A few pictures from the holiday

We all had a great time with family, but my boys are so tired! I think we are all glad to finally have the house back to ourselves. I feel like I have been in the kitchen constantly! Here are a few cute pictures of the boys.





Ethan vacuumed right out of his pants. The boys is seriously obsessed with cleaning supplies, and this is his absolute favorite toy. We are going to have to teach him that living in Memphis is no excuse to dress like this. :)



Nathaniel sat sweetly with Tori last night. He never sits still, so this was a big deal. I love seeing him just sit calmly.






This picture says so much. Ethan was a tired boy this morning. I gave him to Stefan for just a minute and came back to find this. He sure is cute!

Both boys are sleeping right now, and we are ready to watch the hogs win the boot back. Go hogs!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we had all the family at my house. Well, I guess all my family only includes us, my mom, and siblings. My older sister will be here tomorrow with her family. Very exciting times ahead! I'm really glad we hosted thanksgiving at our house. Traveling is not that fun with 2 kiddos, and it was just fun doing so much baking in my small kitchen. :) Tomorrow we are decorating. I have definitely been missing my dad today, but I think we have all been handling it well.

Here are some pictures from the day. Many more to come tomorrow with my sister and nieces.

Here are my little turkeys. They were interested in the parade. I made their shirts just last night, and now they have to wear them a few more times. I don't care if we are past Thanksgiving day. :)

Getting juice for Mr. Ethan.

Have to look good to cook! Ha! My mom did the main work, and I did all the back up stuff. My kitchen is really made for one person. It works great for me, and I was worried about all the cooking we needed to do. We made it work though!

The spread! Turkey, rolls, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, dressing, and lots of pies. It doesn't sound like much, but the few of us didn't make a dent in all of it.

Nathaniel sat with his train.

Ethan loved it all! The dressing was his very favorite though!

I hope everyone had a great day! This has been a rough year for my family in so many ways. I still have so much to be thankful for though. I have a wonderful husband, two sweet, healthy boys, and great family and friends. I have made so many new friends this year, and I love all of you! The #1 thing I am thankful for is how God has shown himself to me in the past year. He has been with me through all the rough times, and I am amazed at how He has worked so many things out! He really is good all the time.

Tip: we made the dressing in the crock pot. It was completely amazing, and it freed up oven space that we desperately needed! A double oven is definitely on my list of must haves for our next house.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Slow week.

I was going to do a nice post yesterday about our zoo trip with friends, but we ended up not going. Andrea's son Sean has strep. I feel so sorry for the poor little guy. Get well soon Sean!

The boys and I spent yesterday morning cleaning, and we are doing more of the same today. I'm also working on getting our house more decorated. Yes, we have been living here for over a year and most of the walls were still blank. I think life is just easier since Ethan has turned 1. I finally feel like we can do more things out of the house. He is also starting to be more independent which allows me to actually clean while he is awake. It's amazing how much better I feel with a clean house!

Parent's weekend

First of all I completely realize that I am the worst blogger ever. I LOVE reading other blogs, but I am just not that passionate about my own. That being said I am going to start trying to update regularly again.

Stefan and I got the rare chance to go out of town with no kids. It's kind of a long story of how the trip came about. It was so wonderful! We definitely realize the importance of getting some time to build our relationship. It was Ethan's first night away from me, and he did great. He even slept all night for his nana. :)

We stayed one night in Branson, and spent most of our time at Branson Landing. The weather was absolutely perfect! I documented all the places we ate just so I could blog about it. We are not very exciting people. 

Our first stop was for breakfast at Ferguson's in St. Joe, AR. I have been going to this place as long as I can remember every time my family would make the Branson trek. I know Stefan thought I was crazy, but he quickly decided they has the best bacon he has ever ate. I had not been there in several years, and remembered as some big place. In reality it's a small restaurant with about 15 tables inside a country store. It's still fun to look at all the little treasures. 

Here was my breakfast. I did not do a good job of getting pics of Stefan's food.

The other notable place we ate was Lamberts. I just love the experience of eating there, and it is so worth the wait! I needed to bring a much bigger appetite!

 

 

 

Here is Stefan's chicken fried steak.

My grilled chicken. 

The rest of these are just random pics I wanted to add for sharing purposes. We had a great time, and I can't wait until our next trip!

Website Launch

We've been working hard to get things ready to sell, and our website is finally ready to launch.

www.4ourmonkeys.blogspot.com

The name 4 Our Monkeys comes from the fact that between the 3 of us moms who came up with idea, we have 4 little ones (or monkeys) we thought of this idea as a way to make extra money FOR them, so 4 Our Monkeys was born!  You can also check us out on facebook!

Be sure to check it out, and find some things you just can't live without. :) We are still working on adding things. I have so many ideas in my head, and it's just taking a little time get them all put together.

Crafting

I have been best friends with my sewing machine lately. So far I've made 2 dresses, a few aprons, an outfit for Ethan, some monogrammed baby gifts, and I've also been learning to smock. I've also been working on keeping the house cleaner, having dinner ready, being a better wife, and hanging out with my friends. All of these things don't leave much time leftover for internet time, but I am loving every minute of it!

Sorry it's been forever.

I have been pretty busy lately, which I am definitely not used to. It seems like we have been doing something just about everyday. I have even been taking pics so I can blog about our activities, but somehow the blog just gets left behind.

I have been trying to get back into sewing. I have made two dresses...pics to come later. I'm actually really pleased with them, and they weren't too difficult. My sister-in-law just sent me the pattern and fabric for a purse. I'm planning to take lots of pictures of the process to blog about. I'm also working on some other crafts with Andrea. We are planning to make birthday banners and appliques for birthday shirts.

Ethan is 10 months old today! I really can't believe it, and plan on writing a post about that soon. He still has no teeth, but I can tell they are coming soon. He had about two good weeks of sleeping through the night, then he went back to his old bad sleeping habits. I blame the teething, and am holding onto hope that he will start sleeping again when they come in.

I've been trying to read a couple of books whenever I have free time. That hasn't been often this week, but oh well. I am loving The Power of a Praying Wife. It really is eye opening, and I would recommend it to anyone. It's also set up with thirty chapters so it can be used as a short devotional with a different thing to pray for your husband each day.

Sorry, no pictures today. I promise to try and start working on all the blog posts I have been making plans for.

My baby is 9 months already!

Ethan, I can't believe you are 9 months old already. We went in for your check-up this morning. You showed the doctor just how happy you are. He thought you were great because you reached out for him. :) 

You weighed 20lbs, 11oz, which is the 55th percentile, and you were 28 inches long, which is the 43 percentile. You are growing and developing just perfectly. 

What are you up to these days?

You crawl all over the place!

You can pull up and cruise around furniture.

You love to play trains with big brother. 

You have started dancing to music, and shaking your head No.

You love to watch Veggietales Dave and the Giant Pickle.

You don't have teeth yet, but the doctor says they will be in any day now.

You love to try and play on the computer.

You now have permission to eat any and all table food.

Here is your first attempt at mac n cheese, and green beans.

You still love to be carried by mommy. I love it too!

You really love to take a bath and play in any water!

You look like such a big boy here!

And just for fun. Here is what I looked like carrying you this time last year.

Memorial Day!

We had a nice relaxing Memorial Day. I did absolutely no cleaning the whole day. It was nice, but I had to make up for it today. I have wanted to head over to JoAnns Fabric for awhile so Stefan agreed to watch Nathaniel, and Ethan and I headed out for a little shopping trip. Nathaniel woke up pretty early and it wasn't long before he fell asleep in the recliner. Stefan really lucked out on that one! I didn't really find what I wanted in JoAnns, but we did by some cups from BabiesRUs. My big project this week is getting Ethan to use a cup.

Ethan and I made it back home in time to have lunch, then we headed out for some pool time.

Ethan really loved the new pool.

He has the cutest face in this picture!

Nathaniel did not want to get in. I have no idea why because he loves water.

He did enjoy fishing in the pool. And yes, I got in with Ethan after these pictures. :)

I found out later about member's night at the zoo. I really wanted to let Nathaniel experience the free rides. We never made to the rides, but he did get one round on the carousel. He always wants to ride, but then he is kind of scared when they start moving. He had a great time playing in the sprinklers by Teton Trek.

The cats are his absolute favorite!

He was not thrilled to be on there. It did provide shelter from the short rain shower though. 

Here is where the real fun was. Yes, we use a leash because he is a runner, and we would not be able to handle him without it.

He had so much fun running through the water!

He wasn't scared of all the bigger kids at all. Unfortunately, he loved the water so much that he threw the biggest fit ever when we were leaving. It was so embarrassing! All we knew to do was keep heading to the car, and try to ignore all the stares.

We had a play date!

Thursday we had our first of many play dates. I am so happy to have some other mommy friends now. I have really been missing out for the past couple of years. 

We had five kiddos to play with. Sean, Ari, Avery, Nathaniel, and Ethan.

After lunch we went outside to swim.

This is my favorite picture!

I'm pretty sure Ethan and Sean are going to be best buds before long.

Nathaniel and Avery are pretty close too.

I tried to get Nathaniel to join us for a quick family picture.

Nathaniel did all the hard work filling the pools for us.

Ethan is starting to enjoy more table food now. He loved the spaghetti we had the other night.

He was in a sweet mood.

After the spaghetti and a few green beans.

This and That

This is going to be a busy weekend, and it kind of stresses me out. My mom and family are coming in Friday to stay the night. My cousin is graduating from West Memphis High, and there is going to be a big family party. My mom is planning to take Nathaniel back home with her on Saturday. He always has a blast over there. We miss him while he is gone, but it is also nice to have a little break. On Sunday night, my aunt is coming in from South Carolina. She is staying the night with me, and I am taking her to Arkansas Monday morning. I am really not used to having so much stuff to think about and do, but it will all be really fun. 

I also joined the church orchestra. I listened in on one of the practices last week, and had my first practice last night. I am so glad that I joined! I have an activity just for myself now. We are getting ready for a concert on Sunday night. The music wasn't too hard, but I really need to work on building my lip again. Stefan was wonderful, and picked the boys up from church so I could stay for an extra practice after. He even had Nathaniel in bed when I got home, and Ethan had a short nap. 

Ethan has really been wanting table food here lately. I finally decided to try it and see how he could do. He did so great! He really loved poppy seed chicken, and green bean casserole. I was surprised at how well he could get the food into his mouth. 

He finished all of this food, and there was not much left in the chair. I really have to work on cooking things he can eat with us now.

He also got to try his first Cheeto last week. Of course he loved it. I never gave Nathaniel anything that wasn't healthy. Nathaniel used to be such a great eater, but now he doesn't try anything. I am being a little more relaxed with Ethan, and letting him try lots of different things. 

I am quickly realizing that this blog has a lot more Ethan than Nathaniel in it. I haven't been taking many pictures of Nathaniel here lately. He usually prefers to go without underwear, and I have stopped trying to keep them on him all the time. Nathaniel is doing so great with potty training. He rarely has an accident at home. We have been taking him on short outings with real underwear on, and I am really beginning to trust that he will tell me when he needs to go. We have visited with a couple different friends recently, and Nathaniel has used the potty at their house without a fight. He is also starting to talk so much now. I think he repeats the end of almost every sentence I say. I think he is going to be having full conversations before long. It is so fun to see him learn new things! Nathaniel's favorite movies right now are Cars, UP, and anything Veggietales. He probably watches a little too much TV, but it is just so much fun to watch him the different scenes out! He really is learning new things each day, and I am going to make more of an effort to record it all here.