Baby #3

Well, life is funny! Just a few weeks ago, I was blogging that I had been wanting another baby, but that the "baby fever" was over and that I was going to just let God decide when the right time was and not worry about it! Then what does God do??? He gives me a baby! We are so excited (after spending one day mentally asking ourselves if we were crazy)! God has blessed us with two of the most precious boys and we are thrilled that he would entrust to us another baby.


We have been having such a good time with our family and friends over the month of December. December is such a special time as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.



On Saturday, we had the 3rd annual Mexican Fiesta at our house with Jonathan's side of the family. We had lots of great Mexican food. We really missed Brenda, though.

Here are the boys with their cousin Ty.

We spent a couple of days in Alexandria, Lousiana with my extended family. We were able to visit with my Uncle Mac, Uncle Willis, Uncle Jack, Aunt Charm, Aunt Charlotte,and Aunt Geneva, my Mawmaw, and my cousins, Monnie, Miranda, Amanda, Kim, and Steven. It was great!

We also spent time with Jonathan's cousins who live next door to us: Connor, Sam, and Walker. We always have a great time with the Finney's!

Here is a picture of me and Logan working on a gingerbread house.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Logan with Santa at the Bryant Midtown Christmas party.
The boys trying to stay warm at the Bryant parade.

Yay! The tree is going up!

I love Christmas time. I really do! I love seeing the shine of excitement in Logan and Jack Landon's eyes. We have put up TWO Christmas trees this year and I think it will be a tradition from now on. Logan is just loving this season. He was so excited to be able to help set up the tree this year and decorate. He also loves the idea of his "special" ornament. Each year, I buy a new ornament that kindof symbolizes the year for them. Logan's oranament this year was a glove and baseball because he started playing baseball this year and we have been practicing all year. Jack Landon's ornament is a banana! How cute is that! That kid loves his bananas.

I am amazed each year by the number of events that are available for young children to help keep the Christmas magic alive and to help them learn about the meaning of Christmas. There was a Christmas parade in both Benton and Bryant this year, and they were both tons of fun! On Saturday, Logan attended Jesus' Birthday party at the church and he loved that. He took his unwrapped toy for a less fortunate child and before he left, he told me that he wanted to go buy presents for every kid that didn't have any. Logan has a huge heart!

Blessings

I have so much to be thankful for! I am coming out of a time in my life over the past few months, where I have felt pretty dispirited. I am wanting another baby (really, just a girl, LOL!) and have been struggling over the unfairness of not being able to get pregnant when I want to. With both boys, there were struggles getting pregnant, and this time it is no different. I have been feeling depressed, jealous of others, and angry. Added to this, Jonathan has been going through some adjustments with his work and the result is that he will have more responsibilities and less time to help me at home. I have been upset about this, and also not really enjoying my job at Arkansas Hospice and the time that I was spending away from Logan and Jack Landon. So I have quit my job and I am now keeping kids in my home. This has been such a blessing! I love being able to spend all of my time now at home with my kids. Instead of looking at quitting my job as a waste of a good education, I am now able to see that what I have been wasting is the chance to spend every moment with my kids. I can only raise my boys once, and I can never get the time that I don't spend with them back. I want them to know that they are my priority. Quitting my job has been such a BLESSING! And to top it off.....God MUST have known what he was doing when he didn't give me another baby just yet, because I'm not even sure any more that it is important for me to have another baby right now. Maybe having other kids that I can keep is more important right now. So everything is working out for the best! Thanksgiving couldn't be coming at a better time!

October Frenzy

I think that I have finally figured out that I am going to have to start updating more frequently, or else I will have too much to update on. The month of October has been absolutely CRAZY WILD! We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. This year I took Jack Landon and we went with Logan on his school field trip to Motley's Pumpkin Patch. It was a lot of fun. Logan got to drink pumpkin juice and watch the pig races. I "got" to watch Jack Landon get incredibly dirty in a matter of seconds in a dirt pile. We all went on a hay ride and then Logan picked out the perfect pumpkin, which we later decorated at home. This year for Halloween, Logan has chosen to be a "ghost pirate." Originally, it was just pirate, but somewhere along the way, the ghost has been added in, and I think it is really cute. The picture above is from his "dress rehearsal" before one of his many Halloween parties this year. He really enjoyed putting on his eye patch and pirate makeup, but the best part was the sword! This past weekend, we went to the annual Halloween party in my parents' neighborhood, Woodlands Edge. It was a lot of fun. The kids got to decorate pumpkins, play ring toss, and various other games, and participate in a costume contest. Logan won for the best costume in his age division. He was very proud of this and his parents and Nonee and Grumpa were too!

We also went to the Arkansas vs. Ole Miss game in Fayetteville this past weekend. We had a lot of fun even though the Hogs lost. Logan and Jack Landon both had a blast! We enjoyed getting to experience a little of the chilly air in Northwest Arkansas. We really miss Fayetteville and can't wait to go back.

Another big event for us this month was the annual Airshow at the Little Rock Air Force Base. The four of us went with Jonathan's dad. I was a little worried about how the boys would do this year out on that big slab of asphalt, but it was GREAT!!! The boys loved watching the airplanes do all of their stunts. I don't think that Jack Landon's finger ever stopped pointing at something in the air. The atmosphere and weather could not have been better.

Logan has been continuing to play fall baseball this month for Bryant. He didn't play in the spring, because he wasn't old enough, so we are using this season to educate him on some of the fundamentals. Even though he is the youngest on the team, Logan is really picking things up very quickly. His catching, throwing, and swing have all improved and he is really enjoying it. His last game will be this coming weekend and then we will have a break until the Spring. Logan has had a big show of support for all of his games. His Nonee and Grumpa have come to every game, and Uncle Taylor has made it to a few. He loves to see family in the crowds!!

My two beautiful boys at the pumpkin patch!

Brenda

I know that it has been a while since I have posted. I haven't really felt like posting for a while. Jonathan's mom, Brenda Hope, died on August 1, 2008 very unexpectedly. We all miss her so much. The past two months have been very difficult for our family and we are so grateful for our family, church family, and friends for all of their thoughts and prayers.

Brenda meant so much to so many people, but I can only truly talk about what she meant to me and my family. Brenda would do anything for you. She loved her two sons and her four grandchildren so much. Jonathan misses talking to his mom on the phone every day. He also misses seeing her with his sons and is so sad that she is not going to see Logan and Jack Landon grow up. She would drop everything she was doing to spend time with her family. Even when she wasn't feeling good, Brenda would call to ask if she could keep the kids or do something special for us. And she always wanted to make sure that we would eat good! When we would go to the lakes on the weekend, Brenda would prepare enough food for an army of people. She would have all the bases covered. If you had a certain craving for cobbler, or maybe just some hot chocolate, well then sure enough, she would have it on hand. One thing that I really enjoyed doing with Brenda was talking about food. We both had an interest in cooking and I loved swapping recipes with her or making some of her old favorites such as deviled eggs, homemade cranberry sauce, or Mexican cheese dip.

I still remember the night that I first met Brenda eight years ago. I could not believe it when I walked into Jonathan's house and saw this beautiful woman who could not have passed for more than thirty years old. She was absolutely stunning, and while that stood out intially, it was her vitality and joy of life that made a lasting impression. Brenda could make anything fun and exciting. She could make you feel like you were the only person in the room. When you talked with her, you felt important and felt that you mattered. She had a true interest in other people.

One thing I learned quickly about Brenda is that she LOVED her grandbabies. When Jonathan and I first met, Shelby, the first grandbaby, was one. I could easily see how important Shelby was to Brenda. Later, there was Will, and then our two babies, Logan and Jack Landon. Brenda always wanted the best for the kids. She was interested in their doctors, their schools, their playmates, where they laid their head at night...everything. She would play with them and take them for golf cart rides. She would fix their favorite foods and have their favorite candies on hand.

We miss you Brenda!

Please visit Brenda's website at http://www.brendahope.com/

Happy 4th Birthday Logan!

I know, I know. Logan actually turned four years old over a week ago, so this blog is a little late, but the festivities surrounding his birthday left me a little worse for wear.....so hopefully you'll give me a little slack on this one!

We had a total blast! This was the first year that Logan really understood what his birthday meant, and how it was a passage of time and he really anticipated it. For his actual birthday (July 10th), we gave Logan a bike. It was his first bike and he absolutely loves riding it. He looks really cute in his helmet out there riding with the big boys.

A couple days later, we had Logan's birthday party at War Memorial Stadium in honor of the fact that Logan loves the Razorbacks and the football field. It was a surprise for Logan. He had been asking me for several weeks where his party was going to be at, so it was really difficult not sharing it with him, but the look on his face when we drove up to the stadium was priceless! Over 20 kids joined us for the party and Logan had the time of his life running up and down the football field, throwing the football, opening presents, and just acting all kinds of crazy!

In honor of Logan's four years, here are four AWESOME things about Logan:

1) Logan loves life, and always looks at the world in wonder.

2) Logan wants to be friends with everyone he meets, and almost always initiates a conversation.

3) Logan enjoys helping other people do things like mowing the yard, cooking, or cleaning.

4) Logan's ours.

Happy Independence Day!

Even though a stomach bug tried to get me down, we had a wonderful Independence Day weekend! My mom had a birthday on July 5th, so we had a party for her at my house on Friday, the 4th. We grilled out and had homemade chocolate ice cream for dessert. Yummo! Afterwards, we watched the fireworks at Tyndall Park. They were fabulous. On Saturday, we spent the day at the lake. We had a great time visiting with Jonathan's family. His uncle Richard, aunt Robin, and cousin Dina came up from Texas. Jonathan's dad grilled ribs, and despite all the rain, we all had fun. Logan played the hardest of all! He must have jumped off the back of the boat a thousand times! We also relaxed with yummy pina coladas and bahama mamas. Logan's favorite was the pina colada.

Summer Fun

Well, I have finally done it. I have joined the millions of people who now spend the extra time that they do not have posting minute details about their life on the internet. I never thought that I would be a blogger, but here I am. But of course, you guys reading are just as interested in my family's life as I am, right? There will probably be lots of changes to my page to come, as I try to figure all of this out!

I thought I'd start out by talking about how my life at present is like a caravan. Pretty much every day of the week, I am shuttling my boys to one activity or another! We have been doing movies, Party City, the pool, Wild River Country, and the park pretty much every week. All of the local movie theaters have summer movie festivals going on, which is pretty great. It is totally free admission for really popular G and PG rated movies. We have already seen Surf's Up, Monster House, and Firehouse Dog (we wouldn't recommend Surf's Up). The kids are having a blast and wearing me out in the process.

Jack Landon turned one last week on June 19th. I can't believe that he is already turning into a toddler and taking his baby steps. He is getting more and more active. His smile is truly precious. We had a farm-themed party for him at our house. His Nonee and Grumpa came, along with Nana, Papa, Uncle Taylor, Uncle William, Amber, Will, and Shelby. It was lots of fun!