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Thursday, October 20, 2011
On October 2nd, we got to go to Cullman for a sweet little boy's birthday party! Braiden is such a cutie and the kids love him so much. He had a Dino Party! Madi had a long list of fun things for the kids to do together when we got there. They got busy right away!
The Birthday Boy 
LG riding a scooter.....
Cooper loves trampoline time!
Awwww, sweet lovin'....
Making his Daddy proud!!!
Cooper's turn....
The Birthday Boy's turn. He was get way far back and run really fast to it. He did it everytime, too cute!
Cooper found Nerds in the candy!! He really likes them now :-)
Happy Birthday Dear Braiden, Happy Birthday to you!
I love this picture! I wish Brennon was in it and it would be perfect! Some sweet, sweet cousins!
Madilyn has a beautiful rabbit she keeps in a cage in her room. The kids loved it! They just had to hold him. Here are some pictures I really enjoyed of them with the rabbit.
At the end of September Marty and I took a short trip to North Alabama with the Pate family. We went to a debate over the existence of God. It was a great experience and we were so happy we were able to go. I guess one of our favorite things about the trip was the eating though! Especially since all the pictures in this post are from the one restaurant we went to TWICE! Yes, twice! We loved it so much at dinner on Thursday night we had to go back the next day for lunch! It was called Umi Japanese Steakhouse. It was very neat experience because they put us in a private room together! And it was some of the best sushi we have ever had. The place was very pretty and unusual. The service was great! We definitely look forward to going again whenever we are in the Florence area again. We had a great time with the Pate's. Sweet Ava was a great traveler and makes me smile. Music and talks during traveling was a lot of fun, too. And I can't forget to mention our Ross shopping! Brooke and I got some good stuff, even matching boots! (We didn't plan it either!! We met in the store and both had the pair in our buggies! Ha!) We look forward to traveling with the Pate's again one day in the future :-)
Our Private Room :-)
All our sushi's from Friday night.....
The Pate Family
What is up with my hubby??
Finally a normal picture!!
And Jeremy, too??? Crazy guys!!
Neat little wooden shoes hanging on the wall. 
We had a great time on the trip but as always I missed my babies like crazy the entire time. The thought of them never left my mind. It was so wonderful to see their sweet faces. We picked them up from Grandmama and Granddaddy's house and came straight home for baths, bed clothes and this snuggle time!!! I could not wait to come home to this! My favorite time of the day is the end when I get to snuggle and rock them to sleep. Will I still be rocking them when they are 10??? If they want me, too!!
So thankful for Grandmama and Granddaddy for taking care of them while Marty and I got a little time to ourselves! I was very excited to help host Rachel Scarvey's shower on September 25th. It was a sock monkey themed shower and all chocolate! It was super cute! It was at Brooke Pate's beautiful home and it was a great shower. Baby Tripp got so many cute outfits and blankets. We are ready to meet Tripp soon! He is going to have two wonderful big sisters!
Since Preschool has started they have been learning to use scissors. These next four pictures are in order from the first thing she cut at school to the latest thing she cut. She has gotten really good at using scissors!! 
Following directions to draw an owl:
This was LG's first Show and Tell!!! How exciting!!
In September some of us girls had a Monogram and Diaper shower for my "best friend since kindergarten", Crystal Hollyhand! It was so much fun and we had a TON of food!!! It was all delicious! She also got lots of cute things for sweet baby Ava Kate on the way! Ava Kate will be one of the best dressed babies ever!
My sweet husband still brings home some type of flower or plant once a month to me. It is something he started the very first month we were dating and has never missed one month since. Sometimes it is store bought flowers, or flowers from the side of the road, potted plants, and once even a bouquet of squash because he knows how much I love them! Now the kids enjoying seeing what Daddy brings home to Mommy. They especially loved this flower. LG named it the tickle flower because when we would smell of it the petals would tickle our noses. They would laugh uncontrollably when they would smell of it. We had a lot of fun with this flower. Thank you, Daddy!!
One day in September, we were playing out on the back porch and left the door open too long. We went inside there were flies in the kitchen! Also, Daddy killed a big spider outside the door earlier that week. So LG decided to make signs to put on the door to keep flies and spiders out! She taped them up all by herself, too. It was too funny.
This Sign meant NO spiders - notice the X over the spider :-)
NO Flies!
This one was not about a bug but she made this sign at the same time and I just love it! This is a picture of me stretching and she hung it up on the fireplace where I can see it every day (she said). She said it was to remind me to stretch every morning because stretching makes you feel good. Ha! And she is right! And I do need reminding most morning :)
This is Cooper's new smile. He loves cheezin' it up for the camera! He says "Cheeeeeeze" :-) It's too cute!
These three are messes!! They are so funny together and love each other to death! Normally we get to see Tucker every other weekend but here lately we have been so busy we haven't been able to visit him near as much. We are missing our playtime with him very much! This picture was taken on September 15th. It is so difficult to get three silly kids to all smile and look at the camera at one time!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
This was LG's pinterest craft (: She put glue on the paper and then tore colored tissue paper and stuck it down. She did so good keeping it in the correct order and made it look like a perfect rainbow. We love rainbows! What a great symbol God gave us!!
Lily Grace yelled, "Mama you have to come look at this!!!" I ran in there and there were my two sweet babies snuggling on the couch. I love seeing this. They love each other so much and that really makes a Mama proud. Now don't get me wrong, they do have their moments where they fight a lot because Cooper wants to do everything Sister is doing and she gets tired of that. But when they see each other first thing in the morning both of their faces light up and it starts our days off so good. I hope they continue to love each other this much!!
I am very behind on updating what they are doing, learning and etc. So today I am going to just write about some of the things that have been going on with LG and Cooper. I am going to have to brag a little. I know some people think it is wrong to brag about their kids but I am going to anyway because I am just so proud of them.
Lily Grace - What a big heart she has. She is definitely our little social butterfly. She will talk your ears off. She wants to make sure everyone is included in on everything. She hates to see someone sad or left out. She loves to hug and kiss! She loves church and wants to go everyday if it were possible. I am so proud of the little girl we are raising. She brings so much happiness to our lives. She is so funny! She makes us laugh until our sides aches at times. She can tell some knock-knock jokes. She is also very smart. She is very interested in learning how to read now. She is sounding out words. She loves being read to. We cannot go to sleep at night until both a story and especially the Bible has been read. What a great encouargement that is to adult christians, especially me! We can't walk out the door without praying first. I put a note on the door to remind us and she sees that and says, "Mama, don't forget to pray." Her prayers are so special and I know God loves hearing them because most of them will bring a tear to my eye. She will not take a bite of food without praying and will not go to sleep with out a prayer first. What another great encouragement! And she is learning the books of the bible and memorizing bible verses now. She is really enjoying preschool. She is learning so much and making lots of new friends. She is doing great at coloring in the lines and is learning to use scizzors. She loves to paint! The paint always stays out and she does it nearly everyday. One wall in our house is covered in paintings. I can't say no when she asks me to hang them. And she is actually very good at painting. But really she loves any type of art activities. And wants to help me to everything. She is a little mama to Cooper. She takes up for him if anyone treats him wrong. Even if Mommy or Daddy has to give him a spanking. I think she will be very protective of him. She is such a good eater. She loves fruit and veggies, chicken, noodles, pizza, and she will try anything at least once. Her favorite toys are little things and sets of things. The Littlest Pet Shop animals and miniture princesses are the best! She still enjoys watching movies. She can quote most of them. She takes cheer class once a week which concentrates on tumbling. She is actually very good at it and it is great excersise for her. She loves to excersise!! She can be somewhat dramatic at times and can be very emotional. I think she will be a very passionate person that is for sure! We think she is beautiful and the most perfect daughter anyone could have. We are so proud of her and life is so great with her in it.
Cooper - Oh my, what joy he brings to everyone around him. He loves to open his arms wide and will give you the biggest hugs and sweet kisses. He has finally learned to kiss the right way, ha! He loves Bible class and loves to sing songs. Especially there once was a little boy David. That is his favorite! He now knows he should pray before every meal. He will bow his little head and close his hands together, mummer something and yell AMEN! I love it! He is so loving and funny! He is a very laid back child. He loves his Sister. He misses her when she is at preschool even though he loves his time with Mommy all alone. He loves playing with Daddy -ROUGH- but wants Mommy when its time to read, rest, rock, or wants so good loving! He still loves my hip! His favorite phrase right now is "You wanna play?" The way he does his arms are so cute. His favorite toys are trains, cars, animals, and even Sister's toys. He really likes to play. He is starting to TRY and sing ABCs with us. He will point to letters and randomly say letters. Most of the time it is not correct but still, he is trying! He can count to three. He is finally enjoying being read to. He used to would only sit still long enough for about 2 or 3 pages. Now he will sit with you, cuddle and listen to the whole book. He picks books out and brings them to you and says, "Read, read." How can you ever say no? I can't! He loves shoes! He always wants them on and doesn't want to take them off. He even takes naps in them! His eczema is very bad at times which causes a lot of sleepless nights. Now that LG is starting to grow out of it finally we pray that Cooper will soon as well. He is such a big boy - fills like lead! He is a great eater most of the time. He eats best at home. He likes veggies more than fruit, likes chicken, loves pizza, and noodles, too. He eats the least at breakfast. Oh but boy does that boy love his milk!! I love having a son and he makes me so happy. He is so loving to everyone we know but I know at the end of the day Mommy is the one, ha! It is such a special bond between a son and mommy. I am so crazy about both of my kids, it's beyond explaination. Since I became a parent I knew what it meant to love someone so much it actually hurts. I am sure there is so much more both of them are doing that I should update on and as I think about those things I will come back to add more. This is a good start (:
This was one of my Pinterest crafts from last week. I am attempting to make at least one craft and one recipe a week that I find on Pinterest. I love that site!! It is awesome! I like to keep sacks for trash, diapers, etc in my car. I used to just have them laying around in the back and it looked so messy. This was such a good idea! I used an empty clorox bottle I had planned on throwing away. Then I used scrapbooking paper to cover it to make it look cute (: It fits perfectly in my console and lots of bags fit in the container. Perfect!
Since Lily Grace got a backpack for preschool Cooper has been begging for one, too. Every morning when LG would put her backpack on her back Cooper would say, "Where my backpack?" This was an everyday thing for two weeks everytime he would see her backpack. So we finally saw the perfect backpack! A Choo Choo Backpack as Cooper would say. He absolutely loves trains. It was love at first sight, haha! He has carried it everywhere, even empty! He thinks he is such a big boy with it. I just think it is so cute! 
