Trunk or Treat

We had a great time at Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night at church. Brooks has been looking forward to dressing up in his costume for awhile. Brent even got into the spirit with a costume this year too. Brooks was a rocket (his choosing), and Reese was a bunny rabbit. The neat part about Reese's costume was that I wore it when I was little. Mom replaced the pink bow on the front with a white one. That was really special. It was a great time to get together with all our friends.

Really?!

We went to A.C. Moore after church today so that we could get some last minute items to finish the Halloween costumes. Brent went up to the cashier and asked her if they had any velcro. The girl looked back at him and said...."What is velcro?" I mean are you kidding me?

Football Fun!

We had Mark and Leah and the kids over today to watch the Georgia football game. We had such a great time together. Brent and I can't stop talking about how good all of the children were today. They played for a couple of hours without us even checking on them. What fun! It is always nice to get together with friends. Like Brent said, It is nice to have some adult conversation! It was even nicer that Georgia one. (Don't worry, I haven't abandoned my Tigers!)

This is a picture of Marley and Reese -our two youngest Georgia fans! How sweet!

Officially Old

I guess no one told me that when you turn 30, you are officially old.

Today at work, I asked another co-worker a question and she said, "Yes Ma'am." She wasn't being cute, she was really saying that to me as if I am her elder.

Let's just say, that made me feel weird....

The kids are listening...

Last night on the way home from church, we were listening to the Kidstuff channel on the satelite radio. It plays a lot of Wiggles, Dan Zanes, etc. One of their promos came on and at the end of it said, "Kidstuff!" Right after that Brooks said, "Sirius 116" (which is the channel number). I didn't know that he listened and paid attention that closely to the channel. It made me realize that he listens and pays attention to a lot more than I give him credit for. Have I watched something lately on TV that little eyes should not see? Have I listened to something on the radio that little ears should not hear? I am going to make every effort to try and be the best example to my children on their journey through childhood, knowing that I will need God's help along the way.

Titus 2:7 "In everything set them and example by doing what is good...."

Welcome Home Brooks!

Brooks came home today! I was so glad to see him. He had a few stories to tell about his trip. Melany said that he was really good. Reese has been pretty good since he left. I have decided that Reese just needed a break from Brooks and maybe some one on one time. He has been a different child since Brooks was gone. I am anxious to see how they will interact together since Brooks is home. Here is picture I snapped of Brooks. ( I think he takes after his Dad!)

Brent is going to be gone until Friday so pray for my sanity!

Poor Baby!

Reese has been really sweet the past few days. Brent and I have decided that Brooks not being here has helped. That sounds bad so let me explain. We don't think that Brooks is the cause of Reese acting badly, it just seems that they are not competing at everything- including attention. I talked to Brooks on the phone and he is having a good time which makes me happy.

I worked from home today, which is tough with a little one. He has been really good though. Here is a picture of Reese at lunch time today. Poor Baby. Please notice that he hasn't let go of his food!

Nice Weekend

We have had a nice weekend so far. Brooks left yesterday morning to go with Brent's parents to see the cousins. Brent's brother has two children. Kelly is 13? and Brynn is 9 I think? Brooks loves playing with Brynn. I told Brooks yesterday before he left that Brynn used to have Thomas the Tank engine toys and he was excited to see if he still had them. Brooks has helped me write a Christmas list for Santa and all that is on it is Thomas things and Disney Cars things. That is the same things he wanted for Christmas last year.

Anyway, Brooks will be back on Tuesday and I already miss him. Reese was looking for him last night. Reese has gotten to enjoy playing by himself. We dumped the toys out of the playpen for him and that kept him occupied for awhile.

Today I have to make food to take to our Care Group get together after church. What to bring, what to bring???

Flu Shots

It is quite nice to have a mother-in-law that works at a hospital. Melany told me Tuesday that she had ordered some flu shots for the boys. She took them today to the ER (where she works) and got two of the other nurses to give them their shots. Brooks is a child that has to plan, so he had already decided who was going to give him his, and who was going to give the shot to Reese.
Brooks seems to have a really high pain tolerance. Even as a little baby, he didn't usually cry when he got shots. (Now don't wander off in this story and think that I have it made...) Reese on the other hand is like most normal children and screams bloody murder. Melany said that when she held Reese down for his shot, he seemed to be madder at her about holding him down than getting the shot. I appreciate her doing that for me. Now she gets to look forward to taking Reese back next month to get the other half of his dose. What fun.

On a different note, I was getting on to Reese tonight at supper, about throwing his sippy cup on the floor. After I told him, "No, No!", he pointed at me and said "No, No." Oh no! He is not a baby anymore. I firmly believe he is entering the terrible twos even though he is 14 months old. He likes to fall in the floor and throw a fit if he doesn't get his way. He likes to play and plunder through everything in our house except his own toys. He likes to hit Brooks all the time. I am sure that is normal.
I try to think about the advise that my mom gave me a long time ago. She said that Granny would tell her that she could do anything anybody else could do. For example, you don't have to go climb Mt. Everest, you just have to make it through the day with a 14 month old. You can apply that to any aspect of your life, (job, family, etc). I know that many, even some who will read this, have successfully raised strong willed children, and so can I. Let's just pray that I haven't pulled out all my hair by the time he really turns 2.

It is my fault...

I shouldn't have laid my diamond earrings on the end table. (Let that be said first.)
Now fast forward to this morning. I forgot to pick them up before I left for work. I called Brent to see if he could get them off the end table so Reese wouldn't get them. He said they weren't there! He checked on top of the jewelry box too, just to make sure I hadn't forgotten that I put them there. NO EARRINGS!
I called him back after about 15 minutes and he said that him and Brooks had been looking for them but still...NO EARRINGS! Surely Reese hadn't eatten them? I am like 99% sure that Reese wouldn't eat them. Usually, if he puts something in his mouth that shouldn't be there, (like a leaf or something) he pulls it back out and brings it to us.
So, I called mom (who would be keeping the boys today) to let her know. She told me that she would keep Reese's poopy diapers for me so I could go through them. WHAT FUN! (It ended up that he didn't poop at her house today.)
I got home with the boys after work and immediately found one of the earrings in the floor of our bedroom. That gave me confidence to think he hadn't eatten the other one. I searched and searched for the other one and finally gave up. I figured it would turn up one day. A few minutes later I gave Reese a cup of water that didn't have a valve in it. (Second mistake in this story.) I didn't know that he would take it in our bedroom and shake it and let it go all over him and all over the floor. As I am getting on to him and putting a towel on the floor to soak up the mess, there is the second earring next to the door facing! How could I get on to him after that? His mess is what let me find the other earring. Horray for sippy cups with no valves - Woo Hoo!

Great Day

Some of you may not know that today is my birthday. One of my good friends from high-school mentioned me in her blog today, and I felt honored. Another of my oldest friends came to my work today and brought me flowers. She also gave me a card that read:

We are friends for life.
When we're together the years fall away.
Isn't that what matters?
To have someone who can remember with you?
To have someone who remembers
How far you've come?

I thought that was super sweet. So this blog is for them.

Isn't it good to have friends? Old friends that you can just tell anything to? Old friends that you may have not kept in touch with, but you feel like you picked up right where you left off? New friends that have touched your life in ways that they may never know.

"If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" Ecclesiastes 4:10

My Man Blog

Kristin tagged me to answer questions about “my man”. After I did this, I realized it was kinda fun.
· 1. Who is my man? Brent
· 2. How long have we been together? We’ve been married 8 years and together 2 before that.
· 3. How long did we date? We dated for 1 year, and then we were engaged for 9 months.
· 4. How old is he? 32
· 5. Who eats more? Depends
· 6. Who said "I love you" first? I honestly can’t remember, I think it was me.
· 7. Who is taller? He is.
· 8. Who sings better? We both sing just about average.
· 9. Who is smarter? He is. He is one of those people that didn’t have to study in college.
· 10. Who has more of a temper? We probably have about the same temper, but mine comes out faster.
· 11. Who does the laundry? He does more of it than I do.
· 12. Who takes out the trash? He and Brooks do every Monday night.
· 13. Who has sharper computer skills? He does. One of his majors in college was computer information systems. (I have to say I am not too bad with a computer.)
· 14. Who sleeps on the right side? I do. Unless we are traveling and then I sleep on the side closest to the air conditioner.
· 15. Who pays bills? We both do. We have separate accounts, so he has his bills and I have mine.
· 16. Who mows the lawn? He does.
· 17. Who cooks? Mainly I do, but that is just because I get home before he does. He is actually a better cook than me.
· 18. Who drives when we are together? Whoever puts the child in the car on the driver’s side. Isn’t that funny? We have never discussed the fact that we do that though.
· 19. Who pays when we are out together? I do. That is one of “my bills” is all eating out and groceries.
· 20. Who is more stubborn? I am.
· 21. Who is first to admit it when they are wrong? I am.
· 22. Who asked out who? Hard question. We started hanging out together with some other people to play cards at night during the summer in college. We went to a wedding of some other college friends together, that was our first official date. With us, it just slowly progressed from a friendship into a relationship.
· 23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me on our first “official” date!
· 24. Who is more sensitive? I am.
· 25. Who has more friends? Probably him. I think that comes from his days working in Admissions at Faulkner. Also, he is a very likable person.
· 26. Who has more siblings? He did. He has one brother and he had a sister that died. I have one sister.
· 27. Who wears the pants? We both do.

Kristin, thanks for tagging me. It was fun. I also saw that Kristi had done this same one. I think it is catching on.

Paces

This picture is not eye catching but there is a story behind it I had to share. Brent and I were at Arlington National Cemetery. We were at Arlington House and were trying to figure out how to get to JFK’s gravesite from there. We decided to ask a national parks service employee. He walked over to this chain railing, unhooked it, and said “Follow me 10 paces.” Brent and I looked at each other with that look that you know what the other one is thinking. I mean who says 10 paces? Why not “follow me” or “come this way”? Anyway, we walked out past the rail and he pointed down this hill and said that was where we were trying to get to. We could not see it if we had not gone past the railing. So, it was really nice of him to do that, and I got to snap a picture that I couldn’t have gotten otherwise. We followed a path down to the gravesite. My only complaint is that it felt like it was 1000 paces to get there. :)

New PJs

I had to share this photo of Brooks. It makes him look so young! Thanks Ibu for the new pajamas. He absolutely loves them.

Home again, Home again

We are home now. It was such a nice trip! We went to the Museum of Natural History yesterday morning and then met my cousing Melinda for lunch. Then, because she works for Texas Senator Hutchison, we got to go on a tour of the Capitol with some other people from Texas. It was all really interesting. Did you know that a lot of the inside of the capitol is hand painted with these elaborate murals? It is all very unbelievable.
Needless to say, we feel like we have seen it and done it all. I am going to post some pictures from the trip.....

Fall in the middle of everyone

Today was great. We went to the National Air and Space museum, and then went to the Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust museum was somber and a little emotionally draining but well worth it. After that, we were just walking around, and I fell down on the side walk. My palms are both skinned up, and my dignity is shot, but other than that I am ok. It was so embarrasing. Tomorrow we are going to meet my cousin for lunch and then tour the capitol. She works for Senator Hutchison's office from Texas. (Isn't it nice to have connections?)
On another note, Reese has been sick since we left and I can't wait to see him. Brooks is doing well according to mom. I can't to get my hands on both of them. :)

Arlington Cemetery

We went to Arlington Cemetery and saw President Kennedy's gravesite, and then we also saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was amazing. Because that took so long, we decided to take a night tour of the city. It was just as amazing as the first tour we went on. Tomorrow we are planning on going to the National Air and Space museum, and then to the Holocaust museum.
I am already planning when I can come back, and who I can bring back with me!

Tour in DC

Can I just say that today was the greatest. You name it, we saw it in Washington DC. We took a tour of the city (6 hours). It was a tour that let you get on and off the bus. It was also nice because we only had like 15 people on the bus. The greatest part of the day was when we went to the WWII memorial. There were veterans all over the place. There was one only gentleman in particular that was in a wheelchair sitting there. He had the biggest smile on his face and his family all around him was crying.
After seeing all of the other war memorials, you just understand more what these men went through to keep this country free. I saw one lady there with her grandad, and she had a shirt on that said, "If you can read this thank at teacher. If you can read this in english, thank a soldier. I had never seen that before.
All in all, it was a great day. We even saw the Capitol and the White House. Tomorrow after church we plan on going to Arlington National Cemetery and then to the National Air and Space Museum. We will see if our plans work out!......
Oh, and I can't get our camera to sync up with the computer, so I will post the pictures when we get back.

Off to DC

No pictures today because Brent and I are leaving in a little while to go to Atlanta and then fly to Washington DC. I am so excited!! Everyone that Brent has talked to says that we will be overwhelmed with all the things there are to see and do. I have never done anything like this! I think it will be great to get to see the sites that I have always just seen in movies. Hopefully I will be able to post some while we are there, but we will see how that works out.