Snow Day

Jake ate about a gallon of ice by the time it was all said and done!

I think he might have eaten some yellow ice here!

Redneck and proud!

Playing in the ice!

Poor Walker was dieing to come out and play!

"Let me out or I'll lick your window!"

The Maddens came out to play!

Ryan and Jake...besties.

Tyson decided to try out the cookie sheet.

bwahahaha!

Jake's turn!

Jake wasn't a fan.

But Ryan loved it!!

Mama's turn!

Ashley ate it first...

And then I did. I don't know when I'm gonna realize I'm too old for this stuff!

What a crazy last 24 hours it has been! I was supposed to go to work at the hospital last night for 1 of the 3 whole shifts I was scheduled to work this month, and the boys were scheduled to stay at school all day so I could sleep. Well, their school sent an email Sunday saying they were closing Monday for inclement weather, so that's when the stress began. What to do with the kids? To make matters worse, when the weather gets this icy, hospitals will implement this rule where nurses have to stay at the hospital until the weather clears up. This happened when I worked in Atlanta, too, and I was stuck at the hospital's hotel for days...but that was back in my single days when I didn't mind much. Now that I have kids, staying at the hospital for days on end when you have a husband with a demanding job, it's just not cool. Long story short, after lots of praying, I ended up getting called off work and all of our problems were solved! And guess what? The weather was so bad that Tyson got "snowed in" at home! It ended up working out perfectly!

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of snow, but we did get to play in the ice. We made some redneck sleds (tupperware container lids) and slid around the backyard a good bit. Well, Mike Madden decided to step it up a notch and he pulled a little National Lampoon's and busted out some metal cookie sheets. We had a blast sliding down the driveway on the cookie sheets...I'm sure we were quite the site! :) So much fun! I love snow days...especially when I don't have to work! ;)

9 Months Old!

Tomorrow, my sweet Walker will be 9 months old! For some reason, 9 months has always been a big deal to me....maybe it's because babies don't seem like such babies at 9 months- they are beginning to eat real food, getting more mobile, communicating more, and developing their little personalities. I just love this age! And Walker is definitely doing these things!

I have already begun giving Walker table food; he's eaten bread, carrots, peas, chicken, and fries. Hahaha! My how things have changed having a 2nd child! ;) He still takes about 6 oz of formula every 3-4 hours during the day and eats one jar of baby food 3 times a day. Walker LOVES to eat! I probably could feed him more, but he has an insatiable appetite!

Walker is speed crawling still and pulling up on everything! He has cruised a little, but not much. Tyson and I have decided Walker might be a little on the lazy side. :) He does this little knee-stand thing that is almost as efficient as standing (in his opinion), so he does that a lot.

Walker hasn't said any new words since I last reported (I think)...he says "da da," "ma ma," "ni ni" (which serves as "no no" and "night night"), "hey," and he has even said "jake jake" (or something like it) a few times. Walker is constantly babbling something, though, even if they aren't understandable words. :)

Walker's personality is definitely blossoming. The word I've heard a lot this week (from perfect strangers) is FLIRT! Walker loves to smile and make sweet faces, especially at women. ;) He is still very sweet, easy-going, and laid back, but I've also discovered that he is very mischievous. We've started saying "no no" to him these last few weeks, and believe it or not, that little rascal will start to do something that is a "no no," and then he'll turn, give me this little look, and then do it any way! This one is gonna be trouble...I'm telling you! He better be glad he's soooo cute! ;)

As far as physical features, Walker is definitely a mini-me. He looks just like my baby pictures. He has my eyes, my smile, possibly my nose (poor child), my hands, my feet, and my body. He and Jake have the same mouth, which I think is Tyson's but could be mine, too. Walker definitely has Tyson's chin, though. ;) His eyes appear to be blue in pictures, but they look more hazel in person. His hair is blond/light brown and appears to be starting to curl a little in the back. He is absolutely a doll...and I'm not just saying that because he looks so much like me. ;)

Walker is such a joy and fits into our family perfectly. Jake loves him to pieces, and I'm pretty sure Walker feels the same way. We are so blessed to have these two boys. I'll be honest, the first few months were hard having two young children so close in age, but seeing how precious these boys are together now makes it totally worth it. We are so blessed!

And for comparison:

Walker at 9 months

Jake at 9 months

Batman and Robin

Batman and Robin
Apparently, Robin is on a mission...
so...

BATMAN TO THE RESCUE!

And apparently, these are the faces of a superhero:

HAHAHAHA! Such the drama king...I mean Superhero! ;)

Robin looks awfully suspicious in this corner!

Jake is so into Superheroes these days. I really don't know why since he's never watched anything with a Superhero in it, but apparently, his Daddy was the same way at this age. Go figure!

And yes, this is what we do for fun on a Friday night. Hey, Tyson's been gone all week and has to work/recruit all weekend, and Mama is out of ideas! ;) Happy weekend!

Jake's Birthday: Round 2 and 3

These pictures are from Jake's actual birthday- January 4th. After an exciting birthday party on Dec. 31st, we kept Jake's real birthday kind of low-key. His super cute Spiderman birthday cake from his party was devoured that day, so I ended up getting him another little cake for his birthday. I'm pretty sure we sang "Happy Birthday" at least 2 or 3 times that day. :)

Love these pretty eyes!

Tyson got to come home at a decent time on Jake's birthday, so we enjoyed some time outside and Jake got to enjoy his new bike that Santa brought him.

How cute is this hat?

For round 3 of Jake's birthday, I took some cupcakes to Jake's school today so he could celebrate with his classmates. Many of his classmates were at his party, but I had to bring the cupcakes anyway. After all, I'm pretty sure Jake thinks every day in January is a birthday celebration for him! :)

I wish I had more pictures from Jake's school party, but I ended up substituting in his class today and was too busy to barely breathe, much less take pictures. ;)

Happy Birthday, Jake!! Mama, Daddy, and "Baby Walker" love you soooo much!