Memories being made...

 J and I believe that as parents, one of our jobs is to give our children wonderful memories. We have always felt this way but for awhile got lazy about it. We got stuck in a rut called life and got really busy with non sense things. A few months ago we had a heart to heart talk about how important it is to make memories with our children, they are getting bigger and we are missing great opportunities. Here we are living life and are we making an impact in their lives, will they remember these days as fun memories or just boring life? We want them to always remember fun things and everything does not need to cost a fortune. Heck just going on a walk with your kids can make great memories for them.

This summer a new park opened up right around the corner from our house. We live in an area that could use something nice, it seems lately lots of "not so nice" has been moving in so we were thrilled to get a new, fancy park. The city really out did themselves. They made nature walking trails and a really nice picnic area with a great playground. So last weekend we went to check it out.

My 3 older boys on the trail, Luke passed Daddy and Will, he is in the front.  

At the end of the walking trail is a paved cove that leads to this river. I stayed back with Westin since he was in his stroller and the boys headed down the "cliff" to check out the river.

Westin and Mommy waiting on them to get back.

Mommy was ready to head back to the park, so I told them to come on. Luke runs up and does this... he has been doing this lately, silly boy! 

Nice cold water on a hot summer day! 

Love me some Will, he is my wise child. He is my buddy and a huge helper!!



Making memories with your family has done nothing but made our strong bond, even stronger!

Beach Trip 2012

 A few weeks ago we headed off to the beach for several days. We have not had a family vacation in years and this year we felt like it was the year we felt confident in taking several trips with the boys. My Mom met us at the beach so she could join in on the fun! I never knew how much getting out of town with your children and husband could be so important for your family, until this trip. Things lately have been hard: our marriage has been tested, my emotional state has not been the best and life goes so fast all the time, we needed to be gone for 5 days and enjoy each other again. We did not even watch T.V. while gone, nor did we miss it!

This post is major picture overload. The whole time I could not stop praising the Lord. I was in constant prayer. It was a perfect trip, we will never forget these memories we made with each other! It was definitley a memory making trip, not necessarily a relaxing kind of trip with all the kids being there, but we were there to make memories with our boys. We want them growing up with fun memories and this was a huge success!

Our first morning, a little storm rolling in.  

 Our first day at the beach, it was cloudy but perfect for us all!

 Luke buried Will's legs. :)

 A perfect nap on the beach!

 Getting ready to hit the town for dinner.

 Me and my beautiful Momma, she is my best friend!!

 Daddy and his sweet, smiley Westin!

Luke buried with his thumbs up. I love this picture because it is so Luke's personality. With everything in life he handles it with the "thumb's up" mentality. No worries... I pray he keeps this wonderful characteristic!

 My wittle beach bum! The cutest one I've ever seen!

 Mommy and her 3 boys!

Our 3 perfect boys! God's greatest blessings!



My sweet little love bug, he is our angel!

A beach trip would not be complete without catching crabs. This was Will's first time and he was estatic! Luke feel asleep in the condo before we went "crabbing" so we went on with out Luke. We did try to wake him up but he was not getting up. It ended up being a wonderful memory for Daddy, Mommy and Will! 

Like I have said a million times, this trip was amazing. We are already planning our next trip. We love our boys more than life and want them to have a fun childhood. Life is about memories and we are making plenty of them!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. We will talk soon!

Our Lukie

Luke, our 5 year old, is so hilarious to us. I mean Will was hilarious too and still is hilarious in his own way, but Will is much more serious than Luke. Luke is very random, loud speaker and says whatever is on his mind. Will would never be caught doing such things, he plans everything out, speaks calmly and definitely thinks before he speaks!

I never want to forget this about Luke. He has said some of the silliest things lately and I want to be able to document them, one day he will no longer say these things.

1. He talks about Jesus and our Lord ALL the time! He is always the one to strike up a conversation about Heaven, Hell, Jesus, Jesus' shoes, God or animals in Heaven. I love it about Luke. I LOVE that he does not care who is around or where we are, if he feels the need to talk about Him, he will. This morning he brought me my "Heaven is for Real" book. I read it about a year ago and never realized he had it in his room and was looking at Jesus' picture a lot. This morning he said, while pointing to the picture of Jesus in the book "Mom this is the real picture of Jesus" I said "Yes it is Luke, isn't Jesus so handsome" he said "He looks really nice Mom. I can't wait to go to Heaven, I know Jesus will make me fish stick's". Of course I came back saying yes to all of these things but what I loved the most was that he honestly thinks of Jesus as his friend. He already has a love for Jesus in his heart and as I told Luke this morning, I can't wait to go to Heaven either!!

2. Luke has always been in love with babies. Yes it is a blessing considering he will have a baby brother very soon. Every time and I mean every time I eat, he always says that the baby is sitting in my belly with his mouth open and food is just dropping in his mouth, like a fish! ha!!

3. Luke loves to eat and there is not one thing that I can think of that he will not eat. I think it's hilarious because at dinner when we sit down to eat, he will not talk, he eats all of his food and then is ready to talk. He does not even drink hardly while eating. ha! He takes eating very serious and wants to enjoy it!

4. Will likes to sleep with Luke every night. Luke would prefer him to sleep in his own bed because Luke says he needs his space. Each night it is a battle but we think it is hilarious.

These are just a few things I want to remember about my sweet Lukie! He has part of my heart and he is a amazing, independent child. I love you sweet Luke, you keep us all laughing all the time! I hope that never changes about you!!

Michael Jordan??

The past few weeks we have found ourselves so busy just getting this house back in order. I feel for awhile now I have "let things go" so I have tried to de-clutter the house, throw away things we don't need and organize spaces because we will need more space for the baby. 

Since God has blessed me with 3 boys, I see lots of sports in my future. I honestly would not have it any other way because I am that parent that gets into the games that your children are playing in. It is so different than my normal personality, I am usually very laid back and calm. Something just comes out of me and I become this cheerful, supportive and a critic (when needed). The hubs is right there next to me cheering Will along to basketball and I must say basketball has become his sport.

I always want my children to find passion in something that is useful and will keep them busy (along with us as well) and particularly a sport. Will has found "his sport". He is honestly very good at basketball and has averaged 10 points per game. He is so serious about it and I am so happy it makes his heart so happy. Not to mention he is meeting some really great friends and I am really enjoying being a "team mom" spending time with other Mom's with boys the same age as my boys. Him starting basketball this year has really been a great blessing to our family! On February 3, on our last game, I might cry because I will miss it so much! We will be looking forward to next year and will also be looking forward to watch Luke start soccer soon! I know Luke will be great at soccer!!

My Dad came for a visit and I'm so happy he was able to stay to watch Will play. Pop Pop (my Dad) doesn't come around much because he travels for business and he is always super busy. When he does come or we see him it is always so much fun!! The boys enjoy learning new things about Pop Pop each time we spend time with him and I know he is enjoying seeing his Grandson's growing up. We love you Pop Pop!

I will eventually get to my 26 week post early this week. Can you believe I only have 14 more weeks and then this next blessing will join our family?? I really just have a few things to do around the house before getting to his room. I have everything mapped out as to what I want to do for his room, the paint color is bought, his bedding is picked out (I just need to finalize who I want to make it) and then that's really it with his room.

I hope you all are having a blessed January and I will update you all on my lovely (yeah right) stats for my 26 week post!

Love y'all!

All over the place post

This post will be kind of all around the place.

I have always (in a way) feared having "older" kids. The baby part and young child stage to me has always been easy. It is when you have to start shaping them to be the young men you / God wants them to be is what makes my hands sweat just thinking about it. It's a huge responsibility.  

To me, Will is at a critical age. He is 7, about to be 8, and he thinks he is 13. He wants to be so much bigger than he is at this time in his life. He is the sweetest child, a worrier and always concerned about others. He likes being friends with everyone. He has all different kind of friends and that is where I begin to worry. He is at the age where I can only control him at home. I am a big controller, I like to have complete control over all 3 of the men in my home. It is a weakness of mine but I'm being honest here. 

I worry for Will because I have noticed different behavior in him lately that I / we do not like. It might be normal, it might be him just trying to find his way in his world. Either way we don't like it and I try to let him know that "we don't act like that". Not to "make" him be the only way we want him to be, but it's just not appropriate for our household.

I do worry about failing the boys. I worry about not giving them enough time, attention or love. I worry about not teaching them enough about the bible and not teaching them all of the proper things. All I can do right now is my best. I do feel very close to the boys, we play every evening and have fun together. Homework is a family affair and we sit down to eat dinner together each night. Daddy does the baths mostly while I fix dinner or clean up after dinner. We both tuck them into bed and usually read stories and pray together.

I sometimes wonder if that's enough. Should I be impacting their lives in a stronger way?

With another baby coming into the family I think it has sturd up all of these feelings. I never want my children to feel like I'm too busy for them or that they can't come to me and with adding another little one I sure don't want them feeling any of these feelings. I never felt this way when I was pregnant with Luke. It was probably because Will was only 2 and he felt nothing but LOVE to us and his new baby brother.

Thanks for listening and I'm sure I'm doing a great job just because I'm doing my best and that is all I can do. It just these crazy hormones.. lol!

Hope y'all are having a blessed Wednesday!

If you have ANY suggestions on good books I can read, let me know!!

Back to School

We are beginning our 3rd full week of school for Will, 2nd full week for Luke and they both are doing fabulous! Luke started Kindergarten, I was extremely worried about him but luckily Will's 1st grade teacher from last year, moved down to Kindergarten and that is Luke's teacher. She is PERFECT for Luke and we LOVE her! He is adjusting really well, my prayers have been answered!

Here's my boys on the very first day of school :) 

This is them walking behind Daddy into school.... so precious!



Daddy and Luke on his first day of school! 

Mommy and Luke on his first day of school ever!!! 

After this picture was taken he did get really upset because we had to leave, but he did have a great first day. He has not been upset since the first day and he walks in by  himself now. He LOVES school, he is my social butterfly which will get him in trouble!!

God has blessed our family so much and I am so happy that my boys are doing so well. I pray each night over them and in the mornings I pray with them... they are my sweet little blessings!

I have SO much to tell y'all, bigger post coming soon!

I hope you all have a blessed week!! 

My heart, my home...

**warning: picture overload, had to get caught up** 

As I said before, the kids were gone to Georgia to visit my family for a week. Yes Mommies don't be jealous because the hubs and I stayed home, together, pretending we were dating again!! It was beyond fabulous!! BUT we did not feel complete, our babies were gone so I took the first chance I could to head on down there and pick my babies up - while spending some much needed time with my parents and extended family and friends. I felt like a new woman coming home, refreshed, exactly what I needed!!!

One night we went to my Dad's farm, he took the boys on their first ride on a tractor.

 Too cute!!

 My Dad (PopPop) and Lukie

 Will caught his FIRST fish with Mommy around, his first real fish was caught with his royal rangers class from church, but I told him I considered this his first since we were there. :)

 This boy and his handsome face.... he has my whole heart! I thank God everyday for giving me these angels, sometimes I don't feel worthy of being their Mommy!

 My sweet Lukie caught his real, FIRST fish!!!! Such a proud moment!!

 My Dad.. lol, he has a brander (or however you say it) and he branded the steaks with his initials.. WTT = William Turner Thompson... whatever floats your boat Dad!!

 This pretty much sums up that evening... one sleepy little boy who could not make it to dessert!

Here is my beautiful Mommy and my boys before we left Monday morning. It's taken with my phone, so not the best quality but I had to add in a picture of her!!

And last but not least, the boys with my Mommy and Nanny! 

So yes we have been back home for a week now and school started this week. I have a huge post all in itself for back to school. I'm one proud Momma, wife, daughter, grand daughter and sister. Just beyond blessed!!

Hope y'all are having a blessed week!!

Georgia on my mind...

This past weekend I went to Georgia to pick up our sweet boys. They were down visiting my family and having a BLAST!! The picture above is Luke, my Nanny, Mom & Will. They all are just the cutest!!

While they were away they both learned and conquered their fear of SWIMMING. I now have little fish that can swim everywhere!!

I wish I was still down in Georgia, life just seems better when I'm there. Not that life is bad at all, but wherever my family is, is where my heart is...

I hope you all are having a wonderful week, more post this weekend I promise!!!

It's back to school time on Monday!!

talkative tuesday

Yes I just decided to name this Tuesday post - talkative tuesday. I thought it had a cute ring to it. I have random things to discuss today.

1. First off, I have a serious celebrity crush on Adam Levine. I mean is he not just the most beautiful thing you have seen. I think he's rather short, I'm not a huge fan of short men, but he is absolutely beautiful and I think he's totally HOT on the Voice. When he sang on the Voice a few weeks ago I thought I was going to come up off the sofa. I was so embarrassed he struck me all of the sudden and right in front of the hubs!!

2. Sunday we took the boys to meet my Mom half way, so she has them all week in Georgia with her. Sunday night we didn't know what to do with ourselves, it is so quiet in the house. J thought he would make me feel at home while we were watching T.V. that night and he yelled out "boys get back in your beds"... we cracked up laughing! I miss them with all of my body, I can't wait to see their little faces in a few days. Being home alone with the hubs and just doing what we want to do is SO much fun though! I totally fell in love with him all over again and it makes me remember the reasons why we fell in love, 10 years ago!! (yes, sadly sometimes I needed to be reminded).

3. You know our boys LOVE to go swimming, but they are terrified to let go and swim off. They seriously are terrified. We are going to have to do swimming lessons again this summer and I think I know where I'm going to put them. I hate it for them, it totally freaks our pediatrician out because it is much more dangerous for them to be scared to swim. With them being scared to take off and swim it hinders them to be able to acually "swim". - confusing I know, it confuses me to watch :(. One day I will have choice words with the person that put the "Fear of God" in them regarding swimming... For now I will pray for their little worried minds and just help them along, they do have a ball in the shallow end so right now they think they don't need to take off and swim... UGH!

I think that's all of the non-sense I have for today. I need to get back to work...

Hope y'all are having a blessed Tuesday!

Happy 5th Birthday to my Luke!

 Luke,

On this day, you took our breath away! From the moment I found out about your little life, I knew you were the second best thing to ever happen to me.

Seconds after you were born...

1 year old! 

2 years old!

3 years old!

4 years old!

and now sadly... 5 years old!!

Lukie we can't believe our baby boy is now 5 years old. It seems like time has flown by, I remember laying awake with your Daddy the night you were born, us both balling because we made this beautiful child together. We love you more son than you will ever know!! You and your brother are our lives.

My prayer each night is for you to continue loving the Lord, learning more each day, staying funny and laughing at anything, enjoying life and just being true to yourself. We could not be more proud of you!

Happy 5th Birthday son!!

(this post is 4 days late... better late than never) 

Alive and Well!

 Yes I am still alive and well! My sweet boys are still just so handsome but are getting bigger, thinking they are 18! :)



 We have been busy bee's the past few weeks, I have so many pictures to upload!

The swimming pool and eating oranges has been our favorite thing thus far! 

And I seriously don't know what I will do when this child does turn 18, my parents warned me, but WHOA I had no idea it would start at 7!

This weekend is the 4th of July, it is a HUGE family get together for my Dad's side of the family. This is our first year (in many years) to miss, we actually are STILL trying to figure out a nice, short get away with just our sweet family of 4. I think it will be a nice treat and I will keep you posted on what we decide to do!!

I hope you all are having a blessed Monday, I'm so glad it's almost Tuesday! 

These moments..

are the ones

that

we

miss

the most,

knowing that we

will

never

get

these moments back

breaks my heart into pieces!!!

Time is so precious!

Blessings,