Great Day with Doodlebug

well, today was one of those days when i was just in love with my doodlebug! he was in a great mood all day! we had no drama, no potty accidents, no aggravating his little bro and lots of play and laughter. i often describe doodlebug as high maintenance. he can be very emotional, moody, sensitive, aggravating and just plain wild sometimes...or a lot of the time. but every now and then, there are days when he is just the perfect child. he's fun to be around, he's well-behaved, he listens and he's just all together good. i LOVE those days because he's such a joy to be around. i don't spend the day fussing at him or trying to bribe him for good behavior. we spent the day at my parents' house with papa (nana was working). from the start this morning, doodlebug was listening well and playing well with peanut. the good behavior continued at papa's house all afternoon. the really cool thing was his imagination was just working overtime today. he was playing with tinker toys and hot wheels and transformers and just coming up with all kinds of stories and scenarios. it was so cute to see those little wheels turning in his brain. and he would describe to papa and i everything that was going on in this little world he had created. i swear the child did not stop talking all day! i thoroughly enjoyed hearing all his chatter today and just seeing him relaxed and enjoying the day rather than being uptight and getting upset over little things.

we ended the night by watching the new scooby-doo movie that i recorded a couple weeks ago. i was saving that movie as a reward for him sometime down the road and today just seemed like the perfect day to do it. he loved it, of course. the boys ate an early dinner, got an early bath and by 7:00 they were in jammies and settled in to watch good ol' scooby-doo. i have to say, even i enjoyed the flick. i mean, really, who doesn't just love scooby? and by 8:30 they were snug in their beds and off to dreamland....well, one of them was snug in their bed...mr. peanut was once again the hallway sleeper, but that's a story for another post coming up soon.

so today was one of those days i really felt the rewards of motherhood because i just truly enjoyed time with the boys. i must add, though, that while doodle had such a good day, peanut seemed to have taken the grumpy pills for a good part of the day because he was sure a crabby appleton. but i guess it's a lot to ask to have both of them happy at the same time!!

9 Month Hiatus

okay, so i haven't been to blog-land in about 9 months. when things got really busy the end of last year, i just lost the motivation to blog. i finally decided to update today. good thing to do on another rainy day. it has literally been raining here in Georgia for almost a week straight. we've had very few dry moments and very little sunshine. i know we need the rain since we've had such an awful drought the last couple years, but this is ridiculous! it's hard to keep two little monkeys entertained indoors for days on end, especially when playing outside is one of their favorite things to do.

the boys have both started back to preschool. doodlebug is going 4 days a week for 4 hours and peanut goes 2 days a week for 3 hours....although starting this week he will be staying an extra hour for lunch so i can pick them up at the same time. so far they seem to love their teachers and are enjoying school. they are both so eager to show me what they've done in school each day when i pick them up. i love that they have such excitement for learning and pride in the projects they do. i hope that stays with them throughout their school careers.

we are in week 3 of college football. so far, Auburn and Alabama have both won all there games so a good start to the season. i do love when college football starts back up...but i will say, by the end of the season, i'm ready for it to be over! we tend to get on football overload around here.

so a few weeks ago we started a chore and behavior chart for doodlebug so he could start earning an allowance and start improving on some of his behavior. so far he has done really great on the chores...don't even really have to ask him to do them now. the behavior on the other hand is still a work in progress. we have our ups and downs with that part but hopefully with time we'll make some improvements.

peanut is progressing very nicely at his auditory verbal therapy he has once a week. he has moved into the next phase of the therapy and is really taking off with his speech. it's like music to my ears to hear his sweet voice saying words and making short sentences. this is such a vast difference from 9 months ago when he first started wearing his hearing aids. he wasn't really talking at all...just a few basic words. it's really amazing how his improved hearing has opened up a whole new world for him. i can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds for him.

the pictures posted are from the first day of preschool this year.

So long with no post!

i'm so sorry i haven't posted in 3 months.  life has just been crazy and when i've had "free time" posting was not a top priority!  this will be a short one to say this and that i intend to post an update on the boys very soon.  i'm working on a long transcript as we speak and must get back to it.  but be on the lookout for a news update soon.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 grammy & peanut reading a book

daddy helping peanut open presents
doodlebug riding his new cars scooter
doodlebug got a walkin' talkin' lightning mcqueen
peanut got a cars ball pit - he loves it
mommy & doodlebug on Christmas Eve
pete & i on Christmas Eve


okay...so I have gotten really behind on updating this blog.  time just seems to fly by and we have been so busy during the Christmas break.  i'm going to condense Christmas and New Year's in one post.

we had a wonderful Christmas with the boys and our families.  Christmas Eve was spent with my parents.  we went to their house in the mid-afternoon and exchanged gifts and then had an early dinner with them.  we wanted to get the boys to bed early Christmas Eve so we could get santa done.  when we were younger, my mom always made lasagna for Christmas Eve and this year we went back to that tradition.  it was yummy.  we spent the rest of the night battling with those stupid twist ties that all the toys are packaged with.  why do they make it so hard to get toys out of the box??

Christmas morning was fun.  doodlebug crawled into our bed about 4:30 a.m. and slept until about 8:00.  peanut was up about 7:30.  he kept going to the top of the stairs and peering down at all the new toys in the family room.  he didn't really know what to think b/c obviously he's too young to get the whole santa thing.  once everyone was up and going we headed downstairs and the boys ripped into all their loot.  they had fun.  

pete's mom and dad came over about 10:30 and spent the afternoon with us.  doodlebug wanted to show grammy and grandaddy all his new toys and then we exchanged gifts with them.  we had a yummy lunch (the traditional ham and all the fixins) and then just hung out the rest of the afternoon.  pete's aunt debbie and uncle joe came over later in the afternoon.  we enjoyed the day with family and watching the boys play with every toy they got for Christmas.

what amazes me is we stayed home all day Christmas day, yet i was exhausted by the time everyone left.  how can you get so tired from really doing nothing all day?  i guess that's why...we did nothing!  

new year's eve at the Duke house was very uneventful.  ever since doodlebug was born, we've pretty much stayed home every new year's.  we like to spend new year's with the boys and we don't like to be out driving around with all the drunks on the road...especially when the boys are with us.  so needless to say, we don't go anywhere.  and all of our friends are pretty much the same way so we all basically do nothing for new year's.  we're all so exciting...and getting old.  we just spent the evening watching a movie with the boys and playing the wii and that was about it. pete and i were really tired from having a busy day so we were in bed before midnight.  we watched the big ball drop in bed and then went to sleep.  we really are getting old.

so now it's 2009 and time to start a new year.  i don't really do the whole resolution thing, but i have thought about my goals for the new year and i'm hoping maybe i can accomplish some of them.  we have a few more days of the break and then it's back to the grind of school and work (for me) and all the usual routine stuff.  about a week ago i looked at our january calendar and it was looking pretty clear and then all of the sudden it has started to book up.  how does that happen?  life just gets so busy!  

i hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and has a wonderful new year! 

The Hustle and Bustle of Christmas

the last few weeks have been so busy.  we've had Christmas programs and parties at school, shopping for gifts, wrapping presents and so much more.  it has been a whirlwind, but it's finally slowing down.  today i finished the last of the shopping and wrapped all the presents and we're now ready to celebrate.  just tonight as pete and i were driving over to meet my in-laws to pick up the boys (they so kindly kept the boys for the day so i could get some things done), we both said we were so excited about Christmas in just a few short days.  of course, we're excited for the boys to see what santa brings them, but we both just love spending time with our families enjoying good food and good company, and most of all, celebrating the birth of Jesus.

i remember being younger and being excited about the gifts i was going to get (even as a young adult), but now it's just not about that.  i love to find the perfect gift for the ones i love.  i really put a lot of thought into the things i choose for my family.  

i'm happy things will slow down this week, especially since the boys are out of school for two weeks.  even though it was crazy for a few weeks, i so enjoyed seeing the boys perform their Christmas songs and have fun at their Christmas parties.  they are such precious gifts and i love that i'm able to enjoy these times with them.

we've also had an amazing program at church called intentional acts of Christmas where we were given a pool of money from the church as well as our own contribution to help a family or families in need.  it's been a wonderful experience to be able to help people who are really in need and show them God's love through our giving.  we assisted one family through our couples' small group we've been involved in since september.  the other family is a girl in my women's small group.  they've had a difficult year of several job losses and have really struggled.  i felt God press on my heart to help this family (they have 4 children) and along with the generous contributions of my parents and their Sunday school class, we are able to provide them with some much needed financial help and some gifts for Christmas.  i'm so excited to share everything with them next week.

so i end by wishing all my friends in blogger-land a very Merry Christmas!  may you be blessed during the wonderful, magical season! 

Time for Santa

last weekend, we took the boys up to hoschton where my parents live to visit with santa.  santa comes to the depot (i assume it was an old train depot at one time??) and the kids get their picture made with them and then receive a little goody bag.  we've done the whole mall santa thing and just never liked it.  it always seemed like such a rip-off and the santas were never very good.  this deal is free...it's put on by the women's civic organization in town and everything is done on a volunteer basis.  

doodlebug was excited about seeing santa this year and about telling him the 3 things he has on his list.  he walked right up and sat on his lap...no fear at all.  now, peanut on the other hand was not having it.  he screamed the second we put him on santa's lap.  we snapped our picture quickly and ended his torture.  doodle stayed up there a few extra minutes to have a little chat with santa.  it was quite adorable to watch them talk.

now, i know some people don't get all into the santa thing b/c they don't want to take away from the real reason for the season, Jesus' birthday.  doodlebug knows it's Jesus' birthday on Christmas and he's learning all about the story of his birth at church and at preschool and at home.  that will always be the most important part of Christmas in our family.  however, i have no issue at all with letting our boys enjoy the magic of Christmas and santa and all those fun things.  i still have memories to this day of my sister and i crawling into the same bed on Christmas Eve and eagerly awaiting santa's arrival.  there were many a Christmas where i would sneak down in the middle of the night to see what santa put under the tree.  it's a fun time of wonder and excitement and i want my children to have those same type of memories growing up....as long as the always remember the greatest gift given to us on Christmas day.

Catching up!

it has been way too long since i've posted.  this last month has been crazy.  with the holidays and work and happenings at preschool, i've just been so busy.  so where to begin to catch up...

i'll start with thanksgiving.  we spent the holiday weekend with my in-laws in blue ridge, georgia, which is up in the north georgia mountains.  we had a wonderful family weekend.  the weather was pretty crummy, but it really didn't matter.  we brought games, watched football and, of course, ate!  

we left out thursday morning and were there by lunch time.  we brought a honey-baked ham and all the fixins for our thanksgiving dinner.  the cabin was off a dirt/gravel road at the top of a steep hill.  It was very nice and very big.  i really wouldn't call it a cabin.  it was more like a house!  it had plenty of room for all of us.  the cabin had 3 bedrooms, a huge wrap-around porch with great views of the blue ridge mountains, a pool table/game room in the basement and a hot tub...my favorite!  

we did venture out on friday for a hike, but it was short-lived.  we got down the long driveway, around the bend and up the hill and doodlebug said he was tired.  so we turned around and trekked back to the cabin.  later on, pete, emily and i went on a nice long hike on the benton-mackaye trail.  it was nice to get out and walk and see all the quaint little cabins hidden in the woods.

most of the weekend was spent playing with the boys, reading, watching TV, playing games and, of course, eating!  we had an outdoor fire pit so we lit that two nights and enjoyed the warmth of the fire on the cool nights.  it was actually quite warm up there for the mountains....days were about mid-50's and nights were in the mid-30's.  and wouldn't you know, the day after we left, they got a good little snowfall right where we were.  we kind of hoped to have snow while there, but we missed it by a day.

all in all, we had a great weekend.  it was nice to just relax and hang out and not have any chores to do or anything like that.  and for me, personally, nobody got on my nerves the whole weekend. that's saying a lot for me....especially in close quarters!

enjoy the pics!  more to come soon of some holiday festivities!