4 years old!

Isaiah,

  How are you 4 years old already?  I clearly remember taking you to church at just 9 days old, waking up SO MANY times each night for a year, taking you to see your first sunset at the beach, watching you take your first steps in the living room at our house in Florida, packing up all those memories and moving to Tennessee. It doesn't seem possible that you have now lived in germantown longer than you lived in Lakeland. Sometimes the days seem long, but boy the years fly by. 

  What does 4 year old you look like?  Well, you talk A LOT!  Like a lot, a lot. From the moment your eyes open in the morning until you close them at night your jaw muscles are getting a work out. You have so much to say and SO many questions. It amazes me how your brain processes and translates things. You are so smart and inquisitive. Another cool thing happening is you are beginning to hear letter sounds in words. You will talk to me and be working on beginning sounds at the same time. It's so cute. Here's an example " m-m-mom today I w-w-want to g-g-go to the p-p-park."  The preschool teacher in me is quite impressed. Speaking of teachers, you are in school two days a week and you love it!  This year you can actually come home and retell the entire day to me. 

Something else you can retell me are your Bible verses. We got a new devotional and have worked through 10 verses. 

1. How awesome is the Lord most high.

2. On my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night. 

3. God created the heavens and the earth. 

4. My mouth will declare your praise.

5. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. 

6. A friend loves all the time.

7. A gentle word turns away wrath. 

8. Love the Lord your God will all your heart, all your soul and all your strength.  

9. So God created man in His own image   

10. For the joy of the Lord is my strength. 

I love that these seeds are being planted in your young mind and even though you may not fully understand them now my prayer is that they are stored away as armor for when satan tries to attack later in life. This year I chose a verse to pray over you daily. I guess it's kind of like your "life verse". I pray that you will grow to love God with such a passion that you lead others boldly and fearlessly. 1 Timothy 4:12 "don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity".  Buddy none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes but as long as you always keep your eyes and heart on Jesus you can overcome. 

Best friends: Owen and Hudson

Favorite food: California roll, corn on the cob and pepperoni pizza

Favorite color: red

Favorite things to do: play super Mario brothers, go to the park, ride in the magic car, go on trips, visit the zoo, playing tackle, building things, climbing things and jumping off things

Favorite toys: Nintendo, swords, puzzles and board games (Jenga, who shook hook, matching and alphabet hunt)

I love you so much buddy. Thank you for making me a Mom and for all the joy you bring to our lives. 

Fall goals: part 2: Punkin' Pickin'

I can't think of a better way to get in the mood for fall than hay rides, pumpkins, bonfires and weenie roasts. So that's just what we did this weekend to celebrate this amazing, cool weather!  

Hay ride at Tom's Farm

Punkin' pickin' in the punkin' patch

Play time

Punkin' paintin'

Bonfire and weenie roast

Such a fun day with the family making memories!  Happy fall y'all!

8 month stats

Weight: 19.1 lbs

Length: -----

Eating: 5 ounces every three hours (when awake). Puffs and we are slowly trying some new table foods (tomatoes, black beans, refried beans, apples and cucumber)

Likes: exploring everything, emptying bowls and baskets, closing lids on things, being talked to and babbling back, and you have really fallen in love with your daddy this month. You shoot him the biggest grin when he gets home at night then you reach your arms out to him. So sweet. 

Dislikes: being told "no" (get used to it), being left alone in a room and bedtime. 

Sleeping:  been a rough month for sleeping. You were sick for one week and the drainage and coughing interfered with your sleep. Then you started doing new tricks and I guess it messed with your sleep. You are up on all fours crawling now so you do that in your crib but eventually you just fall asleep. Pulling up has been another story. You figured out how to pull up in your crib but you don't know how/won't let go to sit back down. So you scream until someone comes to the rescue. You cut your first tooth also. I'm sure we will be back on track in no time. 

Things you are doing: crawling on all fours, eating table food, pincer grasp, pulling up on everything and cruising a little bit. Taking you to the park has been a change. Now you want to crawl everywhere and you put everything in your mouth. Love watching you learn sweet girl!

Fall Goals: part 1: Rainforest Cafe

We kicked off our fall bucket list with a trip to Nashville and the Rainforest Cafe. Isaiah LOVED everything about it. He explored the entire place and loved when the thunderstorms came along. Isabella was mesmerized with it all. 

Turtle twin

He also explored the Bass Pro outlet. Picked out his first car....

And some winter gear.....

Weeks 37-40

Week 37

First trip to Rainforest Cafe in Nashville. Meet your turtle twin!

Just another game day. Roll tide baby!

My Big Backyard

Week 38

You said your first two words this week. "Heeyyyy" and "uh oh". You are now pulling up in your crib. Really fun since you won't sit back down. Haha

Week 39

New trick: climbing the stairs 

Peek a boo

Week 40 

Double ear infection: this how we have been sleeping. Ready to have my happy baby back!  

Summer Bucket List

When school let out for summer we sat down with Isaiah one night and came up with some summer goals that we wanted to accomplish as a family. We did our best to do each one all while having lots of fun and making sweet memories. (the ones we did not complete are being moved to our fall goals list). Incredible Pizza: This place is NUTS! They have food and drink buffets, movie rooms, black light golf, cosmic bowling, go carts, laser tags and a million arcade games. Isaiah loved every minute of it and Isabella is always just happy to be along for the ride.

Pontooning at Heber: Being on a pontoon boat is one of the things that makes me happiest in life. There is something so calming about it. Thankfully my kids take after me! We had the best time spending the weekend at the Roost with family and being out on the water. We explored parts of the lake I had never seen before and we even found a hidden waterfall. It really is one of the most beautiful places.

Swimming: We swam A LOT! Isaiah took swim lessons again this summer and got very good at it. It was nice to be able to let him go and not have to be standing right beside him. Our favorite spots were the GAC pool, Stiles Beach and PawPaw D's pool.

Zoo: We love, love, love our annual pass to the zoo. Early summer was pretty mild so we made quite a few trips out to explore and burn some energy. Our favorite is watching the Grizzly Bear feedings.

Splash Park: We hit up Johnson Park and the splash pad at the GAC quite a bit. We even made our own "splash park" a few times.

We also did the Dive In Movie at the GAC. Complete with popcorn, slushies and swimsuits. Rio 2 was on the big screen.

Feed the ducks: We took a family walk to the park one night and fed some not so hungry ducks. I have never seen such a thing but these ducks must have been fed all day long. We did get to see some cute ducklings though.

I am so glad that we put this list together. It reminded us to be intentional about the time we spend together as a family. Things can get so busy and we go in so many different directions and it is important to make time to be alone as a family.