Judson Wise Paben entered the world on April 21, 2012 weighing 5 lbs 10 ozs.  He was 19 inches long.  What a blessing he has been to our family.  He is such a good baby...let's hope it continues! 

Time has flown by and he is already 2 months old.

Weight: 11 lbs 8 oz

Length: 22 inches

Here are some recent pictures of the sweet little guy!

 

What a weekend...

I'm pretty sure weekends aren't long enough. This last weekend was pretty much non-stop. The relaxing weekend I wanted/needed did not happen!

Friday, I stopped by Dianne and Tom's after school so that Aunt Evelyn could see T. Abby brought the baby over so we visited a little bit. Then I headed off to Amber's Pampered Chef party(yikes that stuff isn't cheap!). I stayed there for a little bit before I rushed home only to leave again. We went to the first home football game. I failed to take my camera or take a picture with my phone. Sigh.

Football games bring me to my next point. Finding a toddler spirit shirt for Waller is a little challenging around here...especially for a boy! So I decided I would see about making one(some if it worked out for me). So T and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby Saturday morning to buy stuff. An hour and a half later and almost $100 poorer, we walked out with stuff to make shirts...some for me, some for him. I got some fall decor, a birthday present, and a scrapbook punch too. Whoops...Hobby Lobby, you are the devil!!
Here is a shirt I made, complete with his name on the back.



We get home, ate lunch, and then went to a friends birthday party. T had a 20 min nap and was done. Joy.
They had pony...errr...donkey rides, paint the pony(cute idea), ice cream bar, and cotton candy.
Here is T riding Squirt!



After this, he decided to forgo every other party endeavor and play by himself. After sitting in 100+* heat, I was soon ready to go home to tackle my "to-do" list that was a mile long. We got home and I enlisted Tommy to help me clean...that was pretty much the rest of our day! :-(

Sunday we went to church in the morning. While T was napping, I worked on his shirt. Tommy decided to take T swimming so that I could work on school stuff.


After I got through, I went up to Tom and Dianne's. Evelyn and Grandmother wanted to see T's "to infinity and beyond" trick which is usually done without floaties. I couldn't get the video to load...Tanner screams "to infinity and beyond" and Tommy throws T in the air and he crashes into the water. Yes, I know, it's really safe! ;-)

We ended the weekend eating pizza and visiting with family.

It was a good weekend but busy!! Hopefully, next weekend will be restful!!

PS: why did I just type this whole thing with my phone??

Hugs,
Samantha

Summer came and went

It's been a pretty good summer other than the extreme drought and heat! I've enjoyed being able to spend time with little man this summer. He is a mess!!! Here are a few pictures of him from this summer.


We've been working on potty training. Unfortunately, we have a very stubborn child on our hands.



Haha...big boy underwear, "John boots", and a bucket makes the perfect outfit don't you think??




A daily occurrence that was just about all this OCD momma could handle!!




According to my mom, I was quite the climber when I was young. Apparently, Tanner inherited the ability to climb like a monkey!!

Hugs,
Samantha

Let's see if this works!

So as usual its been a while!! I just downloaded a new app to my new phone. New app = blogpress : new phone = iPhone 4(finally)!! Maybe this will make it easier for me to actually keep up with my poor neglected blog!

It seems summer has gotten away from me and 2 things on my to-do lost have gone untouched...T's scrapbook and this blog!! where did the summer go?? I start back to work officially on August 15th! Boo!!!

Yesterday, Tommy and I made a trip to Ikea and found a secretary/hutch that we liked. Let me back up by saying our primary reason for going in there was to get magazine files for $1.99!!! We went ahead and bought it...which I am glad that we did b/c it has a ton of storage!!



Bad picture but isn't it cute?


Hugs,
Samantha

Easter Weekend

We were able to make the trek to East Texas for Easter.  We left when I got out of school on Thursday.  After a quick stop in Crockett and dinner at Hershel's in Henderson, we made it to my mom and dad's about 8.  Mimi, Grumpy, and Carter welcomed us home.  Tanner and Carter LOVE seeing each other.  The didn't go to bed until about 10:45 that night.

Friday, we had Carter because Kim and Brandon both had to work.  We hung out at Mom and Dad's house for most of the day.  Mom and I made a quick trip to Longview to The Children's Place and Target while the boys napped. That evening, we took Carter home and met their new puppy, Zebbie. Brandon cooked hamburgers and then we went to the pasture behind K&B's house.  It was covered in Indian Paintbrushes but sadly, they were starting to dry up.  We should have known better because both boys were G.R.O.U.C.H.Y!!  I got a few good ones.

Saturday, we went to see my best friend from HS, Kristin, and her family out at her in-law's lake house on Lake Bob Sandlin. As always, it was great seeing them and being able to hang out for a little bit.  We didn't get to stay too long but had a great time while we were there.  Tanner, of course, spent most of his time on the tractor or playing on the swings.  Kris and I got to catch up while she made her cute cupcakes with the help of her two oldest, Allie and Peyton.  We left before it was time for T to take a nap and so that we could make it back to mom and dad's for the afternoon.  That evening K, B, and C came out and we ate dinner at mom and dad's. After they left, we watched "The King's Speech."

Sunday, we went to church at Mobberly in Longview.  I went to church there regularly with Kristin when we were in HS.  Tanner got to go in the room that Kim was teaching so it made it a little bit easier to leave him.  Church was great...I love their pastor...love their music...love being there.  After church, we went back to mom and dad's for lunch and egg hunt. We took a few pictures when we got home but neither boy wanted to cooperate.  I remember having the same exact behavior last year on Easter Sunday!  So frustrating...no family picture!  Mom fixed ham, potato salad, green beans, rolls, and "pink stuff" for lunch!  It was yummy...one of my favorite meals!

Strangely, I didn't get many pictures of the boys hunting eggs.  It seriously seemed like it lasted a few seconds.  T was only interested in the eggs if he heard something in them when they shook.  If he didn't hear anything, he threw them back on the ground. Soon after we got done, we packed up and headed home.  It was a great weekend and very busy as usual. 

I'm back...well, for today!

Dang!  It's been a while.  I wish I was better at keeping up with this thing but I am obviously NOT! I picked T up from school yesterday and he was running a fever.  Tommy is out of town so that means momma has to take off work.  It was not a fun night...sleeping with a sick 2 year old is not fun!  His fever finally broke about 12:45 or so.  He has been acting like he felt fine today so I have taken advantage of my day off.

Not a lot goes on around here but here is a little update.

Tanner:

• This kid is definitely not lacking in the personality department.  He is ALWAYS into something.   He keeps us laughing at all the stuff he does.  I need to upload all my pictures from my iPhone.  It is so funny looking through them. 
• He talks up a storm. He can definitely carry on a conversation.  I adore his little voice.  It is so precious.
• He is obsessed with Toy Story...well, "Woody Buzz!" I swear we watch one of the three movies at least once a day.  Sometimes he watches it two times in a row and then asks to watch it again!  He knows every character by name.  He has a ton of these little books that he got for his birthday.  They are among the favorites for us to read.
• Most of the time you will find him without shoes on.  Most days when I pick him up from school he is the only shoeless kid in the class.  I guess they get tired of battling him to keep them on!
• Even though he has a dislike for most shoes, he loves his "John boots."  I am glad no one can see his "play" clothes on a daily basis.  I am afraid we would be judged for letting our child dress the way he does! 
• He wears 2T clothes and has his Daddy's wide feet.  I took him to stride rite to find shoes and they measured right at a 7.5.  The girl told me, "He needs wide shoes, I would probably get extra wide if I could."

Tommy was building a tree "fort" for T's 2nd birthday.  Tanner was helping!

Tommy:

• He is on his way home from South Texas.  He left on Monday for one of his AgLead trips.  I wasn't too comfortable with him going down to the border especially after he told me stories they had heard. I am thankful that he is on his way home!  It has been a long week without him!
• He LOVES his baby boy.  He takes him to school every day.  He gives him a bath every night.  He loves that T is old enough to ride around with him and check cows.
• He is such a sweet husband.  He got me "The King's Speech" and a new Starbucks coffee cup for Easter.  Who gets Easter presents as an adult?  His gift from me...chocolate covered marshmallows.  He always out does me with gifts...always! BTW, "The King's Speech" is a must see!  It is a great movie!

Easter Sunday

Me:

• School is winding down and I have summer FEVER bad this year!  I can not wait for this school year to be over.  Luckily, I did get my contract...even if my name was misspelled. Sadly, I know several people that didn't get their contracts renewed. 
• I am newly obsessed with photography.  I love reading and looking a pictures on photographers blogs.  There is SO much to learn and you can easily get in over your head. I am currently saving my pennies for a new lens!!
• I sometimes wish I had a body double that could help me keep things around here clean!  I swear...its the same thing every weekend...laundry and cleaning!  GAG...who wants to spend their days off doing either of those!?
• I am still selling Scentsy.  It is and has been VERY slow but this area is saturated with people that sell it.  I have a few regular customers but I don't do much other than place an occasional order.
• I miss my family and friends!  I wish we lived closer to home.  I am hoping to spend sometime this summer back in NE Texas!  It is awful going home for a weekend and not be able to see everybody!

All things Tanner!

We have our hands full with this one! Tanner has quite the personality! I love him more than words can say. God has blessed us with a "gem" of a child...just like his doctor told me!

Here is a few things :

-he has a temper and he is very hard headed! I don't know what to do with him when spankings do NOT phase him at all and he puts himself in time out. We started the whole idea of time out a few weeks ago when he was throwing a fit and stomping his feet. I told him that throwing fits was ugly and he needed to go to time out. I took him over and put him on top of his toy box...yes, I know...not the ideal "time out" spot but it was the first place that I took him. So he just looked at me and kind of whimpered as I told him that he couldn't throw fits. He looked at me and said, "I sorry. I hold you!" as he reached his little arms out.
So the next day, he was stomping his feet again. I said, "Tanner, that is ugly." He said, "I go time out," and marched his little self over to his toy box, climbed up on top, and looked at me. So really....what do you do with that??

-he likes "chocate milk" very much! Well, anything chocolate for that matter!

-He has a vocabulary out of this world. Yes, I am bragging but anyone who is around him can't believe how much he talks and how clear it all is. It's very rare for me not to understand something that he says. The little toot can say just about anything, including "gum-mit" after hearing me say, "dad-gum-mit" the other day. We really have to watch what we say around him! The other day we were outside and he patted me on the leg and said, "I be back, Mama." "Where are you going?" "To the field!"

-he already wants to know "who dat?" or just points to something and says 'Wha dat?"

-He takes after me and is very social. He loves being around people!

-he can count to ten, get to G in his ABC's, recognizes T, O, S, and a few other letters, and knows the colors orange, blue, pink, and yellow pretty well.

-he likes to watch VeggieTales, Mickey Mouse, and Handy Manny.

-He loves to sing songs.

I attached a few pictures of typical Tanner...

He was a farmer for Halloween. I didn't spend money on a costume he would wear. We had a pretty low, key Halloween and just went to Tommy's Aunt Sue's house. Tanner helped pass out the candy to the trick-or-treaters!
Earlier during the day we had gone to ride horses. When we got back to the barn, he had to feed the horse some corn. "You want it?" he kept asking!

Getting corn for the horses to eat!
Climbing into the bath with our clothes on. "I wet!"

Playing with a "locus" He loves bugs!

He makes a beeline for the dryer anytime it is open. I guess he likes the sound because he gets REALLY loud! This night he looked at me and said, "I need chocate milk." I guess he was just going to hang out in the dryer for a while!

He has an obsession with cat food and dog food. He often chomps on it when we are playing outside. I can not break him of the habit of putting it in his mouth. "Tanner, what are you eating?" "uh, cat food." Gross!! This day he dumped it all out and made himself a hat!

He is a little stinker, but I wouldn't have him any other way. What a precious little boy and it is such a joy to be his mama!