Weekend Recap

We had another really great weekend. I always think that a perfect weekend involves a date night, time as a family, and time with friends. This weekend had it all!

Friday morning we had some friends over from Nathan's school. We also found out a few weeks ago, they attend Cubbies together too. The boys had a fun morning playing with Alex, Eva, and Sam. They brought light sabers over, so Nathan was pretty much in heaven, except when they wanted to play something other than Star Wars.

Elisabeth was ready to head to Grammy and Papa Joe's house as soon as she woke up Friday afternoon.

While the kids played and were spoiled at Grammy's. Matt and I enjoyed a great date night. We went out to eat at Charleston's. We rarely go there, but I've heard lots of good reviews from people lately, so we tried it out. We had delicious steaks and great company. We came home and attempted to learn a new board game we bought recently. After about two hours of reading instructions and playing one turn, we gave up for the night and just relaxed and watched Netflix.

We picked the kiddos up Saturday morning and ran to the grocery store. Cookies and fun carts make for big smiles from my Sweeties!

We came home and Elisabeth had some Grammy withdrawal. It's so hard being a toddler and not getting to watch Paw Patrol for hours.

The weather was nice on Saturday afternoon, so Matt spent several hours working on his shed. It has doors now! I think he's finally getting close to finishing it. A combination of sickness, work, and bad weather has kept him from working on it for several weeks. The kids played outside for a long time too. I had to drag Elisabeth in at nap time.

Nathan did take a quick break from playing outside/helping Daddy to play a game of Junior Monopoly with me. He calls it Junior Kanopoppy.

While the kids were outside and napping, I spent some time getting some chores done around the house and preparing for dinner. Nathan helped me set the table. He was insistent that all the girls get pink napkins.

We had friends over for dinner. It was such a fun night. I've been trying to be more intentional with hospitality and inviting others into our home this year. It's fun now that our kids are older, because they are as excited about having company for dinner (as long as kids are coming) as we are.

We ate, visited, wrangled the kids, and even managed to play three rounds of Sequence.

Elisabeth was a big fan of the dessert Leslie brought.

We had a great night. Nathan was a stinker for a lot of it. He refused to play with anyone unless they played light sabers, so basically Levi and Samuel played together and Nathan hung out with the adults, pouting because Levi didn't want to play light sabers the whole night.  (Elisabeth and Audrey just walked around exploring and being cute). Finally close to the end of the night, Nathan and Levi figured out a fun game to play that involved blankets and tug of war. We had to tear them apart when it was time to go.

We kept visiting until the kids were grouchy and ready for bed and then a little longer :). My kids slept so good Saturday night. They must have been worn out from all the fun with friends.

Elisabeth had some major bed head Sunday morning!

Cutie Patooties ready for a great morning at church.

We came home from church, ate leftovers, and napped. While Samuel, Elisabeth, and I napped, Nathan and Matt ran some errands. Nathan jumped at the chance to go to Lowes with Daddy.

Sunday night instead of watching the Super Bowl, we listened to this handsome guy sing at church.

He has my heart, that boy.

After he sang, he sat down next to me, put his arm around me, and kissed my cheek. He melts me. It was a perfect way to end the weekend!

My Boy Nathan

I've had this list of funny/cute things Nathan says running for about a year. I'm thinking it's time to publish it. He said some of these last Spring, and a few of them are current. Love this kid and the joy he brings to our family

__________________________________________________________

We bought some cookies from Wal-Mart and Nathan was very concerned that Daddy would eat them all, so he needed to hide them from Daddy. He made a big deal about hiding them behind a toy in the pantry. Every time after I gave him some, he took the bag and hid it again.

He has been on a "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" kick for awhile. He wants to dress up as Jake a lot. The first time he told me that Jake doesn't wear a pirate hat, he wears a line on his head. He was pleased when I found a head band for him to wear.

My mom was talking to Nathan about dinosaurs and explaining to him that all the dinosaurs died, and there aren't any real dinosaurs anymore. He responded by saying. "I know they died, but they will come back in the Spring."

"My food is too hot to eat. It makes my ears hurt."

He wanted this Paw Patrol Look Out Tower, but the reviews on Amazon were terrible. They all said the slide broke almost immediately. We held out for a long time and explained tried to explain to Nathan about the poor reviews. He kept talking about it, and months later, my mom gave in and got it for him. He started playing with it and said, "I guess Amazon was wrong, because they said the slide breaks, and it works perfectly, so I guess they were wrong."

"I can't sleep because I'm so excited about Granny and Grandaddy coming tomorrow. Sometimes I walk by Grandaddy and he lets me pass by, and other times I walk past and he reaches out and gets me!"

Playing with one of his cars. "This car goes super fast because it has a spoiler."

Nathan: I can't find my paint I got for Christmas
Me: Check in your closet
Nathan: The only paint that is in my closet is the pumpkin paint (paint we used to paint pumpkins), and it smells like pumpkins and that isn't a very good smell

Matt: That was a big burp Samuel
Nathan: (patting Samuel on the head). Samuel burped. That's just what baby brothers do

"I heard we didn't go to the beach last year because we had a new baby and she wasn't tall enough to go to the beach."

"I think we should go to the park that has a big slide because it doesn't have grass (so it wouldn't be muddy). It just has crumbs that you walk on." Translation: Crumbs=wood chips

When we were at Silver Dollar City, he rode the Fire in the Hole roller coaster. Now every time we are driving and hit a bump he says, "Whoa, that feels like Fire in the Hole."

Samuel was talking in the car, and Nathan couldn't understand him (I couldn't either). He said, "Maybe Samuel is talking in Spanish and that's why we don't know what he's saying."

At bedtime:
Nathan " Mommy I don't want to just lie in bed and wait to go to sleep. I want to do something fun."
Me: "Okay, you can read books, choose a toy to play with in bed (listing off several options).
Nathan: "No, none of those are fun. If only I had a Star Wars Lego set, then I'd have something fun to do."

Playing Junior Monopoly:
Nathan: "Oh, I landed on the movie theater. Speaking of movie theaters, I really can't wait to go see that new Star Wars movie at the movie theater.

Weekend Recap

January has been a pretty slow month for us, but we did have a fun weekend last weekend! Friday morning, Erica, Sarah and Elise came over for the morning so we could bake cupcakes for Sarah's big birthday party! We had a fun morning playing, baking, and visiting. Elise was the favorite toy of all my kids. Elisabeth loved her as long as I wasn't holding her :).

The weather was beautiful Friday afternoon, so after naps we walked to our neighborhood playground. We missed Daddy and are so ready for warm evenings and more daylight coming our way in the next few months.

We played for a long time. The kids call the playground the Pirate Ship Park, and they wanted to play "Jake and the Neverland Pirates." I was Captain Hook and we all had to run away from the sharks! We came home and played in the backyard some more, soaking up as much sunshine as we could.

Friday night Matt went to a men's night with our Sunday school class. I thought it would be fun to take the kids to Target that evening while he was gone. Bad. Idea. I didn't realize how much crankier the kids are in the evenings. They are normally well behaved and happy during our daytime Target runs. Nathan threw a fit over some Valentine boxes, and I had to open a sack of goldfish to settle Elisabeth down from her screaming (I have no idea why she was upset). Whew. We survived though.

Friday night I told Nathan he could stay up late watching one of the Star Wars movies. He was off the wall excited, and told me that it was more fun than Christmas! He kept coming to tell me everything that happened in the movie. A couple of his funnier observations were:

"Mommy, what's that girl's name that had the babies (me: Padme). Yeah, I think when Padme had the babies that Luke's light saber and Princess Leia's gun popped out too when the babies came out."

"Mommy, when Darth Vader got burned they took him to the hospital where... What's that girl's name who had the babies (me: Padme), where Padme had the babies, and he was burned so they made him a costume and that's how he turned into a bad guy."

We've also had about 100 light saber battles in the last week, and he always says, "The force is with me."

 It's fun that he's old enough to stay up late and do fun things. He ended up falling asleep on the couch and woke up screaming at 4:00am. I was sure he'd fallen off the couch by the terror I heard in his cries, but he was just distraught that the movie went off before he finished it. He demanded that I turn it back on for him, but conceded to just sleeping in our bed for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning we got ready to go to Sarah's second birthday party. Elisabeth had to help Samuel comb his hair.

Sweet Elisabeth is totally in love with her Papa Joe.

The party was great. We love celebrating birthdays with our friends. Nathan jumped for joy when he saw Emma at the party.

After the party, we ran home and fed the kids lunch. My parents picked them up for the afternoon/evening, and Matt and I got a date day! Matt was sweet and planned everything, and we had such a wonderful day spending time together. We played putt putt, went for a long walk, and ate dinner out. We celebrate 10 years in May, and talked a lot about the last 10 years and the next 10 too!

Sunday was a pretty normal day. My parents dropped the kids off that morning and we all headed to church.

Elisabeth loves wearing her bracelet to church!

Matt and I played with the two year olds during church, and they were all so good, and the hour went by fast! We came home for lunch and naps. The boys went to church with my parents, and Matt, Elisabeth, and I went to Whataburger and Lowes.

We've had to spend half of the weekends in January without Matt, and he was sick for one of the weekends he was home, so a weekend where we were all together felt even more special.

Weekend Without Daddy

 Matt's grandpa died last week, and he left Friday morning to head to Texas for the funeral. We talked a lot about it and decided that the trip would be too hard on the kids, so we stayed home and spent the weekend without Daddy. We missed him a lot, but we still managed to have some fun while he was gone.

On Friday, we didn't have any plans, so we had a jammy day! I'm treasuring these stay at home days with Nathan because I know they are numbered. Kindergarten is approaching way too fast.

He asked to play Catan several times on Friday. He really has it figured out (and it's pretty complicated for a kids' game). He likes to buy parrots almost exclusively, and I always think there's no way he can win with that strategy, but he beat me several times. He has the trading and resources figured out. We're training him young to love board games.

 He also spent a long time playing with Samuel's Legos. He built this without any help from me (he did follow the instructions that came with it), but did it all by himself. I was proud of him!

 Samuel and Elisabeth played all day too. I had some baking to do for a baby shower, so I just brought a whole bunch of toys down from upstairs and they played all day while I baked cupcakes.

 My mom picked the kids up after naps and they spent Friday night and Saturday morning with Grammy and Papa Joe.

 The timing for Matt to be gone worked out okay because I had plans Friday night and Saturday morning anyway, and since my mom was able to babysit, I didn't have to cancel anything.

Friday night our Sunday school class had a girls' night to eat, visit, and meet our church's new Women's Ministry Director. It was a fun night. We all stayed and visited until after 10:00. We were all talking that it was a rule that everyone had to stay past our kids' bedtimes, so we didn't have to put them to bed that night, and then we stayed so much later visiting. I love so many things about our new church, one being that everyone lives so much closer to us. The house that hosted the girls' night was a three minute WALK for me. It was awesome. The new director also asked several of the ladies what drew them to FBC-BA, and almost everyone answered that it was the children's ministry and our Sunday school class, which were the two big reasons we started looking for a new church. It was a reminder of God's faithfulness in leading us to such a great church.

 Saturday morning, we all got together again for a baby shower for Chandra. I'm on the Baby Shower Committee for our class, so I had fun getting to help celebrate baby Mackenzie. It was a beautiful shower!

 I picked the kids up after the shower and we headed home for naps. When I found out Matt was going to be gone for the weekend, I contacted my good friend Michelle whose husband is gone often on the weekends to see if he was out of town and if she wanted to get together, so as soon as the kids got up we headed out to visit them. We had the best time. Brett had a change of plans and ended up being home, but we still crashed their family night.

Our kids play SO well together. I loved watching them play and visiting with Brett and Michelle. It made what would have been a long, lonely Saturday night so much better.

 Nathan threw a pretty big fit, and Emma was in tears when we had to leave. We consoled them by planning our next play date, and ever since, Nathan has been asking how many days until he can see Emma again.

I told Nathan that when Daddy is gone, he can sleep in my bed, and he was so excited. He didn't want to just sleep in the bed, he kept saying that he wanted to sleep on my side with me and wanted to snuggle. Love that boy!

 Sunday morning was probably our hardest time without daddy. I never look forward to going to church without him. A friend mentioned needing help in the nursery during the church service on Sunday, so I jumped at the chance to volunteer, so I didn't have to sit in church without Matt. Nathan was in a bad mood, and things were hectic getting ready and trying to leave the house early to be there to help in nursery.

This is the best picture I got of the kids before church. It pretty much sums up our morning.

 Nathan was still in a weird mood and stayed with me while I worked in nursery. Thankfully, he snapped out of it and happily went to his class after church, so I could go to Sunday school.

We came home and ate lunch and played Candyland before naps. Matt made it home late Sunday afternoon, and we were so excited to have him home! I'm thankful for friends and family that make weekends without Matt easier.

17 Months Old

Elisabeth Kae, You are seventeen months old! Whenever I think about your age right now, I always think about how this is the age your brother was when you were born. And you seem so little to what I remember about Samuel. I think becoming a big brother turned him into such a big boy. You are welcome to stay a baby forever, Sweetheart!

We had a great month celebrating Christmas with you, but we were so sad that you got sick on Christmas morning. You definitely don't handle being sick very well, but thankfully you have been healthy since Christmas.

You are talking more and more. You are saying new words daily. Some new words you're saying this month are "milk" "baby" "trash" "mask" (When you want to watch PJ Masks- Thank you Nathan and Samuel), and "horse." You also learned "Me, my, and mine" this month. Oh dear. I hear "No! Mine!" way too often now. And you are even putting words together. You told me the other day, "More baa (bottle) mik (milk)" And you babble all the time that is completely random and we can't understand a word. I'm thinking it's a girl thing, because I don't remember your brothers doing that ever. Other people couldn't understand what they were saying, but I always could. I think you just like to talk. You're so animated and expressive too when you babble, like you are telling us something really important.

You are wearing 18 month and 18-24 month clothes. I've noticed that your 18 month clothes are fitting a little short these days.

You are learning animal sounds. You say, "Woof woof," "Meow," "Moo," "Quack Quack," and "Ribbit"

You are starting to spoon feed yourself and able to stay halfway neat. That has been so helpful for breakfast, especially. Now you eat yogurt for breakfast every morning. You usually also have some dry cereal or a banana too. You want to eat lots of things with a spoon now too including goldfish and yogurt melts. Your favorite foods are still protein and dairy. You're not a huge fan of any fruits or vegetables or carbohydrates, really (unless it's a snack). You are opinionated for sure, and you love to get your own snacks.

You got lots of new toys for Christmas, especially girly toys, and all of the sudden you are really into baby dolls, and I LOVE it!!! You will not let go of your Baby Margaret. She goes everywhere with us, and you snuggle with her for every nap and every bedtime. You want to feed her bottles and tea from your tea set, we brush her teeth, and you put her night night. I also have to fix her blanket all the time. You'll yell, "Uh oh" and hand her to me to fix it.

You also still love books. You like to play with your Klip Klop horses and stable (I can tell you have brothers because you use one horse to knock another one off the stable). You also like to play kitchen and with your new tea set. You make sound effects when you're pouring tea. It's adorable.

You are starting to like to watch TV. Your favorite shows are Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Paw Patrol.

 You are a doll and at a really fun age. You are starting to like jewelry and always ask for a bow in your hair. You are my dream come true and a precious gift to our family!