Christmas decorating Time

This was all done the week before Thanksgiving this year as I was feeling a little overly ambitious at the time. Can't believe for one minute that it's been up for almost a month already. Hello? Where does the time go?

Alayna had more fun playing with all the balls and was thankful this year she didn't undo the tree faster than we could decorate it like last year. She's looking a little sleepy and dazed though.

Bradley was excited to put the star on this year!! He remembered from last year. By next year I'm sure it will be a fight between the two.

Mmmm...these are the best times!! Am I jealous? Of course!!

Thanksgiving

Crystal, Aaron, Ryan, and Gramma Dennice all came to spend Thanksgiving with us and the kids had a great time catching up and playing. The boys don't get to see each other very often, but they are like 2 little brothers when they are together.

Psst....I have a secret to tell you!!

Being silly with Uncle Aaron

Gramma Dennice bought the boys matching jammies and they thought that was pretty cool. Although, you wouldn't know it by the pathetic look on Bradley's face.....Stinker!!

Aunt Crystal is all fun!!! Uh oh, until all 3 jumped on her and she wasn't so sure about that anymore:)

Storytime with Gramma

Bradley had a thanksgiving feast at his school and was it ever a feast. It was the full deal with all the fixings. It was an amazing the spread they put on for the families. Craig, Alayna & I joined in on the fun.

Out on the playground after

The Big countdown!!!!

Just thought I'd get a quick post in this morning since I'm not sure I'll post the rest of the month. I may sneak some in one here and there. Sure there is lots to talk and blog about, but I may wait until after the new year when I have major news to share. The birth of our still sort of nameless baby. We have about 2 or 3 combinations that I'm sure we'll hash out until the very end just like with the other two. Sorry, it's just our weird style of doing it just like everyone has their baby pregnancy quirks right!?!? Some of you drive us all crazy and don't even find out what the baby is until the birth (Crazy) OR you don't tell people you are pregnant until 12 weeks (that's insane!!) Or you keep the name a secret totally until the very end (huh) So phooey on all of you!!!!! Anyway, as if I don't have 1 million and 1 things to do or think about today I'm feeling a little restless and impatient this morning. It's so close and won't even say it seems so far away because it's so not, but I'm ready for my mommie to come see me and spoil me and I'm ready to see the sweet little face of my brand new baby girl and snuggle her, and I'm ready for Bradley and Alayna to meet their new little sister and love on her and I'm ready to already be recovered and for all the new beginning adjustments to be over for everyone and I'm ready to put on my running shoes and run as free as the wind. AHHHHH!!!!! I was being funny with Bradley the other day and asked him if he thought momma could handle having 3 kids because I just knew that his answer would humor me. When I need a good laugh because I love to laugh you know....I just have to ask him an off the wall question. So he said "of course you can because when you have the baby your tummy will be as skinny as new again" Bless his heart! Not what I thought he'd say, but it did make me laugh.

So I believe we are down to 23 days until the big day!!!! January 2nd at 7:30am for those that don't know, but most of you do by now.

Well, as my arm is being pulled off to once again go and play playdoh (Alayna's little addiction in life) I'm going to go love on the little one I do have.

Peace..... to pure chaos in point 2 seconds, back to peace

Ok, if this makes someones day and makes them just laugh their heads off then it's all worth it. So from one mom to another let's just get down and filthy dirty real for a minute. First, I'll back up a little bit. We just had our last day of women's bible study with Beth Moore (The fruit of the spirit) and as usual it was awesome!! The last one was on self control which can take you down a million different paths and from one extreme to another. Won't get into the lesson, but just wanted to say as always I left on a high. I love the challenge of these lessons. They don't rock my boat....to me changing me to become better is always exciting. Won't say it's always easy or I'm always obedient for sure and some may look at me weird when I say that so I hesitate to say it, but heard someone else say it today so I guess I'm not the only weird one. Guess it's just the way I'm wired. I pick up Bradley and just enjoying the chitter chatter along the way and we come in the house and I check the machine. There's a message I really need to return a call by a certain time so I say to the kids. Can you guys give me 2 minutes of quiet while I return this call? "yes, mommy" is the sweet response. After the person says hello it all breaks loose....does that happen to you? Bradley starts screaming and houling about Alayna is doing something so I go in the kitchen and she's got the pitcher of koolaid in her hands, but she had already taken the orange juice out and the whole container of that is all over the floor and the plastic jug is cracked open at the bottem where she dropped it. The person I'm talking too can relate, she has 2 herself and I quickly let her go and I scream!!!!.......so that sends Alayna into a tail spin. As I calm her down and clean up the orange juice she starts yelling "I WANT KOOLAID!!!" over and over and Bradley is saying "MOMMY, I'm HUNGRY....MOMMY, can I pPLAY with a friend?, MOMMY, can we do my Awana lesson?" I thought only girls could have that many things going on in their head at once, certainly not boys. Meanwhile, Alayna still yelling "I WANT KOOLAID!!!" Bradley is now zooming cars across the kitchen floor making all the boy sounds to go with it after I had repeatedly told them both to STAY OUT until I get the mess cleaned up. So the mess is cleaned up and I start Bradley's grilled cheese and then Alayna starts crying and screaming and says "oh oh, mommy, I poop again!!" and she's in a sheer panic. I'm thinking no big deal, she has a diaper still on from study. She's doing awesome with potty training, but when in childcare I keep the diaper on so they don't have to deal with it there. I quickly remember that after study I took the diaper off at the church because she told me she had to go potty and then I just let her be bare butt it in her jeans after that. So I'm thinking Oh NO.....I forgot I took the diaper off. I get her to the bathroom and I'm trying to get her jeans off and the poop of course plops out on the floor making her more upset so she's jumping up and down still screaming grabbing her poo poo butt and gets in on her hands and then I try to get her to sit on the potty and poop is now all over the seat. So we just have a great big poo poo fest going on here. By now God has given me much grace and patience. I think he just poured it on me at that moment and time. I wasn't really excited about the whole thing, but squeezed in a chuckle as I think to myself. How much worse can it get? What else are ya gonna do? Ok, now we get all that cleaned up and do you remember the grilled cheese on the stove? Oh, yes, burnt to a crisp!! I just scraped it off and served it hoping all would be well with him. He didn't complain about that, but kept saying "I didn't want it cut in 4 pieces, I wanted it cut in three pieces!!!!" Good golly miss molly!!! Take one away and you'll have 3 pieces!!!! By now Alayna is down to a whimper sniffling pathetically so up to nap with no lunch, not a discipline thing...she was just too exhausted to eat. I lay her down and she says "I just want my daddy" Gee wiz!!!! I refuse to let things like this ruin my day. Ruin the moment or hour, yes.....it was chaotic, but now all is peaceful again. I had to get it all out and down while still fresh in my mind and will now go get the armor on for round 2. We call this pirana hour at our house between the hours of...oh let's just say 4:30ish and 6pm. Actually, today it happened earlier so we may not have to deal with it later!! HA! Who am I kiddin!!!!!!!! I always say motherhood will either make you better or break you into a million pieces......I guess we choose right!! These moments are still chatoic and tough though when it all breaks loose at once.

Breaking News!!!!!...Another year, another Buck

I've got one proud and excited hubby!!!! And one proud little boy of his daddy!!! I can still say I just can't relate, but will say I'm a happy for my hubby wife. This year we decided not to go to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving where too Craig is able to have his annual once a year "guy time" and go hunting with his Uncles and friends and he wasn't sure if it would be the same going in good ole Virginia or not. He sorta had a hang up with it at first wondering if it would be the same as the Northern woods. Well, he was able to recuit a few buddies here who share the same love as him. The woods, the isolation, the bang bang shoot to kill, the whole nature thing, the quiet....can you imagine!! Him, Jim and Neil started a few weeks ago to start scoping out a spot about 3 hours west of here. Saturday was opening morning so him and Dave went up this time. It was forcasted to be 100% rain and thunderstorms and the day started out that way, but they were still determined to go.... so off they went at 4 am and it didn't matter to them. It turned out that the weather wasn't so bad. As they were on their way out of the woods they seen 2 bucks, 1 doe and a black bear and don't think either one could get their gun out in time. So neither one got anything that time. Well, today is Monday and Craig was so bummed no one was able to go with him this time. His plan was to take off of work a few days here and there to get the job done. I was a little nervous about him going by himself and found myself a little anxious and praying through the morning for his safety. By 11:30 I get a phone call saying he was on his way home with a Buck on the roof of the truck. He said he got it by 8 am but by the time he gutted it, drug it through the woods and got it on top the truck himself it took a few hours. Him and Bradley are off now to show it off and take it to the processor, but first we got the round of pictures. I know they are kind of gross and my stomach was churning with those glazed eyes staring at me and the tongue sticking out EWWWWW!!!!! But once again, my man got his buck. I'm sure he'll still take a few more days and go enjoy the season!!

Lunchtime chit chat

Oh my word, this boy is somethin else.....Bradley and I were sitting at lunch today talking about school and his buddy Manny who he talks about alot. He happened to get an invite to Manny's birthday party and was so excited!! "you mean I get to go to his house?" and I said "yes" "you mean I really get to go to his house" he says "yes buddy, you do" I say. "Oh, yes!!!!" he tells me and then goes on to say that he loves Manny, but that he loves God even more and then goes on to say "mommy, sometimes it just feels like I love Manny more than God, but I know that's not right so I'm really working on wanting to love God more" then he says "yeah, I think I do love God more because that's the right thing, right momma?" So priceless.....I wish I could bottle up the expression and mannerisms for the future just as much as remember the words he ways.

Williamsburg

Saturday we had a great family day in Williamsburg. This is also the time of year Craig is itching to head up to Bass Pro Shops to check out the hunting gear and start training Bradley in for his first hunting experience which is still eons away. So we all get recuited to go. The kids love Bass Proshops too. Bradley loves the pop guns there and so he decided that one will go on his Christmas list. I just couldn't justify buying one when Christmas is so close. He also loves shooting the targets with daddy there. Alayna's favorite part was the water outside and the little tiny waterfalls and watching the BIG fishies inside. Once we got our fix there we headed to lunch at El Pollo loco which I guess that means The Crazy Chicken in Spanish. Who knows....not that it sounded really appetizing but the crazy person dressed up in the chicken suit quickly drew us in. It was actually not too bad for a fast food joint. We then preceded with caution and mental preparation to the outlets with no expectations in mind of a certain shopping agenda with two kids in tow. By the time we got there the little rascals were already tired and my shopping mind kicked into gear, but after a few shops and a few minor meltdowns from the restraint we quickly gave up any selfish ambitions to the wind. We came, we saw, we quickly left!! Craig and I then got our afternoon coffee and the kids got their icecream and we headed to the Newport News Park and it was beautiful there. We spent the next few hours hanging out by the water and letting the kids run as free as they wanted collecting their sticks and pine cones and all was well with their world again. That's all they wanted was the freedom to be the kids that they are. Not cooped up in strollers so mom and dad could shop. Who could blame them right? I couldn't believe they were already setting up for the Christmas light show and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. It turned out to be such a beautiful day and there were so many great picture spots and settings.

Praisen the Lord

Too cute for me!! We were on the way to Hallelujah Harvest listening to praise music and we were teaching Alayna to praise the Lord and so here she was liftin her praise to heaven. Bradley was right along with her.

She was really gettin into it here!

Hallelujah Harvest

Atlantic Shores had their annual Hallelujah Harvest and the kids had a ball once again. Food, Fun, Games, Inflatables, Trunk or Treating, Candy, Candy, and more Candy. We met up with all our buddies and had a great time!! I cringe at all the candy Alayna ate, some of which I was well aware and because she had control of her bag.... alot of which I wasn't aware, but by the end of the night the way she quickly spiraled out of control...I quickly became aware she had had way too much!!!! I am the dumb dumb that gave her full control so who's to blame right!?!? It's only once a year they indulge in that amount of sugar in one day so I won't dwell to much.

I won't say I'm cheap, just thrifty and refused to spend $20 a piece on a costume and didn't luck out at the local thrift shop so Bradley had no complaints about being spiderman again this year and look....momma did his face herself. Yeah, for me!! At this point it had worn off some, but he loved it!! I forgot a friend of mine had given Alayna a fairy dress up outfit awhile back and glad I remembered so we were all set with $0 spent.

A little poo poo praise

Sunday Alayna let us know she had to do poo poo on the potty, but for Alayna poo poo means pee pee because until now that's all she's done on the potty. Craig quickly got her pants off and when she was done she got up and started jumping up and down yelling "I poo poo on the potty, I poo poo on the potty, look, look a snake, a snake!!!" And indeed she did and yes it really looked like a snake!!!! Ewe gross right!!!!! But hey, she poo pooed for the first time on the potty. YEAH, BIG GIRL ALAYNA!!!

Awww.....

......ok so my heart was melted like butter this morning. Bradley you amaze me sometimes. Every morning I pray with you in the car before we go in school and today you stopped me and said "mommy, can I do the prayer today?" I said "Absolutely!" It was one of them non repeated, non routine prayers, but one from the heart. At the very end you said "And dear Lord Jesus, please help everything with the baby be ok and help it to not have any allergies, In Jesus name amen" We hadn't even talked about the baby today or have you ever prayed on your own for the baby like that. It touched my heart and made me feel like the baby is indeed going to be ok. Even though I'm sure everything is fine, I'm at the point in pregnancy where the itch is kicking in and the over whelming feelings of really wanting to meet this new little baby girl and do the first inspection of her little body to see that all is well. We're all getting anxious to meet this little life growing inside me that makes her little presence known by her pokes, jabs, rolls, kicks and hiccups of course. I just want to see her little face and wonder what she'll look like and wonder what her personality will be like. I just keep envisioning these two little blonde girls playing side by side and their big brother in the distance watching over them and protecting them both. So for now I'm continuing to wonder and wait as the time is getting nearer to meet our new baby girl that we've been praying for preparing for and we are more than ready for her..... for we all have enough love in our heart to love another precious one. It is then that our family will be complete.

The Living Museum

A few weeks ago we went to the Living Museum in Newport News. Katy is always to good about letting us know about free things and I'm all about that. It was free day at all the Smithosian Museums so we took advantage. Gramma Dennice was in town so she came with us. It was a really cool place and the kids loved it! Alayna was especially mezmorized. She would go up to the glass cases of the snakes and say "tickle, tickle" and try to get them. The huge fish tank was awesome! Ok, the alligator I admit it had us stumped. We thought it was a fake display because it wouldn't move and we kept going back to look at it and it would be in the same position. Finally, it moved and we were done being driven crazy about it. I was telling my friend about it who not sure if I'll mention her name or not about the fact and if she thought the same thing because they had went too and she so sweetly and smart alecy says "Heidi, isn't that why they call it a Living Museum, because everything there is living?" I love Sue because the fiesty little thing and I have just that in common. Being a smarty pants. Oops, did I just mention her name?

Deep Thoughts From Bradley

Another one of them stories I don't want to forget. Short but sweet and comical...It was a dinnertime conversation. Bradley has been learning so many new bible verses lately between school, Awana and Church. So he has had some memorizing to do. Awana is the highlight of his week and the other highlight is his new Sunday School Class. He loves them both so much and most days he asks how many more days until Awana or how many more days until church. He is pretty goal oriented so it's probably because they both have different goals to reach for.

So we're sitting there and Bradley was randomly rattling off one of his memory verses and it was John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He have His only begotton Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. We were talking about what that means and he said..."I can't believe God is a boy and had a baby "oh dear.....I'm thinking, what a funny boy! Daddy says, "boy, that's a......and I knew what he was going to say that "that's a tuff one"...and Bradley quickly interupts and says, "oh, I know...God made Jesus up in heaven in his office and then sent him down like a robot: Crazy kid!!! How do you get a 5 year old to truly grasp something that can be hard for a big person to comprehend. Bradley gave us a good laugh at the innocence of his 5 year old mind and imagination. It's funny how you think they are getting something and then their imagination totally takes over and they get their own little ideas of what something means. No matter how crazy the conversations are, I still love them.

Starting to potty train? Hmmmm.....maybe?

Oh, those big eyes...full of wonder, amazement, adventure, curiousity, spunk and so much more to describe this baby girl!! I love her!! Every fiesty bit of her!! Some days she is so compliant and so predictable and other days there isn't alot predictable about her. It's a day to day thing. Yesterday, I hardly knew I had her and today she is so full of mommy, mommy mommy....look, look, watch this, watch this. Can I talk to the fishy? Can I color? Can I do a puzzle? Can I play a game? Mommy, do you want to do building blocks with me? Right now she is running around the house in a way too small clown costume that I pulled out for my friend Katy's little girl. Bouncing around like a crazy little clown. She is so full of words and sentences bursting right before my eyes. Her new big thing is going pee pee on the potty. Before it was just a game to her and a game I wasn't willing to play because I already said I wasn't going to stress about this whole potty training thing. I did want her out of diapers before the baby, but thought well....., she just turned 2 she'll do it when she's ready. She definitely is still in diapers most of the day or sometimes I'll let her run around without one for short periods of time. It went from telling me every once in awhile and not even an everyday thing that she wanted to use the potty to 1-2 times a day. I thought in the beginning it was just a fluke thing but she continues to do it. It's just not a consistant thing. So who knows she may have it down in the next 2 months anyway with no pressure.