Tickle me Tuesday

IT IS BEAUTIFUL IN TENNESSEE!! After weeks of rain and feeling like we live in Seattle, the Sun has been shining in full force here this week. Can I get a GORGEOUS?!?
Fall is definitely in the air and I couldn't be happier. Literally, it puts me in the best mood. LB and BG are loving it too. Even Lila walks outside and says, "It's bewful out here today." While having lunch outside on the deck "in the big chair" the wind was blowing rather hard. Lila looks at me and says, "Turn off the wind Mommy!" It was the sweetest thing.
I am kicking myself for not writing down all the funny things that have come out of her mouth lately. But here are a few off the top of my head.
Lila staring out the window: "It went back up Mommy. It went back up in the sky." (referring to the rain)
She looked at me today and told me to "ZIP IT!" Not really funny, but it kind of makes me snicker.
Everytime we get in the car she asks me what happened to my car. I finally started asking her to tell me what happened. While Michael was in the car with me, she says "That mailbox hit you Mommy" Yep Lila, that mailbox just jumped right out and got me!
When G is throwing one of his fits she will say, "Oh Graham, you're whining Graham."
When asking her a question she has started answering, "No thank ya" in the most southern voice you can think of.
Oh that girl....she tickles me.

Who else tickles me is my sweet little boy! His favorite thing right now is playing chase. He will crawl away from you and then turn around to see if you are following him. He isn't quite getting the idea of "chase" though. He takes off crawling, but then stops and waits for you to get him. He also loves bouncing on the trampoline and swinging. For him to have cut his top two teeth this past week, he has been in a great mood. (hope I didn't just jinx myself)
My heart has been pounding out of my chest this week. When I say pounding out of my chest that means not sleeping. If I wake up in the night I am doomed. Monday is was 3:18 am, never went back to sleep. Last night it was 5:30. Not bad, but considering the time of night I get in bed, I am running on fumes! Not to mention I am NOT a morning person. This week my sweet tiny (ok not so tiny) little baby is not a tiny( not so tiny) little baby anymore....AND I don't have another one on the way. Feels kind of weird. Anyway, they really really really really really 1000 times really grow too fast! I have been reading through old posts tonight about when Lila turned one and this time last year right before I had Graham. I can't even bear to look as it makes me sad. But it also makes proud. I have 34 hours and 22 minutes before my baby boy has officially been in this world for one year. Right now I will keep him at "almost 1" as Lila says. On a side note: After picking LB from school today she was in the car talking to Graham (which watching them chat together is the sweetest thing ever) and she looked at him and told him that she colored the number 1 for him at school today. I thought I was going to cry.
Back on Track:
I have been crazy this week getting ready for his big birthday bash! I really am so excited and I just hope all the kids have a great time! I have lots to post and update, and this post has been totally random, but for now I just wanted to jot a few things on my mind down.
sigh!

My 11 Month Old!

Well, the good news is, G FINALLY decided to up and crawl BEFORE he turned 11 months. The crazy thing is, he never did the army crawl, scooting, etc. He just upped and crawled across the room. GO GRAHAM! He is like a new child! He is SO much happier, but Lila on the other hand is not. He can now go and swipe things out of her hands and she can't get away quite as easily. I am already wondering why I have been wanting him to crawl. It is like I just wanted to know he could do it, but then have him sit still and play with his toys(kidding!) Luckily, he goes to bed and naps so easily. However, my life is about to change with this because now that he can stand up, he likes to do that in his crib. He hasn't figure out how to get back down yet so he just stands in there and jumps. I will go into get him and he just gives me the biggest grin. He also gives the best hugs! Lila wasn't/isn't a hugger, so in the morning when I get Graham up and he hugs me, I don't want to let go! He has also started doing "downward facing dog." Now if only we would just stand on up from that and take a few steps. (I know...don't push it!)
Graham's smile still lights up the room. He is just the sweetest thing. He kind of, sort of, only when he wants to, waves at you. He will give you five and give you kisses. He doesn't have a lot of words, but says, "Hey daddy" a lot and "dog" for Chloe. My family swore that while we were away in MO that he said, Ellie Mae, ABCD, and A's for the fridge alphabet magnet. The same day he crawled he also said "momma", but hasn't said it again. He says "nana", like Lila did. He also says his own version of Lila... "Iyah." It is so cute. He really loves her. When he hears her up in the morning, he crawls as hard as he can to her room saying her name. I LOVE IT!!! He LOVES to eat and I have been giving him more people food than jar food now. If you do not have something immediately ready for him to eat when you put him in the highchair, then be prepared for a tantrum! The boy likes his food! I am still afraid he isn't getting enough milk, but what to do?! He seems happy, so I am trying not to worry about it.
He is a DROOL monster these days. He is cutting his two top teeth. If they don't come out soon, I am going to reach in there and pull them out for him.
I feel like he has been cutting them for 6 months!
I am starting to get that sick nervous feeling in my stomach about him turning one. I have been busy planning his party, so luckily that has kept my mind off of it a little. I love this little boy! He truly makes me SO happy!
Below is a hint of what his party is going to be. I CANNOT WAIT! I am so excited! Just please pray for good Fall weather!
As you can see, Graham is SO excited for his party too!

My Little School Girl!

Lila had her first day of Mother's Day Out today! Oh my...talk about being nervous. (Me, not her). Luckily, she is quite the independent child and pranced right in to class. It also probably helped that her MDO is at church so she is use to the rooms. She was practically running down the halls to her classroom:


There were a couple of screamers in her class, so I think she wasn't quite sure what to think about that. She kind of looked at me like, Am I suppose to cry because they are?
She went right in and started playing and was excited to meet her teacher, Ms. Faris:




She told me she had to potty (did I mention we are potty-trained?! I have been afraid to say it aloud, scared that I would jinx it, but she has been wearing her big girl panties for about 2 months.) Anyway, she washed up her hands and continued to play. I lingered around, just because I didn't want to tell her bye. I missed her over the weekend and thought about not even sending her so that I could spend time with her. Alas, I decided not to be selfish and let her go to school. I do believe she had a great day! She came home talking about her new friends. If I had to guess, playing outside on the playground and eating lunch was probably her favorite part of the day! :)
Lila was SO excited about her backpack and lunch box. It was filled with lots of supplies today, so it was "too heaby" for her to carry all the way in.
Although it is not, she also thought her napmat was "too heaby for me."
I never knew that a 2 year old could be SOO opinionated about her backpack. She was set on having a pink one. I found a really cute lime green one with one pink stripe. She was not happy about that. "I not like it. Where's the pink one?" she would say. I showed her this blue and pink dot one and she thought it was "very pretty."
The backpack practically swallows her whole, but I was told a big one to fit the lunch box and paperwork in it was the way to go. Hopefully, she will grow in to it.



A big thanks to my momma for helping me make Lila's awesome napmat! I still need to get everything monogrammed, but in the meantime, she loves it.


So, what did I do with my time of five hours with 1 kiddo?!? I SLEPT!
My parents were still here from where they brought the kids back to us late Monday night. They kept Graham for me while I took Lila to school. I am not sure I would have ever made it with both of them on time if they were not here. Graham was asleep when I got back. I needed to unpack, do laundry, clean house, yada yada yada, but instead I got nothing accomplished and took a nice little snoozer......

The Show Me State!

So, we did it. We officially left both of our kids with the grandparents this weekend. It was such a tough decision, but I was also glad to have some time away with my hubby. We joined up with some friends that have 400 acres in Southwest Missouri. The Garrison family has been celebrating Labor Day on the farm for 33 years! I think this year on Sunday there were 40+ of us. We were happy to be included and we met lots of new friends! It was beautiful and God blessed us with awesome weather, although it called for rain every day. I am kicking myself for not taking more photos. We did a lot of resting, hanging out, and eating. But we also road Ethel the horse, went to the lake, and floated the river. And as most of you know, my favorite...riding the 4-wheeler FAST! Next time I need to take a dispoble underwater camera, because that river was to die for. It was gorgeous and I didn't get a single picture! I think because the kids were not with us, I was not as trigger happy with the camera, although I should have been. Here are few snapshots from our trip:

Poor ole' Ethel...she is quite out of shape and then she had to go haul us around. She liked to be with her other horse friends, so it was challenging to keep her on course. Once, she took off with me on her at a mad dash. It was fun, but I was just hoping that she was going to stop and not throw me over the fence into a pile of horses! Here is Michael riding her. She did not like to go to the left. We kept hearing Michael say, "Ok, we will just go right." It was funny.



We spent one day out on the lake. Michael left me for most of the day and went on the other boat to board with the boys. I did not do so well this time on the wakeboard. (my excuse is that the water was REALLY rough and REALLY cold).
I did however enjoy the tubing.


Here I am, the sole survivor!

To add to my collection of handstand photos:


Although I don't have a picture of us ON the 4-wheeler, here is one I snapped while riding. We were up close and personal with the cows.

And here is the only picture I snapped of Michael and I the whole trip.(note it was after a long day on the river, so I am not looking too hot.)

I was so sad to not be at home with my whole family and we missed my niece, Grace's birthday party. I know Lila and Graham had a blast playing with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins though!
Thanks again Garrison family! We had such a great time. AND a BIG thanks to my parents and sisters for taking care of my kids. I know it is not an easy job and we really appreciate it.
The other great part to our weekend is that for Michael the VOLS won their first game with Coach Kiffin, and for me...the TIDE ROLLED! :)
We are now officially ready for some FALL weather! I have lots to catch up on from our summer, so be sure to check back. (I back date things to when they happen just in case you are wondering or if the whole 2 people who read this actually care.)