YEE-HAW!

Yesterday was RODEO DAY at our preschool! I love this day! The kids have such a blast, and I have to admit, I do too. this year, we added a live horse and cotton candy to the rodeo, so it was pretty exciting! I didnt get a picture of Cason with his cotton candy, so I am posting this sweet pic of 2 sweet little gals in my class... 2 of Cason's little "girlfriends!" :o)

Here is Cowboy cason ready to "rope a steer"

They got to "milk" a cow

They got to see/pet/feed a real live horse... so cool!

My favorite lil' cowboy!

They got to shoot at rattle snakes... here are Cason and Atticus showin off their "rugged cowboy" look...

Momma and her cowboy

BUSTED

Wednesdays are "Cason's special day." We drop Bryson off at Kaylee's house (she babysits him on Wednesdays while I teach) and Cason and I go to school just the 2 of us. We move his car seat to the front and he rides up there where he can control the music, the windows, and we talk about whatever he wants to talk about. This morning as we were entering onto the interstate, here was our conversation:

C: "Mom, you know you can go superdy fast on the highway and go around all these slow cars" (which, for the record, were not going all that slow)

Me: "Oh, yah? Who told you that?"

C:"Well, no one really, but when we ride with daddy in his car he drives in all the lanes like those drivers on NASCAR!"

BUSTED, Daddy. I gave him a speech later!

Fry's Fun Farm

This week, the farm came to visit us at school. Bry LOVED all of it. He went from lovin on bunnied to feeding goats and cows, and then back to the bunnies. It was so cute!

Cason, on the other hand, plopped himslef down with a bunny in hand and he didnt move the whole time. He had bunnies jumping all around him and the just sat there holding them. He wasnt interested in the goats, cow, and horse. He told me later that he was afraid they would poop on his new shoes (that happened to me last hear, and I guess he remembers!) Funny boy! He did really enjoy snugglin with the bunnies!

Moms with our boys

My favoritest co-teacher IN THE WORLD! And a fabulous friend, Ms Lori. We dressed the part again for farm day!

And my precious class! Love these kids!!

Fun Times

We had a fun time at the park with our friends yesterday while the big boys were at school. Bry and his buddy Brinton were particularly cooperative with the photo-op, so I thought I would share....

Friends forever!!!!

Sweet boys all tuckered out from a lot of playtime!

Case-O and LuLu

Bry and Cason in one of those sweet moments where I wish I could just freeze time!

Brinton "helping" Lucy slide down

We had to cancel our trip to Fiesta Texas for Labor Day weekend due to an unwanted fever virus, so we took the boys bowling instead... here are the official score-keepers!


And the happiest (and cutest) bowler around! He thought he was so big!

Honey and Heaven

Our church family will not be the same for anyone with out the presence of our sister and friend, Ruth "Honey" Dillard. Unfortunately, I was not one of the many who knew her so well... (see Emily's beautiful tribute to Honey here) but I know from her funeral today that she touched so many lives so deeply. My boys knew her not only by her contagious smile but also by her bell. She had a walker that she lovingly referred to as "John Henry" and she had a little bicycle-type bell on it. The boys loved to go ring her bell every sunday, and she loved for them to run up and greet her as they rang it each week. Last Sunday, Cason asked if he could go find Honey and ring her bell and I told him that she was not there are church because she had died and gone to Heaven. His face went from a state of shock to one of pure joy. "I bet she is gettin to see Jesus, mommy!" I fought back the tears as I agreed with him. "Yes, I am sure she is with Jesus!" I wish I had the faith and the desire of a child...

Today at her funeral, they played a recording of an interview that she had done before she went to see Jesus. She had the sweetest voice. When her distinct voice came over the loud speaker, Cason began looking around, "Mommy... that's her... that's Honey!"

"No, Cason, that is just her voice."

"From Heaven?"

Sweet, sweet boy.... he was so confused... I explained that it was recorded before she passed away and he tried to understand but he continued to look around as if he expected to see her standing across the room. At the end of the service, my boys were given the honor of closing her memorial service with one last ring on John Henry's bell. What a beautiful picture I have of Honey up there with Jesus, with a smile on her face as they rang her bell one last time. Every time I hear a bicycle bell, I will think of Honey and the incredible example she was to so many.

Brentwood Oaks Children's Ministry

Take a look at this precious video from our Childrens Ministry at BOCC. Our church just designed a new room for our Sonshine Hour, and the kids were so excited. Clint and I helped with some of the painting and prep for the room, so it was so fun to see the fruits of our labor... Watch for my sweet Cason (and my nephew Quentin) amongst the interviewees... My favorite line is cason's closing comment at the end (and maybe Quentin's comment about his brain)! This was recently played for the entire congregation at church and it is also on the BOCC website.... Cason loves the attention, but he gets really embarrassed when someone asks him about it. We have watched it several times as a family, and the other day I heard the boys out jumping on the trampoline singing (at the top of their lungs) "Lets sing praises to God {clap, clap} Praises to God {clap, clap} Clap your hands together and sing praises to God...."

Sweet Cason

I know it has been way too long since my last post… so long that it is so hard to even begin a new one. I am not even going to try and catch everyone up on the Best family happenings because there are way too many, hence the absence of any new posts! We are doing good… BUSY, but good! Tonite I had a conversation that I knew I needed to blog about before I forgot it, so here goes…

A very loved and Godly man from our church passed away very unexpectedly last week from a heart attack. His funeral was last Friday, and the entire church was attending, so we had to take Cason with us. I was explaining to him where we were going and why, and he asked why this man had died. I told him that his heart had quit beating, and God decided it was time for him to come up to heaven with Him. Cason has been really serious about all of this ever since. Here was our conversation tonite:

Cason came running in from his bath with his towel on like a cape. He sat down to put on him jammies and noticed his heart beating heavy from running around like a superhero….
Cason: "Mommy, my heart is beeping…"
Me: "Yep, that’s good… that means you are alive."
C: "Mommy, is your heart still beeping?"
M: "Yep, I am alive, too…"
C: "Mommy is your heart going to stop beeping?"
M: "Someday it will, but I hope it is not some day too soon. When our heart stops, we can’t live here anymore; we get to go to heaven and live with God. [trying to fight back the tears and not be too serious about the subject] Let’s get our jammies on."
C: "Yah. Mommy, do we have to go nite nite in heaven?"
M: "I don’t know, maybe. We will have to wait and see"
C: "I don’t want to have to have rest time in heaven. I want to stay up and play v-smile (video games) with Coby and Micah. [his face lights up] Does God have lots of v-smiles in heaven?"
M: "Maybe. The Bible tells us that there are no tears in heaven, so that means nobody cries up there."
C: [face really lit up] "So Coby is always sweet to me?? And I don’t get any spankings??"
M: [fighting back the smile] "That’s right!"
C: "Oh, Mommy, I want to go there! [pause….] But I just want you to go with me…."
Their faith is just amazing to me… and I just think how much like children we are with our own faith. I do want to go to heaven, but just not yet… and I want to take all the people I love with me.

Jesus, our superhero!

The other night, Clint was reading the boys' bible story at bedtime, and it was the story of Jesus' ascension into heaven. Cason saw this picture and he said, "Wow, Jesus really can fly... he has a cape like Superman!" I love how his little mind works.



Another funny Cason story: last week before Micah's relapse, we took them to the dollar movie to see Charlotte's Web. They loved it. Cason has always had a fear of bugs, and I thought it would help him not to be so afraid of them to see how nice Charlotte is. Well right now with the weather being warm and moist, we have lots of those flying bug things with the long legs... kinda like flying daddy long legs.... do you know what I'm talking about? Anyways, there was one of those in that bathroom and I heard him in there talking to it in his little high pitched baby-talk voice that he uses with Bryson, "You sure are a sweet little spider aren't you? You are not gonna bite me, are you? Are you my new friend? You are a cute little thing... what is your name?" All the while, he had just gotten out of his bath, so he is squatted down beside it talking to this new little friend totally in the BUFF! It was hilarious! He came running out and said, "Mommy, I found a sweet spider and it is my best friend!"