Atlanta Supercross 2012

This past weekend, Clay and I got to go to Atlanta with John, Richard, Jeffrey, and Becca for Supercross.  The boys have been the last three years, but this is the first time I have had the opportunity to go.  John planned the trip from start to finish and he did a great job. We had so much fun.

We left Friday afternoon and headed to the hotel. Our hotel was right across the street from the CNN center and the Georgia Dome.  Once we checked-in, when went over to the CNN Center and walked around.  After that, we went to Lenox Square Mall and did some shopping.  John wanted sushi for dinner so we ate at a little place near the mall. Once we finished dinner, we headed back to the hotel and then to a bar called Stats.  It was so nice to get to hang out and not worry about getting home at a decent hour.

We all slept great Friday night and even got to stay in the bed until 9 am.  That never happens at our house!!

Once everyone was up and ready, we went for some lunch and then to the Georgia Dome for practice.  I have never been to any type of motorcycle event, so it was really neat watching these guys practice.

We went to the pits in hopes of meeting some of the racers, but it was packed!!  So we went back over to STATS for dinner before the races started.

Since I didn't really know a whole lot about the racers, John and Clay told me a couple that they like.  So I pulled for Ryan Dungey and he ended up winning!!

The only thing I wasn't prepared for was the exhaust of the motorcycles. Since the event was in the Dome, it didn't feel like there was much air circulating and I felt like I had gasoline in the back of my throat.  Once we got out in the fresh air, it cleared up.

It was about 10:30 pm when we headed back to the hotel. It was so nice that we could just walk and didn't have to get in the traffic.  When we got back the the hotel, the boys wanted to order Chinese food.  Ugh! I felt like we ate the entire time we were gone. 

After sleeping off their Chinese food hangover, we got up on Sunday and headed to the World of Coke. It was really neat. Of course the best part was tasting all the Coke products from all over the world.  There was one called Beverly that is from Italy. It was so nasty and the taste was stuck in my mouth.  I made everyone try it and it was hilarious watching their faces!

It was time to to head home and we stopped at the Varsity to grab some lunch. It was really good!

Once we were home, I could not wait to see Will!!!  I missed him so much. He was asleep when Pawpaw and Bom-Bom got there with him, but we woke him up so he could get his prizes.  His favorite was the Sprite flavored chapstick!

It was such a great weekend.  I am so glad that John invited us to go. He paid for the tickets and the hotel!!!  Thankful to have a generous brother!  Also, I need to say thank you to my parents and my in-laws.  They kept Will for the weekend so we could have some time away from home.  Will was spoiled rotten when he got home, so I know he had a good time.  I am so blessed to have such a great family!

Random

I took this picture of Will at Chick-fil-A the other day.  Every time he would come down the slide, he would jump off and do this:

I don't know where he got this from, but he was cracking me up because it reminded me of this:

Painting

I bought Will these little ceramic figurines in the clearance section at Michael's.  He couldn't wait to paint them.

He sat for 45 minutes working on these and was so proud of them.

Tee Ball

clay and I are now ball park parents.  We signed Will up for his first year of tee ball.  It's so weird because this is something we have talked about since we found out we were having a boy.

Will is really excited and can't wait for the season to start. Saturday we went and bought cleats, a bat, a tee, and some balls.

As soon as we got home Will was ready to play.  Clay took him out in the backyard to practice.  He loved hitting the ball and running the bases.

Clay is going to be the head coach for Will's team, so that will be really fun.  We are going to be the "Athletics" so our team will be green. Will is going to love that. 

I can't wait for the season to start.  Will will definitely have the biggest cheering section, everyone is so excited to watch him play.

Potty Training Update

Will has been wearing big boy underwear for a little over 4 weeks now.  I didn't want to post anything before now and jinx us. 

At first he was having one or two accidents a day, but in the last week he has only had one accident.  We are still having trouble getting him to go number 2 in the potty but that's okay. 

He is still wearing a pull-up at night. Sometimes he wakes up dry, sometimes he is wet.  In the last week, he has actually gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the potty.   He was wearing a pull-up at nap, but is not anymore. 
So we are definitely not fully potty trained, but we are getting there. I am just amazed that once we started, he caught on quickly.

Since he did so well, we got him a BIG prize.  He has been wanting this Elmo since Christmas so we thought it would be a great potty prize!

As you can see he LOVED it.

Mostly, we are so proud of him and happy that he adapts to big changes easily!

Valentine's Day 2012

We had a great Valentine's Day. It was simple and sweet, just how we like things.

Will was having a Valentine's party at school so he wore red.

The decorations on the door were from a few days ago.  Will wanted to decorate so we cute out some hearts.

My favorite part of the day was when I picked Will up from daycare.  He had made a Valentine for me and Clay. He also made a little visor with hearts on it. He was really proud of his visor.

For dinner, Clay made steaks and they were excellent.  Will had chicken nuggets on a heart-shaped plate.

We had a great little dinner as a family and then it was time for gifts.  Will got some candy and a pack of dinorsaurs.  He was so excited.

My two loves.

Will's Commercial Shoot

Will is going to be in a commercial!!!

It seems crazy and nothing we ever thought he would get to do.  Our sweet friend, Shelley, is the marketing coordinator for a bank here in Birmingham, and she asked if Will would like to be in a commercial for the bank.

We were a little scared because getting a 2-year-old to do anything on command is difficult.  Thankfully, Will did really well.  He didn't have to speak so that took some of the pressure off.  The basic idea behind the commercial was that he was a little boy in the 60s.  Ashley and Keith were the couple that played his parents and they were so kind.  We definitely had a great experience. 

Loved the car!

We promised Will that if he did well, that he could go to Build-a-Bear.  Before we headed over there, we stopped by to see Pawpaw and Bom-Bom.  This picture cracks me up because Pawpaw and Will look so similar.

They definitely both have a love for building things.

Then we headed to Build-a-Bear.  Will was really excited.

He picked a Camo bear, but he said it was his green bear.  He named it Aubie Bear and picked out a Cars t-shirt for him to wear.

It was a great day and a great experience!!  We are so thankful to Shelley and the commercial crew for taking care of our sweet boy.  Can't wait to see how the commercial turns out!

The Blessing

Last Saturday, our church had a Parent's Night Out event where they served us dinner and we got to hear a wonderful speaker named Dr. Knight.

Dr. Knight spoke on blessing our children and how interceding on his children's behalf had strengthened his relationship with them and with God.

He started out by defining what a blessing was. He said that it is when God does something for you that you can't do for yourself. He then went on to say that we need to focus more on our blessings and what God has done for us.  He challenged everyone to start praising God for His blessing instead of asking for something from God.

The main focus was how as parents we need to bless our children by praying to God to do things for them that they can't do for themselves.  That really hit home.  Will is so little and he doesn't understand that he needs so many things (spiritually, emotionally, and physically) and that Clay and I can't always provide those things for him, but God can.  Dr. Knight also said that every time we bless our children, we are telling them we love them, we are affirming thing and we are telling them that they have value.  I want so badly for Will to know that he is so loved and valued!

Finally, Dr. Knight told us the blessing he prays over his children. It is so simple but so powerful. 

Dear God - bless this child, protect this child, keep this child pure, keep this child safe, in Jesus' name. Amen

Picking Flowers

The same afternoon that Clay was working on our plumbing issue, Will was out in the yard playing.  I was sitting at the kitchen table working and he came in with flowers he had picked.  It was so sweet!  He was so proud of himself and I was blown away.  I love this boy so much!!

Drawing

Will has been really into drawing faces recently. 

He told me this was "Daddy and Will with crazy hair":

Daddy on the left, Will on the right