Splish, Splash PAD!

Last summer when I heard our town was opening a new splash pad downtown for this summer I was soo excited!  I have to admit I was a little bummed when I learned I was due in July because I had planned on spending a good bit of time there this summer.  I'm still not exactly sure how "everything" is going to work out with adding a 3rd little baby with a little mess like Matthew around, but I figure we'll get in our groove and find what works best for us!

Jordan's mom was still up for a visit, so I figured since I had help and it was 90 degrees, we would go try out our brand new splash pad!  We had a quick visit to Chick-fil-A first and then changed the boys into swim diapers when we got to the splash pad.

And if you can't tell, they had a blast!  It was really fun.  I can only imagine how packed it's going to be for most of the summer.  Matthew was a little hesitant about all the water, but he eventually warmed up to it a bit!

 

 

Matthew kept coming up to get his face wiped off with the towel!

They had such a good time.  I'm so happy we live in a town that is constantly doing new things and keeping the parks up!  It makes it so nice to live here!

We will definitely be back for more splash pad fun this summer!

Mother's Day and a Birthday!

Last Sunday was my 3rd year in a row celebrating Mother's Day but it was also John Michael's 3rd birthday!  We enjoyed our morning at church with Jordan's mom here for a visit!  The boys looked especially cute in their outfits, although they didn't match because our crazy iron spit out brown water right as I was about finished ironing Matthew's outfit the night before!

So blessed to be a Mama!  Best job in the world!  I still am in awe of the fact that Jordan and I have known each other for so long and dated so long and we're going to have 3 kids before we hit 30!  So fun and crazy at the same time. 

I know Jordan's mom was glad to be here to celebrate Mother's Day with her son!

We went to McAllister's for a casual lunch after church.  I started feeling really awful, so I was ready to head home.  After a good afternoon nap we let John Michael open his presents and cards from everyone!

As part of his birthday we decided to head to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner, just for something fun and different to do.  We had a really good time!

I love this little Alabama baseball set that I found while we were home!

Of course, Matthew immediately started playing his favorite game, golf!

I was actually having a pretty terrible pregnancy day on Mother's Day.  I was so tired, I had hot flashes really badly, I ached and I was pretty crampy during the day.  I had a really good nap and felt a little better once I woke up.

 

We ate some pizza and got ready to PLAY!!  Matthew had fun playing the games too.  It was his first visit to the Cheese!

By far the boys' favorite thing to do was play this football game and the basketball game.  We played it a lot!  I think it was a great way to spend a 3rd birthday!

We still can't believe JM is 3 now!  I feel like I've learned so much over the last 3 years.  I've made mistakes and learned a lot about having more patience and generally feeling very blessed everyday to be home with my boys.  I want time to slow down so I can make sure I cherish every day with them!

Because we got home so late from Chuck E. Cheese, we decided to let John Michael cut into his birthday cake for lunch the next day.  He liked his little Lightning McQueen car on his cake!

JM and Matthew loved their cake for dessert!

It was a fun and sweet weekend, but also very tiring for me.  I guess I'm just being hit with 3rd trimester tiredness.  I've had a doctor's appointment and everything seems just fine and I was measuring right at 32, so that was fine too....even though I look like I'm having twins or I could be 9 months pregnant!  I kind of hope these last few weeks fly by, but really I feel like there's so much more to do so I hope we can get it all done!

 

A Busy Weekend!

We had a busy weekend starting Friday afternoon!  I took cupcakes to John Michael's classroom so we could celebrate his birthday with his little friends in his class.  I think they were pretty excited to have cupcakes after naptime!

Me and my 3 year old!  I don't understand how 3 years passed so quickly!

Matthew always makes himself at home whenever he visits John Michael's classroom!

 

After we left school we came home and played for just a bit and then had naptime.  The boys have been playing together so well lately and they have been so sweet to each other.  There have been so many hugs and kisses between them lately.  It really warms my heart!

After everyone woke up we had some dinner and then headed to our square for First Friday.  They had live music and some other fun things going on.

They also had pony rides and we let both boys ride, although Matthew had to get off because he was not at all pleased.  John Michael looooves to ride horses, so he had a great time!

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for John Michael's birthday party at Jump Zone! 

I was so pleased with his party!  All we had to do was bring cupcakes, our camera, goody bags, and some water for the adults.  They provided everything else. It was great!  We did a sports theme (per JM's request!) and my friend Robin made John Michael this cute sports shirt for his party!

Matthew is not as excited about Jump Zone.  He rode around on this little tricycle for most of the party!

He is such a little mess!

JM had some good bouncy time with his dad!

 

 

ALL the kiddos!  We were so excited that so many of JM's friends could make the party.  It made it really special to have them all there!

After we bounced it was time to go eat some pizza and cupcakes!

 

I thought it was sweet that Matthew got to sit right beside his big brother during his birthday party!

Happy Birthday to you, John Michael!  You are 3!

 

We are so blessed to have such a sweet, talented, and smart first-born.  He makes us laugh every single day with all the things he's been saying lately.  I have been loving this age!  It's just a sweet time and I love that he gives hugs and kisses to me throughout the day.  He makes us smile!

Devastation and Blessings

*This blog post is mainly just for me to remember this day and hopefully remember how blessed we are.

You may not know it, but the boys and myself are back home for a good last visit before baby #3 comes.  This has ended up being good and bad.  It was so good to get a visit in with family members, but bad because it has meant we were home for the devastating tornadoes that broke out this past week.  My heart just aches not only for my home state of Alabama, but also for Tuscaloosa where I have a good many family members and also lived for 5 years of college. 

We literally watched that mile-wide tornado live on TV approach and then plow through Tuscaloosa.  Luckily, my grandmother was up at our house for a visit so that was a huge sigh of relief for us.  We do know the damaging winds/tornado came very close to her house so it was a total God-thing that she decided to come up when she did.  My other grandparents live in a different part of Tuscaloosa, so they were just fine, but no power, water, or phone.

We just keep sitting around in shock as we've been watching footage for most of the day for several days on end.  It is awful.  It is sad.  It is heartbreaking and just so unbelievable that this happened to places I love.  To say our city got lucky would an understatement.  That monster tornado moved through Tuscaloosa, up through Birmingham, and was supposed to come straight up to us, but it did not.  It turned and headed elsewhere.  We took shelter in mom and dad's hallway and lost power, but we cannot complain about anything.  We have a house, we have power, we have not sent in pictures to the local news of missing family members, and we have food.  I'm not sure when I've ever felt more grateful and blessed, but also sad.

One important part of my trip was to go visit my Mamaw in North Alabama.  I kissed my sweet boys good-bye and Dad and I took off this morning and drove up to see her at the nursing home.  We took a round-about way to get there so we could see some of the damage in North Alabama.  I honestly didn't really know that that much had happened in North Alabama. 

My eyes were opened today:

This is Rainsville, and below is a Huddle House where many people died.  I'm not a reporter, so I don't want to give numbers and not be accurate.

My eyes have never seen anything quite like this.  It's a lot to take in and you start to feel kind of small on this earth.

We stopped at a Wal-Mart that had absolutely nothing in the freezer sections and people were buying carts full of water, bread, and hot dog buns.  I felt so silly knowing I had a house, clothes, and family to go back to later that day.

We had a good visit with Mamaw and then headed to my Dad's small town of Flat Rock to go check on some family members and check out Mamaw's house because we had been told ALL the trees were down:

It was true.  ALL the trees were down.  One thing I always remember about Papaw and Mamaw's house was the shade on the back and front porches.  The house looks so odd because it's just sitting in the middle of destruction with no shade to be found anymore.

After we left we drove up the road just a bit and found a Community Center that was open to feed, clothe, and house people who have lost everything, including family members.  Let me just say, my Dad knows just about everyone around his hometown, so we easily moved throughout the shelter so Dad could go talk to different people.

These volunteers were serving some GOOD southern food!  They had cornbread, greens, squash, and chicken!  It looked and smelled so good.  The director said they have been feeding over 1,000 people everyday.  She said whenever they have a need like diapers or bread, it just appears because people are bringing in the things that they need to care for these people.

 

There were men grilling and working on the generators.

 

They had massive amounts of ice and were bringing in more by the truckful.

After we left the shelter, we headed towards home and came upon a large section of land that had been destroyed.  You could see the massive hole in the middle of the mountains where the tornado had come over the mountain.  Very creepy.  I cannot imagine seeing that storm system thunder down the mountain toward you.

 

 

I think this was some of the worst areas that we saw all day.

 

We saw a lot of sadness today, but we also got to see the good side of people.  People helping each other out and just taking care of their neighbors.  That's what it's all about.  I've never felt more blessed but also helpless to do anything to help people who have nothing, while I have everything.  If you would like to donate, you can go to www.redcross.org