1 Year Ago Today

One Year Ago today (December 2nd) the Vandiver Family was blessed with little Ethan Rhodes. He was born at 2:15 pm. Weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I cannot believe how fast a year has gone by and how much my baby boy has grown up. Pictures will follow soon of his first birthday party on Saturday. I will also be sure to update again when we go to his one year check up. Check back soon for updates!! I love you little E-Man...I cannot believe you are so big and you will never know how special and loved you are by your mommy, and family.

Things I am Thankful for...

1. My faith.
-The good Lord has gotten me through times that I did not think I would be able to.
-He also has brought me some of the greatest gifts and blessings in my life.

2. My family.
-Clint (my loving husband and father of my children)
-Aydan (my oldest, hard headed with a huge tender heart child)
-Ethan (my middle, laid back easy going, always giddy child)
-Baby V (my youngest, attached at the moment child, that I cannot wait to hold)
-Nemo (the 5lbs caregiver of the boys)
-Eva (the 7lbs playmate of the boys)
-Phyllis (my mom, who I cannot thank enough,she is like a 2nd mother to my children)
-Dan (my dad, a man of few words but when he speaks we all listen)
-Danny, Summer, Hunter and Gavin (my "little" brother that has become a hero to me and many others. His wife, and my nephews)
-All the Vandiver's and Dawson's (who have taken me in and made me a part of the family)

3. My friends.
-You know who all of you are! You all have been there for me at different times in my life and are still there to support me. :)

4. My job.
-Even though it might be crazy at times I would not change it for the world. I love working with each and every one of my students. I also cannot wait to see what they all grow up to be.

The list goes on and on. I guess sometimes in life we need to just sit down and think about all the things we have to be thankful for. I could spend the remainder of the evening typing this up and still not be done. Unfortunately though, 2 of the things I have to be thankful for will be up in a little bit and in order to take care of them I need my rest.

Tell me what you are thankful for. I know that their is something VERY important that I have forgotten.

And the 3rd is....

Wednesday we went to see Dr. DeLisle to find out what we would be having for baby #3. Clint was convinced that it was a baby girl so in honor of finding out we wore PINK! Mom, Aydan, Ethan, Clint and I waited for a little while for the ultrasound tech. Finally she came and took us all back. As soon as we got in there I could feel my stomach get in knots. Did I really want to find out? She put the piece on my stomach and the first thing that I saw was a dead give away! I knew what it was before the the tech...so I announced to Clint and Mom that it was going to be........a

BOY!

I guess we could have told everyone that we wore pink for Breast Cancer Month...but we were too excited about finding out it was going to be another boy and it did not matter :) 3 mommas boys for me :)

Tate's Farm

The other weekend was teachers day at Tate's Farms. We thought that we would check it out since we were free. By the time we left we spent over $30. But the fun we had was worth every penny!

Ethan and Eli! Born 1 day apart :)

A little boys paradise! The corn crib!

Whoa! This is awesome mom and dad. Can I get on of these at home?

Corn was fun, but Cotton was better!! My little farmer boy!

Chuck E. Cheese

The blogs will be short, sweet and to the point. I know that most of you check it out for the pictures anyways :) So here is our trip to Chuck E. Cheese over Fall Break. We had a blast!!

Throwing the balls at the skee ball machine with MeMoney and Aunt Jessica. Ethan and I stayed our distance! :)

What a big guy MeMaw!

Aydan's new best friend! He followed Chuck everywhere. Poor guy!

Bob The Builder and Friend!

Here he comes...here comes speed racer!

So it has been awhile!

I have been completely awful at updating my blog. Things have been crazy at work and home. For those of you who do not know this Clint and I are expecting our 3rd child. That will put our family at 3 children under 3. When this one is born we will have a 2 year old, a 1 year old and an infant. In addition to expecting another little one, we have put our house on the market again. Needless to say we have outgrown our little home. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next little bit. We are busy all the time and have little time to update but I will try to do my best. Thanks for being patient and I will try to be better :)

Go Sox!

The other day the boys and I were playing in Aydan's room and Aydan decided to hand Ethan his hat. When I came back from getting my phone I looked at Ethan and he had the hat on and was chewing on the Boston Red Sox ball. I just thought that they were too cute not to share.
Also you can't really tell from this picture but Ethan "earned" his first black eye and bloody lip. He attempted to crawl and instead of moving his knees he decided to just push off his toes and when he did that he pushed himself right into the legs of our couch. I picked him up and loved on him and he stopped crying in a minute literally. But when I looked at him he was covered in blood and laughing. He scared me to death, luckily he is ok and we have started to crawl a little bit better since that incident. I will definitely have video of his crawling when it happens.

Toy Story 3 Craze

So Aydan has offically become the biggest "Goody" fan out there. Mom bought him a Woody stuffed animal and blanket back when Ethan was born. He had never seen Woody or Toy Story before, but he had to have the little stuffed cowboy from Wal-Mart. So of course like all grandparents, mom caved in and bought it for him. He sleeps with that thing still today! But since Toy Story 3 has come out "Goody" is EVERYWHERE and is costing me and everyone else a fortune. I love Woody too, but more importantly I love to see the look on my little boys face when I give him something that is "Goody". I love to hear him say "Tank you Money!" (Thank you Mommy!). Here is a few pictures of things that he has gotten recently. A list will follow :) If you have a little boy I am sure that you have begun to collect this stuff too.

There's a new Sheriff in town!

Ok, Nemo and Eva which one of you wants to be Bullseye?

I'm not sure if this is a sheriff or a farmer!

Aydan and his crew at bedtime...Thanks Aunt Summer.

Here are the additional items we have accumulated with "Goody" and friends:

T-Shirts

Figurines

Stuffed animals

Hood towels

Towels

Beach Bags

Punching Bags

Books, books, and more books

Socks

Flip Flops

Sandals (that light up)

Tennis Shoes

Costumes

If I have forgotten something please accept my apology. Thank you to everyone who has supported our family addiction to Woody and Friends. I am sure that their is much more for us to enjoy :)

Denim Diapers?

Ok, so I must admit I am not normally the type of person that sees something on tv and jumps on the opportunity to purchase it. But I did get a coupon in the mail to get $3.00 off a single pair of Huggies. Then I received another coupon from Babies "R" Us to try the new Huggies Denim Diapers, $15.00 for 2 packs. What a deal... 2 packs of diapers for $12. You can't beat that. Anyways after watching that little boy on tv walking down the street in his denim diaper I cracked up...and thought to myself that is ridiculous I would NEVER do that to my children. But I absolutely adore them. They are adorable on and they are also thicker. Here is E-man modeling the denim diapers...and as the commerical states ... It's cool to poo in blue.

Coca-Cola Kitchen Project

As many of you know I love to do artwork on my walls. Ethan's room is Noah's Ark, Aydan's room is Handy Manny and airplanes, a family tree decorates my entry hallway, and this is my latest addition. It is a Coca-Cola bottle cap in the kitchen. My kitchen is decorated in Coca-Cola decor and has mostly red accents. Clint's Granny left him her Coca-Cola possessions after she passed away. We are very honored to have those treasures of hers and decided to highlight our kitchen a little bit more. Thank you so much Granny!

Decorating for Mom

So my mom has been out of town for over 3 weeks now. She went with my sister-in-law, and 2 nephews back up to Washington state to move back. My brother will be coming home tonight or tomorrow from Afghanistan. She has been wanting to do something special to the back room for the grandsons, so I decided I would fix it up for her. She wanted to do something that she did not think that the boys would "out grow" anytime soon. So I chose to do sports. Here is a picture of the bedroom after I fixed it up. It is still a work in progress. It is very difficult to decorate a room with a 2 year old copy cat and a teething 6 month old. Nothing special, but I hope that she likes it.

Boys will be Boys

Summer vacation has been awesome so far. When I was working I realized that I was missing out on my boys life, but I did not realize how much fun I was missing out on. I have enjoyed every minute of being a "stay at home mom" this summer. I don't even mind waking up at 6:15 every morning to get my baby boys out of bed. Aydan and Ethan are so much fun. When Aydan was growing up Clint and I treated him like a fragile, porcelain doll. With Ethan we are a little more laid back, and in return he has been more laid back. There is 19 months between the 2 of them, but if you ask Aydan or Ethan they are the same age when it comes to play time. Any other time and Aydan thinks that he is Ethan's daddy. Here is a few pictures that I have captured this week of them playing together. :)

Wrestle Mania in the Vandiver living room? That is correct, this is a daily event. Ethan cracks up the entire time and Aydan cracks up at Ethan. It is priceless.

School buildings are so overrated. Who needs a building during pro ration? Aydan and Ethan say that playing school in a laundry basket is the way to go. Aydan truly believes that he is reading the book to Ethan. Ethan sits there and listens, I sit and listen too. I am not as good at listening as Ethan apparently because I only pick up on words like "dog", "yuck", "dirty", "mama", "sorry", etc. Ethan understands every bit of it.

New Jammies

I found these new PJs for the boys the other day. Before Ethan was born I could not find anything that said Big Brother or Little Brother on it. I had to make Aydan a shirt to wear to the hospital. So when I found these jammies it was about 6 months late, but I was still so excited. I cannot believe how big both of my boys are. Aydan is squeezing into 3T clothes, while Ethan is in a range of sizes anywhere from 6 months to 12 months.

Daddy hanging out before bedtime with his two boys.

Ethan rockin' his Little Brother Jammies.

Aydan loves being a Big Brother.

Prayers for PawPaw Earnest

Pawpaw Earnest has been in and out of the hospital over the last few weeks complaining of heart trouble. The doctors decided on Monday that he needed to have surgery in order to correct the problem. Pawpaw had bypass surgery today. We went down to the hospital this evening to check on him and the nurse told us that he was doing great. Pawpaw is one of the strongest and bravest men that I know. When Clint and I went in to see him he had just fallen asleep, so we let him be. But, you could still tell that he was in pain. I know that Pawpaw is going to be ok, but please pray that the pain he is going through gets better soon. We are praying for you Pawpaw. Aydan has been talking to Ethan about fishing with "Pawpawwwwwwww" and telling him how much fun he had with his favorite fishing buddy. Ethan can't wait to get out on the boat with you and catch some fish. We love you and can't wait until you get better!

Ethan Rhodes Vandiver is 6 Months Old :)

Where in the world has the time gone? I cannot believe that my baby is already 6 months old. We took him for his 6th month check up yesterday. He weighs 21 lbs and is 27 inches long. His weight is in the 95th percentile, height is in the 75th percentile, and head is in the 95th percentile. Ethan is sitting up perfectly now, rolling around the room, playing with everything and anything, eating lots of different foods, and has 2 bottom teeth. His top 2 teeth are starting to cut too, but have not poked out yet. He is very interested in crawling, but has not quite mastered pushing up on his knees yet. But he can scoot around the room on his back. Not too long and he will be giving Aydan a run for his money. Nemo and Eva better watch out too because he adores them :) Happy 6th month birthday big boy...I love you bunches!! Pica pica pica chu!! Chunk, chunk, chunkity, chunk, chunkity, chunk, chunk, chunk!

Pool Time

We enjoyed playing in the pool with Hunter and Gavin so much the other day that we decided one evening when it was not raining to do it again. Ethan is sitting in his Bumbo seat, so that we did not have to hold him up. If we had anymore water in the pool then he would have been floating. The 2 of them had a blast splashing around. Aydan has no fear of the water he was jumping in the pool, putting his face in the water and trying to swim. Unfortunately his body is a little longer than the pool itself so it was sort of hard. Aydan and Ethan have become the best of friends and I am enjoying every minute of it. I know that it is not going to last forever, but a mom can hope right :)

Big Brother giving his baby brother a rubber ducky.

The 2 of them splishing and splashing. Once we brought the camera out, Aydan got a little camera shy. When it was time to get out there was very little water left.

Enjoying Summer

Well our first official week of summer is over. I must say we enjoyed every minute of it. Most days we hung out in our PJ's until 10:00. We played hard, stayed up late (9:00), laughed, and most importantly enjoyed one another. While the boys were napping each day Clint and I spent our time in the garage getting it cleaned out. We decided to buy an elliptical machine and needed to better organize the garage in order to put it in there. Here are some pictures of what we have enjoyed doing this summer.

Ethan has enjoyed swinging in the big boy swings at the park.

He also loves to jump in his horse jumperoo, and play in his excersaucer.

Ethan also enjoys eating dinner with the family. Although some nights he would rather play.

Aydan has loved spending time outside each morning because it has rained every evening.

Playing at the park in Athens. He thinks he is King of the Mountain and truthfully he probably is :)

Dressing up like a fireman and laying in mommy and daddy's bed has been fun. Got to have the proper attire to watch Playhouse Disney.

New Flowers and New Lawn Man

Well we planted flowers a few weeks ago, but they are really starting to bloom good now. I am not sure if it is the special touch that our new lawn boy is giving them with the help of his Daddy, or if our family's thumbs are just getting a little bit greener with our age. This year our flowers are doing great! Hopefully between the 3 of us watering them we can keep them alive and looking fresh.

Aydan watering the flowers, or is he watering the house?

Clint's special creative touch to our flowers this year.

Our beautiful collection of flowers for the neighbors and mailman to enjoy.

Memorial Day Cake

For those of you don't know me fairly well, I do not have an ounce of Betty Crocker in me. When it comes to the kitchen I am the type of girl that burns herself getting out chicken nuggets, burns mac and cheese to the bottom of a pan, the list goes on and on :) But for Memorial Day we were going to Aunt Carolyn's for a cookout, so I decided I would give cooking a try again. I wanted to do something festive so I decided to make a flag cake. It was easy, I did not burn it, and it actually came out cute. I am proud of it. Who knows maybe I will be willing to try and cook some more. :) I do not have them pictured but Clint made an AWESOME Buffalo Wing Dip, and I also made Death by Chocolate. We had a blast, THANKS Aunt Carolyn for having everyone even though you were sore.

Who is who?

With each day that goes by, Aydan and Ethan are looking more and more alike to me. I still can tell the difference between them, and their personalities are a little different. They are both happy go lucky. Ethan is laid back and so easy going. Aydan on the other hand is "Mr. I Can Do It" and is a little more high maintenance (I take total blame for that). I would not change anything about them. I know that they are both going to go far in life, and I cannot wait to see their lives unfold before me. The 2 pictures that I have placed on the blog are not the best examples of the 2 of them looking alike, but it at least gives you the impression. Can you tell who is who? Just in case you can't the top one is Ethan and the bottom one is Aydan. Aren't they just darling? :)

Pool Time with Cousins

Aydan and Ethan relaxing in the pool.

Hunter and Gavin chilling out!

Rub a dub dub...4 boys in the tub, or pool. Whatever :)

Delano Park Rose Garden

Saturday afternoon we packed the boys up and headed to Delano Park Rose Garden in Decatur. We were on a mission to take pictures and enjoy the beautiful garden. Of course the picture part went a lot better with Ethan than it did with Aydan. But we still managed to get good pictures of both boys. If you cannot tell by the pictures (mainly of Aydan) it was HOT outside. It is beautiful there and I suggest going to visit.

Aydan lost in deep thought!

Looking at the birds!

Enjoying the scene!

Oh No! I don't want to take anymore pictures!

Hmmm...I wonder if these taste good? I'm sure they make a good teething ring.