Remembering

I guess the fact that my little man is turning 4 tomorrow has put me into a reminiscing mood. I can't believe it has been 4 whole years. Amazing!! It has gone by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday we were making the decision to go ahead and induce the little guy. I remember thinking on February 28,2007 that this was my last day not to be a mommy. So crazy!! Here I am 4 years later loving every minute of motherhood. So this is what I looked like 4 years ago today... Large!!

Today has been rainy and stormy. Just like the day Ben was born. It was the day of the huge tornado in Enterprise Alabama. In fact while Ben was being born (yes as I was pushing) our county was under a tornado warning. It was crazy outside! My dad took this picture of the weather right as Ben was born.

Our first picture as a family of 3!!

I know I am biased but he was the most beautiful baby!!

I just love this picture. It was taken when Ben was about 16 hours old. He and I just locked eyes and you can see the love!!

That little guy has rocked my world in such an amazing way!! I knew I would love being a mom but I had no idea how much. The love that I have for him and Kate surpasses anything I have ever known. Every minute I get to spend with them is a joy. I am so thankful to God for gifting them to me! I guess I am just sappy today but such great memories!
As we get ready to celebrate birthday number 4 it makes me smile to think about celebrating all his previous birthdays...

Frogs!

Trains!
Construction!

Such fun!! I love every minute of getting to watch him grow up. Each new stage is so wonderful. He is the sweetest little guy! I look forward to making so many more new and wonderful memories.

And So It Begins...

Where do the weekends go?? They go by so quickly. They are so wonderful but so short!! I want to start by saying I have the best husband in the whole world!! He let me go out with friends on Friday night and have an afternoon out with my mom on Saturday. Both much needed. I am so thankful to have a husband that doesn't mind taking the kids so I can have some time to myself. Thanks sweetie!!

And so the fun begins... We got Ben all signed up for soccer on Saturday. Our journey into organized activities has begun. We gave him the option of tball or soccer and he chose soccer. I think it is going to be so much fun for him. I am excited. Saturday was sign up day and evaluations. We are doing Upwards soccer through our church this spring. I think it will be a good first experience and hopefully we will start rec league in the fall. He had a blast at the evaluations. He got out there and did all the little drills. He really didn't know what he was doing but he tried hard!! It was so cute. I can't wait for practices and games to start in a couple of weeks. Kate loved watching him. She was clapping and cheering "GO."
Ben and his best buddy Micah!

Micah's birthday was last week so after soccer evaluations Micah's family took Ben swimming at the Y to celebrate his birthday. Ben had a blast they said. He thought it was so cool to get to go swimming inside. Makes us so excited for summer. I can't wait to hit the pool everyday!!

I have been working on getting together a big load of stuff to to take to the spring consignment sales. It is my first time to sell stuff. The clothes were starting to take over the house so it is time to get rid of them. It's lots of work to get ready but I am excited to get some money (which I am sure will be spent on more clothes for them).

Matt actually had to work today which is sad. But I got both kids up and ready for church and we were actually early so I thought I would try to get a picture of them both dressed up. No such luck...

Good thought though. Although the weekend is coming to an end we are super excited about the week!! It's a birthday week!!!!!! We love birthday weeks. I can't believe my little man is going to be 4. It's going to be awesome!!

Flashback Friday - Toomer's Edition

I am sure most of you have heard about the terrible thing that happened to the Toomers Corner oak trees. It has made us sick!! Really both Matt and I got tears in our eyes when we first heard about it. So sad! Sad because of all the great memories that are tied up in those trees. Man do we have some memories. I remember rolling it in college after we beat #1 Florida!! There was a big win over Georgia that was a blast as well. Those are my college memories that someone had to go and ruin.

The day it hit the news I got text and emails from Alabama fan friends telling me they were so sorry. I do not hold any ill will against any Alabama fans!! Don't worry I am not out to get you guys. It was one crazy person that did this. It is so sad that one person can ruin something so wonderful for thousands and thousands of people! The saddest part is that my children are not going to have the wonderful memories that I do of rolling Toomers. When we tell them about the Toomers tradition it will only be a memory - a wonderful memory!

These are just trees. There is no eternal significance to them and so I am not mad but I am sad. But I do have the memories!!
The great thing for us is that we have a Toomers seedling planted in our yard!! Our very own Toomers. We can continue to roll and celebrate Auburn wins in our own backyard.

A Big Thank You!!

I wanted to give a big shout out thank you to all of you who voted for Ben and Kate back in December in the photo contest they were in. I never updated with the results that they won!!! Yes my sweet kiddos came in first place. Thanks to you guys and all the voting you did. So thanks so much! I got to pick out and awesome picture to go over our mantle. Our picture we had over the mantle recently broke so it was great to be able to get a pick of the 2 most beautiful kids in the world to replace it with! I was so excited to get to put the picture up today. Doesn't it look great!! Thanks again!!

Who Stole the Cookie?

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Ben stole the cookie from the cookie jar!!!

We have a little sneaky boy on our hands. I had walked out of the room and when I walked back in he had pulled a bar stool up and was helping himself to the box of Girl Scout cookies!! It just made me laugh! I love the look on his face - so innocent but with a cookie crumb hanging out.
And just for my records... Kate moved out of the baby class today at school. It is sort of sad. She moved up to the toddler class. We had been putting off the move since she wasn't walking but now that she is and is no longer taking a morning nap it was time. She sure is going to miss Ms. Gerri and Ms. Virginia. But she loved her new class. Lots of fun new toys and friends. They said she did great and fit right in. I am so proud of her!! She is such a big girl.

Redeeming Tuesdays

So Tuesdays have never been my favorite day. Mondays are ok because you are just coming off the weekend. Wednesday is hump day. Thursday means it is almost Friday. And well Fridays are wonderful. But Tuesdays have just never been that exciting.

But lately I have come to look forward to Tuesdays. Tuesday is Bible Study day!! I love my Bible Study time!!! 2 hours with no kids (always good). I am doing an amazing study call No Other Gods. I highly recommend it. I have so enjoyed my awesome leader and all the ladies in the study. I don't think I have ever done a study where I so look forward to going. God is teaching me some amazing things.

Then after Bible Study a bunch of us moms stay at the church and eat lunch while the kids play. It is wonderful!! A couple of hours where I get some mommy chat time. I have come to learn how wonderful that time is. It is a time where I can share what is going on and what struggles I have with some great friends and know that they are going through the same things. It is always such an encouraging time. I love my "mommy friends" as I like to call them. And I especially love our Tuesday time together. I always leave refreshed and ready to face the rest of the week.

I took my camera today to take some pictures of the kids playing but I totally forgot. But I did snap this picture when we got home. Yep this is another reason I love Tuesdays. Both kids are worn out and will take a nap!!!

What's Up In Our World

Really not too much up around here. We got back into our normal routine today. With all the snow days that we had in January school was in session on the holiday which was fine with me!!

We had a pretty good weekend. Ben finally went back to school on Friday but they called me saying that he was crying saying his ear hurt. So I finally took him to the doctor (he hasn't been for a sick visit in probably almost 3 years). The doctor was really concerned because he was wheezing so bad. He had pretty severe bronchitis but no ear infection (don't know what the ear pain was about). It is all from the nasty sinus stuff he had. I felt so bad for him. But he got an antibiotic and steriod and is finally doing much better!! Both he and Kate spent Friday night at Mema and Opa's house! I know they had a great time. Ben got to do some golfing which he was excited about of course!! Matt and I enjoyed dinner out and doing some shopping for a little boy who will be 4 (yes 4 - I can't believe it) next week!!!!!

Saturday I got to go to a baby shower for my wonderful friend Krissy. I am so excited that little Ellery will be here in a few short weeks!! It was so much fun to see all that pretty pink stuff!! Saturday night we went over to Kelly and Andrew's house for a game night. Kelly did the most amazing game night spread. It was so cute. I wish I had taken a picture. It looked like it was straight out of a magazine. We also worked on our Alaska trip. It is going to be so much fun!! I didn't take a single picture all weekend. I sure wish I had. So you will have to live with a couple cute ones from today!

Here is my little almost 4 year old. He loves to play with all his action figures!! Don't you just love the big stain of juice down his shirt. A funny for him from today... I asked him if he wanted some juice for lunch. He said "No. Mrs. Teague said juice is not good for you." I don't know why that made me laugh. I guess it is because I spend my days at work telling parents that juice is not good for kids and my own kid has to tell me!! But just so you know they don't get real juice. It is 90% water with a splash of juice. A bottle of juice will last 2-3 weeks in our house.

And my sweet walking girl!! She has really taken off in the last few days. She can now get up from the floor and start walking without holding onto everything. She actually wants to do it now!!

15 Months Old!!!

Our sweet baby girl turned 15 months old this week. So hard to believe!! I thought I would give an update on her since we went to the doctor and there are actually some things to update.

• Miss Kate weighs in at 21 pounds 12 ounces!! That is about the 30th%ile. She is 30.5 inches long which is the 75%ile. She has really taken off in her growth in the last few months!! She is getting really tall and lean. She still has the tiniest little hands, feet and features. Definitely what you would call petite. She wears mainly 12 month clothes. Although some 6-12 month still fit and sometimes she will wear 18 month. Get this she still wears a size 2 shoe. She has the littlest feet that just don't seem to grow!!
• Over the last couple of months she has developed a little temper. She knows what she wants and she will let you know what it is. There are lots of tears at times. It is such a hard age before they can talk but they know what they want. She can also get a little feisty. She has started hitting (especially Ben). I think it is her way of getting some attention. So we have had to start some early discipline.
• She still LOVES to eat!!! There is not much she won't eat and she eats a lot each day. We laugh that Ben leaves most of his food and Kate eats her's and Ben's. She can pack it away!! Some of her favorites are pretty much any fruit, carrots, breads and well pretty much anything!!
• She has a total of about 10 teeth I think. She has 2 molars on the top and is working on getting the bottom 2 any day. She is pretty much down to 1 nap each day from about 1 to 4 in the afternoon. We have lost our great nighttime sleeper. Getting her molars really messed her up. Most nights she wakes up 3-4 times during the night just fussy. Hoping this will pass quickly.
• She is so much fun!! She just loves to play. She loves anything that she can stack or makes music. She also loves to read books. She could sit for hours and read. One thing she loves to do is sit and look at pictures. She loves to go around the house and point at all the pictures and tell us who is in them. There really is no stranger anxiety with Kate. She loves to smile and talk to anyone.
• Finally in the last week she has decided that walking is a much faster and easier way to get around. She is walking about 50% of the time now. Still not totally sold on it yet. She loves to talk. And she talks very loud!! It is pretty much a yell when she talks. She likes to practice all of her sounds. Right now she will pretty much try to repeat whatever you say. Some of her best words are mama, dada, baba (Ben), amen, bye bye, night night, bobo (book), gogie (dog), hi. I am sure there are more but those are the ones she says the most.

She is still such a sweet girl!! Brings us so much joy!! I can't believe how big she is getting and how grown up she looks.

Springtime?

The weather has been teasing us all week I do believe. We have enjoyed temperatures in the 60's and 70's which is really rare in February. But compared the cold and snow I will take it. I am sure we will go back to the cold before too long but the kids and I decided to take advantage of it today. We loaded up the big double jogger and went for a long walk and some time at the neighborhood park. It was wonderful!!! I think we all needed it.

A Mommy & Ben Day

Ben and I had a really special day today. It is not often that I get to hang out with just me and my little man but today we did. He has been a little under the weather the last few days. Anytime we have a big change in weather he gets bad sinus issues. He developed a cough a few days ago that is horrible! Seriously never heard a cough this bad. He has also had a low grade fever for a day or so. Nothing terrible or contagious just sinus stuff. That being said he couldn't go to school today (I try really hard not to expose others when we have sick kids). Kate was at school. I had to cancel my work appointments for the day so I figured we would make the best of it. We had the best time together.

First stop was Target. He looked at toys and made a birthday list. That is every kid's dream right?? Then we went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few things for his birthday party. We also headed to my favorite consignment store that was having a clearance sale. I got lots of great clothes for the kids. Ben is the best kid ever to take on errands. He loves to go places and is so well behaved. It is fun to have him along!!
We also got to have lunch together at Five Guys. This is a horrible picture of me but great of Ben and we were having too much fun not to share.

We had a great time. It was fun to just get to chat with him and hear his thoughts without him having to yell over Kate (she is really loud).

Speaking of Kate. Couldn't leave her out. She is a sweetie. She had a great day at school. Her favorite thing to do right now is to read books. I lost her in the house yesterday and I found her in her room looking through books. She stayed in there doing that for about 45 minutes. She just loves them!!

All You Need Is Love

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

We had a great Valentine's Day!! I just love celebrating love. No there is nothing magical about February 14th that makes is so special. It is just a day to stop and be thankful for the love we have in our lives. First off the love of our Heavenly Father who is the author of all love!! Without Him there would be no love at all!! Then the love of amazing family and friends. I just think it is a great day!!

We didn't do anything really special. The kids and I did our normal Monday errands. Ben is such a sweet boy. When he woke up Ben said, "I didn't get you anything for Valentines Day." I told him that was ok. He was really upset. We went to Walmart and he saw the flowers and and wanted to get me some red roses. I felt funny buying them for myself so I told him to call his daddy. So he just called Matt and said, "I want to get mommy red roses for Valentines Day from Walmart. Pick those up for me please." It cracked me up but also made me realize what a sweetie he is. Such a tender heart. I know he will make a great Valentine for a lucky girl one day (not anytime soon!!!!).

Matt did bring him home some red roses to give to me and they are beautiful. I am going to treasure them and the memory forever! We did some fun present opening. We like to do fun little gifts for each other.

Ben got some Legos and a fun puzzle.

Matt got some scrubs, bug spray and sunscreen. I know that is so not fun but it is what he needs for his upcoming trip to Africa so I was trying to be practical!
Kate got a cute sock monkey and a fun summer outfit. She would not pose with her stuff.

I got a great picture frame and a fun Auburn scarf. I love just having a chance to tell my sweet little family how much I love them!!
We all went out to dinner together at Moe's BBQ. It was a real romantic dinner let me tell you! But it was great. We got to be together.