Palmer is 2!!!

May 23, 2007: The day he was born.

May 23, 2008: Palmer's first birthday.

May 23, 2009: Palmer's second birthday.

It doesn't feel real that Palmer is 2! He was just born yesterday and there is no way that we have our third on the way. Time really does fly by. Everyday gets better and better though. Palmer can do so much and he and Natalie are the best of friends. At least, until it comes to sharing toys! He is starting to talk a little better and I can understand his certain requests. The hard part is getting him to stop grunting for things and use his words, but he is learning and one day I will be telling him, "I don't know why that happens, why don't you tell me." Like Natalie asks all day long when she totally knows the answer. He is trying to potty train and on the night of his birthday party he actually told me, "paeey" which means potty and ran to the potty and did both duties. That would have normally been in the floor with no diaper on. That is a huge breakthrough. So, we are getting him some big boy underwear tomorrow!


He did have so much fun for his birthday. On his actual birthday, May 23 we tried to go to Chuck E Cheese, but there was a line out the door to get in. So, if anyone wants to start a business, I think this would be a great one! Instead, we went to old faithful, McDonalds, with Carson and Chloe since they couldn't come to the actual party.
Saturday we had his actual birthday party and it was so much fun. Our construction was still underway, but everything went great. The kids had so much fun running around outside in the new "fenced" in yard as the parents were free to enjoy talking to each other. It was a Winnie the Pooh party because Palmer loves Pooh and it is one of the only words he says that is pretty clear!!! We haven't decided if he is saying Pooh or Poop though. The jury is still out on that one!



Palmer couldn't wait to eat the Pooh bear cake I made.



He and Natalie ate off the beaters as I was making it. Then I had to put the cake out of little hands reach until the party because I would catch Palmer sticking his fingers in the icing. The morning of the party I woke him up and said, "We get to eat your Pooh cake today." He ran downstairs and pointed at it. Well, after he blew out his candles and I gave him a piece with ice cream, I thought he would be satisfied until he wanted another piece. NO, about 5 seconds go by and he is bringing me his plate with everything still on it and untouched crying. I tried to give it to him, to feed it to him, to put more on the plate, and nothing stopped his crying until I physically put the cake and ice cream back. He didn't get any cake or ice cream at his second birthday! He is crazy, I tell you. I have no idea what I must of done to his piece but whatever it was, it was not good enough. I guess I will have to work harder for him next year!!! Here are some pictures from his special day!


Baby Emily and Natalie watching Pooh together. Natalie absolutely loved Emily...who wouldn't though, she is adorable!!!


Isabel loved her Eeyore ears!



Favorite Aunt Joan even made the party!!!



Palmer playing with his birthday loot!


Ellery and Amelia being festive!


We grilled corn on the cob and the kids apparently loved it!


Emery in her piglet ears!


Lindsay, Jeff and Emily came in from Atlanta to join us. It was so nice to have them here!


My sorry attempt at having the kids make super sleuth masks. Natalie was the only one who wanted to make them. But, hey at least I tried. I normally have great plans to do a craft with the kids and end up with 10 boxes of sugar cubes in my pantry. At least this time all I had was some paper masks that I had to get rid of.


Happy Birthday Palmer!!! We love you!

I guess my birthday is the next one, unless baby #3 decides to come before the 12th of November. We do get to find out whether it is a boy or girl on June 16th!!!

Natalie's 1st Ballet Recital

All the girls got to parade out with their class before and after the performance


Natalie had her first ballet recital on Mother's Day. It was so adorable. She had so much fun. It was held at a local high schools performing arts stage. I was really nervous that she might get shy when she saw all the lights and not Aaron or I. Especially since it wasn't in her normal class. Thankfully she got a dress rehearsal the day before to warm her up. She did great both days and she loved every minute of it. As long as she had, Miss Carly, (her teacher)she was okay. It was so fun to watch the girls dance because they were not anywhere close to perfect. That is what made it so cute. Although, they had learned quite a bit over the year. Some moms did go a little over board. Some of the girls had more makeup on than I have ever wore. There were no girls made up in Natalie's class. They were all so innocent and just dancing for fun. Which is the way it should be. One of the little girls in her class didn't take to the stage very well and cried the entire 2 minute performance. Miss Carly let her stand by her during the show and hold her hand. Well, I started wondering why Natalie wasn't doing the normal move with 2 hands above her head like she always does and I looked at Miss Carly and since she was holding the little girl's hand and could only dance with one hand, Natalie thought that is what she was suppose to do. She danced alot of the dance with one arm! It was so funny when I went to pick her up after the recital. She had to stay backstage for the entire performance. I think there was about 12 groups that had a show and it took about an hour or so. Obviously, they hadn't taken them on a potty break because as soon as I went to get her she said, "Mommy, I have to pee pee potty really really really bad!!! I never get that many really's. I know Natalie will miss her ballet class this summer, but as long as she wants to dance in the fall we plan on signing her up again. We may try gymnastics too. She says she wants to do a flip class!!! Poor Palmer, I don't think we will start him in organized sports yet. We may hold out a couple more years. I think we may try to get him out to the driving range or the tennis courts more though. He seems to be the happiest if he is allowed to hold a ball in one hand and some sort of racquet or bat or club in the other. Afterall, he is only barely two!


Natalie loved talking to the helpers. I think she said she told them about the storm that we had the day before. We had to go to the basement because of a tornado warning. I think she told everyone about it.


Hanging out after the dance rehearsal


Natalie's best friends: Ellery and Abigail

Spring is here!!!

Spring is here or Summer. I don't think the weather here knows which season it is quite yet. One thing is for sure, our yard doesn't seem to mind! Here are some pictures of our azaleas and knock-out roses for those of you that love landscaping. Now, I am no allisonlewisphotography.com, but I did manage to capture the picture below of Natalie hugging Palmer amidst the azaleas! I hope you all enjoy!



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We have Talksters!!!!!

Well, we have been waiting and waiting for the day that we could start to understand Palmer talking. He is one month shy of 2 years old and yes...he has decided to start talking. It has been a long road for his speech so far. He had tubes put in and his adenoids taken out in March and now almost 2 months later he is putting his words together and we love to hear his little voice. My favorite is when he says "butterfly." He is trying so hard. He still has a way to go, but we are very happy with the progress. He can say just about anything if we ask him to repeat. Now, he just has to learn what everything is!!! Here is a video of him talking.

Crawfish Boil

Last night we hosted our first "Crawfish Boil." Aaron decided to throw an appreciation dinner for all his people at work for helping him out so far this year and for them hitting their numbers for the quarter. With a lot of help from a buddy of his at Compass it was a huge success!!! It was so much fun. Besides watching Natalie scream and run away from the 41 lbs of crawfish alive and crawling in the cooler, and Palmer eating crawfish likes it a cookie, we actually learned alot about what goes in to making them. And in my opinion they should remain in the creek where they belong!!! But, they do make for a great party and spring only comes once a year so why not boil some crawfish, make some mojitos and invite the whole neighborhood once you realize that the 8 people coming to your party aren't going to eat all these crawfish! Here are some pictures to show our fun evening!


Some kids in the neighborhood playing on our driveway


Palmer saying "cheese" with his bite of crawfish that he so patiently waited for. He is definitely a Bama boy!


Steven holding one of the little "bugs" after it was cooked.


Crawfish spread out on the table in the backyard. Everyone ate straight from the table. No time for sitting!


The crawfish circle. Notice only boys eat bugs! Actually there were a couple girls too! But, for the most part every boy at the party ate crawfish! It is definitely a guy thing!

Here we Grow again!

I am sure that many of you saw our Key West photos. Well, not only did we bring back lots of pictures and memories, we also brought back a new addition to the family...baby #3!!!! We are so excited and yes, we do know what causes this. The baby is due November 16. I am 7 weeks pregnant and so far everything looks great. Please pray for us that everything continues to go great and this baby will be as healthy as our other ones! Natalie is really excited and thinks she has a baby in her belly too. She says, "it is going to take a long time to come out." I said, "your right, at least 25 years!!!" Palmer on the other hand is starting to notice babies and that they are at least smaller than he is, but if I hold one he isn't too happy. That part doesn't make me nervous though considering how much Natalie has loved Palmer since day one and she was totally a momma's girl. So, we are extremely excited! We will keep you posted as to what sex it is as the gets closer. It will be around July.

SNOW DAY

Yes, it finally came true. Our meterologists like to say at least once or twice a year that we may get snow. Well, this time they were serious. Aaron kept looking at the radar the day before and said, "I think they are serious about this whole snow thing." When Palmer woke me up at 4:30am, I looked out the window and there was slush falling from the sky. I thought, wow, maybe it will turn to snow after all. At 7:00am when we woke up, I looked outside and there it was, SNOW!!!!! Palmer was the first to wake up and he had no idea what it was, but couldn't get enough of it. He kept running from window to window showing us, "O." Then Natalie woke up. She had seen some cartoon that had snow in it the other day and kept asking us if we could get some. We told her no it doesn't snow here, but it does at Nonna and Poppi's house. Well, when she saw the snow she said, "I have snow like Nonna and Poppi!" The excitement only kept rising because we had to wait for daddy to come home from church before we could go outside and play in it. So, for a little while we made snowflakes! Then when daddy came home outside we went! Everyone in our neighborhood was outside too. I don't think they ever come out even on 70 degree days!

Key West, FL

Aaron and I just got back last weekend from Key West. He was a top producer for Compass Bank for 08' so we got an all expense paid trip. This included everything!!! We had a blast! Aaron's parents, Preston and Jody, came down from KY and watched the kids for us. So, it was a win win for everyone. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

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Our Favorite Super Bowl Commercial

Since it has been so long since we blogged....We wanted to make it worth it!!!! Thankfully Palmer is okay and we decided to share it with you only after we made sure that he was okay! Natalie loves to watch this! What makes it so funny is Palmer was loving the little boy (his reflection) that was playing with him. He had already been trying to scare him by running up to the window and saying, "whoa" and then running away giggling. I think he wanted to see how fast he could run!!! It was too cute watching him play, but unfortunately it didn't end so well! But, he is okay and one day he will love this. Not until the big knot leaves though.

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas. It feels like our first one with the kids. They both loved opening presents and playing with all the toys all day. I think Natalie managed to play with every toy within the 13 hours she was awake (no nap, of course). Natalie and Palmer loved every second of it. Santa brought everything Natalie asked for and more! Palmer was so overwhelmed, but the highlight of his Christmas was when Momaw and Dolan showed up with a coupe car and he decided that he wasn't sharing and instead of opening the door and climbing in, he pulled the ol' Dukes of Hazard move on her and dove in through the window before she knew what happened. (He is a fast learner) He took a 4 hour nap after that! It is really neat seeing the kids learn about Christmas. We were really struggling with how to incorporate both secular and christian traditions into their Christmas, but by the time our advent had ended baby Jesus (in the nativity) had received a treasure chest full of treasure from a polly pocket toy and Natalie and her best friend Ellery blew out candles on a Happy Birthday, Jesus cake. So, at least they have heard the good news! I now know why my mom always said, "Don't get me anything, my present is watching you have fun!" This was the best Christmas so far and Aaron and I didn't open one gift from each other.

Palmer Palooza

We were looking over our blog and realized that we don't have any of Palmer P since he was itty bitty. So, here is Palmer!






Here is Natalie and Palmer dancing to Aaron's version of Beauty and the Beast. This is Natalie's favorite thing to do and her favorite movie to watch. Palmer is actually participating with her and not trying to knock her down so that is why I didn't worry about him only being in a diaper! He's still a baby anyway!!!

Natalie's first ballet class

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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Natalie had her first ballet class on Monday! It was too cute!!! She did really good for the most part, but as you can see in the video she spotted me through the supposedly one way mirror. So much for that! After pouting for about 5 minutes and her best friend Ellery trying to comfort her, she finally walked slowly back into the group and finished the class strong! Now, she wears her ballet outfit all over the house and she loves to twirl and stand on her toes. Palmer tried to go to class with her and she shouted, "No baby, this class is for big girls." He wasn't too happy, but sat outside the window and cheered her on.

Princess Natalie

Wow! It has been a while since we last posted! Palmer is a walker and Natalie is a little princess. I learned from a friend how to put slideshows on our blog and so I tested it out. Natalie was a good subject. She sat on the couch in her new ballerina dress (that she refused to take off... so she wore it to church on Sunday and also all day on Monday) and I snapped away experimenting with my camera. It was lots of fun. Palmer...your next little man!!! Hope you all enjoy!

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He shouldn't have been standing there

I love this video of Natalie trying to get Palmer involved in sports

Natalie's 2nd Birthday Party

Here are some of the pictures from Natalie's 2nd Birthday pary! It was a Barney birthday party. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us celebrate! We had a great time! It is hard to believe that she is 2!