Merry Christmas!!!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

We had a wonderful Christmas this year despite all of our colds! Parker was so much fun anticipating Santa and his excitement about celebrating baby Jesus' birthday! I love how each year he is more and more aware of what Christmas is all about. This year he was able to understand a lot more about baby Jesus and that Christmas is His birthday and that that's why we really celebrate Christmas. For several days before Christmas he used all types of different toys to make "cakes" for baby Jesus! It was so sweet! When we'd ride around looking at Christmas lights he'd see a manager scene and yell out "THERE'S BABY JESUS"! Although Carter didn't know what was going on, he had a great time playing with all the new toys Santa brought. We also went to see Santa at the mall and while Parker lost it and hid behind me and cried the entire time (I wish I could have gotten a picture of that), Carter sat in his lap and gave us a cute little smile for his picture! I have a feeling Carter will always be up for seeing Santa...Parker on the other hand may never!

Anyways, here are some pictures of the boys with there new toys on Christmas morning! Thank you to Gigi, Nana, Papa, Poppie and Grammie for all the wonderful gifts! The boys loved all of them!

Parker showing us that Santa brought him Lightning McQueen. It was the only thing he'd said he wanted from Santa this year.



He was so amazed that Santa ate the cookies he'd left him on the hearth the night before!

Christmas Cookies

Even though Parker has a little cold that didn't keep us from baking Santa a nice big heap of decorated sugar cookies. Bobby said he didn't think he'd try one considering Parker, althought he tried really hard not to, coughed on them several times. I can't say I blame him but I went ahead and tried one since I feel like I'm coming down with what Parker's has. Parker loved it and here are some pictures to prove it!

Christmas Pictures

I've been trying to get a few good pictures of the boys together in their Christmas outfits I made them. I haven't really got one I like yet but here are some of my so-so's. We did a couple photo shoots that's why some of these are outside and some are in. I think in order for me to get a good shot I'm going to have to get Bobby in on the action ;)

Hallway Fun!

I don't know why but the boys love our hallway. I constantly find them rolling the balls down it and then squealing and racing each other to get it (can you guess who usually wins?) Anways, Carter was playing down there the other day while Parker was taking a nap so I took a few pictures of his fun! Our hall is actually pretty dark but it just so happened that he was sitting in the one spot where the light was coming through the window...just begging for a picture!

I guess the ball on my head is pretty funny!

Anybody still there?

WOW, I bet y'all thought I'd dropped off the face of the Earth! Ever since Parker's birthday I feel like I've barely had time to sit down let alone write out a semi-coherent blog post. Brace yourself though because this one's going to hold A LOT!!!

Where to begin...I guess I'll start with Thanksgiving. We went home for the entire week of Thanksgiving. It was really nice to be home for so long so we could catch up with friends and family and not feel so rushed but we were definitely ready to be in our own beds by the end of the week. Bobby and I actually got up and did a little black Friday shopping while home. We had originally decided to go to look for this camera but when we saw it on ebay at a really good price the night before we went ahead and bought it!

I LOVE this camera! Bobby reluctantly let me open it early and I'm so glad he did!!! Here are a few pictures to prove it!

If anyone thought the blog was lacking pictures rest assured that will no longer be the case. I've had that camera in front of my face so much lately I'm worried my kids won't recognize me when I finally come out from behind it ;)

Now onto the most important thing...what the kids have been up to. Parker's verbal skills are surprising us more and more every day. He asks tons of questions about all kinds of different things (some I must admit stop me in my tracks). His imagination continues to amaze me! My baby is becoming a BIG BOY right before my eyes! He and Carter have been playing more and more together lately, too. Parker will get down and crawl around with him and they both just laugh and laugh. They are great buds! I hope they'll always have so much fun together.

Carter has also changed quite a bit in the last couple of months. He FINALLY figured out he could get places a lot quicker if he got up on his hands and knees to crawl. He started doing this right around 10 months. Shortly after he made that revolutionary discovery he also figured out he could pull up on the furniture. This has made things very interesting around here. He's in to EVERYTHING and we're constantly pushing things out of reach or moving things off the low tables completely. He is by far more "busy" than Parker ever dreamt of being at this age. He's completely fearless and he doesn't want it unless he's not suppose to have it. He's figured out that if he either wets his figure first or presses really hard on a little crumb on the floor it'll stick long enough to get it to his mouth. I'm CONSTANTLY fishing things out of his mouth and I don't know how updated you all are on how many teeth he currently has but it can be rather scary sticking my finger in a mouth with 8 pearly whites. I also think he hit a huge growth spurt over the last month. I kid you not he wasn't in 12 month clothes for more than 4 weeks before I had to start putting him in 18 month stuff! I can't wait to take him to the doctor for his 12 month check up just to see how much he's grown. Which also brings me to the fact that my baby will be one in less than a month! How did this year go by so quickly?!

This week he's started standing on his own for a couple seconds before falling down and tonight he actually took a couple steps! I was so excited because both of these first happened while Bobby was home! Maybe we'll have a walker before his first birthday!

Well, I think that just about catches y'all up! I'm going to really try to get better about keeping this blog updated and with that said I'll see y'all soon!

Happy Fall Days!!!

This post is going to be a hodge podge of stuff so just bear with me :) I took Parker and Carter to a fall festival at the Watermelon Patch on Friday but forgot my camera so I have no pictures of us actually being there. I do however have a picture I took later on that afternoon of the boys in the pumpkin outfits I made them.

Here are a couple pictures I took of the boys in there costumes. The first couple of pictures is of the boy's getting ready to go Trick or Treating at our church and the next one is of Parker this morning. Bobby's mom made both of Parker's costumes. Didn't she do a GREAT job! The dinosaur costume was actually Bobby's brother's when he was Parker's age!

Just like Parker this morning I hadn't quite got all the Halloween/fall fun out of my system so I decided to roast some pumpkin seeds. I didn't really want to carve a pumpkin after getting the seeds out but I didn't want to waste it either so after seeing this pumpkin I knew it would make a great project for my left over pumpkin. Bobby was really sweet to put the holes in it and cut the top off for me! It made my whole kitchen smell like I was cooking a pumpkin pie!!! YUMMY!!! Here's a picture of my Pumpkin Incense Burner

Pumpkin Patch

This week we visited the annual Pumpkin Patch our church puts on. We always seem to schedule a trip on Parker's birthday and this year was no different! This year was Carter's first trip to the patch and I think he really enjoyed it. He especially liked trying to eat the hay and pumpkins ;) Parker loved picking out a few pumpkins to decorate and when we got home he helped me arrange them on the front porch. Here are some pictures from our day!

Its the simple things....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKER

Three years ago today God blessed us with one of the greatest gifts we could have ever imagined! Parker you are the sweetest little boy I've ever met, so full of compassion, energy and just plain fun! I thank God each day he's given me with you! I can't wait to see how He uses you to touch others lives as much as you've touched ours! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!!

9 Months

Carter is 9 months old! It brings a tear to my eye to think he'll be 1 year old in only 3 months! He is such a sweet little guy! Here are some of the things he's doing right now:

• Pulling up on things.


• Still doing his "army crawl".


• Has 8 teeth (and knows how to use them)!


• Loves to make funny noises and copy noises mommy, daddy or Parker make.


• Still enjoys most of his baby foods.


• Always has a smile for anyone who talks to him.


• Just started doing some fake crying (its pretty funny) to see if it'll get him what he wants.

We took him to the doctors for his 9 month check-up last Friday and he weighted 18lbs and was 28.5 inches long. He had to get a couple shots, have his toe pricked for an anemia test and have a vision test but he was such a trooper! He's such a good baby! God truly blessed us when He added him to our family!

Brotherly Love

Beach Trip

I know you all were probably thinking I was never going to update the blog. We've been super busy lately which included a little trip to the beach. We had a nice time! It rained for the first half of the trip but the last half was really nice! The boys really seemed to like the beach although Parker wasn't as keen on getting in the ocean this time but to his defense the water was pretty rough. I put Carter's feet in a couple of times but he didn't seem so fond of it either. Here are a few pictures of the weekend!

The boys in the condo before dinner.

Parker and Bobby working on a sandcastle.

One of the few times I was able to talk Parker into walking down to the water with me.

Tuesday's Tune

They call me...Scrunchy Face!

This is Carter's new favorite face to make!

First Week of Mommy School

Here are some of the activities and projects Parker and I did in our first week back at Mommy School! I think he likes Mommy School even better than he did last year!

First we made cloud dough. It is a little softer to mold with than regular play dough which makes it easier for preschoolers to manipulate. I would post the recipe but I got it out of the Hands on Homeschooling book and she has a copy right on all of her materials. I'm sure if you wanted to make this with your child you could google it and find a recipe fairly easily.

We also made a Cars Lapbook. I got all the printables and instructions to make this book from a blog called Tot School. Here is the link to this Lapbook! I think I had about as much fun making it as Parker did playing with it!

In our Bible Study we're discussing The Story of Creation so I thought it would be fun to do a craft that explains and shows all the things God has created. We made this creation mobile found at DLTK.