Phil, the Elf

Our Elf on the Shelf, Phil, made his appearance yesterday morning!! I'm really not quite sure where McCoy came up with the name Phil, but we're going with it;). McCoy has been really well-behaved so far, so I've only had to remind him a couple of times that Phil is here as Santa's eyes and ears. We're looking forward to seeing where Phil will land tomorrow;)....

On a side note, my kiddos do have stockings...Violet's is being monogrammed and McCoy's is there as an example.

Baby Dedication

This past Sunday, we took part in the baby dedication at our church. Normally it is for babies, but we had never done a baby dedication for McCoy, so we decided to dedicate both McCoy and Violet. In our church, children decide when they want to be baptized. So a dedication is for us to give back to Him what He has given us. It is our promise to raise our children according to His guidelines.
We have been members of our church for almost a year now and are so thankful that we have found a place we both really love and want to be involved in. McCoy also has several friends in his Sunday School class so he also loves to go!
We are so thankful that we have such a wonderful church home and support system that will help us in raising our children to be godly people.
And if you can't tell, McCoy was not up for pics, so this is the best we could do;)...

Thanksgiving

We spent this Thanksgiving in Hot Springs at my parents' condo. My grandmother, aunts, and cousins were also able to come! We had such a great, relaxing day and the food was delicious!!! I LOVE spending time with my family! We always have such an amazing time!!!

My hungry boys!

ReeRee and Violet

Poor Violet, barely got any attention;)

My 3 favorites, watching Cars

Love my babies!!

The girls:)

This is the life...

Daddy's girl...melts my heart

Nanny and her great-granddaughter

Kirk's favorite, mashed potatoes

Watch and learn, ladies;)

Kirk likes to help out, too!

Violet is ready to eat!

So is McCoy!

Kirk and I have so many things to be thankful for this year, but we are most thankful for our two sweet babies! God is so good to us and we feel so blessed!

Fast Lanes

Yesterday afternoon, we took the kids to Fast Lanes so that McCoy could play some games and bowl. We had so much fun and McCoy loved it!! Almost as much as his daddy;)! McCoy even bowled a strike!! I LOVE Sunday afternoons with our little family of 4:)!

Celebrating!!!

Pumpkin Painting

The week before Halloween, we went to a pumpkin painting party at Jack's house. McCoy loves hanging out with Jack, so he was so excited!! All the kids had so much fun painting pumpkins, eating yummy snacks and playing in the backyard. It was the perfect day!
Thank you so much Sarah for being an awesome hostess!!

McCoy is 4!

I seriously can not believe that my baby boy turned 4 on Oct. 9!! I feel like every year goes by faster than the last, especially now that Violet is here. I can't tell you how many times a day I look at him and think about how great it would be if I could just slow things down or press a pause button, even just for a day! I LOVE being his mommy and am so blessed to spend each day with him!! I am also blessed that he has an early birthday, so I've still got an extra year before he starts kindergarten;)!
I took McCoy to his 4 year check-up today. He is 36 1/2 inches tall and weighs 37 lbs, which means he is in the 80th percentile for height and 50th for weight. Dr. B was a little concerned about the weight since he's always been 75th or 80th for weight also, but considering he just had his tonsils out and has barely been eating, he is ok with that. It's breaking my heart to see him so skinny, but I'm hoping in a few days his appetite will come back:).
Dr. B was very happy with all of McCoy's developmental milestones. His speech is still behind and he's had some speech therapy but we are taking a break and I'm just trying to work with him at home.
So, all that being said, here are some things I want to make sure to remember about McCoy at 4:
1. Personality-wise, the majority of the time he is very happy and very active. He is not a fan of sitting still;)! He does not like for us to get on to him and he knows just what smile to give me, when he knows I'm angry with him. It's impossible to stay mad after his sweet smile;).
2. His favorite thing to do is play outside. He likes to ride his jeep (that he got for his birthday) or bike, play basketball, baseball, or golf, or go on walks. He got a full size goal this year and it is amazing to see how many shots he can make! He has an amazing golf swing(left-handed) and he loves to play baseball, but refuses to play with the tee anymore. He would rather Kirk or I pitch it to him. And he normally swings a bat left-handed also.
3. If he can't play outside, he likes to play with his trains (Geo Trax and Thomas), read books, color, or play with play-doh. His favorite books are Little Engine That Could, Too Many Toys, the Clifford books, Polar Express, and any Toy Story books. Lately, he's been big on practicing writing his letters and talking about the sounds they make;). He really likes for me to help him write his letters but I'm working on giving him the confidence to do it on his own...even though I love to help!
4. His favorite movies are Toy Story (not 3, though), Cars, and Polar Express. I try to make him wait and not start watching Polar Express until after Thanksgiving but since he's had his tonsils out, he pretty much gets to watch whatever he wants;).
5. He LOVES his baby sister!! He loves to play with her on her activity mat. Kirk and I laugh because he is always in her face. You would think that she would get annoyed but he can definitely get the most laughs from her! I'm pretty sure she feels the same way about him as he does about her.
6. He's not a big eater but his favorite foods are peanut butter and jelly, Nutri-grain bars, pink ice cream, yogurt, and bananas. However, those foods are nothing compared to his love of chips and cheese dip!!! Whenever we ask him what he wants for dinner, that is what he says. He also has his favorite places to go and get chips and cheese dip. And he can tell us how to get there;)!
7. He no longer takes a nap but does have quiet time in his room. He can play with his toys or watch Leap Frog videos but he has to stay in his room. He goes to bed around 8:00 and falls right to sleep! Oh, and about going to bed...he still wears a pull-up at night time:(. I know, I need to work on it! Sometimes he wakes up dry and sometimes he's soaking wet. I'm just not really sure how to go about working on that... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
8. McCoy LOVES preschool and his teacher, Ms. Luann. He had a preschool assessment a month or so ago and he tested a little low for his age developmentally. I was a little concerned, but after looking at the test there is some things he can do that he didn't and some that I was surprised he could do. However, there are definitely somethings we need to work on, like buttons and zippers, putting small puzzles together, recognizing other people's names, holding a pencil properly, hopping on one foot and galloping/skipping, and speaking clearly. He also always wants to be first and can't stay in line...definitely need to work on that, but it didn't surprise me! But she did say he plays really well with others, which makes me so happy:)!
9. He can say his ABC's, recognize all his letters, and tell me the sounds they make. He's also doing really well at writing his name and he loves to practice. When he first started school, he wasn't very good at tracing but now he's doing great! He knows all his colors, shapes, and body parts. He loves music and playing dress-up! Ms. Luann also told me how amazed she was at how well he can throw a football. That made daddy very happy;)!
We love you so much, little man and look forward to all the years to come...just not too fast;)!!

Here are a few random pics of McCoy from my iphone...

Before the Halloween carnival at our church

Silly boy.

LOVE these two!!1

Soccer party. First trophy!

Playdate with Jack

Playing with Violet:)

So proud of his birthday crown from Ms Luann

Musicfest in El Do

Still trying to wake up;)

Taking a "nap" with Violet

Dressed himself. Not too bad!

Sweet big brother

One of my favorite pics:).

McCoy's Tonsillectomy

On Friday, McCoy had to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. He hasn't had tubes so this was his first big medical procedure and I was very anxious about it. McCoy, on the other hand, was very excited! Of course he didn't quite understand, but he knew he would get lots of ice cream and popsicles afterward;).

That morning he ran into the surgery center and told the receptionist that he was there to get his tonsils out! He was so brave when they took him back so it made me feel a lot better to leave him.

It didn't take long at all and then we got to go see him in recovery. When he woke up, he was very upset. It broke my heart to go back there and see him so sad and confused:(. But, I got to cuddle with him in his hospital bed and watch a movie while he recovered, so that made me feel a little better;)!

He's been such a trooper since we got home. Oh, a little side note, the first thing he wanted to do when we got home was hug Violet! He loves her so much!! Back to his tonsils... He isn't eating much, though and last night he told me he just wanted his booboo to go away. I so wish I could take it away for him!! He's been watching a lot of movies. I can't tell you how many times we have seen Polar Express, but whatever makes him happy:)! I think his pain meds make him feel really good one minute and then totally zone him out the next, so it's been interesting to watch. Nights are hard and I feel like is exhausted, but he is still so sweet!

Just hoping that my sweet baby is back to himself soon!!! I miss my crazy boy;)!

Brave boy...

...about to head back to surgery.

Recovery. Poor boy:(. You can tell he was loving the blue slushie, though;)!

Glad to be home!

Zoning out...

Halloween

On Halloween night, we went over to the Morris' house for a fun night of visiting, LOTS of kids playing, and trick-or-treating!! There was lots of yummy food and we all had a blast! Definitely a successful first Hallween for Violet;). McCoy disappeared to go play as soon as we got there and I was having way too much fun visiting so I completely forgot to get pics!! However, we did get a few of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell before we left and some when we got home.

The next day, McCoy was going through his treat bag and found these fun glasses that he wanted Violet to try on;). He thought she looked pretty cute!!