John's 1st Birthday Party

John's first birthday party was wonderful and relatively low key. It was so nice to live around family, so Justin's family came over to celebrate.

Here is the invitation:

We have soooo much stuff. I tried to deter receiving so many gifts, but only one family member took our suggestion.

Here are some pictures from his special day.

My mom came in town and we went to the zoo on his actual birthday. We also got a call on this day from our realtor telling us our house sold!

At the Zoo:

I am glad we got some pictures with him on his actual birthday because I did not get one with him at his birthday party.

We live in Arkansas now so a John Deere theme seemed appropriate. (Justin picked it out.)

The cake we had made.

 John's personal cake that I made him. They made fun of it the entire day! I obviously do not have a future in cake decorating!

He is not sure about his hat.

Our first baby... who is getting too big!

Of course he had to get his own John Deere from his aunt Beth.

 Justin and I bought him a basket ball goal.

 Paw-paw gave him is first tractor.

Cake time!!

I think I tried to take a bite of his cake... bad idea.

YAY!! His birthday was a success and alot of fun!

Better late than never... Happy 1st birthday to my precious baby boy! Mommy loves you!

Getting Caught Up

It has been over four months since I have posted on this blog. That is pathetic! I am going to try to get caught up for my own bad memory.

I am going to post weekly on this blog. For my me, my family and friends who do not live near us.

John promoted out of the baby area in church today. Tears (from me) immediately followed. (I know I have issues.)

Time has flown by and I don't want to forget about anything that happens during these crazy, but precious years of their young lives.

I am so blessed to be a mommy, I just wish I was better at keeping up with it all!

Photo of the Week: 1st Birthday Party Invitation Picture

One week from today John turns one year old.

The phrase "John is turning one" is surreal to me. It kills me how much he has grown up this past month.

I took some pictures for his birthday party invitation. I promise, I was trying to not be like this.

Here is the one I decided on. It is in color on his invitation, but I love it in black in white.

Oh my word, John is turning one.

Photos of the Week: Hair, Tradition, Bible Study & Missing Daddy

John woke up from his nap looking like this:

What makes this so funny is the fact that twenty years ago...I used to have bangs that looked almost identical. (Does anyone remember the poof?)

Kate loves hot chocolate with "mallow marshes" and whipped cream. I think she especially loves it because we do this:

Kate brought all her Bibles into her bed and proceeded to do her "Bible Study". What makes this so funny is Justin does the same thing when he studies and prepares lessons. He has all his books around him (He does it at the dining room table though, not in our bed).

Justin was out of town and I took this picture of the kids to send to him. If you want to read the entire story and experience my "issues" you can check it out here.

I hope you all had a great week!

Have a great Saturday!

Weekly Picture: Brother, You Are My Best Friend

I am going to try to post a picture each week of my kids.

They are growing so fast... please make it slow down!

These pictures are my way of coping and trying to capture what they are like right now.

Kate told John this morning that he was her best friend. Please note that her best friend changes daily and today was the first time John was her best friend.

She was so cute and wanted him to play with her all morning.

Here is a picture of them in her play house this morning:

Here is a picture of them together from last week (this picture completely captures their personality):
Kate is in la la land and John is like "mama, you all are crazy".

Words cannot express how much I love them!

I have also started a new blog this week. 

It is called The Overwhelmed Woman: www.theoverwhelmedwoman.com. If you want to subscribe to the Overwhelmed Woman by email click here. (Each post will be emailed to you. Remember to confirm your subscription.) 

I have a variety of things I want to write about on The Overwhelmed Woman.  

I am going to keep this blog as more of an update for my family & friends on my kids, etc. If you want to subscribe to this personal blog enter your email in the box on the right.

I am also going to start posting my recipes over there. My goal is to post at least one recipe a week. 

Today I posted a recipe for Tonga Toast from Disney World... it is a "life changing experience". (I had to throw that in there for Deb, Jay, Katie and Chris.)

I guess all of this my way of handling how fast everything is going by.

How do you handle your kids growing up so quickly?

Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear.

Much love!

John - 11 months old

Oh my word.. John was eleven months old yesterday.

Justin reminded me that in one month he will be a year old and thus the monthly picture with Mickey will end. We joked about having him take a picture with Mickey each year (even his teen age years). I don't think John will go for that, but it would be funny if 18 years from now.. I was showing you his picture with Mickey (one can only dream).

I seriously can't believe how quickly it has flown by. He is getting so big. He is crawling everywhere and so curious. He studies how things work. I would love to know what is going on in his little mind.

I love him so much!

Here is his eleven month picture.

Photo of the Week: Outdoor Wonders

My kids are growing up way too fast! I am going to try to post one picture each week so I will remember what they were like at this age.

I loved this one!

John is so curious.

He was looking outside in wonder.

I can't wait to take him out and play!

Too early to teach a baby to catch?

My husband is a hard core sports guy. This morning he decided to start working with John (our 10 month old). I think he is a natural athlete. :)

Catching Up - Twitter Style

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!  My only new years resolution is to not make any.. I NEVER keep them!  I do want to try to keep this blog up to date though.

So, in my attempt to catch you up (especially my family and friends) I am going to do this post- Twitter style.  If I were being strict (I'm so not a strict person) I would anally make sure that each section only had 140 characters.. but I am not going to do that.  My Twitter style post is to keep each event update short!

John's first Thanksgiving.. He is the happiest baby!  I am hoping this continues through his entire life.. maybe one of them can be like their daddy!

A sweet woman from our church invited some kids over to make gingerbread houses.  Here is Kate with the house she decorated.  Yes, I helped.. but I promise the perfectionist in me didn't take over.  I had to tell myself.. it is only a gingerbread house.. let Kate do it by her ownself (in her words).

John turned 9 months in December and weighs 22 pounds. Here is his picture with Mickey.

Christmas Eve 2010 - We had a party at our house.. It was such a blessing to have some of my family here with Justin's family.  I think this year was the best Christmas I've ever had.  Warning.. I tried to pick three pictures, but I just couldn't...

My Dad dressed up as Santa on Christmas Eve..

Our Family...

Justin's Grandma (Ma) with her great-grandchildren

With my dad...

Kate and my aunt Sharon

Justin's Mom and Dad with their grandchildren

Beth's (Justin's sister) family

Christmas morning.. Justin is helping John open Justin's favorite gift (money for John's college fund)

Justin helping Kate open gifts.  Justin is wearing his favorite gift Kate received (a princess Snuggie).

Kate with her gifts..

Here is a link to our little performer playing a song for you on her new guitar... http://yfrog.com/f1a8uz

John's first Christmas...

Our princess.. there are no other words....