4th birthday party

We celebrated Warner's 4th birthday last Saturday with a dinosaur party! It was a very HOT day - over 90 degrees, but it was a success! Warner had a great time and enjoyed his bounce house and cake. He loved having all his friends come to his house, and it was even better to have his cousins Madison, Kepler, & Dax there to0.

The invitation! Jenny Holloway you amaze me everytime. She is so creative!! If you need an invitation, check her out at jennyhollowaydesigns.blogspot.com.

Our little family - these 3 boys in my life make me so happy!

The bounce house was H-U-G-E!! We set it up the day before and even I had a little fun playing. Thank you to our neighbors for letting us borrow it!

The cake matched the invitation.
Jackson woke up halfway through the party and enjoyed being passed around.

Jackson and Pops
Jackson and Aunt Haley

time to sing

this is when I decided to take the cake inside...

Even Jackson had a little friend at the party - Gaines and his mommy, Julie

Jackson and Buddy

cousins - Warner, Madison, & Kepler

more cousins - Madison, Warner, Jackson, Kepler, & Dax

Daddy and Jackson

I still can't believe I have a four year old...and what's even crazier is that in just 3 short months we'll be celebrating Jackson's first birthday! Time flies when you're having fun!!

last day of preschool

Today was Warner's last day of 3 year old preschool. We were so sad to say goodbye to our teachers, but we are looking forward to a very laid back summer. Hopefully Jackson will let us sleep in a few mornings this summer!!

August 2009 on the left....May 2010 on the right

party at school

show & tell

I forgot to post this last month, but it is too sweet not to document on our blog. Warner has been begging to take Jackson to show & tell since right after we brought him home from the hospital. First I told him we needed to wait until he got his shots, then it was that show & tell time was during Jackson's nap time....I finally had to give in and just go with it. I am so glad I did!! All his classmates sat on the floor and we went to the front of the class and sat in chairs. Warner told his class all about his brother - his full name, how old he was, what he ate, etc. His class was so excited to have a baby in their class and everybody wanted to hold him. Warner was such a proud big brother!!

This picture was taken on Warner's birthday, but just like at show & tell all the kids wanted to play with Jackson and hold him.

four. years. old.

Today, you are four years old!! Boy oh boy, where do I start to write down all the things about you as a four year old?! You are FULL OF YOURSELF! Always making us laugh, making us want to scream, making us want to squeeze you, and making us want to go insane all at the same time! Things I don't want to forget about you at this age:

-You LOVE life (and always have). You get excited about the little things and remember the smallest detail. You love to go, go, go!! You are always wanting to go to someone's house...especially our neighbors house. You just want to knock on the door and invite yourself in...we've gotta work on that!

- You love sweets! Chocolate is your favorite. You are a horrible eater. I can list the things you will eat on 2 hands, but thankfully you love fruit. You are constantly asking, "can I have some dessert?" You would drink pink lemonade all day without eating anything if we let you. I just know one day you will wake up and want to atleast try new things.
- You want to obey, really you do...but for some reason it takes the 3rd or 4th time to get you to do what I want you to do. Ugh!! In the last few months at school your teachers have gone to a light system - green, yellow, red. Most of the time you have green, but you've had a lot of yellow & red recently too-hitting, getting out of line, not going to circle time, acting up in chapel, throwing toys, etc. It has made me a little upset and it just absolutely ruins our day! I have to go home after not seeing you all day and spank you. It really does hurt me more than it does you!
- You love to snuggle! Every single night you beg to get in mommy and daddy's bed "just for a little while" and honestly I love when you get in our bed. I don't want you in there all night, but it's fun for a little while. I know there will come a time when that's not cool, so I'll soak it up while I can!

- You don't take a nap daily anymore. It had become pretty difficult to get you to bed at night, so we did away with taking one every single day. If you are still for longer than 5 minutes though you will fall asleep on your own - lately you have fallen alseep in time-out, the car, or even a few times on the couch watching tv.

- You go to school everyday from 8-11:30 and you love it!! Your favorite thing about school is the playground, you love show & tell, you have the best teachers, and even though I know you are ready for a break I know you will wake up all summer and want to know when you are going back to school. We have been so blessed by PDS.
(zoo day - May 13 - daddy dressed you up as a deer)

- Your life as you knew it completely changed this past August. You became a big brother!! You are an amazing big brother! Jackson absolutely adores you! When he sees you his eyes light up and his smile is from ear to ear. You love to go in his room when he wakes up. You know just what to do - lights on, sound machine off, and then you will say, "good morning, did you have a good nap?" It makes me smile! Most of the time you are so considerate of him - getting him toys, helping him reach things, playing with him, wanting to protect him, sharing. There are times when you are not so nice - covering him with pillows, stepping on his fingers, taking things from him....but isn't that part of the job title as big brother - pestering!!

- If there is dirt or mud within your reach, you are in it. I am doing a lot of laundry!

- You still love trains. You also love to play with tractors and trucks and trailors. Your favorite thing to do right now is play in the dirt in the back yard with your tractors and trailors. You will sit in one spot for hours and pretend you are a farmer - I just laugh listening to you pretend to be your daddy!! If you aren't in the dirt you can be found riding your gator or 4-wheeler! We have to charge them every night because you can run the battery down in one day.

- Those eyes!!!!!!!!! I love your eyes! You have your daddy's eyes. We get mixed opinions about who you look like - some say me, same say daddy....but we know for sure who you act like!! You are Buddy made over - full of personality. Once you warm up to someone, you will talk their ear off.

- You love to tell secrets! You put your lips right up to my ear and whisper little silly stories. Some things that come out of your mouth crack me up - "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" or "I'm all about____!" This week you have been "all about swimming pools".

-You love to help me...laundry, sweeping, pouring your juice, cooking, making the bed, everything! Most of the time I love your help, but sometimes I would rather save time.

I am so proud of the little boy you have become. God knew what he was doing when he gave us you, and we are so thankful!

Happy 4th Birthday Warner Lively!!

dear baby jac jac

I don't think this is a very good idea...

bath time

I love these boys so much! We are having the best time - just the 3 of us! We miss daddy while he's working so much...but we're so thankful for our hard working daddy! He makes it possible for me to be able to stay home and have fun with these boys everyday. Thank you daddy!!

Bathtime has become one of my favorite times of day recently...#1 reason being that it's the end of the day and I know I'm about to get to relax soon...but also because these two are so funny together! I can get stressed about the little things - Jackson thinking he can breath the water, Warner getting every bath toy out and making a huge mess that I will have to clean up later, every bottle of bath wash getting knocked down by a busy baby boy, water all over the bathroom floor...but I choose to laugh and enjoy every minute. They grow up too fast...and I want to remember these moments forever!! I love being a mom!!

My Parents & Me

This morning Warner's Preschool class presented their "My Parents and Me" program. They have this little program to show off what they have learned during the year and kind of like their little graduation from preschool. They recited all of their bible verses, the pledge of allegiance, a few songs, and their prayer. Each student was called out at the end and presented the moms with flowers and the dads with a tie (handmade). It took me a little while to figure out that the flowers in the bouquet were made out of Warner's hands....I will keep these forever!! Then after I read the little poem printed in the program, I lost it!

A Dozen Flowers

These are not just any flowers as you can see.

These are my hands, they represent you and me.

Two hands that I may share,

Two hands to hug you

to let you know I care,

Two hands to let me play,

Two hands to help me pray,

Two hands for you to hold...

Two hands to help me let go.

Warner and Mrs. Mona - we are going to miss her so much!!

weekend in Laurel

Last weekend we traveled to Laurel for the wedding of a childhood friend of mine (congrats Stephanie & Tucker). We love any chance to visit my grandmothers and both aunts that also live in Laurel. My dad & I ran in the Day in the Park 5K and it was a KILLER!! I'm not use to hills and the humidity was horrible, but we made it! After the race we enjoyed the festivities of Day in the Park while daddy played golf with some of the wedding party.

While we were in Laurel we had a little early birthday party for Warner (he turns 4 in less than 2 weeks!). He is such a mess these days and makes crazy faces everytime I get the camera out.

Opening presents!

All he has talked about in the past month was how he wanted a blue 4 wheeler. Well, he got on the phone with Meme last week and she asked what he wanted for his birthday and it took no time for him to answer! Here he is reading his card from Meme that said something was waiting for him in the garage...

He couldn't get that smile off his face!!

My dad took this picture of Chris & I...I thought it was pretty good except for my crazy hair. We still love each other even after all these years....most of the time!

all my boys!!

Meme got him a Thomas the Train cake - chocolate cake with chocolate icing - his very favorite!

Thank you Meme, Julie, Mamaw & B for the gifts for the birthday boy! Thank you so much B for keeping my boys throughout the wedding weekend - I never worry about them for one second when they're with you!!

T-BALL

When Chris said the word t-ball a few months ago...he couldn't even get it out of his mouth before I said, "absolutely not!" I had many reasons...he's too young and do we really want to start that? were just two of the reasons. Well, I gave in and let them have their little father-son thing. Tonight we had our first game...and I'm sooo glad I gave in to this one. Warner did so good, but most importantly he had so much fun!! Go FNB! Go #3!!