Thankful

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was very nice and it is always great to spend time with family. Before we eat at Jason's Grandma and Grandpa's house we all stand in a circle and say something we are thankful for. This year Oakley was old enough to join in and what did he say he was thankful for..."Mommy!" Isn't that so sweet!! I honestly thought my heart was going to burst right there. That is one of those Mom moments that I am going to lock away in my heart forever. I will never forget that sweet little face and bright eyes looking up at me in front of everyone and hearing that precious little word come out of his mouth!

I am so thankful for so many things in my life that it could be hard to name them all in this post, but here are a few things that I am most thankful for. First and foremost, my God! Because of my God I have everything I need here on this earth and the promise of eternal life in heaven. I am so blessed to have the peace and love that comes with knowing Jesus Christ. Without Him I have nothing!

I am thankful for my husband, Jason. He is my best friend, my soul mate, and an amazing father to our children! Jason, I love you with all my heart. God knew exactly what he was doing when he matched us together. My love for Jason grows stronger with each passing day and with moments like this how could it not.

The love he has for his children makes him the most sexiest man alive in my book!

I am thankful for my three healthy and beautiful children. My life would not be complete without them. One thing I know for certain in this life is that I was meant to be a Mommy. There is nothing more precious in this world and I treasure every moment of it (even the crazy, stressful, sleepless, grapes being stomped on in my living room floor by a wild 3 year old moments.) The other night Jason and I didn't get much sleep because at one point or another all three kids were up during the night. Jason had to leave to go to work really early that morning and I ended up with all three of them in bed with me hoping for a few extra minutes of sleep. Well that didn't happen and at 7:00 am on my day off I have three playful kids laying in my bed laughing and giggling. Later that day I was talking to my Dad and I was telling him about our night and how the kids were wide awake at seven and his response was "enjoy it because you're going to miss that someday." Isn't that the truth!

Avery, you made me a Mommy for the first time, your love for life, your family, and your friends never ceases to amaze me, and for that I am ever grateful! Oakley, you are my handsome little man and a mama's boy all the way, and for that I am ever grateful! Lakelyn, you are my baby and probably my last, you light up my world with your little laugh and the look of wonder on your face when you wake up every morning, and for that I am ever grateful!

I am thankful for all of my family...because of you I am who I am. I am thankful for Jason's family...because of you my husband is the wonderful man that he is.

I am thankful for our amazing friends. You all play such an important roll in my life. It is such a blessing to have friends that you can truly count on and I love you all from the bottom of my heart!

And last but not least, I am thankful for the beautiful snow we had this past weekend! What a beautiful way to start this holiday season!

Basketball

Avery is playing Jr. Pro Basketball at her school this fall and Jason is helping coach. This is the first time she has ever played and so far she is loving it! It is so cute to see her be-bopping up and down the court and her reaction when she makes a basket is priceless! They are honestly so much fun to watch! Here are a couple of pictures from her first game. Excuse the picture quality...taking pictures in a gym with horrible florescent lighting is not the easiest thing in the world.

Avery shooting the ball

She looks like a natural here...she must get that from her Daddy because basketball was never my thing! My dad signed me up to play Jr. Pro once when I was little. I asked him if I had to get up that early every Sat. morning to go play and when he said said yes that was all she wrote. I told him if that was the case then I didn't want to play. Haha...I have NEVER been a morning person! I have always enjoyed watching basketball, but I never had a desire to play so I know my dad has to be loving having a Granddaughter who does!

Lakelyn's 4 months!

Just a quick update on Lakelyn!

~She has finally started to like her baths!
~She is rolling all over the place these days! Belly to Back and Back to Belly! In fact she rolled all the way across the living room floor the other day.
~She was 16lbs at her doctors appointment yesterday. Since she is doing so well we hope to keep exclusively breastfeeding until she is 6 months old.
~I am pretty sure she has already picked up on how to give kisses!
~Her fingers are her new favorite thing to chew on.
~She sat up for a few moments by herself tonight!!
~She absolutely loves all the attention Avery and Oakley give her. They are always sure to get a grin out of Miss Lakelyn!
~She is laughing out loud... and what a glorious sound that is!!
~She smiles all the time, but the minute I put the camera up to take a picture she is done...I am beginning to wonder if I will ever capture one of those beautiful smiles! :)

Puppies!!

A few weeks ago we had some dirt work done on our farm. We dug a pond and cleaned out some fence rows. A few days later Jason's dad was out picking up around one of the brush piles when he heard what he thought sounded like puppies...and puppies it was...7 to be exact! We took the kids out there and they played and played with the puppies. They were the cutest little things! A few days later the owners came and got them (they belonged to some people that live down the road from us.) Avery was so upset when they were gone. She just cried her little heart out. Needless to say her Daddy promised he would get her not just one but TWO puppies this coming spring. I don't know if he really knows what he has gotten us into, but I guess I don't mind too much...I mean every kid needs a dog right?

How sweet is that!!!

Halloween at our House

The kids has so much fun on Halloween this year! They talked about it for weeks beforehand and are already talking about what they are going to be next year. Avery decided to be a Red Devil this year for the sole reason that red devils have to wear red lipstick...right? When I first asked Oaks what he wanted to be he told me "Doctor Mater." Do you know how long it took me to figure out he wanted to be Darth Vator?!?!?! Miss Lakelyn was a pea in the pod with a big pink bow on top! Avery REALLY got into trick or treating this year. After we stopped at the first house and ran into several people we knew she told Jason and I that we were not to talk to anyone else anywhere we stopped so we could hurry and get to the next house! Oakley had a blast too and I am pretty sure he would of already ate all of his candy if we had not put it up...he has a pretty serious sweet tooth. And of course Lakelyn didn't know what what going on, but we sure had fun showing her off!!

My babies ready for trick or treating!

Our pumpkins we carved...we meant to carve three but after these two I had all I could take! Next year we may have to go back to triangle eyes and noses!

Lakelyn 3 months old

So I am a little behind on posting this but better late than never right?!?! Lakelyn is still quite the little "baby-doll" at our house. Avery and Oaks love to hold her and give her hugs and kisses all the time. She is all smiles these days and here is a little of what she has been up to:

*Learning what her hands are...she grabs EVERYTHING she can get her hands on! She has gotten a hold of Avery's hair more than a time or two. She is also getting really good at holding her toys and putting them in her mouth too.
*She LOVES to be talked to and LOVES to talk back.
*She is very good at blowing bubbles!
*Lakelyn is all smiles these days...all you have to do is look at her and she is bound to give you a smile!
*If you remember she started rolling belly to back at 5 weeks old. Now she is so close to rolling over back to belly! I keep thinking it will be anyday, but just as I think she is about to she gives up.
*Sometimes she is quite fond of her paci...other times she doesn't care a thing in the world for it and other times it makes a great chew toy!
*Sitting in her bumbo on the kitchen table and joining us for dinner is one of her favorite times of day.
*She is starting to really like her exersaucer for a few min. at a time.
*I have become quite the baby wearer and Lakelyn seems to like it quite a bit too! She loves to be right up next to me in our sleepy wrap!
*Baths are something that she is slowing starting to like.
*Lakelyn is a very content, easy baby and rarely cries..if she does cry you know she is either tired, needs a diaper change or just needs to be held for a few moments.
*And speaking of being held...that is one girl that LOVES to be held!
*Looking in the mirror absolutely memorizes her!
*We are still exclusively breastfeeding. She is nursing about every 4 hours during the day, but no matter what time she last ate at daycare you better believe she is ready to nurse as soon as she gets home!
*She still wakes up once during the night to eat and as much as I love my sleep I honestly don't mind our little cuddle time at 3 am
*She actually did sleep through the night once but it was just a fluke!
*When it is bed time she wants to be put down in her bed and she goes right to sleep.
*She loves for me to sing to her and it is such a joy to see her face light up when I do!
*When she went to the doctor last week she weighted 15lbs, so she is quite the little chunk!

Wow, how 3 months has flown by! Here are a few of her 3 months pictures I took!

Zebra Print

Just wanted to post of pic of the girls at church today! I really don't dress them to match all the time but I just couldn't help myself this morning! Little girls clothes are so much fun!!

Family Pictures

So I am realizing really fast that taking family pictures is much more trying with 3 kids, but thankfully I am much more relaxed than I use to be when it came to my family photos. ;) You know, they my not be the "perfect" picture with everyone looking at the camera with a "perfect" smile on their face, but they are perfect to me. This is my life, this is my family and this is just the way I want to remember us...the way we were at this exact moment in our lives. Sometimes it is quite chaotic, hectic and crazy but I couldn't imagine it any other way. These pictures are a snapshot into our lives right now and I could not of asked for a better depiction of my family! Thank you so much Dad for taking these! One of these days I am going to miss this and thanks to you I have these wonderful pictures to look back on. You did an awesome job!! I LOVE them!

Oh how I love this man...because of him my dreams have come true!

My three little angles!

One on the hip and two hanging off my legs...this is exactly how I spend most of my days!!

Lakelyn has found her hands and realizes that she can reach and grab stuff...she was concentrating hard on getting Oakley's arm!

This is honestly how we sneak a few moments to ourselves! haha :) There is always a couple of kids under our feet and one that wants to be held!

My Family!

Mamaw Earline's

Last weekend the kids and I headed down to my Mamaw's for the weekend. As always it was so much fun seeing all my family! We had quite the welcoming when we got there Friday night! Almost all of my Aunt's, Uncle's, and Cousin's were there...that's about 30+ people! The kids have so much fun because they have so many cousin's their age to play with. Here are a few pics of how we spent our weekend at Mamaw's...

Oakley loves his Dr. Pepper...wonder where he get's that from? :)

Lakelyn spent lots of time in Mamaw's lap!

Avery and Emily blocking traffic!

The kiddo's riding down the road.

Little Limmie...can't wait to meet his little sister Emma in another month or so!

Uncle Boogie

Avery and Emily

Dakota making faces at me

Jeremy Lynn with one mischievous look on his face!

We spent most of the weekend sitting on Mamaw's front porch.

That is one dirty face after a day of playing hard!

My cousin Justin has a new album about to come out and he asked me and my Dad to take a few pics for his album cover. This is one of many that we took for him to choose from.

Just being Silly

The other day Avery and I were goofing off with the camera. We had a little impromptu photo shoot while we were waiting for Jason, Oakley and Lakelyn to get home!

Miss Independent

Avery has such a mind of her own, she is very strong headed, and so independent. This is one of the many things I love about her. She reminds me so much of myself and it's kind of scary sometimes! haha! She also loves to dress up and pick her own clothes out to wear. Some days it can be such a battle to get her dressed because she doesn't want to wear what I have picked out. It can be hard because for years I could put whatever I wanted on her and she didn't care...and not to mention I am pretty picky about what my kids wear. I always want her to look a certain way, but I am learning to let go, let her have a say and let her be her own person. I guess she is breaking me in for when she comes home as a teenager with pink hair and her nosed pierced. :)

So...a few weeks ago we were going to a benefit for some good friends. I had Avery all dressed and ready to go when she came up to me with these huge, fake, plastic, dress up earrings on that my Mom had got her to play with. Seriously, they hung down to her shoulders. We were running behind and I really needed to get her in the car so when she asked if she could wear them I said fine. You pick your battles right? Needless to say she got many compliments on her earrings that day!

A few weeks later I had to run to the post office and the store. I told Avery to go get dressed so we could hurry up and get back. She comes up from her room with this huge, bright pink, big brimmed dress up hat on. She asks if she can wear it and again I say what the heck...let her express herself a little...remember I am trying to work on this. Again she got many compliments on her hat and that is all she talked about the rest of the afternoon!

Fast forward to this past weekend. We are getting ready to head to my Mamaw's for the weekend. We go through Bowling Green to get there so I was going to swing by the mall and exchange something. Avery comes out of the bathroom and say's she fixed her hair herself and was ready to go...

Although, I am doing better about letting her express herself through her own style I had to put my food down on this one! I think that is every clip she owns in her hair and we were not about to go to the mall like that...guess I still have some work to do on letting her express herself! :)

Papa Crawford and Granny Lucile's

A few weeks ago we headed to my Granny and Papa's for the weekend. It was so nice to spend some time with family and have a weekend to just relax. All we did was sit around and talk, eat Ganny's amazing home cooking, and watch the kids play. Jason and I even got to go for a run together Saturday morning since we had plenty of babysitters around!

We spent a lot of time on the back porch just relaxing...or playing school with Avery.

Avery and Oaks spent probably an hour wrestling over this ball.

My Granny's new quilt piece on their red barn.

Granny with Miss Lakelyn

Papa and Lakelyn

Mommy and her baby girl!

Avery, Oakley, and Bonnie watching Papa climb the short silo. You can't go anywhere on the 4-wheeler without Bonnie!

Papa on top of the short silo. He didn't attempt the tall one this weekend! ;)

I spent may hours with my cousin Jill and sister Katie playing in this barn as a kid. We always had so much fun together!

Oakley swatting fly's on the back porch.

Avery wanted me to take a picture of her silly bands. This is no where near all of them!!