KICKIN' IT

Here are bits of randomness we've been up to lately, in picture-walk form, as a true Kindergarten teacher would have it :) ....


I come to get Bennett up from his nap and find him here lecturing all of his little friends about the important "do's" and "don'ts" in our house. Funny boy.


We attempted another trip to the zoo with our buddies, but have since called those efforts quits because it's just too stressful right now...at least I tried!...And Bennett sure enjoyed running a-muck with his friend, Cason :)


Celebrated Flag Day (never even knew there was such a thing until I had a kid who is obsessed with them) with cupcakes and our flag bathing suit. Doesn't get much better than that, eh, Benito?


Visited Mimi and Poppy and got some super cute pictures, swimming, and grilled hamburgers out of the deal. Sweet.


Went to Summer Spectacular - our VBS on steroids - which was, in fact.....spectacular!
(Bennett was actually quite ecstatic about the whole production, though you wouldn't know it from the picture)


Jasper John turned three months old, which is quite an accomplishment if you ask me. To celebrate, I took him to have his pictures made ("Thanks a bunch for that experience, Mom," he says.), which ended up being an all day affair since the cool lady forgot to turn on her flash for the first round.


Bennett re-defined the phrase "pick up your toys" by interpreting the words literally.


Of his own desire and choosing, my son decided to dust-bust the entire main area of our house - Glory be! This is him pausing to clean up his kitchen as well.


Bennett took Jasper grocery shopping. You're looking at a patient, patient baby.


The boys had a little chat.


Jasper's sprouting some chubbier cheeks. Ah, fat babies - how I do adore thee :)


We celebrated a Fabulous Father's Day. Man oh man, Michael sure is a great Daddy to our boys. They are so blessed, and someday they'll really know it. I know it and reap the benefits now :) We sure do love you, hon!

....And that's how we been kickin' it here, my friends :)

JUGGLING

I've been quiet on the blog-front in part because I don't know how to write about everything that's been spinning around in my head lately, and in part because blogging about random things in my life is starting to feel a bit...pointless and fruitless again. Maybe I'm just going through the same cycle or phase I went through last time I felt disillusioned by life and surrounding issues, but I feel a bit overwhelmed again, and don't really feel like taking the time to write it all out. Lists seem to be the way of things these days because they help simplify and get things spit out a whole lot quicker than rambling on for paragraphs at a time. So that's what you'll get, and maybe I'll get a clearer head in the process (we can only hope)....(fair warning: the following list is completely random and unorganized):

1. I'm starting to get pretty frustrated because I've apparently been a real smarty by going and majorly bruising the bones in the bottom of my foot AGAIN (also did this last summer the same way - walking barefoot all morning at the water park...who knew?), and have been out of commission, as in flat on my butt on the couch all day, for three days now, with no significant improvement. I had plans to potty-train Bennett, plans to do some major cleaning in the kitchen, plans to continue working on my summer projects, etc. Truthfully, I think this was God's way of saying, "For Pete's sake, SIT down, take a breath, and COOL it!" (I confess I've been over-working and over-stressing myself lately, with some invisible bar to top and some invisible ladder to climb, that no one else cares about except me). So I'm trying to take it all in stride, accept the God-given break, and be patient. But it's hard to do.

2. What is the point of the zoo having free train rides every Monday in June, when half of those Mondays, the train is C-L-O-S-E-D?! And how annoying is it that I keep promising my buddy a ride on that train, only to recant and try to explain why Mommy is a total party-pooper. Blah.

3. We don't have cable, so during my afternoon feeding with Jasper, when watching TV, I have a choice between Dr. Phil or Ellen. Ellen is hilarious, but on principle I don't usually watch her. However, Dr. Phil went trash-iffic on me one day a week or two ago, so I flipped over to Ellen to see what hilarity was ensuing on that particular day. Lo and behond, she had her wife on the show with her, which was very awkward to watch. For those of you who don't know, her wife is a model/actress/TV show hostess. My mom and I were talking about this today, and I was saying how I don't understand one particular thing about homosexuality. Maybe all couples that choose this lifestyle aren't this way, but the ones I've known or known of, seem to consist of both a "male" and "female" figure (in other words, one is clearly masculine and one is clearly more feminine). My question is, if this is necessary and still has to be defined within this type of relationship, why can't it just be heterosexual in the first place? Now, I'm not dumb or naive. I know there's a lot more that goes into the issue than who plays man and who plays woman....but it seems a little contradictory, and I'm not really sure I understand the necessity....not that it matters, not that it has any bearing on the seriousness of the subject, or changes anything. It was just an interesting thought, food for thought if you will.

4. A Victoria's Secret commercial just came on TV, and I'm wondering why they're always so akin to porn? It's women who wear the stuff, right? So why on EARTH are they practically naked? Are the women supposed to think, "Dude, if I wear that, I'll look like a walking-stick bug with huge boobs, too!" ? Are the men supposed to think about how their wives will look in that stuff, rather than the woman already there blatantly flashing him on TV? I don't think soooo....In case you were wondering, I do NOT shop there.

5. On a brighter note, I'm still losing weight. I've lost three more pounds since the last time I wrote, which is less than I'd like, but is definitely progress. I've got 5 more to be at pre-pregnancy weight, and 10 to be where I'd really feel terrific and fit awesomely into everything stitch of clothing I own. And I owe an apology to everyone I scoffed at that said it's harder to lose the baby weight with the second baby. So sad, so true. I offer my sincerist, humblest apologies. I'm having to work harder this time around than I've ever had to work. But man it feels good to get on that scale and see I've lost another pound, and to feel my jeans buttoning withOUT the doughnut ring around the top :)

6. Projects I'm currently working on: my book (which is a little blocked and frozen right now, due to my weakness at writing dialogue...I'm more of a narrator kinda gal, but eventually people have to talk, right? :) ).....updating both boys' pictures on shutterfly so family can order and I can get all scrapbooking and photo albums good to go.....finishing Bennett's photo album up to now.....begin Jasper's first year scrapbook and baby book.....organizing my old journals which have been up in the attic for years (they're a hoot and a half, let me tell ya - dating back all the way to 8th grade - HA!). All of these, aside from the book, are summer projects, so we'll see.

7. Bennett is 2 1/2 now, and Jasper is 3 months, which is crazy. It goes without saying, we're so blessed with these boys. I'm amazed everyday. They're beautiful and I'm trying to absorb it all, remember it all, and delight in it all. This is such a precious, quickly passing stage of life. I. LOVE. IT. I'm also amazed at how much they already love each other, and how easily Jasper has become a part of our family that was always missing. He completes exactly what we should be right now, and I'm glad God knew what we needed and wanted, even before we did. The Lord is so good and so faithful. The way He makes things unfold is just beautiful to watch.

8. I LOVE to read and typically read a steady stream on a regular basis, but my sources for good authors and books and series are drying up. Anybody have any good suggestions? I'd rather not resort to trash and cheaply written junk out of desperation. Any good authors or series anybody just loves or used to love? Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

9. I seriously need to work on encouraging other people. I used to be a pro at this and thought about it all the time, writing notes, sincerely complimenting others, etc., but that was years ago. I've really let it go by the wayside I'm ashamed to say. This is shameful because a) I feel encouraged by others on a regular basis, but fail to give back, and b) I think encouraging things in my head about people ALL the time, but rarely voice them anymore, then later I think "I should've actually told them that out loud!" So I'm praying about that and trying to make it a habit again.

And that's all I've got right now...whew. I really do feel a little more light-headed (in a good way). So thanks for reading and giving me a minute to unload the randomness.

THUMB-SUCKER

PROUD

Michael just finished up his graduate degree from UNT, and I couldn't be prouder! He's been working on it off and on for about 3 years, and I was amazed that his work never effected our family life at home. He's always been so good about taking care of me and the boys and pulling more than his fair share of the load around the house.

To celebrate, our family went out to eat with my parents and Michael's mom, who came to visit for a couple of days, and then we had an AMAZING cake that turned out beautifully, and Blue Bell ice cream, of course :) Yum.

So proud of you, hon!

PHOTOS

OH, BENITO

I know my posts have been all about my kids lately, but that's what I'm swimming in these days, and really, my buddy is stinkin' hilarious at this stage of life, so here are some things Bennett James is up to:

1) He used the potty for the first time a few days ago (Sunday). He'd just gotten in from outside and had "the look." He dribbled a little before I said, "Oh, no! Let's go use the potty!" So he STOPPED himself (which amazed me) and ran to his little potty. He sat on it, but I wasn't expecting anything because he's done that before and nothing has come of it. But this time I told him he could wear his Lightning McQueen underwear if he went (we'd picked it out the day before). I was shocked that it actually worked, and we got some ADORABLE pictures of him in his big boy underpants - seriously, there's NOTHING cuter than a little boy in little boy briefs, especially if that little boy has a ghetto booty, a buddha belly, and a nice little strut all rolled into one - hee :) THEN he was eating a snack at the table and said "Oh!" with "the look." I asked him if he needed to go potty. He said "Yes!" and jumped down off the chair and ran to the potty, where he proceeded to go all by himself with no prompting from me. I was PUMPED. I know we've got a long road to haul, but I was excited about all of this since he's never gone before. This morning I asked him if he wanted to use the potty or wear a diaper. He opted for the diaper, so I strapped it on. I'm NOT going to battle this kid. He's strong-willed like BOTH his parents, and I figure we'll get it all worked out when he's ready.

2) This kid must be going through some kind of weird growth-spurt that makes him clumsy because he falls down ALL. THE. TIME. Three different incidents in the past week have resulted in injuries, one of which was slightly serious. The first was a big fat leg scrape. Crying, hugs, kisses, all better. The next happened at church. The boy ran right smack into the door in his classroom and scraped/bruised his cheek up pretty good. Silly goose. And then on Memorial Day he was running to the back door to go outside when he tripped and fell and connected his forehead right on the lowest door hinge, full force. Michael wasn't home at the time and there was blood running down his face - fantastic. I ran him to the bathroom and leaned his screaming little head over the sink while I washed him up. I must be some kinda woman cause we avoided getting blood on the floors or anywhere other than a tiny bit on his sleeve, and down his face, which I got cleaned up pretty quick. We thought at first that it might need stitches, but instead discovered that that "New Skin" stuff is pretty rockin' awesome. He's healing up quite nicely. Needless to say, we've now implemented a "no running inside" policy, which he can recite quite well, but struggles a bit in the follow-up :) Ah, little boys!

3) My kid is gonna be stylin' and profilin' at the water park this summer, that's all I've got to say. He's at the age now where he actually has preferences and picks out things for himself, including his swimsuit this year :) I've told you how the boy is obsessed with flags - guess what they just happened to have at Target? A FLAG bathing suit! Bennett could hardly contain himself and his excitement when he saw it. I held up the flag design and another one I thought was super cute to let him choose, but I already knew which one it would be :) It's not the cutest suit I've ever seen, but it's funny how much I love seeing him wear the silly thing because he picked it and he loves it so much. Man, I love being a mom, and it just gets sweeter and sweeter the older they get.

4) Some funny things he says these days:
"I'm so funny!"
He recites rules for different situations, depending on where we are, then promptly breaks them.
"Good job, Bennett!" (says this for me or Michael when we don't say it fast enough)
"Turn the music up LOUD, mommy!"
"He has Shimmy-Shake hair." (pointing to random males with longer, dark hair)
"I love you, Baby Jasper!" (in a REALLY high, piercing "baby" voice)
"Jasper is sad. I'll hold his hand."
He calls monkeys "muminks", tomatoes "masatos", Jasper is "Baby Jasser"
"I'm sorry, Mommy." (he says this for me when I don't say it fast enough after I've used a not-so-nice tone toward someone else while driving because I've explained to him that Mommy shouldn't get so frustrated at other drivers and I should always be nice to others...this little reminder from the back seat happens frequently - my buddy helps me mind my p's and q's :) )

5) For a few days in a row, before getting Bennett up from a nap or from sleeping at night, we'd hear him making strange noises. The first time this happened, it was a LOUD banging noise. We go in to find that he'd figured out a way to reach down through the crib slats and grab blocks from a bucket next to his crib and was banging on the walls and the railings with them. The next time, I go in to find him "reading" his books in bed (a bucket of books is on the other side of his crib). He's also ripped a page out *sigh* of one of the books and says, "Uh-oh, Mommy. I broke it," as soon as I walk in. The last time I go in to find another big bucket of foam letters actually IN the crib with him, and the letters are scattered all over his room. Also, lately when I've gone in to get him in the morning, he automatically swings his leg over the crib to "help" me get him out. Needless to say, we will be converting his crib to a toddler bed this weekend (because he's obviously ready), and having a LONG talk about what the bed rules are :) (and probably a purging of the toys in his room until he can resist temptation).


And that's what my precious little mess has been up to over the past couple of weeks. Whew! He's been busy, so I have been too, by default. I'll say it again: I love this kid!

FIRST VERSE

I was inspired by Kristen C.'s posts about her kiddos memorizing scripture, and have just recently begun to feel like Bennett would understand and have the ability to do this, so we started at the beginning of this week with his very first memory verse. I'm a firm believer that memorizing scripture is so valuable to the Christian walk and to our relationships with God (though I need to practice what I preach SO much more in this area), and I'm hoping to instill this in my boys at an early age. His daddy and I are SO proud of him - I just kept thinking about how listening to His own perfect Word being recited by the voice of a precious toddler must make God's heart smile. Without further ado, here's my sweet Bennett, reciting on his own for the first time:





"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." --Genesis 1:1

TWO MONTHS

Our little guy turned two months old yesterday. Time is flying by. I took him to the doctor today for his shots (yuck) and he weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 9 oz., 22 1/2 inches long. He's a little bitty thing and I'm soaking it all in :) No worries - he's perfectly healthy and is developing along his growth curve like he's supposed to according to the doc. He started smiling today, and it's PRECIOUS!! I'll try to catch a picture of it soon. He's also "talking" a little - making little noises, and that's adorable, too. Jasper is our little cuddle-bug. He loves to be held, and if he has his paci and his mommy, he's the most content baby you've ever seen. Something we were especially excited about is when he started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old. Michael and I work HARD to keep our little buddies on a schedule and to keep things organized and predictable. This makes a huge difference, I'm convinced. I did a previous post on the method we've used, and it's worked excellently with both our boys. We're pumped about it :) Our littlest man is an absolute joy. Bennett just loves being a big brother. He gives hugs and kisses, gives me updates (Baby Jasper is asleep, Baby Jasper is crying, Baby Jasper lost his pacifier, etc.) when they're sitting in the back seat, brings me diapers, etc. He's such a good helper. Having a baby in the house has DEFINITELY brought on a big fat dose of the terrible twos, but we're all taking it in stride and adjusting to the changes :)

I've included some pictures from the past month, including the best Mother's Day picture we were able to get, along with Bennett's Toddler Program pictures. He was a total HAM!! He was singing and dancing and playing his pretend guitar like nobody's business. He was so proud to show off his moves :) Man, I love this kid! He's a little sponge. For family and friends that live far away, here's what he's up to these days: sings the ABCs, counts to 20, knows all basic shapes, including octogan and pentagon, knows his colors, knows mommy and daddy's real names, knows how old he is, knows his last name, knows where our extended family members live (Texas, Arkansas, Alabama), loves balls, flags, cars and swimming, has this funny laugh he does on purpose that we call his "Fat Albert Laugh," because it sounds just like him, prays for others (including all of his teachers and his toys most nights :) ), has begun talking more about Jesus (the other day he said "I want to play with Jesus. Where'd he go?"), can sing several church songs, and he still points out people who have "Shimmy-Shake hair." His favorite movie is WALL-E, he loves to read books, to color, to play with stickers, and now to do puzzles when we're inside.

Hope you enjoy the accompanying picture walk of the things our family has been up to over the past month!


P.S. I can't get the gigantic gap
between the pictures to close up, so
scroll down a little for a few more.

GOTTA BE KIDDING ME

Okay, so me and Randi decided to be adventurous, daring tempters of fate by taking our FOUR boys to the zoo yesterday.

We. Are. Retarded. Here's why:

1. We both had ridiculous mornings at home that indicated trouble ahead with incidents such as a table, chairs, floor, and toddler COMPLETELY covered in milk from his cereal bowl. Was he sorry? Nope. He was living it up, splashing and playing (that was my son), as well as a potted plant repeatedly being dumped into the bathtub mom had just cleaned (that was Randi's son). But what did we do? Loaded up our kiddos and came anyway.

2. Bennett and I went over the zoo rules before we ever got out of the car: stay with mommy and have a good attitude. He had those rules down pat, reciting them back to me and everything, but when him and his buddy Cason got together, it took about 5 minutes of being out of their strollers before they both took off full-speed down the pathway, through two sets of double doors, and almost out the other side of the monkey house. It took me that long to catch up to them, and the only reason I caught them before they got out the next set of doors is because I left Jasper behind in the stroller with Randi, and two nice ladies helped thwart the two little stink-pots' efforts. Randi and I were both sweating and breathing hard at the end of this little episode. Needless to say, they stayed strapped into their strollers after that...until lunch time.

3. Jasper was a bit fussy, which was unusual because he normally has a solid nap at this time, and he looked really comfy in his side of the stroller. But I kept having to try to soothe him with the paci or by keeping the stroller moving. I later discovered that he was fussy because he'd spit up a GIGANTIC amount of milk all over himself down behind his back and his shirt was soaked. He'd been lying in wet, spoiled milk smell all morning. When I discovered this, I felt AWFUL. And of course, I forgot to bring an extra change of clothes for him this time, so he went shirtless and
sported his muscles the rest of the morning - poor baby!!

4. The older boys went to feed the birds with Randi while I stayed behind with the younger ones. Braden (Randi's youngest) slept the whole time, but Jasper kept fussing after the shirt removal and spit-up cleaning. By this time I was getting pretty hungry and knew the boys would be too when they got back. I realized it was later than I thought, and that I was, in fact, going to have to feed Jasper out in the middle of everyone (with a wrap, of course, but I really don't like doing it even then). I knew I was going to get a headache soon if I didn't eat, so I scarfed down my lunch first while Jasper cried (nice), then I fed Jasper. While I was doing this, a random woman asked me to scoot down so she could sit on the bench as well. I looked at her like, "Don't you know I'm feeding my baby?" It was totally weird and awkward.

5. The boys got back and we broke out their lunches. I packed strawberries for Bennett, which was really smart (heavy on the sarcasm) since I also put him in a white shirt. Yes, he wiped his strawberry juiced hands all over it. Randi peeled an orange that she and the boys started eating, but then the bees showed up. HA! That girl can DANCE, no lie! She danced and ran back and forth trying to get away from one determined bee. She finally had to resort to stuffing the rest of the the orange in all of their mouths :) Of course, since the boys were out of their strollers at this time, they were running all over the place, selective hearing in full gear (which means Bennett didn't listen to me at ALL and did whatever he wanted - fabulous).

6. We'd had enough at this point and decided to take a leisurely trip back to the front gates on the train. Randi lost her ticket and almost had to buy another one, we had to unload all four boys, load our double strollers, get the 2 year olds to stay on their bench, chase down Cason when he jumped off the other side of the train (after it stopped), chase down Bennett when he ran off in the opposite direction (actually, the same kind man chased them both down, one after the other, and continued holding Bennett for me until we were almost to the stroller, since I was holding Jasper), had another man unload our strollers for us, loaded up all our kids, and walked out to the parking lot, where I had to walk a mile to my car, and Randi forgot where she was parked.

7. When we got home, rather than being utterly exhausted, Bennett refused to take his nap, and that was awesome since we were both in such a great mood (again with the heavy sarcasm).

Needless to say, we'll need to re-group and come up with back-up Plans B, C and D before attempting this insanity again.

ROCKS MY SOCKS

It has to be said today of all days that my mom is amazing. I know everybody says this about their mom, but seriously. She Rocks My Socks. I can't remember a time she ever raised her voice at us or became impatient - if she was, we never knew it. Her ability to listen never ends (which is a feat of gargantuan proportions considering how much my brother and I like to talk about a whole lotta nothin'). She gives and gives and shows no signs of bottoming-out. When I want to know what I should do with my boys, I ask her, because I know that her wisdom in the way she raised me will always make me a better mom myself.

And now she's not only my mom, she's Mimi to my boys, and I praise God for how blessed we all are to have her. My boys will learn so many things from me because I'm following her example, and when they're with her, they'll learn even more.

God must've known I'd need someone like her to be strong, to be my best-friend, to always be on my side, and to show me His light when I felt lost in the dark.

I sure do love you, Maw. Thanks for showing me what being a mom is all about. My family and my boys are blessed because of your strength and perseverance.