The Boy who Cried POOP!

Oh, will I ever be a regular blogger again?? Things are looking very doubtful as another several weeks have gone by and no posts...

We are reaching a new stage in little Mark's life. It seems that he is testing every boundary that we thought we set in stone. Most recently, he has been fighting us HARD over naps and going to sleep at night and especially going back down in the middle of the night if he wakes up. We literally went back and forth for over 2 hours this week in the middle of the night trying to get him back down.

Don't get me wrong. We try several things before finally letting him cry it out. But he cries, screams, attempts to pull at our heart strings by pitifully saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom" or "Da, Da, Da, Da, Da, Daaaaaaaad..." However, this little guy is smart. And if all other attempts have failed he will say whatever he thinks will get us out of bed such as "B" "B" B" which is what he calls his blanket which he kicks off when he doesn't want to go to sleep. His favorite though, is "Poop, Poop, Poop" which is what he says, of course, when he has gone potty. I can't tell you how many times I have fallen for it and checked a completely clean diaper.

Making the transition to a big boy bed is not looking good. But while we're on the subject of #2 : ), Mark used the big boy potty for the first time this week!! We are sooo excited!

Fun Fall Day...

"Vroom!!" He was so excited Daddy was "driving" him!

I LOVE FALL! It is my absolute favorite time of year! It makes me feel so warm and cozy! And one of the fun things that accompanies fall around here is the local pumpkin patch. I so wanted to bring Mark last year but restrained myself b/c he was so young that he wouldn't have appreciated it at all. It totally would have been for me. But this year, he was raring to go! He LOVES tractors, trucks, and all things boy. And lucky for him, the farm was full of them. His heart skips a beat as soon as he catches a glimpse of that John Deere green and yellow--you can't tell this kid is from the south! He went nuts when we let him loose at the pumpkin patch today running from one tractor to another, exclaiming, "Tract, tract, tract!" "Pump, pump, pump!" (Pumpkin). Thanks to my mom for taking some cute pics!

Daddy helped him pick out the biggest one. : )

Pa, Ma, and Baby Mark

Kisses for the bunny.

Matt took Mark to Home Depot a while back to get a bunch of "real" keys that looked more like mommy and daddy's keys. He loves them and totes them around quite a bit just in case he needs to start a car or unlock something, I guess. :) You can see him using them to start the tractor.

More of Jane's wedding pics

Look at this adorable child!! : )

Shake it like a salt shaker! :)

Poor Matty had been sick all weekend, but I was glad he got to come by for a little bit to be my date. We had a fun time!

Love this man!!

The beautiful couple!

Happy Wedding!

Love my girls!

Getting ready...

One of my absolute best friends, Jane, got married last night! It was such a beautiful wedding and super fun reception. She got married up at Burritt on the Mountain...a gorgeous place that we visited a lot when we were younger. Unfortunately, it decided to rain pretty hard right before the wedding started and got really cold and everything had to be moved inside but it turned out perfectly. The little chapel was darling and cozy--filled with loved ones. Despite the rain and cold, everyone had a blast. I'm so grateful for my precious friends and wonderful memories!

I didn't get any good pics of Jane and John!

Mark LOVED the food..and Haylee, Stephen's girlfriend!

Stephen escorting us to the reception...it was so stinkin cold!

Pink Eye and other stuff...

Well, it's been an eventful week as usual. Mark has pink eye! Ugh! Poor little guy looks so pitiful! This is just days after he conked his face on the wood floor and bruised up his nose. We totally thought it was broken! There are now only 5 days left before my friend's wedding where Mark will be the ring bearer. Luckily, this new medicine is supposed to clear up the pink eye in like 1 -2 days and I am praying, nay, pleading, that I will not come down with it like the day before the wedding and that nothing else will happen to poor Marky!

The pink eye : (

(The night he bopped his nose. The pic doesn't do the swelling justice--poor guy!)

We are loving our new house! There are still boxes everywhere, but things are starting to come together and I am finally getting some stuff up on the walls. My mother was a good mother who instilled in me the importance of having "seasonal decor" :)! I have put some of my fall decorations out on the mantle! Yeay! We didn't have one at the apartment and I'll never take the mantle for granted again! :) Marky especially loves playing in the yard (although Mom and Dad didn't calculate how many weekend hours we would be spending working on that yard). Anyway, life is good.

Baseball Game--Thought this was so cute!

Happy Bridal Shower!!

I love a shower! I love the packed room full of girlfriends and family, the love that's in the air, the silly games, and most of all, the finger foods! : ) One of my best friends is getting married in 3 weeks from today, and we had her shower this afternoon! We had a great time and hope that she did too! Here are a few pics...tons more to come of bridal events in the next few weeks...

I love this pic of Jane--it's so cute! : )

So, what's a wedding shower without the obligatory corny game? Actually, I was glad we played this b/c it made for fun pics :)! We did Project Runway: The T.P. Wedding Dress Challenge.




Sister Mary Katherine : ) Somehow this veil turned into more of a nun's garb.







The panel




Easy, Kelli!


Krystle and Grammy

Happy 50th Old Lady!

Just kidding--my mom is definitely not an old lady! She turned 50 years young yesterday! I couldn't even believe it! We had a great time celebrating this weekend! I love my mom soooo much and am so immensely grateful for the wonderful woman that she is! Here are a few pics from her B-day weekend and pics of us at last week's Disaster Preparedness Seminar.

We had a girls night surprise party for her and she was sooo surprised!

Trying to get a pic with the kids, but Mark kept latching on to Mom's feet and wouldn't look up. Crazy kid.

I don't know what he's doing!

Matt explaining something to Mark : )

Ok, so usually Mark LOVES fire trucks, police cars, etc and loves to make the siren sound. But he completely freaked when he actually had the opportunity to get in one as you can see from his face.

Screaming again when I asked if he wanted to get in the police car. : )

They had a rescue squad car out there which was actually really cool. Matt got to "play with" the jaws of life and other tools they use to cut cars open.

It's Been Forever!

Ok, so I haven't posted in forever. And this is a random post to start re-blogging to, but I wanted to get back into the swing of things. The summer has flown by and we've had no time at all! Catching the blog up would take too long and would be boring for everyone to read so I'm just gonna start from today...So apparently, I have been sitting on a gold mine for a couple of years now and didn't even know it. We were watching Food Network tonight and saw the following:
The Bonsai Potato...http://www.bonsaipotato.com/... You order this kit and "grow" your own bonsai tree out of a potato. No joke! Well, they are kind of a joke. Regardless, they are selling for about $15 a pop. Imagine all the money I have been throwing away when I throw out our bad potatoes!

Anyway, just thought this way funny : ). We really have had a great summer and everyone is doing really well.

Happy Birthday, Wobbo!

Happy Birthday to my brother, Robert!! We have been birthday buddies since the day he was born because our b-days are so close together. Some siblings might not like this, but I have loved being able to share our birthdays together for so long! He is an amazing brother and friend! I can't even begin to mention how much he has been there for us over these past few years with everything from car help to watching Marky countless times!! He is truly a man of integrity, so hard working, kind, strong, and gentle. Mark LOVES his Uncle Ob sooo much!!! : ) And so do we!