Barn Day at Trooper School

The Trooper School students took their first field trip of the year to the CCISD AgBarn. It was cool, but not cold, so that was nice. The boys wanted me to stay for all three trips to the barn and a gladly did! By the third trip, all the kids were tired, but it was still fun.

The first place Rylan wanted to go was the cows. They were beautiful! We saw several hues and they were so friendly. We even got to feed several of them some hay!
Jacob was so excited to see the pigs! He thought their tails were so cute and funny! We saw one pig getting a hair cut and it was NOT a happy camper! But this little pink one was happy to see the kids! Rylan liked the mostly black pigs with a pink stripe, but Jacob liked the all pink ones best.
Last year Jacob thought the chicken coop smelled SO good. It made the rest of us want to barf, but he liked it. He was most excited to go back and smell it. This year, one of the teens was in the pen taking care of his chickens and he let the kids go in and pet their feathers. Rylan really got a kick out of that. Jacob was a little disappointed because they opened up both ends of the coop and it did not smell this year!
Mr. Tyler was so good with Jacob. He made the best animal sounds and took Jacob to all these hidden places. We found a goat in time-out, a big black steer off in a pasture and a secret viewing spot for another cow. Mr. Tyler rocks!

Rylan loved the sheep. Some were already sheered, like this one, but he liked the fluffy ones best. We also got to see a sheep get a hair cut!
Miss Alyssa helped Rylan feed the cows out of his hands. He thought the cow tongues were rough and hilarious!
Miss Tina and Miss Rachel took them back to the chicken coop for a 10th trip!
The goats made a great "maaaaa maaaaa" which Miss Tina and Rylan did over and over again. Rylan said they were telling stories together!

Thanks for a great animal day! All three of us were so tired that we took a nap! :)

The Big 6-5!!!

This January, my mom turned 65! If Ido say so myself, she is the loveliest 65 year old in the world! She has aged so gracefully and is even prettier on the inside than on the outside! Granny had been home from the hospital for 2 days, so we had a low-key BD this year. Jason used these to make her favorite Citrus Grilled Chicken.I made Grandmama's potato casserole and Holly's spinach salad. It was a delicious meal!
The boys and I made PW's Red Velvet Sheet Cake. It was good - not divine, but good.
Make a wish!
The boys made cards for Granna. Rylan's said, "Happy birthday! I love being with you! It is fun to watch Wild Kratts with you. I like to go to the Children's Museum with you and other outings too. You are good and nice. She gives me lots of jelly beans without permission! I love you Granna!" The picture was of them on the couch watching Wild Kratts and smiling.

Jacob's said, "Happy birthday Granna! I like stamping with you at your house. I like playing with you. You are good because you help me. You are perfect! You are the best Granna in the whole wide world." His picture was of them working at the table doing projects.
The four of us gave Granna seasons 1 and 2 of The Closer. She loves Brenda Leigh!
And to cap off the evening... an episode of Wild Kratts all snuggled up on the couch!
Happy Birthday Mom - we love you so much!

It's 11:30 PM...

and this we where we found our darlings! Maybe someday they will stay in their own beds! Poor Rylan cannot be comfortable!

I fought the couch and the couch won...

It's true... Jacob fought the couch and the couch won. He was playing football with himself in the house. There are so many things wrong with that sentence... football...by yourself... IN THE HOUSE! We have a strict NO BALLS in the house policy, but like most policies, they are made to be broken. And like Mama Brady always says... "Don't throw balls in the house!" But alas, my sweet Jacob was running and throwing the ball at the same time and ran smack into the corner of the loveseat... Here's the damage...
Bless all our hearts! This is his 3rd or 4th black-eye in his life. Rylan has had zero!

Are You Ready for Some Football???

These two say YES YES YES!!! Ever since Christmas, the boys have been in super football mode! Most days they are out in the yard, in their helmets, passing the ball, catching and throwing the ball.

Rylan is getting really good at throwing... maybe he will be Aaron Rodgers after all!
Jacob is getting really good at catching the ball and running with it. One day he even stiff-armed Jason!


Gotta love Football in Texas! :)

Readin'... Writin'...

Jacob has turned a table in Jason's office into his own writing station. He got their Painted Potter football boxes, an old pen holder and lots of writing instruments (including pens, pencils and Sharpies!). He has also borrowed several of my notepads. Most days I will find him in here writing up a storm! He also invites us to watch his "writing competitions." He writes about the Mavericks, battle plans, history, school and more. We may have a budding author on our hands!Rylan has really taken up with books in the mornings. He will sit by the book basket for about 30 minutes every morning while I am getting breakfast together and read books. He likes to get American Revolution books and Civil War books from the library. He was so excited to find a Packers book last time! He also almost always has on his slippers. We share cold feet in the mornings!
We got the reading and writing down, now for the arithmetic!

At 10:28 PM...

look what we found in our bed! Jacob has been having a hard time going to sleep because he says his bed is as hard as the floor (he is correct). So the other night when I went to get ready for bed, I was startled to find this sweetheart sound asleep!

Mud! Mud! Mud!

It rained the other day and after watching it fall all day long, when it finally stopped the boys could not handle it... they HAD to get in those puddles!!!






They were soaked and it was al worth the mess! The giggles and squeals were a treasured sound to this momma!

My Nightstand

I've heard that various places in your house tell the story of you and one of those places is your nightstand. So here's mine and here's the story!

I love these lamps! After Ike hit our house, we got these new lamps. Don't you love my hair clips??? Haha I always put my hair up the minute the boys are in bed and don't take it down until I get in bed. There is usually a water bottle on here too - gotta have drinks in the night!
The year I've taken on some old and new reading goals...

1. Read a chapter of Proverbs each day - I've been doing this right after I make up the bed each morning.

2. Read a daily devotional each day - At the Luncheon the Flamingo's went to in November, I bought LeighAnn McCoy's book of devos from Christmas to Easter. They ROCK! I read this each morning after making the bed too.

3. Read the Bible in a year. Holly gave me a schedule that has a bit of OT and a bit of NT each day. I read it at bedtime.

4. Read some "pleasure reading." I love to read - always have - but got off track in 2011 and only read one book! So now I'm reading "The Inheritance" by Tamera Alexander. IT ROCKS! This is my first book by her and I am anxious to get more! She is also a HU alum!

5. The purple folder... goes with Old Thousand Gifts by Ann Voscamp. I've not really mentioned Ann or her blog (www.aholyexperience.com) but I LOVE it!!! Holly gave me her book for my BD and I've been reading her blog. On her blog she encourages everyone to count their blessing. She created some calendar printables, so I printed them and put them in the purple folder. Every night, I've bee recording some blessings.

6. The 10-year Journal - it's the black bigger journal. Holly got me started on this last year. If you google it there are lots of tips and ideas. I got mine for under $10 at Walmart and it is just a regular journal. I was pretty faithful last year and hope to write a snippet of each day this year. It is really neat to look back,even after just one year, and see what we were up to on that date in the past. My journal will take me until the boys are 14... lots of great memories will be in that book!
This is one of my all-time favorite photos of Jason and me. We did not even know that his mom was taking it. It was after the first game of our senior year. We were recently engaged and so in love! The purple bag in my hand was my camera bag then...it rarely left my hand! Love the bow in my hair! Karie and I had left a choir camp-out to drive to somewhere about 3 hours away (Missouri???) to see our fiance's play football. It was a great memory and this photo makes me smile at our early days! I've also got my memory verse card holder by the frame. I"m trying to be better at memorizing God's Word in 2012.
And the last 3 things... my Vera glasses case, HU coaster for the water bottle and another football game photo. That photo was taken at Jason's last football game for HU... bittersweet!
So what does that say about me??? I like to read and walk down memory lane and God's Word is super important to me!

Kara's Baby Shower

Sometimes a person is blessed enough to have had a friend for their whole life. My life-long friend is Kara. Our mom's were pregnant with us together. In fact, Kara's mom announced her pregnancy at my mom's baby shower for me! We were in Cradle Roll together and we like two peas in a pod for many years. Here's some of the earliest photos of us... I'm the one with glasses! This is in my backyard when we were about 3.

We took gymnastics together at the Y when we were about 4.
This event always cracks me up. It was no secret to anyone at church that I was a bit of a stinker and definitely on the louder side of life. And it was also not a secret that Kara was the calm one and rarely misbehaved. So one Halloween - I think we were 3 - I was an angel and Kara was a witch! The irony is hilarious!
Flash forward 14 years... to our junior year of high school. We were still friends in elementary and jr. high, but there are very limited photos and none at my house. We both made the show choir our junior year and we were both altos, so we got even closer doing all our singing and dancing. This is when we got our letter jackets and were about to sing the National Anthem at a boys basketball game.
And here we are before our senior year Homecoming carnival - LOVE the sequins!!!
In 2000, Kara was my Matron of Honor...
In 2003ish, Kara moved to sunny California. We did not see each other very often, but when she came home we always had a dinner date. She came home when the boys were born and got to go into the NICU to see them. This is Kara meeting Rylan...

She also came home over the boys first BD weekend, so she came to the party! Kara, Jacob, Rylan, me

In about 2009, Kara moved back home and had a wonderful boyfriend, Tommy. I'd been hearing about him for a while and he was such a great guy. So kind and funny - a perfect match for my dear friend. In October 2010, they were married in a small ceremony in CA and made their home here. We get to chat most Sundays and it has been fun to have her close. Well, last spring, she came up to me one Sunday morning and said, "I got a new truck." I said something about that being great. Then she said, "Yeah, we got an extended cab so that it will hold a car seat." Brain reeling...is Kara really pregnant. I said, "Are you trying to tell me something???" YES!!!!!! Kara was finally pregnant!!! Since we were in a crowded area, I could not scream, but I sure was happy!

Time finally came for us to have Kara's church shower and here it is!

Heather made the super cute banner! The nursery is navy and hot pink, so we had a blast decorating!

Inside in glass dome is a pair of Macy's baby shoes!

Carolyn, Kara and Krysta
The hostesses: me, Debbie, Kara, Amy, Heather, Deena and Marceil
One of many photos together! I don't think I have one of us when I was PG since she was in CA and let's face it, I really only showed for 3 months!

This photo is really special because all the people in it were at Kara's baby shower in 1977. These ladies have helped to shape both of our lives and spiritual development. Margaret, me, Carolyn, Kara, Sylvia, Marceil, Olene and Betty