Charlie: 17 Months

 Charlie is 17 Months!

This month, Charlie has shown lots of signs that he really wants to be a "Big Boy" like Hayes.  We took Derek's truck one Saturday and let Charlie face forward and he loved it!  He hates being restrained and really fights us to sit in the high chair.  He is doing great at using his utensils when eating and loves when he gets to sit in a real chair :)  

Charlie loves playing with Neyland lately and enjoys petting him and chasing him around the house.  He is really obsessed with the Baby Genius animal videos and is always asking us for a "show".  He loves throwing the ball back and forth and is still extremely physical!  We love seeing his personality come out and hearing him say new words each day.

Happy 2nd Birthday Graceyn!

Graceyn celebrated her 2nd birthday today at My Gym!  The boys had a blast and enjoyed playing with all of their little friends...

Fun With Hayes

Hayes is growing up so fast and able to do so many more things lately!  This month, he learned how to play games on ABCmouse.com, went to see his second ever movie with Daddy (Frozen), and went to the circus with Jack & Hudson!  We are so enjoying our fun boy...

Lately he has also been cracking us up with some of the things he has said.  One night he was disobeying and we told him that if he didn't stop than he wouldn't get to read books at bed time.  Of course he didn't stop and thus didn't get to read books that night.  While we were lying in bed, he looked at me and said, "Mama, Jesus forgave the Kings that betrayed him so shouldn't you forgive me and read me books?"  His teachers are always telling us funny stories about him as well.  It's so hard to keep a straight face sometimes!!

Her Name...

...will be 

Marianna Kate Bland

This was by far the easiest name decision yet, since it was our girl option when we were pregnant with both Hayes and Charlie.  We are excited to finally be able to use it!  

Marianna is the name of my late maternal grandmother "Marianna Brandon Burger".  This was where my name came from, "Anna Clare" as well as my mom's name, "Melinda Ann".  I have always loved the southern charm and tradition of double names in our family.  However, having a double name myself, I definitely have had mixed feelings about them!  I love my name, but it's always been super annoying being called "Anna Snyder" or now "Anna Bland" and constantly having to correct people. Marianna is the perfect solution because although it sounds like a double name, it's actually just one!

Kate is after Derek's late maternal grandmother, "Bonnie Kate Scarbrough".  Derek has many fond memories of her wonderful cooking.  Let's all hope that Marianna takes after her and not me:)  We thought Kate was a perfect, elegant and simple counterpart to her four syllable first name!  The meaning of "Kate" is pure & clear.  We are already praying for her to have a pure heart and spirit.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God"  Matthew 5:8

We can't wait for Marianna to join our family in June!

Spring Teaser

Throughout this cold month, we have had just a few nice days where we could go outside and we definitely took full advantage!  My boys just LOVE being outside!  

It was nice one day after school so we went to the park!  Of course Hayes didn't want his picture taken!  Then a week or so later we had another nice day and spent the ENTIRE day outside!  After a large tree fell in our backyard, it left tons of dirt and sticks to keep the boys occupied all day long:)

It's a GIRL!!

We had our big ultrasound this morning and found out that we are having a healthy baby GIRL!!  I was completely shocked and had thought we were having another boy the whole time!  When the ultrasound tech told us that it was a girl, I had her re-check multiple times just to make sure:)

Here are the pics of our GIRL!

Surviving the Snow

January is my least favorite time of the year.  Mostly because the holidays are over and it is just COLD.  This January started out particularly cold causing a delay in when the boys went back to school.  After 3 weeks at home with little to no activities, we had to get creative!  We made pretend snow, played with play dough and did lots of indoor crafts.  Neyland got to spend a lot more time inside since it was so cold and Charlie especially loved it:)