WARNING: long update ahead!!!

I have started a post about 5 times, but it becomes too overwhelming, so I havent finished one in a long time... so I am overdue for a huge update. I want to begin with one of my favorite new pictures... I just love how it captures how much these boys love eachother.

Things are so crazy-busy in the best household these days with all the Christmas events, parites, pagaents, etc going on... I am volunteering in way too many ways and this is kinda how I feel at the end of the day:

This is actually how we found Coby one afternoon when he was supposed to be doing his homework at the kitchen table. This is the view from under the table!

Here is Cason Pajama Day at school!

The big boys had "Favorite Book Character Day" and Coby was Arthur and Micah was a spider in Charlotte's Web... although he refused to be called "Charlotte" :o)

We got to see both sides of the family for Thanksgiving, so there was lots of family time! We headed to Jacksboro first and the came back here to celebrate with the Fowlers. We definately have so much to be thankful for!

Micah got to help Gigi make cupcakes for his birthday celebration!

Coby decided he needed to "help out" too!!

Oh, my cuteness!!! Thanksgiving led to lots of snuggle-time with the Best nephew
Cason was so sweet with little Jarrell...

Coby LOVES baby Jarrell!!

Micah told me that Dustin was his "best cousin" They had a blast in the new treehouse that PawPaw built for them... but I never got a picture of them in it! We will take one when they are here for Christmas. Micah is already counting the days!

Here are nine out of the ten grandkids with MiMi... was Dylan under the table?
Micah loved decorating everything. Every time I pulled something else out of the box, his face lit up with excitement!!

Coby wanted to hear the story behind each ornament... he is so thoughtful!

Cason loved decorating the tree.

The cutest little Santa of all!

Here is how Bry really felt about the fuzzy, hot hat!

Mr and Mrs Claus

Clint had lots of helpers while hanging the lights on the house!!

Here is the finished product... it looks awesome, babe!

Last Saturday was Breakfast with Santa. The boys each got to go see Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Cason actually kinda hollered across the way to him. He wanted nothing to do with the man and he actually sent a message to him via Coby. "Could you just tell him that I want a gameboy, too?" Here is how Bryson felt about him:

We did, however manage to coax everyone into posing for one quick family picture...
Here's the Fam with the Claus

You might be a 4th child if.....

The boys were so happily playing in the back yard this afternoon, enjoying the awesome weather, and I was getting house work done with the doors wide open. When I rounded the corner to check on them, this is how I found Bry. Poor guy... these were originally Micah's pants, so I guess we have gotten our money's worth out of them, and the elastic has seen better days... but the even funnier part is that he didnt care... as you can see, he was just playing away like he didnt even notice the breeze up his britches!

Funny Boy!

ps- Sorry about the short post... I know it is time for an update.... more pictures to come.... maybe this weekend!

The Beach in October!

Let me hear a WHOO-HOO for Fall Break! The boys did not have school this week from Wed – Friday, and the break could not have come at a better time for us! Clint’s work schedule has been insane lately and we have not had any time together at all since August, so we were so excited to load up and head to the beach for a few days. We had a blast! It was beautiful and sunny… kinda cool at times, but that didn’t slow anyone down! On our way home we headed into Corpus Christi and went to the Aquarium, which was a big hit as well…. It is always so nice to get away and take a break and spend some quality time with my family… and then it is also nice to be back home!
So now… for pictures… first let me tell you that I downloaded almost 300, so I had to narrow it down… and let me also say that I realize there are more of Bryson that the other 3. There is something so irresistibly cute about a chubby little red-headed baby on the beach!
These first few are our "posed" pics. I was so pleased that it worked out to do these… the sunset could not have been more perfect! And a special thanks to the plastic white chair for holding the camera for the first picture here of all of us… this was about try number 5 on the self-timer, so if I look winded from running back and forth to jump in the picture, you know why! :o)

Sweet brothers!

One of my favorite pics:
I think he could be in an ad for baby sunscreen.... cute, red-headed, and WHITE!!

These 2 had a blast "running from the waves!"

And these 2 were a little more timid!

We spent lots of time building sandcastles

Here is the "finished product"

Feeding the sea gulls...

Bryson loved the "birrrds"

My little burrito taking a break to warm up!

Onto the aquarium... this was my favorite part... the dolphins are so beautiful. We saw a show where they did all their tricks and then went downstairs to watch them swim and play thru the glass. The boys loved this! How cute is this picture?

Bryson petting the stingray



The crew in front of the USS Lexington... Clint was way more impressed than any of them!

YABBA-DABBA-DOO!!!!

We went to a halloween party this weekend and the invitation read, "costumes encouraged..." We were the only adults dressed up (sorry, clint and devan!!), but at least we went all out with it and had a great time!

We are just glad clint changed his mind from wearing this one that he had borrowed from the boys... sorry, babe, this one was too funny!

The boys are having so much fun with costumes this year... even Little Bryson was proud to be a superhero! How big does he look here?

You can see how much they have grown in a year... here they are in 2006:

(And before you feel sorry for my poor 3rd child that he was spiderman 2 years in a row, let me tell you that Cason begged to be spiderman again! I am all about recycling the costumes!)

**Pumpkin patch pictures coming soon.... I need to download and edit them first!**

My Man

I have been tagged several times by several different friends, so I guess it is time to go for it!

The name of the game: All about my MAN

1997

2007

The Game of Tag about your MAN:

1. Who is your man? Clinton Samuel Best
2. How long have you been together? almost 10 years!! That makes me feel old!
3. How long did you date? 8 months, then we were engaged 11 months
4. How old is your man? 28
5. Who eats more? Clint
6. Who said "I love you" first? I don't remember (I know that is awful), but I am guessing me...
7. Who is taller? Clint
8. Who sings better? Me, but Clint can carry a pretty good tune... I am constantly making up songs, and singing everywhere I go!
9. Who is smarter? I was Valedictorian, but honestly, I think he is "smarter"
10. Whose temper is worse? Mine, definitely.
11. Who does the laundry? me
12. Who takes out the garbage? Clint
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Clint
14. Who pays the bills? he does. I can handle the stress of knowing that we never have enough money to pay them all! :o)
15. Who is better with the computer? Clint, but I am not too shabby....
16. Who mows the lawn? Usually Clint, but sometimes me when I want a break from the chaos of my 4 little guys!
17. Who cooks dinner? Me, unless we are having omlettes or pancakes!
18. Who drives when you are together? usually Clint unless we are on a long trip. Then we trade out to keep the sanity of the person who is manning the boys in the back seats!
19. Who pays when you go out? It is all "our money" but I always have the "eat-out cash envelope"
20. Who is most stubborn? We are both pretty stubborn. We always laugh at how bullheaded our boys are, and we wonder why!!
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? we are both pretty bad about this... see # 20
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine since they live 10 minutes away. Clint's are almost 4 hours away.
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me, but he says I begged him by giving him "the eyes"
24. Who asked who out? I asked him out for Sadie Hawkins week at ACU. I just wanted a friend to go with because all my friends were going roller skating together. I always had a fun time with him, but this was the first t ime I felt anything "romantic" at all.
25. Who proposed? Clint
26. Who is more sensitive? Me, but especially in the last year, Clint has become a lot more sensitive!
27. Who has more friends? Me... he is too shy :o)
28. Who has more siblings? I do. I have three and he has 1.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Me. I am a bit of a control freak at times... but I do try to let him think he is in control sometimes!! :o)

Barfapalooza & a Fun Farm

I know I stole that title from someone, but I cant think who... But I do know that BARFAPALOOZA is the best term for October 2007 in the Best household. 5 out of 6 of our household members have been down and out with a nasty stomach bug... that is everyone except daddy... I swear that he is made of steal or something. He never gets sick!! And I am thankful because he has been such a trooper helping take care of us all. Today was our first barf-free day since last saturday... whoo hoo! Hopefully we are on the mend! And in the mean time, I have spent my spare time disinfecting every single towel, sheet, pillow case, blankie, stuffed animal, rug, doorknob, toilet, and child in our house... in hopes that we will be spared from "round 2" of the awful bug! I think I have used an entire economy sized tub of Clorox wipes!

On a much lighter note, we had the Fun Farm come to our preschool last week. Cason was sick that day, so he missed out, but sweet Bryson loved the animals. He would squat down and talk in his high-pitched voice that he uses when he talks to a baby, he was so sweet and gentle and he would give those bunnies hugs and kisses. He was pretty disturbed by the horse and the cow. They both looked him right in the eye and the horse kinda sneezed on him (nice, I know!) and weirded him out.... but here are some sweet pics of him with the bunnies:

Here was his first "conversation" with the bunnies. He took a minute to talk to them before he got close enough to touch them....

"Yes, Bryson, that is the bunny's eye...."

Feeding the goats...

My co-teacher and I decided to "dress the part" and we both wore pigtails and overalls for farm day. Everyone was calling me "EllieMae" and they dared me to kiss this pig. I didnt go that far, but I did hold it as it was squirming and squeeling (an awful high squeel) and had a picture taken with the poor thing...

Can you relate?

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ab28k5yac4

Sweet Dreams....

These have got to be sweet dreams....

This one is for you, Aunt Angie! ;o)

LIFE....

… can be pretty much summed up in Coby’s sweet prayer tonite… here are a few snippits… I had to rush in here to type them before I forgot
"…. Thank you for my mommy that she cooks for me at Sonic [don’t judge me… I do cook (some), but tonite was half-price burger night and we had basketball practice at 5:30 and soccer at 6:30, so there was positively NO hesitation in the last minute sonic run]
…. And thank you for my daddy that he works when I go nite-nite [clint is on the night shift (again) this month, and I am about to check myself into the loony bin… he is working 12-13 hour nights and sleeping most of the day, poor guy! The boys still see him pretty often, but this momma is going nuts!!]…
…And help Micah not to have strep throat and miss his school [because he had it last week… after his tonsillectomy and all that craziness! Who knew you could get strep after a tonsillectomy!] … and help Cason not to fight with me when I get home from kindergarten… and help Bryson not to be ugly and throw his food…
… And help me to obey your laws and to get 'bath-timesd' so I can die and go to live in your house in heaven.... Amen." [then he opened his eyes and asked me, "Mommy, does God have one of those big houses that has the stairs?"] :o)

And I will close with a precious picture of my boys… this is the new part of our bedtime routine… Micah is reading like a champ and he loves to get to do his "reading homework" by reading aloud to his brothers! Plus, this helps me since I am doing the whole routine by myself. While Micah is reading stories to his brothers, I am rushing around like a mad woman getting everything laid out for the next day so we can all be dressed, fed, packed up, and loaded up by 7:15 am!

Just a bunch of random pictures

First, a disclaimer: I have pics of Micah playing on his basketball team, but they wouldnt download from the camera memory for some reason, so I will post some pics of him later... for now, these should keep the grandmas happy!

Bryson and Cason on their first day of Preschool.
How sweet are they?


Cason is ready for anything!

Check out the tongue!

Coby has actually turned out to be quite a soccer player!

And he loved playing "goalie" He is pretty aggressive!

Bry's new hang out spot. He is just tall enough to stand on the stool thing and reach up to the tank. We catch him with his hand swishing around in the top sometimes... he has yet to catch anything! :o) Doesnt he look like he is up to no good!

Our little fish... he makes this face at his new "friends" all the time! Silly boy!

4 important reasons why I have been a bad blogger lately!!!

This is how we all feel after a long day of school! This is how I found him when I came to get him for dinner. He had been sent to his room for time our for talking ugly. I guess he was tired!

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.