Davis' Baptism

It only took us 7 1/2 months, but Davis is finally baptized!  Harrison was baptized at 4 months, but that was right around the chaos of the holidays so we decided to wait and have it done the same weekend that we did Harrison's birthday.  All of my family was able to come in town, including, Kim, Nancy and Emily so Davis had quite the audience for his big day!  He was so sweet and didn't give the ministers any problems.  I was kind of nervous going into the day b/c when Davis meets new men for the first time, he usually gives the pouty lip and then starts crying.  I was afraid that when Dr. Sam picked him up, he would start screaming in front of the church.  I hate to use the word "luckily", but Dr. Sam ended up having the flu that week so Rev. Elaine Wilder ended up doing the baptism.  Davis gave her a big smile and was the perfect angel all day!  They prefer that you don't take pictures during the ceremony, so here is Davis getting ready for his big debut to the church...

Dr. Cindy McDonald (left) and Rev. Elaine Wilder (right) performed the baptism ceremony and were kind enough to take a few moments for a photo op after the service

 I didn't realize until we got home that the group isn't exactly posed very well for the picture, but here is the group shot of both of our families.  We were thrilled that we had so many family members who were able to help us celebrate the day.

The very proud grandparents:

Once we got back to the house, everyone was able to enjoy a mimosa or two before the food was ready!

Mom and Penny comparing Davis to Lance's baby pictures.  Davis seems to be a little more serious than Harrison was and just likes to observe everything that is going on.  Apparently Lance used to do the same thing and there are several pictures where they have the exact same serious expression on their faces.

 Harrison and Jack wanted to watch movies in my room and they were so cute, they sat like this, right next to each other for quite a while watching Lightning McQueen.  Obviously, they were overcome with emotion by the thought of what a monumental day this was for Davis...I can't think of a better way to celebrate than watching Cars! :)  I couldn't get them to look away from the screen, but at least they cooperated with a "cheeeeeese!!!"

...

...Since Harrison doesn't get to see his cousins all that often, I decided to just let him stay up instead of taking a nap.  At about 3 o'clock, I walked into my room to find this...

...poor guy fell asleep sitting up!

We had such a nice day and loved having the support of our family on such an important day for Davis!

Harrison's Birthday Week

Happy 3rd birthday Harrison!!  February has been a crazy month for us with Harrison's birthday, Davis' baptism and Lance's and my first vacation together without the kids!  Harrison turned 3 on February 9th and I think he had 3 birthday celebrations in one week!  First up was his school party.  I brought in whoopie pies for the kids which are basically just homemade moon pies and we had a birthday celebration during his snack time.  All of his friends sang happy birthday to him and he got to wear a special birthday hat.  Here is Harrison and his friend Kenley:

I think the kids all liked the whoopie pies but it was near impossible to get all of them to look at the camera at the same time!

 

When Harrison woke up on his birthday, we had a bunch of balloons waiting for him in the family room.  He was so funny because when he saw them, he shouted, "Mommy!  Daddy!  Santa Claus brought me balloons for my birthday!  Since it was his birthday, he got to have gummies for breakfast...the breakfast of champions...or at least, birthday boys anyway!

A few of the babies in our playgroup were also born in early February so we met up at McDonalds that day for a birthday playdate.  We sat right next to the play area so the kids were all running around, but Harrison was able to sit for a few minutes to enjoy a cupcake!

Harrison's grandmommy & granddaddy Koeppe, Aunt Liz, cousin Emily and Aunt Nancy & Uncle Kim all came in town on his birthday to help celebrate the week.  Once everyone got in town, we met up at Mellow Mushroom for a birthday dinner.  Here is Grandma Ann, Grandmommy Koeppe and Aunt Liz with Harrison:

Davis was also able to get a little attention from Aunt Nancy & Uncle Kim.

As you can see from the video, he clearly does not like to get any attention:

After Harrison finished showing off his dance moves for the restaurant, we came back home and he got to open his present from grandma & granddaddy Randolph - a remote control car.  Now Harrison can play with his remote control car while daddy plays with his remote control helicopter!
Not the best picture, but he had so much fun.  Getting him to bed after opening this was not easy!

It was such a fun day, but the week was just getting started!!
Lance had a busy week at work, but still found time to make a cake for Harrison's birthday.  He started the tradition when Harrison was 1 and I feel like his cakes get more impressive for each birthday!  We'll see if he can keep it up for Davis too!!

Saturday came before we knew it and it was finally time for Harrison's soccer party!  He has asked when he gets to go to his soccer party everyday for the past 3 weeks so I know it felt like an eternity to him!
Here is the finished cake:

Harrison and his buddies enjoying their hotdogs...

Harrison and his friend Lanie playing soccer.  It was funny because the trains were setup in the room just as you walk into the basement so most of the kids got sidetracked with that and weren't too interested in the soccer part.  Hey, with 13- 3 yr olds, I was just happy they were all having fun!!

Jack & Trey helping Harrison open his presents...

Aunt Liz hanging with Davis while Harrison opened his presents.  I love this picture because Davis makes this face a lot and says "mmmmmmmmmmmm"  I think he is trying to say mama! :)

Overall, Harrison had such a fun birthday week.  Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped us celebrate!  We feel so blessed to have such an amazing "village"!

Best buddies

Davis just thinks Harrison is the coolest thing since sliced bread and the other night Harrison had Davis laughing harder than I've ever seen. I live for these sweet moments!

Bray Family Farms

I feel like I have been really focused over the past few weeks on finding ways to bring more healthy, local food into our house.  I recently found out that a friend of mine from college was diagnosed with lymphoma and I am finding it very difficult to "ignore" the fact that what we put into our bodies affects our health in a major way.  I have made baby steps over the past few years...using non-toxic household cleaners (thanks mom & Shaklee!), growing my own, and buying organic, locally grown veggies, and my next hurdle to overcome is meat & dairy.
I started looking online to see if there were any farms nearby that I could get meat, eggs & milk from and I came across Bray Family Farms.  I loaded up the kids this morning so we could go pick up some eggs to try.  I thought we would just drive up, pick up the eggs and head home...little did I know, it would be a really fun morning!  After driving 30 minutes to the farm, then driving past the farm about 5 times b/c I was "lost", we finally made it to our destination.  We pulled up and there didn't appear to be anyone inside the house, so I looked out back toward the farm and saw a man standing near a fence talking on his cell phone.  I walked up to him with the boys and told him why I was there.  His name was Andy and he was excited that we stopped by, but his wife had forgotten to tell him we were coming.  He showed us around and let us hang out with the animals while he drove over to his actual house to pick up the eggs.  They had 2 pigs (about 500 lbs each!), about 300 chickens, a bunch of cows, some goats, and honey bees.  Harrison had so much fun watching all of the animals and when Andy came back with our eggs, he took Harrison on a tractor ride around the farm and then took him into the hen house to pick out a freshly laid egg.
After about an hour or so, I decided we needed to head on home so Andy could get back to work.   When it was time to go, Harrison did not want to leave, so I told him that we had sandwiches waiting for us in the car.  Andy told us we could have picnic at one of their picnic tables, so we got to eat right there with him on the farm.
It was so interesting to talk to him.  The farmland has been in his family for quite a while and they were hit really hard with the floods a few years ago.  He said that their farm was 12 ft under water and they lost all but 36 of their 350 chickens.  All of their crops were destroyed and they are just now getting back to normal.  They now do meat and vegetable CSA's so I think I am going to sign up for a 3 month meat CSA.  I was so mad that I left my camera at home.  Hopefully next time I will remember it!!  We had such an unexpectedly fun morning and it feels good knowing that we are supporting our local farmers!  Since I forgot my camera, I thought I would just post a pic of the farm:

OOPSIES!!

My apologies to anyone who saw the half naked picture of Harrison reading to Davis!!  I was deliriously tired when putting up that post the other night and clearly did not proof it before I posted!  oops!  The post has been edited and is now "G" rated again!

2010, A year in review...

This has been one of the fastest and fun years of my life!  Raising a 2 year old and giving birth to his little brother has kept me busy but mostly has made me wonder, where did the time go????  I decided a while ago that this blog would be an easier way to track the boys than the actual baby books, so I wanted to post a few pictures of the boys to see how much they've changed over the year.

Harrison:

Harrison started the year just about to turn 2 years old.  He could speak pretty well but the biggest change that I've noticed in him in the past year has definitely been in this area.  He is so fun to listen to because he uses a bunch of phrases that always catch me off guard.  Its so hard to believe how much he picks up just from listening to us.  Some of his favorites right now are "maybe", "probably", "now we're cookin'!", which usually sounds like "now we're tookin'!", "make me like a bug"...his way of saying "snug as a bug in a rug"...it took me a while to figure out what he was asking for this.  I didn't realize it, but when he gets out of the bath tub, when I wrap him up in his towel I always say "snug as a bug in a rug!".  My other favorite phrase is "four  minutes".  This one cracks me up because what he means to say is "for a minute"....as in, "hold this for a minute", or "I'll be back in a minute"...he uses "four minutes" for both of these..."I will be back four minutes".  He also likes to use his manners...he will say "no ma'am, no thank you".  Yesterday he wanted me to play with his remote control bulldozer with him so he had put 2 of his chairs right next to each other.  He sat down in one and said, "mommy, you can sit here (pointing to his other chair), if you like!".  I just smiled and thought...he sounds like such a grown up!!
Harrison also likes to say the blessing at dinner.  He learns a new one each month at school so I try to do the prayer of the month, but his favorite is "God our father, God our father, we thank you, we thank you, for our many blessings, for our many blessings, a-men, a-men".  Anytime I try to say a different one, he always says that he wants to say this one instead.  I think its because he knows all the words..I need to get a video of him singing this, because it is so sweet.
Harrison's favorite songs right now are the ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  His favorite foods are buttermints, skittles, candy canes, gummies, chicken nuggets and french fries.  These are all usually special treats, but if it were his choice, he wouldn't eat anything else.
November 2009

November 2010

DAVIS
Davis made his big entrance halfway into 2010, but has totally shaken things up around here. He clearly likes to be noticed, considering he made his debut on July 4th.  He is such a sweet baby and LOVES to be held!  Even though he has only been here for 6 months, he has changed so much and is growing way too fast!  Right now Davis loves to lay on his tummy.  its so funny to me how different the two boys are.  Harrison learned to flip from his stomach to his back very early on but didn't flip from his back to his stomach until pretty late.  Davis on the other hand, will only flip from his back to his stomach.  He loves to be on his belly and now sleeps that way every night.
His most recent achievement, is that his teeth are starting to come in.  His bottom 2 teeth came in on Jan 3rd and I have a feeling that the top ones will be coming through any day now.  Because of this, he loves to chew on anything and everything.  His favorite thing seems to be washcloths.  Anytime he is in the bathtub, he grabs the washcloth immediately and starts screaming if you try to take it away.  I simply can't help but laugh when he does this!  I think his gums are bothering him, because he has not been wanting to eat much solid food lately.  I brought out the food teether and have been putting bananas and homemade teething biscuits inside and he LOVES it!  I hope he is at least getting a few nutrients this way since he isn't wanting to eat very much.
Davis' favorite activities right now seem to be jumping around in his exersaucer and watching his big brother.  Harrison is so sweet with him and Davis just can't get enough of him.  Harrison is always climbing all over him and hugging him...everytime I see him doing this, I always think Davis is going to start screaming, but he usually starts cracking up laughing.  Davis is starting to learn how to sit up and can do it with a boppy behind him.  I know babies grow so fast, but I just wish I could slow time down a little!  I love this phase and I know it is just going too quickly.  I am trying to soak it all in and I am just so thankful that I am able to spend my days with my boys, watching them grow and learn!
Here are a few pictures of Davis from July to now:
July 2010

Such sweet brothers:

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011...so sweet...

is it groundhog day...again???

We are now finishing day 3 of being caged up at home.  The boys are doing exceptionally well - I think its just Lance and I that are itching to get out of here and see the real world again!  You can tell you're desperate when you beg to go to the grocery store to get out of the house!  After breakfast this morning, Lance said, "Jenny, I should probably go to Publix to get some more food.  I think if I shovel the driveway I should be fine on the roads"...me - "no, I can go"...Lance - "no, really, I can go!"...me - "okay, but can I go to CVS when you get back???".  Don't get me wrong, I am actually going to be sad when things go back to normal and I don't get to see Lance during the day.  I have a feeling that Harrison is going to have a hard time as well.  It took him 2 weeks after Christmas to get used to Lance being back at work and he is already starting to tell me, "mommy, I don't want daddy to go to work".  Poor little guy - its always so hard to explain why he has to leave everyday. 

On a more cheery note, we have had fun getting to play outside in the snow each day.  Yesterday I braved the elements and walked over to the Mayfields' house to go sledding down their hill.  I blew up a few pool floats, packed up the kids in the all-terrain stroller and got a workout trying to sludge through the snow and ice filled streets.  We made it over there, but unfortunately since there was such a thick layer of ice over the snow, the floats wouldn't sail down the hill very well.  They kept getting stopped on the way down by big chunks of ice.  I think, amidst all the fun, we may have officially lost the crab float.  Oh well, at least we tried and had a great time while we were at it!
Here is Harrison's first attempt...Lance is playing "goalie" at the bottom of the hill!

How cute are they??

Ben, aka "Spiderman", wanted to get into the action too!

Today (Wed), I finally got around to making a snowman with Harrison.  I wish I would have done this on day 1, because most of the snow wouldn't stick together since it was all mixed with ice.  I was only able to use the snow that was over the landscaping since it hadn't been touched yet.  I don't ever remember having such a hard time trying to build a snowman growing up!  Apparently I've lost a few of my "yankee" skills from growing up!  I was able to make a small snowman and Harrison helped me decorate him.  It was funny because Oakley kept coming over and eating the Hershey kisses off the snowman and it was driving Harrison crazy.  I couldn't help but laugh!

Proud of our hard work!  Oakley just looks mad that I wouldn't let her keep eating the Hershey kisses!

Aside from playing in the snow, Harrison's other favorite activity is playing with trains.  Thankfully Santa listened to Harrison's Christmas list and brought a bunch of train track and tunnels and bridges for him.  Lance has mad spacial planning skills and got so excited the other night to build an awesome track using all the new pieces.  Here is the most recent track that he built for Harrison...I still can't believe that he was able to fit that many track pieces on one train table!