My Sweetheart

These last few days, with Bryant not feeling so well, I have noticed what an excellent little boy Tres is becoming! He is sweet, polite, pleasant. He has his moments when it comes to sharing, eating good-for-you foods, etc. But I just wanted to brag a little on my sweetheart, Tres. He gives me hugs and kisses. He is learning so much and growing up so fast. I wish I could hit the pause button right now so I can enjoy this level of toddler-hood for a while longer! What a precious little boy! 

Sleep? Who needs sleep, anyway...

I am counting down the hours until Monday when Bryant will get his tubes put in. He is a very uncomfortable baby right now. He hurts and nothing we can do seems to eliminate all his pain. He has to be absolutly exhausted before he finally goes to sleep and that is not like him! He likes to sleep. We've had several rough nights with him. He just wants to be laying on one of us and that makes it hard for us to get the rest we need. I think I may have to schedule myself a little nap sometime today! Can I please have the happy baby pictured above back?  

Just a Thought

My life is exactly what I never knew that I wanted or needed! Thank you God for being SOOOO faithful to me. Even when my back was turned You gently guided and protected. Even when I was at my worst... You were at Your best. Thank you for my husband. Thank you for Tres. Thank you for Bryant. Thank you for our home. Thank you for financial freedom. Thank you for 'el. Thank you for our families. Thank you for our salvation! I love you God!

Tube Time... Again!

Lord, help us please! We have been having a rough couple of days with Bryant. He had tubes put in his ears about a year ago, when he was 4 months old. They both fell out last month... and since then, he has had ear infection, after ear infection, after DOUBLE ear infection. God love him! I can NOT stand it when he doesn't feel well and nothing I can do helps him! I rotated giving him Tylenol and Motrin... I put ear numbing drops in his ears... I hold him... I sing to him... I rock him... I try to distract him with toys or ice cream... but nothing seems to work. I hate that feeling.
Hank called in sick today (our kids are the reason we even use our sick days most times!) and took him to see his pediatrician. Our pediatrician told us to take him directly to the ENT that put his tubes in orginally. So right now it looks like we may be in for another round of tubes.
I don't mind that, because before the tubes fell out, we had zero problems. I just hate seeing my baby in pain.
Besides that, it just means A LOT less sleep for me when he's upset. I can handle it, but it sure would be nice to get a little more shut eye lately!

The Living Recorder

Watch your mouth mommy! I tell you what, I have a parrot that rides around with me every day. He is 2 1/2 years old and his name is Tres! No conversation is safe... no phrase uttered is secret... no sound made sacred. He is a living recording machine. We went to Wal-mart yesterday, and I was talking to my mom about the guys that work with us. I said that one of our guys was just a helper and not able to make a major repair yet. Tres says in the backseat "He is just a helper, mom."

He is also Mr. Factual lately. He will show me a train from his Thomas collection and say. "This is Mavis. She is black. Her has wheels." And all I can say is thank you for the information!

Frankenstein Lives!

Bryant is walking now more than he crawls. In fact he only crawls now if he falls from walking and is still in a hurry to get somewhere. So we get to laugh at what I call the Frankenstein walk all the time now! He is so super cute! Is it possible to fall in love everyday? Cause that is the way I feel about my kids! 

Photo Session

What an experience! I am so glad I'm not a model. Keri models some on the side (in fact, you can see her in the upcoming issue of Cooking Light! Go Keri!), so she knows how to look, where to look, what to do, etc. The rest of us were feeling a little silly. We went to Buck Creek Park in Alabaster after church. All of our husbands came and most of our kids. My mom came for a while and then took Bryant home with her to put him down for a nap. A friend of ours, Kelly Lynard came and took some pictures for us (she is really good!). Hank and my mom were also taking pictures. So we had a BUNCH of pictures to choose from when it was all said and done. We chose to do 3 different outfits. A dressy sort-of church look. A capri pant/top. And white shirts with jeans. That was fun. Some of us even changed out hair for the different looks. We laughed a lot! It was fun, but for the most part, I felt out of my element! Keri was great... she kept giving us tips and stuff.

"God made us sisters..."

Okay... so this is NOT a good one, but I laughed and laughed when I saw this one. Tonnie, do you remember those T-shirts that mom made for us with "God made us sisters; hearts have made us friends" airbrushed on them? Please direct your attention to mine and Tonnie's facial expressions. You can SO tell we are sisters! 

The Electric Slide

" 

I'm not crazy about the full body shots but it's not as bad as I thought it would be, so I will be content with whatever is chosen! 

We went with a casual look for this one. I love the contrast between the green background and the white shirts! 

'el

From left to right: Kelly O'Brien, Jamie Boemer (me!), Keri Campbell, Tonnie Glover (my sister)
Here is one of the photos from our time at the park! We had a really good time! We did 3 different outfits and kept moving around Buck Creek Park to find good locations.  

We took Bryant to the park with us when we took promotional pictures. He loves the slide! 

The Chubby One...

Okay... I know you all may not believe me, but I have waited until the last possible minute to freak out about our promotional pictures! Our group, 'el, is having a phot session to take a whole bunch of pictures for our website (I will post the web address later... right now nothing much to see!), for posters for upcoming events, etc. Here I am standing next to some pretty amazingly skinny ladies! And I am undoubtably going to be known as the chubby one. So I have to make some SERIOUS lifestyle adjustments. It starts right here... right now... this very minute. Here are the changes I am starting with:

1- Water only-- NO SODA
2- Extremely limited bread intake
3- 20 minutes of exercize at least 3 days a week (I would like to say more, but I'm trying to be realistic and do things time and my lifestyle will allow)
4- Avoid Desserts!!
5- Eat more salads

Now, I may not be perfect at following these rules, but I am going to try to be! Thank you God for willpower. I am not looking for a miracle weight loss plan. I need a lifestyle change. I want to teach my kids good habits like fruit and veggies. Thank you God for helping me!

Boogie Fever!

Bryant is such a sweet, loving, handsome little guy! One of my favorite things he does is any time music comes on, he gets his groove on!
He doesn't just bounce up and down... no, no, no. He uses his head... he sways his little head from side to side to side. And grins the whole time! He and Tres had a time last night dancing in front of Blues Clues. It was like a Toddler Dance Fest!

Mother's Day Ideas!

I need some ideas for Mother's Day gifts for my mom and Hank's! Any ideas out there? I've done flowers for my mother-in-law for the past couple of years, but I wanted to do something a little more! If you have a good idea, feel free to pass it my way!

Want to remember...

Tres says a lot of funny things, but I want to remember one of them especially.
Instead of 'how about' he says 'he bout.' For example... "He bout this one, Mom?" "He bout we go outside now."
He is also informing me quite frequently that he is not my 'baby.' He is my 'big boy.'

Thomas Day Out

We took our little family to the Railroad Museum in Calera (not far from where we live) to participate in Thomas Day Out this past Sunday. Tres was so excited! He and Hank even took a little field trip over on the previous Friday night to see if they could catch a glimpse of Thomas! Anyway, we had a really good time. It was hot and crowded, but they had plenty of fun things for the kids to do! They had a huge sand box set up under a tent. They had a fake tatoo tent. They had some musicians. They had food and souvenirs. It was a really nice set-up! We took our train ride and then headed over to check out the souvenirs. The boys played while we looked around. Tres had told us he wanted a balloon. So Hank went and bought the last one that was shaped like Thomas. As soon as he took it over to Tres, he tied it to his wrist. Tres somehow got it off and let it go, so it went up to the top of the tent. Tres was so disappointed! And Hank was upset cause the thing cost $6 (can you believe that?). Anyway, the tent manager, went and got one of the smaller round balloons, and put some tape on it, and gave it a long tail. He sent it up and after about 20 minutes of fishing around the top of the tent, he pulled it back! Everyone clapped. What a relief, let me tell you! I was so happy that we didn't have to listen to Tres go on and on about loosing his balloon. When we got home, Tres took his balloon into Bryant's room and got it wrapped up around his ceiling fan. So we once again had to rescue it. But what was funny was when we gave it back to him that final time, he ran into his room, grabbed a lunchbox off of his dresser and tied the string to it! Can you believe that! Now, he has it sitting in his window and makes me tell him the story of the balloon every night!

The infamous balloon and one grumpy, tired munchkin! 

Once the train ride was over, we headed to the souvenir tent. They had a Thomas set ready to keep kids occupied. My guys love it! 

Bryant enjoyed riding where he didn't have to be strapped down! 

And away we go! They loved watching everything go by in the window! 

Excitedly waiting for our adventure to begin! Bryant liked the ride pretty well as long as we let him have some Pepsi every now and then! 

Tres was thrilled with everything! From getting his ticket... to handing it to the conductor! 

Tres was so excited to see Thomas and ride on one of his cars! He had not been playing much with Thomas until this past Sunday! 

Hank and Bryant hanging out in front of one of the Pennsylvania cars. 

This past Sunday we took a family outing to the Railroad Museum in Calera to participate in "Thomas Day Out."  

My Pal

Tres and Bryant are becoming your typical brothers these days. They play great together for a while.... then one or the other decides he wants what the other has. They do a sort of wrestling ritual on the floor nightly, and it usually ends with Bryant upset or pulling Tres's hair!
You should have seen Tres when he and Hank came home from Disney. I had cooked them all supper since they had been eating nothing but junk and take-out for over a week. I was holding Bryant and feeding him. Tres was already done and standing at my knee. He stood there for about 10 minutes asking "Is he done? Can Bryant get down and play? Is he done yet?" It was really sweet!
They mimick each other constantly! They shake their heads or copy noises. Sometimes it's annoying, but mostly it's cute and funny.
For some reason, Tres calls his little brother Bryant Boemer all the time... not Bryant or brother... but Bryant Boemer.
Yesterday, we were riding home from work and Tres and Bryant were in the back. I see them 'talking' to each other. So I turn down the radio and listen.

"You're my pal," Tres says, and reaches across to take Bryant's hand.
Bryant laughs and pulls his hand away.
"No, you ARE my pal," he tries again.
"Duh," Bryant chimes.
"Who's your pal, Tres?" I interject.
"He is, Momma," Tres says as he points to Bryant. "Bryant Boemer is my pal."

I hope that is always true! I grew up with my sibling as my best friend and feel so blessed. Not only do I have a sister, but an awesome, God-given, praying, encouraging, word of God speaking friend.

This is such a good picture of Hank and Tres! This is the Buzz Lightyear Space Spin... the ride they seemed to ride endlessly!  

Bryant went with us to District Council this morning! He had fun on the ride in practicing with us! Every time we opened out mouth to sing he did too! 

Today, our singing group 'el, sang at the 90th Annual District Council. We sang 2 songs. "Almighty" by Christ for the Nations, and "Breath on Me," from Natalie Grant's new praise and worship CD. It went really well! I would say our first public ministry opportunity was very positive. We also handed out several cards with contact information on it! How cool! 

Tres LOVED the Buzz Lightyear Spin ride. Hank says they rode this one about 15-20 times! Can you believe it! 

I think this picture was taken at the Polynesian Resort where the Boemer family staid during their Disney adventure. Doesn't Tres look so grown up? Where did my baby go? 

Hank and Tres made it back late Saturday afternoon from Disney! Here is Tres 'driving' a car on a ride at Disney. 

Quiet Time?

I have to admit, before Hank and Tres left for Disney I was excited about having some quiet/down time. But I am changing my mind! Once Bryant goes to bed at 7... I am one lonely camper at home. My house is clean. I have re-arranged Tres's room as a surprise for when they come home. I have gone through toys and clothes, taken stuff to Good Will. Replaced our area rug... bought a new lamp for the den to replace the one Bryant broke a couple of months ago. Changed all the sheets in the house... dusted blinds.... mopped floors... given away things that I consider clutter in my home. You name it! I think these are things that have needed to get done, but I miss my usually noisy little house. I haven't told Hank about all the changes I've made to our home, so I am excited to see his reaction. Plus, I don't think our home has been this thoroughly clean since before Tres was born!!

Oh, and I have a very difficult time going to sleep at night without my husband beside me! Again, I mistaken thought it would be nice to have the bed all to myself. I was wrong! I miss my husband! I guess the old saying is true... Absense makes the heart grow fonder.

I can't even have a cute conversation with Tres without getting teary-eyed! He told me last night that he was watching the fireworks 'work'!

Here is a picture of Tres hugging Pluto at Disney. He is having a blast. Once he got past the first day of fear with the characters, he had been doing great with them!