2nd for the 2ndBorn

Finn celebrated his 2nd birthday on the 12th, and we couldn't leave Finn out of the blog birthday tributes, could we?  Here we go!!!

Happy Birthday to the toeheaded 2 year old who...

-proved us wrong and showed us that, indeed, our capacity to love could double in size just like that!
-isn't afraid of anything except a dark bathroom.
-freaks his parents out with the combination of his small stature and insanely large vocabulary

-told me last night that he wanted to go to the Island Playground in the morning for his birthday.
-fits perfectly in our arms.
-can cause you to quickly forget the economic crisis, an illness or the war in Iraq by putting his head on your shoulder.
-can dance to the beat of the rhythm
-is a fan of "koby keif"

-rivals his brother's potty talk passion and throws his own made up terms into the mix like "stinky doo dots" ????
-likes to sing Jesus Loves Me before bedtime and makes you sit down when you're singing it.
-will enter a room by asking "What's going on here?"
-doesn't let his small size stop him from doing ANYTHING
-enjoys feeding imaginary Rita's ice to anyone, anytime

-can pick up on others feelings.  If I'm having a rough day, he'll crawl up in my lap and say, "Is-kay, Mom."
-will ask us to be nice to him after we have to discipline him :)
-greets us every morning with a kiss and a hug, and follows his brother out the door when we leave to send us off with more of the same.
-has us wrapped around his tiny little finger.
-is pure joy in our lives.
-pronounces "crayons" as "cwowns" (rhyming with crown)

-knows the difference between a burrito and a quesadilla
-rules the roost!
-knows how to work a female audience already.
-couldn't make us more proud, more surprised, more in awe as parents!

We can't imagine life without you, little buddy.  Happy Birthday, Finny Finster!

4th for the Firstborn

Jack turned 4 on Sunday. My hands and brain felt very uncoordinated typing that sentence. Jack is 4. Jack is 4. Jack is 4. Nope. It's not getting any easier. The biggest cliche' of all time (at least in parent world) is that time flies. But it's still unbelievable. Sometimes I look at my boy and wonder what we did so well that God would loan him to us, but I'm quick to realize that I could do nothing 'good enough' to earn him. God is in the business of grace, and we are eternally thankful for the gift he gave us 4 years ago.

Jack, you came to us as a surprise and you never fail to amaze us with a little something new every day. Happy Birthday to the boy who...

-Rocks a pair of glasses way cuter than Ralphie or the kid from Jerry McGuire ever did.
-Can Kung Fu like none other.
-Thanks God for his food, drink, and everyone at the table before every meal.
-Never wants to get older or bigger. He'll tell you as much. I like his contentedness with life.
-Has a serious imagination.
-Played "Going to Mimi's House" with me this morning, and after I (who was cast as Mimi) had to break character to threaten punishment, he replied with, "You're not Mimi anymore."
-Always asks for another lollipop for his brother when given one at the bank.
-Loves all things Potty Talk.
-Loves to call his Dad a Knucklehead.
-Goes by the nicknames Jackie, Peanut, Doobie, Beanie.
-Loves sugar in any form, any time of day and in any amount, but will ask for the sugar free ice cream at Ritas because I once told him too much sugar was bad for him.
-Has the biggest feet I've ever seen on a kid.
-Will light up a room with his smile.
-Loves his house, his room, his toys, his clothes, his things. He'll share them (most of the time), but he loves familiarity.
-Can sing on pitch and loves to prove it.
-Likes to do things well. (and gets frustrated when he can't)
-Enjoys movie nights with popcorn.
-Isn't afraid to let go of our hand to try something new or to be ashamed to greet them with a huge hug when we return.
-Tells me I'm beautiful every day.
-Prays to Jesus to "feel me better" when he's having a rough day.
-Loves his family more than anything.

Happy Birthday, Jack! For what it's worth, we don't want you to grow up either.

We celebrated Jack and Finn's birthday on Saturday with a few friends. They had a super hero themed party and had a great time. Thank you to everyone who came! Sorry these pictures are small! I can't figure out why or how to make them larger. Just know they are awesome. Here's Finn sporting his super hero cape on the swing.

A very serious look before descending the ever so daring 3 foot slide.

Jack in his hero gear...

Of course I HAD to try one of these things on. They had been sitting in my laundry room for a few days. They were so CUTE! And of COURSE John just HAD to try one on, too....(Clearly, I made him do it.) But the capes were fun. Our kids ditched them at the party, but have had some fun with them at home. Thanks to Superfly Kidz, we had some cool party favors. They make the cutest capes.

If Finn's resemblance to me doesn't prove that he is my son, then this should:

Happy Party Day to Finn. Your actual birthday is coming soon!!!

On to the normal day stuff....Today was actually not a normal day for us. The boys and I were at the house the ENTIRE day. That is a rarity. We revel in things outside of the house. We always love returning, but there's something exciting about a venture out, even if it's just to Target. Our oven broke last night so we were here waiting on the repairman to come fix it. I painted some, we played Batman and Pirate. That's right. Batman and Pirate. Refer back to the imagination comment above re: Jack. And then I broke down and let the boys paint, too....

Finn is potty training...and this is how he feels most creative.

Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

John and I celebrated 6 years of marriage on Sunday, and we had a really fun day. It started with church and ended with a sleepy family, tired from a day on the water!

After church we went loaded our family along with Jackie and Jeff onto John's parents boat. We cruised the Calibogue Sound, around Daufuskie Island and anchored near a sandbar where we dodged all the jelly fish that washed ashore.

Here's the tiniest mate...

Jack with his Lennon-esque sunglasses.

After about 45 minutes on the water, Jeff noticed that Finley had gone limp in his arms. He was out like a light. We docked the boat at Daufuskie and dined at a local dive. Marshside Mamas. It was the kind of place we didn't have to worry if the guys had shirts on or not. Jack had a taste of soft shell crab sandwich, and Finn slept in my lap. It was so sweet. I couldn't help but to wonder if that was one of the last times he'll do that, but I figured our anniversary was a bad time to bring up the whole baby fever conversation :)

It's unorthodox to spend your anniversary with your children, but we had such a fun afternoon with everyone.

Just a cute picture of Jackster.... We love him so.

On Monday night we hosted the Denton kids for a sleepover. Jack and Gracen were so excited about the "sleepover party". To them that meant good snacks and a movie. And they were right. We watched Kung Fu Panda and ate popcorn with M&Ms in it. Yummy. Everyone got along, and there were no arguments or freak outs. It was nice.

Here's the nutty bunch eating breakfast the next morning. Everyone slept until 7:45-8:00, which was awesome. I considered it a success when Gracen said she didn't want to leave. I guess good snacks will get you a long way.

Cheez-It

It was difficult coming up with a title for this post because there's so much crammed into it. Nothing witty on this Sunday morning. Sorry folks. So I turned to the boys for inspiration...of which they are never lacking. The picture below is one of our favorites from the summer. Very appropriate for this Cheez-It and picture lovin' family. Onto the blog catch up of the month...


Hilton Head is truly a hidden gem of the east coast. Wide beaches, beautiful homes, hard-to-see signage...seriously...it's awesome. When we went to the beach one night a few weeks ago with the Reeds, however, we were reminded that even serenity has it's fair share of weirdness:

Here's Kim with her handsome boy, JP. I love this picture. Don't you think he looks just a LITTLE bit like his Mama? We had so much fun that night! Kim brought kites for the kids which they LOVED. Thanks, Kim!

Here's the Goof Troop. You can see that Jack was in a fowl mood at that moment.

But he perked up with a one on one with his girl, Shelby. They still look like siblings.

Last week we spent some time in Greensboro. Genie, Jackie, my mom and I attended the Deeper Still women's conference on Friday and Saturday. It was AWESOME!!! If you ever have a chance to go, you definitely should. Since I had driven so far and the boys were with me, we decided to hang out for a few days. We saw lots of family and were able to squeeze in a quick visit to see the Halls. Erin was one of my roomies at UNC. Here's her little girl, Charlotte, who may very well be my daughter in law one day:) The kids were so active while we were there that this is the best picture I got of those two. I do think at one point they hugged, so that was a step in the right direction.

On Tuesday we went to the Asheboro Zoo. Between 3 adults we had 5 children under the age of 4. All of the kids were boys I might add. But we trekked the entire zoo without any injuries or major meltdowns. Which equals success!!! The zoo was a lot of fun despite the warm temperatures. We'll definitely go back.

Here are two of our playmates for the day: Tucker and Jack P. (sleeping). They were so much fun and SO worn out by the end of the day.

Here's Tucker wearing a kid leash. If you've ever said you would NEVER put your child on the end of one of those things....you must not have children yet. They're lost prevention.

Here's the first of our favorite animals of the day: the chimpanzees! Doesn't this look like a little old man sitting there? He and Jack had a moment. He kept looking at Jack and then would point to his own eyes, like "Hey man, you've got something on your face." This chimp was so interactive and cool. If I was super rich and world hunger, AIDS and cancer were under complete control, I would buy a chimp. No question.

Here's our second favorite animal of the trip. The elephants came pretty close to us and we definitely felt connected to this one in a special way after he/she used the little pond as a giant toilet in front of all of the innocent onlookers. And since we had 5 boys, 3-4 of which are in prime potty humor stage, we had to stay and watch, and then talk about it every day since. It was honestly disgusting, yet amazing all at the same time. They are big animals with big colons. I'll leave it at that.

So we left Greensboro after a few days and came back to the zoo of our normal every day lives. It's the zoo we know and love. Jack started his 2nd year of preschool on Thursday, which he was excited about. I took his picture on the front step since that's what I had done last year and it seemed fitting to repeat. It's crazy how much he's changed since last year. The most obvious change is his eyewear. He ditched the goggles look and is now going for a more trendy look. He's still 100% boy, 100% active and 100% a reward to our family from God. We love our sons beyond what these fingers could ever type. It's exciting to see our firstborn learning and making friends. We are blessed.

Last year...

Last week...

John was off yesterday so we went out to breakfast at The Sippin' Cow. It's in downtown Bluffton if you're ever here. Stop by (after stopping by to see us!). We saw several of our friends there and were able to get this fun shot of the 4 older kiddos chowin' down on their pancakes and french toast. Love this shot. Love our friends.


And Happy Anniversary to my hunky husband of 6 years today. Happy 27th birthday to Jordan as well!!!!!!!

Va-cay

We returned from our 2nd family vacation last week. This trip was taken to "the lake". Lake Tillery to be exact. We skiied, wakeboarded, road in the boat, swam in the lake, ate freeze pops and had a great time! We also took about 1,000 pictures, give or take a few. However, most of them are on Gigi's camera or computers. So, for now, I think you'll like these....


Both boys enjoyed tubing this year. Jack enjoyed himself so much, but did seem to be at least aware of potential danger. Finn, however, was oblivious to it all and served John pretend ice cream most of the time in the tube. "Wansome Weetas?" for "Want some Rita's?" (Rita's is an italian ice store here.)

A rare shot of Jack sans eyewear. He prefers to go commando (glasses style anyway) whenever we're swimming or outdoors. But have no fear!!! We recently purchased some prescription sunglasses for our little man. He needs to wear them as much as possible.

Love this picture!!!! Gigi has an awesome camera that we enjoyed playing with every day. The lens on it is so long you look like a stalker or PI or something, but it works.

Here's Mr. Serious. Finn had so much fun with Jackie and Jordan. He's still talking about them. Thanks, girls, for entertaining the boys! They were sad to leave you. (and so were we.)

This is a picture from the 4th. Crude? Yes. But funny anyway.


FFS (Funny Finn Story): The other day we were leaving a certain fast food Mexican restaurant that we frequent on a weekly basis. While we were pulling out of the parking lot, Finn saw their advertisement car, decorated with the store's logo all over it in yellows and red. Finn yelled, "Look, Mommy! The quesadilla truck!"

FJS: Jack did something rather dangerous the other day that prompted a good stranger danger reminder. I told him that someone could take him away from us if he started going places without us. He said, "No, Mom. I'm yours, and that wouldn't be nice." Sure, but some people do mean things sometimes. He looked at me, smirking and said, "Mom that wouldn't happen to me. Because EVERYONE likes me!" Exactly.

Finn has spent 3 nights in his big boy bed!!!!! Can't believe our babies are growing so quickly.

Vacation Part II

After the beach trip, we headed to Raleigh for Jonathan Page's wedding. He grew up across the street from John and their families are very close. We had the best time!!!! If you're ever in Raleigh, make some excuse to go to the Pavilion at the Angus Barn. It's beautiful!!!! The wedding, the bride...all of it was beautiful:) Did I get any pictures? NO! UGH!!!!

Here are some Gigi took that I pawned off of Facebook...

Here's the hottest parent couple around!!! Literally. We were sweating from all the dancing we did. As much as we missed the boys for the short 36 hour time they were away from us, it was nice for a little getaway.

How many couples have pictures of themselves doing "the sprinkler"? Some wives make reference to times when they 'fall in love with their husbands all over again'...usually when a child is born, or something like that. Well, here's my moment. But I was already in love with him. This just made him more awesome.

Gigi and Poppy Johnny know how to party it down, too.

Jackie, aka, my rockstar sister in law, was a dance machine at the reception. Check out her super cute dress. Doesn't matter what she's wearing, though, cause she could make a paper bag look fabulous. :) She's been home this summer which has been so fun!!!!!


Congratulations, Jonathan and Sarah Margaret! Thanks for providing fun party atmospheres so we could take pictures of ourselves:) And blessings to you both. You're quite a stunning couple.

Beach Week 2009

We're back by popular demand! And not because we have an injury to report or some sort of big news. Just the normal stuff. I had no idea anyone still read this blog (other than family). I told John a minute ago that I posted a blog on my painting website today, and he said that people were beginning to wonder where we were on this blog. So, here we are! I'm sorry the other blog is trumping this one at times.

We returned on Monday from a 10 day trip: Garden City for a week, wedding in Raleigh and then to G'boro to pick up the boys. Everything we did was fun. Seriously we had one of the best vacations we've had in a long time, but I honestly think we returned home more exhausted than when we left! I guess that's how vacations go with little ones around.

Here's what we did at the beach:

Wore Batman pajamas when we weren't wearing swimsuits....

Walked to the dock, to the house, to the dock, to the house, to the dock, to the house. Repeat.

Celebrated Father's Day with the best Poppy in the world! We celebrated with the world's best Poppy Johnny before we left.

Wore swimmies everywhere we went so Mimi wouldn't have a heart attack on the dock.

Threw cast nets for the first time. Owen (pictured below), Adam, Anna and Jack all took their turns.

Kayaked until the sun went down. (Owen, Jack and John)

Posed for many pictures

Promised each other we would not rock the boat.

Prayed that the dock would support this family photo op.

Acted normally....


I have to say that we have the best families around. Ever. We could not be more thankful to God for those who care for us most.