Lollipop

As I was reading my book Jacob came up to me complaining about his toe hurting. I look down and he was bleeding all over my leg and the library book I was reading (I don't know how I am going to explain that one.) I put him on the counter to begin looking for a bandaid and neosporin. There was the neosporin but of course no bandaids. So I quickly clean up the cut and put shoes on the boys and head to Walgreens. Instead of going to Walgreens something made me turn left and go to Fred's. I get the boys in a buggy and head down to the first aid aisle. After getting my products we head to the register and Jacob sees a big blue lollipop. I go ahead and give it to him since he ate a good dinner and as soon as I unwrap it and hand it over I see Caden practically drooling over the lollipop. Jacob gives him a couple licks and we head out to the car, our shopping completed. When we get home I bandage up Jacob and let him and Caden play around while I unload the rest of the stuff we got. As I am emptying the last bag I look down on the kitchen floor and think, "what are those blue drops everywhere?" And then all of a sudden Caden comes running around the corner with a huge grin on his face: his face, hands, and clothes were covered in blue and there in his right hand was the blue lollipop. He had somehow wrestled it away from Jacob and was having the time of his life eating that sucker. Bath time... (they are huge sticky messes!)

Nap Time

This morning we woke up and decided to visit one of the many churches here in Augusta, one we had heard about from Josh's parents. It is called Steven's Creek Community church and it is not far from our house, maybe about 15 minutes. The church runs 2 services with about 400 in each one, there are a lot of families our age and we are so excited to get plugged in. The kids program is huge considering all the new families and as we took our children to the nursery I felt very encouraged about the people watching over my children for the next hour. All set with a pager number, Josh and I head into the sanctuary to find a seat in the already packed out auditorium. Immediately we fall in love, even though we miss our church and family back home (no one can preach like you Pop Pop) we were very excited about this one. The music was like being at a Chris Tomlin concert and the crowd we were in was very young and contemporary. I am glad I wore jeans because if not I would have been a tad over dressed. The sermon was from another church pastor because they were in the middle of a four part series lead by this pastor along with 100 other churches. So yes we watched a sermon on a projection screen, but it was great and we really enjoyed it. After the service concluded we met some of the young parents and we swapped information so that we could get together sometime soon. We are very excited about this church and hope it is as welcoming and life altering as our church back home!
So today after we get home from church and eat lunch, Josh and I clean up the boys and get them ready for a nap. Of course I thought they were tired because it was already 2:00 and neither one had had a nap. Boy was I wrong! First clue was neither one buried their heads in their blankets like they usually do and they both threw major fits. I shrugged it off because normally they cry a few minutes and then fall asleep. After a few minutes of crying they both quiet down and start talking in quiet voices, which is normal because since they have begun sharing a room they tend to talk to each other for a few minutes before they fall asleep. Thirty minutes later as I was reading my book and Josh was watching TV I can still hear them talking. So I enlist Josh to go be "serious" and tell them they need to quiet down and go to sleep. He gets up, walks to the room and whispers, "Courtney come here and look." He is doubled over laughing by the time I get there and confused as to why I just take a peek into the room. Jacob had gotten out of his big boy bed and climbed into Caden's crib and they were having a grand ole time. Jacob was jumping in the bed and Caden was laughing at him and falling over. I couldn't help but laugh while trying to scold Jacob about his wrong doing. Finally we gather composure and tell the two boys not to do that again and we replace them in their beds to commence the nap. And I was wrong again; for some reason my boys were not tired today and they would not stop talking to each other. In the end they won and we took them out of bed and brought them in the living room to play. They weren't in bad moods, so today was a no nap day. Surprisingly it is 8:30 and neither one of them is sleepy yet with only 30 minute naps under their belts.

The Train Table

Last night I began to make out a list of things for us to get done today. We started with # 3 on the list which was "put together Jacob's train table." For some reason we have been putting this off since Jacob's second birthday, which was back in April, and I now know why. As soon as Josh woke up around 9:00 I begged him to get started on it. First off I opened the box upside down, which was a foreshadowing to the awful event to come. The kids were all over the pieces and misplacing everything so Josh had me take them into the living room to watch Cars while he finished putting it together. I told him to yell for me if he needed help. About 30 minutes later he calls out my name so I go running in to help. All he needed me to do was hold something in place, but instead of just standing there I proceed to "help" by dropping the screw into the wrong hole and telling Josh we needed to turn the table over to get it out. Of course I decided to turn it over myself without waiting on his help and the cheap (what I call something I break) cardboard ripped open revealing the entire screw, which in turn would not hold it together. So with some quick patchwork (duct tape)... we were back in business! By this time the kids were going crazy and throwing all the pieces everywhere so once again I take the kids back into the living room while Josh continues with the table. At this point crazy was not the word for it, it was past nap time and we couldn't put them to bed because the room we were putting the table together in was their room with their beds. Finally around 12:00 pm (3 hours later) the table was assembled with all the tracks and buildings in the right places and we unveiled it for the kids to play with. First thing Caden did was pick up the tracks and started throwing them across the room while Jacob destroyed the train which is now not automatic but manual. So we move on to lunch time and then a nap.
After lunch Josh tries to go settle down, but to his surprise I was ready to move on to # 2 on the list: "Put up towel rack." After getting his tools out again we move to our bedroom to assemble the rack. Pretty much everything in our new apartment has had to be assembled by us, and Josh was not excited about this one, being that it was his job to assemble everything else. (As I am typing this Jacob is telling on Caden for destroying the train tracks.) During the process of screwing the wall mounts into the wall for the towel rack I hear Josh say, "they are breaking." As I roll over and begin laughing hysterically he finishes with, "I am cutting them off." Yet another short cut we have taken while assembling our apartment. But the rack is level and so far is holding all the things on it we planned for it to. We have decided to leave it here once we leave because we don't want to bother taking it back apart.
I have decided to leave #1: "Put up living room mirror," on the list for tomorrow in hopes that we can get over the stress #2 and #4 caused us. Once again we love you all and miss you terribly!

Our New Home

We moved to Augusta exactly 10 days ago and everything seems to be coming together. We have been to the pool, the duck ponds, Wal Mart... the post office, the mall with Josh's store, and even the public library. It has everything and more that Chattanooga has to offer, but something is still missing. What is it? As we get settled in I look around to no familiar faces... no GiGi or Jampa John, no MiMi or Pop Pop, no Auntie Eia JJ or Uncle Tristan... No Brittany or Brittney all our friends and family are back home in Chattanooga while our life has taken a four and a half hour turn southeast to Augusta, Georgia. What does this place have to offer our family? A great new position, as general manager, in The Buckle for Josh as he takes over his own store in a newly remodeled mall. I will soon be selling insurance with Ken Land, but as I wait on my licenses to get situated I am going to be working for my amazing husband in his new store. Hopefully he will be able to teach me how to sell clothes and make relationships with customers the way he does... if that happens I am sure to do well. And the boys will be going to a great daycare we found that is basically in the mall parking lot... close to us at work and our house. This place brings an opportunity for our family to meet new people who will impact our lives and we will impact theirs. But it still leaves room for our friends and family back home who we will definitely be seeing more than often enough.
So yes everything is changing, but I believe it will only make our little family stronger and closer knit. We will meet new people and begin a new life; not forgetting our old life back in Chattanooga and how it molded and shaped the people and family we are today. We will always be returning there to see everyone, but we are ready for our new life here. We love you all back home and miss you terribly!