Happy Birthday, Wilson!

Three

Three. He's three. I really can't believe it. I have a three year old. That sounds like an official child to me, not a baby. This puts me into pretty scary territory. I feel like I'm pretty good with babies and toddlers, but kids are a whole other ball game. They think a lot, and they talk even more. Discipline is becoming more and more about the heart and not just keeping him from hurting himself. He's spending time in the world without me, which means there are now hurt feelings and dissapointments I can't prepare him (or me) for. I feel pretty much unequipped to entertain, educate, challenge, shepard, and cope with a lot of these challenges. Add to the mix we're about to have A GIRL, which really makes me feel like a fish out of water, and I'm pretty much overwhelmed! On the up side as we've gotten closer to 3 and further from 2, the little guy has gotten so much sweeter. He regularly gives hugs and kisses and tells us that we're his best friends. He's making more and more discoveries and it's so fun to watch the world unfold in front of him and to listen to him tell his findings in his own words. He's loving school and sunday school and doing a great job sitting through the first half of "Big Church". He's really looking forward to his littler sister finally getting here- he pokes on her and tries to get her to play. He also will shake my tummy and ask it "are you getting big!?" It's with a little fear, much anticipation and total reliance upon the Lord that I look forward to what the next year holds for all of us. Happy Third Birthday, Wilson!! Daddy and I love you!


So here are some pictures of the day- thanks to everyone who made is so special!

These were the pumpkin cookies Wilson took to school. We had a lot of fun making them- you spoon a few colors of glaze on & then finger paint!

The night before Wilson's birthday, Paw brought over some special Jack-O-Lanterns for Wilson's party

Opening his presents- he walked into the kitchen with me to get his breakfast and as I was pouring his milk he noticed all the packages sitting by the table- "hey, mom- who did that?! Are those for me, can I open them?"

Dressed, playing patiently with some of his new cars, and waiting on mom & dad to wake up enough to take the tricycle out for it's first spin around the block.

Riding with Dad

Putting up his new tent with Daddy

. . .

For his party we had a Halloween Carnival, everyone could wear their costumes. I woke him up from his nap about 5 minutes before his friends got here and about 5 minutes after all his great-grandparents and grandparents had already gotten here. Needless to say, he had quite the greeting committee. He was so overwhelmed that he never made it into his costume!

Here are some guests enjoying the beautiful day:

Wilson & Big Daddy testing out the tent

When it came time to sing and blow out candles, Wilson was again, a little shy about being in the spot light. Daddy joined him and then he was able to blow all the candles out!

Time to dig in!

Here's Wilson watching his friends open his presents. Again, not one for the spot light, he'd let them open, but then quickly stashed the loot under the table when they were finished!

Wilson and great granddaddy, Poppie

Wilson & Pat Pat

Our Three Year Old Family

Wilson, Daddy, & Granna putting together the neat garage that Pat Pat & Paw gave him

It was hard to go to bed after a day filled with so much excitement. So, he didn't. He and Daddy moved his tent into his room and had an indoor campout!

. . .

On a side note, I checked the ticker to be sure that it had made it to "3" and noticed that the one under Miller said that I had 88 days left. Yea! Finally double digits- it sounds even better to say that I only have about 10 weeks to go. We had another sonogram Tuesday and everything looked great- she was laying crossways and face down so really all we saw was her back and that answered why I feel her all over. She's completely sprawled out and horizontal!

The Fair

Cows like carrots
Goats like to be scratched

Wilson's like to ride down BIG slids with their Daddies
Daddy & Wilson riding on the dragon roller coaster

There's nothing wrong with a couple of guys hanging out in their pink, sparkly Jeep
Milking a cow

Happy Fall!

The Beans Have Been Spilled

On my last post, I casually mentioned that I needed to be packing, but gave little (ok- no explination). We are moving! The move date will be sometime in the middle of November. We have had the house for a little while now, we've just been waiting to make the official announcement until we had a closing date, which we are still waiting on- at least we're down to a definite week! Our family has been so blessed, thus far, at how simple & relatively easy this process has gone. We've had (and still have) so many friends that have had such a hard time either finding a house or selling one, that I really feel a little guilty telling the story, but for those of you who haven't heard- I'll give you a short version. The Lord has truly been gracious to us!


Early this summer our realtor called us to let us know that there was house for sale in an older neighborhood that we love (okay, stalk for available houses) in the city we currently live. She said she didn't know much about it but it was a good price for the square footage. We took a look and decided that while it would be quite the updating project, the space was perfect for us and too good of a deal to pass up. So, we made an offer and had a contract on the home. There were several things found in the home inspection that we felt needed to be repaired before we were willing to buy, but the owner was not willing to fix things. So, we let it go and decided this was just not the time for us to move- we hadn't really been looking anyway.

Well, a couple of months later I was looking at real estate online and saw that the house was still for sale and the price had been lowered considerably. We gave our realtor a call and she found out that they had done a lot of the repairs we wanted. So, we made another offer and the home owner accepted!

In the meantime, the realtor showing the house had a young couple looking for their first home who had had a hard time finding something they liked and deciding to make an offer before the house sold. So, she asked if she could show them our house before we put it on the market. We agreed, they liked it, and now it looks like we should all be playing trading spaces in a little over a month!

I wish I had a photo of the outside to post, but it has already been taken off the web. We'll definitely post some before & after's as we make progress on the renovations!

My Career Makeover

Every so often when I just really have nothing better to do (or am just procrastinating from finishing 3 of 4 paintings or say packing my entire house!), I check in with the people at Tickle Tests to see what they have enlightening to say about me through their little quizes. Today, I took the career makeover. Sometimes I agree with them, but today- I have to say the answer seems to be from somewhere in left field. I love that one of my career options is news anchor, when I answered the question "where would I go for news" with "I don't follow the news". Or that another option is socialite- is that even a career? I must have missed that in the college course catalog. How did that come up as an option- I put that Hollywood gossip was a waste of time!? However, I do like the way I look illustrated in a cruise director's uniform and might could put up with living in Oprah's shoes for a day or two- I am after all the "soul doctor to the world".

The Career Makeover

My Result: Cruise Director

If it weren't for guiding lights like you, the world would be a bunch of lost souls and automatons, carrying on the daily grind without any cheer or direction. Thank goodness you're around. Your stellar interpersonal skills and compassionate ear for the troubles and life experiences of others makes you a godsend when the going gets tough. And since you're especially smooth at working with groups, your listening skills and wisdom are best when called in to sort out a conflict or lead an open discussion. Consider yourself the soul doctor to the world—it's your true work personality.

Who's like you:
Oprah Winfrey

Likely careers:
Talk show host, HR director, news anchor, teacher, spiritual leader, socialite

Take this test >

First Day of October in Mississippi

I am wearing corduroy pants and a 3/4 length sleeve shirt, inside, perfectly comfortable. My son is playing in his swimming pool with his boats, outside, sweating to death in a swimsuit. Happy Deep South Fall, everyone!