Fall Changes... Double the Boys!

Even though it's not really fall, as the temperature would prove, we're still considering it fall because naturally, summer is over when the kiddies go back to school. We're about 3 weeks in and the biggest change for us is the Spiva boys! For half of Tuesday and all of Wednesday, they hang out with us while their parents are at work.

And so far, it's been amazing! We pick up Hudson from preschool about half way through the day and Max loves that although he has made it clear that he doesn't want to go to school :) And after some playing and lunch, all the boys lay down and sleep at the exact same time! That's right-- I have a house full of a 4 yr old, a 3 yr old, a 1 yr old, and an 8 mos old, and yet I still get about 2 hours of silence before baby Grant wakes up and I get to snuggle him on the couch and give him a bottle. He really helps with my baby fever although he is getting too big too fast!

The boys all play so well together-- all 4 of them. Both of the big boys are protective over their little brothers and come to the rescue anytime they fuss. So then naturally, they've started being protective of the other's brother too. I love it!

My mom came by one day when they were all here and she said it was loud and full of boy craziness, but I've yet to notice! It's a houseful and a handful but it's oh so fun and full of lots of laughs! And did I mention how cute they all are??

Beach Trip #1

Towards the end of July, I got a text from Jill on Saturday wondering if we wanted to go to the beach with them on Monday... as in 2 days from then. Of course my answer was a resounding "yes"!! But Chad said something about "business, breadwinner, mortgage, yadda yadda" and said he had to wrap things up at Lonestar Painting Inc, so we waited until Wednesday to head down. As soon as we were all 5 in the car, with the nose pointed due South, I was happy.

It was a really fun extra long weekend because the Spivas have boys like us, our boys play so well with Hudson, and we enjoy hanging out with Jonathan and Jill so much! We like to vacation the same way-- beach time, good food, and make sure the boys get the rest they need-- even if that's in a stroller, in the car, or in their beds by 7pm!

We did have a some rain-- so of course Jill and I got our toes done (y'all it costs $40 for a pedicure at the beach... we about died! In our parts, they're $20, tops!) We also lived it up at the beach club-- they brought you food and drinks, had cabanas and towels and umbrellas and an awesome pool for entertaining the boys.

All the boys turned into prunes and slept well and the babies really couldn't have been better if we paid them... except for their 5am wake up calls... losing that hour, plus the pack n' play in the closet sleeping arrangement was brutal... for the parents!

It was a great trip and we're so grateful for the getaway with friends :)

Welcome Lil Pumpkin!

I've got lots of new babies that I'm really looking forward to in the  next couple of months... and none of them are growing in my own womb, thank you Jesus. (We'll hopefully do some more growing in the future, but for now, me and my womb are on extended leave.)

In April, my wonderful friend Danielle (Reed's mom) is having a baby... gender to be determined this weekend at their gender party!!
In March, Angela, Gabe's mom, is welcoming a little girl: Kimbrel Lynn-- Lord know we needs some girls around here!
In February, sweet Lisa (Haven's mom) from our small group, one of the most "would do anything for you people" in this world, is bringing sweet Calder into this world

AND
In just a few weeks... maybe a few days... or maybe even a few hours with how quick she likes to pop babies out, my dear friend Jill, will be having sweet Grant Henry-- and I canNOT wait for his arrival. I've mentioned his big bro Hudson a time or 29 on this blog- I've loved that kid since his conception and his personality and how sweet he is to Max just makes my love grow and grow- and now, I am so eager to meet the next Spiva baby that I get tickled and giddy just thinking about it! I can already smell him, yummmm!

Obviously, as these little people arrive, I will gladly supply you with pictures so you too may gawk, but for now, check out the cute baby shower we had for Jill and Jonathan and baby #2... it was thrown by the Porton Posse ladies (minus Caroline who had another engagement) and took place on a crisp (ok downright freezing) fall night. I even got a little crafty, which hasn't happened that much since I brought my own small people into the world.

Here's the entrance:

Setting the stage... can you tell what our theme was?

We served chili, the fix ins, apple cider, and pumpkin cupcakes... naturally!

Here is the drink station

And last but not least, the fire pit, the eventually roared and kept us all cozy while we chatted and hung out

Of course, there were s'mores as well.... and maybe Ruth and I ate 10 (each) but hey, you only get to have a Welcome Lil Pumpkin shower for baby Grant once, so let's live it up!

And last but not least, mainly because I forgot to take a picture of the adorable pregnant lady, here is a picture of the hostesses (without the guest of honor, ha!)

It was a wonderful fun party-- I think everyone had a blast-- but now all that is left is the birth, wahoo!

3 Little Pumpkins...

It's that lovely time of year again-- beautiful leaves, crisp mornings, and the inevitable pumpkin patch visit that results in many adorable pictures of my favorite little people. It was our second trip with the Spiva family and yet we managed to get no pictures of the boys together or looking in the same direction. (Maybe just maybe that's because one of the is 2 years old and one of them is 3 years old....) And Jill has a new pumpkin in her tummy, and I canNOT wait for his arrival, but I didn't get any pictures of him either. Actually, I don't think I have even one trace of an adult actually being there at all, but I can assure that the boys did not travel alone.

So without further ado, check out my cutest little pumpkins:

And here are some of the boys and Hudson (or not.)

Happy Fall Y'all!
Wait, too cheesy?

Ok fine, then let's just end with a picture of our pumpkin picked special for the Bowman family by Gabe and my punkin Jack :)  Look at that resemblance- it's uncanny!

And that baby J is the most precious thing I ever did see. Enjoy him!

The Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday, we loaded up in the mini van and headed to Berry Patch Farms to ride the hayride and pick out some pumpkins.  We met our friends, the Spiva's there.  Last year, we made the trek up to Burt's Pumpkin patch on the only Sunday all month that it didn't rain.  It took over an hour just to get into the parking lot, AND then 30 more minutes to find a parking spot.  Needless to say, we just weren't up for all that this year!  But Berry Patch proved to be just what we needed- a great place for families, a 10 minute drive, plenty for the boys to do, and lots of pretty pumpkins... or as Max says "BALL!"

Gabe was in charge of picking out pumpkin-- and I think he was looking for the biggest possible pumpkin that he could actually pick up by himself :)



Check out all the changes a year can bring:

[caption id="attachment_1095" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Bowman's 2009"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1092" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Bowman's 2010"][/caption]

My face shrunk but my baby grew :(((((

I also tried to talk all the boys into posing for the camera-- but with 3 VERY busy boys, a whole field of pumpkins and tractors constantly driving by, it was quite the task.... but check out these three cuties:

[caption id="attachment_1093" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hudson (2 years old) Gabe (7 years old) and Max (1 year old)"][/caption]

Once Gabe picked his pumpkin, he also ventured over to the gourds.  He decided on a long skinny green goard and a round wart-cover gourd.  Now let me give you a sneak peek into Gabe's brain:  He then decided that the skinny goard looked like a bat, and the round goard was the ball.  Which obviously means that we need to carve our pumpkin to look like a baseball player.  And did I have anything that would hold the bat in the pumpkin's hands and maybe something to hang the ball in the air so the pumpkin could be at bat?



I kid you not.  The child is ALWAYS thinking...  I'm going to try to convince him that triangle eyes and a toothy grin is the way to go, but I'm not so sure he's going to fall for it....

Heat Wave Adventures

As I sit here typing at 7:54 pm on a Tuesday night, the only thing I can hear are the waves of the ocean.

But don't be jealous!  Those waves are Max's sounds machine.  I just got the boys to bed, and Chad is playing softball, which means he'll be coming in the door any minute looking for food.  But I still must relish these few minutes of silence.  It is really rare that the house is silent-- no tv, no talking, no whining, no car noises, or "booms" or "pows", no pitter patter of little hands and feet.  Just silence.

I wonder if when moms get to heaven, if there will just be a silent room that they get to go into.  We'll probably be having too much fun with the angels for that, though.

But back to my silent night.  It comes on the heels of a screaming baby, a poop explosion, and a 7 year old who talked non-stop from the second he walked in the door today.  While our sitter was here earlier, I noticed that she had quoted scripture on her facebook status and I commented wanting to know if my sweet angels were bring her closer to Jesus or terrorizing her so that she needed more Jesus.  I was just being funny.  But that came back to bite me on the booty!  Now I'm the one needing to quote scripture after the non-stop chaos of the afternoon.

But that's just one more sign that summer is over! It's really obvious around our house.  There is always hustle and bustle and we're always on a schedule.  I was telling someone this weekend, that my days are so monotonous at this point, that I can tell you, within a 20 minute window, what I'm doing every day.  But there is no other way to be a wife, and a mom, an employee, a volunteer at church, a bus driver for 2 cute boys, a laundress, and a house keeper.  Not to mention a bulldawg fan and still hang out with the many GREAT friends that God has blessed me with.  So alas, I sit here, on my couch, and listen to a sound machine, and feel peace. Funny.

I love fall!  I love football and the crisp mornings.  I can't wait for the shorts and long sleeves weather.  Gabe's soccer games start this Saturday, and we've already turned off the ac a couple times.  So this is my farewell to summer...

There are a few events that I meant to include on the blog, but they just never made it-- but there were so kodak moments for sure, so I'll use them to celebrate summer instead :)

First of all-- 4th of July-- we headed the lake with our friends.  Wendy and Trisha's parents have a house on the lake- so fun- and Jill and Ruth have birthdays during 4th of July week, so it was a party.  Chad and Eli ran the Peachtree Road Race the morning, while Max and I walked along beside it-- don't even get me started on how difficult it was to get to the end to pick of Chad and Eli- geez.  Then it was lake time- and Uncle Eli joined us.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics- lame- and the only 2 I have to show for it are these:





Secondly, Anna and I took our kids on two very "fun" outings.  And somehow, we managed to pick the 2 hottest days of the year for these... and both of them were outside.  And to top it off, somehow, our husbands managed to miss out on both of these fun extravaganzas... nice!

At the end of June, as the heat wave came to settle of Georgia, we took the babies to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful- unfortunately though, they are not air conditioned!  But we were going to have a fun day, no matter what!!! We did get some cute pictures and that made it all totally worth it!







I really like this one, because EG is escaping her stroller because she is WAY to mature for a stroller nowdays-- she seriously walked with Anna through the whole thing- like a little adult- it was hilarious!



More photo ops:





And our second crazy adventure, towards the end of the heat wave, was a trip up to Canton to visit my aunt.  She has a great house and a creek in her backyard- so it was creek.  My cousins were coming on bringing their kiddos-- it consisted of lunch and play-- all in all, a happy day.  Except, insert heat wave, and a windless day.  The hot air just sat on us like elephants.  BUT the kiddos did not mind at all!!  They had so much fun and brought home a ton of sand in their bathing suits :)









So needless to say, we enjoyed the lazy days of summer- the sun, and the water, and the break!

So let's review our highs this summer:

We started off with a fun beach trip, then celebrated our second anniversary.  We also ventured out west to Colorado, sold our 4runner, and bought a minivan.  Max mastered crawling, decided he only wanted big boy food, got his first hair cut twice- once was unsolicited.... and he also turned ONE!  Gabe lost his first tooth while at six flags, went on 3 vacations this summer, got a killer tan that ladies would pay for, and did it all with a big huge grin on his face.  We got visits from both sets of grandparents, and made a couple trips to the lake.  Uncle Eli came to visit several times, and the whole family was indeed happy that I was not pregnant this summer and did not have to float around the pool like a beached whale.  I never once complained about anything swelling either.  It was a divine summer.