Who needs a maid.....

When you have one of these little helpers!!

Spoons are my favorite... all nice and shiny!
Not only am I a good helper, but how cute am I?
Who says chores are no fun?!

Those chores are hard work!

My favorite Superheroes

So Clint gave me hard time saying that I was not really a "blogger." He says I am more of a "picture-poster" And I must admit, he is right! I dont give out any deep thoughts on my blog... mostly pictures of some pretty cute little boys and the funny stories to go along with them. I dont have time to write down deep thoughts... I dont really even have time to think much at all... so it is just easier to post a picture every now and then! So here we go...
We had a marathon weekend. We did not participate in an official marathon, just the "Best Family Saturday Celebration!"
9 am - baseball pictures
10:00 - micah's baseball game
11:30 - coby's tball game
12:45 - stuff faces with luke-warm pb&j sandwiches in the car on the way to BCS fall festival
1:15 - arrive at fall fest, already worn out from the morning at the ballfields, unload half of the car into the stroller and prepare for the total choas that is called fall fest
1:30 - I had to man the kindergarten booth, which happeded to be the bouncy slide thing from the RR express, so the Best Boys slid for free for 30 minutes of the day while daddy fed bryson lunch.
2:00 - hayride, bowling, candy, ring toss, cotton candy, balloon pop, more candy, fishing pond, dart throwing, cake walk, & frito pie for mommy bc the luke-warm pb&j had completely worn off.
3:00 - fall fest is over, so we headed home for resttime.
4:30 - we had to wake everyone up to get ready for our halloween party with some friends from church. There was a bit of drama over who would be which superhero, or which superhero was cooler or faster or stronger, but we worked it all out, and got them to all smile for a quick picture before we left (see below)
5:00 - the party was such fun! A blast was had by all.... more candy, more chili, more hayrides, more games, all in costume!
10:00 - we arrived back home to bathe them and put the grouchy boys in bed!
CRAZY DAY, but oh, so much fun! And we had to wake them all up for church bright and early this morning! Needless to say, all 6 of us napped today! I am glad that we had fun, but I am thankful that all of our weekends are not this busy!

Micah (batman), Bryson (superbaby), Coby (Buzz Lightyear), and Cason (who does not respond to 'Cason' when he is in costume. You must call him 'spiderman' or he completely ignores you... I think it was fun for him to justify ignoring me... not so fun for me! And he wore that mask for hours!)

good ol' blogger...

... it always cuts me off before I am done... so here are a few more pics that it would not let me put on the previous post!

Sweet little Bry... My favorite baby in the world!

My 2 little blue-eyed look-alikes!

New PJs

So maybe getting new jammies is just a good excuse to post some cute new pics of the boys, so be it! Thank you, GiGi for the new PJs... the boys were so excited to put them on! We decided it would be fun to load everyone up onto Micah's top bunk for a photo shoot, but Bryson kept trying to escape!

Good Catch, Daddy!
Silly boys!

ACU Homecoming

We had a blast seeing old frienda at ACU Homecoming this weekend. I literally cried as I walked (ok, maybe I was so excited that I ran) into GATA breakfast and saw all my old college roomies! I know, I am an old softee! It was so fun to reminisce and think about the good ol' days, and to think about how life has changed! As much fun as it would be to go back to college, I would not trade what I have now! I only wished I would have stayed for the reunion dinner because I heard thru the grapevine that Clint and I would have won not one, but TWO door prizes... one for the oldest child, and one for the most children! he, he! Funny that the many children that we have was the reason that we decided not to stay for the dinner! :-)

Here are all the girls that were there from our pledge class. It was so fun to visit with each other. We laughed kinda loud a few times and actually got a "look" from the current GATA president! Some things never change!

Christina, Melanie, Me, and Allison

I love these girls! And I always will! No matter how long we go with out seeing eachother, there will always be a special place in my heart for them. I can't help but smile when I see their picture or hear their voice... think about them or read their stories about their lives now.... It was so awesome to see each of you... And, Elisa Jane... we love you, and you were dearly missed!

Abilene Zoo

I love the Abilene Zoo... iti s super cheap (it was the same price for our whole family as it is for one adult at the FW zoo!), and it is small, but thorough. There are all the major animals: giraffes, lions, tigers, bears, elephants, monkeys, reptiles, fish, birds, etc... but it does not take much walking to see it all. We stopped in on our way home, and the boys had a hay day! Here are a few of my favorite pics:

The giraffes were a definate crowd favorite!

The boys got a big kick out of this one!

Cason almost fell into the "pond" with his turtle friends!

This one is "so cute" according to Cason. It was his favorite because he said it was smiling at him!
Zoo Hugs!

You cannot really see them, but they are in the letters... I thought this was a cool sign!

Gotta Love my Coby

Today was Tuesday... the day Coby had been looking forward to for a very long time. We have school every tuesday, but this one was special. He was having his first official "play date" with his buddy, Sam. It was a "play date" in the since that Sam was coming home with us from school, not for me to babysit, but for the sole purpose of playing specifically with Coby. Both Coby and Sam were beside themselves all day with excitement. And it has rained all day, so I knew the back yard and the trampoline were out as far as "play dating" was concerned, so we stopped in at Toys R Us to play on their big indoor playscape for a while before we headed home. The play date was a great success, and Sam did not want to leave when his mom came to pick him up. But here is one of the conversations that I just had to share... This was at Toys R Us when Coby was on the 4th story of the open playscape... open to the entire store:

Coby (sweaty, excited, and hollering quite loudly):Hey, Mom!!
Me: Yes, Coby?
Coby: I LOVE YOU!
Me: I love you, too, Coby!
Coby: I know you love me... that is why you spank me all the time... cuz you love me a whole lot.
Me (kinda embarrassed that the entire population of the toy store probably thinks I beat my child):I dont spank you ALL the time, Coby, but yes, that is why I do spank you... because I love you, and I want you to show God that you love him by obeying me.
Coby: And, MOM?!
Me (kinda scared of what was to come next): Yes, Coby?
Coby: I just tooted!
and off he ran.....

What were you doing at 7:45 AM?

Surely you werent having as much fun as I was! This should give all of you a good laugh!

They even got mommy in on the fun... no comments about the morning hair... it was seriously 7:45am!

Coby was determined to get Bryson in on the fun... but he would rather eat the glasses than wear them!

Almost!

Got him... it took a little restraint, but we got him! (really... there was no harm done to Bryson in the taking of these pictures!)

Turkey N Veggies... what a bore!

So Bryson tried something new for dinner.... Turkey n Vegetables.... he is not a fan! And I can't say I blame him by the aroma as I opened the jar. He was already kinda fussy because he has a double ear infection, and he did not get a good nap in this afternoon. So I went ahead and gave him his juice to drink for a minute while I got plates made for the other boys. A few minutes later, I looked back over, and there he was, turkey n veggies still smeared all over his face, drinkin himslef to sleep:

I took the bottle away to see if I could wake him up to finish his dinner, but no such luck!

He just could not get comfy! His head kept flopping back and forth.....

AAHHHHHH... that is better!

Fry's Fun Farm

Fry's Fun Farm came to our preschool today to celebrate our study of the letter F. I think we should have done it in conjunction with the letter P because I have never seen so much poop in my life! It was pretty icky! There were bunnies, goats, piggies, a colt, and a calf. My boys were most fond of the bunnies because they were small, soft, and cute... and they would let the kids pick them up. Every time Cason got one, I would try to get a picture and it would start to jump around, so he would drop it... and giggle! So I had to settle for a picture of him beside the bunnies with his newest fake smile! He was so funny. At one point, he was kinda holding the bunny up to his shirt, and he used his "baby-talk" voice that he uses with Bryson (really high pitched), and he said, "You like my new shirt, don't ya! Yah, it is new. We got it cause it's gonna be halloween, and it glows in the dark!" Kids crack me up!

one more...

Once again, blogger told me that I had too many pictures, so here is the last one of the boys before the baseball game... so cute!

Baseball & a Baby

The boys had their first baseball games this weekend while I was off soaking up some rays in Port Aransas... I felt horrible about missing their first games, but the ladies beach trip had been planned for quite some time, and it was a much needed break for me! We had a blast! It is always nice to return home, refreshed, anxious to see the kids and the hubby, and ready to tackle all those every day tasks that you missed so much... and I guess those you didnt really miss in the first place! Clint took lots of pictures for me to "relive" the moments, and I know there will be many more for me to see, so I was glad it all worked out... here are a few pictures from the game, and then a few of "sweet little Bry" as the boys affectionately call him.

Coby is up to bat!

Micah did really well hitting off a pitch!

My favorite 2nd baseman!

Micah is ready to go!

Here is Coby running the bases... smiling from ear to ear, and giggling with delight as he ran! He loves baseball!

Playing outfield is not quite as exciting!

Future Mozart on his little piano... he has just started to really pull up and stand at things to play... no cruising yet, but I am not ready for that! He loves banging on this piano!

This is a funny face that he makes with his mouth... and you can kinda see his red hair in this picture, too!

Sweet baby blue eyes... and sorry about the oh, so slimy chin!

one more thing...

I forgot to ask... are yall going to be at ACU homecoming? We are trying to decide if it is worth the trip this year... A lunch with the girls at Peking House would make it more than worth the trip!! :-)

Cute little words

On Saturday, we were talking about plans for the next day, and Coby looked up at us with the most serious look and asked, "Mommy, why does it always become tomorrow?" Then last night we had gone to mom and dad's house after church for dinner and haircuts, and it began to thunderstorm. As we were walking out to the car, there was a HUGE lightning, and Cason said, "Wow! Did you see that? It was just day for a little bit!" I just think the way they word things is so sweet!

This weekend, Micah had a birthday party to go to on Saturday and on Sunday. When he said his prayers last night, he told God thank you for making the birthday parties and the cake and ice cream. And of coarse, he thanked him for baseball!

We began baseball practice for the boys on thursday and friday. Micah is playing coach-pitch and Coby is doing tball. It is so fun to watch. Micah is one of the youngest on his team, and Ithink it is a little intimidating for him that these guys really know what they are doing, but he will be in this division for 2 years, so one day, he will be the big guy... and I think the challenge will be good for him. This is Coby's first season to play, and it has been so anticipated as we have drug them all the the little league fields to watch Micah play. Cason is patiently waiting his turn to play someday. He has been really into being a "big brother," especially since this is his first time to be older than someone in the family. I will ask him to do something for me, or share a toy with Bryson, and he will say, "sure, mommy, I will share because I am the big brother... and that's what big brothers do!" Bryson is really getting around and getting into everything... his favorite place to play is in the trash can... he loves the wadded paper and dirty kleenexes... theres nothing like eating your brothers old nasal secretions to build a good immune system! He just cut his first tooth this weekend, so I am sure that its partner is on the way... which might expain the fussiness this morning!

Anyways, we are resuming life as usual around here... as much as possible... thank you to everyone for your prayers... keep em coming! And for your sweet notes and emails... I am so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful friends... and to have so many friends and prayers going up for us from all over the country!! (I miss my ACU gals so much!) I can see God's hand at work in all of this, and I am so thankful for how he is blessing us thru our trials. I am thankful for his grace, his forgiveness, and for his example to us as one who has had forgiven himself. Clint was so touched as well by so many who have sent him letters and thoughts, offering up prayers on our behalf... we feel incredible blessed to be on the mend!

Typical Tuesday

Here we are after a typical tuesday when we all go to school.... Dont even ask what mommy would like if we took her picture at the end of these long days!!

Kindergarten is hard work!!!

Little Bryson is now officially getting around and into everything!! This is his newest favorite hang-out spot, but he has yet to figure out how to get himself out of it!