Spring Break

3 weeks till Spring Break. Hard to believe that Spring could be right around the corner with as cold as the days are sometimes. I am ready for it though. I love when we can play outside. Last year the boys and I decided to go to as many different parks as we could find in town. I didn't realize how many there were in town. But this year we have to finish visiting them all. I know of atleast one that we still need to go to.

Bday with my family

I am thankful that Kelly and Mom are watching the boys for us tonight so we can have a date night. The boys are very excited and so are we! Dinner at Outback. I haven't eaten there since Mom's bday last April. Yum! We are on our way out the door to meet them for lunch and drop the boys off. Thanks Mom and Kelly!

Deals

The kids are screaming at the tv because they are playing the wii. It is so funny to see them play those games. They are playing Carnival games now. They had it at Big Lots for 18.88. We also got the Legos Indiana Jones Wii game for the same price. It is normally $50 at Walmart and Gamestop. (we just went this week) I love a good deal.

I also found this suit brand new with tags at a consignment store. A friend told me that they sell them there so we went today. He looks so handsome!

Sister love

I am so thankful for my dinner with my sister tonight. I am very lucky to have two sisters and a brother. And I am thankful that my hubby watched the kids while we had dinner. The kids were so happy to see Aunt Kelly when we got home. Blake was disappointed that she was only spending ONE night instead of two!

Our Olympics

The kids and I decided to have our own Olympics (since they are on tv now). This is a picture of them seeing who could win the "standing on one leg the longest". It was funny to see what contests they would come up with.

A look back to last year

Today I volunteered at Michael's school to help with the Kindergarten testing. It brought back so many memories of him testing last year. Wow, it is really amazing to remember how much he has grown since then. I remember thinking how I hoped he didn't act shy to them and how I hoped he showed them how smart he was. And now, you would NEVER think of him being shy. He likes to show off now! I am so proud of him. I am proud of his ability to play the piano, how smart he is, how he prays when an ambulance drives by automatically. I am proud of how he is everyone's friend. How he is laid back and gets along with everyone. I am proud of how he says "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am". I am proud of him because he is such a good boy. He always talks about how much he loves his family and how they are more important then anything else. I am proud that I am his mom.

After helping at the testing, I went to his gym class to take pictures of all the kids for the scrapbook. I love how the kids will run up and hug me or say hi to me. The teachers there are all great. The gym teacher let me stay in there the whole class and take pictures! How lucky we are to have him at this school.

(the pictures are of him at Preschool graduation last yr and then today)

Star Wars

This picture was taken of Michael (age 6) with all of his Star Wars stuff. We are going to scrapbook a Star Wars page. Some of the characters and the ship were Brian's when he was a kid. I think that is so cool.

My Bday

What a great day! I have always felt that a birthday should be a big deal. Not in a BIG way like you get a bunch of gifts but in a "thank God for another birthday" kind of way. Where we smile ALL day because of the gift of today. But the rest of my day was an added bonus. How lucky am I that my father in law kept the kids till 5? I can't remember the last time I sat down and watched tv like I got to today (unless it was a movie or cartoons with the kids). And how lucky am I that my husband cooked filet, my fav potatoes, and a chocolate pie? And how lucky am I that my two boys will sing Happy Birthday to me while I blow out a candle on my chocolate pie? I sure am grateful for the gift of today, my family, my friends, and my chocolate pie!

A Beautiful Saturday in February

Finally a pretty sunny day in Feb. Michael had baseball tryouts. Then we took the boys on the boat. The river was so pretty! Then we went to Grandpa's to roast marshmellows and sausage. What a good family day! How lucky am I!

Today we had lunch with Michael at school. His friend and him saved Blake a seat between them. Blake felt pretty special today and I thought how sweet that Michael wanted his little brother to come eat with him.

Sun!

We finally had sun today! So the boys got to ride their bikes after school today. I can not wait till Spring. I love when we can go to the park after school all the time. It is good for them to run off some energy. Brian did alot of chopping wood today. I think we have enough for the next 2yrs. Bring on Spring and bring on roasting marshmellows over a fire!

Homework

I have more stories of the kids while we are in the car....SO funny! On the way home from church tonight, Michael was telling Blake that some day he would go to school with him. Blake said, "I don't want to go to your school. I don't want to do homework." hehehe!

I love the kids in their pajamas. I don't know if anyone noticed when I sent the pictures of Opryland Hotel, but in some of them the kids had their pj's on in them. Me and the boys had gone shopping for a postcard for Memaw and Pawpa and since they were already dressed for bed they decided to come with me in their pj's. After all, it is a hotel. A very large hotel with stores and such but still. I thought they looked so cute! There isnt as much cute boys clothes as their is girl clothes. I tend to lean towards pajamas in the cute department there. But if it was up to my boys, they'd wear pj's and costumes all day long. So sometimes they do!

The little things

Yesterday I was feeling a little crazy being behind on cutting the 100 coupons I had, putting them all in my coupon folders, doing the 8loads of laundry I had, doing the dishes in the sink, putting the kids pictures in their albums, and cleaning the house. So I asked my husband to cut coupons for me while he was watching tv. And you know what? He said yes. All of a sudden I didn't feel like I couldn't get it all done. I am thankful for my husband and the fact that he will clip coupons for me. Seems like a little, but sure felt like alot.

Our hotel night

We had the best time at Opryland Hotel this weekend. The four of us went swimming in their big indoor pool and we sat in their hottub that is outside. Then we had pizza and icecream. (Brian had Japanese) The boys and I went to a few shops looking for a postcard for Pawpa and Meemaw. Then we spent the rest of the night hanging out on the balcony of our garden room. We played Gormitis and Legos with the kids. Then when the kids went to bed Brian and I hung out on the balcony the rest of the night. What a view! Gorgeous! The kids loved it and we all had breakfast at IHOP on the way home. Happy Valentine's Day to all! Hope you had a good one.

Fun!

Today I am thankful we get to go to Opryland Hotel with the kids. I have always wanted to spend the night there. Brian got a free room there for us using his points from staying at hotels for work. We even got a garden room! The kids are going to swim in the pool and we will have dinner there and just walk around and have good family time!

Q and U wedding

Today Michael had a wedding at his school where the Q and U letters got married. It was pretty cute and he got to have his picture taken with the Q and U puppets after the ceremony. Then they had a reception that we decorated for and all the kids wore their Sunday best. We served little white cakes and gave the kids all ring candy. I am very grateful I am able to help in his class.

Tree cutting

I don't tell my husband enough how much I appreciate him. Today he cut down a couple trees in our front yard to allow me to be able to throw a baseball with my kids this Spring. I have been wanting him to cut them down since our whole front yard has trees and there isnt a good place to throw a ball in our front or back yard. He really likes these trees but today he cut them down and I am so happy thinking about getting to throw a baseball with the kids there now!

Home Sweet Home

I am happy my whole family is back in the same house again. The boys were so excited when we picked Brian up at the airport. I still remember Blake's sweet expression.



On the way to the airport Michael was telling me he wished he could be little again, but then he'd like to be an old man. Then he said he'd like to go to heaven but be able to come back . I asked him what he would do if he got to come back and he said ,"play videogames". So I said what would you do in heaven? And he said , "play videogames. They have everything there you can think of."

Take the time to just look

Today I made a point of taking the time to just look at Blake while we played. Watching his sweet facial expressions. Most of the time it seems like we are running from one thing to the next. Even though we have fun we dont always look around us like we should. Today I remembered to and I can still see his sweet expressions he made when he didn't know I was looking. Just like with this pictures....if you just looked really fast you wouldn't notice how the boys hands are touching!

Saying goodbye to Goldie

I will admit it. I didn't want Michael to win a fish at Winterfest at school this past weekend. It reminded me of when i was a kid and had goldfish and they died quickly and I cried . I didn't want his sweet heart going thru that. But he did win so we had two. Notice I said had. Now we have one. Sweet Michael wanted to bury it (even though I told him when i was a kid you flushed them down toilet) in our front yard and put a marker on it. He also said a prayer over it. OH MY! Talk about sweet. When we came inside his face was all red like he was upset about it. He had named him Goldie. We even had gotten him a pretty bowl with rocks and a plastic tree in it. The night he won it, we had to go to Walmart at 9pm to get it fish food. Michael said it might starve if we didn't. So we got there and I realized I didn't have my purse with me or any money. So him and I looked all thru the car untill we found $2 in change. And it cost 1.87. I was so thankfu! Michael even went up to the baby fish in the bowl that we still have (Silvery) and told it how sad he was that his mom died.

Today Blake told me that the fish was floating around (He didnt float around yesterday I guess since he was sad) and he was singing because he could see his mouth move! LOL!

Our Sunday

This morning before church, I heard Michael telling Blake, "Isn't it funny how sometimes it is so hard to say sorry?" And Blake said , "Yeah". Michael says, "It's because it's embarassing." I thought that was so funny that they woke up in such a nice mood to each other that they had this conversation after they both had said sorry a couple times to each other about things. (without me telling them to)

My sweet husband found a way where we could see him and talk to him on the computer webcam today and he got to see us. It was so cool. And thoughtful.

Scrapbooking

Michael scrapbooked with me tonight after our friends left. He is so cute how he tells me "something is missing". He shows me where to put pictures and he cuts the corners of the pictures, cuts the pictures down, puts stickers on, rearranges, gives advice, and glues. SO cute. I love that he does this with me and I will always treasure it.

Our new pet

Tonight I took the boys to Winterfest at Michael's school. It was a great family event. The boys had the best time. They had Twister, ring toss, jumpy things, cake walk, hair coloring, tattoos. All kinds of stuff. At the end of the night the boys played a game where you could win a goldfish if you hit the pingpong ball in the fish tank. Michael won two goldfish. So now we have two new pets. And this doesn't count the mouse living in our a/c vent right now.

Making valentines

Tonight the boys made around 70valentines with their friends Gaines and Grant from church. They are for some widows at church and 50 are for a nursing home they are going to take them to next week. The kids were pretty clever coming up with ideas on their own. We had a game plan for them but they kinda took the game plan and turned it into a different one! But they came out so cute.

Bedtime

On Wednesdays Blake has to take a nap at school. Normally he doesn't take naps. We quit doing this a while back because both kids quit being able to go to sleep at night if they took a nap. But when he goes to school he has to lay down because it's the rules. So right now its 930 and he just sighed REALLY loud in his bed. I had to contain myself from busting out laughing. Now granted I don't have the tv on and the house is quiet but he still sighed very loudly, I am sure with the intention of letting me know he is still awake and not liking it! Isn't it funny how when we are little we want to stay up and when we are big we want to go to bed?

Scared

Blake and I were laying in my bed reading a book tonight and the book was about a turtle being scared and finding out that his mom was scared too. So I asked Blake if he thought mommy was scared of anything and he said, "snakes, and us getting lost". Then I asked him if Daddy was scared of anything and he said, "snakes too." So then Michael came in the room and I asked him the same thing and he said Mommy was scared of "strangers, us getting lost, tigers, lions, snakes, getting hurt in a vehicle." Then he said , "Daddy is scared of tigers, lions, strangers, us getting killed, and airplanes, but not snakes." The things kids come up with in their heads! I wont tell you which of those things is really true! LOL!

Alien pizza

Last night the kids and I made an alien pizza with purple sauce and green crust. (Christmas gift from Grandma) Then we made and ate brownies! When Brian got done working we played wii bowling. But today it is back to the real world....so today I am thankful that it didn't take me 2 hrs to get to work in the ice . It was only 1 1/2 hrs. And I am thankful that I wasnt in a wreck. ( I passed by 2!) But I only have a broken windshield from the ice! See, we always can find the positive in the situations! : ) LOL! And now I am thankful that I get to go sit on the couch and cuddle with my kiddos!