The Wingfields

The Other Thing About Moving Is....

2011-10-28T14:50:00.000-05:00

You get behind on blogging.

We are semi-settled now into life in Chattanooga. I am still pinching myself over this fact: that I live now live in Chattanooga. Many days it still feels like we are just here for a long visit and that in a week or so, I will have to go back to Alabama. Now, Alabama isn't bad. I'm a big fan, but living in Chattanooga once again surrounded by family and friends was a dream that I had gotten used to believing may never happen for us. So I am still trying to wrap my mind around this dream come true. The other morning, I had taken Hudson to the back bedroom to change his diaper and had left the boys in the living room watching a video only to come back to find that my boys were sitting on my Mom's lap giggling with each other and swapping kisses and hugs. She was there, had stopped by on her way to work, just to get kisses and hugs from "her boys" as she calls them. And three nights ago, Alder asked me if he could spend the night "just by himself with KeeKee, JoeJoe, and Uncle Jes" and asked me to "call KeeKee to check and see if that would be alright." I did and he went. I can't believe these things are happening and I am oh-so-grateful! Jared is loving his job. Absolutely loving it and looks forward to a bright future there. Now, if we could just sell our 2 houses in Demopolis so we could buy our own house here and get really settled. I am posting the pictures of the before and after of our house we bought and renovated a mere weeks before we moved. I think it turned out pretty darn fantastic. If you are looking to own a house with the zip code of 36732 in wonderful Demop (its a 3 bedroom, 3 bath with a new kitchen), we would love you to buy 502 N.Main or our other house just right next door.

Isn't she pretty?

502 N. Main

Before and After Shots

*please ignore the dusty, white hardwood floors. the floors were diligently cleaned after we had moved and i am told they sparkle. we just couldn't get it all done before we rolled out of town.*

The thing about moving is....

2011-09-28T22:58:00.000-05:00

You realize that as a family unit you have WAY TOO MANY socks. Seriously, how can 5 people have so many pairs of socks??? And how have I not known this until now? Gracious.

One a more serious note.....

I find myself composing this on the eve of our move away from quiet and sweet Demopolis to the embrace of home. Our original home. The place where Jared and I both grew up and the place in which we are excited to be able to raise our own children. But for the last 3 years, we have called this place home. 500 North Main Ave. It has been a wonderfully challenging last three years. We are stronger, wiser, simpler, and bit more calm in general after our time here in lower Alabama. It has been days full of long walks along the river, boat rides on the Tombigbee, adventures in house renovating, and focusing on just family, our little family. We have learned about the quiet things in life that make a day richer and that throwing a rock into water or stopping by the produce stand can be enough to fill a day. It doesn't have to be more. We have had the luxury of just having a singular purpose of raising a family unhurried by distractions that a bigger town has to offer and, at times, it has made me want to pull my hair out. However, I believe that these past 3 years have been a special gift. I would say that it has been marked by some real joys (do you see the 3 precious boys I have?) and then also filled with some real loneliness and struggle. Probably more of the later and so I feel as though tomorrow I will rise and gather my things and head to the Promised Land of home. Will we still struggle and suffer and have challenges to meet and overcome there in Chattanooga, of course. Always as long as we are on this side of Heaven, but I am proud to say that tomorrow I will certainly feel just a bit of pride as I look at how much we have "grown" as a family during this time.

Thank you Demopolis for the opportunity to do so.

A dear local artist drew our house for us and dropped it by this afternoon as a going away gift. My eyes filled with tears.

Rock throwing with a tugboat in the distance.

Peaceful.

My Hunter

2011-09-12T13:58:00.001-05:00

Well, its happened. My Alderman has become a little hunter. He and Daddy went on their first dove hunt last week and Alder's first ever hunting experience. He has been so thrilled to go hunting he literally has been counting the days. I was trying to take his picture on the way to the car, but he kept saying, "Mama, stop. I have no time for you to do this. I have got to go and hunt with Daddy. I need to get in the car. Good-bye." That about broke my heart. When did he get this big???

He took along his cap pistol (which is in the picture below) that is at his side AT ALL TIMES around the house and I think after last week, he will always be a lover of hunting.

Oh, my!

Character Work

2011-09-06T16:17:00.001-05:00

Gary Ezzo wrote in his series, "Growing Kids God's Way," that "a legalistic approach to parenting is very dangerous, leaving in its wake a frustrated child-one that fears failure rather than loves virtue."

I have been diligently working in the recent weeks with my oldest boys regarding character and how important it is to not just have obedience, but how good character is essential. My sweet friend let me know about this lady who has created a list of Godly character qualities, charts, and other books to help with teaching and encouraging Godly character traits in your children. It has been great and even little Kingston is getting a lot out of it. We work up to about 10 checks a piece (and I work really hard at watching them and pointing out to them when I see them display one of these qualities that is on the list) and then when they have gotten 10 they can get something out of the Treasure Chest which is filled with little cheap nick-knack toys like stickers, books, marbles, play dough, paintable figurines, and so on. It so excites them when they get to pick out a treat, but really they love just as much standing and listening to me explain with a Bible verse whatever quality it is that they displayed. This has been a wonderful learning tool!
The info. for these charts is
The Courtship Connection (734-847-5210) if you want to order them for yourself.
I also purchased some ribbons to reward them with too that has the verse, "Let us not be weary in well doing" Galatians 6:9 that Alder really enjoys and the books, "Character Prayers," and "Proverbs for Parenting" both of which are great for quick references for Bible verses and to use as family devotionals. Also, I bought the book, "Child Training Tips" by Reb Bradley. This book is gold and should be read by every parent trying to achieve effective discipline and mature children. I just called the number above and spoke to the lady and she took my credit card over the phone and sent all of it right to me. Easy as pie.
I hope this helps someone else as much as it has helped (and is helping) our little ones grow.

My 3 Little Wild Indian Boys

2011-09-01T15:47:00.002-05:00

This perfectly captures my 3 right now. Alder, with a camo shirt on (counting the days until he can wear it to go shooting dove) and pistol in hand. He is using words like "suddenly", "difficult", "courageous", "dashing", "actually", and "freaking" on a regular basis. Hudson is smmooooshed between his two brothers that clobber him with their hugs and kisses. He could not be sweeter, but is proving to be a loud child already with loud screams of excitement and shrills of joy. Clearly his older brothers are rubbing off on him and the Wingfield genes are very strongly present. And blessed Kingston. He holding "Mmmmass" which is aka to the rest of talking world as, "Thomas." Kingston has no pants nor underwear on in this picture because he rarely keeps bottoms but is perfectly potty trained yet he cannot talk....at all. You can also see his busted chin that we super glued shut. I think application of super glue to some part of Kingston's body in now in the double digits.

But here they are, my wild, little, indian boys.

Is any of my grammar correct in the above paragraph?

Golden

2011-08-26T09:54:00.000-05:00

I spent last weekend with my dear friend Hadley that I have known since I was 12. She lives even further south than I do and is expecting her first baby in January. I am thrilled for her and went down with little Hudson in tow to spend the weekend with her and help her register for baby items. We had a ball. We laughed, we ate, talked about nursing, breast pumps, baby swings, cribs, ate some more, lounged on the sofa while her sweet hubby literally waited on us, got pedicures, and retold hilarious high school stories. I love her laugh and I had forgotten how contagious it was and how nice it is to be in the comfort of an old and dear friend like her. I took this picture of this beautiful needlepoint that hung in the room I slept in. You know, its really true. There really is nothing sweeter than an old friend.

I failed to get my camera out until Sunday morning right before I was going to leave. Hadley refused to let me take a picture of her, but Hudson thought she was still a beauty even at 7:00 in the morning. They had been making goo-goo eyes at each other all weekend. Those two have a sweet little bond. Check out a real picture of her out here and all of her awesome talents too! She rocks when it comes to all things graphic design.

And here is Hudson big as ever and a complete cutie. He would smile at the Devil. He is so sweet and a real blessing to have.

Lord of the Flies

2011-08-17T16:21:00.001-05:00

So if my wild boys were left to govern themselves, they may fair pretty well.

Alder is feeding the baby adequately enough, Kingston is (as always) in his own world, and the littlest man appears to be quite in love and content being surrounded by his brothers. These pictures prove that if left to do about as they please there probably would be lots of nakedness, lollipops, laughter, and only the best for baby brother (note the box of organic rice cereal).

Brothers.

They are wonderful.

Fanatical about Hudson

2011-08-15T16:57:00.005-05:00

Kingston is obsessed with Hudson. Obsessed. In fact, he is so obsessed that his intense love for his younger brother often gets him in trouble. I mean the babe can only take soooo many kisses, hugs, and cuddles and its usually a good thing to let littlest man breath every second or so. Kingston smothers him with his love.

I took these yesterday after they had gotten up from their afternoon naps and they were snuggling with each other on the couch. Hudson by the way is about 19 lbs. and 5 months and Kingston is barely 25 lbs and 2 years old.

Do you see the sheer excitement on Kingston's face below? Every time he sees Hudson, its like he is seeing him for the first time EVER. I love brothers.

Thirty

2011-08-09T16:35:00.004-05:00

Jared turned 30 at the end of July and I wanted to celebrate him by hosting a SURPRISE weekend at the lake with a few of his favorite people. I found a house on Lake Martin and gathered everyone together for a fun filled weekend of laughter, stories, teak surfing, eating, lounging, latte making, swimming, tubing, grilling, and more laughter. I cannot believe I got everyone together in the same place at the same time. It was awesome. Jared had no idea where we were driving on that Friday and who would be there. He was totally surprised and thrilled. We, the Youssefs, Browns, Joseph and Beth, Mikey Love and Christine, and us piled into the house with 3 nursing babies and I can safely say that none of us wanted to leave on that Sunday morning. I feel like I don't have many pictures due to being distracted by all the laughing and story telling (and running around fixing food and so on) but several there that weekend had cameras and my dear sister-n-law has a great slide show at the end of this post. You should click on the link to her post and the slide show. Great pictures and hilarious action shots.

Happy Birthday again sweet Hubby!

Arrival of guests and meeting Ella May Youssef for the first time. Do you see her tiny legs in between Jared and Emily? Emily and Josh were such sports for coming and traveling with newborn little Ella May.

My goofy husband and his approval.

The youngest Wingfield cousins. Hudson (4 months) and Hank (8 1/2 months) chilling together in the pack 'n play. No kids allowed except the ones who are attached to the boob. Sorry. Was that too much?

Mikey Love, Jared's best friend from the age of about 12, being our pancake chef on Saturday morning. My boys call him Uncle Mikey. He rocks.

Hudson snuggling with Auntie T. We love sweet and always generous and loving Taylor.

Boys at play.

The boys trying to behave.

The girlies laughing at the boys.

Mikey Love and Joshie telling stories and becoming bffs.

Jared and his favorite cake I brought up to the lake. Carrot.

Link to Beth's Pictures below:

http://bethjosephwingfield.blogspot.com/2011/08/jareds-30th-bday-at-lake.html

Its Hot.

2011-08-04T21:25:00.003-05:00

I am a lover of a good article because an article is all that I get around to reading these days. I love to read an article and have it evoke strong feelings of the love of literature that I have, but have no time right now to "invest" in. Like I have the book "Edgar Sawtelle" on my night stand (that my Mom loaned me and swears is one of the greatest books she has ever read) that I have picked up a baker's dozen times but can't seem to read due to being in the 9 month of pregnancy, or having a newborn baby, or 3 children aged 3 and under, or feeling instead that I need to read some book titled "How to Train Up Your Children (without beating them or selling them on the side of the road)" and so therefore I fall asleep my first sentence into the book and most likely with drool running down my face in two minutes flat. All of this to say that my latest love is Garden&Gun magazine. Its a literary jewel as far a magazines go and I have enjoyed reading it here and there when at my parent's house. Jared enjoys it as well and so for his 30th birthday (more on that soon so stay tuned) my parents gave him two years subscription to this fine magazine. On the road last weekend, I read the May issue that my parents had wrapped up for him with a card explaining their generous gift. The May issue of Garden&Gun is a special issue for us native "Chattanoogians" as they featured our sweet and pretty darn cool town as one of their main articles. Anyways, my point of this post is this article that I found among the pages. Its hilarious, so very true, and if you live in Alabama right now (I am sorry Mom and Dad you do not count or any other readers hailing from the Tennessee mountains. I know its hot there, but you live on a mountain and there is a breeze. We haven't had a breeze since January) then you will love and laugh with this read.

Enjoy!

I did.

Here is the link again in case you missed the highlighted gray "this"

http://gardenandgun.com/article/daniel-wallace-great-indoorsman

The Lott House aka The "Have-We-Lost-Our-Ever-Loving Minds?" House

2011-07-28T15:01:00.005-05:00

This little cutie of a house with the sweet, sun-faded 4 wheeler out front is our newest addition to the chaos in our lives.

This house is right next to our house and we recently purchased it to renovate and then to sell or to rent. Jared and I love old homes. Actually love is a bit of an understatement-we adore and are slightly obsessed with them. Jared currently serves on two boards here in Demopolis that serve to protect, enrich, and rebuild the old homes in and around Demopolis. Well, we thought we would buy this one and transform it or rather get it back to its "original self." This house had been in the same family for generations upon generations and the lady who sold it to us was actually born in the front room over 70 years ago. Mrs. Lott had gotten too old and had not be able to keep up the house anymore and so we were glad to be able to buy it and fix it up. It needs painting, all new flooring throughout, a new kitchen, new bathrooms, lighting, and the list continues. So these last few weeks I have added a new title to my already demanding job: CONTRACTOR.

No worries, I have done this before with our own house and so Jared and I are banking on our previous experience to get The Lott house restored.

I will say though it has added a new level of demands on me (and Jared too). I have painters ringing my doorbell in the middle of me nursing the baby. I have flooring guys knocking on my door while I am feeding everyone lunch asking me a handful of questions. I have a baby in my arms and my bigger boys racing through the house only coming back to me with "mudding dust" all over them or Kingston with a dead roach in his hand.

Its pretty much craziness.

I thought I would post BEFORE and AFTER pictures and give a little sneak peak on what it will (hopefully) end up looking like when we are finished.

Our house to the right in the photo.

Foyer with terrible laminate on the floor.

Entrance Hallway

Dining Room

Kitchen

Kitchen (looking into dining room at right)

Mudroom/Backdoor entrance

Mudroom window

Living Room

Bedroom 1 (yes, those are vines growing into the house)

Jack 'n Jill bathroom

Bedroom 2

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Our materials and color choices.

Stay tuned.

French Beach

2011-07-27T15:30:00.004-05:00

The best thing that we do all summer is to go to "French Beach," as Alder calls it.
We load up the boat and usually with friends, hot dogs, shovels, buckets, some towels, a card table and folding chairs, a lighter, some wine, and the ingredients to make smores. As we speed along the river in the boat the boys scream with excitement, reach back to touch the water spray, count the wild animals we see along the way, and help Daddy drive. The excitement has built and as we reach the sandy bank, I can hardly keep them in the boat. As I lift them down into the shallow water, I watch Alder and Kingston race away down the shoreline giggling and embracing this authentic place, the freedom, and the sense of adventure.
The Black Warrior is full of adventure and freedom and is truly an authentic place to be "raising" our boys. It is perfect for them. They bathe in the mud, swim in the dark waters, start fires with Daddy, collect sticks, and learn of the place around them. It thrills me that "French Beach" is a place that they can really be boys. A couple of times now we have taken along the wonderful Smith family and cooked out our dinner over an open fire, watch the children explore, and bask in the soothing effects of being by open water.
A simple life...and young children.
What a blessing.

Moses

2011-07-26T22:51:00.000-05:00

Do you think this is what Moses looked like so many years ago when he washed up in his basket on the banks of the river?

He even has mud on the left side of his face.

Moses probably didn't have embroidered boats on his outfit though, mud maybe, but boats no.

Summer Love

2011-07-14T07:37:00.003-05:00

I have been slow.

I have been slow to write these last few weeks and I have no idea why. I think it has to do with the heat, the lazy days of summer, and the constant chaos that mothering 3 little ones bring. I am not getting the mail opened these days and it can sit on my desk for a couple of days at least. I point this out only because I remember when I just had little Alderman and our days were so slow that I would treat going to get the mail like an activity for the two of us. It was a block of time. We would go out to the mailbox, get the mail, I would sort through each piece, look at all of it, let Alder get down and crawl around the grass, we may even examine a bug or two. It was slow and simple. Now, I am just doing well to get the mail into the house, on the entrance table, and then get it, maybe that same day, to my desk area. Forget reading any of it though.

Life is still very simple. All 4 of us may lounge in our pjs till noon, watch a little video before breakfast, and enjoy these days when we don't have anywhere to be (summer or not) since none of them are school aged yet. It is a sweet time of playing with animals, building homes for them with their blocks, building train tracks, painting murals, and trying hard to meet all of their needs. This is where the chaos comes in as there is always a little one needing Mama to help, wipe, clean, guide, hug, comfort, encourage, discipline, and instruct.

So I am slow to write and post snapshots of our lives.

Here are a few randoms from these last few weeks.

Hudson is literally growing at a rate that makes my desire to have at least 3 more babies very intense. He. cannot. be. this. big. already.

He is adored by his brothers and most especially Kingston. In this picture below, as I had nursed Hudson one day (I feel like this is all I do with this baby boy. Nurse. Every 3 hours during the day), Kingsers came along and put all these stickers all over him. I am always having to peel Kingston off Hudson. He just loves him so intensely.

But who wouldn't love this littlest one intensely. Hudson is precious in every way. He is sweet, sweet, sweet and a darn good baby. He has stolen our hearts. Like last night after he and I had a shower together and he was laying all naked on the bed and I was admiring his cute little naked body with all his fat rolls, he just started laughing for the first time. He just laughed and laughed at my funny noises I was making to the point of getting hiccups.

Great fun.

This is him watching his mobile in his crib. Happy as a clam.

Alder the photographer is busy again taking pictures of our lives. I like these two below that he captured of Hudson and I one afternoon.

Happy Boy, again.

And do you remember this picture I posted back in early March? I think I was 2 weeks away from delivering Hudson and Daddy gave us a ride home from church in his truck. I think the post title was like, "You know you live in Alabama when..."

Well, the other day Daddy had to be at church early and we came later walking and strolling.

He was gracious to give us another ride home....

It had gotten too bloody hot to walk home and plus Hudson needed to be "initiated" into life in rural Alabama.

*I have no idea why this picture turned out funny. My camera was on some strange setting. This was the best editing I could do on it*

And these two...

the expressions on their faces pretty much sum them up right now in life.

They are wild, crazy, have an intense zeal for life, funny, and are cute as pie. I feel like they try to be disobedient at EVERY OPPORTUNITY. What is with that? Alder and Kingston egg each other on and when I tell one "no" the other one thinks that means "yes" for him. Ummm, NO!!! My latest saying is, "If its NO for your brother than its NO for you too." They both swim like little fish in the pool and river, love the boat, the hose, getting naked, peeing outside, pouring sand on each others heads while playing in the sandbox, throwing rocks and other such hard things (no matter how much I may threaten their lives), pretending to "hunt" lions and tigers with their Nerf guns, practicing selective male hearing, and wrestling with Dada. They are ALL boy.

Beachin' It

2011-06-28T21:03:00.002-05:00

It may be a month ago that we went to the beach, but I had to post it even though I am obscenely late. We went for Memorial Day weekend and it was such a sweet and wonderful time for our family that I could not NOT write and post lots of pictures from the weekend.

The weekend was filled with constant joy, happy boys, swimming, fishing, sand castle building, birthday celebrating, lounging, and eating great seafood. I think all 5 of us were on the beach maybe 2 times the entire weekend as the newborn still sleeps his days away and doing so on the beach is, well, too sandy to do so effectively. So I became the runner. I ran casting nets back and forth from the condo to the beach. I ran juice boxes and more sunscreen out. I ran extra towels and then became a sherpa and hauled it all back inside in the afternoons. Jared spent most of the time with the older boys on the beach having great bonding time with them. He would catch them fish and crabs and build sand castles and dig big holes. I felt at first that I was missing out, but then as I would walk down the boardwalk with more of whatever it was that they needed I could see that all three of them were playing so hard and having such a great bonding time that I no longer felt like I was missing out. It was great time with Daddy. And after all, sitting by the pool reading a book by myself and listening to the monitor (don't worry I could see both entrances into our condo from where the pool was so Hudson was safe inside by himself :)) or fixing lunch for my hungry hippos in the quiet of the condo was really quite nice.

We celebrated Kingston's 2nd birthday at the beach. 2? Really? I am constantly amazed at how quickly time is flying by and amazed at how much I might sound like a old person every time I say this out loud. But it is true and I am really trying to enjoy each little season and stage of my precious children's lives for it will be over before I know it.

Mama and her boys on the beach. Conrad Hudson...not so happy.

Jared using his casting net to catch fish for the boys. I think they were really hoping for a shark.

I love that little hand. Kingston has the longest fingers and just the sweetest hands. They are very distinct. Here is his hand trying to catch the fish as Alder watches overhead. This is not an unfamiliar sight as often I see this occur at home as Kingston fearlessly catches bugs and Alder looks on with sheer excitement but refusing to touch a bug himself.

Chillin'.

Classic Kingston. He loves, loves, loves Busytown books by Richard Scarry. He will get one of the books and go find a place all by himself and read the book for hours (ok its really more like minutes).

Classic Kingston....again. This is Kingston trying to smother his baby brother with his blanket.

Why do I even try to get pictures of the 3 of them together? And how different could they look from each other? And who cut Kingston's hair?

Kingston's birthday morning and unwrapping his presents. Of course with the help (or rather interference) of his older brother.

Here we are as a family. Yipee! We actually all got in a picture together. We traveled into Rosemary Beach for dinner to celebrate Kingser's b,day and had a wonderful dinner with a Lightning McQueen cake which Kingston is just absolutely obsessed with. He loves Cars. Anyone taken a 2 year old to the new Cars movie??? Should I dare to take Kingston?

And this captures my ever fickle, moody, and usually discontented Alderman. That all may sound harsh, but we love him for all of his different intensities and quirks.

Kingston looking confused by the cake being brought to the table.

Pretty cute cake for Wal-Mart, hey?

Yay for me! I finally posted about the beach.

Good night.

Life is Hard...

2011-06-22T14:39:00.000-05:00

Currently these are the life lessons Jared is trying to instill into our sons.

He (and I) are determined not to raise...well, how do I say this? nicely?

We do not want to raise boys who become cowardly, lazy, and self-absorbed men someday.

So Jared and a dear friend came up with these 5 little life lessons and what did Jared do?

Typed them up, copied it, laminated it, and brought it home for the fridge.

A little much?

Maybe.

But I would rather err on this side than any other.

Good Morning....

2011-06-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

from Mr. Bright Eyes.

I could just kiss his little face off.

How about you?

Happy Birthday Kingston

2011-05-28T21:00:00.006-05:00

Happy Birthday Sweet One!

We love you so much. You are such a light in our lives.

You make us laugh....a lot. You are giving, sensitive, gentle, patient, silly, mischievous, a great dancer, a fast scooter rider, fearless, clumsy, brave, hungry (all the time), sly and quiet in your mess making, an escape artist, silently determined, always watching, and a utter joy to have.

You came into this world at 5:45 am 2 years ago today and weighed 9 lbs. and 2 oz. and were 19 in. long. Today you are 2 and weigh 26 lbs. and are 33 in. tall. You are lanky and skinny as they come. You love matchbox cars, Lightning McQueen, fire trucks, tractors, trains, making train tracks, helping, your "blanky", pasta, good music, your older brother immensely, blueberries, blueberries in pancakes, riding fast, running fast, and climbing high. You love family. You are happy.

It is a gift everyday that you are with us.

Happy, Happy!

(Please stop growing...it is making Mama sad. Oh, and please stop falling down and busting your head open. At this rate, we will not be able to pay the ER bills).

Giddy Up

2011-05-25T21:10:00.000-05:00

Well, it was a first for me. A rodeo. Does PETA know about rodeos??? I mean, I'm not an animal activist by any means, but the "festivities" at this rodeo were rather unfriendly to the bovine family. Those poor little baby cows. It was, however, a very fun outing with the boys and they loved every second of it. Alder calls it "horse racing" instead of a rodeo, which in a lot of ways makes sense. Those horses fly! We were sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers at first and then had to move up because the horses would come racing down, turn right where we were sitting, and fling dirt up into our faces. Cool, but not fun for little kids to get dirt in their eyes. Alder now says he wants to "horse race too when he gets to be 5, Mama. Ok. Does that sound like a plan?"

Sure Alder.

And I cannot forget to mention about my little Kingsers.

So at the rodeo they had these jumpy things. I am sure everyone has seen them, right? Well, Alder was wanting to jump. We paid $5 and when it was his turn, he chickened out. We asked Kingston if he wanted to do it and he smiled and hopped on. The man strapped him in (and he is totally fearless at this point and quite digging the cool harness, cords, and buckles) and he did it. He loved it until the man raised him in the air too high and then he panicked, but it was fun to see Kingston climb on, fearless as usual, and enjoy the thrill of something new and different. Thats my Kingsers.

Living is Easy

2011-05-19T14:44:00.000-05:00

Living is easy when your boys send you beautiful flowers like these....just because.

Aren't they beautiful? They smell wonderful and are a joy to look at too. Although fresh flowers are impractical in a sense, they sure do make my heart happy.

Thank you to all my boys and especially you babe. What a great happy.

Have you ever seen this magazine? This is just a copied image from the Internet of an old cover. I stumbled upon it the other day while at Wal-Mart and loved how practical it is and easy to read and how the recipes all just "make sense." Then later I remember having seen it on Darby's blog awhile back and her rave reviews of it. I must agree. I am thinking on subscribing. Apprerantly there is a t.v. show too???

Inside this month's edition was a recipe for pasta primavera. I gave it a shot and it turned out wonderfully. I feed it to my hungry, hungry hippos and they loved it. It was a real treat to cook this while sipping a nice glass of white wine ( btw Fish Eye's Pinot Grigio is pretty darn good and only 3 bucks. I buy only cheap, cheap wine) and chop such nice fresh veggies with no children in the kitchen or a screaming newborn (they were building a train track with Daddy). You get to the point in your life where I am, constant chaos, and really treasure these quiet moments of solitude. It may only last 10 minutes, but those 10 minutes are heavenly.

These turned into this below.

Yummy.

And while I was putting the finishing touches on dinner, Alder once again was snapping pictures. He took this one of Kingsers and I then edited it. I think I should have Alder take all my pictures from now on. I love how he sees the world, his persepctive, and how it comes out in his "photography."

Back in the Boat

2011-05-17T14:44:00.000-05:00

Daddy has purchased another boat after selling the last one at the end of the season last year. I think if Jared could be convinced that he could make a living "brokering" boats, he would quit his job tomorrow and do so. He spends hours combing the Internet for deals on boats and is pretty darn good at it. Two weeks ago while I was in Chattanooga, he bought 2 boats and sold them that same week, making profits on both of them. Pretty talented, huh??? Anyways, we have one for the summer and the boys are loving it. We took it out the other night, I think it was Mother's Day night, for an evening cruise. Jared has taken the two older boys a handful times already, but this time the whole family went and Little One loved it as well. It is quite a handful to take all 3 on the boat, but we manage. Kind of. As you can tell from the pictures below, Alder is dying to "touch the water Mama, just a little bit. I won't fall in." Kingsers is panicked this summer by the boat unless someone is holding him (he loves the boat but we cannot figure out this new fear he has of the boat/motor/movement) and so that leaves Little One in the Moses basket tucked up underneath the bow. Safe, right?

Just trying so hard to touch the water. So hard.

Conrad Hudson. Braving the conditions.

Gazing up at two airplanes crossing in the sky.

I love my Kingston. He is clinging onto me tightly and I think rather enjoying his Mama snuggling with him.

Hudson: 2 months old

2011-05-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

Conrad Hudson is 2 months old today. Where is the time going? He is such a sweet baby and seems to have a very quiet and gentle personality. He is patient and cries only when he is hungry and tired (for the most part). He has slept through night a few times, but nothing consistent. I find myself not minding when he wakes to feed around 4:30 each morning since it is such quiet and precious time with him with no one else to bother our nursing time together. He has also survived some pretty brutal hits to the face from older brother KIngston who thinks, "I think that hitting is the best way to show love. I mean its how Alder and I show love to each other...by wrestling and being rough." I have to remind Kingston to have "soft touches." I must say this 1,246 times a day to Kingsers. Hudson is also "going with the flow" as most 3rd babies do. He must have gotten the "3rd baby memo"...be chilled, quiet, and easy. I would say that my first two did not fall into the category of being an "easy baby" (if there is such a thing b/c I mean really, what is easy about feeding every 3 hours, newborn screams, blow out poopy diapers, and sleepless nights?!?!?) I love having a baby again and kissing and kissing on him with no objection. He cannot push me away or run from me and sadly that is how old his older brothers have gotten. I have to chase Alder and KIngston down for kisses.

I can't quite figure out who he looks like and since my husband hates to play that "game," (Jared figures that all babies will look like a combination of their parents and sibilings because after all that is what they are. Thank you Jared for that, but it is so fun to guess and examine who babies look most like. Must me a girl thing) I just talk to myself about it.

I snapped these this morning (as bad as they may be), but I am determined to take pictures of him so that one day, even though he is the 3rd, there will be pictures for his rehearsal dinner video.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T21:01:00.001-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers that read our blog.

I feel richly blessed at the close of this day. I love my little brood of chillens. I wish I could go on and on about mothers, and my mother, and Jared's mother, and how I find such joy in being a mother, but alas, I do not have the time tonight. I wonder how many grammar mistakes I just made in that sentence? Oops.
It has been a busy and hectic day and we didn't really do anything of consequence. I mean, we didn't even make it to church. But that is where we live right now...the most uneventful day, is well, extremely eventful. It is chaos. Wonderful and noisy chaos.

I have a loving mother, a dedicated mother-n-law, and I love learning from both of them on how to be a better mother myself as well as learning from so many of my friends who are young mothers (and seasoned ones too) and especially my lovely sister-n-laws.

Alder and my Mom laying together on family vacation a couple of years ago.

Yaya and Alder playing and laughing together

Jared and I the night we found out I was pregnant for the first time in the spring of "07 while living In England. We were so elated.

Me with my little one, Conrad Hudson.

Loving on my little brood of three.

Dreamy.

Pictures a 3 Year Old Can Take...

2011-05-04T20:03:00.000-05:00

So who needs a professional photographer when you have a 3 year old who can take such great pictures? Alder recently was insanely curious about my big Canon camera and wanted a brief tutorial on how to take pictures. I hesitated to show him and even let him take the pictures because, well, he is 3 and probably should not "play" with such things but he is Alder and has always had a love of things mechanical. I showed him the basics and then he experimented. He took about 10 pictures and these are 3 of those 10. I spiffed them up with my editing tools on iphoto and think they are pretty special.

Thanks Alder!

Conrad Hudson: Day 52

2011-05-02T09:23:00.000-05:00

He is a smiling boy. This is him smiling up at his KeeKee (my Mom). I am so grateful for him. He is unique and fun in his own little way. He loves to dig his toes into your stomach if you are holding him against your chest. He holds his head for such long periods of time looking curiously at the world around him. He loves to stretch backwards over my lap and reach his arms so far above his head. He is starting to coo and goo and laugh in his own way. He still loves to grunt like an old man and eats like a little piggy. He is 12lbs. 12 oz. and is 24 in. long. He is a big boy and falls into the 90th percentile for both height and weight. I love my little man. He seems to be very happy little one and we are so glad we get to love him.

Up a Creek....

2011-04-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

I have been working on this post on and off for the last week. Its a long one and things that take a long time these days...are well, taking a long time. Life with 3, 3 and under, is busy and chaotic but we are having a wonderful time adjusting. We love our new little addition.

We traveled to Aliceville, Alabama last Tuesday to a little mysterious place called "Shark Tooth Creek." I had heard about this place from a few who had been there and was curious to explore with my little ones myself. The man in the picture below owns a large amount of land that has a creek that runs quite a long ways through some of his property. In this creek, you can find literally tons and tons of shark teeth. "Really?," you ask. Yes, really. These teeth are supposedly from (according to what you believe about Creation its different for everyone) a really, really long time ago. (Can anyone tell I am sleep deprived? I think I have used the words really and long way to many times thus far into my telling of our adventure. Sorry...my brain can not find a whole lot of new vocab. words at the moment.) You can find all along the creek about 16 different species of shark teeth as well as many types of fossils. Supposedly this area was (in very simple terms) the ocean and the coast was around where Birmingham is today. So you can (and others have) found shark teeth in other creeks around the lower south, but his property was apparently close to an island or was an island where shark congregated or breed or something like this (ok, really, I did not hear everything he told us at the beginning since I was trying to chase down Kingston who kept disappearing and also soothe Hudson to sleep. Yes, I just called him Hudson. The name game may be over...I think we have settled on Hudson.) All I know was that we got into this trailer and rode across his property flying at speeds not completely fit for a group of children (and a newborn in a stroller) up and down hills, onto the highway (THE HIGHWAY!!!), and over to another part of the property with more hills and bumps, finally arriving to the creek we explored.

My boys thought they had died and gone to heaven. They kept looking at me like, "Mom, where have you taken us? You mean to tell me we can splash in mud and water and pick up rocks (and shark teeth) for the next two hours? "Yes, my children," I said to them. "I am a wonderful Mom to bring to this place." Kidding, Kidding. But it did feel good to know that all my efforts of corralling them out of the house early that morning, packing a picnic, toting a newborn, and being gone all day was worth the effort. They were in heaven.

We had an absolutely perfect day weather wise and the creek was just beautiful. The shark teeth are literally all up and down the creek. All you have to do is look down. Alder was really into hunting for teeth, Kingston loved the rocks/water/mud, and I was super into it. In fact, I was so into looking for shark teeth myself (after all I did have a bag to fill with my name on it) that I wasn't watching Kingston at one point and he, well, went swimming. Bless his heart.

We had a great time with our friends from our co-op home school group and other ones who came along too. I highly recommend going to Shark Tooth Creek and finding some teeth yourself if you live close by. I mean afterwards you could make some pretty sweet shark tooth necklaces. :)

This is Mr. Ken talking all about the creek and how the Natural HIstory Museum sends people down here to study the teeth, the creek, and the land since it is such a unique place and so on and so on (but I missed a lot of that), but it looks like our friends were listening well.

A picture of everyone piled into the cow trailer and Kingston trying to escape. I don't blame ya buddy.

Alder loved hunting for the teeth.

Oh, and sticks. Kingston loved the plethora of sticks all along the creek.

And as seen in the picture below, poor Hudson had no idea what was going on.

And you may be wondering, "is that a breath right strip on Kingston's nose???" No, its a butterfly closure band aid. He fell the night before on a toy in his room after bath time. It was awful. I have never seen so much blood. It was gushing out everywhere. We almost went to the ER (that would have been twice for Kingston in less than a month) but our dear friend and neighbor who is a nurse practitioner came and helped us apply surgical- grade super glue to it and butterfly band aids. It still looks awful and I will have to diligently apply Mederma to it for the next many months so he won't have a horrendous scar on his nose. Any other recommendations for helping to prevent scarring? Oh, my Kingston. He is a complete hand full.

My older absouletly loved the whole cow trailer part of the adventure. I had to talk Alder into getting off it once we arrived at the creek. Conrad Hudson sacked out in his car seat, that was attached to the jog stroller, pushed deep into the woods and lifted down a steep bank on the creek bed. Bless his little heart...thank you for sleeping in your car seat Hudson. You are my first child to do so. Thank you!

Our treasures.

Our adventure: super fun

Our Growing Family

2011-04-15T13:49:00.000-05:00

Conrad Hudson: Day 28

2011-04-08T20:47:00.001-05:00

He is pudgy and soft and chubby and "oh-so kissable".

I constantly am kissing his face and telling him that his Mama just loves him to bits.

I do. I love this little boy.

He is a hungry little one. My hungriest one yet. He nurses every 3 hours and through the night without any long stretches of sleep and I must say, its wearing me out. He is already close to 11 lbs. and has rolls on his back around his neck.

He seems to be "waking up" more these days and looking at the world around him, which is mostly just his brothers in his face.

People ask me how Alder and Kingston have adjusted to their new brother and to be honest its like to them that Conrad Hudson has been here all along. They love him dearly and I have yet to see any jealousy. They are fascinated by him and his sounds and particularly his love of nursing. Alder likes to ask all about "Mama's milk" and then have me tell him that I nursed him too just like his youngest brother is now.

So far Conrad Hudson has set himself apart from his brothers in his ability to grunt. He grunts when he is sleeping and when he is awake and especially after he has finished eating. I mean he sounds like a little piggy. He just grunts and grunts. We all laugh.

We still have yet to determine a name to call him and so we are still calling him Conrad Hudson (quite frankly its driving me crazy!!!). Alder has taken to calling him "Con", Kingston can't talk, I prefer Hudson, and Jared likes Conrad. And a lot of the time we just say, "the baby".

The other day Alder was telling a friend that "he is just a like a little angel" and that his baby brother "smells delicious". Where does he come up with this stuff?

I think we all can agree though....he is just like a little angel and he does smell pretty delicious.

Houston AND the Ninth Floor trailer

2011-04-08T16:27:00.000-05:00

Well its going to be awhile before I can post the trailer for my brother's movie.

It appears that there are some copyright concerns, etc., etc., etc.

He has been advised to enter it into some more film festivals around the country and so it is ill advised to post it to a public domain before then.

All to say, I think that is a pretty good sign that he has done well with this film and just may have a future in filmmaking/acting.

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you can see it on my wall or even ask Houston Settle to be your friend. He may just say, "yes!" :)

No, don't hesitate asking him because I know that we wants a lot of people to see the trailer as it helps "get" the movie out there.

Happy Friday to you!

Pretty Proud.....

2011-04-04T15:49:00.005-05:00

I must brag just a bit on my youngest brother.

He is currently a junior at Ole Miss and is in the theater arts program.

He has aspirations to be successful one day in the film industry.

He and his best friend from childhood won a contest at Ole Miss to have their screenplay funded and turned into a film. It debuts this weekend at the Ole Miss film festival.

Here is the trailer.

I think its pretty cool.

He wrote the screenplay, the score, hired all the actors, Jordan has filmed all of it, and Houston is the main actor in it.

We are pretty proud.

Enjoy!

The Ninth Floor

Sweet Kingsers, Brotherhood, and the love of Little One

2011-03-31T11:06:00.000-05:00

Last week was an exhausting one.

Kingston on Wednesday night around 10:30 pm had a febrile seizure. It lasted for at least 4 minutes with full body convulsions, eyes rolling back in his head, and so on. It horrifically frightening. We called 911, rode to the ER in an ambulance, had tests run, and by the next afternoon it was concluded that he had had the seizure due to a sudden fever because of viral pneumonia. I had not even known nor felt as though Kingston was sick that day, but he obviously was and now is on the mend. Of course, Alder has it too and I feel like I have the "crud" now as well. The most pitiful one is Conrad Hudson and his stuffy nose, slight cough, and sneezing. I keep praying that he will not get a fever or get worse as the last thing we need right now is him to get RSV and end up in the hospital.

As far as the seizure is concerned, Kingston will most likely have another one when he gets sick again if his fever rises quickly but most children outgrow febrile seizures by the time they are 4 or 5. Supposedly febrile seizures are a common childhood "issue" and are not related at all to any kind of seizure disorder. Whew! That is good news. I just pray that it never happens again as it is a terrible thing to watch your child go through (but I am prepared mentally now for it if he has another one).

I praise the Lord over and over for preserving little Kingston and all the neighbors who came to see if they could help, my calm husband who held Kingston through the whole seizure, our pastor who sat with us til the wee hours of the morning at the hospital, and my Mom (the professional coddler) who spent the night and the next day with Kingston. I truly feel blessed for our healthy child.

Now onto brotherhood.....

it is (as I have watched over the last 23 months with Kingston and Alder and now I am watching with Little One here) a wonderful thing. There is something very unique and special about their bond and they build on it every day.

And being a mother to 3 boys is just plain dreamy. I love my boys deeply and I am trying to soak up all these special moments in my heart and in my mind as this time is fleeting and will pass (as I am told) very quickly.

Sweetness

2011-03-25T09:08:00.002-05:00

Boys at Home AND The Name Game

2011-03-21T14:00:00.001-05:00

Brothers together after Alder and Kingston arrived home from Chattanooga.

THey could not get enough of their baby brother. They absolutely adore him, love to kiss him, and are always asking to hold him (Kingston asks by patting his tummy and sitting on the floor since he is not talking yet).

We continue to just call him "Conrad Hudson" and have yet to decide or rather fully commit to either one name or the other or even a nickname. I love Hudson and Jared loves Conrad and Alder loves calling him both. Who knows what he will end up being.

And here I have captured just how much danger Conrad Hudson is in if on the floor between his brothers....look at his older brothers' faces---up to NO good.

Alder rocking his baby brother on the porch Saturday night. Alder thinks this smile is great and asks me to take the picture again so he can smile like this.

Our Blue Man

2011-03-19T20:44:00.000-05:00

Our little Conrad Hudson has some jaundice issues...

so he has to be plugged up to this light a lot to help his bilirubin go down.

We could not help but laugh and laugh at how funny he looks. He seemed to be totally unaware of what was going on. I love this sweet and EXTREMELY laid back and SLEEPY baby boy.

Conrad Hudson Wingfield

2011-03-16T16:11:00.000-05:00

So I will write little as my mind is fully into the baby moon phase and my words will probably be jumbled and confusing. I do feel rather great for just having had a little one and it seems to just get easier as you go along. Sweet little Conrad Hudson is precious and I am enjoying him very much. His Daddy and I headed back down south and his older brothers have remained in Chattanooga until tomorrow night basking (I am sure) in the love and affection (and spoiling) of both sets of their grandparents. So Jared and I are enjoying this sweet time with the little one all by himself.

We traveled up to Chattanooga on Thursday evening, saw my doctor on Friday morning, celebrated my birthday Friday night with family, and then went in on Saturday morning to have my water broken. I was already dilated 4cm and effaced so due to distance and time restraints with Jared's job, we opted to be "induced" for the first time. I had my concerns (especially since I have unmedicated, natural deliveries) that all would not go as I would want since we were "intervening" but it went perfectly. We thank the Lord for that blessing and answer to prayers.

At 11:30 Dr. Jones broke my water, I started rhythmic contractions at 1:30, and at 3:47 little Conrad Hudson made his way into the world. It was (as Alder says) "SUPER FAST!!!" and such a wonderful delivery. It was so fast that both our Dad's missed the delivery and much of our close family and they didn't even have time to break down the bed or turn the lights on in the room. Jared says that he remembers Dr. Jones pulling out of his Patagonia vest (he had not even gotten all geared up with gloves and so on) a little flashlight and using it to check out the little baby once his head came out. Funniest thing. I was able to pull him onto my chest and announce, "It's a BOY!!!" Which was then followed by several people, like Dr. Jones, my mother-n-law, and my dear friend Catherine (who all secretly knew what the gender was all through the pregnancy) completely aghast since they had been told at the 21 week ultrasound that it was a little GIRL!!! Catherine and June had brought all this pink stuff to the hospital and had had several things monogrammed for the supposed little girl. Well, he is definitely NOT a little girl!!! So that is a funny part of Conrad Hudson's birth story. I am glad that we just didn't know otherwise for I am sure my head and emotions would have been spinning if I had prepared myself for a little girl.

Honestly it is a dream come true to have these three little boys and I will just let the pictures below speak for themselves. It is such an emotional and precious time-giving birth to a child gifted to us by God.

Our growing family right before we left for the hospital in front of Jared's parents house

Conrad Hudson before

Conrad Hudson after

Daddy and his third son....a dream come true for him too. 3 boys!!!

Catherine and me with my little boy and all her girl clothes

Me and my wonderful sister-n-laws

With Jared's parents

With my parents

KeeKee with her third grandson

The boys with their brother for the first time

Kingston is totally in love and takes his new role as big brother very seriously

My chubby 9lb. 2oz. baby boy sleeping

The boys watching Conrad Hudson getting checked out by the pediatrician

Very special picture: Me with Conrad Hudson and my other two telling the nurse how old they are....3 and 1. Yes, 3 in 38 months captured in a picture

Just such a funny picture of the four of us...Mama and her boys

IT'S A....................................

2011-03-13T21:27:00.000-05:00

BOY!!!

Conrad Hudson was born yesterday on March 12th

at 3:47pm

We have not completely committed to what we will be calling him. There seem to be a few options.

He weighed 9lbs. 2oz. and is 21 inches long.

He is beautiful, healthy, has a ton of dark black hair, and we feel overwhelmingly blessed.

His brothers are smitten by him and his Daddy and I can't seem to kiss him enough.

I will hopefully post pictures in the next day or two and his (funny and super fast) birth story.

Nesting, Stain Removal Tip, Spring Flowers, and HELP!!!

2011-03-06T20:41:00.000-06:00

I have been busy. I have been nesting with fury. This obsession with being prepared and organized and so on is not unlike me normally, but it only intensifies when I become 9 months pregnant. I believe it has only become increasingly more, well, obsessive since I will be having my 3rd baby in 38 months and thats, well, a little intense. So, I made lists, checked them twice, employed the help of my WONDERFUL mother-n-law for several days a few weeks ago, and worked like mad. We cooked and cooked and cooked. We cleaned and washed and organized. I have filled up my cabinets, pantry, and closets. I feel like if there was a national emergency we would make it swimmingly with all my stockpiles (although I am not quite sure how I would feel about having the baby in my bathtub with only my hubby to assist). I think I will find comfort in these pictures weeks from now when I am snowed in under huge amounts of chaos and deep into a baby moon. They will remind me that.... yes, I was organized at one point and may get there again.

I do have to share this wonderful tip on stain removal though. I am very diligent about cleaning my clothes and especially my children's since so many of them are hammy-downs and I want to return them in the condition that they were given to me. So I am a Nazi about getting stains out, but I do not have neither the time nor energy to stand over the sink and work on each piece of stained clothing. SO......my dear friend Amanda passed this little "potion" along to me and it works GREAT! It is gentle on ALL clothes, you can soak clothes for days in the stuff and nothing gets discolored, and you can add a scoop to each load (whites and darks and everything in between) to boost stain removing chances. I love it. Also, my children have decently sensitive skin and I have not had an issue with any rashes or what not. The recipe is simple.....

1 PART REGULAR CASCADE

1 PART BIZ

1 PART CLOROX 2

Mix all together and your set. I put mine in this lovely container I grabbed at Wal-Mart, shake a shake a, and away I go.

Enjoy!

And here are some lovely spring flowers that the boys and I cut the other day. We drove around and had such a fun time cutting the branches and talking about springtime.

And our bulb experiment seems to be doing wonderfully....

our hyacinths have bloomed and the tulips are on the verge. Alder is loving his job of spraying them down with water every few days and watching them flourish. Kingston really just loves the rocks in which they grow.

And lastly......I am asking for HELP!!! I recently inherited this sofa from my Grandmother's storage unit a few weeks back and Jared and I CANNOT seem to find a fabric (or agree on one) to suit this piece. We need to update it with the fabric we pick, but nothing to "printy" since it needs to remain sort of neutral and be able to "move" nicely if we were to do so in the next couple of years. Has anyone run across a good fabric lately? Something that is just perfect for this sofa??? I know its a long shot, but I thought I would ask. I am hoping maybe some of my regular (and ubber talented) readers like this one or this one will read this post and give their two sense. HAHA. I would love any recommendations.

**Please ignore the side table that is in this pic....it was just there until we moved it to the attic (sadly we did not have a place for it in our house currently), the ugly flash on the picture, and the messy playroom all the way at the end of the hall.**

You know you live in Alabama when......

2011-03-01T13:52:00.000-06:00

You ride around town like this.....or home from church.

And here's the latest baby update since I look like I might just have the baby any day now....

I saw my doctor on Friday and I am doing well, baby's weight looks to be about 7lbs 7oz at this point, and I am 3 cm dilated. The baby could come tomorrow or it could come in two weeks. Who knows??? I am feeling more on the miserable side now then on the "feeling ok even though I am in my 3rd trimester" side. I will keep you posted if anything happens.

Happy March 1st!

Trying to force Spring

2011-02-22T07:26:00.000-06:00

I love Spring. It has gotten so warm down here in the lower south that we are playing and staying outside most of the day. I got this idea from my Mom to force some bulbs in pots for our indoor enjoyment this spring. You need to get pre-chilled bulbs for the forcing to be a success and that tulips, crocus, hyacinths, paper whites, and daffodils all can be successfully "forced" to grow indoors. I absolutely have a BLACK thumb and always have, but I am hopeful that this time it will be different. I really am hoping that these bulbs all grow into beautiful blooms that brighten our home during this early spring season. I ordered some bulbs off the internet, received them in the mail a few days later, collected some pots together, filled them with gravel, and planted the bulbs down into the gravel, added enough water for the roots to take hold and grow, and in just a few days we have seen major growth. When the bulbs get a little larger I will then place moss around the bulbs so to cover the not so attractive gravel. I used this as a project with Alder to teach some basic "science" ideas. He loved the project and now has the job of spraying them down with some water every few days (of course I add more water as well since it is important to either keep changing the water or adding to it). I'll let you know if my BLACK thumb prevails or if we have beautiful spring flowers in a few weeks.

The hyacinth bulbs....

4 tulip bulbs in one of the white pots. My pots DO NOT have holes in them and I am assured that as long as there is plenty of gravel for drainage it should all work fine.

My little sprayer...

The hyacinth bulbs planted.

And our little Kingser whom we adore. Isn't he precious? We think so.

As Big as a House AND My Funny Valentines

2011-02-16T10:02:00.000-06:00

So here she or he is at 36 weeks. I have friends I never see that always ask for a "shot" of the baby belly. Its big I tell you! and scarily getting bigger by the day. Remember, I have over 9 lb. babies (Alder was 9 lbs. 8 oz. and Kingsers was 9 lbs. 2 oz.) so I still have a ways to go in growing an absurdly large belly.

I am feeling great and bee bop along during the day until about 5-6 in the afternoon and then I start feeling like...I may just die. A hot bath tends to help reduce this feeling a bit and the wonderful foot rubs my hubby is giving me almost every night. Thanks babe!

We are all super excited around here for the arrival of this little one. Alder is constantly talking to my belly and asking where the baby's head is so he can "talk right into its ear." He thought that two good names would be "John" and "Peter Pan." Good ideas Alder. Kingston loves to just kiss and kiss my belly by pulling up my shirt and then laying his head on my belly for a bit. I love this time and I am having serious nesting urges. I will post of my productiveness later.

I am happy to say we are finally better and eating regular foods, enjoying other people, the shining sun, the warm weather, and the joys of playing outside.

We had a Happy Valentine's Day with pink pancakes, cute little boys who I can still hold and kiss to my heart's content, and a special Valentine's cake we all are enjoying.

Life right now: baths at 7 am

2011-02-07T14:42:00.000-06:00

I wish that I could report that we have totally gotten over our sickness and moved on to bigger and better things. Sadly, we have not. I am routinely every morning bathing Kingston at 7 am due to the diarrhea. I know that the readers of this blog are probably not interested in tales of caring for and cleaning up after my toddler who continues to have "poop-plosions" multiple times a day. It really isn't a pleasant topic. I can understand that. But, as this is a running journal of our day to day life (and in the hopes of me writing it down will keep me from losing my mind) I must say....we still have poop and throw up at our house! I haven't had to clean up the horrid throw up since Thursday night and I am hoping that that was the last of it, but as far as diarrhea goes....oh, my my.

We are struggling. I am struggling and poor Kingston is starting to look like he is from Ethiopia( do know we have seen our pediatrician and we are waiting on some test results that should come back today). 10 days now and I think I am about to go crazy. All of this made worse by the fact that it rained EVERYDAY last week and it is dreary and yucky today too. It is gray and gloomy and just plain sad outside. I am sorry. I realize I don't have a very good attitude. I just don't love winter. I spoke to my sister-n-law today and she worded it well, "I feel like I am a terrible motivator for my children during the months of January and February." I agree Jen. I think a lot of Mamas can relate, that it is just plain hard to mother cheerfully during the "JanFebs."

So here we are making Valentine's Day cards this morning trying to find new and exciting things to do to occupy our time while stuck in the house. We enjoyed our crafting and as long as I keep a smile on my face....the boys do too.

We celebrated.....

2011-02-04T15:45:00.000-06:00

We celebrated and celebrated Alder's birthday for like 2 weeks with just the four of us, my parents, friends, our co-op school group, and then with Jared's parents. We celebrated by letting Alder blow out so many candles on cupcakes that I think he could now be a "professional cupcake candle blower-outer" if there was such a thing. We did it so many times and sang "Happy Birthday" so many times that Kingston (who can't talk yet) can now "sing" the "Happy Birthday" song and he then knows to blow after the song is over. It was very fun to celebrate Alder's birthday like this. It is amazing how little you can do or give at this age and they are so incredibly delighted. The circus came to town on his birthday and it was (let me assure you not of any kind you have ever seen) literally a one-family show. There weren't any animals, or fancy lights, or flying acrobats, but there was tumbling, light sabers for sale, flaming torches being juggled in the air, and arrows being shot from gigantic bows into apples above ladies' heads. Jared and I agreed that this circus had a very European feel to it, like something you would stumble across as you shopped at a market somewhere in Europe. So it was no Barnum and Bailey circus, but we all enjoyed the show.

Our gift to Alder was a Auburn bean bag toss that he had requested since seeing one at his cousins' at Christmas. Well, Jared and I are too cheap to buy the "official" Auburn bean bag toss so we made our own. Alder loves it, so does Kingston, and Jared and I do too. We have been getting into some heated competitions at night long after the boys are in bed. The game has been a very fun addition to our house. The birthday celebrating was so fun that it made me wish that all adults could have such celebrated birthdays.

And then.....8 days ago and shortly after this last picture of celebrating took place with Jared's mom, we got it. We got our first stomach bug and WHEW! it was rough. I have been dreading this, this particular sickness and my ability to cope with it as mother. I (if I had to give an evaluation of myself) did really well with it, didn't gag my brains out, freak out, nor scar my children in some way in my response to them throwing up. I have always been phobic of throwing up...my throw up, other people's throw up, dog throw up, the word throw up. I think it stems from a terrible childhood throw up story having to do with the cafeteria, in 1st grade, in front of everyone kind of experience. I never quite managed to get over how embarrassing and traumatizing that experience was for me, but now I can safely say I have conquered that fear. My Mom was right. When it is your own children you can deal with it. It was violent for 12 hours and then the boys seemingly rallied by the next morning. I eventually got 48 hours later, Daddy has missed it, and KIngston STILL has it. I feel exhausted by that fact that I have either been cleaning up throw up or diarrhea for the past 8 days. I mean, seriously? 8 days Kingser? Its just running its course, but I must say it has been a tiring last week. It wasn't until today that I thought I might just sit down on the floor and cry if I have to clean up one more mess or change one more crib sheet. Of course being 34 weeks pregnant doesn't help with the overwhelming desire to scream and cry at the same time. I pray we move pass this soon, that Kingston feels better, and that the month of Feb. passes quickly and we move into an early, warm, and sunny Spring.

Happy Friday to you!

Merry Christmas to us and Gingerbread Making (aka killing time on dreary winter afternoons)

2011-01-20T09:00:00.002-06:00

Jared and I have not exchanged Christmas gifts with each other for the last several years because unfortunately money does not grow on the trees in the backyard. I have sometimes felt a little sad about this, but all such silly sadness was swept away recently when the best gift ever was given to us. Actually the gift comes with its own bitter sweetness, but I will explain.

This big, beautiful piece of stainless steel is a wondrous espresso machine. I will confidently say that Jared and I fully appreciate what is actually sitting on our counter as we have been (somewhat secretly) coffee junkies ever since living abroad for a year. We fix it every morning, grind the beans (in a magic bullet (have you seen those on TV?) which I would not recommend but then again money does not grow on trees and so you have to use what you got), obsess over getting the first cup, and so on. I think we swore that we would never be THOSE people, but alas we are. Maybe a gradual lack of sleep over the last 3 years with the arrival of little ones has gotten us to this point. Anyways, we were given this espresso machine by our dearest friends who recently moved away and had once owned a local coffee shop here in town. We are so tremendously sad to see them go, but in their parting I am thrilled by their gift to us. It is like Christmas morning every morning (almost) to have wonderful lattes, espresso, and so on all without much effort or clean-up. So in some ways this gift really seems to be making up for all the years without gifts for one another. It is so fun for Jared and I that we have been making coffee at night, laughing out loud at how good it tastes, how we feel like we just ran to Starbucks (which the closest one is an hour away), and feeding our slight addiction more and more each day. In fact, I am thinking of opening a coffee stand on the grassy median outside our house. "Main Street Coffee" sounds like a good name. I can just see Alder and Kingston now, taking orders from car windows, then calling the order into me via a walkie-talkie, making money, becoming a real barista. Wait, this image cannot work. Alder loves to sit down in the middle of the street and collect rocks and Kingston will wander from here to Mississippi without looking back. Yeah, not such a good idea. Maybe in a few years.....

Moving on. I have found myself impressively full of energy for my children lately. I do not have the kind of energy this late in my pregnancy to pick up the dog food that Alder spilled this morning whilst feeding Ally and so it still, at 10:00 at night, lays around me on the floor, under the desk, and trailing on into the playroom. I just cannot bear the thought of bending over and the energy it will take to clean up one more mess today. So I will wait until Jared gets home from his business dinner and nicely ask him to sweep it up for me. But I do still seem to have a lot of patient energy for my children. We are doing crafts, having a lot of learning time, reading, building amazing train tracks around their room, mastering floor puzzles, and even making gingerbread men and decorating them. I am sure this energy will die off in the next several weeks as my body gets pushed to the limit and this baby's arrival nears. For now though I am enjoying this time with my two boys who are so fun and bring me such joy. We had such a great time last week making these cookies together after nap time, cutting them out, decorating them, and eating them (which is their favorite part). Alder and Kingston both loved the activity and it really held their attention. It also helped pass the time during these dreary winter days that darken so early and make entertaining the children a little more difficult.

Three

2011-01-17T07:00:00.008-06:00

How does time go by so stinkin' fast?

Alder just hours old....

became 1 years old...

and then 2 years old...

and now he is 3???

He is so big, so wonderful, articulate, fearless, wild, adventurous, bold, intense, sensitive, and so many other words that I could use to describe one of the best gifts I have ever received in my life.

Happy Birthday my Alderman Rhys.

I cannot believe you are 3.

We are so very proud of you.

Almost 3

2011-01-14T16:49:00.000-06:00

WAR EAGLE!!!

First of all.

We all enjoyed Monday night and cheering for the Tigers as they won the National Championship game. What fun! Of course the boys only lasted for the first 30 minutes and then it was off to bed for them. More on that in a second.

But really in more important news around here is that I have a very enthusiastic almost 3 year old. Can you tell by looking at the picture above?

Alder's birthday day is Monday and we have been counting down for days now since for several days before we starting counting down he was constantly asking me, "Mama, is it my birthday yet? Is it tomorrow or the next day?" My favorite was when he woke up from his afternoon nap several times asking me if he had "missed his party?" "No sweetie," I assured him. So to help his little mind that is oh-so sharp but a little obsessive we have been counting down. Now it is just 3 days to go and I am loving having a child who is now old enough to have serious preferences regarding his birthday, his cake, his wants and desires, and the sheer excitement of it all. I cannot wait to make his day special for him on Monday.

Time does not allow for talking about our new sleeping arrangements in this house, but I will post soon about all the chaos, laughter, tears, climbing in and out of beds, falling out of cribs and so on that putting two brothers in the same room have brought.

Stay tuned.

Happy Friday.

Welcome Home....

2011-01-12T16:44:00.000-06:00

Last January, we bundled up the kids and went to the local high school to say farewell and thank you to the 2101st National Guard Division. It was really powerful to stand there and witness the troops say good-bye to their families, being so stoic, and clearly brave. There was such a look of duty on each of their faces. We appreciate their bravery and sacrifice. We believe that the support of our troops is so very important no matter where you stand on war, this war, or the last war. They need to be supported and thanked. We hope to raise our boys with a great gratitude for these men and women in uniform and with the knowledge that to serve your country in this way is a very honorable path to choose if either of our sons chose to do so.

This picture was taken of Alder and I last January as we waved our flags and said good-bye.

Jan. 8, 2010

On January 6th, 2011 those same troops came home.

I took the boys so we could once again wave our flags, show our support, and say thank you to the soldiers that served our country so bravely for a year.

Alder told me today he sat on my lap while I worked on this post.

"Mama, that is me with my flag and me with a soldier. He is a big man. He is a great man. He is brave and protects me from evil. He protects me from dragons and evil people."

I'm not sure if they fight against dragons, but he got it.

Frustrated....

2011-01-08T09:55:00.000-06:00

***I tried and tried to get my posts to post in order. The computer has won. Start with the post titled "Christmastide come and gone" and then scroll about looking for Christmas posts 1, 2, and 3. It is maddening when such things happen. Sorry***

Christmas: Post 3

2011-01-08T09:39:00.012-06:00

Christmas: Post 1

2011-01-08T09:39:00.011-06:00

I love our decorated house. These pictures are mainly for you Mom as you never have seen our house here decorated for Christmas. Yes, I took the pictures you requested.

Christmastide come and gone

2011-01-08T09:38:00.005-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas season this year with family and other loved ones. I have two lovely boys that I fall deeper in love with each day and a wonderful husband who cares for us with a true servant's heart. We enjoyed parades, lights, baking, gingerbread house making with friends, festive story times at the library, sugar cookies, candy canes, the first snow (yes, we saw snowflakes fall for the better part of one day in early December all the way down here), fires every night, our Christmas tree, talking about baby Jesus, naming our Elf on the Shelf and seeing his new place each morning in the house. We bundled up each night and with our flashlights in hand we started our winter ritual of night walking through town. I am typically NOT a winter person, but I am starting to "warm-up" to this season as I am learning (through the eyes of my children) that with each new season there are new and wondrous things I had missed before. I love the awe on Alder's face as he gathers kinlin for the fires on every walk we take and his love of collecting other such things in nature like red berries and the droppings from the popcorn trees. I love watching Kingston explore the Christmas tree, its needles, and the barren outdoors. I feel extremely full as this year came to a close. I love my job, role as mother to these 3 I nurture daily, excited at the arrival of the 3rd little one in March, our families we spent time with over the holidays, a stable job for Jared, our good health, and mountains of other blessings that I resolve to focus more on in this New Year.

Yes, my heart aches for other "things" like a bigger community, being closer to our families, an ease of finances, and so on but I feel overwhelmed with the joys in my life and I thank my God for those.

I had collected lots of pictures over the last month and could not fit all of them into one post. I thought I would just post a series of 3 posts and let the pictures speak for themselves. I remind myself that one of the main reasons I keep this blog going (since sometimes I feel like not posting at all) is to have it serve as a scrapbook for my children and our family. I hope my boys will treasure these pictures one day as much I do.

Enjoy! We hope your holidays were Merry and Bright!

Christmas: Post 2

2011-01-06T20:22:00.012-06:00

In front of the Christmas Tree....Take One.

2010-12-20T14:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning I thought I would try to take some pictures of them in front of our tree before church. As you will see I was only semi-successful.

Do you like Alder's outfit? I love the smocked shorts outfit made by a dear friend years ago and passed down to us. Yes, he does look like he could go yodeling in the Swiss mountains, but precious nonetheless. He insisted on wearing his wellies to church. What can I say?

By the last few shots I had bribed them with two jelly beans each....can you tell?

Ha.

Forgotten Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T20:20:00.000-06:00

I love, love, love Thanksgiving. I love the day, what is all about, the turkey, the list of things that I am thankful for that go through my head the whole month of November, the gluttony, the laid back feeling that Thanksgiving carries with it, and the colors. I can get really annoyed with all the "Christmasing" that goes on before even the 3rd week of Thanksgiving. It drives me crazy that people decorate for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving, that stores have all their "stuff" geared for Christmas, and so on. I feel like, with all the commericalism of Christmas, that Thanksgiving is becoming a forgotten holiday. Anyways, I will get off my shop box. We enjoyed the holiday in Chattanooga with our families. As always it was non-stop fun from the moment we arrived into Chattanooga.

So thankful for wonderful families, healthy children, and the little kicking baby inside this belly of mine, my home, and so so so much more.

Wingfield Thanksgiving dinner at the Fairyland Club. The little table...Win (18 mos.), TH (23 mos.), Alder (2 1/2), and Kingston (18 mos.)

The bigger but still little (because all 13 cousins are under the age of 8) table...Demi(6), Stoney(almost 6), Teddy (4), Shaw(3), Wilder (2), and Josie(4).

Settle Thanksgiving with our beloved Great Aunt Nina. She is wonderful, full of joy, happy, still plays 18 holes of golf, and is in her upper 80's. We just adore her and my boys love calling her GGNina (that would be for Great, Great, Aunt Nina to them).

My Dad and Alder. My Dad is the master chef in all areas of cooking, but totally rocks the house on Thanksgiving Day. Alder is looking in (I think) total amazement at the size of the turkey. I am too. It was huge AND delicious.

GGNina and Alder reading the story of Thanksgiving together as my Dad carves up the turkey.

Sweet boys intrigued by the fire. Poor Kingston. He did have pants for dinner, but they just did not seem to get on him after his nap.

Some of the delicious food and (drumroll please.....)

my Dad's gravy. It may just look like some super yucky goop in this photo, but I assure you it is not. It is certainly heavenly in all ways and if we could bottle it and sell it (hey, that may be a good idea) then I am sure we would become millionaires. It is a family recipe that has been handed down through the generations and its the only gravy I will eat. In fact, it has left all of us in the family utter snobs about gravy. All other gravy is goop if you ask me. Some of Jared's family came and ate Thanksgiving dinner with us a couple of years ago and they still talk about it. I should share the recipe because everyone everywhere should be able to take part in eating turkey with this wonderful gravy poured upon it. I'll ask my Dad about posting the recipe...he is sort of protective over it. Ha.

My Mom's beautiful table and in the center the famous and adored Cranberry Conserve. I make Cranberry Conserve for neighborhood Christmas gifts and I have people ask me all year long, "are you going to make that yummy red stuff again this year?" Here is the recipe.

I usually triple the recipe and buy the jars at Wal-Mart, tie on a ribbon, and there you go. A wonderful holiday gift. The recipe comes from Dinner on the Diner by The Junior League of Chattanooga. I highly recommend the whole cookbook, but this recipe is a must. The conserve goes great with any holiday meal.

Sweet Kingston and my Mom making Thanksgiving cookies.

I'm thankful for.....

2010-11-19T09:32:00.000-06:00

our 3rd baby who is growing perfectly, is seemingly healthy, and kicking Mama all day long.

It is a joy to be carrying this little one in my belly. It is such an unique gift to feel your little one grow and grow inside you. I am so thankful for this little one. I feel like I am counting down to Christmas day in awaiting the arrival of this baby. I cannot wait to hold it, kiss it, nurse it, and kiss it (did I already say kiss it???).

This picture above is the baby's profile and the one below is of the baby taking "a breath." The last picture is looking at the baby's head, ear, and his/her arm wrapped around its head.

Amazing.

It's Great to Be an Auburn Tiger!!!

2010-11-17T20:37:00.000-06:00

This is our crowd at the Auburn game a couple of weeks ago. It was frigidly cold due to wind and sitting very high up in the stadium. I failed miserably at trying to photograph everyone at the same time. It is Jared, Alder, Demi, YaYa, Josie, Stoney,Strib, Papa, Kingston, and Uncle Jackie. It was a fun day and a great first game (homecoming and Auburn played UTC and obviously smoked them) to take the boys to. Alder waved his shaker, watched the game, enjoyed the festivities before hand like the eagle flying and the marching band and Kingston just ate fistfuls of popcorn and tried to stay warm inside Uncle Jackie's coat.

Kingston just clung to Uncle Jackie that day and it was so sweet to watch.

Alder's favorite, the Marching Band

And our family of 4 1/2. I mean, will I ever get a picture of my family with both boys looking at the camera?

Our cheesy little Kingston. If only the cute matching jackets that my Mom bought the boys for the season could have been a nice burnt orange for the day....that would have been perfect for pictures.

Cousins Demi, Alder, and Stoney waiting so patiently outside Mellow Mushroom.

And of course no Auburn game day would be complete without the rolling of Toomer's Corner. The kids absolutely loved it and Alder kept looking up at me saying, "Mama, did it snow?"

War Eagle!

October in Pictures

2010-11-15T14:13:00.000-06:00

Random Shots and Thoughts

2010-10-27T17:00:00.001-05:00

I just happened to have my camera the other day at church and I snapped these of Kingston. I think his reddish hair photographs so nicely against the light shining through the stained glass windows. He is my little buddy during the church service. I keep him occupied and entertained and Jared has Alder. The system works nicely now that it is "man on man" but what will happen when we go to "zone defense?" And not just for a 1 hour church service, but everyday with 3 little ones 3 and under? I am trying to prepare mentally, but am not really intimidated by the jump from 2 to 3 just because the jump from 1 to 2 who were 16 months apart was harrowing. We figure that will help put the jump from 2 to 3 in perspective.

There are some really sweet things about living in a small town and one of them was watching the homecoming parade last Friday. It is going to sound crazy, but it can be an emotional thing to watch such a parade. The streets are lined with seemingly everyone in town out to support the Tigers, to hear the marching band, to see the pride on the faces of the football players, coaches, cheerleaders, and the supporters. Combine all of that with the thunderous sounds of the fire trucks, police sirens, and honking cars and you may just find yourself really moved. I did. Its the heartbeat of America, a small town at its best.

I took the boys and they absolutely LOVED it. LOVED IT! I dressed then in the school colors and tried to explain to them what it was we were about to see. Words cannot explain it and so I just let them wait, listen, and watch for the parade.

Alder was captivated by it and it was clear that all the sounds and the spirit of the whole parade moved him too.

Alder stood on the side and "conducted" the parade as they passed. He shook his arm with a very serious look on his face. He acted as if he was sending them off to "war" or something like that (not that he has any idea what war is). In the picture below, he may look as if he is angry, but he really just being serious and "conducting." He got a real kick out of the fact that the many floats that passed threw out candy. That was certainly an added bonus.

Recently we made a homemade trail mix as an afternoon activity and it was a big hit. In this pictures though, it seems like Alder is whincing in pain or is not enjoying the activity. I assure you he loved the whole experience, but the kid consistently makes halirious facial expressions. Currently when he talks, he wrinkles up his nose, his brow, and squints his eyes and just talks. Oh, and at the same time he is twirling his hands. So silly.

Anyways, I just gathered a lot of "snacky" type things I had in the pantry and put them in individual bowls and then let Alder go to town by adding them to a big container. We used pistachios, chocolate covered raisins, cereal, golden raisins, crasins, sunflower seeds, cashews, and white chocolate chips. It was as easy as pie and somewhat healthy too.

And by the way, this funny-faced guy is paci free as of two weeks ago and is in a "big boy bed." He tells everyone how, "I'm a big boy and I threw my pacis away because they were broken and I a big boy." Of course taking him to Wal-Mart to pick out any toy he wanted as a reward for giving up paci helped immensely and he picked out Disney's Robin Hood. He is currently addicted to it, is Robin Hood for Halloween, and is daily practicing how to shoot his $2 bow and arrow.

And some more random thoughts....

It is us VS. wasps right now in our house. Is anyone else having this issue? I can handle the recent influx of roaches, but wasps are a little intimidating when you have two small children and these wasps are aggressive. Between Jared and I we have killed about 15 in the last two days and I hear one right now flying against the windows in the dining room. What is the best thing to do about them?

I am 20 weeks pregnant today and still find myself struggling through each day. Seriously? This pregnancy has been so different that it still surprises me each day. But I am encouraged by the fact that I am half-way there.

Happy Hump Day!

Our recent Chattanooga visit

2010-10-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

My two wonderful sister-n-laws and me. We are all pregnant. Les is due anyday now really, Beth is due the first of Nov. and I am due in mid-March. Its not a great picture due to the shadows of the leaves on our faces, but I figured it was the last time we all 3 would be pregnant together. All 3 of us DO NOT know what we are having so we are all very excited to find out what this next "bumper crop" of Wingfield cousins will be. I think we all think it would be super fun if all 3 of us had girls. But it seems like Wingfield men cannot produce anything but cute, wonderful, smelly, and crazy boys. I guess having 10 Wingfield boy cousins would be pretty fun too!

We went to the Zoo with cousins and my boys (who don't seem to get out much) were amazed at the animals, especially the gorilla. Can you see Kingston making the gorilla/monkey sound with his mouth? It is currently his favorite animal sound to make besides growling when you ask him, "what does Joe Joe (my Dad) say?" So strange.

This is Kingston and Joe Joe on our way out the door for church. For the most part I look at Kingston and think, "who in the world do you look like?" To be honest, it stumps me on a daily basis and the stark difference of appearances between my children still stump me as well. But, I do think people are right when they say Kingston looks a lot like his Joe Joe.

This is Alder and KeeKee drinking a special hot chocolate together at Cracker Barrel. It is Alder's new favorite thing to do when we got to Chattanooga. We have only been the last two times when have visited and have been to one ever before or since, but Alder talks about Cracker Barrel like it is a little piece of heaven. I guess it may have something to do with getting hot chocolate, pegs that sit on the table that can be used as swords, the toy section, and the line of rocking chairs. Who knows!

We also visited the Aquarium with cousins and Yaya. Yaya is always up for taking the boys and me to the Aquarium and it is only made more fun when we have several cousins come too.

Wilder, 2 Alder, 2 Teddy, 4 Shaw, 3 and Kingston, 1

Yaya with some of her "boys"

The boys trying their hardest to touch the "no-touch" sting rays.

Alder enjoying the Carasouel one day. Kingston not so sure.

Kingston getting his 23rd haircut. Ok, really its only been like 7 haircuts but the kid is only like 16 months. He has such a mop of hair. Aunt Judy, the wonderful stylist, said one time when someone asked, "Judy, how does Kingston do when you cut his hair since he is so such a baby." She replied, "Well, you know, its a lot easier now that he can hold his head up." Pretty funny Aunt Judy. Yes, I think Kingston's first haircut was before he had complete head control.

This is Kingston starring at the huge model train thingy at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. We went one morning with my Mom and it was such a low-key and quiet little outing for the boys. They loved it and Alder really enjoyed the ride on the electric trolley. He was the Conductor's little helper.

We love visiting Chattanooga!

Sorely Behind and Welcome to October

2010-10-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I am finally back to the blog after a long break. I have uploaded tons and tons of pics from the last part of the summer and from September. Jared has fully recovered from his surgery and we are glad to have Daddy back to normal. I feel like I have turned a corner with this pregnancy and that I am walking once again among the living. I have energy in the afternoons, I can swallow without wanting to throw-up, and I am overall a nicer person. I am sure those close to me are thrilled. Thank you dear family and friends for your patience with me during this time.

We are welcoming Fall with open arms and loving the beautiful weather. We are outside most of the day playing and playing. We just got back from Chattanooga last Thursday with a bounty of wonderful gourds and pumpkins and pansies to adorn our house with. Thanks Mom for all of it! It has made the outside look so "harvesty." (I realize that this is not a word, but I love making new words. This is defiantly a Megism. :))

Anyways, I have posted the pictures of us going to the nursery to gather our pumpkins and thought I'd share. October is my favorite month (October and April actually tie).

Happy Wednesday!

Two Randoms: Surgery and Nightgowns...

2010-09-12T16:46:00.000-05:00

I have lots of wonderful pictures that I am dying to share of the last couple of weeks, but I have left my camera cord in Chattanooga and I keep forgetting to ask my Mom to send it. Mom, if you are reading this....could you please send me the small white cord that is in the top left drawer of the bar in your kitchen??? I would really appreciate it. We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend spending time with our dear friends, The Browns. I cannot wait to post those pictures, one day when I get my cord back. But, after we arrived home on Monday afternoon we found ourselves in the doctor's office and then up to Tuscaloosa to a Radiology Clinic because it was quite clear that Jared's appendix was infected. He has been dealing with stomach issues and pain in his abdomen for months and months. We had actually gone to see the same general surgeon around this time last year and he felt like Jared just wasn't "sick enough" to have it removed. On Tuesday afternoon, we had it confirmed after extensive CT scans that Jared's appendix was heavily inflamed. On Wednesday morning, Jared had it removed, stayed two nights in the hospital, and came home Friday. The Doc said his appendix looked to be about 1 or 2 from rupturing and so we are so thankful that it all went well. We have been flying solo here in Demopolis without any family to help (due to their own extenuating circumstances) which has been incredibly frustrating, exhausting, and great all at the same time. I felt like my hands were tied since I could not be up there at the hospital with him to monitor his care and help take care of him. I took the boys a couple of times to see him and so I could see him too AND it was a complete nightmare (made worse that Jared did not have a private room and I would catch Alder or Kingston on the other side of Jared's curtain pushing buttons on the other man's hospital bed. Crazy! Thank goodness he was a sweet man. I just hope my kids don't come down with the plaque after being in the hospital two days in a row. I pretty rubbed their bodies down in hand sanitizer after leaving each time. Did you know the FLU is already going around here?)I am exhausted as I have taken on all duties around the house and I am still feeling yucky with this pregnancy, but it has been a great learning experience for all of us. We are more competent than we thought! We have realized (something I have known for awhile, but became clearer to Jared this week) that we desperately desire to live closer to family. We are taking those active steps and have been for quite some time. It is still survival mode around here and it appears that Jared will not be back at work til Tuesday, can't drive til Thursday, AND can't pick up anything over 10 lbs. or 6 weeks ( I am going to have to have a little come to Jesus meeting with his Doc. about that one :) Hernia Smernia, I say. Haha.) In fact, I am suppose to go to the beach with all my dear friends from high school this coming weekend, a trip we planned back in July and two of the girls have bought plane tickets for it, and it is looking like I won't be able to go! So sad. It was going to be my FIRST time to leave my kids and get a little R&R! I am trying to work it out currently. I am looking for a nanny for next weekend....anyone interested? Ha.

Anyways, I frantically ran to Wal-Mart to get a few essentials during every one's nap time (and suppose to be mine too) yesterday and as I was walking down the main aisle to check-out, I looked over and saw these little nightgowns hanging on a rack.

I realize that this doesn't look like much, but its so soft. It is actually slinky-like, fits great, comfortable, and it only $10. I was in desperate need for a couple of new nightgowns since the ones I have are over 3 years old, pilly (sp?), and bought when I was 8 months pregnant with Alder. Anyways, I bought two. One in black and one in a plum, geometric print. I could not find the plum color to copy and paste in here, but I promise a trip to Wal-Mart for these will not disappoint. They also a navy print and all colors come in a tank top and pant set as well. I just thought I would share. I cannot STAND Wal-Mart, but once in awhile Wal-Mart tires to redeem itself with such finds as these.

Happy Sunday!

Brothers at Play, Plasma Cars, and Organ Music

2010-08-29T19:58:00.000-05:00

Alder and Kingston seem to play well together but the two of them certainly have their moments. Like this past week, for example, when we were at the park. I was talking to a couple other moms and I looked over when I heard my boys fussing. I looked over just in time to see Alder and Kingston completely gripped onto each other in anger and frustration and then the two of them proceeded to tackle each other to the ground. They landed in dirty, water fountain, run-off, covered in mud, and tears. I could not help but laugh to myself as I realized that this will happen over and over again in their relationship as they grow up...I just did not think it would happen this soon. Boys will be boys. I think the other mothers looked on in horror. Horror at the sheer anger and wrestling that took place between my 2 year old and my 1 year old OR horror at my very relaxed response, I am not sure.

Anyways, we took this video tonight of Alder pushing Kingston on the plasma car and the two of them enjoying it immensely. The plasma cars are great and if you are looking for a toy for any child under the age of 8 the plasma car is where it is at. Check here for more info. We had just gone on a hike, eaten take-out, and listening to our weekly Sunday organ music (yes, my husband is kind of dorky in this way) so you'll hear that in the background of the video. If you are dorky too, then you can click here and stream incredible organ music anytime. We do love listening to it as a family and it brings back so many memories for Jared and I from our time of living in England.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Baby News Part 2....

2010-08-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

A fun part of the baby news were these pictures. I had figured that I was pregnant for awhile, but because Jared loves surprises and particularly surprising me we did something a little unique. I took a pregnancy test the night before these pictures were taken, left it in the bathroom for Jared to read, and then if I was pregnant, I let him "surprise" me. Of course this being the 3rd pregnancy and given how rotten I felt, I was going to be surprised if I WASN'T pregnant. So, he made up these t-shirts that said "I'm a the biggest brother" for Alder and "I'm a big brother" for Kingston (just wrote on some of his white shirts with chalk so that's why you can't read them) and put them on the boys. The boys came into the kitchen after baths with Daddy wearing the shirts and we all celebrated. Alder was thrilled and for being just 2 1/2 yrs. old, he seems to have gotten this whole "baby in mommy's tummy" thing right from the beginning. I love his expression in the picture above. At this point in the evening (7:30) Kingston was just done and ready for bed and so not so happy to get his picture taken....or maybe he was sad he was no longer going to be the baby. Haha. I have added a wiget to the blog of baby #3 and its growth which is fun for Alder to get on a see. Right now I am just counting down until the 2nd trimester in hopes I will start feeling better when I reach that point.

Happy Saturday!

A little hiatus AND some news....

2010-08-23T20:57:00.000-05:00

We took off to Chattanooga at the first of the month with the intention of staying just one week, but we stayed two instead. We love visiting and yearn to maybe live there one day. All of our family is there and we think they are pretty cool. Shortly after arriving on Lookout Mtn. my camera battery died and I made no further effort to charge it. So I have no pictures of the time there, but my very camera savvy sister-n-law took a few pictures of various time spent with cousins and family. Below you should be able to see some sweet pictures of the boys and cousins. We swam, ate chicken finger basket after chicken finger basket by the pool, stayed in pjs for hours on end, rode the golf cart around the mtn., explored the aquarium, enjoyed the Creative Discovery Museum, ate lunch with grandparents, Alder ventured to the "Barn" (as we all call it) til' the late hours of the night feeding horses, chicken, and monstrous fish in the stream. The boys basked in the love of their uncles and my parents and so enjoyed seeing cousins. Sadly, I do not think they missed Daddy at all. Ooops! It is wonderful to visit and have a nice long visit like that. It was our last summer hoorrah. I mourn the end of summer each year. I wish I could live in a perpetual summer season, however; this south Alabama heat is pretty dad-gum miserable. 125 heat index everyday for weeks before we left at the beginning of August may have had something to do with us staying for 2 weeks in the cool mountain air.

I am posting links to Beth's pictures of all the cousins. It is so fun to have so many little ones all so close in age.

Beth, Joseph, Teddy & Wilder: Aquarium with Alder & Kingston- 8.16.10

Beth, Joseph, Teddy & Wilder: Wingfield lunch at Guthrie's- 8.7.10:

"Entertaining the other Guthrie's patrons :-) Yaya & Papa with all 11 grandkids- 3 more on the way! sweet brothers Papa & Yaya & the littles..."

Beth, Joseph, Teddy & Wilder: Summer pool time with cousins:

"Josie & Wilder Shaw, Alder & Teddy Stoney & Teddy on Jackie & Joe Joe's shoulders Wilder, Shaw & Teddy"

I was able to get one picture though that is probably more interesting than all the others......

It's a picture of Baby #3.

Coming mid-March.

I am 11 weeks Wednesday and feel pretty rotten.

Maybe its a girl?

We would be thrilled to have 3 boys though.

Alder cannot stop talking about the "baby in mama's tummy that is soooo tiny" as he says as he holds his thumb and forefinger spaced apart. It is very sweet.

I feel richly blessed to be carrying another little one.

Lazy "Beach" Fun

2010-08-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

The boys have adored going on the boat this summer. They love the engine, trimming the motor up and down, the wind in their hair, the water, swimming, and the "beach" we visit. I love watching them play, discover, explore, and this past Sunday catch a fish with Dada for the first time. Alder and Kingston could not get enough of the fish. They touched its eyes, skin, fins, and were saddened when Daddy released it back to "his family." I have found that to make boys happy just give them sticks, water, and mud. Oh, and something with a motor is pretty cool too.

Happy, Happy!

2010-07-31T22:35:00.017-05:00

We have been without Internet for days and days and days. Literally it has felt like eternity and does that just sound pitiful? I have not posted in awhile because of it, but I thought I would post a couple of videos of us celebrating Jared's 29 years.

I have also included a video of the dance party that took place on Jared's birthday. We have dance parties almost every night so Jared's birthday was nothing out of the ordinary. We listen to so much music around here at night that Alder recently thanked God for Tom Petty when he prayed before dinner the other night. Alder's favorite right now is the "EveBillerBand" aka the Steve Miller Band and listening for the harmonica in the background of Bob Dylan songs.

Funniest thing.

By the way, Kingston is just my love. He loves music as much as his brother Alder. You know, he may have red hair but at least he has got the moves going for him.

***I posted this last night and then went into tell Jared so he could look at it and watch the videos. He thought this was halirious but pointed out that Kingston looks, well, a little special. I tend to agree, but that is what makes him so funny to me in the first place. He does like a low swaying back and forth when he dances...always. So odd.***

boy, oh boy...

2010-07-15T18:00:00.000-05:00

Don't let these sweet and innocent boys fool you!

They have run circles around me this week in such a way that I have limped slowly into my bed at night from such exhaustion.

I will share with you an a part of email to my dear sister-n-law I wrote earlier today,

"beth, sorry i am just now getting back with you. i assure its not b/c we have been out and about doing fun exciting things rather just trying to get through the days with two crazy boys. yesterday, i found kingston chewing on a roach (seriously i was removing pieces of roach out of his mouth with my finger) and alder peed all over the bathroom wall/corner (not even hitting the toilet) and came to tell me so proudly that he had "pee peed on the roll!" i am guessing he had been aiming for the toilet roll?!?!?! on monday, i lost my keys at wal-mart, had dinner guests last night, and kingston continues to be the master mess maker around the house. i just cleaned up 250+ beads he knocked off the steps on to the playroom floor. ahhhhh!!!! its been chaotic! i still love them to bits and pretty much could just kiss their faces off though. its just boys being boys i guess!"

It is funny though. I can be with friends who are mothers only to little, sweet, and quiet girls and I'll catch them starring at my boys blankly. "Yes, I know," I think to myself, "I cannot believe that they are that loud and unruly either. I do try, really. I discipline, try to teach them to eat with silverware, and bath them every night yet they are smelly 12 hours later. Trust me, I do." Oh, I love boys though. There is never a dull moment.

Speaking of boys.

My boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE books. Specifically books about "boy" things. However, Alder's favorite movies right now are Snow White and Cinderella. So....hmmm. Anyways, if you are looking for some great books for your own little ones or some great gifts these books are the best.

We received our first Ant Parker book from our beloved friends, the Branfoots who live in England, as a birthday present for Alder. There are like 10 books in the series. Each book is filled with pages full of rhyming sentences and perfect description of the vehicle/train/rocket/etc. At the back of the book, there is a page of "vocabulary words" from the story. This is Alder's favorite part. In fact, yesterday when I went to go get him out of his crib after nap time, he kept saying, "Mama, what is that noise?" "It sounds like a boat propeller." Yes, he was right. I could hear ski doos far off in the distance, but he was using one of the vocabulary words from the Busy Boats books.

We received Dazzling Diggers from the Branfoots and it came with a read-along CD chocked full of great "digger sounds" in the background. You can find all of them on Amazon, but the ones with the CD are harder to find. Good luck hunting!