Not Me! Monday

I did not change my mind about writing a "not me" post this week, while on our mini vacation, just because of my kids.

I have not decided that there are two phrases that I remind myself almost daily now (since Austin is definitely not beginning his terrible twos and Katie still has not found her way out of the trying threes!)... "This to shall pass" and "I'm gonna miss this"

I am not still trying to convince myself of that second quote...

I did not hear Katie having trouble flushing the toilet a moment ago, so I go to check.  She was not trying to flush a toilet with a full, rolled up diaper stuck in it...and because she didn't put it there, she wasn't going to tell me about it.

My innocent little boy did not, obviously, throw his diaper in the toilet instead of the garbage can earlier today.  I think I'll have to watch his "garbage" runs a little more carefully...or I may find who-knows-what in the toilet!

I did not catch a glimpse of my little girl trying to kiss a little boy at church...whom, by the way, she had met only an hour or so earlier...I think we're going to have to lock her up tight as she gets older!

We are not excited to be able to start celebrating my son's 2nd birthday (a little late) this weekend, and then again next week when we return home.  It's been a crazy weekend, but we're enjoying our time here with Nana, Pawpaw, family, and friends!

I am not ending a "not me" post without pictures because they're all at home, and I'm not!  But fear not...I'll be back to posting birthday pictures when we return next week :-)

Two Years and Counting...

Austin,

at 2 years old you...

• weigh about 25 lbs and about 34 1/2  inches long
• have beautiful hazel eyes that look more brown than green on most days
• are starting to definitely show signs of curly hair to come, though it's still pretty short right now
• love watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, yogurt, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and any snack
• love to try to figure out how things work or go together...and for a 2 year old, you're very good at it!
• hate green beans, fresh {raw} veggies, and nuts {unless they are inside an M&M}
• are very good at pestering your sister, especially when it involves destroying one of her creations
• absolutely adore anything with tires and an engine, especially tractors and lawn mowers
• have an everexpanding vocabulary now, and you're really working hard to repeat all that you hear now
• still have a few words that aren't quite right, but I love hearing nonetheless...like "mon-noer" which is how you pronounce "lawn mower"
• and you have a few words that aren't quite right, and I beg you not to say them because they sound too close to a not-so-nice word...like "truck" or "fork"...but we're working on that already
• are an outside-loving, dirt playing, rock-collecting, all out BOY in every sense of the word
• occasionally have a desire to potty like a big boy, but not often enough to leave the diaper
• love music and quickly try to pick up on the words of new songs
• have a calm, go-with-the-flow attitude most of the time
• like any kind of creepy-crawlies, and like even more when you catch them
• are very generous with showing affection to those you love, and we love it!
• eating with a spoon and fork, but still like your fingers a lot, too
• try to be the protector for other little ones - when they are doing something that may hurt them,  you do all that you can, even push them down, to keep them from getting hurt

**Happy 2nd Birthday, Austin!**

You are my sweet baby big boy, and I am so thankful that God chose me to be your Mommy!! I'm looking forward to this next year and many thereafter with you, Little Man.

My Boy & His Tractor

My sweet, no-so-little boy loves his tractors!  And though he doesn't have a tractor to drive {unless he's at Pawpaw's house}, he makes do with his little tractors just fine...he even dresses up with a nice tie when he's ready for tractor-time!  Can't say that I know many farmers that go all out like that, can you? ;-)

And those bright hazel eyes can just melt your heart...

But not quite enough to talk me into getting him a real tractor, so I'm glad he can enjoy his TONKA tractor from Uncle Myles and {future} Aunt Angela!  It's been a lifesaver!!

My sweet almost 2-yr-old boy

We won't mention that he's driving his tractor backwards...he hasn't seemed to care.

And I certainly wouldn't want to break the heart of this sweet one, especially over something like that.  Maybe he'll have better backward driving later on than Mommy does ;-)

Ride on, little man!  It's fun to see you and your love for tractors, trucks, trains, and any other "vroom vroom" grow more and more. 

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

I'm getting bad at being Wordless WORDY on my Wednesday posts.  SORRY!!

Katie's 1st "Self Portrait"

*Note:  Katie dictates exactly what she wants me to write on each of her pieces of artwork... This was no exception.  In case you can't read it, it says "This is a picture of Katie with her funny-looking hair."  She told me that she "couldn't draw her in a picture without all of her curls!"  Gotta love it :-)

Not Me! Monday

I did not happily celebrate my 6th anniversary with the love of my life this past Saturday!

I do not have a bouquet of beautiful yellow roses and daisies to bring a little sunshine to our kitchen, and reminding me of how lucky I am to be my husband's chosen love!

Instead of the typical anniversary gifts, we did not decide to find a gift that we could both enjoy together.  And what did we find??  Well, many things, but we chose these gorgeous lamps to accent the romantic master bedroom we're designing together. 

This week, I am not thinking of my sweetie as he is travelling for work. The kids and I already miss him...okay, well, we missed him as soon as he set his foot in the car...and we're looking forward to Friday coming soon! As stated by Katie this afternoon, "It just isn't the same when Daddy isn't here." Couldn't have said it better myself.

This weekend, we did not add solar lights to the front of our house, and they look great! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of them last night, so you'll have to wait until later to catch a peek of them.

We did not also add two new members to our family.  Welcome "Diamond" {named by Katie} and "Bama" {named by Austin}.

Diamond is the "blueish purple" {as Katie calls it} fish, and Bama is obviously the red one :-)

I am not failing miserably at taking my usual fun, lifestyle snapshots of our family, especially the kids, lately...and I MISS it!  So, hold on to your computer screen...we're about to change this failure into a blog masterpiece!  :-)

We do not have an exhaustive, very long list of "to-do's" to complete around our new house.  We are very excited about many of those to-do's...now, only to wait for the funding ;-)

I do not think I'm going to have to buy stock in drawing paper for Katie.  She has found a new love for drawing creative pictures daily, and I'm definitely not going to stop her!  Come to think of it, I may have to buy stock in stamps, too, since she likes to mail all of her pictures.  {I have a stack of about 20 pictures to mail out this week, so watch the mail...you may just get one!}

I am not working on the final details of my sweet boy's 2nd birthday parties (we've chosen to have one in both Decatur and Mobile, since we just moved).  Lots more work, but definitely worth it to be able to see our Mobile friends and family again soon!!  Is it possible he's about to be TWO, though???  Where does the time go?...

ALMOST Wordless Wednesday

Austin sporting his newest *favorite* shirt from Pawpaw Greg...

It says "Frogs, snails, and big white tails...That's what little boys are made of".

Not Me! Monday ~ With Video!

My child has not managed to use her flip flops in such a way as to make them pointed at the end...

And the process that has caused this abnormality in her favorites shoes does not now require a helmet to be worn at all times.  You can watch the video below to see her in action, but I will warn you, there is a lot of movement involved - she's moving, and so am I - SORRY! ;-)

Not Me! Monday

It has not been entirely too long since my last "Not Me!" Monday post!

I am not {still} trying to work out our lovely internet woes...I can't get anyone to make any progress at all.  But we may possibly be able to share with our nice neighbor until something happens with ATT or Charter or some other miracle company I don't know of...

Katie did not "officially" start her new kindergarten homeschool curriculum today.  We're doing "My Father's World", and it is awesome!  We're taking this month for reviews and introductions, so we'll be ready to start her first lesson in September, along with her Friday co-op classes.

Speaking of co-op classes, we did not decide to sign Katie up for Art, Hands on Science, and Can't Sit Still for this year's 1/2 day co-op classes.  She is so excited about her classes!

Katie did not enjoy going to Family Baptist Church's Backyard Bible Club this last week with my Mom.  She came home tired and sweaty every night, but wouldn't miss a night!  Austin, however, wasn't so keen on Katie's departures without him...poor guy didn't know how to have fun without her.

Austin is not cutting 4 more teeth right now...thankfully it isn't making him as cranky as his last molars did.

Katie has not found a new favorite outside adventure at our house...and it has left her flip-flops with a perfect POINT at the top.  Can you imagine what she's doing?  If not, you'll have to wait for my upcoming video this week, because words don't describe it...Let's just leave it by saying, she must ALWAYS wear a helmet! :-)  And, so must Austin...since he follows her crazy fun.

Austin's vocabulary is not really taking off.  He's actually trying to copy pretty much everything you say now, and he's doing a good job.  His newest thing to say is "mmm...Tasty! (not sure where he picked that up).

We are not still praying for God's direction in which church we should join.  I for one am not good at being a visitor...I'm ready to be involved.  But we also don't want to rush in and not be where God wants us to be.  But the kids have done great wherever we've visited, which has been an answer to prayer already!

Do not check back throughout the week for more updates and pictures!