Thru the Bedroom Window

I know this picture is really blurry....but I just had to post it!  Last night Mike and I were in the media room watching the Rangers game while Brody and Barrett were playing "baseball" in our bedroom (they have pretend baseball games in there all the time).  We finally decided that it'd been quiet way too long and went to go check on them.  Just as Mike was about to crack our bedroom door open he thought of a better idea.  He led me outside and around to our bedroom windows that were still open.  We looked in to see this.....

 

The boys had pulled out the drawers of Mike's dresser and used them as stairs to investigate what was on top of the dresser!  Brody was busy attaching Mike's bow release to his wrist and then he pretended to shoot a bow and arrow.  After a while they climbed down and Brody told Barrett to help him close all the drawers.  Then he showed Barrett how to use one of Daddy's belts as a pretend fishing pole and they started casting.  Just before they decided to leave the room to come tell us something, Brody looked down at a shirtless Barrett (standing there with his belly sticking out) and said, "Wow!  You ate a lot of food today didn't you Barrett?!?"  lol! 

We snuck back inside before they realized that we were outside spying on them.  It was so fun to watch them play and hear their conversation when they thought we weren't around. 

Halloween Party

Yesterday was Halloween Party day at the boys' preschool!  They had been looking forward to this day for weeks!  Brody finally decided to be Superman and Barrett was happy wearing the fireman outfit that I suggested he wear.  (*Side note*  Barrett is sitting on the potty while I'm typing this post and I can hear him singing "Jingle Bells" over and over again!  I guess he's already getting excited about Christmas now that his Halloween party is over?!?)

Superman (Brody), Fireman (Barrett), and Sweetheart Bat (Autumn) ready to go to school!

They started the day off with a parade outside the school (that way all the parents could spread out and take pictures).  Brody was the sheriff of the day (he took his sheriff outfit to change into after the parade) so he got to be the line leader.

The kids in Barrett's class were a little more unsure about the whole parade thing.  They seemed nervous about all the strange adults watching them (cameras poised) and looked desperately around for their mommy.  When Barrett finally saw me he burst into tears and then I ended up carrying him around until it was time to go back to class.

Brody's class...

 

At the end of their school day it was party time!  I went up there in time for the party (although I went to Brody's class for the party because I was afraid Barrett would just cry and cling to me if I went to his class!  I saved his class for the end.)  They had snacks and made a craft.

When I went to Barrett's class, he let me take his picture with Ms. Amber and Ms. Donna.  He talks about his teachers all the time at home, so I know that he loves being in their class!

 

Pumpkin Carving

The other day we decided it was time to carve pumpkins with the boys.  They were super excited.  Last year they didn't like the yuckiness of cleaning out the pumpkins.  This year they dug right it.  They thought it was fun!  I love Brody's face in this picture when he saw how much Mike was able to clean out with just one scoop.

I think Barrett's favorite part was taking the lid off and on.

Brody wanted his pumpkin carved like a puppy. 

Barrett picked out a bat pattern for his pumpkin.

 

Future Track Star

Did you know that Mike was a track star in High School?  He was a sprinter and even medaled at state!  It's in his blood.  His great-grandpa was a track star too.  In fact, someone had his great-grandpa's track shoe bronzed and it's been passed down to Mike.  This past year I had one of Mike's high school track shoes bronzed.  I wonder if Brody or Barrett will follow in his footsteps? 

Last Saturday Daddy Steve took the boys over to the middle school track to play.  He said Brody sprinted an entire lap around the track!  From the picture below I think he already has great form (and he's only 4)!

 

Mystery Location

Anyone have any idea where we were when we took these pictures?  There were so many textures in this backdrop!  With some time (and cooperation), I could've gotten some neat pictures.  Back to reality.  I was working with a 2 and 4 year old who were ready for naps. It still makes for a cool picture!

 

Lunch at the Lake with GG

Last week Brody came into my room and said, "Can we please go eat lunch with GG today?  I haven't seen her in forever and I really want to go see her!"  She was gone running errands that day, so we decided to go one day this week.  Brody was excited yesterday when I told him the day had finally arrived to go eat lunch with GG.  Since it was such a beautiful day, Namaw and I decided to pick up some burgers and shakes from Brahms so we could have a picnic at the lake behind GG's retirement home.  The food was yummy...

and the views of the lake were gorgeous!

After we ate we decided to walk around the lake to an area that had a more gradual slope down to the water.  The boys wanted desperately to get close enough to touch the water and throw rocks in...and I was afraid they'd fall down the hill and land in the water if we stayed by the picnic tables!

There was a nice swing to sit in and watch Brody & Barrett as they threw rocks into the lake.

 

Brody and Barrett took turns pushing GG and Namaw in the swing.

Looking for the perfect rock to skip.

Clapping for Brody when he skipped a rock. 

 

Hi!  I was here too!  :)

GG really enjoyed talking with the boys.  There was a breeze blowing and it was such a relaxing afternoon.  If the boys hadn't started pouring dirt on each other, we might have stayed out there until dinner time!

I was very thankful that neither of them fell into the lake...but we didn't make it back to GG's apartment dry.  On our walk back to her apartment, Brody ran to jump in a puddle and his feet slipped out from under him.  He landed on his bottom and then his back.  The puddle soaked him from his neck to his shoes!  Thankfully he laughed about it instead of cried.  We all laughed about how he stayed dry at the lake but got drenched by a puddle in the parking lot!

GG gave him a towel to dry off with and we headed to Sissie's apartment for a visit.  We were disappointed when she didn't hear us (I think she was taking her afternoon nap).  Barrett tried looking under her door to see if he could see her and he called out, "Sissie!!!" over and over. 

 

All too soon it was time to head home.

 

Wheels on the Bus

Every day across America thousands of children climb aboard a school bus and wave "bye" to their mom.  I've been using different wheels to get Brody, Barrett, and Autumn (Joseph & Anna's little girl) to preschool on Tuesdays & Thursdays.....

 

That's right, we've been walking to school!  I put the big kids in the jogging stroller and Barrett on my back and enjoy a beautiful morning stroll.  It's about 1.5 miles round trip, so when I walk them to school and walk back to get them after school...that adds 3 miles to my daily exercise routine!  I may be walking, but carrying Barrett on my back and pushing 2 kids up hill gets my heartrate up.  Not only is it good exercise, but the kids love it!  On days where one of the boys wake up late and we don't have time to walk...they're all extremely disappointed.

"You are your mother's son!"

Last night Mike and I were sitting at the kitchen table.  Mike was reading to me about espresso makers (a new obsession after Patrick made him a homemade latte in California).  Brody sat in the chair between me and Mike and was randomly inserting questions about the Rangers game that was about to start.  I finally had to ask Brody to be quiet for a few minutes so I could hear what Mike was reading me.  He obliged for maybe 5 minutes? 

When he opened his mouth next, this was his question, "Daddy?  What if you put jelly on a light bulb!?"

Mike just looked at him and said, "You are your mother's son!"

What?  Me?  Random?!?  Never!!!

My body hurts!

Sometimes Barrett skins his knees or cuts his finger or bumps his head.  It doesn't matter what he hurts, he typically walks up to me (crying) and says, "My body hurts!"  I'll say, "What hurts?"  and he'll reply, "My BODY!"  After a few back and forths like this I'll ask, "Which part of your body hurts?" and he'll say, "My knee (or whatever is hurting him)."  It cracks me up!

So Handsome

Remember when I tried to take pictures of Brody, Barrett, and Jayden?  Well the little guys didn't cooperate very well.  I cut them out of the picture below and was left with this handsome football fan!

 

Popcorn Harvest

The other day Barrett was playing with the combine.  He kept putting his fingers in the hopper (not sure if that's what the holding part in the top is called, but it sounds good!) and pulling them out like he was holding something...then he'd put them in his mouth.  I finally asked what he was doing and he said he was cutting corn and was eating the popcorn that the combine picked up!  Have you been holding out on me Chris?  You never told me that when you're harvesting corn you're actually making popcorn?!?

 

Sheriff for the Day

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Today Brody was the Sheriff of the Day at preschool.  The sheriff gets to be the line leader all day long!  He also got to sit on a huge stuffed pony and hold the flag while the kids said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang a patriotic song.  He knew ahead of time that he was gonna be the sheriff, so he begged me to let him wear the sheriff outfit that Mark & Angela got him for his birthday.  Mrs. Pam said that would be ok...she even approved him wearing his six shooters that Caleb & Audria gave him for his 1st birthday!  He makes such a cute sheriff!

 

It's Friday! SMILE!

 

P.S.  We go back to the eye dr today for Barrett's eye check up.  From the looks of this picture, things have not improved.  We're thinking surgery will be scheduled in January.

Carrying your love with me

When I picked Barrett up from school today I noticed that he was clutching a piece of paper tightly in his hands.  It made my heart smile when I saw that it was the note I'd packed in his lunch box.  From the looks of the note, he'd been carrying it around with him since lunch time.  So precious!

 

Guys Night Out

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tonight Mike and Brody went to the Texas Rangers game.  Brody was super excited to get to go to his first MLB game!  Mike bought the tickets from a guy at work and they had great seats (behind home plate).  Brody took his glove with him in case he had the opportunity to catch a foul ball.  Mike said that Brody talked non-stop the entire time.  He asked all kinds of questions about baseball...and many other subjects.  They didn't get home until almost 11 pm.  Mike and Brody had so much fun together on their father-son night.  I'm so thankful for the relationship that Mike is building with our boys.  They love and adore their daddy so much and cherish every second they get to spend with him!  Here's a picture of all my boys before Mike and Brody left for the game. 

 

Company Picnic

This past Saturday was Mike's company picnic.  Since he was in California with Daddy Steve, Caleb, & Tyler (guys weekend), Namaw went with me and the boys.  It wasn't like any of the company picnics we used to go to with Daddy Steve's work.  They went all out!

The picnic was held at Big League Dreams.  It's a sports park that has baseball diamonds that are replicas of major league diamonds.  It was pretty cool!  Not only was the facility neat, but there was TONS to do!  First we went for a ride on an elephant.  The trainer told us that our elephant was 37 year old.  Did you know that elephants have the lifespan of humans?  They live well into their 70's!

The boys wanted to visit the face paining booth.  Brody (who has somehow become obsessed with Spiderman...not sure how that happened because I don't think he even knows who Spiderman really is or what he does?!?) wanted a Spiderman face.  Do you think Mike can replicate this for Halloween (I know I can't!!)?

Barrett opted for something Dallas Cowboys related.  She painted a Cowboys star on his cheek. 

Then we spent time playing on all the inflatable things.  An entire ball diamond was covered with different bounce houses, obstacle courses, and other inflatable fun.

 

Around 5:30 we headed for the ball diamond where dinner was being served.  They had hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, potato salad, mac & cheese, beans, and all the fixings. They also had popcorn, cotton candy, cracker jacks, peanuts, and looooong licorice strings....EVERYWHERE you went! 

The one thing Mike failed to mention to me was that we were supposed to wear the shirts that came in the bag he got before the picnic. I thought they were just souvenirs.  I had no clue that it was cool for thousands of adults to dress alike!  As you can see from the picture below...everyone had their company shirts on!  I stuck out a little bit in my red shirt!   

After dinner we headed to the circus.  We got to see a few neat acts.  The boys were amazed at one of the magic acts.  It was so cute to watch their wide eyes as they said, "Woa!!!  How do they do that?!?"

We also watched some of an aerial show (acrobats) and watched the human cannonball (I don't have the guts to ever do that!!!)

Then we headed to a ball diamond that was set up for the kids to practice hitting the baseball.  Some of the Texas Rangers staff were helping out. 

Barrett froze at the plate.  He needed more than one person to help him get in the correct position, but once he got going he kept swinging and hit several balls off the tee (of course, they usually plopped off and just rolled a few feet).

 

Brody, on the other hand, didn't require any help.  Hitting off the tee was a piece of cake for him and he hit the balls pretty far! 

After the boys finished hitting one of the hired photographers took pictures of them to make them baseball cards.  They also got to pick out a DVD as a prize for hitting the ball.  Brody picked Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs while Barrett picked Marley & Me (I think he liked the puppy on the cover!)

As we walked back towards the field with all the inflatables, there were some clowns doing a sidewalk act and the boys were mesmerized.  One of them stopped and let us take a picture.

The fireworks show wasn't scheduled to happen until 9:45...and that's too late for the boys to be up on a church night.  So we finally decided to head for home.  They wouldn't let us leave without loading us up with goodies.  We barely made it to the car without dropping everything.  (Notice Barrett waving from the backpack?)

What a fun night!  I think the boys favorite part was the elephant ride.  They're still talking about it!

Cousins - Ready for Football!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Since we were unable to get a picture of the cousins together on Sunday before church (Jayden didn't want to take pictures then) or at Chuck E Cheese's (Barrett was unhappy in those pictures), we decided to get a few pictures of the boys in the football shirts that Grammy bought them.  It sounded great in theory...but was much more difficult to bring to fruition!

I'm not sure if they were still tired from the birthday party, but I have a ton of pictures where the kids just zoned out!

Of course there had to be someone shed tears...

Brody sat still and smiled for most of the pictures (it was the 2 year olds that gave us trouble).  One time he gave me the "this is crazy!" look...

I think Jayden was thinking that I'd make him sit still for pictures for the rest of his life.  All he really wanted to do was shoot the basketball!  It's tough being Staci's nephew!

 

We decided the original set up wasn't going to work (the wind was blowing the sheet and the 2 year olds kept wandering off).  I had them sit on the fountain ledge instead.  Notice how this didn't make Jayden any happier.  Can't you hear him thinking, "You've got to be kidding me!  More pictures?!?"

Finally!  A picture where all three boys were looking at the camera and at least thinking about smiling!

We tried again inside with Grammy and this was the best I could get.