Happy Birthday "Choo" You!

Tonight, we celebrated Bear's birthday with a family party at our house. We decided to forgo the big birthday bash this year - we did the same with Lily's 2nd birthday - and it worked out well since this weekend was busy with all the Thanksgiving festivities, shopping trips, etc...

Bear has gotten into trains recently. Anytime we drive through town and get stopped at the train tracks (it happens a lot - there are a lot of trains coming through Cartersville each day) he gets excited and yells "Choo Choo". For his party, I made a train themed birthday cake and when it was time for Bear's party, we brought in the Thomas the Train balloons. He was so excited about his cake and it took everything I had to keep him from it until after dinner.

Is it time for my party yet?

The train birthday cake

I can't wait to try it!

We had a quick dinner of baked ziti and did the normal birthday party routine of opening gifts and having cake and ice cream. Bear got an Alabama football player from Joey and Jessica; a Handy Mandy meal set with plate, fork, spoon, placemat, and snack dish from Jacob, Sabrina, Brodie, Blake, Kenny, and Brittney; and a basketball goal, sweatsuit, and stuffed animal from Mammy and Paw. While the big kids (Josh, Joey and Jacob) played with the toddler basketball set, the rest of us enjoyed cake and ice cream.

Posing before gift openingOpening his Alabama football player - Roll Tide! Bear loved having Happy Birthday sung to him!Birthday kisses from MommaSlam Dunk!Brodie nees another bite - he kept sneaking bites off the tray after we were done!I'm officially 2!

Happy 2nd Birthday Bear

I still can't believe my baby is 2 today! Time just flies by, doesn't it!

Bear,

You have added so much to our family these past 2 years! Your laid back personality and fun loving spirit make you the perfect compliment to your big sister. You rarely cry and are usually full of chuckles and laughter. You have changed so much this year. At one, you were just starting to take a few assisted steps - and now you keep us running after you all day long. Your short little boy haircut has been replaced by a thick, curly head full of hair. Your vocabulary is growing each and every day and you're at the stage now where you are talking our ears off. Of course, my favorite word that you say is still "Momma." You have the best manners - you've learned to say "Pease" "Cuse me" and "Thank You" without being prompted. You love to play with cars, planes, and trains - but also love your sister's baby dolls and will play with them when she lets you. You're with girls all day long, so I think you've gotten used to doing the girl stuff too! I think you're going to be quite the reader, as you love having stories read to you. You will bring a book to Momma or Daddy and climb in our laps anytime of day. You love Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Elmo right now, and get quite excited when you see them on tv. You are a champion sleeper - you sleep 10-11 hours each night and still take a great afternoon nap. Eating has been a challenge...you've got Momma's sweet tooth and Daddy's disdain of vegetables.

Bear, you bring so much joy to our lives and Daddy and I thank God every day for blessing us with you. We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving today! We spent the day with Steve, Carol, and the rest of the McWhorter/Oliver crew and enjoyed a delicious spread of all the traditional favorites: turkey, dressing, green beans, sweet potatoes, creamed spinach, and much more! In addition to a great eating day, Thanksgiving is such a great holiday to be able to stop and reflect on what all we have to be thankful for! Our family has been blessed beyond measure and I thank God for that each and every day. Here's a short list of a few of the many things I am thankful for this year!

1. My wonderful husband...after 6 1/2 years of marriage, he still makes my heart skip a beat! He's a loving husband, adoring father, and great provider for our family. Josh is a great balance to me and truly is my very best friend.
2. Two beautiful, healthy children. Motherhood was something I looked forward to for a long time, and it's been even better than I ever imagined. Lily and Bear light up our lives in so many ways. I wish there was a way to bottle up the love and happiness they bring to our family!
3. Our Heavenly Father whose grace is bestowed on me each and every day!
4. A loving and supportive family - parents, brothers, sister-in-laws, and extended family. We are so lucky to have so many people around us that love us and that we can depend on in any situation!
5. Success of starting Josh's business, Black Oak Asset Management. This was a huge step of faith and has worked out to be better than we thought possible. We pray that this endeavor only continues to prosper.
6. My job - I have a great team of co-workers and leadership that allows me so much flexibility as I balance the roles of being a working mom.
7. A great group of close friends who are there no matter what.
8. A beautiful home to raise our family in.
9. A wonderful church to grow spiritually in.
10. A loving childcare provider and great preschool program that allows us to go to work daily knowing our children are well taken care of!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lily's Thankful List

As a school project last week, Lily had to make a list of the things that she was thankful for. We then had to find pictures, labels, images of those items and Miss Jennifer helped the kids put it in to a book for each to bring home. The booked turned out wonderful and it's something I'm sure I'll cherish each year looking back on.

Lily's List - Thanksgiving 2009:

Bubba
Momma
Daddy
Mimi and Granddaddy
Mammy and Paw
Laney
God
Chick-fil-a
Our house
Her friends Katie Anne and Emma
Cubbies
Nanny
School
Carrots
Her playhouse
Grass
Fish

It melted my heart that she thought of her little brother has one of the first things she was thankful for. I love watching the relationship growing each day between the two of them.

Lily has added a few things to her list since doing her school project as we've talked about Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful. She also is very aware of who we should thank most of all for all of our blessings. When I ask her who we should thank for all that we have - she states immediately "God. Thank you God for everything." I love that even at a young age she has a grasp on what it means to be thankful and that our Heavenly Father is the giver of all that we have and need.

Thanksgiving at Preschool

On Friday, Lily's preschool put on a Thanksgiving program for the parents. Lily's been practicing at school for a few weeks and would come home singing a few tidbits. "Oh-ah, Oh-ah, shoot that arrow" and "Put in the boat, in the boat, and the boat turned over" were the only lines she'd really share with us at home. All of the 3 year old classes dressed up - some as pilgrims and some as indians (Lily's class was one of the indian groups) and performed 5 songs for us. Lily seemed a bit nervous at first - but I'd imagine 50+ adults smiling big, clapping loudly and flashing their cameras would do that to a 3 year old. By the end, she was having fun singing and even doing all the motions.

The whole 3 year old group

Singing "10 Little Indians"

Smiling and enjoying the attention

Blessing before snacktime

Getting Close to 2!

This past weekend, we spent the weekend in Columbia with my family! We packed a lot into a weekend, starting with a quick visit with my brother and sister-in-law before they had to head out of town and then a baby shower for one of my dear friends from high school. Her sister and mom hosted a shower for her on Friday night. She got tons of great baby necessities and it was fun to see her pregnant belly and chat about baby stuff! I forgot to take my camera to the shower, but you can see her blog here! Only a few more days until little Brayden arrives!

On Saturday, Mom and Dad hosted a little birthday party for Bear. They won't be in town for his real birthday next week, so they invited both sets of my grandparents, a few cousins and their neighbors over for a cookout and party. Bear loved the Mickey Mouse cake and decorations Mom and Dad picked out and was absolutely adorable eating his cake and ice cream. Lily and my cousin's little girl, Kelsi at a few bites of cake and there were down playing again. Bear sat at the table for a good 15 minutes, enjoying every bite of his cake and ice cream. He's definitely got his Momma's sweet tooth!

Everyone was so sweet and brought Bear (and Lily for that matter) fun gifts. He loved all the new trucks he got, new winter coat from Mimi and Granddaddy, and cute fall clothes and pajamas.

We wrapped up the weekend with football on Saturday night and a delicious Sunday lunch at my Grandma's house! Lily and Bear had a blast with their Mimi and Granddaddy. Bear was definitely a bit more attached to my dad than he has previously been. He didn't want to leave his side and I just adore watching my dad spend hours on the floor playing with both kids. Lily enjoyed hanging out with Mimi, especially at the baby shower and while getting things together for Bear's party. She wants to be such a grown up girl these days and enjoys doing things with "just girls"! Thanks for such a great weekend - and the first 2nd Birthday Celebration for Bear!

Tidbits I Don't Won't To Forget

Since I use this blog as a scrapbook of sorts for the kids, I have decided that I need to start recording some of the funny stories/things they say so that I will remember 10, 20, 30 years from now!

Bear is getting to that fun (though exhausting) 2 year old stage where he is all over the place -and repeating all sorts of things. By far, the funniest thing lately has been that he has learned my real name rather than just calling me "Momma". It started a week or so at church when he heard one of the other toddlers call me "Banessa". Since then, if he wants to get my attention or just show off for a crowd, he'll get right in my face and say "Banessa. Baa-Nesssss-a!" It's so funny that you can't help but laugh at the precious little smirk he has on his face as he does it!

Lily's favorite food, by far, is Chick-fil-a. I think she'd eat there morning, noon, and night if we'd let her. After gymnastics class on Monday nights, we usually go out to eat. This week, with Josh being sick, I'd decided we'd just go straight home and check on him and eat leftovers. Our conversation as we walked out of the gym was:

Lily : Can we go eat at a restaurant?
Me: Not tonight, we need to go home and check on Daddy.
Lily: I don't like going home. I want Chick-fil-a!
Me: Not tonight sweetie! We can eat at home tonight.
Lily: No Momma. Chick-fil-a. Bubba, let's cheer...Chick-fil-a, Chick-fil-a, Chick-fil-a.

She even had a rhythm down to her little chant. I guess I have a future cheerleader on my hands.