The real story...

Sorry!  I forgot to post the story behind the picture yesterday!

Yesterday we were at work and Brody asked, "What did Caleb & Tyler used to play when they were little?"  I told him they played Candy Land, Superman, and they swam a lot in the summer.  He said, "No...what do you think they played all the time?"  I said, "Well, I remember them playing Cowboy's and Indians a lot!"  He asked, "How do you play that game?"  So I told him that one of them would be the cowboy and carry a gun and the other would be an Indian with a bow and arrow and they'd run around shooting each other.  His eyes lit up!  He asked me to email Daddy at work and see if they could play Cowboys and Indians when he got home.  He was so excited about it that he couldn't sleep at naptime. 

After dinner Mike took the boys to Wal-Mart to get supplies to change the oil in the car.  When they pulled back in the driveway he asked Brody if he wanted to help him change the oil.  Brody put a finger at the corner of his mouth and responded, "Well...I think that we probably should wait and change the oil tomorrow after my nap.  I really think that today we need to go inside and play Cowboys and Indians!"

I was cleaning up the house when they all came running in from the garage and headed for Brody's room.  Emerging from the room were Cowboy Barrett, Cowboy Daddy, and Indian Brody.  They chased each other around the house shooting for over an hour.  As I was sitting at my desk (trying to avoid the line of fire) I saw Mike run to the laundry room and shut the door.  The boys didn't see which way he went and were dying laughing as they looked for him.  Finally he started whistling and they ran to the laundry room.  They ran in, looked behind the door, and ran back out!  I followed them back to the laundry room (because I knew he was in there) and was shocked when we finally found him ON TOP of the freezer!!  You better believe that Brody immediately started bombarding him with arrows.  In the picture Mike is shooting at Barrett (who was a little too short to show up in the picture since I had to aim so high to get Mike in the picture!)

The true story is a fun story of a Daddy playing with his two little boys, however, your comments tell stories that really had us laughing!!!



Tyler:  "They must have been playing Cowboys & Indians..."

Namaw:  "I think someone shot an arrow behind the freezer. Nice hat!"

Caleb:  "My guess is... Brody (the Indian) is upset that Mike (the cowboy) killed his buffalo and is coming to take back the hide and meat (which is in the freezer). The cowboy obviously doesn't know the terrain very well and has been cornered and treed by an Indian who has a firm grasp on the surrounding landscape. This is a classic example of home court advantage."

Daddy Steve:  "My guess - Cowboy Mike was trying to gain the high ground on Indian Brody. Once the Cowboy climbed up on high ground he felt threatened by the appearance of the dust mop and as he trained his gun on the deadly dust mop the Indian snuck up on him and said "Gotcha!"  What fun!"

Angela:  "By the look of Mike's eyes he is trying to shoot something specific (perhaps alive) down the side of the freezer...although it would make much more sense to me to just stand up and do it. :) Brody is there for back up to protect his daddy in case a giant mouse jumps up and takes a huge chunk out of Mike's bum."

Story Behind the Picture?

What's your best guess for the story behind this picture?  Leave your story in the comment section and I'll reveal the true story sometime tomorrow...

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Dear Brody's future wife,
For the past few weeks Brody has been adamant about the fact that he wants to have 10 children.  I've tried to tell him that he might get overwhelmed with that many kids, but he insists that it would be fun.  Today he informed me that not only does he want 10 kids...but he wants to have 10 babies all at the same time.  He said his wife will have 10 babies stacked up inside her tummy and that "she'll be so big she'll have to back up, turn just right, and run thru the front door to get out of the house!"  I told him that I didn't even think that it was possible to have 10 babies inside your tummy at one time and he said, "We'll just have to see how many God gives us."

Hopefully over the next two decades I can get Brody to think more realistically (at least about the number of babies that should be born at the same time)!

Love,
Your future mother-in-law

Rain

Brody really wanted to go to Mike's softball game last night, however, it didn't start until 8:30 pm.  Since it's summer, I was going to let him go (there's no way Barrett would've made it thru the game) with Daddy Steve and Namaw, however, by 7 pm the forecast looked like rain.  Daddy Steve and Namaw decided not to go since they thought it'd get rained out.  Brody so was devastated he cried himself to sleep.

This morning I told him that Daddy's team won (16-15).  He was so happy.  Then I told him that it rained on them while they were playing.  His response was so cute...

"I'm glad it rained!  I think God knew that they guys would be hot playing softball, so he made it rain to cool them off.  Wasn't that nice of God?!"

"I got to shoot a REAL gun!"

Yesterday morning Mike asked Brody if he'd want to go to the gun range with him and Caleb.  I wish you could've seen the excitement plastered all over his face as he ran to tell me!  He was soooooooooo excited!  It was like a dream come true!  He tried on the ear protectors and decided that they fit just right, he put on his camo shorts and camo sunglasses, he put his toy pistol in his pocket, and then he was ready to go!  Here are a few pictures from their time at the gun range...
Brody is pulling the lever to release the skeet into the air for Caleb to shoot.  Notice how he's also aiming at the skeet with his pistol?!

This was Brody's favorite picture because you can see the skeet flying in the air.

The most exciting part of the day was that Brody got to shoot a real gun!  Mike said that Brody shot over 100 rounds on his .22 (with Mike's help, of course)!  Brody was soooo proud when he got home. 

Time to go get the target...

Brody brought the target home to hang in his room.  He told me that all the little holes are shots that he fired.

Brody said that his second favorite part of the day was getting to eat a chocolate chip cookie at lunch!

Barrett was very sad that he didn't get to go to the gun range.  Everyone has told him that when he gets older he'll get to go.  He's come up to me several times today saying, "My go to gun range when my older!"  I guess the day that Mike asks Barrett to go to the gun range will be the day that another little boy has his dream come true.

Date with Mommy

Today I finally got to take Brody on a date!  (Remember how we gave him coupons for dates on Valentine's Day?)  I had 2 free passes to see Toy Story 3 and Brody was really excited to get to go to a movie at the theater.  This was only his 2nd time to go see a movie at the theater!  He sat in a booster seat (because the seat kept folding up on him when he sat in it without a booster) in the seat next to me for the first half of the movie.  He held my hand the entire time he was sitting next to me.  Soooooo sweet!!!!  Then he spent the last half of the movie sitting in my lap.  I guess my lap is a little more padded than a plastic booster.

Yes, I cried at the end of the movie.  What can I say?  I was sitting there with my little boy in my lap watching a movie about a little boy growing up and going off to college!  What mom wouldn't shed a few tears?!?

Of course, I'm not sure why I thought it'd be a good idea to stop at Daddy Steve and Namaw's old house after the movie.  You know...the one I grew up in...the one that is full of memories?!?  Brody wanted to do a bunch of things one more time.  He wanted to climb in the loft and look at Daddy's office in Ft. Worth one more time...he wanted to crawl thru the secret passage way one more time...he wanted to look in the Daddy C attic on more time...he wanted to look down the laundry shoot one more time...he wanted to pee in the toilet upstairs one more time! lol

He also wanted to run around the living room.  He tried to convince me that we should get rid of our furniture and carpet our living room so he'd have a good place to run inside.  I told him that wasn't gonna happen...but he could run around Daddy Steve and Namaw's old living room one more time.

Next stop was a restaurant with an indoor playground (per Brody's request).  I wanted to take him to IHOP, but he thought that was the silliest idea he'd ever heard because you eat at IHOP for breakfast and it was dinner time!  So we stopped at Popeye's Chicken.  It has a humongous indoor playground.  I think the slide is at least 3 stories tall!

After Brody finished eating his chicken and biscuit (side note: He decided to dip his biscuit in honey and ketchup!  I told him that was gross...so he thought it was hilarious and kept doing it!  He ate his whole biscuit like that!  Gross!!!) he played for awhile on the playground.  Before long we decided it was time to go home so that he'd have a little time to play with Daddy before bed.

 

As we climbed in the car to go home Brody said, "Mommy.  I love you!  Thank you so much for taking me on a date.  I had so much fun!"

 

I had fun too!  Have I mentioned that Brody's my favorite 3 year old in the entire world?

Nature vs. Nurture

When I was a little girl my dad tried to explain to me how engines worked. I think my eyes glossed over and it went in one ear and out the other. You never would've found me peering under the mower to figure out why it wasn't working right. I think it's something that God built into the brain of boys. This afternoon Namaw and I looked out the window to see this...

More Sugar!!

This morning Sharon showed up with donuts for breakfast!  They boys were sooooo excited about the donuts.  I was hoping the sugar in the donuts and the caffeine in the coffee she brought me would be enough to keep me awake on the drive home.  (Yes...I stayed up until after 1 am working on my blog book...and then Brody was up at 7 am.)

Sharon and Grandmommy played with the boys while I packed up our stuff and then it was time to hit the road.  We had so much fun these past few days and we were sad to leave! 

Thank you Grandmommy and Sharon for showing us such a good time.  We love y'all!!!


Note to Caleb & Audria and Tyler & Ann:
Dad & Mom took the boys down to Temple the weekend of July 4th and then I took them this past weekend.  Brody has decided that everyone takes turns taking him to visit Grandmommy.  As we were leaving he told Grandmommy, "I'll see you in a few weeks when Caleb & Audria bring me and then I'll see you again a few weeks after that when Tyler & Ann bring me!"  So...if y'all plan any trips to Temple...there's a 3 year old that'd love to hitch a ride!

Happy Birthday Grandmommy!

Any guesses as to what we got for dinner on Grandmommy's birthday?  If you guessed Chick-fil-A...you're right!  It's her favorite!  Ginger and I went and got dinner for everyone while Grandmommy, Sharon, and Cindy played with all four kids.  After dinner it was time for birthday cake.  Sharon had a birthday cake made that looked like a present.  Not only did it look cool...it was delicious!!!!

Barrett loved the cake.  He even asked for seconds (and since we we're on vacation, I let him have another little piece).

Then it was time for presents.  I'm not sure who really opened the presents.  Grandmommy was swarmed by 3 little munchkins all with eager helping hands.

By the time everyone headed home, it was time for baths and bed for my boys.  Grandmommy headed for bed when the boys did (she usually goes to bed early), but I was excited when she came back to the living room to talk.  I guess the two hour afternoon nap made it hard to go back to sleep at 8 pm!  We sat up and talked until 10:30 pm.  We talked about Daddy Ken and then we talked about her friend Jim.  It was so fun to spend a few hours talking without the boys interrupting.  Grandmommy finally decided to go to bed and I'm gonna spend a little time working on my blog book.  I know, it's already late...but I don't have to get up until the boys do (and hopefully that'll be 8 am or later!) 

Temple Waterpark

Today Sharon treated us to a day at the new waterpark in town!  It didn't open until 11 am and the boys were so excited they could hardly wait.  They kept asking, "Is it time to leave yet?" every 2 minutes!  We were so happy when it was finally time to load up the car and go.

When we got there I tried to get a picture of Sharon & Grandmommy with the boys, but Barrett wouldn't look at the camera.  He was ready to get in the water and wouldn't take his eyes off the kiddy park!

Out of all the things in the waterpark, this train slide was the boys favorite!  They went down this slide more times than I can count!  Sometimes Brody went down feet first...

other times he was a daredevil and went down backwards.  (notice Barrett running out of the way at the bottom of the slide)

Sometimes Barrett had trouble staying upright.  More than once he came out with his feet straight up in the air!

 

Sharon bought the boys some chicken nuggets for lunch from the grill (turns out the grill was really just a microwave the lifeguards use to cook frozen food! lol)  All that swimming made the boys really hungry!

Around 1:30 Barrett walked up to me and said, "I'm tired!"  I asked him if he was ready to go back to Grandmommy's and take and nap and he said, "YES!"  So we loaded up our stuff and headed home.  I'm about to work on my 2009 blog book for awhile since everyone is taking a nap.  By everyone I mean Brody, Barrett, Grandmommy, and the dogs.  The house is nice and quiet right now!

Cousins in a Chair

After church today the boys and I drove to Temple so that we can spend the day with Grandmommy tomorrow for her birthday (yes...July is FULL of birthday's for our family!)  Jesse and Ginger came by before church tonight and we actually got a picture of the 4 kids!  Someday they won't all fit in this chair at the same time!

Two observations about this picture:

1.  Brody is wearing a crown that he made in Children's Worship this morning.  They were learning about King Josiah (the 8 year old king).  He wore his crown all day long!

2. Jayma looks sooo uncomfortable!  Ginger - I'm sorry I didn't notice that Brody wasn't supporting her head!  I bet she got a good ab workout while Brody was holding her!

GG's Birthday

Tonight our family gathered at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house for Papa Murphy's pizza (yummm!) and birthday cake.  Barrett helped Caleb blow out the candles on his cake and in the picture below he's telling people which section of the cake to avoid eating if you didn't want to eat Barrett spit!

Brody and Collin were very excited about the cake!

This was the only time they sat still the entire time we were at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house!  They decided to use Ann as their chair.  After we sang Happy Birthday she asked them if she could get them chairs to sit on while they ate their cake and they replied, "No.  We're fine sitting here!"

If you wanted to find Lauren...you just had to look for Bella.  Lauren made it her personal responsibility to take care of Bella all evening.  Bella didn't mind.  Her cousin Lauren knows how to show a girl a good time!

As evening turned to night, Barrett got really tired.  I put him in his jammies, but when he crawled up in Tyler's lap I didn't have the heart to take him away to go put him in bed!  I bet Tyler rocked him for over an hour!  There was so much going on that he didn't fall asleep...but he laid there still and quiet.  I figured Tyler would go to sleep before Barrett (something about holding a baby while rocking tends to make it hard to keep your eyes open!)  Before we left Brody crawled up for some cuddling too...

 

Caleb's Birthday

We started the birthday celebrations early this morning!  Everyone arrived at Caleb and Audria's house around 9 am for a birthday breakfast in Caleb's honor.  Audria made a delicious breakfast (she even made pancakes and homemade syrup)! 

Even Barrett has learned to ask to play video games when he goes to Caleb's house.  He was the one asking to play today.

When Caleb & Audria's niece, Sadie, arrived she wanted to get in on the action!

We hung out for a while at Caleb & Audria's house and then we decided to take advantage of our pool during the heat of a Texas summer day.  They guys played basketball... (This is pretty cool picture.  It's either showing that Caleb has amazing ups and can jump all the way out of the water to dunk the ball....or it's showing him jumping backwards into the pool while shooting.  What do you think?) 

While Ann and I talked and tried to practice floating on our backs.  Ann was awesome at floating on her back.  I've never been able to float on my back for very long.  Notice in the picture below how Ann is floating on top of the water while my legs slowly sink towards the bottom!  I know the proper form/technique...but I just can't get it to work!

Now it's time to go get ready to celebrate GG's birthday at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house!

Dinner with friends

Our friends, Timothy & Jana, had us over for a delicious dinner tonight.  Brody and their son, Tristan, became instant friends.  They've seen each other a church before, but I'm not sure that they've ever had much of a chance to play together.  By then end of the night they were hiding from us (I think they were hoping we'd forget to take Brody home with us so that he could spend the night with Tristan).  We found them in the laundry hamper!

"I am hot!"

Today Namaw and I ventured to Costco with the boys.  I watched the weather this morning and heard them say that we're under a heat advisory, so I was excited when we found a shaded parking spot!  We're supposed to hit at least 100 degrees today, but the weatherman said that the heat index will be even higher.  My 2 year old son doesn't need the news to tell him that it's hot outside.  As soon as we started walking towards the store (with the sun beating down on us) Barrett looked up at me and (enunciating every word) very simply said, "I am HOT!"

Days like this are the ones where Mike dreams of moving to Alaska (or even the North Pole)!

Girls' Dessert Night

Tonight I got to have a little girl time! Audria picked me up around 7 pm and we headed to a nail salon to get a pedicure.  We were able to relax in a massage chair while someone else made our feet look pretty.  When the lady started to scrub my feet, she stopped and looked at me like I was crazy!  Yes...they're that bad.  I guess it's from wearing sandals all the time...and from not ever putting lotion on my feet?! 

After the nail salon we headed to the Melting Pot to meet up with some girls from church.  Staci, Beverly, Jana, Julie, Robyn, Shelly, and Anna (Audria was taking the picture.  The waitress took one with Audria in it too...but it was blurry.)

We spent a good hour and a half eating chocolate (well...things dipped in chocolate...but there were times where we wanted to just eat the chocolate with a spoon)!  It was sooooo good! 

The house was so quiet when I got home...everyone was in bed!  That's where I'm headed now!

Chuck E. Cheese's

Today Audria and I took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese's and met up with Daina, Tricia, Sadie (Audria's niece), and Audria's aunt Jane and cousin Michael.  I had not been to Chuck E. Cheese's since I was in elementary school.  I remembered it being dark, sticky (from all the kids playing games while eating), and very loud.  I was happy to see that the one we went to was bright and open!  There were employees cleaning the playground and games the whole time we were there (everything in there was really clean)!  I didn't notice the noise, so they must have done something to improve on that too.  Another new feature is the "kid scan".  They stamp you and your kids when you walk in the door.  They have an employee monitoring the exit and to leave  you have to hold your arm under the blacklight and the number on your arm has to match the number on the arm of the kid that you're trying to leave with.  What a great safety measure! 

Audria and I spent from 9:45am-2:00 pm following the boys around from game to game.  We were able to get them to stop for a few minutes to eat pizza...but then it was back to the games!  They both loved any game where they got to drive something (you didn't even have to stick a token in for Barrett...he just liked to use the steering wheel...it didn't matter if the screen wasn't doing anything!)

Audria and Sadie tried their hand at Dance Dance Revolution. 

This was by far Barrett's favorite game.  I think Audria played this game with him for a looooong time!  All he had to do was hit the buttons and then it would shoot the balls up in the air (you were trying to get them in the frog's mouth when he opened his mouth).

The boys took good naps yesterday afternoon.  When they woke up Barrett was singing a made up song about Chuck E. Cheese's.  I have a feeling that they'll be asking to go back.  I wouldn't mind going back some time...I had a lot of fun too!

Family Pic

I don't think I've posted this picture yet.  We needed an updated picture for Covenant Kids to post on their website with our profile.  They haven't gotten our profile on the website yet...but here's the picture we sent them.  Angela took this picture for us on Barrett's birthday.  I thought it turned out cute.  The boys were both looking in the general direction of the camera.  What more could we ask for?!

"Daddy Hold You"

Every night when I get Barrett out of the bathtub I wrap him up in a towel and then he looks up at me and says, "Daddy hold you."  So...I take him to Mike and he cuddles with Mike for a while before putting his jammies on.  Tonight Mike went over to Tyler's house to hang out, but that didn't keep Barrett from saying, "Daddy hold you!" when he got out of the bath.  I reminded him that Daddy was at Tyler's house and so he said, "Bubba hold you?!"  This thrilled Brody to no end!  He used to love to hold Barrett when he was a baby and lately he's been wanting to hold Barrett again...but Barrett isn't a baby anymore and doesn't feel the need to have his brother hold him.  So tonight was a special night.  Brody ran to sit on the daybed and I put a bundle of Barrett in his lap.  The boys sat there laughing and talking for quite a while...sat there...in one spot...still! It was so sweet!

Because I couldn't resist...

Yesterday when I was at Wal-Mart some shirts in the boys department caught my eye.  They were only $4 (in line with consignment store prices) and they had a Jeep on them!  How could I resist?!?  This morning I let the boys try them on and they wanted me to take a picture of them to send to Daddy at work.  They ran to sit on the couch and give me their cheesy smiles.

Then (as brothers often do), they started wrestling on the couch.  I told them to stand up and turn around so that I could see the Jeep on the shirt.  I was dying laughing when they both stood up and did this...

Brody finally stood still long enough for me to capture a picture of the Jeep (of course, he still plastered the cheesy smile on his face).

Wake up call

I'm sitting at my desk listening to Barrett wake up.  He's singing "Happy Birthday to you!" over and over and over!  Now he's yelling, "Dad!  Come here Daddy!"  Guess I better go let him down easy...Daddy's already at work.

Date with my Dad

It's been many, many years since I've been on a date with my Dad.  He used to take me on dates when I was a little girl and I always felt so special!  It was fun to have time with him all by myself. 

As a late Father's Day present, I took my dad on a date last night!  He still picked me up for the date and opened doors and made me feel special...but I footed the bill.  We went to see Knight and Day (crazy that I went to the movies 2 days in a row since I'm not sure when the last time I went to the movies was before Monday?!)  It was a good movie.  Not an epic movie, but it was still good. There were definitely lots of laughs!

After the movie we were starving!  One of the first restaurants we saw was On the Border and since Mexican food always sounds good to a Texan...we pulled right in!  We had fun eating and talking about life.  It was fun to have dinner with just my dad.  I don't remember the last time it was just the two of us!

Thanks, Dad, for a fun evening...and thanks for always making me feel special and telling me how much you love me.  I'm so blessed to have you for my Dad!

Girl Time

Today was so much fun!  Mike and I slept in (well...past 6 am anyways) and then got ready for a fun day with some family.  Ann, Audria, and I left the guys at our house and headed out for some much needed girl bonding time.  First stop of the day...Cinemark.  We went to see the movie Eclipse.  Ann absolutely hates vampires, so it was kinda funny to watch that movie with her.  Audria loves all the Twilight books and got me to read them too, so it was fun to see the book played out on the big screen.

Next stop....Johnny Carino's.  Yummm!  We had fun talking and laughing about the things going on in our lives.  After we finished eating, we headed back to our house to hang out (and of course talk more).  The guys ended up going to Cabela's (shhhhh!  Don't tell Brody!) and got back not long after we arrived back at the house.  We all sat around talking and laughing until around 4:00 when everyone decided it was time to head home. 

Our boys got home from Temple just a few hours later and we were so happy to see them! 

What a great day!

July 4th

Today we were kid less.  Daddy Steve and Namaw took Brody & Barrett with them to Temple after church today and won't be back until tomorrow evening.  David & Daina (Audria's parents) invited us over to their house for an Independence Day celebration.  We had a fun evening of food, friends, and fireworks.  There was a nice breeze and the temperature was cooler.  (I didn't break a sweat at a July 4th party in Texas.  How crazy is that?!?)  Another perk was that David had sprayed for bugs so I didn't get a single mosquito bite!  The guys did break a sweat.  I guess 2 hours of volleyball will do that to ya.  The fireworks were pretty cool.  David & Daina live out in the country (well...what city folk consider the country) and so all the neighbors were shooting off fireworks.  One of the neighbors spent over $3k on fireworks!  It was nice not to have to worry about parking and crowds to see some good fireworks.  I took my camera with me, but I guess I was just having too much fun and forgot to get it out of my purse!  You'll just have to take my word...it was a fun July 4th!

When I grow up...

While we were eating pancakes this morning, Brody suddenly realized it was Saturday.  What big, important thing was happening on Saturday?  Daddy Steve was taking a load of cinder blocks to the dump.  Exciting!  Brody frantically asked if he could call Daddy Steve.  He was disappointed that he had to leave a message.  He said, "Daddy Steve?  Have you gone to the dump yet?  Love you. Bye."  He was happy when Daddy Steve called him back and asked if he wanted to go to the dump with him.

Since we've gotten a ton a rain this past week, I didn't want Brody walking the creek to Daddy Steve & Namaw's house and getting all muddy.  So, I walked with him on the sidewalk around the block to their house.  On our way Brody talked to me about what life will be like when he's a grown up.

Me - Someday you'll be old enough to walk on the sidewalk to Daddy Steve & Namaw's by yourself!
Brody - Yeah, and some day I'll have to walk my kids to Daddy Steve's house.  I won't be a mommy though, I'll be a daddy.
Me - That's true.  What do you think you'll do when you're a daddy?
Brody - I think I'll probably work in Ft. Worth.
Me - Really?  What do you want to do?
Brody - I haven't dic-sided (that's how he says decided) yet, but I think I'll probably work on spreadsheets.
Me - Ah.  That sounds fun.  What do you think you'll drive to work?
Brody - Oh......I'll probably drive a Jeep.
Me - Cool!  What color will your Jeep be?
Brody - Green.  Well, actually it'll be a grey green.

The whole time we were walking and talking he was holding tight to my hand and jumping over every crack in the sidewalk.  One time he stopped to pick up a rock.  As soon as he had the rock in his hand, he reached back up with his other hand to hold mine.  Then we kept walking and talking.  Dreaming about pet dogs, grey/green jeeps, and being old enough to walk around the block alone.