A Couch Full of Blessings

Our Small Group adults (8) are officially outnumbered by children.

Let me introduce you to all ten of them, 9 born, 1 obviously still in the oven.
(Try to look past the blurry picture. We were lucky to have everyone somewhat still and somewhat looking at the camera.)

We are surely blessed.

*Photo Credit: Steven Hailston

Impromptu Vacation to Pennsylvania

I have a post in the works about this trip, but in the meantime, I want to share a little snippet of what we got to do while we were in PA.

A couple years ago, I re-connected with a childhood friend, Julie (she lived just up the street from me in elementary school). Anyway, the past few years, we've gotten to see each other about once a year. Not a ton, but it's better than nothing, right?!

So anyway, she posted a pic of our family with hers, including her sweet husband, Eric and precious son, Levi (isn't she beautiful? and that child...sooo cute?!). I have made it a minor goal (b/c I really have no sway in their decision on where to live) to get them to Alabama. They'll, of course, need to visit during the Fall and not Summer if I have any chance of convincing them.

Can I get an amen, fellow Alabamians/Southerners?

It's Been a Long Time Coming

I've been meaning to blog about this but we had internet issues all week last week.
Talk about a pain in the rear. Yes, the internet is THAT important to us.

Moving right along.

A few years ago, I was in Jasper with a couple friends looking at wedding dresses for one of them. We stopped at Jim-n-Nicks for lunch and as we were walking out of the restaurant, I passed Amy (and apparently Dusty, although I only noticed her). Anyway, I remember thinking, "what?! I know that girl...I read her blog! How weird to actually see her in person...especially since she lives in GA." So as all those thoughts were flying through my head, I guess I made a pretty weird face at her. At the risk of sounding like I stalker, I emailed her later because I was just convinced that it was, in fact, her that I saw. Turns out that it was and thankfully I could explain myself a little.

I've been reading her blog since then but can't for the life of me remember how I actually found it. Oh well. We've struck up a little blog comment/email friendship. They recently moved to Birmingham so I thought it'd be a great idea to have them over for dinner. On her blog, Amy comes across funny, extremely deep and thoughtful, and just like a real solid person. Same holds true for real life.

We had this awesome couple over for dinner last weekend. It was a blast! Amy & Dusty are down-to-earth, good sports, and hilarious...the type of people you feel comfortable with right off the bat. You've gotta know Amy and I were both nervous about this meet-up since there's a lot of pressure on both sides to meet someone for the first time at a non-neutral place.

Just as they drove up, Grey got his fingers slammed in the front door. You get one guess as to who did the slamming. As you can imagine, he was fuh-reak-ing out. So, they were greeted by his wailing, Sam's franctic-ness, me trying to comfort Grey while holding Bo, etc., etc. It was just a little bit of our normal crazy.

While it was difficult to focus, once we got dinner on the table and really, let's be honest, once we got the kids in bed, it was great getting to know them.

Like Amy said, it's difficult to find good couple friends but I think we might have found a sweet spot with them. We've even already had a second "double blind date"!

Sam's 3rd Birthday Party

Only time will tell if it was necessary, but since my due date with baby #3 is 9 days after Sam's birthday, I decided to have his birthday party a couple weeks early.

This is the first year I let him pick what kind of party he wanted. Obviously a 1 year old can't tell you and although I'm sure he probably could've told me last year, I went with his obvious obsession, construction vehicles.

So this year, I asked what kind of party he wanted. He told me "a red party." I thought that was kind of strange and boring, but that I could work with it and have red food, all red decor a big red 3 birthday cake, etc. Then I started thinking about another one of his obsessions...the movie Cars. The firetruck in Cars is named Red. Good thing we got things clarified because he did, in fact, mean Red the firetruck, not just red the color.

On to the pictures...

The invitation

The cake

The friends & gifts

Grey's favorite part


The fam (minus AJ - Aunt Julie - we missed you!)

Recently

The kids have been playing a lot better together. Seeing Sam share with Grey without any prompting from me, lean over to hug him, or give him a kiss when he gets hurt just makes me smile. Or heck, I'm happy when they're just playing quietly in close proximity without pushing each other over, snatching toys away or screaming....as you'll see happening here.

Those are some sweet little boys.

And I sure do love 'em.

(Expect to see some children's art soon cluttering the wall behind Sam. SOMETHING needs to go there. It makes me uncomfortable to look at such a big empty space.)

A Picture Heavy Post...Because I Haven't Done One in a While

Last weekend, we went to hang out with Amy, Tyler and their boys.
They're so easy to hang out with and, for the most part, the boys all get along really well (unless one of them is sick - as was the case with Sam).
Baylor (Bay), their oldest is about 3 months older than Sam and Collier (Collie) is about 6 months older than Grey.

Here are some shots from our excursion to the Yellow River Game Ranch. You enter the parking lot under a large sign that says "Better Than the Zoo!" with a picture of a squirrel. We were pleasantly surprised to find more than one squirrel.


Grey getting too close to the bunny house for my taste.


Hot husband, a child who doesn't pay attention, and one who is quite overzealous.


Not the right type of stroller for any excursion involving sand. Bob's such a trooper.

Feeding donkeys.

Bay and Sam walking by the cougar like it's no big deal.

Yet Sam is petrified of blow-up things. (???)

And back at the house...

Sam's 1st attempt at riding a bike.


Watching airplanes.

Playing in the dirt.


Bay and Collie crashed.


And apparently this pop-up toy doesn't disappoint.
Yep, it was THAT fun.

Stantons, thanks for having us!

Buds

Sam and his friend, Bay...making big cheesy smiles.



Grey and his friend, Collie...just checking things out.

Comfort

I needed to take a shower the other day while both boys were awake. Meaning, they had to be corralled somehow.

I stuck Grey in his crib and told Sam to stay in Grey's room with him and make him laugh, then shut the door.

After showering quickly, I went to check on them but stopped at the door because I heard Grey fussing and Sam just chattering away.

I cracked the door open and could see Sam had climbed up on the side of Grey's bed, so he was standing at the same level, and was leaning over the side hugging Grey's head. "It's ok Grey. I'll give you a hug instead of Mommy. It's ok." Then, he hopped down and went to sit in Grey's chair where we read books and started singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (my go to "calm down song").

I was feeling all warm and proud of how sweet Sam was being, especially since he didn't know I was watching. I was feeling that way until he hopped back up on the crib to hand a book to Grey and shoved it right in his eye.

Sweet Friends

Charlotte & Sam

April 2010

Who Knew Our House Could be So Quiet?

A couple weekends ago, our friends Amy and Tyler, along with their two boys, came to visit.

In case you missed it earlier, Tyler just wrote a book, Everyday Absurdities, and if you haven't bought it yet, do it. Do it now.

Anyway, we had such a fun time hanging out with them, playing with their boys and Amy and I enjoyed a great chat on a nice long walk. This was one of the weekends with awesome weather!

We had loud, crazy, fun meals and a silent, restful night. I went to bed thinking that I love having a house full of people and that I can't believe how quiet our house could be with 4 adults and 4 boys under the age of 3.

I don't know how I let it happen, but we didn't get a picture of everyone together :(. Here are a few of the ones I did get.

Baylor entertaining Sam.



Curious George entertaining Bay and Sam.



Fun at the park.



Dinner. Crazy, fun dinner.
Amy, Tyler, and family, please come back whenever you want!