a birthday party and then some

so, we spent last week in jackson hanging out and partying. chase was off, so we left on wednesday in order to have a few days to play before my niece, sara beth, had her 2nd birthday shindig on saturday. we had time to...

play in the flowers at honey and g's house....

play with cousins and friends...


see the trains at the ag museum.....(william loved this place. every corner he turned, there was a tractor or an airplane or a catfish tank. he would have stayed in there all day, and we had to trick him in order to leave. don't shake your head...you know you'd do the same thing.)

and party like a 2 year old at sara beth's "tea for 2" tea party!

now in your best paul harvey voice, say, "now it's time for the rest of the story." we decided to leave town right after the party because it would be naptime for both little people, and we just assumed that they would sleep a deep my-tummy-is-full-of-cake-and-ice-cream sleep most of the way home (which would make for silence in the vehicle allowing for the big people to listen to the state basketball game). yeah....you know what they say about assuming. yes ma'am, we were wrong!

after about 30 mintues of sleep, william woke up crying and whining, "i hurt, i hurt." not making much of the situation, i handed him a cup and said, "here. here's some gatorade." gatorade is supposed to cure everything for a 2 year old, right? uhhhh...not this time.

he continued to cry, and we cranked up the volume a little louder because trying to listen to jack with crying going on is a little tough. anyway, just before we got to louisville, william proceeds to puke all over himself, the car seat, the car, and you know, anything within a 10 foot radius. it was oh, so lovely. this was the first time that he had ever thrown up, so it scared him half to death. he was by this point screaming and flailing his arms, "CLEAN IT OFF!" so, we pulled into mickey d's, and proceeded to do just that. he got naked in their parking lot....not kidding....and we got stares from all the people in the drive thru. we used up all the wipes i had in the car in about 4 seconds, so chase went in and got a mile high stack of paper napkins that we used to clean the car seat as best we could. at this point, poor william is asleep in the front seat. wes is screaming (supposed to be sleeping) probably because the vomit smell has woken him from his dreamy state. so anyway, after 30 minutes of cleaning the best you can clean with a paper napkin, we were on the road again with 2 sleeping kids and jack giving the play by play. sounds good, right?? guess again.

it was 40 degrees outside. therefore, there was no rolling down of the windows. the stench. oh my goodness, the stench. i don't know how the little people slept through it, but chase and i passed his coffee (since we left puke all over their parking lot, we felt as though we should buy something at mcdonald's) back and forth just so we could sniff that heavenly aroma. finally, we made it home, broke the car seat down into approximately 800 parts and scrubbed and cloroxed every one, hung redneck air freshener all over the car, let the car spend the night with the windows down, and went to bed (but not before state clinched an overtime win over south carolina....you go, ben hansbrough).

sunday morning we were all good to go. even the car. so, bring on the next road trip. (of course, from now on the glove compartment will be chock full of wipes and phenergan. and maybe an extra fresh smelling pine tree to hang from the rear view mirror if needed!)

floor cleaner for hire

turn on a little music....give the kid a broom....get your floors clean. i'll give you a good price. (shirtless is extra!)

happy birthday, knox!

this week, on tuesday, william's buddy, knox, is turning the big 3! we got to help him celebrate a few days early this past saturday at GO. the kids had a blast running, jumping, bouncing, sliding, hula-hooping (kind of), rope swinging, rock climbing, and getting their faces painted. william was a little hesitant at first. actually, there was music overhead, so as soon as he stepped on that springy floor the first thing he did was bust a move. (the kid can't help it. if he hears music, he has to dance. it totally justifies why we sit on the very back pew....so as not to disturb anyone while we're getting jiggy to the tune of amazing grace.) anyway, it didn't take long, and he was out there sweating with everyone else. there was something for everybody...even wes wanted in on the fun. and, if all that playing weren't enough, a monster truck cake and ice cream made a good party even better! thanks, rusty and candace, for a great time. and, i'm sure i'm not the only parent who appreciates the great night of sleep that followed! i've posted some party pics below:

knox trying to fly

knox and william jumping
wes dancing
gracie conquering the ladder


collins making the ladder look like child's play
mont showing off his skills
luke looking as cute as ever
martha stewart painting william's face
knox getting his face painted (she's no martha stewart, but she'll do)
janey beth looking pretty
knox making a wish
mary blake and collins putting the hurt on some cake
ben polishing off his plate
harrison not letting any of his cake or ice cream go to waste

clean teeth

william had his first dentist appointment today. much to my surprise, it went very well. he teared up a little right when he had to lie back and open his mouth, but it didn't last long. he was so cooperative and opened his mouth wide for the "dentist man" to "scratch" and brush his teeth. he got a great report, a free ice cream at chick-fil-a (seems a little ironic coming from a dentist, doesn't it?), a toy alligator, and an elmo sticker. needless to say, he's ready to go back to the dentist.

i took my camera so i could get a before and after shot thinking that they would be drastically different....no such luck.

Before: very interested in this "roller"


After: showing off my clean teeth

i'm a little worried about wes' first appointment because i feel like i got off way, way too easy for a first time visit! we can only hope they are all like this (because who can turn down free ice cream?)!

playing and (some) sleeping

it has been so cold and wet this past week that we've done lots of playing inside. william and wes are starting to enjoy playing together. i take that back...wes loves to play with william and william's toys. william sometimes likes to play with wes. and, he's not real big on sharing his toys! here is wes eyeing one of william's trucks.

this is william's "touch my truck and die" look...along with his "you can't be serious about sharing" look.



























and, here is wes sticking his chest out and letting william know that he is not going to push and bully him around anytime in the near future.


but, it did get a little warmer outside one day, so they ventured out into the backyard for a few
hours. (sanity for mom.)























one of my favorite times of day is right before the little people's bedtime. it's probably a combination of things...fresh smelling kiddos, anticipating two hours to myself, and quiet in the house (as long as you don't count the golf channel blaring in the background). but, it is also one of wes' best times of day. he's so content to just hang out upstairs in his pjs. and lately he has gotten the hang of standing up for a few seconds. he'll let go of the wall and just stand there looking so proud of himself. (it looks like his hand is on the wall, but it's not....bad angle, i guess.)



























we've also been having some trouble with william and the nights. he thinks it is so cool to get up and turn on the lights in his room and play after we put him to bed. he's not unhappy in there or anything, but i don't really think a 2 year old needs to be playing at 10pm or 4:30am (which is what time he thought was appropriate for getting up this past sunday). he was having the best time reading books in those early hours. i do not intend to ever get up that early, so every night since then when he goes to bed we cut the breaker off to his room. works like a charm. but the kid is not stupid. as soon as he sees light coming in from behind his roman shade, he gets up and opens his blinds so he can see to read his books. thank goodness i don't live in london or alaska!

i went up to check the air during naptime this weekend, and i guess he was so pooped from getting up so early that he fell asleep like this. at least he likes books!!

the still waters

conversation tonight as i put william to bed:


me: goodnight, buddy boy. i love you.

william: i love you, too. and, jesus loves me, too.

me: jesus does love you, too.

william: jesus was a baby.

me: you're right. jesus started out as a baby.

william: he did growed up to a man.

me: he sure did. and he died so you could go to heaven.

william: heaven is good.

me: heaven is very good.

william: jesus and god live in heaven.

me: you're right. and, one day we'll get to live in heaven, too.

william: hey, where does the waters go?

me: what waters?

william: the waters the shepherd is in.

me: what are you talking about?

william: the still waters....the waters the shepherd plays in.

i guess this means that i still have some work to do on our memorization of Psalm 23. at least i know that he's somewhat listening!! :)

walking in memphis

this past thursday, chase and i left out of here in the sleet for a mini-vacation in memphis. it was so good to get away for a few days. the last kidless trip that we had been on was in november of 2006 when we went to disneyworld with my brother and sister-in-law. which, by the way, was too much fun. it was great to be able to experience the whole disney thing through adult eyes (although we all agreed that it will be so much more fun to see our own kids' reactions to the parks). that's not to say that we didn't run around that place acting like kiddos ourselves b/c somewhere i have a picture of zeb riding a stick horse around the wilderness lodge! and yes, i was pregnant at the time, and every ride has a sign that says, "do not ride me while preggo." luckily, the two resident physicians were able to read the description of the ride or ride it and then decide if it was ok for me to ride. only two rides in the entire place got the thumbs down from them. it's amazing what you learn in med school, isn't it?? all that to say that it was about time for some time away without all the kid gear!

anyway, we shopped, went to the movie, and went to a brad paisley concert. i saw him a while back at the dixie national rodeo (yes, i'm a redneck....i know you were thinking that, mandy) when he was just starting out. he has come a long, long way since then. it was really fun, and it was a whole new experience for chase. except for all the hoochie-mamas running around in their cut off skirts and cowboy boots, i think he really enjoyed himself. the dancing, drunk guy in front of us made for some good entertainment as well. but, the highlight of our trip was definitely eating. every single day was planned around food. i'm serious, we had every meal planned before we even left the house. we had so many recommendations from friends of places that we HAD to eat that we had to plan it all out in order to make it to all of them. one morning we didn't eat breakfast until around 9am. we ate at brother juniper's (if you're going to memphis, please do yourself a favor and eat breakfast there....rachael ray agrees with me), and we walked out stuffed. so when lunch rolled around a few hours later, neither of us was a bit hungry, but we had to eat. so, eat we did!! every day went pretty much like that! and, we did go bowling one night (basically, that was just so we could push supper back for an hour or so). i'm so bad at bowling! i actually got lucky and won one of the three games that we bowled, but i never could find a ball that was light enough for my satisfaction. the lowest i could find was a 12. i needed one that said "wimp" on it. anyway, by the end of the last game, i could barely pick my ball up much less heave it in the direction i wanted it to go. eating sushi with chopsticks is pretty tough when no muscles between your elbow and wrist will work.
(*sorry....no pics. it never even dawned on me to bring the camera.)

back at the homestead, william and wes were hanging out with honey. they were all still in one piece when we got back, so i consider that a success. and, she wanted it made known that everybody got a bath every single day (i think that is success in her book)! either way, she's welcome back for another round anytime! honey, what are you doing this friday? :)