Uncle Rick and Jessica

My brother and his girlfriend came into town this week.  Rick is attending law school in OK and is on spring break.  Jessica took some time off from her work in Little Rock.  The boys loved having them around!!  We are really looking forward to getting to spend a week with them this summer at the beach.  The count down is on! 

We love you both!  Thanks for coming to hang out with us and for the boys new toys.  They love them!!

Parker's photo shoot

This morning I attended our MOPS group at church.  We had a guest speaker, Kimberlea Bass.  She is a photographer in the area and came and gave us some great tips for taking pictures of our own kids.  I am not so great at taking pictures of my boys, however, it's something I love to do.

Parker woke up early from his nap this afternoon, thanks to a stinky diaper.  So while Peyton was still "resting" I got my camera out and started snapping some shots of Parker playing on the floor with his toys.  These aren't great but it was still fun to put into practice a couple of the tips I learned today.

One of the ideas Kimberlea suggested was for us to get on the floor with our kids instead of taking them from above and always getting there heads.  Also, she told us not to always have them looking at the camera.  Action shots are always good because that is how we will remember them when they get older, not the normal, stand still and say cheese pose.

Another tip she suggested for kids, two or younger, was to peak around the camera so they can see your face and not to ask them to say cheese.  Instead say something funny (like fuzzy pickles) to get that natural smile.   And...it worked!  Look how cute my Parker boy looks in this picture!  I wish I could get him to do that outside with a better back ground...that would have been frame worthy.  I'll give it a try another day when it's not so cold outside.

However, my little smarty pants quickly turned our photo session into a game and he started acting like he was also peaking around a camera.

When Peyton woke up, he wasn't up to having pictures taken today.  So I'll post some of him soon, I promise.

Bubbles gone Wild

The other day, Peyton asked to take a bath with the Green Shaping Foam Bubbles (you are supposed to use it to draw shapes, letters, etc. with it on the water or sides of the tub).  We hadn't used it in awhile and I couldn't get any to come out.  So I soaked it in the warm water for a minute.  Then when I started to squirt it out, I couldn't get it to stop.  This thing kept squirting for a good five minutes...

Poor Parker wasn't having as much fun as his Bubba.  He knew something wasn't right.  However, Peyton always loves a little excitement.

It reminded me of the crazy 'Silly String' wars I used to have when I was a kid.  Needless the say, the bathroom smelled like fruity soap for two days ....and so did my boys!

The Boy's Valentine Card

We wish you a wonderful Valentine's Day, this weekend!

Birthday Week

(Warning lots of pictures!)

Last week was my 27th birthday.  We celebrated a lot with family and friends.  They are the best and made me feel so special.  Here are some pictures from the night that both our parents came over and Nick, Meredith and Reese.  We ate pizza and birthday cake (Shake's confetti cake-the best)!  Meredith's Mom was able to join us to because she was in town helping Meredith and Nick unpack all their boxes from there move from Texas to here.  I was glad I got to see her again.

A couple of months ago, I mentioned to my sis in law, Meredith, that I wanted to have a cute apron to cook in.  Well, she remembered our conversation and bought me one for my birthday!  It is from our favorite store Anthropologie and love it!  It's almost too pretty to cook with but I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of it (or at least Josh hopes so!).  They also brought me a very cute monogrammed plate from of course...Anthropolgie.  Thank you Meredith, Nick and Reese!

Boys being silly with Poppy before we ate cake.

Another night we celebrated with the Kennedy's, Slaughter's and Neufeld's.  Zach, Matt and I all have a birthday within 2 days of each other so every year we go out together and celebrate.  This year we went to Abuelos and then back to the Kennedy's house and played the Wii.  It was mine and Josh's first time on a Wii and we had a blast.  Josh was awesome at it but I need a lot of help until I'm considered even half as good as my husband.  It was still fun and we laughed a ton that night.

Thursday, McKale and Courtney took me out to lunch at Olive Garden for my my birthday.  I don't have a a picture of that and I wish I did.  O.G. tasted so good, especially the bread sticks.  We had a good time just talking and enjoying our meal without the kids, minus Baby Tate who slept through our meal! 

This weekend, Josh was gone to Tulsa for a coach's clinic so it left me here with the boys and a puppy.  We were puppy sitting for the Barnard's and the kids LOVED having a dog around.  He followed Peyton around the whole time and they became best buds. The dog that stayed with us is named Brownie so now he says we need a dog of our own named Cookie.  However, it will probably be awhile.  I think my sweet Mom would not be too happy since I'm known for getting an animal and then a year later passing it on to her and Dad.  I've done that with 1 cat and 2 dogs already!

I'll leave you with a two more cute photos below of the boys that I couldn't resist posting.  Have a good week!

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