Ahhhhh, It's 1pm...

It's the MOST wonderful time of the day!!!! 1pm means nap time for the babes and REST time for the Momma!!!

Zoe Cate at 1pm...


Shea at 1pm...


Mommy at 1pm...

I tried to take a pic of the TV but it didn't come out to well. I love 1pm!!!!

Three

Shea is three years old today. Just writing that out seems insane. I cannot believe that he is already three!!! These past three years have flown by. I can remember the first few weeks of his life when I was so overwhelmed with happiness that he was here but also so sad and overwhelmed by what having a newborn entailed!! He was such a sweet, calm baby. He rarely cried or fussed unless he was hungry or tired. Charlie instantly fell in love with him when we brought him home.

I want to remember absolutely everything about Shea at this age. His mannerisms, his sweet sayings, his determination, his inquisitiveness, his joy, his spunk, EVERYTHING! He never ceases to amaze me or Eric with something he has come up with. He has such a loving heart. Now, don't be confused by my choice of words :).... Shea can be rough and tumble with the best of them!! He is DEFINITELY all boy. We've known this for awhile but it was solidified this weekend when we went to Tennessee to see our family [whom Shea has NEVER met]. He took right up with my older cousin David. He and David rode the riding lawn mower for an hour raking up leaves. Shea was in charge of lifting the rope to dump the leaves out by the side of the road. After their hard work was done, David let Shea steer the mower himself up and down the street.
After riding the mower, they took off with their 'walking sticks' to the pond. David told me later that Shea saw a trout and wanted to catch him. David said "But we don't have any fishing poles." David said Shea just looked up at him, held up his stick and said "But we got these!!" HA!! My silly boy! David said he did have a point so he held on to Shea while he stabbed around in the water trying to catch something! He came up empty handed but had a fantastic time.

We had a FULL day. We basically did whatever Shea wanted to do!! For breakfast, Shea had powdered doughnuts on his 'special' plate. Then we headed to the zoo! He wanted to ride the train so we rode [Zoe Cate got a free ride thanks to the nice Conductor!] and they both loved it. The conductor knew it was his birthday so he let him sit up front in the engine but Shea was a little leery of that. Then we had lunch at McDonalds, home for nap, and off to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I asked Shea last night what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he replied "I think I just want a kids meal from Cracker Barrel.". HA! What makes that even funnier is that we rarely eat there in the first place! We had cake and opened presents at the restaurant and he loved his dinosaur his Gigi and Pawpaw got him. We came home and finished off the evening watching Merry Madagascar. When he was going to bed he told Gigi "You can just leave that dinosaur here..." So sweet! We had a fabulous day and are so thankful for the blessing that Shea is in our lives! Here are a few pics from our day....

Enjoying birthday doughnuts

Train ride at the zoo

Nap time with "Chachy" as he calls her


Enjoying the last of the frosting for his cake

Birthday pancakes at Cracker Barrel


Happy Birthday, Shea!

Cool dinosaur
We love you, Shea!! Thank you for brightening our lives with your sweetness! May you always find joy in life. I love these lyrics from the song "My Wish" by Rascall Flatts, it truly says what Eric and I wish for our babies!

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you

And if one door opens to another door closed
I hope you keep on walkin' til you find the window
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile
But more than anything, more than anything

My wish for you
Is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold

Happy Birthday, Shea!!

Praise God...

.....from whom all blessings flow





Praise Him all creatures here below...





Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts....



Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost....



I absolutely love the Doxology. I sing it many times a day to Shea and Zoe Cate. Eric and I are beyond blessed with these precious babies.

Reading Time!

I was reminded today of such a special time Shea and I shared while I was pregnant with Zoe Cate. The further it got in to the summer, the later it was in my pregnancy. I was HUGE and it was SOOOO hot outside!! I was also exhausted from being 8 months pregnant with a 20 month old. Many an afternoon, I would lie on the couch. Shea would bring me book after book and climb up on the couch with me. We'd lay there and read for usually an hour. We would read a book and then he would climb down and go pick out another one to read. I so enjoyed that sweet time with him. He's always loved to read and to see his excitement as he would point things out to me in the book was fabulous. It was so nice to just relax and snuggle my boy. I knew that the coming months would not allow for much 'laying' around so he and I took full advantage and did this practically every day!!!



This is how he and I would spend many of our afternoons [minus Eric as he was at work!!].

When I was a little boy...

Both Shea and Zoe Cate have always talked in a different tone to animals and babies. We noticed when Shea was just starting to babble that when he would babble 'talking' to Charlie or my parents dog, Milo, that he would use a higher pitch voice. Almost as if he was doing 'baby talk'. Zoe Cate has done the same thing. It is so sweet to watch her talk to Charlie and love on her!! I can remember Shea doing the SAME thing when he was a sweet baby.

We have had a bit of a time lately with Shea not wanting Zoe Cate to touch ANY of his toys. ANY OF THEM. Seriously. Shea, you've been around a couple years longer than Zoe Cate. You've had a little more time to acquire 'stuff'!!! Earlier, Zoe Cate got a couple of Shea's trains. He started to protest so I told him to just calm down. "She never plays with anything that long. She won't hurt them!", I said to him. So, he was watching her carefully and she was having a great time. Then he said to her, in that sweet high pitched voice reserved for animals and babies, "You like those trains, Zoe? Those were mine when I was a little boy.". His face was full of such love for her. After how rough and not very kind he's been to her this past week, it was sweet to witness him being loving towards her! I am thinking Shea considers himself a BIG boy and not a little boy....he's right!!

Convicted

I just heard this song the other day. Wow. I was convicted. I hope it touches your heart, too.

Piggies

Zoe Cate is not a huge fan of her shoes or socks. She much prefers to go au natural and let her piggies be free. Now that it is colder, I've had to put socks on her. Now that I have to put socks on her, I *have* to put shoes on her!! Her FAVORITE game is to pull her socks off! I have to put shoes on her to ensure she will keep her socks on. She will start cackling laughing before she can even reach her foot to pull her sock off. It always takes her a bit of work to get them off because she is laughing so hard. Of course, Eric and I play her little game and she ends up in fits of laughter!! We are so blessed that we get to hear her sweet laughter every day. It's the little things in life, I hope she will always be so easily amused!!

Put *that* in your Memory Bank...

The kids and I went to Walmart yesterday, but not *any* Walmart, the *NEW* Walmart that is still clean. On the way there I remembered that we needed to glue to do a little craft project Shea got at a birthday party. I couldn't write it on my list because I was driving and well, who are we kidding?? If it isn't written down...IT DOESN'T HAPPEN OR GET BOUGHT!! I said to Shea "Hey Shea! Remind me that we need to buy glue from Walmart!" "Ok, Mom!". So we get to Walmart, we avoid the candy aisle, got all the stuff on our list plus a few extras that Shea just 'had to have, Mommy, pweeease?!?!? Can we?!'. A pack of hot dogs and Scooby fruit snacks later, we checked out and got all loaded up in the van. I turn out on the main road and from the back seat I hear 'MOM!!!!! We forgot to buy glue!!!!!!!'. HAHA!!! I couldn't help but bust out laughing!!! Thanks, Shea!! Just a few minutes too late....