January 28, 2009

refusing to smile for the camera

playing ball

Walker

swing

Daddy teaching Will to bat

Last weekend when it was warm we went outside for a while to play in the yard. They drove their cars, bicycles, played golf, t-ball and threw the football. I was trying to get Emma Tucker to chase me but she told me it was too hot to run outside. Such a girl and it was only January.... what is she going to do in July? We have an old refrigerator in the garage and I had no idea she had hidden toy bottles and pots and pans in there. All she really wanted to do was "cook" even when we were outside.

January 15, 2009

It's the 15th, so here is my scripture:
Psalms 143:10- "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." NIV

Jesse Tree

Okay.. here is my latest project and no, I haven't finished my other projects yet ... scrapbooks, etc. I don't know why I do this to myself... starting a new project before I finish another one. The boys may never have a finished scrapbook from their first year of life. I need to go and get pictures developed and get motivated again. Anyway, back to my original point. Holly was talking a few weeks ago about the Jesse tree she did this year at Christmas and I guess I have been living in a hole because I had not ever heard of it before. But, I loved the idea. If you don't know, you are reading a devotional everyday during Advent and it starts day one with the tree/stump. Isaiah 11:1-2..."A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him..." It basically starts with the lineage of Jesus, goes into Creation, then Adam and Eve and so on.. I don't know if I am making any sense. Right now, Holly gave me her two devotionals and I am retyping them into one devotional for me for next year. You can go online and print the symbols that correlate with the scripture to hang them on your tree. It says to hang the ornaments on a tree branch; however, I have seen some on-line that were hung on felt trees that looked like a real Advent calendar. That is what I want to do because I have been looking for 4 years now for an advent calendar for us to use. This way I will have it for every year afterwards. Does anyone know how to make an easy Advent tree? Also, I have found cross-stitch patterns for all the ornaments and I am thinking of taking on that project as well. Probably silly.... they won't be finished by next Christmas at the rate I finish things around here. If you are interested, I have found coloring sheets for the little ones that go along with the scripture for each day also. Here is the link:
http://www.jesse-trees.com/index.html
By the way, don't tell Mason about this.... it is my intention to have him a set made by his birthday so he can do it as well.

Today's art

Since the boys are not going to preschool this winter, I thought I would do some art with all of them this morning. We were going to make a winter scene using their footprints. Emma Tucker was all into it, but the boys couldn't stand having paint on their feet. I barely got their feet stamped onto the paper but I did it. However, when I had my back turned, Emma Tucker kept painting the bottom of her feet with the white paint and walking all over our hardwood floors. Luckliy, it is washable. She just made it a little harder to deal with. I was reminding myself this morning of why I do send them to preschool... so they can make a mess there and not my house. The snowflakes are also Emma Tucker's fingerprints.

pictures from the Dillard House

E.T. bundled up to go eat breakfast

Will and mom hanging out in bed E.T. eating dinner

the boys eating dinner

watching the horses

view from our room

Dillard, GA

Last week Emma Tucker and Will were sick all week, but by Friday they were starting to look better. At the last minute, we decided to take a trip up to Dillard, Ga on Friday night. I have been craving the Dillard House and I wanted to see how the children would do in a hotel. So, Brandon and I packed up the children and headed to Dillard after Brandon got off of work on Friday. This was the first time they have stayed in a hotel room all together. We did take them to the beach last summer with Brandon's family, but we were able to let the children sleep in different rooms in the condo. We were afraid we might not sleep all night, but they did okay. They have proved to us we can start taking them off a little more. Of course, as soon as we walked into the hotel room we had to start moving things.... phone...alarm clock.... books... coffee pot... cups... etc. They ran into the room and started opening up cabinets, climbing into cabinets, going through drawers... you get the picture. Brandon and I are used to that so we were okay. We just set up the pack-n-plays to block off different areas of the rooms. They really liked all the buttons on the air conditioner unit. On... off... on ....off..... The view outside our door was a field with horses. The horsed were right up close and they loved staring out the door at them. In fact, do did Bentley. He sat up in the chair by the door and looked out the whole time we were there. The kids seemed to really like taking Bentley with them on their mini vacation. We had dinner at the Dillard House and all the kids wanted were fries. We had to reoder fries 3 times. Imagine that... all that good food and all they wanted was fries. The Dillard House has a petting zoo so we walked over and let the children look at all the animals for a while. It was great, by 7:45 everyone had their baths and we were all curled up in bed. Now that is my kind of vacation! The next morning we ate breakfast again at the Dillard House. I have never eaten breakfast there before and it was so yummy. They were running a deal if you stayed there the breakfast was free. After breakfast we drove up to Highlands, NC and just drove around before heading back home. The kids did great and Emma Tucker said, " excited about vacation".

January 3, 2009

Wow, it's hard to believe it is already 2009. Brandon will tell you one of my favorite things to do these days is to read other peoples' blogs. Maybe that is sad, but I love to see what other people are doing. Maybe I am just living vicarioulsy through them since I stay home and don't go and do much besides play and take care of the children and Brandon. But, I am perfectly fine with that. After reading many different blogs over the holidays, I realized Brandon and I might have been the only people who didn't attend a Christmas party this season. Maybe we aren't cool enough but we are completely fine with that too. We also stayed at home on New Year's Eve, but that is exactly where we wanted to be. We just love hanging out with our children! Anyway, one blog I enjoy reading is Beth Moore's blogs which is a link from mine. This year she is encouraging us to memorize one scripture every two weeks for the entire year. You are supposed to send her your new scripture on the first and fiftthteenth of every month. It is to be your accountability throughout the year and I am already behind. I've been dragging my feet and not wanting to truly commit to something I might not follow through with. However, tonight I have decided I am going to try and do this and even post the scripture I have chosen on my blog each month. Maybe I can trick myself into doing this by telling myself it HAS to be posted on my blog. So, with that said... you are not my accountability.... if I dont' post scripture twice a month get onto me and make me do it.I ran across this scripture tonight and thought maybe I should start my year with this one...Matthew 11:28-"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."

flower girl dress shopping

dress #2 practicing carrying a basket
#2

dress #1

#1

Daddy had to go back to work today which made us all very sad! Emma Tucker woke up this morning asking for her daddy, but I had to explain he had gone back to work. Since it was a workday we went up to Suwanee and met Brandon for lunch. After lunch he decided to take Will to work with him for the rest of the day. It was Will's turn to have some alone time with his dad. Emma Tucker, Gamma, Walker and I went to the Mall of Georgia to look around for a while. I was amazed at how well they behaved without all three of them. Noone cried at all at the mall. They usually scream! Anyway, we looked around at dresses for ideas for Emma Tucker to wear to Dustin and Jacy's wedding. We brought two home to try on her and see how they fit. The minute she put them on she started twirling around everywhere and running in circles. We tried to explain that she has to walk when wearing the dress so she immediately stopped running but walked rather fast!

Jacy.... they both have a place for a sash