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}

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!

 

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!

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 meets Natalie...

My mom & dad (aka Grammy & Grandpa) were able to come for Natalie's birth and take care of Deacon for us while we were in the hospital.  Since Natalie was born in the morning, they were able to bring Deacon to the hospital later that same day to meet his little sister.

He did so well with her and with me, too.  :)  He was pretty curious about the expanding cuffs around my legs (to prevent blood clots until I could get up myself) but otherwise he just wanted to see Natalie, hold Natalie, kiss Natalie.  He was really gentle with her and it was clear that he was glad she was finally out of mommy's tummy.  :)

potty training...

So potty training...

Hardest thing we've done to date in our parenting career.

[LOTS of big boy undies, juice & treats]

I was pretty stressed about doing this which is the reason I think I put it off so long.  Well, I didn't even KNOW what stressed was!  The stressful part is after you get into it and have to take one day, one moment at a time.

And there is NO consistency whatsoever.

We have good days and bad, good 1/2 days and bad.  But overall, if I'm honest, I think he's pretty normal, doing most of what all of our friends kids have done in their potty training experience.  We've been doing this for a week now and the accidents have been been minimal, really.

[diapers in the trash; froot loops/gummies/marshmallows/m&ms for treats]

The frustrating part has been that the accidents seem to happen mere seconds/minutes after we've just prompted him about telling us when he has to go.  Argh.

But the wonderful thing has been that from the very start, he has stayed dry all the way through naps and overnight.  Every day/night!  The boy has a bladder of steel, for sure!

So we're learning and he's learning, and just as all my sweet, encouraging friends have stated, "He'll get it."

[he was excited to show off his underwear to his bear and puppy dog]

Chuck E Cheese!

The other thing we did on Deacon's actual birthday, after giving him his bike, is take him to Chuck E Cheese for the first time.  I think I've only ever been to Chuck E Cheese maybe once, for a friend's birthday party or something like that.  We didn't have them in the area where I grew up so it wasn't something we frequented.  Jeff said the same thing.

I'm happy to say that with my limited experience, my expectations were exceeded by a fairly large margin.  :)  It was a lot cleaner (and quieter) than I expected it to be, and the food was pretty decent.  We got a package deal with a pizza, drinks and some a ton of tokens for the games/rides.

While we were there during the lunch hour, another kid had a birthday party so we were able to see the "show" that Chuck E Cheese and his friends put on for parties (without actually paying for it).  Deacon was pretty enthralled with it all (from a safe distance :), but Jeff and I decided then that we wouldn't do a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.  Ever.

There were a few rides that quickly became Deacon's faves, but for the most part he liked exploring to see all the fun to be had.  Jeff and I had a pretty good time, too, but it was fun to watch Deacon have so much fun.  We enjoyed our time as a family at Chuck E Cheese!

a new bike!

Deacon's actual birthday fell on a Saturday this year and since we had his birthday party the week before, we were able to spend his special day together as a family.  It was so much fun!

The day was absolutely beautiful, with crisp fall temps in the morning and sunshine-y skies.  We started out with a "birthday biscuit" -- Daddy brought home breakfast for us!

Then we had a "birthday bath" -- okay, maybe it was just a regular bath.  But it was on his birthday so...

Then we gave Deacon his birthday present from us -- a balance bike!  It's a bike with no pedals, and the intention is to teach them to learn balance before having to deal with pedals.  He got a tricycle for Christmas from my grandparents, and he likes it, but he still hasn't gotten the concept of pushing one foot and then the other to make it go.  He'll get it, I know, but in the meantime, we thought the balance bike would be something he would enjoy.

Score one for Mommy & Daddy -- we were right!