Alabama Pizza

Just a quick blurb...

This was a busy weekend as always. We had a Youth Rally at church and thus did not have evening services. I was exhausted from the events of the weekend and fell asleep around 5:00. Allee and Evan were asleep as well. When I woke up, Rick and the kids were coming home with a pizza. They were so excited. Allee said, "MaMa, we got a Alabama Pizza." I was a little dazed, but still...what is an Alabama pizza. Well, that's her version of a pizza that come from "Big Al's", a local restaurant that we frequent. Rick said she came up with that when he got in the car. I guess he had told her they were going to Big Al's to pick up a pizza. Well, of course, everyone knows that Big Al is the mascot for the Crimson Tide. Can't start them too early. And remember, she is two and put that together all on her own.

Easter

We had a GREAT weekend. We had a wonderful Easter service at church and then lunch at my grandmothers. It is so much fun to go to Granny Earnest house. It reminds me of my childhood. There are always so many kids to play with and so much freedom. There are 9 grandchildren and a milllion great grands, most of which are boys! Aiden loves it and Alllee joins right in. Everyone there, especially my Aunt Kathy, likes to hold babies, so Evan was well taken care of, giving Mommy a much needed break. We had an awesome lunch and hid over 170 eggs for the kids. We actually found more eggs than we hid. LOL. My Uncle Johnny pesterd Aiden, which was right up his ally. He loves picking at people. Aiden sang a special in church Sunday morning and then Allee was mad that she didn't get to sing. (She could have, but she just didn't get up there to practice). AIDEN LEARNS TO DANCE --We were sitting around tonight and I was on the phone, did not realize what had come on TV. It was "Dancing with the Stars." I have never watched the show. Well Aiden tuned in immediately. He was watching the first couple, Maria(or someone) and Jonathan. In a minute he said, "Hey, that looks like me and Mattie." I said, Why is that. He said, "That girl has blonde hair like Mattie, but I spin around, Mattie dont'." I said, Aiden, do you and Mattie dance like that. He started laughing. Then he started dancing and Allee quickly followed.

More Pic Updates - Weekend in Review

Evan's Bumbo - Don't he look sweet! Of all the pictures I didn't get at the Egg Hunt because of chasing 2 small children around, this one I did get and I think it is priceless.
NaNa Taylor bought the boys matching shirts. Aren't they precious!
Allee really wants to hold brother, but she just can't get it quite right! Getting all three in the picture was not worth the effort since this was right before leaving for church.

Picture Updates - Allee Birthday

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, ALLEE BETH!!!

We started the day with an errand and the "Hot Now" sign at Krispy Creme caught Daddy's attention, so in we go. Yes, we had just eaten breakfast and it wasn't even 9:30, but we go in for a doughnut. We let Allee pick which one she wanted and she chose the powdered one of course. It was fun!
Next stop was the nail salon. A former athelete of mine from Co High works there and I asked if she had time to paint her nails. Allee went with me and Janet the last time we went and the girls fell in love with her. She sang to them that day, and they remembered her. They treated her like a little princess and even gave her a goodie bag that said Happy Birthday when we were finished. Thanks Courtney! The ladies couldn't believe Daddy came in with her either!

Then it was party time! Here is a shot of her Dora cake! It tasted as good as it looks too!

Thanks to everyone who had the opportunity to share with her. She had a special day!

Weekend Update...ALLEE IS TWO!

Allee turned TWO on Friday. What a blessing she has been to us. We decided to get a babysitter for Evan and take Allee for a day with myself and Rick while Aiden was at school. We had so much fun with her. Because the weather was really yuck, we were limited on activity and decided to take her to get her nails painted. You should have seen her sit up on the table and put her toes to be painted. She was so still and did so good and of course was the hit of the nail spa. Then we went to pick up her Dora cake. The entire day was spent doing party stuff and the party was a success. Thanks to Ms. Crystal for the blow up jumping castle to entertain the kids! When we sang Happy Birthday, she sang to herself! The party was late, so we stayed up late because she just had to open her tea party set and the weeblewooble castle! (that I had to put together).

We had our church egg hunt on Sat. Thank goodness for a FLC indoors! We were able to "hide" eggs upstairs for the smaller children. They were so funny. We literally threw the eggs all over the place...hundreds of eggs everywhere. The kids would run to a corner to pick up a particular egg while stepping over about 50 or so on their way. Too cute.

Ms.Melissa had planned a special story time for each age group. Allee and Aiden's group were told the Easter story with jelly beans, demonstrating what each color represents. Black represents sin. When Ms. Briana was reviewing the story and ask what black meant, Aiden said sin. She then said, "What is sin?" (she had already told them the answer) Aiden said, "Back-talking!" She said, "Yeah, that is A sin, but what IS sin?" Again, without hesitating, Aiden said,"Back-talking." Guess you know what we are having trouble with around our house!

Evan continues to grow and do new things. He is so precious. He will just laugh and coo and talk and will even lay in his babybed and watch his mobile. MiMi bought him a bumbo for Easter and he can actually sit in it already. Those things are amazing. He has been having some belly aches and feel so sorry for him, but other than that, he is just precious.

Nathan is doing well. He got to come into a regular room today. Please continue to pray for him.

Aiden and Allee sang in church last night to the rhythm of MaMa on the piano. I only played "The BIBLE" but I guess I've gotta start somewhere!

Easter Pics

Easter Pics are now up for you to view. Just click below. Make sure you notice the first two shots. This is where Allee was "attacked" by the baby chick. How funny. Allee can't stand animals and the baby chick was rather fond of her shoe. When it started flapping it's wings at her, I thought she was going to lose it. She was backing up as quick as she could, but the best part was Aiden jumping up and attempting to kick the baby chick while saying "Get away from my baby sister." Sorry Kim! But at least I know he will protect his sister.
http://kimlawsonphotography.com/gallery.php?page=Amanda
Notice how the bunny is as big as Evan!

Aiden at it again: We were outside the other day (yeah) and I noticed Aiden was at his daddy's car about to open it. When I told him not to open the door he said, "Mom, just don't look at me." Like if I don't look, he will not be in trouble. I told him that even if I don't look, God still sees him...that God sees all he does that is good AND bad. He looked up at the sky and thought a minute. Then he said, "No, Mom, God is looking at you right now."

Both Allee and Aiden have gotten really used to my breast pump and don't think a thing about it. I can't hide it from them. Anyway, the pump I use is very old and let's face it, has survived my three children. It is a very good quality, but the motor is starting to sound a little louder than it did before because I use it so much. I have a little area in my bedroom and I sit on my bed, so that I can at least shut the door. Allee came in the other day, crawled up on the bed and started laughing. She said, "MaMa, you pump say, 'Daddy moo, Daddy moo, Daddy moo'." I thought I would die. First, I don't know where she got that, but secondly, just hearing her mimick the sound of a pump motor at age 2 was hilarious.

NATHAN UPDATE: Nathan's surgery went well. He is so strong. He is still in ICU but is decreasing meds and slowly coming off of all tubes, etc. Mom and Dad are doing well, too. They are very stong in their faith and we are so proud for the stand they make. God has truly worked another miracle in this family. Thank you for all the prayers. I know they appreciate it, too.

Sounds like...

What an awesome weekend! We had the opportunity to worship with the Ryan John Snell band on Friday night at Kennedy Baptist Church (Rick's home church). It was a great service and we got to see some of our friends that we never see. We spent the night with Rick's parents. I took the kids by their house before I went to the service and Rick had to drive the van at the last minute. We were all eating supper and I was telling Rick's parents why he had to drive the van. One of our deacon's had tentatively planned to drive and couldn't make it. Anywho... Aiden and Alle were eating (Allee's favorite thing to do) minding their own business and when I said the word "deacon" Allee said, "we don't say deacons." She is referring to a saying Aiden has picked up "That hurts like the dickens" and now Allee has picked up and they say it all the time "driving us up the wall" so I told them I didn't want them saying that anymore. Well try to explain the difference in "deacon" and "dickens' to a 2 year old. It was too cute!

BTW - Rick and I couldn't attend Sat night, but we heard there were 7 professions of faith at the youth rally. Yea God!

P.S. My best friend's 1 1/2 year old baby will be having open heart surgery on Tues. Please pray for their family!

NaNa's Kitchen

My mom came to visit yesterday and cooked supper for us in the process. She fried chicken (which I never do), fried potatoes (my favorite) and cooked peas, creamed corn, and cornbread. She had it all sat on the table with our plates set, drinks out and a tomato cut up for Allee. Aiden came in and with a huge smile on his face said, "NaNa, it looks like a restaurant in here!" How embarrassing. My 3 year old thinks the only place that has food is a restaurant! He then goes on...When he took a bite of his chicken, he said, "NaNa, this chicken is the best chicken I have ever eat." "You like my chicken Aiden?", she asked. "Yeah, it's better than my MaMa's." Now, for those of you who have ever eaten my Mom's cooking, you would agree, but give me a break. I do my best!

I also picked my grandmother up from work and Aiden rode with me. She and I were talking and something caught his eye out the window that he wanted to tell me about. We kept on talking as I usually do, kind of ignoring him, giving him a "yeah, uh-huh" here and there. Finally, I guess he had enough. He said very matter of factly, "MaMa, could you tell YOUR granny to quit talking so I can tell you something." I couldn't believe he was so rude and told him so, while granny was about to bust laughing at him.

Are we better yet?

Finally, I think we are all well. Allee is still weak and wanting to take extra naps, a little whiny, but over all we are better.

We had a great weekend. Upward Awards Night was Friday night with illusionist Curt Anderson. It was an awesome experience. We had tons of people show up to support their little ones. Overall, Upward was great. It was very exhausting on the staff, but very rewarding in the end. We definatlely plan to do it again next year and hopefully plan to throw soccer or flag football in at some point.

I am trying to help Rick get more organized with the church. Most people have secretaries, so I am going to try to be his now that I am home. It's funny, now that I am a stay home mom I think I am wearing MORE hats than I did before. But, that is just me. I can never do JUST one thing. I gotta have a hand in everything.

Evan is ALMOST sleeping through the night and the other two have been sleeping great. The Lord has truly been blessing us. We had a "praise" service last night and it was awesome. Rick ask for testimonies about various things and one was to testify why you are glad. I didn't stand, but I am "glad" that God has made it possible for me to be a stay home mom. Through all the chaos, carrying a baby on each hip, washing countless bottles and folding endless laundry, etc., I am blessed. I am "glad" that God called us into the ministry. It is extremely busy...Upward, setting up the gym, cleaning the gym, borrowing chairs, returning chairs, answering the phone 24 hours a day, etc., but I love every minute of ministering to God's people. I am "glad" that he put us at Sulphur Springs. We have had offers to be at different, larger churches, but God has never put that calling on us. I love our church and every person in it. God has made me "glad" to be a part of it for almost 10 years now (not pastoring that whole time). I can't imagine my life without my church family! To all of you S.S.F.W.B. members who read this, thank you for being so loving, kind, and pleaurable to work with! WE ARE BLESSED!

Aiden Plays Drums

I wish I had a picture...
Yesterday was busy, as usual for us. I had a baby shower to attend after morning services, so Janet and I took all three kids with us to the shower. After that, we had a WAC (Women Active for Christ) Meeting at 4:00 and church starts at 5:00. So, there was no time to spare and we went from one task to the next. To make a long story short, I was a little late getting into chuch, Rick had brought the three kids over and someone in the church was taking care of each of them. Well, I walk in late, the music has already started and Rick is in the back of the church taking care of a things. When I sat down, Janet said, "Aiden is playing the drums." WHAT, I said. Sure enough, I looked around and saw his little blonde head poking above the drum set. He was playing with the congregational singing. Now, you have to understand the church we pastor at. We are all like family and Sunday nights are very laid back...but a 3 year old on the drums (and he was keeping a really good beat, even hitting the cymbals every 4 beats or so, not acting up or hitting too hard...amazing). So what happened? Apparently, he was on the drums before chruch (which is standard) and Rick told him to sit down, he asked could he play and Rick said, "Yes, after church." All he heard was YES. So when Rick turned to do something else, Aiden stayed. When the piano player tried to tell him it was time for church to start and he needed to sit down, he politely told her, "No, my daddy said that I could play the drums." And so he did!

I was telling my Mom this morning on the way to drop him off for school and he said, "Mom, everyone was laughing at me. That's not nice to laugh at people, is it Mom."

Major Updates

Happy Birthday to Abbi (my niece). This is a little old, but we had a birthday celebration for Abbi at the beginning of the Month. Isn't she precious!
Allee has major hair issues. It is growing so fast and and I don't want to cut it, but she is so rough, it is hard to keep fixed. I bought some head bands, thinking that would keep her bangs out of her eyes without our problem with hairbows...the hairbows slide out and she looses them. This picture is the result of a head band after about 1 minute. It slid up (with her help, she was turning flips and such) and this is the result!
Congratulations NaNa Boo-Boo (my mother). This is a picture of NaNa's two holiday grandbabies. The one in the pink is my great-niece - Addison - born on Valentine's Day, and of course the one in the blue is Evan - Christmas Day. Aren't they cute!
We (some of the church kids) went to McDonald's after church a few Sunday night's ago. It was chaotic, but I think the kids had a blast! Thanks to the two men who drove the van load of munchins without parents! (Glad I had to drive separate with Evan). LOL.
This is a pic of my 3 babies. Evan was enjoying his play mat and Allee and Aiden decided to join him.