All Boy!

Most of the time :) Give this boy anything outside, dirt, balls, fishing pole, water, etc and he will just go to town! He is sooooo happy when he's outside in his own little element. That boy loves him some rocks! If he can just throw rocks into the water he will be amused for hours! I enjoy being outside as well, as long as it's not 5million degrees out :) So we do get to go out often.  There are those silly moments when he likes to dress up in Sissy's bows or her tutu's. But those days are slim.  He likes to be doing rough and tough kind of things. Gotta love that boy of mine! 

 This boy knows how to throw out his line! He's pretty awesome at it.  He just likes to throw it, so that's why you see he has a screw on the end of his line :) We are tricky like that. He doesn't care so much about catching the fish yet.

 He is my muscle man stud!!!

Weekend in OK

About a week or so, Layne's mom and I decided to venture up to Skiatook, OK to visit Layne's sis Steph. The kids did absolutely AMAZING on the ride up.  We left a little after 9, they slept and watched a video until we got to McKinney.  We stopped and ate and then started back on the road.  The kids fell asleep after lunch and then watched another movie until we got to Aunt Stephs. Pretty much no fussing.  Both Diane and I were completely shocked.

Oh they'd be best buddies if they lived near each other! :) Such sweet boys!

Just chillin watching the boys play. 

This was the coolest morning, so we just spent it outside!

 The first day in OK the weather was amazing! Cool mornings and nice afternoons.  That only lasted one day :( After that it was like I was back in Houston. HOT, steamy and yuck! But the company was great and it was so fun watching my kids play with their cousins. Friday, Noah, my youngest nephew stayed home from daycare so that he could play with Jayce and Ryleigh. So fun and Jayce had a blast! Our middle nephew, Colin, didn't understand why Noah could stay home from school, but he couldn't. :) So cute!  Saturday we got to go and see Colin play soccer.  So different from when I played when I was four...or so that I remember.  They only have 5 kids on the team and they have 3 kids on the field at a time. The coaches can be on the field so that they can tell the kids what to do. It was neat. We relaxed that afternoon and then went to a festival in Tulsa that evening. Oh my gosh....it was sooooo darn hot!!! Not too much fun since it was so hot. But we enjoyed our company.  Sunday was filled with church.  Steph goes to Life Church and it was neat to experience that.  After that we had to eat lunch and then it was off to soccer games that afternoon.  Dylan plays on an academy team, which is kinda in between recreational soccer and competitive soccer.  Oh it brought back so many memories for me.  I can't wait for my kids to do that.  The whole weekend, Jayce wanted to play soccer like both his cousins.  As soon as he's old enough, I'm pretty sure he will be signed up for soccer.  Dylan played in two games.  They tied the first one to kids that were older and then won the second game. Oh my it was hot out there too that weekend. But it was great watching the boys play. I've been wanting to do that so badly, but since we are so far away we haven't been able to until that weekend. So that's pretty much it.  It was a fun time, but it went by oh so fast!  Now Jayce asks about his cousins all the time.  He loved playing with them and can't wait to do it again!!! 

 Watching Colin play soccer. Jayce was upset that he couldn't play soccer too. 

Such a great time!!!! Can't wait until we get to see them again!

Exhausted?!

A friend of mine posted this today and it just really made me think and also appreciate my babies so much more! It is so true that I sometimes hope for the day when things will be different. They will be older.  I won't have to change diapers.  When I don't have to hear fussing or crying or fighting. But after reading this, it made me realize that I need to appreciate my time that I get with these beautiful children. They are only so little for such a little amount of time.  Before I know it, I am going to blink and they are going to be grown adults.  I also hope and pray that they are passionate Jesus followers. I hope that they see Jesus in me every day. I hope that they know that Mommy is a godly woman.  I hope they know that Jesus is priority in my life. This little post also made me realize that I should be praying those three things over my kids, plus much more. I hope that this inspires you as much as it does me. Have a great weekend!

This is a post by Lysa TerKeurst over at Proverbs 31 Ministries.

When mommy is mentally exhausted

I used to think it was stressful having small children. The bathing, changing, whining, crying, feeding and cleaning up little people’s messes all day would wear me to a frazzle sometimes. I naively would throw myself into bed and think, “when they are older this will be so much easier.”

Have you ever wanted to travel back in time and shake yourself? I would say slap yourself but let’s not get physically aggressive.

On second hand, yes let’s. It’s not that I would full out slap myself but some forceful taps on either side of my cheek would have been in order.

For as your children grow, a transition happens. You trade physical exhaustion for mental exhaustion. Now hear my heart, I’m not trying to pull an Eeyore today and get all down.

Y’all know I love my children with every fiber of my being. I thank God for the incredible honor of having people who call me mom. I dig investing and giving and shepherding these amazing future leaders. And I take it very seriously.  After all they will one day get the privilege of caring for me when I’m old. And, I am going to be a feisty old thing. Can anyone say payback! I laugh when I think about it. But that is a topic for another day.

Back to the shift to mental exhaustion. I am as confident as I can be that I have invested wisely in the nurturing of my children. I haven’t been perfect but then again none of us have. So, I’m not tired from wishing I would have done more. It’s something else.

As the leash of freedom extends with each passing year, I realize how their choices are their own. And I can’t build the security of my identity as a mom on the fragility of young people’s choices. I have to build the security of my identity as a mom on prayer.

So, intertwined in my situational prayers for them I have three fundamental prayers I always try to include:

1. God, make this child one of the most godly people of their generation.

2. God, let them get caught when they make wrong choices.

3. God, save them from the wrong friends and the wrong mate, so they may be saved for the right friends and the right mate.

And then I ask God for the courage to let Him write my kid’s testimonies.
Simple. Necessary. A bit scary sometimes. But so completely comforting. And one of the best remedies to help ease the mental exhaustion all of us mommies feel at times.

What do you pray over your children?

Summer nights

So we are still not finished with summer yet.  The nights are still HOT! And the kids still love playing outside.  Tonight after dinner, Jayce wanted to go outside and Ryleigh always wants to do what her big brother does.  So we all went outside.  The kids haven't played in the sandbox lately, so that's where we found them tonight. Sweaty, sandy, and full of laughs.  Oh and since it is still so humid and yucky out....the mosquitoes are still thriving!

Swimmer

All summer I've been trying to work with Jayce on not being so scared of the water.  He loves to go swimming.....well play in the pool, but he won't put his face in the water and he freaks out when the water gets in his face.  We've gone to the pool several times and we also go to Nana and Pops house to swim also.  Each time, Jayce refuses to try to practice swimming.  He will jump into our arms from the side of the pool, play in the water at the neighborhood pool where he can touch the ground, but other than that he's pretty scared.  If he trips and falls where he can touch he flips out.  I guess he doesn't realize that he can still touch if he trips and falls.  Who knows...it's been frustrating for me, but I just figure he will get it some day.

Well Ryleigh loves the water.  She loves to practice kicking and she will dip her face into the water all the time.  This summer she would even "swim" with a ring float.  I couldn't believe it.  I never got any pictures or video of her swimming, but I swear she would wear the ring and lift her legs and float all over the splash pad and our pool.  Then she would put her feet down, walk some and then float around again, kicking her feet. I had several people just stare at her and then ask me how old she was.  They were as shocked as I was to see her practically swimming.
I've been trying to get Jayce to swim with floaties or a ring float, but NOPE. Not once would he even try. He was content with playing on the steps of Nana's pool or walking around our splash pad at our pool. BUT this afternoon at Nana's house he actually asked for the ring float and said he wanted to swim! WHAT?!?! I was so shocked and excited at the same time!! Of course he could have a swim ring! So he got right in and acted like he new exactly what he should be doing.  He would move his arms and kick his legs and swim all over the pool.  He liked it when I was next to him....just in case ;) He didn't want me to go and get my camera, so Nana secretly took some pictures of him and a little video.  OH and for some reason he has seen that when you swim you need goggles, because he insisted on wearing them. HILARIOUS!!!

Are You Ready For Some FOOTBALL?????!

Tonight starts the 2010 Football Season!!!! Every year Layne is always in multiple fantasy football leagues and this year me and some of my girl friends decided to start one of our own!! So....the wives of some of the husbands who are in Layne's league started our own league! We even have MORE girls than they have guys!! I think that is AWESOME! I really enjoy watching football and I want to learn more about it.  So I figured the best way to do that was to get in on the action!! So this is the first year of the Lingerie Fantasy Football League!! Game on Girls!! :)

Firsts

Today we had two big firsts!

First of all the kids started Mother's Day Out.  They both did great! Jayce said that he had a lot of fun.  He can't wait to go back.  He also had so much fun, that he did not take a nap.  Well that's not totally true.  He didn't take a nap because his teacher could not find his binky and so he just laid there on his nap mat.  I really hope that he does great this year with going to "school" two days a week.  Since he did not get any sort of nap at school today, he crashed in the car and slept for about 2 hours.  Ryleigh is also going to MDO two days a week.  At first I was only going to have her go one day a week, but we've decided to send her both days also.  That will give me one day to do a few things that I need to do kid-free. She didn't do quite as well as Jayce, but she still did pretty good.  She cried when I dropped her off and again cried when I picked her up.  Her teachers said that she did pretty good, but she was fussy on and off.  They said she fell asleep in the buggy ride and then wouldn't really take a nap during nap time.  I figured that she would fall asleep in the car too, but nope! She refused to nap this afternoon.  She also wouldn't let me leave her sight.  She was totally attached to my hip.  I guess she's going to have to get used to not so much mommy time. :)

This was the only first day of school picture we could get.  Ryleigh kept walking toward the camera and Jayce wouldn't hold his backpack.  SOOO....this is what we got.  I think it's pretty good.

Our second first that we had tonight was Jayce going Poo Poo on the potty!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! We have been working on potty training for about a month and he has absolutely REFUSED to even try to poop on the potty. The second he's done peeing, he wants to get off the potty. Oh we tried so many things. We tried reading books, giving out stickers, bribing (which didn't work AT all!), giving out candy (but this boy doesn't like candy so much), and we did potty dances which seemed to work the best.  I think his love language must be words of affirmation because whenever I tell him how awesome he is or that he did a great job he seems to really like that and will work harder for something to hear it.

He had done GREAT wtih going pee pee on the potty.  He has very few accidents and only wears pull-ups at church and then at school.  Other than that we try to put him in "big boy" undies.  He seemed to get confused the feeling of having to go pee with having to go poop.  He will tell me, "mommy, I'm pooping" but really he will need to go pee. So now that we have that figured out, I know when he really needs to go pee. Oh I never thought my life with be so consumed with my child going potty, and being soooo excited when he did. I had Jayce pose tonight on his potty.  No nudity, just a super cute little boy who is VERY excited about going poop!

Meet the Teacher

Today the kids went to Meet the Teacher at their Mother's Day Out.  They are going to MDO at Champion Forest Baptist Church and I will be working part-time in the Preschool as the Motor Skills Teacher.  Jayce will be going two days a week and Ryleigh will be going one day. I am so excited for the kids to go.  I know that Jayce will be so much more willing to learn from someone else than Mommy.  He loves going to church on Sundays and so I'm pretty sure he will love going to school too.  Ryleigh on the other hand....she is such a mommy's girl.  She is pretty much attached to my hip all day long.  She loves Mommy soooo much.  She cries every time I drop her off in the nursery.  Something, Jayce rarely did.  She also cries when I pick her up.  I think that's because she wants me to feel bad for leaving her.  She wants me to think she had an awful time while I was gone :)

Ryleigh cried when I tried to get a picture of her and her teachers and Jayce wouldn't take one with his. So he let me take one of him by himself.  I just can't believe how big he's getting!!!