The Thank-You Meal

This year, starting in September, Pearson started Preschool Praisers.  It's the preschool choir program at our church on Wednesday nights.  We already go to Small group on Wednesdays nights so it works out perfectly.  He goes to choir for the first hour then moves to a different classroom for after care.  The first week of choir we received a CD with all of the songs he would be singing at his program. The theme of his program was called "The Thank-You Meal".   I'm pretty sure he had all the songs memorized within the first week.  We still sing them all the time.  The week before Thanksgiving he had his little performance.  He did a great job!!

I still need to download the video to my camera, so that will come at a later date. 

happy birthday grammy!

Happy Birthday Grammy! 

We hope your day has been just as wonderful as you are!!

a busy day with my peeps

Today was my first day to watch all three girls (plus Pearson).  Normally I just have the two little ones during the day, but the oldest is out of school now!  I'm going to try to have fun things planned for us to go do in the morning together.  It helps pass the time and it wears the little ones out so they take great afternoon naps.  

This morning we went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast.  They were giving away free chicken biscuits, so we all ate for $3.56.  Ya can't beat that!!

 After they finished eating they all played in the little play area.  All the girls like to climb up to the top and play but Pearson doesn't like to go to the top.  He met some little boys to play with and had a ball running around with them. 

 Normally I take the little ones to our local library for Story Time, but today we decided to go to the Story Time put on by Chick-fil-A at the mall.  The girls had so much fun pushing Pearson and Lexi around in the strollers.    

Pearson loved all the new songs and really enjoyed waving his flag around while we sang the patriotic songs. 

 Isn't his little baseball/patriotic shirt that Lolly made for him so cute??

 The best part about Story Time was that the kids got Chick-fil-A nuggets for "snack".  It was a 6 count around 10:45, so we just considered it our lunch.  We just snacked on some fruit and crackers when we got home.

While the littles took FOUR hr naps, the bigs read and I played Candy Crush.  I had been stuck on Level 65 for about a week and as soon as I posted this picture on Instagram I beat it! Now I'm stuck on Level 70.  Our afternoon was also filled with some arts and crafts, Barbies, American Girl Dolls, and a Movie.  

Once Pearson and Lexi woke up we all sat down at the table for a snack and some coloring.  

One of Pearson's favorite things at the girl's house is jumping on their little trampoline.

He absolutely loves all three of the girls (Kate-Kate, Am-Bah, & Essie).  

I am so thankful for this fun little side job that I have been blessed with.  

backyard fun

Lately Pearson had been napping from 12:30-4:00/4:30ish (which is awesome), but it doesn't really leave us any time to go to the pool in the afternoon.  Yesterday we decided to just swim in our own backyard instead of loading up to go to the pool.  Other than Pearson's party on Saturday, this was the first time for us to bust out the pool.

He had so much fun splashing around! 

And since it wasn't unbearably hot I just sat in the shade watched him play.  I'm sure in a few weeks I'll be sitting in the pool right there with him!

Here's a quick little video of him jumping in the pool.

And here's another little video of him playing "bees-ball". 

**Sorry for the awful videography skills.  It was a little difficult assisting him and videoing!

pearson knows his abc's

rescued

In a world full of sin and brokenness, I'm so thankful that we have been rescued.

*Note: This video contains some graphic imagery. Please keep your audience in mind when showing it.

On this Good Friday, I'm so incredibly thankful that we know that Sunday's Coming.

Jesus defeated death so that we can live eternally with him in heaven!!

egg huntin'

This morning we went over friend's house from church for an Easter Egg Hunt and lunch.

Little Man loves going to other people's houses to play with new toys. 

It didn't take long for him to find his all time favorite toy......trucks and cars.  

 After a little play time we all headed outside for the egg hunt.  

 A few eggs made it into the basket, but most of the eggs got opened and then thrown back on the ground. 

 He didn't quite get the point of the egg hunt. 

 After just a few minutes hunting eggs, he decided he was done and just took a break from all the running around!

 Even though he didn't really get it, we still had a great time hunting for eggs!  He even found one of the prize eggs!!

He won a little Easter Bunny!!

Little man was a happy camper when he found out we were having "pee-duh" for lunch.  This kid LOVES pizza!! 

 Since he didn't quite understand how to hunt the Easter eggs, we decided to have our own little egg hunt after bathtime.  

And he still doesn't get it!

Guess we'll have to practice a little more before we hunt eggs with our neighborhood on Saturday and with our family on Sunday!  

ya think he likes cars?

**These videos are a little long, so they are mainly for grandparents!!  

Pearson LOVES cars, trucks and really anything that moves......choo-choos, school buses, jeeps, airplanes etc. He sat with Matt for 20 minutes or so tonight reading the same book, Things That Go. 

If you know my Dad and brothers at all, then you know he definitely has some St. John in him with his love for cars.  

oh the madness

I couldn't care less about college basketball until March Madness rolls around.  I honestly didn't really even pay attention to March Madness until I met Matt.  He gets really into, so get into it with him!! I don't really watch all the games but I fill out a bracket and look forward to seeing how my picks do.  And alot of times I actually sit down and watch the 4th quarter.  The 4th quarter is always the most exciting in these games because so many of them come down to the last second.  

This year I fill out two brackets.....

One with just my little family of three.

And one with all of Matt's side of the family. 

I filled out two separate brackets and I picked two different teams to win so.......

Go Kansas and Go Gonzaga!!! 

Even all the little cousins fill out a bracket with Matt's family so we had to help Pearson make his picks.  Last year I picked half of his bracket and Matt picked the other half, but this year we let him do all of the picking!! His bracket is pretty interesting to say the least!!

We let him pick in a few different ways......

  First we would hand him two different bath toys and associate each on with a team.  

Then when we got out of the bath we would offer him two different toys.  

When he got tired of that we wrote the first letter of each team on a piece of paper and whichever letter he said was his pick.  

Unfortunately he had Oklahoma State to win it all and they are already out.  

But on the flip side, I am 8 for 8 right now!!

Let the Madness begin!!

surprise valentine visit

Tonight Lolly & Pops surprised Pearson and came over to deliver his Valentine! He was so excited to see them!!

He walked right up to Pops to open up his little Valentine. 

He thought the foam bath letters looked pretty cool!! 

Before we gave Pearson a bath we watched a couple of videos of our funny little man with my parents.
This one is of Pearson jumping on a little trampoline at the girl's house that I nanny for. 

This one is of Pearson singing Ho Hey in the car the other day.  He does this every single time he hears this song!!  Even while we were listening to this video he was singing HEYYYY, HOOOOO!!

This one is of Pearson dancing to "In the Jungle"at Story Time today.  I really need to get a full video of him doing this, because he is so funny when he does the whole song!! And just like the other video, he danced and danced while we were playing this video.

After Pearson put on a show, dancing and singing and telling us his letters, we put his new bath toys to good use!!

Thanks Lolly & Pops!!

animal sounds

Head & Shoulder, Knees and Toes

I have been working on body parts with Pearson forever and he just hasn't been interested. I would say point to your nose and he would just quickly point to his cheek. He knew what I wanted him to do, he was just too lazy to do it right. We've been going over them a lot this week and he now finally has hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue (with a little help), fingers, tummy (he says "mummy") and his feet. He can say elbow but he still hasn't figured it out where it is. I didn't get it in video, but when we ask him to find his belly button, he looks for it, but he can't quite see it because of his big ole belly!!!

video overload

Wow, this week was so crazy!!  We had stuff going on every single day this week, including me starting a little one day a week nanny job.  We had so much going on that I just haven't had much time to sit down and blog.

So here's what our little man has been up to lately since I haven't really taken any pictures with my camera this week.

I know he's just repeating me in this video, but it's so funny that he saying his letter sounds.  It sure makes this former teacher's heart pretty happy!!

Pearson's new trick that is pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. 

I am absolutely amazed how quickly Pearson can put a puzzle together.  He always know just where each piece goes and most of the time he has it in the right direction too. 

This video is really long, so it's mainly for the grandparents and great-grandparents to see.  I know every parent thinks their child is so smart, but I KNOW my child is smart! Ha!! I'm turning into that parent.  Anyways, it just amazes me how his little brain is like a sponge and he is learning what all of these pictures are so quickly.  We spend lots of time during the day naming everything in these "dictionary books", so he was showing off all of his knowledge to Lolly the other night. 

christmas minute to win it

A while back I pinned this (a family playing Minute to Win It Games at their family Christmas). 

 I thought it looked fun, but I mainly pinned it because I thought we would possibly do it with our ABF.  

My Mother in Law saw it on my Pin Board and thought it looked fun too and suggested we do it at our family Christmas.  So each family gathered the supplies for two games and we had a little family competition with The Link Family.  I'm so glad we did this!! We all had a blast playing all these games together!!

**And a big thanks to my SIL Nicole for all the pictures.  I was manning the video camera so I didn't get any on my camera. 

Candy Elevator

Christmas in the Balance

 Christmas Cliffhanger

Face the Gingerbread Man

Reindeer Nose Dive

 Jingle in the Trunk

Wreath Marshmallow Throw

(I couldn't find any directions.  I think we just made this one up!)

 Movin' On Up

 Extreme Christmas Nutstacker

Here is a quick little video of our family fun.  Most of the clips are sped up so I could squeeze them all in the video!  

snack time gone wrong

Every day after nap time when I give Pearson his snack, he and Izzie run all over the house chasing each each other.  He giggles and giggles and it's just the cutest thing ever.  I was trying to capture it on camera, but I got this instead........

pearson reads the bible

Pearson loves to read his Bible.  We have The Beginner's Bible by Zondervan and we all love it!

We keep it on Pearson's night stand so he can look at it whenever he wants.  He loves to just turn through all the pages and he also loves for us to read it to him.  I love it because the pictures are so cute and I love how all the stories are retold.  This is even the same Bible I had growing up as a kid!!

Here is a sweet video of Pearson reading his Bible and even saying "Bible" and "Jesus".  

dr. kevin leman @ The Heights

Have you heard of Dr. Kevin Leman?
Dr. Leman is an internationally known Christian psychologist, award-winning author and New York Times bestselling author, radio & television personality, and speaker, he has taught and entertained audiences worldwide with his wit, wisdom and common sense. Dr. Leman has made house calls on Focus on the Family as well as hundreds of radio & television programs (including Today, CBS’s The Early Show, and Fox & Friends). He has authored 38 books, co-authored 5 children’s books, and produced 6 DVD series on parenting. 
Matt and I read one of his books, Sheet Music, before we got married, but he's probably more well known for the many parenting books he's written. I'm so excited, because he will be speaking at our church next Sunday and Monday, September 16th and 17th.

Here's a little video promo our church showed on Sunday.

If you live in the Dallas area, I would love for you to join us at one or all of the times that Dr. Kevin Leman is speaking.  He'll be preaching in both service on Sunday morning at 9:15 and 10:50.  He'll also be speaking Sunday night at 5pm, then again Monday morning (just for women) at 10am and Monday evening at 6pm.  For more information you can go here.  Or feel free to leave a comment if you want more information.

Like our pastor said, strong marriages and strong families don't just happen, we have to work at them.  Don't miss this opportunity to hear Dr. Kevin Leman talk all about it.  

if you're happy and you know it

Tonight while I was cooking dinner I put on a Baby Einstein video for Pearson.  He was really getting into the song If You're Happy And You Know It.  I had the video camera close by so I was able to catch his little performance on camera.  I just love the way that he "stomps his feet".

That's a pretty sweet farmers tan he's got going on too! Ha!!

pearson's first steps

For the past two weeks Pearson has take 2-3 steps here and there, nothing too consistent though.  Yesterday while we were at the Spray Park he took 5 steps and then he took a whole lot more while we were home last night.  I'm SO incredibly thankful that we finally invested in a video camera because I was able to capture his first steps on a camera that takes HD video!!

We are so proud of our baby boy!!

{And please ignore my super high super excited voice!!}

playin' & dancin'

Pearson loves to explore during the day.  I can't usually get him to sit and play with his toys during the day because he would rather crawl all over the place and open every cabinet and pull out everything out of drawers.  When Matt is home at night, after dinnertime and bathtime he always plays perfectly with his toys......of course, right??  Matt thinks I have it easy during the day, but I assure him that he never sits still during the day.  

Today after his nap he was playing so well with his toys so I snapped a few pictures of him in his element!!

He always sits with his feet crossed.  So funny!

He loves playing with the remotes.  What boy doesn't??

I have no idea what he is doing here, but it makes me laugh. 

I even caught him doing a little dancing while we were watching Ellen. 

Of course as soon as I got my camera out he wasn't dancing as much.  I got a few moves on camera though.