Life lately

Happy fall, y'all!
Hope everyone is enjoying this cooler weather as much as we are. Like most, we are living for the weekends these days!
Last weekend I was on call. I was really dreading it but it was much better than I thought. I got up in the mornings both days and went to the hospital to round. I left at 1 on Saturday but was gone by 11 on Sunday. Not bad at all! And....then I was off on Monday!
Saturday night our friends Nate, Tia, and baby Colton came over. Colton is exactly 3 weeks older than Anna. They had a great time playing together!This weekend, Zack turned the big 3-5 today! Happy birthday Zack! :) His parents were here for a visit. The boys had fun yesterday going to the Bass Pro Shop. Zack's mom, Anna, and I all went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch and then Costco. Last night, his parents were nice enough to babysit and we went out for a night on the town. We had dinner at Ray's on the River. If you live here I highly recommend....I got the Ginger Soy Tuna and it did not disappoint! The food was awesome but the scenery was even better! Beautiful view of the river. Afterwards, we went to see The Rum Diary. Don't waste your money on this one. A long movie about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!

Today, Zack grilled some delish salmon for lunch and this afternoon we just hung out together and carved our pumpkin for tomorrow.
Happy Halloween everyone!!

Pen Pals

Dalton has a pen pal!
I signed him up for "Itty bitty pen pals" through another blog that I read. We had the most fun this month gathering some of his favorite items (a bag of snakes included) and writing a sweet card to his new pen pal, Kyle. Kyle lives in Montgomery, TX.
Dalton was soooo excited the day his letter and package arrived from Kyle. Here is a picture of some of the sweet art, letter, and game that Kyle sent him.
He also included some pictures of him and his family which was a great idea. We will do this next month. :)
Dalton is very excited to have a new friend in a different state. Thanks, Kyle!

Pumpkin Patchin'

This weekend we went to Burt's Pumpkin Patch in the north Georgia mountains. It was quite the drive but that's another story. The point is, we had a wonderful time! I think this will definitely be a tradition for our family. Dalton absolutely loved it! I have never seen so many pumpkins of so many shapes and sizes. We even got to do a hayride! Dad and Joanne were here to visit, and I think they enjoyed it too after we all recovered from the 2 hour car ride that we thought was going to take 30 minutes. I am currently enjoying some delicious homemade pumpkin bread that we picked up there...it's really like the best that I have ever had. We got 2 pumpkins that I can't wait to carve-be on the lookout for some pics of that coming soon! Enjoy the photos!

Dalton at 4 years

Dear Buddy,
4 years ago on October 9, 2007 at 3:41 pm you gave me the greatest gift I have been given yet. You made me a mother. We have watched you in amazement ever since and I'm still wondering how these years have gone by so quickly. You light up our lives with so much wonder, love, and happiness each day. You are ALL BOY! You are full of curiosity and tackle each task and each day with complete enthusiasm. Yes...this can sometimes be translated into tearing things up, not listening, and in general driving us both a little nuts. But we wouldn't want it any other way. I am so proud of you and have enjoyed watching you become a big brother. You are so sweet with Anna and I have no doubt that you will be her hero one day.

Loves:
Curious George
Sharks!
Baseball
Pirates-especially the Veggie Tales ones
Cheeseburgers
Cowboys and boots
Swords
Kip
All animals
Going to Church
Dislikes:
Eating...especially most anything nutritous... :(
Picking up your toys
Taking the time to use the potty

Here's a little pic of you with your new cowboy boots, courtesy of mommy and daddy (mostly Daddy!)
I can only imagine how this list will change in the coming year. I look forward to all the years ahead and all the surprises they will hold....
Love always,
Mommy

Anna at 3 months

So...I have decided to do these posts from time to time in order to remember exactly what was going on with each child. It's really amazing how quickly you forget stuff that you never think you will. Obviously not the really important things but the little things that just seem routine.

Dear Anna,
I can't believe you are now 3 months old. You have been such a joyous addition to our family. The minute I saw you and held you I knew that you were the piece that completed our little family. You are such a happy baby and I really think you're going to be pretty laid back.

Loves:
Nursing
Morning time-you are always at your happiest
When mommy sings to you (You are my sunshine, the wheels on the bus)
Patty cake-you especially like when I do it with your feet :)
Staring at your big brother
The butterflies on your bouncy seat
Looking at your hands--you just started doing this! They are so fascinating!
Being swaddled
Dislikes:
Loud noises like doors slamming
Not a big formula fan-prefers the real thing
Tummy time. You haven't rolled over yet but you are so close!

I have said this before, but I am not in any rush for you to do anything. I enjoy every day and every moment with you and cherish this time because I now know how quickly it passes.
Daddy and I always talk about how very blessed we are and it is so true.
Love always,
Mommy

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days....

It is somewhat difficult for me to do this post but for memory's sake I'm going to do it. So...I started back to work at my new job as a nurse practitioner on Monday. It is what I have been working toward professionally for about 8 years now. As the date loomed while I was on maternity leave I found myself much less excited about it then I initially was before having Anna. I don't even know how to best put this into words but it almost felt like a losing battle going back to work. If I didn't go back to work then what in the world did I waste all that time and money for? Nursing is not exactly a field you can leave for several years and come back and pick right up again. On the other hand I just felt like I was a terrible mother for working and not staying home with these sweet children. I couldn't even post about it on here on Sunday like I had originally planned because I was so distraught.
Fortunately, a week in, I can write about it and say that I'm feeling better and the children are really doing great. We have gotten into a pretty good routine (for now!). On the positive side, we get home about 4:40 and that leaves me with several hours of quality time that I can spend with them. I get lots of time to hold and love on Anna and Dalton and I have been doing art work, playing games, and watering the flowers together. :) I'm not going to say it's easy being away from them all day. I have been calling twice a day to check on Anna and her sweet teacher is so nice about reassuring me. They both seem happy and loved when I pick them up and that means the world.
As for me-I am really liking the new job. So far, so good. I have sooo much to learn and the role is so different than a bedside RN BUT-it's definitely a welcome change.
We are very lucky to have wonderful Mrs. Suzan. We met her when Dalton was in the infant room at Millcreek Academy and she has really become a close family friend. Dalton loves her and I'm sure Anna will too. She stopped by Millcreek yesterday and took some pictures of them in their classes and was sweet enough to stop by here today and bring me a copy of the CD with the images. Here are a few. It was the perfect thing to make me feel better about my babies being away from me!

Happy birthday (party) Dalton!

This past weekend we had Dalton's 4th (yes, 4th!!!) birthday party! It was quite the little adventure. First of all I can't believe my little baby (even when he is 25 I know I will still think of him as being this) is turning 4. But I plan to do a different post about that this weekend on his actual birthday. Now back to the party. For those of you who know me well you may have experienced my psychotic-ness firsthand when it comes to planning parties. For some reason I get super stressed out and act like a huge freak dictating orders to those around me and behaving very rudely for about 24 hours prior to the party. This has been a recurrent problem dating back to Mom's 45th surprise birthday and has continued every year for every birthday party for Dalton. So a big thank you to Mom and Diane who usually bear the brunt of this!!

The theme this year was Curious George who Dalton is currently very into. I thought everything turned out really cute. We used red and yellow for the colors and I ordered the party stuff from a super cute store on Etsy called Pretty Smitten. The party actually was early due to a soccer game, so we had Chicken minis from Chick fil a (YUM!), fruit, chips and dip, pigs in blankets, and of course curious George cupcakes! Most importantly I think little Buddy had a great time so that's what it's all about.
I have to add a funny story on here...after the soccer game, Zack convinced me to go for a little spin with him in his LandCruiser. I only had about 10 minutes before it was time for Anna to eat again so I said sure, I will go, but let's just go around the block. No sooner than we pulled out of the neighborhood and got about 1/2 mile away did the thing cut off. I look over to see "E" on the gas gauge. You guessed it....we ran out of gas! CLASSIC. We had to laugh when we were trudging back home on the side of the road.
Happy almost 4th birthday Dalton! I am looking forward to the weekend to celebrate with our little family. More to come soon!Here's a little picture of Anna...she enjoyed the party too as you can see! :)