Wednesday, February 22, 2012

A Visit from the Dillow Family

This past weekend was so great for us!  Our friends, the Dillows, came for a visit.  Morgan, Grace, Jackson and Charlotte are some of our dearest friends from Lexington.  Our other dear friends, Emily and Reva Lavender, came in as well!  It was a blessing to have some familiar faces in our new area.

Friday was such a nice day, so we all headed out to the park.  As always, Asa decided to test the limits, but Kenneth was there to save the day!  We also found out that if left alone Asa and Charlotte could probably get in some big trouble.  What a pair.  They had so much fun playing together.  Asa just LOVES Charlotte.  I would be worried about his obsession if they were a little older. 

Noah, Aiden and Jackson wrestled and wrestled.  Aiden and Jackson were having so much fun being rough and rolling around on the ground.  Noah is not much for extended periods of wrestling, so Aiden was in heaven to have Jackson sparing with him for such a long time.

Nathan was Nathan.  Content to do whatever and happy as a clam to run around.

On Saturday we went to the McWayne Science Center.  The kids had a blast!  It was a also Big Machines day, so they all got hard hats and had fun looking at the big trucks. 



On Saturday night Reva and Emily watched all the kids for us so that we could go out to dinner.  What a blessing!  Who drives from KY to AL to babysit and spend time with the chaotic Bruce boys....the awesome Lavenders, that's who!

Here is a picture from their sleepover.

All of us went to church today on Sunday, and Kenneth was preaching.  Personally, I thought he did great! 

It was so refreshing for us to spend time with our friends this past weekend.  The kiddos had a blast and keep asking me when they will get to see Jackson and Charlotte again.  We can't wait either!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Noah's First Field Trip

I have been waiting for today for a good three weeks.  Noah's first field trip.  And, since it is a Friday and that is Kenneth's day off, I got to go with him!  I felt a little bad for leaving Kenneth with the other three boys for the day, but not bad enough to let him go with Noah.  :) 

This is a picture of us before we left the house. 
All the kids at his preschool have to wear these special "field trip" shirts when on a field trip. 
Pretty good idea, if you ask me.

The field trip was to the Children's Theatre of Birmingham.  We went to see "The Little Engine That Could."

Here is Noah with his friends before the show began. 
I was bummed that we could not take pictures during the show.

The play was cute.  The kids all loved it!  Noah's favorite part of the whole thing was when the monkey kept using his "banana phone" to call for help.  Should make for an interesting breakfast tomorrow when all the kids try dialing with their banana.  Thanks, Children's Theatre.
 
My favorite part of the whole performance was watching Noah.  He sat with the children and I got to sit with the moms.  I had a great view of him.  I found myself watching more of him than the play.  I love him so much.  Sometimes I feel like my heart is going to burst because it can't contain the overwhelming sense of love I feel for him when I look at him.  And then God quickly reminds me of His love for me, always.  I love how He teaches me so much about Himself through my kids.  
As I watched Noah before the play began I saw something that made me so proud I could have cried right there.  One of the little girls got up to go to the bathroom and through a series of other events she came back and didn't have a seat.  She was just standing there with no where to sit.  She was not demanding for anyone to move, but you could just tell she was hoping they would.  I felt so bad for her because she just wanted to sit with her friends.  Then...I saw something that has been one of my proudest moments as a parent to date.
 
Noah got up and let her have his seat.  He scooted back to the wall behind him and sat there by himself so that she could sit with her friends.  My heart was bursting with pride.  I then sat there and watched my son sit behind all the other children for the rest of the play.  He kept moving his head to see, but did not complain once.  He laughed at the funny parts and participated when the kids were supposed to "help" out the characters in the play.  I felt like I had the best seat in the house just watching him.
 
After the show, some of the characters stood in the hallway to take pictures with the kids.
This is Noah with some of the characters and his friends Jordan and Kiersten.

After the play I took Noah on a Mommy-Noah date to Chick-fil-a.  I had so much fun sharing a meal with him and listening to him laugh about the banana phone from the play.  When he finished his fruit cup I let him trade in his "toy" for a ice cream.  

This is one happy boy!

And he makes me one happy Mommy!



Thursday, February 9, 2012

Darn Train Tracks

We live in Alabaster, AL.
Otherwise known to us as Train City USA.
We literally do not go anywhere without crossing over train tracks.

My favorite line from today.
From Noah, of course.
As we drove over the train tracks...
"Mommy!  Train tracks make my pee pee tickle."

I
died.