Prospective and Prayer

Today was a doozy.  Sutton is getting his first teeth and not sleeping well.  It has been a challenge to get anything done and I feel like the house is a wreck.  I'm still struggling with potty training (#2) with Moses.  He is also in to everything and so impulsive.  I dropped a roll of toilet paper in the potty and a full jar of baby food...which splattered on the floor, wall, and windows.

I didn't scream, fuss, or yell why me.  Not once.  Because today, I have a sweet friend who is wishing she was cleaning up a mess and dealing with everyday little boy problems.  This mommy has lost one of her precious sons.  He is with Jesus and joyous in heaven, but his family is missing him so.  I can't imagine losing a child and my heart breaks for them.  If you read this blog would you say a prayer for them?  Pray for their strength and healing and for to joy to return to their home.

Tomorrow, we will go to bible study and do our best to praise God and lift them up in prayer.  Tomorrow, they will hold a celebration of his life and embrace friends and family.  Tomorrow, I will have more maddening mommy moments and I pray I will remember what is important in this life and the next.

Staycation

We are having a staycation at the beach. I will write more later, but for now here is a photo to wish everyone a happy Friday!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...

 We went to the zoo!  The NC Zoo is in Asheboro, which is only about and hour and forty minutes from our house.  I didn't realize it was so close.  It was a really easy drive and Moses was very excited to meet up with Nana and Pops.

 Moses enjoyed all the animals, real and fake.  The zoo is really beautiful, and I loved all of the walking trails between the Africa and North America areas.

Moses did have one little freak out because of our friend pictured above.  All of the gorillas were sitting with their backs to the plexiglass.  Moses was directly behind him.  Our gorilla friend turned around when Moses was not expecting it and he quickly turned around and ran to mommy.  He was done with them after that.

 Apparently he realized what he had done, and immediately put himself in time out.  How funny does he look just sitting on this log!

 Sutton did a great job too.  He didn't really notice too much, but enjoyed the extra attention and time outside.

 Here are Moses' favorite animals at the zoo.  The giraffes were really beautiful in person.  They were just so elegant.

If you haven't visited the zoo, this is the time of year to do it.  It was not crowded at all and the weather was perfect.  The earlier you can arrive the better.  Not only are the animals more active, the day will go smoother for you as well.  I think 3pm at the zoo (and probably at most amusement parks) is melt down time.  All the kids are tired and the adults are too!  It takes several hours to walk and see everything.  I would start in Africa and see the more fun animals while everyone is still excited.

Now that we know how easy it was to get there, I think we will go back again soon.  Watch out gorillas, we are coming back to see you!

Family Football!

 There was a time not too long ago when football was our life.  Brett and I NEVER missed a game.  We tailgated for hours before and hung out afterwards.  We lived for these games.  Then we had Moses, and Brett never missed a game!  Now with two kids, and a team that's not having a great season, we have begun to revisit our priorities.  We still bought our season tickets, but we have sold a lot of them.  We did promise Moses that he would get to go to a game.  At first Brett was going to take him and sell the other ticket to a friend.  When that didn't work out, we decided to get brave and take the entire family.  Yep, we're crazy!

 It was honestly not bad at all!  Moses was very interested in what was going on during the first half.  he loved the band and the "fire in the sky" (fireworks) when the team ran on.  It was all very exciting.  We also picked a perfect game.  It was warm, and since we were playing a team that was not well known, the stands were not as packed or as rowdy.

 We were also able to see the new American Idol, Scotty.  I really don't watch American Idol, but I do think this kid is pretty sweet and it's very cool he lives about 10 minutes from our house.  Let me tell you the Scotty patrol was fierce!  I only had my small lens on so I could not zoom in.  He is on the field with the white shirt and red hat.  All the orange to the right?  That was the press that followed him around all day.  Had to be close to twenty people.  If you lost sight of him all you had to do was look for the orange vests or the girls screaming for him.  It was insane.

This is what Sutton did for most of the first half.  He would like to thank his Auntie Lindsey for his sun hat.  It was very useful!  He did not wake up until it got quiet during half time!  Moses watched the game some and spent a lot of time socializing with the people who sit around us, especially a group of preteen girls a few rows back.  SUCH a flirt!  He also convinced a little boy to play cars with him on the bleachers.  Sutton and I did some walking after half time and by the end of third quarter we decided to leave.  I was really happy they did so well.  A Wolfpack win and worn out kids makes for a great day!

Happy Half Birthday Sutton!

 Half a year?  Already?  My sweet boy is getting big!  Seriously, is this not the cutest face ever?  Sutton is becoming more active after every passing day.  He rolls and scoots all over the carpet trying to get to what he wants.  A toy, his brother, my shoes, or the rug fringe.  We have switched to formula and you have been doing well with it.  You are also eating one to two solid meals a day.  You prefer pears, prunes, and apples.  The faces you make when I give you veggies is priceless.  Your well check is not until next week, but you are weighing in at a little over 16lbs.  Those beautiful eyes are a greyish hazel we think.  And you hair is a dark blonde.

 You are working on your new trick, sitting up!  You are doing it a little more every day.  You like to be sitting up in our laps instead of being cradled.  You play for a little while until...

you topple over!  No crying, no fussing...just continuing to play happily.  You love being outside.  We go for a walk in the stroller every day.  Sometimes you like to take a nap when your brother is not around to keep you awake.  You have also been loving your swing on the porch.  You favorite thing in this whole world is your brother.  He makes you laugh all the time.  Those smiles and laughs come all the time now.  Everyone always comments on how happy you are.  It's true!  You make people SO happy, especially us!

Hill Ridge Farms

 Last year, we made our way to Hill Ridge Farms for the first time.  The verdic: it was SO worth the drive!  We decided we wanted to add it to our tradition list.  (Seriously, we are the most boring people alive)  This time my parents were in town to go with us.  The first thing we did was take the train ride.  Moses loves trains and this was not exception.

 We walked around and tried all of the fun things.  Like the big slide and playing in the corn.

 The last thing we did was take the hay ride to pick out our pumpkins.  I am still in awe of how exciting pumpkins are when you are three.  Moses has been searching for them whenever we go anywhere.  He is just in love with this time of year!

 We picked out our pumpkins and grabbed a little lunch at Pei Wei, and picked up some paint to decorate our pumpkins.  This is the point where I am super glad for my mom and her artistic skills.  Moses LOVED painting.  I really need to buy some more paints and find things for him to decorate because he had the best time.  He even painted some this morning!  Thank you for our fun weekend Gaga and Papa!!

Little Pumpkins

Warning. the cuteness factor in these photos is overwhelming.  There is not much back story here.  We went to the pumpkin place we always go to.  We took pictures.  These are the results.