Lunch Date

Brody, Jillian and I met some fun blog/twitter friends for lunch today!

Jillian, Me, Brody, Melissa, Grayson, Ashley, Ava, Sarah, and Manny

I had met Sarah once before, but this was the first time for me to meet Ashley (and her adorable daughter, Ava)! Ashley was visiting from Texas, so I was glad she had time to meet us for lunch. I feel like I have known her a while, even though we just met today.  Ashley is SO sweet! We had a great time visiting and sharing stories about our busy two-year-olds, and Ava and Brody had a great time playing together!

Grayson and Manny (birthday buddies) had a great time, too! These two cuties just turned 9 months old! It’s hard to believe!

Ashley and Jillian! The girls were so sweet to help with Jillian so I could chase Brody around. I’m still not a pro at managing two kids when we go out in public. It’s getting easier though!

Sarah and Manny!

Melissa and Grayson!

We had such a great time today! Thanks for meeting us for lunch, girls!

The last few days!

Here is a quick re-cap of the last few days….

Saturday was a pretty lazy day. We went to Target and the mall and maybe a few other places. I really cannot remember. When we told Brody we were planning on going to Target, he went and got his piggy bank and asked for some pennies. He calls any form of money “pennies”. So we got out some dollar bills that magically ended up in his piggy bank last week. I think they were from Poppy because I know Josh and I didn’t give him the money. :) He carried his “pennies” into the kitchen and then threw them up in the air and said, “I throw my pennies!” So glad he appreciates the value of a dollar. Ha!

He ended up spending some of his money in the dollar section at Target. He told me he needed a basket so he lugged the big thing around and picked out 5 things that he could buy with his money.

We came home that evening and let Brody play outside since it was so nice!

Jillian loved being outside as well. She also found her tongue this weekend and stuck it out all weekend! It was really cute!

 

Stefan, one of our friends from college, and her little girl, Halle Kate, came over that night with Julee to see us. We had not seen them since August at my baby shower so I was excited for her to see Jillian and I was happy to get to see Halle again since she has grown so much since I last saw her. Jillian was so ready to go to bed by this point!

Brody loved being with the girls!

Halle played in Jillian’s exersaucer while we all hung out. She was jumping so much and Brody loved watching her! He started jumping with her and would yell, “Jump Halle Kate!” Watching him interact with her makes me look forward to him playing with Jillian as she gets older. He is such a great big brother!  Here is a video of them jumping. It’s some serious cuteness!

Monday night, I met some friends for a surprise baby shower for Kelly and Hollis. She was really surprised! We had a great time!

Today, we went to Bible study at church. I’m doing a book study on this book.

 

I’m really excited about the study! We have only covered a couple of chapters in the book but I really like it so far. I love spending Tuesday mornings with such a great group of girls!

OK, I think I’m caught-up now. Hope you all are having a great week!

Friday

We had a busy, but fun Friday!

We started the day by meeting some friends for lunch/playgroup. We try to get together with these friends once a month! It’s fun to get to visit and eat while our kids play! Now that they are all getting older and much more mobile, it seems like we do a lot of chasing and less visiting and eating! :)

It was much warmer outside today than it has been over the last several weeks. It’s really felt like spring weather outside. We were able to let the kids play and run some energy out in the backyard!

We ran a few errands after playgroup and then headed home to let Brody and Jillian take naps. Jillian was very ready for a nap!

After they woke-up, we went up to see Julee at the salon and get Brody’s hair cut. Let me preface this story by saying that this was probably Brody’s 15th haircut, maybe even more. He always does really well at his haircuts, especially when I plan them for after his nap. I usually take a little treat for him. He usually just sits and eats it and does great.

Today, not so much.

Not even close to great. Or even close to good.

I’m not going into all the details, but basically he didn’t want to sit in Julee’s chair and for some reason he had a fear of getting his hair cut today. Thankfully, my dad walked into the salon in the middle of Brody’s meltdown. We didn’t know my dad had an appointment after Brody, but I am so glad he did. He finally got Brody to get his hair cut by sitting on the floor of the salon and hold Brody while Julee cut Brody’s hair. Here is a picture of the 3 of them!

I felt so sorry Julee, for my dad, for the 4 other stylists having to witness this train wreck, and for the other clients who were just trying to get their hair cut. They had no idea they had come to visit the circus on this particular day. Bless them.

Needless to say, we had a nice long talk on the way home from the salon, then we had another talk with daddy, then we made an apology phone call to Julee. As we were leaving the salon, I reminded Julee and my dad that parenting is a humbling experience. Something I am always reminded right when I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. :)

Thankfully, Josh and I already had a fun date night planned tonight, so that gave me something to look forward to after our fun afternoon. We took the kids to FNO at church {It was Jillian’s first time to go} and then we went to see Unknown!

I love Liam Neeson as an actor, so I was excited about this movie. It was really good! If you like action movies, then you should definitely go see it!! We both liked it a lot!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Happy 5 Month, Jillian Kate!

Jillian turned 5 months old yesterday and she was SO excited about it!! Look at that big smile!

Even though Valentine’s Day was yesterday, we still had a Valentine themed cake. It was super cute!

The side! So fun and girly!

I love this sweet face!

I LOVE her bow and boots!! My mom got  Jillian the bow. A  few weeks later, one of our sweet family friends gave Jillian these boots!!! They are the same brand and match perfectly!! I think they are adorable on her!

Our sweet, 5 month old!

Here is what Jillian has been doing this month!

• You are wearing 3 month and 3-6 month clothing and a few 6 month.
• You are wearing a size 1-2 diaper.
• We have no idea how much you weigh. Your 4 month appointment has been cancelled 3 times due to snow! Hopefully, we will get to take you soon!
• You are sleeping 10-12 hours a night.
• You are still exclusively nursing. You nurse every 3 hours during the day and sleep all night. You take 6 ounces in a bottle when we give you one.
• You have gotten on a great nap schedule this past month. You take a morning nap and an afternoon nap.
• We stopped swaddling you this past month. We decided it was a good time to stop and you did great from the very first night.
• You LOVE your bed! You like to sleep in the corner and you like to roll onto your side to sleep.
• You can now put your pacifier in your mouth by yourself! You dad and I are thrilled about this. No more crying at night when it falls out. :)
• We let you start using the exersaucer this month. You love it and look so big when you play in it. Too big, actually!
• You are still rolling all over the place. You roll all over your crib at night!
• You are still drooling like a St. Barnard, but have no teeth yet.
• You can gorilla sit for a few seconds before you fall over.
• You pulled your knees under your body a few time over the past week. I’m not read for crawling! Ha!
• You love your feet! You constantly chew on them! Your socks are always wet!
• You have the sweetest laugh!
• You love Brody! I cannot emphasize this enough! You two are so precious together. You will only belly laugh when he is around. You love for him to give you attention!
• You have started grabbing my face this month and trying to pull me towards you. It melts my heart!
• You are really interested in grabbing our cups or anything else we have in our hands when we hold you.
• You started going to the nursery at church for the first time this month. You have been going to church since you were less than 2 weeks old but you always stayed with me during church.
• You have found your voice this month! You are a chatty little thing and you love to squeal really loudly! It’s sooo cute!
• Your little personality is so sweet!
• You have also started blowing raspberries this month. It usually leads to excessive drooling and spitting but it’s so funny to watch you do!
• You are so sweet, so happy and so easy!!
• I can’t believe how blessed we are to have you! We love you so very, very much!!!

Birthday Weekend

My 26th birthday was the weekend, so the majority of our weekend was spent celebrating! It was a great weekend!

Friday night, Josh took me to eat for my birthday. We went to a great little restaurant that is quickly becoming one of my favorites in our area. Josh even arranged for Julee to come over and keep the kids that night so that we could have a night out by ourselves to celebrate!.We had a great (much-needed) time together! I know Brody and Jillian had a great time at home with one of their favorite people. Thanks, Julee!

Saturday, Brody went to his first Razorback basketball game with Josh and the Greens. Ryan and Sarah had extra tickets so Josh and Brody met them at the game. They had a great time and Josh said that Brody did really well at the game!

While the boys were gone, this little doll and I ran a few errands! I know she is our baby so I am really, really partial, but I just think she is so stinkin’ cute!! I couldn’t love her more.

This gummy grin melts our hearts! She and I had a great time together that afternoon!

Sunday was my birthday! I spent the morning at home with my handsome little guy. He had a really nasty cough that Josh said sounded like a dog “yackin’ on a bone”. (We clearly watch way too much Christmas Vacation at our house.) We didn’t want him to yack, or cough, all over the other kids at church so we stayed home together while Jillian and Josh went to church. I loved having some cuddle time on the couch with Brody that morning. Sweetest birthday gift a mom could ask for in my opinion. :)

That night, we went over to my parents’ house to eat pizza and cake!

The cute cake from Rick’s. I loved the paisley!

My mom bought sparkler candles for my cake!

Brody helped me blow out the candles! It took several tries to get all those candles blown out!

Our family of 4! It was my first birthday as a mom of two sweet babies! Last year I was 8 weeks pregnant with Jillian on my birthday.

Jill, Julee, Me, and Sarah

Sweet Payne! He is getting so big! I cannot believe he will be 6 months old this week!

Brody, Big Daddy, and Jillian

Ryan, Brandon and Josh

Mom and Jillian

I’m so thankful for my wonderful family and sweet friends who helped make my birthday special!

Happy Valentine's Day...

from our little loves!!

Little Helper

Brody loves to help me unload this dishwasher. His job is to unload the spoons and forks {I put the knives away}. Here is a video of him helping this morning. He knows where each one goes and he is even a little OCD about stacking the spoons! :) I think he does a great job, especially for someone who isn't even 2 1/2 yet! I love that he is such a great helper!

More Snow Day Fun!

I forgot to post this video yesterday of Brody playing in the snow. We really had so much fun watching him!

While Brody napped yesterday afternoon, I made heart shaped sugar cookies. After dinner, we {minus Jillian} decorated the cookies for dessert!

Don't you love Brody's hat, shirt and diaper? :) He was very serious while he iced his cookie!
I let him choose what color sprinkles he wanted and he chose pink! That's my boy! :) First bit...ummm so good! His decorated cookie {minus the bite he took out of it!} Brody showed me the icing on his hand and then wiped his hand all over the micro-suede cushion of the stool he was sitting on. Ha! So nice of him!I asked him to smile at me and this was the best he could give me. We ended the evening with he and Josh balancing spoons on their nose. We are a talented family. Try not to be jealous.

Happy Snow Day!