Brotherly Love

John Parker: "I guess I'll try holding my lil' bro."

Sawyer: "What is my bubba doing?"

Sawyer: "Not quite sure, Mama."

John Parker: "Can I take your pappy since Mama and Daddy took mine?"

John Parker: "I do love you, brother!"


It has taken three months, but John Parker finally decided that he wanted to hold Sawyer. He is well aware that he is no longer number "uno" in the Hardy household, so getting him to accept his little brother hasn't been an easy task-But he is doing so much better. After placing Sawyer in John Parker's lap for a few mintues, these were the words spoken from my two 1/2 year old once he was ready to get up from the rocker: John Parker"Here-You can have IT!!" Me: "IT has a name-Sawyer." We got a good laugh!!

Cool, Calm & Collective.....

was this little guy while I tried to capture a few images of his growing little body on this beautiful Veteran's Day afternoon. The boys and I spent a quiet, relaxing day at home while Jeremy is in Atlanta on a business trip. We miss him like CRAZY and can't wait for him to come home Friday evening. As for the picture taking, I was completely astonished that John Parker was actually cooperating with me while I took a few pictures. I just LOVE this LIVELY little soul.

For Beth...

See how my attempted family picture turned out last year? At least John Luke was smiling for the camera instead of crying. We tortured (or so he thought) our child last year in order to get a good family picture but didn't work out that way. Oh, well. I had to settle for a solo shot of himself for the Christmas card. Maybe we can do better this year...........we'll see! ;)

One more to add.......

Guess who was at the Alabama game this past weekend? Jay Barker, former Alabama QB from the 1992 National Championship team under Coach Gene Stallings, with his new wife, country singer Sara Evans, along with Eva Logoria, and Athletic Director, Mal Moore. Many of you may be aware of Barker and Evans' recent marriage, but just in case you weren't I'll fill you in. Barker and Evans were introduced to one another through their Christian 'marriage' counselor when both of them were going through a difficult time after their marriages ended with their spouses being unfaithful. God brought their lives together and now they have 7 children between them. There is a clip on YouTube where Sara Evans is performing in B'ham and singing none other than "Sweet Home Alabama", and at the end she and Jay introduce all 7 children to the audience. It is too cute! They make a beautiful couple, but above all else they are strong Christian people. Looks like we have a new UA fan. Maybe she'll give UA fans a performance during halftime in the future. :)

Sunday Afternoon

Caught by SURPRISE!!

John Parker LOVES any type of climbing apparatuses-as any BOY would!

HMMMM......What else can I get into?

Mama, I'm not so sure about riding on the pony!

{He was hesitant at first but it didn't last long at all!}

My sweet little cowboy.

He looks like a natural.

PaPa "R" and John Parker

What would we do without the inflatables????

Having a ball!

Stopping for a little breather...that lasted a whole .5 seconds!

Mama, what are you doing? WUV U~ Sawyer
{Please ignore the pic of me, I found Sawyer's look on his face hysterically funny}.

Excuse me-But have any of you seen the weight room?

JP's sweet cousin, Ashland Grace Kelley, (aka-Ash) joined in on the fun in the bounce house.

Here is another DIVA, Savannah Faith Kelley, (aka-Savvy) that was enjoying herself.


While Jeremy went hunting, John Parker, Sawyer and I went to my Nanny's church (Mill Creek Baptist Church) for their annual Fall Festival. As you can see from the pictures above, fun was had by all. John Parker was able to ride on the pony and play in the bounce house. It made for a perfect Sunday afternoon. Sawyer missed out on all of the action because he was busy catching some zzzz's. (You know....he has such a HARD life! LOL!)

What a night!

HERE I COME!!!

WE'RE A TEAM!!! Hurry and take the picture b/c Sawyer's hungry!

Dear Nick Saban,

My brother, John Parker, and I are ready to play for you!

ROll Tide!

Sawyer

Now John Parker, ladies go first! Sorry, sweet Caroline! We'll have to work on that!

Can I pick up All of the ducks, daddy?

I'll make the ducks venture all over their little pond.

My star quarterback.....Mr. John Parker HARDY!!!! I'm his biggest fan!

Mama, I promise I won't get sacked during my debut at Alabama.

I am fully prepared for the game.

First Halloween as a "Family of Four"!!

Jamey and Caroline patiently waiting on the slide. My little boy didn't seem to know "patience" tonight. See how eager he is to get out of his daddy's arms? Sorry that you had to listen to him cry over this beloved slide, Shonna and Lori.

WEEEEEEEE!!! That was F-U-N!

Up, Up, Up he goes......without FEAR!

Just in case you were wondering.......

we're still here!!!! I know that it has been three weeks since I have posted, but adjusting to being a mother of two little boys, carrying on my wifely duties, and going back to twenty-four anxious fourth graders is enough to make me,or anyone else for that matter, a little overwhelmed and too busy to think about blogging. Honest to goodness , I don't know how I made it these past two weeks without the wonderful help that Jeremy provided(as always), as well as the help from our parents. But, after a seemingly short eight week stay at home with Sawyer we are slowly, but surely, settling into a routine-if there is such a thing with two children. :)

My first day back at work was on Monday, October 13th. Fortunately for me, this was the perfect day to come back to school. The children weren't there!!! HA! This is a day set aside for us teachers to have conferences with our students' parents. As for me, there wasn't anything to conference about because I hadn't been there since the very first week of school. Therefore, I spent the day cleaning, looking over the students' work samples, and preparing for the week ahead. And you may be wondering if tears were shed, and of course there were!! :( As I lay down Sunday night and began saying my prayers, I asked the Good Lord to comfort me and give me peace of mind as I return to work. AND, HE answered. After my prayer, I immediately began to cry, and cry, and cry........did I mention cry? until I cried myself to sleep. I was thankful for that crying spell on Sunday night for as I woke on Monday morning I felt peace of heart and mind. My dear, sweet mother took a personal day to keep Sawyer for me on my first day back. It made leaving him for the first time a lot easier knowing that he was in good hands with his Missy. As for the rest of the week, Claire Stringfellow(future Mrs. Russ Walters), was so kind to keep Sawyer until he was able to start Guardian Angel on Tuesday, October 21st. THANKS CLAIRE! How is Sawyer adjusting to daycare? WONDERFULLY! Debbie Smith (formerly Cross) is his 'teacher'. And she has done a terrific job caring for our little one.

Not so little anymore.......Sawyer went for his two month check-up on Monday and his stats are as follows: Weight: 12 lb. 7oz. Length/Height: 24 inches Head Circumference: 15 1/2 along with four shots: DTAP, IPV, PCV, and HIB! It tugs at my heart to see my boys get shots, but I always keep in mind that it is worth that short amount of tears/pain versus the outcome if they weren't vaccinated. We were fortunate to have two nurses come in and administer the shots at the same time on each leg. They began counting...1,2,3 and then I heard complete silence(Sawyer turning red and trying to let out a cry), then it came. Once I picked him up he was good to go! Dr. E said he looked great! Undoubtedly, my milk is agreeing with him. He believes that he is going to be tall like most of the Kelleys are in the family. He is in the 90% tile for his height, 70% tile for his weight, and 50% for his head circumference. He jokingly said that John Parker might not like having a little brother taller than him one day. {Predictions can always be made, but you never really know}. Dr. E said that you can take the height they are at the age of 2 and double it and it would give you a rough estimate of how tall they will be. So, for JP, it looks like he will be right at 6 feet tall. I'm curious to see what Sawyer's measurements will be in August of 10'. {I can wait though...time flies by too fast as it is!}

As for Mr. John Parker, he is doing well besides having an ear infection this week. This is his first one since he was one. Like Shonna had mentioned in one of her blogs earlier in the summer, that the "Two's Aren't So Terrible" when they are able to tell you when they are hurting. I whole-heartily agree. On Monday, John Parker was crying while pulling at his left ear saying, "It hurts....My ear HURTS!" He is on antibiotics and is back to his energized self. As for his schooling, he has learned what a trapezoid and parallelogram looks like. This is a cute little story: I went to pick JP up and before entering his classroom I got his work from the day that was displayed under his name in the hallway. As I was about to open the door I hear Mrs.Jean say, "Boys and Girls, this is a trapezoid". For a split second I thought that I had heard wrong, but I didn't. I knew that she goes over the basic geometric shapes with them but didn' t realize that it was in the core curriculum at GA to teach it to the two year olds. HA! I teach this to my fourth graders. However, they have to know the definition of the shape etc., whereas, the little ones only identify. {I should teach JP the definition of the shapes}. I got a kick out of it. My next question to Mrs. Jean should have been, "Where's the rhombus, pentagon, octagon, hexagon?" :) She also teaches them the upper and lower case letters. JP already knew the alphabet, but I find it so darn cute when he tells/shows me the upper A and lower a. He'll also recite his days of the week and almost all twelve months of the year. This is what used to be the Kindergarten curriculum back in the day, but now they expect children to know this before coming to school. (I'm definitely not complaining) !! Children absorb so much and are able to retain it at such a young age. You may be asking, "What's next? Spanish?" You're right. I've heard that the teachers at GA for the three year olds will teach them a little Spanish. Suzanne, correct me if I am wrong! :)

Other than doctor visits, school, and trying to keep the house clean we are doing well. I believe that there are two types of cleaning: surface and deep. The surface cleaning is something that I do daily and well, the deep cleaning is why I am interested in hiring help. After I get home from school, the last thing that I want to do is spend my time cleaning when all I want to do is hold, love and play with my boys. Once night falls, I am exhausted and ready for bed. SO.......if you know anyone that would like to mop, clean toilets, sinks, bathtubs, showers, dust, and possibly do a little laundry while they are here-LET ME KNOW.

Here are some pics of the boys. JP came home from GA with a squirrel head band that he made at school(very excited and proud of it)....AND growing, sweet Sawyer.