It's the most wonderful time of the year!

The first picture is of Keller's first day of Mother's Day Out last year and the second one was taken this morning. Wow, how my baby boy is growing! He is going twice a week this year and I think it is going to be great. He has awesome teachers and Keller thrives in social settings and needs some structure. I am looking forward to getting alone time with G baby who as you can see is eating solids-ish:) I am making my own baby food this time around something I did not do with Keller. I am enjoying it and have a nifty babycook contraption that steams and blends the food all in one. We are looking forward to the fall which is the busiest time of year for us.Here is what we are looking forward to-
* James has season tickets to the BU games with Brad so I will get to see my bestie Robyn for sure 6 times this fall since they will all come into town.
*It is also the birthday season in the Walker family so lot's of partying including my 30th birthday coming up in December, wowsas!
* We are going to see Thomas the Train in October who happens to be one of Keller's faves!
* The HOT fair, I am sure we will be going at least once!
* Lastly, I am so jazzed about a knitting class I am going to take! I have been wanting to learn for years so I finally signed up. I think it will be a nice outlet for me to do something by myself and learn a craft!
I just love the fall, it is my favorite time of year. I am excited to drink pumpkin spice latte's or at least Cafe Americano's with a shot of pumpkin spice, cook in the crockpot, watch Gilmore Girl's fall episodes, dress in warmer clothes, go for walks outside and get a little break from the gym, parades, football, fires, and on and on! Come on sweet fall, I am waiting....

kid #1.

Oh Keller, all I can say is that it is always extreme with Keller,always has been. We are either totally in sync, having a blast, the best of buds, or totally at odds-yikes. Maybe it is because we are both SO strong willed? He is in the throws of figuring out what he has control over and what he can get away with. I never want to say terrible two's because I don't want to speak that over my children, but we are fo' sho' having some terrible moments:)The picture of him eating is the little bite of salmon that he refused to eat and sat in his chair for 45 minutes bawling. Finally I told him that I would take a picture of him if he ate it- voila. What can I say, he loves the camera. He just melts my heart with that big grin and charm. I am so in love with this kid and he amazes me every day. We were driving by this scary looking carnival that was just thrown together in the middle of a field, a place that I would never take my children and I said, " look Keller, that is a yucky looking carnival," to that he responded, " no mommy, that is beautiful." HA!
He is still potty training:) we have got the tee tee down to an art, the poo poo is another story but we are taking it day by day. I did find poo all over his walls yesterday morning when I went to get him up, but I won't bore you....
The things Keller loves right now- Backyardigans, hearing made up stories by mommy and daddy, counting to 30, singing his ABC's and fighthing:) He wants to fight all day and with anything- swords, bats, balls, balloons, you name it, it is a weapon. He is such a boy. Smart as a whip and just too cute!

kid #2.

Keller put G's paci in upside down, but at least it's in!
There are too many things to say about my precious kids, I have to do 2 posts. Graham, oh Graham, he is such a delight. This baby is so darn cute, his little cheeks are probably imprinted with marks from my lips! He is doing so good, still trying to figure out sleep stuff but he is making strides. He is also teething which throws off the sleep thing but other than that, he is such an easy baby. His favorite things are- me:), watching his brother do anything, his pacifier and his fingers. He is rolling over like a mad man and is just growing. I love everything about Graham but one of my favorite things is his eyes- if you notice in the pics, they are always WIDE open. He is like that at all waking hours, like a deer in headlights and I love it. He has been such a sweet blessing to our family and I love that he is my son!

New's.

Pictures to come very soon.
1. Haircut. I did it, I got my haircut by someone new, first time in over 10 years and I love it. Tyler at Salon Evidence did a fabulous yet on the pricier side job of a cut and I can even style it myself!
2. Vehicle. We did, made the plunge we are officially in the club of owning a minivan and I could not be more happy! I love it! It is a green 2001 Honda Odyssey that we bought from my in laws who take amazing care of their cars. It feels like I added another room to the house it is so big a spacious. The only thing that was stopping us was my pride but since I am on a journey to get rid of pride in my life, I am happier and have a lot more room- ha take that pride!
3.clothes. I was desperate for clothes that fit me in my in between body so mom and I went on a spree. Instead of being miserable and wearing clothes that either are too tight or too big, I needed to spend a little money to have clothes that fit where I am at today. Even though it is not my ideal place, part of loving myself is being okay with the journey to the goal and I need clothes to fit for the journey:)
4. Potty training. Day 2 of being confined to the house while setting the timer on the oven every 30 minutes is in full swing. I kind of decided to do it on a whim, very like me by the way, and got the boys up from a nap on Tuesday and made a trip to Toys R Us. We have been testing the waters with Keller asking him leading questions ,bribing him etc. and none of it has seemed to work. Shout out to my dear Margaret, who called me and told me to turn on Dr. Phil on Tuesday because he was doing a special on potty training in a day. So I watched 10 minutes of it and made up my mind, we were going to give it a try. I am not shooting to have Keller trained in a day, I don't think that sounds realistic for us, but I am using some of ol' Philly's tips like- 1. going and buying Keller his own potty that he picks out as well as his own big boy underwear- came home with Elmo underwear and an Elmo potty that is bilingual. 2. Throwing a party for him when he goes in the potty-more on this a few sentences down. 3. letting him call one of his favorite characters from a show he loves... So the report is as follows- all of the Elmo undies have been washed at least once due to accidents. Elmo, who I used to think was kind of cute, now is on my must destroy list because Keller is obsessed with hearing Elmo tell him how proud he is of Keller and how to go potty in English and Spanish about 100 times a day. All of the balloons that I blew up for the party have already been destroyed because my 2 year old BOY decided it was more fun to play "fight" with the balloons then go potty and would not even sit on it while their balloons were around.All of it worth it though because we have had 1 poppy and 3 tee-tee's in the potty! Which means we have also been on the phone with Pablo, Uni qua, Tyrone, Tasha and Thomas quite a bit the last 48 hours IE- James and in a bind my mom to report that we have tee teed or poo-pooed in the potty. We took him to McDonald's for happy meal and ice cream last night to celebrate( I know yuck for adults). So we will see, I am not pressuring either one of us just seeing how it goes.
5. Roll over. Last but not least, my 4 month old bundle is officially rolling over and it the most delightful baby on the block.

Well...the time has come.

I have decided to make our blog private. By nature I am a trusting person but I decided with this that I would like to be in control of who is reading my thoughts and seeing pictures of my kids. So, if you are an avid reader, let me know and I will extend you and invitation. I guess the best way to do it is my emailing abellwalker@gmail.com. I will probably start doing the privacy thing by the end of the week so please let me know!

to be honest, I like to shake it with the other stay at home mom's.

double dose of a blog, first I was tagged to tell 10 honest things and an update on my new favorite thing to do.
first things first

1. about once a month I have to take a break from facebook because I can get ADDICTED! I use the excuse that as a stay at mom of two, it is my connection to the outside world.
2. I am watching the silly ol' bachelorette once again this season even though I told my husband that would not:) I just can't help my self- it's like a bad car wreck on the highway, you don't really want to look but you cannot help yourself.
3. I LOVE my two boys with all of my heart, and am so thankful daily for the privelege of being their mommy but I do hope we have a daughter one day.
4. I love hip hop music but because of the content of the material, usually can only listen to it in the car by myself, yeah right when does that happen. Maybe that is why I love Zumba.
5. I do a pretty good job of keeping my house clean but deep down, I would LOVE to have someone clean my house once a week so I could do other things like learn how to have a pretty yard, learn to sew and give myself to other places outside my home.
6. Up until my last month of pregnancy, my son rarely watched more than 30 minutes of tv a day, and honestly I prided myself on that-hmmm... not so much anymore. I find myself saying, oh he has only watched a hour and a half today, that is improvement:)
7. I eat chikfila number one without pickles, fries, chikfila sauce and coke zero almost once a week- and I wonder why I can't get those 15 pounds off?
8. I LOVE living in Waco. I don't care what anyone says, it is where I hope I live most of my life.
9. I cry almost every time I worship at church. I can be all over the place-dropping the kids off at nursery, chatting with friends, and one or two songs in, I am centered and full of thankfulness.
10. and I will start my second rant with the end of this- I LOVE ZUMBA!

The past month I have been able to get back into somewhat of a normal routine at the gym again. well a new craze has entered our little Waco Family Y. My first time I was a bit nervous, I mean I have rhythm but after my stint at working at a inner city camp back in college I realize how much I really cannot dance. So I stood in the back where I could not even see myself in the mirror. After an hour of moving my body in all sorts of ways I thought I could only do at Midnight Rodeo:), I was hooked. It is fun, the music is awesome, there are all types of people doing it and loving it. I even talked my awesome husband to come with me twice. I love that about him, he is so secure and fun! So I found a new way to listen to "Low", " You think your gangsta cause you did time..."etc. So for an hour a few times a week, I feel like 19 again, dancing at at Kappa Sig party- except that my big ol' nursing boobs are hitting me in the face!

cutie pies.