Taking the Plunge!

We bought a pool! 

Anyone want to guess what the first words out of James' mouth will be tomorrow morning??

Missouri

We are home again from a whirlwind trip to Missouri!  We drove up on Thursday, visited on Friday and Saturday, and drove back on Sunday! Phew!  I will let some pictures tell the story!

We all visited Grandma at the nursing home Friday afternoon, and she loved meeting Allen!  She was an old pro, holding him, rocking him, catching his toys, and talking to him.  Allen did well with her, too, thankfully!

Allen started to get fussy with Great-Grandma because he was hungry!  I tried to take Allen so I could feed him, and Grandma turned him away from me!  I ended up just sitting down next to them and reaching over to feed him his bottle!  That bought us some more precious time with her.

 "Come on, mommy!  Let's go swing!" We always have to swing with Old Grandpa!  We did this every day, several times a day!  It's fun to see James enjoy it as much as I did when I was little!  So many generations have enjoyed that swing.

 On Saturday evening, we went over to my Uncle Terry's house to play with his grandson, my cousin, Allison's, son, Brandt.  Brandt is around 6 months older than James, and they had a blast together!  Here you can see both the boys playing with Allen, and Allen having a blast!  LOVE this picture!

We enjoyed a fun evening out on Friday at Eagle Pass Winery, not too far from town, with our older sister, Megan!  We enjoyed a wine tasting, delicious dinner, and hilarious conversation!  I have some awesome sisters!

One Terrific Tuesday

Yesterday, sweet baby Allen developed an ear infection.  We spent yesterday morning, in the rain, running to Dr. Edwards' office and to Publix to get a prescription.  By the time we finished all that, it was time for lunch and naps.  I decided to spend some sweet cuddle time with my sick baby, and we enjoyed a lazy afternoon of napping together that ended abruptly when James woke up from his nap.

Am I spoiling him?  Probably.  But I know I will miss these sweet times when he's "too big."

The nap was obviously the perfect cure because Allen played the rest of the afternoon!  Look at what a big boy he is, sitting up and playing!

One of his favorite toys!

So, today was back to normal and digging into some summer fun!  I have Pinterest boards full of things I want to do this summer with James and Allen, and today we accomplished one!  It was one of the first ideas I pinned, and it was SO much fun!  Take a look at the pictures to see what we did:

We mixed different colors of vinegar in with baking soda to make it bubble!  We did this once this morning, and we did it a second time after dinner to show daddy how AWESOME it is!  James loved watching the colors bubble, and we practiced naming our colors.  I am not a preschool teacher, but we simply talked about what colors we were using, what colors to use, and pointing at the colors as they bubbled up.  I am sure we will be doing this again!

After that, we lounged around the house for a bit while Allen enjoyed his morning nap, and we went to story time at the Monroe library, checked out some train books, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Laura and her kids.  James asked all day yesterday when he could go to Laura's, and he is already asking again...

One thing that has happened overnight is James' ability to do his Thomas the Train puzzle.  It quickly flipped from him watching us do the puzzle for him to him piecing it together himself!  He completes the puzzle several times a day (especially since Allen wants to "play puzzle" with him and ends up breaking it apart!).  Check it out:

He is doing this with NO help from me! 

Did you post pictures?

Upon sharing with Chris that I made a new blog post, his immediate response was, "Did you post pictures? That's what people want."  My answer was no, so, obviously, I need to add some pictures.

First, below is the picture of the boys' first bath together, and sweet James was so excited to have Allen in there that he wanted to share his Thomas train toy, and that is, my friends, a BIG deal!  It's an awkward bath right now because Allen slips and slides around, but I am sure he will get the hang of it all too soon.

Next comes a picture of James in an awesome firefighter's hat from Firehouse Subs.  We enjoyed lunch there today after playing at the World of Wonder playground in Athens.  I would have pictures from our playground adventure, but I was having too much fun running around with James on the playset!

Last comes my little dude.  Recently (like, Saturday), I decided to introduce him to some basic finger foods, like the Gerber puffs.  Below is a picture of him trying to figure out how to feed himself.  It keeps him entertained for a bit... until he gets frustrated because he cannot fit his entire fistful of puffs into his mouth.

Sweet Summertime

Well, almost 6 months into the new year, and, as always, some goals set back in January are obviously harder to keep than others!  The goals that I did and did not meet have surprised me, though.

I am thrilled to share that I ran my first 5k on May 12th, and I finished in 32 minutes!  I run over 3 miles daily, exercise regularly, and TRY to make better food choices (smaller lunches, more fruit and veggies for snacks).  Because of those changes, I have lost around 20 pounds!  I am back into sizes that just a year ago I thought I would never wear again (meaning that when I cleaned out my closet last summer, I cleaned out every item of clothing that I now need).  Chris is working towards running 3 miles as well, using the same Ease into 5k app that my friend and I used.  He's not as much into the racing as I am; he just wants to be fit.

Now, my goal of keeping up with this blog was much harder than I anticipated.  I simply did not make time for updating it.  SO, I am challenging myself this summer.  I am plotting a fun summer with my boys, and my goal-- dare I say and share it with the world because I will be held to it-- is to post at least one picture and story from each day I am in town.  Can I do it?  We shall see...

All I can say is that I am THRILLED that summer is here, and I cannot wait to spend time with my boys!

The Perfect Evening

I know I have not kept up with this blog recently. . . but this evening some things happened that filled me with so much joy that I just had to get my lazy self in gear to share.

Chris is with his "fwend" Taylor this evening, off to see The Hunger Games. I have enjoyed an evening playing with my boys, and some sweet things happened.

First, I was on the floor, holding Allen up while he played with his tool bench. James came right over and sat down, eager to entertain Allen. Out of the blue, without being prompted, James leaned over, hugged me tightly, and said, "I lue you, mommy." I held him right back and told him how much I loved him. He gave me a big kiss and then ran off to another toy.

What really touched my heart, though, was this evening as I was reading James his bedtime stories on my bed. Allen woke up (Chris and I usually lay him down to sleep while James is in his bath), and I went to go get him. I brought him back with me and sat back down next to James. I propped Allen up on my chest, and James scooted closer to me, reaching around to hug Allen. He kissed Allen and whispered, "I lue you." He then scooted away and snuggled in on my other side. We sat like that, Allen on my chest, James snuggled up on my left side, for the entire time I read bedtime stories. I just wanted to keep both my boys there forever. . . or at least the rest of the night!

I am just amazed as I watch James and see the little boy he is becoming. I am so thankful for his kind heart and how he shows love to me, Chris, Allen. I love to see his enthusiasm for and desire to make Allen happy-- to get him to stop crying, to get Allen to laugh. Allen already has a best friend and a great role model to look up to.

Day By Day