Bethany's Birthday

I love Birthdays! I love letting those I love know how special they are to me and how grateful I am that they were born! So obviously, the kids birthdays are a big deal around here. The whole day centers around them and whatever they want to do!

On Bethany's birthday, when she woke up we all went in to her room wishing her a Happy Birthday! She was SO excited! I taped a number 3 out of balloons onto her door. (Last year I did that really cute pinterest idea of filling the kids bedroom with balloons while they were asleep. They LOVED it but it also started our day at about 4 am. I'm waiting a couple more years till I try that on again)

 

Then Bethany ran to the table, where a bunch of little gifts were waiting on her. Her presents were all wrapped in Hello Kitty. I think she loved they paper as much or more than the actual gifts. Even now, almost 2 weeks after her actual birthday, she still says she got Kitty for her birthday.

 

 

 

Then, we had a special birthday breakfast. She had a cinnamon roll with a candle so we could sing Happy Birthday. She SPAZZED out! The entire time we sang she cried and yelled No NO NO! It was only after the song that I realized she was scared of the flame on the candle. Oops!

After breakfast, we opened some of her new toys and played for a bit. Then we asked what she wanted to do for her birthday. THE ZOO!!! So we quickly got ready to go and invited Gigi to come along.

 

We had so much fun at the zoo! She led the way around. We saw the elephants and played on the playground. Then we found someone doing face paint! Lane wanted an Elephant and Bethany wanted an Alabama "A".

                                                                               Roll Tide.

 

We continued looking at the animals. We made it to the giraffes at feeding time. Lane and Bethany had a blast feeding the giraffes.

 

 

After the giraffes, we walked around the corner and found camel rides!

 

Bethany loved the camel ride so much she asked to pet the camel afterwards!

We continued on and had the best time watching all the animals. They were all so active since it was close to feeding time. We watched a zoo keeper hide several fish in one exhibit. Then she released the cats. It was so neat watching the cats "hunt" for the fish!

We finally ended up at the children's area. We did the new DINO exhibit first. Lane loved it!

 

Bethany was a little scared! Chris ended up having to hold her and sneak by all the dinos. Every time they would get close to a new dinosaur she would whisper in his ear "shhh. quiet!" So funny!

 

Thankfully, Bethany warmed up to the dinosaurs by the end!

Then we moved on the carousel. She rode 5 times in a row.

 

   
















She only got off because we wanted to try to catch the zoo train. We hustled over to the train and made it just in time for the last ride of the day!

On our walk back to the front of the zoo, we found the photo booth. The kids wanted to take a picture so we took on set with family pictures and one set with Gigi and the kids. I love how they turned out!

 

About that point a rather large man with a growly voice came by to make sure we knew the zoo was closing. Yes sir!


When we got back to the car, it was time for Bethany to decide what she wanted for dinner. Mexican!

So we eat then went home after a fun-filled day. It was a perfect way to celebrate B!

I'm all growin' up

Happy Birthday Lane!

You are 5 years old now! It seems like it was just yesterday that you were a tiny little fella leaving the NICU but as you reminded me yesterday ....

 

 You are "5 years old and all growin' up!"

 

You are so sweet and kind. I pray daily that you keep you sweet, kind heart always. You are so thoughtful. You freely give those you love hugs and sugar! I cherish them and dread the day you are too cool to give hugs and sugar. But never fear, I will be that mom that keeps giving you hugs and sugar and telling you how much I love you.

You love to laugh and make others laugh. You love telling knock-knock jokes. Right now a typical knock knock joke for you would go like this:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Shoe
Shoe who?
Shoe coming out a tree bush pizza. (insert your uncontrollable laughter here.)

Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy gave you a joke book for valentine's day and frequently google "kid jokes" to build your joke library! :)

You are a leader. Bethany follows you everywhere and does a lot of what you do (including telling stellar knock knock jokes!). You love Bethany with all your heart. Whenever you and I go shopping you almost always find something B needs or would want but you rarely ask for anything for yourself. Last night, you two were hugging so tight and saying you were best friends. You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you two say those words. I pray you feel that way about each other forever!

You are so smart. Soo soo smart. Last night you were reading to me and a word stumped you. I can't remember the last time a word stumped you. The word was rambunctious. Right now you really enjoy reading classic stories like "3 little pigs" and "Goldilocks". You've have started reading the book to Bethany and then you guys put on little plays. Bethany is usually the big, bad wolf and you are all the little pigs.

You have really started asking questions about God and Jesus. I love your sweet question but I don't always know the answers. "What's God's favorite flower? Does God like pizza?" If it's raining you will say "Oh God must be waterin' the flowers. That's so nice of Him!" After church you will tell me about the "worshipin' songs" you like to sing. Every Sunday, you get a sheet that has the story you read from the Jesus Storybook Bible and you will read that story over and over and over until the next Sunday. This week you have amazed me with several Bible verse you know. As much as I would like to say I taught you to memorize scripture, I think you learned them at your wonderful preschool! You LOVE singing "the B-I-B-L-E song and John 3:16." You sing them constantly right now! SO precious!

Here is a little video of you making a "joyful noise" singing John 3:16

You truly are a blessing, Lane! I thank God daily for trusting us to be your parents. We love big boy!!

B turns three!

Happy Birthday Bethany Claire!

Three years ago, you came into our family and brought more joy and laughter than we ever could have imagined. I don't think I've ever met someone who loved life as much as you do! You are always going full blast. Everything you do is all or nothing.

 

 

 Three years ago, your daddy and I marveled at all the little things about you - your long eyelashes and nails (Lane was born so early he didn't have these! We didn't know babies could be born already needing a manicure. I knew you were my girly girl right then!)

You are so smart. You amaze me daily. You know your letters, letter sounds, numbers to 20 and depending on your mood you can count even higher. :) You have really become interested in reading books - The Froggy series is your favorite right now. You also love reading baby Elmo books and your "Jesus loves me book" (The Jesus Storybook Bible) You are starting to try to spell/read. You can spell Bethany, Lane, zoo, and cat. The other night while we were taking a bath you decided to spell tepee for some reason. You did a great job sounding it out!! You have learned to read some words. I was writing a letter the other day and you came up and started pointing to several words - I remember you saying "that says So, right mommy?"


You are stubborn. Oh my word, are you stubborn. I both love and hate this depending on the day. haha. The past month though, I have LOVED this. Whenever you decide something will be done (or won't), you stick to your guns.  Right before Easter, we were putting you down for bed on night and you said you didn't want your paci. I really didn't believe you so I tried to put your paci in your bed so you would find it if you needed it in the night. Oh that made you mad! You grabbed the pacis, threw them out of your bed and screamed "I DON'T WANT MY PACI'S!!" And you haven't touched one since.

This week, you potty trained yourself. I tried potty training you several months ago and you did great, but you did NOT want to wear panties - only diapers! Then Tuesday you woke up from nap completely naked asking to go potty. So, we went. Then, you asked for panties. You went the rest of the day without even having one accident! And you've pretty much continued on the rest of the week! I'm not sure who is more proud of you - us or you!

You want to go to school SO BADLY! Everyday when we drop Lane off you start crying and saying "but it's my turn!" We already signed you up for 3k next year. We've been telling you for months that in order to go to school you had to be 3 and you had to tee tee in the potty. Diapers don't go to school. We were hoping that would encourage you to start going potty. Well, last night we were telling you today was your birthday, then we asked how old you were going to be. You whole face lit up and you exclaimed "3!! I gonna be 3! and I tee tee in the potty! I gonna GO TO SCHOOL!!!!" Right then is where I wanted to crawl into a hole. The we had to have a long talk about summer vacation and all the fun we were going to do. It helped when I mentioned that Lane would not be at school and neither would Maggie or Miller. Then in the fall everyone will go back to school. I fear Lane's last 4 days of school are going to be long. But at least you are so excited to go to school.

You love painting, chalking, bubbles, really anything artsy or outdoors! You love gathering pricklies (sweet gumballs) and giving them to mommy and daddy!

 

 

 

You love dogs but rarely want to get close enough to pet one. You play doctor every single day. You sing all day every day too! Sometimes you sing classic songs like Twinkle Twinkle. Sometimes you sing songs from cartoons like Doc McStuffin's theme song. Sometime you sing church songs and sometimes you make up your own songs.

I love the way you say so many different things.

You say "I'm walkin' on myself!"              translation: I'm walking on tip-toes.

You say:"a little minute"                            translation: a little bit + just a minute

You say: "There's a bone in there!"            translation: I was choking

You  like to wear your busters.                  aka your slippers

You call polka dots "bubbles"

You call french fries "chicken fries"

You make me laugh daily. Someone mentioned the old country song "..she's a wild one with an angel face." and it brought a smile to my face just thinking about you. You are wild but you are sweet and precious. You snuggle like no one else. You give the best hugs. You love your brother and try to do everything he does.

This could go on all day long. You are unique - a rare gem and I am so thankful God gave you to us! You have my heart baby girl. I am so honored to be your momma. I love you!

Answered Prayers

Everyday Bethany Claire cracks me up, like I literally laugh out loud at the child. She says the craziest things. Sometimes I share what she says on twitter. Sometimes you just need to see the way her eyes light up or hear the sweet tone or giggle in her voice.

Yesterday she came running up to me as proud as she could be and declared "I have my busters on!!" After asking a couple of different questions to figure out what she was talking about I asked her to show me. She pointed to her feet. She had her "slippers" on.

She calls every bug a spider. This morning, I was driving down Valleydale and one of the billboards had a ladybug. It she started yelling "SPIDER! SPIDER! We have to be VERY careful!"

She blends words. Instead of saying "little bit" or "just a minute". She says she wants to do things for a "little minute."

If a toy is lost it's a BIG mystery! Once she finds the toy, it becomes her treasure.

Somehow, Chris and I started talking about all the little things Bethany says everyday. I mentioned that I don't remember Lane saying such funny things at this age. Which is really odd because Lane is such a funny kid.

Then it hit me.

Lane didn't say things like this because when he was Bethany's age he was basically nonverbal. He could say a couple of words, but almost everything was single syllables. He called me "Ma" for the longest time. In fact when Lane was Bethany's age right now we were doing Speech therapy with the ARC and testing him trying to get him in to the Hoover school's preschool program for early intervention. That year was full of prayers over sweet Lane. It was full of frustration for me. That was such a helpless time - not knowing how to help your child.

Earlier that same year Bethany got a bad report from the pediatrician. He spotted something wrong with her eyes. We were referred to another Dr. If it was confirmed, best case she would have to have surgery and glasses, worst case she would be blind. Again the prayers of so many that covered my sweet baby.

Fast forward two years.

Bethany eyes are perfect. She never needed surgery or glasses. Lane is talking very well. Actually, he talks almost constantly.

So, what's my point? Our God is a good and faithful God. He answers prayers for us constantly. He loves my kids and is concerned for them far more than I do - I can't even comprehend a love deeper than I have for them but I KNOW He loves them more.

I don't know about you, but it is SO easy for me to get busy doing life and before I realize it I've forgotten about all the times God has come to my rescue. My prayer this week has been that I would remember all the times the Lord has been so good and faithful to me.

I read Psalm 145 today and absolutely loved every bit of it. He can never be praised enough!

So, if you're struggling or heavy burdened right now. I challenge you think about the times God has proven himself faithful in your life. If you're like me, it won't take long to think of several times God has shown up! Remembering those moments and all God's promises encourage me to boldly approach the Lord with any situation. Never forget He cares about what's on your heart and He loves you more than you know.


Ps 145 MSG:
I'll bless you every day, and keep it up from now to eternity. God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough. There are no boundaries to his greatness. Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; each one tells stories of your mighty acts. Your beauty and splendor have everyone talking; I compose songs on your wonders. Your marvelous doings are headline news; I could write a book full of the details of your greatness. The fame of your goodness spreads across the country; your righteousness is on everyone's lips. God is all mercy and grace— not quick to anger, is rich in love. God is good to one and all; everything he does is suffused with grace. Creation and creatures applaud you, God; your holy people bless you. They talk about the glories of your rule, they exclaim over your splendor, Letting the world know of your power for good, the lavish splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get voted out of office. God always does what he says, and is gracious in everything he does. God gives a hand to those down on their luck, gives a fresh start to those ready to quit. All eyes are on you, expectant; you give them their meals on time. Generous to a fault, you lavish your favor on all creatures. Everything God does is right— the trademark on all his works is love. God's there, listening for all who pray, for all who pray and mean it. He does what's best for those who fear him— hears them call out, and saves them. God sticks by all who love him, but it's all over for those who don't. My mouth is filled with God's praise. Let everything living bless him, bless his holy name from now to eternity!

Kid's Crafts

Lane and Bethany LOVE crafting and painting. I thought I would share three crafts I found on pinterest that they have done and loved!

The first pinterest craft we did was this canvas for Lane's room. I got the idea a couple of years ago from Attack of the twins It was too easy! I already had a spare canvas. We did not have finger paint so we just used normal paint and paintbrushes.

 

Around Valentines Day, we tried this project. (The pin didn't go to a blog so I can't give credit to anyone.) But I found ice cube trays in the dollar section at target that were perfect for this project!
We have A TON of crayons at our house, so I gathered up all the broken crayons and Lane and I placed them in the ice cube trays. Bake the crayons at 230 degrees for 15 minutes.

 Lane was not a fan of making multi-color crayons like the picture. So he sorted the crayons by color. After making these we learned that the crayola brand crayons worked great. The off brand crayons were horrible! So, don't use the cheapy crayons. Notice on the picture below some of the crayons look two-toned. The lighter half of the crayons (the off brand) don't work.

 

Finally, my very favorite pinterest craft project! This idea came from Alphamom and it was too neat not to try! Basically grab some sandpaper and color away. Then flip the sandpaper over onto a white t-shirt, iron, and voila your drawing transfers to the t-shirt! SO. MUCH. FUN! We did this project with Lane's 4k class during one of their holiday parties. Make sure to tell your kids color very very heavy or just go over your kids drawing when they are finished! And tell your kids NOT to sign their name on the sandpaper, because when you iron it on the shirt their name will be backwards!

Dollar Tree fun

About two weeks ago, Memaw and Pawpaw sent Lane and Bethany a card in the mail with $10 each to spend at Dollar Tree. 10 DOLLARS! That like $100 in their world! Needless to say they had a BLAST picking out 10 things each at the store.

 

We had to do a little persuading with Bethany. At on point she had a rather large planter in her basket. Haha!

Look how focused Lane was checking out. This is such serious business!

We came home and immediately spread everything out! Lane picked out some very neat things! He ended up with a butterfly net, silly string, silly glasses with a mustache, water balloons, a paintable piggybank, 3 decks of cards, a giant bubble want, prank toothpaste, grow-an-animal tablets, and a hula hoop!

Have you tried lately to take a picture of a 2 year old???

"B look at me and smile"

"Cheeeeeeese!"

 

"B look at me though!"

 

 

"B, where's mommy?"

Haha, finally got her looking at me!

She ended up with a lot of fun things too! She got a Blues Clues books, butterfly net, ball, giant bubble wand, clappy hand thing, Hot Air Balloon stain glass paint thing, 3 decks of cards, and 3 giant books of stickers! She wasted no time on playing with the stickers!

 

 

Lane and Chris enjoyed the silly glasses. Then we went outside to play with the silly string and bubbles!

 

Thank you so much Memaw and Papaw! They loved the receiving their very own mail and picking out 10 prizes! Wish you were here to play with us! We love you both!