Eureka Springs

The weekend before Samuel's birthday, Matt and I took a little weekend getaway to Eureka Springs. We realized that we hadn't gone out of town without the kiddos since I was a few months pregnant with Samuel. We really enjoy vacations together and thought we were long overdue for some time away. The boys had a blast spending the weekend with my parents, and Matt and I had a wonderful weekend away, relaxing, eating, and spending time alone together. He had had a few crazy weeks at work, so this vacation came at exactly the right time.


We stayed in a cute little Bed and Breakfast for the weekend with yummy food. The town was just saturated with these little Bed and Breakfast/cottages. 

 We didn't plan much for the weekend. We mainly just wanted to relax and not be too busy, and we weren't sure about the weather either. It was cold and drizzly on Saturday, but thankfully the rain held off for most of the day.

We spent Friday night and Saturday eating delicious food. Eureka Springs has wonderful restaurants. I'm looking forward to going back and trying some different ones. We also walked around town for most of the day on Saturday browsing all the fun shops. We didn't end up buying much, but it was fun to window shop at all the little stores. 

We splurged on decadent desserts at lunch on Saturday. Oh my goodness they were out of this world!

 We also spend a lot of time relaxing, cuddling and watching Netflix. The gray drizzly weather was perfect for being lazy.

Sunday morning before we left town, we stopped at this old hotel to look around. It was neat to see.

 On the way home, we stopped and walked around Natural Falls State Park. The weather was much nicer on Sunday, so we hiked and visited and enjoyed the scenery for a couple of hours.

We made it back to Broken Arrow and grabbed some lunch and finished up a few errands for our new house before we picked the kiddos up. It was a great weekend all around!

12 Months Old

My precious Samuel Jacob,

You are a whole year old! What a milestone in your little life! I wish you could know how special this last year has been since you've been a part of our little family. We can't imagine our family without you being a part of it. You have brought us such joy and laughter and precious, precious memories. You are the sweetest thing around, and I am so very blessed to call you my son.

You are standing on your own for long periods of time, and we've caught you taking a step or two before you drop down on your knees to crawl. It's happening more and more often, and I know it's just a matter of weeks before you're fully walking. You look so big when you stand by yourself. You're certainly turning into a toddler before our eyes. You are a pro at climbing the stairs. We always keep a close eye on you, but you can climb up and down our entire flight of stairs all by yourself. You're such a big boy!

You have become more attached to your pacifier in the last three or four months. For the first seven or so months of your life, you could have cared less about it, but you took up a fondness for it lately. You always want it when you're sleepy, and any other time you can find one. They disappear frequently around here.

You love to sing "If you're happy and you know it." You clap your hands on cue and recently have started "stomping" your feet too (really more like bending your knees up and down). It's adorable!

You have a fondness for shoes. You are always playing with your shoes, trying as hard as you can to get them off, and if you're not wearing them, trying to get them back on your feet. 

You are still in love with your Daddy. You cry sometimes when he leaves to go to work. You and he have a special relationship.

You weigh 23lbs, 14oz (75%), are 29 1/2 inches tall (50%), and head circumference is 19inches (90%). I can always tell that you have a big head when I try and get shirts over your head :). You're wearing 12 month and 12-18month clothes, size 4 diaper, and size 4 shoe.

You love to eat! Anytime you see anyone eating anything you point and grunt and make a scene until we give you some of whatever we're eating. You'll try anything, and you almost always insist on feeding yourself. It makes for messes at mealtimes, but it's fun to watch you become more independent. Your favorite foods are grilled cheese sandwiches, yogurt melts, bananas, goldfish, and graham crackers.

You're still getting formula in your bottles in the morning and at bedtime, and whole milk in a sippy cup the rest of the day. You're doing well on milk, but are a messy drinker. You like to spit half your mouthful of milk out every time you drink

Your favorite toys are dishes/play food and our play kitchen, balls, and Nathan's play vacuum. Playing kitchen is your all time favorite thing to do. You eat the food, stir spoons in your bowls, and get drinks from the refrigerator. It's cute to see your play developing as you get older.

You are obsessed with dogs. There are two big white dogs that live next door, and every morning when you wake up, we look at the window to see the "Da's" You point and say "Da, Da" over and over. It's one of the few words that you know by heart.  and say all the time.

You are sleeping much much better at night. YAY!!! It's unusual for you to wake up in the middle of the night these days. It happens occasionally, but not often. You usually sleep from 8:00-6:30 or so. I think you're getting close to dropping your morning nap. There are several days you haven't napped in the morning and you've been fine. You sleep about 2 hours for your afternoon nap (a little less if you've napped in the morning). I'm thinking that since you're sleeping better at night, you're needing less daytime sleep.

You and Nathan have the sweetest relationship. He told me the other day that "Samuel is my very best friend." You have no idea how much I pray that continues to be true for your whole lives. You are starting to play together more and more and pester each other more and more too :). You learn so much from watching him, and you light up in the morning when I ask you if you want to go find Nathan.

Swinging is your favorite thing to do! You would swing all day if we'd let you. If we ever talk about it, you immediately point to the back door, and once we're outside you head straight for your swing. I'm excited about the weather warming up, so we can spend more time outside.

Your other favorite thing to do is brush your teeth! Anytime the bathroom door is open, you crawl right in, climb up on the stool, and reach for your toothbrush. You'll stand and chew on your toothbrush for the longest time. I can't figure out why you love it so much, but you look so old standing on that stool by yourself brushing your teeth!

These big milestones are bittersweet for your momma. I'm sad that we'll never get to experience your first year again, but so looking forward to watching you grow and learn in the next year. You have the sweetest personality. You are such a happy, joyful boy. The littlest things make you squeal with laughter. Keep that joy sweet one!

We love you more than you'll ever know!

Oh Nathan!

I just love having an almost 3 year old. Nathan is the sweetest, funniest little boy around. We have the best conversations all the time. Here are a few fun things he's done and said recently.


A few months ago, my mom transitioned him to sleeping in a twin bed when he stays at their house (he is still in a crib at our house). He had a couple of rough nights and fell out a few times, and he told my mom that he needed a fence for his bed like at mommy's house.

He's been doing this for almost a year, but I've never written about it. After he brushes his teeth at night, he takes a drink of water, swallows it, puts his cup down, and then bends his head over the sink and says the word "spit." He has never actually spit out anything. Sometimes he'll forget and will have to run back into the bathroom, climb on his stool, bend his head and say it. So cute!

He is already telling people the new baby is a girl. I tell him that God could give us a boy baby, and he'll say no, "I want the new baby to be a girl, like you, Mommy." I think he just really likes the color pink, but I am worried he could have a hard time if the baby is a boy.

For my birthday he told everyone he wanted to get me pants for a present. I have no idea where he came up with that. I never talk about my pants or wanting pants, but he got it in his head that that was what he wanted to get me. He and Matt went shopping for my birthday, and as soon as he got home, and ran in yelling, "We got you blue pants, Mommy, we got you blue pants. And we got you a birthday card." Don't count on him to keep secrets, ever. He asks me to wear my new blue pants all the time too. He wanted me to wear them to church. I told him I'd have to wear them after church.

We had a breakthrough with potty training about a month ago (A couple things were still holding him up, but all of the sudden those issues just clicked with him). He was at my mom's house and successfully did his business and he told my mom, "Mommy will be so proud of me!" On the way to church one morning, I had reminded him to tell his Sunday School teachers at church if he needed to potty, and he said, "Okay, and you'll be so proud of me."

And while we're on the potty subject, I have to remember this story. He has been wearing underwear during naptime for several weeks (and was waking up dry from naps for several weeks before that). He had his first accident while he was sleeping the other day, so when he woke up, I changed his sheet. He asked where his green sheet was, and I told him that I was washing it because he had pee peed while he slept and that I put his elephant sheet on his bed. The next day during nap time, he called for me, and when I checked on him, he said, "I peed in my bed. Put my green sheet back on." I confirmed with him that indeed he had peed on purpose so I would change his sheet back.

I can tell the therapist in me is rubbing off on him. I'll ask him what he learned at Bible study or what his favorite part of such and such is, and now he's started asking me questions all the time. "What was your favorite part of the park, Mommy?" "What was your Bible story about at church?" "What did you do while I took a nap?"

He's so cute with Samuel. If Samuel is fussy in car, he'll start talking to him. "It's okay, Guy. Don't cry. We're going to the zoo/park/church/wherever. We're almost there. It takes a long, long time. Don't cry, Guy."

We have gotten into the habit of having macaroni and cheese for supper on Sunday evenings, and Matt always cooks it. That's usually the only time we eat macaroni and cheese. Matt was working late most of last week, so for a simple supper one night, I made mac and cheese. Nathan gave me a confused look and asked, "Why you cooking mac and cheese, Mommy?" He has only seen Matt cook it and couldn't figure out why I was making it.

If clothes don't fit him anymore or I tell him that Samuel is wearing something that he wore when he was little, he'll ask, "When I get small, I wear that again?" Once he asked when he was going to get small and be in my tummy again. 

We've had several new babies in our group of friends lately. When I tell Nathan that we are going to visit a friend or friends are coming to our house to play, he asks if the friends can walk. It's his way to distinguish whether a baby is coming over or a friend his age. 

A Day in the Life

 I haven't written a day in the life post in a really long time (pre-Samuel), so I thought it was time. I know I'll enjoy looking back on this one day and remembering how we spent our time.

Tuesdays we usually go to Bible Study at church, but this Tuesday it was cancelled because of some winter weather we had gotten earlier in the week. This wasn't a typical Tuesday, but it was a fairly normal weekday around here.


Samuel woke up a little before 7:00 to start everyone's day. Nathan was in bed with me (He's been in the habit of waking up in the middle of the night and asking to sleep with us since we moved). Samuel woke him up. I gave Samuel his morning bottle, and after he drank it, I quickly got dressed and ready for the day while the boys played in the bathroom.

7:30am: Time for breakfast. Nathan has been eating frozen waffles for breakfast, but we were out of them, so I told him I would make pancakes. He usually eats waffles or pancakes or peanut butter toast or yogurt and cereal for breakfast. 

 Samuel had a banana with his pancakes.

 And Nathan had syrup with his :).

8:15am: After breakfast the boys and I headed upstairs to play. I'd been noticing in the craziness of our move and first trimester exhaustion how easy it was to not spend any quality time playing with them during a day even as a stay at home mom if I wasn't intentional about it. It's amazing how time can sort of slip away during the day, so it has become a part of our routine (when we don't have activities in the morning) to play upstairs together every morning between breakfast and Samuel's morning nap.

Nathan wanted to play train table

 And Samuel always heads straight for the kitchen when we're in the playroom. He is so cute when he plays, stirring, eating, filling cups with ice from the fridge.

 We also played "marching band" by Big Brother's request

 9:00: Samuel's nap. I changed him and put him down for his nap. Nathan asked to keep playing so we played in his room for another few minutes with his barn.

9:15: Nathan and I came downstairs. He usually plays independently or watches a show during Samuel's morning nap, so I can get some chores done. He did both this morning. While the boys were occupied, I cleaned up from breakfast, mopped the kitchen and cleaned the living room floor

10:00: Samuel's awake. I got him up, and we loaded up to head to Target. Because of the weather, the boys and I hadn't really left the house in two days, so I was more excited about a trip to Target than usual. Our Target trip was a little more stressful than usual. I had a bigger than normal list because of some big sales so we headed to a farther away Super Target instead of our closer, smaller one. Also, they didn't have any of the carts with extra seats for the kiddos. Nathan loves those carts, and was really disappointed he couldn't sit by Samuel while we shopped. I was disappointed too, because I needed several bulky items that quickly filled the cart, so Nathan had to walk beside me instead of riding for about half of the trip. He behaved well though, so we stopped by the food court for a "special treat" for him on our way out.

11:30: When I saw this on my receipt, I decided I needed a special treat too. Thank you Target for stackable sales, coupons, and the cartwheel app!

 So I stopped here on the way home :)

 12:00: Back home and time for lunch: I made the boys "lunchables" for lunch. Nathan eats them at my mom's and I make the poor man's homemade version at our house of turkey, cheddar cheese, crackers, and strawberries, and Samuel had a pouch of applesauce/sweet potatoes.

12:15: While they ate, I unloaded and unpacked our groceries.

12:45: Nathan requested to "play a little bit" before nap time, so we played with firetrucks and put out fires all around the house.

 1:15: Naptime! Best time of the day.

1:45: After an extra long search for Doggie before naptime, both boys were in their cribs. While they napped, I ate a taco salad for lunch, cleaned up the kitchen, worked on a few things in the office, and relaxed a little. The boys had a bit of a hard time falling asleep, but they both did end up napping.

3:15: Samuel's awake. He drank a bottle of milk and ate some goldfish in his high chair while I unloaded the dishwasher.

4:00: My mom called and asked if Matt had to work late (The last couple of weeks, he's had to put in a lot of overtime). He had told me at lunch not to plan on him for dinner that he would most likely be working, so my mom was checking to see if we wanted to hang out with her since we would be alone for the evening. We decided to run to Hobby Lobby.

4:15: I woke up Nathan, and put shoes and coats on the boys, while we waited for Grammy.

4:30: Headed to Hobby Lobby. I needed to pick up a few things for Samuel's birthday party next week, and my mom needed a couple things as well.

5:30: We decided to eat supper at Chick-fil-A. It's one of Nathan's favorites. Barry had joined us at Hobby Lobby and we ate dinner together too.

 6:00: Dinnertime followed by playtime and then ice cream!

 7:00: I had gotten a call from Matt a little after 6:00 that he was on his way home (earlier than we had thought), so we went home after dinner to play with Daddy for a few minutes before bedtime.

Tonight was a no bath night (We do baths every other day), so we had some extra time to play before bed.

7:15 Playtime fun! Nathan is hilarious these days. And our playroom floor is always covered in toys. That's how playrooms are supposed to be, right? :)

8:00: Bedtime for Samuel. We changed the boys into jammies and I fed Samuel his bedtime bottle and rocked him for a few minutes while Matt took Nathan downstairs and started his "Night, night show"

8:30: Bedtime for Nathan: Nathan's bedtime routine includes teeth brushing, reading two books with Mommy and prayers. Every night we thank God for something we were thankful for that day. That night Nathan was thankful for Chick-Fil-A.

8:45: Nathan is in bed

9:00: Matt and I are in bed :). We watched a little TV but were both asleep before 10:00.

Valentine's Day 2014

We had a fun Valentine's Day this year.Valentine's Day is always fun, but I think having kids makes it even better. We get to celebrate all day long and have a date night. Nathan was really into it this year.

We pulled the boys out of WEE ministry for the Spring, and this was the first time I was sad that Nathan wasn't in school, because I know he would have had so much fun buying and making Valentines for all his classmates and attending a Valentine's Day party. We made it a special day though, and he had no idea what he was missing.

I had little Valentine's Day baskets sitting at their chairs when they woke up this morning. It was very low key, just some small treats and toys. It was really special for them though. For breakfast we made heart pancakes.

It was fun to have a special breakfast. We have pancakes regularly around here, but these were extra special and a fun way to start off a great day.

After breakfast, we got dressed and headed out. We needed to stop by Target for a couple of things. Then we headed to deliver a very special Valentine to Baby Sarah. Nathan made some Valentines earlier in the week for some family and friends. I let him choose who he wanted to make them for, but I might have given him the idea that Sarah would really like one. He also made one for Sarah's mom. He came up with that all on his own, Erica. We also made some Valentine cookies on Thursday that we delivered with the Valentines. I told Erica to save Sarah's because someday when they get married, I know Sarah will want to have it :).

We stayed and played and cuddled for a bit at the Miller's until it was time for lunch.

We ate heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch along with a few other special treats to make it an extra fun lunch.

I had such a fun day with my little boys expressing my love to them and watching them share it with others. After naps, they headed over to my parents' house, so my other Valentine and I could celebrate the evening together.

We had a low key evening. I wasn't really excited about going out on Valentine's Day. It's just too crazy and the restaurants would be packed, so we stayed in, and I think it was the perfect decision. Our life has been so crazy lately, that we really needed a night in, just the two of us, relaxing and reconnecting.

We cooked dinner together. That was fun since it never happens anymore now that we have kids. Dinnertime is usually a hectic part of the day.

I laughed after I looked at this picture and realized some of the boys' Valentine cards were on the table during our romantic dinner. It's a snapshot of our life right now, I guess.

We ate, visited, relaxed, celebrated and were asleep before 10:00, a perfect night.

I'm certainly blessed to get to love and be loved by such wonderful boys!

11 Months Old

Samuel, You are 11 months old! I've been working on plans for your first birthday party the last couple of weeks. I can't believe we are so close to that milestone. I'm looking forward to celebrating you and what a special blessing you have been to our family over the last year.

You are starting to stand on your own for a few seconds at a time and are walking around our furniture more often. I think there's a chance you'll be walking by your first birthday or shortly afterward.

You have turned into a Daddy's boy this month. You say "dada" all the time and always, always want him to hold you. It's sweet to see how much you love him. Nathan is 100%  a Mommy's boy (except when he wants a horsey ride), so it's fun to see that  bond between you and your daddy.

You love music! I call it dancing when you shake your head back and forth and laugh whenever music is playing. You really like to rock out in the car. I wish I could get that on video. It's hilarious!

You are a big fan of peekaboo. You'll just start playing by yourself anytime you're holding a hat, or towel or something you can cover your face with. You also still love to clap, especially when others join in with you. And you wave bye bye too, and say it as you wave. Adorable

You take four bottles a day and are eating more and more table food at meals. You still usually have a jar or pouch of baby food with most meals, and yogurt or cereal with breakfast, but you're also eating most of what Nathan eats. You love waffles and pancakes with breakfast, and are especially a fan of grilled cheese sandwiches. You also love bananas and goldfish

You go after Nathan's sippy cups anytime he leaves one unattended. You'll drink and then spit out the water. It makes for a big, wet mess, but it keeps you entertained for a long time. You do the same thing with your cups too. It's a fun game you seem to enjoy.

You've recently started sleeping much better at night. In fact for several nights in a row, you've been sleeping all night from between 7:30-8:00 at night to 6:00-7:00 in the the morning. Keep it up buddy! You are a wonderful napper, consistently taking a morning and afternoon nap daily.

I can see your verbal comprehension improving daily. You understand so many words- all the members of our family, bottle, ball, bye bye, clap, dance. I know there are more. I know you understand "no" even if you pretend you don't :)

You are wearing 12 months clothes and a size 4 diaper. I have no idea how much you weigh. We won't find out until your 12 month check up

You play with lots of different toys. Your favorite activity is climbing up and down the stairs. You also like the train table. It's the perfect height for you. Unfortunately, your play right now consists of tearing the train track apart, which doesn't make your brother too happy. Someday you two will play together. For now, we usually keep you entertained with something else while Nathan is playing with the train table. You play with firetrucks and balls a lot and enjoy taking things out of drawers and finding every door stop in our house.

You have a big month coming up, Little One. It's a joy to watch you grow!