Thankful

Here are a few things I am thankful for this season:

• I am thankful that the LORD of the Universe decided to make me His child. I am overcome all the more with the magnitude of what He did for me. I am praying that it will become more and more real in my heart over this Holiday Season, and that it won't be all about gifts and decorations (though I love gifts and decorations), but that it will be about a long anticipated Savior. Oh how I pray that my children will see JESUS by the way we celebrate His birth.


• I am thankful that God's Word is living and pierces my soul.


• I am thankful for my family. Especially for those three sweet men in my life: Matt, Hudson, and Micah. Matt is an amazing, selfless husband and dad, and I do not say enough about how thankful I am for him. He has been one of the Lord's sweetest gifts to me. Hudson is hilarious and quirky and very loving. I can't wait to see the man that he becomes. Micah is snuggly and sweet. I am so in love with all of them!

It is so great to step back from the day-to-day of life and be thankful. I love to be around genuine, thankful people. It is contagious. I want to be one of those people.

With each year, I find it more and more difficult to point my children toward Christ during the holidays. I guess it's just that before I had children, I didn't have anyone to be responsible for other than myself. I want to get it right, you know? So, I'd welcome any comments about holiday traditions that you use in your home to point your children to the Saviour. I'm all ears : )

We've Been...

Very busy...and having lots of fun in the month of October : ) Here is a rundown of what we've been up to:

Growing our muscles.

This takes hard work. It's keeping us very busy.

Carving pumpkins.

And making pumpkin bread, and pumpkin soup...and eating all the pumpkin bread and soup.

Going to the pumpkin patch.

The boys wanted to "take daddy" to the pumpkin patch.

Attempting a "Fall Family Photo"...or should I say, Fall Family Foto.

This is as good as it gets.

Going on a school field trip.

This is a typical Hudson look...and I NEVER capture it. I love this face!

I will post the actual Halloween pics soon. Basketball season has started, so life has gotten a bit crazy for us lately. It is so good to look back through these pics and remind myself of what a blessing it is to be able to be home with these two little men. I love, love, love being with them. They are so different and fun and definitely keep me busy daily. It's easy to just "survive" during these long days, but it is great today to be reminded to not just "survive", but to enjoy. I really wouldn't have it any other way. We are blessed.

Thankful Thursday

I have seen several friends blog on Thursdays about a few things that they are thankful for. Don't think that I'll have the discipline to do this every week...we can all see that I lack in the blogging department. But, I do want to do it this Thursday. Yesterday we found out that our van needs a new transmission...yikes! Not a good day. Do you ever find it hard to be thankful when things aren't going as planned? I do. And I really do want to cultivate an attitude of trust that comes from deep within my heart. Something I'm convinced of. So, today I want to jot down a few things that I am thankful for. We have van issues, but there is MUCH to thank God for. Here are a few things I am thankful for today:

• My relationship with God. And my Church family...I have been so nourished in this church. Matt and I have been a part of this family for six and a half years. And it is truly a family away from our own family.
• My family. I have a husband who is very gracious and loving, and two boys that are the sweetest ever...and I get to be with them every day. For that, I am very thankful.
• A new job. The Lord gave me a new part-time job, which I love. I can work from my home, mostly when my boys are napping. I'm so thankful. It was an answer to prayer.
• My van. This is silly, I know. But I think that today is a great day to remind myself that the Lord gave us that van...it was a blessing from Him. And today I am remembering that the same God that gave us that van is providing for the new transmission.

I hope you are all having an awesome day...and I pray that we can all take time to thank God, the giver of all things good, for the many blessings in our lives!

He's Growing Up

He loves to build things. He loves to read. This is at the gym and there are a host of different toys. He chose to read.

Hudson is growing up so fast. It makes my heart swell and makes me a little teary all at the same time. I looked at him the other night and I just couldn't believe that my child will be FOUR in December. That blows my mind. I was telling another parent that I am quite confident that we are messing him up in some way but I just don't know how.

Here are a few more Hudosn convos.

H: "Mommy, are these new pants?"

M: "Yeah, bud."

H: "Oooh, these are cozy." This was about new windpants...he thought the lining was great!

H: "No, Micah! You're gonna wip it!"

M: "Wip it?"

H: "No! Wiiiip it."

M: "Wip it?"

H: "Wwwwiiiiiipppp it."

M: "Wip it?"

H: "No, mommy. He's gonna tear it."

Bahahaha! I love that he says it incorrectly but he tried to correct me. It was really funny...I'm probably a mean mom for having this conversation but it was hilarious.

H: "Mommy, is this a good one to write on my heart?"

This melted my heart! We are working on memorizing scripture and Hudson took his little cards and picked one out and asked me if it was a good one to write on his heart. LOVE IT! Hudson, when you read this in years to come, I pray that you will have a deep love for God's Word and that He will have written many, many verses on your heart!

Here are a few words that Hudson says incorrectly that I love and want to remember:

• "hanitizer"- hand sanitizer
• "check mix"- chex mix
• "lellow"- yellow
• "exersketch"- etch-a-sketch

Micah's New Words

He gave me this:

So I gave him that! Don't judge me. Seriously, though, he saw the bottle on the counter and was devastated that I wouldn't give it to him. So, there you go.

Things were a little too quiet and this is where I found him.

Uh-oh, you caught me.

Micah has really started talking lately. We were thinking that he wasn't going to be nearly as verbal as Hudson (and were blaming ourselves for not reading to him as much as Hudson), but he has definitely started. He is such a sweet child. No matter where I am, people always comment on what a happy baby he is, and they are right. He is totally content to be sitting on my hip :) I can see the differences already in him and Hudson and it is so funny. I think Micah's love language is going to be touch...he always wants to give people a hug and he LOVES to be held. I have to remind myself when he is tugging at my leg and wanting me to hold him that I prayed for him to be snuggly....and I got what I prayed for.

Here are some of his favorite words as of late:

• mommmmeeeee: he says this atleast a hundred times a day....usually just to get my attention
• uh-oh
• naw-naw: also known as " no no". He started bossing the dogs first, but now he says this to his bubba too. It's funny to me that he points his finger when he does it because I don't do that.
• bootball: or "football". Teaching him early.
• buh-ball: any kind of ball has this name. And he starts off the day with this word.
• nigh-nigh: "night night"
• ball
• bye-bye: he waves his hand and goes to the door. He thinks it is the absolute best when we play along and tell him to be careful.
• ooooh: I usually say, "One...", to which he replies "oooh" (two). He's a genius : )
• moooe: "more". The boy loves to eat, so he says this often.
• ssshhhh: he puts his finger over his lips. I think it's the cutest ever.
• eeeeeeee: "cheese" He's never had his picture taken : )

Boys...

Like to play at the park and get so dirty that mommy has to give them a bath mid-day. Dirty mouth? Clean it up.

Like to make "piles" everywhere. This kind of makes me crazy...I am trying to remain calm :-)

Like to "tow" their sound machine around the house. I told Hudson to take it back and he said, "But, mommy! I'm towin' it behind my truck." (And you can imagine that it was in the country-est little voice ever.)

Ok, then. Tow away.

Like to climb on everything. I mean everything.

Like to take their diaper off to get a good nap. Isn't this hilarious? I have no idea why he did this. Matt added the index card so I could blog with a PG pic. I guess he was feeling a bit contained.

Lately...(Part 1)

Lately, we have been very busy- but in a fun kind of busy way. It has been way too long since I updated. Really, it's all your fault. If all of you would quit having such interesting things to say, I'd stop reading your blogs and update my own :-) Seriously, though, I love to stalk a blog or two...

Almost daily something happens that I think I need to blog about- I guess that's what happens when you have two very active little boys. They say and do the cutest things (to me).

We took the boys to the zoo and it was a super fun family trip. Gaga, Nonna, and Pop all made the trip with us. The boys were very excited. Here is the whole fam...don't we look excited?! Also, I totally get that none of the following zoo pics will actually include any animals. We do have those, but really the trip was about the boys.

Micah was enthralled with the birds.

Hudson love, love, loved the zoo. He walked everywhere with his map and said, "Next on my list....".
Hudson and daddy went to feed the giraffe...I really can't beleive Hudson did this. He's such a little scaredy...look at him trying to help the giraffe with his own tongue. Hilarious!

Hudson has been learning to ride his bike without training wheels. He thinks this is the absolute greatest. Daddy gets a great workout :-)

Who looks like they're doing all the work? Yep, daddy. Hudson took time to smile for the camera!