The Elf

Three elves, very similar to the ones in this picture will be on our door step, sent straight from the North Pole when we get home today. Emma Claire is sooo excited! Yesterday, while she was napping, an elf brought some presents and put them under our tree (yes, I'm decorated for Christmas, more on that later). The elf told me that Santa himself was sending the 3 elves, (one for each child) that would be living at our house and watching and reporting back to Santa, today. I hope Wilson will understand the whole concept, b/c he is the one who really needs to know that someone is always watching him!!!! This elf, I've been told, does some crazy things at night when he returns from the North Pole. This will be a fun time -with lots of memories, I hope!

Now, why have I decorated for Christmas so early? Well, for one, there are just a little over 5 weeks left until Christmas. Secondly, I LOVE Christmas and all that comes with it. I love walking into my house in the afternoon or evening and lighting up my tree and garland and just sitting there looking at the twinkling lights and shiny ornaments. I love the excitement that it brings out in my children. I LOVE to enjoy this time, not being so stressed out by DOING. I have not decorated the outside of the house yet, but plan to begin that this weekend. All my Christmas shopping is done and now all there is to do is BE. (Well, and work 32 hours a week and clean a large house and do laundry and iron and cook and take care of 3 children, a dog and a husband) - I am also hosting Thanksgiving for my side of the family at my house this year, which will include 15 adults and 5 very young children, then I will celebrate Thanksgiving with Will's family the next day, then spend the next day out on the quad all day for the AU/AL game, then the next weekend is packed full of Nutcracker, SEC championship game (which I hope to be at) and a preschool choir program. So in a nutshell, I decorate when I can (which is NOW) and I enjoy it (immensely) for quite a while. I hope to do a Christmas Open House post soon to share with all of you out-of-towners! (picture is of Christmas 2007, hence no Henderson)

To add to this post, we had a great weekend, on a WARM Friday we celebrated my SIL's b'day at her parents' house and the cousins played outside in shorts and teeshirts and no shoes, jumping on the trampoline and playing on the swingset. We ate a fabulous dinner of pot roast, poppyseed chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, black eyed peas, and cupcakes (made by EC and I). Emma Claire wa surprised by a last minute invitation to spend the night at her cousins' house - she never turns down an invitation =) They stayed up til 10:30 and had a great time! Saturday it got VERY cold (wind chill of 40 degrees all day) - that's the SOUTH for ya! We did not brave the quad for the Miss St. game, but rather stayed home and decorated and cleaned. I even got to go for a run at 8:30 am (this is LATE for me). My dear friend, Ashley, and her 2 girls, Mary Alice and Sarah Davis came over to play around 5:00 along with Ellen, my SIL and her 4 children. The children had a BLAST and we moms had even more fun chatting and hanging out. We watched the first half of the ball game together, then they began leaving and I began cleaning up. Emma Claire and I got to bed around 9:30. Sunday we went to church, everyone napped while I cleaned, then we went to Will's parents house to visit and built a cozy fire, drank hot chocolate and played some more. My SIL came over (with her 4 children) and we ate leftovers from Friday night - it was truly a DREAMY weekend - everything I love - family, friends, food, football and Jesus!

6 month check ups!

This little love bug had his 6 month check up Monday - wow how time has flown by! He was great, though he had a little tooo much fun eating the crackly exam table paper - he LOVED It! One thing though - he's now off the charts in weight - below 0 that is - minus 5% to be exact. What is it with my boys? He is a great eater! Do I see growth hormone in our future - hopefully not, but I sure don't want my 2 boys to be 5 feet tall and 100 pounds when they are full-grown. Here are his stats:

Weight: 13# 9 oz (Wilson was 13# 8 oz at this point) {-5%}

Height: 25 1/2 " {20%} YEA!!!!!

Head: 17 1/8" {40%} YEA!!! YEA!!!!

So he does look a little better than Wilson in the height and head areas, but the weight, well what more can I do? He EATS great! Thankfully our Dr. just laughed and said it must be genetics - no more Drs. in B'ham or surgery or tests at this point- thank you God! He's healthy, vibrant and happy - sitting up like a champ and wanting to crawl SO bad! I'm in for it when he does begin getting around! Thanks be to God for healthy, active children.

Emma Claire and I had our dental appointments yesterday. You know how you are supposed to go every 6 months to the dentist? Well, due to having to cancel my last appointment b/c I had double booked it with Wilson's GI appointment (wasn't that sacrificial of me?) it had been 2 YEARS since I had been to the dentist -- and the ironic thing is, my dentist is my brother-in-law. Yes, I see the guy every couple of days, our children are together nearly EVERY day, and it's been 2 years! Well, thankfully we both checked out VERY good - no cavity bugs here! Emma Claire was a champ - she even got to control the "sucking duck" which sucked all the water out of my mouth - problem was, she had a little too much fun and I felt like my mouth was the desert when we got through. FUN TIMES!!!!

FALL

We had a great weekend. Will went to the Alabama game, so I had the children by myself all Saturday and Sunday morning. It was a pretty uneventful weekend, besides Wilson's little mishaps: 1) on Sat. morning I was doing housework and I put Henderson down in the kitchen floor to put something in the refrigerator and he was just sitting there happy, so I thought I would take advantage of the moment and I ran downstairs to clean up something. After being down there about 5 minutes, I realized it was a little too quiet (knowing Wilson and Henderson were both upstairs), so I went up to the kitchen and Wilson had emptied out the entire cabinet under the sink and emptied out a brand new GIGANTIC box of garbage bags and was giving them to Henderson to play with - now Henderson was having a blast, but little did he know the suffocation risk that was associated with such a fun game!!!! I did not have my camera nearby, so no pictures, but it gave me some insight on the times to come with these 2 hooligans!

2.) As we were getting ready to walk out the door for church on Sunday morning, I was in the kitchen getting bottles and sippy cups out of the refrigerator when I heard an extremely loud bang of metal on wood from the living room. I slowly (b/c no crying could be heard and I was fearful of what I might find) walked into the living room and found Wilson cowering in the corner b/c he had pulled my curtains right off the wall - and broke the bracket too. I was not a happy camper - I screamed a little too much at the little guy and his innocent sister too - just cause she was there. I sent them downstairs to play while I re-grouped. We then had our own little prayer group where I apologized to them and to Jesus for screaming and yelling and asked for their forgiveness and we hugged and kissed and they prayed to Jesus and said they were sorry for acting so badly. All was good the rest of the morning.

Saturday afternoon we went to my SIL's house to watch the game with great friends - the children played outside most of the time and had a blast - ROLL TIDE!

The rest of the weekend is portrayed in pictures!

It's Halloween everyday around here!

A little FALL!

Peek a Boo!

(this is a picture from the "terrorized basketball game" Thursday night - this is Wilson constantly scanning the crowd for Big Al - before he realized that just maybe he could climb over the rail himself!!!)

Henderson and Stanton pre-bath last night at their Nana's house

I'm working hard on letting Wilson go to school in BIG BOY clothes!!

I got this out for Henderson - look who had a great time!

Basketball Game Terror

As a family, we ALL went to the Alabama Basketball game last night

We were all excited - especially to see this guy

He's always the highlight of Alabama sporting events

This little man is obsessed with him, but only from a distance

And when I say obsessed, I mean obsessed

He couldn't get past it, constantly saying "where's Big Al"

He loves him, but when he finally came over to us, wouldn't touch him

He clutched me so tight I had claw marks on my arms.

The rest of the game he was constantly scanning the Coliseum for Big Al

It didn't help that we were sitting on the row with a rail in front of us

Wilson wanted to climb over the rail and go find Big Al himself

It also doesn't help that the last 2 months everytime we've seen Big Al, it's been in a situation where he was free to move around as he pleased.

Wilson doesn't like being contained.

Wilson was very bad

Wilson screamed and cried alot

Wilson, mommy and Henderson left at halftime

Going up the stairs, I was holding Henderson in one arm and dangling Wilson by one arm b/c he was throwing a semi-fit - not screaming, just being VERY stubborn

I could hear people laughing at (with) me - it was very humorous - I have learned to laugh at situations like these.

I was not laughing when Wilson bit me in the shoulder when I finally picked him up

He got a very hard spanking when we got to the car

Henderson was very good, by the way

Emma Claire was an angel - it took her the entire 1st half to eat one tency box of nerds - one by one by one - can you imagine - I inhale the whole box in 0.2 seconds.

Wilson attended his 1st and last Alabama basketball game this season.

Don't let this sweet face fool you.

This is the prayer I prayed for Wilson this morning (adapted from The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian- I highly recommend this book:

Lord,

I pray that you would give Wilson a heart that desires to obey You. Put into him a longing to spend time with You, in Your Word and in prayer, listening for Your voice. Shine Your light upon any secret or unseen rebellion that is taking root in his heart, so that it can be identified and destroyed. Lord, I pray that he will not give himself over to pride, selfishness, and rebellion, but that he will be delivered from it. By the authority You've given me in Jesus' name, I "stand against the wiles of the devil" and I resist idolatry, rebellion, stubbornness, and disrespect; they will have no part in my son's life, nor will my child walk a path of destruction and death because of them.

Your Word instructs, "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord" (Colossians 3:20). I pray that You would turn the heart of this child toward his parents and enable him to honor and obey father and mother so that his life will be long and good. Turn his heart toward You so that all he does is pleasing in Your sight. May he learn to identify and confront pride and rebellion in himself and be willing to confess and repent of it. Make him uncomfortable with sin. Help him to know the beauty and simplicity of walking with a sweet and humble spirit in obedience and submission to You. Amen

Who's Out There?

Hey! Welcome to all who read our blog! Please let me know who you are - you don't have to have your own blog to leave a comment - just click on "comments" and type in your comment, then choose "anonymous" - sign your name if you want to under your comment, so I know who you are - let me know what you think! Thanks for visiting!

It's a wrap!

First of all, GO VOTE - I'm about to, with 2 little boys in tow while EC is at ballet!
God Bless America -please be in prayer for our country today, but, no matter what happens, our King is in ultimate control - our leaders will answer to Him. God works out everything for the GOOD of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.

Well, the FULL week is a wrap - after a lot of fun and a lot of sugar highs, we survived it!

Halloween week started on Monday night with the Fall Festival at the chidrens' Dayschool. The highlight was the pony rides - both Emma Claire and Wilson LOVED it - no surprise to anyone who knows their love for animals!!!! We ate chili and hotdogs and the children had a great time playing games. Henderson slept in his stroller the whole time, which enabled me to actually enjoy the other children even more!!!!

Emma Claire and her teacher, Miss Crystal

On Tuesday night we went trick or treating on Sorority Row with cousins. It was alot of fun, we got SOOOOO much candy, but it was FREEEEZING!!!!!!

On Friday night we went to the costume parade through the neighborhood, kicked off by the fire truck, and then had fun trick or treating!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and earyl to make it to the Homecoming Parade. We started off at Hamner Realty for a brunch and then went a block down to a friends' house and watched the parade from there with good friends.

Henderson enjoyed his 1st Parade!

I think Emma Claire was kind of disappointed - (it really wasn't that great), the fun came in becoming #1!!!!! ROLL TIDE

After the parade we walked ALL THE WAY to the KA house and had lunch - this is how we traveled (until Henderson got tired and fussy and I put him in the Baby Bjorn - this is how you make the most of a double stroller!!!!)

We had a great lunch and even ran into Ellen, Stan, Patton and Chandler (Ellen is Will's sister) next door. The children played a little and then we make the long trek back to the car and Will went to the game.

Sunday morning we woke up, got dressed and kept the nursery during church, we had breakfast for homecoming during Sunday School, then came home and the children napped. THEN, we went to our Sunday School Fall party/hayride and it was so much fun. We have an awesome SS class with so many children. It was potluck (which means lucky for me b/c we have some GREAT cooks in our class), the children jumped on the trampoline, played on the playground, and went on the hayride (EC must have riden that thing 8 times - she loves an adventure). She was super excited once it got dark and it turned into a SCARY HAYRIDE!!! When we were leaving she said next year she wants to be the one that jumps out and scares people - that child is not afraid of anything!

Little Tots = Big Buddies

Wilson loved Lee's school bus

Such a happy boy!

Henderson played in the excersaucer until he got tired and I put him to sleep in a pack and play - he slept the rest of the party!!!!!

Emma Claire and Marlee on the Barbie jeep - the tamest of all the motorized vehicles out there (there were go carts and 4-wheelers - that EC was DYING to go on)

All the chidren getting off after the hayride, only to get right back on for another round of fun!

What would YOU do for Halloween Candy?

If you've been around much, you know a little about the trials and tribulations of Wilson's low weight and non-existent eating. Here is our latest saga....

Last night Will had to work late, so I fixed the children their dinner early. On the menu was macaroni and cheese, black eyed peas and strawberries (I realize there was no meat, but Wilson rarely eats meat anyways, and Will was planning on grilling chicken when he got home and I knew EC would want to eat again anyways, and she did eat chicken with us), so back to the story. Emma Claire made a happy plate (as usual) and immediately asked for a piece of halloween candy - I said "yes" and she got her candy. Well.... little brother saw her get candy and of course he wanted candy too. He had eaten all his black eyed peas, but none of his macaroni and cheese or strawberries (2 foods that he normally loves)!!! I tried my best to tell him he had to eat his food all gone in order to get some candy and he seemed to understand, but was determined not to eat and still get the candy - he even attempted to pull the kitchen chair over to the counter to get it himself. I was very diligent in taking him back to the table and trying to get him to eat. After a while I knew there was no way he was going to eat his mac and cheese or strawberries, but b/c he seemed to enjoy the black eyed peas, I figured he would eat more of those and that would suffice. Well, he appeared more open to the idea of eating them, but everytime he would open his mouth for me to put a spoon full in, he would gag. I kind of thought he was just putting on a show UNTIL after about 3 times of doing this over and over he finally let me put them in his mouth and....


OUT ALL HIS DINNER CAME!!!!!
He threw up and threw up and threw up some more.

Needless to say, Wilson got his candy =)

{The funny thing is, he used to do this as a baby when I would try to feed him peas}

I Guess there will be no force feeding Wilson anymore!!!! =)