Cold Turkey!

As the saying goes.....I quit cold turkey!  Well, Cannon is only 2½ years old so he really doesn't know that saying but if he did he would let you know that he gave up his paci cold turkey!

It has long been debated between me and Aaron when we would put up the fight to stop allowing Cannon to have his paci.  He has only had two pacifiers his whole life (all 24+ months, ha!), the lovely green smoothie one that I gave him the day he was born and then the upgraded blue smoothie for older babies.  We really never had to buy backup and emergency pacifiers because he only had one, the blue one and it stayed in his bedroom and never left the house.  Cannon was good about waking up and putting (sometimes throwing)paci and Orie on his pillow where he could be reunited with them when he returned the next time to his bed.

He does great at change so I wasn't concerned but his daddy sure was.  I believe Aaron thought Cannon would go off to college with his paci if we didn't break him of the habit VERY SOON.  Seriously, almost all year we have talked about this and I told Aaron we would approach this subject at Christmas time when Cannon could understand that we were going to give his pacifier to Santa Claus.  End of story! Don't bring it up again!

Well, we didn't have to wait until Christmas.  Instead we are dealing with a very feisty two year old having meltdowns and who loves to fight us on going to bed some nights.  Cannon will get into his bed at night and throws his two favorite things across the room, paci and Orie (his paci-animal minus the paci attached).  I think he thinks this will make a statement that he is mad but I turned it around and made it a lesson after about the tenth time dealing with him.  I picked up paci and told him that if he didn't need paci anymore then it was going away.

And that my friends is where the story ends!  Cannon gave up his paci cold turkey that night without a fight!  

ps...I did let Cannon keep having Orie at night and did promise Aaron that we wouldn't allow him to take it off to college with him!  :)

Spoken Words

Cannon is a non-stop chatter box.  He says words and sentences that I had no idea he would even know the context and meaning of.  Aaron is amused with Cannon's accent and me being from Texas I'm not sure why Aaron doesn't understand where that sweet accect is coming from?  Ha!

Well there is one word that makes me laugh everytime Cannon says it.  I sometimes tell him that I didn't understand what he said just so he would say it again........"Mommy, I want some O-G-U-R-T".

As Cannon's momma, I know he is asking for this............

.....but doesn't it remind you of this?

Where Are Your Manners?

I'm a manners freak!  I credit my Mamaw for making sure I had them and now that I'm a mom I can't wait to pass them on to my children. 

Please and thank you should always be at the BEGINNING of your statements and gratitude should always live in your heart.  Blessings are always said before meals, spoons and forks are always used and elbows are to always be kept off the table.....oh, and the cardinal rule......never speak with your mouth full!  These are just some of the small things in life that were passed on to me from generations past and I pray Cannon and Caroline continue the family tradition. 

On this night though.........

Caroline was excused from elbows off the table.

Really excused from using a fork or spoon.

She didn't have time to talk with her mouth full because......

....eating corn is finger lickin good!

You are just too cute for words my sweet, Caroline!

Radio

One of my favorite movies, seriously ask Aaron, I have seen this movie a hundred times and I still cry like a baby at the end.  I LOVE to see human kindness at its best.  It makes my heart and soul smile to know and see the goodness in people.  To see that they don't do it because of wanting anything in return.  They are kind simply because they care.  As a momma, I dream of all the things I want to teach my children and show them how rewarding it will be in their lives to be kind to others.  I wouldn't be the person I am today if there weren't people in this world who have been kind to me along the way.  Of course it all started with having a great and kind family....yep, it all starts on the homefront!

Fast forward to MY real life radio lovin boy!

How?

How do I not cry seeing my baby boy go from this small

so sweetly in the arms of his biggest fan

to this big?

Ten Years Later - September 11th

WOW, it's hard to believe that ten years of my life has past since the tragic events of September 11th.  It seems like yesterday when I was in Brentwood, TN for work and was sitting in my hotel room watching Matt Lauer on the Today Show when the second plane hit.  I remember how life was in slow motion for me since I was away from my family living in Charlotte, NC at the time.  I hadn't met Aaron yet but vowed to become a person with a deeper heart for life, a deeper appreciation of life and ultimately, a deeper love for my God. 

Right now Cannon and Caroline are too young to explain what happened on September 11th and what the day means to the world.  Even what it means to live through a war.  I will tell them all about September 11th soon, before they go to school and read about it in a textbook.  I can't believe that I will get to tell my own children about events in history that will be read about in schools for the rest of our lives.  Just doesn't seem real.  So for now, we will continue to stop and remember those lives lost on that day.  Pray for the families that have to carry on after that day and try to be better human beings to others to honor what the day is to be remembered for.

The remembrance ceremony at our Town Hall.

Caroline with our Chief of Police.

Sorry for the "paw" prints, Chief!

By this time, Caroline had captivated the whole audience

and it was a moment that was so fitting for the day!

I Have Waited a Year For This Day!!

In September of 2010, Cannon started preschool at Cross Schools.  One year later (shy one week) Caroline has joined her big brother.  Why am I so excited?

ONE stop in the mornings for drop off!

ONE stop in the afternoons for pickup!

ONE parking lot to watch and slow down for running away kids!

ONE telephone number to store in my phone!

ONE place to make sure shot/vaccine records are sent to!

ONE check to write a month!

and best of all....

the ONE place I know my children will grow up being taught about how much they are loved for by our Savior, Jesus Christ!!!

Caroline walked over to tell Cannon goodbye. 

He responded by giving her a hug and telling her he loved her. 

PRECIOUS!!!!

I wish I could know what she was thinking!

I left her in good hands....yogurt, yogurt bits and milk!

Miss Sassy Girl

The house was very quiet when I went to look for Caroline so I just knew I would find her where she WASN'T suppose to be.  Yep, here she is having loads of fun with the roll of toilet paper and here is the sassy look she gave me when I took her picture.  This will later be used as evidence to show her boyfriends that her sassiness started at a very young age!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Awwww.....the Labor Day holiday has arrived. 

Why are we so happy.........

The sun was shinning and we knew we wanted to be at the beach........

........and so did about a few hundred people!

Even a big dark cloud couldn't ruin our fun!

Daddy got to relax.

Do naps count as laboring?

Then we got all cleaned up from the beach sand in our hair and between our toes.

But our hair didn't stay clean for long.......

since we went to relax on the May River.

Complete with LOTS of snacks.......

......and our best buddies!

We looked for dolphins.

And saw lots of them!

Then we had meltdowns and returned home.

We didn't let meltdowns or stormy clouds ruin our fun this Labor Day weekend.  It was so nice getting to do something different each day only to have an extra day to relax before heading back to our hectic schedule called life!  Thank you Laura, Rick, Wesley and Landrum for the fun boat ride.  We loved it!