Thrift store Finds

It's been a while since my last Thrift Store Friday post. It's not that I haven't bought anything, I just forget to post about my great deals.
So, here's what I got this week:

A pair of rain boots for Michael: $1.00
A pair of (real) Crocs for me: $1.50
A beach chair (not pictured): $5.00
A nerf gun: $.50
20 kids hangers: $2.00 ( I know this is the same price as wal-mart, but I would much rather my $2.00 go to Miracle Hill than WM.)
A short sleeve t-shirt for Michael: $1.00
2 long sleeve Carter's shirts for Michael: $1.00 each
Polo shirt for Andrew: $3.50

Total: $16.50

Organizing Michael's Artwork

Now that Michael is in a Sunday School class, and not just in the nursery, he comes home every week with some sort of artwork. As a sentimental mom, I would like to keep all of these papers. Just keeping them in a big pile, or a box didn't seem practical. I went to Pinterest for some inspiration, and found this.

You can find info about this project here

 

Michael obviously isn't in school yet, but it's the same idea as what I was looking for. So, here is what I came up with:

I used my Creative Memories StoryBook Creator program to make the front and the labels. 

                                  

 Now, on Sunday's I put the new artwork on the refrigerator and move last weeks into the box.

Once Michael is in school, I will make a different box for all of his school papers. But this works great for right now!

This is what handsome looks like

Michael looked to grown up today, that I had to grab a few pictures before church. He loves that he has pockets in his shorts and walks around everywhere with his hands in them.

24 Months

 It's official, I have a two year old. No more counting in months, no more monthly updates. How on earth did he get to be two already? It really does seem like just yesterday we were holding this tiny little baby, and now he is anything but tiny.

He sure is proud!

- Michael is now 35" tall! They say if you multiply a child's height at age two, that will be how tall they are when they are full grown. If that's the case, Michael will be just under 6" tall. I think he is going to end up being taller though. He has his two year check up on Monday, so we will see what the doctor says.

- He is talking in full sentences now. We are trying to make sure he adds "please" to all of his requests. He is really good about saying Thank You. He is in this habit of saying "mama" or "Daddy" at the end of phrases. Like when he is showing us something, he won't just say the object, he will say, "Tractor, Mama." or "Book Mama." It took him forever to say Mama, and now he is making up for lost time. I hear "Mama"  a hundred times a day. And it never gets old.

- His favorite songs are Jesus loves Me, and Twinkle Twinkle. He knows almost all the words to twinkle twinkle. I am hoping to get it on video soon. We have to sing both songs at night before bed.

- He now knows all of the letters except for F, N, R, V, and X. He also gets J and L confused, but after looking long enough, he figures it out.

- We are working on shapes, and he can point out a circle, star, and a triangle.

-Since we babysit a little baby two times a week, Michael is getting a bit jealous of the time I spend holding the little baby. He has started asking us to "Hold me like a little baby." and we happily oblige. Any chance we get to hold and cuddle him, we jump at.

- Potty training is still a few months away, but he does sit on the potty everyday. Some days he will go pee, and others he won't. It isn't something we are forcing, just trying to get him familiar enough with the process.

When I ask him to say "cheese", he says it and signs it.
That is what he is doing with his hands.

Michael, you are our pride and joy! We love you so much and having you in our lives for 2 years has been the biggest blessing of my life.

MICKEY MOUSE PARTY

The invitation I created

This past weekend was Michael's 2nd Birthday party. We had it at home, and everything turned out great.

We had about 28 people - and that was almost all family, except for Jessica's family of 4.

We had a modest of menu of hot dogs, potato salad, pasta salad, chips and fruit salad. For dessert we had cake and ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, mickey mouse cookies, and rice crispy treats. I forgot to take pictures of any of the food, except for the cake.

My mom made it, and it turned out super cute.

For decorations, I had looked into making my own birthday banner like this one. But after finding this one in the store that was cute, and cheaper than I could make it for, I decided to go the store bought route for almost everything.

Dining Room decorations

Balloons on the front porch

There is really no need to spend time making all of these decorations, and wasting precious time, when I can just go to the store and buy everything I needed.

I did, however, make the mickey mouse ears and I love how they turned out.
They were really cheap to make, and really didn't take all that long. I started about 2 months ago, and had them all finished about 2 weeks ago.  I got the instructions here.

When we decided to have Michael's party at our house, we looked into renting a bounce house. After realizing it was going to cost more than we wanted to spend, I looked on Craig's list to see if anyone had one for sale. And I found one for $125! It has been a great source of entertainment over the past few months, and it was wonderful to have on Saturday. All of the kids loved it! And Michael spent most of the party bouncing away in it.





Another thing I forgot to take a picture of was the party favors. I bought these bags and filled them with M&M's, Disney Gummies, and Mickey Mouse Stickers. All of the children also got a pair of Mouse ears, and a Mickey Coloring book.

I'm really happy with how everything went. The weather was perfect. The kids all had a great time. The adults all got to talk with relatively no interruptions. Michael got spoiled rotten by everyone who loves him. It was a good day!

** I ordered his shirt from HERE.**

Happy 2nd Birthday Michael

 Happy Birthday Michael!

We loved you before we knew you.

We loved you as we waited to go get you.

In the Hospital before we even knew you had
been born.

We loved you the moment we laid eyes on your sweet face.  

We loved you the second you were placed in our arms.

We have loved you everyday since. 

And we will never stop loving you!

The first time holding you!

We are so proud to be your parents. You are the sweetest, smartest, cutest little boy that I have ever met, and to think that I have the privilege of calling you my son, is amazing! You amaze us every day with what you are learning, or how sweet you can be. You keep us laughing on a daily basis with your funny sense of humor. Everyone talks about how hard being a parent is. Maybe we have just been blessed with a especially wonderful little boy, but there is not one day that passes that I am not thankful to be a Mom, and specifically, your mom.  You are an answer to so many prayers, and I can tell that God was showing off when he created you.

Happy Birthday Son! I hope you have a wonderful second birthday and we can't wait to celebrate with you at your Mickey Mouse Party on Saturday.

Love, Mama

23 (1/2) Months

I am super slack this month! Seeing how this post is 2 weeks late! I guess my trip to the Bahamas kinda got me side tracked.

See how tall I am?

 So, what has Michael been up to?
- Since taking away the binky, his sleeping habits have changed. He is not sleeping as well, and has been waking up in the night crying, which he never used to do. But, I know that this will pass.
- He has grown another 3/4 in. He is measuring some where between 34 and 35 inches. I'll be interested to see what the Doctor office measures him at. His legs are getting so long.
- He is such a character. He makes himself laugh all the time. And in doing so, makes us laugh, which makes him laugh harder, and try harder to make us laugh more.

Standing on his tip toes

- He is doing great in the pool. We have actually tried swimmies on his arms, and he does great with them. I thought he wouldn't be able to balance, but he loves wearing them.

- He is in the process of getting his last molar. He started a few months getting his 2 year molars, and that could be the reason for the lack of sleep too. I'll be so happy once this last one breaks through. I feel like he has been teething for 1 1/2 years straight.  His poor mouth needs a break.

- He loves going to babysit with me. It is teaching him all about sharing and playing with other children.

Sweet moments

 - His favorite movie is Toy Story. He asks all the time to watch "Buzz and Woody." He also loves Mickey Mouse clubhouse. We only have 1 Mickey DVD, so I think it's time to invest in another one.
- He is still fascinated with Motorcycles. The other day while driving down the road, he said, "Motorcycle, where are you?"

Showing off his first tattoo

 - He is a little picky when it comes to food. The things he will always eat and usually asks for are, Cheese, Applesauce, a baked sweet potato, noodles, peanut butter, and cookies. There are other days where he will eat whatever we are eating, and will usually try different food if we ask him. Like the other day he ate a few green beans! I couldn't believe it. We are working on this, and hoping he will go back to eating whatever he can get his hands on. I know it's a toddler phase, and he will one day eat real food.

What a little stud!

 - He is talk, talk, talking! If full sentences!
- He knows all of his basic colors!
- He knows the letters, A, B, C, D, G, M, P, S, and T.  He does really well when I associate a name with a letter. Like P - Papa. Every P he sees he yells, "P Papa"
- He tries to sing Jesus loves me, and it is so cute. He only knows a few phrases, but loves for us to sing it.

 - He loves to pray. Every night at dinner, we hold hands and pray. Usually we have to pray more than once, because he reaches for our hands and says, "More, Amen" or "More, Pray." I love that he loves to pray! The other day, in Wal-Mart, he grabbed my hand and said, "Amen..." I asked him if he wanted to pray, and he said, "Yes!" So, So Sweet!

Popsicle Break with the cousins

I can't believe that in 2 weeks, he will be turning 2! It's crazy to think about. We are in full birthday party planning mode! Here is my Pinterest Board for his party. It is not going to be extravagant, but it will be a lot of fun for him.

Future Drummer

Potty Talk

Every night, before bed, Michael sits on the potty. We have done this for several months, and usually he just sits there and laughs. At fist we were keeping his diaper on him, but then I started taking his diaper off of him, so he would start making the connection. Well, while I was in the bahamas, he went pee on the potty! I was shocked! I couldn't believe it. He only did it once, so on Friday night when we were putting him to bed, I didn't really expect anything. But he sure did surprise us by going pee and poop on the potty! I was speechless! I decided that I would start putting him on the potty when I change his diaper, just to see what happens. Well, Saturday evening, at Andrew's parents house, I put him on the potty and he went pee! Then Sunday afternoon he went pee and poop again on the potty. He also went pee Sunday after he got out of the swimming pool at my parents house. He has gone pee on the potty once everyday since.

I wasn't planning on potty training till after we get home from vacation in September. And even then I wasn't sure. He will have just turned two in August, and my mom says the magic number is 2 1/2. But now I'm not sure what to do. I guess it's just one of those things we will have to play by ear. But for now, we will take it slow, and see what happens day to day.

A Week in Paradise

Jennifer and I spent last week in The Bahamas! It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation. We have been planning to go on a big trip for our 30th birthdays for years. We had hoped that Jessica and Julie would come too, but they chose not to come. It would have been so much fun to have us all there.

We flew out of Charlotte on Sunday on a non-stop flight. I'm so glad we spent the extra money for non-stop. It was a quick 2 hour flight. But, once we arrived, we had to circle the airport for an hour because lightning struck the airport, and their communications were down.


The View from the plane

Once we were finally able to land, we went through customs very quickly and found our luggage. Then it was on to the transportation desk for the resort. We were staying at Breezes Bahamas, an all inclusive resort. We got our shuttle and headed for the resort. Upon check-in, we were told that our ocean front room was not available, and that we had been down graded to an ocean view room and that we would reimbursed for the difference in price. (I'm still waiting for my refund.) That was fine with us, since we could still see the ocean and we had a room on the sixth floor. It was a great view.

Our View from our room

The view looking the other way

Before our trip, we had read a lot of reviews on trip advisor, and I was a little concerned about what we would find on e we got into our room. Well, the room was definitely outdated and in desperate need of new furniture and bedding. The room was clean though, so that was good.

Also, the bathroom had been updated, and was very nice.

We went straight to eat and then put our bathing suits on, and went straight to the beach. And that is where we spent the next 4 days.

We would get up in the morning, eat breakfast, then sit on the beach until around 7pm when it was time to get ready for dinner. There was a grill and bar right by the pool, so when we wanted something to eat or drink, it was really close.

For dinner we ate at the buffet the first two nights, then we ate at the two different a la cart restaurants the rest of the week. The buffet was just ok, but the restaurants were great! After dinner we watched the "entertainment" in the lobby. Some nights were better than others, but it was fun watching all the drunk people. The band played till midnight every night, and you could hear it from all over, so there was no going to sleep before midnight.

It was very cool being able to watch the storm roll in,
and actually go right around us

It was a wonderful trip, and very, very relaxing. We have already planned our text trip.

I loved having 5 nights of uninterrupted sleep, and being able to eat my meals without having to worry about what someone else was going to eat. But by Friday, I was ready to see Andrew and Michael.