LittleB

Peace on Earth Holiday

Christmas cards and holiday thank you cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

I don't know about Lisa, but I'm sharing this old Christmas card from 2006 to get the free $25 gift certificate from Shutterfly...and because Little B is so darn cute. In this picture, he is almost exactly the age that Gracie is now :)

I Wonder

I wonder, why is it that other people's lives seem so fascinating, but when it comes to updating my blog - I've got nothing! Yet, it seems like I'm constantly on the go and don't have a minute to myself. Surely, I should have something to write about!

Let's see, B is as active as ever. He is loving preschool, but continues to cling to me almost every time I drop him off there. Once I leave, he is fine. Going to school has definitely had a positive effect on him. He let's us read to him now, he asks about letters and numbers, and is obeying quicker (for the most part). He is an awesome big brother and Gracie ADORES him. He loves going on nature walks with his Pops in the afternoons.

Gracie is growing like a weed and learning new things every day. I wish I could freeze her at this age for a year and enjoy her sweet baby-ness. Actually, I wish I could have frozen her a couple of months ago as she is now crawling fast and getting into things! She has such a sweet disposition and we're praying that she keeps it into her toddler, preschool, and (most importantly) TEEN years! She loves watching Brennan and squeals with delight when he talks to her and plays with her. She is already drawn to girly things (purses, jewelry, etc.). In fact, I've given her an old purse filled toys to play with and she loves it.


As you can see from the picture, we now live in a gated community. Which I've found is only effective if an unnamed 4 1/2 year old doesn't open them and let the baby escape. Ask me how I know...

Can You Guess?

I picked up B's Halloween costume yesterday. Can you guess what he will be this year?

Gracie will be wearing her big brother's hand-me-down monkey costume, I think. I haven't actually tried it on her to see if it will fit. I'll add that to today's agenda!

And since we're already playing a guessing game, can you guess what B is doing in this picture?

If you guessed "Painting a birdhouse made out of recycled materials that his Daddy built for him using a kit we picked up at Patuxent River Appreciation Days" - you'd be correct! In fact, his Daddy won a nomination from B for "Father of the Year". He had a blast with that little project. Unfortunately, if Josh is waiting on a "Husband of the Year" nomination, he'll be waiting a little longer. He set B up with this project right before he left for work. Guess who was left to supervise and clean up the mess? If you guessed the future "Wife and Mother of the Year" (aka ME), then you guessed right :)

SURPRISE!!!

I'm actually updating my blog! I was going to wait until the one-year anniversary of my last post, but I had a few extra minutes tonight after folding all of the laundry :)

We've been busy the past 11 months. I am going to try to update more frequently now. You know, for my non-Facebook friends...all two or three of you!


Brennan started preschool last month. He goes three times a week for two and a half hours. He seems to like it and we've noticed some positive changes in him. For instance, he actually lets us read to him now! He's a cool kid and he keeps us on our toes.


Gracie is the sweetest little thing on the planet. She adores her big brother and loves watching him act like a giant goof ball. She isn't crawling yet, but we're not encouraging that type of behavior. We want her to stay in one place for as long as possible! She says "Momma" now, she waves hello and goodbye, claps her hands, and has the best belly laugh.

Here are just a few, random pictures since I haven't posted in almost a year...

Princess Gracie - 8 lbs. 12 oz, 21 inches

B played soccer. He hated it, but it's a cute picture!

My sweet angels

Baby Grace - 28 weeks

I'm 28 weeks pregnant today. Hello third trimester!

We had a 4D ultrasound this morning which was really fun. We didn't have that opportunity when I was pregnant with Brennan, so it was really exciting for us. Brennan was fairly well behaved...you know, for an almost 4-year old in a room full of gadgets! He sat next to me and held my hand, and played with the "slime" that was all over my belly. Apparently the slime is much more exciting for him than actually watching the baby on the television. But, he did ask for his very own picture of his baby sister.

Baby sister seemed more interested in playing with her hands and keeping her face squished against the placenta than posing for us. I guess if I was stuck in a uterus with nothing to do I would find my hands amusing too :o) Here are some of the pictures that the tech was able to capture (don't mind the black blob next to her face, that would be the placenta!):

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

As for me, I did not allow my son to wear eye shadow because he insisted on primping while I was trying to get myself together. Furthermore, I didn't think it was hilarious when my brother's friend referred to it as "guy shadow"!

I did not buy Pillsbury sugar cookies with ghosts on them as a fun, indoor activity for B because the cute pumpkins and black cats contained too many "bad colors" (Red #40, Yellow #5, and Yellow #6).

Even if I did buy ghost cookies, I certainly did not eat some of them for breakfast yesterday.

I am not secretly relieved that B hasn't chosen a Halloween costume therefore letting me off the hook from having to parade around town this Saturday and visit friends and family; and also making it easier for me to warmly dress him for the Fall Festival at the Nazarene church near our home.

Oh, and I did not go to the store specifically for coleslaw and buns last week and somehow manage to forget the buns. My darling husband did not proceed to laugh at my expense for about 5 minutes when I arrived home bun-less.

How about you - anything you care to admit?

It's a...

GIRL!!!

Brennan was very excited to find out that a baby sister will be joining him in February. Everything looked great during the ultrasound and she was quite active - which seems to be a trend with my children :o) Maybe she'll have a chance at keeping up with her big brother.

Today, I am 21 weeks pregnant. I can't believe that I'm more than halfway to the finish line!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

I don't know about you, but I am so glad that the hot, humid, hazy, mosquito-infested days of Summer seem to be behind us. I am not a Summer person (in case you couldn't tell). I'm much more of a Fall/Spring type person. Cool, crisp mornings/evenings and warm days with cool breezes. Yes, that's my type of weather. We've been spending lots of time outdoors - which I don't mind doing now that the mosquitoes have disappeared. We even had an impromptu bon fire on Saturday night. Unfortunately for Brennan, we only had mini marshmellows so we couldn't make s'mores.

Speaking of, not really but I needed a transition, Brennan has learned how to ride his balance bike (video/pictures coming soon). A balance bike is a two-wheel bike without pedals that teaches kids to ride without training wheels. Three weeks ago he would only attempt to ride it if we made him, and now we can't get him off of the bike! He calls it his "motorcycle".

Here is a video of Brennan enjoying the gorgeous Fall weather at the park on Friday. Enjoy!



In other exciting news, I'll have my 20-week ultrasound next Wednesday (9/30) and we will hopefully find out if we're having a girl or a boy.

Remember me?!

It's been a while since I posted - sorry! We've just been enjoying a lazy summer at our house...meaning I've been too lazy to do much of anything let alone blog about my laziness! Here are some pictures from the annual Hammett/Biffel Family Picnic that took place over the weekend. B had a blast swimming in Grandmommy's pool, but after a couple hours exhaustion took over and he turned into a bear!

B and Uncle B

Big, blue eyes!

Picking crabs with Pops and Momma. No, that's not his beer!

Lean, mean, swimming machine!

That's My Boy!

I love my son. He never ceases to amaze me with this creativity and fun-filled spirit. Tonight, he wanted to go swimming in his semi-new pool (bigger than the dino pool). But it was after dinner and neither Josh nor I was really feeling like a dip in the freezing cold pool. So, I told Brennan to grab his floaties from the pool and bring them in the tub so he could "swim" in there. I washed his hair and lathered him up with soap as usual (we get the "business" part done first so he can play the rest of his time in the tub). I then left him so that I could change the laundry, etc. I called to him to make sure that he was doing alright and walked into the bathroom to find...

Look at how brown the water looks - ewe! Boys are gross!

Wordless Wednesday

Making space

In an attempt to make it look like I had accomplished something this weekend, Josh and I rearranged what was B's playroom into what is now more of a bedroom. He liked sleeping in the playroom anyway, so it was time we moved his bed in there. Josh and I waited until B was in the bath tub and then we scrambled to move the bed while he was preoccupied and contained (read: out of the way!). He was pleasantly surprised when he got of the tub. Actually, he's been playing quietly in there for the last hour.

Not me! Monday

Inspired by MckMama to be brutally honest and live to tell about it! Check out her blog for other amazingly funny stories from mothers who don't claim to be perfect.

As for me, when asked how I was doing one day at work I did not claim it to be a "good day" because I didn't dry heave once during my shower that morning. That is just completely disgusting and embarrassing and *TMI for a coworker.

*too much information

I am not ashamed that I just realized that I have not updated my blog since June 13th. Afterall, what is the point of having a blog if you don't update it? I did not also just realize that my comment about dry heaving in the shower will only make sense to those who already know that I'm pregnant since I never made that announcement on my blog.

I did not wear pajamas for all but an hour and a half of yesterday. My son did not come to me at 4:00 pm and say "Uh oh. Why am I wearing this?" when he realized that I had never gotten him dressed either.

I am not proud that I can still fit in my regular clothes at 7 wks and 5 days along. I do not have a personal goal of making it to 8 wks without wearing maternity clothes when most woman can go much longer!

How about you? Anything you care to admit?

It's the Little Things!

B woke up from his nap today and announced that he would like to go swimming. He then proceeded to go into his room, find his swimming trunks and water wings and dress himself. There's only one problem - we don't have a pool! Just a small technicality really :o) We had a little pool that we got last summer, but when I drug it out to clean it this afternoon, I noticed a rip in the bottom. At least I hadn't totally cleaned it before I found the rip!

There is only one thing to do when you have a big, blue-eyed toddler looking up at you already donning his swimming gear and you realize that you have no pool for him - you pack him up and head to Target!

A bag of popcorn from the Target cafe and a dino pool later and you have...

One happy boy!

Wordless Wednesday (it is Wednesday, right?!)

Sunday Evening at The Hixson's

My guys hanging out on the couch this evening (in between wrestling and building towers with bristle blocks). By the way, the pelt on the wall is a wallaby from Sydney, Australia (from Josh's Aunt Cassandra and Uncle Graham).

And here I am relaxing in B's Tonka Truck chair :o)

Reunited and it feels so good!

Josh and I playing with my new laptop last night.

Josh was able to come home yesterday. It was a long day with lots of ups and downs, but in the end he came home and that's what is important. There is going to be a lot of adjustments and there is a whole new set of rules, but things are starting to feel much more normal (if there is such a thing as normal).

In other news, my body has decided that it is exhausted and I am not battling some sort of sinus ailment. I feel good for the most part, but I have a lot of head congestion. I guess if I have to be sick, at least it's now when Josh is home to help with B.

Answered Prayers

B and Josh, May 2008

We learned yesterday that Josh will be able to come home possibly as early as Monday. We decided that instead of waiting and petitioning for the judge to reconsider the sentence, our best bet would be to request in-home detention (house arrest). This situation will allow Josh to still carry out his sentence but he'll do it from the comfort of our home where he can help me care for B and take care of things around the house. He'll have to wear an electronic ankle bracelet equipped with GPS so he can't go more than 1000 feet from our home - except to go to work. I especially like this stipulation since I have a lot of work I need done around here! Kidding -- kind of!!

While this whole situation is far from "ideal", I still stand firm in my belief that God works all things for good. He doesn't want us to hurt and go through hard times, but He does promise to use those hurts for good. I can attest to a lot of the good that has come out of this less than ideal situation. And while I'm admittedly apprehensive about the weeks ahead, I am also so excited to see the amazing things God has planned for my family.

So if you think about us this week, please pray for an easy transition for my family, especially for B.

Happy Mother's Day

I know most of you are probably thinking this very same thought with Mother's Day quickly approaching - but I'm fairly certain that I have the greatest mother on the planet. Not only did she give me life (which I hear wasn't easy due to umbilical cord complications during my birth!), but she has taught me about life. Not by words, but by example. She inspires and encourages me on a daily basis. She is beautiful inside and out. She is my best friend and biggest fan even when I'm least deserving of love and admiration. I am so blessed and I thank God every day for her. While it's nice of Hallmark to give us a day to honor our mother's, I think my mother deserves a celebration every day.

I love you, Momma!

4th Birthiversary

Yesterday was my "birthiversary". Josh and I were married on my 24th birthday, so it's a combined birthday/anniversary celebration. This birthiversary was difficult for me, obviously, because I wasn't able to celebrate it with my husband. I was able to see him, hold him, and exchange cards - for that, I am thankful. The past few weeks have taught me to cling to what is good and find any positive I can in daily life. So instead of being depressed and sad, I had a good birthiversary and was thankful for the things that God has given me even though I am undeserving. As silly as it sounds, I am even thankful for the current circumstances because they have made me dig deep inside and strive to be the momma/wife/sister/daughter/friend/etc. that I know God wants me to be. When people ask me how I am doing or comment on how well I am doing, I want them to know that it is not because of me - it's all God. I would be a complete wreck without His grace, mercy, love, etc.