Look who lost his first tooth!!!

Christian has had a tooth that has been loose for quite a while now, but nowhere near enough to either pull it or for it to fall out. The other day when I picked him up he was so excited because he had been messing with it all day with his tongue and it was super loose! I told him not to bother with it anymore and when it was ready to come out it would. Ha, easier said than done especially when your 6! I told him to be careful while eating so he wouldn’t swallow it. He panicked for a minute and asked why, assuming if he did swallow it something bad would happen. I said if he didn’t have it, he couldn’t get money for it! He was so cautious eating dinner, but afterwards I took a quick look myself. I barely touched it and it fell right into my hands! He didn’t even know it was missing! He was super excited, and could wait to call Michael and tell him what had happened!

The Big Chop!

I have decided to cut my hair! It's a big deal! I have been growing my hair out for a while, and since summer is around the corner I want a new fresh do!

The reason I wanted to grow my hair out seems kind of dumb, but it's a phase just like everything else. Michael laughs at me all the time, while looking at any magazine I always have a comment about someones hair. Since I am naturally dark, for some reason I thought if i grew out my hair I would have hair that looked like the Kardashians! Long, full of body, flowing locks....yeah it didn't happen. I think it was because I didn't have someone to do my hair for me every morning, or pay thousands of dollars to upkeep it. Oh well, I tried!

It has gotten to the point where I feel I don't have any style what so ever and by the end of the day it's in a pony tail any way. I have talked about it for a while now, but haven't pulled the trigger. So I called my friend who I absolutely love! We go way back since middle school and graduated together. She now owns her own Salon, Salon Corbeau by Courtney Crow. If you are out her way call her up, she does awesome work! I have never left disappointed.

So here is the before, thanks to Christian (my 6 year old) for taking the pictures.

What I'm LOVING Wednesday!

I'm linking up this week with Jamie at This Kind Of Love to share what I am loving!

This is my first time, so enjoy what I'm loving this week!

I'm Loving that tomorrow I am going to get my hair chopped!! I have been growing it out for a while, and now I am ready for a change. Plus shorter hair in the summer is so much easier.

I'm Loving this song sung by Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill, "How Great Thou Art" seen here. Such an amazing song!

I'm Loving that my best friend has graduated from college!! She is having a party this weekend and I am looking forward to seeing her and her family! I am so proud of her!

I'm Loving that this weekend I am having a garage sale and I am hoping to sell A LOT!! Also that Christian will be having his first lemonade sale too!!

What are you Loving this week?

Easter 2011

We had a fabulous Easter! Spending time with friends and family celebrating our risen savior Jesus Christ!

Michael and I had been talking about visiting other churches but just hadn’t done it. So I figured Easter Sunday was as good as any to make the move. I was a little nervous about going by myself but, I just sucked it up and went. There is a church right down the street from us and we pass it every time we go to my parent’s house. I knew of a few people from high school that attended there as well as a few co-workers. I did my homework before hand, and checked out their website. Mainly to see what their children’s program was like. I can always find a small group that we could fit into, but going to a church with a great children’s program is so important to us.

So we got up early and the kids opened their Easter baskets, and I fixed chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. If I didn’t already think they were going to get a ton of candy and sweets that day, I started off with chocolate!

They both got a new shirt, to wear that day of course. Candy, sidewalk chalk, small games, and a few other little nick-knacks. I knew that they would be getting a lot of candy from the egg hunt that afternoon, so I went a little light.

I decided to attend the early service thinking that it wouldn’t be to packed out. I was wrong, it was super packed! I left a little early so I would have enough time to take both boys to their classes. It was so nice to drive literally 2 minutes down the road to get to church! Christian’s class was like a big children’s church for kids from kindergarten to 5th grade. They had one large group where they sang songs and just hung out together. Then they broke up into smaller groups according to their age group and had a little bible lesson. I knew going to a church that was one close to us, but also close to where he went to school there would be probably be a couple of kids he would know. We walked in and he started crying, and didn’t want me to leave. I felt horrible! I knew he would be ok after a few minutes, but it’s still hard leaving him upset. One of the ladies there was so nice, and took him around and introduce him to a couple other little boys and stayed with him for a while until he got comfortable.

I knew Colin would have a hard time and I was right. I tried to bribe him with the fact they had a train table and trains in there, which he LOVES, but it didn’t work. I just had to hand him over and walk away. I knew he would be taking care of. I walked past Christian’s room and he was standing there next to the teacher not moving and looking around. I went and found a seat, and ended up next to a good friend from work and her husband. I made it through the whole service without having either one of my numbers flashed up on the big screen to come and get my kids, so the was a huge plus. I picked up Colin first, and poor thing looked like he had cried the whole time. The teacher said he didn’t really want to do anything, or eat any snack. Maybe we will have better luck next week. Christian on the other hand was having a blast when I picked him up! He was over at the air hockey table playing with another boy from school. He was talking a mile a minute about everything they did! I was so excited that he had a great time. We got to the car and he was already talking about wanting to go back next week! I was so glad he had a good time, and it was such a great feeling hearing him talk about what he learned and all about Jesus!

We headed home, and had a mini-photo-shoot (pictures to come!) before heading to my parents for lunch and egg hunt. We had a great lunch, and my mom made these cute cookies! They were as good as they looked too!

The boys hunted eggs and got a gift from my parents before heading home for a little nap!

Happy Easter!

What does Easter mean to you? Easter bunny, Easter basket, or maybe even egg hunts. Spending time with family and a great Easter dinner or lunch. Over time holidays have become so commercialized, and people forget the true meaning of the day. Growing up with a strong faith, it is very important to Michael and me that the boys never forget these very important days. It’s part of being a parent to pass these teachings to our children. So as we enter into the Easter weekend let’s remember why we celebrate it.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and paid the ultimate sacrifice. So that we can accept him as our personal Lord and Savior and live eternally with him in Heaven. How amazing is that, and what an awesome gift. While others laughed and cheered as he died, to their amazement 3 days later the tomb was empty. We celebrate his death, his resurrection and the one day of his returning. I know that I will live forever in Heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope and pray that anyone who reads this has accepted Christ into their lives, and can look forward to living with him as well.

A playroom dilemma....

So I have a little dilemma and would love to see what you all think. We have lived in our house for about 6 ½ years, and it was a perfect starter home. Christian was 3months old and we could see ourselves living there for a couple of years before upgrading to a larger house to continue growing our family. It’s a 3 bedroom ranch, 2 bathroom with a bonus room above the garage. Moving from an apartment we felt like we were gaining so much more space! Well, six years later, a down turn in the economy, another child we are still in our starter home and are running out of space. Imagine that! We are going through a lot of things, (job wise) and with the economy still bad selling the house is not an option, and that’s OK. But now it’s time to get creative on our space dilemma! Christian and Colin both have their own rooms across the hall from each other. We have our room and own bathroom, and our bonus room is our guest room. I don’t really like the fact of putting Christian up stairs, and don’t want to make it a play room seeing as we are never up there. Over time our room has also become an office! I don’t really like having our desk in there, it’s kind of big, and takes up a lot of space. I would love to have a designated playroom. I have kept both of their rooms as organized as possible with their toys, but for some reason every night I am picking up toys in every other room of the house. I would love to have a super organized play/learning room for the boys to enjoy, and we will one day when we can move and have a basement. However I need one now! So here is my thought….the boys are 4 years apart but play awesomely together. Last year for Christian’s birthday my mom and dad re-did his room with a fire station theme, and I love it. He is in a twin bed and does have floor room to play. Colin is in his “toddler bed” and it took me forever to get to that point! I was thinking about moving Colin into Christian’s room with them both having a twin bed. Turning Colin’s old room into a playroom, with my desk in the corner. That way if I am on the computer I am in the same room, or me just getting on the floor with them to play we have more space. As well as having all their toys in one place (at least attempt to have them in one place) Both would share the fire station theme, but the playroom would be super organized and so much more room to play.

I love all the playrooms that are featured in the Pottery Barn kids magazines, and would try and go that way. I want to put a table in the center of the room that can be used for building trains on, playing cars or games. Or even just to get paper and crayons and color away! Of course I would use the bin system to keep everything neat…which could lead to an IKEA trip!!

Any thoughts?? I would love to hear….good and bad. I can handle it!

Take me out to the ball game!!

I am very fortunate to work for a company who is very involved in the community, and with that we get a lot of perks. A couple of years ago the Gwinnett Braves moved from Richmond Virginia to Gwinnett County. It has been great having a successful minor league team in our county, and even better having the stadium only about 20 minutes from where we live. However, we have never been to a game. The whole deal with building the stadium was done by the company I work for, and in return they own a box there. We have the opportunity to use any tickets to the games, and also have awesome seating. A couple of weeks ago I decided to take the boys. It ended up turning into a awesome experience and more fun than I thought. I asked for 3 tickets, and somehow by the time we left work on Friday I ended up with 7, and it turned into a get-together rather than a game. Two of my best friends tagged alonged and we took up 18 out of the 20 tickets available.

I brought my brother in law Kenny, and his two sons (my nephews) Jadon and Jordan. Jordan brought along a friend, Keaton. Cindy and Hannah took two seats, and Sandra and her gang, (literally) took the remainder of the tickets. It wasn’t until I got the tickets when I realized who we were playing, the Durham Bulls, ironic I know. I was torn on who to cheer for…Just Kidding! I’m a thru and thru Atlanta fan!

We had amazing seats, even though I don’t think I watched too much of the game from the seats. I sat on the couch and watched it on TV, while chasing the little ones around! We took Christian’s tom-a-hawk and by the middle of the game it went from being a part of the cheering on the team to a full out weapon. I will say I think I have found the only way to watch a game while at the stadium itself. In a box!

Chopper is a beaver, and the braves mascot. He did an awesome job! He interacted with the crowd the whole time!!

During the 4th inning he came up to the suite level and we were able to meet him. The boys all got his autograph and had their picture taking with him. Colin was a little hesitant, but pretty much never took his eyes off of him.

I will say I enjoyed attending this game a whole lot better than an Atlanta Braves game. It went by a lot quicker, and since it’s a smaller facility didn’t feel so overwhelming. During each inning they interacted with the crowd by playing games. While the team was playing they would go into the crowd and find different people to participate in different games on the field. That night happened to be Cowboy night, you could dress up as a cowboy or cowgirl to the game. We didn’t dress up but we did enjoy the cowboy show! A couple of times during the game they let about 3-4 goats out onto the field and they were being chased by dogs. Not just any dogs, dogs with REAL little monkeys on their backs! The monkeys were in little seats strapped to the dogs backs. They had cowboys hats, shirts and little chaps on! It was so cute! They just chased around the goats and seemed to be having fun!

After a few bags of cotton candy, hot dogs, pizza and a lot of running around the boys were out 5 minutes after leaving! They even missed our late night snack from Krispy Kreme! You can’t drive past at 11 o’clock at night and see the “Hot and Fresh” sign on and not stop! That dozen didn’t even stand a chance.

We are alive...I promise

I think the title says enough. We are still here! Things have been a little crazy and for some reason there are not enough hours in a day to get accomplished what I want to do. Unfortunately blogging has ended up at the bottom of my daily to-do list. I think about it every day, especially since I am pretty much up to date on all my “blogger friends” blogs. Mainly because I catch up while I’m at work during my down time. I have every intention to update at night once the boys are in bed at 8, but honestly I am so exhausted that I normally fall asleep on the couch around 8:30. I know I’m so old! Between working full time, keeping up things around the house, home work, dinner, laundry….the list goes on and on…(I think you see where I’m going!) the day ends and another day goes without blogging. Many of you loyal readers, well those of you that still check to see if I have updated, know what’s going on in my, our family’s life. If you don’t trust me it gets a little stressful! I promise to keep updating, maybe not every day but a whole lot better that I am currently doing!