Michigan Pictures

Doesn't he look like he should have a little girl? :)

The 3 kids watching Baby Einstein and playing

They played well together in general

Katie and I with the wee ones

My darling girl :)

Andy and Eric at the end of our flying visit

Eric and I :)

Stephen asleep on the way home

Caleb in the same state... they were amazingly good.

Been too long...

It's been far too long since I posted, but around Thanksgiving I really started going downhill physically and had no energy for the simple little things like keeping up with my blog. My body does not handle drugs well at all and the Birth Control I was taking finally caught up with me. I had zero energy, it was all I could do to keep a clean kitchen and dinner on the table, the rest of the house was let go. Thankfully Andy and I finally got things worked out and I'm off the pill and using natural ways to avoid pregnancy for the time being. Since then I've been able to get my house under control, play with my babies, sew and still feel good by the end of the day.

Our biggest news is that Andy got a JOB!!!!! He is a police officer for the City of Opelika and loves it. It is a perfect fit for him and I'm very excited. He started with a Physical Fitness test in January and by the end of the hiring process was the only person to take the polygraph much less pass it. His first week on the force his training officer gave him this article to read and the Sheepdog protectors really describes Andy's mindset to me.

After he got hired we took a week and drove up to Michigan for a little vacation to see Katie and a few other friends. It was wonderful and we got some really cute pictures in the snow of the boys. :)

We've also decided that since Andy is going to be gone most of the summer at the police academy that I'm going to go back to GA and live with my parents and finish my degree at UGA. I have 3 classes and will be able to do one in May, one in June and one in July Lord willing. Then I will be done and graduated. So now that I'm caught up in a nutshell, I can get back into the swing of posting. :) I will post pictures soon of the past few months.

Reformation Day Party

Our church had a Reformation Day party on the 31st and it was so much fun to see the kids dressed up and playing games. Caleb had a blast and Stephen spent the whole night running in circles. He didn't want to be picked up because he was having too much fun. Caleb is wearing the jack'o lantern costume that Andy's Mom made for him when Andy was Caleb's age, so that was fun. Stephen refused to wear a normal costume so a couple of bandanas later we had the cutest little cowboy. ;)

Nature

Yesterday we took a drive outside of Auburn and here are a couple pics that we took while out. In some ways it's difficult to believe I took these in Alabama since everything is so dry. lol

Caleb's 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe that my baby boy is growing up so fast. It was a shock to realize that we were celebrating his 3rd birthday September 26th. He is of course a very big boy, wearing size 5s and an 11 1/2 extra wide shoe, but we are starting to see his face slim down and lose the baby fat.

He talks up a storm and will repeat anything and everything he hears. And of course he is always saying "I do myself Mommy." The funniest thing at the moment happened a couple of weeks ago. Caleb was running around the house playing and pooted. Andy turned around and laughingly asked him if he pooted. Caleb looked at him and said, "you talk about my poot Daddy?" Andy said yes, then Caleb turned to me with "Mommy, I pooted and Daddy talking about it." We just about rolled out of our chairs we were laughing so hard. Ever since then, thankfully only at home, if he poots Caleb looks at Andy and says "you talk about my poot Daddy?" What do you do with uninhibated wee ones? lol

Below are some pictures from Caleb's birthday dinner.

Holding up 3 fingers... he wanted pizza for his dinner

Even with cake in front of him he didn't want to put the pizza down

Stephen just couldn't wait to get his hands on that cake

My sweet boys

He picked out a spice cake

Can you tell he was happy to get his cake :)

Stone Mountain-July

So I am super behind on posting and wish I had kept up with things, but I've been busy with house stuff and not feeling well so blogging was not high on my priority list. So I will start with our flying family trip to Stone Mountain back in July. The main reason we went was so that we could get to meet David's girlfriend Mary without overwhelming her at my parent's house. We grilled out and had a good time eating and talking. Then Nana and Pop-pop watched the boys while the rest of us climbed the mountain. We got caught in a quick rainstorm while up there and everyone was soaked to the skin. lol We stayed for the laser show of course and no matter if people think it's cheesy or not, it is always fun.

An interesting thing about the laser show... everyone who has seen it knows that at the end they play the National Anthem and fly the flag on the mountain. We were seated about halfway down the lawn and John immediately stood when it started playing... David, James and Andy weren't far behind... they were the only ones I saw standing to begin with and from behind me I hear "Jerks! Blocking my view." Shortly after that the voice said in a different tone, "ohhhh" and I saw the man stand up. By the end of the song, the majority of the crowd was standing with their hands over their hearts, but that initial reaction unfortunately didn't surprise me.

Andy and I obviously... on top of the mountain.

David isn't really this much taller than Mary... they are cute together aren't they. :)

All of us drenched.

Laser show pictures

Best Friends

While I was in Georgia last week Katie and I were able to get together for the first time in 6 months. It was great to sit and talk about silly little things and important things with someone who understands me so well. I love having old friendships that you can slip back into as if no time has past. Granted, we are now sitting in Subway wondering if our kids are happy without us and knowing that we have only an hour or 2 before we have to get them again, instead of being carefree. But being able to stay friends even as life presents us with new experiences is a wonderful thing.

Charis seemed so fascinated with Caleb's shoe.

The babies were quite happy to look at each other while we took pics. :)

With all the kids... can you tell how thrilled they are? lol

So glad to be together

Hilarious!!!

Ok, one of my friends sent me this link to the "Ten Worst Baby Products Ever" and I cracked up! Numbers Two and Four are my favorites. lol Hope y'all enjoy. :)

http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2008/07/ten-worst-baby-products-ever.html

Baby Donkey

I'm over at my family's house for a couple of days and our donkey had a baby. John named him Enzo and he's so cute. He's also very sweet and loves people. Other babies we have had have been very skittish and afraid of people, but Enzo will come over and lip your hand.

Too Cute...

So earlier this week Caleb and Stephen were playing in their room while I was sitting on the couch working on my computer. All of a sudden Stephen comes out grumbling, not crying or whining, grumbling. He came over, pulled my arm up and climbed into my lap, sat down and looked up at me. Then he stuck his lower lip out, pointed at the bedroom and said "bock". Right then Caleb walks out carrying their bucket of duploes with a grin on his face, I asked him if he had taken all the blocks from Stephen and he said yes very happily. I told him that he had to share and could try giving Stephen some cars and sent them back to play. It just cracked me up that Stephen wasn't crying just complaining and tattling for the first time. I know that I will have to work on discipline and not allow this behavior to develop a lot, but it's so much fun to see personalities coming out. :)

Zoo Trip in May

In May while up in Birmingham Andy's Mother took us to the zoo. The Birmingham Zoo is really small, but we still had a great time. Caleb thought the Sea Lion show was so funny and enjoyed being splashed by them. Stephen seemed fascinated by the monkeys swinging around. I think Andy and I enjoyed the Lorikeet exhibit the best. The Lorikeets are beautiful little rainbow birds who will land on you. One persisted on unbuttoning the zookeeper's shirt buttons while another sat on Andy's shoulder and tried to clean his ear. :) Caleb and Stephen freaked out when the birds zoomed down to land on our shoulders and wouldn't stop fussing so we had to leave a little earlier than we would have liked. Both of them loved the train ride we took at the end. It was really neat to see this beautiful Bald Eagle just sitting in the tree, they are such enormous birds.

crocodiles

This is a river otter from here in Alabama, I love them, they are such graceful creatures in the water.

Stephen cuddling with Andy while looking at the lions.

A beautiful white tiger.

The kangaroos were so neat. We even got to see them hop around which was unusual, the zookeeper said that they normally don't move around in the afternoon.









Caleb putting on his hat to go

into the "gold mine"

Our family riding the train at the end of the day. :)

Song I heard today...

"Holy Water"
Somewhere there's a stolen halo
I use to watch her wear it well
Everything would shine wherever she would go
But looking at her now you'd never tell

Someone ran away with her innocence
A memory she can't get out of her head
I can only imagine what she's feeling
When she's praying
Kneeling at the edge of her bed

And she says take me away
And take me farther
Surround me now
And hold, hold, hold me like holy water
Holy water

She wants someone to call her angel
Someone to put the light back in her eyes
She's looking through the faces
The unfamiliar places
She needs someone to hear her when she crys

And she says take me away
And take me farther
Surround me now
And hold, hold, hold me like holy water
Holy water

She just needs a little help
To wash away the pain she's felt
She wants to feel the healing hands
Of someone who understands
And she says take me away
And take me farther
Surround me now
And hold, hold, hold me
And she says take me away
And take me farther
Surround me now
And hold, hold, hold me like holy water
Holy water

I found out Andy was my healing hands when we started dating. I love him to death. :)

Stephen's First Birthday--Very Belated

I have been lazy and didn't get the pictures developed from Stephen's First Birthday party until yesterday. It's hard to believe that he turned 1 year old April 10th. For his birthday my whole family was able to make it in and Andy's parents came down. We also had 2 couples we are good friends with come over. It was lots of fun to just hang out, talk and eat. :) Below are my favorite pics from the day.

Stephen dove into his cake without hesitation :)

Little chocolate boy

Caleb and Hunter enjoyed helping open Stephen's presents... here we are opening a float for Stephen to use at the lake this summer.

Such a cute grin from my wee one

The boys thought Deke was really funny with the bag over his head. :)

David...

The beginning of May David went down to Florida for the National RUF conference. While down there he met this beautiful young lady from the University of Texas. Mary will be coming for a visit sometime in July and I hope to be able to meet her then. Best of luck to them both. :)