My How Time Flies

I always felt time went by way too fast with JT, but now with Will it is even that much more apparent. Not only do I know this is the last baby which means the last tooth, crawl, step, etc... But I also see how far JT has come and how grown he really is. He had his first Tee-Ball practice this week. I have been looking forward to that day for a very long time. Not wishing it would get here, but just excited about the experience of my boys playing sports or even finding something they love to do. I almost cried when his little team gathered in their huddle and said "GO THUNDER... BOOM". Zach just knew the waterworks were about to start and shook his head. When you have a baby you get to experience several "firsts" in such a short period of time. But when they get as old as JT they are few and far between. This "first" tee-ball practice was so very special to me and I will cherish every second of it for as long as I live. I am so proud of him with anything he does or decides to do, even if he doesn't play sports, but he sure looked like a natural out there to me! And my sweet little 4 year old (youngest on the team) has a GREAT arm! :)

Elmo Birthday

We've decided (ok I've decided) we are having an Elmo themed birthday party for Will's 1st Birthday! I am planning on using my own ideas along with things I have found on Pinterest to make it a very special day for my big boy! Just thought I would share this invitation I made this week... I know what you are thinking his birthday is 4 months away. BUT I kind of get carried away when it comes to my kids' parties. I have fun planning and preparing for them. Probably more fun than the kids actual have at them. ;) Anyways here is the invitation I made... (I did edit and change the address and phone number for our safety)

Chef Mom

Here lately I have been trying my best to cook every night. I am proud to say we have not gone out to eat in almost 2 weeks (other than the day I ate lunch with my mom :)! When we first got married we never went out to eat, here lately we were going out probably 1-2 times a week. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it adds up! We can already notice the money we are saving just the past 2 weeks, so I am excited about keeping this up the next few months. 

Last Christmas we got a cookbook from our Aunt Donna. She made it and there are tons of great recipes that are fast and easy. I am enjoying cooking from it and every meal I have made so far has come from there. My goal is to make everything in the cookbook this year. I think I will start sharing the recipes and pictures with everyone. 

On another note, the boys are doing fantastic. Will has been sleeping through the night (most nights) here lately. It has been wonderful! He has an ear infection and is working on getting his 4th tooth, but has been the happiest little boy ever. JT is still learning and growing. He is enjoying school, especially because he has the best Pre-K teachers in the world. :) He is excited about his next birthday (7 months from now) because he is going to ask everyone for money so he can get the Nintendo DS. I won't get it for him until he is 5 so he is patiently (sorta) waiting.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We were blessed to spend much of ours with friends and family.

Christmas

I can't believe it is almost Will's 1st Christmas and JT's 5th! WOW! I always heard time flies when you have kids, but never truly understood it until JT started getting older. We have a lot of plans this Christmas. Tomorrow morning the boys will open their presents from us, then my parents are coming over tomorrow night to eat and open gifts. Saturday (Christmas Eve) morning we are going to Conway with Zach's side of the family, leaving from there to go to Oklahoma, then to Sherman, TX. We will be back home late Sunday Night to see what Santa brought. 

I was a little worried a few days ago about JT's attitude towards Christmas. He knows the true meaning, and we enforce that in our house with the nativity scenes, "Jesus's Birthday Countdown" and off of our decorations. But he has been all about the presents this year. So to bring him back to reality I showed him some pictures of poor kids across the world online. As we looked at each picture I made him tell me one thing he is thankful for that the other kids do not have. He was amazed that not only do they not have toys, but many of them sleep outside on cardboard boxes, don't have homes, and don't have food. 

After we looked at those pictures we went into his room and decided after Christmas this year we are going to go through all of his toys and donate them to Main Street Mission for kids who need them. We also went to town and bought some blankets, food, and toys for the local animal shelter. He was so proud to take his donation in and pet all of the puppies. He loved seeing the dogs and wanted to bring all of them home just like his mommy, of course I had to say no because Daddy would have got us both. My mom and Will both went with us also, Will tried to bark back at the dogs. It was so precious!

So, I think I helped JT understand a little better what Christmas is all about. He is much more thankful now and has not asked once about his presents or Santa. :)

Since my last post: Will is getting so big! He is wearing 2T now at 7 months old. That is just crazy to me. My brother was even bigger than what Will is and it is hard to imagine. He has started saying a few words.. "Dada, Mama, Bubba, Bye Bye, and Mum Mum" along with all of the baby jabber that goes on he is a talking machine! :) We went to see Santa, the same Santa we see every year. He is amazing, the REAL Santa! He is always at Burger King so we get kids meals and talk to Santa the whole time. He told JT this year that his Poppy was on the naughty list. JT got a kick out of that and tells Poppy all the time now he better be good so he can get off of the naughty list. Will loved him, he kept pulling at his beard and Santa just laughed. I will always remember that day!

Mrs. Crafty...

I am officially finished with my teacher internship! You may now call me Mrs. Taylor, haha. I have only been finished for 1 day and I have already started on all my craft projects I have been dying to get to. I am loving all of these ideas I get from pinterest. Here is the one I am most proud of:

These are 99 cent blocks I bought for 40% off at Hobby Lobby. I then printed pictures on regular printer paper, cut out scrapbook paper, and mod podged them on. Then I painted "BOYS" on each block. We have a look through window in our kitchen and I have been looking for something to go here that you can see from both directions for a long time now. This works perfect because 1. I love pictures, especially of my boys and 2. I was able to put "BOYS" on both sides with different pictures. LOVE IT!

Elf on The Shelf

Santa sent us an Elf this year. If you haven't heard of "The Elf On The Shelf" you should check them out at www.elfontheshelf.com This is a great tradition to start with your family. JT has been having a blast with his elf, Sammy, this year. He has been up to some mischief around our house and we are all excited to wake up and see what else he has done each night. Here are a few pictures of things he has done:

He was in big trouble after this one. ;)

He left JT a note after he spent the night with Mema

JT thought this one was SO funny!

It has been a lot of fun watching JT look for him in the morning. I am already looking forward to next year, hopefully Will won't be scared of him. :)

Busy Days... Sleepy Nights

I don't know how much busier our family can get.... oh wait we start tee-ball in a few months! :) I have been so busy, this blog has been put to the side. On a happy note, I will finish my internship in 1 week and my house may actually get clean again. Something I have learned while being a "working mom" is that our family HAS to get organized. There is no way we are going to be able to keep everything up whenever I really start a job unless we have routines and organization. The past 4 years my schedule has been so crazy with classes at different times everyday that I haven't been able to get on a daily routine. I am actually looking forward to some normalcy, we just have to find that happy balance. 

We took some family Christmas pictures with my new background set the other day. Aren't the boys precious!?

 

We made a trip down to Nashville (where Zach and I graduated from) for a reveal baby shower. My sister (my brother's girlfriend when he had his wreck) is having a baby with her sweet hubby (the boys uncle "Co-Co") They found out they are having a boy (my new nephew) and we could not be happier for them! While we were there we took Will and JT to my brother's grave. They have both been there before, but Will was only a couple weeks old and it has been a while since we took JT. It is still hard for them to understand exactly what happened. But I am happy they know their Uncle Mike through us. :)

It was really nice the other day, so I took the boys out for a VERY long time. They had a blast on their swing set. JT pushed Will for a long time and had him laughing so hard he could barely breath. They are already great buddies! I hope it stays that way!

 Will is growing like a weed on miracle grow! He is already wearing size 24 month clothes and he just turned 6 months old. He is so happy! He will laugh at anything, especially anything JT does. He is still waking up at night which makes mommy very sleepy, but I know one day I will miss those cries in the middle of the night. So I am enjoying it while I can.