something I was super excited about while pregnant. And then it turned out to be a pretty difficult thing for him early on. So really from day one I had been looking forward to weaning him. But when the day finally came to do that, I was a little sad. Not sad enough to continue but just nostalgic about the whole experience of nursing all three of my babies.

*He is determined, opinionated, strong-willed, and hard headed. But in the same breath he loves to give kisses, lay his head on our shoulders, and giggle at us all.

*He is not very social with strangers. Reese and Sam both flirted with anyone who would look at them. But Hayes will just stare people down like they are up to no good. The second he hears our babysitters voice when she walks in the door he starts to cry. He doesn’t even have to see her. He cries going to his classroom at church. We have to drop him off first each Sunday because if he sees that Sam or Reese are going in to their classrooms he knows his turn is next and will start crying.

*I am 100% positive he is going to be my wild child, my heart attack waiting to happen. He is ALL boy and he is tough. He will move the gate at the bottom of the stairs and climb to the top, open the gate at the top, and just laugh when I finally see him. He has also figured out how to turn himself around to go down the stairs on his belly.

*He loves Reese and Sam. They can make him laugh like no one else. Sam is rough with him and I know that one day Hayes is going to get him back for everything he has done to him. Reese is mostly sweet with him and is a little mommy to him.

I can’t believe our baby is ONE! Here’s to many, many more! We love you Hayes!

Halloween 2013

We had our first Halloween experience in the new neighborhood this year. It was definitely different than years past and I think it can only get better. The kids were excited leading up to actually trick-or-treating but were not themselves once we actually got going.

I am pretty sure Hayes doesn’t feel 100%. But he was the cutest lion around for about ten minutes. Then the costume came off!

Reese was SO excited to wear green make-up as a witch but once it was all on she just didn’t seem as excited any more.

And Sam, who wears his costume every.single.day complained about being hot and wanted to change. After about eight houses he and Lance headed back to the house for him to change in to shorts and his Captain America shirt. He made it a five houses or so and then the boys and I headed back home.

This was the cutest picture we got of all three of them.  It is pretty sweet if you ask me! The big kids thought Hayes was precious.

Our first stop and no one was home. They left a table and a bowl of candy out.

Reese ran in to a couple of friends. One of these little girls rides the bus with her and they have made a sweet little friendship.

So Halloween 2013, in the new neighborhood, was a mild success. We definitely missed our old tradition of getting together with our neighbors from the old neighborhood but it was fun to spend the evening with new neighbors!

Our Lives Lately

Whew! This fall has been busy!! I think after this upcoming weekend we can finally take a breath.

This past weekend was a crazy one. Thursday night Lance and I had a “date night”. The Chamber of Commerce was having an event at Six Flags. Right after we moved in to our new house, we had some work done in the basement by a friend of Lance’s that had recently started his own company. They invited Lance to the event and I invited myself to come along. It ended up being kind of lame because there was only three rides open. We rode Goliath though.

Friday night we had friends over to eat pizza and to make s’mores. We really enjoyed our time visiting and the kids had so much fun together. It was so nice sitting outside next to the fire.

Saturday was one for the record books. We were so busy that day. I was up and going early. Reese’s school was having a race that morning. The 5K started at 8:00 so I ran in it. When I left the house at 7:30 it was 31 degrees!! Too cold for running if you ask me. At 9:00, they had a 1K for anyone who wanted to do that. Reese wanted to run in that race so Lance did it with her. We were so proud of how hard Reese ran.

Because it was so cold, Sam’s 9:00 soccer game was pushed back to 10:00.  Lance and I were hoping to be able to see both kids last games of the season but it didn’t work out that way because both games ended up being at the same time. Never once in my life did I think I would be coaching one of my kids teams but I had a blast this season! It was just so much fun!

From the kids games, we met up at Chick-fil-a to get in one car and head to Adrienne’s house for Emme’s first birthday. We had a nice time visiting with them and celebrating that sweet baby! After the party, we headed home. I was home long enough to shower and get ready to leave again. A friend of ours was celebrating her birthday on Saturday night and one of her friends put together a girls night out. The theme of the night was “The Sky’s the Limit” so we started our night off at the restaurant at our local airport. It was a beautiful night to watch airplanes comes and go as the sun was setting. After dinner we headed downtown to Skyview Atlanta…the new Ferris wheel near Centennial Park. It ended up being really neat. It was only $15 a ticket and you went around five times. The view was pretty nice.

Lance had the privilege of getting the kids ready that morning and putting them to bed that night. He also had to take Reese to a birthday party. 

Sunday morning we got going slowly. We visited a new church that is much closer than our church. It was a very emotional morning. After church we met my family for lunch to celebrate my mom’s birthday. We also did a little shopping and then headed home to end our weekend.

Hayes

Carving Pumpkins and S’mores

After church on Sunday we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. The kids each picked out what they wanted carved on their own pumpkin and we got to work. Lance helped them clean them out. 

And by help, I mean, Reese did most of hers and Lance did all of Sam’s. Once they were cleaned, I carved out Reese’s owl and Sam’s spider. They turned out pretty cute!

While we were carving the pumpkins, Lance started our first fire in the outdoor fireplace. It was awesome!

We finally got to make our first s’mores of the season…there will be many more!!

Apparently I didn’t get any pictures of the boys during any of this…they were there though! Hayes hung out in the stroller for a while so we could carve safely and Sam just ran around. Sam got the first s’more off the line and devoured it. Hayes got a chocolate graham cracker and was jealous of our s’mores.