I felt the babies move today!

We flew to KC today for a family Labor Day vacation.  After putting Hampton to bed, I was visiting with my aunt and felt the every so gentle flutter of the babies.  I don't notice it unless I'm sitting still, but it won't be long before I can feel them all the time.

Luby's is one of my favorite places to eat and Hampton likes it too because he gets mac and cheese and red jello. What a treat! Ben is traveling this week, so H and I ate there this evening. He ate ALL of his turkey, broccoli and mac and cheese. He drank a carton of milk and ate his jello. As we were walking to the car he arched his back, threw his head back and said, "My full Mommy. My tummy hurts." As I was buckling him into his car seat he said, "Not too tight, Mommy. Tummy hurts."

Conversation with a 2 year old

After MDO open house I changed Hampton's dirty diaper in the parking lot...obviously, no trash can. On our way to meet Drew for lunch I asked Hampton if he could smell is diaper in the back. The following conversation took place:

"Hampton, can you smell your dirty diaper?"

"Yes, I do."

"What does it smell like?"

Long pause..."Umm, dat smell wike fowers."

"I don't know what flowers you have been smelling..."

My big boy didn't take a nap today and just ate 4 pieces of pizza.

Update: No nap was my decision. He was playing with one of his best buddies while his mom and I caught up. We were all having so much fun, we lost track of time. The next day he napped for over 4 hours. He is NOT ready to drop a nap, and even when he does, he will still have mandatory rest time!!!

Fro My Juice

Hampton has gotten in the bad habit of throwing everything...and I have gotten a bit lazy in disciplining. This morning he had to go to time-out for throwing Thomas, his train. Shortly after getting out of time-out the following conversation took place:

Mommy- "What did you just do?"

Hampton-"Fro my juice."

Mommy-"Didn't you just have to go to time-out for throwing Thomas? "

Hampton-"Uh huh"

Mommy-"Do you think you need to go back to time-out because you didn't learn your lesson?"

Hampton-"Uh huh", as he starts toward his room.

Mommy-"You should probably go get in your time-out chair. "

Hampton-"Okay", as he enters his dark room..."My not obey Mommy. My fro juice. Go time-out", as he climbs into his chair.

You would think he had learned, but he ended up in time-out for throwing at least 3 more times today.

I LOVE this boy!!!

Silly Boy

As Hampton and I were getting ready to go swimming, I sent him to put his clothes in his dirty clothes basket and bring me a swim diaper. This is how he returned...

First of all, where did he find those things and second, what made him think that's where they belong. I love this kid!!!

Just a fun taste of our priceless life

Family Night Out

We took Hampton to his first "real" movie. We went to dinner at Raisin' Canes and then to the dollar movie theatre. Hampton was so excited to see a movie with Mommy and Daddy, even though he had no idea what we were going to do. He was a little restless before the movie started, but barely moved once Horton Hears a Who came on the screen. He hammered most of a bag of popcorn, a few M&M's, and some Skittles. He L-O-V-E-D it all. What a fun family event. I know fun isn't the only thing that matters, but I hope we are always a fun family. Even with a big family, this kind of fun comes cheap. We all went to dinner and the movies for less than $15. We could have saved even more money by eating at home, but it wouldn't have been as special.

When we got home from the movie I got to put Hampton to bed. Usually Ben does this so I can rest, but I wanted to rock him tonight. We read 2 terribly boring books, but he seemed to enjoy them, and then the story of Gideon's army, which sadly didn't hold his attention as well as the boring story about an otter. I got up to turn off the light and asked him if he was ready to go to bed, "No...wock...Mommy sing." So we rocked and sang a few songs. His first request is always "the fountain song"...There's a Fountain Free...one of my favorite old hymns. His second request is usually "the word song"...Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. We said a prayer and rocked for a few more minutes before he took his binky out, gave me a really slobbery kiss and said, "Night, night Mommy. Go night, night." What a perfect end to such a fun night.

Something I don't want to forget: Every night part of my prayer for Hampton is that he would be a bold and positive leader among his peers. He always repeats, "bold among peers." He used to think when I said bold, I was talking about bowling. He then talked about rolling the ball to knock down the sticks. Now he understands that bold has nothing to do with bowling, but he has no idea what bold means. Some day, I am confident he will fully understand its meaning. Precious boy!!!

Big News at Our House

We have a big surprise for you. Here's Hampton to tell you his secret...

You heard him...2 babies!

11 weeks; due 2-11-09; praying that we make it to 2009

4th of July at The Farm

For those of you who don't know, Ben grew up on a farm with all of his cousins (11 total), aunt and uncles and paternal grandparents. They are a very close family with lots of traditions, one of the biggest is their 4th of July celebration. The first celebration was in 1976 and has grown since. This year close to 350 people attended. On Wednesday morning (or 2 days before the 4th) a huge fire is started in a "brick oven" underground. By the time evening comes the fire has died down and the meat goes in. They cook 2 whole pigs, chicken, goat and beef. The meat is seasoned, wrapped in foil, then cheese clothe, and then long tubes of chicken wire. It is then quickly placed into the brick oven. The lid is closed and completely covered with dirt. The meat cooks until the morning of July 4th, when it was served for lunch. The Stites family mainly provides the meat, drinks and paper goods while all the guests bring side dishes and desserts. The Stites women also add a few of their own sides and desserts. I'll admit, I went through the line early to make sure I got some of the Stites' food (it really is the best.)

Preparing the pig

Watching the men cover the pit with dirt...with Sarah

Helping Daddy put the last little bit on top

These boys, and I call them boys because all of them except Ben and Matt complained about every shovelful of dirt them moved, uncovered the pit on the 4th of July.

Of course Hampton and Isabelle helped.

This year several of Ben and Matt's college teammates came to visit. It was fun to catch up and meet the new additions to their families. The Tuley's, the Justice's and the Leslie's came to celebrate!

Brittany and Hampton

Hampton and Carrigan played well together in the ice. Hampton didn't leave these buckets for at least an hour. He moved ice and water from one bucket to another and handed people drinks.

Dadoo serving meat - Ben's brother

Quite a spread
The line
The Leslie Family

The Justice Family

With Ma and Papa...the ones who started the whole celebration

My sweet boys

3 of the 4 Stites girls...what sweet cousins!!!

He found the creek!!!
What a fun day!!!

More Tennessee

In addition to the 4th of July fun, we also enjoyed a few days just hanging out with cousins. David and Candice's girls are so sweet and compassionate with Hampton and he LOVES them. Just the other day Hampton was looking at pictures from our trip and when he saw Carrigan he said, "Hi Carrigan. My go Gran and Poppy's see you." Here are a few fun pics.

Naked Popsicles

(2 years 2 months)

(2 years 5 months)

(almost 7)

(4 years)

Sweet, sticky kisses

Helping Gran water the flowers

David and Candice are building a house on the farm. Not only have we been able to see it a few times during the process, we also had the chance to right special scriptures on the frame work of the house. Here are a few of the verses we wrote. What a special tradition.

We are so excited for them and thankful for their strong foundation! We love you all!!!

Kansas City

After our trip to the lake we drove straight to the airport to go to KC. Ben had to work, so Hampton and I tagged along to visit cousins. We had so much fun and the weater was awesome...a nice break from the heat here! We visited a mock farm where the kids enjoyed seeing all kinds of animals and even petting a few. Hampton ran from one pen to the next, so excited to be with his cousins.

Caroline

We were also able to see Madison and Elizabeth swim in their first ever swim meet. I was not feeling great (more on that later) and all H wanted to do was swim. It was a bit of a challange, but the girls did great! We were glad to see it. Great job girls!!!

Elizabeth

Madison