Thanksgiving Video

We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving day with my brother Paul and his lovely family. Here is a video of after we ate and what we were Thankful for.

10 Things I had no idea about before I became a mother

So I am reading all of my friends posts and realize what a slacker I am. Of course, I should have guessed as much when I look through Dawson's first year journal and he only has like 10 entries! My friend (new mom) Ashley put this on her blog and I loved so much I am copying the idea for my post. Here it is...

1. Yes MY kid will do that and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

2. You really can miss them and be glad there gone all at the same time.

3. Your child really is the cutest kid in the universe.

4. Jesus' love for me (yes I knew he loved me in theory, but to realize how much I love Dawson and that is what I am to him, really opened my eyes.)

5. Pajama day should be a national holiday.

6. Work isn't nearly as important as I thought it was.

7. Watching your husband be a good dad is better than watching him be a good husband.

8. You can go without sleep and survive. You may not be nice, but you can survive.

9. How awesome my family is (ok, I knew this, but wanted to add it again.)

10. Miracles do happen

Homework Assignment

We recieved homework for Dawson last week (K2, can you believe that!) the homework consisted of a family project for art for the classroom. They gave us a BIG turkey feather and asked us to decorate it. The theme was God made my family. This theme has special place in my heart because God is THE only reason I have my family today. He was able to work in ways I could not imagine and had his hand in specially creating and choosing Dawson for our family (still making sure Jason was in Germany during time of conception!) Anyway, I digress. I decided to do a photo montage of pictures of everyone in our family. Our niece Brittney had spent the night so she helped by cutting out the pictures. Dawson smeared glue and sprinkled glitter (our turkey may look like a peacock) and I of course choose the pictures, printed, and we all helped place them on the feather. Here is a picture of Dawson with the finished project along with a how did they do that? video.

Pacie Fairy

Well the pacie fairy has finally made a visit to the Nodine house. Dawson was using his pacies for bedtime and anytime mama needed a break (which I guess was often?). His sleep schedule has been messed up for two weeks or so due to a cold and molars so I decided it was now or never to give up the pacie. I tried to prepare him ahead of time with phone calls from the fairie. Courtesy of Liana our "Aunt-in-law" and a calendar where he could mark down the days. Friday night we collected pacies from Re-Re's house and went around our own house to collect any pacie's we could find. After a last suck on our favorite pacie.

We proceeded to tape up the box and place it in the garage. As we were doing it I realized my sweet 2 year old had no idea what was going on. We proceeded to bed as normal and he nicely asked for 'mouth'. I reminded him that we put them out for the fairie but he could have cared less. We left him screaming and amazingly after 15 minutes he was out. The next morning he woke up at 3 screaming for his mouth and at 4 I finally decided to go upstairs and see what I could do. He decided he needed breakfast and of course after that we would watch a video where I would concede and give him his mouth. Much to his dismay that did not happen nor did he think/care about the box or the visit from the farie. Even after I had been out there the night before putting his presents (one for each pacie) into the box and making a 'fairie trail' with glitter (which Alisha very much appreciated the next day!) Only after his attempt to find his own mouth did he remember about the box. He ran outside and saw all the presents which kept him occupied for about 15 minutes since 2 of his presents did not even work even after dad went to al-mart for batteries at 6 am.

He did okay the rest of the morning until nap time and he was absolutely not having a nap without his mouth. After about an hour and a half of useless warnings about napping we let him come downstairs and play with his visiting cousins. Then we went to Brittney's birthday party (see later post). He had a meltdown after the party and finally fell asleep in the car on the way home. Of course 5 minutes before we got home he woke up and just wanted his mouth. After a 30 minute melt down (him and me) we came downstairs and watched Diego. It was amazing that mama couldn't calm him down, but Diego could. After the show we went back upstairs and he fell fast asleep with no tears! As of today (Sunday afternoon) there was a 45 minute nap and only 3 requests for mouth. This process was definitely necessary but as Jason will tell you, I am having a harder time with it than Dawson. Just another step of growing up which is great except when you just want to hold them in your arms and let them be a baby for a little while longer!

The Marker Incident

Well, I can now say that we have had a marker incident with Dawson. We do crafts almost every day, and I have been proud to say we have had no accidental markings. Well this morning changed everything. I was packing Dawson's lunch for school and ReRe had brought us a new lunch container so I had pulled the permanent makers out to right Dawson's name on it for school. When I last saw Dawson he was playing cars in the dining room/downstairs play room. I went into the living room and Dawson was happily coloring on a piece of paper and I wondered where he had a)gotten the paper and b)gotten the marker. God must have dropped the paper down from heaven, but he definitely got the marker from my permanent market collection. Luckily most of it got on the paper, but he did give our end table a bit of an artistic edge. I was going to add a picture to my blog, but I just didn't get to the camera before I had to leave the house. It will just give you something to look for next time you visit the house.

New School Video

Because the other school video was SO overplayed I had to take a new video at school this morning. Zoe is his little playmate at school that he likes to give kisses to....

Okay, I have been working tonight so please make sure you scroll down and look at all of my new posts (there are a lot of them!) This one had to be last so you could see it first. We went to Chick-fil-A today and they were painting faces. We started out with a puppy because Dawson had a small melt down when he realized he wasn't going to get to paint but had to allow someone else to paint. After that, he watched the other kids get full face painting and he wanted to get a tiger too! He ended up being a tiger with a bassett hound on his face, but he was cute none the less. He tried to tackle another tigress for a kiss.

Here's another new video. This was taken on Sunday when the NFL Fantasy football league started up. There won't be another quiet Sunday in this house until February! We always have a good time and the kids love to play together. This video is of Vivian, Alisha, and Dawson playing in the sprinklers. Dawson really didn't play in the sprinklers in the beginning (or in this video) but he did eventually join in on the fun.

Here are some cute pictures we have taken over the course of the last couple of weeks. Labor Day weekend we went to the festival in Simpsonville and took Alisha with us. They enjoyed riding the rides together and I love this picture of them holding hands waiting for one of the rides. For Labor day we went to the lake with Donnie and Freda and these are some pictures of Jason and Dawson swimming in the lake and of Dawson being thrown into the water. The final picture is of Dawson's new hobby of wearing gloves. He actually tries to sleep with them on.

New Video

This video has nothing to do with Dawson but is one of my favorites.

I have to add more videos and pictures not just for my own recollection but because Jason and I are getting tired of watching the same videos all of the time. Dawson watches his videos at LEAST once a day, and by once a day I mean he stands at the PC once a day. The video is played over and over again for about 20 - 30 minutes. We put the cursor over the play button on his current favorite (first was the school video, then the car, and now the pool) and he replays it. I am going to add different comments to pictures and videos as I go, but this first picture is Dawson's first sit down on his pottie. He is very interested in all things bathroom including pulling his pants down (sometimes in public) but he really does not want anything to do with sitting on his potty except for this one instance and luckily my camera was nearby so I could capture it on film. Sorry to offend anyone that doesn't want to see a naked picture of a boy on a toilet.....

Video

I have so much to blog about but not nearly enough time. So this one is mostly video. I captured Dawson playing in the car and he followed instructions very well so he is talking a lot in this one (he also loves to watch himself on the blog so he will get a kick out of it too!) Right now he is way into gloves. He likes to take a shower and put on my sloughing glove and wash the glass. Enjoy the video! PS. Notice the workers working on building our new neighbors house

Looking through old videos and want to post some of my favorites. This first one is Dawson at 10 months kicking in Uncle Frank's pool. The funny thing is he is still wearing the swim trunks this summer and they aren't tight!

A day at home

Tuesday we went to the doctor for our check-up and the only way I could prevent the tears was to explain that Moosie needed the check up. When we got into the room Dawson was sitting on the exam table and he promptly hopped down and put Moosie up there for his check- up.

After both Moosie's and Dawson's check up we checked out our local chick-fil-a for a special kinder music lesson. One of Dawson's friends happened to be there too so he had a great time. They did a bird theme, so he used the wings to get around and he loved the eggs you shake that make noise.

He was able to go back to another class on Saturday which he enjoyed too. They wanted me to sign up, but I think I will just take the free monthly sessions at Chick-fil-A. It only costs me a sandwich!

First Day of School

Today was Dawson's first day of school at Southside Christian. His Auntie Rina (ReRe) came by to give us good luck



He made sure to pose with his new Lightning McQueen lunch box and of course no first day of school would be complete with out Poo Poo.


The first thing you have to do when you come into school is wash your hands and then you can go play with the toys and friends. They have sinks that are just Dawson's size, and we did warn the teacher that he may go missing to that spot quite often. They always make sure they wash their hands after playing, after diaper change, and before meals. I am sure Dawson will love that!




Dawson's teacher is Brenda McCauley and she is really good with the kids. Dawson's shape is a red octagon (or stop sign, which is appropriate) and he has a little cubby where his naptime stuff goes. He attends on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8-3. The first day he did not take his nap well. The teacher said he laid there and talked to himself. He finally passed out about 15 minutes before end of rest!

This is the video of his first few play moments and his teachers. Enjoy!

First day of many?

Well, here it goes I am attempting to start our blog so that when my memory goes (as it is already beginning to) I will have some type of memory of what it was like during these fun days of chasing a toddler.

Our life is fairly simple right now and we are like a lot of other families as we prepare to go into the school year. We met Dawson's teacher at the open house on Friday (Brenda McCauley) and she seems really nice. Dawson was so excited that he could not be contained. He screamed through the announcements and prayer in the chapel and then ran with great vigor to his classroom. All of the other kids were fairly meek and timid and just looking around, but not my son. He proceeded to go right to the toys and start throwing stuff around and shouting with glee. I was about to turn to the teacher and let her know that he is not normally like this, when I thought of how the last couple of weeks at our house had been and indeed this was normal right now. No need to already let her think I am the parent that doesn't know her own child.

Our favorite things about Dawson right now
His sneaky smile/grin face
The use of the word cheesy poof
Jumping in the pool