Practicing What I Sing

Some might think that posting this is showing off. Well, if you know me, you know I'm not into that. This blog is about what is going on in my family's lives and this is what is going in my mine.

I'm learning to walk in faith. And I believe that God has been telling me and reminding me every day, every hour, and every minute that He has me.

So when I joined the church ensemble and was asked to sing this song, I knew the Lord was helping me learn to do this.



I honestly felt like I had a hold of the hem of God's robe this weekend and I haven't let go. Although some of God's lessons lately have not been easy, I'm up for it.

It's goot!

Pre-K Musical

Bryant's K-4 class had a musical program on his last day of school. The musical was about Noah and the Ark and all the kids wore rain jackets. I thought it was so cute... they interlaced telling the story with songs and when the music teacher was telling the story, the kids had cues to do motions and shout things out... it was so cute!



Some of you may even know this little diddy! Sing along, if you like. I just love how expressive Bryant is!

We all thought he did super good! Yeah, Bry!

The Next Michael Buble

An oldie... but a goodie! Some of you will remember this song from your children's church days.

I'm so sorry that this song will be stuck in your heads for the next few days, but I just couldn't resist posting this! Bryant love, love, loves to sing and he does it constantly. He does it consciously and unconsciously... hums, sings softly, sings loudly, sings funny, sings serious. And if he doesn't know the words, he comes up with his own. Tres will, I believe, make a fabulous back up singer as well!

A Tutorial From Sophie

Bryant's Day

So yesterday, Bryant declared the 'worst day evah!' We got to the doctor around 2 and my little brown eyed cutie fell asleep waiting on the doctor. I took a picture of him on my cell and sent it to daddy. He was awake one minute and asleep the next. We found out officially (cause I already knew) that he had a severe double ear infection. He has an appointment with an ENT in the morning to schedule tubes.

His ears were literally pouring and draining all day yesterday. It was nasty. He had to get a shot. I was so sad for him when he realized what was coming. He kept saying, 'Will the pointy thing go all the way in my knee?" All the while crying and saying he didn't want it. But about halfway home, he seemed to get his personality back and by that night was just grouchy from lack of sleep.

It was an early night, and thankfully, everyone slept peacefully. Here he is this morning as we prepared to head to his Thanksgiving Musical program. Notice the cotton in either ear. He couldn't hear all that well, but he did so good! I was super proud of him. He got up there and did all of his motions and sang all of the songs with a big smile on his face! This was my personal favorite... just a little warning for the turkey!

Bryant is on the second row from the bottom.
You should have seen all of us Mom's doing the motions in the audience! Funny stuff! Sophie thought it was great seeing her brother up on stage. But up until she saw him, nothing would distract her. She wanted down and she wanted to walk around!!Here's Miss Priss waving to Bry-Bry!Our very own Pilgrim.

After the show, we got to have some pie and visit with his teacher and some of his little friends.Bryant's teacher, Miss Mandy, is the best. She's so sweet and kind!

Seriously

I downloaded pics yesterday and they are nowhere to be found... and I deleted them off of my camera. Ugh! I lost the pics of Sarah's favorite things package! I am bummed about that. Maybe she'll take some when she gets it. I sent it last week, but seeing as she lives in Canada (I think it's cool that I have a new friend in Canada!), she may not get the end of this week or so.

I also lost pics of the kids decorating the tree. Although, I think Hank might have taken some on our video camera. Not sure. I hope I find them floating around the computer somewhere soon.

**UPDATE: My super handy husband found them for me!**

I have been super down lately. Not really sure why. I feel tired a lot and weary. I think it's just the rush to get all the Holiday stuff up and done before surgery time. I've also been having more pain lately than I'd care to admit. Thank you, Lord for an understanding husband!

I went to CVS the other day and did really good! No pic, though... remember... pictures are floating somewhere in computerville.

I need help making a new bow topper for my tree. Any volunteers?? Or maybe you guys know a good website I can visit?

We've had some major 'character building moments' with Tres and Bryant lately. Huge discussions, reinforcements, and punishments coupled with a lot of love to hopefully help us avoid stuff like this in the future. I mean, it's no fun helping Tres write this letter: Then he delivered it and apologized... not fun for any of us, but necessary.

Well, I thought I would leave you with a little bit of fun around our house! Under strict supervision, pizza box coasting down the front yard has become a favorite pasttime!

Mickey Can You Hear Us?

We will be in Disney tomorrow!

After we deposited both kids at school and Hank was at work, I spent the day literally running around our house packing, folding, checking things off our list for our trip. Then I got it all loaded in the van just in time to pick up Bry. Then I took care of finances and things.

We decided when we started planning this trip to make it a surprise for the kids.... and they are so excited and thrilled! We told them both when we picked up Tres from school.

So we'll be in the most magical place on Earth and not available to blog.

Just Say No To Drama Queens!

In the last week or so, we have noticed that our little princess has developed quite the dramatic flare! Whenever we tell her 'no,' she... well take a look and tell me what you think...


She's definitely not a wall flower! She sat like that until we quit telling her 'no.' Of course, we told her 'no' several times just to get her to do it for your viewing pleasure! Notice she's wearing a shirt that says 'Playpen Prima Donna.'

A Visit with Friends

Over the past football weekend, Hank's best friend from high school, Danny, came into town with his wife, Jackie, and their two kids, Morgan and Luke. Danny LOVES the University of Kentucky and was thrilled to come in and go to the UA vs. UK game, even though they got beat. The guys had a football filled time, and Jackie and I had a good time with the kids! We got Jackie's haircut, and visited the mall, then we came back home and dyed Jackie's hair and then when the guys got home, I took Jackie with me to introduce her to CVS. She was intrigued! Saving money intrigues everyone, huh? Here are a few pics from the weekend... of the kids of course.Here's Luke. He's 7 months and bigger than Sophie! He is a happy little boy and such a charmer!
And Morgan is the sweetest little thing! She has her own language. Sorry the video is turned sideways, I guess I just picked up the camera and hit record without thinking, but it's cute just the same! We get to see them again pretty soon, and I know it will be just as fun and chaotic! Good friends are hard to come by and we feel blessed that Danny and Jackie are in our lives.

One of the Last Firsts

We have been encouraging Ava Sophia to walk a lot lately, but she would just take 1, 2, or 3 steps then drop and crawl. I have noticed yesterday and today that she has been trying it on her own! So when I saw my little naked lady walking out of the corner of my eye while I was clipping coupons, I grabbed my handy-dandy camera and captured the milestone! I'm sad that this is the last time I'll see one of my babies take their first steps, but I'm excited that she is so pleased with herself!

She also points to her nose, eyes, and mouth (as well as anyone elses), and nods her head (also known as 'Bobblehead Sophie' at out house).

I am so enjoying my last baby... sweet baby girl!

Raised with Cameras

Our children are no strangers to cameras! All we have to do is hold the camera and we start getting poses!
We went with my in-laws to the Cracker Barrel today, and I had the camera out snapping a few pics (yeah, what else is new, huh?) and Soph started cheesin' for us.

Tee Ball, Ice Cream, & Soccer

Last night, Hank and I had to split up to cover both tee-ball and soccer. Bryant had his last scheduled game last night, and Tres had evaluations for soccer last night. Bryant's game got cancelled due to weather, and there will be no make-up game for this one... but we have one other game to make-up on Monday and his season will be complete! So we headed over to Chik-fil-A and let them run off a bit of energy there. Sophie was lovin' some ice cream...She was actually getting quite the attitude wanting to hold it herself (Thanks for that Aunt Tonnie!).


Tres was so excited about soccer! We let the boys choose one sport to play every year. And since Tres decided not to play tee ball, he decided on soccer. I think he has his heart set on goalie, but at this age there is no goalie. He was excited that his friend Caleb was there too!

It is so strange watching your children play something. You already know how to play it, and I feel myself wanting to silently transmit all my knowledge of the game to them, to make them the best they can be! We have big talks now about doing the best you can no matter what... even if someone else is better than you. You just keep practicing and working at it until you are.

In other family news, I think the new routine is starting to work. For the past 2 mornings, the boys have gotten up on their own before my alarm has gone off. Now, it's time to move bedtime back a half hour and wake them up a half hour earlier. I can't believe that next week I will have a kindergartener. I'm trying not to get emotional, but that's a little bit more difficult than I thought it would be.

Tonight, the boys' cousin Luke is coming over for a Back To School sleepover extravaganza. I think I'm gonna pick Luke up in the afternoon so we can still do fun stuff and get in bed early enough to not mess up all the hard work with the nighttime routine!

Bryant Playing T-Ball

He loves to try and jump into a pile of people. He might make a great football player someday!!!!!!



Bryant has a couple of more games, but we thought we'd let you guys see what you're missing!

Little Miss Independent

A couple of nights ago, I headed up the stairs to get the boys bathed and left Sophie downstairs with Hankie. I must have forgotten to put the gate up, cause a few minutes later, as I headed down the hall to grab some towels, I hear the unmistakable slap of baby palms on hardwood. I glanced down the stairs and a happy babbling Sophie was sitting on the landing holding her arms up to me. My heart dropped, but I was also strangely proud that she had accomplished something on her own... you know, without cracking her head open!! So we spent a little time applauding her accomplishment then promptly put the gate at the bottom of the stairs permanently. So if you come to our house and have to hop the gate... Sorry about that! I just care more about Ava Sophia's safety than your convenience!
The boys are her biggest cheerleaders! They just love seeing her do new things and are constantly listening for new words. And she seems lost if her cheering section isn't in place! :) Also, yesterday, I was paying bills at the computer and I hear her howling. She had crawled to the gate and was trying to climb it! I mean her little toes were stuck in the grid of the gate, but she couldn't get any higher. We are going to be in serious trouble in a few more months!!

Scooters, Motorcycles, and More!

With Hank looking into buying a scooter, we are having to make sure we cover all the basis. So we called up the place where we have our car insurance and asked them to work up some numbers on insuring a scooter. It's really not bad! I mean, even with a new payment (for the scooter), insurance fees, and gas for the month... it's still less than it cost to fill up our van 1 1/2 times! Isn't that crazy? So while the word 'scooter' may not conjure up the sexiest images... and may actually make you think of something a little more like this:
...I think it's super sexy that Hankie is willing to do this for our family! And while he drives the scooter, I will gladly scoot around town in our much more fuel efficient Camry!

"Honor They Father..."

Happy late Father's Day to all you dad's out there! I hope you ladies all spent some quality time honoring the father's in you life. My kid's and I had fun doing that this weekend! On Saturday, we sent Hank out of the house for a while with Sophie while the boys and I got his father's day stuff ready!Excuse her messy mouth... she recently discovered Doritos! :) Father and daughter took a trip to Lowe's and to get gold... I mean gas. While they were gone, we wrapped presents. And we filled out his card. The boys took finding the perfect Father's Day card extremely serious! They had me read about a hundred cards to them before we finally found and settled on this one! Then we made Hank's favorite dessert, chocolate covered ritz and peanut butter sandwiches.They took it very seriously! Especially when it came to licking the bowl!They even came up with a Father's Day song just for their daddy!
Then Dad came home, and we decided to go ahead and celebrate Father's Day since we knew Sunday would be full, and Hank had to work. I picked him out some plaid short and the boys picked out "Mighty Putty." I just want to say that whoever the marketing guy is who decided it was a good idea to plug in infomercials during cartoons is a genuis! My boys have been telling us for months that Daddy just needed Mighty Putty.... that it could fix almost anything. So when we passed by one of those As Seen On TV endcaps at Target and Tres spotted it, he about killed my eardrums yelling, "Mom!!! MIGHTY PUTTY!!!!" So that's what Dad got. He laughed when he unwrapped it, but my guess is that he'll find a why to use it! :)Here is my family on Father's Day morning! I have one good looking husband and kids! Hankie, I love you. You are an incredible Dad and I thank God every day for you. Thank you for playing legos when you didn't want to... for getting 'un-gettable' video games just because our kids REALLY want to play them... and making every weekend full of special and memorable moments.

9 months and growing

So Ava Sophia is 9 months old... or at least she was on May 8th! I was so busy with family vacation stuff, that I forgot to post all of her stats!!

Sophie went to the doctor and we found out that little bit is just that... a little bit! She weighs in at 14 lbs and 3 oz!! BBBUUUTTT... the doctor said that she is healthy and normal and once again used the phrase 'perfectly porportioned!' But all of Hank's side of the family is petite, so that's what we are thinking there.

She is crawling and has been for a while now. She crawls mostly on her arms and one leg. She pulls up on anything she can, and the other day started cruisin' a little! We installed a safety gate at the top of the stairs last night! Here's our little jailbird now! The boys love to sit on the other side of it and taunt her! She wants to be wherever we are, and if we put her down, she just follows us around. Otherwise, she doesn't want me to put her down (thanking God for a petite baby then, I tell ya!).

She nurses 1-3 times a day, depending on her teething right now. And since the pediatrician said she is trying to cut FOUR teeth right now... I'm starting to think about weening her. But we'll see. She only bites occassionally ;/

I told the pediatrician about her dislike for any and all baby foods, and he gave me the go ahead for just about any foods (with the exception of nuts, honey, etc.), and let me tell you... this child eats like nothing I have seen! By her one year appointment, I imagine she will weigh a bit more at this rate!

She loves to splash in the bath or the pool. She went swimming for the first time over our vacation. She loves to play patty cake. She loves to snuggle with stuffed animals, and loves to 'give love.'

She still sleeps pretty good! Most nights she sleeps from about 8:30-9 until 6:30-7 and will then wake up, eat, and sleep some more! She either takes one long nap every day (3+ hours) or two 1 1/2-2 hour naps a day.

Her face lights up when she smiles. Just lookin' at that little girl makes me smile! And her laugh is to die for. She also has a pretty funny fake laugh. She will do it until you stop paying attention.
She loves giving her brothers goodnight kisses and just loves their attention period! They still just love her to pieces and would do anything for her.... share food, toys, kisses... you name it. They may have beef with each other on occasion, but not with little sister!
Tres and Bryant also like to pick out what she is going to wear most days! And if I pick it out, they say, "Well, I didn't pick it, but it's pretty."

There are moments in just about every day, if I'm being real with you guys, that feel very overwhelming and I sometimes wonder if anything worth doing is getting done. But I would never take back my three wonderful, fearfully made, beautiful little distractions!

Aggravation, Take 1

Ahhh, sweet sibling love! Sophie already gets so aggravated with the boys when they are trying to entertain her.

Jump... For My Love... Jump In

My parents recently aquired another kiddie attraction at their house: A trampoline.All the grandkids absolute love it!! And the amount of energy they expend while they jump their little selves silly is very much appreciated by the parents.They played all sorts of games... break the egg, zoo (since the net is up, they kept calling it a cage!), and we taught them how to do bounces off their knees, bottoms, and backs.

They also liked doing karate kicks! I was laughing so hard at Bryant's version of "Ha Ya!" That kid makes me smile.

They even got me jumping around like a kid! As you may notice, I was never a cheerleader... just a wannabe! :) I grew up on a farm with horses and cows and what not. We had a trampoline for a brief time before a tornado came through and knocked down 43 trees on our farm and tossed our trampoline up in the trees like a frisbee! We found the springs for it for months to come.