Sunday, January 18, 2009

7 months and almost 7!!!

Hard to believe my oldest baby is going to be seven in a few weeks!! Where did the years go???? McCallister started his soccer season last week and had his 2nd game yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to work but, I heard he had a great game!!! Chad said he was very aggressive, maybe too aggressive, as he got a bloody nose as a result of a collide of heads! He was a brave young man though and he shook it off! Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't there, I hate seeing things bad happen to him and I probably would have embarrassed him by running out on the field and swooping him up and kissing him! McCallister turn 7 on Feb. 13th so we are having his party on Valentines day! We are going to have a party at the park and rent a huge jumper/bouncer. It should be a blast as always, I will be sure to post some pix!

Madden is going to be 8 months on the 28th! Now that I really can't believe!!! He is closer to being a year old then I would like. He is so fun and really had a lot of changes with the new year!! He is eating all sorts of yummy food, basically whatever I can smash up small enough for him to eat he gets! He loves food!!! His most recent new food he started eating is toast and he loves it!! Thankfully, we have not ran into any sort of reactions to any foods so that is good for us and him. Allergies don't run in my family or Chad's and Cal can eat anything (he just doesn't) so I think Madden will be the same! He still has NO teeth. Gosh I am beginning to wonder if there are any in there! ha ha Maybe God forgot to install them. LOL He is starting to get a little mobile. He likes to go from a sitting position to his belly and then kind of circle all around on his belly chasing after his toys! Its cute to watch and it is nice that he can entertain himself more now so mommy can get some things done around the house!!
Well that is all for now! Here are a few pictures of my sweet boys! Enjoy......










Monday, January 5, 2009

Christmas and New Years!

So it has been a long time since I updated. I am not very good at this, I just seem to be way too busy lately to get on here and add anything! So Sorry!! Well, I will just give you a little update of the happenings around the Banks household in December.
December was a busy month, it just seemed to fly by! Christmas came
up so fast and I still can't believe it's already gone!! I hope this new year brings a better economy for us. I feel very blessed to have been able to stay home with the boys. If times get tough I am more then willing to go back to work to help out but, for now I am just enjoying the blessings that the Lord has given me! My husband is the best! He goes out and works hard all day and let's me stay with the kids. I'm not saying being a mommy is always easy but, it sure beats someone else raising my babies!
So I love to do a lot of Christmas activities to celebrate all season long. My family and I did a lot of neat Christmas things this year to celebrate. We did our yearly viewing of a truly spectacular Christmas play at a church in North Phoenix. I forgot the name of the church but, it is just an amazing play telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. I love it, we all love it and it has been our tradition to go ever Christmas season. We, of course, made a visit to Santa as well! This year instead of going to a mall to see him we actually went to Bass Pro Shop at the Mesa Riverview. It was actually pretty neat. They set up a "winter wonderland" there with different activities and then Santa came to take pictures with the kids! It was pretty cool! We watched the light parade on Mill Ave., Cal enjoyed the "snow" they had around the valley. We did something a little different this year when it came to looking at Christmas lights. The place I got my hummerzine from for my wedding was advertising renting limos out to go look at xmas lights so we thought what the heck. Why not let someone else do the driving so we can just kick back and enjoy the ride and sights. It was a lot of fun the kids especially liked it. We had some sparkling cider for the kids and they rolled around VIP style!! ha ha ha
This Christmas was great! My sister and all the clan came from NC to celebrate with us which was wonderful. McCallister especially enjoyed the company of his cousins but, cried his eyes out (as per usual) when they left!! Madden's 1st Christmas was good. He wasn't really too into the opening of the gifts yet. Once and a while he would grab one and try to eat it but, otherwise he was really oblivious to it all! He got tons of stuff though of course!! Great, where am I going put all this stuff! We need a bigger house we have already outgrown this one!
All in all, Christmas was great! I love spending time with my family and the ones I love!! To wrap up the season, Me, Chad and the boys headed to WI for a few days. Our outgoing flight was cancelled because of weather so are trip was cut short. We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see but, it was still a lot of fun! It was nice to spend some good quality chill time with the friends and family. Weird how things change when you get older and have kids. I am so content with things that I never imagined I would be. WI was super cold and windy so it was nice to get back to AZ!
Now that we are home, life resumes as normal. I am trying to get the energy to clean the house and such. No such luck yet! ha ha
McCallister starts his soccer season now with his 1st practice being this Thursday. He is the best boy anyone could ever ask for. He is just sooooooo good, I am so very blessed to have a kid as good as him. Thank you Lord!! He is handsome, smart, well-mannered, listens so well and I could just go on and on. I love him soooooo much!! This feb. 13th my sweet baby boy is going to be turning 7!! I can't believe it. SEVEN, where did all those years go AND am I really old enough to have a seven year old. YIKES! He just gets better and better and more fun each day. HE is such a little Ham!!
Madden had some new discoveries in the month of December. He has definitely found his voice! As an earlier post said his first official "word" was Dada. Well, on Dec. 29th he said baa baa while we were out to dinner with some friends and just a few days later he said mama!! So cute. We are still working on braa braa for Cal, it does sound like he says it sometimes. I know it is all just sounds that he is making and that he has no idea what he is saying or doing but, it is too cute!! We all love to hear him "talk"! It's amazing how much he has changed in the last couple of weeks. He is talking so much more and rolling over much more, and really reaching for things that are in front of him to the point where he gets in the crawling position (sort of) but, no crawling or even attempting for my lazy baby. ha ha He also started to eat some little puffs finger foods by Gerber. HE loves them!!! He still has no teeth but, he is definitely trying to get some. He chews on those puffs like he has a full set of teeth!!
Well, that is all for now. I will post some pics of xmas for you all to enjoy!

CUTE BABY JESUS!!


PLAYING MARY, JOSEPH, AND JESUS AT CHURCH!





MCCALLISTER WITH HIS TWO FAVORITE GIRLS

MADDEN'S FIRST TIME TOUCHING THE TREE!

MY BEAUTIFUL BOYS!