Birthday Boy and other things I need to catch up on!!

This little stinker is 2 today!! It is so hard to believe that our baby is now 2! It is hard to sit and try to sum up JC in a few sentences. He is an incredible little boy! I have heard people say through the years about how siblings tend to be so different from one another. Well, it is true! My boys are so different from each other!

Here is a list of some of the opposites in Drew and JC:
Drew, neat and clean JC, dirty and messy
Drew, wild and impulsive JC, calm and thoughtful
Drew, busy and sits still very little JC, loves to be held
Drew, hates chores JC, wants to help with everything
Drew, too busy for affection JC, very loving and cuddly

Of course, they are both so special in so many ways. So since it is JC's birthday I will gush on him a bit.

JC is a BIG boy! I mean BIG! He weighs about 35lbs and is wearing size 3T clothing. Yes, you read that correctly, 3T! I am not sure on his height but we will be marking him on the door frame tonight as a permanent record. He eats just about everything. We have only discovered a few things he will not eat at all. He does not like broccoli, ice cream(crazy!), and fish. He is not a very picky eater. He loves to have ketchup or honey mustard, or bbq sauce, or any kind of dipping sauce! He loves to play outside. He loves to drive the Lightening McQueen car, although he cannot really steer it really well yet which means that daddy has to chase him all over the yard! You will see some of that in a video here in a bit. JC is very loving. He runs up to me and Jim and just about knocks us over trying to grab our legs and hug us! His loving nature has been so good for me. I am not typically a very affectionate person but he has melted down a wall in my heart that makes me want to hug and love on both of my boys more. He is definitely in a "terrible 2's" stage and has some throw down fits when he does not get his way! He loves to help too though. His favorite thing to do is help me with the laundry. He will load and unload the washer and the dryer. Jim says he is my little slave! I just hope he continues to want to do it! He has been sleeping in a big boy bed since March and in the last few weeks we have been working at him going down a little easier without Jim or I having to lay down with him. We hope to soon have him be able to "camp out" in the living room with Drew on Friday nights. He is getting his own sleeping bag for his birthday from his memaw, so he will be all set for it! He is learning to communicate more and more each day. He is a rough and tumble little boy! He loves to tackle his brother, or anyone else who makes the mistake of sitting down on the floor! I am sure there are so many other things I could share about you but my mind is going blank! So I am going to move on before I forget all the other things I want to write about.

Here are some videos I shot a week ago of the boys playing outside...

This is JC driving the Lightening Car


Drew riding his bike

So, I will gush on Drew a little bit now. He has finished the 1st grade and done so with all A's all year!!! He had a fantastic year this year. He had two great teachers this year. We were so blessed. It was his last year at Hernando schools. Next year we are making the switch to OB schools and he will be riding the teacher kid shuttle bus from the high school to Chickasaw Elementary. He is very excited but I know that he is going to miss some of the friends that he has made in the last 2 years. I am glad we are making the switch now, while he is still so young and will be able to make new friends. I am praying now that our teacher next year will be as great as the one we had this year.

Also, Drew has made friends with two little boys in our neighborhood. This is new territory for Jim and I. We are trying to figure this whole thing out. Drew is fairly sheltered in who he is around most of the time. Jim and I believe this is a good opportunity to reach out to these families but it is hard! There is just a lot of difference in how these kids act and how we have taught Drew to act. Don't get me wrong, it has been good for Drew too. It is teaching him how to be a good loser! They are both a little bit better than him at the video games! But it is also giving us an opportunity to teach him more about how Jesus expects us to act in this world. It is an interesting journey but one that I pray will ultimately honor God.

Here are some pics from JC riding the car the other night...

He is dangerous in this car!

This pic is fuzzy but his expression was just too cute not to share!

We have certainly been having our fair share of severe weather! Fortunately we have not had anything devestating or destructive like there has been in other areas of the country. I took these pics of us in our "storm shelter" last night. I am so thankful that we are all safe but it sure gets crazy when we are crammed into that little space!

Oh, and I almost forgot about these pics. Usually Jim does bath time with the boys but on the rare occasion when I do it they love for me to rap them up in their bath towels. It looks like they have little kimonos on when I do it! I actually call them my little china dolls when they have them on! Drew would not be still long enough for me to get his pic, but JC is not that fast yet!

He fell over trying to walk to the bedroom!

In this one it had almost fallen off, but you get the picture.

Well, that is about all I can come up with for now. We will have JC's birthday party tomorrow night and then we are going to the zoo on Saturday morning, so I am sure I will have lots more to share throughout the weekend!

Are we done yet?

I think I am more ready for school too be out than Jim and Drew!
I am tired of doing homework!
I am tired of packing lunches!
I am tired of after school band stuff!
Basically I am just TIRED!!!!!

We are in the home stretch now though. It will be nice for the days to slow down and the evenings to be more family time tather than working on things for the next day.

Today we are having a yard sale. So I am sitting outside in the garage waiting to sell some stuff! And it is not going as well as I would like which is probably why I have time to blog! It is very chilly this morning so I think that is making people not get out. I am going to hold out hope that it will pick up as the morning progresses though.

So lets go back and review some things that have been going on around here! The last time I posted we were planning a family trip to the zoo for Good Friday. It was a fantastic day at the zoo. Probably one of the very best visits I have ever had in my life. The animals were so alert and active. The kids loved it! The weather was perfect! So here are a few pictures below...

This gorilla was very alert and seemed very unimpressed with the audience of people watching him!

This was one lazy monkey! He had it all hanging out there!

Easter weekend was just gorgeous! We spent that Saturday before down at my mother-in-law's house. We had a good visit down there and the kids were able to play outside a good bit and enjoy egg hunting. We went to my mom's on Sunday after church. Again a very good visit and egg hunting for the kids! At both family gatherings it seems that many of the kids are getting too old for egg hunting. So next year it may just been our 2 hunting at Margaret's. At my mom's I think the competitive nature of all those boys will keep them in the hunt for another year or two!
Here are all of us in our Easter wear...

Not the best pic but we were having a really hard time getting one without heads turned and eyes closed and the wind blowing, so this was the best one.

Here are just the boys...

I think they looked mighty fine! And I did not buy anything new for them for Easter! All hand me downs!!

Here are some shots of the egg hunting crew on Easter...

Egg hunting action...

Holly, mom's rather chubby yorky...

Nathan, caught red-handed taking the eggs that had been dropped on the ground for the babies to get!

JC was a great egg hunter this year. I am sure by next year he will be a lot more aggressive about getting them!

It is a little sad sitting here realizing we are getting rid of all the baby stuff. I am glad to get rid of things but it is a reminder of just how big they have gotten. Drew is actually down the street at a little boys house. This is the first time we have ever let him do this. There is a little boy next door to us now and some down the street. Jim did walk down and introduce himself to the mom before we let him go. We want him to find friends around here to play with and to have friends that he will see at school. It is also an opportunity to get to know some people and possible share the gospel in the future. It is a little scary though, letting your kids just kinda go out into the world. We want to make sure he knows the right things and makes the right choices, but we cannot shelter them from everything all the time. We just have to pray that he is getting it all and that he is understanding who God wants him to be and that he will let those things guide him.

JC does not like that his brother is down the street AT ALL!! He has been having a throw down fit for about 15 minutes. He has just now calmed down about it all, after getting a spanking and sitting in time out! He is also not the greatest at the yard sale. Like most kids, he wants to play with all the stuff out here. Over all though he has not been bad.

Well, it is still quite cool and things are still not really moving here. It is frustrating. The remaining baby stuff I will haul over to a second hand children's store that pays you for stuff. Hopefully I will get a little out of that. The rest of it will go tot he good will. I just don't think I will have the energy or time to do this again this spring/summer!

Well I better run, there is a sink full of dirty dishes to be cleaned up, laundry to be dried, and things to put away and get out of the attic around here. Bye for now!

April Showers bring May Flowers!

Well we should have some awesome May flowers with all the stormy weather we have had! It seems like everday this week it has been rainy, stormy, and windy. The wind is the worst! Gusting at about 40 mph at times is really rough!I am holding out hope that tomorrow will be nice. We are planning to go to the zoo for the morning. I know your probably thinking that we go there all the time. Well, when you spend the money for the season pass you have to get your money's worth out of it! It is a great way to get out of the house and just have some good free fun! Well, aside from the price I paid for the pass anyway! So tomorrow we will take out with our pinic basket (aka cooler) and have some outdoor fun.

We have had lots going on this week too. On Monday all the boys got hair cuts. JC REALLY got his cut. It had been so fuzzy! His hair texture is like mine, it gets really quinky, curly in the humidity and when wet. It had been quite a while since his had been cut too. So here is a before shot...

And here is the after...

It has taken a little getting used to. It is very short. But with hotter days ahead it will be cooler for him. And it won't have to be done again for a while so that saves the money too! The hair stylist said this would actually make it grow a little thicker. I think that will be good for him. His has been kinda thin and baby fine.

Sunday Drew say in church with the children's choir, Generation Praise. They will be performing a musical for the church in a few more weeks and they sang a couple of the songs from that. The children's ministry was highlighted all through the service. There was a testimony given by young lady who is 12. She had been sick for some time back in January and so her parents decided to take her to the ER. Well before they could get her there she collapsed. They took her on by helicopter to LeBonheur. There they discovered that she had 2 brain tumors and did emergency surgery to remove them. They did not know if she would ever wake up. Miraculously she is completely healed now, just about 3 1/2 months later. She shared that she had never prayed much before the surgery but now she realizes how powerful prayer is and that God really does perform miracles. It was such an emotional time. I cannot imagine a dry eye in the church. It is so awesome to hear about major miracles like this that God does, but sometimes we take for granted the little things He does for us each and every day that are just as miraculous. Here is a picture of the choir singing...

In addition to the boys new dos, I got a new hair color on Saturday! It is a little darker and more like my natural color. It still has some lighter highlights through it. I wasn't really sure about it at first but Jim really liked it. So we are good! I also got new glasses. We decided that I would take a break from contacts for a while. So I got 2 new pair of glasses and they came in on Monday and I was able to pick them up. I actually took a picture of myself in them, I hate pictures, but I thought I would share them. I took them of myself, so they are not that great.

I am planning a haircut soon and am thinking about making a change, so stay tuned!

Spring Fun Field Trip!!!

Yesterday we went with Drew on a field trip to the Memphis Botanic Garden. I was so very excited because the only time I have ever been there was for a party at night, so of course you cannot enjoy the bueaty of the place at night. It was absolutely gorgeous! I had so much fun and I really think that if we went back in a couple of weeks there would be even more flowers blooming all over the place.

I am going to share pictures of it now and then write some more...

Just after getting off the bus.

Our little group of boys rushing towards the fountain. They all said they wished they had brought their swim trunks!

This pic is for nana and poppy! These were the most massive coy I have ever seen!

Feeding the fish

They were pretty violent with the eating! They were just diving on top of each other to get the food.

There were still fishing coming from across the pond!

Jim and the boys looking at the big lake. They had actually gone down to see a turtle. They were all wishing they had a fishing pole!

Drew and his buddy, Elijah. They were learning about nest.

Planting grass seeds.

Stop at the bridge on our nature walk.

Drew's class on the bridge.

The class sitting in a made up, but actual size, eagle's nest.

Pretending to be an eagle.

Learning about eggs.

Drew tasting caviar! He actually said he liked it!

Well it was really a wonderful, beautiful day! We had so much fun. We were tired at the end of it but it was a good day. Now it is the end of the work day for me on Friday!! Yippee! Jim and I have the annual Band Banquet tonight, which is fun because we get to dress up and just enjoy a nice meal together without kids! And no clean up afterward!! More to come, we have another busy weekend ahead and will be spending time at nana and poppy's house tomorrow. I am sure there will be fishing and other outdoor activities ahead.

Spring is here!

Well it is certainly spring like or even early summer like outside today! It is a gorgeous 87 degrees today. We enjoyed this morning by going to the zoo with some friends. Well, the boys and I did. Jim had an honor band this weekend. I really missed having Jim around this weekend since it has been so very nice. Yesterday afternoon my sister and I took all of our boys to the park and ate a picnic dinner. That was nice and allowed us to really enjoy the outdoors. Although I think yesterday the atmosphere was more humid and heavy feeling. The boys certainly enjoyed it greatly! The playground at the park we went to was a little too big for JC to navigate on his own so I had to do all the climbing and sliding right along with him. Fun and I am sure quite a sight for those looking on!

With all our fun we have had I am now quite worn out! After the zoo and lunch the boys and I went out to Collierville for me to pick up something at the mall and then to Target to buy a birthday gift for a party that Drew will be going to tomorrow. We are enjoying a relaxing evening now. Dinner is done and cleaned up. Everyone is bathed and ready for bed. The boys are going to bed in about 10 minutes and Jim and I have a movie to watch tonight. It is nice to have him home early enough tonight for us to have some time together. I am going to post some pics and videos now. Some are just from over the last several weeks.

Leo hanging out in the yard

My nephew, Nathan, caught this frog in their neighbor's pond. Some of you will remember that this actually used to be my parents' house and that the pond was dug by Louis. This frog was MASSIVE! And there are many more like him there!

I took this just as we got to the zoo today. I kept telling Drew to smile. He looks like he is in pain in the picture!

Our crew at the zoo today, minus JC who was in the stroller!

My BFF, Stephanie, and her youngest daughter, Becca.

The meercats are always fun because they love an audience!

The sun was in our eyes really bad. But, the flowers were just so pretty and made the perfect backdrop.

The gang again. This was after our train ride. We had a great time all together. Stephanie even had an extra kid with her. They were all REALLY well behaved. One of my best zoo visits ever!









This is a video of JC playing with the dancing Elmo. This Elmo is pretty special to us. Jim's dad, Papa, gave it to Drew for his first Christmas. This also turned out to be our last Christmas with Ray. Drew always loved the Elmo. A couple of weekends ago while Jim was at a band function, JC just discovered the Elmo in the closet and brought it to me. I put batteries in it and he just laughed and got all excited about it. It was a neat moment to see him enjoying it so much and made me feel like he got a little piece of his Papa that morning!