Friday, October 31, 2008

To Daddy From Brody

"I miss you when you're at work, Daddy. I love you!" - Brody

___________
(I'm at my parents' house. Our internet it down at home until Monday evening. I have so many posts running thru my head...but it's hard to post them when I can't get online! I did add 3 new posts below (I back dated them) while I was here at my parents'. Enjoy!)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

4 month football

Barrett turned 4 months old yesterday! He's such a fun baby. He's a good sleeper, is happy when he's awake, and loves his big brother. He watches everything Brody does (and Brody LOVES to entertain him)! I'm really looking forward to watching them grow up together.

Of course, whenever I take Barrett's football pictures, Brody wants in on the action! He's saying, "Cheese!" in the picture below. Don't ask about the outfit. He dressed himself.




Monday, October 27, 2008

We made it

Today was Mike's first day at his new job. I was a little concerned about how Brody would handle Mike being gone all day. He waved (with "I love you" fingers) bye to Mike until we couldn't see the car anymore and then we hurried to get ready to take Barrett to the doctor for his 4 month appointment.

Both boys were really good during our loooong wait at the dr's office. Barrett weighed in at a whoopin' 12 lbs 5 oz (in the 7th percentile) and was 25" long (55th percentile). His hernia is still there, but the doctor thinks that we'll be able to wait until his 6 month appointment to see the urologist since we should have insurance thru Mike's job by then. He got 2 shots today and Brody helped me soothe him afterwards. For some reason Brody was disappointed that he didn't get any shots today?!

After the dr's appointment we headed to work. I worked until about 4 pm when I headed home to start dinner. Brody was still napping, so Namaw walked him down later after he woke up. He was outside riding his golf cart when Mike got home from work. Brody ran inside and into Mike's arms as soon as he heard the garage door shut. When Mike picked him up, Brody stated (matter of factly), "You missed me today!" Mike agreed that he really missed Brody.

For the rest of the evening Brody followed Mike wherever he went: to dinner, outside to get firewood, to the bathroom, etc. One time I walked back into the bedroom. Mike was changing clothes and Brody was sitting on the bed watching him. Brody looked at me and said, "Daddy loves me VERY much! We missed each other today!"

Mike had a softball game tonight and left just before Brody's bedtime. When I put Brody to bed he didn't want to lay down. He sat up in bed and covered his legs. He told me, "I'm going to sit just like this until Daddy gets home. Then he'll come kiss me night night!"

I'm so thankful for the job that God has blessed Mike with. I'm also thankful for the 5 months that Mike got to spend at home with our family. He is such and amazing husband and father and the boys and I love every moment we get to spend with him!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Cowboys, Pumpkins, & Sprinklers

Today we went to David & Daina's house after church. Mike went to the Cowboys game with Mark, so we looked for them on TV while we watched the game. Daddy Steve, Brody, and Barrett were decked out in their Dallas Cowboys attire.
While the game was going on, the girls took the kids outside to carve pumpkins. Brody was grossed out by the pumpkin. I couldn't even get him to put his hand inside to help me clean it out (although he was interested in using the mini saws to help cut out the face)!

He thought it looked like more fun to play in the sprinklers with David. Under the direction of David, Brody tried to spray everyone as they walked by! Only in Texas can you play in the sprinklers (in your underwear) when it's only a few days away from November!!! Crazy!!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Fall Festival

Tonight was the Fall Festible (as Brody calls it) at church. Not only did Brody get lots of candy (all suckers mind you...we need to coach him next year to go for the chocolate!), there was a bounce house, face painting, hot dogs, horseback rides, and a hayrack ride. Brody seemed a little confused as to why all this stuff was in the church parking lot (and why I wasn't wearing "church shoes"), but our little fireman had lots of fun!

Our family on the hay ride
After they hay ride Brody wanted to see the tractor and talk with Terry.

We had to wait in line for a while to get to ride a horse, but Brody loved it! Now every time we go to church he points out where he got to ride the horse at the "Fall Festible" and tells me he's gonna do it again next year.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pumpkin Patch

Today Mike, Angela, and I took Brody, Barrett, and Jayden to a pumpkin patch. Jayden slept the entire time. Barrett slept until we woke him up to take pictures. Brody ran all over the patch excitedly telling us about all the pumpkins! He was so cute to watch!

We tried getting a picture of all 3 boys together. Barrett woke up when we took him out of his carseat and he wasn't very happy about having his picture taken! I think this picture is so funny! Jayden is fast asleep, Barrett is crying, and Brody has a dazed look on his face while he twiddles pieces of straw in his hands!
When I picked up Barrett, Brody sat down by Jayden and just watched him sleep. So sweet!

This was the best family picture we got.


After Barrett woke up a little, he willingly sat in Brody's lap without crying. We didn't get both of them to smile, but they were both looking towards the camera!

Brody had a lot of fun at the pumpkin patch. He helped Mike pick out a pumpkin to buy and talked to the guys who were running the show. When we told him it was time to leave he had a little bit of a meltdown. He did not want to leave! When the workers asked if he wanted to just stay and work with them all day he said, "Yes!"

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Boys

Friday and Saturday we had a garage sale at our house. We had stuff from GG's house, our house, Caleb & Audria's house, Dad & Mom's house, and the church! Our backyard was full of "junk"! Not only did we make some moolah, we also had fun hanging out with Caleb & Audria! Brody and Barrett enjoyed having their aunt and uncle to play with all day.

On Saturday morning Brody wanted to wear his fireman outfit. After he got tired of the hat, Audria tried it on Barrett. Doesn't he look cute?! Monday morning Brody woke up, ate breakfast, put on his cowboy boots, and asked for Daddy's screwdriver. Then he asked us to unlock the door to the backyard. A little while later we looked outside to see this:
Brody loves to "fix" everything! He's already taken several things apart. I wonder what he'll take apart when he gets really good at using the screwdriver?
**Just a reminder. Don't forget to enter the "name my blog" contest below**

Monday, October 20, 2008

I need your help!

It has been brought to my attention that we no longer live in a "Log Cabin in the Plains". As much as I love the name, I think it's time to change the name of our blog to more accurately reflect our life. This is where you come in. I need ideas. What would be a great name for our blog? (Please do not use our last name in the title you suggest.)

To make things more interesting, I'm making naming our blog into a contest! Leave a comment with your suggestion for a title. If I pick your title you'll win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

That's right! I'm giving away a $20 Amazon Gift Card to the winner!!!!

Feel free to enter as many times as you want. Let the creative juices flow...

*edit*
Here's a little about us (for new readers). We now live in the great state of Texas. We love anything outdoors (especially mountains). We love spending time with our family and put a huge importance on our relationship with Christ and the effect that has on every aspect of our lives. I don't want to limit the blog title to something having to do with our 2 boys since there might possibly be more children in our future. When Mike was telling me what he thought a blog title should relay about our family he said, "Outdoorsey, Texasey, Mountaney, Rustic..." I don't think any of those are real words though! LOL!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Answered Prayer

Thanks to everyone for their hard work and prayers in helping me find a job.

This week I accepted a position with XTO Energy in Fort Worth as a Business Analyst in the Records Information Management (RIM) division. I start on Monday, October 27th and will be on contract for the first 45 days before moving to a salaried employee. I won't have any benefits except 401k during the contract period so keep up the prayers that our family will stay safe and healthy. XTO is a growing oil and natural gas company that has doubled in size within that last 5 years. Everyone I met was extremely happy with their careers, colleagues, and the company itself.

Thanks again and to God be the Glory!

~Mike

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Fireproof




We went to see Fireproof last Thursday night with Caleb & Audria. It was a REALLY good movie! Everyone who reads this needs to go see the movie. Do what you have to do. Hire a babysitter, make a date with your wife, and support this movie in the box office! Then leave a comment and let me know what you think about it! These are the kind of movies Hollywood should be putting out!!!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Last visit with Grammy

Nancy (aka Grammy) was here for 2 weeks to help out Angela (after Jayden was born). Last night we went over to Mark and Angela's apartment to see her one more time before she headed back to Kansas. While we were there she painted the boys' hands and put their hand prints on her hand print tablecloth. Barrett didn't cooperate very well (he wouldn't open his hand very straight), so his hand print looks a little messy! We were sad to have to say goodbye to her. Maybe one day the boys will convince her to move to Texas!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Texas State Fair

Today we took the boys to the State Fair. Nancy, Angela, and Jayden went with us too. It was a long day (we were there for 7 hours!), but we had lots of fun. Since we didn't arrive until 11:30, Brody was "starving" (at least that's what he told us) and wanted to eat right away. He told us that he wanted corn dogs...easy enough to find at a fair.
Mike was really looking forward to checking out the tractors and climbing on them with Brody. Well...at the Texas State Fair they don't let you climb on the tractors!!! They didn't even have big tractors and combines; and all of the little tractors at the fair had "Please Keep Off" signs on them. Mike was sooooo disappointed!
We looked for the RV's and boats (another favorite of ours at the KS State Fair) and didn't find either! Our one must have fair food is roasted nuts (pecans & almonds). After searching several buildings, we stopped at an information booth to ask where we could find some roasted nuts. We were disappointed to find that they don't sell roasted nuts at the TX State Fair.

We may have been disappointed, but Brody was having fun. He got to be a little farmer in the kiddie farm area. They dressed him up and then gave him chores to do (feeding animals, planting seeds, picking crops, and milking a cow). Then he drove a pedal tractor to the farmers market to sell the fruits of his labor. He earned a dollar for his hard work and then got to buy a snack at the general store! It was pretty cool!

Brody wasn't the only one having fun...Barrett was full of grins too!

Angela was smiling big when she finally got the fried smores that she'd been drooling over!
Mike and I were holding out for a fried snickers or fried banana split, however, we never found the vendors that sold them! Yet another mook!

By the time we went thru the animal buildings, the petting zoo, the auto show, several other buildings, and watched a peculiar dog show, we were all exhausted!
Brody started telling us he was hungry again and said he wanted tacos for dinner. We stopped at Taco Bueno on the way home for a yummy dinner. I think everyone will sleep good tonight!

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Bless his little heart


Barrett is a happy baby. He wakes up talking/cooing and just looking around his room. When you go pick him up he smiles his big, toothless smile. It's easy to get him giggling and he's even started laughing a belly laugh. He really only gets fussy when he's tired, but he seems to get slammed with the fatigue all of the sudden. It's hard not to laugh when you see him smiling one second and then the next second his little lip turns down and tears well up in his eyes (like in the picture above). Even though you think, "bless his little heart" (in the words of the Temple family)...you have to admit that it's cute!

Monday, October 06, 2008

Girls Weekend 2008

This weekend was the 2nd annual Girls Weekend with some of my girl friends. We first met over 3 years ago on BabyCenter. We now have a private message board with a close knit group of friends. We talk every day...and talk about everything! Last year we met up in Chicago and this year they came to Texas! Everyone on the board couldn't join us, but those who came had lots of fun (and not much sleep)!

On Friday I picked up Jessica at DFW and then Laura and Amy at Love Field. We drove back to our house and (because Amy requested it) stopped at Taco Bueno to get dinner. I guess I've talked about Bueno a few times and they just had to see what it was all about. I was glad that they really liked it! Brody entertained us for a while and then we left for Dad & Mom's house. They graciously opened up their house for us to use this weekend. It was great to have so much space to hang out (and it saved us money since we didn't have to rent a hotel room)! After we unpacked our stuff, we left for DFW again to pick up Anna. Her flight got in at 11 pm then we went back to Dad & Mom's and talked for another few hours before making ourselves go to bed.

Saturday morning we relaxed. Mom made us waffles and we just hung out until we got motivated enough to get dressed and head out for some fun. As we were leaving, Dad took our picture out front by the "picture tree". Laura & Amy (the pg girls in the front), Ann, Jessica, & Staci (in the tree) By the time we left, it was time for lunch. We headed to downtown Fort Worth and ate lunch at Joe T. Garcia's. It's a yummy Mexican restaurant and we ate WAY too much food. After lunch we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards and Stockyard Station. I wanted to do something with them that would scream TEXAS! I think the Stockyards accomplished that goal.
Laura (from Alabama), Staci (from Texas), Jessica (from Oregon), and Anna (from California) at the Stockyards. Amy (from Missouri) is behind the camera.
After spending several hours at the Stockyards, we stopped at an art festival that was going on downtown. Jessica & Anna were wanting some coffee so we made a visit to Starbucks in the downtown Barns-n-Noble.

We headed back to our house around 5 pm so that I could feed Barrett. Then we decided to get some burgers (Chapps) and rent a movie (Father of the Bride II). Before coming to Texas Jessica had requested Blue Bell ice cream. Apparently they don't have Blue Bell in non-southern states. By the time we stopped talking enough to watch the movie, we had enough room to eat ice cream.

We stayed up late again on Saturday night talking. Sunday morning we had to head to the airport pretty early. We stopped at Starbucks so that the coffee addicts (Jessica & Anna) would be able to stay awake for their day of travel. I dropped off Anna, Laura, & Amy and then took Jessica back home with me since she didn't fly out until after 6 pm. It was fun to get to spend the afternoon hanging out with her. I wish the other girls had been able to stay longer!
It was so much fun to get to hang out with the girls that I talk to every day. I'm already looking forward to our get together next year!

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Meetin' the Cousins

On Tuesday we took Brody and Barrett to the hospital to see Jayden. Brody was soooooo excited. Angela was nursing Jayden when we arrived, but as soon as she finished Brody jumped up on her bed and gave Jayden a big kiss! He was awake while we were there. I actually got a picture of him with his eyes open!
Here's our attempt at getting a picture of all 3 boys together. I like how you can tell that Brody is saying, "Cheese!" in the picture!
In other news, Barrett is sleeping between 11-12 hours at night. I think this is one of the reasons why he doesn't wake up crying at all during the night...
Yep...he loves that thumb. I tried and tried to push the paci (just because it's easier to take away)...but I failed!