Easter Weekend

It was a rainy and wet Easter this year, but we had a great weekend. 

Saturday morning, we decided to go on to church for their inside Easter Egg hunt, after being awake the entire night with the boys and the storm. We were SO very late. Everyone was leaving as we were coming in- oops! 

Case ended up with a bag full of eggs anyway, and Matt set up his very own Easter egg hunt very quickly lol!

Saturday evening, Matt and I served at church for their Saturday evening service. Matt helped out with the lights, and I helped out with the nursery. I was scheduled to work in the baby room, but we only had Rhett and another little boy in there, so we merged with the preschool room which was fun because I got to see Case play in his two year room!

On Sunday's Matt goes in early to help with lights, so we didn't get any Easter morning pictures eek! 

The Easter Service was unbelievable. The church was packed, so that was amazing to see. The sermon and the music were both so moving. Of course, the story of Easter is the most amazing of all.

We stayed for Kidstuf, Case and I had to leave for a few minutes to talk about his quiet voice (lol) and Rhett fell asleep on his Aunt Mimi. :) We had lunch afterward, then it was nap time. 

Then the Easter Bunny left a jelly bean trail for Case and Rhett to find their Easter Basket goodies (just like he did when Matt was a kid ;)

So sweet! Can't wait for the boys to understand the true meaning of Easter. 

From one of my favorite worship songs:

"Jesus paid it all

All to him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow"

Tornado Season

{Photo from Lex18}

This spring has been pretty wild so far. 
We have had several Tornado warnings - not watches. Actual warnings.

It has been very interesting this year with Case, last year he could care less about the Booms (aka thunder). This year though, it has scared the you know what out of the boy. The first thunderstorm of the year he screamed bloody murder the first time it happened - and to see his face when it happened was absolutely heart breaking. After that, we talked about storms a lot, reminded him that it was just a loud noise and there was nothing to be afraid of. There was a storm while the boys spent the weekend with Nanny & Poppy and Nanny taught him to clap after the thunder, that has helped, and it's pretty cute! He has gotten a lot better, especially if he's around us. If he is in sight of Mommy or Daddy he doesn't have a care in the world. If it happens when he's in the other room or sleeping, however, he runs as fast as he can to our open arms.

Last week, was the first threat of a tornado in...I can't even remember how long.
It was all over the news, it was expected to get pretty bad around 2 am. We were in our front yard talking to a bunch of our neighbors earlier that evening, and since we don't have a basement they told them we were welcome to come over if it got bad. Matt downloaded a Weather Radio on his phone (ha!) and we went to bed. Right around 2 am we woke up to his phone going off. Then came the thunder. The house rattling, window shaking, intense kind of thunder. Then Matt told me there was a Tornado Warning in effect for our county. I have to admit, I have never been scared of storms. I've always shrugged my shoulders at the Severe Thunderstorm threats, and Tornado Watches. I have never personally been hurt, or affected by storm damage or anything like that. Besides a leaky basement growing up, they've always been no big deal. That's why I was a little surprised when Matt woke me up, and told me to actually call our neighbors. She answered right away, and told us to come on over. So, we scooped up our sleeping babies, and ran next door in the rain. They have three kids, and three dogs so it was so funny all sitting in their guest bedroom in their basement! (We put Gunner in his crate in our hallway, the safest place for him) We had the TV on in the other room, and it seemed to be moving away pretty quickly. We were there for about half an hour or so, then despite their offer to let us spend the night we carried our babies back to the house and went back to bed. (After thanking them a gazillion times for letting us come over in the middle of the night!) Thank goodness the boys went right back to sleep in their beds. I didn't sleep hardly at all after, it was still storming here and there and I felt anxious the all night. I was worried Case would wake up the entire night, and if it wasn't that it was Rhetter man waking me up because he can roll on his belly now but gets stuck that way and wakes up mad! ;)
Although I felt extremely horrible for waking their entire house up, and going over there in the middle of the night, she assured me she was thankful we did, and she was so happy we took their offer seriously about coming over.

Even with scattered storms in the forecast for what seemed like the next month, I didn't even think about another Tornado Warning coming again so quickly. Amy and I had a sister date planned, and while out to dinner Matt called and asked where we were...we told him, and he was telling us to go the bathroom ASAP! What? Another one?? We kept up with it through texts from Matt, and eventually asked the manager to turn on the local news channel. It was expected to hit right in our area, eek! I took it a little more seriously this time with threat to our specific location! We never had to take shelter though, it passed quickly thank goodness. A few funnel clouds were confirmed only miles away though! We were nervous wrecks not being with our families, we are so thankful and blessed that everyone was safe and sound.
That night it stormed all hours of the night again, and around 6am we heard the heart wrenching wail of our two year old, and he climbed into bed with us for the rest of the morning.
Then, last night same thing except we woke up to the house shaking type thunder around 3am.
Followed by:
A two year in our bed, Rhett crying as well, Mama giving Rhett paci, Mommy and Daddy calming Case, Daddy getting stabbed in the back by Case's feet, Mommy getting smacked by Bob (Case's favorite stuffed dog), Mommy giving Rhett his paci again, Mommy crawling into Case's big boy bed alone, Daddy roughing the night with an apparently horizontal sleeping, restless two year old. (Sorry Matty!)

...and it's storming again tonight.

The Handy Camera

These days, I feel like the majority of my pictures are taken on my iPhone. I both love and hate this. I love it because I always have a camera on hand for those sweet, funny, random moments that I want to capture. I hate it because it's not the best quality and they seem trapped on my phone.

However, while charging my phone on the computer the other day, I decided to go ahead and upload all of the pictures. The first picture was from the night before our Hilton Head Vacation last summer! Case was almost 2, and I was 6 months pregnant with Rhetter man.

SO...looking through all of them was so much fun. 

Here are some of my favorites...

Things I Want To Remember

Case: 2 and a half years old.

He has to read his ABC book and the Going to Bed book before bed time. 

Anytime he find a toy that has a scratch, or a sticker is peeling off or anything he says "Uh Oh! Gunner eat it" (cracks me up!)

He gives hugs and kisses like crazy

His "Love you" sounds like "Luh oh"

He can play with his blocks, cars, airplanes and puzzles for hours

He still hates getting his hair washed

He says "Good night"to outside and to the park

He loves to make Rhett laugh
Says "Okaaaaaay" all of the time, and if you ask him to do something. So funny.
Love his stuffed animals. Current favorites are: Bob of course, Horsey, Monkey, Doggy (used to be Griffin's, this is his new favorite!) Teddy Bear (2) and two random little fish.

He is so into movies, he laughs in the right parts and stays so still and quiet in the intense scenes

Loves ovaltine and waffles

Speaking of movies, his favorites are Toy Story (all three), Curious George and GeoTrax (the movie that came with his Train toy from Mamaw and Papaw)

He knows all of his letters and a ton of shapes

Has the sweetest heart

Says Good night and gives kisses to everyone in the family before bedtime (including Gunner)

Oh, and he likes markers...

Guess Mommy shouldn't leave him with markers as she turns over laundry upstairs...oops! ;)

Rhett: A few days shy of 5 months old

Happiest baby EVER

Laughs and smiles and anything and everything, melts my heart

I constantly catch him just cheesing at me as I'm doing chores

Best napper and sleeper ever

He goes to bed around 8pm and sleeps until around 10am most days

 Goes with the flow, always up for anything

Biggest bluest eyes that always make me smile
Touches my face when I rock him for a few minutes before laying him down for a nap or bedtime

I just want to cuddle and squeeze him all day long! 

He LOVES his Daddy, when Daddy comes in the room it is NON STOP laughing and cooing and cheesing - also completely melts my heart!  ...and Daddy's too I think. :)

He is in absolute awe of his big brother, he tries so hard to keep an eye on him at all times, when I feed him his bottles and Case is running around he will twist and turn the entire time trying to keep him in sight- it's so sweet!

Obsessed with his hands (I know all babies are) but I don't remember Case being so enthralled with his, Rhett cracks us up! He will be cheesing and laughing at us, then his hand will get in his line of sight. Then he will literally almost cross his eyes trying to focus on it. He'll watch it so intensely then it he'll move it and it go back to laughing, then Oh...HAND and it will happen all over again. Funniest thing to watch, I'm going to try to get it on video soon!

Breaks

Last Friday, Matt had his PE Test in Louisville. He had been so super stressed, trying to study as much as he could with insane stress at work as well. He was just absolutely drained when he came home. 

A few weeks before this, I started thinking about how he needed a break soon. So, we asked Nanny & Poppy if they would like to keep the boys for us that weekend. They were up for it, and we were so very thankful!

Matt left for Louisville Thursday afternoon , he stayed in a hotel so he could get to the test sight early that morning. I talked to him during lunch, and couldn't wait for him to get home. Our friend (Brandon) Akers came up to Lexington and was going to cook burgers for us before we went out on the town. We had friends swing by to eat, and hang out. We had a blast...and it was so nice to have an evening out with my Matty and some of our friends. Much needed!

The next day we slept in, and had lunch with Akers. We had a lazy day...but were missing our boys like crazy. 

We ran a few errands that evening, and ate out for dinner. We saw a brand new baby at the restaurant and we talked about how we just knew we were going to have three boys one day. :) Matthew Vernon even said to me "We could start trying for number three now!" ...is he CRAAAAZY? Ha! Don't you worry this Mama is NOT ready for baby number 3 yet. Mama wants baby number 2 to be out of diapers first. :)

The thing about having no babies around is that I totally forget to take pictures!

We had so much fun though, and it sounds like our two sweet boys had a blast at Nanny and Poppy's house. (Case did well with the potty there too! I think we are officially potty trained!) 

We are so lucky that Nanny and Poppy live right next to Mamaw and Papaw and they can see everyone in the same visit!

Update in a List

1. Potty training is going VERY well. He is becoming more and more independent every day. We have moved the little potty seat into the bathroom (as opposed to in the middle of the living room floor) and he goes in there and does his business! If we are just hanging out at home though, I let him run around naked and help him get on the big potty with his Cars potty seat when he needs to go. He calls it his "Racecar! potty seat" :) He LOVES getting his sticker afterward. :) At church last Sunday, he even told me as we were leaving KidStuf that he needed to go! First public potty usage! HA! :)
2. Rhett is the best baby ever. He smiles all day long! I'll be doing chores or something, and look to check on him and he's just cheesing at me. It always makes me laugh, and melts me every time! 
3. Case and Rhett playing together is probably the best thing in the entire world. Case is constantly saying "Hi baby Rhett! Hi!" and Rhett always gives him the biggest gummiest smile when he sees him. Rhett is in awe of his big bro. I love it. 
4. My sweet husband stopped by Wal-Mart for me this week, after a long day. (I begged him to so I wouldn't have to go out with two little ones the next day just for a few things.) When he came home he said "I'm glad you asked me to stop, I was able to give $10 to a homeless couple walking by the Shell Station." I absolutely love that sweet man of mine. 
5. My nephew Cy played in his first Freshman/JV baseball game over at Dunbar this past Tuesday. Ugh he's so big! It's SO much fun seeing him play high school baseball. LAFAYETTE baseball. We're so excited for baseball season and to watch Cy, Griffin and Avery play! LOVE IT!         
6. I am having so much fun working on things for baby showers. I can't believe four of our friends are pregnant! Can't wait to meet all of these sweet babies!