Party Time!

We made it through the birthday party weekend! And I only teared up once when Mom and I were talking. I think that's pretty good, if I must say so myself. Not for sure how I'll do on Friday, but I'll let you know later.

I wanted to make his invitation special, so I decided to make them myself using my Creative Memories program. I didn't tear up until I looked at the final product and saw how much he had changed within the 3 month spans. He looks like a little boy these days.

We had such a wonderful time with both sides of our family coming to party with us. We had it outside in the heat, but it was cooler under the shade. By the time we had finished it was really cool and ended up storming. We had one of my friends from Tech, Jennifer, take pictures for me so I didn't have to worry about getting good photos. It allowed me to relax a bit and not feel the need to run and grab my camera. She is the same girl that took them when Blake was first born. When she has them on her website, I'll post it here so you can check them out. She does great work!

Blake loved all of his presents. He enjoyed tearing the paper and pulling things out of the bags. He has played with them all week so far and I have been able to get a few more things done thanks to the new toys. Thanks everyone! For those wondering, no...he hasn't been allowed any more icing. We decided to do cupcakes because we could easily limit the amount of sugar that he ate. He did like playing with it and stuffing it into his mouth. He had absolutely NO trouble going to sleep that night, thank goodness! I think I'll make him something for his birthday, but we don't want him to have sweets all of the time. I know some people will think we're weird, but we don't want him to crave sweets. Right now he LOVES his fruits and veggies and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible. That means that we are limiting our sweets, too.

Uncle John and Aunt Molly bought Blake his first UT jersey. In case you don't know us, Raun and I are NOT UT fans. Raun is a Florida Gator fan and I am a Florida State Seminole fan. However, we MAY let him wear this around his aunt and uncle. I wonder how much they'll pay us....

Raun trying not to hyperventilate when he saw it was a UT jersey. He's already hoping Molly and John have a baby really soon so he can flood it with Gator things.

I had to make him wear this hat...just for a bit. He'll hate me when he's older!

Jerri Lynn and her family gave him his first John Deere hat and shirt. He likes to carry it around the living room. Shockingly, he leaves it on his head until he remembers it.

Blake liked to take the cones off of the poles and carry it around. As soon as you put it back where it belonged he was right behind you to help you take it off again.

4th of July

Okay, so I'm finally posting our July 4th pictures a month late. Sorry! I go through periods where I feel like I've accomplished all I needed to do so I have a moment or two to sit down at the computer and then other times I stay so busy that I don't get a chance to update as much as I liked. We have stayed incredibly busy this summer and visited lots of family. I'm not exactly for sure where summer 2009 has gone. All I know was that it was fast! We had a travel-filled July 4th weekend. We started by going to our Hayes Family Reunion. It was so good to see everyone for the first time and for them to meet Blake. Last year he was kicking in my tummy and this year he was running around on concrete.

5 generations:

My great-grandmother, which makes her Blake's great-great-grandmother. And great she is!

They have a duck pond by the pavilion and Blake loved watching the ducks. We were going to let him feed the ducks but we didn't have anything to share.

We left that afternoon and made it back home in time for the fireworks downtown and to hear the concert. It was awesome! Blake liked the fireworks. He didn't even get scared. Raun's mom had picked out the perfect spot on the walkway that was shaded by a tree. I couldn't believe how packed it was and how much food was there. People brought stakes and staked out their area, which was a little dangerous because people almost tripped on them and you couldn't walk through their space without being yelled out. I kid you not. They INVITED people to come into their space. I do hope that they change that rule next year.

Earlier that week, we had went to our friend's, Walt and Jaime's, house to eat and then to walk to a nearby small town to watch the fireworks and hear the music. It wasn't as crowded there so Blake got to run around. But boy was he tired!

**I put up a lot of pictures for my family so they can right click on them and save them to their computer. It's so much easier that way! Sorry for the delay in posting them. There were just so many!

First Haircut

Blake had his first haircut yesterday. He did so good. He sat completely still and let her cut on his hair. I saved it and am putting it in his baby scrapbook. He looks so grown up now! In Raun's words, he'll be starting college soon! This is my favorite picture of him. It looks like he is doing the hair check in the mirror to make sure his hair is just right for the girls.

His hair cut was the best price: FREE!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

What do you think? Can you see a difference in my little man? I'll admit, the after picture wasn't as cute, but he had food in his mouth.

-----------------

My cousin, Ashley, and her family stopped by on their way to their new house up in the northern part of the U.S. We loved having them. Blake got to play with John Paul a little. I couldn't believe how much he had changed in just 2 months. I never saw the difference with Blake since I was with him all of the time, but I really see it now in other people's children.

------------

Imagine I saw to you, "Will you please go and feed Blake his breakfast?" What kinds of food would run through your head? Perhaps yogurt, cheerios, a banana, strawberries, blueberries, oatmeal, possibly cheese. This scenario was carried out yesterday morning before Raun left for work. However, instead of that long list of healthy options, he decided upon a new one for his list. I walked into the kitchen and what did I see in the tray of his high chair? TEDDY GRAHAMS! I love my husband. I do. But it led to a talk about how teddy grahams are NOT a breakfast for any child or adult. I proceeded to name the list above and he still felt very adament that teddy grahams belonged on that list. Anyone agree?

Challenged

I had such a wonderful weekend. I spent the first part of my weekend with one of my mentors from my home church and the last half was spent with my parents. I loved having Beka over to catch up on things and to talk. She is such an encouragment to me and I learn so much from her. I am so blessed by her. We went to a homeschool curriculum fair on Friday and Saturday morning. Most of you know that we are planning on homeschooling unless God changes our hearts and minds. Many of you know why we have chosen to do this. I'm excited about it and am learning all I can before I get started. One of the sessions we went to yesterday was a Charlotte Mason session on "Habits." I felt that session was definitely for me and it was challenging and in some ways, convicting. She talked about how habits are formed constantly. It just depends on whether it's a good habit or a bad habit forming. I never really thought about it that way. Then she talked about all of the character traits that Mrs. Mason used to teach her students. Incredible. Overwhelming. Taking small steps towards them. Some of them I had never thought of before. Some of them weren't very important to me at all. I'm excited for Raun and I to make three lists of the ones that we definitely want to teach, the foundational ones, and the ones that would be great if he had, but it's not going to ruin them if they don't have them. I have been completely challenged to teach myself some of these good habits that I wish to enstill in our children. After all, I know I lack in so many areas. But how great would it be that he had a habit of neatness, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, health, music, honesty, and so many more. I can't wait to go through the Bible and put Bible verses with all of the ones that I feel are important and to help our children learn the habit of memorizing verses and applying them. And not doing things just because mom and dad told him, but because our children love it. I know it will be so hard, but well worth it in the end. Will I fail in some of these? Probably. Am I overzealous? Some may say "yes." Do I feel as though some of things things are lacking in society today? Yes. Am I weird for doing and teaching these things? Some would think so. Am I willing to be different and go against what's acceptable and normal these days? Yes, despite the fact I will in fact fail in so many ways. But I will keep trying.

Since I'm speaking of challenging and God has spoken so much to me on this, I found the perfect song for my kiddos tomorrow. I can't wait to share it with them and to have our lyric discussion and to see their drawings and their descriptions. I am praying that God changes lives in some teens tomorrow. I posted the video so you can see what it is. Wonderful message. And by the way, in the end, it turns out good.