Date Night

We had a little Date Night tonight ... Not your typical date night, but it was still fun!

Lydia went out with Papa and Mimi for dinner and to watch Frozen. She was so excited! 

 Jack Henry thought he needed his picture taken with Mimi, too. =)

After they left, we got ready and I got to have a date night with my 2 favorite guys!

 Tricked him into looking up by asking what was on Jeff's shirt! Hah! He's a mess!

 After pizza, we stopped on our way home for a little fro-yo treat!

Love my 2 dates!

Thankful for a restful Saturday that ended with some fun! Love days like this!

Back To "Normal"

After having Jeff home for over 3 weeks, he had to go back to work this week. =( We've loved having him home and all the extra play time we've had. He's such an amazing help at home and I am already missing his help! We've had to start a new routine, and thankfully the first week went pretty good!

 In the fall, Jeff was home in the mornings to help with breakfast and getting Lydia ready and off to school. Now he's going in at 6:30 so it's all me! So that means I have to be dressed and ready before Lydia needs to be getting ready. Waking up earlier took it's toll on me this week! Hoping it gets easier! Hah!

 Our first morning on our own went great! Lydia even had time to play on her LeapPad before it was time to leave for school! Woohoo!

 I think Jack Henry has had the hardest time adjusting to Jeff going back to work. He LOVES having daddy home to play with. Mommy just isn't the same. He also doesn't think I should do anything (no laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc.) except play with him.

 We spent a couple days in our pjs, which was actually kind of nice! 

Lydia's class was in charge of Rise & Shine this week and I'm so glad we were able to go watch today! She and Grayson said The Pledge of Allegiance and school creed every day. She did GREAT! I wasn't sure how she would do being up in front of the entire school, but she didn't seem like it bothered her one bit. I've been amazed with how much she has come out of her shell this year. Hoping she has a more outgoing personality than I do! I would DIE if I had to get up in front of all those kids and talk. Hah!

Thankful we survived our week. I was glad when Jeff walked in the door tonight and knew I had his help for the next 2 days. =)

Monday Monday

Our week got off to a rough start ... Jack Henry woke up coughing, had a gunky nose, and sneezing. =( Last week he ran a fever off and on, but seemed fine all day Sunday until right before bed. His temperature was up and seemed to be getting congested. We were hoping that he would be better by morning, but that wasn't the case. =( 

 Starting her 20th week of kindergarten. Jack Henry decided that he needed to be in the picture this morning, too! =)

 Either Jeff and I are really boring lunch dates or this guy is really tired .. Maybe both!

I decided to take Jack Henry to the doctor to make sure that he didn't have an ear infection or something worse.

 Hanging out in the waiting room praying we didn't pick up any more sick germs. The place was FULL and I held Jack Henry in my lap as close to me as I could. Poor guy left with an ear infection diagnosis and we also found out that his tube in his right ear is coming out and not working ... and that's the ear that he has an infection in. Praying we don't start having problem with ear infections again. =(

While we were at the doctor, Jeff took Lydia to the bank to deposit all of her coins she had rolled with Papa and Mimi. She was excited about all her "coins" she got for getting a good report card. Such a fun reward! She did have to work for it though ... Not only did she have to make good grades, she also had to separate and count out the coins. ;)

Fun Afternoon at the Zoo

We love surprise weather days in January! After a lot of cold and wet days, the sun finally came out and temperatures warmed up, so we decided to take advantage of it and took a trip to the zoo! The kids were SO excited! They would go every day if we could and love every minute of it. =)

Lydia was so glad that our friends met us at the zoo and she had someone to run around and look at the animals with. =)

The lions enjoying the sunshine!

Lazy Sunday afternoon ...

Unfortunately the animals either weren't out or not very active, which was a bummer. Not sure if it was because we got there a little before closing or what. The kids didn't seem to mind, which is good. 

Laney and Lydia hanging out in the bird/reptile house.

 After my rodent scare forever ago, I don't do the bird/reptile house. Jack Henry was happy to go to the little playground and play while everyone else went through. I'm sure there will come a day when I sit outside by myself waiting for them to all walk through because Jack Henry realizes what is in there, but for now I'm enjoying having a little buddy to pass the time with!

I could not get him to look at me for ANYTHING! Little stinker! He had a blast though!

 So thankful for the beautiful weather and fun afternoon spent with friends!

Saturday Fun

We had a fun, full Saturday! We started the day off with a trip to Little Rock for hair cuts! We attempted to take Jack Henry yesterday to a place in town, but he refused to sit and let them cut his hair. We thought that sitting in one of the cool chairs at Pigtails and Crewcuts would help ... But we were wrong!

 She LOVES her new haircut! Love the shorter hair ... it looks so much better!

 This little guy tried everything he could to get out of a haircut and FOUGHT hard, but the girl was awesome and did a great job with him screaming, crying and moving the whole time. Poor Jeff broke a sweat holding him.

 Yay for much needed haircuts! =)

 One of my goals this year is read more. I love reading, but don't make the time to do it near enough. I'm excited about starting this book!

 Lydia had a birthday party for her friend, Olivia, at a gymnastics place this afternoon and has been so excited about it! She loves going and jumping around. Her and Annabel were patiently waiting their turn to jump on the trampoline.

 Lydia sitting by the birthday girl while she opened her present during the party.

 Olivia's cake was so fun! It was rainbow inside!!

While we were at the party, Jeff and Jack Henry had a little guy's night.

 He looks so big playing basketball with the girls next door!

 Jeff said he knew exactly what to do with the ball. Future basketball player?!?

Mrs. Brooke sent Jack Henry a cake pop home from the party and he was SO excited! I tried to get him to share, but he was not interested!

Jack Henry's 2 1/2

It's hard to believe that Jack Henry turned 2 1/2 on Sunday. He is such a sweet little boy ... but he is also ALL boy! He loves to cuddle, give hugs and kisses ... but he also loves to be wild, crazy and rough. We wouldn't change one thing about him!

He has one of the funniest personalities I've ever been around. He makes the cutest little faces and is so hard to discipline because he's so stinkin' cute.

 Look at those eyes!

He loves to take a bath, but unfortunately he hates to get out! It's a fight almost every time. 

He is still great about going to bed. He has started wanting to be rocked again, which I LOVE! 

 These cute little fits have also started, too. This was one morning before 7:15. He is pretty pitiful, isn't he?!? This boy can turn on the tears faster than anyone! And they aren't just any tears, they are HUGE crocodile tears. =)

 He loves watching Blues Clues on the Kindle. I bought the Kindle for me to read on, and I hardly get a chance to use it unless he is asleep. By that time I'm too tired to focus long enough to read! I'm starting to think we need to buy another one!

He also loves to "read" and be read to. He is also getting really good at recognizing all of his letters and saying the sound that they make. Crazy how fast he has picked things up.

Some of my favorite things that he says are:

Pease (Please)

Thank You

Sorry

MommaDaddaSissy (yes, all one word!)

Dadda play trains (or whoever he wants to play with him)

Jes (yes)

PaPad (leap pad)

Bue (Blue)

Applesauce (uses this word for yogurt and applesauce)

He has been such a blessing to our family and we can not wait to see what God does in and through him.

Back To School

It's hard to believe that Lydia is 1/2 way through Kindergarten! It is literally flying by! Seems like just yesterday we were going to her open house and looking around her classroom for the first time! We are so thankful that she loves school and learning. She has never once complained about going to school ... most days she's trying to rush us out the door before it's time! Here are a few pictures from her first week back. =)

 Jeff and I were on our way back from Mobile on Monday, so Mimi got her up, ready and to school! It was her first time to get anyone ready for school in a LONG time! She did great! =) She even had time to get a picture. ;)

 Check out these temps when they were headed to school! Eek!! They were even colder Tuesday morning when we took her ... 9*!! Crazy! 

 All bundled up with her new books she picked out with some of her Christmas money. I love that out of all the toys she could have picked, she choose 2 books. Love my little book worm!

 Practicing her words for her 1st spelling test. She was EXHAUSTED this night ... as you can see she can barely keep her head up. She wanted to go to bed at 6:00 this night, but I held her off until 6:30.

 Today was nursery rhyme day at school and she went as Mary and took her little lamb with her. =) Wish I could have been there to hear her recite Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Check. Her. Out.

Perfect score on her spelling test!

Woohoo!

She also got her report card for the 2nd quarter and did GREAT! So proud of her!

Go Daddy Bowl 2013

We were so excited that after a fun and exciting ASU football season, we found out they were headed to a bowl game! They tied as conference champs ... a 3-peat! ... and got a bowl bid from the Go Daddy Bowl for the 3rd year in a row! We were so glad that we were able to go back down this year and watch them play again. And also loved the chance to spend some time together just the 2 of us.

Howlabama Bound!

 Such a pretty day for a road trip!

 When we got to Mobile, we headed straight to the best oyster house in town, Wintzell's to hang out with other Red Wolf fans. You always know it's a good sign when you get out of the car and you hear howling! The place was packed out and we had to wait an hour and a half to eat, but it was totally worth it!

Saturday we spent most of the day just hanging out. We had lunch with some friends at another yummy place called Felix's. They have THE BEST shrimp and grits! Saturday night it was time for the parade and pep rally.

 Some friends of our's from ASU/MBSF were there and it was fun to hang out with them! The parade wasn't nearly as cold as last year, which was nice. The parade is always a fun way to get excited about the game!

 Mobile puts on a HUGE fireworks display at the end of the pep rally!

Sunday morning we went to church at the team hotel ... Loved taking a little bit of time during our vacation to worship God with others.

 The message was one I really needed to hear. I am praying that this year I can focus more on being more like Jesus and worry less with being like others around me. I'm really bad about looking at others and comparing myself to them. I always feel like I fail when it comes to being a wife and a mom when I do that. I feel like others have it all together and I feel like most days I'm doing good to just make it through the day without losing it! I know it's not healthy to do this, so I am hoping I can do better at it.

After church we headed back to Wintzell's for lunch (yes ... it's that good!) and then went and took a nap before the game. An 8:00 kick off is rough when you are used to going to bed at a decent time!

The game was AWESOME and we won with a blocked field goal in the last few seconds!! It was so fun to be there to see them win for the second year in a row!!

 Celebrating on the field!

Kind of sad that ASU football is over. Excited to see what the new coaching staff can do and to see the team in a few months at the spring game!

Go stAte!!

My mom and Jeff's mom split up watching the kids and we are SO thankful for them!! It's nice being able to leave the kids and know that they are being taken care of and having fun. We missed them a lot, but know it's good for all of us to have a little break every now and then.

 Sweet baby girl

 This little guy turned 2 1/2 while we were gone! He's turning into such a big boy.