Red Balloon

Jayden's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday afternoon we went to Jayden's 1st birthday party at the park. Jayden had lots of family and friends there to celebrate with him. Here his is with his Grandma (Norma, Mark's mom).

Brody was excited to have a birthday hat to wear...but I think he was more excited about the cake he was about to eat!

Jayden was the least messy 1-year-old-cake-eater I've ever seen! He didn't even get a crumb on his shirt! I don't think he likes his hands being messy. It was funny!

When it came time to open presents, Mark asked Brody and Caleb (Jayden's friend) to help Jayden open them. With the first few they'd let Jayden start to open the present and then they'd finish up the task for him. By the 3rd or 4th present, it looked more like this...

Mark would be reading the card and Jayden would be paying attention to Mark with Brody and Caleb tore into the present.

After presents, we headed to the train station. The kids were excited to get to ride the train. Brody's only disappointment was that he forgot to bring the wooden train whistle that he has at home so he could whistle along with the train.

At some point, Caleb told Brody that he needed to hold his arms up whenever we go under a bridge. Brody took this job VERY seriously!

Towards the end of the 45 minute train ride Brody told me that he was getting tired. He said he was gonna lay down and take a nap. So he laid back in my lap, propped his feet up on the arm rest, and pretended to sleep.

When we arrived back at the station Brody wanted to tell the conductor "thank you".

All the kids were worn out by the end of the party, but they all had so much fun so it was worth it!

Hometown Festival

On Saturday morning we decided to head out to the local "small town" festival. There were lots of booths selling goods and services along with some fun things for the kids. The food smelled delicious...but we resisted and bought the whole family lunch at Taco Bueno for the same price as one turkey leg would've cost us.

Here's Brody with the Pecan Festival mascot.

Barrett got a fire hat from one of the firefighters. He had fun playing with the hat while Brody walked thru the petting zoo. I was afraid that Barrett would pull all the animals ears, so we didn't let Barrett go thru the petting zoo this time.

Brody loved the petting zoo!

He thought this miniature horse was just his size.

Barrett barely made it back to the car. We hurried to eat lunch and then put him down for a nap.

Birthday Cake Bath

Tonight Grammy, Angela, and Jayden came over to make Jayden's birthday cake. His birthday isn't until the 29th, but they're having the big birthday bash tomorrow. It's hard to believe that he's almost one!

Of course Brody wanted Grammy to play baseball outside with him, so she took all three boys outside to play. They came back once for bug spray and before too long the little boys had to come back inside. I think they were more interested in making Grammy nervous by getting to close to to the pool than in playing baseball with Brody. On the way back to the house Barrett made sure to point out every plane that passed overhead.

Since we'd hosed them down with bug spray, I took the boys straight to the bathtub. Barrett thought it was fun to have another guy his size in the tub to play with...but Jayden wasn't so sure. Angela said that he usually loves bath time, but tonight he was in a hurry to soap up and get out! After I soaped him up, he kept trying to stand up by the side of the tub. The first time he stood up he was directly in front of Barrett's face. Do you know what Barrett does these days when he sees any bare skin in front of his face? He gives it a zerbert. I couldn't help but laugh when he leaned forward and gave Jayden a big zerbert right on his hiney! I'm sure he'll love this story when he's 16. In fact, he's already perfected the "don't you dare tell that story in front of my girlfriend" look. (see below) The mosquito bite over his eye makes it even more menacing.

Morning at the Park

I haven't taken the boys to any local parks since we moved. Our neighborhood has nice sidewalks to jog on and we sometimes go up to the elementary school playground, but we hadn't ventured out to any of the local parks...until today. Now I'm sorry that we waited so long! There's a trail paved thru the woods that connects 4 or 5 of the local parks. It was a gorgeous day for a run. Since it was a little cool this morning, I broke out the boys jackets.

The jog thru the woods was so peaceful!

We definitely didn't feel like we were in the middle of the city! Brody kept telling me to "be careful around the river". There were some hills thru the woods and on a few of them you were running down hill (pretty fast) straight towards one of the bridges over the creek. I think Brody thought we might run right into the creek!

After a while, Brody said that he wanted to get down to run because he needs his exercise too. I'd have him run up ahead of me to a landmark while I did lunges (pushing the stroller) and then I'd sprint to catch up with Brody. It was so much fun that I think I did too many lunges! I'm really gonna feel it tomorrow.

Brody loves being outside and kept saying things like, "It's so beautiful outside today!" and "Look at this gorgeous garden!" (which was really a sprawl of wildflowers). Kids really help you stop and notice the little things.

After jogging for almost an hour, we arrived back where we started...the playground!!! Barrett was itchin' to get out of the stroller and within seconds both boys were running for the swings. Brody was practicing swinging by himself (and was doing a pretty good job). He smiled really big for me when I took out the camera.

Barrett, on the other hand, refused to look at the camera! (He wasn't really acting snooty, he was just watching the other kids...but it looks like he's being snooty in this picture! lol)

Once Brody saw the camera, he ran around asking me to take pictures of him doing everything so that we could show Daddy when we got home. He was really proud of being able to climb this rope thing (I think it's because there was a big kid there that was crying while his mom made him climb it...and Brody wanted to show off that he wasn't scared.)

Barrett really wanted to climb too...but he's not quite big enough yet.

He finally found a spot where he could reach up and grab the ropes with both hands.

But he decided it was easier to hang on one handed.

Around 11:00 Brody started telling me he was making fried chicken with the mulch off of the ground. The more he talked about friend chicken...the hungrier I got! I could tell the boys were getting hungry too. Brody was just pretending to eat his "fried chicken"...but Barrett really tried to eat it.

I decided it was time for us to head home and make lunch (no...I didn't stop for fried chicken...that would've made my morning workout pointless!) I had so much fun with the boys this morning. We'll definitely be doing this again soon!

Namaw's Little Red Wagon

On Monday Namaw told Brody that she had something fun for them to do at lunch. She went to the garage and brought in a box that contained a red wagon. She dumped out all the pieces and then she and Brody went to work putting the thing together.

She told Brody that she was going to need a screwdriver and hammer...so he went to his room and got the toy drill and toy hammer. They didn't get the job done, so we had to go to the garage for the real tools.

After they got it together, it was time to go for a walk! It's a pretty cool wagon. It has 2 cup holders per seat...and even has seatbelts! The seatbelts actually come in handy to keep Barrett from trying to stand up or climb out.

They boys loved riding in the wagon and Brody made sure they got to do it at lunch again yesterday. It may become a daily ritual...at least until the weather turns cold.

Puh-puh-puh

Plane.

Planes are one of Barrett's obsessions. Every time he hears a plane or helicopter fly over he stops what he's doing, points to the sky, and says, "Puh-puh-puh!" over and over until you acknowledge him and say, "Plane! Good job, Barrett! I see the plane too!"

Regular

For the past few weeks, Brody has decided that his time to go #2 is right before bed. Every night he gets totally ready for bed and then has to go poop. At first I thought this was a stall tactic, but now I realize that it's just his regular time. I also have come to realize that everyone in our house is pretty "regular" (it's a sign of a good diet...right?).

This morning Barrett was starting to wake up (Brody was already up) so I told Brody I had to hurry and took off towards my bedroom. I was going to get dressed for our run real quick so we could leave as soon as I got Barrett out of bed. Well as I was running that way Brody started singing a song (it was to the tune of "Ya gotta have faith"), "Mommy's gotta go poop, poop, poop, Mommy's gotta go poop!" I was laughing but told him that I'd already gone. His reply left me on the floor laughing!

"I better get up earlier tomorrow so I can make sure I'm here when you poop!"

Guess that's a boy for ya. If you need more "potty humor" read Megan's blog today.

Dress Rehersal

Do you remember me telling you that we spent some time at Bass Pro this past weekend getting Mike ready for deer season? Well, one of the main purchases was a ground blind. Of course, he and Brody needed to test it out to make sure it's gonna work. I love that Brody gave me a real smile for this picture. It's probably because he was so excited to be "hunting" with Daddy that he couldn't wipe the smile off his face!

Mike has his eye on the target (if you click on the picture to make it bigger, you'll see the target at the back of our yard).

Mike and Brody talk about the shot. They think it was a good shot. Now they just have to give the deer a little time before they go check him out. This is where you sit around and talk about what you did right and what you could've done better.

Finally the time is right and they go to check out their prize.

I'm really excited about deer season. It's been over a year since we've had venison in our freezer and I'm sooooo ready to have more. Not only does it taste good, it's so lean and healthy! We just need to do one thing to prepare...get a freezer! We gave away the little one that we had in KS and the one on our fridge is already full of frozen goods. We have plenty of room for one in our laundry room...we just need to break down and buy one.

Conversion?

This morning Tyler and Ann had us over for breakfast and then we went to church with them at The Village. If you live in the Dallas, Denton, Highland Village area...you really need to check this church out. It was awesome! It wasn't a show, it was simply about praising God with all your heart and listening to a lesson from his Word. Even if you don't live in the area, you can listen to Matt Chandler's sermons online. It's worth your time.

After church we spent some more time alone (just the two of us). We browsed thru Cabela's and a few other stores and then around 4:30 we headed back to Tyler & Ann's. They had invited our family and Billy & Paula's family over for the Cowboys game.

Those of you who know Mike know that he's a Denver Bronco's fan...but I think that the south may be rubbing off on him a little bit. It may not happen over night...but I seriously think a conversion is in the works. Just check out our latest family picture...

While dinner was cooking, the guys spent some time in the backyard playing football. I think Brody was taking it the most serious. He came inside soaking wet with sweat! Of course, that could be because he was in full football gear!

It was a great game (I'm talking about the real Cowboys game) with a sad ending. The game was so close...but I guess that you know close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Mike's Day

After lunch with Mark & Angela, we dropped the boys off at Daddy Steve & Namaw's house and headed towards Grapevine. What's in Grapevine? Bass Pro! Our first stop was the Hilton. It's nice having a sister-in-law with connections. Ann got us a great deal on a room for the night (thanks Ann!) We checked in and then headed towards the ultimate destination, Bass Pro. We spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening getting Mike ready for his big day. I'm not talking about his birthday...I'm talking about opening day of bow season for deer. It's almost here!

Around 7 pm we headed back to the hotel to get dressed for dinner.

I'd made us reservations at a nice steak restaurant, The Grotto. The food was delicious! Crab cakes, bacon wrapped salmon medallions, peppered steak...it was all so yummy! Of course, I told them it was Mike's birthday, so they brought out a special dessert just for him.

I hope Mike enjoyed his birthday as much as I did. I had fun today!

Happy Birthday!

Today was the big day...Mike's birthday! Brody woke up early (excited to tell Daddy "Happy Birthday), so he and I went to the donut shop and he picked out a donut for Daddy. Then we lounged around for a little while before Mark, Angela, and Jayden got here for lunch.

The boys spent some time playing...

and then Mike opened his present. Mark & Angela got him a useful present (Lowe's gift card) and a fun present. Mike wasn't willing to model the fun present for the camera...but you know me. There's no shame here!

Time for Rubber Bands

I was working in my office when I heard some cabinet doors banging in the kitchen. I decided to finish reconciling a bank statement (I was almost done) before I went to check on Barrett. BIG mistake!

At least there weren't very many Cheerios left in the box...but when I saw that he was trying to clean up his mess WITH A CLEANER...I decided that it's time for rubber bands at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house. Much cheaper (and less permanent) than child safety locks, you just place a rubber band over the handles of adjoining cabinet doors and waala (anyone know how to spell that expression? it looks funny to me)...instant child proofing!

*Edited to add*

Just so y'all can sleep at night...we did move the cleaner that was under the kitchen sink to a shelf in the storage room that is too high for the kids to reach.

Also, I've been told that it's "voila!" not "waala". Hmm. Maybe "waala" is Texas slang for "voila!". lol

Quarter Motivation

Brody asked me the other day what he could do to earn a quarter. I told him that if he made his bed in the morning that he would earn a quarter. I also told him that if he picked up his room at night before bed (without being told to do so) that he would earn another quarter.

This morning he came running into the office saying, "I did it! I did it! I did it! Come look Mommy!" I walked to his room with him and he proudly showed me his bed.

I was so proud! Maybe I can train him to be a person that thinks it's worth it to make your bed every day.