Where did I leave off?

Oh yea... the rest of October.  The rest of the month was pretty much madness.  With Garrison and Riley-Anne both having birthdays in the month of October and football season in full swing I guess it will always be like that!  Speaking of football season, we are in the playoffs!  YAY!  But pics from recent games will have to wait, as usual, I have helpers at my feet doing what they do best... make NOISE! 

Back on subject, since Garrison and Riley-Anne's birthdays are in the same month we decided to have their parties together. Ryan gave me a lot of grief about this, but in the end I think we would both agree the party turned out great!  Garrison actually was very excited about having his party with Riley-Anne.  From the very beginning him and Ri have had a special bond, so I hope when Riley-Anne is old enough to realize she shared her first birthday party with her brother she wont mind either!

For obvious reasons the party was Halloween themed.  Well, a "not so scary" Halloween themed party!  I will let the pics from the party do most the talking...

The party table.  All of the food had themed "names".  The menu included:  Costume cupcakes, Creepy crawly cheese and crackers,  Halloween Chili, with and without bones (beans),  Frightful French onion dip, Frankenstein fruit kabobs and Cackling corn bread.

Trying to sneak some treats!

Note to self: Never plan a birthday party during nap time :)

I wish I had a close up of the table.  The "pooky" (spooky) trees as Garrison called them were branches from our back yard that I spray painted black. We hung pics of the babies from the year on the "branches" of the trees.  I always love looking back at how much they have grown- even though it hurts a little bit!  We also had a smaller "tree" on the other side of the room for guest to write Riley-Anne a birthday wish.  They were all so sweet and I'm sure they will be very special to her.

More party pics...

Garrison has been wanting a "Beard and Mustache" party all year... so this was the best idea Pinterest I could come up with ;)

Next big party in the house will be Crystal's shower!  Maybe we should sport our 'staches?!?!

Cake time!  Well cupcake time!  

Riley-Anne was not at all impressed by her cup cake.  Pretty sure its because she has had icing before.  Thats what happens when you have a third, you give in to things that were once BIG No Nos!

The birthday girl!

Thanks to everyone who came to the "not so scary" Halloween birthday party!  We had a blast and I think the babies did too ;)

School Days

Today was the first day of "school" for Garrison and Allie-Parker!  I can not believe I have two going to school now!  The day overall went pretty good.  Garrison did as we thought, walked in, said, "bye momma" and started talking to his teacher... non-stop.  He was still talking to her when I walked by his room after dropping Ap off :0  Allie-Parker did not go so easily.  She ran out of her classroom crying!  Ah!  I stayed for awhile and she did finally calm down.  But poor thing, she just wasn't into it.  I asked her on the way home if she wanted to go back in a couple of days and play, to which she replied, "I have toys in me's playroom at home to play with".  Fun times.  But after we got home and settled in she  was very chatty about playing with her buddies and the toys in her classroom, so hopefully school will be fun for her :)

Here are some pics documenting the first day of school!  

For breakfast we had a new family favorite, banana dog bites.  You can find the recipe here. They are super yummy and veeerrryyy filling.  Maybe too heavy in my opinion, but the kids ate them up! 

Don't you wish your hair looked like this in the morning?!?!

 More breakfast pics... hello crumbs on the table and clothes on the couch :)

After we ate we headed out to take some MORE pictures!  I know, can you believe it?

It took one snap to get this picture of Garrison.  He is looking so big boyish these days.  I can't really say that I like it all that much, but whats a mom to do?

Then we moved on to our little "picture diva".  I kid you not, I took 15 pictures of Allie-Parker and these were the best I got!

  

She was very proud of her new shoes, that she picked out herself.  She is also OBSESSED with her lunch box.  After every picture she would say, "Did you get me's shoes and box"?  I just love that little munchkin :)

Both kiddos got great reports from their teachers.  I really think it is going to be a great year! 

**Big thanks to my Mom who came over before school to watch Riley-Anne so I didn't have to carry her in**

Anything you can do I can do better

Allie-Parker copies everything/looks up to Garrison so much (however you want to take it).   Everything he does, she not only has to do herself, she has to be perfect at it. While this is super cute, and she has perfected tons of task, she gets so frustrated when she can't do something! Poor girl, she doesn't realize that Gar has had 16 more months of experience than her! 

Here are just a few examples of Allie-Parker's "me do" attitude: If Garrison puts his clothes on by himself, dad-gummit Allie-Parker is going to do it herself too. If Garrison is eating with a fork, Allie-Parker will sling her food all over the kitchen until she gets it right!  It's pretty funny to watch, but very messy! 

Last but not least, while we were out in the backyard playing, Gar packed up his chair and cup and said he was "moving on"...

Two seconds later... look who else has her chair on top of her car.  Allie-Parker had her cup in the back too, but when I got ready to take the picture she must of got a little thirsty :)

The dreaded first dentist appointment= not that bad

Garrison went to the dentist for the first time last Monday and he has been flossing his teeth constantly ever since.  Seriously.

He did so great at his appointment!  He made it through the entire cleaning.  My bf Crystal works there and she took some great pics to document the big day while my boys were getting there teeth cleaned.  Just so you know, Ryan had a great appointment too- no cavities :)

Practing saying "ahhhhh"

Adjusting his shades

So proud of my sweet Garrison!

My Day

• Make three breakfasts (one being a bottle)
• beg Allie-Parker to eat
• make coffee
• realize there is no hazelnut creamer, cry for a minute
• clean up breakfast
• dress three wiggle worms
• Find tennis shoes... later they were found under the couch cushions (is your house crazy too? please humor me and say yes)
• get everyone in the car
• walk Garrison into school (with my girl wiggle worms)
• take girls to library time
• come home
• Mrs. Polly comes over for a minute
• make screaming, hungry girls lunch
• beg Allie-Parker to eat
• clean up lunch
• short naps
• wake girls up to get Garrison from school, cry for a minute again
• pick Garrison up
• Get spit up on by Riley-Anne while we are there
• drive home while listening to Elmo talk about amphibians
• get everyone out of the car
• change two diapers
• lay everyone down for a nap
• watch Riley-Anne put herself to sleep, possibly the sweetest thing I have ever seen, cry for a minute again :)
• SWEET SILENCE!!!

Way with words

This morning I had gotten dressed to go walking in a MGM football shirt (do I ever wear anything else?!?!) and some running shorts that are begging for mercy, not feeling all that great about how I look in my sixth month of pregnancy... but while I was putting on my tennis shoes Garrison came up to me, hugged me and said, "Momma, you look so beautiful." That boy- he always knows just what to say to make me smile!

Getting ready for Riley-Anne

We started switching out Allie-Parker and Garrison's rooms this week. Allie-P and Riley Anne will share a room (Garrison's old room) and Garrison will move into Allie-Parker's room. Try explaining that to a 2 1/2 year old and a 15 month old! They just still do not really get it! I have gotten the closets switched out and I think that is all I can handle for this week. For some reason I became very sentimental while organizing their closets. It made me think about bringing them home to their nurseries for the first time and how small they looked in their cribs, and how quiet everything was ;) There are so many sweet memories that took place in each of the nurseries, it is going to be so hard to change them up! But Miss Riley-Anne needs a place to make her memories too... so we will be adding a few new things for her!

P.s. I know there are a ton of pictures... I just could not narrow them down!

Garrison pulling up in his crib for the first time! I walked in, and there he was standing up! We found out days later Allie-Parker was on her way!

So, so tiny on her first day home!

Garrison checking on his new baby sister

Peek a boo!

All grown up sitting in her "rock rock"

Morning after sleeping in his big boy bed for the first time!

What happens if you turn your back! They got into that green bucket in the back of the picture and into the closet! I was only gone for like 5 seconds and they completely destroyed the room!

VBS

We had Vacation Bible School two weeks ago at our church. It was so much fun to be apart of! Garrison was old enough to attend this year and me and Allie-Parker helped out in the nursery. Garrison had a blast, he left very tired every night, but was so excited to wake up the next morning and talk about what all he had experienced! His favorite things about VBS were: Holding onto a rope to walk to different rooms, saying "Lets go Parrots", and singing songs. He also would talk about some Bible stories that he learned about. They also did something called "God sightings". The other day I helped Allie-Parker while she was doing something and Garrison said, "Momma, that a God sighting"! I never knew how happy it would make my heart to hear our son talk about Jesus. It is just so great to see him become more and more interested in the Bible and God's love for him.

Here are some pictures of Garrison and Allie-Parker outside of the church. I hope to "steal" some photos of them that were in the slide show and post them later :)

Week wrap up

So far our summer has not been very "summer like". It is 100 degrees outside, but things never seem to slow down! This week was no different!

We started the week with a visit to Dr. Dobak (Riley- Anne's specialist). First of all let me just say he is a wonderful doctor and has such a wonderful staff. We had an ultrasound that checked from the top of her head all the way to her little toes! It was nice to her again, but we couldn't help but be worried the entire hour and a half. Well, we received some very promising news- the cyst in her bladder is GONE, isn't our God so good?!? She still has some swelling in her right kidney that we will continue to watch, but her other kidney and every other part of her is developing beautifully! I haven't been able to scan in her ultrasound, but it is crazy how much it looks just like Garrison's! What a sweet girl she is, I can't wait to hold this sweet baby.

Also this week, Garrison had his first Library Time. It was really nice! To be honest I wasn't expecting all that much... but he seemed to have a great time and was really even a little shy, which was very odd to me.

Also this week Ryan sold the Corolla! Woo hoo! He is so excited to be getting a truck that he can do landscaping and irrigation out of and not have to haul all of his equipment sticking out of the back of a miniature car :)

Last but not least, I skipped Publix this week and made a trip to Target. I spent right under 35 bucks for $90 worth of stuff! I was super pumped. I wont bore you with the list of what all I got, but it was around 30 items... a lot of which I scored for FREE! YES!

*Ignore that the tp is turned the wrong way in the picture... stuff like that bothers me to no end...*

Garrisons quote of the day

It seems like Garrison is always saying things that are cracking us up! Today after Ryan had to discipline Allie-Parker for standing on the couch he was telling her that he loved her and Garrison looked at him and said, "Daddy, I love you, but I want to stand on the couch."

I could not help but laugh :)

Happy Mothers Day!

We had such a wonderful Mothers Day! Of course, with all the craziness of running around seeing family I forgot to take pictures, sad. Even with no pictures it was still great.

I started the morning by being greeted by Garrison saying "Lets go in the the living room" (same thing he says every single morning) at 5:30. But, I got to sleep in for another 2 hours while Ryan took care of the babies! And if that wasn't great enough I was served breakfast in bed... with no little fingers grabbing at my food!!! It was so wonderful! I could really get used to this type of pampering :) The best part of my day was on the ride home and both children were asleep and Garrison woke up and said, "Happy Mothers Day Momma, you are my best friend". I will never forget it!

I could not be more thankful for such a loving husband and such precious gifts... "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord," Psalm 127:3.

Sweet Allie-Parker... I love you precious girl. Thank you for all my sweet kisses and hugs today. You have such a tender heart, but you are so tough too! You make me laugh all the time because it seems like you can fall 100 times and never cry, but as soon as you get in trouble you get so upset! I can not wait to see you grow up. You will be such a good wife and momma some day... but please take your time!
Sweet Garrison... I can not believe that you are a little boy now and not a baby! You have such a great imagination... I love to sit and watch you sometimes just to see what kind of fun things you will come up with. You are such a great helper with sweeping and throwing away trash! Thank you for always helping and trying to remember to say "yes ma'am". I love you sweet boy.

Most days I become so tired of doing the same silly, seemingly small tasks over and over. But I am finally coming to realize that raising my children is more than just a mundane thing I am "stuck" at home doing. So when I am telling Allie-Parker for the 5oth time today not to open that cabinet or trying to get Garrison to be kind to his sister I will tell myself I have been entrusted with these children. I pray that I teach them more than just their numbers and ABC's, but teach them about and show them Christ's wonderful, selfless love.

Bye Bye Soy Milk

We have been trying Garrison on cow's milk for the past few days... and so far we like what we see! No intolerance symptoms, no bad diapers, and his eczema seems to be staying the same! What a huge praise this is! Not only did Garrison go pretty smoothly with the transition our grocery bill has went down roughly $20 a week!

His lactose intolerance has been something we have battled pretty much since day one with our sweet little boy. It was so hard to see his tummy always hurting him, not to mention disgusting cleaning up vomit and awful diapers ALL OF THE TIME ;)

We are going to give it another week or two and if things keep going great then we will introduce him to the wonderful world of cheese!

December update part 1

Do you ever get so far behind on something you just don't know where to start? It's kind of like that feeling you get when someone called you on Monday and left you a message and it is now Saturday and you know you should call but it just seems ridiculous. Ok, maybe thats just me...

This post most likely will be all over the place with a bunch of pictures... so, as Garrison would say, "here goes".

We have been seeing a lot of this...

and this...

Tears and silliness.

It seems like Garrison and Allie-Parker have switched personalities. We are hoping that all of Allie-Parkers crying is from teething, or it might just be because she is a little spoiled by her Momma.

Garrison has turned into quite the ham. He is always saying something funny, making a funny face, or putting something on his head and calling it a hat. He is currently into telling people if they are a lady, man, boy, or girl. This is very entertaining when we are out running errands,and Gar is proudly announcing to people as the walk by if they are a lady or man. People just kind of look at him confused while I am telling him how smart he is.

Allie-Parker has been quite fussy lately and started waking up in the middle of the night, so not like her. But other than that she has been a perfect Christmas angel and has been a wonderful shopping buddy.

She can stand on her own now. To say she is busy would be an understatement. She is so much fun to just sit back and watch.

She loves her big brother...

and is constantly right behind him. Allie-Parker no longer lets Garrison take a swing at her, she fights back and will pull his hair or pull on his shirt until he falls down. But they do love each other...

Sorry but I do not have any pictures of me and Ryan to put in this post- gah I know you are so disappointed. Since you asked, we have been doing great :)

What blog?!?!?

Yes I am still blogging... but I am now the mother to a two year old

I have so much to catch you 4 faithful readers up on!!!

Like my new job! I am working from home and everything is super crazy/busy at the moment but hopefully it will all become routine soon.

I have a ton of pics to upload and a lot of posts to finish- including Garrisons super hero birthday party, his 2nd birthday letter (here is the one from last year), and lots more. So don't give up on me yet!

In the meantime I will leave you with this little picture tease...

Come back later for more pics of Garrison and George the super heros and Gars super sister Allie-Parker.

He eats

Garrison is eating again!!!

We tried everything short of bribing him.

He LLLLOOOOVVVEEESSSS attention (esp when Allie-Parker is at the table with us) so we started making a big deal about his "Happy Plates". When he finishes his food he now says "Garrison happy plate" and we are all forced to cheer and/or take pictures of him.

Update

Mornin' stalkers! Sorry so long with no posts- again the lazyness....

Ryan went back to school today so it is high time I start being productive- so I am choosing to update my blog instead of cleaning the bathrooms...

On another note- our house is for sale- officially. We have shown it once but haven't heard anything back. We think the buyers might of gotten lost in our neighbors knee high grass. But if you are interested in it- please know that there grass is usually cut- well not really- but my husband will give you a good deal on cutting your grass if you buy it!

Well I will update you with pictures of what has been going on lately. So here we go...

The most precious child you will ever meet- at her 4 mo check up (more like 4 1/2 mo) she weighed 16 pounds 5 oz., sadly I think she has her mother's metabolism

Swipper planning his next move

"Success, the peacock is mine"

Allie-Parker wondering where her toy went :(

MAJOR volume/ bed head

I pretty much just summed up my life for the past two weeks in 5 pictures. But seriously, we had a great summer and hate to see it come to an end- we are already missing "Da-da" like crazy!

What a difference a year makes!

This is the day we found out that we had another baby on the way! It is still crazy to think that Allie-Parker was in my tummy then and I had NO idea!

Garrison the first time he stood up in his crib!

I was looking at these pictures yesterday of Garrison last July- he was so tiny! On July 4th he stood up in his crib for the first time. I will never forget how excited he was when I walked in to get him from a nap and he was standing up looking at me!

Also last July we found out that Allie-Parker was on the way! She def has done some growing since then ;)