Obsession???

So....I never thought I would be one of those moms whose child wore cartoon themed clothes and shoes, but that was well before I knew why they did it. When a 2 yr old gets a fixation on something, there is noooo gettin away from it, until THEY want to. As many of you know Hunter has a massive obsession with Lighting McQueen from the movie "Cars" (Ynin queen he calls him).

(Here he is being mischevious in a pair of Ynin Queen jamies and slippers)
I mean, I am talking pillow, blanket, 3 pairs of pajamas (I am sure you remember seeing them in the Christmas post since that was pretty much all he had on the whole time), shirts, slippers, plates, sippy cups, bowls, utencils, computer (thank you Aunt E and Uncle Will!), DVDs, and tennis shoes (which I had to buy about a month ago because he pitched a fit taking off his Ynin Queen slippers that are 2 sizes too small for his feet when he was going to Mothers Day Out, or anywhere for that matter). You can see how proud he is of his shoes...

Here we are coloring in his Ynin Queen coloring book while he is wearing one of his Ynin Queen Jamies (are you getting sick of reading the words Ynin Queen yet??)
He has to always have something that has to do with Lightning McQueen on him somewhere (I have a love/hate relationship with Ynin Queen...love him b/c he keeps Hunty occupied, hate him b/c he keeps Hunter occupied). I seriously mean it when I say he is obsessed. The only way I can get his pajamas off in the morning is to explain to him that they are dirty and that they HAVE TO have a bath. He has to watch me take them to the dirty laundry and see them go into the washer. But don't worry, he still gets to wear his Ynin Queen tennis shoes! All this to say, he also got a bunch of the Cars cars for Christmas to play with. Mater (my fav), Ynin Queen regular version and covered in dirt version, Doc Hudson, and Sheriff. My mom also got him 4 more but I decided to wait and give them to him when he had been extra good, or when I needed a distraction or something. Well, yesterday was the day I gave him 2 more of the 4. He got Sally and Souped up super shiny Ynin Queen version. Let me tell you he slept with Sally, swung with Sally this morning. We even went to Bounce U (a place with a ton of massive jumpy things and slides in it) with one of my Best friends from Auburn, Julie McKim and her 2 boys, and we had to put Sally in my diaper bag because she HAD TO COME WITH US! Here is Hunty with his beloved Sally.

The only other thing that gets close to Ynin Queen stuff, is Thomas the train...we are in the thick of it!
Anyone else dealing with an obsession and has any tips on how to deal with it?!!!! Do I just ride out the storm?

Presidential Inauguration

...of my husband Kyle!!!! He has been promoted to President of his company Baron+Dowdle Construction!!! I am so proud of him and it is well deserved because he works so hard!!!!
When he came home from work we toasted with Shramsberg Champagne which is the champagne used to toast the President of the Unites States on Inauguration Day.
We then headed out to dinner. Congratulations my sweet husband! I love you!!! This was a day to remember for sure!!!

The Naked Chef!

I had to snap this picture of my boys last night after their bath...Kyle usually does the bathing while I clean the kitchen, pick up toys, etc. He is a much more fun bather than I am...after a long day with them I am strictly business in the tub. Where-as he loves to play with them and it is his time to get to be with just the 2 of them and they LOVE IT!!! I usually know they are done because I will hear elated squealing soon followed by naked little bodies that come flying around the corner. It really is such a precious image I hope to never forget. Last night was no exception...no matter how tired they are it is like they have a 5 minute high right out of the tub from having so much fun. It is then usually a chase around the house to get lotion on, diaper on, then pajamas on. All of this taking place usually in the midst of them playing with cars, trains or anything they can find. Last night they went straight for their kitchen where soon after the picture pots started flying, play food was all over the den and the shopping cart they have had been rammed into a few objects before finally spilling out the rest of its "groceries." But I had to show you the my favorite Christmas gift Drake received...I might even be enjoying it more than he does!


Are these not the cutest pots and pans and utensils you have even seen?!? I had to take a picture of them next to the real ones so you could see how adorable they are! I guess I must officially be insane...

Christmas Memories

Well I know I am late on uploading Christmas pictures but we had so many that it took me forever to pick some! We had a great time in Alabama at Grammie and Pop's house with our nephew, Christopher, almost 3, and Sophie, almost 1. Great Grandpa who lives in Raleigh, NC was also there and it was great to see him since we do not get to see him often. It is always so fun to be with Brittny (Aunt B), Brandon (Uncle B), Jennifer (Aunt Jenny) and Trey (Uncle Trey).
Here are a few of my favorites!


Hunter and Drakey playing in Drake's new kitchen that Santa brought...I am hoping to have 2 chefs that can cook for me later in life

Uncle Trey helping Drake open a present...he is going to be such a good daddy!

You can tell Drake and his cousin Sophie are related...they both LOVE to eat!

Daddy and Boppy going for a ride on the plasma car!

Drake playing with some of his stocking goodies

Aunt B reading Lightning McQueen books with Hunter and Christopher...I love this picture!

Pop smiling with Hunty after opening one of his presents

Sophie letting Kyle hold her...he was so excited! They are both so cute!

Hunter coloring with Grandpa, 2 artists you are looking at here! Look at Hunter's concentration. He always makes this precious focused look when coloring and doing his jigsaw puzzles. I LOVE it!

My 3 boys riding the lawnmower...one of their favorite things to do at Grammie and Pop's

Hunter riding with Christopher on the Plasma Car and Drake trying to get on too!

Sweet Drake riding on the tractor


Drake doing one of his new puzzles with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Trey...they are going to be such good parents. Yes they are 12 weeks pregnant! YAAAY! Kyle and I are so excited. Check them out at www.thehowellslife.blogspot.com


Christopher, Drake and Hunter all working with Pop

Daddy seems to be enjoying Hunter's gift from Grammie and Pop too!

Hunty is "working" so hard...look at that concentration!

Aunt B and Sophie having so much fun on the plasma car too! Could you not just eat Sophie she is sooo cute!

Boppy reading with Grandpa and Grammie, I LOVE this picture. They all seem to be enjoying it! He is smiling behind the pacie if you cannot tell.

One of Hunty's favorite poses to make, as you know!

The consentration on Hunty's face again is so cute and funny...he found his drawing partner in crime

My Favorite picture of the whole weekend I think! Hunter had so much fun drawing with Grandpa and I think Grandpa had fun too!!!

A little ditty

A quick post saying that my new favorite song right now is "Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight" by Amos Lee. Just bought it on iTunes with my bday gift card from my sweet friend Katie Holiday (thanks girl...already loving my gift!) check it out on iTunes!

Drake has gotten himself into another "mess"

I have to begin this post with this picture even though it has absolutely nothing to do with what I am about to write about, except for the fact that Hunter likes to pick on Drake ... constantly ... pick ... on ... Drake ...
Here we go...So about 9 months ago, when Drake was about 6 months old, he Hunter and I were all happily sitting outside on a nice warm March day. Drake was in his exersaucer, Hunter was playing in the backyard and I was watering some plants, I remember this moment like it was yesterday (some of you may know this story already).
After watering 2 new ferns I look back at Drake as he was cooing and making funny noises, only to see Hunter putting something in his mouth. I thought to myself, "I didn't bring any snacks outside with me today" so began to wonder, then be quickly concerned as to what Hunter was putting into his little brother's mouth. As I got closer I started to think that it could not be what I thought it was, certainly he was not putting DOG POOP IN HIS MOUTH!!!!!! But oh yes, sure enough, it was poop!! A few day old poop so it was hard enough to pick up and hold!! I mean, I have been told by several people that having two boys meant a lot of dirt, fights, and all kinds of nasty stuff I could not yet imagine, but did it really start this early?? 6 months and 18 months, REALLY?? DOG POOP IN THE MOUTH??!!!!
So to my horror I quickly screamed, Hunter dropped the remaining poop and ran the other way, meanwhile Drake not seeming so disgusted at the taste of poop (that's a whole nother story, the boy will pretty much eat anything) but more irritated that I was scraping out all the remnants I could find out of his mouth. I hastily yanked him out of the exersaucer, ran him in the house and washed out his mouth several times, washed around his mouth and face with baby soap several times, and obviously his hands too. Then I ran back outside grabbed Hunter who I threw in the tub.
Fortunately for me no one got worms or any diseases and I began to fear that this was only the beginning...
Which leads me to this morning. As I was changing a VERY dirty diaper of Hunter's, (TMI already I know) Drake came closer and reached for the diaper. I of course moved it away quickly so he could not get to it. Not realizing one of the 7 wipes I had already used to wipe this massive mess fell out as I had moved it, I continued on wiping Hunty's wiggling bottom eager to get back up and play. I look back at Drake is sitting next to the wipe box and he has a wipe in his mouth. Now he has been enjoying gnawing on the wipes, and I usually let him have one b/c I think the cold wet wipe must feel good on his 7 teeth coming in right now (4 molars and 3 canines...yikes!!!!). Plus sometimes letting him pull countless wipes out of the box so I can finish changing a diaper without hearing Drake cry because neither Hunter nor I can do anything with him at that particular moment is worth the time it takes me to pick all the wipes back up. However, I realized after I put the fresh diaper on Hunter that the particular wipe Drake was using as a teething wipe had poop on it!!! How could this poor child have poop in his mouth twice in 9 months! What kind of mother am I!!!!!!! And what kind of child continues to gnaw on a wipe with poop!

I have to end this on a better note (but still about poop, sorry). Yesterday I did see the boys working together with the pooper scooper outside. It was a moment I would have given anything to have a charged camera on hand...Drake was holding the part that contains the poop while Hunter was scooping it in...I guess they see me do it so much that they have already gotten the hang of it. This could go in my favor, or against it. I guess only time will tell...

By the way, Christmas and New Years pics coming soon. As soon as I find the thingy that uploads the pics from the camera to the computer

Oh Baby Baby!!!

HUNTER, CHARLIE, DRAKE, ANNA

How was I suppose to know how much fun we would have!!! Our trip to Charlotte to visit my brother and his family has been nothing but extreme fun!!!! The kiddos have all been so funny and keep us laughing. It makes us realize how sad we are that we do not live closer. I already dread leaving tomorrow. However, I cannot wait to go back through our pictures and post my favorites and relive the hysterical moments we have had. I have honestly enjoyed ever precious second we have been here and can already imagine the fun times we are going to have every time we get back together. I have the sweetest brother in world, and he ALWAYS has been. I can see his sweetness in his babies. And Elizabeth, his wife, is his perfect counterpart and cannot imagine a better sister in law! I am so lucky to have those two. They love my children (and obviously their own) so well!!
For now I will leave you with this sweet picture of the babies in Aunt E and Uncle Will's bed. We did have to bribe them with M&Ms (Neyums my sweet Hunty calls them) but it worked and was worth it!

Thank you and Good Night!

I have to give a special thanks to a few people real fast...
#1 My sister in law, Brittny, for patiently helping me start this blog. I am so technologically challenged and she guided me through starting this puppy up and was so sweet to do it!!! Thank you!!! You should check out her beautiful family on their blog The Hemphills Blog

#2 My dear friend Callen Martin who also helped me through several details. Without her I would never have been able to do this either! Her blog has been an inspiration to get mine started up too! Callens Blog
As for the "Good Night" part, I want desperately to take a nap right now, but not sure if that is in my cards...