Elf on the Shelf





I know everyone has heard of the "Elf on the Shelf." And if you have not, it is basically a mini elf that watches over your children to make sure they are behaving and in our house if you behave Santa will bring you presents. This past Sunday, Noah looked at our Elf and told him "you're going to listen to me elf!!" I mean we could not stop laughing. And he was very serious in saying it. He later told us if the Elf listened he would bring him presents. Needless to say he is sort of getting the idea of the Elf. He is behaving and so far getting a few presents. We did ask him if he wants to see Santa and he said "nope!" and we tried to tell him if he goes to see him he can tell him the presents he wants and he might bring them. But he said Santa is too scary but if his mommy goes with him he might sit next to him! Looks like I am sitting on Santa's lap once again!!!!

The Wagoner Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving Day, we packed our bags and headed to my parents house for the annual Thanksgiving Feast! We were the first to arrive and the kids were ready to have some fun in the outdoors and ran around the grandparents house.

Seth got a little impatient waiting for the turkey to cook!

The big boys wanted their picture taken!

And "Nina" loved all over little Mason!

Time for lunch! The Prayer team included Jay and Noah this year with "God our Father." They did a great job saying the blessing!!!

And Seth was introduced to the Tupperware cabinet at Grammy's house!

And a gathering of the Wagoner's would not be complete without a family photo!!!

It was truly a wonderful day! Our stomachs were stuffed, our kids were tired on the way home and every said they had a good time!!!

Giving Thanks...

Today we pause to give thanks for so many things......

1) We thank God for Himself and all He has done for us from the beginning of time. We love our church so much and are so thankful to go to such a wonderful church that believes sharing the Gospel is a priority. We have such a wonderful church family and a great Sunday School class where we have found some of our dearest friends.

2) My wonderful Husband who is so thankful I don't have to work weekends or holidays anymore! He supports me and allows me to be the person I am no matter what. He take me for who I am and understands the picky things I do.

3) My curious Noah who likes to keep his mom on her toes. I am thankful he came into our lives three years ago. He has been such a blessing and will make you laugh and cry all in the same sentence. He makes me smile every time I look at him!

4) My Sweet Seth... You are a true blessing to our family. We love every little detail about you and are so thankful that you are apart of our little family. We thank God that 1 year ago you completed our family with your smiles.

5) Our Families... without our families we don't know what we would do. They have helped us out in so many ways from watching the boys, to picking them up at school at the last minute, to having us over for unexpected dinners, and helping us out with the other is out of town.

6) Our Wonderful Friends... we have a great group of friends we spend lots of time with. The list could go on and on. I enjoy spending Wednesday nights chatting with Katie just to catch up on life, talking to Kristen about who's new at the daycare, hearing Katie's sweet voice to just pick me up, and my dear Brandi who I don't spend as much time as I would like but are just so thankful to know that she is always there for me no matter what!!!

The list could go own for what we are thankful for in our family. The house we live under, the jobs that help us pay our bills and provide the food to go on our plates, the jobs that now allow us to be a family every weekend and holiday, the running water to take a shower, the electricity to heat our house when it gets cold, the fresh air so we can breathe and enjoy the outdoors... we are so thankful for everything!!! Thank you to everyone who has made this Thanksgiving a wonderful one!!!

Check-Ups are in...

Today we had our 1 year and 3 year check ups for both boys. We braved it and took both boys at the same time... so glad Jeremy was able to come with me to help keep them from killing one another (and from getting into everything!).

Noah David Belote

3 years old

Weight: 32.6 pounds (55th percentile)

Height: 37.5 inches (55th percentile)

He is right one track with where he should be as a 3 year old. He had a vision test today to make sure he could see and he passed! The Doctor looked in his ears, listened to his heart, and checked out his belly. All was good! He was given a little test by the Doctor to see what he could do. He was able to give him some of his colors, able to answer him in complete sentences, and even showed the Doctor his Spiderman muscles! He walked out without any shots but did get the Flu "sniff".

Seth Jeremiah Belote

1 year old

Weight: 20 pounds, 14 ounces (20th percentile)

Height: 29.25 inches (40th percentile)

Seth is also right on track of where a 1 year old should be. He is walking all over the place, grabbing for all sorts of objects, and into everything! The Doctor listened to his heart, lungs, and ears and all looked great! He asked what he was eating and we said everything. There is nothing this kid does not like. He shot up on his percentiles in the past 3 months. We think he is going through a growth spurt. Maybe when this slows down he won't eat as much! Ha! Poor guy did get 4 shots today :-(. he was pitiful. He did not know what was coming at first and did not cry with the first shot but the 2md, 3rd and 4th he screamed so loud that I bet anyone could have heard him. He was calmed instantly by his daddy because mommy was the one holding him down through it all! 

Afterwards, we headed for some pizza because everyone needed a treat for being so good in the Doctors office!!!

The Belote Thanksgiving!

We packed out bags and headed South late Friday evening to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with Jeremy's side of the Family.

Ready to go to Macon, GA... don't the faces fool you! They were the best in the long car ride. We drove 10 hours and there was only about 30 min of it that they cried or fussed!!! Praise the Lord!!!

We hung out with some cool people...

Jeremy, Uncle Jo-Jo, the boys and MawMaw, Pawpaw...

The boys with their Great-Grandmother...

No day would be complete without some delicious ice cream; thanks to the ice cream truck for stopping by...

Enjoying the afternoon in beautiful Georgia!!!

We really liked our ice cream...

We changed into our PJ's and headed home... and this was a tired group after we left!!!

We had a blast seeing Jeremy's extended family. We ate some great food, stuffed our bellies full and just sat around while the kids played football. Noah was right there with the big kids wanting to play with them. It was a long drive there and back but so nice to see family!!!

The words they say..

On the way into work/school, Noah said the sweetest thing... "mommy, will you pray for me?". My heart melted and I said sure. He did not have anything specific he wanted to pray about just wanted to pray. Then we proceeded to pray for several other people on his list. The same day we drove by the church and he literally screamed out "there's church! Oh I missed you so much!!!" so precious!!! I got excited just thinking that he loves Jesus so much!!! He's growing up so fast!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Seth!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Seth Jeremiah!!!

We can't believe it's been one year since you've been in this world! We love you to pieces and you have made our little family complete. You are a strong little boy and love to put up a good fight with your brother. Y'all will wrestle with one another and we've heard you like to wrestle with your friends. You hate to be held now and just wiggle to get out of anyones arms. It's because you're always on the move! You have learned to walk around 10 months and you've managed to perfect it now. You walk now more then you crawl. You still have the unique crawl about you with one leg behind you and the other in front. You are the best eater. You always want second or thirds. You are still very tiny though in comparison to your other friends. We go on Monday to see how officially big you are.

We love you so much Seth and are so excited to celebrate you today!!! 

Seth's Frist Birthday Party

It was a wonderful day with wonderful family and friends to help celebrate Seth's 1st Birthday. We kept it small knowing we might have to take it inside. The weather was wonderful but it did get a bit "chilly" as Noah would say.

We did not have a theme but wanted a tractor cake so Jeremy's wonderful co-worker made this beautiful cake for Seth!!!

The Birthday boy himself!!!

He's grown up so fast in just a year...

Both of the kids loved the bounce house. It make it so easy when both of them can be placed inside of it to play...

Daddy and me but he would not break a smile!

Seth got so many wonderful presents!!! The best of all was shoes! Now he has tons of shoes to choose from!!!

We are bad parents and already let him have a cupcake a while back so we knew that come cake time he would love every minute of it....

and he sure did! There was nothing left on the plate but a few crumbs!!!

Happy Birthday Seth!!! (We know your birthday is on Thursday but we enjoyed so much celebrating you this past Saturday) We are so proud to call you our son!!!

A week in review...

This week has been wonderful considering I've had to clean up from one birthday party and get ready for another one and the husband was out of town through it all!!!! I did get the day off on Friday which was super nice. It was pre-arranged before starting this job and was so nice to just enjoy the day with the kiddos.

Here's Seth and some buddies in his Sunday School class. They are a mess but I enjoyed watching them this past Sunday while their teacher was out of town.

Noah got a scooter for his birthday and has been begging me all week to put it together. Well I had no clue how it went together and with it begin dark I knew there was no way I could let him try it out. So Saturday came and he finally got to try it out....

To be a kid again.... Now for Seth's first birthday party... I just might cry that my baby is growing up!!!

A Bouncing 3rd Birthday Party

On Sunday, we celebrated Noah!!! It was all about him. We got him his favorite for breakfast... a smores poptart and headed off to church. After getting home we uickly ate lunch to then go down for naps because the fun was going to start after naptime!!!

Birthday boy with parents!!!

We got Noah a bounce house for his birthday and he loved it along with about 8 other kiddos!

Seth watched from the sidelines but it didn't take long before he was in the bounce house as well.

Boys will be boys!

Don't worry when I got into the bounce house it did not break!

Adults observed from a far... so excited we got to put our new deck to good use!

Snack time!

Now for some present time... he loved everything he got and wanted to open all of them!

Tissue paper was flying everywhere. We had no idea who got him what cause the other kids were opening presents as well.

Lovin' all the new toys!

Cake time! Noah had some help from little Olivia who's birthday is coming up as well!

Pineta time!!!

So glad we got to celebrate Noah on Sunday!!! We had such a wonderful time with great memories!!!!

(On a side note I don't want to forget about Noah's bloody nose in the bounce house!!!)

Happy 3rd Birthday Noah!!!

I can't believe this little guy has been with us 3 whole years!!!! We've been so blessed to have Noah apart of our lives.

He makes us laugh. He makes us cry. He loves to wrestle and beat up on his daddy and little brother. He's a great eater and with a little bit of help he'll eat anything on his plate. His favorite food is chicken nuggets, donuts, brownies, and chex miz. He loves a glass of cold milk with some chocolate in it! He talks very well and we understand every word he says, when he speaks loud. He is 100% boy and will jump into all kids of mud and dirt. He plays so independently by himself and has a vivid imagination. His favorite toy right now are his little match box cars and he likes to line them up like trains or fly them around like airplanes. Noah we are so excited to be celebrating you tomorrow. We can't wait for you enjoy your birthday party with all your friends and family!!!

Love - Daddy, Mommy and Seth

Wordless Wednesday!

Gettin' all cleaned up for my birthday party!!!

Now that feels (and looks) so much better!!!