The Family

Well I am sorry about the lack of blogging, but wow we have been busy. John came home on Father's Day, what a great gift to have him back with us safe and sound. Britton is doing great with the transition, he is very excited to have daddy back home. Everlye is growing strong, I am 30 weeks today and have my first drs appt in Abilene on Friday. We got a house on base here and it is super nice, we still have alot to do, but it is becoming more like home. I am sorry I have no pics to post my camera is messed up so I guess I will have to get a new one:) Just wanted to let everyone know we are doing well!

Britton is 3!!!

I can't believe that my sweet baby boy is three!!! We had a party for him on Tuesday night with his friends, from MDO and church. He was soooo excited, it was a dinosaur theme. He helped me make the cake and loved that and picked out all his party decor. He also wanted to have play-dough at his party, kinda random but I indulged him. The kids played in the bounce house and busted a pinata, it was a great party. On his actual birthday we ate at his favorite place, Larry's Pizza and went swimming with friends. He is very pumped that he is 3, I love it:) Here are some special things about Britton:

-He has the greatest dimples ever, and smiles all the time.

-He loves to know how things work and tell everyone he meets this information.

-He is a singer, always a song in his heart.

-He is sensitive to the feelings of others, no one can cry alone in his presence.

-He loves to play by himself, which is great for mommy.

-He has a great memory, like kinda scary, so you better do what you tell him you will do.

-He gives great hugs and kisses.

-He has a wonderful way of making others feel special.

Britton mommy and daddy love you very much Happy Birthday baby boy!!!

Disney Fun

Well we are home from our big Disney trip, it was such a blessing. John's parents called about three weeks ago and said they were going to a conference in Orlando, and we got to go. This was a big deal, not only because who doesn't want to go to Disney world? But John's parents live in Japan so we haven't seen them since October, Britton was soooo excited. We stayed in Orlando for 7 days and then went to the beach at St. Augustine for a couple of days. Disney was awesome and fun even with a two year old. We took naps everyday, but got to do lots of fun stuff. Of course he loved the characters, his favorites were Buzz and Woody. He really loved these little totem poles that spit water on you, he named them all and everything. The Playhouse Disney show at Hollywood studios was one of his favorites too! It rained everyday, but one:( That was a bummer, but we went to the parks anyway and always had a big time. I was sad that John was unable to be with us, but maybe we can go again someday. Thanks to the Pooles for a great vacation, Britton will be talking about it for a long time.

She has a name!!!

Well as I am sure you all know we found out a couple of weeks ago that our baby is a girl. I was completely shocked, I just knew that it was a boy so I really hadn't spent time on girl names. Well, that and I have had my girl name picked out for about 8 years now.(don't we all) When Shae told me it was a girl, I just was overwhelmed of course I couldn't share the moment with John so that was stinky, as a matter of fact the poor man hasn't even seen an ultrasound pic yet. I got to talk to him the next day and we started the talk of baby names, like I said I had a name all picked out, but when it was finally here I was like we really need to think about this. I mean she is going to have this name forever. We played with different ideas for a couple of weeks, but finally went back to my first love, Everlye. I had a little girl at school years ago named Everlye and fell in love with it back then, when John I got married he loved it too! We even have gifts from our honeymoon for our first sweet girl. Britton was not so crazy about the name, he has called the baby "pickles" since I found out I was pregnant and was not giving that up. John chose her middle name Scout, from "To Kill a Mockingbird" of course, and Britton kinda likes that, so he now calls the baby Scout. On his dad side of course, who is not even in this country, just like a boy! Oh well, we think it will be a perfect name for special baby girl: Everlye Scout Poole.

Eggstrvaganza

On Saturday we went to our church and had a big Easter egg festival, that's what Britton called it. Of course he didn't even want to leave the house, have I mentioned what a little homebody he is, but we finally convinced him. There was a big egg hunt, bounce houses, free food, the train,..... and lots of freinds. Britton's favorite thing was the big slide and the puppets at the stage show, which he never saw but still says they were the best. Anyway we had great weather and lots of fun. Then we came home and dyed our Easter eggs, he put them in a basket and keeps waiting for the birds to come out. Don't really think he understands, we cracked one, but that made no difference to him birds are coming. Easter Sunday was fun, but super stormy we had planned to go to Paris, a couple hours away, but didn't want to drive in the yucky weather. So I am waiting to get some pic of him in his Easter outfit until we can do that outside. I asked him what he learned in church on Sunday and he said "Jesus is Alive." So all in all we had a great holiday.

Easter Fun

Well we have been having tons of fun here getting ready for Easter, Britton is sooo excited. He is really looking forward to the big Easter Egg hunt we have at church, because of the BIG slide but I have tried to start to let him know what Easter is really about. We have read a couple of good age appropriate books, he says that story is too sad mommy, I told him it is sad but it is true. We have gone to an Easter egg hunt in town and he had one at his MDO, so we already have tons of candy. I did make his Easter basket this year, he has three in Abilene in storage so I hated to add one more. I made this one hoping to use it later on to store little things in his room, who knows. Tomorrow is our big hunt so I will post more pics later.

Picnic

We had a beautiful day here in Little Rock today and Britton couldn't wait to get out and enjoy it. We went for a picnic with some friends, this was B's first picnic, he was super excited. He just played and ate alot of his food, we stayed at the park for over 2 hrs. it was a great day!!!!

Spring Break

You know once a teacher always a teacher, so I always look forward to spring break. It's just exciting, the weather is getting warmer, everything is beginning to look new and fresh, and of course fun trips. As you know John is gone so we took a trip with my family to Branson. I showed Britton online a couple of weeks before all the fun stuff we were going to do, of course all he could remember was Silver Dollar City. When we got to Branson the first day, he said " this is not Branson where is the ladybug ride?" I guess he thought SDC was Branson, it was a long week of waiting for him because we had to wait until my niece and nephew got there on Thurs. to go to the "real" Branson. We did tons of fun stuff though, Dixie Stampede, Butterfly Palace, Joe's Crab Shack, Shopping of course, Dino Exhibit, and Shorty Small's for Kathy:) It was a great week, B got to swim at the inside pool and love Bass Pro Shop. Hope you guys had a great Spring Break too!!!!

The Zoo

We had a great weekend here last week and Britton and I took full advantage. We went to the park with friends on Thursday and the Zoo on Friday. Britton had sooo much fun at the Zoo. He knew exactly what he wanted to see and was very specific about everything. His favorite was the snakes, he could have watched them forever, they were all very active. I think it was feeding time. Of course we had to ride the train, his favorite thing. He is really growing up, he asked for a hat and wore it the whole time. It was tons of fun, I am ready for SPRING!

Pictures and such

I wanted to post a few pics of B over the last couple of weeks. He is just getting so funny and so smart, I love to sit and just listen to him talk. Anyway these are just some random pics, he was eating an apple the other day and said, "mom take a picture of me." Of course how can you resist and it was the first time he wanted a pic taken. The others are just playing outside with his important stick collection, and a swimming party for a friend. He did do great with the new little floatie I bought, can't wait to start swimming lessons, he loves the water.

My Valentine

Well, I have been a bad blogger lately, just busy I guess. We have been going to MDO, church, birthdays, visit family..... Lots of going, Britton is doing good soooo big, he just talks all the time and loves pretending. John is doing well, he called for the first time on Friday and said his new job is busy, but great. We miss him alot, Britton is always wanting to hear stories about daddy, it is so sweet. I will post a few pics from Valentines day, Britt had a big party at MDO and we went to visit my paw-paw. He got a Thomas Valentine from daddy and is taking it everywhere we go. Here is a quick cute B story: we were driving to town and he was talking about his blanket. He asked who got it for him and of coursed answered the question himself, then asked what I got him. I explained a baby shower and that I didn't have to buy much all our friends gave him lots of great presents. Then he thought for a minute and asked, "Did the Shepard's come?" I said no baby they only came to see baby Jesus. So sweet.

Well it is really cold and yucky here so I thought I would take some of the time inside to post. John is back in Abilene and getting ready to go back overseas, so that is a bummer. We will go see him next week in OKC. Britton is working potty training and he has 3 dry days YAY!!! I hope this sticks, I am tired of buying diapers. We have just been hanging out with friends and playing trains of course, B was sick a couple of weeks ago he had pnemonia, but he is all better now. Hope all is good with everyone, here are some summer pics of B to warm you up.

Happy Holidays

Well Christmas has come and gone, but we had a great time. Britton made cookies for Santa on Christmas eve and loved every minute of eating them, and laying them out for him. We got up Christmas morning and the gifts were all there under the tree. Before we opened presents, we read the Christmas story of B's little Bible and he sang "Joy to the World" which is his favorite Christmas carol. Then it was time to open presents, he got tons of stuff and we actually just finished opening all the gifts on Tuesday, because he just wanted to play with everything. His favorite gift has got to be Thomas the Train stuff, wow is he obsessed. Our family came to Little Rock and we had fun getting to see them and all the cousins were together for the first time in a couple of years on the 26th. We loved all the holiday stuff, but mostly enjoyed being together and teaching Britton the meaning of Christmas.