The Costners

Random pics of the kids

2010-11-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Nathan chillin' in the big chair.

He had to act like a bird for his "birthday" at Rainforest Cafe.

Lindsay drinking out of a straw for the first time.

Trying out her new hat; too cute!

Gotta check out the dishwasher.

Book Character Day

2010-11-01T08:09:00.001-07:00

Last Friday Nathan had Book Character Day at school. He had to pick a real person, dress up as them, and give a report on their life. He chose Joseph, son of Jacob. He was nervous about standing in front of the class and reading his "report", but he did a great job. I was so proud of him. Here's a picture of him in his outfit as well as the video of him doing his report:

(Sorry about the sideways video; I took it vertically and I don't know how to fix that on youtube.)

12 months

2010-10-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy since Nathan started school, so the blog has gone by the wayside. But, I had to post picture of Lindsay girl from her 12 month photo shoot.

I did it!

2010-08-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

I fixed Lindsay's hair for the first time! It's really not anything fancy, but I put it up in a "whale spout". Her hair has been getting longer all over but especially in the front; therefore, it's in her face all the time now. So, I decided to try pulling it back in a ponytail and putting a bow in it. She looked too cute! I will say she screams and wiggles around as I'm trying to do it, but she has to understand that her hair can't be in her face. :) Here is a picture of what she looked like:

She looks so different, like a big girl! Isn't she the cutest thing ever?! I actually used this picture in a display of pictures from every month of her life for her birthday party. I stole the idea from a friend, but I didn't have the forethought to take the same picture each month to depict how she had grown. I ended up finding pictures from each month and the display turned out really good. This was her 12 month picture in the display; her real 12 month pictures will be taken soon. So, be looking for those in the weeks to come.

Dinner Conversation

2010-08-20T06:47:00.001-07:00

Recently, anytime we go out to eat, Marcus has been taking the opportunity to teach Nathan how to figure out the tip. We generally give about 15%. Marcus breaks it down, so it's easier for Nathan to do. He has him figure out 10% and then tells him that 5% is just half of the 10% he just figured out. So...last night instead of cooking supper, we ate at Carino's (I love me some Carino's!). Here's the conversation that ensued once dinner was over and they were figuring out the tip:

Marcus: What is 10% of $26.88?

Nathan: 2.688

M: What is 5%?

N: Thinking, he then says.....Half of 10%. (I start laughing to myself.)

M: Grinning with a look on his face that says "Well, he's right", his reply is...okay, what is half of 10%?

N: Laughing, Nathan says "5%".

At this point, I am laughing out loud. I can't believe that our 7 year old was having this conversation with his dad. It was too funny. Marcus learns his lesson and then asks Nathan, "How do you go about figuring out what 5% is from the 10% we already found?" This did the trick and the lesson continued. You never know what is going to come out of the mouth of my oldest child!

Speaking of that, Nathan randomly brought up another topic while we were at Carino's. He said "Mommy, I want you to have a boy the next time you have a baby." What?! Where in the world did that come from? My response was to ask why. He said that way he would have a sister and a brother. I told him he needed to talk to God about that one because I had no control over whether our next baby would be a boy or a girl. He said okay. I figured that was the end of it; no big deal. Well, when he was saying his prayers last night, he went through the usual stuff but then he said, "Please let mommy have a boy the next time she has a baby." Once he was done with his prayers, I asked him if he was ready for mommy to have another baby and he said yes. So, obviously it's time for another baby, at least in his eyes.

Big Weekend

2010-07-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend! We stayed around Little Rock and got some stuff done around the house on Saturday, namely me pulling up the bushes in the front yard. But, it needed to be done. Then after church on Sunday, we headed to the big town of Mena to spend some time with Marcus' side of the family. We all had a blast, especially Nathan! He got to see some of his cousins that he loves playing with yet doesn't see very often. He got to ride go-carts, PowerWheels, and a four wheeler as well as played on a blow-up water slide thing. And, to top it all off, once the weekend was over, he got to go to Nana & Pops' for the week. He's having the time of his life!!!

Nathan wasn't the only one who had a big weekend; Lindsay did, too. Two big things happened for her over the holiday weekend: she got her first tooth, and she learned how to blow a whistle! For some reason, Nana thought it would be a good idea to teach her how to do this. I said "Do we really want to teach her how to do this?" and Nana said, "Sure we do". So, I was over-ruled on that one. Well, after showing her a couple of times, Lindsay had it down pat. She's a smart little girl ( a lot like her big brother)! It's the cutest thing to see her do it.

Oh, yeah! We also got to see some pretty cool fireworks! Mamaw lives on the outskirts of Mena on quite a bit of land, so we were able to shoot of some of our own fireworks. Not only that, but the city of Mena had moved their fireworks show to the park next to Mamaw's. So, we were able to watch that from the front lawn. We shot our fireworks while waiting for the city to do theirs. The family had bought some great fireworks and we had so much fun watching Douglas shoot them off. Then, we saw the city fireworks; it was great not having to leave the comfort of our own house! :) And, the fireworks didn't faze Lindsay one bit. I actually think she enjoyed watching them!

We had so much fun and it was great to get away! I love my family! Thanks, Mamaw, for letting us invade your house!

New Bathroom!

2010-06-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our house, there were holes in the side of the tub in the master bathroom. Not too big of a deal since the curtain blocked it and water never got that high in the tub. We thought we'd wait a while to have it fixed since it wasn't an immediate fix. Well, that changed when the plastic handle above the soap dish was broken; we were afraid water would get back behind the tub and mold, since there wasn't any green board to prevent that. So, fixing the bathroom moved up to a priority. We interviewed several places to find a decent price that wouldn't break the bank and chose Better Bath to do the job. They were going to pull out the old shower & tub, put up green board, raise the shower head (for Marcus), put in a new tub, put the surround all the way to the ceiling, and give us a new curved shower rod. Lots of stuff to do, and they would do it all in ONE day. That was the kicker for us. We couldn't go weeks with a bathroom out of commission. But, not only that, we have a lifetime warranty on everything. That was important, too. Anywho. Today was the day that everything was going to be done. And, it took all day. The guy showed up at 8:00 and was done around 5:30 with no breaks. He did it all by himself; I was impressed. And, to boot, guess what his name was.....Marcus! It was a little weird talking to a guy with the same name as my husband. I am so excited about the results (I keep going into the bathroom, just to look at it.); I had to share them with everyone!

The Tub: Before

The Surround: Before

The Shower Area with Studs Showing

We now have green board!

The Tub: After (It's Bigger & Deeper!)

The Surround with Curved Rod and Corner Caddy

Close-up of our shower head & hand-held

Pillow Pets

2010-06-18T17:39:00.001-07:00

Recently we bought the kids Pillow Pets. They are animals that are a "pet" when folded up, and when unfolded are a pillow. They have been advertised on TV for a while now and Nathan REALLY wanted one. He would go around the house singing the theme song from the commercial: "It's a pillow; it's a pet; it's a Pillow Pet!" One day he came into the living room and asked me to go to the Pillow Pet website. And, I did and because I did I was declared the best mom in the world! (If I had known that's all it took, I would have gone to the website a long time ago :) After going to the website, he kept asking/begging on almost a daily basis for a Pillow Pet, and we kept telling him he wasn't getting one. Well, unbeknownst to him, Marcus and I decided to get him (and Lindsay) one and save it until the end of the school year as a happy for him having a great year. We got Nathan a penguin, which he named Pengy, and Lindsay got a monkey, which we call Monk-Monk. He was so excited when he saw his pillow pet in the car (we gave it to him as we were on our way to Nana & Pops'). Well, we KNEW Nathan would love his Pillow Pet but thought it would take a while for Lindsay to really care about it. But, no, the baby girl loves her Pillow Pet, too. It is so cute to see her go up to it and love on it. Needless to say, we've already got our money's worth out of the toys.

9 months

2010-06-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! My sweet baby girl is nine months old; where does the time go?! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our recent photo session to document her turning 9 months.

My Garbage Girl

2010-06-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

I caught Lindsay in the middle of the garbage. She knocked the can over and then rifled through it in order to find an empty Nerds box to chew on. She will NOT leave the garbage can alone! As I was taking her picture, she decided to grin at me as if to say "I'm so clever; and I'm too cute for you to get on to me." The truth hurts sometimes! Isn't she adorable?!

6 months and 7 years

2010-03-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Jill has done it once again: she has taken wonderful pictures of my beautiful kids. Here is a sampling of Lindsay's 6 month pictures and Nathan's 7 year. Thanks, Jill!

She is so beautiful in this picture!

This picture captures everyday Lindsay. She is always sucking on that bottom lip!

Jill took pictures of Nathan playing at a park in order to get a more genuine smile. It worked! He's such a handsome boy!

You better hurry and take the picture because I'm about to let go.

This one turned out so good; I think he's actually looking at me in this picture.

Taking a break from all the fun.

OH, MY GOODNESS!!!!!

2010-03-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

I had just finished posting for the day, when I noticed this: Lindsay was playing in the living room and I heard her grunting. Figuring she was going to need a diaper change, I looked to see what she was doing. I was in shock! She had crawled over to her bouncy seat and pulled herself up to her knees! That was enough of a shock; I was excited, so I grabbed my camera to get a quick shot of it when she pulled herself up to her feet!!! The bouncy seat wasn't tall enough for her to hold onto while standing, so she fell over before I could get a picture. But, oh, my goodness! She's not even 7 months yet; she's too young to be doing this! They grow up way too fast!

It's already started...

2010-03-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

(A little background information first)....one of the things we do in our family is we use the sign for "I love you" to replace the actual words when talking is either impossible or inappropriate. Marcus and I do it, but I started doing it with Nathan at school to let him know I love him without embarrassing him by saying the actual words. A typical day dropping him off would be him getting out of the car with me saying "I hope you have a great day" and then signing "I love you". Then, I would sign it back. Well, for a few weeks now, he's been initiating this whole routine while he's still been in the car. Today I asked him about it. And he said that it embarrassed him to sign "I love you" outside of the car because everyone knew what it meant. I told him not everyone knew what it meant, but that if he didn't want to do it then it was fine. I didn't want him to do it if he didn't want to; it just not the same when you make them do it. This whole conversation made me sad. I thought that was something special between me and my boys (and soon to be Lindsay), and now Nathan doesn't want anyone to know he's doing it. He's only 7. This isn't supposed to happen for several more years!

Big Girl

2010-03-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of days, I've been trying to teach Lindsay to hold her own bottle. I figure she coming up on 7 months, so she can start holding the bottle herself. She wasn't too keen on it at first because we've been doing it for her. But, I had a friend tell me to put her hands on the bottle for her (previously I had been waiting for her to grab it herself, with no luck) and it worked! Now when I put one hand on the bottle she reaches for it with the other. I'm really impressed because it didn't take long at all for her to pick up on it. All that to say, yesterday when I gave her her bottle, she took the bottle and started twisting it in her mouth. I thought it was too cute. And, I was slightly amazed because no one had shown her how to do that; she just picked up on it herself. Smart girl!

Absolutely Disgusting!

2010-03-17T06:16:00.000-07:00

This morning on the way to take Nathan to school (no this isn't another driving story, though it did happen while I was driving) I saw a grown man pick his nose and then EAT it! Blech!!!! Anything having to do with the nose grosses me out anyway, whether it's snot, blowing your nose, etc. But, I mean, seriously? A grown man? I can kind of understand a young child, but a man?! The few times I've caught Nathan doing it, it's not a "Let's not do that anymore"; it's more of a "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!" It's so disgusting! I just can't believe I saw a grown man doing it!

Bow Holder

2010-03-16T08:51:00.001-07:00

I recently realized that Lindsay had a whole lot of bows and I didn't have a bow holder. Never once crossed my mind that I would need one of them. Up until now I have just kept them in a drawer, and it was really a pain to have to search through the entire drawer looking for one bow. Therefore, I decided to make a bow holder for Lindsay's bows. I think it turned out really well.

Another perfect example

2010-03-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

Another perfect example of the crazy drivers in LR occurred this morning. I saw 3 people run stop signs all in the 30 minutes or so it takes me to get Nathan to school. Obviously, stop signs are just a suggestion and you don't actually have to stop at them. Who knew? So, next time you're out on the road and you come to a stop sign, you can just run it if you don't feel like stopping. I never knew road laws were up to the discretion of the driver. Actually, I've decided to just let the crazies drive on by because I'd rather them hurry and get to where they are going instead of cause an accident involving me and my kids.

Why is it that when we are 14, 15, and 16 we can't wait to drive? I remember being so excited about it. Now I hate it!

Venting

2010-03-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

Pardon my French, but I think every idiot in the world lives in Little Rock, at least when it comes to driving anyway. I've decided that they'll give a license to anyone regardless of the ability to drive. I understand that there are times that we all do stupid things, but I see it ALL THE TIME!!! For example, there hasn't been a time within the last few months that I have been to Sam's that someone hasn't driven the wrong way down this certain aisle despite the fact that there is a big yellow arrow on the ground showing which direction to go. I mean, it's big....and.....it's yellow. COME ON! Whew...I think I'm okay now (at least until tomorrow when I have to drive again).

3 months

2010-03-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

When Nathan was born, I had pictures taken every 3 months for the first year of his life, and I have them displayed in a frame that has his name and birthday on it. I really liked the way it turned out, so I'm planning on doing it for all my children. I was able to make Lindsay's frame this weekend and it already has her 3 month picture in it. Since this is something that means a lot to me, I wanted to share the pictures with you. I will do it every 3 months (there will be 2 right together since she is already 6 mo.) and when she is a year old will re-post all the pictures together, so you can see her progression throughout the first year of our baby girl's life. With that said, here is Lindsay Kate's 3 month picture (Thanks to Jill Brannon for taking such a wonderful picture of our girl!):

Healing

2010-03-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

As most of you may know, I had complications following Lindsay's birth. I had a c-section with the birth of both Nathan and Lindsay. But, after Lindsay was born, my incision was not healing properly and the doctor had to reopen the wound. We thought it would only take a couple of weeks. Well, the couple of weeks turned into months. Most of it did heal, but it just wouldn't heal completely. My OB/GYN was baffled, so he sent me to a wound care specialist. The specialist said to continue doing what I had been doing (which was scraping the wound and packing it) except he gave me a different packing material to do it with. It took about another month or so for my wound to heal. But, I am happy to say after 6 1/2 months I am finally healed. Praise God!

Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers! I definitely felt them. It is only by the grace of God that I was able to deal with this for as long as I did. I could feel His hand on this situation from the beginning. In the beginning, I was in so much pain that I couldn't stand up straight. Thankfully, that went away and I didn't have to deal with the pain for the entire length of the healing process. Also, I have such a wonderful husband that he was able to do the scraping and packing of the wound instead of having home health come and do it. This saved us a lot of money and a lot of headaches from having someone come to our house, sometimes twice a day for several months, to do it for me. God has taught me a lot during this time, including patience and waiting on His own timing. I'm glad He carried me through this time because I KNOW I couldn't do it without Him, and the support of family and friends.

It's Been a While...

2010-03-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while. My expectations of posting once a week sounded good during pregnancy, but then reality hit. I'm going to try and do better, but we'll see.

Lindsay Kate is such a blessing. I was a little freaked out about having a girl, but I absolutely love it and wouldn't change a thing about it. Lindsay girl is now 6.5 months old and is doing lots of stuff. So, I'm going to take an entire post to update you on the past 6 months, highlighting the major things.

Lindsay can roll over from her stomach to her back and vice versa. I'll never forget the day when she realized that rolling got her places. I had placed her in the living room on her blanket to play and went in another room to do whatever (I don't remember what exactly). I walked back in the room to check on her and didn't see her on the blanket anymore. The little geester had rolled herself across the room. It was the first of many times that I realized that time was flying by.

Rolling is no longer her main mode of transportation. Baby girl is crawling (I have a video that I'll try to post later). It is not your typical crawling and not even the army crawl; it's kind of a crawl with her legs then an army crawl on the tummy with a scoot to the side thrown in. It's hilarious! You just have to see it! But, it gets her where she's going, so who cares what it looks like, right?! Lindsay can also sit up by herself, too. I think she's about to the point of where she can put herself in a sitting position from laying down, but she hasn't got there quite yet.

She is eating baby food. I've got some cute pictures of her eating her first bites of baby food; I'll post them at the end of all this. She likes carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, and squash. She wasn't a big fan of the squash when she first tasted it. She made the funniest faces; I couldn't stop laughing at her. I tried to get a video of it, but my hand was in the way of the camera. I moved her high chair to get a better view, but by that time she liked the squash. So far, she has liked applesauce and peaches, though it took her a while on the peaches. And, of course, she eats rice cereal. I had been putting it in her bottles, but I recently started mixing it with applesauce and she really seems to like that. (previously she wouldn't eat the cereal by itself.) When I first started feeding her baby food, it was quite frustrating. She didn't really open her mouth for me. I had to make all sorts of noises to get her to smile, so I could shove the food in her mouth. It has gotten better the longer she's gotten used to eating off a spoon, but I still have trouble sometimes because she likes to lean forward to get her food and I just can't see her mouth!

Within the last few days, she has become a lot more interactive from scream talking to laughing and smiling at you for no reason other than being happy. She also babbles a whole lot. She can actually say ma-ma and da-da and bubba, though she doesn't look at us and call us that.

On another note, Nathan was so excited about having a baby sister. We tried our best to include him in things before Lindsay arrived because it was a big deal to add someone to our family when he had been our baby for 6 years. We figured he'd be excited that Lindsay had arrived and that it would eventually wear off. Amazingly (and God ordained, I'm sure), it hasn't! Nathan absolutely adores his baby sister. I don't think there is a big brother in the world who loves his sister more than Nathan loves Lindsay. And, it goes both ways. Lindsay is the first thing that Nathan wants to see in the morning and he loves playing with her. He can make her laugh like no one else. In fact, I was able to witness one of the sweetest things: Marcus was having a guys night and I was putting Nathan to bed and had Lindsay with me. We were all laying on Nathan's bed about to pray when Lindsay just starts laughing and smiling at Nathan. The thing is he wasn't doing anything except laying there; she just started laughing because she saw her big brother. I'm so thankful that they have such a great relationship and I pray that it continues.

Lindsay is such a happy baby and we are truly blessed to have her as a part of our family! She was well worth the wait!

Could a brother and sister look anymore alike?

Nathan

Lindsay

Lindsay's first taste of carrots: Before

After

Lindsay's first snowfall

My favorite picture of the kiddos

Lindsay Has Arrived!

2009-09-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

Lindsay Kate has finally made her arrival into the world! She was born August 25 at 12:07 p.m. weighing 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 inches long. After pushing for 3 hours, she was born via c-section perfectly healthy. Praise God! It's been 6 years since our first was born, so we are learning everything all over again. Just because you've already had one child doesn't mean it is going to be a piece of cake the second time around. Let's just say that it has been a week of adjustments. We are still trying to figure out a schedule for Lindsay. After a particularly rough night the other day, we decided to put her on a schedule and not let her sleep through her feedings. Here are a few pictures of our precious baby girl and one of her and her very proud big brother:

My sweet baby girl wrapped up like a papoose.

Lindsay in her "going home" outfit (picked out by big brother)

Nathan loving on his baby sister

Playing Wii

2009-08-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Nathan wanted me to watch him play a new video game called Acme Arsenal. It's some Looney Tunes game he and Marcus found at Toys R Us. Basically, you, as a Looney Tunes character (Bugs, Daffy, Taz, etc.), go from place to place fighting the bad guys in order to keep the Evil Scientist from wiping out the past and destroying the future (at least that's what the box says). And, you're doing this using Acme weapons, hence the name of the game. Anywho. I sit down to watch him and couldn't get over the faces he was making while he was playing. So, I nonchalantly grab the camera and sit back down in the chair. I turn the camera on and begin to record all the while acting like I'm still watching him play because if he realizes I'm videoing him he'll stop everything. Every once in a while I'll turn to look at the camera to make sure that I'm still focused on him and I bust out laughing (I can't contain myself), which you hear on the video. It's about 3 minutes long because there are times he's navigating a room and it's not too intense. But you have to watch the whole thing because it's stinkin' hilarious!

I forgot...

2009-08-20T10:06:00.001-07:00

NTC: 1st day of 1st grade

Testing Your Knowledge

2009-08-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

This is a test of my blog readers' knowledge of Christian songs:

One of my posts is titled "1st Day of the 1st Grade". Do any of y'all know what song that is from? (Hint: it's also part of a Christian children's movie)

Let me know what your guesses are!

Pics of Nathan

2009-08-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

Nathan & his new toys: Bakugans. He loves them!

(I love this picture because he is so excited and it's a genuine smile!)

Nathan & his beloved Thomas blanket

(Marcus told him to look like Mary.)

Caught looking at himself on the screensaver

Deciding that the trash can made a good seat!

(It's amazing how much time I know have to post stuff on the blog now that Nathan is in school full time.)

The Difference a Year Makes

2009-08-19T07:04:00.001-07:00

As I was writing my previous post, I got to thinking about the differences between this year and last year and what a difference a year makes. Here are some for instances:

Before kindergarten, Nathan could read a few words here and there but got extremely frustrated because he knew I could read it faster than he could. He is a reading machine now. In fact, last night he read a whole Curious George book to Marcus all by himself without having to ask for help with any of the words. Pretty amazing!
Last year I cried for weeks leading up to kindergarten and some the day of after dropping Nathan off. (There were too many people in the school for me to break down and cry inside the building.) This year I've got a kind of "been there, done that" attitude going on, though it does make me sad that my boy is growing up so fast.
On the first day of kindergarten there was no way Nathan was going in by himself. Mama had to be there to make sure he got there okay, to love on him, etc. Marcus was also there for his boy's first day. It was a monumental time in Nathan's life. Today it was just me and Nathan walked into school all by himself, like a big boy.
Nathan obviously knew that his first day of kindergarten was a big thing, so he let his mom and dad take him to his class (I know this sounds like the previous bullet; it's not). But, the next day he wanted me to just drop him off. It was hard for me to do (the whole growing up thing), but I did. Earlier in the week I asked Nathan if he wanted me to walk him to class or just drop him off. He said he wanted me to drop him off, so today I did just that, and he walked to class like it was no big deal. I did make sure he knew where he was going, though.

I'm sure there are other ways that Nathan is different this year than last, but those are the ones off the top of my head. When I get sad about how fast Nathan is growing up, Marcus always reminds me that he's growing up exactly like he's supposed to. I know it's true, but my baby is all grown up. And, now I'm crying.

1st Day of 1st Grade

2009-08-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

Today was so much better for me than this time last year. When Nathan started kindergarten, I was a mess. I cried for weeks leading up to his first day, but I did pretty good the day of. As it turned out, he had a fantastic year and I couldn't have asked for better teachers. God truly blessed us! This year there was no crying before school started and none the day of. Go me! I did unexpectedly get a little emotional (could be the hormones) watching him walk into the building. He is such a little man and I can't believe how grown up he is! With another one on the way, it just hits a little close to home at how fast your kids grow up. My precious boy is 6 years old and in the 1st grade! It seemed like yesterday that I was holding him in my arms as a baby. Where does the time go?

This is Me.....9 months pregnant

2009-08-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

I had a request for a belly picture of me. I haven't taken any pictures to document my getting bigger each month, and since I was already going to take pictures of Nathan and my belly, I figured why not. So, here is a picture of me in all my glory at 9 months pregnant. I am also including the pictures of Nathan and me. (I took them, so he would have a picture in his Big Brother picture frame until Lindsay actually gets here.)

Testing Lindsay's stuff

2009-08-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

Nathan is very excited about being a big brother. We've tried our best to include him in our preparations for Lindsay's arrival. He decided that he was going to test out Lindsay's stuff for us. What a helper he was; I'm just glad nothing broke!

He tested out the exersaucer as well, but I already posted that picture and didn't want to be repetitive. So, see previous post for that picture.

Nathan and his Exersaucer

2009-08-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

As a baby Nathan absolutely loved his exersaucer. There were times we thought he was going to bounce himself out of it. As these pictures show, his love of the exersaucer did not stop once he outgrew it. He cracks me up!

Isn't he a cutie?! Nathan is almost 4 months old in this picture.

I got the exersaucer out so a friend could borrow it and the next thing
I know Nathan has crawled into it. I want to say he's about 3 or 4 here.

And, he is 6 in this one. I got the exersaucer out for Lindsay and he felt
the need to play in it again.

My child

2009-08-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

One of the meals I like to cook is cubed steak with green bean casserole and rotel potatoes. The rotel potatoes are one of my favorite side dishes, though I only cook it with cubed steak. It is also one of Nathan's favorites. A couple of weeks ago I fix this meal and Nathan scarfs down everything and asks for more potatoes. This is nothing new, so I told him to go get some. I put his food on trays because it keeps the food separate and it is easier for him to scoop up the food. For this particular meal, here's how his tray would look: in the big section, I put the cubed steak. The rotel potatoes go in the two smaller sections, and the green bean casserole goes in the smallest section. Usually when Nathan gets more potatoes he fills the two smaller sections up again. Not this time. When he came back into the living room, I busted up laughing when I saw his tray and had to take a picture. Here's what his tray looked like:

He was very proud of himself, needless to say. The potatoes are really good, but I would call this overkill. :) As a side note, he did NOT eat all of those potatoes. Just another way of how funny my child is.

Lindsay's Room, Part 2

2009-08-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

My last post of Lindsay's room included pictures of her room with the new paint and furniture. Her room looks completely different now and I thought I would share the new pictures with you. She now has bedding, a rug, a chair, and other things that will stay in her room until she actually gets here (namely her swing & bouncer). My friend Laura made her bedding and it turned out fantastic. I was a little worried that the fabric I chose for her bedskirt wouldn't look right with everything else, but, like I said, it looks fantastic! Thank you, Laura. Now we are just waiting on Miss Lindsay to make her appearance. (I've heard patience is a virtue, but I agree with my father-in-law: it's highly overrated. I'm ready for her to be here.) :)

Her bed with her name over it (pretty obvious, huh?!)

An upclose view of her bedding

The chair and her rug (Nathan has claimed the chair for himself.)

Lindsay's dresser/changing table

It's hard to tell what the whole room looks like from these pictures, but I'm pretty proud of it. Marcus did a great job getting everything ready.

My Boys

2009-07-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

The other day I was reading in the living room when I heard "Mommy, come watch this!" So, I head back to our bedroom, and this is what I see:

Nathan LOVES playing this game with his Daddy. I'm just glad Marcus has the strength to do this over and over and over and over again. Notice the bed. It was made when they started this game; not so much anymore. Ahh, who cares? At least they were having fun!

Playing in the Rain

2009-07-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon Marcus and I went out on the front porch to watch it rain. Nathan came out to join us and we decided to let him play in the rain (something he hasn't done before). Here are some pictures of him having the time of his life:

Lindsay's Room

2009-07-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

We finally have Lindsay's room finished! I have an absolutely amazing husband who put in a lot of hard work painting and putting the furniture together. And I think it looks fantastic! For those of y'all who don't know, we aren't planning on staying in this house much longer, so we painted her room a neutral color and will paint it the actual colors we want (green with pink accents) once we find a place of our own. (It looks much better than it did before; it used to be maroon on top, hunter green on the bottom, and the "eye rail" was a yellowy cream color.) Here are a few pictures of what it looks like. I'll post more pictures once we have her bedding and everything else set up. I'm so excited to finally have this finished; it's just one more step closer to Lindsay Kate actually being here!

When you walk into Lindsay's room, this is to your left. Notice the bear on her changing table. Nathan made that for his sister at Build A Bear (they didn't stuff it all the way, so she can take it back and do that herself).

This is what you see in front and to the left of you as you walk in her room.

And, this would be Lindsay's big brother hamming it up for the camera; he decided to play mini Guitar Hero in her room for this shot. What a mess!

Horrible Blogger

2009-07-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Up until this point, I have been a horrible blogger. I may post something once every few months and then when I do, I post everything all at once. My theory behind this is that we don't do all that much that is worthy of the blog, but I've decided to change my ways. Part of this is due to all the heckling I've gotten from my friends who blog and part of it is because Lindsay is on the way. Therefore, I have a goal (inspired by Nitzia who has a similar goal) of posting something at least once a week. I'm not entirely sure how that will go especially with a newborn, but maybe y'all can keep me accountable. :) So, here we go...

Random Photos

2009-04-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

I was going through my camera and found some photos from a few months back that I hadn't put on my computer. So, now I share them with you. :)

These pictures are from the last time Nathan sang in church, which was a few months ago. In the first picture, Nathan is hanging on the railing of the risers; what you can't see is that part of him is in between the gaps in the railing. There were a few times I thought we were going to lose him off the back of the risers. You can't see them, but there are screens to the side and behind the kids that are showing them singing. In the last picture, this is what Nathan is looking at; he's trying to see himself on the screen. (By the way, I can't tell you the number of pictures I have of the back of Nathan's head.) What makes these pictures so priceless is Nathan is doing this the entire time he is singing. Needless to say, EVERYONE noticed Nathan that night; he was the star of the show!

This is a picture taken by Nathan's teacher, Mrs. Williams, after his class sang in chapel. I had posted a some videos of that event a month or so ago; I forgot about this picture because the videos were so comical. Me and my boy!

More Nascar Photos

2009-04-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

An upclose shot of Nathan and the car

Nathan & Papaw

Disclaimer: I am in no way a Nascar fan. My dad works for Farm Bureau and this is the car they sponsor. It was up at my dad's work one day and he called so I could bring Nathan up there to have his picture taken with it.

What will Nathan be when he grows up?

2009-04-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

A baseball player....

Or a Nascar driver?

I forgot one....

2009-04-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

Nathan had one more thing to say about his sister that I forgot (this is my way of "writing" it down):

She's gonna have to be tough if she's going to play pillow fight with me and daddy.

He is such an awesome kid and I can't believe how unbelievably I've been blessed by the fact that he's excited about his baby sister!

My sweet boy!

2009-04-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure all of you know, we are about to add a little girl to the Costner family! We couldn't be happier, especially Nathan! He is going to be the best big brother ever! Here are a few things my sweet boy has said regarding his little sister:

"I'm so glad it's a little girl; I always wanted a princess!"

"Thank you, God, for letting it be a baby girl!"

"Can I talk to my baby?" (asking me to raise my shirt up so he could talk/play with his sister; he loves to poke, push, shake, and talk to my belly) :)

I am so blessed to have such an amazing family. I've been a little concerned with how Nathan would take having another little person demanding Mom and Dad's attention when he's had our undivided attention for 6 years. God obviously has things under control because as you can see he is absolutely thrilled about his little sister and can't wait for her to get here.

I love you Nathan!

Nathan Never Ceases to Amaze Me

2009-03-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

Since becoming pregnant, Nathan loves to play with my belly. He has gotten into the habit of lifting my shirt up and talking into the "microphone" (aka my belly button :). Tonight before going to bed he was continuing his ritual when I told him to say something to the baby. What he said amazed me: "Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Bye-bye!" Out of all the things in all the world to say he chose that. Unbelievable; he never ceases to amaze me! I love that boy!

Active Imagination

2009-03-16T16:57:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I came home from Bible Study at church to find Nathan in the dining room floor drawing pictures. Once he was done with them, he came running to our bedroom to find me and show me his masterpieces. As I was looking through his masterpieces, I came across this picture. I look at him and said "Oh! It's scribble-scrabble." He says matter-of-factly "No, that is how they draw circles in Maine!"

WHAT?! Every time I think about it I can't help but laugh. So, if you want to know how to draw circles in Maine, here is an example. :)

Humiliated

2009-03-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Good morning, all! It is not even 8:30 and I've already had an eventful day. First, I want to start off by saying I am NOT a morning person! So, my daily routine for getting Nathan to school on time is to throw on some "lounging clothes" and drop him off. This means hair pulled back from sleeping on it the night before, no makeup, and house shoes. Usually not a big deal since I don't have to get out of the car. Well, this morning on the way to school my mom calls asking if I could take her to Duck Duck Goose, a consignment store, this morning so she can get some bows for my niece before her sister and family arrive in town (Conway). Being the great daughter :) that I am, I say sure. Thus, I have to rush home and get ready in order to be ready to go when she gets here. I drop Nathan off; no problem. I'm on my way home and it's 7:57 when I realize I have an appointment at 8 to have my car serviced. GREAT!!! I call Parkway Automotive explaining I forgot about my appointment and asking if it was okay if I was a little late. I wanted to go home and at least throw on some decent clothes. They explained I had two options: 1. a shuttle can take me home and it was leaving in 2 minutes or 2. I can wait and a shuttle with take me home at 9:30. I didn't like either option. :) I was trying to avoid option 1 and option 2 just wouldn't work since I was helping mom out. I decided to swallow my pride and go ahead and drop my car off. So, they hold the shuttle for me. (Thankfully they had a shuttle service or I would have spent all morning basically in my PJ's.) I arrive 2 minutes late for my appointment, but they are very accommodating. I was thinking I could just run in real quick and drop the keys off, hop in the shuttle, and be home within no time. Wrong! I wasn't the only one they are waiting for. So, I wait probably 5 minutes, not all that long but an eternity when your humiliated! Let me paint you a picture of what I look like: Hair pulled pack, no makeup (NONE!), bright pink hoodie sweatshirt, black lounge pants, and blue house shoes (I couldn't even hide the fact that they were house shoes because they didn't blend in with the pants). At least I had brushed my teeth! So, now you have a picture of how I looked out in public. Back to the story.....the shuttle finally leaves and it's me and two guys and the male driver. I tried not to be too embarrassed; thankfully my house was the first stop. Praise God! I don't consider myself a high maintenance kinda gal. I have frequently gone out without makeup; no big deal. But, when I have, I've at least been dressed! Did I mention I was practically in my PJ's?! It's the little things that keep you from getting to full of yourself. :)

The moral of this story is twofold: 1. don't forget your appointments and 2. even if your just dropping off your child and don't plan to get out of the car, GET DRESSED!

Hopefully, this story will put a smile on someone's face! It's okay; go ahead and have a good laugh at my expense. You have my permission!

Amazing!

2009-03-03T06:14:00.001-08:00

This morning after Nathan got ready for school he calls out to me saying "Guess what book I'm reading". Not an easy task because the child has TONS of books. So, to give me a hint he says it starts with a "B". Still doesn't help me at all. I told him I didn't know and he says "It's the Bible". How awesome is that?! Now most of the time when you think of a young child reading the Bible they are actually looking at the pictures. But, Nathan was actually READING the Bible. I just praised God! If that weren't amazing enough, Nathan took his Bible to school with him in the car and was reading it in the car! Needless to say, I'll be praising God all day long for this act of worship from my precious child!

What an awesome way to start the day!

Just chillin'

2009-02-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

We took this cute picture of Nathan chillin' in his bean bag. What's so great about it is he has his infamous Thomas blanket covering him up. Nathan has LOVED this blanket ever since his Nana and Pops got it for him. It doesn't matter if it is 100 degrees outside; he HAS to have it with him when he goes to sleep. He's not Linus, from Charlie Brown; he is able to carry on with life without his blanket. It's just a comfort thing for him. All of that is what makes this picture so cute. I love my boy!

No Training Wheels!

2009-02-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

I've got to brag on my child. A few weeks ago Nathan decided that he wanted to ride his bike without training wheels. I thought okay, no big deal; we'll work on it some and when Marcus gets back (he was out of town) he can work on it some more with Nathan. No such thing! Nathan learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels THAT DAY!!! I couldn't believe it; I was so excited. Since we don't have a very long drive way, I took him down to the church by our house and let him practice with plenty of room. Of course, I forgot my camera the first day, but the next day I took it and got some video for all to see. So, here is the video of my kiddo riding his bike for the first time (okay, the second) without training wheels! Woo-hoo!!!

My Little Singer

2009-02-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

Today at school Nathan sang in chapel. It was absolutely hilarious! I'm so glad that I was able to go. They sang three songs and I was able to get a video of all of them. He did a great job! You have to check out the girl, Sadie, standing next to Nathan. She loves to sing and it shows! You also have to pay close attention to Nathan and his responses to Sadie's theatrics. It's comical!

Stickers, stickers, and more stickers

2009-02-02T07:14:00.001-08:00

Here's what happens when a 5 year old gets stickers in the mail:

Ever Been Caught in a Lie?

2009-02-02T07:03:00.000-08:00

I'm sure at some point we've all been caught in a lie. Well, I just was not 10 minutes ago. I was absolutely humiliated. I was at the gym talking to a lady that I'm "friends" with. And, by that I mean, we say hi, how are you, but we have never actually introduced ourselves. She saw one of my Southern Living magazines and asked about a recipe that it showed on the front. She wanted me to copy it down for her; I said sure. I'll be back on Wednesday and if you aren't here I'll leave it for you at the desk. Here's where I get in trouble. She said so you'll remember my name. I said sure (only a little white lie), thinking I'll get her name from the girl at the desk. So, the next thing she says is what is it. And, of course, I have to say I don't know. I wish I could have melted into the ground. It wasn't two seconds after I had lied and she already knew I had. No covering it up. Then I proceed to explain that we had never actually met, and we introduced ourselves. Turns out she didn't know my name either, but she didn't lie about it. I got in the car going what a great witness I am. Me with my LRCA and Ouachita stickers on my car along with the Upward magnet. Could I scream Christian any louder? And, I had just told a bald-faced lie. I apologized to God and I know He forgives me. Hopefully by the end of the day I'll have forgiven myself, forgotten about it, and gotten over my embarrassment. Even a little white lie can come back to bite you in the rear.

The greatest husband in the world!

2009-01-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

My husband is absolutely amazing! Yesterday as I am getting ready I find an orange notecard with the letter "H" on it in my bathroom drawer. This puts a BIG smile on my face and sends me off throughout the rest of the house searching for the other letters. The letters will eventually spell SHMILY (See How Much I Love You). (We use this acronym all the time to let each other know how much we love each other.) I wish you could have seen me; I was like a little school girl. Marcus did a good job hiding the letters because it took me a while to find all of them. I even enlisted the help of Nathan. While on the hunt for the last letter, I came across something else Marcus did for me. Thinking he would hide a letter in my calendar, I looked there. Well, I didn't find a letter; I found a whole other set of SHMILY letters. And, he put them in places that marked important dates for us: Nathan's birthday, my birthday, the baby's due date, etc. It meant the world to me; it made me so happy. And, the sneaky fella did it all while Nathan and I were at church last night. What a great man! I love you, babe!

And.......I'm back!

2009-01-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

Marcus made some good memories for me during my first pregnancy. One of which was he would take my belly, shake it, and yell earthquake. It was pretty hilarious. Well, he's decided to continue that "tradition" with this pregnancy. Ever since finding out we were pregnant, we've been tracking the growth of our little one by seeing its size in relation to food. This week (9) it's the size of a green olive. So, last night Marcus takes my belly and squeezes it saying "I'm making olive oil". All I could do was laugh and shake my head. Only my husband. Since he can't use this "tradition" throughout the whole pregnancy, I'm interested to see what he comes up with in the following weeks. It funny the things you remember from times like this. :)

One more -ism

2008-11-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

Nathan cracked me up last night with this one. He was learning about missionaries in Sparks (Awana) and part of his "homework" this week was to find a picture of a missionary, tell where they live, and what they do. We happen to have friends by the name of Ben and Lisa DeBusk who are missionaries here in the states. They live in Texas and work with the Military Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. So, I'd been rehearsing with Nathan the answers to the questions they were going to ask him last night at Sparks. 1. Who are your missionaries? Ben and Lisa DeBusk; 2. Where do they live? Texas; 3. What do they do? they tell people about Jesus who are in the military. He had been doing great all afternoon. Well, on the way to church I decided to quiz him one last time. Here's the conversation:

ABC: Who are your missionaries?

NTC: Ben and Lisa DeBusk

ABC: Where do they live?

NTC: Texas

ABC: What do they do?

NTC: they are missionaries who tell others about Jesus Christ

ABC: in.....(I wanted him to explain that their ministry is specifically with the military)

NTC: thinking.....with people in the CEMETERY.

I am laughing so hard that I'm having trouble seeing to drive. I immediately called Marcus to tell him because it was too funny to keep to myself. I told Nathan it's a little hard to tell people about Jesus when they are in the cemetery. Then we had the discussion about what a cemetery is (and he knew! he's a genius!!!). Out of the mouths of babes!

My child

2008-11-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

As I was writing all the funny things Nathan has said over the course of his 5 years, I got to thinking of other funny things he has done. This is a picture of a signature Nathan pose. This is the epitome of Nathan; he just randomly does this sometimes and all you can do is laugh. In fact, Marcus and I laughed about this very pose at our parent-teacher conference recently. Mrs. Williams, his teacher, said that sometimes Nathan can be in your face. Marcus looks right at me and imitates Nathan; it's the exact thing Nathan is doing in this picture. On a side note, Mrs. Williams also said that Nathan tends to have outbursts. We laughed at that, too, because we know exactly what she's talking about. A little later in the conference she's explaining letter blends that the kids are learning and says "I" before "E". And, Marcus bursts out with "except after C". She goes "now I know where Nathan gets his outbursts". It was hilarious. Marcus and his family still laugh about that. Anyway. Just a little side trip before I showed the picture.

Nathan-isms Part 3

2008-11-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

13. This one is a favorite of the family, especially the Costner side. You've probably heard us say this before, so now you'll know where it came from.

When Nathan was 2, we went to get Marcus' birthday present: a grill. On the way home from purchasing the grill, I explained to Nathan that this was a surprise and that he wasn't supposed to say anything to his daddy. I wrap it and get it ready for Marcus to open later. I'm excited because I'm proud of the gift we got him. Marcus walks in the door from work........

NTC: Surprise! It's a grill!

He was so proud of himself. In the meantime, I'm going YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO SAY ANYTHING. Luckily, Marcus didn't hear him and it was still a surprise. Obviously, my talk didn't help. It's been 3 years and we still laugh about it. So, if you hear any of us say "Surprise! It's a grill!", you'll know what we are talking about! :)

14. Nathan got some sort of dinosaur in one of his kid's meals that you can take apart, and it reveals a glow-in-the-dark skeleton. Marcus is showing this to him and he is, of course, fascinated. So, while he's taking the dinosaur apart himself, he says...

NTC: Touche, Pussycat!

Random, right? Not so much. Okay, so, we watch a lot of Tom & Jerry at our house. There is one episode where Tom & Jerry are "Musketeers" and Jerry has a helper, for lack of a better word. The little mouse fights Tom and says "Touche, Pussycat", which is where Nathan got that from.

15. One day I was aggravating Nathan by messing with his ear. He looks at me and goes...

NTC: There's nothing but ear wax in my tunnel.

I sat there for a minute thinking. And, then I realize that tunnel=ear canal. Like how I picked up on that? I'm a quick one. :)

16. As most of you know, Nathan lost his first tooth at the beginning of school. He was very excited about it, but he also wasn't quite sure what to do since this was all new to him. So, listen to what he said when it came time to eat lunch:

NTC: Since I have a lost tooth, I don't think I'm very hungry.

17. One night for supper we decided to try out a new BBQ place: the Cross-Eyed Pig. We were all enjoying our dinner when this conversation took place:

ABC: How come you don't want to eat your mac n' cheese?

NTC: Because I'm into the not eating process.

Now how's that for matter-of-fact?!

18. One afternoon Nathan and I were back in my bedroom reading. He had just gotten some new books about the 50 states from his Dede and Papaw (my parents) and was excited about reading one. He'd been reading it for a while when this happened:

NTC: Are pirates real in the world?

ABC: I don't know. (How do you answer that? Yes & no? That's too much to get into with a 5 yr. old)

NTC: Well, there are.

ABC: How do you know?

NTC: It says so right here.......(pointing at his book with each word he says) pirates are real in the world.

How do you argue with that?! It said so right there in his States book that pirates are real in the world! I wish you could have seen him while he was doing this. It was too cute!

19. I had been aggravating Nathan (this seems to be a theme in our family) about selling him--I don't know why; I just was. Then, of course, I feel bad, so I tell him I'm just kidding and that he's worth too much to ever sell. Here's the conversation after that one:

ABC: Did you know that you are worth too much?

NTC: I know....I'm worth $182.

I don't know where he came up with that amount, but obviously it's a lot of money. It continues with...

ABC: $182!!! Daddy (talking to Marcus), we can sell Nathan and go to the pool behind Kohl's! (aggravating NTC some more)

There's a story behind the last part of that whole exchange. We've gone with our friends Ashley and Dalton to the pools in Dalton's neighborhood as well as to Wild River Country. At the time of particular funny moment, Nathan had just found out that we had a pool in our neighborhood, which happens to be behind Kohl's, we don't go to because it costs too much and because we go to WRC. So, in the days leading up to this conversation Nathan has mentioned several times about going to the pool behind Kohl's. Thus, I had to aggravate him by telling him that if we sold him, me and his daddy could go to the pool behind Kohl's. I know it sounds mean, but it was all in good fun! You've seen that handsome face; why would anyone in the world want to get rid of him?

20. This one is more of something funny that Nathan did instead of what he said. I had asked Nathan to pick his stuff up from the living room and put it where it belongs (ya know, you've got to be specific about these things; you can't just say pick it up). So, he promptly hid his stuff under the couch cushion. Thankfully, I caught him in the act or else we'd have been missing a few things for a while and we wouldn't have this funny story!

21. Last, but not least. I get in me to rearrange the furniture in our living room sometimes. Not usually a big deal since there is only a couple of ways to do it. But, this time I wanted to move the entertainment center from one wall to the other. Enter Marcus. My wonderful husband agrees to do it because he loves me so much (or something like that). :) This thing is smaller than our last entertainment center, but it's still rather large. Nathan comes in after Marcus had gotten it done and says...

NTC: If the entertainment center is so much bigger and stronger than you are, how'd you move it over there?!

What confidence he has in his daddy's abilities! Isn't great?!

I hope you had a good laugh. I had a lot of fun sharing these with you. I laughed and shook my head at each one as I remembered Nathan saying them all. The child CRACKS me up! There is never a dull moment in our house. He is such a joy and I constantly thank God for letting me be his mommy.

Nathan-isms Part 2

2008-11-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

7. Nathan looked at me one day and said...

NTC: I have rock n' roll hair.

ABC: What?!

NTC: Rock n' roll hair. You know, go hair.

Okay, let me explain: When we're getting ready to go somewhere, sometimes I look at Nathan and say let's rock n' roll, meaning let's go. I don't know why he put the two together, but it makes for some funniness.

8. Nathan goes to a private school and has to wear a uniform with his shirt tucked in. He absolutely hates tucking his shirt in and untucks it any chance he can. Well, on the first day of school, he gets into the car and tells us about his first day of school. After a few minutes he has this epiphany:

NTC: Oh! I can get my shirt untucked...

And, proceeds to untuck it. This was funny due to the complete randomness of it all.

9. A year or two ago Nathan was really into the Little Einsteins. We loved them because he learned so much. Well, one day he thoroughly impressed my dad. My mom was in the hospital having some tests done and Nathan got bored. So, my dad took him for a walk. They passed a sign on their walking adventure and here was Nathan's response:

NTC: Papaw, are those hieroglyphics?

Of course, my dad is in awe that his grandson knows anything about hieroglyphics at such a young age. When he's telling me what happened, I know exactly why he knows about hieroglyphics: Little Einsteins. See....your child CAN learn something from watching t.v. :)

10. One day Nathan had been cleaning his room and he came and got me to show me what a good job he had done. I was impressed it looked really good. Well, as any good mom knows, you've got to check under the bed to make sure they got everything from under there. Here's our conversation as I was doing this:

ABC: What's under your bed?

NTC: Just about everything.

11. Earlier this year Nathan's preschool went to the zoo as one of their field trips. Of course, I went with them to help chaperon. We had a lot of fun. Afterwards, Nathan and I were going to eat lunch with Marcus and we were discussing his day. From the backseat we had the following discussion:

NTC: Mom, guess where we went today!

ABC: Where?

NTC: the zoo.

ABC: I know; I went with you.

NTC: Oh........why do I ask such crazy questions?

12. Last year we went to Colorado for my graduation. It took 17 hours to get there. Needless to say, we had LOTS of stuff to keep Nathan occupied. We were staying out there a week to see the sites and have a mini-vacation before I graduated. On the way there, we told Nathan about the mountains we were going to see and how pretty they were. When we get to Denver, we point the mountains out for Nathan.

NTC: Okay, we've seen the mountains. Let's go home!

All that driving to see the mountains just to turn around and go back home. Seriously?! It was hilarious. We still joke about it today.

Nathan-isms

2008-09-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post these for a while but am just now getting around to it. (So many to post, so little time to do it) These are things that Nathan has said that we have found absolutely hilarious. I hope these are just as funny to you as they were to us. By the way, I'm giving some background, so, hopefully, you'll understand why we thought they were so funny.

*Here's a key to help you out with my shorthand: NTC=Nathan, ABC=me, MGC=Marcus.

1. I was helping at Nathan's school one day and his teacher, Mrs. Williams, was going over some Bible verses. One had to do with sin, so she proceeds to explain that sin is not doing what is right. Here's what follows:

Mrs. Williams (to the class): When is it hard to do what's right?

NTC: I've lost my mind.

Mrs. Williams: repeats the question

NTC: I've lost my mind again.

I'm not sure Mrs. Williams ever heard Nathan, but I did and it took all I had not to bust a gut laughing.

2. Recently Marcus' family came down to visit us. This go around the family consisted of Bob (MGC's dad), Marsha (MGC's mom), Matt (MGC's brother), and Natalie (Matt's wife). We went to Corky's after church and were ordering. Natalie had just ordered a burger with several different types of cheeses on it including pepper jack, but she had them leave the pepper jack off. Listen to the conversation...

NTC: Why didn't you want pepper jack on your burger?

Natalie: I just don't like the pepper jack.

NTC: What a wienie!

The whole table cracked up laughing. I think Bob and Marcus were proud at how quick he is at the draw!

3. We were at home one day talking about something and Nathan used the words vice versa:

MGC: What does vice versa mean?

NTC: It means you've got to know your states & capitals.

It's great! :)

4. I had made burritos for supper one night...

MGC: My burrito is peeing!

NTC: Well, does it have a winky?

It must be a guy thing to joke about this kind of stuff. ;) By the way, winky is our name for you know what.

5. Nathan is getting old enough to where he can start helping out around the house. So, I've had him help out by folding his own laundry. One day he'd been helping out with the laundry and was waiting on the next load to be done drying. All of a sudden he ran into the living room from the back of the house where he was checking to see if the clothes were done drying. Here's what he's saying:

NTC: I still don't have to fold; I still don't have to fold....what?! Is it time for me to fold again?

The child cracks me up!

6. One week at school Nathan was supposed to bring a picture of something that started with the first letter of his name. We were discussing all the possibilities of what he could take. He has his camera ready to take a picture whenever he likes one of our ideas. We have an engagement picture of Matt and Natalie (NTC's uncle & aunt), so I suggested he take a picture of Natalie. He loves the idea and goes over to the picture. He stands there looking at the picture and finally says...

NTC: Matthew's kinda in the way.

Look what Nathan can do:

2008-09-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Nathan has learned so many new things recently and none of it has to do with school. :) The child has learned how to whistle. Here's a short video of him doing just that. I can't believe it; the child taught himself. He also taught himself how to wink. Isn't he cute?! As I was taking pictures of him winking, my wonderful husband did something to aggravate Nathan which in turn caused him to move, thus the blurry picture. Anyone who knows my husband knows this is typical behavior. Life would be so boring without him! (Don't tell him I said that because then he would think I like all the aggravating!) :)

"Matthew" Hair

2008-09-24T14:07:00.001-07:00

Nathan has a new "do". My brother-in-law has had a buzz cut for a while now and we affectionately refer to it as "Matthew" hair. (We thought it entirely fitting since his name is Matthew :) When getting Nathan's hair cut, we usually get "Matthew" hair on the sides and just a trim up top. Well, this last time Nathan wanted, in his words, "Matthew" hair all over. Therefore, that is what he got. I love it!

Nathan's missing something.....

2008-09-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Nathan lost his first tooth today!!! And, I got to pull it! Woo-hoo! I was working at his school today when one of his teachers told me he was complaining of his tooth hurting. So, when he came in from recess, I looked at it. It was hanging on by threads, so I just twisted on it a little bit and it came right out. We are both very excited! He had been wanting it out since several of his friends at school had already lost some teeth. They are honored at school when they've lost a tooth. They get a sticker saying they lost a tooth, they get to put a tooth shaped sticker on the month in which they lost the tooth, and they get to journal about it. So, it's a pretty big deal. Now, he gets to experience all of that. What a big boy I have! :)

1st day of school

2008-08-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

It has officially been a week since I sent my little boy off to school. And, I have done really well. For all those wanting a tally, I think I ended up crying about 6 times the week before school started. On the actual day school started, I only cried a few tears. I was proud of myself. Nathan is absolutely loving school, so how can I be upset? Here are the pictures from his first day of school! Some of them you'll probably go, huh? But, let me explain. The first couple are of him getting up that morning. Now mind you, he's been getting up just whenever during the summer, so this is the first day that he has been getting up at 6:30. Not quite ready for it. The only other picture that I wanted to comment on is the one where he just got out of the car. I wanted to take his picture, of course, but the sun was shining in his face and he looked silly. So, I had him turn the other way. Well, the sun pretty much blocks out the picture, but I thought it was good nonetheless and wanted a picture of him as he arrived at school. I think that is about it. Thank you for all the prayers for us (okay, me) on NTC's first day of school. God was definitely with me!

Painting

2008-08-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Before
After

My help

Nathan's Masterpiece

As most of you know, Marcus was gone on a work trip to Chicago last week. While he was gone, I decided to paint our bedroom. I had never really liked the color it was, so I changed it. My plans got derailed for a little bit. My plan was to have our bedroom and the office painted by the time Marcus came home (I had a whole week; plus, Nathan was off to Nana and Pop's for a few days. I figured I could do it.) I know, I dream BIG. Well, our air conditioning decided to go out on Friday. We thought we had it fixed, but it went out again on Saturday. Since it was the weekend, nothing could be done until Monday. It finally got fixed late Monday night, but we couldn't stay in the house (it got up to 94 degrees) until Tuesday. So, that takes several days out of my plan. Needless to say, I'm lucky that our bedroom got done this past week. And, it actually didn't get done before Marcus got home. But, it's done and I'm happy. I changed the color from a brownish color to blue. It looks so much better; I love it! Not to mention, it makes the room look so much bigger. I have a before and after picture to show how much better it looks. I was very disappointed in myself when we painted our whole house and I didn't take a picture of what it looked like before. So, I made sure to do it this time. I'm also including some pictures of my help. Now, for the office................

Nathan and Mommy time

2008-08-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

The other day Nathan wanted me to play Legos with him. We had a blast! I am not the most creative when it comes to making things with Legos, so I have to follow the instructions. Nana & Pops had bought Nathan a Lego set that made several different things. Keeping with my snake theme for the summer, I made a Lego snake; I was pretty proud of myself. Nathan made a car. I just had to document our fun together so here are the pictures from our Lego play time.

It's Started

2008-08-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

It has already started......today was the first time (of many, I'm sure) that I cried because I'm sending my only child off to kindergarten. This of course prompted me to get out his baby pictures. God has truly blessed us and brought us a long way from the baby in the hospital with all the tubes. I can't believe it has been 5 1/2 years since I had my beautiful little boy. Time sure does fly. I have six more days until Nathan starts school, so I'll keep everyone updated on how many more times I cry before he actually goes to school. (Make it two because I'm crying as I write this.)

(As a side note: it doesn't help that Nathan isn't here for me to love on during my crying spells, though that's probably a good thing.)

New Costner

2008-07-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

We have a new Costner in the family! Last weekend Marcus' brother Matthew got married. This is a picture of me with his beautiful wife Natalie (it was taken at their rehearsal dinner). She is very sweet, a great addition to the family. The wedding was wonderful and of course Natalie looked gorgeous. If I happen to get my hand on any pictures from the wedding, I'll put them up. It was a lot of fun. That's all I have for now. Just wanted everyone to meet the newest member of my family. Adios.

Woo-hoo

2008-07-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Woo-hoo! First fruits; we have our very first tomato!

Early this summer I got bit by the gardening bug. So, while I was at ChenalMart, I picked up some fruits & veggies to plant: tomatoes, okra, strawberries, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Marcus and I have tag-teamed taking care of our little garden. I planted everything and he waters them every night (isn't he great?!). The plants have done great; so much so that we had to cut back the pumpkin plant. (We didn't want the vine to grow all the way out to our mailbox. I never thought we would have such growth this fast. Not to mention I had heard that the plants might not produce fruit the first season they were planted. Needless to say, I am very excited! We have several more tomatoes ripening, plus lots of watermelon. So, if anyone likes watermelon, give me a call. I bought those and the cantaloupe for Marcus and Nathan; I can't stand either one of them. :) I love gardening. It's fun to plant something and then see it produce its fruit, whether it is fruit or flower. Okay. Enough rambling about a tomato.

Kindergarten

2008-07-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

Today Nathan and I went shopping for school supplies. I wanted to get it done early because I have seen how everything disappears the closer it gets to school starting. He was such a big helper; he picked out his backpack and helped get everything in the buggy. He is so excited about starting school! Right now I am surprisingly okay with it, but he doesn't actually start until August 13. So, check back with me then. :)

4th of July fun

2008-07-07T08:09:00.001-07:00

We went to Mississippi to see my meme and pa for the 4th of July. Everything was fine until my sister noticed a snake crawling on the roof of the house while we were playing outside. I ran to get my camera. It slithered to the other side of the roof, which is where I got the closer picture of it. My dad then climbed on the roof to get it; no way was I going to bed in that house (it was right over our room) with that thing still alive. Pa tried to chop its head off with hedge trimmers. Those things are pretty tough because he couldn't chop it off all the way. He held it up for me, so I could get a picture of how big it was. It turned out to be about 5 ft. long (my word!); Pa measured it. The next picture is kind of random, but I had to get a picture of Nathan hootin' and a hollerin' when my dad said the snake peed on him. Nathan thought that was HILARIOUS! Once the snake was off the roof, Pa electrocuted it on the electric fence. It curled up pretty good when that happened. I only wish I could have gotten a picture of it pulsating because of the electric current. Pa then put the snake on top of meme's tomato plants; not entirely sure why. But, it gave Nathan a chance to touch it. He was very hesitant about that, as you can see. Despite all the trauma that the snake had been through, it still wasn't dead. It managed to slither off the plant and back on the ground. Meme wasn't going to have any of that, so she got the shovel and made sure the thing was dead (she finished cutting off its head). After that, Nathan got braver and decided he would drag the snake so Pa could measure it. The child is braver than I ever will be. I told Pa that was enough excitement for me for the whole weekend. :) Oh, as a side note, Pa thought he would be cute and came up behind me as I was watching to see if the snake was still alive. He grabbed at me and I screamed and ran. Everybody thought it was funny except me. Don't you just love family?! By the way, they thought the snake was a chicken snake. Daddy and Pa didn't want to kill it, but us women won out. The only good snake is a dead snake, in my opinion.

The rest of the weekend was pretty good other than that. We threw a surprise birthday party for my mom while we were down there. She turned 50 today, so we had to celebrate. It was a lot of fun. The whole family was there, and that never happens. It was great spending time with everybody. And, even though she threatened us to not throw a party for her, she loved it. She was overwhelmed and couldn't believe it, but at least she didn't walk out like she said she would. I think it worked in our favor that it was more a celebration that she was 50 instead of an over the hill kind of thing. She has issues about getting older. I think it's better than the alternative. Well, I think that is about it for our holiday weekend. Nathan and I are about to go camping with my parents, so maybe I will have something interesting to post about that.

The Nature Center

2008-06-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

As I just mentioned, we were in Ft. Smith for a bridal shower. Well, while Marsha (my mother-in-law), Natalie, Matthew, and I were at the shower, the boys needed something to occupy their time. (The boys being Nathan, Marcus, and Bob--my father-in-law.) So, they went to the Janet Huckabee Nature Center. It is pretty cool. It is similar to the visitor center at Pinnacle Mountain, but much better. Plus, you can learn to kayak and shoot bows & arrows for FREE. How cool is that?! We need something like that here in Little Rock. Nathan had an absolute blast testing his skills at archery. These pictures are of him shooting his first bow and arrow.

The last time Nathan went to the Nature Center Bob took him out in a kayak. He had so much fun it was all he talked about for a while--he was Mr. Big Man on Campus. It was also a feat in and of itself. Nathan is not a big fan of the water. I mean, he loves to swim, and by swim I mean play in shallow water. (We are working on that with him, but it is a slow process. He is, however, no longer scared to hold his breath and go under water.) Anyway; back to the story. Sometimes it is hard to get him to try something new because it scares him. (I know if he will only try it he'll love it, but it's hard to convince him of that.) That's what happened here. Bob took Nathan in the kayak, and he freaked out as soon as Bob pushed away from the dock, but then all was fine and he loved it! They even looked for trolls under the bridge. I am so proud of him for actually trying it. My little man is growing up. :) The pictures of Nathan shooting the arrows were taken on Bob's cell phone, so they are a little fuzzy. But, they were cute and I wanted to keep them nonetheless.

The Fort

2008-06-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

We just got back from Fort Smith. We had a nice weekend away visiting Marcus' family. Marcus' brother, Matt, is getting married in a couple of weeks and we were in town for the shower (they received TONS of gifts; it was great!). Matt and Natalie--the fiancee--surprised us and came down from Fayetteville Saturday night (they were originally coming Sunday). They spent the night and went to church and to the shower the next day. I really enjoyed it because it was the first time I was able to spend any significant amount of time with Natalie. She is a wonderful girl, and I am glad that she is going to be my sister-in-law. She's perfect for Matt! More to come about them once the wedding happens. Exciting times!

Family Pics

2008-06-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Obviously all of my posts up until now have been of Nathan, he is my pride and joy, so I thought I'd throw some pictures of the rest of us (courtesy of Bob Costner) in the mix.

The first one is of us, as tree-huggers :), in front of Bob and Marsha's (my in-laws) house. Picture #2 is of me and my boy; aren't we cute?! And, finally, what can I say?! This would be me acting goofy trying to get my husband to laugh. He's looking at me like he always does: like I'm a lunatic. All of this is happening while waiting on Bob to take the picture. Little did I know that he had. THANK YOU, BOB! :) It was a fun day and we got some really good pictures. It's amazing; we actually have pictures with me and Marcus in them. What's that about?!

Upward Soccer

2008-06-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Nathan loved playing Upward soccer this year! Here is a picture that is the epitome of him while playing soccer: tongue sticking out. :) I have many more cute soccer pics that I will put up as soon as I figure out how to put them in a slideshow.

Fishing trip

2008-06-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Nathan caught his first fish over Memorial Day weekend. And, it so happens that it was his first time to ever go fishing! He was so excited. It was also raining, as you can see in the photo. We all had a blast!!!

New blogger

2008-06-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

Okay. I finally decided to join all the other bloggers out there. I tried to fight it but finally gave in. I'm going to put a disclaimer with this, though. I really only created this so family, or anyone else, could see pictures of Nathan easier than me trying to email them to everyone. So, for all our friends who have blogs and are great at keeping them updated, I'm probably going to disappoint you with this blog because I probably won't blog that often. Despite that, I hope you enjoy it and I will love to hear from you.