Miscellaneous April pics of Bri

 

The Good 'Ole Days

Do you remember the good 'ole days? You know...the ones where everyone only had 2 shirts and 1 pair of pants? I think they ladies maybe had 2 dresses? Sometimes I wish we could go back to those days...especially on laundry days!

 

Fertilizer Plant

Last week was a sad day for a town called West, Texas.  We woke up to the news that a fertilizer plant had exploded and many people were dead and injured.  While I was rushing around getting everything ready for the day, Mike was praying with the boys at the breakfast table.  He told them that a fertilizer plant had exploded and basically destroyed a small town in Texas.  Then they spent some time praying for the people of West.

Later that afternoon, I was watching the news with Brody.  All of the sudden he goes, "OH!!!!  That's a fertilizer plant!!!"  I looked at him confused and he said, "This morning Daddy said that a fertilizer plant exploded and destroyed a whole town!  I had never heard of a plant that could just explode and do that...and I didn't know what kind of plant a fertilizer plant was.  It's not a plant like a flower...it's a plant like a factory building!  I get it."

I sure am glad he got that one figured out!  Can you imagine the fear of walking through the woods behind our house?!  I can hear it now, "Hold on guys!  We need to figure out which one of these is a fertilizer plant!  We don't want to explode!"

Is it summer yet?

Namaw bought the boys some new goggles for this summer.  Brody had to try them on right away!  I promise we feed the boy....but he grew over an inch in the past 1 1/2 months!  He eats more than Mike and I do...yet you can still count all his ribs.  Insane!

 

Ladies man

Nothing says ladies man like a stache....well maybe just on a 4 year old. I don't suggest a grown man growing a mustache to get the ladies!

Not Broken

One April 9th,  Barrett  fell while he was running around the sandbox at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house.  The next day Brianna had a doctor's appointment and I had our doctor check out his arm.  She didn't think it was broken and told us to ice/heat as needed.  Since he is still complaining about his arm hurting, I decided to take him in to let them x-ray it.  I was so thankful that the x-ray showed no break!  She thinks it is just a bad sprain...which just takes time to recover from.  The x-ray tech was impressed with how well Barrett obeyed and sat still for her to take the pictures.  After he was done she gave him a sucker and told him he could pick out a sticker or a temporary tattoo.  She showed all the options and then said, "Oh.  And I have a stack of mustache tattoos over here...but no one has ever picked one of those."  Guess what he picked?  Not the tattoo that goes on your arm...but the one that goes on your FACE!  The tech got the biggest kick out of it (since no one had ever chosen one of those tattoos) and even went around telling the other techs! 

Field of Dreams

Today was Youth Sports League day at the Ballpark at Arlington. After church, we headed to the Ballpark. We arrived at the parking lot just in time to grab a few hotdogs with the boys' baseball team before heading in to the Rangers game. When we got inside the ballpark, we lined up with all the other teams on the concourse...waiting our turn to walk around the field! Yes...the actual field! The field where the Texas Rangers play! Brody and Barrett were beyond excited! Brody told me that the entire time he was walking around the field he imagined what it would be like if he was playing on that field and all the people in the stands were cheering for him. After we walked all the way around the field, we found our way to our seats and enjoyed the game. After the game we went back to the parking lot for (you guessed it) more baseball! The boys hadn't had enough! They convinced the coaches to play some baseball with them in the grassy area by the parking lot. Brianna is a little young to enjoy the baseball game, so she got to go to church with Daddy Steve and Namaw and spend the day with them. A fun day was had by all!

 

 

Flowers for Momma

The other day Barrett came into the kitchen and asked me for scissors. I showed him where the kid scissors were and he said, "Those won't work!" When I asked what he needed them for he said, "I'm gonna go cut you a flower from the backyard! But don't watch me...it's gonna be a special surprise!" So I handed him the real scissors (with "be careful" instructions) and then peeked out through the back blinds as he went to cut me a flower. 

 

 

Doesn't this just melt your heart?!
 

Some of you may be wondering if this is posted in the wrong month since Barrett is wearing a Santa hat.  Nope.  He found it yesterday.  It's been warm here this week and Mike turned on the A/C...so I think Barrett figured with as cold as he is inside...it's ok to wear his Santa hat.  Oh...and his Samurai shirt and puppy jammie pants.  I decided to just call him Samurai Santa ;)

The love of a brother

Barrett walked into my room this morning just as I was about to leave for the gym. He was crying about his arm hurting. I ended up giving him some Tylenol and a Flaxseed pillow that had been in the freezer so that he could wrap it around his arm. Then I carried him back to his bed and tucked him in, however, he was still crying. I tried to calm him down and I told him that I would come back and check on him in half an hour when I got back from the gym. Then a small voice from the bed next to him said, "It's okay Barrett I'll be here with you while mom is gone." Brody then crawled over to get in bed beside his little brother. He cuddled up behind him and it was shhhhing him and said, "I'll tell you story.  You want me to tell you a story?"

Safe in my cousin's arms

I just love this picture I captured while doing Archer's 3 month photo shoot!  Brianna woke up so Barrett fed her for me while I kept taking pictures.  Then she was fussing a little so Audria took her and held her.  When I finished with Archer, Audria was showing Brianna to Archer and then laid Bri down on Archer's belly.  She fell right to sleep.  It was sooooo precious!!! 

 

Archer - 3 month portraits

 

 

Announcement

This is a public service announcement....

It has come to my attention that I may have some blog readers who are not related to me...and who are not friends with me on Facebook.  If I'm talking about you...I'm so sorry for leaving you in the dark! 

You may be wondering why there was a month + break in my posting when I typically post several times a week.  You may also wonder why Barrett had a "Big Brother" t-shirt on.  Was I pregnant and you just missed it?  Why haven't there been pictures of a baby if Barrett is a big brother?  I'm sure questions like this are keeping you up a night.

Here is the post I put on Facebook back in February:
"After 1,243 days of trusting the Lord that we were following his call for adoption...we got the call! On Valentine's Day we were told we have a BABY GIRL! She was born 2/10/13 at 35 weeks and when she came home from the hospital yesterday she weighed 4 lbs 14 oz. We are so in love with our precious Brianna Faith!


I have to admit, we are still in a little bit of SHOCK! This time last week we were just going through life like normal. In fact, we had talked about telling the agency we were done waiting...but neither one of us ever made the call. We didn't have 9 months to get ready...or even a few weeks! We got the call last Thursday and that night we were up at the NICU holding and caring for our little girl! (we're still trying to get used to saying "daughter"! lol)

Unfortunately we have to wait until the adoption is finalized in 6 months to post pictures of her face....but we'll try to at least post a picture of her cute feet and hands soon! Thank you for all of the prayers you have lifted up on our behalf over the past 3 1/2 years. We now know why God had us wait soooooo long! Bri is the perfect addition to our family. We are so blessed!!"


In other words....we have a baby!  What's sooooo hard is that the agency doesn't want me posting anything about her on my blog or on Facebook until the adoption is finalized in August.  If you're a faithful reader...you know that this is INCREDIBLY hard for me!  That's why there was such a long absence from my posting.  It's pretty hard to post when our life has been consumed with this new little life.  How can I post and not show pictures of her or her with the boys or talk about her!  Seriously?!?  It's really hard!  But....it's just for 6 months (less than that now!!)

So...come August...I'll have your next novel for Book Club....Rustic Roots!  I've been making blog post drafts and dating them when things actually happen.  Once Brianna's adoption is finalized...I'll be able to go in and hit "post" and then you'll have hundreds of blog posts and TONS of pictures to look at of our beautiful baby girl!  Until then there will be sporadic posts that only contain things going on with the boys. 

Cousins....Friends!!

 

Bri & Barrett visit Daddy's Work