Our Weekend

Last weekend, William and I had a low key few days together! Nothing too special going on, but some cute pictures!! ;)


Friday: Sweet boy was still getting over his cold. He was up at 6 am (UGH) and was already whining by 8. I have been wanting to take him to story time at a library near our house, so I figured this was the day. I found out that they had it at 10:30, so I got my shower and we bundled up and headed out. He had the best time!! His friend, Gracie, from preschool was there too! It was only 25 minutes, and shew, that was enough! Those toddlers were BUSY! We ran to Chick Fil A next to meet Carolyn and Grace for a quick lunch. William had a ball showing her the Veggie Tales app, since we wouldn't let them play in the playground since they are both getting over colds.

Saturday: We were still being lazy. Robbie worked, and so did Paul. I texted Carolyn and asked if she wanted to come over, and we just sit around in our pjs and no makeup. So sweet having friends whose husbands work on weekends like Robbie. William was just thrilled that Grace was coming and watched for her at the door for foreverrrr. They had the best time playing!! And Carolyn and I had a great time talking, without having to "get ready".

Sunday: I figured we'd spare the nursery from any leftover germs, and we watched church live on the computer. William loved the singing! After nap, he was feeling a lot better, so he went to church for BLAST with Robbie and I. He played in our classroom with the kitchen for a few minutes before we took him to his class. Love these low-key weekends with my boy!!

Dessert and Design!

Last week, this Mama had two, count them, two nights out!!! Whoo hoooo!! Tuesday night, my LAMBS small group had their social. It was SO much fun, and we went way over the time limit, but it was awesome. Many laughs, many tears. I didn't take one picture. :( Thanks, Abby, for hosting us!!! An awesome ending? William was completely asleep when I got home! Score!! ;)

Thursday night, our church had a women's event, Dessert and Design. Even though I literally have zero artistic ability, I still convinced Laura to sign up with me! We didn't know anyone else going, but we were excited to see a bunch of our friends there! It was led by one of our worship pastor's wives, Whitney, and she is SO talented!! We were to replicate her beautiful tree...and she broke each step down so easily - even I could follow. ;) We first grabbed coffee and dessert, then everyone sat down at their blank canvas. I was nervous!!

Excited to get started!

Some of the women brought delicious desserts! My favorite, rice krispy treats! ;)

Laura and I had front row seats ha!! See us on the right!?

Blank canvas! Ready to work!

Whitney started with having us mix specific colors for the background and water below the tree. I kept running out of paint, and so ended with some funky stripes on my canvas haha! Thank goodness for the tree covering most of my errors! ;)  We had SO much fun. It was the fastest 2.5 hours ever!! Even though mine looks NOTHING like Whitney's, ha, I still had an awesome time!!! I even found a spot for my painting in the dining room, wayyy up high on top of the china cabinet.... ;)

The beginning....

The example....mine was not even CLOSE!

Adding some grass...

Our great instructor!

Trying so hard, lol!

All done!

Half of the room, busy painting!

Our finished products. Don't judge mine ;)

The whole group!! SO fun!

Thank you, Whitney, for teaching us!!! I hope Providence will offer more of these, and soon!!

YM1 Christmas Party!!

Saturday night, we had our YM1 Life Class Christmas party. Christmas was so busy, and we wanted something to look forward to in January, so we decided to have it after Christmas! We have such a great time together, and never get to talk as much as we want to on Sunday mornings. So, this was a great chance to get together and talk, talk, talk!! ;) Robbie surprisingly got the day off, and William stayed at home with Chiara (his fave babysitter besides Nana and Hannah ha). They had an awesome time and we were able to enjoy adult time (only non-mobile infants were invited)!!

The party was held at our leader's house, and the set up was just great! I wish I had gotten more pictures, but I didn't want people to think I was crazy. LOL! There were several tables set up with gorgeous place settings, and Brian and Jeannie still had all of their Christmas decorations up. We had a catered meal of BBQ, green beans, coleslaw, and cornbread. It was sooo good! 

After dinner, we all headed upstairs for a sweet devotional, dessert and a re-gift exchange. There were a ton of desserts brought by people in the class, and some people are truly talented. I may or may not have bought a HT lemon pound cake and cut it up onto a platter. ;) We all had to bring a gift for the exchange. It was so fun, and with 20-some couples, the exchange took a long time, and there were a lot of laughs from people stealing, trying to get someone to steal their not-so-wanted gift, etc! Robbie and I ended up with two Christian books (I am a nerd), and were happy! A lot of people retreated to the pool room after the exchange to play "Oh, crud!" I was just happy walking around talking to some ladies that I just adore!!

We had such a great night out with so many great couples!!! SO blessed to be a part of this group!

<3!

Everyone passed Luke around - he was so precious!

During the exchange

Luke!!! Sweet baby!

"Oh, Crud" is starting!

Everyone was REALLY into the game!

Paul was victorious!!!

William-isms

So, since William turned two, I haven't really done an update on him. I love going back and reading his monthly posts, so I figured I'd update y'all on some funny things he is saying right now. He literally surprises us every.single.day with new words/phrases. We laugh constantly!!! He is just such a joy.

He goes to nursery every Sunday at church. He loves it! I am so glad. He walks right in, no tears, looking back, etc.When I pick him up, he tells me what they had for snack, what songs they sang, etc. Most times, his teachers tell me that he is just such a joy, and that he claps and laughs when the snacks come out, and when she starts singing!

His little imagination is coming out. The other day he was building with blocks. I asked him what he was making, and he said "Gingerbread man!! No, baby Jesus!" Hilarious! He was in his kitchen the other night, mixing something in a pan. When I asked what, he told me it was a grilled cheese!

 He loves to call roll haha. If we say we are going to dinner, "Mommy go? Daddy go? Hannah go? Nana go?" And the funniest - if he is looking for a toy, or someone, he says "Nana....oh Nana, are you??" He does it in this singsong voice and it just makes us crack up!!

He got a Mr. Potato Head for Christmas. I wanted him to have it because of Toy Story, but never did I imagine it would be such a hit!! He is constantly playing with it "arm on, hat on" etc. The other day he was trying to put the back piece on and looked at me and said, "Hiney on, please!" LOL!

Robbie was at home the other day and asked what he wanted to watch. His reponse? "How aboutttt...Woody Buzz 3" AKA Toy Story 3. He just started the How About thing and it cracks us up!!

He loves to play with Riley. If he is eating, he tells her "Riwey, go way DOWN!" If he gives her a treat, he just giggles and says, "Riwey eat it!"

You cannot mention the movies around him. Unless you want to go to a movie. Seriously. He is not slow. If we even drive by a theater, he is saying - "Movies?! Popcorn? Nana? See Fwozen? Olaf?" It cracks me up that he says Nana, but that is who usually takes him, ha!

And you most certainly cannot mention DISNEY! Shew. We have learned our lesson - from here on out, we won't tell him until we are getting in the car to go! Every single day, "Meet Mickey? Hug Minnie? Hug Pluto? Donald Duck? Ride Buzz? Ride choo choo train?" and on and on. I LOVE that he is so excited!!! But wow, having to answer the same questions like that can drive you nuts haha. I used to say "not today baby", but he would get upset....so we started "Yes!! Very soon!!" So now he will say, "Mickey hug? Soon!" Ha! He loves to tell you what Woody "Snake in boot!", Buzz "Tooo finiy and beyond!", Jessie "Yeeee hah!", and Bullseye "Heehaahhh" say.

He loves for me to "draw" Big Bird, Elmo, Olaf, Cookie, etc. His favorite is Nemo. And he will say "Bubbles!" Never wants me to forget to draw bubbles coming out of his mouth. 

In the bathtub, he has a great time!! He looooves his "bubble baf" We have water crayons, and he loves to draw. If the crayon falls in the water, he tells me it is swimming.  He is also a total showoff, lying down in the water and dumping the cup of water on his head, singing his ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Happy Birthday.

Speaking of songs, my favorite little part he sings is the Itsy Bitsy Spider. He must have heard it at school, and he only says "Itty bitty spyyyy, WASH!!!!!!!!!" And his hand motions kill me. He tries to do the spider part, and then frowns and just throws his hands down to do the "wash the spider out" part. Hilarious!

He loves the iPad and our iPhones. He will say, "Mommy phone please? Play games?" Or daddy phone, iPad, etc. If he gets stuck on something - "Mommy help! Please!" Love it!

He is very vocal about what he wants to watch. "Watttchhh Bubble Guppies? Charlie Brown? Best friend Snoopy?"

This Christmas, his favorite activity was looking at lights. Every time that we got in the car, he would say, "Go see mo' lights? Reindeer? Santa? Snowman?" Now that they are all gone, he will say, "Lights night night?"

He loves to name his friends when he sees their pictures. "Mowwy! (Molly), Baby Claire! Gayyyce (Grace), Lucy, Anor! (Eleanor), Paul (this is Grace's dad, but he loves to say Paul lol), Ella, Maxx, Evenyn (Evelyn), Emmy! (Emily), Coyner (Conner), Chiiiaha (Chiara)" Another sweet note about his friends - I had a couple friends message me and tell me that when they got our Christmas card, their baby (William's age) pointed to it and recognized him from church!!! Love that he is making little friends on his own!!

We had to take Riley to the vet a couple months ago. Her paw was bleeding, and was ALL over the carpet before I realized it. We rushed out the door in our pj's to take her to the vet. If you ask William about it he will tell you, "RiRi doctor. Her feet!! Hurt. Ok now." Kills.me.

He loves to say if someone is sad. In all of the movies he watches, if someone is sad, he will say, "Mickey sad." And he says it in this pitiful voice. It cracks me up up that he KNOWS when someone is sad!

He does the cutest thing where he pretends like something smells bad. He sniffs really quickly, and says, "Ooooh Goofy! ooooh Mommy! Oooooh RiRi!" He does that for everything in the car. It is hilarious.

He doesn't like to go to Time Out. He is just depressed by the whole thing. When he gets out of it, he says, "Sowwy Mama, throwing toys." The other day, Nana put him in time out for throwing his trains and messing up his tracks. When we went to lunch, he told me!! "Time out, throw my trains. Sowwy Nana." OMG!

There are so many places that he recognizes as soon as we pull up! Cookout? "Milkshake please!", Chick Fil a? "Chickalay! Meet Gayce! Chicken nuggets!", Church? "Chutch! Play cars!", Village Deli? "Cookie, please!", Golden Corral? "Toys!!!" (the little vending machine thing in the lobby - OBsessed).

We went to see Dora Live in November with Sara and Noemie, and now he looooves Dora! "Watch Dowa, see Boots? Swiper no swipin! Awww mannnn!" 

He is very interested in the potty, but I am NOT pushing it. In fact, I am actually dreading it. Robbie's parents got him a little Elmo potty for Christmas, and he loves to sit on it and pretend. He will even say, "Go potty! Flush!" But nothing. Last night, after his bath, he asked to go potty, and sat down and went!!! It was so exciting haha. Even though I'm not ready at least until after Disney, it was still neat that he got it!

He is so great at finding things!! And such a helper. If I come in his room and his paci fell, he will say, "Paci down dere!" and point. He loves to crawl behind the crib when I pull it out and get the paci. If the paci is "dirty", he will ask me to "Cean it! RiRi hair" (even if there is no hair anywhere). He has a paci that has a little tear in it, and every time he gets it, he asks me to  clean it haha. He thinks that is why it's not the same!

He loves his Jake spyglass! It makes me laugh that he knows how to use it correctly! He will look through and say, "mama, see you!" He also does it in the bathtub on the silver thing below the faucet. He will look in it and say, "I see you!!!" through his giggles. So precious.

A couple nights ago, I literally sang ONE line from "Let it Go" from Frozen. He turned around from his dinner and said, "Fwozen song?" Really?! His mind!!!

He loves to FaceTime and will beg for it. "Call Jeremiah!" "Call Nana/Hannah/Ella/Lilly!" "Call Papa!" "Call Geema/Geepa!" "Call Mowwy!" "Call Conner!"

The list could go on and on. Sorry if I have bored you. I just want to freeze him at this age. Yes, we have trying moments of course. The majority, though? He is just a bundle of love and sweetness that I just want to squeeze! I love listening to his mind work and pick up new words every day!!! <3

Our Lazy Elf

So, this post is a little overdue. I've already posted about how we started Elf on the Shelf this year. We were a little slack with actually moving him around. We didn't want to do anything too "naughty", or else I have a feeling we would have a copycat, and thus a hard time disciplining him against the very same actions haha! So, our elf (Max), was just silly! I wanted to document the few things we DID do, to help me for next year. ;) Thankfully, we got a pass this year with William being so young. He LOVED looking for Max every day, but if he was in the same spot, it wasn't a big deal. Shew! However, I think that may have been our LAST pass. I know this is dumb, but I felt bad that Max didn't leave him a goodbye letter, like he "should have". Haha! In fact, I need to get him out of the hall closet, where I tossed him as William came down for breakfast on Christmas morning (Max should have BEEN gone! Haha). Just keeping it real here. I just love watching William take it all in, and look for him and laughing when he finds him. So much fun!

So, dear William, next year I promise, your Mama will work a little harder on finding Elf ideas for your little Max!! ;) If anyone has any, please  comment! I try to do quick and easy ha!

Max was making snow angels in the sugar!

And sitting on William's favorite ornament!

He left him a message in Cherrios one morning.

And spent some time just observing from his stocking.

His favorite place (aka where he stayed for a week or so) was hanging from the light fixture in the dining room!

He loved taking a marshmallow bubble bath!! ;)

Keeping His Promises

On New Years Eve, we didn't do a whole lot! We had a couple invites to some sweet friends houses, but Robbie had to open the store the next morning, so we just decided to stay home. Robbie made the most delicious Spicy Chicken Corn Chowder, and we all watched a movie. William was a little restless, so I decided to pull out some art supplies to entertain for a few minutes. We decided to make a rainbow. This was his first time using glue, and it was hilarious to watch him figure it all out. As we made it, I explained to William that a rainbow means that God keeps his promises to us, and told him the story of Noah. Now, every time that he sees a rainbow, he makes us laugh by saying "Rainbow!! God promises!" So sweet.

All finished!

That night, we were reading from his Jesus Storybook Bible. We read about Noah, since we had just finished talking about him in our craft. I loved the last page of the story. I loved how it talked about the rainbow making everything beautiful, and when the world got ugly again, God kept his promise to never destroy the world again, and instead sent his Son to rescue us all from sin! What an awesome thing to read on New Year's Eve. We have a new beginning in Him, and a new beginning in 2014! I love sharing all of these truths with William!

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” Genesis 9:12-17