Ice Ice Baby!

We've been hit with a BIG ice storm!  I've lived here my whole life and never seen anything like this here in NWA.  All the schools in the area started closing early on Monday and are all cancelled through the rest of the week.  We are now being declared a Federal Disaster Area.  Many people are saying it looks like a "war zone."  So many trees are down and lots of people are without power, living in hotels.  Luckily we have only been without power a few times and those times only lasting 2-4 hours at a time.  Josh's parent's have also been on and off this week.  However, my parents have not had power since Tuesday morning.  Thankfully they are getting to borrow a generator from a friend and they now have heat.  We have been going pretty stir crazy around here but have stayed busy with friends and family stopping by or us getting out to see them.  This morning we let the boys go outside and play in the ice.

Peyton in front of our poor little tree...

This is our one and only tree we have and it doesn't look so good anymore...(I always love big trees in front yards but this time I'm thankful we only have this little one.  Otherwise we would have a big mess to clean up!)

Parker checking out the ice in his hand.  Burr...

Going to get the mail with Daddy...

Parker lovin' the ice sickle from the mailbox...

Parker riding his bike in front out our "iced covered" house.  It looks like snow but it's not.

Baby Tate Daniel Has Arrived

A few posts ago, I wrote about a shower I helped with for Baby B.  He was finally born this morning as a healthy baby boy at 5:50.  Tonight our boys are spending the night out with GiGi and Poppy.  So after Josh and I ate our dinner at Crabby's (very yummy!), we stopped by the hosptial to meet Mr. Tate and saw his Momma and Daddy.  He is precious!  We brought him a birthday cake and a cute outfit from Gymboree.  We are glad Tate Daniel is finally here and he and McKale are both doing wonderful!

Every good and perfect thing comes from above. James 1:17

Date night, Baby Harper and Football Banquet

Friday night Josh and I met up with our friends, Ashley and Chad.  We haven't seen them in a long time so I was really looking forward to spending time with them.  Ashley went to Shiloh with us and Ash and I were inceperable during the good 'ol days.  She is now 5 months pregnant with their baby girl Avery.  We are so happy for them!  We went to P.F. Changs and then to Starbucks and talked for over 2 hours.  We had so much fun chatting and catching up.  

When I got home that night, I checked Kelly's blog, from Kelly's Korner.  Her sweet baby Harper was to be born that day and I was wanted to see pictures and see how they were doing.  Well, I was so surprised when I read Harper was having problems breathing and VERY sick.  Josh and I immediately started praying for this sweet family.  They had wanted a child for so long and thought they would be celebrating that night while holding and snuggling with a healthy baby girl.  Instead they were hit with emotions they were not prepared to face.  Check her blog here, if you don't already follow it, and leave her an encouraging comment.  I remember when Parker was born nearly 4 weeks early, he was on oxygen and a feeding tube the first few days of his life.  It was so hard and he was not nearly as sick as this baby is.  I couldn't have made it without the encouragement from our family and friends.  Those first few days of not being able to hold your newborn baby are horrible.  We only had a very tiny glimpse of what this family is facing and would not wish that on anyone.  Please lift this family up in your prayers.

Saturday night was Shiloh's Football banquet at CPH.  It went very well.  Below is a picture of the entire team and Josh on stage.  It was a fun night celebrating the great season the Saints had this year.  After the the banquet Josh and I met Courtney and D for a late movie since our boys were spending the night with my parents.  We saw Mall Cop.  It's pretty funny.  I would recommend to go see it if you are wanting a good laugh.

Today has been pretty relaxing. We started the day off going to church and it was wonderful.  The music and sermon really touched me.  Josh's Dad is doing a sermon serious on Family and it is so good!  I'm looking forward to next Sunday.  Hope you all enjoyed the weekend and have a great week.

Peyton and Parker Update

I haven't posted an update on our boys lately.  And I need to do it before I forget and they move onto the next stage in their life.  This is mainly for me to have record of later on.  They are growing up so fast, I can't believe it!

First....Peyton...3 Years and 3 months old

Look at that face, doesn't it look like he's up to something?  Well that's because he probably was.  Here are a few things about Peyton....

-He thinks life is a p-a-r-t-y ALL the time, the more the merrier.

-Talks non stop (wonder who he gets that from...hmmm.)

-He is a helper, especially in the kitchen.

-Loves Veggie Tales.

-Loves to cook. The only consistant thing that he wanted Santa to bring him was a "boy kitchen."  (You know we can't have any pink around here!)

-Learning his letters.

-Looks out for Parker.

-Obsessed with the color yellow (lellow).  However, red is slowly starting to be asked for on occasion.  Everyday he begs to wear a 'lellow' shirt or a football jersey.  If you see him without either on, then you know there was probably a battle at our house that morning.  However, his first choice is always PJ's and he still hasn't given up wanting to wear those out after many times being turned down.

-Of course he loves to play football and tackle.

-And last but not least...he LOVES everything to be organized, especially his football guys...(Josh's starting line up players from when he was little.)  He plays with these for hours at a time and I find these guys lined up everywhere in our house!  He has about 20-30 of them.  He pretends he is the coach.  He has even given some names, his favorite are Rod and Dorman.  And if you knock one of his players down and don't put it back exactly the way it was, he's not a happy camper.

Parker Thomas....1 year and 5 months.

-He is our sensitive child.

-Always has a smile on his face.

-The charmer, the flirt.

-Loves to hug and blow kisses to everyone.

-Laid back.

-Eats anything you'll give him at anytime.

-Chooses to run more than walk.

-Loves wagon rides.

-Loves to drive his John Deer tractor that Santa brought him around the house.

-Loves buttons of any kind, especially remotes, phones and keyboards.

-Tries to figure out how everything works, constantly exploring every little thing.

-Loves to sleep!  (I prayed hard on this one when I was prego with him.  I didn't know to do that with my first one-ha.)  Parker normally sleeps 12-14 hours at night and 2-3 hours in the afternoon.

-He loves his brother and already looks up to him so much.

Words he can now say: (a few are not very clear but we can understand him)

Daddy, Momma, Bubba, Nana (my Mom), Poppy (Josh's Dad), hi, bye, more, cracker, cookie, doggie, night-night, ball, football, no, and cheese. 

Josh and I are having so much fun with these little guys.  God has blessed us more than we could have ever imagined.

Baby B. is Almost Here!

Some of our greatest friends, McKale and Tucker, are about to have their baby boy within the next 3 weeks!!  McKale and I met through our husbands coaching football together at Shiloh, five years ago.  When they moved here their son, Carter, was a year old and ever since then he's called me NiNi.  I am not sure why he chose that name but I love it.  I'm so excited for their family!!  McKale is someone that I can tell anything to and she ALWAYS understands me.  They are the kind of friends we'll have forever and each time we get together we always have a blast.

Last night all the football coaches and their families came over for dinner and a baby shower.  It was so much fun, lots of food and lots of celebrating.  Here's some pictures....

The cake from Rick's.  When Courtney picked it up someone asked, "Why is someone naming their baby Barnard?"  Ha!  They haven't chosen a name yet so we put the last name on the cake instead.  However, they have three choices and we all voted on which one we like and they all three got exactly three votes.  We weren't much help for them.  My final vote was Crosby Thomas but maybe it's because at one point that was going to be Parker's name.  I think a little boy named Crosby would be the cutest thing.  My next choice was Jace Cannon.

Tucker and McKale with cake...

Here are all the crazy coaches' kiddos on Peyton's bed.  Soon it will be 7 boys and 1 girl (with the Barnard's and Harris'  adding 2 more boys within the next 2 months!)  They did pretty good staying in the boy's rooms or playroom most of the night without bothering us.  ;)

This is the gift Josh and I gave them...a must with a newborn!

Here's all the football coaching staff and wives.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

This past weekend was our 6th wedding anniversary!  It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating at our wonderful wedding, but at the same time it seems like that was forever ago.  I am so thankful to God for allowing me to marry my best friend in the entire world!  The past six years have been the very best part of my life.

Friday morning, I was surprised when some of our very best friends, Erin & Zach, showed up at our house.  I first thought they were stopping by to pick up a brownie pan they had left at our house a couple days before, but soon realized we were all four going on a weekend trip to Branson to celebrate our anniversary with no kiddos.  Josh, Zach, and Erin had known since before Thanksgiving about my surprise trip.  We ate way too much, shopped a lot, saw two movies and laughed a ton!  Thanks Kennedy's for going and making our anniversary weekend special.  Here's a picture we took one night before dinner.

I was going to post some pictures from our past anniversaries but those pictures are all on our other computer and I haven't had time to get them onto our new Mac we got for Christmas.  Maybe by the next time I post, I'll have the pictures ready to post on here.

A few Christmas Pictures

We had a wonderful Christmas.  It's been fun getting to see lots of family and friends.  Within the last couple of weeks we've been with my grandparents, Josh's grandma, my cousins, aunts, uncles, our parents, and our brothers and their families.  We are so blessed to have such a close family!  This was the first year that Peyton was really into Santa so that was a lot of fun.  Christmas Eve we went to our church's candle light service and then to the Fayetteville Square to see all the lights.  The boys loved it!  That night we also made cookies for Santa and wrote him a letter to leave out for Santa.  Right before bedtime, Santa even made a special phone call to Peyton, thanks to Uncle Rick.  It was so fun seeing his face light up when I told him Santa was on the phone for him.  Here are some of the many pictures we've taken in the last couple of weeks.

The boys with cousin Reese in Dallas, the Sunday before Christmas.

The kiddos goofing off in the church's lobby waiting for us to go eat lunch.

While we were in town, Nick got 4 tickets the the Dallas Cowboy game against Baltimore Ravens.  It was the last game being played in Texas Stadium so it was a big game.  We got a baby sitter for the kids and went to watch.  It was so much fun but so cold!  By the way, Nick, Meredith and Reese are moving to NWA at the end of January!  Nick will be on staff at The Church of Pinnacle Hills in Rogers.  We are SO excited and thrilled for them!!

This is a picture of the boys with my sweet Papa and cousin Ross during our trip to Little Rock to see my Mom's family.  They loved playing outside and helping Papa rake the leaves.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and that 2009 is your best year yet!