Lawson is 3!!

Lawson showing off his cake. He wanted to put his hand out like that. Ha ha!!

I cannot believe that my baby boy, Lawson, is 3!! For some reason this birthday has really hit me emotionally. Maybe it's because Easton is 5 and I know how fast time goes by or maybe it's because Jace is just 8 months and I remember it wasn't that long ago that Lawson was that age. For whatever reason, Lawson turning 3 has been fun and a little sad that my baby boy is growing up. I have tried to treasure every minute of this birthday and him running around saying, "I the bird-day boy!"

I do love the 3rd birthday the best of all (although I only have 5 birthdays to compare to at this point). : ) At 3, they are old enough to understand the "fun" of birthdays and the excitement leading up to it....all the presents, and the cake, and the party theme. At the same time, they are still young and very much a baby in lots of ways. I especially love the way they talk at this age. I love the funny things they say and the improper ways they say their words. For example, Lawson says "beary" for the word "very". I absolutely love that!! He told me he wanted Buzz and Woody on his birthday cake and when I told him I had ordered the cake and they were both going to be on there, he said "Ah, that is beary cool!!" It made me smile.

Lawson is quite the individual. He is his own person in every way. He is not a follower although he wants to do all the things his big brother does. Lawson is so funny. He has been that way since he was a baby. He would make faces and do things as a baby that we had no idea where he got it from. We thought he was too young to know how to act that way. : ) Come to find out, that was just the sweet, fun-loving personality that the Lord gave him.

That boy can dance!! Let me tell you...he has the moves! He can shake that little hind-end like nobody's business. ha ha! Not that I am encouraging him to do that, but it sure is cute at age 3. : ) It doesn't matter what music is playing, he will find the rhythm and dance to it. He also claps on beat and stays with it for a long time. I know these are silly things, but as a musical person, I love to see evidences of music in my kiddos. : )

He is also very coordinated. We think he is going to be a great ball player of some sort when he gets older. He loves to play soccer, he is great a hitting a ball with a baseball bat, and can really throw a ball! Who knows what he will end up doing, but I feel pretty sure he'll be playing something!

He loves to play outside riding his bike, riding scooters, playing in the dirt, swinging, sliding, blowing bubbles (which helped to potty train him), playing with sidewalk chalk and just being an all around boy! My prayer is that someday we will live somewhere with lots of land for all the boys to romp and roam. : )

Along with all these precious characteristics, comes Lawson's very determined strong will. It is this attribute that gets him into lots of trouble and many tangles with his momma. He has had his share (and then some) of time-outs, spankings, lectures, and just good talkin' to's. : ) He tries my patience and pushes the limit on most things just to see how much he can get away with. I have to choose my battles with him, but I try to win most of the time. lol! He has learned to say "I'm sorry" and "I'll be good - I'll obey you." It's hard not to give in to those beautiful big brown eyes looking up at you. I have cried many tears and prayed many prayers to ask the Lord to help me and Mat as we try to mold this determined little person to be a man of God. I know that his strong will can help him as he grows up if it is turned in the right direction. But for now, I feel like at 3, we are doing okay.

Lawson is also a GREAT big and little brother. He loves Jace and Easton so much. He and Easton are typical brothers, I think. They play together and go on adventures, hunts, Batman and Robin stake-outs, Karate Kid fights, and the list goes on and on. They also have their bad times and fight a lot over toys. I grew up with a brother so I remember sibling fighting. You fight and fight, but you still love each other unconditionally and want nothing more than to just play together again. Lawson is so sweet with Jace. I wondered a lot about how he would act with Jace when he was born. Lawson has always been the rough one so I was scared he might try to pick him up or hit him or something, but he has been the complete opposite. He talks sweet to him and makes him laugh. He and Easton will go and climb into Jace's crib when Jace wakes up and play with him until I go and get Jace. It's so sweet. Lawson is a big helper and will go and get things for me if I need them. I can tell the more mobile Jace gets, Lawson may not be too excited about Jace getting his toys, but we all have to learn to share.... : )

When Lawson is gets in the right mood, he is the best "cleaner". He can pick up and clean up toys fast! He also is the best about putting away his shoes. I am thankful both boys are trained to take off their shoes as soon as they come inside and Lawson is so good about taking them straight to his closet. Lawson will also put up his plate in the sink for me after meals.

Speaking of sharing...all three boys are in the living room right now playing with toys and with Mat. I just heard Easton tell Lawson, "I know that's your toy, but sometimes babies want to play too. " Good job, big brother Easton!! He is so sweet - but that's a different blog entry. : )

One of my favorite things about Lawson is that he loves to snuggle. He has been that way since birth. When I pick him up, he plays with my hair and always wants to be touching in some way. Lawson is going through a stage right now where he wants me to lay down with him at night while he goes to sleep. How can you turn down an offer when it sounds like.."Momma, you sweep whiff me?" I mean, come on! When I lay down with him, he will put his little arm around my neck and always end up holding my hand. He LOVES to hold hands!! And I LOVE to hold that little hand.

Lawson doesn't have a lot of interest in learning educational things like shapes, letters, numbers, colors, etc. This is completely opposite from his older brother at this age. He is getting better, but sometimes he still just guesses and goes on. He can count to 10 and knows some colors and what a circle is and of course the number 3. Beyond that, it is just hit and miss. I'm not worried because I know he will pick up on things when he gets more interested and when I work with him more. I plan to send him to a Pre-Pre-K next year 2 days/week. I think that will be great for him. He wanted to go to school this year when Easton went. He loves being with other kids and feeling like a "big boy". He moved up from the nursery to the Children's Church at church last Sunday. He was so excited to be in class with Easton and Abby.

I love Lawson so much and I am so incredibly thankful to be his momma. As much as I thought I wanted a baby girl when I was pregnant with him - I am so glad God didn't give me a girl and that he gave me Lawson instead. Our lives are all better because he is with us.

Finally, getting to his party. He wanted a Toy Story party and that's exactly what he got. I think it was one of my favorite themes we have done. It was precious and the kids all had so much fun. We took them outside for a kid-sized hayride after opening presents and they had a ball. We even saw 3 deer while Papa pulled us around our side yard and our neighbors. Here are a few pictures from the big event....

The kids table.

Blowing out his candles. He blew them out first before we even sang so he got to do it twice. : )

Lawson LOVES birthday hats! Eating his birthday cake.

All the kids getting ready to watch Lawson open presents. After this picture, Lawson said, "I did a good job holding Baby Jace, momma?" I said, "Yes you did, baby!"

The scooter!!!

Lawson on his hayride with his glow necklace. ; ) He had so much fun!!

Oh, I love that little boy! It brings tears to my eyes!!

Easton's 1st Day of Pre-K (2)

I haven't updated my blog in over a year and I have missed it so much. I really used this as a diary and documentation of the kids milestones and events. I don't think there is any way to update the entire last year, so I am just gonna jump back in.

Yesterday was Easton's 2nd First Day of Pre-K. Instead of sending him to Kindergarten this year, we are gonna do Pre-K again. I have had a really hard time with this decision, but I think in the long run it will be good for him to be one of the older ones in his class instead of one of the younger ones. He just turned 5 in June so he would be very young starting Kindergarten.

So, the entire family got up and around for Easton's first day. We were really a little behind, as usual, and I felt terrible about it. We got the boys in bed really early the night before, but they were still dragging at 7 a.m. Easton looked so cute in his new shirt and looked so grown up. He is carrying the same backpack this year, so I now have 3 "first day of school" pictures with him and that backpack.

Lawson wants to do everything Easton does so he wanted to wear a new shirt, get his backpack, and picture taken as well. I tried to tell him that he was not going to school but unfortunately he did not comprehend that and was terribly upset when it came time to leave Easton's school. Every classroom we past he said, "Dat my room?". He even found a cubby in Easton's classroom for his backpack and wanted to sit down and color. Bless his heart. I felt soo bad for him. He was devastated. Thankfully, I took him to McDonald's afterward and that seemed to help a little. That was a big treat because we don't inside there often.

On the walk from the car to the school, Easton took a little tumble and scrapped up his knee. Being the dramatic that he is, he was pretty upset and needed a band-aid. It was bleeding and it was just not the morning we were hoping for. All that being said, we made it inside, got his band-aid and he was off to chapel. No tears about me leaving, he was a big boy and completely familiar with the routine from last year.

I picked him up around 3:30 and he was outside playing. He teachers both said he had a good day and his new assistant teacher said "He is really smart and really good." I was so pleased to hear about his day and that he had a good time. He said that he got to be the Lunch Server and he was pumped about that. Also, his best friend from last year is in his class and they have cubbies beside each other.

I am so thankful he had a great day and I am looking forward to this year. I feel really good about it and know East will love Pre-K...again. : )

Ice Cream Master Piece

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to go along with this post, but it was so funny that I have to post about it.

We were eating at Western Sizzlin tonight and I was helping the boys with dessert. Easton wanted ice cream and I thought Lawson wanted cookies. I was holding Lawson with one hand and got Easton a small bowl of soft serve ice cream with the other. I put the bowl down and started to get Lawson some cookies in another bowl. I heard Easton quietly saying, "Momma? momma? Look Momma." I guess I was only half listening but finally listened enough to turn around and look. I looked at Easton and he was standing perfectly still staring and pointing at the ice cream machine still quietly saying, "Momma?". To my great amazement and shock, I saw the largest pile of ice cream I have ever seen. Apparently, I did not quite push the ice cream lever all the way up and the ice cream was still coming out piling higher and higher - in perfect circles I might add!

I quickly put Lawson down and begged him not to run off while I shut off the machine and started grabbing bowls and spoons and scraping ice cream into the bowls. I could only get 2 bowls when I was laughing so hard that I just had to get back to the table.

I told Mat and he went up to inspect my damage. He got his own bowl of ice cream from my master piece as well. He said he saw several people with very intriguing looks on their faces. He just told them, "Well, I don't want it to go to waste." : )

Needless to say, we were all very full of ice cream when we got home tonight and I will never fail to push the lever all the way up again!!!

July and August Recap

I am getting worse and worse about posting. I think about it everytime I check my email and I even read other blogs but can't seem to ever find the time to post myself. I thought I would recap the last few months with a few pictures.

This post is way over-due. My 29th birthday was June 26th and our 9th anniversary was July 1st. Mat took me on a surprise trip and told me it was for our anniversary. We got all dressed up and I didn't know where we were going. He took me to Hot Springs to the Hot Springs Belle where we went on our 1st anniversary. When I walked on the boat, I was greeted by my family and three of my very best friends and their husbands. It was a surprise belated birthday party. Mat decided he would do a big surprise for my 29th instead of my 30th - that way I wouldn't be expecting anything. It was so sweet of all my friends and family to make that trip for me. Jeff and Bridget stayed over with us and Bridget and I had a day of shopping and the spa the next day. It was lots of fun. The sweetest part though was on the boat when Mat had a song played for me. He wrote and recorded the song. It was all about our life together. Oh my- too sweet. Thank you honey, for a wonderful surprise and trip. I love you!!

Me and my oldest. He still talks about momma's party on the big boat.

The whole party.

We drove back on the Fourth of July just in time to get baths, jammies, and go watch the annual Harding display of fireworks. I just love fireworks! Easton covered his ears the whole time but loved to watch and name all the colors with me.

My grandpa had probably his biggest garden ever this year. He worked so hard on it and we all have enjoyed the fresh veggies. He had one very large area of just tomatoes. He let the boys go out one day and pick tomatoes. They loved it!

Pa taught them which ones were ready for picking and which ones still needed to ripen.

This was one day before we went up to Nana's to play outside. I thought they looked so cute in their muscle shirts and hats turned around backwards.

We took a spur of the moment trip to Memphis one Saturday and took the boys to the zoo and to see a baseball game. Unfortunately it rained really hard while we were at the zoo and we could only stay for a couple of hours. They had fun though and we were able to see all the main animals. We all got Zoo Ponchos.

Checking out the elephants.

After the zoo, we ate lunch and went to our hotel and everyone took a nap. How wonderful!! We were fully rested and thankful for the great weather to go the baseball game. The game was lots of fun. The boys thought it was really cool to see the baseball players and the big Redbird Mascot. Although Easton wanted the other team to win because they were wearing blue - and..."blue is my favorite color." They both were so good and we made it all the way to the 7th inning.

Lawson loves to ride the mower with his daddy. Pretty much he will do anything with his daddy, but this day, he had watched him out the window the whole time Mat was mowing saying, "I ide dat." (I ride that.) He was thrilled when I finally let him go outside and ride with daddy.

Ahh.... Easton's first day of Pre-K at Harding. He is going Tuesday/Thursday all day. He has been very excited about going to "big school." He did wonderful! He walked right in to his classroom, found his seat and starting playing. He didn't even blink an eye when I said I was leaving, he just said, "okay, bye." My big boy. He is such an easy, sweet boy. I praise the Lord for him.

Lawson fell asleep on the living room floor. We have been getting up earlier since school started and everyone has been taking good naps. I felt bad this day because he was just watching tv and I looked over and he laid down in this position and didn't move a muscle. Needless to say, he didn't even know when I moved him to his bed.

My little cowboys!! Easton's little children's church had a western day this past Sunday. He looked so cute! Saturday night we were dressing Easton up trying to decide what he should wear. Lawson, "Mr. Monkey See-Monkey Do", said he wanted to be a "ow-boy" too. Even though Lawson was just going to the nursery, we had two little cowboys. They looked so cute!

Thanks for checking in on us. We are doing good - staying very busy but doing good. We are loving the cooler weather the Lord has given us and it is giving me an inching for fall, hay, and football. Easton will start soccer soon. Mat is going to coach his little team. That should be another fun adventure. Lawson is growing up more and more. He is really trying hard to talk and doing very well. He is putting lots of words together and saying new things all the time. He also keeps us all laughing. He is such a ham!! We praise the Lord for our wonderful growing family.

I Believe I Can - Swim!!

Last week, we had some swim teachers come to mom and dad's pool for private swim lessons for Isaiah, Grant, and Easton. They were so sweet. Easton had never had swim lessons before and evidently it was the perfect timing for him. He did so good. I was such a proud momma watching him. He wasn't scared and he tried his best to do what they asked him to. While he didn't actually learn how to swim by the end of the week, he learned how to blow bubbles, make arm circles in the water, kick with a kickboard, go under the water by himself, jump off the side of the pool and jump off the diving board!!!! He is so proud of his new found talent!!

Learning how to blow bubbles

Going under to get the underwater toys.

Kicking with the "Batman" kickboards.

Jumping off the side of the pool! Yeah, Easton!! He didn't hesitate at all. And, yes, I do feed my child although he doesn't look like it. : )

He was getting very brave and having a little fun. Without saying a word, he started doing a "super-hero" jump. It looked like this and then in the air he changed his arms the other direction. It was absolutley precious. I couldn't be there the last day of the lessons, but they said he was doing the robot before he jumped. I just thought it was halirious that he was coming up with all this on his own. He was having loads of fun!

This is him jumping off the diving board! Way to go, Easton! I am so proud of you.

Easton's 4th Birthday

On June 24th, Easton turned 4. I can't believe my baby is 4 years old!! He has to be the sweetest little boy that God has ever made. I love him to pieces!! Thank you Lord for letting me be his momma. What a precious gift! I will tell the story of his birthday through the pictures. I can remember it better that way.

We had Easton's party the day after his actual birthday, so we let him open the present his Gammy and Papa Todd sent him from Florida on the morning of his birthday.

Then, we took him to McDonald's for his favorite - pancakes!! He asks for "Nick-Donald's" pancakes all the time. It was also a special treat to get to go inside and play. Daddy left work for a little bit to eat breakfast with us.

Momma and the birthday boy!

After breakfast, we went up to Nana's house to play on the "Rocky Mountain River Race" - Nana and Papa's newest addition to the backyard playground. : ) It is probably the best thing you could buy for kids - especially if you have several children that will play on it. This picture doesn't show how cool it is - Easton had just slid down the slide on his tummy when I took this picture.


The next evening we had Easton's birthday party up at Nana and Papa's house. Easton was so cute while we were setting up for the party. He kept asking
"When are my guests going to get here?"
Easton wanted a Batman Water Birthday party this year. That comes as no surprise because he is absolutely obsessed with Batman. We bought a Batman Wii game for him a month or so and he wants to play it 24-7. That has turned into a complete Batman love affair for him. I have to say he has gotten very good at the wii game - especially for a 4 yr old.

This was the most children we have invited to a birthday party. We had the family, of course, and several of Easton's friends from his Bible Class at church and a few of my friend's kids as well. There were 11 kids total.

This was the best family picture we could get. The cake was really cool. We asked a friend from church who does cakes to make it for us. She did a great job!

Here is Easton with his pick of the cake - the Batman symbol. He was very proud. Shortly after this picture was taken, the cake fell off his plate - almost leading to an extremely upset birthday boy. Thankfully, Daddy was able to cut off the dirty parts and salvage the treasured Batman symbol piece of cake. : )

This is Easton's favorite present. It was the only thing he really asked for. Nana and Papa got him a Bat Cave. Several other people got him the other peices to go with it and he loves it. He has played with it almost everyday since his birthday.

Weeee!!!!!

All the kiddos had lots of fun on the big slide. Mat stood gaurd to make sure no one got hurt.
It was a really fun birthday party. Easton turned 4 in style!!

I love you my precious boy!!!

Happy Father's Day 2009!

Happy Father's Day, sweetheart!
You are the best daddy our precious boys could ask for! We love you!!