Fall HAS arrived!!

It's been Fall for a couple weeks, but this morning when I stepped outside to go to work at 630am it was nice and cool and you could finally tell that Fall was here in Florida! I've been anxiously awaiting it this year. Usually I dread the end of summer. Since I've had the kids I love Fall, because they are able to enjoy the outside more without having the sweat pour down their faces with the humidity so high all the time. So we are welcoming Fall this year more than ever :o)

Well the kids are of course, AMAZING! We had a great Labor Day weekend! Ray got us a condo on beach side here in town and his sister Billie and her family came down to hang out with us! It was a blast....the kids got to hang out with their cousins and they all got to meet Olivia for the first time! We were either at the pool or the beach. We ate out and just relaxed! It was an awesome time! We have Family fun night (FFN) every Friday night. One Friday we decided to take the kids last min after dinner to DQ....they loved it, of course :o) Olivia, couldn't stay out of Rays ice cream...it was hilarious!! Olivia got a tea set from us for her birthday and Nicholas LOVES to have tea parties with her....I love to watch them together!

I put together the sand/water box that we got for Nicholas....he LOVES it! They don't make kid stuff easy to put together that's for sure. Something that should have taken me 15 mins. took about 45mins. haha I was not going to let that toy defeat me though! It was well worth it to see him enjoying it! Nicholas had a birthday party to go to for one of his friends, Hailey. So mom watched Olivia for me so I could have some one on one time with Nicholas at his friends party! It allowed me to focus my attention just on him and enjoy it with him. Him and I haven't gotten much if any Mama and son time since Olivia has been born. He needed it and so did I! I'm so proud of him for the manners he has and how well he behaves(most of the time). He also had a playdate with his friend Addison. She came over here and they played in the sandbox and in the new unfinished firepit I'm building for us to roast marshmallows and hot dogs in this Fall/Winter!
A client of Rays gave us a piano and we have our very own Mr. Piano man in our house....Nicholas loves to play it! Piano lessons are definitely in the future for the both of them. :o) Nicholas sure can talk about anything and everything....it's adorable! He is doing well at putting sentences together. People tell me all the time how well he talks for his age! He LOVES his sister, but doesn't love sharing his toys so much. He is definitely a ham too. He is such a sweet, loving little boy! He already yells for me to come get her out of his room! I thought I had a few years until that started haha, guess not! :o) He has gotten in the stage where he thinks there are monsters and he is scared :o( We tell him that there are no such thing, but that if he thinks he sees one to tell them that "Jesus loves me" and to sing the song. He's so cute b/c he will say" Jesus loves me, I know the bible tells me so". Tonight we actually watched a Veggie Tales movie about monsters, that hopefully will help.

Olivia's 1st birthday was this month....she had a Strawberry shortcake birthday party! It was a lot of fun. We ended up having it at Nana's house so we could go into the pool after cake and gifts! She was more into the cake than Nicholas was on his 1st birthday. She tested the waters first by dipping her fingertips in the frosting. She then dove in with her hands and then it seemed like she was going to smell it and her whole face went into it which left what looked like a strawberry from the icing on her forehead. She WAS Strawberry shortcake that day! She got lots of great gifts from her family and friends. Everyone enjoyed the cake and seeing her smash it and actually almost ate the whole thing!! That's my girl....she can eat just like her Mama :o)
We went a couple days later to get her one year pictures/our family pictures taken. They turned out AWESOME! Both of them were actually still enough to have them done. Although, there was some bribing done on Nicholas' behalf. Once we left he got a "special treat" (since he was so good) that he got to pick out himself. After some decision making (b/c he could only have one thing) he picked a new Lightening McQueen car that he didn't have yet! Then he saw the rocket ship and cars in the middle of the mall on our way out. Of course we couldn't leave without riding on at least three of them! :o) Olivia rode on one with Nicholas too! Olivia hasn't started walking yet. She will when she's ready. Wondering if it's going to be at 18 mos like Nicholas. She is talking more, laughing and chasing Nicholas around everywhere. She is getting SO long too. She eats A LOT and still is not a chunky baby....must have a great metabolism! :o) She is a pistol though.... she fights us when we go to change her diaper and clothes. She will eat breakfast really well, but when it comes to lunch and dinner she flails her arms. She adjusted to the reg whole milk and the sippy cup really well. I nursed her until she was 1yr, but got her on the sippy cup at about 6 months old. She was drinking Nicholas' milk from his sippy cups before I stopped nursing her, b/c he would leave it laying on the ground. She would see it, pick it up and down the whole cup of milk and then still nurse :o) She scoots around on her booty shaker just like Nicholas did instead of crawling on hands and knees. It's so cute that they both did this.
She is such a doll baby! Always smiling and right along side of Nicholas!

Ray is doing well! He's been really busy at work. Still going to the gym and losing weight. He looks amazing! He is such an awesome husband and father, I couldn't have been more blessed. I prayed for years that I would find a great man that I would marry and have children with and God finally answered them! Thankfully so, because Ray, Nicholas and Olivia are my life! When he's not at work or the gym, he wants to be home with us and just hanging out. Unfortunately there are chores we all have so we have to do those too. Fortunately the kids love going outside so they are usually out with us and we get the chores done and hangout with the both of them. Sometimes he tries to do his chores while they are napping so that when they are up he can spend quality time with us.

I'm still working at the hospital and loving the hours! It's hard sometimes to get up at 6am and out the door by 630 especially if one or both kids wake up in the middle of the night. Knowing I'm off by 1145 and with them by lunch time makes it worth it though! I feel blessed with that part of my life also. I hated working FT after Nicholas, b/c I was missing EVERYTHING. So now it's nice that I don't miss all that much anymore. After picking them up from moms my days are pretty much spent with naps(sometimes I get one), snack time, play inside and certain days we go outside, dinner, baths, play, story time, brush teeth and bed time. Somewhere in between I try to get laundry done during the week and I leave them at moms through nap time on Thursdays so I can clean house and get the rest of the laundry done so that my weekends are free to ENJOY MY FAMILY! Having a schedule is SO VERY important. Especially now with two. If you don't stay on some kind of schedule and if they don't get their naps on time the day can be really frustrating for them as well as for me. I was due for an upgrade for my cell phone and got me a new iphone....I LOVE it!! I can take pics and video. Post to FB as I take them for friends and family to be updated as our life is being lived! I Upload to my pc from my phone so I can print them and do this blog at the end of each month. It's also an ipod so I listen to it as I clean on Thursdays. It does much, much more too and it keeps me organized more than I already was haha :o) Anyway, Ray and I went to a B&B for one night here in town (made it a date night with dinner and a bottle of wine)! We bid on it at a fundraiser and decided to use it that weekend. It was nice for us to have time for us. The next morning we were racing to get the kids though, b/c though we enjoy time for us, we miss them at the same time! Those two beautiful little miracles that we made together, out of love are by far the best things I've ever done in my ENTIRE life. I know Ray says the same :o)
Well I hope that you enjoyed catching up with us and please enjoy the pics from September....

JUST A FEW OF MY FAVE QUOTES
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".-Bible
"Do not insult the mother alligator until after you have crossed the river".-Haitian Proverb
"After all it is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life".-Evelyn Underhill

Take care and be well
Love,
Misty :o)