Natalie's 1st Christmas...

We celebrated Natalie's 1st Christmas at our house and then headed to my mom & dad's in Lexington the next day for a few days.  She's only 10 months old so she wasn't really into the opening of the gifts too much, but she did like the ribbon and wrapping.

And of course, the tree.  So enthralled by the tree and all the pretties...

Christmas morning I made {homemade} cinnamon rolls, hashbrown casserole and bacon for breakfast.  We ate and then got down to *business*.  Deacon had a good time opening his presents, and helping Natalie with the few she {he} opened before her morning nap.

{it takes 15 to get 2 decent photos like this}

In Lexington, my brother and sister-in-law hosted Christmas for all of us and it was really nice.  They recently moved into a new house that was perfect for the occasion.  Brandi is such a great decorator, so the house was very festive with all her Christmas decorations, and they have a huge living room with lots of seating {and a fire place, yes!}.  They also have a finished basement that is the playroom for their 2 kids, so after the chaos of all the kids opening their gifts, we sent them downstairs so the grownups could open their gifts.  

Natalie slept through all that.  And then when she got up, she {we} opened hers.

{my cute-as-pie littles the Sunday before Christmas}

Merry Christmas! {2014}

four.

My precious firstborn,

I can't seem to figure out how to slow this thing we call "time" down, and so here it is: your fourth birthday.  You are four years old today and it's hard for me to even grasp that, because it seems like I was just holding your tiny little body in my arms for the first time.  And yet, here you are, old enough now to do so many things by yourself.

Things like getting dressed (and undressed) all by yourself, with only a little help for buttons and zippers, and going potty by yourself.  Such a big boy.  :)  You can also buckle yourself into your seat in the car by yourself, and you can help clear the table after meals.  You are such a big helper to me around the house, cleaning up toys, helping with laundry and helping take care of your little sister.

That's right!  You became a big brother this year!  I think the very minute you set eyes on your little sister, you fell in love with her.  And you have been so good to her -- so loving and sweet.  I have really enjoyed seeing this new side of you as big brother emerge.  It has been so precious to watch you with her, interacting with her, and ever-conscious of her.  The older she gets, the more fun it is to watch you two together.  You can really entertain her, bringing smiles and giggles.  I love that you can do that with her, and I think you do, too.  :)  I hope you will always look out for Natalie like you do now, and that you'll always be able to make her smile.

You also started school this year!  You are in preschool 2 days a week and you've made lots of new friends and learned lots of new things.  You amaze me with how much you can remember, buddy.  And hearing you talk about different friends at school just confirms what I've already seen emerging -- that you are going to be a good friend.  I pray you'll always be kind and caring to your friends.  I think your sweet personality will make it easy for you.  :)

I have so enjoyed being home with you and Natalie these past 8 months.  It was a huge answer to many prayers that I prayed, and it hasn't been without its challenges, but there's no place I'd rather be than with you and Natalie, watching you grow and learn.  And when you turn that sweet smile on me and tell me, out of the blue, "I love you, mama", it's worth it.  So very worth every heartache and joy-filled moment.

We've had a lot of changes in our lives this past year, haven't we, buddy?  And you have taken them all in stride.  You have kept right in step with your easy-going personality and have just rolled right along with whatever.  I love that about you.

I am so proud of you, Deacon.  You are so bright and so full of energy and life.  I continue to be so very grateful that God chose me to be your mama.  My heart just bursts with love for you, every moment of every day.

Happy 4th birthday, doodle.

Love,

Mama

happy fall, y'all! {2014}

We took Natalie to her first pumpkin patch this past weekend and got some pretty good photos of the kids.  That's what parents do, right?  They go to pumpkin patches to get photos, right?  Not to buy the ridiculously priced pumpkins, surely...

We bought a couple of itty bitty pumpkins, but no way were we buying those other $20+ pumpkins, when I can get a perfectly good pumpkin at my Harris Teeter for half that price or less.

This pumpkin patch we went to is a local one here in Hampstead and is always really popular each fall season.  They're open for the better part of October/November with pumpkins, but they had a fall festival this past weekend.  It's the first time we've gone and we really enjoyed ourselves.  It was unseasonably warm (read: not feeling fall-ish at.all.) and the sun was shining so it was a good day to be out.

We went over and got our photos in the pumpkin patch and then let Deacon wear himself OUT on the bounce houses.  Natalie just hung out in the carrier attached to mama.  :)  Then we went on a free hay ride around the property of Hampstead UMC (where the festival/patch is located).  We all enjoyed that.

Fall is my all-time favorite season so it was fun to be together as a family last weekend, celebrating the season and introducing Natalie to pumpkins (she wasn't impressed, in case you were wondering).

Happy Fall, Y'all!

 

32 weeks old!

[all photos taken with instagram]

{ first 8 weeks }

{ second 8 weeks }

{ third 8 weeks }

{backposting}

Is that even a thing?

Backposting?

It is now, and I'm calling it the term used when your kids keep you too busy to stay current on blog posts.

It's when you finally get around to blogging (to heck with the rest of the chores!) NOW but you date your post on or around the date that events actually happened.  

Even if those dates are months and months ago.

So THIS post is to make you aware of some posts that I posted today but have actually been "backposted" to:

June 2014  -- Natalie turned 16 weeks old

August 2014 -- Natalie turned 24 weeks old

 My, how my blogging habits have changed with the addition of just one more child...

we have a PRESCHOOLER!

Somehow we already have a preschooler in the house!  I don't know where that (almost) 4 years has gone, but alllofasudden, Deacon has started preschool!

Scotts Hill Christian Academy is a preschool associated with our church, Scotts Hill Baptist, on the church campus, and that's where Deacon is enrolled in preschool.  He goes 2 days a week, on Tuesday & Thursday, from 9am until 12pm, and he seems to love it so far.  It's nice for mama, too, since Natalie naps during that time frame, so I have a little bit of time for myself on occasion.

We had an open house at SHCA the week before he started where he was able to meet his teachers and see his classroom and all the cool things Mrs. Faulk had set up...

Then, on September 4, we headed off to school for the first time.  After all the necessary photos were taken, of course...

[sweet boy, ready with a gift for his teachers, Mrs. Faulk and Mrs. Smith]

We are looking forward to a great year for Deacon.  He seems very bright already and is very social, so we're hoping that SHCA will be a great outlet for him in terms of honing skills that he's already showing signs for, and developing new skills for life.  We like his teachers and we know he does, too, so that's always a win.  :)  And everything SHCA does is bathed in lots of prayer and the Lord's guidance so we really can't expect anything less than a wonder-filled year!

beach bums...

Aaaaaand another 2 months has gone by since my last post.  It's not my intention for this to be the pattern.  It just is what it is, you know?

As a matter of fact, I've had this post in mind for quite awhile and I've only just had an opportunity to go through my [thousands and thousands of] photos to choose some to post here.

I thought with the end of summer approaching, or at least the end of beach season, it would be neat to post some photos from some of our trips to the beach this season, including Natalie's first time at the beach and in the ocean (intracoastal waterway):

[these were taken in May, when Natalie was 10 weeks old --

her first trip to the beach]

[these were taken a month later in June, when she was 14 weeks old]

[these were taken at the end of June, when Natalie was 4 mos old --

isn't her bathing suit adorable??]

[these were taken at the end of July, when Natalie was 5 mos old --

she took her first boat ride AND got into the water for the first time!]

These are not the only times we went to the beach; they're just the times I took my camera along, so as you can see, we have been quite the beach bums this season, since I'm now able to stay home with my littles (praise the Lord!).  Deacon loves going to the beach and now playing/swimming in the water.  He's gotten very confident with his puddle jumper, and it's nice for mom & dad, too, knowing he will pop right back up to the top.  :)  

So long, summer!  We'll see you next year!  Bring on F A L L!

24 weeks old!

[all photos taken with instagram]

{ first 8 weeks }

{ second 8 weeks }

Wenzel: Party of 4!

Being a mom of 2 kids is NO.JOKE.  Everyone told me that, and I believed them.  And I'm here to say they were preaching TRUTH.

And that's my excuse reason that it's been over 2 months since I posted here.

The other reason?  I've been living life as a mom with 2 kids.  It's the most challenging thing I've ever done -- but it's also the BEST.

And THAT'S the truth.

Okay, on to the point of this post.  I have a friend in our Connect Group at church that is a photographer, and she just happens to live in our neighborhood, right on the road behind ours.  She was sweet enough to come by one day before Jeff went back to work to take some family photos right after Natalie was born.

Deacon is 3 years and 4 months old in these photos, and Natalie is 12 days old...

16 weeks old!

[all photos taken with instagram]

{ first 8 weeks }

8 weeks old!

[all photos taken with Instagram]

Happy Easter!

Easter weekend this year was a little, um, on the cool-ish side.  And rainy.

Boo.

So we didn't go to the Spring Fling our church usually does -- in fact, they had to cancel the event due to the weather.

Boo.

Easter Sunday was cool, but at least it was sunny.  I had to improvise with Deacon's shirt, and putting a long-sleeve onesie under Natalie's dress, but they were still cuties, in my opinion.  :)

We were invited to a luncheon that afternoon so Deacon did get to do an egg hunt with some other kids inside our Family Life Center at church.  He had fun with that.

I put a couple of beach toys in Deacon's Easter basket, along with some chocolate and peeps (just like his daddy...).  In Natalie's I just put a couple of soft toys that she'll be able to play with later on.

[Natalie's 1st Easter]

Deacon vs. Natalie // a comparison post

So this is pretty interesting.  Since I've had Natalie, there have been a few photos taken that I'm pretty sure we had a similar shot somewhere of Deacon.  When I got to looking through my photos of Deacon (boy, THAT was a trip down memory lane!), I discovered quite a few photos between the two that were very similar.

It's crazy but we in no way posed these photos of Natalie to look like the ones we took of Deacon at the same age (ain't nobody got time for that!) -- it just turned out that way.

Honest.

I had a good time putting these comparisons together.  Take a look...

[brand spankin' new, still in the OR] 

[the first of millions of kisses from mommy] 

[chilling in the recovery room on their birth-day] 

[first bottle -- Deacon at 25 days, Natalie at 26 days] 

[4 weeks old]

So do they look alike to you?