a week in review... cell phone style

one day i will take some real pictures. but for now, you get cell phone pics... AGAIN. i apologize to my 5 blog readers. nothing terribly interesting happened at our house the past week. but for what it's worth, here's our week in review...

the boys loving on baby timothy! 

 cheese mama!

 trace hit his head (at the library of all places...) and had a nice little knot, bruise, and cut. it's better now though~ and thankfully no stiches were required.

 i got a new phone... this is me playing around with the camera on it :) and i'm showing off my scarf that my sis made me! she has learned to knit. maybe one day i will learn! ohhh, and please note that my hair is in a pony-tail. woo hoo!! i've been letting it grow for a while now and i am so glad i can finally throw it up when it's getting on my nerves. which is every day. so i have to make myself wear it down some days! sorry for that rabbit trail. like you cared.

 lucas makes this mean face when he is mad... he jacks his eyebrows up and i call it his "angry eyes." :) or grumpy mcgrumperson. either way.

 trace loves his new pillow pet. he named it duke. go figure...

 lucas decided to ditch the spoon and tear into his yogurt fist first. really son? really? someone should've been watching him. i mean, for real. where were his parents?!?

 trace loves working puzzles... but up until recently, he needed lots of help. i was confident if he would just try to do it by himself, then he could! so when nate was cooking dinner last nite, the boys had puzzle time. and whatdoyaknow... trace did his hot wheel puzzle all by himself! so proud! :)

so although last week was kind of laid back and boring, it's not so much this week. we are busy busy busy. tonite nate has praise team practice, we have church tomorrow nite... then thursday nite we are going to the circus! i am so excited to take the boys. you will DEF see some real pics from that outing i hope! :) then friday nite and saturday nate is attending and helping lead worship at a men's conference at crosspoint. and finally, we will close the weekend sunday by celebrating lucas' SECOND birthday! wow. i'm tired just thinking of all that! here's hoping we all get rid of our coughs and colds and have the energy for all that is planned this week!

chuck e cheese H - E - double hockey sticks

what possessed us to take the kids to chuck-e-cheese's last saturday, i'll never know! we got there and stood outside, in line, in the freezing cold, with 7 kids (4 adults- me and nate, plus meme and rara.) when we pulled up, i saw the line and thought to myself, surely it will move fast... well i could not have been more WRONG! the kids were so pumped too, even lucas kept saying chuck-e cheese's. i figured it would be devasting for them if we cancelled our plans. but seriously, it was all we could do not to punch the dumb cops in the face while waiting in line amongst the crazies. it was bad ya'll. like really bad! for a second, i wondered if we were in chuck e cheese hell! finally, after 40, yes FORTY minutes of waiting and still not making it inside, we convinced the kids bowling would be just as fun and headed next door to vestavia bowl. (turns out there was an hour long wait to get a lane there, but at least it was inside!) we ordered pizzas and let the kids play in the arcade! when we finally got our lane and the kids bowling shoes on, they were so excited! who knew kids would get so excited over tacky black and neon green velco shoes?!? ha. i don't think any of them had ever been bowling before. we got them all the lightest balls they had, but they were still 6 pounds. and that's heavy for a little kid. i mean, i think i only bowl with like an 8 pound ball, but i'm a wuss! ;) anywho. it was quite an ordeal but i think when it was all said and done, the kids had a blast! and honestly, i don't know if we will EVER attempt to go to C-E-C again. or anywhere in vestavia for that matter. ha! next time, we would do just as good to let all the kids pick out a toy at springville walmart and call it a nite. haha! and of course, i left my camera on the kitchen table. so here are a few pics i took from my crappy old phone. but it's better than nothing!

 at least this little guy was chillin and happy. well, once we left the madness that was the waiting line of chuck-e-cheese that is. while we were standing outside, little man was not happy. we had him in his pumpkin seat all wrapped up and he was just a screaming. (i don't blame him, i wanted to scream too!) well about that time, a young girl who could have been no more than 15, with a baby on her hip, walked past and asked me in a know-it-all-voice... "ya know yo baby's cryin, right?" OHMGEE, are you kidding me? i had no idea. thanks for the tip. ok wow. just wow! i thought nate was gonna slap her. that's about the time he decided he and baby t would be best off waiting in the car! :)

so.... there ya have it. a nite out with the whitt's is never dull... there's always sure to be drama of some sort. but, i would say if you look past all the drama, we had a great time bowling and the kids can't wait to go back. but next time, i bet we are all a little more prepared! (and by prepared, i mean i will take a few extra drugs deep breaths before we leave the house.)

;o)

sledding fun

(i'm a couple of weeks late posting this. the storm was jan 9-11.) with the threat of an ice/snow storm coming, we decided it would be a good idea to camp out at my parents house... in case we lost power, so we wouldn't be stuck on our hill with no heat! so we packed up and i swear it looked more like we were going on vacation for a week, rather than my moms house for a few days! josh and shannon were there too. so that's a total of 2 mamas, 2 daddys, 1 bitsy, 1 poppi, 1 nana, and 5 kiddos! :) the snow started falling sunday nite, HUGE flakes. they were so pretty. with it came sleet and rain. so when we woke up to 4 inches of snow monday morning, it was topped off by ice. we couldn't build a snowman or make snow icecream b/c it was so hard and frozen on top, but it made for perfect sledding fun!  

the big kids, checking out the snow sunday nite!

baby timothy stayed warm and cozy, and was a great little cuddler!

love this pic of the kids all bundled up, before we went out to play in the snow!

 everyone had their own sled! a few store bought, and a few homemade by poppi! he's the best! :)

 i sledded a few times, but mostly i enjoyed taking pics of everyone else having fun! i stopped to pose with the kids a few times! say cheese everyone!

 we had the BEST time sledding! we started in the back yard, then moved to the driveway. after that we stole the neighbors driveway, then the we got brave and moved to the big hills across the street! the kids had a blast. loved hearing their screams of fun, and in a few cases, seeing eyes big as saucers when their sleds went airborn. of course there were a few small spills, but nothing major!

 we always had one or two designated "catchers" at the bottom. usually i was one of them, and more times than not, the person on the sled flew on past me. good thing poppi was there to back me up! ha. (the bottom left is me trying to stop nate and trace!)

 yeah, THIS is the big hill i'm talking about! josh and shannon took turns with caden, and then nate and poppi also made a few trips down. by this point, i had gone inside with lucas, lala and trace. they were all freezing cold and miserable. lucas kept crying "cold, hands!"

 (this was before his meltdown, when he was still loving the snow!)

 ok yeah, i'm glad that i was not watching when the crazy boys adults were sledding. because apparently nate was gonna go for one last run, and wouldn't ya know, that's when he crashed into the curb. he bruised and scraped up his leg pretty bad, but worse than that, he broke the homemade sled! (j/k nate, you are more important than the sled!!!!)

 we just thought 3 inch pvc was pretty durable. must have been a hard hit nate took! very thankful that he didn't get hurt worse, and that josh and poppi had the sense NOT to let caden go on that last ride with dogg!!

 all the kids (big and small!) had a great time playing outside! and we enjoyed lots of good fun, yummy food, roasting marshmellows over the fire, and drinking hot chocolate while we were inside! my biggest complaint is the air mattresses weren't so comfy, but it was a small price to pay for being snowed in at bitsy and poppi's house! we def had a great time, and i guarantee it was more fun being all together than it would have been if we would have stayed home! mom says same place same time next year... but my guess is we won't have to wait until then!

 and one last pic that i couldn't resist not sharing of baby tim-a-fee! :) loved getting snowed in with this sweet boy.

4

4 excited kiddos (ages 4 and under) on 4 fun sleds, bundled in 4 layers of warm clothes, enjoy the 4 inches of snow/ice :)

2010...

... a year in review

WARNING: we are talking about a WHOLE year i am trying to highlight in ONE blog post. yes, it is gonna be long. yes, i will try and let the pictures do most of the talking. so if you have a few hours minutes, please join me in looking back at 2010 and the memories it held for the whitt family! :)twinkies. :)
side note: look how little (and BALD!) lucas was a year ago!
lucas had tubes put in his ears last january. and what a great thing that was for him! he has only had one ear infection since then, PTL! we were so worried about his first surgery, but he was such a big boy!

silly boys

on january 30, we celebrated lucas turning ONE with family and friends!

i'm a party pooper not fun frugal mom who asked people not to get lucas toys but diapers/wipes. they obeyed. wow. genius idea if you ask me! :)

he LOVED his smash cake!

all the kids who par-tayed with us!

in february, it snowed! trace and i played here at the house for a while. then the cousins all had a blast playing together at bitsy and poppi's house, in their fresh and undisturbed snow!

trace LOVED the snow. he loved to play in it, and eat it!

in the south, we use cowboy boots instead of snow boots! ha.

happy valentines day to my little sweethearts!

in march, trace and i went with amy and jack to the mickey's rockin' road show. he LOVED it!

happy easter!

rockstar!

we learned that taking a family pic with the boys is NEVER easy! :)

trace turned 3 on march 8, and caden turned 4 on april 22. so in april we celebrated both boys birthdays with a joint party at chuck-e-cheese's! they all had a blast!

note to self: batman cupcakes with black icing are VERY messy!!

the 4 cousins... nae nae snapped a pretty cute pic of them!

i learned a new editing trick... one you will see a lot from here on out! ;)

trace and nate went to see how to train a dragon. hence the dragon pj's. and the cutest.dragon.eva.

me and my boys

the weather started getting warm in may... it was the beginning of a lot of fun times spent outside!

million dollar smiles!

in june we went to the beach with meme and grandaddy for a FULL WEEK. something we've never done before. and it was A-mazing!!! we had the best time and did not want to leave! and i got the best tan ever! :)

one of my fav pics from the beach!

so handsome they are!

caden and laura grace spent a few nites with us. they had a great time and loved the slumber party weekend at jj and dogg's house!

waterslide fun!

i love this picture of me and lucas!

in july i found out that loni was going to be moving... to hawaii! :( so sad. i miss her so much. hoping to visit her in 2012 though! :)

so at home, it was time for a change... past time. but anywho, in the summer we finally moved lucas into his brother's old crib. and trace and lucas started sharing a room. they love it! for the most part, it was an easy adjustment. thank god! isn't he the cutest with his little butt in the air? :)

aren't they sweet?
nate and i celebrated our 6th anniversary on july 17... which was also his 10 year hs reunion. we had a great time!

at the end of july my sweet papaw went to be with jesus. he had a stroke 6 years ago, right before nate and i got married actually. it was a very sad time, but a relief to know that since he had trusted in christ as his savior, he is in heaven, dancing with jesus... and no longer suffering! we miss him but know he is in a better place! i took a few pics of the boys just a few days before papaw passed away. i'm so glad to have so many sweet memories of 27 years with such an awesome grandad in my life!

lucas loved swimming, and talking to charley the cow, at mr. tommy and mrs. marsha's house this summer

august fun: trace got new pjs... and rainboots! he loved jumping puddles!

more new pj's! trace must've had a major growth spurt.
matchy matchy! :)

in september, we took family pics with page... she's awesome!

love these ones of all 14 of us whitt's!

this jump pic is probably my fav!! :o)

more outside playtime in the fall. this is one of my most fav pics of trace. that smile... wow! he has my heart!

in october, we took a phillips family trip to the beach. we stayed at an awesome condo and the kids had a great time playing at the beach, in the pool, and at the pier fishing.

this *might* be one of the cutest pictures ever. like seriously.

and with the fall came alabama football!! i love my bama boys!

meme's little pumpkins in october! :)

at the pumpkin patch, having so much fun!

lucas was a sock monkey for halloween... so precious!

and trace had a last minute costume change from the bumblebee transformer and decided to be bibleman! pretty sure the light up sword sealed the deal! ha. how cool is he??

a fun fall morning of playing in the leaves... in their pj's!

at thanksgiving, page took some more family pics. we could not have been happier with the way they turned out... esp this one. how creative is she??

this one is our fav! we had it blown up on a canvas and it hangs above our fireplace. love.it.

in december, josh and shannon welcomed a new little one to their family. this is baby timothy, a relative who they have custody of right now. he is the SWEETEST.THING.EVER. such a snuggle bunny. makes me miss those days with my boys. hard to believe they were ever so small!

and here's the annual cousin's christmas pj pic at meme's house! they are too big!

we had a wonderful christmas... it was so fun to see the boys excitement over everything!

and to top it off, we got a WHITE CHRISTMAS! and it kept on snowing, so the next day the boys got to play in it! how fun!

we had an amazing year in 2010. god blessed us in so many ways... we are so thankful for all he has given us. a wonderful family, an awesome church, great jobs, good health... we could not ask for anything more! we are so excited for 2011 and to see what god has in store for our family!
*and i am so relieved to be through with this, the longest.blog.ever.
** and i'm sure if anyone is still with me, they are also relieved it is over. ha!

may the new year bring blessings and unending joy to all of you!

~ i don't know what the future holds, but i know who holds the future! ~