"Crazy Love"

Thursday, marks the first day of fall and it is 90 degrees today! EEK...it has been SO humid and as much as I have enjoyed the southern weather, I am SO ready for fall weather!  Fall is my favorite season for many reasons. It is no longer sweltering hot, it's comfortable weather, and everything is so colorful outside.

All the colors of the fall indeed are like a beautiful mosaic or even better put,"October is a symphony of permanence and change!"  I appreciate the seasonal changes and I think God brings them before us to remind us that we need to have a time of "harvesting" in our own lives and replenish our souls.
Our church is going though the book, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It is so fitting to be reading it at this time of year. I get so busy and caught up with all that is going on, and shamefully I'll admit that I do not sit back enough and take the time be in "awe" of my God! God has been apart of my life since I was itty -bitty. I have loved him from a very young age and accepted him as my Savior when I was 6. I really did not grasp who he was to me until I was in high school. My love grew for God in a a more intimate way when I attended college. During my four years at Baptist Bible College, I came to appreciate his plan for my life, his purpose for me and prepared to serve him in Christian Education. Since that decision and being in Christian Education for seven years, my life has been established and settled very comfortably!
I have been given food, shelter, and a great home.
 I have been blessed with an awesome husband.
I  have been given the opportunity to stay home with our two sweet boys whom I love and adore.
So all this= a good comfortable thing called "LIFE!"
That deep love and appreciation for God that was once radiant during high school, college and even the first few years of marriage, has been put on the back burner. I've allowed other things to take first priority.
Society has become "FAST" paced and there is no such thing in life as the "SLOW" pace. I have really been striving to make it a daily habit to appreciate WHO God is to me, and even more then that~ humbled that I AM a child of His! My daily priorities and purpose all need to start with him and admiring Him.  I take the time to do my quiet time with the Lord, but my mind starts running and I am not always in "awe" of  this amazing God who is in "awe" of me! Even more then that-he loves me unconditionally.
That's why I LOVE Crazy Love! I need it as a refresher especially at this seasonal time. I actually bought the book when it first came out and read the first 4 chapters and then of course ....life got busy and I put it aside. But this time we are doing it in small groups with our church. I am not putting it aside. Our Pastor is doing a series at church along with this book and I highly recommend it!
 Here is a background of the book;
The God of the universe is crazy about you! His love is the most powerful thing in the world and He wants to give it to you, so you can live for Him. If you have made a commitment to follow Christ, then read Crazy Love to be reminded and challenged in your walk. Sharing from his own life struggles and sacrifices, author Francis Chan issues a call for selfless, Christ-like living. Let the love you have received from God impact your life like never before.
I was reminded of a song we used to sing in Youth Group and Lake Ann Baptist Camp-
“Casual Christian”

       by
DeGarmo & key

I don’t want to be,
I don’t want to be a casual Christian
I don’t want to live,
I don't want to live a lukewarm life.
Because I want to light up the night
With an everlasting light
I don’t want to live the casual christian life.

I am excited to continue this "Crazy Love" series and praying that my heart does not become "lukewarm" in this busy life!  My youth pastor always said to us; "In everything you do, do it with eternal values in view" (Pastor John Cousins). The only things that matter on my list are the things that are making an impact for eternity!  Here's to my soul being " a symphony of permanence and change" for Him!

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8 Months old

 Kaden is 8 and 1/2 months old and looks like a big boy with 4 teeth! We were swamped the end of Aug. with a shower for Aunt LaLa and enjoying NeNe's visit, so I am just now getting back to "life" and keeping our blog world/family updated.

Kaden is ready to crawl and trying to figure out how to move his hands with his rocking body. He gets up and in position, rocks back and forth and then down; and then back up and gets the legs to move backwards but he still has not figured out how to move forward.

Here is the most recent video of him crawling and me talking away to him (I hate listening to myself...urr)!

He is still trying to get the crawling down but he has the food part all figured out! Kaden has made it very clear that he would prefer table food (nibblers) over pureed baby food. When NeNe was feeding him dinner a couple of weeks ago, she gave him a cracker. When she took the cracker away to feed him "dinner" he screamed and had a tantrum and would not eat the food. As soon as she gave him the cracker back, he stopped crying instantaneously! “Yup,strong willed and knows what he wants in deed, he must get that from his father!”

Our scale broke but I think he is 24 or 25 pounds. He is just a big cuddle of love and has officially outgrown the infant seat. {sigh}The infant seat goes up to 30 pounds, but he is very long and the feet hanging out was a clear indication that it was time for Parker's Britax toddler seat. So, we got Parker a new seat for his birthday and Kaden got "promoted" to the next level. Kaden loves the car seat and Parker LOVES his Graco Nautilus-especially the personal cup holder.

  Kaden's getting more and more character and still giggles and lights up when Parker is around.

We are rejoicing each day for our sweet Baby Kaden.

We are so grateful for his health and happy little heart.

Happy 8 Months, Baby Kaden :)

Yipee! Parker is 3! at OneTrueMedia.com

Here is Parker's 3 year video-finally!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Birthday Photos and 3 year video

Here are some photos of Parker's birthday and the video of his 3rd year is almost done! It has taken me a long month to finish! I have been SWAMPED and so much to catch up on! Many more posts to come. :)

Parker LOVES getting mail (and it is fun to get presents from Grammy and Grandpa in the mail!)

                                                Airplane theme cake and cloud cupcakes!

Organized Chaos with 16 kids under 5! A definite job that is a calling!

Baby brother, Kaden LOVED playing with Jonathan while the bigger kids played with bigger things!

It Rocks to be 3 when you can have a ball at Gymboree!

Happy 3rd Birthday..Parkeroo!

Today, Parker turned 3.
We no longer have a little boy but now a big boy!~
This was the first year that he knew it was his birthday and was excited to celebrate.
We had a party for him at Gymboree! He went to a party at Gymboree in May, and loved it. So, this year we decided to host it outside of the home (and it was a great break for me).
 NeNe came down from NewYork to spend the time with Parker and Kaden. She was a tremendous help to us and took care of Kaden for the majority of the party.
We are so excited to have a new chapter to begin with our sweet boy.
I am almost done with his 3 year old video! Come back soon to check it out and photos from the party!
Thank you to all of our friends, and family who helped make this day SO special for him. We love you all and appreciate all the love and support you showed Parker.
It was a great 3rd Birthday!
Tonight at Bed  , he said "Mommy I had a great birthday!"
Jenn, Mike, Parker & Kaden :)

3 year old pre-school

Our first baby boy is....
No longer a baby,

No longer in diapers,

No longer a toddler,

                               No longer needing a BIG 4 hour "Parker" nap, (just an hour a day),

NOW, our first born is a BIG 3 year old (officially on 8/20)...

Ready for PRESCHOOL!

                                                                           {Sigh}
Such big milestones we have crossed already-and now it is time for preschool.
Tuesday, Parker will start 3 year old Pre-school. (I really wanted to put Parker in school 2 days a week, but daddy talked me into the 3 days a week program.)
It was only $15.00 more a month to have him go 3 days. So, I decided to take advantage of it. Not having family in town will really be a help to me with that extra day.

We had a wonderful experience last year at Burnt Hickory and we are looking forward to another great year.

So, here we go!

Parker got to meet his teachers today, Mrs. Clare (Teacher) and Mrs. Kelly (Aid)! They are both awesome! Mrs. Clare (the one with long grey hair has been teaching for 28 years). She is a mother of four children and a grandma of 5! I have no problem leaving our sweet, spirited, litte, red- head in her care!

He no longer will have 15 minutes of learning Circle time...
He now will also have learning time AND Music, Spanish and Computers!
One of the requirements for 3 year old Preschool is to be fully potty trained!
(Only read below if you really care about life with a 3 year old and the adventures of Potty-training!)
They have to do EVERYTHING on their own. He has been working since April-and is fully trained(with going #1) His teacher thinks he is fine to enter!
I am amazed that he always waits till it is bed time to do #2 in his pull-up! So, I don't think we have to worry about #2 at school, BUT we are working really hard on that part! Most of the kiddos just hold it till they are home! (So amazing to me)-His teacher is thrilled that we know his routine! She has seen it all and experienced it all. One of the boys (Last year) would come out "Naked" and ask for help to get dressed after going potty. Oh my-I hope Parker remembers to keep his pants and undies down by his ankles. Potty training also includes getting dressed! We have worked SO hard to tell him we don't need to be "naked" to go potty! (He started out learning that way). It seriously can wear you out potty training! Today, I had him go in the classroom and he did great. I just had to show him how to use the motion censored paper towel roll! (Ok-he may get carried away with that later:)
 This summer he had some fun learning how to go potty (and he started learning how to get the sensation when he was outside...so hopefully he does not ask his teachers to go potty outside! {YIKES} I don't think he will, since they have all the kids go potty before they out to the playground. BUT he is a boy and they do have adventurous minds!
Here's to a new year of adventure!
Parker, we love you and hope you have a great year in 3 year old Preschool!
We are praying for you to learn more about Jesus, be a friend to all and gain some new friends too!

Kaden's Latest Adventures

Kaden turned 7 months last week!

He is growing like a weed and I don't see him as a baby so much now as currently seeing a sweet, happy, blue-eyed little boy!
 There is still lots of chubs and baby rolls to enjoy-but he has the cutest little personality.

His giggles is what gets all to fall in love with him. Of course, big brother has helped bring out ALOT of his personality just by being the entertainer. What baby needs toys, when you have an older, red-headed, energetic, outgoing, nearly 3 year old brother?
When Kaden was sick 2 weeks ago,he got weighed. And since his 6 month visit he has gained 2 lbs. He is 21.9 pounds! I have a feeling this kid will be close to 30lbs at his first birthday. However, he is just now getting more mobile, and I think he will be crawling possibly before summer ends!

He has discovered his toes, his hands( and he can hold his bottle now :) our faces, big brothers entertainment, and his newest discovery...cheerios!

And anything else mommy puts on his tray...

(Here is Kaden eating cheerios for the first time!)

(*Thanks to Caroline for loaning us her Bumbo Seat-makes life easier on mommy!)

He LOVES FOOD ! He is our second born so, I am more daring to try things a bit earlier with him :)
Needless to say, we have one happy-chubby little baby.

As I have been watching Kaden, I am thinking he is going to be a very compliant, laid back kid. He just takes it all in.  I am sure he is thinking about pay back time soon to big brother.
We are in awe of this sweet little blessing from God. It is so amazing to see the vast difference in Kaden and Parker. However, the love for our boys is unmeasurable! We can already see their personalities so different and each one requiring love in special ways.
We continue to thank God for allowing us to parent our boys!
We love you baby Kaden and can't believe you are closer to 1 now!
XO
Mommy and Daddy

And any moment it looks like we will have a crawling boy...
Tonight we caught him trying to get up on all 4's-so I captured it on video.
(It was close to bath/bed time so he was a bit fussy, but he is one determined little boy. Gotta catch up to big brother!)

Sick Bay

The boys have been bit by a bad virus. Our sweet baby Kaden got it first.


Kaden woke up Friday at 1AM and was fussing on and off. So, I went in to check on him and he was burning up. He had a temp of 103! Not a calming moment for me. I get worried when they are over 102. My nephew was rushed to the ER with a seizure due to a high fever-so I am very cautious with my boys and fevers! Therefore, my mind raced and worried and kept me up for most of the night. Kaden went back to sleep at 3AM and slept till 8. I called the Pediatrician later in the morning and they wanted to see Kaden, since it was such a high fever for a 6 month old. Mike was only working 1/2 day-and that was a huge help to me. Parker was getting a low grade fever by the afternoon. So, we took P to the Dr too! We had both boys checked at the same time. Parker had a fire red throat and K's was red too, so they each required strep tests! They were negative and so the Dr. diagnose= a wicked virus acting like strep!

Dr. wanted to do one more test on Kaden to make sure it was just a virus. He got a catheter to double check that K did not have any other infection. Not a fun moment for mommy to see baby in pain as they were trying to get a urine sample...and it took a while since he had not been drinking a ton! After 2 hours at the Dr. we decided that we all needed some ice-cream!

So, we took Parker to McDonalds and got him the new smoothie! He loved it and I was glad he drank it. I knew it would be a long weekend-and we would have to keep up on the meds! Kaden is a baby that is great about soothing himself to sleep but this weekend he has needed lots of extra TLC.

(Sound asleep in mommy's arms)

So, I got lots of extra love and cuddles with him. This weekend he only did 8 oz of formula daily! He had little interest in baby food and maybe did 5 or 6 bites of it. He and Parker have just slept a ton and have had NO appetite. I am always worried about dehydration. I got K to drink Apple juice this weekend. He took it and I was glad.


Parker came down with the 103 fever today and he was really out of if ALL morning!

He woke up at 10 am with a HIGH fever and rosy red cheeks.

He stayed on the couch for 2 hours and I found him at 12:30 like this....

It appears to be a 24-48 hour virus. Kaden's fever was gone last night and Parker still has about 101.
Please say a prayer for us, and pray that Mommy and Daddy stay well!

I had to have something adventurous for me this weekend since I was HOME with sick babies. So, I decided to make a yummy lunch for daddy and me. I made Coconut Crusted Chicken Tenders.
We loved them and it only took me 10 minutes to prep ~my kind of meal for being a busy mommy!

I am so glad that Mike was home ALL weekend to help me and hoping that the boys are much better soon.
I am really, really, really looking forward to August!
Tapping my red slippers...and dreaming of a great month next month!
Seriously ~it can only get better! Right?
"Only a few more day of July,
Only a few more days of July,
Only a few more days of July!"

Brotherly Fun...Video time!

YEAH! Parker somehow found my camera in the bottom of the toy box!
Now, I wonder HOW it got in there????

(Busted!)

Oh, I have never been so happy to see it! And we had a good talk with Parker that it is NOT a toy.

                                         Here is a background on the video of Parker and Kaden...
 Parker has discovered that he can "drag" Kaden around to get him where he wants him to be.
LOL ~but of course Parker does not get to do this very often! Kaden is safe because Mommy is always around when P is moving Kaden. I can't leave them out of my sight yet..
 It will just make you laugh when you see Kaden giggling and Parker just doing his thing as a Big brother.
And this is just the beginning of life with boys......

(Happy Kaden!-and 2 teeth on the bottom)

                        Here is the video of Kaden giggling while Parker is leaping & jumping and dragging him.

Joyful days in July...

I am happy to report that we are doing well and have had a good week.
Now that we have that rough week behind us, I need to post some of the joyful moments we have had!
Here are some sweet photos of our visit to the Atlanta zoo with NeNe (Papa stayed back home),Aunt Sam,Marlee and Brady. It was actually Parker's 3rd visit to the zoo. But it was the first time he left talking about it and asking to go back! On the way to the zoo, Parker said he wanted to see the Cows (LOL);so we had to have a discussion that we will only see the cows if we go visit NeNe and Papa! We would have to look for Monkey's, Elephants, Pandas and more. Kaden and Brady enjoyed most of it sleeping away in their strollers. It was a great visit-HOT-but memorable indeed.

(A precious moment I captured of sweet friends)

The following weekend was the 4th of July and we enjoyed it to the fullest with Uncle Rick and Aunt LaLa. We made homemade calzones and then went to DQ for ice-cream. It was the perfect spot to end the night watching the local fireworks! Kaden was out about 10 minutes before they started! But he was a great trooper for celebrating his first 4th of July.

(Aunt LaLa, Baby Kai (in belly) & UncleRick)

4th of July, we had a BBQ with some of our Syracuse friends! It was a great time swimming and catching up. Parker and Kaden were both great sports since we were away for most of the day. Parker and Kaden had a fun time meeting Hunter. Hunter was born 2 months before Kaden and you can see there is NOT a big differnce in their size LOL.

Parker and Kaden have been interacting a ton by making "spitting" noises at each other. Not mommies first pick~ but it is SO funny to hear Kaden LAUGH uncontrollably at Parker! The moment Parker gets up in Kaden's face he starts laughing. I captured it on video and I am in the midst of trying to find my camera {sigh} I can't find it-please pray I do find it so I can upload the latest. Until I find it, I am soaking up the sweet memories and brotherly love as Parker and Kaden interact! It melts my heart, when Parker just walks up to Kaden and kisses him!  It is SO precious to see them becoming playmates!  Just another one of the joys I find in being a stay at home mom...simple yet so joyful.

Preppy little boy Kaden (almost 7 months)~starting to wear some of big brother's clothes.

I LOVED this outfit on Parker

(Parker-7 months old wearing the plaid pants)

                                                                           

Next week we will fit in a few more play days with some friends and then it is back to reality around here. However...we have very special friends moving here the beginning of Aug! My best friend Joy, and her family will be moving here the second week of Aug. I am like a "little child waiting for Christmas morning!" So exciting that it is actually happening and I am SO excited to say that it is another one of my "dreams" coming true! We will be hosting them for 1 week before they completely move into their apt. It is such a joy to know that however long God allows them to stay (and we hope for a LONG time); our little boys will finally be able to play together often! Joy and I can finally go out again for donuts and coffee, go for walks, shop together and most of all just be together again. To all my local friends-Don' worry! She is not taking up space from the friendship I share with you; she will be adding a ton of JOY to each of your lives! We are so excited for the Ashworth family to move here! Counting down till the 13th of Aug....Now before then we have SO much to do!

Only 10 more days of July left and we are really trying to soak up the time together as a family.
School starts for Parker on Aug. 17th. We will have him in 3 year old pre-school at BHBC and we are looking forward to another great year. He will be going 3days a week this year! We have alot to do to prepare for that big week!
Praying you are having a good week too and finding JOY in the simple things.
Jenn :)