Drew & Alex

These little guys crack me up! They love each other and talk about each other all the time...but something happens when you get them together! For a while, they liked to chew on each other..literally. Now they just like to run from each other. Mostly Alex running from Drew, screaming like a girl, and Drew just wanting to play. Makes for great entertainment! Alex has learned how to say 'proximity' from the ordeal so if there is a silver lining..there you go! It is very comical to watch them together. Once they outgrow the 'watch as I pester the living daylights out of you' stage, they will realize that they are great friends and have been all along!

Alex & his Great Wolf Lodge suite

Alex LOVED his room @ Great Wolf Lodge. It was so precious to watch him 'play' with each of the wolves painted on the wall. He continually said "What's his name?" and wanted each of them to have their own special name. So sweet. He also enjoyed the window in his room. I could sit all day long and watch him enjoy that window! Many games of peek a boo were played that day!
We had a really great time during our stay at Great Wolf. I would love to share the pictures with you....BUT goofy me..I didn't want to hurt our digital camera so I bought a water proof camera from the gift shop. ($19.99 later...definitely recommend purchasing that item before you get there!) Guess what...that's right...not a single picture turned out! Go figure! Broke my little heart! But we did have a great time! Sadly, Tripp got REALLY sick early the next day so we had to leave early. That broke out hearts too! We hated to leave...but mostly we hated Tripp being so sick. For those of you who don't know..I hate to drive in Dallas. Not good at it at all. You add a sick husband in the next seat to the situation...and well...it just gets all kinds of ugly from there! We made it to Tripp's parents house and he was out for the rest of the day. Not exactly the way we all planned on spending the last day of our mini-vacay but it is what it is.
Another funny note...Alex thinks that all people who have a pool have a water park. So sweet!

Alex & The Rain Forest Cafe

We took Alex to the Rain Forest Cafe this past weekend and much to our surprise, he was not a big fan....at first! He loved the outside of the mall, the part with the animal heads coming out of the wall. He was not so crazy about the alligator...or the snake...or the elephant..or the gorillas for that matter.His theme word of the day was "HELP!" in which he screamed over and over for a WHILE! After we were there for a little bit, he got comfortable and decided that he loved it. The fish were his favorite. Oh..and the gift shop! He really liked that! We asked him if he wanted to go back and he said "Oh Yeah Oh Yeah!" He is so precious!

In a hurry...

He had to rush to save the day!

Now all is well!

Alex & Worm

Alex loves worms. Simple as that. He could stare at a worm for forever! He loves to play with them and if I am not careful, he will slip them into his pockets. I love to watch him interact with his new buddies. He looks so intently at them. Each time he finds one, he gets so excited...as if it is his very worm. So sweet!
Thank you again Lord for choosing us to be with Alex! :)~

Some recent projects..

I have not been able to paint as much as I would like to lately so I thought I would go through my project photos and motivate myself a little. I really enjoy painting and wish I made the time for it more often. I have decided to stick to children stuff only. I know that is where my heart is. I did a few larger grown up pieces...urgh...and just decided that painting for kids is sooo much more fun. I recently acquired about 30 more windows so I am super excited to have those to work on now. The windows always turn out soo pretty. They look so sweet in little girls room and contrary to what some may think, they look good in boy rooms to. Maybe I should paint a basic boy window up for display purposes. Or better yet, maybe I should paint one for Alex's room. That poor baby, he doesn't have anything "Mommy-painted" in his new room, which Daddy kindly reminds me. It is in the plan though. I have some cool ideas in store. Anywho..just wanted to encourage myself a little. Now that I am back on the band wagon, I will finish my project for Baby Jake.

Such a sweetie..

The day is coming to where we will have to buy a horse...

Daddy & Me mowing day

The look on both of their faces is PRICELESS! Makes me laugh everytime I see it.

Little Cowboy

Our baby loves his cowboy hat!

Looks like he is trying to catch a ride..

Alex & Friends

Alex & Marshall playing in the yard. So sweet

Someone...not saying who...got Alex with a confetti egg


Such a sweet, happy boy!

A 3 Amigo Reunion
Karleigh, Blane & Alex

Our Beautiful Little Boy

We are soo in love with this little boy! Thank you Jesus for your wonderful bounty!

Oldie but a Goodie!

Date Night is Dynomite!

Ha! Tripp and I had a date night tonight and we had a pretty good time. Alex went to spend the night with his Nana & Big Daddy. We had our favorite meal for dinner..SUSHI!! YUM! So good! Then we went to see a movie. We chose 'I am Legend' with Will Smith. I will honestly say that the movie that according to the stats...did the best in it's opening weekend than any other movie ever..was really just not that good. In all fairness...we don't really watch scary movies and we had NO CLUE going into the theater that it was a scary movie. Kind of a shocker! Don't really care for the zombies...and all that junk. For those people that like that stuff.....then I am sure the movie was awesome. I spent a good 2/3rds of the movie with my jacked over my head. Fun Fun! Besides that...we really enjoyed ourselves. Talked a little politics...did a little hand holding...worked in a little Target time. All in all...good night!
Alex got to ride on his golf cart today. FUNNIEST thing I have seen in forever! I had the recorder out but I am sure it will not be that great to watch...I was laughing so much that the camera was going up and down! He was just tooooo stinking funny!

Ok...off to bed. Going to enjoy a solid night's sleep!
Toodles!

A Brand New Year..

This year has started out relatively ok. As fun as they were.....boy am I glad the holiday season is behind us! Alex had a great Christmas. As he opened each of his birthday gifts for Jesus he said "Thank you so much" in a super high pitched tone. He was so precious. He got so excited over the simplest things. He LOVED his Skippy the Hop Ball and the golf cart that his Nana & Big Daddy got him. The weather has been to ickey for him to ride which kinda makes me sad! Maybe I'll bring it into the house and let him play on it in there. Who knows.

Our New Year's party was a success. We had about 6 couples and their children so there were a good amount of people there. We invited 11 couples and were super sad that some couldn't make it. BUT they missed for good reasons. Maybe the week after Christmas isn't the best time to try to plan a family party. People are still trying to get together with family....or trying to wind down from all the family..whichever applies. :)~ Tripp & Charlie built a HUGE bonfire! That thing was about 16' tall!! They added our Christmas tree on top which looked sooo funny! That thing went up in flames QUICK! Someone drove past the house and saw the bonfire and thought it was a structure on fire so they called the fire department. We heard the sirens for about 5 minutes before they arrived and just started laughing...we knew they were headed to our house! When they pulled in, Tripp & I went to talk to them and they said that someone had reported a structure fire. Then he said it would have been nice if they would have mentioned the 20 people sitting in lawn chairs watching the "structure" burn! Soooo funny! We popped fireworks for the kids, which they didn't enjoy as much as we wanted them to. It was my bright idea to get the really long sparklers so that the kids could enjoy them more. Well apparently we got the ones that NEVER go out!! It took those sparklers about 4 minutes to burn out! Gee's!

We went to Dallas New Year's eve to see Jim & Debbie and spend the next day with them. Alex was kinda puney since Sunday but he started to act like he felt better so we thought it would be no problem to take him. BOY were we wrong!! He was in a good mood all the way to midnight. Then we went to bed and things changed quickly!! He started crying at about 1 and cried nonstop untill about 4:45. The entire house **except for Ross (who has a new baby on the way so maybe those sleep patterns will change?** was awake thanks to the crying. Ugh! We felt soooo bad for Christy (Ross's wife) since she is so pregnant and needs to treasure her sleep. But Alex woke up the next day in a decent mood like it never happened. He stuck to Jim like glue for a good part of the day. All in all the trip was good.

I think I am going to go ahead and curse myself by stating my New Year's resolution out loud. I would like to loose 5lbs by my anniversary (May 26th). That seems like an obtainable goal. Should be able to do it. Gotta pump myself up!!

The big 2nd b-day is coming up!! YEAH!! We are having the kids party at Pump It Up and then the family party at our house later that day. Should be fun to have two parties! I am NOT going all out like I did last year. It will still be cute but I think I am going to focus more on the invitations and cake than the decorations. Yeah right!!!

Our card

Ok..So below is our Christmas card...the one I was soo excited about. I LOVE IT!

Indian feather hat= $5.95

Kids Santa hat= $ 2.99

The look on the guys' face= PRICELESS!

I literally was speaking through my fake smile telling Tripp to just look at the camera..let me worry with Alex, Alex stop whining and look up, Tripp, your not looking at the camera and you better be smiling, Alex,we are not getting up yet, we are taking this picture whether yall like it or not! Yah...fun stuff! But in the end, I am super pleased!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Merry CHRISTmas Everyone!

Man...it is allready November!

Got some frustrations to vent today...brace yourself!

Gonna start with today's childcare system...As a working mother....let me just say that it is sooo stinking aggravating paying someone else to take care of my child and not be able to get a report of how there day was. I really and truely do not think it is asking to much to know how his day was. I'll give you the short version...When I went to pick up Alex on Tuesday, he was in the TV room with a certain teacher whom I am not fond of AT ALL! She screams at the kids and is just super mean. I don't want people treating my child that way. I have already asked that she not be around Alex...you see how far that request went..Well anyways, he ran to me ...not in his normal sweet way but more like a "save me" kinda run...and I asked how his day was. The certain teacher said in a SUPER harsh tone, " I don't know, he's not in my class!" and looked at the other teacher to ask her how he was. Of course, she didn't know either. It may seem like something small to get mad over...but again, I pay these people good money to take care of my baby. I think that if she would talk to me that way being a grown up, how does she talk to Alex? I have some friends who have kids in her class and they can't stand her either. They don't like how she talks to their kids at all. When I complained about this before, I was told that because she was so old (65 or so...not really that old in my book but anyway) she had a hard time hearing and she didn't realize how she talked to the kids. I call BULL CRAP! I have had severe ear infections where I could hardly hear at all....but I am still aware when I am mean or not. So aggravating!!! For all those who think working moms get a "break" when they are at work...again I call BULL CRAP! I don't see having to juggle a job, home life, child rearing and dealing with all the junk that pops up as much of a break. But that is just my opinion. Maybe some moms do like to go to work to "escape" but I don't get it. I would much rather be raising my child than paying someone else to do so. Especially when the other people do such a crappy job! ON THE BRIGHTER FLIP SIDE....we do have Alex on the waiting list to a CHRISTIAN school in which he should get to start in January. YAY!!!!!! Very excited! I talked to the director yesterday and she said that she cannot 100% guarantee me right now but did say that it was pretty likely that he would get to start then. YIPPEE!! Tripp and I have been in prayer about it so hopefully it will all work out.

We had a great time Trick or Treating with Alex this week. He was a lion and oh so very sweet!! He roared at everyone! Super precious!

I have started Christmas shopping for Alex and having so much fun doing so! We got him this super cool bouncey ball that he is going to love! We are going to try to do something a little different with Alex. We do not want to push the "Santa" on him very much. We want him to know what the holiday is truely about, Jesus' birth. We may put a gift from Santa under the tree, but it will not be a major gift and we will not threaten him with Santa. We will decorate with Santa and all of that but we really want him to know that Santa is just pretend and not real at all. We will see how that goes. I allready know it will be kinda tough with society putting such an emphasis on him rather than on Christ.

The house is coming along. We are painting the ceilings this weekend and I am soooo excited! Gonna lose that dungeon feel!

OK..guess that will do it for this blog edition! Toodles! :)~

Our life is a Whirlwind!

Again, life is sooo stinking crazy right now! I told Tripp the other day that since we moved, it doesn't seem like we have slowed down to even breathe! Not complaining (so much) though because we have been busy doing things we love to do...like see family, hang out with friends and shop for the new house. We even started some Christmas shopping for Alex. Fun Fun! I have a crick in my neck..yuck..but again...not complaining because I have it for the sweetest reason EVER! Alex sleeps with us ( I know...I said that no child of mine would ever sleep in my bed BUT that was before I had a child and thought I was Mother of the Year! and had no clue what I was talking about:) Well, lately he has wanted to hold me at night. Picture with me if you will.....one of his arms is under my neck, we are cheek to cheek and the other arm is across the top of my neck so that he can pat me on the back. I know...stinking precious! I will suffer through a crick in my neck if it means I get some extra snuggly time with my angel! Stinkin love it!!!

I am almost done with my large canvas project...yea! I am so ready to see the finished outcome. I'll wrap it up this weekend and share a pic.

I got to spend some fun time with Erin and her bambino's last night. Had a pretty good time! We considered going to the circus but Erin wasn't quite up for that yet with the twins. Instead we went to McDonalds..which let me just say...that play area is GROSS! That was the first time I have let Alex play in the play area and I am so ok with that being the last! Nasty!! I hate that we missed out on the circus. The Hagens were there so I know we would have had a good time. Maybe next year.

We are taking Alex to his cousin's 4th b-day party tomorrow at Discovery Science Place in Tyler. He should have a good time. I am looking forward to spending some more fun time with him and Tripp. We took Alex to the Pumpkin Patch last week and totally loved watching him out there.

OK...well let the fun weekend begin! Toodles! :)~

Alex's Cool Talent

Check out what Alex can do with his ear! How cool is that! He loves it! Talk about a personal TALENT! What kind of crazy contests can he enter with this talent? Time for the prize money to start to roll in! HA!

Yikes!

Ok...this week could go down in the record books as a crazy week for sure! It's only Tuesday!! Tripp and Alex were both sick over the weekend...which translates to FUN FUN for me! They both felt pretty good on Friday which was nice because we were able to visit with Tripp's brother Joseph and his girlfriend Charly for a while. We really like them together. She seems really good for him and he seems to repond to her ...which for Joseph, is very nice! We had a picture party..again..on Saturday and apparently...that is when Alex started to feel bad. Usually, he is the BEST little child. Well, he had other plans Saturday. Can't really blame him though...I guess I am not the sweetest thing when I am sick. He was super whiney and clinging. I will be surprised if our Christmas picture turns out! I had the BEST IDEA EVER for a Christmas card...which much to my dismay, may not turn out this year. If it doesn't, I will be sure to post it in my blog so the idea stays alive! BUT....if it does turn out....get ready to laugh cuz it is fun-e!!That reminds me...Funny is Alex's new favorite word. Anytime he hears us laughing, he says Funny Momma! and starts laughing with us! Too cute! Anywho...back to our nutso weekend...After we left the picture party, the whole familia took a crazy long nap, which let me just say...does a body good! Alex woke up in a pretty good mood! Then it was off to Carthage for Marshall's first b-day party. It was sooo cute! Alex was really really good. He handled it pretty well when some of the older kids told him he couldn't bounce in their bouncy house..he handled it better than I did! I told him he could play in it and that they could not tell him what to do. Another little boy kept hitting him...which again, he handled better than I did. Marshall is soo stinking cute! I love to watch him walk around! Alex's other cousins were there too...but you know what...I didn't get a picture of all of them together! Nimwhit forgot her camera! Urgh!! Alex spent the night with his Nana & Big Daddy so that I could paint. I was SUPER productive! I got a good bit of my canvas done. Yea for me! See attached picture for what it looks like so far. Saturday night was when Tripp got real sick. He was so blah. Poor baby! I was busy painting so he got loads of good sleep. I slept on the couch...I don't want those germies! When Alex came home on Sunday, he was sick still. From 6 to 11, he had 9 dirty diapers! Yuck-o! He had several more as the day went on. We were big time sad because we had to miss Karleigh's birthday party. I am sure that they didn't want our germies either! He still has the bad diapers but his temperment has seemed to come back to normal. Back to his sweet self. On a side note, my heart goes out to Britney Spears. I know that she did it to herself, but I still feel for a mother who doesn't get to be around her babies. In the same token, my heart goes out to fathers who do not get to be around their babies either. Lose lose situation I guess.

I get to go see my doctor Thursday. Very excited!!! I have been having some issues ever since I had Alex and I am excited about the possiblity of having them all dealt with! Yea for me!

Still have our Dallas trip this weekend. Only now, we have slightly different agenda. Tripp's dad was in the hospital this past weekend with bleeding ulcers. OUCH! He is out now so hopefully we will get to spend some time with Papa DooDoo and Nana D. Kinda funny, but we feel like they call and care about us more now that they are in Dallas. When they were here in Longview, it felt like we hardly ever heard from them. Now they call several times a week. Kinda funny. Guess you never know what you have untill it's gone. Ok...that's gonna do it for this blog. Toodles!