Baking Cookies for Santa

Kingston, Solomon and I made candycane shortbread cookies for Santa and they were soooo good! Best of all, we had so much fun making them. Christmas seems magical this year!

Cool Christmas Cards

I just wanted to put the word out there that we have got the best Christmas cards this year. We stumbled upon (on my friend Marie's Facebook page, but her blog is also awesome - www.mckiney-oatescereal.wordpress.com) a guy making Christmas cards to look like vintage album covers. I couldn't resist. It was a little more expensive than regular Christmas cards, but this is one that I intend on framing and pulling out every year to hang on the wall! Anyway, he is now going to start doing birth announcements, save the dates, graduation announcements, etc., so check out his website: www.artinstero.wordpress.com

I'm really happy with how ours turned out and he has been super easy to work with!

In Our House, You Make A Mess, You Clean It Up

Josiah

My sweet, sweet Josiah!! What a dream baby! At his 2 month check-up, he weighed in at a chunky little 12 lbs. He is getting rolls on his thighs and he loves to be talked to. He "talks" back and smiles so big when his brothers talk to him. I have noticed that he braces himself a little when Solomon approaches! He has also been sleeping 10 hours straight during the night! Did I mention he is a dream baby?

Thankful

It is Thanksgiving and I have too much to be thankful for. Let me make 2 top 5 lists, 1 for very serious subjects and the other for inanimate objects:

1. Grace

2. A husband who is intelligent, faithful, loving, patient, kind, thoughtful, and a wonderful Dad

3. Healthy, beautiful, happy boys

4. Supportive family, on both sides, that I am confident will love all 5 of us for all of our lives no matter what

5. Friendships: I have very old friendships and a few recent ones, but I am very selective with who I spend my time with. Therefore, I cherish every one of my friendships and I think that I have the best group of friends that can be found.

1. Blueberry lattes from Dunkin' Donuts

2. Toothpaste

3. Dark chocolate

4. Fleece pullovers

5. My ipod

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playing in the Sand and Terrorizing Seagulls while Eating Flaming Hot Cheetos

We finally got sunshine in Florida after weathering the storm, Hurricane Ida. The weather was perfect and the sand was packed down, so it wasn't blowing around everywhere. There were literally 2 other people on the beach! The boys had so much fun playing in the sand.
The boys chased this poor little seagull all the way down the beach and back again. He was running for his life, but they were having so much fun. If you look closely, you can see Solomon carrying his bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos as he chases. He was not giving those up. Kingston was telling the seagulls that they were "not allowed" to come near our sight and then exactly why they were not to come near us.

Our setup...Josiah is asleep on the little pillow under the umbrella

Chattanooooooga!

Chattanooga is one of our favorite places to visit as a family and I strongly encourage any of you who have never explored the city to go for a weekend. We took the kids (again) for a day trip to the Children's Creative Discovery Museum and to the Tennessee Aquarium. They had a blast and we love watching them have so much fun! By the way, the Children's Museum in Chattanooga is for kids of all ages. The Adventure Science Center in Nashville seems to be more for older kids, but the one in Chattanooga was great for kids even as young as Solomon. It is definitely worth the money, or the free passes that we had!

Solomon really enjoyed the water play. By the end, he was so wet that we had to go to the giftshop and get him a t-shirt.

Digging for dinosaur bones

Kingston being a doctor

Solomon being a patient

Caught Red Handed

Ever tried on a pair of pants at a store and thought they didn't look as good on you as they did the manequin in the window? Now I know why and I feel a little better about myself for this discovery.

Look at the picture closely:Yes, thats right. That manequin is wearing a size 1 pant that is still folded and clipped!!

Its The End Of The World As We Know It

My sweet Kingston, he is so thoughtful. I mean, he thinks about things so hard....he contemplates things. Anyway, a few months ago Kingston and I were watching "The Universe" on The History Channel. It was a show about the "inner planets" and they proceeded to say that in a billion or so years (which Kingston has no concept of) the sun is going to turn into a red giant star and swallow up the inner planets and everything on those planets will be completely burned up. They said all this before I realized what was happening and Kingston's eyes got as big as saucers. He looked at me and said, "Is that really going to happen?". I said, "No, Kingston, they don't know what they're talking about". We moved on and I thought (hoped) it had been forgotten about.

Fastforward a couple of months.

I was in the hospital with Josiah and my parents are lovingly caring for Kingston and Solomon. The week that I was in the hospital it rained nonstop, or so I'm told.

Mom was taking Kingston and Solomon to preschool. It was cloudy.

Kingston: "Grandmama, when is the sun going to turn into a red giant?"

Mom: "I don't think that is going to happen" (thinking he is thinking of a Jolly Green Giant or something)

Kingston: "It is! When is that going to happen?"

Mom thinking that since it is raining he is wondering when it is going to shine again: "I guess about noon today."

Kingston gets very quiet and starts just staring out the window for the rest of the way to school.

When they arrive at school, Kingston gets out of the car with his little Solar System backpack and turns around to Mom and says, "So, about noon today?". Mom says, "yes".

His teacher said that he was a little upset at naptime. Poor little guy. He probably thought it was the end and he needed to say his goodbyes. We haven't talked about it.

I'm Gonna Brag For A Moment...

I'm not sure how I did it. Jeremy got home for dinner and asked what I had done today. I started telling him and I was kind of amazed at myself. I can be pretty hard on myself and look at all the things that I didn't get done or I am not doing right, but today I am going to brag.

After getting up, nursing, and feeding breakfast, I took my car to Andrews Cadillac to get fixed after the 18 wheeler tire flew up in the air and basically took out my hood.

We went home and played Play-Doh.

I cleaned out my cl0set.

We went outside to play.

I folded 3 loads of laundry and put them away.

I made lunch.

I cleaned out another closet.

I cleaned mine and Jeremy's bathroom.

We all piled in the car and made a huge drop-off at Goodwill.

We got Jeremy's oil changed and transmission fluid flushed.

We read books.

I made chili and cornbread for dinner.

I bathed the boys.

I got out the highchair and cleaned it up.

I am pretty proud of myself especially because all of this was done without A) Kingston or Solomon taking a nap, B) turning the TV on to entertain the boys and C) neglecting my children. No doubt tomorrow I will crash. Jeremy called me a superwoman. :)

Cousins In Florida

Jeremy was traveling for work last week and no one was in the Destin rental, so I called my sister-in-law, Amanda, and our friend Miriam, and we all headed down to get some sunshine for a couple of days. The following are pictures of the boys (there are 5 between Amanda and me) and sweet Caroline, the newest addition to the Pharr family. In case you're wondering, Josiah only had exactly 1 week to be the youngest! My sweet boys, Solomon and Kingston

The 4 Pharr boys: Caleb, Solomon, Caden, and Kingston

Josiah and Caroline nap on a recliner on the beach

playing on the beach

Solomon was a little clingy on the trip and he mostly just stood by my chair. We were laughing and talking one day and I had to snap a couple of pictures of his sweet smile. Josiah naps in the background.

Solomon

The following pictures are of the same boys October of 2008, exactly a year ago. Time flies so fast!

Solomon and Caden

Kingston and Caleb

Solomon, Kingston, Caden, and Caleb

The Innocence Is Refreshing

The other night on VH1 they had the "Top 100 Songs of the 90's". Since I am musically stuck in the 90's (so says Jeremy), I had to watch. Somewhere in the countdown was the Right Said Fred song, "I'm Too Sexy". Kingston was standing right in front of the tv and I heard him repeat the words. I immediately turned off the tv:

Me: "I'm sorry, Kingston. I shouldn't have had that on. Don't say that, ok? That isn't a nice thing to say."

Kingston: "What isn't nice?"

Me: "What you just said"

Kingston: "But I can say numbers. Thats nice."

Me: "What?"

Kingston: "Two sixty. I'm two sixty."

I just smiled. I love the innocence of children.

A Little Piece of Tennessee Paradise

Last week Jeremy's company had an executive retreat. Mr. Thompson took everyone to a place called The Inn at Evins Mill located in Smithville, Tennessee. It was such a beautiful place that I had to share photos and let everyone know that if they need a getaway, romantic, alone, or with friends, this place is ideal!! All of the meals were prepared by chefs and were absolutely fantastic! There are a couple of hiking trails that lead down to a waterfall, and masseuse on staff to give in room massages! I will warn that there isn't any television reception in the rooms, but there are 2 separate rooms, one in the inn and one in the mill, that have satellite reception and wireless internet service. These rooms also have fireplaces and books and DVDs that you can take back to your room to watch. I'm really not sure what the cost is, but I strongly recommend The Inn at Evins Mill for a weekend (or just a night) getaway!

This is a picture of our room. It had a vaulted ceiling, a king bed, and look at this loft bed!! How fun if you've got kids!

This was our cabin. Each cabin is divided into 4 private rooms and bathrooms and each has a deck with rocking chairs. The top rooms are the ones with vaulted ceilings and loft beds.

This is another view of our cabin. This is our front porch with the rocking chairs that overlooked the water.

This is the grist mill with a bridge going across a small dam.

Some banjo playing frogs down by the mill

Kingston Knows Who Is Really In Charge

I was at Target with Kingston and we were looking at toys. I stressed to him that we could look but we were not buying anything. He found something that he wanted:

Kingston: "But when can I get that?"

Me: "Well, you can tell Santa that you want it and maybe he will get it for you for Christmas."

Kingston: "Nah. I'll just tell Jesus. I'll pray about it."

Josiah Phillip Has Joined Our Family!!

Jeremy and I are so excited to introduce Josiah Phillip Pharr! He was born September 15 at 12:23 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. and 14 oz, and was 19 1/2 in. long. Everything went very well with the birth and he is such a sweet baby! I love having 3 boys! We were so blessed to have so much support around us, so many friends and family members visited and helped celebrate the birth. Even though Josiah is our 3rd child, I am still amazed at what a miracle birth is and how we are able to love each child as much as the last. We are so blessed! Although we had so many people visit, I had to only include pictures of grandparents because there were too many, and I wouldn't want anyone to feel left out! Thank you to all of you who visited!

Here I am getting ready to go to the hospital showing off my big ol' belly!!

Laying on the operating table holding Josiah for the first time, and loving the fact that I'm not pregnant anymore

Our first family photo

Me and my 3 sons

Pappy and Maymie Pharr holding their 9th grandchild

I look sleepy.

Jeremy loving Josiah.

Grandmama Beasley holding her 5th grandchild!

Grandaddy Beasley holding Kingston and Josiah

Kingston and I loving on Josiah

I had to include a picture of Josiah's nursery. I love it!