Playing in the Rain & Our Anniversary!

Last week John Michael came down with the stomach bug.  I went into freak out mode.  I HATE the stomach bug and the last one we had was by far the worst I've ever had, so I was really nervous that we would all catch it.  So far, we're all good.  He didn't feel good for about two days.  All of this happened to fall right on our four year wedding anniversary!  We thought for sure there would be no way we would be going anywhere to celebrate because we figured JM would still be sick or we'd be sick with it too.  Luckily, by the end of the second day JM was much better!

Because Uncle Judd is still here visiting, he offered to watch the baby monitors for us so we could go out to eat.  We were so excited to break free for just 2 hours or so!  We thought we wouldn't be able to go out to celebrate at all so we were thrilled to be able to go eat together.

Poor JM didn't feel well at all!

My brother has a friend that just happened to move up here this week so I got Robin to make her some cookies to welcome them to our area.  How cute are they?!  I know she liked them and was so surprised to get cookies her first week in a new place.  It's hard to move somewhere where you don't know a soul.

Even though JM was still a bit sick I let him go out and play in the rain.  I asked him if he wanted to go out and watch the storm (no thunder or lightning in sight!) and he said "Papa!"  I'll tell you why: While we were back home visiting there was a horrible storm that blew up.  Dad had been outside working in the yard and garden so he just stayed outside and sat on the back porch to watch it.  I don't know if this is normal or not, but I do the same thing.  Bad weather coming?  Oh, let me go outside and see what's happening with it!  I guess I get it from him.  Back to my story, so JM sat outside with dad and eventually got brave enough to creep out from under the porch and he played and played in the rain!  He had the best time.  I'm glad that even though he's young, he's starting to make connections and remember his grandparents!

He had a great time and it was nice to get out of the house for just a little bit!  It cooled everything down too!!

So, we did end up getting to go out after all.  We have been married for 4 years now!  We dated for nearly 7 and every year just gets better and better.  God has been so good to us and I can't wait to see what He's got up His sleeve for us in the years to come.  I'm so lucky to have found my guy, and such a great guy at that!

July Leftovers

I was flipping through our picture folder for July and I realized there were tons and tons of random pictures that I never got a chance to post.  We had a fun July so I thought I'd share a little of the leftover pictures that never made the blog cut!

 Our garden is starting to bear fruit, or veggies really!  We have had quite a few zucchini and only one squash and then the squash plant died.  We have had a few little tomoatoes and just 2 regular sized tomatoes.  It's fun to eat from your own garden.  We're hoping next year we can add to it and do even more!

 After many weeks without a haircut, JM finally got a good trim!  He looks so grown up whenever he gets a good haircut!

 Matthew was just a happy baby in his sailboat outfit!

Matthew has been loving the swings at the park.  He mainly likes to watch JM swing!  Notice how he's turned sideways to watch him!

Here's Jordan pushing JM high up in the air!

And yes, this is the dog in the baby bed with John Michael.  I did not put him in there!  Jack liked it and JM liked it too.  Jack eventually fell asleep!

I thought this was a real sweet picture of John Michael playing with his favorite Mickey racer car.  For some reason, Pete is his favorite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse character right now.  I'm not sure why.  Pete's the bad guy!!

This picture just kills me because it shows how truly big Matthew is getting.  He's pulling up on everything!

We've been to Jump Zone a few times during Toddler Time.  JM loves to go and he had a blast sliding down all the slides.

That's about it for leftover July pictures.  We have had a really busy weekend and it shows because my house is a wreck!  It's time to get a few things in order, clean a little and then I'm thinking a good Sunday nap is in order during naptime!  Hope you had a fun weekend too!

Verse O' the Day:

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

So What If I Have Camel Spit On My Car?!

How did we get camel spit on our car?!

 

Well, yesterday we decided we were up for some adventure so we headed to the Wild Wilderness Animal Safari in Gentry!  We had a blast!  I had no idea how fun it was and how many amazing things they had there.  We totally ran out of time so I decided we'll have to come back on a Saturday with Jordan and spend a good portion of the day there!

On the way there we passed a herd of buffalo on a farm!  Buffalo are so cool!  John Michaled checked them out and then continued reading his book.  Would anyone happen to know why some buffalo are golden/blond color.  It's very odd.

Even though it was 84,000 degrees outside, we were in the shade for the most part and there was a nice breeze, so we weren't really that hot.  Both boys were ready for some animal-watchin' with their hats on! 

John Michael had to get an up-close look at a  little monkey!  We did NOT join the line to have a turn to go in and pet them.  No thank you.

Sweet Baby Matthew and the monkey!

John Michael and Matthew seriously looking at this crazy monkey!  Eeek eeek John Michael kept saying!

I don't have the room for tons of pictures, but we saw turtles, roosters, rabbits, chickens, and then these baby tigers!  Roar!

Matthew says "Hello!"  He looked so cute in his hat!

I petted the baby lion.  It's probably the only time in my life that I will pet one, so I took advantage.  We didn't have enough time, but they also had pony and camel rides that day!  I was looking forward to riding the camel with JM, but it didn't work out.

Now, to the good stuff!  For some reason, this baby lemur (yes, wearing a tiny diaper) was JM's favorite thing!  He loooved it!  He could stayed there for an hour just looking at him.  We had  to eventually pull him away from him and he cried and cried!  He was pretty cute, but we had other animals to see in the drive-through safari....

The whole reason we went to the safari was because Uncle Judd is here for a visit.  It would have been hard attempting this on my own!  I love to have help.  Judd helped and held John Michael as we slowly drove through the safari!  Here they are getting ready to drive through!

John Michael seems a little unsure of the ostrich, and I don't blame them.  They all came up to the car, throughout the park, and I very much dislike them.  They have red beady eyes and look like Satan.

They had zebras and even zebra babies!  I thought it was cool that there were little babies in most of the areas we drove through!

Hello Mr. Camel!  You're in my way!

Up close and personal!

This mama had a little baby with her. We were right next to her in the car!  I'm calling her a yak, but Judd swears it's a Scotland Highlands cattle or something like that. 

As we drove out we saw lots of little prairie dogs and the little holes they dig!  Good-bye Safari!

We were surprised at how long it took us to drive through.  I wasn't expecting it to take too long, but it did!  We were hungry and everyone was ready for lunch so we stopped off at a super-cute local pizza place on the adorable Main Street in Gentry.  There were a lot of antique places and some old hardware stores on Main Street.  I definitely want to go back one Saturday and just walk around!

John Michael played with the car driving games while we waited on our cheese pizza.

Judd tended to Matthew while I let John Michael pretend to play the driving video game.  In true southern fashion we ordered a pitcher of sweet tea because it was cheaper than getting two glasses!  I really liked this pizza place and I recommend it if you're heading out to the Safari.  It was good!

After we ate pizza we had to make just one more stop.  We couldn't leave without going to the Little Debbie factory outlet.  Let me tell you, it was so cool just to look at a whole store dedicated to Little Debbie.  I can personally thank Little Debbie for over half of my pregnany weight with Matthew.  I craved fudge rounds with a mighty passion, oh my!

We hung out in the car while Judd ran in and then he sat in the car with the boys while I ran in!  We were gone a good bit of the day but we had such a good time!  It's nice to make memories with family!

Pull-Ups!

I found Matthew standing in his crib this morning when I came in to get him.  He was also standing up this afternoon after naptime! 

He was also just sitting so sweet playing with his crib toy when I went in to get him after his morning nap!

And, as usual, John Michael wanted to go "up up up" into "Da-de Dadthew" bed!  They love to roll around together after nap!  It's so darn cute!

Matthew also looooves the sit-n-spin.  It is his favorite toy and he loves to pull up on it and hold onto it!

And yes, I realize my pictures have a slight haze on them and I blame that on a certain two year old who stole my camera and put his finger prints all over it!  Matthew is starting to pull up on just about anything.  I can't believe he's getting so big and starting to do big boy things!

That's all for tonight!  Have a pleasant tomorrow!

Verse O' the Day:

Do not fear, only believe.

Mark 5:36

A Special Day!

Today is Jordan's birthday!  Happy Birthday Jordan!  JM has been practicing saying "happy birthday!" all morning and then he says "cayke?!"  We already celebrated his birthday when we were in Alabama, so I'm not sure we're going to do another big birthday cake!

Jordan, I hope you have a happy, wonderful birthday today!  I love you so much and I'm so glad that you were born so that we could spend our lives together and raise these two cuties:

Thank you for all the little and big things you do for us each day, like take out the Diaper Genie!!  You are seriously the best dad to both of our boys and they light up so much when they hear your voice when you walk in from work.

Thank you for being the best husband, father, and friend!  I love you!