Happy Halloween!

Hope you have a fun and SAFE Halloween. I know one little ghost and one very little cowboy that are ready to do some trickin' and treatin'!

5 on Friday

1. I started a new job. I am officially a freelance web developer. I happened upon a company that would like someone to work 10-15 hours a week updating websites for them. It is all project based, and they don't care if I work from 5-8AM or 10PM-12AM. I'm going to make enough that I can afford to get a babysitter when I have to work! I am almost finished with one project and they have asked me to start on a second. I'm so excited to be doing something that exercies my brain + keeps me on a career path. Please pray that the position continues!

2. Because of #1, I'm not able to continue my job with Stacy over at InkSpot Workshop. So, if you know anyone who is looking to make a little extra money each month putting together orders of beautiful stationery and invitations - let me know!

3. We are excited that Jackson Davis Austin made his way into the world on Wednesday. He is almost exactly a year younger than Max. "Jack" is the son of Anne Marie and Clayton - Clayton is Judd's cousin. I have a feeling these two little boys are gonna get in their fair share of trouble down at the lake over the next years.

4. Speaking of little boys - aren't they super sweet when they're sleeping?



5. Charlotte had her Fall Program at school on Wednesday morning. It will not surprise me if the child has a future on stage in some aspect. You can hear her voice above the others on the video. My favorite part - when she waves to me. Judd was sitting in the seats, recording it, I was standing on the side trying to keep a tired Max happy. Charlotte WAS so proud that we were there - as if anything could have kept us from it. (oh, and she is supposed to be a ghost. I cut the hole a little too big, though. For Halloween night she'll have white face paint to try to tie it all together.)

Max's Birthday

On Saturday we had a little party to celebrate Maxwell's first birthday. All of his grandparents were present (and two of his great-grandparents) - something that doesn't happen too often, so it was pretty special.



When Judd's parents arrived, they pulled a Cozy Truck out of their car. Not a Cozy Coupe - no, not for this Southern boy, he gets a Cozy Truck. Little did they know that it would take all of the men at the party multiple hours to put it together.



Max patiently waited to crank it up with his great-granddaddy (the biggest Maxwell).



We all talked and the kids played for a while. Then it was time for lunch. Kinda funny how all of the littlest people end up at the biggest table. What you don't see in this picture are 4 adults standing and eating. Hmm...I think these 4 know how to work it.



After a yummy barbeque lunch smoked all night by his dad, it was time to sing to Max.



He was pretty polite with it at first.





Then, it was time to get down to business.





To say Max was an angel for his party would be an understatement. He seemed to love all of the attention. He smiled all day. At one point, I looked around and was so thankful to feel so much love for this little dude. Judd and I are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family who truly love our kids.

Happy Birthday sweet boy.

Max is One

The best boy in the whole world turned one today. He had a fantastic party with lots of people that love him. He is one lucky dude. He was SUCH a good boy all day. More to come about his party tomorrow.

5 on Friday

I started this post at 10 AM this morning...

1. My parents are boarding a plane as I type this to come visit us for the weekend!

2. One very special boy turns 1 tomorrow. I just finished packing up his bottles. I think I'm not emotional about all of this because I'm in denial. I'm in denial that the baby that I held in my arms and frequently spit up on me - what seems like just yesterday - is going to be one year old.

3. I have two kiddos with snotty noses today. I've been up since 5:00 AM because of the littlest snotty nose. Yesterday, I was up at 4:30 AM with the littlest snotty nose. I'm super tired of snotty noses.

it is now 9:40 PM and I'm just finishing it...

4. I HAVE to get Max's alphabet book finished. Charlotte read hers to me and my mom tonight and my mom looked at me and said, "You know you have to finish one of these for Max." I'm on "D" - that's not gonna take too long, right?

5. Charlotte just learned how to do a fishy face, she has been practicing a lot lately. The other night while we were eating dinner she got it.

Painting

Yesterday after lunch, I set Charlotte up at the table to paint. She had been bugging asking me if she could paint all day. Well, Max was just walking around the table crying, trying his hardest to see what his sister was up to. I remembered that I had a jar of baby food in the pantry and decided to set Max up with his own paper, paintbrush, and "paint".


He had a great time painting a masterpiece.

He would watch what she would do, and then try to do it too. Very happy to be doing what his sister was doing.




But then the temptation was just too great and he had to stick that paint brush in his mouth to see what that paint tasted like.


That was the end of the painting and the beginning of a second lunch.

Five on Friday

1. Charlotte likes to help me package orders up that I process from inkspotworkshop.com. Some nights, I go ahead and package the orders after she is in bed. Let's face it - it takes about 1/3 of the time when I do it myself. She came downstairs on Thursday morning and saw two packages ready to go out. She said, "Mommy!! Did you do work without me??" (picture her with a really mean face and stomping her foot.) I said, "Yes, I needed to do them last night". She walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. After a few minutes I heard her say - completely to herself - "Stupid Mommy!" Even though I was hurt, I couldn't help giggle. I think Judd is right - we are in for some epic battles come the teenage years.

2. Max will be ONE YEAR OLD in 8 days. what?? We have family coming in town for a party next weekend and I don't really have a party planned. what????

3. Judd is helping with our church's barbeque tonight. Each year our church has a barbeque that feeds 5,000 people! It's huge. Tonight our Sunday School class does the "turning of the hams". He is there from 6-midnight turning hams. Sounds thrilling. I think he was looking forward to it, though. He'll get the inside scoop about the cooking of all of that barbeque. Ever since the Big Green Egg came into our life - it is a pretty big hobby of his.

4. I am the oldest. I always hated the words, "Just let her have it! It makes her happy!" Giving into the younger siblings because they can cry loudly. It's unfair to the older children. Do you know how many times this past week I said to Charlotte, "Just GIVE it to HIM! It will STOP him from CRYING!". I get it now.

5. This is what happened after Max's lack of nap today. Lots of wrestling with lovely light.









The boy LOVES a blankie.


I believe there is a smile under that pacifier.

A Glimpse into the Future

I called my mom last night. Charlotte wanted to say good night to Grammie, so I gave her the phone. After walking around the kitchen for a while chatting away, she plunked down in her green chair. The way she moved, acted, her facial expressions, Judd and I could see her teenage self gossiping away on the phone for hours on end. Lord help me.

Then my mom and I laughed at the fact that as a teenager she probably won't talk endlessly for hours on the phone - she'll be texting for hours on the phone. Or who knows what else by then.

Pumpkins

We headed to the pumpkin patch today to pick out a pumpkin for both Charlotte and Max. Last year we went to this pumpkin patch and loved it because you could walk out and cut your pumpkin off of the vine. It isn't too crowded, has reasonable prices for the "extras", and is only an hour from the house. I can't tell you how many times I thought about being 37 weeks pregnant last year - Judd accusing me of smuggling the pumpkins. This year - wow, what a difference - a little dude walking around the pumpkin patch. How awesome is that?

We got to Jaemor Farms when it opened and headed straight out to pick our pumpkins. Charlotte was in charge of finding both Max's pumpkin and hers.



However, Max was pretty sure he found one for himself.



After some walking around, we ended up with two pumpkins to take home.





(His dad is hilarious!)




After the pumpkin picking, we went over the "attractions" and let Charlotte slide down the huge slide a couple of times.



Then it was over to the hayride.





After the hayride, she really wanted to ride some inflatable horses, but Judd talked her into shooting the apple cannon instead.



We took a quick trip through the store and picked out some yummy apples and other treats to take home with us, then had a barbeque picnic lunch.

Last year at this time we were trying to soak up the time as the "3 of us". This year was SO much fun as a family of 4 - it is hard to remember what our family was like before Max was here - he adds so much to our little family. And that big sister of his - well, I don't need to explain - she's just awesome. Now that Max is getting bigger, I'm really looking forward to many more outings like this.

A New Week

We're still here.  I'm excited to start this week.  Judd was in Rome for 6 nights last week and I was quarantined with Max and Charlotte at home - so it was a rough week.  We also were busy getting ready for a baby shower for Judd's cousin's wife held here on Sunday.  Luckly, Judd's parents came into town and rescued us.  They were a huge help from watching the munchkins to setting up for the shower. Judd got home Friday afternoon and I was SO happy to see him.

Today has been spent doing a lot of nothing.  We will probably just spend all afternoon at the park soaking up this weather.

This little dude was in a fabulous mood all weekend.  He's feeling 100% better and is all smiles these days.  He just plain awesome.