Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Click the page to read the poem Tyler dictated for his daddy. Happy Father's Day to dads everywhere, including mine...We love you Grandad!

Easter!

This Easter was a little different for us. We didn't go to church on Easter morning. Instead, we went to the same Easter service at our church on Friday night. We attend a rather large church with 19 total Easter services so our pastor asked if members would consider attending a service at a "non-peak time" so there would plenty of room for visitors on Easter morning. We, along with 3,000 people, agreed and went to our Easter service on Friday night. Yes, it was a little weird waking up on a Sunday morning, especially this Sunday morning, with no where to go, but it was also nice not to have to rush the boys with their Easter baskets.

Speaking of baskets, here they are posing with their Easter goodies. And, yes, they are sitting on the dining room table!

We went to MawMaw's this evening and hunted Easter eggs. Tyler found a prize egg...

...And Matthew was more interested in taking the eggs out of the basket and then putting them back in!

On another note, Tyler reminded me last night at Grandad's that we hadn't dyed Easter eggs yet. So, when we left my dad's house we went to the store and bought eggs and dye. Here's Tyler at 9:30 last night getting ready to dye eggs!Happy Easter!

Easter Bunny

We went to see the Easter Bunny this past weekend and, as you can see, both boys loved him! Tyler jumped right up on his lap and started smiling. We held Matthew back thinking he might cry but he actually reached for the bunny. He started petting his ears and actually wanted to sit in his lap. Matthew loves his stuffed animals so I guess the Easter Bunny looked like a big stuffed animal to him! Here's a picture of Tyler waiting on Matthew...

I always like the pictures of Matthew looking at Tyler. He's always checking to see what big brother is doing...

If you notice, Matthew has on no shoes. In fact, his outfit is probably still wet from our adventurous lunch. We went to eat Mexican after church before we visited the Easter Bunny and Matthew pulled an entire glass of water over on him. We had no change of clothes and no other shoes for him. I had forgotten how chaotic mealtimes can be with a one year old!

It's That Time Again...

After enjoying two weeks off, it's time for Tyler and I to go back to school and Jason to go back to work. Our two weeks off have flown by! We have stayed up way too late, watched some good movies, played lots of Candy Land and Wii games, and even managed to sleep past 7:00 a few mornings! We have become spoiled over the Christmas holidays...now it's time for life to return to "normal", I suppose. One of Tyler's biggest adjustments is going to bed early again. He has been in the bed since around 7:45, his usual bedtime, and he has yet to go to sleep. A few minutes ago, Jason walked by and noticed that his bedroom light was on. He was sitting in his floor playing with his train table and cars. I'm sure his little body doesn't understand why he's going to bed so early. After all, he's been staying up until after 9:00 for two weeks now! As for Matthew, his big adjustment is going to be Mommy being gone all day again. He has definitely become a Mama's Boy since I've been off work. He'll be fine, though, and will enjoy staying with Grandad, MawMaw, and Granna once again. I'm sure they'll keep him more on a schedule than we did over Christmas!

Here are two last pictures from our time off. The first is of Tyler in his UAB shirt. I'm sure Grandad is beaming seeing him in green and gold! When we went to buy Grandad a shirt at the UAB bookstore for Christmas, Tyler had to have a UAB shirt like Grandad's.
The second picture is of Matthew in "big boy clothes". Last night was the first time he's had on a pair of jeans. I have to admit that he looks pretty cute...just way too grown up!

Happy New Year!

I know it's January 3rd and I'm a little behind on my blogging. My computer had a virus and I was out of commission for a few days. Thanks to Dad for restoring my computer and all of my documents!!!

We usually spend New Year's Eve kids-free but our plans changed this year when we waited too late to make dinner reservations for a party of 8! We adjusted and ended up spending two great nights with friends. On December 30th, we had our annual New Year's Eve dinner at Flemings and enjoyed a wonderful meal...one night early. On New Year's Eve, everyone came to our house with kids to hang out and play. Of course, when you have seven kids age five and under in one house, it is complete and utter chaos but we wouldn't have it any other way! We are so blessed to have healthy children and great friends!
As the clock struck midnight and the year changed from 2008 to 2009, I thought about the events of 2008 and what the future holds for us in 2009. Here are two of my favorite pictures from 2008 that really sum up our year...

Our last picture as a family of 3. I was scared to death not knowing how Tyler would adjust to life with a new baby.

One of our first pictures as a family of 4. I was overcome with emotion when I held both of my boys in my arms. As my wonderful co-worker Kathy assured me before Matthew was born, "Your love won't be divided between two children...it will multiply." Boy was she right! And, as you all know, Tyler has adjusted just fine to being a big brother and loves his little brother so much.As I look ahead to 2009, I see my baby turning one, Tyler turning five, and me turning 30. Yep, the big 3-0 is just around the corner. Where does the time go??? I pray that God continues to watch over our family and that we will grow closer to Him in the year ahead. Happy 2009!

Matthew's First Christmas

As you know, Matthew spent his first Christmas sick. We woke him up Christmas morning for him to see what Santa brought. Here it is before Tyler helped him open his presents...
And here are his presents after they were opened. Tyler was excited to see that Matthew got a Laugh and Learn Kitchen and his very own Curious George just like him!
This Christmas Matthew was more interested in playing with the ribbons on the presents and chewing on the presents than actually opening or playing with them. I guess that's what you would expect from a 10.5 month old little boy! As I wrote with Tyler, here is a quick list of unforgettables for Matthew's first Christmas:

1. Runny nose and droopy eyes throughout the Christmas holidays.

2. Throwing up on me 4 times at various Christmas functions.

3. Chewing on the boxes under our tree and playing with the ribbons on the gifts.

4. Sitting and playing quietly in our laps during the Christmas Eve church service.

5. Still smiling although he was sick. What a sweet baby!

Hopefully next year he will be well and able to enjoy the Christmas season.

Santa Time

Tyler and Matthew visited Santa at Nana's work (AKA St. Vincent's East) this past Sunday. This was the first year Tyler was super excited to see Santa. He could not wait to sit in his lap and tell him what he wanted. He still looks a little scared in the picture...he has his lips pursed and he's squeezing his elf, Duncan. Matthew was not scared of Santa at all. He just stared at him a few times and didn't even try to pull at his beard or glasses. I'm sure next year will be a different story.

In Front of the Tree

Here's a picture of the boys the weekend we put up our Christmas tree. I had to put Matthew in the rocking chair because he kept turning around and grabbing the tree! Although we have two Christmas trees in our house, Tyler loves this tree the best. It is our family tree and it has all of his ornaments on it. It also has all of my Hallmark movable, light-up ornaments my dad has given me since I was a child. Tyler loves seeing all of the ornaments move and hear them make noise and play music. His favorites are the ornaments with trains on them. Each night before he goes to bed, he plays all of the train ornaments and watches the trains go round and round. He is so excited about Christmas this year!

Look Who's Crawling

Matthew finally started crawling on November 15th, close to 9 1/2 months old. I was beginning to wonder if he would ever crawl. Tyler started crawling just before he was 8 months old so, of course, I thought Matthew should follow the same track. I'm not sure why I was rushing the whole crawling thing. Life was much easier when Matthew would sit on the floor and play with his toys...he couldn't crawl out of the room or try to get his big brother's toys! Crawling has also made picture taking a lot more difficult. As soon as you set him down, he wants to crawl away, especially when I'm trying to take a picture of both boys together. Here's a few pictures of our Thanksgiving photo attempts...
Finally, I opted for separate Thanksgiving pictures, however I could get them...standing in Daddy's lap, laying in the driveway, whatever!
We had a great Thanksgiving, as I hope everyone else did. Now, we're looking forward to spending our day tomorrow watching the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. Roll Tide!

Happy Father's Day...A Little Late

I've been trying to finish this Father's Day collage of Jason and the boys for a few days but my Internet Explorer kept shutting itself down while I was working on it. I was finally able to finish it this afternoon. We are so blessed to have a wonderful "daddy" who loves God and his family. Some of Tyler's favorite things to do with Daddy include playing basketball outside, watching sports on TV, and going to Alabama football games. He also takes great joy in aggrivating the daylights out of his daddy! I'm sure Matthew will join in on the fun soon enough. We love you Daddy and we are thankful for everything you do for us! Happy Father's Day a few days late.

Memorial Day Fun!

Our Memorial Day was spent with friends and family. We took Tyler to the pool for the first time this year and he loved it, of course. He did good swimming with his Diego life jacket on and seems to have more control of his body when he wears it this year. I am seeing swim lessons in his near future! After nap, we went to cookout and play with some friends. Tyler and Matthew were the only boys in the bunch but they didn't seem to mind. Tyler enjoyed playing in the Slip and Slide while Matthew had fun just watching all of the big kids play. He'll be right in there with them soon enough! I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. Summer is finally here!

Matthew's 1st Holiday...Easter!

Since we didn't have the blog around Easter, I decided to post some pictures of Matthew's first holiday. The week before Easter we went to see the Easter bunny at Nana's work then we took some pictures all dressed up outside. It was kind of bright outside that day and Tyler had a hard time opening his eyes for pictures!

A few days before Easter we dyed Easter eggs! Tyler loved it and wanted to do everything by himself until he realized the dye wouldn't come off his hands very easily. Matthew sat in his bouncy and "watched" although watching us dye Easter eggs turned into sleeping for a 6 week old.

Tyler was proud of his finished product. He chose one color for each member of the family and then I had to write our names on them. Take a look...

It was finally Easter. Tyler learned all about the meaning of Easter again at church. He told us about Jesus being killed by some mean guys and then coming alive again! He liked to tell the part about Jesus having blood on his hands. After church, we went to MawMaw's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt and to visit Grandad and Nana. We didn't get to see Mimi and Perry because Mimi was sick. Thank goodness she is feeling much better these days!

As with all holidays, we were exhausted by the end of the day, but we enjoyed spending time with our family on Easter Sunday.