5 years old? Are you sure?

We were going to do a small little bowling party with the family for Zach's 5th birthday, but the morning of his birthday, he was leaning over the toilet bowl. Nice way to start out the 5th year of his life :( But as kids do, he bounced back FAST and by that evening he was opening presents from Mommy and Daddy and brothers. The next night we had the family come over for dinner, cake and presents. Here is Zach blowing out his candles. He had such a good time. I love that he thinks just having a birthday cake is the best thing EVER!!!!

He LOVED all his gifts from everyone. He's been playing non stop with them all, but this one is the most special because it's something only he and daddy get to play with together. {really daddy bought it so HE could play with it, but we won't tell Zach that!}
His new Air Hogs Remote Control Hellicoptor!

{Sweet Drew}

We had a bit of a scare last night that seriously took 10 years off my life. It was like 12:15am and I was headed to bed. I went downstairs to turn off lights and locked the door that leads to the garage and went back upstairs. I don't usually check on the boys because their doors squeak, but for some reason, I did. I checked on Ty and he was sleeping soundly. I went into Zach and Drew's room and Drew wasn't in the bottom bunk. I thought, ok, he crawled up to Zach's bunk (I even thought how cute, I'll have to get the camera) but he wasn't there. I checked the closet, under the bed....went in the playroom, no Drew. Then I went and got Carl and told him Drew wasn't in his bed. He was like sure he is. When he saw that he wasn't, he ran from room to room upstairs while I flew downstairs...no Drew. All I could think about was the unlocked door and that little girl Madeline that was taken out of the hotel room on vacation...

I ran back upstairs and when I saw the look on Carl's face, it freaked me out. I seriously couldn't breathe. We started flipping on every light and looking in the washer and dryer, etc. Horrible. Zach was awake now and so was Ty because we were literally yelling Drew's name. I ran downstairs again to look for him and I heard Carl yell "I got him". I almost collapsed. I felt like I was gonna throw up. I ran upstairs and saw Carl had Drew so I went and got Ty who was screaming by this time. Then Carl and I switched. He put Ty back to bed while I just held onto Drew. Apparently he had crawled under his bed to find Zach's blue matchbox car and had climbed all the way in the corner and fell asleep. FREAKED ME OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sat up in bed awhile and prayed. I didn't know how else to calm down. I thanked God that Drew was alright and I prayed that I wouldn't have nightmares!!!!

Everyone is safe and sound....but seriously a traumatizing 15 minutes!!!!

Ty Ty @ the end of 9 months!

I just had to share this picture. I had just gotten my brand spanking new Canon 50D dslr with my new 50 prime lens. I was so excited about this and wanted to try it out right away. Here's one of the images I caught. I have since ordered this in an 8x10 for our family room. He's so stinking cute! And guess what he started doing RIGHT AFTER THIS? Pulling up to a standing position and then holding on with one hand and cruising around on the furniture. Walking is just around the corner, I think!

Bye Bye Passie

So, we have exciting news from the Jeffcoat front. If you received our Christmas card this past year, you'll see Drew and his passie. It was hard enough to get all 3 to look in the same direction, but when I tried to get that thing out of Drew's mouth, it was a definite "no go", so I left it in and decided to document what my boys REALLY look like--passie and all. Here it is:

So we decided a couple weeks ago to just not give the passie to him at bed time and you know what? He didn't seem to care. I prepared myself for nap time the next day, but he never even mentioned it. I didn't want to jinx it, but by day 3, Carl and I were pretty darned proud of ourselves--and Drew! Well, then last week, I called the boys in from playing outside and what do I see but Drew walking in with a passie stuck in his mouth (Carl and I thought we had found them all). I gasped and he looked startled and yanked it out of his mouth and put it behind his back--precious, yes. But I knew we had to take it one step further. So I talked to him about being a big two year old now and big boys don't have passie's. Only babies have passies. I told him we needed to throw away his passie. He said "ok"! Here's a couple pictures.

I can't tell this story without talking about Zach, though. I have to say, that he was awesome during this whole thing. After Drew threw away his passie and turned around, Zach was RIGHT THERE clapping and yelling "Drew Drew's a big boy now!!!" Then Drew says "I a big boy now!" with all the enthusiasm that Zach had. It was the sweetest thing ever! I do love my boys!

Easter Egg Hunt!

Zach and Drew had so much fun at our church's Easter Egg Hunt. They were even lucky little hunters! Zach found the $20.00 egg, the $5.00 egg and one of the $1.00 eggs. Drew found the $10.00 egg. Now they can't wait for the ice cream man to come down our street. {Mommy and Daddy are thinking, that's a WHOLE LOT of ice cream!!!}

Ty was watching intently--learning the ropes of the Egg Hunt. He can't wait for next year when he can do it, too!

Easter Morning!

Four--Two--Nine Months

So here they are. Ty's 9 month pic, Drew's 2 year pic and Zach's 4 year pic. Zach rocks that spiky hair, if I do say so myself. :) And Drew, well, is there much more to say than that face? And Ty is very proud of those chompers--he'll be eating steak in NO time!!! I'm so proud of my boys!!!

SCORE!

A follow up from the previous post. I just found some pictures from when Drew was 6 months old. Far from professional, but taken with a professional camera. Ok, I'm feeling MUCH better now :) Here are a few...

Ty's 6 month pictures

Ok. So I'm a horrible photographer mommy. I take other people's kids pictures, but do you think I remember to do my own children? NOOOOO.... I need to actually schedule an appt. for them I think. Funny, I need to schedule an appt. for my kiddos in their own home to have their pictures taken.
Anyway, I've been heartsick that I never got Ty's 6 month pictures (and for that matter, I don't think I ever got Drew's either--but one at a time) Well, as I looked back through some pictures I took in January, there was a great pic of Ty. Here it is and now I can say, "Look, honey, here you are at 6 months old..." Hooray!

Winter Wonderland--Southern Style

So, we had a little snowfall yesterday morning. The weather reports were calling for snow, but we all doubted it. Zach didn't want to go to bed the night before, so I told him that if he went to bed, when he woke up there would be snow outside. He went right to bed and I started praying for snow. :) Carl said "what if it doesn't snow?" I said "I'll deal with that in the morning". Thank goodness when we opened our eyes, we were met with the most beautiful snowfall.

Zach woke up and was so excited! When Drew woke up Zach was squeeling and telling Drew about the snow. They were both just standing there staring out the window. It was precious! So we got dressed and went outside. Here are some pictures.

Zach making snowballs to throw at daddy

Carl throwing snowballs at innocent helpless children.

Catching snowflakes on his tongue

Our little garden knome. We call him Drew.

Happy Birthday Kiersten!

So my sister's oldest, Kiersten, turned 15 this past Weds. I still can't believe it! 3 more years and she'll be getting ready for college! Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Kiersten is also our number 1 babysitter for the boys! She has grown up to be such a responsible, smart, beautiful young lady.

I did a photoshoot for Amy of the kids a couple months ago and Kiersten really liked how her picture turned out, so I thought I'd post it.

Happy Birthday Kierst!