Thankful....

Well, folks, Clint has taken a turn for the worse and he has spent the entire Saturday in bed. Literally hurting all over... I have never seen him this sick! Poor guy... so you may be reading right now and wondering why I have entitled this post, "Thankful..." Of corse I am not thankful that he is sick and I hope and pray that he is well soon... but in everything there is a bright side, so I guess it all hit me today. I had just finished a long saturday by myself. Prepared and fed all 3 meals for all the boys singlehandedly (ok, with a little help from Little Caesar tonite, but cut me some slack!), I had played more games of Cosmic Catch and Hi-Ho-Cherry-O that I could even count, worked 5 puzzles, read more than 20 books, jumped on the trampoline, pitched baseball, fetched a baseball, been pegged in the head with a baseball, played at the park, bathed all 4 little boys in a bubble bath, read 4 chapters in the magic tree house, listened to 4 of the sweetest prayers, and kissed 4 precious cheecks as I tucked them in bed tonite. It was a really fun Saturday and I did it all by myself. It wasnt the first time that I had done it all by myself by any means, but it was the first time in a long time that we had not been together as a family at all during the day. I have always known that I am "spoiled" with Clint as a husband and daddy to my boys. He wanted to be an involved dad from the start, so he has bathed the boys and got them ready for bed from the time that micah was a month old. He has always been super helpful with everything.... but sometimes I get in that habit, or the RUT if you will, and I forget to appreciate how blessed I really am... Since I was sick first, then Coby, then Clint, we have not gone anywhere as a family (not even the drive thru) in an entire week... and for the Best Family, who is always on the go, that is a really strange feeling. Clint and I have not really had much of a conversation since last weekend. I realized tonite as I was going thru deciding what movie I wanted to watch how lonely I feel. I miss the chaos.... the crazy, exciting, fun, busy lifestyle that we live... maybe because we do it all together... but I miss our family time! And so I shed a few tears as I type beside Clint as he snores away because I am ashamed that it took a week of all of us being sick as dogs for me to slow down enough to be THANKFUL for all that I have... for the choas that these 4 precious boys bring to me every day... and for the incredible man that God has given me to be my companion, my "chaos-partner," and my best friend....
Random thoughts, I know, but I never have been good at this "deep-thoughts blogging" :o)

Another one bites the dust....

I am standing today... and I was actually standing yesterday, too, but just barely... but unfortunately this awful thing has gotten a hold of Sweet Coby and poor Clint. He has a deadline at work tomorrow morning at 9:00, so he is trying to stumble thru some paperwork to meet it, but he feels pretty bad. He was such a trooper trying to take care of the boys and get them everywhere they needed to be when ever I was sick, and I think he has run himslef ragged. Coby has been home today with a pretty good fever and he told me this morning that his heart hurts. Poor baby. I totally understand the feeling. This awful cough makes your chest hurt so bad!! Say a little prayer that Coby bounces back quickly and that he is the last victim of the awful bug!! Now I am off to have a(nother) hay-day with my Clorox wipes!!

Thru the years....

Just a fun little trip down memory lane.... maybe just because I am laid up in bed, feeling a bit better, but not well enough to get up and unbury my house from all the clutter that has built up since I have been in bed since Saturday evening! :o) Look how my boys have grown thru the years!

Easter, 2008

Easter 2007

Easter 2006

Easter, 2005

Easter, 2004

Easter, 2003

Easter, 2002

Easter, 2001
The crazy thing is that it all seems like it has happened in the blink of an eye!

handsome boys...

I am still home in bed... sick as a dog... so for now, here is a sweet picture of my 4 handsome guys on Sunday morning. Hope you all had a happy Easter at your house!

Update on my PopPop

Thank you everyone for your emails and calls about my grandpa. He had his stint put in yesterday and it relieved all his chest pain. He was able to go home today! Praise God!! My parents are on the road back home right now... Thanks for all your prayers!

Hope you all had a fun Easter. We changed up our plans since my parents needed to go see PopPop, so we celebrated last night at Casey and Amber's house... the kids had a blast. I was not feeling well as the evening went on and I woke up this morning with a high fever, chills and aches all over... so I had to miss Easter sunday with my kids!!! :o( I was so sad! They all looked so handsome in their ties and we did a small egg hunt here in our back yard this afternoon. I will post some pics later when I get the downloaded! For now I am off to bed in hopes that I will feel better in the morning!

Prayers for my Pop Pop

I just wanted to ask all of you to say a prayer for my Pop Pop. He had a heart attack and he is in the hospital in Odessa undergoing some tests and having a stint (sp?) put in today. My mom and dad are headed there to see him and some of my aunts and uncles are on the road as well. We may head that way after they give us a report from todays procedures. My Pop Pop is one of the most faithful Christian men I know. He has trusted in God in the good times and the bad. He is one of those silent servants who is always doing things for other people and not asking for any of the credit. I dont get to see him often enough or tell him enough how much he means to me and how thankful I am for him and for the faith that he has taught my dad and the rest of his children, his 23 grandchildren, & 18 great grand-children!


Pop Pop, if you get to read this, we love you dearly, and we are praying for you to make a full recovery! And KK we love you to and you are also in our thoughts and prayers!

Here are KK & PopPop last summer with the boys

And here they are in 2005 on the 4th of July

It finally happened!!

Coby lost his first tooth!! He has been waiting and wiggling for some time now and MiMi did the honors right after school... he came running around the corner soooooo excited. The Mimi fairy gave him his dollar and the tooth fairy better make her way in there to check under his pillow pretty soon! :o) Yeah, Coby!

Here he is w/ Mimi... I am sure glad she likes to pull teeth (and she is really good at it... and the boys are so calm with her) because it makes me squimish!

Coby showing off his "hole" and his tooth necklace that he got from his principal, Mrs. Weed

6 boys (& a baby girl) + 48 hours of "roughing it" = PURE JOY!

Camping 101:
1. If you are debating whether or not to go camping with your family (especially if you have 4 little boys), debate no more and GO!! This was our first family camping trip and we had a blast!!
2. If you go, invite our friends, Kendall and Keri along... they have all the gear and know all the tricks to a great camp out... Ryan and Julie weren't too shabby in the camping department either!!! :o)
3. If you dont want to take our friends with you, take some friends of your own because our friends made this trip so memorable for us... the boys have talked about it all non stop since we got back. They cant quit talking about Little JJ, Big E, and MaeMae.
4. Take your bikes... ours were a huge hit!! But be prepared to be in a bit of pain each time you sit or stand for the next 24-48 hours because your toosh is not used to that much bike riding all at once... especially if you have given birth to 4 babies! :o)
5. Take more than one bat... especially if there are 6 little boys who love baseball!!
6. No camping trip is complete with out a really messy s'mores treat!!
7. Take an extra pair of shoes for the 2 year old who may get a little involved with the rock throwing and step right on into the lake!
8. Dont forget the SUNSCREEN!!
9. And go ahead and APPLY the sunscreen that you take with you! Yes, I forgot to put it on them... we started out the day all bundles up with sweatshirts because it was so cold... one thing led to another and we were going and blowing, and before I knew it, it was 90 degrees at 3:00 and they had been fishing in the direct sunlight for the last few hours and they were all fried!!
10. Invite us along with you! Because we cant wait to go camping again! Thanks, Riveras and Perkins for inviting us!!!

The whole gang enjoyed riding bikes... they would ride all over the place, street and all, and watch out for cars driving thru... they would all yell "CAR!!" and we all got a good laugh watching the little 2 year old feet scurry over to the side moving as fast as they can...

Sweet Buddies... Case-O and Big E

Even MaeMae got in on the bicycle fun! She borrowed Bryson and Jace's seats and loved it!

We played a group game of baseball... and we all learned a lesson in patience while we waited for the 2 year olds to have a turn hitting! :o)

So Bry made us his own version of "baseball"

My boys having a blast

One of my favorite pics... how precious is this little booger?

Here is the "rock-throwing crew"

Sweet little Jace hanging out on the rocks... The boys nicknamed him "Little JJ"

Micah "braving" the water... it was C-O-L-D!!!

Bryson in hog heaven, but maybe kinda confused, because he is throwing rocks, mommy is watching, and she is taking pictures and smiling rather than putting him in time out for throwing them!! :o)

Mr Kendall promised the boys he would take them fishing... they all had a great time.

A highlight of the trip was the S'mores... anything having to do with marshmallows, chocolate, and fire is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

Here is Big E enjoing his S'mores... yumm

Meg and E watching daddy roast their marshmallows.
Here is our Proof that we were on this camping trip with all the boys... Julie and I (and Keri, too... but she was probably cooking at this moment!) were always the ones behind the cameras, but we didnt want anyone to forget that we were there, too! :o)

Bryson made a new buddy... He really took to Mr. Kendall, and by then end of the trip, he would walk over to him, hold his arms up, and say, "hold you." It was so sweet!

Here is my little carrot top just hanging out in Jace's camping chair (which he would have like to taken home with him... he kept calling it "mine")

Coby just chillin out and being cute :o) (notice his new glasses... yes, he broke them again. This is pair #4 since August.)

Julie and Ethan... love this picture!

The WHOLE Gang!! What a blast!!

We're BAA-AACK!!

I know, I know... you have all been anxiously awaiting a new post on the Best Family Blog, right? :o) I can safely say that this is probably the longest time I have gone with out blogging, so I decided I better at least let the friends and family from far away know that we are still alive... we have just been super-busy!! In fact, I began this post back in February and I am just now sitting down to add in pictures... Our computer crashed so I was lost for a few days without my "technology" and then I got so far behind that it was just too overwhelming to decide where to begin! But here goes... a brief recap of the last month a la best family.....

~We had a great Valentines Day! My sister in law and I traded out on some babysitting. I kept hers after school for them to have a lunch/afternoon date and then we traded out and she had mine for the evening. We went to dinner and hung out at the mall. It was nice and relaxing. Good to spend a peaceful evening with the special man who chose me to love. I got to give Clint the Casting Crowns tickets that I have been hiding for weeks now, so it was a fun reveal! I love surprises!! ~ We have spent a good part of these past couple of weeks SICK! Not everyone at once, but we have all passed it around. YUKK! We even spent the first part of our Spring break hanging out at home with 2 sick brothers!!

~ I dyed my hair dark... it is fun for a new look, but I cant decide what I think. The funny thing is that I have been way more dingy and out of it as a brunette... I have locked my keys in the car, forgotten stuff, lost stuff, etc! I have a feeling this has more to do with being insanely busy and overwhelmed that with my hair color! (photo not available... subject was too busy to pose for a photograph)

~ We had "Rodeo Day" at school. Cason was the cutest cowboy there (in my totally unbiased opinion, of corse!). He had so much fun ropin' cattle and digging for gold!

Howdy Yall!

Cowboy Cason

~Bryson is at such a fun age right now... he talks NON STOP and repeats everything we say. He is learning so many new words and I love to hear him talk. He calls Micah "Bicah" Cason "Sason"or "KK" and Coby is "Beedee" for some reason. It is so funny to hear him say it and I think Coby feels special that he has a "fun" name. Those 2 are kindred spirits! He knows all the ninja turtles by name and he knows how to use a light-sabor. He will hear me come out in the back yard and thell the boys something we are going to do... when they all get excited and run to jump in the car, he follows with a big long "YAAAYYY!!" just to go with the flow. He says "hold you" when he wants up and then "hold you" again when he wants down. He is also really into "helping" me with everything right now.... I know this was kinda a novel about little bry, but I wanted to record it all so I dont forget!

Mommy's little "helper"

~ We took a little mini-vacation to San Antonio to watch our Lady Bears in the state playoffs. The boys love swimming in the indoor pool at our hotel. But I must say that the crowd favorite was getting to jump on the hotel beds with the fluffy pillows.

(the camera was strictly forbidden at the indoor pool... it was a huge wake up call for me that it is officially time to hit the gym!) Here is Bry jumping on the bed... he got some serious air!

Sweet boys relaxing with daddy

~Jog a Fun was a success... we had a major melt down from Coby hen they said "mark, set, go" (He gets overstimulated in those kinds of situations and he panics) but he pulled thru and got his laps in so he can have the reward party... Micah ran 20 laps... that is about 3 miles!! We ran with Micah and Coby both, so therefore I felt as though I had been hit by a mac truck the next day... I have several pics, but here is a sweet one of Micah enjoying his snow cone after his run...

~ I will close with a little treat for the grandmas... Here are some cute videos of the boys. We went to a birthday party with this huge slide and Bryson could not get up by himslef, so I took him up the first few times. After I was sweaty and sore from the first sevaral climbs, I decided this was a job for Daddy... look at the fun these boys had! Also, a few videos of the boys showing off their memory verses, etc and then one of Bryson that is sure to bring a smile to your face!! :o)