Happy Easter!!

First off, I have not met to be absent from blog world- but blogger kept telling me that I had too many pictures on and that I would have to start paying- which aint happening!!! But, I thought I would give it another shot tonight- and ta-dah!! We had a great day celebrating our risen Savior . I had a hard time keeping it together in church this morning because I am just so thankful!!! I can't believe He would die for ME!! Anyway, after church we came back to the house and had lunch with Gigi and Papa (Jerel's parents) and Berne. The kids were spoiled rotten with candy- and now we must figure out a way to get this out of my house!!! :)

I was determined to get a family Easter picture. Why do I do this to myself?? I end up angry and yelling at the kids to "JUST SMILE". There was even bribing that didn't go all that well. Alas, this is what we came up with.

Happy Easter. May you too be overwhelmed with the goodness of the Lord!

I was working on getting the settings right on my camera and was having Nolan stand in for me. This is how he poses- on his own, no prompting from me. He thinks he belongs in GQ :)

Seriously- this is the best of the best. At what age am I not going to want to hurl things at my children during pictures?? ;)

Family Pictures

I am hoping to have time to catch up on the blog this week. Seeing as I currently have 15 minutes before rest time is over I am just going to post some pictures. We had a mini photography session a few weeks ago. I really wanted to capture this season of the boys lives. I might try to have professional pictures done every two years. It's more manageable to pay for a 30 minute session. Here are a few of my favorites.

This one pretty much sums it all up! ;)

I met to upload this in color. You'll just have to use your imagination!!

Haloween 2012

Hope you had a happy Halloween!! The boys had a great few days of parties and dressing up. My parents are here and our sweet friend Bernie came over to have dinner with us before the big candy-fest began. I was thankful that they were here to give out candy so that I could go out with Jerel and the boys trick-or-treating. We took Bailey with us, which she loved. Jerel and I would have done our whole neighborhood if we could- just to have been able to see all our neighbors. Alas, we had a very slow cowboy on our hands so we were only able to do two streets. And lets be honest, we needed no more candy!!!

Nolan was a Clemson baseball player, for which I have already received quite a bit of flack from my fellow Seminole-loving fans. I have to confess, a piece of me dies a little every time he wears Clemson- but I just don't know how much candy a FSU baseball player would get around these parts!! ;) Maybe I will dress him as Chief Osceola next year and let you know how it goes!!!

Elliott was a very sweet and dedicated cowboy who wanted to go into everyone's house. I seriously had to hold him back several times.

I didn't dress up- but have no fear. I carried that hobby horse and baseball mitt and good bit of the night!! 

The loot. Thankfully they didn't get too much that I just can't resist. We can probably get through all the Reese's peanut butter cups today- then I will be home free!!

Glad that I have 364 days to figure out what they will dress up as next year!!

THREE!!!

 Somehow this sweet baby

 turned into this sweet THREE year old yesterday!!

 We had the traditional senior citizen party (where you have to be over the age of 65 to be invited)

 where he was showered with gifts.

 We ate dinner, sang happy birthday,

 blew out a candle,

 and loved on this goofy boy,

by giving him lots of animals!! It was a great two days and I think he felt celebrated!

We love you Elliott! You are the perfect completion of our family. You are smart, funny, and independent. Your favorite person is your big brother- even when he tries to be your third parent! In general I dread the age of three, but I am naively hopeful that you will break the trend and be a non tantrum throwing delight!! Even if you throw a tantrum daily- we will still love you to the moon and back!  Happy Birthday buddy!!

Soccer Mom

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. I have become a soccer mom. Or at least, I have a kid in soccer, I drive a van, and I go to the practices/games (or whatever you want to call a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds chasing a ball around a field). That potentially is the exact definition of a soccer mom...but I haven't taken snacks yet, so I don't think it's official!! :)

We decided to go with the city league and it has been perfect for this age/stage of life. It is one hour a week for 8 weeks. The first three weeks was introducing them to the ball and the last 5 weeks consist of practice and a scrimmage. Nolan loves it and has NO idea what is going on 95% of the time. We laugh a whole lot!

Here are a few choice pictures to commemorate this period of our lives.

 Here is where he scratches his head in confusion...

 Here he is actually kicking the ball towards the goal (didn't go in btw)...

 Here is where we would name him Crazy Hair if we were Native Americans...

 Here he looks like he is focusing and paying attention (not a normal shot)...

 Here he appears to be kicking the ball IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!!

Here he is laughing off the whole "wrong direction" thingy...

 Here he is shoving a sweet little girl out of the way. Soccer is a full contact sport, right??

 Here he is sweaty and needing to go to bed!!!!

 And this is how little brothers survive soccer practice...

 They play on the ipad. Welcome to 2012!

My playdate

Every Thursday Elliott is in school until 1:00 but Nolan gets out at 12:00. I didn't want to pay for late stay, so I pick him up and we try to go somewhere "special". Twice I have taken him to the park to eat a picnic together and then we play on the playground or I come up with something else. I would like to deceive you into thinking that this is an hour of bliss with my first born where we have deep discussions, laugh, and play, (because that's how I envisioned it when I first made this plan) but the reality is that both times we have done this his teacher has come to the car to tell me that he's had a rough day and would not do his work. Our "date" has consisted of me trying to get out of him why he won't do his work, lecturing on the importance of working hard, and him being completely distracted by the flies buzzing around his food. I mean- so distracted that he can't eat. Wow- I can feel my blood pressure rising as I type the words! So, it hasn't been ideal. This week I tried really hard to address the issue and then move on and enjoy our time. I came prepared with his soccer ball and my camera. Once I forced myself not to be frustrated with him we had a good time. He wanted to use my camera and it was fun to see him look at life through the lens.

These are the pictures Nolan took.

So the moral of this story is:

• life isn't always as blissful as you plan it to be
• my child might have focusing issues- or he might be a normal 4 year old. No idea, never done this before.
• maybe I should chuck the park idea and plan to eat inside
• parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done. Ever!!
• I love him to pieces and he'll be just fine!! :)

First Days

School started here last week...FINALLY!!! I will say, June and July were fairly delightful and August was long!!! We survived, and even thrived at times this summer. I keep meaning to do a longer post to recap the summer, you know- thoughts and musings- but it might not happen, so here are the required first day pictures.

On Tuesday Nolan started K-4. He will be going 4 mornings a week. I think that his teacher is going to be a great fit and he's starting to get glimpses that school isn't all about playing. Hopefully he will fully understand that before K-5 or he'll be in for quite the shock!!

Elliott started on Thursday in the 2 year old class, two mornings a week. He has the same teacher that Nolan had at that age and we love Ms. Pam!!

I was going to get a picture of the boys together but the battery on my camera died the second after I got this shot. This seems to be a trend in my life!!! Maybe I'll charge batteries now that I have two "free" mornings. But probably not! :)