Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Raise 'Em Right

Can you tell we're ready for football season?!!  John Michael is excited!



Football flag is flying out front, we've got some red and houndstooth outfits picked out, and we're ready for a brand new Alabama football season!  Roll Tide!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Hard Work

Most everything about mothering 3 small ones is hard work, even just getting a picture after church!



At least 2 out of 3 look somewhat happy!

Friday, August 26, 2011

A Celebration

On Tuesday night the girls from our Sunday School class came together to celebrate Noah's arrival!  We opted to have his shower after he was born since we weren't finding out what we were having!  I'm glad we did it this way. It was SO fun and it was nice to have him there with us!

Julie was the hostess and she had her table looking so beautiful!  She had his birth announcement in a frame and some beautiful candles lit.  There was a lot of fantastic food to choose from.  I took this picture before all the food arrived-ha!


 


I am so proud of my sweet little guy!  Look how cute he was in his new gingham  outfit, all ready for his very own shower! 



 Monica brought her girls and they were so excited to get to attend a shower.  They also loved Noah and wanted to keep checking him out and holding him.  It's a sweet picture!



I had started to get a little nervous because Noah has started to get a little fussy around dinnertime and on into the evenings.  I wondered how he would do being out all evening.  He did fantastic!  He was such a sweet little baby.  So many people held him and looked at him.  We compared his looks to that of his brothers as well! 



I have some truly wonderful friends that I have been so lucky to find since we moved up here.  I don't think I will EVER forget these hard child-rearing years as long as I live, and even when I'm really old and grey and think back to when the boys were so little, I will think about ALL of these girls and what they have each meant to me.


Noah got some great gifts and tons and tons and tons of diapers and wipes!  I'm super excited about that!



I was also excited that he took a bottle!  Kacy fed him and he did great.  She even rocked him afterwards!



 



I stayed pretty late and a few of us talked and talked.  These are the sweet times, when you're so busy with little ones so much of your time and you get a chance every now and then to sneak out and do something with just some girls!  Noah was awake for a lot of the time and he was a complete angel.  He cooed and smiled and batted his arms and legs around.  I was so happy that he did so great at his shower!


I am so thankful to everyone that came and brought some yummy food!  It meant a lot to me to have each of you there to celebrate our sweet new arrival.  He truly is a blessing!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

All Brother

I think all 3 of our boys look SO much alike, especially in their baby pictures.  When I look at Noah, I just see John Michael as a baby.  Although, after I've looked at these pictures, it appears Noah may look a lot more like Matthew than I realized.  They all are different, but have some things that are a lot alike too!

This first set of pictures is in birth order....



 




Can you tell which is which on this set?!





How about on this set of pictures?!





And just for fun, I thought this set of pictures looked almost exactly the same!  Noah's newborn picture is the first and Matthew's is on the bottom.  They look so much alike here!



Monday, August 22, 2011

Did Tiger Woods Start Out This Way?!

All I have to say is, did Tiger Woods start out this way?!


Matthew has a deep obsession with anything remotely round that might resemble a ball and he loves to play golf.  LOVES! 



I caught him in the act the other day.  I know I've mentioned he will make anything into a golf club and it doesn't actually have to be a ball for him to hit it like a golf ball.  Case in point: last night I cleaned up a baby tomato from the den carpet because he was playing golf with his toothbrush and using the tomato as the ball.  I'm not kidding!



He's so serious about his golf.  He found a way to carry all 3 blocks AND the golf club out to the hallway so he could hit it!  Also, he got his hat down from a peg all by himself by using his club!



 



Funny thing is, we've never actually shown him how to play or how to hold the club or anything.  We have been playing Wii golf recently, though!



He has perfect form.  What a silly boy; and he is ALL boy!



John Michael ventured over for a quick minute to take a little golf break himself!  He's definitely not as into golf as Matthew is!


Saturday, August 20, 2011

Salsa and Coffee??!!

I've never made homemade salsa before, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I found this recipe and I LOVE it!  It is so good, fresh, and yummy!  I never want to buy bottled salsa again.  I thought this was pretty easy to throw together too!  Matthew loved it and ate a ton of it on some tortilla chips.  We'll be making this again soon!


Summer Salsa


Ingredients


5 ripe tomatoes cored and diced


1 small red ontion, peeled and finely chopped (I used regular onion)


2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced


1 bell pepper seeded and chopped


1 jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped


1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro


1/4 teaspoon cayenne


1/4 teaspoon salt


1 tablespoon fresh lime juice


Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix well.  Cover and regfrigerate!


(I put all of my ingredients into a food processor and mixed it that way!)


 


Iced Coffee


Also, I've never been a huge coffee fan unless it's from Starbucks and has tons of sugar and cream in it, but lately I've been enjoying iced coffee!  It only makes sense since it's been 100 degrees outside so often this summer!  I own a coffee maker, but we rarely use it unless our parents are up visiting. 


Well, I decided that I would come up with a quick and easy way to grab a really yummy and cheap iced coffee most mornings....



Here's my method:


Since I'm super busy lately and have my hands full in the mornings, I just make a BIG batch of coffee every few mornings.  Once it's brewed I go ahead and dissolve my sugar in it and set it aside and let it cool.  I drink my iced coffee out of that morning's pot and then put the leftover coffee in a large cup and store it in the refrigerator.


Every morning I grab my cup, pour in a little milk, add some ice, then add my already-sweetened coffee from the fridge and viola....iced coffee that only took 12 seconds to throw together!


I'm loving this iced coffee and I love that it takes little to no time to throw it together in a cup and go!


And just for fun,



and



Can you tell they really, really didn't want to sit and get their picture made?

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

First Day Jitters

Today was Matthew's first day of Mother's day Out and John Michael's first day of Preschool!  Jordan went with us and helped me get everyone out the door.  I can't figure out how I'm going to get us all there on time with a little one and two others to feed, clothe, brush teeth and hair and get shoes on, bags packed and loaded in the car!  It's a lot to do!

They were both excited to get back to school!  JM has a new bigger boy backpack and lunch box!



How cute are they?!  Oh my goodness I can't believe they're this big!



This is a picture of JM on his first day of school last year.  He still looks so little! He loved school so much and I know he's glad to be back.  He's going to learn so much this year.  They have special prayers to learn each month and they have to hang up their bags and pack their own nap maps up!



Here's Matthew and his new sweet teacher, Miss Steph.  Tonight he said "efff, efff" so we think he was talking about her!



John Michael hung up his bag and sat right down with some books and started reading.



This is a picture of Matthew last year on JM's first day of school.  He definitely looks little.  He was my little buddy on my mother's day out days and now......



This will be my little buddy for this year's mother's day out!



After we got home from dropping the big boys off, Noah and I played and played on the floor and had some tummy time together.  I then got him ready for a good nap and then started working on the house.  I cleaned, wiped counters, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, and organized laundry.  Those few hours were so wonderful because I got SO much done without any interruptions!


Because I recorded last year's first day of school remarks, I thought I would do it today so we don't forget!


About JM:


He ate a good lunch and didn't nap too well.


He saw Matthew on the playground.


He told us his teacher's name.


He colored a school bus green.


He told us he didn't know any of the friends in his new room!


About Matthew:


He ate a great lunch and also played on the playground.


He slept on a cot for the first time and took a great nap!


He said his teacher's name a few times tonight!


 


I know it's going to be a great year.  We have a TON of activities starting up and our weeks are going to be busy.  Hopefully it won't be too busy.


 

5 Years!

Because we had family in town Jordan and I were able to go out to dinner to Bonefish Grill to celebrate our FIVE year anniversary!!  Baby Noah took a bottle so we were able to enjoy our night out together!



Oh how I have loved our five years of marriage and our almost 7 years of dating!  I'm so happy I get to share my everyday crazy life with Jordan.  Happy Anniversary!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Truckin'

Here's our little truck driver driving the replica of Sam Walton's original truck at our downtown square.



It kind of fits Matthew, don't you think?!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Tummy Time!

Tummy time is a family affair at our house!  Whenever Noah is on a little blanket on the floor for a little while (which isn't that often because he gets stepped on!) both boys want to come lay with him!

They will usually always come over and lay down right beside him or give him hugs and kisses!  John Michael will usually say things like "Poor Baby Nooooah!" or "awww, isn't he cute?!" 

It looks like these two were enjoying watching "Cars" together.  Just the first of many around this house!


Matthew had to get his snuggle time in too!



 



And isn't he just the sweetest angel?!



And this is how Matthew gives kisses sometimes!



Sweet times around our house!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Now We Are Three

Look how cute they all look in our new-to-us triple stroller.  I cannot believe I have one of these, much less get to learn how to use it, store it, and get it in and out of the van, but it's awesome!



That right there, my friends, is a stroller full of blessings!


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Baseball Fever

We have had some major baseball fever around here!  Our boys LOVE some sports and baseball is the sport of the moment.  They play Wii baseball a pretty good bit and JM is getting very good at hitting the ball.  Jordan got out our new T-ball set and they have just been wild about it!  Luckily it came with 2 balls and we have 2 bats, so it works out just fine!

It's still so hot but that wouldn't keep our boys away from their T-ball set!


 


They wanted to wear their matching baseball shirts to play baseball outside!



 If you can't tell by this picture of Matthew, it looks like we might have an athlete on our hands.  We truly don't care what our boys end up doing, but wow, Matthew has really shown some athletic ability over the last year.  Yes, I know he's still little but the way he has perfect form playing golf and T-ball and we've never truly shown him how to do it, it just makes us wonder!  We'll find out what his true interests are in a few years and see what kind of strengths and abilities God has blessed him.  Hopefully our boys will use their natural gifts to bring glory in some way to God!



 After we played baseball for awhile, we had to have a popsicle break; like we do most nights!



 



 



 And Baby Noah got in some special Daddy snuggle time while the big boys played!



By next summer we'll have 3 little boys playing baseball in our backyard in the hot, hot summer heat!  I can't wait!