We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

(a little late)! Gavin turned 4 on Monday Dec. 15th. I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. Gavin loves animals, especially dogs and cats, so of course we did a dog party. I made cupcakes that were decorated to look like our dog Bella,
we played pin the tail on the dog, had dog party favors and each child got a bag of "puppy chow" to eat. He loved all his gifts- Preston and his cousin Jadyn helped him open everything and they went crazy opening them. I couldn't get a good picture of him opening anything because they were moving so fast and tearing into everything! I love this little boy- he is very attached to me right now, and I can't help but like it! He won't go to primary alone or even on the other side of a store with my mother. We spend everyday together and he is such a sweet and good boy. I am glad I get another whole year with him until he starts school (if he will let me leave him then)!
Schuyler made balloon animals and swords for everyone.

Here is a picture of Gavin when he was born

and a picture from his 1st birthday

and a cute picture of him as a baby

Silhouette Auction

My cousin Laura works for the company quickutz and they are auctioning off a silhouette cutting machine package for a good cause. I have had if for a year, and LOVE it! Go look at her blog for all the details and to place your bid.

Why I love Toby

This post is dedicated to my very large cat Toby. We have had Toby for 8+ years, and he is the best cat ever. Right now as I type he is sleeping on the floor and Bella(the dog) is laying on top of him. She uses him as her personal pillow, and he doesn't even care. The boys lay all over him and he just purrs. I used to say I didn't like him because his hair is always all over and I hate a litter box, but he is just the best cat ever. Yes, he has a lot of hair, but he does a great job of keeping it clean and he keeps it off of the couch and beds because he can't jump up on them. It takes too much effort. The only thing he asks for is running water from the bathtub in the mornings and to be loved. He used to attack me if he thought I was leaving or going to bed. Talk about scary- I would turn the lights off for bed and he would assume the stalking position and come charging at me. Now it takes too much effort so he lets me go. There is a stray cat (is it still stray if it spends almost every day in my house?)that comes in and eats his food, uses his litter box, and can get places he can't and Toby doesn't care. He hissed for a couple days, but now lays by the other cat. Toby gets baths, and once I even vacuumed him to help with the hair situation after I shaved him with clippers. ( Now he has a great fear of the vacuum). He weighs close to 30 lbs, while the dog is 8 lbs., and they are the best of friends. She attacks him daily while he lays there and then she will curl up on top of him and sleep on her warm pillow. I just love this cat! Gavin and Toby
Preston and Toby

Preston's School Picture

This is Preston's first school picture- I think he looks so cute! He still loves school as much as the first day he went, maybe more! I have tons of pictures of this exact pose if anyone wants an 8x10???

So I forgot my camera when the boys went trick or treating, so I don't have any pictures of the night. I also forgot to take pictures of the pumpkins they carved until mold was starting to grow on the inside. I did get a couple pictures of them actually carving, but then my battery died, so we didn't get the pictures of the pumpkins before the mold started to grow. They had a great time trick or treating, we couldn't keep up with those two and their cousin Jadyn. They were running from house to house. Halloween is Gavin's favorite holiday because he would rather have candy and chips than a toy any day. I asked him today to tell me 3 things that he wanted for Christmas and the only thing he could come up with is a little bag of chips. He doesn't ask for much! Here are a few pictures to wrap up Halloween, I am ready to move on to another holiday!

Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone has a great halloween! I will post more pictures after the boys dress up and go trick or treating tonight!

Pumpkin Patch

Gavin and I were able to go with Preston on his first fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. They had been looking foward to it for a long time and when the day came, of course it started raining. We went anyway and had a great, wet, muddy time.


Everyone got to pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch

Preston and Gavin in the hay maze

Gavin loved all the animals of course

It started raining the hardest when we were in the middle of the giant corn maze. We just had to keep going to find the end. I think the kids had a great time anyway, that's the point isn't it?!

I just thought Preston looked so cute on his way to school yesterday I took a picture. That boy sure does love school! He can't wait to go everyday, and he is doing so well. He loves making friends and learning new things. I hope he always feels this way about school!

Bunk Beds

While I was in Utah, Patrick bought the boys bunk beds. I was putting off getting them because I didn't want them to fall off or anything. We did need the extra room, they had race car beds and they took up a lot of space. Patrick said he picked this one because of the stairs and it felt safer. I really love having them now, it has made such a difference in their room and we have so much more storage. The boys love them too! Gotta love the race car theme!

I have been very bad at blogging! I have been putting off writing about my trip to Utah for Eastin's wedding, so I didn't write anything at all. Now it seems like so long ago I don't want to tell about it at all! Thanks to Patrick for taking a week off work to stay home with the boys and to my parents for letting me jump in the backseat of their car, I was able to go to Utah for a week. It seemed like a good idea until I really thought about riding in the back for two long days with Jeanette, Schuyler and me crammed in. We all thought it wouldn't be that bad and we would make "memories". We definitely have a lot of memories from that one! The way to Utah Jeanette rode with a friend, so Schuyler and I were fine, but the way back is a different story! I am really glad that I went though, we did have fun and I am glad that I was able to see Eastin and Devon get married.

We had a lot of fun while we were there, especially playing with Patrick's underwater digital camera.

When we got back to Tennessee, my parents had an open house for Eastin and Devon and we got to spend some time with all our family. It is always fun for us all to be together, since it doesn't happen that much anymore.

Gavin kissing the bride

Our family keeps getting bigger!

Patrick and Grandaddy were twins!

Preston's 1st day of kindergarten

Preston started school last monday August 11th. He has been so excited to go for a long time now. I didn't want him to be old enough to go, and kept thinking about keeping him home another year, but knew that he would love it. He is having so much fun, and he can't wait to go every morning. The night before the first day he woke up several times asking if it was time yet. I finally told him he could get up and the next time he came in he was completely dressed and wearing his backpack and asking for help tying his shoes! I hope he always feels this way about school!

This is the huge backpack he had to have. He looks so cute walking into school every morning wearing that huge thing! Yesterday he told me he was ready to walk in by himself and that he didn't need me to show him the way. It made me feel sad to leave him outside to walk in, but after he got out he looked at me with a huge grin, waved and blew me a kiss. I just about started crying he was so sweet and so grown up!

I took a picture of him from the doorway after I left. He had no problems with me leaving, but I had a hard time walking away!

My brother Eastin is getting married to Devon on August 23rd. I am so excited for them and to have Devon in our family, we all love her! So congratulations to Eastin and Devon- only a couple weeks left!

My boys are so funny, they are always saying and doing such cute things. They have been playing so good together lately! Preston wakes up really early every morning- like at 5 or 5:30. I am not ready to get up at that time, so he comes and tells me he is awake, and then he goes and plays with his legos and watches tv. I can always tell when Gavin is awake because they start getting very loud laughing and playing (and sometimes fighting). This morning I hear them say something about a cricket and Preston comes in to tell us that there is a cricket in the house. Patrick and I are still sleeping, so we tell him to kill it, but I know that I am going to have to go and get it soon. A few minutes later I hear a bang and one of them screaming like a girl and I started laughing. Preston came in a little later to tell the tale of how Gavin shined the flashlight to make the cricket hop and Preston smashed it with my shoe. After it was dead, Preston said that he picked it up by its antler and flushed it down the toilet. I loved that he called it his antlers, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall this morning!
Another funny thing Gavin said a couple days age- he is still wearing pull-ups at night because I am not ready to trust the all night potty training. Instead of buying pull ups, I bought underjams because they were cheaper. That night as he was putting them on he said "These are so comfortable! Mama, when you get bigger you should try these"!
I love having these two boys, they are so fun and entertaining. I finally registered Preston for school yesterday, he is so excited but I don't want to send him. Gavin said "I don't want Preston to go to school" and I asked him why and he said "because Preston is my best buddy". They are such sweet, good boys and I just love them!

We bought a boat earlier this summer, but we had some work done on it and it took forever, so we only went on it a couple times. We finally got it back last week and went out one evening. Preston and Gavin don't love it, but are getting better. It probably doesn't help that every time we go out it is really windy so the water is rough. I think it just makes it more fun!

They love to wear sunglasses to keep the wind out of their eyes, Preston usually has a towel covering him from head to toe so he can't see anything. I guess it takes the fear away if he can't see where we are going.

Patrick and Schuyler took the boat out to see how well it really drove and to do some spins, the boys were very glad that they weren't on it with them!

I just love this cleaner- I have the blue one and after cleaning my kitchen or mopping my floors, the whole place just smells good! Sometimes getting a new cleaner inspires me to clean (at least for a day or two).

Look what I did!

I took the boys to the Lowe's build and grow kids workshop this past Saturday. They had so much fun, and loved building something themselves! They both wore their aprons all day long for about 3 days. I am going to try and take them to the Home Depot one as well because it was so fun for them. My babies are getting so big!

No more diapers!

We can finally say goodbye to diapers! Gavin really loved his diapers and had no desire to be potty trained, but when we finally got him to wear his underwear, he basically trained himself. I am so pround of Gavin for doing so well. He only had a couple of accidents and wakes up dry every morning. Preston was also a big help, I think he did more than I did! In this picture, Gavin opened his last pack of diapers and came in carrying all of them, he loves to smell new diapers!

Mama, where's the hermit crab?

So this morning Preston comes into my room with a worried look on his face and says "mama, I can't find my hermit crab anywhere in his house. Where is he"? So I asked him if there was a way for him to escape and he says he left one of the doors open yesterday. Part of me is thinking "good, maybe this will be the way we get rid of that thing" (apparently they live forever and require little attention) and the other part of me is thinking "I have to find this creature so my boys aren't traumatized." Anyway, we tear the room apart, move beds and dressers and go through everything I can think of. Finally I find him hidden in a giant pile of matchbox cars. So I put him back in his cage and all is well for the hermit crab. I was kind of freaked out about a missing creature in the house!

The Toymaker

I had to share this wonderful website I discovered. It's called the toymaker and it is filled with lots of paper toys to make with your kids, or gifts to make for others and it is all free! There is also a book to buy, but everything on the website is free to download and use. I can't wait to try some of them with my boys.

All 5 of us!

 

Eastin, Elissa, Nicole, Schuyler, and Jeanette
It's not often all 5 of us are all together anymore. We all happened to be in Nashville this last weekend and were able to take a couple pictures. It was good to be together, I wish it happened more often!