Granny's 80th

Last weekend we headed out to Green Cove Springs to celebrate Granny's 80th birthday. It was so good to see her - it's been almost 2 months. Thank goodness both boys slept on the 1 hour 15 minute drive out there so they were in pretty good moods when we arrived.

Brody, Trevor, Cale (Tara's little boy) and Connor

Granny with a few of the grandkids.

This was one of the cutest pictures. They were all trying to find the dog outside.

Our "inside" picnic

With the weather being so cold lately, it has been difficult for us to make it outside and play, so I tried to be creative on one of my Friday's off - we had a picnic inside. Brody was really excited to do it. We laid out the blanket in the playroom and ate our sandwiches - Trevor even joined us as he sat up like a big boy. He also entertained us with his "spitting".

U R GR8

I thought I would try and be creative for Valentine's Day this year for Brody's preschool class.

It definitely took me longer than I had wanted to make them but I was very proud of them as well as Brody.

We made some cupcakes for Valentine's Day for our Sunday School class so of course Brody assisted with the decorations.

A sporty Valentine's weekend

Let me start by saying how difficult it is to do anything for Valentine's Day with 2 children. Even before Brody we didn't go out on Valentine's Day because of all the crowds but Jason would usually pick up some fresh fish and we - yes I said we- would cook dinner together. I have always loved that tradition but with 2 boys it was definitely harder to plan. Oh and put into the schedule - Upwards Basketball and a flag football tournament.

On Saturday, Jason and Brody took off to his Upwards game and me and Trevor took off to Jax to take some stuff back and purchase my new cake kit - it was the last day for 60% off and I am always up for a great deal. Oh yeah, I had $10 Kohl's cash that HAD to be used by that day. Jason doesn't always understand why I would drive all the way to a store just because I had $10 to use up. It must be a female thing.

When Trevor and I got back home I started getting dinner ready which this year's menu consisted of Filet Mignon (I had never cooked this before but thanks to AllRecipes.com I found a recipe that sounded pretty good), Baked Potato & Broccoli - desert was a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie. We all ate dinner and had a great evening.

Sunday morning was Jason's flag football tournament but it was way too cold for me to take the boys out to see it, so I packed them up and went to church. Let me just say how difficult it is to get 2 boys ready for church by yourself - lots of respect for single moms. We were able to give Brody and Trevor their Valentine's present. Brody LOVES Buzz Lightyear so he received a wipe off board, crayons, and a Buzz canvas board to color. Trevor received a vibrating teething grape - he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth which is so different than Brody.

Jason bought me a new iphone cover - pink and black plaid one of my favorites and Peterbrooke Chocolate covered popcorn - YUM, YUM. I bought him the new Andre Agassi book. He's usually not a reader but lately he has been reading sport type books.

One of the sweetest things was the homemade card that I received from Brody. The funny thing was that when I got home from shopping on Saturday he came up and said "we're making you a card" - can't keep secrets from a 3 year old.

Enter a new "Cake Boss"

Last Friday, Tracy Cruce, Jessica Sikes and I started the first course of the Cake Class at Michael's. I have been wanting to take this class for several months but the timing was never right. I was so excited to get started - not sure if it was just to have a girls night or actually to learn to decorate cakes.

I absolutely LOVE to watch Cake Boss on TLC and Jason probably won't really admit to it but he enjoys it as well. The shop is located in Brooklyn, NY and it's an Italian family business. It is so funny and he does some amazing work. I can't wait for the next time I go to NY so I can go and visit his bakery.

OK, back to our class. We met for dinner beforehand which was great to be able to sit and chat with NO kids. Baylie and John were at my house - so of course you know the playroom looked like a tornado went through by the time Tracy and I got home - but the kids had a blast. After 2 hours of class we did some shopping - we have to at least have all the correct tools to "help" us try and do a good job. I was so excited to get started on decorating cakes - hopefully I won't have to buy birthday cakes for the boys anymore and who knows maybe they'll look good enough other people may be interested. Let's hope this will be the last store bought cake in our house - which wasn't even that good.

A superbowl party

We were so excited for the SuperBowl this year because we were going to use it as an outreach for our 12th grade Sunday School class. This was a great way to invite people to "A Superbowl Party" and be able to have Jesus shared with them in a nonthreatening way. We had been praying about this for a couple of weeks that God would really use it as an opportunity to reach some of our youth. What was so exciting is that for half time instead of watching The Who, we had a DVD that the Florida Baptist Convention put together with a few NFL players giving their testimony and presenting the gospel.

We had about 30 people at they party and 6 of them were visitors (3 don't go to church anywhere). We felt it was a great success and everyone had a great time.

Here's my food contribution to our party - you know me I love to bake some sweets.

I can't take 100% credit for the decorations on top of these brownies - Jason did them. Do you really think I could get the football formations correct?

A feast of beasts

Let me start this post out by saying that I nor Jason are fans of hunting. This was one of my search criteria for a husband - no hunting - lol. I instead found a husband who LOVES ALL other sports - which I'm fine with. My dad on the other hand enjoys hunting. It's amazing what little 3 years old can absorb because one night Brody was talking about shooting animals and we wondered where he learned that - he said Papa's shows. We now tell Brody that the hunting shows are BAD. He now tells Papa that he can't watch those shows because they are bad. Wow at a 3 year old's mind.

Well, a couple of weeks ago our church hosted their annual Beast Feast. My dad was helping out with it and called one afternoon to have me bring Brody up to see ALL of the animals in the church. Brody had just laid down for a nap, but being the great mom that I am - lol - I got him up and he was so excited to go up and see the animals.





He even knew this warthog was in The Lion King - Pumba.

The greatest show on earth.

This was the year to take Brody to the circus. We figured he was old enough to sit still long enough and enjoy it. We went along with the Cruce's and the Walsky's - Baylie and Bradyn (2 of Brody's good friends). Brody was so excited even though I don't think he knew exactly what was going to happen. We showed him a few things on the internet to spark his interest.I love his look of excitement - taking it all in.

We had really good seats and could see everything.



It's been about 22 years or so since I've been to the circus and it was quite different then I remembered. The tigers were pretty sad - they acted drugged and didn't do much which I guess I would want them sedated too if I were in the ring with that many. The motorcycles were VERY impressive as well as the ladies who could bend EVERY which way possible.

We even made it out of the circus with no souvenier - just some popcorn. It's not because he didn't want one but we stood strong and told him he could have some jelly beans when we got in the car - everything changes when it's food and especially jelly beans.

Oh yeah, Trevor stayed at home with Nini and Papa since the circus started at 7:30 and he is

usually asleep by 8:00. I'm sure we'll be back in the future.

Coming along on Trevor's room - yes he's 6 months old

I can't believe Trevor is now 6 months old and I am still trying to finish his room. I guess that's what happens when you leave it for a surprise as to what you are going to have and then top it off with an addition being added to your house so the poor boy doesn't even have a room to sleep in.

It took awhile to decide on the bedding because I didn't want to go with a theme and really wanted something more contemporary - I'm pretty happy with our choice. Here's a couple of the walls that are finished - 2 down and 2 to go. Thanks to Sherri and Sara Lynn Ard for their work on the canvases - I think they turned out great. The #1 is a newspaper article of Tim Tebow so of course it's my favorite. I really love the colors in his room - they're so warm.

Maybe before Trevor turns a year old I'll finish the other 2 walls.

Here's Trevor enjoying his crib.

Oh, the talent in our family!

Brody is really starting to get good at writing his name. I was in complete shock when he wrote this for me a few weeks ago ( with no help I might add).Then he decided to draw each of his family members - Mama, Daddy, Brody, Trevor, & Allye. I'm not sure which is which but he thought it was a lot of fun - we all seem to look alike even Allye :)

5 Months Old

Let's see Trevor turned 5 months old in January and he is getting so big. Here are a few things going on in his life right now:

- The doctor's said he is in the 50-75% for his height & weight

- He is now 100% on formula - a sad day for me. Since I went back to work it was harder to keep food for him so it became easier to have him all on formula.

- He started eating solid foods at night. He of course didn't like it at first and he couldn't get the swallowing down so we would have to stick the pacifier in after every few bites to get him to swallow.

- He is sleeping about 11 or 12 hours straight through the night. He may wake up once or twice because he has rolled to his back and DOESN'T like that at all. We just go in and roll him to his tummy and he goes right back to sleep. We are very blessed to have both of our kids who LOVE their sleep.

- He is taking about 2-3 naps a day for about 4 hours of sleep. Trevor LOVES his sleep.

- Trevor's bedtime is about 8:00 and that is not mine and Jason's decision - Trevor falls asleep at that time and is cranky if he isn't able to be in his bed.

- Trevor loves to watch everyone especially his big brother. He is so intrigued by what Brody is doing - and Brody is such a great big brother to him.

- He is such a drooler. I know Brody drooled some but WOW Trevor seems like he is a constant water fountain. There is always a bib on him so I'm not sure why I buy cute clothes - I should just have cute bibs on him at all times.

- He is still being kept by Ms. Dana at the house which we are very fortunate to have. She is so sweet and really loves him. However, we may have to start looking for someone else in May because she is planning on going to school. We have started praying for God to help us find someone else to come to our home.

- Trevor's smile makes mommy and daddy smile ALL the time. It just brings us such great joy.

Trevor at 5 months old.

He gets a little carried away with his hands and hits the spoon.