Blessed

I don’t talk about it often enough, but I am so incredibly grateful to have the blessing of being able to stay home with my babies.  Yes, it can be hard, frustrating, and draining.  Yes, I am always at work and rarely get a break.  Yes, sometimes I think I’m going to go crazy if I have to watch one more Elmo’s world, listen to one more kid CD in the car, or play cars for one more second.  HOWEVER, I wouldn’t trade my job for any other job in the world!  I love being a stay at home mommy, and I thank God for allowing that to be possible. 

One of the best parts of my “job” that has been on my mind lately is how great it is to be able to make my kids happy.  Sometimes it’s with something big like a trip to ChickFilA (ice cream and all) or All About Kids, but more often than not, the biggest smiles come from the simple things.  Here are some of their favorite things recently:

Cole- creating tents/caves, eating a sucker, hearing “Down By the Bay” on his Raffi CD in the car, seeing ducks swimming in a creek near our house, getting to go on walks, doing the hot dog dance at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, eating anything chocolate, and playing with my hair

Jordan- BEING PICKED UP & HELD!!!, playing with a straw, messing with my earrings/rings/eyelashes (I know that last one is strange, but she loves to), watching the occasional Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode, and having me sing her song to her (Baby Jordan, Baby Jordan, I love you, I love you, I love you very much, I love you very  much, Yes I do, Yes I do- to the tune of Where is Thumbkin)

Man I love these 2 little boogers so much it is crazy!  Thanking God daily for the blessing of being their momma and praying for his wisdom and guidance as Murray and I try to raise them to be Godly adults who delight in Him.

Always something with Cole!

Need I say more than- They learn it young… 

2 funny stories…

First as we were going out to the car this morning, Cole turns around and yells down the sidewalk “Bye Monsters!”  He walks up the very small slope in our driveway and turns again to yell “You can’t get me.  I’m climbing up my mountain!”  Seriously love his imagination!

In the car on the way back home Cole tells me from the backseat “Mommy, my sister- Baby Jordan (in case I didn’t know who she was I guess)- needs a snack to eat from my big, big chest buttons.”  I asked “She does?”  To which he said “Yeah. (He made smacking noises.)  She did a good job eating.”  What a mess!

Fun with Family & Friends

We have had a lot of fun times over the past week or so.  We have made the most of our days home with family and our days out with friends.  Here’s the proof!

My prayer is that, despite the brother/sister quarrels that are sure to come, they will always have this pure love and adoration for each other!  I mean… look at them!

My big girl!  (No she did not pull up… she was placed here, but still!)

I have to say… I was pretty creative with this tent, AND they played in it for a long time!  Points for me!

I’m sure y’all get tired of videos of Cole making Jordan laugh, but I love hearing her precious laugh and watching Cole get so excited to make his sissy happy… so here’s another one. 

We met up at All About Kids with our friends Carla & Josh who have moved away.  Cole was excited to play with Rylee and again, and I was excited to see their baby boy who is already getting so big!  Sara got to bring Gracie too so the three of them had a big time!  I had a tough time getting pictures because these 3 were EVERYWHERE! 

We continued the fun with lunch at Wendy’s…  Yes we were brave to let three 2 year olds sit alone at a table by themselves.  Trust me I paid for it, and lesson was learned.  They just looked so cute when we started out.

And just a reminder that life with a 2 year old is not always funny stories and sweet smiles… yes those are tons of Cheerios he has poured out all over himself, his carseat, and the back of my car… just because.  Gotta love that little booger though!

Weekend with Nonny & Poppy!

We had the special treat of having Nonny & Poppy come in town for the weekend (a week and a half ago… I’ve been slacking).  Cole & Jordan soaked up the playtime and extra attention, Murray and I had a date night, and I think my parents had a pretty good time too!  Here are some pictures from our weekend…

Snuggle time is the best.  Cole doesn’t slow down often so we all cherish the fact that he wakes up slow!

We even got to play in the snow a little bit.  It wasn’t much but it was fun to draw in!

Saturday night was our big night out, and we headed to Chuck E. Cheese!  Cole was so excited to play the games with Nonny & Poppy…

Jordan was excited to try pizza crust for the first time… definitely a fan!  Maybe we will just skip baby food.  Haha.

Picking out his prize… such a tough decision!

Thanks Nonny & Poppy for making the trip, spending the time, and spoiling our kids!  Lots of good memories were made that’s for sure.  Can’t wait till we see you again.  Love you!

Cole the Comedian

This isn’t the funny part, but I had to show off my smart little boy.  I’m biased, but what 2 year old knows 10 letters of the alphabet?!?!

And here are a few funny things that he has said lately…

We were playing in our “barn” when he peeked out and said “Oh no!  There are bad guys out there!”  I told him it was ok and to just stay in the barn so they wouldn’t get us.  He quickly told me, “It’s ok.  The cow is going to poot on them.”  He stuck the cow’s bottom out from under the blanket, made a poot noise, and said “They’re dead now.”  I promise that we do not encourage that kinda stuff, but somehow I think ALL little boys learn about it and think it’s so funny.

He is really flexible.  I mean really flexible.  The other day he came up to me and was very concerned.  He said, “Mommy, I have something on my back.”  He was reaching back with his right arm and grabbing his right shoulder blade.  Haha.  He felt much better once I told him that it was just part of his shoulder. 

He isn’t always the easiest at bedtime.  The other night Murray left his room after a lengthy bedtime routine.  As he sat down on the couch beside me, we hear “Don’t leave me.  Daddy, don’t leave me.  I thought you were my friend.”  Dagger to the heart!  Seriously shouldn’t be able to do such good guilt trips this early!

My parents are in town this weekend.  They got here late last night after Cole was asleep.  We didn’t tell him they were coming because we didn’t want him too excited to go to bed.  Like I said, bedtimes have been tough lately.  Anyway, this morning my dad went to get him when he woke up.  We were all expecting pure joy and excitement when he saw who was here… instead Cole told on us!  First thing he told Poppy was, “My Daddy said, if I didn’t sleep like a big boy and if I came out of my room, I would get a spanking.” 

Check back later for some fun pictures from this weekend with Nonny & Poppy!

Playtime!

We have had crazy weather lately… snow flurries, warm sunshine, back to snow flurries.  We are enjoying all of it, but mostly only going outside for the warm sunshine.    Here are some pictures and videos from our playtime outside on warm days and inside on cold days!

Aren’t they just the cutest things?

We love the little playground down the street from our house.  Cole is always so proud that he can do it all- all by himself!

One afternoon that Daddy was home, it was still light enough and warm enough for us to play outside in our front yard.  We had a big time.  Jordan especially loved having her activity table outside so she could be more independent!

She gets around the table with no trouble now!

Cole and Daddy had a big game of frisbee!

“Killing” the tree… such a boy!

The victory dance that turned into Raffi’s “Down by the Bay.”  Silly boy!

Since the weather has turned cold again, we have been having fun inside with books, matching games, tents/caves, etc…

Who needs to crawl, when you can sprint!  Definitely going to be an athlete! 

This is one reason that I love Murray so much… he walks in the door from work and immediately finds a cave and becomes a bear with Cole.  Such a great daddy!

Cole and Murray invented a race track/ramp for all his cars.

I’m not as creative as the boys usually, but I’m a great “boat” motor…

I love playing with my kiddos and seeing the things Cole comes up with and Jordan learns to do.  Such a blessing to be their Mommy!