Two cute boys

I realized I haven't put up any pictures in about a week. Where does time go?

Don't they just look like trouble? LOL!

The cute outfit L has on is a gift from Uncle D's parents. It is so cute - a pooh outfit straight from Walt Disney World. I waited to put it on him until last week, thinking it was WAY too big for him. Obviously I was wrong. Most things he wears right now are 9 months, but this is 12 months. Guess we're moving that direction. (So if anyone buys him clothes for the summer, 12-18 months would be a safe way to go!)

Happy Birthday Mister Man!

Today is the hubby's birthday. For those of you counting, it's his 35th. Wow. It sounds kinda old, but doesn't really seem old. Especially since that's how old I'll be in November. On second thought, it sounds really YOUNG. :)

Tonight we will continue a tradition by having his 11th annual birthday dinner at Freebird's. It's so nice knowing exactly what he wants for his birthday dinner. Even when we celebrated his 30th birthday with a party elsewhere, we still ate at Freebird's on his actual birthday.

The boys and I have been working on his surprises all day (sorry babe - if you're reading this before coming home for the day, I'm not giving anything away!) Little L did give his daddy one early surprise last Friday night though. As his daddy was on the phone talking to Nana & Papa D, I was feeding L his dinner in the kitchen. JMcD walked in, and as soon as L looked over his way he said, "Dadadadada." Awwwwwwwwww. Then he did it again. He MADE his daddy's night. Maybe week. Daddy was just excited that ONE of his son's said his name before mine.

Honestly, I was just as excited as he was! Well, excited but also a wee bit bummed. I know this is crazy, but I had been working with L to get him to say da-da and was hoping he could wait until TODAY on JMcD's actual bday. I know, I know - he's 7 months old. I should be happy he is saying it this close to his daddy's birthday. But how neat would that have been?

Even though this isn't the first time the words have come out of his mouth, at least this video was taken TODAY. I can't believe I caught it. Talk about luck.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!! THE BOYS AND I LOVE YOU MORE & MORE EVERY SINGLE DAY!! WE CAN'T WAIT FOR TONIGHT!

Oh Happy Day

Yesterday our church had a special time during worship service for all of the babies born in 2008 called a "Baby Blessing." It is a time for the parents, grandparents and our entire church family to make a commitment to our babies and to each other to raise these children in a loving, Christian environment and fully immersed in the Word of the Lord.

We were up at the front along with 15 other families during the early service. There were a total of 28 babies born in our church last year - can you say BABY BOOM?!?! It does make us happy that L will grow up with so many other little one's around him, learning about God's love and making friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime.

Since there were so many of us up there, my parents were not in position to get any pictures of us. Luckily, one of the people in charge was taking pictures, and we've been told we'll all get copies. I sure hope so. Not just for L's baby book, but for his big brother's too. See, we were smack dab in the middle of the pulpit area. Right behind the minister's podium. The hubby and I joke often that we think J might have the makings of being a preacher. (Not the public speaking aspect, but the LOVE of all things related to God, Jesus and the Bible. We read his children's Bible to him every night because that's what he wants us to read. And he really remembers and seems to understand the stories he is hearing.) Well, J was behaving and stood there quite still and quiet...in the beginning. Then he realized the podium was right in front of us and went up to it and put his hands on either side, as if he might start preaching! It was funny, but we quickly pulled him back in front of us. Although it would have been cute if he'd busted out signing, "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he..." (currently, one of his fav Bible songs). I think he would have stayed up there longer if we would have let him!

Maybe we'll luck out, and he'll be standing at the podium in one of the pictures. I'll post if/when I get them. We did take some snapshots of the boys and our family once we got home. Thanks again Grammy & Papa for coming to share this special day with us. Nana & Papa D - you were missed by all of us and we were all so sad you couldn't be here. We hope Nana gets to feeling better SOON! This next picture should brighten her day.

Looks like L might be our little daredevil, don't ya think? Of course, in the picture below, he looks very mellow...like he's pondering the meaning of life. Or maybe just watching a bug.

The boys with Grammy (Ghee) & Papa. I promise L DID have shoes on at church. He does wear them occasionally now. :)

J was soooooo proud of his baby brother. He loves his baby so much. He accidently bonked L's head with his own last night, and even though it frightened L and woke him up, I think J cried even harder because he was so afraid he had hurt the baby. Our little tender heart. :)

Valentine's Day Part 2

I promised more pictures from J's Valentine's Day party at preschool. It was a fun party - the kids took turns handing out their valentine's to each other. I even got some video of J dancing (they made up a song...I'll try to upload it later). Until then, enjoy these party pics!

Having a good time getting valentine's...

J's lunch for the day. He thought it was cool that I put a heart-shaped sandwich in his lunch. Having kids actually makes me like Valentine's Day again (for those of you that are unaware, my V-Day's were typically cursed by sickness, injury or just plain bad luck until JMcD and I had the boys. I swore it off until J was born - now we focus on them!)J with Ms. Tish. Remember how I posted that this was her last year to teach at preschool? Well, I found out that she is going back to her first career - being an accountant! I was stunned to learn that this loving, creative, OUTGOING woman is an accountant by trade. Not that accountants can't be loving people, it's just an odd career jump. Anyway, we're going to MISS HER SO MUCH! Hmmm, wonder who that is sitting next to J? lol They were making "bug" cupcakes for V-Day (since they are the bug class). J made a spider.Here's his masterpiece. I think before it was all said and done, there was a cube of cheese on top too. Ewwww.

Happy Valentine's Day

Enjoy our little postcard. I have more pictures to share from J's preschool party - yes, he was sitting next to his friend that is a girl when I arrived!

Make a Smilebox postcard

And they call it Puppy Love

It shouldn't surprise me. My little man is such a sweet boy. He has really good manners for a preschooler, he is so thoughtful and caring, and of course, is quite handsome. But he is only 4 years old. Can he really already have a girlfriend?

Apparently so. This all developed last Thursday. As soon as he opened the car door and started climbing in during pick-up from preschool, he dropped the bomb on me.

"Mommy, I have a girlfriend," J said. I'm sure the look on my face was priceless. I turned around (he sits behind me) and looked at him, then his teacher, who was smiling as she buckled him in.

"A what?" I asked, trying to stay calm. So he tells me all about his girlfriend. How nice she is and that she had pink and yellow in her hair. Of course, I know who he is talking about because she's in his class and there are only 12 kiddos in his class. She IS sweet and cute...long, blond hair. But really, a girlfriend?

It gets better. He then tells me they held hands. Ms. Tish adds that the girl also helped J up when another boy knocked him down. Smiling, J said, "Yup, then we held hands for like, the rest of the day!"

I must admit, it was cute to hear him talk about her. Very innocent. But then my mind started to wander, and not a second later he declared, "And she tried to kiss me!" Ahhhhhhh! After talking to him about why we don't kiss at school (thanks Aunt C for the advice on how to address this topic), I told him that it was so nice he had a special friend and decided not to make anymore of it. He did get to tell both his Ghee & Nana about it on the phone though. He was so proud. Of course, his daddy is proud too, but also hopes this little girl doesn't break J's heart. Awwwwwww.

Fast forward to today. J is back at preschool (remember, he only goes on T/TH so he hasn't seen this girl since last Thursday). I pick him up and the first thing Ms. Tish says is that they were inseparable. She said she caught them holding hands again, but no kissing. Whew. I think she isn't making a big deal out of the hand holding b/c it is really innocent. Fine with me - but if they start smooching, momma's going to have to step in. ;)

What we're teaching our kids at home

I have been meaning to post this little tidbit for a week now. We had J's best bud, EK, over last week. They were both so excited to see each other, and shortly after Aunt C left for her meeting, the two of them were upstairs bouncing around the playroom. I got L settled in his swing and crept upstairs to peek in on them. I am SO glad I did...what I saw was priceless.

EK was over at the play kitchen starting to "cook" while J was standing in the middle of the playroom watching her. Without seeing me standing there, this is what I heard --

EK: I'm going to make breakfast now.
J: O.k.
EK: You be the daddy and I'll be the mommy.
J: (laughing) Yeah.

EK then looks at the kitchen, looks at J, looks back at the kitchen and promptly drops her pan and walks over to the little armchair where she plops down.
EK: (pointing to J then motioning to the kitchen) You go cook me breakfast now.
J: (as if this is totally normal) O.k.!

At this point, I'm laughing and walk in and say, "So it's daddy's job to cook breakfast?" Both of them look at me, smiling, and in unison shout, "YES!"

We're teaching them something right, aren't we ladies???

Our Seven Month Old Lovebug

Another month has come and gone, and L turned seven months old on Monday. He continues to be such a happy baby...except when those toothies start to come through. Poor lil' guy :( I think it's happening again. At least I know what to expect this time around.

Back to the happy times. L is still full of giggles and grins. When his tickle box gets wound up, watch out. No way you won't be able to smile around him. Now that L is out of the infant carseat and in his big, convertible carseat, he can see his big brother better in the car. This has led to much laughter and snorting...yes, snorting...during our car trips now. Today, as we were heading to my Mom2Mom class at church, the two of them couldn't stop laughing. It's such a sweet, sweet sound.

Speaking of sounds, L is really "talking" and making so many different sounds - I just know any day he is going to bust out with a "dada" or "mama". He is already saying "ma" and in fact, was screaming "Maaaaaa" from his crib a couple of days ago. It was clear he was wondering what was taking me so long. lol! He is also rolling all over the place, and I have now caught him trying to get out of his bumbo seat! Luckily, his little thighs are so chunky it would almost be impossible for that to happen. :)

I think I might have already mentioned this, but he is also starting to give out some super-sweet kisses. If you are one of the lucky few to have received some of these kisses, you know how they melt you. He takes his chubby little hands and puts them on either side of your face and oh-so-gently nuzzles your cheek with his mouth wide open. They can get a little slobbery, but mostly they're just sweet. And who wouldn't want a kiss from a little boy this cute?

I think his rolls can double as muscles, don't you? I was so happy we had a weird, hot day last week so he could wear this outfit. A hand-me-down from J...one of my favs.