Wordless Wednesday

Top 10 Reasons I am Happy I am staying at home!

First of all, I think this is what Tuesdays are.  If not, someone please let me know.

1.  Of course, my KIDS!!!!

2.  I can stay in my P.J.s if I want.

3.  I don't have to shower everyday.  

4.  I can spend countless hours on Facebook!

5.  I can watch T.V........ wait...... no I can't.  Not without fighting with a 3 year old.

6.  I can have lunch with my friends and not worry about the time.

7.  I can Blog more.  

8.  I can text my friends all day.

9.  I don't have to rush to make dinner.

10.  I can play games on the internet.

Okay..... that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.  Oh well.

Reflection

I have been attempting to post this for a while.  And the reason for the delay is blogger will not upload my images and I was still in search for the right words.  I am not really sure that I still have the right words but, I am going to try  the best that I can to get my thoughts and feelings across.  

Over the past couple of months a lot of things have happened/changed in our lives.  Without going into every little detail, they are the sort of things that make you take a step back and look at your self and your life.  Where you have been, where you are, and where you are going (hopefully).  

It seems like life has not always been easy.  And nobody ever said it would be, but you would think that there would be a limit to how much one person, one family could handle.  But I have to always remember the saying, "God doesn't give us more than we can handle."  In the past few months I have questioned just how much more does He think I can handle?  The road in my Christian life has not always been down the straight and narrow.  I have strayed.  But I have always come back to what I know is real.  God is the only way.  In knowing this, I must know that God will help me through what ever comes my way.

Through all of the stages of my life, friends have come and gone.  Then there are the ones who are always there.  The ones you see and/or talk to all the time.  Or the ones you don't see and/or talk to but maybe once in a while but, you know they are always there for you.  A lot of us have connected/reconnected though Facebook.  We laugh and joke about it, however, what a great tool of communication it is.  Friends I had thought I might possibly never talk to again, who were big parts of my life either in high school or college, are now a part of my life again.  I am so very thankful for all of my friends and what they each bring to my life.  They each bring their own unique characteristics into my life.  There are the ones that you had endless conversations with sitting at a kitchen table and wish you could find the time to do that again.  There are the ones, that no matter how hard you try to behave yourself, when you are together you just can't seem to behave.  There are the ones that have been with you through every stage of your life since birth.  There are those who were with you through the "wild" stage of your life.  There are the ones that you could talk to for hours on end about something, about nothing and be totally enlightened when you walk away (and you wish now they didn't live so far away).  There are those you can call up and just cry and they'll wait until you can find your voice again.  There are those that you are just now getting close to and are so excited about what those friendships have in store and excited that they are there to experience this next stage of life with you.  I love all of you!!!  There are times when I have talked with my friends on the phone and at the end of the conversation feel like you are getting off the phone with family and you want to say, "I love you!"  

Through all of lifes ups and downs, I am so glad that I have had the family that God has given me to go through all of it with.  Yes, I have my mom, dad, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins but they are also my friends.  And regardless of what life has handed us, it is because of those ups and downs that have made us who we are and have brought us to the place we are.  And I wouldn't trade it for anything.  

I wouldn't feel right if I didn't mention my husband, and my children.  We have been through a lot in our short 4 years together but, it is Michael that helps me stay grounded and see the big picture and remember what it is important.  Michael, Jacob, and Anna Kate are the light in my sometimes dreary days.  Their smiles, laughs, just the sound of their voice help to put everything back into perspective.  What great and amazing gifts God has given me!!!!

I feel as if I have rambled and maybe I didn't have all the right words after all.  But I hope after reading this you all know and realize that you are loved and am so very thankful that God has placed every single one of you in my life.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Trouble with pics

I had actually planned on adding more pics with my posts tonight.  But for some reason, I am having difficulty doing that tonight.  I will try again tomorrow night, or the next night.  Oh well.  So much for trying to be a little productive.

Sonic on the way to the Beach

As most of you, that read this blog, know I am addicted to Sonic.  Mainly their cokes.  The Route 44 ones.  There usually isn't a day that goes by that I don't go to a Sonic and make my daily purchase.  It has become a joke with most of my friends.  But those same friends are the friends that I will stop and get their soda of choice before a meeting, etc.  You know who you are, my Dr. Pepper and Coke loving friends!!  But.... on the way to the beach, I had thought I was going to be without coke from Sonic the entire trip.  But how lucky was I when we found a Sonic on the way to the beach.  I was so excited.  And yes, Michael laughed at me.  But how nice of him to stop for me, and to go slow as we were pulling out so I could document the Sonic we stopped at on the way to the beach!!!

Our handsome boy

Here is Jacob in a picture that Dr. Morgan and his wife Candy made.  I actually asked them to crop Jacob's head to be in a pic all of his own.  The original has Anna Kate in it.  But we love this pic of Jacob and his sweet face.  The scratch on his nose just adds to realness of the picture.  He usually has a scratch of some kind on his body at all times.  I guess that's the life of a little boy.  And we love the life we have with him!!!!

Our beautiful little girl

Here is our precious little Anna Kate after church yesterday morning.  This is a pretty little dress from her Nana.  She looks so pretty in it.  Anna Kate is starting to get more hair on top of her pretty little head.  Not enough to put a bow in yet.  Which I, of course, am very anxious to do!!!  I love bows.  I wish I could still wear them and not get crazy looks from everybody!!  Ha! Ha!  Anna Kate loves to smile.  And she is slowly finding her "voice".  She likes to squeal, and it is the cutest little thing ever.  It's so girly!!!

Olivia's 3rd birthday

Olivia and her Ariel birthday cake.  The plates were full of princesses and they had "tiara's to wear too.  The boys were great sport about wearing them.

Olivia and her "pose" with her lovely cowboy boots.

Olivia didn't want to use a fork or spoon.  She just picked up the whole piece of cake and ate is that way.  What a mess.  But messes are okay on birthdays.

Olivia and her new silver shoes.  She had to put them on immediately.

Olivia and her princess dress from MeeMaw.  The dress came with a tiara, wand, shoes, mask, and purse.  Everything a princess could ever need!!

Football time in Tennessee

We watched the first football game of the season watching it with some of our friends.  It was a surprise party for our friend Bartley's 30th birthday.  We watched it at the Capital Theater in their amazing room upstairs.  Well, we all know how the game ended, but we had a wonderful time with our friends.  And Jacob had a fabulous time playing with Abby Hall, Brody McMurray, Chloe and Claire Chaffin, and Kylie McMurray.

Jacob in his football jersey.  He loves wearing football stuff.  He kept asking for a helmet. Which, of course, we don't have one.  But he knows that his Daddy has some at his school.  Well, he can't wear any of those until they are cleaned out really, really well.
The kids:  Anna Kate, Jacob, Claire, Chloe, Brody, Brandt, and Abby.  It's not easy getting seven kids ages 3 and under to pose for a pic.  But we think they did pretty good for this one.
Anna Kate being loved on by our friend Melissa Porter.
Jacob and Anna Kate at home for their pic in their UT garb.  Jacob loves his little sister.  We are so lucky to have been blessed with our great children.  And our great friends to hang out with.

All the Baumann family - minus PeePaw

                            Emily, not knowing I am taking her picture.

Olivia lying beside Anna Kate acting like she is asleep.  She can't wait for Anna Kate to be big enough to play with her.

                          Michael, David, Andrew, Emily and Melissa.

                                    Andrew and his new wife, Vicki!

      Jacob, Preston, and Brannon laying on MeeMaw's bedroom floor.

      Braxton, Olivia, Jacob, Anna Kate, Preston, Grant, and Brannon

Olivia and her Tiara in a exer-saucer she is too big for.  But having loads of fun.

Jacob, also in the exer-saucer that he is too big for.  Also having loads of fun.

               Brannon, Braxton, and Preston watching Chicken Little.

Ben, Melissa, Preston, and Grant came in for the Labor Day weekend.  We were all able to be together on Saturday night and have dinner together.  PeePaw was flying, so he was unable to be with us.  We had a great time.  All the kids seemed to get along just great and were very well behaved.  We all had a nice time.

Game

Jacob found a joystick game that Michael had gotten before Jacob was born and we did play it when it was a baby.  The interesting thing is, he knew where it was and knew where to plug it in.  We were both very impressed.  So, Jacob wanted his Daddy to play with him.  Jacob kept hitting the fire button.  Doesn't work too well with Pac-Man.  But it works quite well with the "rocket ship" game.  Jacob does try to play Pac-Man and the race car game.  He has so much fun.  And Michael loves having his little boy being ready to play video games with him.  How great it will be when he can play the games and know what he needs to do.  Or maybe not.  If Jacob is as competitive as the rest of us, we are in for some big trouble!!

A little bit of me

 

It was my birthday!  I turned 34 on August 17.  But we celebrated the day before.  We went to eat at Sullivan's Downtown.  It was the first time my parents had eaten there and Jacob was still a little sick.  However, it was a very lovely evening and the dinner was yummy!  Where we were sitting we were able to see the lights changing colors behind the bar and that served as great entertainment for Jacob.  At lease for a little while.  Ever since I had Anna Kate, I have been desperately trying to lose weight.  Not really doing anything to help the process along, though.  So, I had been asking for the Wii Fit.  I had resigned myself to the fact that it would be Christmas before I received this because it is such a hot item right now and very hard to get.  But my sweet husband got me one for my birthday.  And I have to say, I actually enjoy doing it.  It is actually quite fun.  However, I do not like the fact that every time I step on the board it makes a little squeak as if I have hurt it in some way.  That really does not do much for the self esteem of one who is trying to lose weight.  In helping with your "fitness" level, it is all about your "Center of Balance".  It checks to see where your individual center of balance is.  The first time it checked mine, it proceeded to tell me that it is a little off and it wonders if I sometimes trip when I walk.  How does this "board" already know so much about me with one little "test"?  Oh well!  I will continue to "work-out" with this wonderful little "board", and have fun while I am "working-out".

Jacob Baumann Bob the Builder

My parents came to visit one weekend, and we did our usually routine.  We go eat dinner, then go for a shopping trip to Target.  Jacob always has to go down the toy aisle.  He usually leaves empty handed, but that's not always the case when Nana and Papa are with us.  This particular trip his Papa was taking him down the toy aisles.  Jacob knows which aisles he likes to go down.  Papa told him he could pick one toy and he chose a Bob the Builder play set.  We are always amazed at all of the characters he seems to know about.  He must "learn" about them at "school".  Because we had know clue he knew about Bob the Builder.  When we got home, he had to immediately start playing with it.  He really had fun playing with it.  When asked if he was Bob the Builder, his response was, "I JacobBaumannBobtheBuilder. "  And yes, I meant to write it all as one word, because that is the way it comes out of Jacob's mouth.

Anna Kate's first day of DayCare

On August 4, it was time for me to return to work, and my baby girl to start DayCare.  And yes, I was not looking forward to it, but I knew she would be in good hands.  She is going to be cared for by the same lady that cared for Jacob when he started at this same DayCare.  Even though I, nor Michael were too excited about the day, Jacob was very excited.  He thought it was great that sister was going to "school" with him.  When they were leaving he said, "Come on Anna Kate.  Let's go to cool."  I only called on time during the day to check on her.  Of course I could've called a lot more, but I didn't want to seem overbearing.  It has been three weeks since that first day, and she seems very happy and very well cared for.  With all of that said, it is still hard for me to send my kids off to DayCare.

Bumpo

Well, the Bumpo is out and is being used by BOTH kids.  And this is actually quite funny.  Jacob really didn't care to sit in this when he was a baby.  But he likes to now.  Anna Kate likes it, too.  She is very alert when she is sitting in it and loves to look around.  She really likes to watch her brother when she is sitting up.  And I have to say, he is very entertaining!!!

Shots

On Thursday, July 24, Anna Kate got her first shots.  I'm pretty sure I was dreading it more than she.   However, she didn't know what was coming.  She did a great job, though.  She did cry.  Just as I had expected she would.  Like a little girl.  And I shed a tear or two myself.  Just as I had expected I would.  Like a big girl.  Or rather, like a mommy.  The band-aids they put on her were sufficient (the usual round spot band-aid with Tweety-bird).  But of course, I/we wanted her to have some girly band-aids.  Band-aids are a big thing at our house.  Jacob likes them even when he doesn't had a boo-boo.  We have every children's band-aid imaginable (for a little boy).  And I am sure when Anna Kate gets big enough to choose, I am sure we will be getting lots of little princess band-aids for her.  

Proud Big Brother!!!

As you can see, Jacob likes holding his baby sister.  He asks us a lot if he can hold her.  And we gladly let him.  He loves her so much.  We hope his love for her continues and will grow.  Although, today he was trying to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Anna Kate was crying.  Michael informed me that Jacob held his hand up to her and told her to be quiet.  He has told us the same thing before when we have been talking during this particular show.

Our Smiling Baby Girl

Anna Kate starting smiling back at us June 26.  It didn't happen every time we smiled at her, but she was definitely starting to respond to us.  So, in the last couple of weeks she has started smiling like crazy.  On this particular day, I sat in front of her with camera held out to the side talking to her, with my finger ready on the button.  I got a lot of pictures of her smiling.  These are the best.  We think she has the prettiest smile.  And we hope she continues to be a happy baby and smile a whole lot more.