Jess' attempt at blogging!!

So I just logged on to my blog after several months and it made me so very sad. I remember how I was..............

I saw this so I thought I would share it with everyone! Nick

BEWARE......The longest post ever

Okay...let's see. Where do I begin? I realize it has been awhile. I have not been the best blogger this year. Man oh man.... my day is full of kids and kids and kids. You would think that by the way I act I have like 6 kids but no.... just the two that I have keep me plenty busy day in and day out!! I go to bed every night EXHAUSTED and wake up every morning yep... you guessed it EXHAUSTED!! Okay...enough said. I know that you guys really don't want to throw me a pity party so I won't bore you with this mindless babbling!

Cole is now 10 months old, can you believe it?? He may be one of the laziest babies around but he sure is the cutest! Just look at that face.... I call him my feisty lap baby. He loves to sit on my lap and hang out but he also has a feisty spark in him as well. Earrings on me with Cole do not mix, if he gets a hold of it something is going to break or rip and luckily it has not been my ear yet! He gets pretty feisty with Davis too. I think because Davis is always hyper jumping all around like a typical 3 year old and getting in Cole's face and Cole has learned to retaliate back by grabbing Davis' face or pulls his hair which then makes Davis all sad and he takes it all personal. But, other then that Cole LOVES being around Davis as long as he stays out of his face! Cole just started to crawl around a couple of weeks before Halloween. It still is not a full up on hands and knees type of crawl. He does the army crawl and he has gotten quite fast at it which I think is hilarious but it gets him where he wants to go and he is all over the place now.

Crawling to the camera

almost there....

just a little further....

I give up....this is to much work!!

This past week he just stared pulling up on furniture and it is funny to go in and see him standing up in his crib now!

For Halloween Cole was a turtle and it was a cute costume but of course he hated it and every picture that I have he is crying so I didn't torture him to much wearing it just long enough to snap a couple of pictures.

This is the only picture we have of him where he isn't screaming because I am holding him...such a party pooper!!!

Cole as a baby redneck..... very funny even though he didn't think it was!!

Davis is well...still Davis. He is crazy and keeps the day interesting and entertaining. He loves being a big brother, he is really good and sweet to Cole (most of the time). Davis and I are still doing preschool this year with 3 other moms that route it at each other house's twice a week. He loves, loves, loves preschool and wants to go everyday. It is crazy to think that he will go to pre-K next year, talk about time flying.

Halloween party at preschool......sooo cute!!

Davis still loves his scooter and he loves his bike now that he has learned to pedal. It is amazing to watch Davis on his scooter you would think that the kid had no fear but he freaks out going down tiny little hills on his bike!! I feel bad but I don't have any pictures of Davis on his bike.

For Halloween Davis was Batman. He was the same thing last year but he refused to be anything else so we just let him be Batman again. This year Davis was able to go trick or treating with his cousins Kinley, Tucker, Logan and Haley. I was worried about him keeping up with the older cousins but he did pretty good and came back a little early with Haley. Haley and Davis sat by the window and waited for trick or treaters to come to the door. Aunt Wren, Kinley and Logan made a haunted house in their playroom for the kids and they loved it!! I am sad that I didn't take a picture of it...but it was really cool!

Davis was so terrified of that guy behind us and apparently I thought is was hilarious!!

Group photo of the cousins and Aunt Wren who had lots of Halloween spirit this year. (We didn't forget about Cole he was sleeping during the pictures so he missed out on the group photos)

Davis and Haley waiting for trick or treaters...

I am just a little behind over here but here are some other pictures of our fall festivities.

This was our adventures of a pumpkin patch this year, it was fun because they had horse rides, pumpkin bounce house and rabbit petting, which Davis and Cole loved all of it!! We went with Kinley and Logan which made it even more fun.

Would it be Halloween time without pumpkin carving...no way!! Here we are carving pumpkins at our friend Dustin and Connie's house. I never took a picture of our finished pumpkin!! I am so lame!!!

Our Secret Spot......well almost!!

Nick found this really really really cool little place a couple of weeks ago and we went there today to take some pictures along with about 600 people, so really it isn't our secret spot because quite a few people know about it too. This little place has the coolest wooden covered bridge which as you know there is not a lot of those around anymore. And there is a spot were you can sit out on the rocks and slide down them in this fairly large creek. We were bored today sitting around the house not doing to much and we thought that it would be fun or I thought it would be fun to go and take some pictures of our family there. We like taking pictures of our family, but we know that we are not even close to being photographers. So, Carrie Stroud if you are ever in our area.....you are hired...... and we will let you in on our little secret spot and you can REALLY do justice to how AWESOME this place is!! But, here is the damage that we did today and some of our favs. Enjoy!!

Davis turned F-R-E-E...

Can you believe it, we have a 3 year old or as Davis would call it F-R-E-E!! Davis' birthday was on Monday but we celebrated it last Saturday! It really is amazing how fast your kids grow up. I can't believe Davis was born 3 years ago....it is just crazy to me how time flies! Last year when Davis was turning 2 and at his birthday party we announced to the family that we were having another boy! We were so excited that Davis was going to have a little brother and a buddy. Davis is the sweetest, big brother. He really is and he is always trying to take care of Cole if he cries by telling him it is okay or putting Cole's pacifier in his mouth. He sits on the floor and plays with his toys right by Cole so he can watch and he even tries including Cole in his imaginary play by giving Cole a car or truck or plane or whatever he is playing with and he tells Cole what to do even though Cole just stares at him with the toy in his hand. If we are loading up the car to go somewhere he always ask "Cole coming?". I have yet to figure this one out because Cole always goes with us, but I guess he just wants to make sure!

Anyway for his party this year we just had some cousins come over to eat cake and ice cream with us. We decided not to do a huge Extravagant party this year that is why it is soooo nice having three Bettes families up here now. Davis is obsessed with the movie Cars, you know Lightning McQueen so we had a Cars party for him, in honor of his little obsession! His cousins Kinley and Logan bought him some cars from the movie and Tucker and Haley bought him a bike! We didn't even really have to get him anything because his cousins spoiled him enough....but we got him some random toys too! His Grandma and Grandpa sent him some money and when he opened the card "Ohhh...monies". Mimi asked Davis on the phone what he wanted and he replied with "presents and cupcakes". He is crazy.... It was a great party for Davis and he loves all his new toys and has learned how to pedal and ride his new bike already! We are looking forward to this next year and what challenges a F-R-E-E year old will bring!

Hitting the gym....

Going to the gym consistently can be difficult. You have to find ways to make it either fun or find ways to do different things. If you go and you do the same thing every day and there’s no real purpose behind other than simply staying in somewhat decent shape, you get burned out and bored!! This has happened to me more times than I care to mention! I refuse to buy bigger pants so when my current size begins to be uncomfortable, I usually start to do something. Whether it’s do something around the house or sign up for the gym. Last August or September some friends from work started playing racquetball. Right around this time I was needing to do something about the shrinking pants so I decide to sign up for the gym once again. I end up playing racquetball 3 or 4 times a week and doing a few minutes of lifting weights before everyone else gets there. I loved it! Not only am I getting some pretty good exercise I’m also improving in a game that gets quite competitive! And I love competition!! I continue to follow this routine for close to 6 months. Right around the time February comes around my racquetball friends are not able to make it out as often and I’m starting to find myself with not much to do. So I decide to spend the majority of my time away from the courts. Go back to lifting weights for longer amounts of time and trying to do a few different cardio things (rowing, elliptical, and even a little time on the treadmill). Doesn’t last long before I decide to be done with the cardio stuff and I can sense that I’m not going to make it much longer lifting weights. I was just getting burned out!!! No competition, no purpose other than to improve the body which is a worth thing but can get boring! During all of this I have been working on Jess to sign up but so far no luck. She’s making me feel if she’s going to do anything it will be in the house. One Saturday we’re spending time in Alpharetta at one of the parks when I ask if she would like to go do a tour of the gym, just to see what it looks like. By the end of the tour I had succeeded in getting her to sign up. That was close to 3 months ago and we’re still going strong! It was like a huge boost for me in getting my motivation and excitement back. I’m back to looking forward to 11am and I’m not spending my time sitting around not wanting to do anything else. It’s literally like a date every afternoon! We even go on Saturdays! I love it. I love the time I get to spend with Jess and I love that I’m not feeling as lazy! I’d encourage anyone to do the same thing! Find a way to exercise to together. The benefit of the gym is they have the kids club so for $10 a month they watch your kids. Not sure how else you could do something like this without someone watching your kids. I think this is the way that you can make this sort of thing a lifestyle. I’ve been watching one of our families at church do the same thing for quite some time and I was always hoping that could be us. Now it is and I couldn’t be happier about it!!

Anyway, there ya go!! First post from the Bettes’ in months!!!!

I am not a Potty School Dropout.....

I thought that Davis was going to be a potty school dropout and I was really stressed about it. I hadn't even started potty training and I thought it was going to be a nightmare because of all the not so fun things I have heard about sitting your kid on a toilet, especially boys. I knew all along my main goal was to at least have him potty trained by 3, you know I didn't want to have him hanging out with the wrong crowd of kids, you know those size 6 diaper kids are trouble....just playin' :)

So, I knew that Davis' third birthday was creeping up on us in a few months and I kept this mental note that I needed to start trying to potty train Davis. One day when I noticed that his diaper stash was getting a little low, I decided to just do it. The first day was not so good at all and I went to bed that night thinking 'yep this potty thing stinks', but the second and the third day he only had one accident and after that he has never had any accidents and he wakes up in the morning dry too.....WAHOO!!!! Not bad at all.....I guess when you are ready you are ready and he was just ready!!! So, lucky us no horror stories!! Congratulations Davis you have officially graduated from potty school and have now entered the world of toilets, we are so PROUD of you!!

Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow??

I had a strange idea this year and wanted to plant a garden, don't ask me why, I just thought it would be super cool to say "yeah, I am a Gardner". Doesn't it make you sound like the coolest person ever.....

I remember being put to work as a kid in the garden that my parents always grew. I remember how I was so terrified of all the bugs and spiders that were in the plants that I had to pick. It was so scary and I would cry and freak out and my parents would force me to go and pick the veggies anyway, come on where is the sympathy mom and dad?? Well.... I decided to put my kids through the same torture so I planted a garden even though it is much smaller then the gardens my parents had, so it won't be the same type of torture, I will have to come up with something else.

I really had no idea how well this garden was going to grow but it is doing GREAT and I haven't killed anything yet, so I am very pleased. While my mom was here we used her expertise and she helped me design my garden and we put Nick to work and he built my raised beds and my mom and I did the rest. If my mom wasn't here I would have been clueless on what to do. Anyway, I went out to water my garden this morning and I saw my first vegetable. Who would have thought that seeing a little green tomato would have made my day today!! Hopefully in another month or so I should start seeing some produce!

Nick and Davis building my beds....

Once everything was planted....4 weeks ago

Amazing after 4 weeks.....this is what I planted this year.

In this bed all of my hill plants watermelon, cucumbers, zucchini and squash

In this bed my row plants butter beans, green beans and carrots. And my already plants strawberries and tomato/cherry tomatoes.

Here is my little green tomato...isn't it cute?

Cole's Newdo..

I think that most of you have seen Cole with his new hair cut. Pretty sad that I had to give my baby a haircut at 4 months old. I really didn't want to cut it but it was crazy long and after we saw some pictures of us in Charleston we finally realized that he needed a haircut!! I really didn't want to take my 4 month old baby some where to get his hair cut so Nick insisted doing it himself, maybe he was afraid of someone cutting him with scissors or maybe I was and am trying to blame it on Nick. Anywho....that is besides the point. I just wanted Nick to trim it up but he had other intentions and cut ALOT off but the funny thing is he still has lots of hair left and people still comment on all of his hair!!

Before the haircut....

Very intense...didn't want to poke wobbly head


All the hair we had to cut

The end results....more handsome then ever!!