December 2013

December was a great month for us.  It was also a busy one, but I love all of the Christmas activities and seeing family that I don't see as often as I would like!  It has been a while since I have blogged, and honestly, I thought about stopping, but I love documenting our lives for the boys to read one day and for family that we don't get to see often.

 

I know that over the past few years I have said that I can't believe how fast my babies are growing... well during the half of the month that I did not have to work in December, it became very clear that I have independent big boys now.  And they are in a fun stage, but keep me on my toes all the time!!!   I miss Will's nap time... ha!

 

One Saturday, we stayed in our pajamas the entire day!  I put up my tree and decorations.  I love days like this!!!

 

 Just a random snapshot of me and the boys... notice the clothes I was about to fold in the background :).

 

I still love my boys in Christmas pajamas!  Carter is still a camera ham :).

 

 

And Will very clearly is not :).  But he did let me play army with him one day when Carter had the stomach bug!

 

 

We had Christmas with the Downs side of the fam early this year.  It was fun, and as always and Hootie and Carter were best buddies

 

Will with some of his cousins :).  Cute kiddos!

 

Cute little man in front of Aunt Reba's tree!!!

 

The boys had Christmas parties in their classrooms.  I am a little bitter about Will's party (only a little).  The room mom changed the date at the last minute and I could not go because of CPE classes :(, but daddy did go and they had fun.  We just don't have any photos... Sorry Will!  But I am thankful your daddy went out of his way to go with you!

 

I did get to make Carter's party.  He is the resident hunk in his class from what his teacher tells me :).  Ella is sure giving him some eyes and Raegan's mom said that she wants to marry Carter one day.  I don't blame them little man :)!!!

 

He also has a great teacher.  She is very good to him and he has learned so much.  He was very excited to give her a gift for Christmas!

 

 Carter and daddy.  Carter loves to give a fins up for his Rebels!!!

 

We went to visit Santa one Saturday.  Carter has never been a fan... and even this year, he did not want to go up to visit Santa.  He did, however, tell Will what he wanted (a Gator and dump truck) and Will relayed it to Santa.  My sweet Will has always loved Santa and I love the picture below.  So handsome!

Carter did have courage to sit in Santa's lap at school.  It must be the jersey :).

 

I love these pictures that I snapped of the boys in front of the tree.   Not together, but hey, I can live with that.  Love these precious boys and Christmas memories!

Daddy and I went to my work Christmas party at Chickasaw Country Club.  We did not get a photo alone, but did get this group shot with some great co-workers.  It was such a fun night!!!



 

We also had Carter's Christmas program at Harrell Theatre in Collierville.  Last year, he would not even go on stage.  He cried the entire time his class performed.  This year, I have to brag a little that he was the star of the show :) (all the other kiddos did great also)!  He sang so loud, hit every note and every move that he was supposed to for the program.  I was so proud of him!!!

 

Too much cuteness!!!  Lauren, Carter, Raegan, Will, Kate and Brayden. 



 

Hitting every note... love this!

 

After each song, he stopped to wave at his family!!!  Love :).

 



We also got to spend lots of time together, look at Christmas lights and we went to the movies!  I hope everyone had a great December also!!!

Fall Family photos

 

At the end of October, we had family pictures made with Jessica Rowell Photography.  The last time we had professional pictures made as a family, Carter was 1, so I thought we were due :).  I was extremely impressed with how she handled my boys (since we know they are both allll boy) and I loved the final product.  She is very talented, captured some sweet family moments/photos and I highly recommend her!

 

Me and my handsome boys!

 

Two words for the pictures below... pure sweetness!  I wish I could bottle it up and pour it on them when they misbehave :).  Love, love these two with all of my heart!!!

 

They are such the little studs!

 

The brother pictures are my FAVE.  They look and act completely different, but I hope they always love each other! 

 

Superhero Halloween

Will and Carter had SO much fun this past Halloween!  They loved choosing their own costumes again, the candy and all the times they had the opportunity to dress up!!!  I didn't dress up with them, so Carter told me I can just be the Queen of our house :)... good call little man!

 

My house is safe with these two around :).  Wolverine and the Flash.

 

Carter doubled on Halloween as Wolverine and Captain America :).  Superhero identity crisis I guess!

 

Daddy and the Flash :)!!!

 

Momma and her superheros!!!  Love, love all this cuteness.

 

We went to visit the Gants (their former babysitter) before we trick-or-treated in our neighborhood.

My little camera ham... he loves this Nonna!

 

Will has loved this costume for sometime and I am so excited that we found one!  He loved being in character.

 

No caption needed!

 

We also went to a little Carnival at Carter's school.

Their former teachers Ms. Bailey and Ms. Teri.  The love my boys and were so good to them!

 

After the final loot check of the night, one last photo with the Captain!

 

We enjoyed Halloween so much :).

 

Fall happenings :)

This fall has been a crazy transition for me.   When Will was in preschool, we worked on activities at night, but it was never required and was not too time consuming.  Overall, we were very relaxed and did as we pleased.  Homework every night has been a real game changer for me, not to mention other activities that come into play during the week.  We are in a great routine now and have adjusted to 'big boy' school life!

 

Will is such a smart little boy.  He had some trouble adjusting, as well, but I have been so impressed with him the past few weeks.  I have to say that I am blessed with a great teacher this year.  Ms. Martin loves my sweet Will and does all that she can to make sure she succeeds.  I have to also say that Will has matured tremendously in the past couple of months... he is still a 5 year old boy, of course, but can hold such mature conversations these days and brings up things that he has learned all of the time.  He is very inquisitive and loves electronics/learning how things work.  I am definitely a proud momma of my well rounded, adorable, loving little boy!

 

Carter is doing very well in pre-k also.  He is a very loved little boy and seems to be able to talk his teacher into anything (not exactly a good thing, but... I don't blame her; he is one adorable and sweet guy!).  It was tough for him when Will first went to school; even though they were in separate classes, I think he felt comfort knowing Will was always a classroom away.  One bright side to separation is that they fight A LOT less now and are truly best friends again. 

 

Now that the updates are done, here are some pictures!  I have got to start taking my camera out again.  The pictures are so much better than the ones on my phone, but taking just a phone is definitely more convenient!

 

At the end of September, Eddie's dad (Papaw Chittom) did the Rusty Wallace driving experience at Memphis Motorspeedway.  It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed watching Gary.

 

Daddy and Will

 

 

My three boys... they were READY.

Check out this little awesome dude!  He wants to drive one of these cars someday too!

 

Eddie and his parents

 

Papaw and his Will.  Will wanted this picture :).

 

The man of the hour... bucket list checkmark!

 

The last weekend in September, the boys and I went to Booneville to see my beautiful, precious momma for her birthday.  It was so much fun!

 

The boys and Brandon.

 

The Stennett ladies.  Look at my beautiful momma and sisters... love these three more than words can describe.  My momma looks like a sister!!!

 

Will had Thank a Farmer Day at his school.  he was one cute farmer!!!

 

Eddie and I left the boys for our first out of town trip!!!  Crazy that we waited this long, huh?!  We went to Chicago and had a great time.  Eddie's former boss from Jackson, TN is now the head groundkeeper for the Cubs.  We had a tour of Wrigley Field, saw some cool things downtown and enjoyed ourselves.  Thanks to the best grandparents, the Chittoms, for taking the boys to school and caring for them while we were gone!

 

Wrigley Field

 

Some awesome pizza... :)

The famous vines of Wrigley Field.

 

Boy, was I happy to see this sweet face when I got home!  Will was not as happy, told me he wanted to live in Booneville and that he would visit us.. HA!

 

My nephew, Colton, turned 13 on October 3rd.  He is such an amazing, mature kid and loves Chris Tomlin, so I bought us tickets for his concert at Hope on October 8th.  It was his present, but it blessed me tremendously!  I am so proud of this handsome, Christian and sweet nephew of mine!

 

Life at my house is wild sometimes with 3 boys... here is proof.  It looks like Carter is flipping me off, but he is not really (as far as I know!)

I took the Thursday and Friday off for Fall Break - 10/11th so we visited a local pumpkin patch and had some fun!!!

 



 

Who would not want to sleep/cuddle with this handsome 4 year old?!

 

The weather was amazing a couple of weekends ago... the boys and I went to the park and enjoyed the sandbox for 3 hours :).

It is not often that my boys are still enough to have sweet moments anymore, as they get older, but this one makes their momma's heart melt.  I have a picture just like this when they were 2 and 1 that I have been searching for tonight.  Momma's boys always!!!

 

Daddy took them for some fun on the golf course earlier this month for 3 whole hours... it was like I was on vacation!  HA :).  Fun boys day :).