First off friends, I am just EMBARRASSED at how long it has been since I have updated this blog!! I finished up my deadline just in time to jump into a backyard landscaping project that is eating up all of our free time, but we are all set to finish today so come Monday, I’ll be back here with some major updates. 🙂

In the meantime, how about a little contest for Bake Me a Match, which releases on Monday??! Yay!! 🙂 I will draw the winner Monday morning!! To check out more about Bake Me a Match, click here.

Ready to enter?? Use my handy little Rafflecopter below!! Good luck friends!! 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Friday!

I am SO far behind on this blog and I need to write an actual update, but for now, I just wanted to say that I am done with my deadline! So thankful!

And…

We are now TEN DAYS to the release of Bake Me a Match!! You can preorder it on Kindle here! It will release on Kindle and Nook on June 15th. Can’t wait for you guys to read the rest of Annie’s story! Check back on Monday for a fun contest!! 🙂

Have a great Friday!!

Saturday was such a fun day – we started the day with my sister-in-law, Nicole’s baby shower for my sweet nephew (which I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures!) and then I drove home fast, picked up the boys and Jon and we went to dinner with my dear friend Melanie who was in town this weekend!

Nathan loves Miss Melanie. 😉

Sunday, Jon woke up sick and so he stayed home from church and Nathan and I went. We had been home for seriously not even an hour and Nathan went from perfectly fine to running a 102 degree fever. So our plans for the day were changed up a bit. He spent the day on the couch, I got him the movie Balto (which he LOVED) and we tried to just keep the boys as separate as we could (which is always a joy).

Parker always has to be just like his big brother. 😉 Love that.

Sunday night, we had a little girls’ night since Mel was in town. So much fun and so needed!! Love my dear, dear friends. We only wished the other two original Lunch Bunchers could have been there!

Another new tooth, another diaper rash, another oatmeal bath in the kitchen sink. It’s the circle of life over here, my friends.

And lastly, I have been wanting to do this FOREVER and I finally did it – yesterday, I cut 8+ inches off of my hair!

It is SO short now! It feels so much lighter and cooler. Nathan was convinced he would hate it but I think even he likes it. 😉

Our mornings here. Two snuggling brothers watching the Wild Kratt brothers. 😉 Love my precious boys!!

Between Nathan’s activities mostly coming to a close and Parker being into everything, we have not sat down too much these last few weeks!!

We went with Nathan’s little league team to an Isotopes game! It was Little League Night and so all the teams got to walk around the field with their team’s banner.

They were SO cute – they all took their hats off and started waving them at the crowd. It was just adorable!!

Watching themselves on the big screen. 😉

This little baby love – oh I just adore him. And he has gotten to be SUCH a good sleeper!! I am just soaking it up. He takes two great naps a day and sleeps twelve hours at night. He’s just gotten so big. And he is everywhere. He’s either in the bathroom ripping the toilet paper to shreds, he’s unloading all the kid cups from the kitchen drawers, he’s shoving handfuls of dog food in his mouth or carrying around a huge Mickey Mouse book and whining for me to read it to him. All day long. He’s a mess. We just follow him around cleaning up and laughing most of the day.

Last week, I woke up with a really stiff neck and a bad cold and so I called my mom. So thankful that she lives in town and could come help me!! It was just SO hard to change diapers and chase a very busy baby around when I could barely turn my head. I just laid on the couch with a heating pad on my neck and a bunch of Kleenex and she played with the boys all morning. Such a blessing!

The hero worship is still alive and well here. These two are starting to get to the point where they have a few squabbles a day but they still just adore each other and are impossible to separate – even when they are fighting over something. 😉

This is apparently how Superman would be ready to run from third base to home. Just in case any of you were wondering. 😉

Mother’s Day was such a wonderful day with my boys!! We went to church, the boys gave me flowers, I got taken out to lunch and we had an amazing fajita dinner with the family. It was a very nice, very low-key day and it was perfect.

This little guy is just so big now. But I love that any time my lap is open, he’s plopping down right next to me or halfway on me and just snuggling in. He’s growing up too fast and I just need time to slow down!!

This week, Parker finally got a haircut. And Jon and I were in severe mourning for several days. He just looked flat out old without his long baby hair! It’s getting a little easier for me to look at now but goodness. He went from baby to boy overnight.

And speaking of babies to boys overnight, my little Nathan had his very last day of Cubbies this past week. I’m still in denial.

He was so proud to get his award!! Next year, Sparkies!

These two. They play all the time. This was when they were being policeman at a police station. Nathan told me that it was sure busy because crimes just kept coming through the door. 😉

 We were SO excited that Nonnie came to visit last weekend!! It was a short visit and we packed the activities in. 😉 First up – Nathan’s last soccer game.

He did great! It has been so fun to see how he’s changed and grown over the last year. He totally understands the game now and he became a fantastic little player!

Next up, baseball! Love this of everyone saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

He is just SO CUTE. I can’t even stand it.

He got the game ball that all the players signed for doing so well during the game. He was SO so proud. The ball is now sitting in a place of honor in his room. So cute.

We came home and played with Nonnie and then she took us out to Mexican food and I totally left my phone at home so I got absolutely zero pictures. 🙁 But we had such a wonderful time!! 

On Sunday, we woke up to rain, she fixed up Parker’s hair for us and then we went out for a pizza lunch that was amazingly good. Love this picture. 🙂

The whole crew!

Learning about expressions. 🙂

It was POURING RAIN that afternoon and absolutely freezing cold, so we came home, the boys took a warm bath and then we all snuggled up in our cozy clothes and Nonnie read to the boys for a bit. It was so sweet. Then it was off to the airport and we brought home two very tired, very sad boys. 😉

This week has been pretty much life back to normal for us. I’ve spent a lot of time writing and the boys have spent a lot of time in their jammies. And this little cutie is just too stinking cute for his own good – I cannot get enough of those cheeks!! He woke up today and I could just tell he did not feel good at all, so we headed back to the doctor and he’s got a double ear infection. 🙁 Praying that the new antibiotic will knock it out for good!

Bake Me A Match is officially available for pre-order on Kindle!!

It will release June 15th to Kindle and Nook (Kobo friends – still working on getting that platform added!). I can’t wait for you guys to read more about Annie, Zach, Laurie and the gang!!

SO excited!!

We are almost all caught up!! 🙂 For the first time since what…last March??! 😉 Ha! This new little person in my house has been the cause of lots of chaos, lots of noise and lots of love. Too much snuggling and chasing and diaper changing over the last year to still keep the blog up to date!

 We were heading to church last Sunday and I looked back and saw this – oh my heart!! I just melted into a little puddle on the front seat.

After church we went to run some errands for yard work and saw him like this when we opened the door. These are kind of my thoughts on Lowe’s sprinkler aisle as well. 😉

Parker has one of those little puppies that you drag along by the leash to walk it, but this is how he always walks it. It’s hilarious.

Piyo with a baby… yeah… this is why I usually work out before they get up in the morning. Downward dog is equal to a fort in my kids’ eyes…

I got to have a much needed girls’ night!!! Oh how I love these wonderful women!! 🙂 We went to see a late showing of Cinderella – I cannot recommend it enough!! It was beautifully done!

On Thursday and Friday, I sold copies of some of my books at a conference in town with my friend and fellow author Alicia Willis, who was selling her books as well! And…we both sold out!! God was very good and it was so much fun. 🙂 Thanks to Alicia for being so sweet and talking with me for two days straight and especially thanks to Gammy (and Pops!) for taking such good care of my boys while I was gone. 🙂

Saturday we woke up to this little love running a fever and I fit his doctor appointment in between soccer and baseball games. We found out we have another ear infection on our hands. 🙁 Sweet baby. He’s been pretty miserable the last few days. We’ve been medicating with antibiotics, lots of liquids and lots of snuggles.

Nathan did so good at his second baseball game!! He even spared a wave for his mama at this one, so I’m assuming he felt a little more at ease. 😉

Great job batting!!

We absolutely loved having Gammy and Pops at the game!! And to add the icing to the cake, they came over for dinner last night. My boys pretty much thought they were in heaven. 😉

In final (and fun!!) news, it looks like Bake Me A Match is going to release on June 15th!! SO exciting!! I should have pre-order info by tomorrow!!

Whew!! BUSY week!! How was your week? I cannot believe we are almost through April!

Have a great night!

P.S. I am officially all caught up!! Oh my goodness!! YAY!

For a few weeks before this, anytime someone would mention the words “April 11th”, Jon and I would immediately start twitching. Everything – and I mean everything – was scheduled for April 11th. Soccer pictures and a soccer game. Baseball pictures and Nathan’s first baseball game. Our friend Julia’s birthday party. A Bible study for me. And about four other things that we just had to say no to because we just couldn’t fit them in!

First up was soccer – someone got his very first trophy and he was SO THRILLED. Can you tell? 😉

The proud Coach Dad and his son. 🙂

Then we drove as fast as we could over to the baseball fields because it was time for pictures. So he switched uniforms super fast in the car and we ran in. When did he turn twelve??

Again, Coach Dad and his son. 😉

Nathan was SO cute during the game. All the other kids were waving at their parents, smiling at them when they went up to bat, but Nathan was all business. He was so focused. It was hilarious. 😉

First at bat!! He did SO good!! I love how much he is concentrating. 😉

Running the bases and he, of course, had to slide into home. So fun!! We are using even more of the power of OxyClean at my house now. 😉

Uncle Bryant and the Park Bench, as Jon calls him. 😉 I’m pretty sure Bryant was just getting excited for this day about five years into the future for my little nephew. And Parker…guys, this kid is a mess.

An adorable, goofy, incredibly loud mess.

See what I mean? 😉 I just adore every centimeter of that little love.

Nathan made a great stop with a grounder and threw it to first and after we were all done cheering, I looked over and happened to catch this:

SO CUTE. Ah!! It totally made the entire game. Ha! That little T-ball player is just my favorite in the whole world right now.

Post-game grins before our victory lunch at Chick-fil-a… what a wonderful day!!

This transition to spring has left most of my family in sick in some way, shape or form lately. Ugh. We are currently battling Ear Infection #2 with Parker – poor baby. I’m going to try and post a few updates today since I am SO far behind!! Every time I sit down recently, I’ve been working on a deadline.

Here’s what happened the week after Easter! 🙂

Love how these two love each other. They play all day long and are pretty much inseparable. When they aren’t together, all I hear about is the other one, whether it’s Nathan wondering how Parker is sleeping or Parker yelling “NENNON!!” Ha! Love that.

I walked in Nathan’s room to tell him rest time was over and found him like this. 🙁 Usually a good sign that he is sick and I think he ended up having some sort of weird virus. Poor guy.

This little guy loves the laundry basket. He pulled this over his head all by himself. He’s such a goose. And he is LOUD. Holy smokes. I kind of had assumed that Parker would be my laid back child but he’s giving Nathan a run for his money. He yells and baby talks and just makes noise all. day. long. And he’s ever the entertainer – at least at home, just like his brother. He’s a little more reserved out in public. It makes for a very fun, very crazy, very exhausting life right now. 😉

Parker is also walking about 95% of the time now and getting faster and faster. And he’s now tall enough to pull things off the table and counters. Life has changed quite a bit over here because of those things! 😉 I don’t sit too often.

We had so much fun this Easter! Last year, we spent Easter still recuperating from the c-section, getting very little sleep with our newborn and we had just married off one of my brothers. This year, we had a VERY busy one year old, a VERY busy four year old, a very early morning at the sunrise service, joyful tears as we worshiped Jesus together and lots of eggs to hide and find. 🙂

The sunrise service!! It started off freezing cold but as soon as the sun came up, it was one of the warmest sunrise services we have had in years!

Next we brought our stuff over to Gammy and Pops’ house and gave the boys their Easter baskets there. So fun – Jon and I had bought Nathan a “secret agent” watch weeks and weeks ago and he’s hardly taken it off since. 😉 And Parker was totally down with all these fun presents you get to just pull out of a basket.

Ready to go hunt for Easter eggs!! 😉 This year I filled them all with chocolate – the good kind, since most of the time, Jon and I end up snacking on the stash just as much as the boys. Ha! 😉

It did not take long for this little one to get the hang of picking up the eggs and putting him in his basket. So cute.

Nathan is at such a fun age for Easter egg hunts!! He was on a mission. Jon and I hid those eggs in some pretty tough spots and he found most of them by himself.

Checking out the loot. 😉

Love my little family so much!! So thankful to Jesus for giving me these goofy, silly, loud boys to call my own.