Pictures

Back in October we had our pictures taken again by Brittani Bailey. She did a great job! I thought I would share some of my favorites.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for.  Once again we had Thanksgiving at our house and hosted my parents as well as a mix of family from my mom's side and my dad's side.  It was a small gathering but it was fun and the food was great!

Love these two kiddos! They had such a fun day seeing family and playing outside- the weather was gorgeous!

Jackson is finally loving his bike! He would often try it and get frustrated with it so it took him awhile to learn and now he flies around the driveway!

I am so thankful for both of these children.  This year I am mostly thankful for a healthy year and thankful that there were no extended hospital visits in 2012 (well, we've got about a month left but hopefully there won't be any).  2011 was a really hard year for us so I am very very thankful that 2012 turned out to be a lot less stress free.  And so thankful for children who eat well, sleep well and love each other and a husband who loves his family- I will never take those things for granted! Most of all I'm thankful for Jesus and the everyday reminders of how much we need Him. I'm looking forward to the advent season and celebrating this time with my family.

Time for an Update

Time slips by so quickly these days and here we are just a couple of days away from Thanksgiving.  Jackson wants to bypass Thanksgiving all together and go straight to Christmas (not on purpose really but just because he gets so excited about Christmas).  He's been begging to listen to Christmas music and get Christmas decorations out so I've been trying to teach him more about Thanksgiving and all we have to be thankful for.  And it's a lot!

Right now, life is good. We've all been well for awhile, although Emmy is on antibiotics for a sinus infection. Everyone adjusted pretty easily to the time change. We had a couple of early mornings due to the early sunrise but both kids are still sleeping 11-12 hours at night.  We seem to be in a good routine with work and school and days at home. 

Jackson is growing by the day! He is very curious about life and asks lots of questions.  Although he disobeys often he desires for me to be happy with him and to please me.  If I get onto him for something he will often say in a very serious tone, "Okay Mommy, I won't do that ever again."  He recently told me that he was planning on obeying all day long on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I told him that he needed to obey every day to which he said, "Woooaaaa! That's really hard!" 

Jackson loves Emmy very much and wants her to play with him all the time.  He loves that she will do whatever he is doing and will usually do whatever he tells her to.  Just recently he has started running through the house screaming, "Ah! A ghost!" or "Ah! A monster!".  I'm not sure where he learned this and maybe it came from Halloween but Emmy also runs through the house screaming, "a ghost!"  What took Jackson four years to learn about only took Emmy one. Great!

I'm so thankful that we still have warm days because the kids are so much happier outside.  When they play inside it seems like they are constantly fighting or screaming or terrorizing one another.  They play forever outside without fussing or fighting. They will both dig in the dirt, rake the leaves, collect leaves or rocks or acorns. I'm not sure what I will do when it's too cold to play outside!

My sweet Emmy-girl is growing up faster than I would like to believe.  I can't even talk about the fact that she will be two in a few short months.  She is still my baby though she doesn't act like a baby at all.  Of course Jackson still calls her "baby Emmy" and I'm not sure how long it will take to break that habit.

Emmy has become quite attached to my mom (Gigi).  A couple of months ago my mom started picking her up on Thursdays after MDO and bringing her home in the afternoon to take her nap and then play.  Emmy LOVES Gigi and cries every Thursday when she leaves.  She talks about Gigi all the time now and loves it most when Gigi sits and reads with her and sings to her.  Emmy is very shy so I'm very glad she has warmed up so much to my mom. I think it just took them having some one on one time together. Other than my mom Emmy won't really talk much around others.  She just smiles!

Emmy's naps continue to be a mystery to me.  I think her naps go in phases.  When Emmy first dropped to one nap a day she would only sleep an hour or so. It took her a little while for her body to adjust to sleeping longer since she was only napping one time a day.  After she adjusted she was sleeping anywhere from 2-3 hours.  Then after awhile her naps shortened a good bit, back to just an hour to an hour and a half. This went on so long that I finally just accepted the fact that she wasn't going to take long naps anymore.  Now she is back to sleeping anywhere from 2-3 hours. I'll try not to get too used to this as it could easily change!

At the end of the day I'm exhausted but watching these two grow up is definitely worth it!

Trick or Treat

Jackson decided that he wanted to be a fireman for Halloween this year. He loves firemen right now and says that's what he wants to be when he grows up. He was such a cute fireman! And Jackson helped me decide on what Emmy should be- a fire dog! Emmy loves "goggies" (doggies) so she was all about dressing up as one. Pretty cute!

Pumpkins!

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch and they had a blast! Emmy especially loved it since she obviously didn't remember her trip from last year. She kept saying "kukins!" and loved all the little pumpkins. Of course Jackson gravitated more toward the very large pumpkins and decided to try and find the biggest pumpkin of them all.  The weather was beautiful and I got some fun pictures. (Please excuse the bruise on Emmy's head. She is quite accident prone. At least it happened two days after we got professional pictures done.)

I Survived and a Little War Eagle!

I survived another weekend on my own with the kids! It was a lot of fun but I'm glad Kevin's home. Kevin went camping this past weekend and was gone for three days. I did lots of preparing (pinteresting) and gathering of materials in order to keep us all busy! Here's what we did:

First of all, we had to wear our Auburn attire. Through the good, the bad and the ugly, we love our Tigers!

Then it was time for some baking. The kids love to help me in the kitchen. We made Halloween cookies- with orange icing and sprinkles!!!

We also went on a leaf hunt. Who knew it could be so fun to find leaves! The kids loved finding different shapes and colors. Then we made turkeys using our leaves!

We also made some jack 'o lanterns with felt. Jackson really enjoyed this craft. It was fun making different faces using different shapes. Thanks Pinterest!

I enjoyed a little crafting of my own and made Emmy a pumpkin shirt! It's very similar to last year's shirt but I think it turned out cute.

Bragging Rights

 

Every mama's got a right to brag on their little ones, right? Sometimes the daily grind can get me down but it's the big (and little) accomplishments that makes my heart swell.  My heart is swelling big time right now. I've got some really good news.....

The date is set. On October 10, 2012 Jackson will be officially dismissed from speech therapy! I am so excited! SO EXCITED! Jackson has been receiving speech therapy since he was about 18 months old.  From age 18 months to 3 years he received therapy through Early Intervention and then from 3-4 years through our local school system.  Mainly he was behind on his articulation. He was very difficult to understand. His current speech therapist feels that he is at age level and no longer needs to receive therapy. I prayed about this boy and his speech many many times and many of my dear friends and family prayed for him too.  Thanks to the Lord for answering these prayers! So so proud of my sweet boy who worked so hard on his speech over the past couple of years!

He is a funny boy! Conversations with him are fun and entertaining.  I wanted to document some of the funny and cute things he has said.
-He calls chick-fil-a, "chick-a-lay".
-He was so excited the other day to show Emmy a "piney cone"  (i.e. pine cone).
-He calls a door bell, a "ding bell."

The other day Jackson was singing "Father Abraham".  Kevin asked him if he was a son of Father Abraham and Jackson said, "yes".  Kevin asked him how he knew that he was a son of Father Abraham and Jackson said, "because I have hair on my arms!".  

Kevin was also asking Jackson about Adam and Eve. He asked him what Adam was made out of and Jackson said, "dirt". Then he asked him what Eve was made out of and Jackson said, "ribbons".  Close enough...

I've got to brag a little on Emmy too.  This girl amazes me. I know I am biased but she is so smart.  I thought her "potty training" was probably a fluke or something that wouldn't last but over past month she has consistently been pooping in the potty.  If we are home, she tells us when she needs to go and goes on the potty.  Yes, she's only 19 months old and potty training herself.  A couple of times she's told us she's needed to tee tee and gone on the potty- that's been rare though. At this point I'm letting her take the lead and basically just putting her on the potty when she tells me she needs to go. I'm still a bit shocked by this child. 

They weren't kidding when they said girls are more mature and develop faster. I have to remind myself that she is only 19 months.  She still talks a ton and has so many words I can't keep count.  She uses several two word phrases now and loves to tell us when she has two of something. She'll say, "two napkins" and "two cups".  She also says, "clean up" and "me too".  I love that she has started trying to sing. It is the sweetest thing to hear her little singing voice.  She sings "Jesus loves me" and I can make out the words "Jesus" and "me".  Love this age!

New Recipes, Potty Training and K4

Thanks to Pinterest I've been cooking up some healthier meals. My ultimate goal however has been to find healthy foods that I can pack for the kiddos to take for lunch.  I'm blessed with children who are very good eaters. But I've found, left to their own devices (i.e. going to school, being away from Mommy) they don't naturally scarf up their vegetables.  So I'm getting creative in order to ensure my children are eating healthy at school. :)

Here are some new recipes I've tried from Pinterest and loved!
Zucchini Muffins:
My kids love muffins! So basically anything in the shape of a muffin my kids will eat!

Oatmeal Muffins:
These are so great for breakfast. If you have a sweet tooth like me you may not love them at first but my kids do! I love that they use oatmeal and no sugar!

Fruit and Veggie Muffins:
This one is my kids favorite so far. (Probably because it has sugar in it). I'm working on adjusting the recipe a little so it doesn't have quite as much sugar.

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So I don't normally speak of bathroom habits but when you have kids pottying becomes common talk. At Emmy's 18 month well check her pediatrician once again mentioned potty training and that since Emmy is so verbal I should try it with her.  I didn't think much of it until a few days later Emmy said, "poo poo". She has been telling us when she is dirty so I figured that was the case this time, except there was nothing in her diaper.  So I decided to run her into the bathroom and sit her on the potty- and she went. Since then she has gone here and there. At first, she did great and went a lot on the potty but then she grew tired of sitting on the potty as I think the newness wore off.  If I can catch her at the right time she will still poop on the potty but with her going to school it's hard to be consistent.  I'm still kind of amazed at her but definitely not ready to make the jump. I think this proves that she will be ready much earlier than Jackson was!

She loves to make this face!

Today was a big day for Jackson. It was his first day of K4! It's hard to believe that he is this big. He is so excited about being back to school. He is not scared or shy or hesitant- just jumps right out of the car and runs off! This year Jackson has a great teacher and I think he is going to learn a lot. He is so eager and loves learning about letters and letter sounds and how to spell words.  Needless to say, Starfall is a new favorite of his!