Birthday party fun

Yesterday we went to our friend Jada's birthday party. The boys had a blast playing with their friends at the park and riding bikes all around the place.

Milestones

Every mom that has children older than me says the same thing. They tell me to cherish these moments because before you know it they are driving away to college at 18 years old, and you are wondering where your baby went. Honestly that seems ages away, but deep down I know that they are right. The reason I'm starting to realize that is because although my oldest is only 3 years old I am starting to forget things about him when he was little. Yesterday I went to visit Alison and hold baby Norah and honestly it seemed ages since my Little Boy was that little and he is only a year and a half. Time does fly by so quickly.

Yesterday three monumental things happened at our house. Three things that mean my kids are growing up. Three things that caused me to reflect on the time I have had them. Have I done a good job parenting them in their three years and one year of life. Do they know they are loved? Do they know that they are safe? Do they know they have boundaries? Do they know that family is very important to us? Do they love each other? These are things that we desire as parents to instill in our kids when they are young. God helps us to do a good job at this!

The first thing that happened was that my little baby boy got his first hair cut. Oh my goodness! We had trimmed his hair once but we obviously had no idea what the heck we were doing. If you have known us since Little Boy was born you know that he once looked like Mr. T with his crazy hair. He only had hair on the top and none on the sides and the hair that was on top was bushy so we refered to him very nicely as Mr. T!

That is Little Boy last summer. NOw from there we never cut his hair and it just got bigger and bigger. Here is a picture of him this past month so you can see what I'm talking about.

So, yesterday Aaron was being a very nice daddy and decided to take Little Boy to get his hair cut so that I didn't have to worry about it next week by myself. So sweet, but in the process he forgot to realize how important a camera is at a little boys' first haircut! So, I have no pictures to show of him getting his actual hair cut because I was not there. Oh well. We'll get the next one. Aaron took him to a black barber shop and they were wonderful. They jokingly told Aaron that we should be ashamed for letting him look this way!!! Aaron said they were great and lots of fun. He also said that Little Boy did fabulous and was such a good boy. Here is his new look:

Doesn't he look like a new boy. All grown up! All day long I would nearly tear up when I looked at him. He doesn't look like my little baby anymore. I love the new do but it is taking me getting used to my little baby not looking like a little baby anymore. I still think he might be the cutest 1 year old around!

Of course Big Boy had to get in on the action as well. He was begging to get his hair cut like Caliou all day long. Why Caliou I'm not so sure, but we nixed that one real quick like since I think Calious is bald! (If you have no clue who Calious is then you don't have a preschool child and don't have PBS) So after his nap we proceded to go to the local hair salon and get his FIRST official hair cut at the age of 3!!! Before then we have done all his trims. The last cut was by me and it was the worst thing we have ever seen. Although it was so bad we let him walk around like this for over a month. What kind of parents are we?

He did a great job with his hair cut. A few months ago I cut his hair because we were having to wear it in a ponytail outside because he was so hot.

So I cut it and it was awful. Well yesterday we went to get him all fixed up with a big boy hair cut and it looks great.
Here is before:

Here is being silly with daddy while we wait for our turn:

Here is during:

And here is our big boy after his first "official" hair cut!


The next monumental thing randomly happened on a quick trip to target for ant killer and birthday present for our friend Jada. Aaron is dieing to have a bike right now. He is always looking and usually gets discourgaed because the ones he wants are always around $500! Well last night while checking out the bikes we found a bike for Big Boy that was only $10.51 - can you believe that?! We just knew that something was wrong with it and it would fall apart when he sat on it. Nope, nothing. Just on clearance. Wow! I know what you are thinking right now. You are asking and wondering why this almost 3 and a half year old doesn't already have a bike. Well, we are a little behind in that area. I never knew that little kids his age had bikes until I had a play group over here and all the moms said that their 3 year old boys were riding bikes (with training wheels of course). I felt like a bad mommy for not exposing my child to bikes yet. So, we have been talking about getting one soon and randomly we found a great deal on a Spiderman bike and so we walked out of Target with a new bike and a helmet that cost more than the bike!! I didn't have my camera but I will never in my lifetime forget the joy on my Big Boy's face as he rode that bike all the way from the back of the store to the front. He was so proud of his new bicycle. As he was proudly pushing his bike to the front, Little Boy was screaming and crying the whole time because he wanted one too. :)

So today he hit the road with daddy. Here are some pictures of our bike time today:
Our new shiny helmet:

Putting air in the tires with daddy:

What a big big boy he is!

Little Boy wants in on some bike riding action too!

My favorite picture from today with my three favorite boys going on a bike ride!


Yesterday was so crazy that this is what my boys looked like when we finally got home after so much excitement:


I have so much joy in parenting these two little boys. I have so many dreams and hopes for them and I pray for them daily. I ask God to help me bring them up to love people and to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. I love these two boys so much that sometimes I hurt at the thought of them going through tough times and trials. I hope that they know that I will always be here for them no matter what.

These three things yesterday remind me that these boys are only mine for a season and then they will be men and influence this world on their own.

I hope that you have a fabulous Saturday! We're off to a birthday party and to register Big Boy for soccer this fall - and that is a whole nother post!!!

pictures from our week

We have had so much fun this week. Here is a picture of Aaron and the boys before he left on Sunday. They love their daddy so much and can't wait to see him tonight!


We spent Monday at the splash park and saw Kelly, Tamara and Shellie and their kids there. Big Boy had so much fun playing with all the kids! It is so funny because Little Boy likes the water and Big Boy barely got his feet wet the whole time we were there! They are so different! I had my camera that day but was too busy chasing kids in and out of the sprinklers to get any pics! Next time I will.

Then we spent Tuesday at the park with our friends, Blake, Logan, Carrie, Savanah, and Allison. Big Boy had so much fun! Here he is with two of his favorite buddies from school! How cute are these boys!!!



Big Boy has been dieing to wear these shoes all summer long. Aaron won't let him b/c they reallly don't look all that great with shorts but when daddy is away mommy makes the rules!!!! He loves these shoes and calls them his "silly black shoes"!!! I am really just posting this picture so that Aaron can see how I'm running things around here when he is gone!


My two favorite little boys in the whole world!


Here are two of my best girl friends. I love these girls for all that they mean to me in my life and I love them because they both love my boys so much. It is so great to have friends that love your kids. It makes you like your friend more!!!


On Wed we went swimming at our friend Emily's house. How cute is she!


As we all know Big Boy is not a fan of the water, but as you can see he was ready at any moment just in case he went in! He had a life jacket on (which I have now bought on of these in hopes that he'll get in more!), floaties and gogles. He was cracking me up. Finally another girl there got him in the water to kick his feet around. Otherwise he was just happy on the steps. Little Boy on the other hand would drown if you weren't sitting right next to him. He is not diving in or anything, but he'll step right off the step and get up and do it again! I love how different they are and it always cracks me up!




Today we met Becca and her boys, Jonah and Eli, at Chick-fil-A and the kids played and loved it so much. My boys love to play with J & E and it is always fun to catch up with Becca as well.

So, now the hubby will be home in about 3 hours and I have much to do. FIx my hair, put up laundry, make the bed, clean dishes, and vacum upstairs. I learned a while back that Aaron loves to come home to a clean house. Problem with that is that I hate to clean. So I usually walk around spraying Lysol and Pine Sol and he thinks I am the "perfect wife"!!!!

HOT friends

I must say that Jimmie and Laura look amazing in their pictures. They are getting married in July and I can't wait for them to experience marriage together. They will rock as a married couple. I love them both and love how much they both love my kids.

Go here to check out their amazing engagement photos. How hot are they???

pictures from Chatt

Here are some pictures from the past week at camp.
Here are the kids and the sitters ....

One of the main reasons I go each year to Covenant is to see my sweet friend Callie. I love this girl. She is amazing and loves people and loves God and does a phenominal job for Student Life.


This is what we looked at each time we stepped out of our room. Isn't this lovely. If you can ever go and visit Lookout Mountain outside of Chattanooga it is very much worth it.


Here is Big Boy and his most favorite friend from the week! Now that we are home he is still asking if he is going to see his buddy today!

We went to the Aquarium with the Nolan's and had a blast. Here we were petting sting ray's and if we would not have been holding Little Boy he would have gone in with them. He is a maniac!


Our family in the butterfly exhibit.


Here we are with Big Boy at aquarium ....


Don't worry we didn't leave out Little Boy, he just did this through most of the exhibit!

The penquins were my favorite. Little Boy was so cute b/c he would kiss the glass every time one would swim by!

This is Sarah, the high school girl we took with us for the week to help out.


Checking out the fish!

How cute is this! Can't you just see a little NBA basketball player in the making!!!

Camp Pictures

I LOVE Student Life camps. They seriously are the best camps around. They know how to put on a great camp. The people there are fantastic. They love us and treat us wonderful. One thing I love about SL is that they always welcome families to come with the band/speaker. You have NO idea how much of a blessing this is to my family. When your husband/daddy travels for a living and could spend 6 weeks of the summer away it is a HUGE blessing for you to be welcomed with open arms to travel with them. They are always happy to accomodate for families. If you run a camp or invite speakers and bands to come minister to your church, remember that they have familes. Remember that sometimes they can go weeks without seeing them. Invite them to come. Invite them to be there too. It makes a HUGE difference.

Okay anyways on to the real reason for this post ..... PICTURES of my boys. One of the drama team guys took these fabulous pics of my boys. I LOVE them.

a few pics ...

here are some pictures from our walk the other night. both boys were sporting their new shades and both boys spent most of the walk snoozing and sweating!!! nothing like sleeping in the sun!




I LOVE this picture. My boys are the LUCKIEST boys alive. They have all these men in their lives that love them and support them and will be some of their greatest fans in life. I'm one proud momma!

And then lastly, this is one cute boy that I want to show off!!!

kids with Uncle Tim

Last week when we were in TEXAS the boys got to spend some time with their Uncle Tim while they were at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They love Uncle Tim and he adores them as well. He is a fabulous photographer and was playing around with his new lens and happend to snap a few picturs of my boys.

Here are the disclaimers .... Yes I was there and should have made sure that Big Boy had his nose whiped, but oh well. Yes we do normally fix Little boy's hair but it was vacation and what the heck his hair was free for a few days!!!

I look at these pictures and can NOT believe that I have two beautiful little boys that are such a blessing to Aaron and I. They bring so much joy to our house that I can not even explain it. It is hard to believe that within four years of moving to a brand new state with no jobs and no idea what we were doing we have two kids, a house, a lawn mower and life is good! Thank you Jesus for too many blessings to even begin to name.

I LOVE MY BOYS!