Missing My Boys

I am at my very first teacher in-service this week. It is three days long and I am in a hotel by myself. Talk about LONELY after you get used to being in a housefull of rambunctious boys! I am having a lot of fun and learning A TON, but I sure do miss those little toots of mine.

JT came to see me today with my parents. We had a little time to go eat and go visit the Mountain Tower here in Hot Springs. He thought it was the "Justice League Watchtower." So we were all characters from the Justice league. He was flash (of course with the red hair), I was Hawk Girl, Mom was WonderWoman, and dad was Green Lantern (the black one because he is bald like Poppy). So we had it all planned out going up there. As soon as we pull up to the tower he decides that he is just going to be Luigi from Mario Brothers and the tower is the castle he is going to beat. I was a little bummed he didn't want me flying around acting like Hawk girl, but at least I got to spend some time with him right? :)

At the Mountain Tower

I get to go home tomorrow and I will be there just in time for JT's Karate class, which he is doing GREAT at by the way. I think he has found his calling as far as physical activity. This kid is a natural at Martial Arts and has such amazing endurance! He gets that straight from his Mema!

Life Is Crazy

I don't even know how long it has been since I wrote on here. This is my last summer before I start working to have off with the boys. Although I have a few teacher workshops to go to next month I am trying to soak up all of the time I can with them before I am a "working mom". I know I will miss them but I am so excited about starting my career. I have worked so hard to get to this point and I am so excited about teaching. I am the new Junior High Business Teacher at Two Rivers School District. I am very excited to get started in August!

JT will start kindergarten next year. He was 8 days shy of meeting the age deadline for this year. I think we probably would have held him back anyways. He is one smart cookie, but we have had several friends and family members tell us that once the younger boys hit middle school the maturity level and size difference really starts to show. Plus I get to keep my baby home an extra year before he leaves for college right? :) I would much rather him go to college at age 19 rather than 18! Will's birthday is a few months before the deadline, but we are thinking about holding him back also when he gets to this point. Financially it will be harder in the early years with daycare costs, but later we will have one leaving college when the other one gets in. So hopefully it will work out better that way. Decisions, Decisions!

Both boys are doing great! JT is excited about going back to his daycare this year and Will has learned so much already this summer, I am excited to see him make friends and be in the older class. Zach is enrolled to start working on his bachelor's degree this Fall. He only has about a month left at Tyson, then we will be without an income for an entire month before I get paid... EEEKKK. I think we have planned well, but it still freaks me out a little.

Hopefully I will start to keep up with this thing a little better!

Here is an Easter Picture of our sweet little family:

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!