Our 19 in ‘19

Trevor and I are both very goal oriented. We like talking about our goals, we like having deadlines and we like putting it to paper so we can see it daily and have something to work towards. 

We also know we have been called to certain goals and we want to make sure that we are making those things a priority. 

Last year we did 18 in ‘18 and it went really well. I’m not sure how long we’ll keep going with this, but it provided a fun date night to create our 19 in ‘19. It’s exciting talking about the future. It’s exciting talking about things that we want to accomplish, but you have to have a way to get there. That’s why I feel like the yearly planning is good. It’s fun things we want to do this year or feel we’ve been called to or it’s a stepping stone to something bigger we see in our future down the road. Some of these are silly...potty train Brooks (because we all know this will happen on a kid’s own timing) and we have some really frightening ones...like give 30% this year! Either way, I think it’s really neat to see where our priorities are and what we think our year will look like. 

I marked a couple off not because we have completed them but because they involve other people and I didn’t want to spoil anything. And some probably don’t make much sense to people, but they mean something to us. 

I am excited to announce that two of these have already been crossed off!!! Team Leader...WAHOO!! And potty train Brooks! He is doing soooo good! 

What are some ways that you create goals and stick to them? 

Rhett is 16 Months

January has been good to us and I love seeing my boys play together and really interact. We are loving this stage in the game! It's really hard for me to imagine that when Brooks was Rhett's age we were welcoming Rhett into our family! HA! It still feels like Rhett is a "baby." I know he's really not a baby anymore, but he seems so much younger than Brooks was when I had Rhett. I don't know if that's because we were trying to make Brooks a little older since we were having a second or if that just comes with the territory of being the youngest. I'm not sure, but I also wouldn't trade their age gap for anything. I love that I can walk away for about 5 minutes (lol) and now really have to worry about anything. Someone will yell or scream if not being treated kindly. I love that we can go outside and play or walk to the mailbox and no one has to be carried...although Rhett has thrown some epic meltdowns to be carried back to the house from the mailbox (which is a quarter of a mile walk)! I love that they talk and kind of understand each other. Rhett doesn't say very many words yet, but he knows how to get his point across. And if we don't understand him, Brooks has a way to figuring out what he wants! Haha! 

We didn't take as many pictures this month, but we definitely had fun! 

I have been wanting to take them both to Skyzone lately since Rhett is so mobile now and we had a BLAST!  I was thankful my mom joined me though because they didn't always want to play in the same area.

How cool is this?? It actually has running water! I'm just teaching them early how to wash dishes! 

He is really getting into books and I LOVE it! 

He might be the MESSIEST kid I have ever met! I mean, after meal time, he is just gross! HA! If Trevor is home, I make it his job to clean him up because I feel like that is what I do all day! lol! 

It had been quiet for toooooo long...I didn't want to spoil the moment, so I was hiding while I took this picture. I just stuck my phone out there and hoped I captured the moment. I love their love for books!

We've played with these hats A LOT! We love riding our stick horses and acting like cowboys! 

We had such a fun time at the Gathering Place one Friday. There was hardly anyone there because it was so cold, but we bundled up and enjoyed ourselves. I was surprised how excited Brooks was to be up there. He is normally very cautious, but he was loving his time with dad.

This is how I feel most of our family pictures will look like from here on out. Haha!  

He is a MAMA'S BOY! 

I loved getting to celebrate Eva and Josh as they will be welcoming baby Tristan VERY soon! My bet is that he will come on 3/3 because it's such a great day to be born! 

I AM SO PROUD of this kid! I can confidently say that he is potty trained! And when he goes poop in the potty, we stop everything and eat ice cream (don't judge)! He loves wearing his big boy underwear and was so excited to pick out exactly what he wanted. 

This was another moment when they had been super quiet in Rhett's room and when I went to go check on them I was BEAMING! It quickly turned into an argument on who was going to be in charge of lifting the flaps, but hey, I'm counting this as a win!

Like I said...this kid is a mama's boy and will do just about anything to get to snuggle with me. I don't hate it! <3 

I needed an updated picture from Trevor's work...aren't these the coolest bookshelves? 

Having some fun! 

This month was so much fun because I got an awesome promotion with UBAM! I'll have to blog about that later, but I felt like these pictures were necessary to include in a post about my boys because they are so much a part of my business! I try to do a lot when they are napping, but I do save some of my work for when they are awake because they can be the BEST helpers! They love helping me pack prizes and put address labels on the packages. They love helping pick out books for the different boys and girls I'm sending things to. And they are my awesome helpers when I have to run to the post office. Those nice post office workers always entertain them with lots of stickers! lol! So, I feel like my kiddos got a promotion along with me! I love getting to fill my house with the BEST quality books, I love getting to share these books with my kiddos and I love that my kiddos get to see their mom owning her own business, see the entrepreneur side of things and getting to be a part of this with me!

TEAM UBAM!

Best sight in the world! 

I love hearing him "read" in the mornings. 

The lemon didn't even faze him! He even asked for another one. Haha! 

Nightly cuddles! 

Now onto month 17th!

**CHRISTMAS/NEW YEARS EVE/RHETT IS 15 MONTHS!**

What a FUN month it has been with lots of celebrations and time with family! 

Look at this sweet picture! I can hardly get him to sit still, but somehow I managed this one. <3
*This little man is all over the place! He is walking/running/dancing (he LOVES to dance) and climbing on everything. If he sees Brooks doing something, he wants to be right there in the action.
*He loves to give kisses and wave good-bye. I love his kisses, although they are normally super wet! HA! And his wave is adorable. He will also blow kisses. <3
*He really doesn't say any word other than "dada." He said "mama" awhile back and "bubu"...I even have video proof, but now he will only say "dada." When Brooks turned 15 months he vocabulary just exploded, so I'm waiting for that day. This little man knows how to get his point across but he does it every other way except talking, despite our efforts!
*He used to love to eat meat, but all of a sudden he is not a fan. He also doesn't like veggies, so I am at a bit of a loss. If it's not bananas, mixed fruit, applesauce, oatmeal, eggs or mac and cheese he seems to hate it!
*I switched him to one nap a day just last week. As I'm typing this it is 3:18 and he went to sleep at 1. This has definitely been the best day in his napping world in awhile. He used to always take a pretty decent morning nap from like 10:30-12. But then he was hit or miss if he would take an afternoon nap. So he would be totally spent by 6pm and cranky. So, I just decided to switch him to 1 nap and FINALLY him and Brooks nap at the same time! (They have been on total opposite schedules for some time now!) So, I'm happy to report that after a week or so, taking one nap a day is a success! We just have to work really hard around the 10:30 hour to not let him fall asleep. We usually go outside or do something really fun so he forgets he's super tired. Haha!


One of my favorite things about last month was Christmas! Trevor and I decided to do a 12 Books of Christmas, so the 12 days leading up to Christmas we let the boys open 1 gift, which were super cool books from my super cool business! :) Twinkly, Twinkly Christmas Tree was a HIT! Brooks asked to sleep with it every night! Yes, those are real working lights embedded in the book!

Brooks impresses me every month. He is talking/singing/memorizing things every day. One day Trevor was in his room putting his pajamas on and all of a sudden he said "God loved the world sooooo much that he gave his only son. John 3:16" I yelled from the other room, "did you teach him that?" and Trevor said "no, I thought you taught him that." We had just been to church for our Christmas services, so I have to give credit where credit is due! Thank you LifeKids for teaching my kiddo! He will start saying it at random times. Or if I ask him to recite John 3:16 he will bust into the verse proudly. It has definitely lit a fire under me to start memorizing more scripture! I have not exactly made that a priority. He has the best memory and will ask me about things that happened a week prior.
He also LOVES to sing! He has this sweet song memorized from BSF that goes "Good morning God, this is your day, I am your child, show me your way." We sing that daily! Lol! He also loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells. I have tried to tell him multiple times that we cannot listen to Jingle Bells anymore since Christmas is gone, but he insists daily!


Here is our month in pictures!...

Winston was mad that he was not the center of attention once again this year, so he would eat our presents daily when we would leave the house...

We of course had to see Rhema Christmas lights! Brooks loved driving around at night and looking at all the Christmas lights. 

12 Books of Christmas! 

This was a Christmas gift to Brooks from several family members. I was SO impressed with how it turned out and Brooks LOVES his new bed! He tells people about it everywhere we go!

I love that we have the trundle because I'm sure the boys will want to have sleep overs in each others rooms often as they get older. 

My first baby turned 10 on December 17th! Happy Birthday Winston!

He was SO excited! We had a couple finishing touches still to do (like rope to help pull out the trundle), but it is finished now. 

This was a fun craft day with the boys! These Fingerprint activities are so cool! And wayyyyy less messy than paint! 

This is an accurate picture of Christmas for the boys! HAHA! They were swimming in gifts and loving every minute! 

They love their new bears from Great Grandma!

Pajama and doughnut party with friends!

handsome

He was SO excited for these Pajamas! He loves the book and show If You Give a Mouse a Cookie so I knew he would love these pajamas. We gave the boys new pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve so on Christmas morning they could wake up and open gifts in their new pajamas. I have seriously never seen Brooks so excited. I felt like mom of the year! lol!

Trevor and I did a date night the night before Christmas Eve and opened our gifts from each other. It was nice to have quiet time together! lol! 

We got in the hot tub after opening gifts and this was so neat to see with the ring around the moon. 

PRESENT TIME!

He loved saying "a gift...for ME"

I loved getting to serve with my worship family! What an incredible set with an incredible team and got to be a part of that 1,435! So cool!

Christmas as GiGi's!

I love this photo for so many reason!

And I love this little girl for so many reason!

Brynlee is looking at Rhett like, what are you crying about!?

A trip to the Gathering Place was so much fun with family.

I love his smile!

 And our last Christmas was celebrated with my family a couple days after Christmas!

He loves his new play sink...that actually works!

This is where we spent NYE. We were planning on having our life group over but we had to cancel because Brooks ended up running a fever that afternoon and developed an awful cough. To be honest, it was a really fun evening just hanging out the two of us. I enjoyed every minute! 

The boys got a ton of play food for Christmas, so we asked Brooks if he wanted to use his Christmas money to get a kitchen. He was SO EXCITED!

I love our nightly snuggles with milk and a good book!

We also had a fun play day with our cousin Jude! 

These three are going to have so much fun together! 

And they LOVE their Great Grandma! 

Switching this guy to one nap is finally paying off!!!

We are loving the warm weather right now!

They love their tree swing! We have another one, we just need to get it hung!

Some fun with Dollar Store finds! The big one started off the size of the small one. It has been soaking in the bath for a few days and growing like a weed!

Who doesn't love pink and purple baths!

What a fun month! I'm so excited to see all the adventures that 2019 will bring!