We had an absolutely wonderful, fully blessed Christmas this year. It was full of chaos and I loved every minute of it! The kids haven't stopped smiling yet and we just watch with amazement. I can't write the full post that I want right now so I will leave you with a sneak peak pic and promise to post all of our fun times really soon!! Hope you all had a blessed Christmas! 
I have posted several new posts so take a few minutes to catch up on what has been going on with all of us!
I had a very rare weekend night off earlier this month so Jereomy and I took advantage of it and had a "date" night....well sort of. We went with several of our friends to The Rev Room downtown to see Riverbilly (local band) play. The drummer is one our our CRNA's from work and a friend of mine. We had dinner with Alan and Amber at The Butcher Shop, where I ate as much as a grown man. I am really starting to get concerned at the amount of food I can consume before I stop myself. I might just be developing a problem! After dinner we went and picked up my brother in law and headed downtown. We had a great time and it was a much needed time with friends. Thanks YaYa for holding the fort down and for lovin the babies for us while we were gone!
My baby boy is almost 5!! In exactly one week to be precise! I am really having a hard time with this birthday. I have been thinking a lot lately about how he will be starting school next year and how different my day will go without him here. He asks all the time when he will get to go to school and seems to be really excited I'm just not sure he knows that he will have to go ALL day....EVERYDAY. He is growing into a little boy and not so much a toddler anymore. He is taller than most 6 or 7 year olds and out weighs them too I'm sure. He eats as much as we do and has more energy than you can imagine. Right now he is in size 6 clothes and wears a size 1 shoe. He is so excited about Christmas right now and amazes me at how much he comprehends about the meaning. He can tell you a lot of the story of Jesus' birth and why we have Christmas to begin with. It melts my heart! If you ask him what he is getting for Christmas there isn't much he won't say and everyday there is something new to add to his "list". He has been pretty good this year and I'm sure Santa will be good to him. I'll be sure to let you know what all he got.
Chanley is now almost 16 months old...this is so hard for me to imagine. I look at her everyday in amazment at how much she is growing and learning. She has quite a personality and lets you know when things aren't quite going her way. She is a cuddlebug and so loveable. She loves to climb on everything and doesn't seem to be scared of much at all. Her favorite thing to do right now is to pull all of my tupperware out of the cabinet and climb inside and play with her brother. This keeps them occupied for hours but leaves a huge mess! She is so tiny compared to Colby when he was her age. She weighs about 23lbs and I think she has at least a pound in each cheek. Her hair has grown so much and I love to fix it in pigtails or up like Pebbles...and she always has a bow! Her vocabulary is growing everday and it is so much fun to watch her and Colby play. She loves his cars, trucks, football, and Spider-Man playhouse. As much as I try to get her to play with her purse or babydoll, she would pick his toys over hers anyday. She isn't the best eater but still loves yogurt and chicken nuggets. She still wears a size 4 diaper, 12-18 month clothes, and size 5 shoe. She goes to bed around 10pm and usually sleeps until at least 10am. I know I'm soooo lucky! She sleeps in her own crib in her room and loves it. I hear her in the morning talking to her dolls and calling for me. I walk in to the most beautiful baby with the biggest smile on her face. She is a joy to us and we are so blessed to have her. We love you baby girl!
This past weekend we drove up to Cave City where my dad lives to have Christmas with him and my grandma. We also went up to my aunt and uncles on my mom's side and had Christmas with them as well. It was an exciting day and we all ate good food and enjoyed everyones company. I was exhausted to say the least since I had worked all night the night before....but I made it. My dad let Colby "drive the tractor" (aka lawn mower) and he thought he was hot stuff. He has so much fun when we are there because he gets to do totally gross boy stuff, like catch frogs, or play in the mud. I only wish we were closer and could see him more often. 
Yes I know I am waaaaayyyy behind on my posting but I am going to do my best to do better with the start of the new year! For now I'm just going to try and get caught up :)!
Back in November several of us L&D nurses went to Branson for the annual girls weekend. Most of the girls drove to Branson on Friday but I had to work so Rachael, Shelby, and I drove up on Saturday morning. I got about an hour of sleep on the way up and shopped for 8hrs!! It was totally worth it....we all got lots of good deals and a lot of Christmas shopping done. Later that night we went back to our condos and had a bachelorette party for Becky, one of our coworkers. It was wild to say the least! I had so much fun but missed home terribly. This was the first night in more than 5 years that I had stayed away from my husband or my kids! It was good for me though and I definitely want to go again next year! Here are a pic from the tame part of the trip :)
We attempted for the second time today to get a picture for our Christmas cards. After about 30 shots I think we finally got one. I wanted a pic of all of us since I sent one of just the kids out last year but we just couldn't get it together. So Brandi came over today and took some pictures of the kids and this is what we came up with! Send me your address if you want to see the finished product!!
We had a great Halloween this year. Colby chose to be Ironman and Chanley was a strawberry fairy. They were both absolutely adorable and had lots of fun. We started out the day having lunch with YaYa then we came home for naps so we could be recharged for that night. When Daddy got home we went to Kidz Fest at our church where the kids were able to jump in bounce houses, get their faces painted, and play games. Then it was off to get us some candy!! We didn't go to very many houses but we got more than enough candy! We ended the night with dinner at a mexican resturant down the street....and started the wee morning hours with violent vomiting!! Colby and I got super sick from the food!! Needless to say we won't be eating the dog food there again! Here are some pics from our fun day!
Last Wednesday I went to work as usual thinkng it was going to be just another day in L&D. Little did I know it would be one of the most exciting days of my life. I was awarded the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses! A former patient that I had taken care of wrote a letter and nominated me for the award. My nomination was choosen from several that were sent in for the month. Tears of joy fell down my face as they read the letter from the T family. I could remember them as if I had taken care of them only yesterday. My patient wrote the sweetest things about my care for her and stated that I had saved her baby's life. This hit me so hard knowing that I have such a huge impact on the patients that I care for everyday. That night I did nothing special other than just doing my job and what I feel I was called to do. I am so deeply appreciative of having the opportunity to do what I love and to get this type of feedback melts my heart. Thank you again T family for nominating me for this award. It means more to me than you will ever know! Here is a slideshow of the presentation.
We took the kids to the Arkansas State Fair a couple of weeks ago. This was Colby's 3rd year but Chanley's first. I have to say she was exceptionally good. She sat in her stroller the entire time, well almost, and never fussed. The only time she got out was walking back to the car when her big brother decided his legs were "killing" him and he couldn't walk another step. So he got to ride back to the car in his sisters stroller while I held her. He did wear himself out while we were there! He rode lots of rides, walked through the Hall of Industry, ate some food, made his own slush, and much more. Chanley rode the carousel for the first time and loved it. She even cried when it stopped. Here are some pictures from our fun day.
Saturday morning, with my pillow calling my name after working all night, I walked in the Race For the Cure. I tried so hard all night long to get out of going but I rode to work with Kerry Friday night and had already promised her that I would go. I'm glad I did I really enjoyed it and ended up being back home by around 10am. So even though I didn't get as much sleep as I normally would have I was able to function Saturday night. Thanks to Jereomy's work for allowing us to walk and for the great tshirts and gloves!! Who knows maybe next year I'll be able to run in the 5k!! 
Last Thursday the kids and I went to the Pumpkin Patch in Mayflower with one of my friends and her little boy. He is the same age as Chanley and their conversations were priceless! There was a huge play area for all of them to play, tables under the shade trees where we ate our picnic lunch, pumpkins of course, and a hayride. We didn't get to go on the hayride because they wouldn't take less than 10 people but they allowed us to drive down in our car so we could see the decorations. The kids were worn out after we left and slept all the way home! 
Last Sunday we went to Bryan's 6th birthday party at Gator Park. Colby had an absolute blast riding go carts and playing games. We had to leave a little early to get him to AWANNA which brought on a huge tantrum! Here are some pictures before the tears!
Here is the video of our baby girl walking as I had promised before. It is quite amusing so feel free to watch it more than once!
Colby has been going to AWANNA's at our church every Sunday night. This is a "club" where kids ages 3yr-5th grade get together to learn about God and important aspects of the Bible. The main focus of AWANNA is scripture memorization. Colby has done exceptionally well so far and has gotten a stamp or sticker in his book every week. He even earned his first patch for his vest last week, the Hopper patch! Each child has a vest and every couple of weeks if they are able to recite their verse they earn a new patch. Some of the verses he has memorized so far are: "all have sinned", "give hime the name Jesus, and he will be great", "all he had made, was very good", "while we were sinners, Christ died for us". Here is a picture of Colby proudly displaying his new vest.
Don't you just wish sometimes you could have the freedom and carefree spirit as you did when you were a child? I sure do. And seeing my kids grow up reminds me of exactly how much I miss it! Take for example my first born, Colby. He decided he needed to ride his bike the other day while we were out in the garage loading my car. He hadn't been up for very long so he just had on what he had slept in the night before. Oh yeah, and his Batman mask, which he slept with as well. Here are a few pictures of his leisurely stroll.....ahhhhh, no worries!
I am just now getting around to posting Chanley's 1year "stats" I couldn't forget the most important one from her first year. I makes me quite sad to think that she is growing up so quickly. She is becoming quite the independent one and has a fierce attitude. I have absolutely NO idea where it comes from. At her one year checkup she weighed 20lbs 15oz and was 28 1/4 inches long. I was expecting her to weigh more than that but I think she holds at least 5lbs in each cheek! She falls in the 50-60 percentile in both her weight and length class and is right where she should be developmentally according to Dr. O'Neal. Whom we love by the way. She started walking two days before her first birthday and is now everywhere. She tottles all over the house like a drunk man and it is absolutely precious. I actually have a video to post to show all of you. Colby thinks it is great that she can walk/run to/from him, until she steps foot into his room, then the screaming begins. He ever so politely says "No, No baby girl" and sets her into the hallway and closes his door. Then she ever so impolitely begins to scream.....and it gets louder, and louder, and louder. Until either I distract her with something else or Colby decides her being inside his room is much quieter than her being outside! Her favorite things to do right now are riding in her car outside, swinging, playing in "her" cabinet with all the Tupperware, playing in bubba's room, mommy reading books to her, taking a bath, or throwing things in the toilet. We are trying to cut out the latter one! She has recently decided she DOES NOT want to go to the gym with me and brother. She had been going with me two days a week but has decided that it isn't for her and has cut my class/run short twice now because the girls couldn't get her to calm down. So for now she has to stay home with daddy while me and Colby go. Her eating habits have become quite picky these days. She loves fat free bologna, goldfish, Gerbers Crunchies (sort of like a cheeto but with much less mess), yogurt, applesauce, oatmeal, bananas, cinnamon raisin toast, chicken nuggest, fries, and mac and cheese. She is STILL sleeping in her very own bed and has a pretty nice sleeping routine I must admit. She still falls asleep for the night in her swing (yes it still swings, and until it doesn't that's how it will be), then I move her to her bed about 9:30 or 10pm. She then, on most nights, sleeps soundly until about 9am. Since she has started sleeping later she usually only takes one nap a day from about 2-4pm. I have to say I am not minding this at all! She still babbles nonstop and Colby even says sometimes she speaks "Spanich" (like spinach but Spanich). LOL! Her newest words are "Tank Tu" (thank you), Bat (bath), and Bebe (baby). She is quite the entertainer and I am so privileged to be her mommy!
Several weeks ago....(yes I am behind) I took Colby to the Arkansas Travelers baseball game. We went with some of my friends from work and their kids. We all went out to eat before hand and then headed to the game. The kids didn't care too much about baseball that night....all they were interested in was the giant inflatables in the "Kid Zone". Needless to say we didn't watch much of the game but still had a good time. Thanks Brynn for inviting us and for the tickets!!
