Breaking News from HBC Daycare!

JPW went teetee in the Potty!!!! Yay!!! Just had to post the great news! We'll see how well he does at home!

Lighting Up Our World!

We've had a very busy day Saturday, starting with a cookie party, santa visit to the nicu and ending with driving around looking at christmas lights. I'll post on the other events later but I had to post our Christmas light tour first. There is a house in Eastern Forest that is AMAZING! The family has there lights sychronized to music on a radio station. The traffic in this neighborhood was crazy. We sat at this one house for an hour. The family does this to raise money for the Montgomery Family Sunshine Center for abused spouse, children and seniors. They have a donation box out in front of their house and all proceeds go to the Sunshine Center. Pretty neat concept. Below are a few videos and pics. I have another video I'm hoping to get posted of us dying laughing at Cooper. I'm having problems but hopefully I can get it up soon!

PUSH PAUSE ON THE MUSIC BAR TO THE RIGHT SO YOU CAN HEAR THIS VIDEO

Oh and we also went to Sturbridge. Below is a picture of a house on Chadburn. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Any blow up Santa you've ever dreamed of is in this man's front yard. I'm not quite sure how the Homeowners Assoc. has allowed this but I'm glad they do because we drive by quite often for entertainment for JPW.

O Christmas Tree!

The Christmas season is here! We bought our Christmas Tree a week and a half ago. We always make it a family afair to the Home Depot. JPW picks the tree out. The first one he looked at this year we bought. The sad part is that our tree sat for a week undecorated because we didn't have time to decorate it. Then the day came for decorating the tree. Here's what I had in mind Christmas music playing, JPW, G and me hanging ornaments perfectly on the tree and placing all the decorations so lovely around the house, you know exactly what you see on TV.

Here's what we had some Christmas music playing, JPW screaming and breaking ornaments, and G and me placing the lights on the tree backwards-meaning when we got to the bottom we didn't have a plug to plug in. So taking all the lights back down and re-lacing them through the tree. Oh and you want to know about the lovely wreaths outside, G went and grabbed us some dinner and came back in-I asked him how the wreaths looked from the street, he said well one wreath has slide down the window. Lovely! Did anyone elses Christmas decorating go like this? I keep reading everyone's blogs about these picture perfect decorating tree memories. And seeing those cute pictures of children hanging ornaments on the tree.

Well, the thing about it is this is our picture perfect Christmas decorating memories. Even though at times I thought we were going to lose our minds. I quickly remembered, how blessed we are to have a two year old to celebrate Christmas with. I even told G at one point-at least we have him to decorate with(as JPW was screaming bloody murder) So I switched our Christmas music to the Christian station and turned it up loud! It always helps me stay positive. The other thing is we were so focused on the tree and that really isn't what this is all about. When I pulled out the nativity scene, I looked and said this is what it is all about. I pulled each piece out and said to JPW each person's name "BABY JESUS" "MARY" "JOSEPH" He tried to repeat them and it was precious!

So to wrap up our Christmas decorating-chaotic but perfect-I'm so grateful to have an amazing husband and son to Celebrate this Christmas with! Even more I'm so thankful for Baby Jesus' birthday! Below are a few pictures. I don't have a picture of the finished product. You'll have to come visit to see it! Below are a few pics some from last year, look how much he's grown!

Going to get his tree with Daddy-LAST YEAR

Going to get his tree with Daddy-THIS YEAR

Picking out his tree-LAST YEAR

Picking out his treet-THIS YEAR

Handsome little man!

G is excited about the lights

JPW playing with lights(yes he's standing in a chair)

Stuffed Turkeys!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day! We started the day early with JPW waking at 6am(that's the usual time) but I got to sleep till 8:30. Yes that's sleeping in these days. My lovely husband got up with JPW and let me sleep in! It was a great way to start the day off.

Then we headed to the Lake to Bdiddy's and Aunt Pam's house. JPW and Cooper had a blast playing outside, throwing rocks and swinging. We also snagged a few pictures. Cousin "Pooper" as JPW calls him wasn't very excited about the pics. We fed JPW a little early because his lunch is usually at 11am at school. He ate mostly mac and cheese and my corn bake. I was so excited he ate the corn bake. He's not digging veggies these days. Then after his lunch it was time for a nap. He was sacked out. So while he was napping we ate are Thanksgiving lunch. I can't tell you the last time we've eaten without JPW, we were able to talk with cousin Lindsey and even tossed in a few rounds of "Are You Smarter than a 5th grader" I was the host, I know I'm not smarter than a 5th grader. I soon found hosting was just as hard because I couldn't pronounce half the words. By the way, have you ever heard of the word "superlative" well I hadn't and I pronounced it as "super-late-tive" This was the first year we played board games. Cousin Lindsey's boyfriend Aaron plays games with his family on holidays so we tried to make him feel at home. Yes his team got the million dollar question right. ha!

After Bdiddys and Aunt Pam we headed to Uncle Marvin and Aunt Peggy's house in Wetumpka. Cousins Mark, Jen, Ayden and Maya were in town from North Carolina. We haven't seen them since last Thanksgiving so it was great to catch up with them. JPW had so much fun running around outside with them. Ayden and Maya love "Uncle G"! Maya spent most of the time snuggling with Uncle "G" on the couch. She is such a cutie! We didn't catch any pics with all three of them. It's hard trying to get 3 kiddies to sit still for a pic. We did have turkey again for dinner and it was wonderful. I just love to eat so Thanksgiving makes me Happy!

So to sum up our Thanksgiving we were quite busy! Even in midst of all this busyness we still remembered to thank the Lord for all of our blessings. I could list a million things I'm thankful for. Especially my incredible Lord, amazing husband, precious son, loving family and friends and fp! I feel so undeserving of all of these things! My God has blessed my life beyond measure!

I hope you and your family had a blessed Thanksgiving!

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving;go into his courts with praise.Give thanks to him and praise his name.For the Lord is good." Psalm 100:4-5













Mommy won't be able to pull out these socks too much longer!











Our annual Thanksgiving
Family Pic














So Thankful for these two special guys!
















Keepin JPW still was so hard!










This Pumpkin helped keep him still

















Smile Boys!












It's ok Pooper!















On a mission!
















Havin fun with his stick!



















Come on Aunt Pam I have lots to show you!


















This is what I got when I told JPW to sit on his bottom!

















Our Little Stuffed Turkey!


















Cousin Maya and JPW!













Sweet Boy!

Happy Halloween!

JPW had a great Halloween this year! We started with Trick or Treating at his daycare Halloween morning. He was a puppy and wasn't too excited about the costume but he finally got used to it. We had so much fun at daycare except for the fact that JPW didn't realize that you can't eat every single piece of candy people give you. The whole concept of putting the candy in the bucket did not register with him. You'll see in the pics below where he had a complete meltdown in the hallway because he couldn't eat every piece of candy. He really knows how to embarass his mommy.

After school we headed to Maw Maw's house (G's mom) to trick or treat with cousins Hunter and Dylan. JPW had it made. He sat in the stroller and strolled his way down the street. He isn't good at listening to instruction so I wasn't risking him running in the road. We had a great time with Hunter and Dylan. Dylan made sure JPW knew exactly what to do when they got to the door. I can't even count how many times people said "oh what a pretty little girl" to JPW. HELLO, aren't puppies usually boys and kitties are girls? Do you think he looks like a girl? He did have the costume covering his hair and his checks were red from his eczema. I don't get it!
Even still we had a blast trick or treating with Hunter and Dylan!

On Saturday, we went to the church's trunk or treat. Another chance to get Mommy and Daddy more candy! ha! JPW came out of his costume really quick. He decided he would rather play on the inflatibles than trick or treat. Let me just say they sure don't make those inflatibles "parent friendly" JPW is at the age where he can jump in them but if there is a wall to crawl up he can't make it by himself. So Mommy jumped on in. Then I became the inflatible worker pushing all the kids up the wall. I didn't mind they had so much fun! Another lesson JPW needs to learn is how to stand in line and wait your turn. He would come out of the inflatible and head back to the front of the line. After Mommy was worn out, our friend Hunter helped by letting JPW hang out in the Safari Bus inflatible. JPW loves Mr. Hunter!

We had a great Halloween this year! Isn't JPW was the cutest puppy ever!

JPW's 2nd Birthday!

I'm a little late on this post~JPW's 2nd birthday was September 29th. We had his party at the YMCA Goodtimes Center. It was the perfect place for a party! This year, no BBQ lunch, just simple dips, cake and ice cream. I learned my lesson last year-less food+better location =less stress! I highly recommend the Goodtimes Center. You can just let the kids go and play! JPW had a blast! He crawled up the big slide all by himself and slide down it a million times. We had some what of an Elmo theme. Not Elmo overload :-) We had cute polka dot invitations and Cake Designs made his cake exactly like his invitations plus they added an Elmo on it. He'd been practicing blowing out his candles for weeks. If he ever comes to your house and there are candles be prepared he'll blow them out! He loves candles! He also absolutley LOVES Elmo! We had a precious Happy Birthday banner painted by my friend Christy! Isn't it precious! Instead of goodie bags we gave out "Dorothy" to all the kids. For those who don't watch Elmo, Dorothy is his goldfish. Yes, we gave away live goldfish along with a bag of fish food. The parents loved it! ha! And we took home 7 extra Dorothys who all passed away except for one. Our last Dorothy is holding on strong. We bought a fish tank and everything to house all our new friends. I hope all the other Dorothy(s) out there are still kickin! We opened all the wonderful gifts at home. There's no way we could have kept JPW still for 30 minutes to open all the gifts at the party. Can we say S-P-O-I-L-E-D! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated JPW's 2nd Birthday!

I used to think Birthday were just parties but now I've realized that it truly is a celebration of his life and the two wonderful years the Lord has blessed us with him! Happy Birthday Stinker! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know! Thank you Lord for our precious gift!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above" James 1:17

Talladega Here We Come.......

So, I had my first Nascar experience a few weeks ago in Talladega! Wow! I will say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Thank goodness for Wachovia Suite tickets! If I had to sit in the stands I might have been in trouble. The people in Talladega are quite unique! Oh and did I tell you we had pit passes too! I'm told that's a pretty big deal to Nascar fans. It was neat seeing all the tools, tires and mechanics. Yes, I said mechanics. Can you believe women were screaming to get their pictures taken with mechanics. I guess they're famous too. The suite was so nice and was the best part of the race besides the wrecks. We had breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and then another snack because the race ran late. So needless to say I ate and ate and ate! Travis and Lindsay went with us too so we were in good company! I started to doze off at one point because my belly was so full and BAMMM a wreck right in front of our suite! It was really neat! Definitely woke me up! So to sum up my first Nascar Race I would say good food, good company, and good date with my hubby! We'll see if G asks me to go next year!

Oh and I'm a Denny Hemlin fan! That's G's favorite driver and Denny's color is purple. Got to love that!

Denny's Pit(I guess that's what you call it?)














G and Me at good old Denny's Pit














G and Travis














Clean up from the wreck















So happy in the Suite!