back to the land of the living...

I am back.... I have no voice, but I am back.... I waded my way thru the mounds of dirty laundry, stumbling on hot wheels, thomas and friends, basketballs, and puzzle pieces, but I made it to the kitchen to scrounge up a little something to eat..... Poor Cason is still not feeling well, but Micah and Bryson are on the mend... and Coby is still healthy as can be (knock, knock...) Please say a quick prayer for my Cason that he feels better soon.... this yukky thing has just gone on too long!!
And now, so this is not a completely boring post, and so I dont appear to be drowning in self-pity, I leave you with a picture of Bryson who feels much better!!

His hilarious "fake grin"

This is what he looked like when I went in to his room this morning.... Now, when I open up his door, he jumps up and looks at me and excitedly says, "HI!" And I dont know where he got the hammer!

STAY AWAY.......

from the Best house..... we have 4 down, 2 to go.... the culpret? A horrible high fever virus that comes with chills, aches, soar throat, and coughing! Micah began the cycle last tuesday, then Cason followed... he shared his germies with Bryson who lovingly shared them with me..... Today is the first day Micah has had without any fever and actually wanting to play, so things are looking up for him.... hopefully it will not last the full 5 days in all of the rest of us!

Pretend Wedding

My preschool class has been talking about families this week, and today was our famous Pretend Wedding... it is always so cute! It was extra special for me this year since my sweet Coby was in the wedding. The kids all get so excited for this day. We draw names for all the parts, have "fittings" for all the outfits, have rehearsal after rehearsal after rehearsal... we remind them that it all pretend, but we talk about what it really means to get married and what God's plan is for marriage and commitment. The kids say vows about what they will do when they "grow up" and they all say "I DO." It is so cute! Then we all go to the reception with real wedding cake and punch... this part is a crowd favorite! And in my typical 'summer' fashion, I have posted way too many pictures for your viewing pleasure.....

Buddies!

Coby and his best buddy... they are too cool.....

Handsome boys!

My little "Best Man." He escorted me and my co-teacher down the aisle first. It was super cute.

The Wedding Party

Coby escorting the Maid of Honor.

During the ceremony... Mr. Roger does such a great job of making it "pretend" but explaining it to them at the same time.

"The Kiss..." These boys really do love eachother! :-)

A few more pics

I just had to post these last few pictures of the boys during one of the many movie nights that we had while Clint was working nights during the ice storm. We got out their new sleeping bags (thanks Aunt Angie and Uncle Russ!!) and camped out in the living room... it was so funny to watch Bryson. He loves pillows, blankets, etc... he crawls all over and snuggles with them.... it is hysterical to watch! He would crawl down into his sleeping bag and get stuck in the bottom. When I would get him out his hair would be all messy and the boys would laugh at him.... it was so cute! This picture cracks me up bc he would not lay still for the movie... he discovered that it was much more fun to crawl all over his brothers and make them giggle at him! He went to bed shortly after this one was taken! :-)

Bry's crazy hair (it is hard to see in this pic!)

Snowy Day Pics

I have sat down to post these pictures several times now, and either the phone rings, I get distracted by something else, or blogger wont cooperate... I finally got one picture of each of the boys posted, along with a few others, so I am posting it before it is back up to 80 degrees outside!! I have tons of pictures to share, but I just picked a few of my favorites... it was so cool for the boys to get to see snow!

Micah with the snowman... I told you it was TINY!!!

Coby with his shades and the snowman.

All Cason wanted to do was drive his cars in the snow and make tracks!

Bryson was not a fan of the snow!

Here he is... the infamous teeny-tiny snowman!

Jumping on the trampoline in the snow... too fun!

I just thought this was cool the way the ice froze to this bush!

Our house with the icicles hanging from the roof.... the boys took turns pulling one down to play with! They has icicle sword fights!

Ice Day # 3 - Lord, help me!!!

We have been "snowed in" since Sunday night, and I am about to check myself into the loony bin! And Clint has been working nights for TxDot, so we have hardly spoken a word to eachother! He is exhausted from his long, cold shifts in the middle of the night, but the rest of us are so stir crazy! One day was fun, two days was kinda nice, but three days has lead to serious cases of CABIN FEVER!!! We did actually venture up to the school/church this afternoon for the boys to run around and play in my classroom and in the gym while I did some work for my mom in the office.... that was a nice "outing" but the roads were still icy in some spots, so they are starting school late tomorrow.... 10am cant come soon enough! I never realized how much I thrive on routine until it was ripped out from underneath me!
Anyways, not much to report here. I am going to try and post some pics from our icy-good time! They say we are going to have a melt-down tomorrow (if we have not had one already :-)!), and then it may get ugly again on Saturday... we will see! Hope you all stay safe and warm!!!

Ice storm, mean mommy

The realpurpose of this post was going to be to put up some fun pics from our snow day fun, but blogger wont cooperate, so I guess I will have to actually type out some thoughts!! So we have all been affected somehow by the big "Ice Storm 07" Making [very small] snowmen.... jumping on the trampoline covered in ice..... no school (although Micah was quite disappointed!).... pretending to be Thomas and Friends "puffing along" as we watch our breath in the cold air.... busting out the hats and gloves that we only get to wear a few times a year in texas.... drawing pictures and writing love notes in the fog on the windows..... the ice storm of 2007 has definitely created some memories... it is amazing how many fun things we found to do amidst the cold weather! I took pictures, but blogger hates me, so I will post them later.

Tonite, Clint had to work the late shift for TXDOT, so he is driving a sand truck to de-ice the bridges and overpasses. He left right after dinner and will be back around 8 in the morning.... long night for him, I am sure! But he is excited about driving the big truck on the ice! Funny how he thinks! Anyways, so that leaves me here with all 4 boys... all wound up from being pretty cooped up for the last 48 hours.... and no where to go! So we finished up our dinner, took baths, and I told them if they would get their jammies on and have their room all cleaned up while I got Bry down, we would have movie night. Micah and Cason scurried around like little animals getting ready for the winter while Coby continued to get more toys (in his undies no less). I asked him if he was obeying.
"Nope... cuz I dont want to clean up"
"Well, if you dont obey and get jammies on and help clean up, it means no movie night for you."
"So?"
He totally knows that it is hard for me to discipline when I am by myself and feeding Bryson to get him down.... it frustrates me to no end!!!!! So I told him again that if he didnt obey, no movie. I gave him a few minutes and got Bryson to sleep. Rounded the corner to see Micah and Cason almost finished with the room, jammies on, teeth brushed..... and there sat Coby.... still in his undies, still playing with trains. I sent Micah and Cason on to the "movie night" on my bed, and Coby fell apart. It was so hard, especially because I had 200 things that I needed to do, but I knew I needed to, so I stuck to it. He called me a mean mommy, and that cuts me to the core when they see it that way..... After several spankings for fits, throwing things, and ugly words, he was ready to "be sweet" as he puts it. I laid in his bed with him for a while and we talked about obedience and how important it is... I reminded him that we discipline because we love him. We hugged and read a few books and he looked at me with those huge blue eyes and said,
"Mommy, you are not a mean mommy.... you are the sweetest mommy in this whole universe. I love you to infinity." (Tears in my eyes) "So now that you are the sweetest mommy, can I watch the movie??" Little stinker knows what he wants!

haircuts

We went to my mom's last night before church for all the boys to get haircuts, and I went short with everyones hair... Coby's looks the most different bc all his thick curls are gone! Anyways, he woke up this morning, and he came running into the kitchen with big huge eyes. "Mommy, remember we went tomorrow [meaning yesterday] to MiMi's house to get our hair cuts? Well I just went to the bathroom, and I saw me in the mirror, and mine is still there!" I love the way they think!

Snaggle tooth

Big news in the Best household.... Micah lost his first tooth today! After weeks of wiggling and playing with it, he finally let someone pull it! He started back to school today, and he has been holding out to have Mrs. Weed (his principal) pull it. She may as well be a celebrity as far as he is concerned, so he was so excited to go visit her office and have her pull his first tooth and put it in a special little tooth necklace for him (see picture). Mimi offered, I offered, but he held out for Mrs. Weed. Note that Clint did NOT offer... he does not do loose teeth... he does vomit, but not loose teeth... sounds like a trade off to me! :-)
So does anyone know what the going rate is for the tooth fairy visit these days? I have no idea! He has already made a sign to hang his window.



So cute! He was afraid she would not know that he had lost it today! Below are some pics... you will probably have to look closely, but you can see the tiny hole where the tooth was on the bottom. Then the next pic is him with his necklace on! Fun times!

More Birthday Pics

These pics go with the blog below.... the first 3 are from our celebration in Jacksboro with the Best family. Then the next few are from the shin-dig here....

Fun with Mimi and PawPaw.

The fan club awaits!!

Opening presents

Little Bry is ONE!!!!

I cannot believe that my baby is already one! Where has the time gone? I am really savoring each moment with him because I know it is my last time around. He is our "finale" as Clint would put it! He is just the sweetest baby on the planet... and I couldnot have asked for an easier 4th child!! We all love little Bry to pieces! He has brought so much joy to our family. I love to watch the boys interact withhim and see their faces light up when they see him. And he kicks, squeals, and goes nuts when he sees a brother! It is just priceless!
We celebrated his birthday (twice actually) once on his real birthday, New Years Eve with Clints family, and again with our friends and my family here today. Here are some of the fun pictures of the baseball party today. Blogger will not cooperate and let me finish uploading the rest, so I will try again tomorrow....

Happy First Birthday, Bryson Thomas!!

I'm all ready to go!
blowing out his candle
Checking it all out...
yeah, its yummy!
really yummy!
The fake grin!
With mommy and daddy
Happy Birthday, Blue Eyes!

Fowler Family Christmas

Here is the whole gang! I actually liked the pic better in color, but it was too big to upload in color, so here it is in b&w. Click on it to make it bigger.

Me, Casey, Mom, Dad, Josh, Jordan

Disclaimer: I know I look like a country/western singer with the huge hair, but it was really a gust of wind that blew it forward. I do have big hair, but not that big!!

MiMi and PawPaw with all 10 of their grandkids!

Our little Angels! Love this picture!!

My sweet Momma and Daddy... how cute are they?

Twas the night before Christmas....

.... and they could hardly go to sleep for all the excitement! This year was so much fun becasue they are all so into it all. We sprinkled reindeer food out on the lawn, left them some carrots on the porch, made the cookies with green sprinkles, set out the milk, left the note, hung the special key..... Micah was sure that we did not miss a thing... I LOVE playing Santa... it may just be my favorite part of Christmas.... the excitement and the anticipation in their innocent little eyes.... priceless!

Christmas Eve with Daddy

Here are the warm goodies the boys picked out for mommy.... because "pink is a girl color, and mommy is the only girl!"

Decorating cookies for Santa... hope he doesnt mind that the all licked their knives and double dipped! :-)

Carrots for the reindeer... and Cason's new Mater slippers from Mimi. He has not taken them off since he opened them up!

The special key to let Santa in since we do not have a chimney.

And for now... this "santa" is off to bed!

Christmas in the ER....

We spent the morning at the ER with little Bryson. Clint was loading the car in the pouring rain last night and he was carrying both Cason and Bryson. He got Cason into the car safely and about that time, Bryson rared back and the rain hit him in the face. It startled him and he kind jumped out of Clint's arms. And yes, he hit smack onto the wet asphalt. Ouch. He landed mostly on his shoulder so we werent really worried about a concussion, but we checked his head and his pupils, etc, and he seemed ok. He was kinda fussy that evening and didnt want to be messed with, but he went to bed early and slept fine and so we thought everything was good.... until this morning when he would not bear any weight on his left side to crawl or lift his arm up. Sure enough, it was a broken collar bone! Poor Baby! He is so pitiful looking in his little sling, but he is still trying to "limp-crawl" around because he cannot stand not to be a part of all the fun. He managed to open a few gifts at mimi and pawpaw's house as well as at home. He is still managing to get around and chase his new basketball! Besides the ER trip, we did have a wonderful Christmas eve... I will blog more about that soon, but for now, I had to past a picture of my pitiful little guy!