Movie Night

Once a week we try to have a movie night. We make a big pallet on the floor and eat a big bowl of popcorn. The boys love it and it lets me get some stuff done around the house while they enjoy their movie. The bowl of popcorn only got dumped twice tonight......thank goodness for a hungry little dog. :-)

Funny Friday!

Here are our funnies for the week! I really love sharing this on Friday's with you!

The scene: Carter had made a HUGE mess in the playroom.

Me-"Carter, we don't do that."

Collin-"Yeah Carter, that's a big no-no!"

Me-"Collin, you don't get to discipline Carter, only mommy and daddy."

Collin-"Well mom, I was just telling him how great you are." (And then he winks at me) :-)

***

The scene: Boys sitting at the table eating

Me-"Collin, please sit up and eat your food like a big boy."

Collin-"But Carter is scaring me!"

Me-"Oh, come on Collin, it's Carter. How scary can he be??"

Collin-"Well, he's scary enough!!"

***

Collin-"Mom, look! I've got hair on my arms like daddy! I'm growing up like and adult!"

***

Carter is such a funny little guy. I can't wait until he is more verbal like Collin. He is so into copying Collin's every move though that it is pretty comical to watch him try to mock big bro. He also likes to fall down on purpose and yell, "I o.k.!" every time.

***

Carter has become my little gun slinger. He is constantly pretending that he is shooting you with a gun. If you fall down and play dead he proceeds to yell, "Wake up!" so then he can shoot you again.

Here he is pretending to shoot Lexi.

He's also in to pretending he's a snake. The way he "hisses" with his tongue against his teeth is so precious. I could just eat him up!

A Very Special Project

So, I saw this idea on this blog and decided to try and do one for my soon-to-be new little nephew. I used my Silhouette cutter to cut all the words and shapes and then put it all together for a cute little night light to match the new little guy's new room. Courtney is decorating it in this adorable whale bedding she got from Pottery Barn (see last picture). I tried to match it as best I could and it turned out absolutely darling! I think I'm going to have to make more of these for baby shower gifts for sure!

It's The Little Things......

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to teach Collin how to help me fold laundry. Towels are easy enough, so we started with that. I let him fold all the washcloths and some of his towels for me. He thought it was great fun (we'll see how long that lasts! ha!).

Yesterday, I had a big pile of towels sitting in a chair in our bedroom and hadn't gotten to folding them yet. I put the boys down for their afternoon nap and was going to work on a project, so I went to my room and found this little stack in the corner on the floor. I almost started crying! Collin had taken it upon himself to pull out all the washcloths and fold them for me. He didn't even tell me that he had done that. It was just so sweet that he would even take the time out of his very busy play schedule to help mom out. I just love that little guy! It got me to thinking that I should be doing those little unexpected things for people more often as well. So, take the time to do something special and unexpected for someone. I know you will both be blessed! What a great little man I'm raising to be a great husband for someone someday! :-)

Tulip Heaven

Ahhh.....tulips......definitely my all time favorite flower. I have always loved them and we even had them as the main flower at our wedding. The kiddos went to the grandparents last weekend, and Josh and I had a wedding to go to in Mena, so after the wedding we made a detour to Hot Springs to the Garvan Woodland Gardens because Josh needed to take some site pictures there for a potential project. I was soooo excited because I knew that maybe....just maybe, the tulips would be in bloom. We were able to spend a couple of hours there and I was truly in tulip heaven (there are 94,000 bulbs planted)! I even got teary eyed at one point because I was just so overwhelmed by all the beauty (and yes, Josh did make fun of me). We took close to 300 pictures, so it was super hard for me to narrow it down to just 15 pictures for this post. There are just so many frame worthy ones. I was so glad that we were able to spend some time there and soak in all of God's wonderful creation. The tulips are probably close to being gone by now, but if you get a chance to go next year, please do....totally worth it.

Funny Friday!

Here are our funnies from this week....

*Carter was upset in the carseat and I overhear Collin say, "Carter, Carter, it's ok honey." (I guess I say that a lot.) :-)

*Collin-"Why do people get married all the time?" (his random question of the week)

*While at Walmart I realized I forgot something and said, "Oh man, I forgot to get cupcake liners!". Collin's response..."Like on Cupcake Wars?"

I guess I watch a little too much Food Network. :-)

*Collin-"Mom, I need some gum because I have stinky breath

Me-"Sorry buddy, I don't have any."

Collin-"Well I always see a lots of gums stuck on tables at restaurants."

Me-"Uh, we DON'T eat or touch that....Ever!"

And my favorite of the week.....

Carter kept trying to get Collin's attention to look at something by saying, "See Bro Bro!...See Bro Bro!". Collin, thinking Carter is saying "Si" for "yes" in Spanish, yells back, "Carter, I don't speak Spanish! I speak English!" Needless to say, I think Carter was confused. :-)

Happy Friday everyone! I am off to go on a hot date with my wonderful husband! :-)

Lunch With Daddy

Today was "Lunch with Daddy" at Kids Day Out. Josh was able to have lunch with both his boys, and they were excited to see him! Carter was so excited when I picked him up later and asked him about it. Collin said he had fun too, but that daddy ate part of his sandwich, some goldfish and drank his capri sun. I said, "Well, Collin that was nice of you to let daddy have your capri sun." and he said, "He let himself have it." ha!

Thanks daddy for hanging out with your boys today!

Swinging, Climbing, Sliding!

After naptime, we headed to the playground today. The boys had a fun time even though about 5 minutes into it Collin fell off of a slide and cut his nose. This boy has the worst luck with hurting his nose! 2nd time in a week he's had a bloody nose.

Ready, Set,

GO!!

Carter insisted on swinging his lion. Yes, he still refuses to give up the poppy (paci). Really need to start working on that.....

There was this little bridge to go across and Carter was so scared of it. He would only crawl across it or hold onto the bars for dear life!

Spring is in the air....

It was a beautiful day here in Northwest Arkansas! I am SO ready for warm weather and it's supposed to be in the 70's for the next few days! I had bible study this morning and they had a few girls show us some cake decorating tips which was very helpful. Think I may try and tackle a 2-tier birthday cake for Carter.....we'll see. :-) After bible study we headed down to Fayetteville to have lunch with Josh. We then came home, took naps and then we were able to go spend some time outside. Collin and Carter wanted to break out their bikes today, so we did that and blew some bubbles too. Collin got his bag of Star Wars figurines and insisted they go on the bike ride/walk with us....notice the bag hanging from the handle bars. :-)

Today definitely got me excited for spring, days at the park, grilling outside, etc. Bring it!

Parties Galore!!

We had a CRAZY busy weekend! We had 3 birthday parties for 3 very special people. We had a great time and are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share these special days with!

First we celebrated with Faith for her 2nd birthday. She had a Minnie Mouse themed birthday and it was super cute. Her mom Sarah did a spectacular job! All the kids got mouse ears too which Carter loved since he is a big Mickey fan. It was a beautiful day outside so the kids were able to run around in the backyard and play.

I even got Faith's little bro Peyton to put on some ears for the big occasion. :-)

Next we headed over to Courtney and Josh's for Josh's big 30th birthday party. His actual birthday is on St. Patty's Day, so Courtney did a shamrock theme. It was really cute. Here is another banner I made....

Yesterday we celebrated our last birthday party with Tayton, who turned 4, at Chuck E. Cheese. I totally forgot to take my camera with me, but Collin and I had a great time seeing everyone and playing games. I mean really, what kid doesn't LOVE that place??!!

Today we are taking it easy. Hudson was with us today, so we were busy coloring, blowing bubbles(yes, in the house) and having a movie/popcorn day. We have had a good day so far, but I think this girl is already ready for a nap. This time change thing is for the birds!

Hudson and Carter coloring....They are both saying a big, "CHEESE!"

Funny Friday

Here are our "funnies" for the week!

Collin

*Collin came into the kitchenn with a little shaving cream left on his ear and asked, "Mom, do I look sharp?" and I replied, "Of course! Why?". Collin responded, "Because I shaved. I used daddy's shaving cream and my hand and shaved my face."

*Collin-"Mommy, why is it raining?"

Me-"Because that's what God wanted to do today. The grass, plants and trees need rain and sunshine so they can turn pretty and green again."

We continued our drive to church and the rain stopped. Collin's immediate sarcastic response was,"SO, is God DONE now?" :-)

*Collin-"Mom, do I have to be naked when I go surfing?"

(we have lots of random questions like this)

*Collin (after leaving Josh's office)-"Mom, I need to resign."

Me-"What?"

Collin-"I need to start resigning offices and buildings like daddy."

Me-"You mean DEsign?"

Carter

Of course, Carter doesn't say too many funny things yet, but he sure acts out. It is hilarious to watch him try and copy things Collin does. He is always falling down on purpose or giving us the funniest expressions as he is fighting a Star Wars Jedi fight. I did happen to catch a couple of pictures of him being silly this week....

In this picture, he was busy fighting with a light sabor and decided it would be fun to fight with his shirt pulled up over his head.....he played like this for a while.

I introduced him to Twizzler's Pull-N-Peel this week and he thought it would be funny to do this. Collin kept calling him Master She-Fu (from the movie Kung Fu Panda). :-)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We are going to be super busy going to 3 birthday parties this weekend!!

Sweet Carter.....

This past weekend we went to Lily's birthday party. Lily and her sweet family go to church with us. As we were leaving the party, I asked Carter to give Lily a hug bye and he did, but they also followed this hug up with a big smooch on the lips! We couldn't believe it, but also couldn't stop laughing. So, last night the boys were in the bathtub and I asked Carter, "Carter, who's your girlfriend?" (not thinking he would know what I was talking about) and he said, "Wil-wee". What?!? So, I just had to get it on video after I got them out of the tub. I just love his little shy expression at the end of the video. My sweet little Carter.

(photo courtesy of Rachel's blog)

A Life Interrupted....

Our Tuesday morning Bible study at church has been about "Jonah. Navigating a Life Interrupted". It is probably one of my favorite studies that I have been a part of thus far. Who knew that 4 small chapters of the Bible could be so profound and speak to each one of us so strongly? Its a study by Priscilla Shirer and totally got me thinking for the past 6 weeks of my life about things and circumstances of life that I had never put into perspective or spent way too much time questioning.

I had never gone into depth about the book of Jonah but had always known it was a story about a man getting swallowed by a big fish because he wasn't obedient to God. It has really opened my eyes about how seriously important it is to follow God's instructions even if we feel uncomfortable or are letting a million of our silly excuses get in the way. We are created for a purpose. God wants to use us all to do things that can only be explained through him and be able to give him the complete glory for. I don't want to be someone that doesn't follow God's will for my life. We could be missing out on SO much by not following his will for us....not only us, but we could be causing someone else to miss out as well if God is using us to bless or minister to them! I admit that I am guilty of trying to push that little voice out of my head that prompts me so often to act upon it.

I haven't had many interruptions in my life compared to most, but life is ever changing. Interruptions most definitely aren't what we always thought we would go through, but we have to trust that God's ultimate perfect will for our life is being played out if we allow Him to work through us. The other key is that we have to follow His will with the right heart. If our heart isn't in it for the right reasons, we are still missing out. I love this quote from the study, "Divine interruptions often expose a lack of sensitivity to His purposes and an absorption with self I was unaware existed. When the insignificant makes our hearts race while the truly significant gets a shrug, it's startlingly clear we've got miles between our hearts and God's." Wow. We shouldn't consider these interruptions in our lives as negative things. God is so almighty and powerful that he doesn't even have to use us to do his work. We should consider it a privilege that he asks us to do so and thinks of our lives as so significant to carry out the work he has for us!

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This pretty much sums up how we should take on all that God gives us. Be joyful, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. I know it is so hard to imagine being thankful in certain situations/tragedies in life. We don't understand what God has in store for us, but we must trust and seek him....always. He is there to guide us along this journey and wants to use us in mighty ways......we just have to obey and follow him with the right heartitude (ok, I know that's not a word....just made it up). Life can be hard, but know that God's power is perfected in weakness. He will use you so that others can see His glory. God is always working things out for our good and won't ever give us more than we can handle. He promises it.

One of my other favorite questions posed by Jesus to Jonah is in Jonah 4:4. "But the Lord replied, 'Have you any right to be angry?'". As much as life doesn't exactly play out the way we expect it to all the time, do we have any right to be angry about it? Another quote from the book said, "Whatever you are holding on to in this life, hold it loosely so it won't hurt when the Lord has to pry your fingers open to take it away." This really made me reevaluate my own life as to what I am clinging on to more than my pursuit of God and being completely obedient to his call for my life.

I pray that I will be more obedient to God and follow his will with an open heart and mind because I know that he has great things in store to bring glory to Him. I will leave you with a final quote from the study that sums up what our life is all about.....think about it and let God use you to do mighty things.....it's a privilege. Thank you Lord for using this study to show me that.

"In the tale of your life unfolding right now, He, not you, must be the One in the spotlight. Your life involves you but is not ultimately about you. Knowing this allows you to be more willing to relinquish control over your life and yield to the divine intervention."

Stick Em' Up!

A few years ago, our friends Walter and Eileen got Collin this Red Ryder BB gun. We finally let Collin get it out this weekend to shoot for the first time. Don't worry Me-Ma and Mimi.....he was VERY supervised and we won't let him just walk around with it. All Collin needs are some little black rimmed glasses and he would look like Ralphie on "A Christmas Story" with his Red Ryder BB fun! ha! We won't be shooting our eye like him though.....or anyone else's! :-)

Funny Friday

On Fridays, I'm going to start posting some of our "funnies" that have happened over the week. So here is the start of that series. I hope you enjoy!

Collin

On Thursdays when I go to pick Collin up from Kids Day Out, his teachers seem to always have a funny story. I think I may have a "class clown" on my hands. Those of you who know my mother and myself know exactly what side of the family he got that trait from! ha! Anyways, this Thursday was no exception. I got to the door and Miss Lacey said, "Collin was so funny today. We were trying to ask him what his little brother's name was and he kept telling us, 'His name is Yoda.'. So, we asked him, well, what does your mommy call him? And he said, 'Well, she doesn't know it yet, but his name IS Yoda.' ". We were all cracking up. I went on to tell them that yes, he does call Carter "Yoda" and daddy is known as "Obi Wan Kenobi".

I just love boys!

Carter

One of the funny things we found out Carter knows about this week is the Subway commercial. We got a kick out of watching him sing "5 dollar....5 dollar....5 dollar footlong!"

I just got out of the shower to find this.....

I guess this boy is ready for winter and spring with his hat and bunny ears on. I'm hoping more for spring! Hoppy....I mean Happy Friday!!

Watercolor Wednesday

Our sweet friends, The Greenfield's, got Collin this awesome art set for his birthday. He was so excited to use it today and is loving it.....Carter too!

There's A First Time for Everything....

One of the things our sweet friends, The Ferguson's, got Collin for his birthday was a Star Wars kite. I never even thought about it, but we had never flown a kite before! I am 33 years old and even I had never flown one! Crazy, I know. Anyways, Sunday was a very windy day.....perfect conditions for flying a kite. We had fun with it and even I got in on the fun after the boys were done.

Aren't these 3 just the cutest??!!

My Favorite 4 Year Old....Collin Jackson

Oh my....How fast the last 4 years have gone! I still remember so vividly everything about the day Collin was born. We were so excited to finally meet him and couldn't believe that we had finally become parents. He has been such a joy to be around. There are so many things about him that remind me so much of Josh and I. He is very particular about the way things need to be done or organized like his dad, but has my crazy and funny sense of humor that always makes us laugh. He is such a smart little guy that sometimes I wonder where in the world he comes up with some of the things he says! I love it that so many people get such a kick out of all his funny sayings just like we do. He is truly one of a kind. We love you so much Collin!

We celebrated his birthday with friends and family on Saturday at Jump Zone. All the kids had such a wonderful time and it was so much fun to watch everyone. I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends that came to help Collin celebrate. Thank you so much to all who came!

This is the adorable invite that my friend Katie at The Peekaboo Image created for me!

The birthday boy in action....

Walter, Eileen & Scout

Faith & Sarah

Aubrie, Lily & Brett

Pa-Pa Howard even went down some slides!

Carter lovin' it!

Jamie & Audrie

Mimi Kate and Carter

All the adorable kiddos with the birthday boy

Our sweet Collin

He had his own special birthday throne to sit at while he opened all his wonderful gifts

After Jump Zone, the family came back to the house for a little birthday dinner with Collin.

He got to open up some more presents. As you will see, this kid is really into Star Wars right now, so he got a lot of that stuff.

On his actual birthday, Feb 28th, we let Collin open up all his gifts from us and Carter. He was pretty excited about getting his own golf bag and clubs. He's totally ready to go golfing with daddy now!

He also got a Star Wars fishing pole.

The theme for Collin's party this year was "golf". Here are all the decor and goodies from the party. I decided to make all the cupcakes myself this year. Now I remember why I always pay someone else to do it. :-) I made the flags with my silhouette cutter and then put grass on the cupcakes and found white Sixlets candy in the bridal aisle at Hobby Lobby to use for the golf balls.

The centerpieces for the tables. I took some galvanized buckets and planted rye grass seed in them to recreate a "golf course" and had balloons tied to the handle. They turned out pretty cute I think. Collin enjoyed watching his "golf course" grow all week.

Here are the goody bags I made for all the kiddos with my silhouette cutter.

When we went to the house for the celebration dinner, we had cupcakes and I also made "golf ball" cake balls and put them in another galvanized bucket to look like a bucket of balls. They were very yummy, but very difficult. Don't know if I will try those again.

I also made these sandwiches and wrapped them with coordinating green/white checked paper and secured them with wooden golf tees.

The banner I made