Easter and a Birthday Weekend

This weekend we crammed a lot of fun into 72 hours. My mom's birthday and Easter fell on the same day this year, so we thought this would be a good weekend to go to Dallas and be with my family for the holiday and celebrate.

My mom had no idea we were coming up, so she was completely shocked, surprised and very excited to see all of us. We left pretty early Friday morning since we were coming back to Houston on Sunday and we wanted to have as much time with Mimi and Papaw as possible.

Friday, we just hung around the house and the boys swam...

NO, their pool isn't heated.

And NO, it wasn't warm enough to swim in. The water was freezing, but the older boys really wanted to get in the pool, so we let them. Joseph seemed to enjoy it more than Christian. Christian would only stay in about 5 minutes and then have to get out.

Here he is testing it out to see if he really wants to take the plunge...

After grilling hamburgers for lunch, swimming and naps, we all loaded up and drove 3.3 miles to a house that belonged to a high school friend of mine. Her house was completely devastated by one of the tornadoes that hit the Royse City area last week. It was absolutely heartbreaking! They lost everything!

Saturday, my sister and I had arranged for the dad's to watch all the kids so the girls could all go get pedicures and take my mom to lunch. I cracked and took my little guy so Jeff wouldn't have to chase three around their house and worry about the pool. Nathan did great, so the outing was a success. After our pedis and lunch, we stopped by Target to get a few things and then I wanted to stop by and see my friend whose house was damaged. Her and her family are staying with her folks for the time being and they are right there in town, so I wanted to take advantage of that to see her and give her a huge hug. She told us about her experience and what she went through and I am so heart broken for her. I can't imagine going through what she did with my child and my husband on the phone having to hear it all. Please please pray for comfort, healing and peace for this family. They are such a sweet family!

Then Saturday evening, Stacey and Josh brought stuff to make fajitas. Josh grilled and pretty much prepared our entire dinner and it was amazing!!! I have never had that awesome of fajitas at home. He also made some awesome pico, and I am not the biggest fan of it, but I couldn't stop eating it! Simply wonderful!!! After dinner, we enjoyed some wonderful cake Josh and Stacey had ordered for my mom's birthday. We all sang to her and enjoyed the delicious cake and some ice cream.

But before all this wonderful food, we did a little Easter egg hunt for the boys. They seemed to have enjoyed it this year.

I thought Cooper did really well for one of his first hunts. I am pretty sure when my boys were this age, they would pick up the egg and open it right away to see what was in it or crying about something, so they ended up missing the entire egg hunt.

This is the cake Josh and Stacey ordered for my mom. It was so yummy, but the picture angle isn't that great. I didn't want to move it and take the risk of dropping it.And this brings us to Easter morning......It was a rough start for our little guy. After church I learned that he didn't eat much for breakfast and didn't drink any of his milk, so poor little guy was probably starving. However, for Joseph, he was his chirpy, morning self.

We learned this weekend that Christian likes to close his eyes while taking a picture. I seriously want to do a post called, "Phases of children in photos." Joseph just got out of this "goofy smile" phase, now Christian is going through it. When am I ever going to have a 'normal' family picture again?

Joseph playing air guitar and Christian, again, eyes closed.

And now, attempting a before church photo of the boys. As you can see, that isn't going to happen. (Nathan is in the photo phase of, 'if you make me stand next to him or do anything I don't want to, I am going to scream!')And.....now he's mad because he fell down and the sun's in his eyes. So that means, we're done.

Jeff found a branch with some thornes on it, so him and the boys started talking about the crown of thornes. There are always teachable moments. Love it!And now that Nathan had a nap at church and some lunch, he is a much happier baby. I would have tried to take more pictures of him since he was happy, but he was covered in his lunch. And no, Jeff and I are not in the photo phase of closing our eyes, it was just super bright and sunny.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Tball

One of my favorite memories from my childhood was playing organized sports. I first started playing soccer when I was five, then picked up softball and played both sports until I was in the sixth grade. I played soccer for one more season and then chose to pursue school sports. I started playing volleyball and basketball for my middle school when I was in the seventh grade. I loved playing sports so much and had a passion for it. I continued with volleyball and basketball through ninth grade and then my sophomore year, I decided volleyball was too "girly" for me (you know, the tight pants/swim suit bottoms and all the cheering) , so I continued with basketball and then that same year, my high school got a soccer team. I continued with those two sports all through high school and then decided to focus on basketball, so I committed to play for a small, local college for two years. After playing two years of ball, I transferred to Texas A&M, and I felt like my years of competing were over, so I decided to focus on academics and finding a mate ;-). However, while I was at Texas A&M, I played intramural sports: soccer, softball, indoor soccer, basketball and flag football, I just couldn't stop.

I love competing and the world of sports, so before we even had kids, Jeff and I would talk about what playing sports would look like for our children. I remember getting so excited about the day and thought that it would never come for our first born to start playing. We thought age 5 was about a good age to start getting Joseph involved and see what he would become interested in and pursue his desires.

Just for fun, here is a picture of me when I was 5, playing for my first soccer team, the Kickers.

And here is my 5 year old at his first coach pitch/tball game.After talking with different parents about the different leagues and organizations they have here, we decided on a program called i9. We weren't interested in a program that was going to be all out, intense, "were in this to win it!" environment. We really wanted this to be a nice, positive introduction to the game, learn the rules, get a feel for what organized sports was about, and have a great time. One of the things that we love about this particular program is that the practices and games are all on Saturday morning. We didn't want Joseph to hate baseball and here we were going to two practices a week and games all weekend. We thought that might be a little miserable...for everyone involved. So this past Saturday morning, we all loaded up and headed to the field and watched and cheered for our little guy.

I was really nervous that he wouldn't even want to participate because he is my supersupersuperSUPER DUPER shy, timid child. The night before, we took all his equipment and went to the field where he was going to play. Joseph always does better if he knows what to expect. We prayed for him Friday night that he wouldn't be scared or afraid and then prayed again Saturday morning. We had a few whinny moments, but after talking to him, he really got it together and participated well.

We were so proud of him and we are looking forward to watching him blossom in the next six games.

We love you Joseph!

Rodeo 2012

It was that time of year again....a few weeks ago. It's taken me a while to sit down and post these pictures.

The Houston Rodeo was going on and my boys were blessed by their Marnie and Poppy with two, fun filled nights at the Rodeo. It was exciting this year because Christian was old enough to go and Joseph has been the last two years, so this is something he looks forward to all year. We feel so blessed have grandparents near by to bless our boys with these adventures and memories. They take them to the fair and let them ride rides and then they end the night with front row seats to the Rodeo and tons of yummy treats.

Here on some snapshots of my lil' cowboys (before going to the rodeo).

This is Christian's way of saying, "For the love....stop taking my picture!"

Thank you Marnie and Poppy for a wonderful year at the Rodeo!

Why?

I debated whether or not to put any dialogue with this post, because I thought the title pretty much summed it up, but some of the pictures I thought I may need to explain.

I am just going to go ahead and say it; KIDS ARE WEIRD! The things they do sometimes leave me scratching my head and thinking, "Why?" Rather than asking the children to explain themselves, I just go along with the flow.

For instance......

Why isn't when we get out the markers, you have to give yourself tattoos?

Why is it that you insist on wearing sleeveless shirts when is a rare 30 degrees outside?

Why is it that when we let you play with dry noodles, you go to the pantry, close the door and empty about 6 bottles of spices?

Again, with the noodles.

Why is it when we say it's okay to play with one pot, you get every single one out?

Why do you feel like you need empty an entirely new Ranch dressing bottle on a single salad?

Why is playing and pulling books from the bookshelf more fun than playing in your room with all your toys?

Why is it when there is a puddle, you MUST get in it?

WHY?

Spring has Sprung

....Well, not technically, but it has been a rather unusual winter here in Houston. I am really dreading what our summer is going to be like if our winter has been this warm. We haven't really put up the shorts, shirts and flip flops this season, which is sorta nice, but I really did miss our cold winter. Even though it isn't technically spring yet, it sure does seem like it with....

the amounts of rain and green grass...

Flowers that my boys are picking for me on our walks...

Toads that are being caught and manhandled. Here, Nathan is being introduced to his first toad of the season...

The poor toads and lizards around here...

Here the boys are building a fort for their first toad of the season. Nathan got in on the action...

Joseph trying to find a hole to slip his little toad in...

See if you can find the toad that is trying to make his attempt to get the heck outta there...

Oh no! He might be getting away...

Goodnight, look at those giant feet going after the poor toad...

Oh, so close. The toad sure is making Joseph work...

Joseph eventually captured the toad, but was sweet to let him go. It won't be long before we get another one, and another, and another and another, and ........

Happy Early Spring!