catch up

a couple of weeks ago, we met cade, tatum, aunt missy, and mimi at a park close to mimi & pop's house. we had a fun picnic, drew with chalk, played with bubble guns, and played on the play ground! we always have SO much fun together!

 me and my boys

 cade man with his bubble gun

picnic time

 this is what beckham did most of the day: RUN!

 drawing with chalk

 mimi & the little ones....

3 years old

i still can't believe i have a 3 year old in my house!! time has FLOWN by this year. i remember when court turned 2 last year (beckham was just a newborn) and i thought - wow - if i can just get thru this first year with 2, i think i might just make it. boy - did it fly right past me! court turned 3 at 1:58 p.m. (monday), but we had his SUPER WHY birthday party on saturday with all his friends and family. 4 of his friends from his class came and he was just SO excited about everyone joining us!

i LOVE that we measure our boys on the door frame that goes from the kitchen to the garage so we have a record of it. court grew 3 INCHES in 1 year. WOW! no wonder he complained of his legs aching often! that is ALOT of work! he is my tall, skinny boy (17%) and i LOVE every inch of him. i LOVE that he is talking in full sentences now. one of my favorite things at night when we are reading and saying prayers is that he wants me (or rhett) to tell him a story. we've started asking him to tell us a story, and he just CRACKS us up! he is one goofy boy with a tremendous imagination!
i remember the day court was born like it was yesterday. it was a long day of contractions (that started at 2 AM), an epidural, the doctors & nurses trying not to freak me out because i had placenta abruption (but they didn't tell me til after), and then an emergency c-section. i was SO ready for him to be here and hearing him cry was the BEST sound ever!
we thank GOD EVERY single day for our precious blessing, court. he is kind-hearted, spirited, active, rambunctious, full of energy, ALL BOY, compassionate, loving, a GREAT big brother, SMART beyond belief, a great listener, loves to read, loves to learn and ask questions, magnificent child of GOD. we LOVE you court jackson patterson.
here are some pics from his party:

 court dressed up like "super why". nanny made him a blue cape and mimi bought him a green mask. i was shocked that he wore this costume for the 1st half of the party.

showing daddy how to go down the big slide

 blowing out candles on the cookie cake

presents! bailey was so cute. she gave court this present and then after court opened it, she took it and said thank you court (so excited) she really thought court had given her that present!

 i didn't even notice this little stinker getting into the kid drinks and chomping on ice!

monday(court's real birthday) rhett took off and we headed to the fort worth children's museum since that's what the birthday boy wanted to do! :)

crazy day

court and i went to townsell elem. in irving this morning. our church held a scholastic book fair last month and donated almost 1,000 books - today we held 2 assemblies for the kiddos and at the end EACH one got a brand new book. they were SO excited. court did a great job helping sort out the books this morning by class. he LOVED trying to carry the "heavy" boxes. we watched a presentation by some of our children's ministry leaders, listened to a great book on courage, and then walked with a kindergarten class back to their room. once we were there, court passed out a new book to each little boy and girl. he was SO proud to be giving them something they may not have much of at home. this morning on the way to the school, we talked about how blessed we are to have so many books at our house, and how lucky we are to have a great library where we can go borrow books to read. i told him that some little boys and girls don't have books at their house and some don't have mommies and daddies to read to them every night. he just kept saying... "oh". he has such a sweet heart. while we were in the assembly, my phone rang twice and it was a flower mound # that i didn't recognize (i really thought it was the library calling about a book i had on hold) so i didn't answer it. we walked the books back to the classes and while we were waiting for the 2nd assembly to start, that number called back so i answered it. it was my mom (mimi) who was at our house while beckham napped. she had our neighbor's phone because she locked herself out of our house. she was frantic! she had already called the fire dept. who was on their way. so, court and i just left ASAP without even saying goodbye. by the time i got to the car i finally realized that beckham was ok - mom just couldn't get in the house. so, we hurried home to let mimi in but the great firemen had already gotten in our back door. YAY! so, we took mimi to chuck e. cheese to raise her blood pressure a little more! :) 

it wasn't too long ago that i locked myself out of our house while beckham was on the couch (2 months old & couldn't roll yet) and court was in the living room. luckily, my jeep door was unlocked and i got in through the garage. but, i did have a minor heart attack once i realized i couldn't get back in. so, rhett is now on his way to make multiple sets of our keys to give to neighbors! :) 

i'm so sad i don't have any pics of our day of service today. i didn't take my camera because i knew we couldn't officially take pics of the public school kiddos - crazy rules. but, i was planning on taking 1 with my cell phone, but i was a little preoccupied with a frantic phone call! :) 

anti-sleeper

this little cutie pie is trying to tell me something....... he thinks he doesn't need to take two naps. :)

for about a week he has had a HARD time going down for his afternoon nap. i would not have ANY idea about this except we have a video monitor. beckham goes down with no problem and has just been playing, rolling over, walking all over his crib, standing on his head, playing with the bumper, etc in COMPLETE SILENCE. one day i just happened to look at the video monitor and realized he wasn't actually sleeping - for 1 1/2-2 hours he entertains himself! crazy! so, i got out my ole' trusty babywise books and blog (just love that stuff). and low and behold - it says the "average" age that babies stop needing 2 naps is between 14-22 months. and beckham is now 15 1/2 months old. so, there ya go. one of the suggestions (if you feel your child still needs 2 naps) is to shorten the morning nap and then they will still take a long afternoon nap. i still feel like he could benefit from 2 naps for at least a couple more months, so we tried this today. 

poor boy has green/yellow gunk coming out of his nose and a cough, so they won't let us bring him to church so i tried out this new plan this morning. i put him down at 9 for a 1 hour nap (and boy he sure was sleeping good when i got him up :( ), and then he went straight to sleep at 1 when i put him down just now. RIGHT TO SLEEP!! :) so, i think this just might work. i have a feeling sometime this summer he will only need 1 nap just like big brother. i think court was over the whole morning nap thing about 18-19 months. they grow up sooo fast!!!! :)

happy sunday!

my lil' cowboy

day with the cousins

wednesday, we headed to northpark mall to meet mel, cade, and tatum at the disney store for story time. let's just say that lots of mommies had the same idea! :) it was crowded but so much fun!! we heard a story about winnie the pooh and after chasing beckham around, i decided he needed to be buckled in. give him some food and he is one happy boy! i think he gets the most enjoyment out of running away from me, squealing, and then seeing if i'm chasing him, which makes him go even faster! wears me out! tatum and court just sat there the whole time listening contently. cade (who is SO into toy story) found the toy story display and lined them all up perfectly. he was the cutest thing! next, we headed upstairs for a quick bite of lunch, had to throw pennies in the fountain, and then outside to run off some energy!

i think tatum is saying " i want some of that beckham!"

playing by the fountains...

such a GORGEOUS day outside! tatum is very interested in the grass!

pretty girl...... so calm........ don't know what that is like!! :)

got the kiddos to sit still for maybe 3.4 seconds for a quick pic and then they were off again! can't wait to spend more time outside with these kiddos this spring!! :) great idea aunt missy!