Who Knew?!?

Who knew air vents could be so entertaining??? Our house is on a concrete slab (no basement)...so our air vents are all on the ceiling. Sunday night we went to an engagement party for Tim, John's cousin, and Alexis (*see side note). Will always has a blast hanging out with his cousin James, 5 months older. They were so enamored by the fact that cold air was blowing up out of the floor. They loved it and played on the vent for a while!! The dads then thought it would be funny to take a picture in the same position. EJ is James' dad and John's cousin and John and EJ grew up together...all of John's childhood memories revolve around his cousins in one way or another-it will be so fun to watch James and Will and the other cousins create their own memories!!*Side Note-John's cousin Tim is marrying Alexis (An Alabama fan and soon to be grad) in January...John's other cousin Paul is marrying Cara (An Alabama fan) next June...these are hard core Auburn fans, people. John says that when he married me, I started a disease in the family. I love it!!

In other news, today was my last day of work until August-WOO HOO!!! The summer could not have come at a more perfect time. I have been itching for weeks to spend time with my little guy! I have declared tomorrow a stay-in-our-pjs until noon day, unless we decided to go up to the pool for a bit. In other words, there will be no errand running tomorrow, no cleaning the house, no laundry, and probably not even computer...I cannot wait to spend some quality time with Will!! I sometimes wish I could just pause life for a while...

Like Father, Like Son

Will received a bubble mower from his cousins for his birthday. Today was the first day we have busted it out. He LOVED it. He wanted to check each part of it out to understand how it was working and where those bubbles were coming from! John did yard work all morning and Will wanted to be just like Daddy!

Tug of War

This is the newest game Will has discovered to play with Bentley. Please excuse the one shoe and no pants...we had just gotten home from the pool. I would say please excuse the playroom, but that is pretty much how it looks all the time :)

Movin' On Up....

Since January of last year my blog has turned into all things baby. Very rarely do I talk about life outside of raising that precious boy or the fun our family gets into. And almost NEVER do I post with no pictures. But today I'm feelin' a bit nostalgic. As a teacher, you live for May. Sweet, beautiful weather that allows for a few minutes of extra recess, testing is over, summer is on the horizon. But May is also so crazy with getting every thing in at the last minute. It is easy to get caught up in the chaos and fail to enjoy these last few days of school with your kiddos.

Today the 5th graders (my class included) got to take a tour of the middle school. They were SO excited about going over and seeing how the big kids do things. It gave me the unexpected opportunity to see a lot of my kids from last year. I was amazed at how BIG they had gotten and how mature they looked!! It made me miss that sweet class so much, and reminded me that in a few short days I would be saying goodbye to this class as well. Teaching middle school is much different from elementary school in that as a class we are together all day long, so we become a little family. Somehow, so many different personalities in a room come together and make for a fun and meaningful year, even during those moments where you think you might lose it. I have had those moments this year. I know I had them last year. But those moments are few and far between. And seeing the "big" kids who were in my sweet class last year run up and give me a hug (even the boys who are now too cool for school) made me once again realize I am just where God wants me to be. I get the awesome opportunity to impact these kids and place a little imprint on their heart. I get to spend my day helping kids discover life...who they are...who they want to become, and learn a little math along the way. I so need to be reminded of this when the month of May feels like it is dragging on. In reality, it is flying by and these sweet children are certainly placing an imprint on my heart as well!

Pop's New Company Car

My dad retired back in November. He had to give up a lot of nice perks...like having a company car with all of his gas paid for, all the Celebrex Kleenex you could ever possibly need, and boxes upon boxes of Zithromax pens! He has however managed to keep himself quite busy, and I am thinking he likes the newfound perks of retirement just fine!

Many days when I get out of school and go to pick up Will from my parents house, he is gone with Pops or Kiki on the golf cart to feed the ducks. Or to the park. Or just crusin'. I am not sure who loves it more....Will or Kiki and Pops!

"No-Fail" Foods

If you are a mom you probably know exactly what I am talking about. A "No-Fail" Food is something that you know, when all else fails, your child will eat it. There are many reasons for "No-Fail" foods...Will is a great eater and will try/eat just about anything. It seems to be the texture of some foods more than it is the actual taste. Kids are weird that way. If we are having a rough day, over-tired, sick, grumpy, whiney, cranky, etc. I usually go to my "no-fail" food list for Will's dinner so that I can be sure that he eats even though it has been a rough day, he is over-tired, sick, grumpy, whiney, cranky, etc. Never have I ever seen the kid refuse the following foods, even if he was in mid-tantrum 2 seconds before...

Will's "No-Fail" Food List

-HOT DOGS

-PASTA of any kind, usually with some broccoli/cauliflower/peas/carrots (whatever veggie we are having) thrown in with butter and parmesan cheese to mix it all together

-CHEESE

-GOLDFISH

-GRILLED CHEESE

-Mini M&Ms (Duh...these are on anyone's "No-Fail" Food list!!!)

We have also discovered that Will will eat almost anything dipped in ketchup. If we are having a hard time getting him to eat what we are eating and we don't want to resort to a "No-Fail" food and teach him that every time he doesn't like something, we will just give him his comfort food, we just put a squirt of ketchup on his plate and he dips ANYTHING into it (even pineapple...and he likes pineapple sans ketchup). Probably not the best habit to start...I can see tantrums in our future when there is no ketchup to be found...but for now this helps us pick our battles.
I'm curious...what are some of your (or your kid's) no fail foods??

Quick Visit

John's Godparents/Aunt and Uncle live far away in Chicago. Oh how we wish we were able to see them more often. His Aunt Marlene's health has taken a toll for the worse and so Aunt Doreen and Uncle John came down to visit and do what they could do to help with the situation. Marlene is John's mom's only sister (she has 3 brothers as well). To say the least, this has been a hard situation for everyone to deal with because Aunt Marlene is loved so much. However, one positive is that we got to see and visit briefly with Aunt Doreen and Uncle John, whom we haven't seen since our wedding. The rehearsal dinner was my first time ever meeting Aunt Doreen and Uncle John. This did not stop them from hugging me and treating me as if I had been a part of the family as long as John had. Aunt Doreen even gave me my "something borrowed" at our rehearsal dinner, a bracelet that had belonged to her-keep in mind this was my first time meeting her! After we announced we were having a boy, she shipped a huge box full of goodies that we still use daily as we care for Will. Being from Chicago, there was a Cubs uniform and hat in there too! Since Will's arrival, she has showered us with little "happys" as I like to call them. Just recently, we received 2 Chicago Bears jerseys for Will with matching pants!!! So it only seemed fitting that Will sport one of his Bears jerseys to dinner last night. He looked adorable and so grown up. We were so sad that our visit was brief and hope we are able to spend more time with them soon. John and I are hoping to take Will to Chicago sometime next summer.
*Please say a prayer for John's Aunt Marlene. She was diagnosed with Cancer several years ago and has fought it like a champ. However, it is causing complications now and seems to be wearing her body down. I pray specifically for peace and comfort for her and her husband, Uncle Jim, and the rest of the family for that matter. She is the only one of John's maternal aunts/uncles that I have been able to get to know very well because is the only one that lives in Birmingham. She is an angel!