It Won't Be Long Now

It won't be long now and I won't be able to post pictures from Jubal's school days anymore. He will soon start K-4 and I won't get pictures throughout the day like I do on occasion now.  I possibly won't be able to get many more pictures of Gentry, either.  I was informed that use of cell phones were being buckled down on now.  This makes me sad because I love seeing how my babies are doing during their day when I can't be with them. :(

Anyway, I have a few pictures of them to post.  I love having these pictures.  It's a way for me to look back and remember.

Buddies.

Best Friends.

Ian & Jubal.

Jubal's best {girl} friend, Gwen.

We're hoping that these two end up in the same class for K-4.

Inside play time.

The kids fold up their own nappers & pads.

I bought Jubal his own so it is thicker than the others.

He's able to carry it by himself finally. :)

Gentry's class.

I love these cute little pictures of him in this car.

He's getting to be such a big boy. :)

My Beautiful Flower

This morning as we were leaving for school/work, Jubal brought me a beautiful little flower. He is so sweet, doing this all the time. He even has Gentry bringing me flowers now, too. I sure do love my boys.

When Jubal brings me flowers, he always has them behind his back and will walk slowly up to me saying, "Guess what I got?" I'll ask, "What?", and he'll tell me to close my eyes. When he tells me I can open them, he's always standing there with the cutest little flower/flowers in his hands for me.  I always, always let him know how happy I am that he thought of me and that the flowers are so, so pretty.  It means so much to me when my boys show me in their own way that they love me.

I'm so thankful for both of my beautiful little flowers.  My Jubal & Gentry. :)

Officially Summer

In our neck of the woods we consider Memorial Day weekend the official start of Summer. We celebrated by taking our first dip in the good ol' Ohoopee river.

 

We found us a nice, quiet little spot down at Old Camp and enjoyed the afternoon playing in the water and making sand castles. Jubal & Gentry even had their own little "island", as Jubal called it. :)

The water was freezing when you first got in, but it felt great after getting used to it.  Especially since it was so hot Sunday.

Both of my boys enjoyed the water so much.  Gabriel, their cousin, not so much.  He wanted to be held in his mama's arms or he would cry.  Larson tried to take him out to the "island", but he still wasn't very happy.

We had a nice afternoon.  I was glad to get home, get a shower, and be in the air conditioning, though.  I'm looking forward to taking the boys again soon.

Larson's people. 

L-R: Shawn (uncle), Sonja, (Granny), Heather (aunt) w/ Gabriel, & Larson.

Dear Gentry

My Sweet Gentry,

As we approach your second birthday, I wanted to take a few minutes to tell you how incredibly handsome, smart, and special you are. You are the age right now that Jubal was when you were born. It seems like a thousand years ago, yet also seems like only yesterday.

We were not expecting you for another week when you made your emergency appearance.  Mama developed preeclampsia near the end of my pregnancy with you.  I went to a doctor's visit on Thursday, they were concerned about the swelling so they drew blood and told me they would call me as soon as they knew something, but for me not to return to work until after your birth.

The following day, Friday, I had to go into work because I had to do payroll.  My job is a fairly easy one, and I sit at a desk, so I figured I could sit there as well as I could sit home.  My doctor called around 10:00 A.M. and said I needed to come right in to be placed on monitors.  I asked for a couple of hours to get things in order, and as soon as I spoke to your daddy, went home & got me a shower, and picked Jubal up from school, we were on our way.

I never thought we would be having you within an hour after arriving at the hospital.  You came into this world like a tornado and you haven't slowed down yet, my boy.  The only regret I have is not being able to spend as much time as I wish I could have with you in the first 48 hours.  Your delivery did not go very well and Mama needed time to get better before they allowed me much time with you.  Your daddy was there, though.  He loves you so much.  Maybe that's why y'all share such a close bond, even today.

You are so charming.  You are wild.  You are curious.  You are loving.  You are very particular.

Unlike your brother, you tend to stand back in a crowd until you are more sure of your surroundings.  After you warm up to people, you are still your same sweet self, but it takes you awhile.  You are definitely not a social butterfly like Jubal.  And that's fine.  I don't expect you both to be exactly the same.  I love your differences.  I love you.  Just the way you are.

You are talking so good now.  It's very easy to communicate with you since you're learning new words every day.  I love hearing you talk.  You get so excited when you know what something is.  Your favorite word is "mine".  Haha!

You have so much personality.  You know what you want and when you want it.  You are also very demanding when you want something.  You want it now.  You get that from me, though, so I can't help but giggle under my breath sometimes.  What can I say?  I can still be a brat at times. ;)

I can't even put into words how much our whole family loves you.  When I look at you my heart swells with so much love for you.  I want to be able to give you the world.  I want you to always have everything you need and I want to be able to provide even the things you want.  I have so many dreams for you.  My most important desire for you is that you will know God and be a good, Christian man when you grow up.

I hope that you are confident (not conceited), passionate about everything you do, empathetic, sympathetic, kind, but above all...happy.  I want you to grow healthy & happy.  I pray for these things all day, every day for you.

You are my sweet baby.  The last baby this old woman's body will ever carry.  I am so thankful that God saw fit for me to be able to carry two beautiful baby boys.  I am so very thankful that one of those little baby boys was YOU!

You make our family complete.  You have brought my ordinary life so much extraordinary beauty & love.  I will forever love you, Gentry, more than any words could ever say.  I hope you always feel how much Mama loves you.  You are so very special and I'm so glad you're mine.


Always my baby,
Mama




 

A Wedding & The Zoo

We had a fabulous weekend! My Mother's Day was as good as I could have wanted. I had Saturday off, which gave me an extra day to spend with my family, and that's always awesome. :)

One of my BFFs, Amanda, got married Saturday to her knight in shining armor. He is a great guy, and he treats her so good. I couldn't have hand-picked a better man for her. They compliment each other so well.

I was honored she asked me to sing at her wedding.  She picked a beautiful song, too.  The wedding was sweet, and the personal vows made me cry.  We enjoyed the reception at the horse stables, too.  My boys could not have been more thrilled to have lots of other children to play with in such an open venue.

How cool are the cakes?!  He's a Chevy man and it was made to look like the tire was slinging up mud on the wedding cake.  Ha!

Sunday was spent at the Jacksonville Zoo with my sweet little family.  We usually go a lot sooner in the season because it gets so hot, but I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day, except maybe that the weather had been a little cooler.

Jubal had been asking to go for the longest time, so it was a pleasure to take him finally.  Gentry is old enough this year that he loved it, too.  We left home early, hoping to beat the heat of the day, and arrived around 9:30.  By 1:00 the boys were both tired, sweaty, and ready to go.  I don't blame them.  So was I. ;)

I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

I do want to say something about this picture. 

This was right before we got ready to leave and

Gentry didn't want to be anywhere but his daddy's arms. 

He was so sleepy.

Our last stop on the way out was the alligators.  Larson got to ride the carousel with them this year since I got to ride last year.  I didn't get anyone to take any pictures of all of us together like I did last year, either.  I'm sure you wouldn't want to see my sweaty self anyway.  Haha!

Once we got to the car, Gentry fell asleep as soon as Larson buckled him in, and Jubal was asleep as soon as we got on the interstate. I had some worn out little fellas.  We had a fun trip, but it's always nice to go home.

We are actually planning on going back in October and making this a twice-a-year trip since the boys both love it so much now.  It shouldn't be so hot near the end of October, and then next year we won't wait until the middle of May to go.  Maybe early April would be nice.  No matter what, though, this will be great ways to spend time with my boys.  I hope they will have wonderful memories of our zoo trips.