Happy Thanksgiving!

love this pic!
reluctantly checking out the snowman. You may recall Demani's disdain for sand? Apparently it's the same for snow!
dancing with Papa
adorable outfits from Cousaunt Rachel

Rolling...

Mekai rolled over for the first time unaided last Thursday, November 20 and Seren rolled today!! I got the second rolls on video but not the first... Demani wanted to watch the video that I had just taken of Seren rolling so Mathwon showed it to him. After seeing it and hearing the cheers when Seren rolled over he promptly laid down and started to roll over himself! Bless his heart Mathwon's dad is here for Thanksgiving and Demani is just eating him up. John was holding Seren and Demani was wanting him to play basketball (again) and he was standing next to John and pointing to Seren and saying "Done!" He wanted his Papa to play with him and be done holding Seren!

A family divided...

The 3 blessings

While the video is loading...and loading... All is well here. We are all learning a lot these days...that feet are fun to play with, that mommy loves when I give her those wide mouth drooly smiles, that the will of a toddler is AMAZING, and that love isn't enough. My love that is. I realized this after losing my temper with Demani during another torturous diaper changing session. I immediately felt bad and asked Demani for his forgiveness and in the midst of our hug I was blindsided with the truth that my love isn't enough. It brought me to tears. I can't love Demani enough, though I love him so much I would do anything for him and still my love falls dreadfully short. My love for him doesn't prevent me from losing my temper with him. It doesn't keep me from getting so frustrated with him that I wonder if I should rethink preschool. My love for him doesn't absolve the times that what mommy has to do is more important than Demani. I can't love him enough. It was a sobering realization. And I wondered, what do I do with this? In that moment I was so aware of my short comings and my imperfection and my sin and thus so acutely aware of my need for God and His perfect love. It was such a vivid lesson for me. I really feel like something clicked for me... In order for me to love Demani the best I can, I have to love him with a love that is not my own. I have to open myself up and let God take control of Bethany and then and only then can I have any hope of displaying to Demani what love truly is.

The video never loaded (I finally accepted this after several tries taking several hours)....soooo here are some pictures. I'll try video again soon.


Nothing's better than eating cereal with Dad on my Spiderman couch and watching Monday Night Football!

Sleepy babies


Oatmeal and a Little Bear book (Thanks Mrs. Vickie!). What a way to start a day!

Some kids in our neighborhood built tepees in the woods next to our house.

The Birthday Boy

We celebrated Demani's birthday on his birthday, Saturday October 25. The theme was Little Bear. There were friends and family, tons of delish food, and yummy cake. Though the birthday boy preferred his fruit :) over his birthday cake! Demani was a champ and blew out his candles in one breath as if we had practiced or something! How did he know exactly what to do? It's amazing how they do that...

I can't quite capture in words or pictures all that Demani is :) I could jump on the blog daily and tell you story after story and I still wouldn't quite capture the essence of Demani. He has become quite vocal and a bit demanding as he turned two, it's as if someone flipped a switch...he is amazing with his brother and sister. He practically lays on them to hug them and he lets them grab at him and tug on his hair. He just laughs and points as if to say, "she got me!" He has taken to trying to scare us and will say 'boo' a lot :) He enjoyed the world series and has a T-ball thing to hit balls off of. He loves baseball.

We still have dance party every Friday and sometimes daily! He is a big fan of Faith Hill's song that introduces Sunday Night Football. We jammed to it last night about 4 times...seriously... after the first time ended he went and got the remote...apparently he knows we can rewind! Last weekend was a fabulous weekend of celebrating Demani and the gift he is to us. Happy Birthday little man!


I've never been thankful for road work before...

Dressed up as a farmer to hand out candy (I pulled it together as trick or treaters were coming up the driveway...) His mouth is open because he is saying one of his favorite words...'mine'.

Workbench from Grandpa Howard. Thanks Grandpa!

Tent from Seren and Mekai for his birthday.

Playing with blocks with Grammy and Grampy and Seren

Trying out the cake

Enjoying the birthday song

Blowing out the candles

A visit from Great-Aunt Nene

Yum!

Fresh from a bath