Just a Shiny Red Car

Tonight my cousin, Matt, met Mike for dinner and then stopped by our house.  We were surprised to go outside and see that Matt has a new shiny, red car....aka a Ferrari!  It is a gorgeous car and the boys had fun "driving" it!  I'm sure when Brody's 16 he'll love the fact that he insisted on holding his stuffed deer while I took his picture in a brand new Ferrari.

 

How to train for a Colorado vacation while living in the city...

That's right...it's the 4 year old on my back and the 2 year old in the stroller.  I did 30 minutes of hill work like this and then another 30 minutes of jogging.  My hiney is SORE today!!!

It's the little things...

At times when you least expect it...something little reminds you of someone you've lost.  Just for a brief moment (sometimes longer) it brings back all the grief and heartache you felt at the time of the loss.  I was struck by one of those moments yesterday morning. 

The boys joined us in bed on Saturday morning for a little snuggle time before breakfast.  They both were insistent that they wanted biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  I finally climbed out of bed and headed for the kitchen to get things started (knowing that if I thawed the meat and made the biscuits...Mike would make the gravy taste like a slice of Heaven for us!)  I opened the fridge to find that we were out of canned biscuits.  Great!  Then I opened the pantry to find that there wasn't any Bisquick!  If I were Grammy...I'd've just whipped up some homemade biscuits...but I'm not Grammy.  Instead I searched behind boxes of brown rice and came across this...

Mike walked into the kitchen to find me a pool of tears.  He looked at me totally confused.  I showed him what I'd found and he said, "That'd work....but why are you crying?"  Thru my tears I explained to him that the biscuit mix was in a basket of goodies that Grandpa Jim (Mike's dad) had given us a few years ago.  I guess just seeing the biscuit mix made me think about him and it brought back the grief I felt over his death.  Mike assured me that Grandpa Jim gave it to us because he wanted us to use it...so he thought we should make the biscuits.  As I made the biscuits, I talked to the boys about their Grandpa Jim.  I told them that he loved to cook and that he would've loved to show them how to make biscuits and gravy.  Brody still has some memories of Grandpa Jim, but Barrett was just a baby when he died.  Brody talked to Barrett about Grandpa Jim as they watched the biscuits bake.

Yummmm!  Mike's gravy included some spicy venison breakfast sausage.

The boys LOVE biscuits and gravy (something I'd never even had until I married Mike...not that I would've tried it as a kid...I used to be a little picky about my food touching! lol)

 

The loss of a loved one is hard, but I'm glad for the little things that remind us of Grandpa Jim.

"Eyes like Bubba"

Tonight the boys were playing outside in the garage while Mike installed crossbars on our Jeep.  Don't be fooled by the pictures.  It's not cool enough in Texas for long sleeves.  I was going through some bins of clothes tonight...looking to see if there were winter clothes that will fit Barrett.  Of course, Barrett wanted to try them on (and didn't want to take them off!)

Brody also insisted in trying them on (even though they're 2 years too small for him!)  He really wanted to wear this jacket.  He even went and got out pants to "match" (match is a relative term.  They both have brown in them.)

 

Anyways, back to the real point of this post....

Did you notice that Barrett is wearing his eye patch in the first picture?  Lately he's realized that the eye patch and his glasses make him different.  One of the most common phrases he's said lately is, "I want eyes like Bubba!"  He says this as he takes off his glasses and hands them to me.  I try to explain to him that the glasses will help him have eyes like Bubba...but he doesn't understand.  Whenever he looks at me with tears rolling down his face and says, "Eyes like Bubba!"...it breaks my heart to not be able to give him "eyes like Bubba" right now!

Wise Words from a 4 year old

The other day the boys were hanging all over Mike when he got home from work.  Barrett was standing on Mike's bare feet reaching for his hands.  Brody walked over and began to imitate what Barrett was doing.  Well...Brody's much heavier than Barrett and Mike said, "Hey!  Don't step on my feet!  It hurts!"  Brody looked up at him and simply said, "That's what you get with kids!"

Mike and I were both dying laughing (behind our hands of course...wouldn't want Brody to see!)  It made me think of a comment he made a few weeks ago.

Mike and Brody were running around the house shooting each other with Brody's new dart gun.  Before long it turned into "shoot mommy".  Mike was standing by the pantry and shot me in the back of the head with one of the darts.  Brody looked at me waiting for my reaction.  He said, "That wasn't very nice, was it mommy?"  I said, "No.  You're not supposed to shoot people in the head are you?!"  Under his breath I heard him say, "That's just adults for ya!"

Wise beyond his years....

Parents for 24 hours

On Friday evening Tyler and Ann arrived at our house to pick up the boys for an overnight trip to Temple.  The boys were super excited (and I think Tyler and Ann were too!)  When they got home on Saturday night, they said the boys were awesome.  Barrett left his bear at our house when they left (yikes!) and at bedtime Brody volunteered to let Barrett sleep with his baby Moses (so sweet)!  They said the boys didn't cry or whine or complain at all during their trip.  (Guess I need to have Tyler & Ann come over more often.  As I'm typing this I hear the boys fighting over a tractor in Brody's room! lol)  I'm glad the boys were so good for them.

Since I wasn't there, I'll let the pictures do the talking.  Here are some of the pictures that Tyler and Ann took (I know I'm posting a lot...but they took over 100!)

On the road in Tyler's truck (the boys put in a request to ride in the truck and Tyler was happy to oblige.)

I think it's just the camera, but Brody's skin looks perfect it this picture!  So smooth!

Ann said the boys and Tyler gathered pecans and put them in Tyler's truck bed.

 

 

Check out the boys' faces in this picture!

Awww!  They're both wearing pink & white!  How cute!

 

Sharon & Sheila met them at the park and Sheila brought her great-nice & nephew.  We've heard stories about Huck (her great-nephew) forever.  He's Barrett's age (ok, so maybe we haven't heard stories about him "forever"...just for the past 2 years)...but he's bigger than Brody!  It's not a big surprise since is dad is over 7' tall!

Sheila sent the boys home with some homemade cupcakes.  I bet they didn't have to ask them twice if they wanted to eat one!

This picture of Barrett cracks me up!  I can totally see what he'll look like as an old man! 

Tyler took a panoramic picture of the living room.  Left to right:  Grandmommy sleeping on the couch, Tyler's toes, Ann & Brody on the other couch.

 

Tyler & Ann - Thanks so much for taking the boys with you to visit Grandmommy.  I thought it was funny when we were there last and Brody told Grandmommy that he'd see her when Tyler & Ann and then Caleb & Audria brought him for a visit...but you took it seriously (and so did he!!)  Brody & Barrett had so much fun!  Y'all will make great parents some day (hint, hint!)  ;)

Summer Love

Last night Mike and I went to see a performance at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas.  It was in the Margot & Bill Winspear Opera House.  The Opera House was gorgeous and we had great seats (3rd tier in the middle).  We went to see A Prairie Home Companion:  Summer Love Tour.  Mike and I used to listen to the Prairie Home Companion show on the radio when we lived in Kansas (usually on the way home from church on Sunday's) and when a lady at Mike's office had tickets for sale (it was a sold out show), we decided it'd be a fun way to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary!  It was so much fun to go do something different (meaning other than dinner and a movie).  There was a good mix of comedy and music scattered throughout the show. 

There was a girl named Sarah Watkins who starred in the show along with Garrison Keillor.  She had an amazing voice and could play a mean fiddle!

There was also a guy named Fred Newman who was incredible with sound effects!  I could've watched him for the entire show and it would've been hilarious!

 

The show was over around 11:30 and Mike and I were starving!  We decided to stop at IHOP and get breakfast...just because we could!  There wouldn't be any little people waking us up early in the morning...so we decided we could stay up however late we wanted to!  The breakfast (for midnight snack) was sooo good!  We didn't get home until after 1:30 am, but that didn't matter! 

 

This morning we stayed in bed until *gasp* 9 am!  Now, I did wake up at 7 am, 7:30 am, 8 am....but I refused to get out of bed when I could actually sleep in!  It felt good to wake up late and cuddle.  Then Mike made coffee.....and I was back in warp speed!  I decided today was a day to organize a few areas of our house that I'd been meaning to organize ever since we moved in.  First I cleaned them out (resulting in a huge bag of trash), then I went shopping for organizational tools.  I just finished getting everything put back together when Ann texted to say that they had just left Grandmommy's house and were headed home. 

 

As much fun as Mike and I had staying up late and living in a clean house...we really missed the pitter patter of little feet and the hugs from little arms!  They should be home shortly and I can't wait to hear about all the fun they had in Temple! 

Will it stay clean?!?

Today the boys were begging to go play in the sand at Daddy Steve & Namaw's house.  I was planning on working around our house today rather than going to work, so I called to see what Daddy Steve was up to (I knew it was his Friday off).  He said the boys could come over to play around 10:30.  When the clock showed 10:30 Brody was waiting by the front door.  Daddy Steve met me half way to his house and we made the switch (meaning the boys went with him).  I headed back home to clean house...all by myself!!!  Earlier this morning I drank a cup of coffee from the pot that Mike made last night (while he was staying up late working on a project for work).  WOWZERS!!!  It was STRONG!  I think the effects of the coffee just wore off an hour ago!  Needless to say, I was in warp speed as I was cleaning.

In the 3 hours that the boys were with Daddy Steve and Namaw, I got the kitchen cleaned, all the bathrooms cleaned, all of the floors swept, mopped, and vacuumed, the toy bins in Brody's room cleaned out (resulting in a bag of trash and a bag to donate), and 3 loads of laundry done! 

The most exciting part (for me anyways) was that I picked the boys up just in time for naps.  This means I could take them home, put them down for naps, and then when they woke up it'd be time to eat...and then Tyler and Ann would arrive!  Tyler and Ann are taking the boys with them to Temple tonight to visit Grandmommy.  No, I wasn't excited because I picked them up just in time to put them in bed...I was excited because this meant there wouldn't be time for the boys to mess up the clean house!!!  If you have kids, you know how the routine goes.  You clean one thing and before you can clean something else, the first thing you cleaned has already been messed up by the little hands that follow you wherever you go! 

So...this meant Mike and I would be able to enjoy a clean house for an entire 24-hour period!  I don't know why, but this just seemed really exciting to me.  At 1:30 I picked the boys up from Daddy Steve & Namaw's and headed home.  When we got home I gave them the instructions, "Go potty and then I'll meet you in your rooms to tuck you in for your nap."  Simple enough, right?  Well...I walked into the bathroom to find that it no longer looked like it'd just been cleaned.  For some reason, Brody felt the need to "fix" his hair before nap!  He wet his head (getting the faucet and entire countertop wet) and then ran his hands back and forth over the top of his head (like Daddy does) which flicked water all over the mirror (which had been spotless just minutes earlier).  Really?!?  I took a deep breath, told Brody his hair looked nice...but to please step away from the mirror before he ran his hands thru his hair next time, and then went to tuck the boys in bed. 

Since Mike and I are going on a date (it's our anniversary date just a few weeks late) tonight, he picked up some Chinese food on his way home and the boys just finished eating.  A few minutes ago I got down on my hands and knees with a wet paper towel and cleaned the lo mein off the floor from around Barrett's seat (it's times like this that I miss our Yorkie, Trevor).  Tyler and Ann should be here in a few minutes to pick up the boys.  If I can keep them from pulling out all their toys before Tyler and Ann get here...I think we'll get to sleep in a clean house tonight!  Can you tell I'm excited about that?!?

Supermom...not!

Today Brody and Barrett rode with Daddy Steve to pick up some Schlotzsky's for lunch.  They had ordered the sandwich over the phone, but when they got there they decided to order a few cookies.  At first Daddy Steve just ordered 3 cookies, but Brody said, "What about Mommy?" thinking that the 3 cookies would be for him, Barrett, and Daddy Steve.  Then he said, "Wait.  Never mind.  Mommy doesn't eat sugar.  We don't need to get any cookies for her."

As Brody was telling me about this back at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house he added, "You may not like sugar, but I LOVE sugar.  That's all I want to eat!!!"

Oh boy.  I know he's heard me say many times, "You don't need dessert every day.  It's all sugar and sugar's not good for you."...but I have NO CLUE where he got the idea that I don't eat sugar?!?  Maybe I'm better at hiding it than I realized!  If you're a mom, you know what I mean.  You don't want the kids to know you're sneaking a few M&M's because then you'll have to share with them and deal with their sugar high (not to mention that'd mean less M&M's left in your hidden stash)!  I'm not gonna lie, there are many times where there are sweets hidden in our house that only I am aware of...but Mike usually discovers my secret.  How old will the kids be when they discover my secret?  I know.  I can hide them in my pantie drawer!  I know my sons won't go snoopin' there!!!

What can I say, some days I'd have to agree with Brody.  "I love sugar!  That's all I want to eat!"  You'd have to be a real supermom to eliminate sugar from your diet.  So a supermom I am not.

_______________________________________

Barrett, however, tends to think that I am a supermom.  Today I was the equivalent to God in his mind. 

Background story:  Yesterday it RAINED here!  Can you believe it?  Now, it didn't cool us off very much so it was super humid out there...but there was definite moisture falling from the sky.  So much that the boys put on their swimsuits and ran outside to play in the rain (it was an unusual Texas summer shower without any thunder/lightning).  They had so much fun!  I'll try to post some pictures that Daddy Steve took later.

Back to today.  I asked Barrett if he wanted to go play outside and he said, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"  (Can't you hear the enthusiasm?!)  He ran for the back door, ran outside, and then immediately turned around (almost running into the already shut door).  I opened the door and he looked at me confused and said,

"Turn on that rain!"

I know that my boys think I can do anything...but I had to assure Barrett that there was no way I could "turn on" the rain.  I told him only God can turn on the rain.  He finally turned around (looking a little dejected) and ran off to play in the sand.

Brotherly Love

Around 7:00 this morning I was sitting at my computer when I heard Brody crack his door open and then a few seconds later shut it again.  I expected him to emerge from his room within a few seconds, however, his room remained dark and I didn't hear anything else.  About 10 minutes later he peeked out the door again and then closed the door and stayed in his room.  He repeated this several times.  Finally I went to take a shower and make some coffee.  It wasn't until 8:30 that he finally came running into the living room.  He was super excited as he announced, "Barrett's awake!!!!!"

I said to Brody, "What have you been doing in your room?  I know you've been awake for a while."  He replied, "Well.  I was just sitting on my bed listening for Barrett (who's in the next room) and waiting for him to wake up.  When I heard him say, 'Mama!  Come get me!' I went running into his room to say good morning!"

So sweet!

Can my baby really be FOUR?!?

Brody - 6 days old

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

 

4 years old

The past four years have been amazing.  Mike and I have loved being parents.  It's not hard to love being a parent when you have a son like Brody!  Not only is Brody a wonderful son, he's also an amazing big brother!  He loves his role as big brother and loves to teach and guide his little brother.  Brody loves everything from guns and rocks to cooking and babies.  He is looking forward with great anticipation to the arrival of our new baby and practices rocking his stuffed animals and "baby Moses" to sleep.  Brody is very protective of his little brother and can be amazingly selfless (at times) when it comes to Barrett.  Brody greets everyday with an enthusiasm for life that reminds me of his Daddy Steve.  It's a contagious enthusiasm that puts a smile on my face on even the dreariest mornings!  Brody has a heart for the Lord and a love for others that makes me so proud.  I can't wait to see what great things the Lord has planned for his life.  Ok...maybe I can wait...I'm not quite ready to have him grow up.  I love my little boy!!!

Daddy Steve's Birthday

Tonight we celebrated Daddy Steve's birthday along with Caleb & Audria and Tyler & Ann.  It was fun to get everyone together on a Monday night for dinner.  I left my camera at home (knowing Daddy Steve would have his), so I'll have to add pictures later. 

Recap of the night:  The boys (both big and little) played.  The girls talked.  It was fun!!!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!  I love you so much and am so blessed to have you as my Dad!

Cousins

Before Grammy and Angela & Jayden left town today (Mark left last night so he could get back to work today), we tried to get a good picture of the 3 boys.  We didn't exactly get a professional photographer worthy portrait...but at least now they'll all sit on the couch for a picture without falling or crawling off! 

The 'Lil Boys

Most of my pictures from this weekend were of the older kids...but cousins Barrett and Jayden had a lot of fun together too!  I'll let the pictures do the talking (although, there may be a few of these that you'd love to know the story behind! lol)

Sunday Evening Swim

Tonight after we headed outside to play with the new toy that Ron & Jan gave Brody for his birthday.  It shoots a helicopter type thing way up in the air while at the same time blowing bubbles!  It's really cool, you just have to make sure you aim away from the fence or you'll lose it in the neighbor's yard!

I just had to include this one of Barrett.  I saw this picture and thought, "Holy Cow!  That boy's skinny!"  I promise...he eats better than Brody!  Maybe he's just been blessed with an incredibly high metabolism?

Brody had to get his swimsuit on so he could retrieve the helicopter when it went in the pool.  Since Collin was wearing a shirt yesterday, Brody insisted on wearing a shirt with his swimsuit tonight.

Jayden was in awe of the flying helicopter!

 

While Barrett's main focus was on gaining permission to fly it by himself!  "Please?!?!"

Brody's 4th Birthday Party

When the time finally arrived for Brody's party to start...he was super excited!!!  He was all decked out in his Ranger's gear...and was on the edge of his seat waiting for Collin to arrive!  Before Collin got here, I managed to get him to sit still for a few seconds for a picture with Grammy and GG.

When the kids arrived, everyone headed straight for the pool!

After a few hours of swimming, the hunger began to set in.  I had been hungry all day because I'd been smelling the pork that Mike was smoking.  YUMMMMMM!!!!!  Brody and Collin watched as Mike, Angela, and Grammy pulled the pork.  I think they snuck a few pieces when Mike wasn't looking.

After dinner it was time for presents!!!  As always, the opening of the gifts was a little bit of a mad house.  This is was at the very beginning...

Brody modeling the cowboy outfit Mark, Angela, & Jayden got him (notice the floor isn't as neat in this picture!)

I know...we did all this kinda out of order...but after presents it was time to sing Happy Birthday.

 

When everyone'd had their fill of cake and ice cream, Daddy Steve asked if anyone wanted to go see the new playset at his house.  Of the kids, only Barrett and Jayden stayed behind.  Wow!  The house was soooo quiet when it was just the two of them!  The adults that were still here could actually have a conversation with each other!  It was fun!

Brody and Collin running up the hill back to our street.  What?  Doesn't every Cowboy need a light saber?!?

I think they must have been tracking a wild animal through the creek bed with the help of our neighbor's kids (Caleb, Bethany, & Joel).

After another hour or so of swimming, it was time for Julie and her kids to head home.  Brody and Collin (both in their jammies) were sad to have to part ways. 

Brody decided it would be a good idea to put his Cowboy outfit back on (over his new Superman jammies) so that Daddy Steve could tell him a real Western story before bed.

It was a looong day today, but it was worth it.  We had so much fun with all our family!