Birthday Planning & growing up!

Gunner will be turning one in less than a month. Did I really just say that? My baby is going to be ONE! I have been stalking browsing Pinterest and Etsy A LOT over the past few weeks. Everyone wants their first childs first birthday to be perfect. I have looked and looked and looked at different ideas. The best one I could come up with... construction theme. I was leaning towards rainbow or construction and after I was told rainbow is a little, uhm, "girly-like" I decided I better go with construction. Here's a peak of what I'm leaning towards...

picture from:

 http://catchmyparty.com/photos/439947

Love, Love, Love the pom poms hanging from the ceiling. Love the Mixture of orange, black and yellow. I feel so overwhelmed looking at the picture that I'm not even sure where to start. HA! The birthday shirt he'll be wearing is being made as we speak. Once that is finished, I will have his picture made in it for his invitations. That's a start, right? Now I have to find an invitation I like enough. That has been harder than deciding on a theme! It'll all come together before party time.

I have been horrible about blogging lately. So sorry. Summer time, vacation, outside activities and lots of fun in the sun has kept me away from blogland quite a bit. I promise to try and do better. I know I posted a little about Tuff on his birthday last week. I'm sure you're all wondering what my little Gunner has been up too....

Well, like I said he'll be ONE in about 3 weeks. He has a total of 4 teeth. He is crawling, pulling up on everything, standing up on his own and even climbing! Yes, you heard right, the child climbs on everything!!! It's exhausting trying to keep up with him. I have a feeling he is going to be my wild child. He has actually (and thankfully) been sleeping better. He mostly sleeps all night without waking up and lately instead of waking up at 5:30, he's been sleeping until around 6:30-7. It's been nothing short of amazing for this mommy!!! :) :) :) He still absolutely positively LOVES his big brother. He laughs and laughs at him. He follows him everywhere and loves to play with him any chance Tuff will let him (that's a whole nother story). Here's a few pictures of my mischievous little mess....

Upset cause he got caught!

Playing in the Tupperware cabinet

"Hey mom!"

A little more climbing

Riding in the dump truck

But this....

 makes it ALL worth it!

Tuffy is spending his last week at summer school this week. He'll have a little break before he starts the regular school year on August the 14th. I love to see how far he's come since the beginning of last year's school year! He loves school and asks for it on the days he doesn't even have school. He just kisses me bye and walks right in with NO tears when I drop him off. He's getting so big. Don't let this sweet little face fool you, though........

He's definitely hit the terrible 3's stage! You hear so many people say "terrible 2's." For any parent who is dealing with the "terrible 2's" let me tell you something.... You ain't seen NOTHING yet! 2 has absolutely nothing on 3! We have been dealing with lots and lots of rebellion. Some days I wonder if I'm going to make it to the end of the day. This past Sunday being one of those days. We butt heads ALL day and it didn't matter what I did, he was still looking for the next thing to do/get into. To say it was a stressful day, would be an understatement!!!!

But when we laid down for bed and I heard that "wuv you mama!" in the sweetest little 3 year old voice I'd ever heard... the stress was gone in an instant! God is good. Good at making you realize how worth it, it all is!!! No matter how much we butt heads, he knows mommy loves him and mommy knows he loves me!

BLESSED....

 that is what I am!!!!!

:) :) :)

Other than taking care of my sweet babies and working all week, we haven't been up to much of anything else. I tried a new recipe off pinterest last night and it was DELICH! Check it out....

Sour cream noodle bake

(click on name for link to recipe)

Happy Tuesday, friends!

3 years, what?!?!

My first born turned 3 years old this past Saturday.

Gosh, I swear he was JUST this little a few weeks ago...

I have SO many words... I'm not even sure where to start.

I'll start by stating this, my feelings for this sweet boy run deeper than deep. Why wouldn't they? He changed me in an instant from a woman to a mother. Once he entered this world, my life was forever changed by his sweet face, tiny hands, tiny feet and tiny body.

All the nervousness was gone after they placed him in my arms for the first time. It all came naturally just as every woman will tell you when you're pregnant and you're unsure of what to expect. All I remember thinking was "this is real. this real life baby is mine!" From that second on I have NEVER loved anything or anyone more than this sweet boy & his brother! Sometimes I think my heart could BURST it's so full of love for my babies.

Life is hard. Life is really hard.... But there is absolutely nothing I can't handle with the love of my boys! Every day is worth living when I can wake up to the sound of "mommy" and "ma-ma-ma-ma" The Lord has truely blessed me with 2 of the sweetest babies ever and I could never thank him enough!

Happy 3rd birthday to my very first baby boy! The baby boy who made me "mommy!"

I love you with all my heart & soul!

We're Back!

Sorry for the HUGE delay in posting. We were on vacation until this past Saturday and I pretty much took a vacation from the blog world too. We headed towards FL on the afternoon of the 29th. It was a MUCH needed trip that went by way too quickly.  :) Here's a little of our trip to FL in pictures.

Beach Day

Family time on the porch @ night

On our way to the river

Pool time

Pancakes @ G.G.'s. YUM!

Meeting sweet Zoe for the first time :)

Celebrating Independence Day!

Pictures of all the grand children and great grand children with Papa...

....And with G.G.

Chuck E Cheese

...and the after affects....

I think everyone was getting a little homesick by the time we were pulling out and heading home on Friday night. We had a wonderful time with great family and friends! Looking foward to our next vacation now! :)

Life is good!

We've been spending most of our time staying busy! The weekend definitely went by too fast, as it usually does but I'm kind of excited about knocking this week out because Friday after lunch, we'll be Florida bound! I'm a little ecstatic about it. Just a little.... Ok, so maybe a LOT! :) The boys are always keeping me on my toes! Here is a picture update of the past week....

A night out with some of my favorite girls.

Breakfast at the Mill. Pictures after....

Napping after church

Taking a drive

Napping with the cousin

 

Practicing to be a future baller!

Showing off our teefies!

Playing at Chuck E Cheese.

Climbing and getting into everything we're not supposed too...

Posing for mommy :)

Like I said before,

Life is Good!!!

:)

Happy Monday, Friends!

Summer school (Day 1) & 9M check up

Today was Tuff's first day of summer school. He was excited when he got up this morning. He even ate his breakfast. Now that's excited. For Tuff anyways. He's not a big breakfast eater unless it involves cookies and/or milk. ;-) I worked it out at work that I could take him to school on Tuesday's and Thursday's the rest of the summer. I like to be apart of anything he does, even school, as much as I can. Even if that means just dropping him off and/or picking him up! It had been a while since I dropped him off because during the school year, my MIL dropped him off. It was definitely a different scene this morning when dropping him off then the last time I dropped him off. Absolutely NO tears! Even though I don't remember the last time he had tears at school... I do remember the last time I dropped him off it involved tears. He talked about school all the way there in the car. When we got there he put his stuff down on the wall and went straight to the rug and sat down (this is what they were taught to do during the school year). He gave me a kiss and said "Bye!" My baby is getting too big, too fast! Here he is this morning before walking out the door.

I'd say our first day was a success!

Gunner had his 9 month check up yesterday afternoon.

We're still a little behind since we just turned 10 months.

Here are his stats.

Weight: 22 lbs. 10 oz. (85th%)

Length: 28 & 3/4 in. (45th%)

Head: 46 & 3/4 (85th%)

Dr.C said he's right on track! Also, his ears looked great! ;-)

We took a few pictures waiting on Dr.C.

Thank you all for your prayers for my brother's little girl, Zoe! She is doing just fine now. She got to load up and go home with her mommy and daddy on Sunday afternoon.

Hope you're all enjoying your week!

 

Welcoming Zoe Gene!

Yesterday my brother Mark and his wife Sara welcomed their first born baby girl into the world.

She is beautiful with a head full of hair.

Miss Zoe weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 inches long.

She had a little bit of fluid on her lungs (which is normal for c-section babies) so she's had to spend a little time in the NICU. Even though it's very common, it's still scary for any parent. Please keep baby Zoe in your prayers!

Congratulations to Mark & Sara!!!

She's perfect in every way! Can't wait to meet her in a few weeks!

Summer school, here we come!

My 1st born will be 3 years old exactly one month from today. Where has the time gone? My baby is definitely NOT a baby anymore. :( But, one thing is for sure, he will always be mommy's baby! No matter how old he is.

Anyways, my almost 3 year old has been on summer break for a little over a month now. The past week or so boredom has really started to set in. Now, boredom doesn't come single handed with a 3 year old. It also comes with lots of attitude, fit throwing and most of all, mischievous acts. Our sweet little man came with all the "side effects." Aren't we lucky? ;-) The past week he's had PLENTY of attitude to last me a lifetime, plenty of tantrums and enough mischievous acts to make all of us want to SCREAM! Right, MeMe? What kind of mischievous acts you ask? How bout peeing on my mom's couch!!! No, no. Not sitting down, watching t.v. and peeing in his pants, peeing on the couch- BUT - intentionally pulling down his pants, aiming and shooting... right on the couch. Not once, not twice.... 3 TIMES! Really?!?!?!

Mom posted this picture on Facebook this mornig....

Ha!

Now if that isn't some tude, I don't know what it is!

Shortly after the picture above she posted this picture...

She said he packed up all his stuff in his car and said "I'm going HOME!"

When I got home yesterday afternoon he was talking A LOT about "his friends, Cilla (his teacher @ school) and Jace!" He's mentioned school a few times over the past few weeks but I'm really starting to notice how much he misses it. The lucky part, his school is having a summer program that starts NEXT WEEK! I had decided at the end of the school year to give him the summer off and pass on the summer program but my baby is bored. And he misses school. So I thought last night "why not?" I asked Tuff several times if he missed his school, his friends, his teacher, etc? He said yes to all of them. I asked him several times (just to be sure) if he was ready to go back. Every time I got the same answer, "yes!" So, as of this morning, our sweet little almost 3 year old has been signed up to start summer school next week. My mom called earlier and said he's been talking about it all day. Now, let's hope he still feels that way when I drop him off next Tuesday! :) :) :)

Happy Thursday, friends!