I think I can...

Hayden is a scoot scooter.  He wants soo badly to crawl, and mostly he just shifts his weight back and forth from his feet to knees, to elbows/belly, to all fours, and up to sitting.  He's practically a little break-dancer with some of his little moves.  He is precious to watch.

Caught him in action going for one of his favorite hand-me-down rattles from his big bro.  Attempt #1 a little short....

Attempt #2.... and Success!!

Our little fella surprising me during his 'nap' time by sitting up.

Can't believe his little teeth are already coming in!!

One. February 8th

Two. February 9th

Sweet little fella, I could just eat you up. :-)  I love having you in my life.  I am blessed with so much joy in my life, and you little fella, you are vessel of God's blessing in my life.  My joy is a gift given by God through you.  I'm so grateful- I am seeing this stage through whole new eyes this time around with my second- I'm not mourning the loss of each stage as they pass.  I had such a hard time letting go as James grew and grew... but just being thankful for each day and entering into a few little moments where I can truly recognize my gracious God in the beauty of my baby boy.  To 'slow down the torrent of time' for just a second.  So thankful for this way to embrace the crazy that is my life.  The ordinary, the simple, the beautiful.

wild thing.

Wild thing.

You make my heart sing.  

You make everything, groovy.

Wild thing.

 I think I love you.

Sunday lunch & a snow day.

We are a family who loves a good drive.  Just something wonderfully peaceful about the open road on a beautiful day, a hot cup of coffee, and your little guys looking out the window.  Not to mention during the winter months being able to get out an enjoy the beauty of winter with a heated seat. yes. :-)

For fun, we love driving up to Boone, NC.  It's an awesome little town with the fun, university scene that lends it to some quirky shopping nestled in the beauty of the Blue Ridge Parkway, awesome local skiing, great hikes like Grandfather Mountain (which is still on my 'want-to' list), and some sweet eats.

Some of our FAVS:
1. Woodlands BBQ- which was recommended to us by our sweet Swedes.  We are soo glad you told us about this one!! ps. they have live music which is just about the best thing besides the mason-jar-sweet-tea :-) It's hard to pass this one up to choose any other other favorite.  You could say its more favorite.
2. (Al) Capone's Untouchable Pizza- ran into one of my old students in this little place.  Their calzones are sooo good- they even let us all ahead and had our food waiting on us when we walked in. after our sledding. yes.
3. Dan'l Boone Inn- We drove up for Sunday lunch here.  They serve family style fried chicken, country fried steak, mashed potatoes, stewed apples, green beans, sweet corn, ham biscuits, and gosh a ton of food.  Love that it comes with dessert: chocolate cake pleeeease. :-)  I think you can tell it was a hit with our little family.

How do I have two little boys who are soo goofy?? :-)  Love the big, open mouth smiles.  Can they be genetic? haha.

Sooo we were worried that we would spend a whole winter without any 'snow days'.  Our winter has been unusually mild, and we decided that we would have to go find us some snow to play in.  We picked up a sled along the way, and took our boys up to find a sledding hill.  Found the perfect one and spend a whole 15 minutes sledding. :-)  The 18 degree weather was a little on the cold side for our little buddies.  haha, but as much as James seemed to dislike the cold, you couldn't keep him from trying to go up the hill again and again.  He even tried to play in the snow- pick it up in his hands and it was just soo sweet.  So glad we were storm chasers that day- haha.

Gotta get ready...

The innocent bystanders.

Perfect hill.

Wooohoo!

woah.

Can we go again???

Happy snow day. :-)  Enjoying the moments in life- not necessarily about 'seizing the day' but more about being thankful & grateful for our little glimpses of heaven.  In the midst of anything, accepting the simple blessings that our good God gives and saying 'thank you'.

good times. good friends.

Pillow wrestling with Mr. Nick and Anna Kate.  What a blessing it is to have friends who love on your kid like you do.  So thankful for you!!

Celebrating Addison's birthday followed by some sweet playtime with our 4.  James (and his mama) are so thankful for sweet friends.  We love you guys!!

party mosiac.

Wonderful time to celebrate my boy.

Birthday Caboose.

We had James' 2nd Birthday Party at the NC Transportation Museum on the Birthday Caboose.  It was an adventure, haha.  The weather was not our friend that day, but we had a GREAT time.  We got the blue birthday caboose and had two train rides which James absolutely loved.

 I should say that James was almost un-photographable because he was too busy looking out the window- climbing up in the copula, climbing down, non stop.  He had attention for cake and Thomas. haha.  We certainly had one happy little boy.

This boy had him a darn good time.

The caboose was pretty bare, but we had plenty of balloons and James' Mimi made him Thomas the Train pennants that hung throughout the caboose and up in the cupola.   It was a good time had by all, albeit a little on the cold, rainy side to the day.  Only one major hiccup: I forgot to bring forks for the cake! haha, but Uncle John came to the rescue and very quickly picked some up.  It didn't even slow the party down.  Way to go Uncle John.

Thanks for celebrating our little buddy James.  It wouldn't have been the same without you!

***update for those thinking of having your party here!  Important tip: there is no heat in the caboose, so keep that in mind!  It was very austere in the interior, so bring some color!  I bought my train conductor hats, red bandanas, & wooden train whistles from orientaltrading.com in one dozen packs which was a great deal!  Pennants & table covering made by Grandma. :-)

interior view of caboose

 My Favorite insta moments from the party!!

Mimi's beautiful pennants!

James.

silly silly boy.

you make me laugh.

Hayden: 6 months and first food.

Little Hayden is 6 months now.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of him naked at the dr like I had hoped.  We had a bit of a crazy Dr. appt because for some unknown reason, he was throwing up before and during the appointment.  A little spit up, ok, that doesn't happen very often for him.  But seriously soaking himself in his car seat, leaving a puddle behind- soaking my whole shirt sleeve, leaving a puddle on the floor and counter top....  Poor baby and poor mommy.  I was scared the poor fella had the flu.  Luckily, he never ran a fever and didn't have any more incidents.  But seriously a stressful situation.  Thankfully, we made it home in one piece with only a few tears, and we put off his shots a couple days to make sure he was good and healthy.

Never a dull moment.  Sometimes I wish they were a little more dull, haha.

Hayden. 6 months. 16 lbs 1.5 oz and 26.5 in long

We started baby food with Hayden this past month, and it was pretty slow going at first.  I remember James just attacking his food and there was no looking back.  Hayden seemed interested but had trouble learning that swallowing motion.  The incident at his dr. appt may have been precipitated by a rice cereal lunch.  That was my only guess- even though it doesn't sound like a good one.  But, this last week we made a breakthough.  Temperature.  I wasn't very successful with the rice cereal even though it was warm- wasn't very successful with apples which were only luke warm- BUT was very successful with sweet potatoes and winter squash hot/warm.  Like a switch flipped.  He attacked and there's no looking back.  He's eating 2 servings a day, and I'm hoping maybe will be sleeping a bit better at night... :-)

Hayden & rice cereal.  "I'm not so sure about this stuff..."

"my fingers do taste pretty good though....."

January 11, 2012

and just for fun...