Coach Mom

I am very excited about a book club that I have joined that started today.  I have started reading the book, "Coach Mom" by Brenna Stull.  Brenna has 5 children and they are looking into adoption.  I cannot imagine being a mom of five children...and still possibly more!  She is a great author and I am really looking forward to what the Lord has to show me in being a mom and ways that I can really influence my children. 
God is so amazing.  I thought I loved my parents and then my husband, but there is something so amazing about a baby that you carried for 9 months and that has your spouse and your qualities.  I am absolutely blown away at the love I have for my sweet Tucker boy.  Can you imagine how much the Lord loves us if we love our children this much??  There are not words enough to express the love He must have for us.  I cannot fathom sending my son to die on a cross for all the world.  It brings me to tears just thinking about how powerful the Lord is and yet He still cares for the little parts of our lives as well.

So back to Coach Mom...I will be making updates about what I am learning each week and how we plan to add these lessons to our everyday lives now.

I have already learned so much and I'm only on chapter one!  The first chapter is being more than a survivor in your home.  We need to strive in making the most of each moment the Lord grants us.  Brenna's life verse is "Teach us to number our days alright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12.  I want to make the most of my time with my relationships and live intentionally.

She makes note that our children are motivated from the top...if mom and dad are pessimistic, then why wouldn't the children be?  It is our responsibility to teach them to do their part in helping the family so we can all enjoy each other and our homes.  We are the coach of our team and we will keep them encouraged or drag them down. 

Proverbs 25:11 says "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."  We still have to discipline our children, but we also can praise them when they do good or help out with something.

Also, family dinners must be a priority in your household.  Right now that is kind of hard for us because J works late hours, but in the winter time we always eat together and we try to do this at least 4 times a week now.  That time to eat allows time for discussion about your day, and whatever else is going on with the family at that particular time.  I know that right now we aren't really able to include Tucker in the discussion, but he is now sitting in his high chair and just all being together that one time is important for us to establish it now.

I'm excited about each stage of our lives and I look forward to learning about ways we should be teaching our children and also come across topics that J and I haven't really ever thought about or discussed previously.  Thanks for taking this journey with me over the next 8 weeks!  

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Flowers!!

 I will start by saying I am SO thankful for our friends and family.  The past few weeks we have traveled a lot.  J has been in two weddings the past three weekends.  The first was Tyson and Charity's wedding in Camden, TN, and also in Mark and Hope's wedding in Nashville.  I wasn't able to take pictures at Tyson and Charity's wedding because Tucker wouldn't cooperate, so I don't have any photos from their wedding, but it was beautiful and we were so glad were able to go and J was able to be a part of their special day! Jonathan met Tyson and Mark at UTM and they all became great hunting buddies.  They are both great guys and I'm so thankful that J has friends like them.  

So on to this weekend's wedding...Mark married the sweetest girl, Hope this past weekend.  They have been together since high school, so this was a long time in coming! Mark asked J to be in the wedding and so we went down to Nashville on Friday night so J could be there on Saturday to spend the day with all the guys for his bachelor party and then the rehearsal dinner was Friday night.  Unfortunately it rained all day on Saturday, so instead of fishing all day as planned, they had to come up with other ideas, so they went to downtown Nashville and played laser tag. I think they had a good time anyway.    

The rehearsal dinner was at a place called the Catfish House, and they had great chicken nuggets! :) I know you aren't supposed to go to a catfish house and order nuggets, but they were so yummy.  Below is Mrs. Deborah, Mark's mom (holding Tucker boy!) and his dad, Mr. Mike.

Tucker boy was a little under the weather this weekend and he was fussing a little, but he was very sweet the whole time.  I was proud of how good he was all weekend long - except for sleeping, but I guess that might be expected when your nose is stuffy.

The wedding was at one of the most beautiful outside wedding sites I've ever seen!  It was a place called Front Porch farms in Nashville TN. It was set at the top of a "hill" - that's what they call them in Nashville.  The West TN folks would call that a mountain!  It overlooked thousand of acres and was breathtaking. 

Family photo before the ceremony began.

The view from the back of the ceremony...see that beautiful scenery.

This is where the bridal party came out of the house and were married in the front yard.

This was Mark's grandfather's old Ford, and he left it to Mark when he passed away.  This is what they left the wedding in!  Also, Hope is a scrapbook-er and she had one of the coolest ways to personalize the day with their own "guest book".  She had someone who would ask you to sign around the outside edges of scrapbook pages, and then there was a lady with a camera who would take a family photo.  So she can go back and look at this for years to come and remember who was there! I thought it was such a neat idea.

Groom and preacher going down the isle to start the ceremony.

My Sweet Husband! So handsome in a Tux.

Adorable little flower girls

The beautiful bride

Congrats Mr. and Mrs!

The brides cake was cupcakes, so yummy! and the grooms cake was chocolate icing on white cake.  Her mom made his cake an the duck on top is made out of rice krispy treats.  It looked so real.

The reception was in a open pavilion and it was so nice.  The food was catered and it was delicious.  They had BBQ, Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls, and salad.

There was a DJ and I couldn't help but snap this photo of sweet Tucker boy with his daddy - dancing!

And this is not a staged photo...one of the bridesmaids was talking about how warm it was and wouldn't it be so fun to jump in the pool...well J was completely on board and convinced all the groomsmen and she convinced all the bridesmaids...see what happened!

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it, but when Mark and Hope were supposed to be leaving we all had sparklers in the pavilion and they ran through.  When we came out they were both in the pool too!!  So they took some photos of the whole wedding party in the pool...I can't wait to see how they came out!

We had a great weekend and got home really late Sunday night...I hope you all had a great Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my sweet daddy, and father in law.  Also, Happy First Father's Day to my amazing Husband!!  I love you and so does Tucker!

The Lake for a First Timer

 

We went to the lake on Saturday and it was Tucker's first time.  We had gone to Wal-mart the night before to get his swim suit and we thought we would just see if they had any sunglasses.  Poor little guy was still under the weather from his shots, but we let him try them on and he thought it was hilarious.  He had a great time and when we took them off he got so upset, so we put them back on and he started laughing again. We couldn't leave without getting those adorable sunglasses and he wore them so much on the lake - and he never once tried to take them off.  

On the way to the lake - sunglasses and camo hat in tow!

So I have to admit that I was a little nervous about going to the lake, but we were  very careful and also made him wear the life jacket, which he wasn't so crazy about to be quite honest!  He wasn't sure what to think of the water the first time we got in - he loves his bath, so we figured that he would love the lake water, but he was still feeling under the weather, so he was just going with the flow.  That afternoon (after a dose of Tylenol), he absolutely loved it and had the best time.  I think we are going to have a little fish on our hands.

Like father like son

 

Macho Macho Man!

Hope your weekend was great!

4 Month Check Up

Tucker is almost 4 1/2 months old! I can't believe how quickly time flies.  We had his four month check up and he is 26 1/4 inches long and 18 lbs, 8 oz. His head circumference is 17 inches.  Everything looks great and he is going to be a tall little fella!

Rolled Over

Tucker rolled over this morning!  I had laid him down on his gym mat in his bedroom and was picking up a few things.  There is a whale that hangs from the top part above the mat and he was pulling on it and next thing I know he had flipped himself over.  I thought it was just a fluke so I flipped him back on his stomach and ran to get the video camera.  He did it again!  A few minutes later we were in the den and I laid him down after feeding him and he rolled himself over all by himself!  We have reached a whole new world now - no leaving him on the bed, changing table, or anywhere he can fall.  I've always been careful about these areas anyways, but it's just such a huge change.

He likes to still be able to see his mobile while he is turning over, so this is the way he watches until he decides to completely roll over and then he looks up at it, but I think this is so funny!