Open House

Tonight was open house at Brody's school. He was excited to show us not only the work they've been doing, but all around his classroom and all around the school!

Mrs. Giese displayed Brody's book report project in the hall in front of their classroom. Since he used Barrett's camo puppy for his project that went along with his "Why I Want a Dog" paper, Barrett and Brody wanted their picture taken in front of the project.  We had fun seeing what Brody's been doing at school and I think Brody loved being our tour guide! 

 

Just another day at work...

Today I arrived at work to find two precious nephews waiting for me!  Namaw had to leave to go check on Sissie, so I was assigned the task of watching the boys.  Let's just say it was a fun day at work!  Archer was all grins for me again today.  I caught the end of one (a little more in focus than the other day) with my phone.  I love his chubby cheeks!!

When Namaw got back, Axton wanted to help her work.  He sat there in her lap "talking" (ie babbling) non stop!  I don't think Caleb and Audria have to worry about it being too quiet at their house!!

Just in case you're worried...I did also get a lot of work done.  It's been a busy few weeks at work with quarterly payroll, year end payroll, and people beginning to drop of tax returns!  It's beginning to look a lot like Tax Season!

What did you read in Kindergarten?

Brody brought home a reading challenge (read 6 hours for fun and get a free Six Flags ticket).  He asked if he could read a chapter book for his fun reading time.  I told him to pick out one of the ones from the bin in his room and he said, "No...I want to read The Chronicles of Narnia!"  What?!?  I told him that was probably too difficult of a book for him to read...that it was written in old English and he might not understand a lot of the words.  He said, "But I liked listening to it when you were reading it to me last year." (I started reading the 1st book in the series "The Magician's Nephew" sometime last year...but there were a lot of times where I would change a big word into something that he'd understand.)  He was so insistent that I finally said, "Ok!  If you end up not liking it then we can pick something else to read."  We headed back to his room and for the next hour he read The Magician's Nephew out loud to me.  I was shocked!  I only had to help him with a few words!  The time went by so fast as we were both engrossed in the story he was reading to me.  Barrett came in to listen and actually fell asleep listening to his brother read.  When we got to the end of the chapter, I told Brody we'd have to quit for the night and we were both shocked to see he'd been reading for an hour! 

When I went back to the living room Mike asked if I'd been reading to Brody.  When I told him that Brody was reading to me he looked at me with a shocked look on his face and said, "Our KINDERGARTNER is reading The Chronicles of Narnia?!?!?  What?!?"  Seriously!  I was thinking the same thing.  Wow!

Smiles and Groceries

Today Audria dropped her boys off at Daddy Steve and Namaw's while she went to the grocery store.  She had a major (meaning couponing involved) trip to the store planned...and it would've taken 10x's as long with her boys in tow.  Namaw was excited for the chance to play with the little ones.  Something really exciting happened while they were there...Archer smiled!  I don't mean a gassy smile or a smile in his sleep...he smiled when she talked to him!  Then he did it again and again when we talked to him!  I tried to get a picture...but my phone isn't as fast as my real camera.  Just trust me that it was super cute!!

Axton must have heard that his momma was going grocery shopping because he went and got the toy shopping cart, put a baby in it, and went "grocery shopping"!  (No...he's not wearing pants.  It was hot upstairs so Namaw decided he'd cool off quickest by taking off his shoes and pants! lol)

Family Birthday Lunch

Today we had a lunch celebrating my birthday at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house.  It was so fun to get together with my family and spend time together.  I didn't take very many pictures (I was too busy visiting with everyone)...but I did snap a few.  This was too hard to resist.  I didn't know where Brody and Barrett had disappeared to.  I found them under the table where we were all sitting and talking.  They were just sitting under there talking to each other.  So cute!!

 

One of the other cute pictures I got was of Luke.  He had on a cute blue polo that made his eyes pop!  He's in love with trucks and cars of all kinds and just giving him a police car put a huge smile on his face!  I also love when he says "Staci" because it makes him smile :)  I get to hear his sweet voice on the phone a lot...but it's a special treat to get to love on him in person! 

 

"I wanna wear a tie!"

Our church is pretty casual as far as dress (as in jeans and shirts).  I was surprised today when Barrett woke up and insisted on wearing a tie to church.  He looked sooooo cute!  I tried to get a full length picture so you could see his awesome dress shoes...but they couldn't agree on whether or not to put their arms around each other for a picture! lol.  I think Brody was actually in the process of sneaking his arm around Barrett in this picture!! 

Goose Hunt

Just got this picture text from Mike. Wow!!! I bet Brody was excited!!!

Cousin Time!

 

 

 

We had fun babysitting Axton and Archer tonight! 

Can you see me?

Birthday Sky

Today I turned 33 years old. I went to the gym at 5 am (my normal routine), however, as a departure from my normal routine...I stopped by the donut store to get breakfast for us!  The boys reminded me last night that we're supposed to have donuts on special occasions...and they said my birthday counted as a special occasion.  After we ate, we went outside to wave bye to Mike as he left for work.  Suddenly Brody said, "WOW!!!!!"  I followed his gaze and looked up to see very bright white contrails all over the still dark sky.  It was breathtaking!  He insisted that I try to capture it with my camera.  I didn't have time to mess with my settings for as long as I would've liked, but I think you can see what we were looking it.  He was right...it was beautiful!

 

This was the perfect start to a wonderful day!  I got to have a special lunch with Daddy Steve and Namaw, Barrett spent all of his free time at school coloring a birthday cake for me and then asked Ms. Pam to give me an "It's My Birthday!" sticker that he insisted I wear the rest of the day, I had lots of calls/texts/Facebook messages wishing me happy birthday, I got to go to dinner at Rio Mamba with Mike and the boys (delicious!!!), and then I had a few presents to open.  I was surprised that the boys were able to keep a secret from me that they had gotten me an iPad!  So excited about that!  Not only is it a fun "toy"...I can also use it for work and school.  I've already installed an app that allows me to use it as a dual monitor while I work.  Pretty cool! 

Today was a wonderful birthday.  My favorite part was spending time with my loved ones.  I'm so blessed!

Someone's Tired!

I think it's hereditary

So maybe I'm to blame for the boys' bathroom habits! This is me when I was 2 years old.

It starts young...

Ginger, McKenna, & Jayma

 

 

Heidi vs TCU