Mrs. Hendrix I hope your class enjoys this!

Today is a great, huge accomplishment. Andrew is four years old! Those who have known us the last four years know that I prayed Andrew would still be alive and I would still be sane.

Andrews first year was a breeze. He was a great baby. However, at 15 months it happened. He never stood still for more than 15 seconds. And even worse, he was stealthy. That my friends, is a bad combination. Quick and quiet. He could get anywhere and up anything in no time flat. I could make a very long list of all the dangerous places I have found him, and I am a fairly attentive mom. Then he turned two. Wow. What a year. We started potty training, which brought out a whole different set of issues. I seriously thought I was going to lose my mind. He was the child I swore I would never have. The third year, his goal in life was to not be shown up by his older brothers. He was out to prove he was stronger and tougher. Which is why the toy swords have all been confiscated! Honestly, discipline didn't seem to make a difference. He has been spanked more than all of my other children combined. If he decided to set out to do something he was going to do it no matter what the penalty would be.

But in the last few months I have begun to see his heart change. He is now so tenderhearted. He melts when I discipline him. And he is learning to obey quite well. He is cuddly and amazingly imaginative. He is my brave, independent little man with a dash of naughty instead of a heaping.


My sweet chunky monkey!


Andrew on the move.


Never afraid to get dirty.


This pic needs explaining. Our campsite was not far from the lake. In order to keep Andrew safe (because 9 adults weren't enough) we kept a swim vest on him at all times, put him on a tether line, and put bells on his boots.


Andrew with a sword is quite scary. AARG!


My sweet four year old Drew.

We just got back from a wonderful vacation to the Smokey Mountains. We were amazed by the beauty that surrounded us. The first three days of our vacation were spent camping in Smokey Mountain National Park. It was a wonderful time. We went hiking and even saw some bears. The rest of our vacation was spent in Pigeon Forge where Chris' parents joined us. There we visited Dollywood and just enjoyed what the area had to offer.

.....mama is making pancakes on Saturday morning.



.....you let your 5 year old try and make chocolate milk by himself.


.....you have a little sister and a big imagination. Meet the King and Queen of Narnia.


.....Parker goes fishing in the Tennessee River.


.....you watch too much Man vs. Wild. Cool survival shelter guys!



.....a 2 week project turns into a 2 month project.



.....Spring comes to Alabama.



.....2 people fall in love.

I normally only blog to give updates. However, I am passionate about this subject. I passionately HATE potty training! Even when it goes well, it is a whooping.

Top Ten Reasons I Hate Potty Training

1. I hate being obsessed about someone elses urine and poo.
2. I hate having to jump out of bed the second I hear them wake up so I can put them on the pot.
3. I hate being a cheerleader for pee and poo, especially when I have to cheer every 45 minutes.
4. I hate the humiliating accidents in public. This has only happened to me once but it scarred me for life. (Andrew pee'd while sitting in the high chair at Pei Wei. This was no little tinkle this was a second Noah's flood. I am sure everyone was quite disgusted around us.
5. I hate being manipulated by a 2 year old. They all intuitively know the power they have over you.
6. I hate accidents on carpet, enough said.
7. I hate holding a toddler girl over a public toilet for what seems like an eternity while she contemplates whether she really wants to pee or not.
8. I hate cleaning potty chairs and pooped in underwear.
9. I hate how a 2 year old can turn 1/2 a cup of juice into a gallon of urine.
10. My top reason I hate potty training is how much it reveals my flesh. I try so hard to be patient and calm but potty training always gets the best of me. I hate the anger I feel. I hate the pride issues it brings out in me. Potty training always shows me how much refining work that is left to be done within my spirit.

Okay, after numerous request I am going to put up some before and after pics of the house. I have hesitated to post pics because none of the rooms are completed, some are close though. Enjoy!










Before. Notice the orange shag carpet!








After. This is the guest room. All we have left to do in here is replace fan and finish decorating.










Before. Need I even comment on the 1970's floral carpet.












After. Okay, so as you can see we still have some work to do. We are going to replace the light fixture with a larger oil rubbed bronze one. I need to put up curtains and decorate. We will be putting down wood floors after we scrape the popcorn texture off the ceilings and retexture. But you get the general idea.




Before. Look at the wall behind where I am standing. We cut a "window" into it. You'll see on the following pics.








After. This is our daily dining room. Here is the pass through looking into the kitchen. Not that you would want to look into the kitchen at this time, ha. Once we scrape the ceilings and retexture we will finish trimming out the pass through and door, the crown molding and chair railing.



This is a pic taken from the kitchen looking into the daily dining. We are going to put a window on each side of the hutch. Eventually this too will have wood floors. We replaced the light with a new fan.

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Before.


















After. Parkers room. We just have to stain the trim around the window.




















Before
















After. Katie's room. All we have left to do is curtains and finish decorating.



















Before.











After. Luke and Andrews room. We just have to finish decorating in here too.

So you have seen the rooms that we have made headway in. The rest of the house needs LOTS of work. I will post pics as we progress.

Today was a momentous day. I fixed my first Thanksgiving meal all by myself. It was lots of fun and not near as hard as I thought it would be. It is 4 o'clock now and we are stuffed. The dishes are done. We played football outside with the kids and now we have settled in front of the Cowboys game with coffee and pumpkin pie. How blessed we are by God. As the kids would say, "God is good all the time, all the time God is good."


My first turkey, not bad eh?



Chris' first turkey carving!


The feast. One of Chris' friends from work joined us.


Guess who won the wishbone?