Sweet Sleeping Boys

Good night sweet prince
Another day is done
You laughed and you played
Now sleep little one

You need your rest
The morning draws near
Close your eyes baby boy
You have nothing to fear

Good night my son
Have the sweetest of dreams
There's no telling what pleasures
Tomorrow will bring

Sleep peaceful and sound
for when you awake
The sun will be up
A new day for the take

The time to play is done
The days gone quickly by
Go to sleep now little one
Close your precious eyes

Let the twinkling stars
Shine brightly in your dreams
Hear the quiet lullabies
The moonbeams like to sing

Angels keep close watch
As you sleep throughout the night
There to comfort and protect you
Until the new days light

Sleep in peaceful slumber
The mornings drawing near
Tomorrow is awaiting
It is almost here

Soon the sun will rise
Another day will dawn
Sleep soundly my dear baby
The night is almost gone

Very soon you'll fill
Another brand new day
With laughter and sweet joy
In your special way

~This poem was written by Crystal Cook. She wrote this poem for her two boys who didn’t care too much for sleep when they were little…just like my sweet baby boy Chalin.~


( I know this post doesn't look perfect, but after deleting and recreating it SEVERAL times, I give up. I have no idea why it looks the way I want it to in my little window but then changes when I click the preview button. If any of you have ANY idea, please let me know, because it will save me a lot of frustration in the future, and I might actually create more posts!)

Easter Festivities

Chalin's Easter festivities began on Thursday this year at MDO. He had an Easter egg hunt with his friends at school, in which I was lucky enough to attend. Those little 2-year-olds were so cute and funny to watch hunt eggs. There were the ones that seemed to be thinking, "You want me to walk all over this field, pick up those plastic things, and put them in my basket? WHY?" Then, there were the ones that were running around picking up eggs like their life depended on it and seemed to be thinking, "A limit of 10 eggs? Pfffftt!" AND then there were a few like Chalin. Those who took their time, walked over to a plastic egg, opened it, attempted to eat the candy, and tossed the plastic egg behind them. "Who needs those plastic eggs? Just give me the candy NOW. My teachers, Mommy, and Daddy might not let me eat it if I wait!"

Next, we celebrated Easter on Friday afternoon with our Nana at her place, where we were able to visit and eat some yummy chocolate cake.

After that we enjoyed at nice Easter Lunch that Grandma DD cooked with her, Papa, Mama Dolly, Justin, and Uncle Lonnie on Saturday.

On Sunday, we attended a wonderful church service and an Easter egg hunt was planned for the kiddos afterward. Chalin stuck to his same plan of hunting eggs, except he was a little faster this time. Chad chased after him, picking up all the plastic, while I was able to snap a few pictures.

After Church, we were able to visit my Mema and wish her a Happy Easter before heading out to my Dad's, known to Chalin as Grandpa John. Chalin had a BLAST. He was able to see tons of his family that he usually only gets to see once or twice a year. He had so much fun with his cousins, riding their battery operated 4-wheelers and cars. After we ate, all the children hunted eggs, and once again, Chalin stuck to his candy eating, plastic egg tossing plan. However, this time, real eggs were involved. He wasn't sure what to think about these: "This is heavier, it makes no sound when I shake it, BUT it is covered in stickers, which I like, so I'll put it in my basket and check it out later..." He also found an egg with some coins in it, and when he opened it, he said loudly with a big smile, "MONEY!" We all had a wonderful Easter and are so blessed to have such an amazing BIG family to spend it with. Thank you, Lora, for taking and sharing pictures!

Easter Outfit

Haddee & Chalin

"This Way!"

Nana & Chalin

Yummy Cake

Church Easter Hunt

Mommy & Chalin watching the cows and pig

Chalin & Raegan

Chalin & Christian

Chalin driving by himself!

"Look what I found!"

"Let's see what's in here..."

"Found one!"

Hunting with Mommy & Daddy

Happy Easter!

A very VERY sleepy, dirty boy after a busy FUN day of Easter festivities.

Mamas, don't let your babies...

....grow up to be COWBOYS. Chalin got these cowboy boots from Grandpa John and Mamaw for Christmas. They were actually Chalin's Uncle Corey's first cowboy boots, and he LOVES them. He likes to wear them all throughout the day, but most of the pictures I take are of him in his pajamas because they make me laugh--although, now I think there is a new picture that makes me laugh the most....and it in turn, will most likely get me in trouble one of these days....

"These boots go great with my pjs!"

"I can even put them on all by myself!"

Mommy: "Chalin! WHAT are you doing?!"

And this is the response I got.

"Hmmmm, now that I have my boots on, what should I have for breakfast?"

"These boots just make me happy!"

Party Under Construction!

We celebrated Chalin's 2nd birthday a day early this year on February 6. As you probably know by now, Chalin LOVES trucks and vehicles of ANY kind, so we decided to throw him a construction themed birthday party. I started looking up ideas probably back in December to plan this party, and I ran across some great ideas, most of them coming from a girl I now follow on my blog, "Blue Eyed Blessings." She is so creative, and I'm very glad I found her blog! Chalin, unfortunately was cutting his 2 year molars during his party, so he stayed attached to my hip the entire party; however, I think he still had a good time. He woke up the following morning saying with a smile, "Cha Cha birthday party?" and then going on to tell me who all was at his birthday party. I think his little friends had a good time, too.

"Happy Birthday Chalin!"

The Invitations
The Birthday Boy

Since we had Chalin's party in our Church gym, we had lots of great space. We used 1/2 the gym to set up tables for eating and the other 1/2 we used to set up 4 different "centers" to keep the little ones busy and having fun. The first picture is one of Chalin's b-day presents, the sand table, or the "Digging Site," which included all different kinds of scoops and trucks.

This rug was another one of Chalin's birthday presents. We put baskets of cars next to it and the children were able to drive the cars on the street. We called this the "Traffic Site."

The 3rd center was called the "Creative Site," in which we put out crayons and colored pencils, along with plain paper and stencils (different vehicles). As you can see, it was a real hit with the girls at the party! The 4th center was the "Building Site" which included a Mega Blocks table and Mega Blocks to build with.

We had a ton of Chalin's favorite snack foods for everyone to eat, including: strawberries, black berries, pinapples, green apples, fruit dip, vegetable tray, green and black olives, goldfish crackers, club crackers with cheese, pretzels, etc! Drinks (fruit juice pouches for the kiddos and pop & water for adults) were off to the side of the table in a wheel barrel with ice.

Singing "Happy Birthday to You" made Chalin a little embarrassed.

Chalin had 2 birthday cakes. Here is his first one that we put his number 2 candle in.

And here is the 2nd cake....A YUMMY dirt cake that I made in the back of yet another one of Chalin's presents, a huge dump truck. From the remains of it, everyone at the party loved it, too, because it was scraped dry!

Cake and party favors
A close up of the party favors, which were actually a tool belt with TONS of things: blow up hammer, stickers, coloring book (trucks for boys, princess for girls), tool filled with candy, truck fruit snacks, truck pencil, a truck, etc. Also, when the children arrived, they were given a construction hat with their name on it (I printed their name on a label and placed it on the hat). Thank you, Patty, for putting these together!

The gift table--Chalin got so many great gifts!

A few pictures of Chalin opening gifts. Also, I found this adorable shirt on Etsy. It was a dump truck with the number 2 on it and his name just below the truck.

Whether it was giving me ideas, helping set up, buying the materials, taking pictures, helping clean up, purchasing a gift, or just blessing us with your presence, THANK YOU!! You helped make Chalin's 2nd birthday party a success, and we are very thankful to have you in our lives. Love you all.