Hanky Panky

I can't believe my baby boy is THREE!!! How can it be!
In honor of his third birthday I thought I would tell you my 3 favorite things about Hank.

1-Hank ALWAYS has a song in his heart.  He will make up songs when he feels like it, he leads his daddy and brother in a rousing rendition of The Lord's Army every night on the way to the bathtub, and busts a move any time any place when he hears a song he likes.  I can't wait to see how this musicality plays out in his life!

2-Hank is PASSIONATE.  When Hank is happy he beams at you tells you thank you with such sincerity and gives you a huge hug!  When Hank is not happy he will stink eye you, yell at you and swing with all his might.  While it is much more pleasant to be on the happy side of things I love that no matter what you know where he stands and why.  I think this will help him have the courage to do great things in his life!

3-Hank is a sweet, sweet boy.  Yesterday morning Hanky climbed up in my bed gave me a huge hug and then sweetly rubbed my cheek with his lovey just like he likes it.  Hanky is so happy for his brother and sister when great things happen to them.  Hanky almost never forgets to say thank you and he always means it when he says it.  Hanky loves a good cuddle.

We sure have been blessed by 3 great years with our FAVORITE THREE YEAR OLD BOY!!!!!!!!

We LOVE Summer

We have loved this summer I can't believe it is coming to an end!  

We have loved play dates

Especially ones that involve 9 children (5 of them under 3) at Chick Fil-A with 9 million of our closest friends.  :)

We have loved the Rangers

cheering for them in t-ball, on TV and finally in person has made many of our summer nights a blast!

We have loved family fun nights

the zoo, walks in the neighborhood and backyard fun have kept us entertained! 

We have loved the beach

Sadie was the cutest baby in Galveston, Ave had a blast in Wilmington, poor Hanky missed out but he made up for it at Grandma Camp!

We have loved the Olympics

from our themed opening ceremony party to a late night party for 5 watching the closing ceremonies we LOVED every single minute! 

We have loved this summer, I am hoping we will love this school year, too! 

Fabulous Four Month Old Girl

We sure have a sweet baby girl!  She was pronounced perfect today at her 4 month old check up!  She did produce a few tears and a big pout for her shots, but really tolerated them quite well. 

Sadie Baby Jo loves her big brothers.  She always has a smile for both.  She knows she can count on Hanky for sweet kisses and a silly face.  She also knows Ave might be little rough with his games, but that he will talk to her and play with her for a very long time. 

Sadie also loves to cuddle with her Daddy and will turn on her smile whenever she can see or hear him. 

Sadie has decided she doesn't love when Daddy and the boys roar like lions, but if Daddy helps cover her ears, she can take it. 

Sadie girl is a great sleeper, a good pusher uper, but struggles a bit with the whole rolling over thing.  She would probably better at rolling over if she liked her tummy time, but she takes after her mamma and thinks napping is a much better use of tummy time than actual exercise.  

We sure love our Sadie Jo!

3 Months Old

No way is my baby girl 3 months old!!!  

It has been a wonderful 3 months! 

She is such a good baby.  People talk about it all the time.  I am so thankful for our parents help.  I think the fact that they stay with us for the first two weeks makes all the difference.  Having them help the boys transition and work their collective baby whisperer magic makes for babies that sleep 10-12 hours a night by the time they are 2 months old!  So, so great!  

Here is our sweet baby girl at one whole month old.  

Her first month was a great one!  She attended her first t-ball game, received millions of cuddles and kisses from her brothers and was starting to sleep 6-7 hours a night.  She sweetly wore every bow I put on her head and only complained when they fell in her eyes and mouth in the car.  

Month 2 was more of the same 

Baby girl did scare us half to death with our first trip to the ER.  I never thought that would be from my daughter, but luckily she just had a virus that was no biggie.  

She was the cutest patient that day for sure!  Don't worry she had a bow, we just took it off for her tests!  

She also had lots of fun to balance out her pokes and prodding.  

Sadie Baby Jo as Ave likes to call her lounged a lot... 

poolside at Daddy's work party. 

lakeside at the family reunion with Papa

and even at swim camp!  

(how do babies sleep with their head like that?) 

Month 3 is off to a great start as well! 

We love these sweet smiles, and the giggles and coos that accompany them, too! 

Miss Sadie Jo says she likes the beach and having mamma and daddy all to herself!  

We can't wait to see what else we learn about our Sadie girl this month! 

What's In A Name?

For Miss Sadie Jo quite a bit.  

Contrary to popular belief we did not get her name at Target, even though that it what Avery told his teachers.  

We chose Sadie's name very carefully.  We did chose it 2 years ago, but we loved it then and we love it now!  Sadie to be honest we just like.  I read it in a book and thought it fit great with Avery and Hank.  Luckily, Michael agreed!

Jo is very special.  

There are a lot of women in our family with Jo in their names!  

Grandma Jo

I hear she was pretty great!  Sadly, I didn't get to meet her.  But, that guy she's sharing her cake with was the Best Papa Ever!  I know she lead him to the Lord and that he loved her with his whole heart, so that's good enough for me!   

Aunt Susan Jo

She's my mom's little sister, and we kinda like her.  That might be because she does cool things like have Camp Banks where you eat ice cream for dinner and make watermelons into pirates!  But, it is also because she's a great listener and always makes you feel heard and special!  

Grandma JoAnn

Not many kids get to have a great grandmother like ours!  She is wonderful!  I love that she always makes macaroni and cheese for me.  I love that she painted Avery Jr with her nail polish on the back of the turtle she and grandad caught for the boys, and then threw it away so she wouldn't get salmonella.  I love that she loves to hold our baby girl, but lets grandad have the longer turns. 

Meme JOy 

I know it's a bit of a stretch, but I am comfortable with it.  Our Meme is an amazing woman.  She's not even really our Meme, she belongs to Steven and JD, Aunt Susan Jo's boys.  But, she took in 2 girls with no grandmothers and treats us like we are hers.  She is a remarkable woman for many reasons.  She has had more sadness than anyone should have to deal with, but you would never know it from her great smile and positive outlook.  I love that when she says "Lord willing" she means it, because she's been there when His will wasn't what she would choose.  I am so thankful how she loves me, and my family!  But, I didn't steal her whole name, we didn't want to do that to Steven and JD, so we'll just claim part of it for Sadie Jo.  

We love that Sadie Jo has such special legacy to her name.  We can't wait to see how she honors these and all the wonderful women in our family she will be able to learn from!  

 

We love all our children's names, find out about the boys' names here and here. 

T-Ball Top Ten

If you happened to run into my favorite 4 year old boy anytime in late May or June you were greeted with something like, "hi my name's Avery, I'm 4.  I have t-ball _____(fill in next game or practice day), it's for real.  Do you want to come watch me?"  

He L-O-V-E-D every single minute.  

Here are 10 of my favorite things about t-ball.

1-Daddy coached. 

Daddy didn't really want to coach he wanted to assist, you know Michael he's not a front and center kind of guy.  Plus we had 3 week old when the season started and he's still "building a business."  :) that one never gets old.  But Michael did it, because Avery LOVES t-ball, and I LOVED watching them together.  Michael was a great encouraging, fun loving, patient coach!

2-The home runs!

This was YMCA t-ball.  Everybody got to bat every time and get on base.  And the last batter go to run all the way around, so when Avery got to bat last he hit a HOME RUN!  

3-The high 5 line.

 I love little people all lined up to be good sports.  I think it totally stinks that the high 5 line goes away when you get older.  Such a great thing!  

4-The cheering section! 

I love that every player had sweet friends and family to cheer them on at each game.  The kids loved all the encouragement.  

5-The t-ball herd slide!!

I love that every little boy on our team would run up then drop and slide the last foot to get the ball.  Avery wore a hole in his pants by 2 weeks into the season.  So hilarious to watch them all go for the ball!  

6-Time with Hank. 

This kid is funny!  When you get him alone you learn this.  We bonded walking to and from the elementary school and watching Daddy and Avery.  

7-He LOVED it! 

I know I've said it many times, but he LOVED it.  Every single minute.  He was always watching and ready.  He even served as the bat boy for his fellow players.  He LOVED it!!

8-The fans! 

 Honey and Granny

 Grandma and Grandad

 Meme, Papa and LouLou

 Pop

9-The signs!

Aunt Linde and Uncle Jeff were SUPER fans!  They sweated their brains out at almost all of the games.  True love, trust me if you saw one you saw them all.  But not only did they come and cheer, play with Hank and bring donuts and snacks, they brought a SIGN!  Avery was so very proud, you have no idea!  

Katie and David made signs, too, but I forgot to take pictures of them.  

10-The league!  I have to say YMCA was perfect.  I loved the nice little speech the kids said every week about being good players, team mates and sports.  I loved that no was cut throat.  I loved that no one yelled at the umps, yes I have seen that at t-ball games.  I loved that when it was miserably hot and everyone had a turn we quit a few minutes early.  This was a great first t-ball experience.  I can't wait for more!  I am savoring it!

Hanky Pokey

Luckily, Hanky Panky did not end up in the Pokey today...

This is his loot, there are SIX pairs of little girl shoes in there  We didn't pay for them, nor did I realize they were in the basket of my snap 'n go...

Luckily, my main 2 year old man Hank is pretty stinking cute.  He had already worked this magic on the sales lady at Janie and Jack. 

So, when we came marching back in to the store about an hour after we'd been browsing she greeted us with a huge smile and a "Hi Hank, how are you?"  In fact he was so stinking cute she was profusely thanking me for returning the 6 pairs of shoes we STOLE. 

Lesson learned, watch your little ones extra close if there are little shoes in their path!  Also, don't think just because you only have 2 of your 3 kids with you it's okay to let your guard down.  

Life with three is a BLAST!  I have many blogs planned in my head, hopefully I'll get them to you soon.