sweetness...

I am so thankful CJ has good friends. When you ask him who his friends are, he will even name them. When he was about 6 months old, we met our friends the Hollifields. While he was in the nursery at church, he played with a little girl that was almost the same age as him, and ever since then, they have been besties. One of the great things about it is that we love her mommy and daddy as much as we love her.

Since their birthdays are only three weeks apart, we are going to do their parties together this year. We took pictures to make their invitations, and a few weeks ago, I shared some of CJ that I took of him as we were waiting on Anna Grace to arrive. Here are the rest...

They are going to have a candy party. Here are the pictures that didn't make the invitation. They were a little timid at first because they both rarely get candy, but you'll see they adjusted quickly! :)

love at first sight...

There is a peace that comes when you hold your baby in your arms. There is a sense of something larger than yourself taking hold. There is a longing to do this one thing right.

There is so much I understand about the love of our heavenly Father now that I never understood before I had kids. There are a lot of people I truly love in my life... but none of them so much I would sacrifice CJ for them. There are problems and heartache in the world that I would love to change... but none so much I would sacrifice CJ for them. How truly great is our Father's love for us that He did, willingly, knowingly, purposefully give up his Son for us. My small human mind can't begin to comprehend the depths and heights of that love...

But what I do know, is that two years ago today when I met Christian Josiah Hetzel for the first time, life changed. We are changed for the better because of him. Happy Birthday my big boy!

lucky mama

Some days are hard... I'll be the first to confess I am not super-mom. I get frustrated. I get overwhelmed. And a lot of times, I am just plain tired. But these two make it all worth it.

Check out this dirty little boy face. I love it. And I've said it before, and I'll say it again, it is amazing how something so little and cute stink so bad after working outside with daddy.

When I first went outside it was with the intention of taking pictures of this guy, so the ones of CJ were a total bonus. Will is growing so fast. I love when he does something new, but I also hate it because it makes him a little less of a baby.

He looooves his feet these days. Whenever he lays down, he immediately throws them up and tries to eat them. It's definitely cheaper than toys!

And this picture will definitely be on his dorm room wall at Baylor. :)

The one thing about Will that remains unchanged though is his smile. He is such a happy baby. In fact, the company who monitors our security system just came by to test it, and both techs commented on how happy and cute he was. They were so busy talking to him and making him laugh, they kept getting distracted.

And here is why we lost CJ during the photo shoot and also why his face was so grimy. He was helping daddy move dirt and plant a little grass seed on some bare spots in the back yard. I love how he loves his daddy and wants to do exactly what he is doing. Sure, when he falls down, he wants me to hug him, and at night, he wants me to put him to bed. But during the day, if he could, he would play guitar with daddy, mow with daddy, move the water with daddy, go to work with daddy... anything his daddy does he wants to do. And these are all things that he asks to do on a daily basis. The other day, he got on his truck and said, "by mommy. go work daddy. truck." Translated, "I'm getting on my truck and going to work with daddy, just like he does."

a sneak peak...

Last week we met Anna Grace at a cute little farm house and took some pictures for the invitation for their birthday party. Those I'll share later, but here are some I took of CJ while we waited for her to arrive...

Love his face as he sees the donkey. It was braying and he didn't know if he should laugh, cry or run away. He bravely got closer and closer.

mother's day...

I'm practical to a fault. When I'm at the store, I walk around with my purchase, and usually by the time I'm ready to check out, I've talked myself out of buying whatever it was. It is usually because we don't "need" it or I realize I have another way to solve some organization problem that is free.

While it's good in some ways, it is also frustrating for Scott because it makes me hard to shop for. He feels like I don't really like what he gets me because I feel like it is wasteful. Although he is a really good gift giver. He wasn't always that way, but over the years he has developed the gift of listening and remembering when I mention something I would like. I'm amazed that he remembers some thing that I have even forgotten about. And honestly, the listening and remembering is what makes me the happiest.

The Friday before Mother's Day we were car shopping (more on that in another post), and since we were serious about looking, we hired a babysitter. For those who know me well, you know I don't leave my kids with just anyone, so we were on a mission. While we were out, Scott looked over at me and said something like... "I know that whatever I get you for Mother's Day you won't like because you will think I shouldn't spend money on it or that it won't be right. So I decided to get you door knobs. Since we have a babysitter, we can go to Lowes and pick them out, and I will install them this weekend." Be still my heart prince charming!

If you've been to our house, do you remember that our door were a little sticky? Weird right? Well, the previous owners spray painted them. If you saw Sabrina Soto do this on HGTV, it's fine if you are selling a house, but if you plan on living in it, don't try it. Scott knows it bothers me and so that was my present. LOVE IT! He had some good help with the installation too...

ma bed...

CJ says mommy really well now, but when he tries to say two words at a time sometimes they get muddled. Recently he has been asking to "seep ma bed," or sleep in mommy's bed. I'm not really sure where that came from because he has never slept in our bed. At first it was cute, but then when he did climb in bed with us early one morning, it wasn't so cute... he tosses, turns, head butts you, pushes little toes into your side.

We went to Florida last weekend for a wedding, and after it, Scott took me out on a date. While we were gone Nannie and Papa watched the boys, and here is what they found. I think CJ was trying to get into "ma bed" but couldn't get the door open. Poor little guy...