Craft of the Week and other happenings

If I can remember, I will have to take a picture of Will with the crafts he makes at Miss Theresa's house each week. She does so much with these kids and miracle of miracles, she says Will loves every minute of learning. I guess your own children always act better for someone else than they do with you. When I picked him up today, he handed me this Christmas tree. He had made and colored each one of the ornaments and Theresa said he even strung his own fruit loop garland, even though he would eat about every third one. HA! He was so proud of his Christmas tree. He did have a breakdown later in the night because he wanted one of the candy canes and we wouldn't let him have another one. He had already reached his candy limit for the day. He also made the snowman in the background and that was the only place I could find to hang it. I'm trying to be a better blogger if you can't tell already! I have posted several things this week so scroll down if you haven't already seen them. I'm going to post an ultrasound picture too. I'm also posting a recent picture of Will and Lauryn and Will and Brody.


We made gingerbread houses at church last week. Will mainly just ate the candy and we helped with his house. It turned out pretty cute!


Will and Brody playing the piano. Brody came over to play the other day and of course, he was a perfect angel. He loves music and was very interested in the piano. This was the only chance I could get a picture when they weren't both running around everywhere.

Lauryn and Brooke came over to play the other day and once again, we got on the piano. This piano was Len's grandmothers and although it's not the prettiest piano in the world, the kids love it! It is an antique and is very special to Len. We would love to restore it one day. Brooke and Len had a little duet going on when he got home from work! It was a pretty cheesy moment but fun to say the least! I'm glad Len has musical talent because the only song I can play is Noel.

Introducing Purple Tail the Pink and Purple Pony

While my friend Kelly has been out on maternity leave, one of my student's parents has been the substitute teacher for Kelly's class. The other day she told me that she had one of those plastic horses that you could ride on and she told me she was trying to get rid of it and asked me if I wanted it. I jumped at the chance, because we had one when we were little and because they cost over $100. Len and his brother Ward also had one when they were little. I was picturing the same little horse that I had when I was little. I didn't know they had one especially for girls. She brought it to my house after our team Christmas party and to my suprise it was purple and pink, clearly for a girl. I decided to get over the girly colors and let Will enjoy the fun of the "horsey" He loves it. He laughs the whole time. We decided to name it Purple Tail for obvious reasons.`1qrx4˙¯ œǎr5 Will just typed that. He is very interested in computers right now after playing on them at Theresa's house.

More info on baby boy #2

Unfortunately they have moved my due date back almost a week! Ugh, how depressing. I just don't see how it's possible, but I guess mother nature does things differently everytime. My new due date is May 1st, but with a scheduled c-sec, I will have him a week or two early. I need to change my little ticker up at the top. I think this baby is going to be a little bit calmer than Will. I'm just going by the ultrasound, but this baby didn't move a bit (I think he was asleep) and Will was moving all over the place during his. I would post a picture but I don't have a scanner, but we thought his profile looked alot like Will's. It's amazing that you can tell something like that. We are going to name him Walker Allen. Walker is after my grandparents and is my mom's maiden name and my middle name before I got married. Allen is Len's middle name, which is where "len" comes from. We feel very excited about adding another boy to our lives. I just have to remember to start praying for their future wives every day!! I think Will is getting a little tired of me asking the same questions about his baby brother when he knew all along that it would be a boy. He kind of looks at me like, "I've already answered this question for you a million times."

It's a BOY!!!!!!

and he is HEALTHY!!!!!! I don't have time to post anymore right now because I'm having my second grade team over for a Christmas party, but we are thrilled. I guess kids have good intuition!

Christmas Time is Here!

Here are a few of our latest pictures. We are getting geared up for Christmas. It's been a busy week with something to do almost every night. Will is just changing every day. He is so affectionate with us. He will just come up to me out of the blue and say mama, I need a hug. I feel like I'm trying to soak up every minute with him until the baby comes. The only thing he wants from Santa this year is a Cars book. We're keeping it pretty simple but we think Santa will bring him a little bit more than just a Cars book. Our big news is that we have our ultrasound on Monday. This baby has started moving ALOT! I don't remember feeling Will move this much at this point but it seems like it has started in the last week. It is such a miracle and this is my favorite part of being pregnant. Overall, this pregnancy has been so much easier, or maybe it's just because I'm in the second trimester and I'm forgetting all the sickness, tiredness and overall yuck feeling. Will assures us that this is a boy baby. He will not even entertain the idea that it could be a girl. He says, No, boy baby, so we will see. He has been so sweet about this baby. Every morning or night he gets in the bed with us and when we are waking up, he lifts up my shirt and says I pat pat the baby and he kisses my stomach. It is my favorite time of the day. I asked him if he had a baby in his tummy and he said, No, gone, gone, down, down, down, poo, poo. I just burst out laughing. It is so funny to think about what is going on in the mind of a two year old. I guess he's wondering how this baby is going to get out of my stomach. So, I'm getting a little anxious about the ultrasound. Please pray for us. I just want a healthy baby. It's more emotional for me this time around because I know what to expect and how wonderful having a child is. Here are a few pictures of our week and our attempt at getting a Christmas card picture. Every year it becomes so stressful to try to get the "perfect picture" so I decided to just use one we already have and not worry about it. I will update on Monday to let you know the news. My last and final thought is that it's a boy. We will see!

Breakfast With Santa

This was our third year to go to Breakfast with Santa at BHCC. It has become a fun Christmas tradition. This was the first year that Will was old enough to enjoy the crafts and activities. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but was in a better mood towards the end. He still doesn't like Santa so we had to sit with him in the picture.
This is us trying to attempt a picture with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. We were trying to bribe him with a candy cane.

Will made some reindeer food to put in our yard for Santa's reindeer.

Trying to show Lauryn his reindeer food.

Making an ornament for our Christmas tree.

The only picture I could get of two moving toddlers.

Getting ready for Santa

This is the only picture I got of Will while we were decorating our Christmas tree. It's so much easier having a Christmas tree with a 2 and a half year old then it is with an 18month old. We lost many of our ornaments last year!

A few more Thanksgiving pictures

Watching Tigger and Pooh with my cousins.

Somehow Will got ahold of Copeland's shorts and wanted to wear them all day.

Thanksgiving Madness

We had a great Thanksgiving Donahoo and Hilyer style, and we didn't burn anything. There was quite a bit of smoke coming out of the oven, but nothing burned which was probably a first. I think the Donahoo women are known to be a little bit "airheaded" at times and usually the rolls are burned. I stole a few pictures off my sister's blog since I didn't take any pictures. Pregnancy has made me really lazy about taking pictures and documenting moments. I guess that's good in a way or I would have 50 photo albums before the new baby even came. These pictures aren't the greatest because Will has become very stingy with his smiles.
We are decorating for Christmas right now and maybe I'll get around to taking a few pictures!

Little Indian

Will had a Thanksgiving Dinner at Miss Theresa's house on Friday and he had this little Indian headress on when I picked him up. He looked so cute and kept it on for quite awhile, which was suprising to me. Teresa said he wouldn't have anything to do with the vest. That didn't suprise me at all. They also made this adorable little Thanksgiving scene and the teacher in me just had to get it laminated and made into a placemat. I hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving. We have SO much to be thankful for. My brother arrived home safely yesterday. This was his third and final tour to Iraq and we feel so blessed that he made it home safely three times. All of your prayers meant so much!

Cherry Tree 123

My friend Melia has a business called The Cherry Tree 123. She has the most adorable handmade outfits for boys and girls. She also monograms and does appliques. Check out her website. The Cherry Tree 123

The last of the Halloween pictures.....

On Monday night, Will helped Len carve our pumpkin. Len cut his finger but the pumpkin turned out good. Will chose to do the silly face.

When can I have the carving knife?

The finished product!! Pardon the bare feet. Will keeps taking his socks and shoes off these days.

Trunk or Treat at BHCC. We are terrible parents because this is the only picture we got of Will on Halloween. It's really hard to get pictures when you have an active child who doesn't want to be in pictures. He DID NOT want to wear his costume. I had to bribe him with the little candy corn pumpkins and I still couldn't get him to put the hat on. I guess Halloween isn't going to be his big thing. He loved Trunk or Treat though. He got lots of candy and actually kept it in his bag this year! We enjoyed getting to see all of the precious little children and Will's friends. We at chili and hot dogs and played at church for awhile and then went home to the grim reaper (our neighbor who dress up as the grim reaper every year and scares the children to death, although Will wasn't scared at all). We went to a few of our neighbors' houses and Will was in bed by 8!

We're glad Halloween is over and can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!!!!! We will find out what baby #2 at the beginning of December and are very excited!! I'm starting to feel much, much better so this is a good time around our household.. When mama's not happy, no one is! ha ha

This is what happens when I don't get a nap...

I'm asleep on the couch at 4:30 in the afternoon.....

Walden Farm

This morning we went to Walden Farm with the Semanchiks. This farm is great! If you haven't been, I highly recommend it. We went to Gentry's Garm last year and I thought this one was much more kid friendly. They had baby calves, goats, pigs, rabbits, chickens and you could feed them. They also had little miniature ponies. Will and Lauryn loved the animals. It was so cute watching Lauryn squeal at the animals. The farm is free but they have tons of activities you can pay to participate in like face painting, milking a pretend cow, hayrides and lots of delicious goodies to eat. I think we're going to go back on Monday if anyone wants to come. They are open until Halloween.

Sunday School Class Halloween Party

We had our sunday school class party last night. We went out to the Baker's farm in Franklin. It was very cold and Will didn't have a nap all day and fell asleep on the way there so it was not the best night for us. We roasted marshmallows by the fire and made smores. Will is a monkey for Halloween this year. I picked it out because I thought this would be the last year that I could choose and I wanted him to still look cutesy. He loves Curious George so we thought the monkey costume would be fitting. He was not happy at all about putting on the monkey outfit but finally it didn't seem to bother him.
We tried to get a group shot of all the kids but that didn't work out very well. ha ha

My little monkey.

Getting warm by the bonfire and making smores.

Trying to get a group shot of the kids. Impossible!

BRRR.. It's cold!

Fall Festival at Smiley Hollow

Last weekend we went with the McInteer's to Matthew's law firm's fall festival at Smiley Hollow in Goodlettsville, TN. Will and Brooks had so much fun. Will got to ride on a pony again and loved it. They had a huge outdoor banquet hall with a Dee Jay sp? and kareoke and Will loved it. He is not as enthusiastic about dancing as he used to be but he loved the hula hoop. He got to decorate a pumpkin and poor pumpkin, I left it there because it was hideous!



Going on a hayride.

Big Brother

For those of you who don't know, Will is going to be a big brother. We are very excited and can't wait to meet the "beebee" as Will calls it. He loves to give it pats and kisses and if you ask him what it is doing he will say it will "Gwow and Gwow and Gwow"
(Grow) He also wants to name the baby "beet bar" (fruit bar) as in the Nutri Grain Bars that he loves. The baby is due late April so keep us in your prayers for a healthy baby. Everyone asks me what I want to have as if it's my choice so I will go ahead and say that I will be happy with whatever God gives us!! I picture a little boy because I can't picture anything different but I really don't have a feeling either way this time. I'll leave you with a picture of my first baby who is growing up so fast!

North Carolina

We went to NC this weekend for Len's high school reunion. It was a long drive, but we had a great time. It was a beautiful weekend and we had the most wonderful fall like weather.
We took Will to watch the Mt. Tabor (Len's high school) football game on Friday night. I think it will be awhile until we bring him to another game. He wanted to go up and down the bleachers and would not sit still. Typical Will!! We went with Len's high school best friend, Cameron and his wife Lindsey. We finally got to meet their baby, Merritt. She is so cute!! It was fun to see old friends and I'm so glad Lindsay came to the reunion. It would not have been very fun for me without her there to talk to!!

Petting the horses at Tanglewood Park near "Gamma's" house. Will's newest obsession is "amals" (animals).
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Getting my helmet on so I can ride a pony!

Riding the pony! I loved it until I saw the dump truck that my Grandma Nancy hid from me and then I wanted off the pony so I could play with the dump truck. Hmmm dump truck or pony?

Terrible Blogger

Okay,
I've heard from lots of people that I've been a terrible blogger and I know, it's true! I just haven't been into it lately. It's felt more like a chore than anything else but I'm going to try to get better. I've been a terrible commenter too! Life has been busy lately. We've been out of town alot and I've worked alot. Also, Will will just not be still long enough to let me take his picture, but I have gotten a few recently. I think this is one of my favorite stages with him so far. He is just so much fun right now. He is talking up a storm and just so happy right now and we are enjoying every minute with him. More posts to come, I promise!!

Future heartbreakers

Will and Brooks McInteer after their bath.

Will swimming

Here is Will swimming by himself with the help of floaties. He wouldn't wear his floaties all summer long and finally at the end of July, things just kind of clicked and now he loves them and loves swimming. Too bad summer is almost over.
This is a little old and I've been meaning to post it but it's such a pain to upload video that I'm just now getting around to doing it. There has got to be an easier way than what Len is doing. I don't know why it's so blurry.