What a way to start out the year!!

A couple of weeks ago we headed to the doctor for Brody's 3 year checkup AND Trevor's 4 month (at the time he was 5 1/2 months old). I guess it takes quite awhile to try and get 2 kids into see our doctor of choice - Dr. Hardman. I was so worried about taking both kids at the same time because Brody likes to be the center of attention and I really wanted to listen to what advice the doctor had to say. Thank goodness Jason is able to go with us to doctor appointments - I can't imagine doing this by myself. I feel for moms who do this by themself - I am so blessed that Jason is able to get off work to make the appoinments and then doesn't mind going.

We had been coaching Brody as to what Dr. Hardman was going to be doing at this appointment - thanks to Nana for the doctor's kit for Christmas. I really felt it was going to go okay. Dr. Hardman walks in and she immediately talks to Brody - she's really good at her job. She asks all about his new little brother and he actually answered her questions. Brody and Trevor did excellent. Then the bad news - Brody had an ear infection which is why he was having problems hearing us and then he had to get a shot. This was a surprise but they stuck him while he played a game on the phone. HE SCREAMED!!!! Trevor on the other hand received 2 shots and didn't even cry. 1 strong child & 1 not so strong. A couple of doses of Tylenol for the day and Trevor slept great that day and even the next.

Hard to believe that my boys are getting so big. We have been so blessed that we haven't had to visit the doctor's office too many times and Brody's only been on antibiotics twice (1 from this appoinment). WOW!! We had a follow up appointment a few weeks later (which was last week) and Brody still had fluid in his years and was put on a different antibiotic and a nose spray. He is doing great with both of those. He keeps saying it will help him hear better. He's so funny and such a drama king!! He even reminds us about his medicine - quite wierd I know.

Out with 2009 and in with 2010

With a new year people are always coming up with resolutions and how they can better themselves. I may think of things but I don't write them down and I hardly ever (never) stick to them. Here are a few things I am glad to say goodbye to from 2009...



- not being able to see my feet and only seeing a big belly with a belly button sticking out - thankfully this has all been fixed now.

- potty training 1 child (even though it was pretty easy)

- bad eyesight from being pregnant - I am hoping this can only get better in 2010 and with laser surgery (I hope)

- sleepless nights with a newborn - thankfully we didn't have too many and now Trevor LOVES his sleep - 11-12 hours per night

- construction zone at our house





Here are a few things I would like to change to help me become a better person/parent/wife in 2010:



- take more time to play with my kids instead of always feeling like something has to be done

- become better organized with my time

- read a daily devotion with Brody every night (we have successfully been doing this so far and he loves the devotion book we are using)

- have a date night at least once a month

- cook at least 3 times a week (Jason would be so excited)

- become more consistent with my personal quiet time

- become more compassionate to other's needs and help out when needed

- share my love for Jesus more at work and out and about



Bring on 2010. I'm ready!!!

New Years Eve 2010

Our annual New Years Eve went off with a great success. We had the Walsky's and Cruce's over for games and an Italian meal. Of course the kids were all excited and eager to pull out every toy in the playroom - really breaking it in. Brody received a JumpOLene for Christmas from of course NiNi and Papa. This is a HUGE inflatable trampoline for inside. However, it doesn't really have much bounce to it. I guess my parents thought we had so much room now in the playroom - thank goodness we can easily deflate it. Needless to say the kids had a blast and look who decided to come and join in on the fun.....

While the kids were playing, the adults rocked out on the new Rock Band game but of course Baylie & Brody had to join in on the singing. Check out Brody's face - he is so serious and into the singing.

After we tried to be Rock Stars we played the new Wii Resort game. We definitely had some good laughs - if I only had a video to record Tracy doing the hula hoop. I'm surprised she didn't pull a hip out - I've never seen anyone do the hula hoop like her.

All 3 kids stayed up until midnight (Trevor of course was in bed at 8:30) and they played REALLY well together but I guess it's pretty easy to do when the playroom looks like this.

Happy 2010!!

Christmas 2009

What a wonderful but crazy time of year. Christmas was so much fun this year with a 3 year old. Brody is just now starting to understand the real meaning of Christmas. We bought him his own nativity scene and as we explained each piece it was so sweet to hear him tell the story to others.
Brody of course is starting to understand about Santa which was very hard for me to not accidentally blow it since he can pick up on things pretty fast.

We got up about 7am & had to wake Brody up. I think Santa needs to start earlier in the month because he didn't get much sleep that night. When Brody came into the room his first words were "Santa did eat my cookies" so he was pretty excited. He then saw his"big white racecar & his little green racecar". He moved his big wheel out of the way to get to the cars. His cute words "this is just what I wanted" made the long night all worth it. He then saw the Handy Manny motorcycle & said the same thing. We were proud parents. These were the only 2 things he asked Santa for. He then sees the lightning mcqueen bike & says "I didn't want this". I guess Santa could have stopped with the first 2. He had to try & ride both the bike & big wheel however his legs are a little short for both but we still try.

This is an encyclopedia of Disney characters. Santa really didn't think he would love it as much as he does. Each page has a short story about the character - we have to read 2 or 3 every night - he would like for us to read the whole book.

We then moved to the stockings & he showed so much excitment. Trevor even had a few things in his stocking. I think brody's favorite was the buzz lightyear hat & water bottle. We started opening the presents - which for the longest time before Christmas Brody thought all the presents were from Santa so we had to quickly clarify. I was a novice mom and I wrapped up too many clothes so he quickly got bored with them & hit overload. We decided to go ahead & open mine & Jason's presents & save the rest of brody's gifts for later.

Mack from Lightning McQueen with all the cars from the movie. It's pretty cool and of course Brody loved it.

1 of about 6 puzzles he received for Christmas. He absolutely loves them and can do them by himself.

Doesn't Trevor look thrilled to be opening up some clothes?

Jason received clothes & a wii mini golf game. I received clothes as well (I haven't been shopping for normal clothes in over a year so my wardrobe desperately needed updating). He also got me a small camera which I was totally surprised. Our plan is for our present to each other to be a mac laptop. Our current laptop isn't going to make it much longer or the people in my address book are going to hate me if they get another virus type email.

We then headed to my mom and dad's for a late breakfast of french toast & bacon - Yum, Yum. We opened our presents from them and Brody got a scooter with a Lightning McQueen helment & knee pads - too cute.

This was one of the cutest pictures. NiNi and Papa gave him so binoculars and he had to take a look outside to see what he saw.

A perfect shirt for my dad - Mr. Fix It. He tries to fix everything.

This is a frame of Brody's 3 year old pictures - she's so excited even though she had already seen it.

Trevor ready to attack his new toy - or at least drool all over it.

Then it was back to our house to try and clean up the mess from earlier and get ready for Jason's family and my mom and dad to come over for early dinner. We usually go out to the beach for Christmas to be with Jason's mom but since the kids are here, we decided to have her come to us - about 9 people total. The catch was of course I was responsibile for the food. I could handle it except for green beans. For some reason I CANNOT make green beans. My grandmother used to try and tell me but I just can't seem to make it - they always taste terrible. So, I went the easy way out and bought a honey baked ham and everyone brought a side dish - the food was GREAT. It was nice to be able to use all my Christmas dishes for once.

Nana with 3 of the 4 grandkids.

We then opened presents which we have always taken turns but it was a little harder with a Brody and Cale wanting to open their presents, so we let them go first and then it was our turn.

Brody received an easel from Nana and Poppy - I sure hope the walls stay brown in the playroom.
Yes, this is at about 11:30 at night eating a ham sandwich

It was a great day but of course it always seems to go by so fast. My prayer is that my family and I will never forget the true meaning of why we celebrate this wonderful day. It can be so easy to get caught up in the whole buying presents but I want to slow down next year and enjoy the season and being with family.
One tired little boy.

Christmas Eve 2009

For Christmas Eve we headed over to Tara's house for dinner. We have always spent Christmas Eve with Jason's dad and Granny so for the past 2 years it has been different and difficult and then our church isn't doing a Christmas Eve service so we have had to start new traditions.

Tara cooked dinner for us which was wonderful and I supplied the dessert since I love to bake and had been baking ALL day the day before. Aunt Joyce had dropped off presents for the boys so they opened their gifts and had a blast. Brody of course was all ready to play the new game but we had to be extra careful with the marbles because of Cale. I guess this is getting me ready for when Trevor gets a little older and I'm going to have to watch all these little pieces. I'm sure Trevor is going to put EVERYTHING in his mouth. Brody never did this so it's going to be quite different.
Trevor loving his glowworm.

Brody loves this game and is actually really good at it.

It took several tries to get Cale to stay still for a picture. He was so excited and is always full of smiles.

We headed home around 8:00 to get ready for Santa. Here are a few pictures of the boys in their matching pj's. I'm sure later in life they will not like their mom for this but oh well.

My sweet boys


Cookies for Santa - his favorite Ginger Cookies.

Our little Baby Jesus

The Sunday before Christmas our church did a mini Christmas presentation and Trevor was asked to be Baby Jesus. I loved the idea of him playing Baby Jesus because now both of my boys played Baby Jesus - Brody of course was a true newborn baby - only about 3 weeks old. Trevor on the other hand was about 5 months old.

Devin and Ryan Haugh played Mary and Joseph and they came out on a song that Jason was actually singing in a quartet - so it was really sweet.

Trevor was all fed so I didn't really worry that he would cry since he would be held and he would be amazed at the lights. People definitely knew he was a real baby because those hands were VERY active. Devin was thinking that he was going to choke her because he loved the way the silky blue scarf felt. Some people even commented that he was a pentacostal Baby Jesus - cute.

Our sweet family after the Christmas church service.

Party & Santa - if only Santa was a party

Here are a few pictures of Brody's Christmas party at school that week. The funniest thing was that I sat in the room for about 5 minutes and he didn't even see me. He was being such a big helper but AS SOON AS he saw me the tears came flooding - I don't understand this. All he wanted was me and to go home. Thank goodness he got over it some and I provoked him into participating in the lessons so the moms would see what they have been learning.

Enjoying a cupcake.

Ms. Patty and Brody

Ms. Spivey & Brody

After the party, we went home to grab Trevor and head to the mall to see Santa - what was I thinking doing this by myself. The past 2 years we have taken Brody to see Santa at the Towne Center where Santa sits in a little house. Brody is not so excited to be in small places and it takes him quite awhile to get used to new places, so we we thought going to the mall would be better because he could look at Santa for awhile before actually going to sit on his lap.

We got to the mall around 12:30 and there's quite a line already and of course as soon as we get in line there's a sign stating "Santa is going to feed his reindeer" and will be back in about an hour. GREAT!!! All my planning blown out the water. While Trevor slept, we did a little shopping and go and eat Chick Fil La. We got back in line for our main purpose and after an hour and a half of waiting, a bottle for Trevor, and Trevor and Brody both ready for naps it was finally our turn. No, it couldn't be 2 brothers sitting nicely on Santa's lap - Brody dug his heels in and I drug him to Santa while trying not to drop Trevor. Brody is not wanting to go close to Santa at all and he's pulling my shirt off so I'm thinking all of the Avenues is seeing everything but I'm determined after waiting this long we are getting a picture. The picture turned out okay considering everything.

I told Jason that I just won mom of the year and I will NEVER do this again by myself. After all of this Brody still thinks Santa is a bad man.

The first of many

What goes along with being in school - Christmas presentations. This of course was Brody's first and we weren't even sure if he would participate since he still is not a big fan of school and so we didn't even invite anyone - yes no grandparents (we didn't even tell them about it). We didn't want to waste their time if Brody decided to cry and not even go up on stage. Since he only goes 2 days a week and hasn't been there much because of Thanksgiving and our Disney trip, I didn't even know what they would be doing and if he even knew the words. If I had, I could have coached him for a couple of weeks to make sure he had everything down - that's a proud mom for you. I found out the day of that they would be saying a Bible verse - James 1:17 (he told me the reference on the way home which I thought was pretty good), saying their prayer and singing Jingle Bells.

We got him all dressed up and took him to his classroom so we could then go and find a seat - of course he didn't want to be left but oh well!! Ms. Patti (his teacher) said he did great at practice that day so we could only hope and pray. The auditorium was packed - standing room only but thankfully we found a seat since we had Trevor with us. As I looked around I saw TONS of grandparents and I just knew I would be in trouble. Brody's class was the first to perform and I have to say he did pretty good for his first time. He held a girl's hand as he came out (smart boy) and we could tell he was actually saying stuff every now and then. No crying so we call it a success.

Saying his prayer.


Singing Jingle Bells

Once it was over we went and got ice cream - yes that was the bribe to get him to sing on stage - whatever it takes!! Let me just say that he doesn't forget when you tell him something - he will hold you to it. We then knew we had to go to NiNi and Papa's house to show them the video and BEG for forgiveness. That's all I needed was somebody asking her why they weren't there. Of course their feelings were hurt but we tried to explain our reason so I think they understood.

We were so proud of him and to hear him say his Bible verse - "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" James 1:17 makes us so feel so blessed and honored to bringing up a child learning God's Word.

A Polar Express Christmas

On Saturday, Dec 11, we packed up with the Walsky's and the Cruce's (2 of Brody's favorite buddies - Baylie & Bradyn)and headed down to SeaWorld for the day. We took Brody back in May and bought a season pass since it was only about $10 more and Brody would still be free. We left around 6AM - crazy idea to try and get 3 3 year olds up at this hour. Once Brody got up and dressed he was eager to go but of course the "How much longer" questions quickly came.Best buddies

So sweet!!

We got down to the park around 9:30 and was off and running. We almost canceled the trip because we thought it would be raining, but it didn't even rain a drop all day - however it rained ALL DAY at home. We first went to the Polar Express before it got too crowded and attempted to see Santa. Well, Brody didn't want much to do with him of course, so all of the pictures have Jason in them.

Brody is not so sure about this man in red.

Finally somewhat of a smile.

We spent quite a bit of time in Harbor Town, which is SeaWorld's kid area. We put Brody on the Shamu rollercoaster - you guessed it he didn't want to go but we didn't even ask him. These 3 kids played all day and had a great time. Thankfully they behaved pretty good without having naps. Brody tried once but we woke him up so he could play on the ropes.

Of course I was not riding this one - I let daddy take over.
His favortie ride.

We were able to watch Elmo and Friends Christmas show which was great and the kids loved it. Of course they really enjoyed seeing Shamu so we saw 2 different shows - the normal show and the Christmas show. The Miracles Christmas show was wonderful and since this show was so late we decided to go ahead and end the night with that - it was about 8:15 and we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us.

The guys looking thrilled to be at Sea World.

After a long day at the park.

Our child made it about 4 sips of his chocolate milkshake and was out for the night. Yes, that was his dinner. I was such a good mom that day - full of good quality food - popcorn, crackers, pretzels, gummie snacks, hot dog and a chocolate milkshake for dinner. I think I won mom of the year for that daily intake of food.

Although the day was very long, I think the kids had a blast and it was so much fun to go as a group. I'm sure it will be an annual tradition.