All About Parker and Peyton

Super Boots

2009-08-11T09:42:00.001-05:00

These pictures are just hilarious!! They are from the first week in July.

For some reason, Peyton decided that Claire's old boots were her "SUPER BOOTS", and she wore them all day long! They are 2 sizes too big, but that didn't stop her at all.

She and Parker also had Peyton's baby headbands wrapped around their wrists. They were...well, what else could they possibly be?!?!..."SUPER BANDS"!!

Peyton still wears the boots around the house at least 3-4 times a week. She is obsessed! I think I may have to find her some for this Winter.

SO FUNNY!!
The boots!

Showing off her "super band"!!

Here's Parker with his "super band"!!

Fun with the Crabtree's!

2009-08-11T09:25:00.001-05:00

These are also from the end of June. They were taken during one of our weekly visits with the Crabtree's!

Claire could NOT keep from getting a wedgie! Andrea and I were cracking up at her little booty!
Carter Man
Attempting to play golf

Splashing!

I love this picture of Claire!

Playing golf

She is such a boy! She is using the golf club as a gun, and was shooting the "bad guys"!

Precious Carter

"Cheese!!"

Not quite sure

So adorbale!!

You think it was sunny outside?

Peyton was feeding Carter his puffs. She is such a little Mama!

Eating lunch

Carter loved his first peach!!

He also loved the banana!

He was cracking us up when he was trying to eat. It was a slippery little sucker and he had a hard time holding on to it sometimes.

Parker decided that digging in the mud was better than swimming!

The whole is still there!

Hangin' with Granna

2009-08-11T09:18:00.001-05:00

These are just a couple of funny pictures that I found on the camera after Granna had the kids for an evening. It was back at the end of June. They got to go have fun with Granna at Chuck E. Cheese!

Aren't they precious?!?!
Of course, drinking "Pepper", aka Diet Dr. Pepper! Their Granna and Aunt May have a hard time telling them NO!!

Five Generations

2009-08-11T09:14:00.000-05:00

Way back in June when we went to Houston to visit with my great-grandmother and grandparents, I really intended on getting some new 5 generation pictures. Unfortunately though, I never did.

I thought that since I didn't get a new one, I would post a couple of old ones from when the kids were just little babies!

This one is from a family reunion when Parker was only 4 months old.
This one was when they came to meet Peyton for the first time. I think she was around 5 weeks.

Peyton LOVES Tomato

2009-08-11T09:11:00.001-05:00

Here's a few pictures of Bitty eating some tomatoes. They are her favorite!!! In these pictures though, I think more got on her face than in her mouth!

Can you see all the seeds?
Yummy!
She cracks me up!

Not quite sure what this face is, but I thought it was funny!

WAY Overdue!!

2009-08-11T09:00:00.002-05:00

I don't even know where to begin since it has been over a MONTH since my last post.

I have some posts that have been sitting here with pictures, but I haven't written anything for them. I guess I will start there.

I am hoping to get caught up this week on all the posts I have neglected!

There's quite a bit to blog about, because we all know how much fun stuff happens in the life of two toddlers!

I apologize to my very few readers for neglecting my blog. I just haven't been in the mood to keep up with it lately. Sometimes it is hard to spend so much time on something that only a hand full a people read. I promise I will try to get back into it though!

So, this is for you: Aunt May, Granna, Sunny, Susie, Katherine, and Brenda! Love y'all and thanks for reading!

The Stark's 4th of July Bash

2009-07-04T11:44:00.007-05:00

Yesterday we attended the Stark's annual 4th of July Bash!! They have opened up their home and pool to all of our friends for the last 6 years or so. We always have a blast!! Thanks Chris and Ashley for another great pool party! We love y'all!!

The majority of our D'ville friends were able to attend. We missed the ones that weren't able to come! I know I've told y'all before, but just in case you've forgotten, these are all the people that we have been friends with since high school or before. We've known all of them at least 15 years, but known others 20-25 years! I love that we are all still friends and are all so close!!

Chris cooked up some delicious burgers and dogs, and Ashley had a huge spread of all kinds of goodies. So, not only did they let us all come over, destroy their home, and swim in their pool, but they fed us too!

So far it has been a great Independence Day weekend! We are headed to Adam's dad's house today for more BBQ and fireworks. I'll post tomorrow with all the pictures and happenings from today. I hope you are all having a Happy 4th of July!! Love you all!

This picture cracks me up! I have no idea what they are both looking at, but I don't think they like it. Look at Bitty's face! Chris & Ashley's twin girls - Alli & Emily. Aren't they beautiful?!?! I was so excited to meet them for the first time yesterday!

Chloe looked so cute in her swim suit!

Jonah was wanting out of the gate to go get in the water!

Guess who else I got to meet yesterday?!?! Isabelle!! I can't believe I got to meet 3 of the 4 new babies all on the same day. Isn't Izzy gorgeous?!?! Now I just need to meet baby Liam!

Chloe chillin' out!

Peyton was all ready to go in the baby pool

I love this picture of my silly girl!

Jonah was enjoying some of Landon's toys

Annie & Carter - I just want to eat his sweet cheeks!

Claire Bear was unhappy for some reason

Landon - isn't he just the cutest little boy?!?! Andrea and I were saying yesterday that he needs to be a Baby Gap model!

The kids were having to hang out on the edge of the pool, while the guys played volleyball.

Parker was tormenting Trevor with the water gun!

Jonah decided to do some cleaning while he waited.

Here's another attempt at getting Peyton in the big pool. She still wasn't having it!

Wylie Fireworks

2009-07-04T11:38:00.009-05:00

Thursday night we attended the Wylie Fireworks. They shot them off from one of our favorite parks, which is behind Wylie High School.

One of the high school fields was open to the public, which was HUGE, and everyone brought their blankets and chairs. Luckily I remembered the bug spray, because the mosquitoes were out in full force!

The Wylie fire department and police department were also there. Parker was able to get in the driver's seat of a fire truck and shake hands with some of the officers. He was very proud!!

There was also a DJ, bounce houses, and vendors set up selling lots of yummy junk food! We had already had dinner, but I had to get some nachos and popcorn. Ballpark nachos with LOTS of greasy cheese and jalapenos are one of my all time favorites!!

Nona came along too and we all had a great time!! Parker absolutely loved the fireworks. Peyton was a little scared when they first started and kept telling us that she wanted to go home. Luckily though, she warmed up to them pretty quickly, and ended up loving them too.

For living in such a small city, I wasn't expecting the fireworks to be all that grand, but I was very wrong. The show was awesome and the finale was one of the best I have ever seen; it was so spectacular that Adam thought it might have been an accident!!

Here's Parker "driving" the fire truck
Getting some free loot from the police department

This picture is AMAZING!!! Let me tell you why. This is the FIRST family picture we have taken since both kids have been born, where we are ALL looking at the camera and smiling!! Thanks to Nona for being able to capture this picture. I LOVE it!!

Nona and Peyton

Nona with both of her babies!

Adam & Parker

Me & Bitty

Sweet Peanut!

Not quite sure about the noise!

"WOWOWOWOW!!!!" Can you tell he loved them?!?!

So precious!

Bless her heart, she was SO exhausted!

Adam was trying to act scared

I didn't have a lot of luck getting pictures of the fireworks. These are the best 3 that I took, out of probably 25.

Time to head home!! Parker took a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

Peyton rode on Nona's shoulders. She has to do everything her brother does!!

TLO loves Michael!

2009-06-30T23:05:00.003-05:00

Before the guys loaded up all their gear to take to the City Tavern on Saturday night, they had a quick practice. They have a practice room in Garland, where they go at least once a week to practice old songs and work on new songs. Since I was riding with Adam, I also attended their practice session.

As you all know, Michael Jackson passed away last week. Well, being that he is one of the biggest musical icons of our generation, The Lash Outs wanted to pay tribute to him during their show Saturday night.

They all wore buttons with Michael's picture, there was a Michael Jackson record cover on stage in front of Dustin's drums, and Joey wore a Michael style hat. Adam even wore a tiger shirt during practice, but decided not to wear it during the show.

Most of the pictures I took were at the practice room, but I also took a couple at the actual show.

D-Town
Joey in his hat

Brian

The album cover

One of the buttons

Adam in the tiger shirt

Here's one of the two that I took at the show. Annie was posing for me! That's Derek, Andrea's husband, and Ramos in the background.

Joey again!

5 Posts!

2009-06-30T00:22:00.002-05:00

I got some more posts done!!

We're Home!

Kemah Boardwalk

Kemah Aquarium

Cousins

Raccoons

Enjoy!!

Raccoons

2009-06-30T00:17:00.000-05:00

For anyone who has never lived in the country, y'all might think this is a little weird.

Uncle David lives in a pretty country area, surrounded by a LOT of trees and woods. They have always had a ton of wildlife visit them in their backyard. There has been several kinds of birds, squirrels, deer, raccoons, and even a bobcat!

Attached to the back of his house, Uncle David has a huge sun room, that looks out to the backyard. Right outside of the huge windows, is a picnic table. A couple of years ago, he started putting out dog food every night on his picnic table, to feed the animals. He was very curious to see what he would attract and which animals would be brave enough to come so close to the house.

Not long after putting out the food, families of raccoons started showing up every night to enjoy their midnight snack. He told me that some nights there would be as many as 7 out there all at once!

Well, while we were visiting, a couple of the raccoons showed up for their snack. I was so excited to see them! I tried SO hard to take pictures through the glass, but hardly any of them turned out. I even snuck outside, through the front door, down the side of the house, to the backyard to try and get a shot. Heck no! I scared them so bad, I didn't think they'd ever come back.

So anyway, here are a couple of the pictures that I took. I tried to edit them so you could at least the raccoons a little bit. They turned out super blurry though.

The one on the right was hilarious! She kept sitting up on her hind legs to eat. At one point, she stood up tall on her back legs to look at something, and I think she was about 2 feet tall. So cute!!
This was the first one that showed up. He was sneaking in, slowly taking piece by piece off the table, until he was brave enough to get on top.

Cousins

2009-06-29T23:12:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, we also got to go see my Uncle David and his family. They live about an hour away from my grandparents and we hardly ever get to see them.

Uncle David's step-son, Brad, which I consider my cousin, since we've been family for almost 15 years now, came over too. He and his precious wife, Sandra, have two little boys, Jackson and Carson. Jackson is right in between Parker and Peyton; Carson is almost 7 months (I think!).

It had been so long since we had seen them, that it was our first time to meet Carson! The last time I saw them, Sandra was barely pregnant. It was so great to see them, my Uncle David, and his wife, Charlotte (ChaCha). I love them all so much and it makes me sad to think how little I get to spend time with them!

The kids all had a BLAST playing together. The boys even shared all their toys with each other! Jackson brought a bunch of his Thomas toys along to ChaCha's house and dumped them all out as soon as he got there. He had absolutely no problem letting Parker and Peyton play with his trains! Such a sweet boy!

Carson was an absolute doll! He let Granna and I love on him for a long time; we got lots of smiles and giggles! He is getting ready to crawl and he was so precious, trying SO hard. I can't believe Carson is already that old, and I just got to love on him for the first time. So sad!!

I wish that we lived closer to them. Not only so I could be closer to my Uncle David, whom I just love to death, but so that we could be closer to Brad and Sandra. I have always wanted my kids to have cousins to play with and grow up with, but I don't see that ever happening. Unless they wanted to move to Dallas (hint-hint)!

Jackson & Parker - aren't they SO stinkin' cute?!?!
Carson - I could just eat him up! Look at those chubby cheeks!

Jackson and Peyton loved on each other a bit. They were getting ready to leave, and Peyton had to tell him a secret and give him a hug!

Kemah Aquarium

2009-06-29T22:56:00.000-05:00

After Parker got his fill of the amusement park, Mimi & Papa left to go check on Granny, and the rest of us headed to the aquarium. The main aquarium is also a restaurant and you have to go up several flights of stairs to get to the top. The entire way up, through the middle of the stairs, was an extremely tall fish tank. It was beautiful!

Once you get to the top, which is the restaurant part, is where the giant tank is. It was full of HUGE fish, sharks, an eel that I swear was 6 feet long, and stingrays. So cool! The kids absolutely LOVED it!

I took lots of pictures, but because of the lighting, they all turned out blue. So, unfortunately, I only have a few to show you.

After we saw the main aquarium, we headed back downstairs to the other side of the building, which is a stingray exhibit. Peyton decided she would rather get a ball from the gift shop than go see the stingrays, so Grumps took Parker in by himself. Parker loved it. He got to pet the stingrays and feed them fish!

When we left Kemah, we were all pretty hungry, so we headed to Bay City, in search of a restaurant that we used to love. We had heard that Clifton's had closed down, but we had to make sure for ourselves. Luckily, it was still open!! We all ordered a lunch special and it was absolutely delicious. It even came with dessert; I chose the chocolate cake!

Here's Bitty in a great mood, looking at the fish! She was mesmerized!

You can't really tell by this picture, but this fish was HUGE!!

While we were there, a man came into the water, in full scuba gear, with canisters full of fish. It was so cool to see him feed all the sea life!!

One of the stingrays

Kemah Boardwalk

2009-06-29T22:40:00.002-05:00

We spent a day in Kemah while we were down South. It's a little town outside of Houston, that's on the ocean. It was hit really badly by the hurricanes a couple of years ago, pretty much destroying everything that was near the water.

Kemah is known for several things, but mainly it's boardwalk. The boardwalk used to look very old fashioned, but since it was destroyed completely, they have redone the entire area. It is SO awesome!!

Not only does it have several rides, including a train that goes around all the property, but it has tons of restaurants, shops, and an awesome aquarium! I think Parker had the best time out of anyone. He got to ride the train, an airplane, the carousel, and the ferris wheel. Woo hoo!!

Peyton only attempted one ride, which was the train, and cried almost the entire time. I don't know if it was actually the train she was upset about, or the fact that she rubbed sunscreen in her eyes. Her poor eyes were completely blood shot and running like faucets.

As soon as she got off the train, we took her to the bathroom, and I rinsed them out really well with water. I also washed her hands and face really well, so she wouldn't end up rubbing more lotion in her eyes. Once I got her eyes flushed out, and they stopped burning, she was acting like a totally different child. Bless her little heart! They had to have been burning like fire!

Despite the stifling heat and awful humidity, it turned out to be a great day. I'm really glad we went, and Parker had the chance to ride some big boy rides. He was so happy and proud; it made me melt to see the huge smile on his precious face!

My big boy!!
Mimi and Peyton waiting in line for the train.
Granna, Parker, Peyton, & Mimi. Can you see how upset Bitty was?!?!

Grumps, Papa, and I met the train at one of the crossings. Isn't the property gorgeous?

Broke my heart when they passed. She was screaming, "MAMA!!!!"

Parker waving "hi" to me from his airplane

He thought it was amazing!!

Go, Parker, Go!!

The carousel was beautiful. It was 2 stories and all the hand-painted details were gorgeous!

Parker chose to ride on the top deck!

Here we are getting ready to go on the ferris wheel

"Hi, Granna!!"

We're Home!

2009-06-28T23:32:00.000-05:00

We had a great time in Houston spending time with our family! I was definitely happy to be home though, and so were the kids. After a week of being off of their normal schedules, and not having naps, they were acting pretty rotten towards the end of the trip.

The weather in Houston is SOOOO humid! The temperature is the same as it is in Dallas, but we don't have the humidity. I think I lost a pound every day we were there, just from sweating. Just going out to the car to get something was torture! As soon as I would walk outside I would be sweating, and by the time I got back in the house, my hair would be wet. Definitely not good weather when you have wavy hair!

We spent most of our time hanging out with my grandparents, my great-grandmother, and great-aunt. We also got to see my Uncle David, his wife Charlotte, and my cousin Brad and his family. It was great getting to see all of them, because it's usually only once a year that it happens.

My great-grandmother, Granny, isn't doing too well. She is 91, has taken a couple of bad falls lately, and her mind is starting to go. When she fell, she fractured several little bones in her back, which is causing her a lot of pain. It was SO sad to see her in such awful discomfort. She wasn't able to stay out of bed for very long periods of time while we were visiting.

It brought me great happiness to see how thrilled she was to see Mom, Dad, me, and the kids! She hadn't gotten dressed in regular clothes for several weeks, but since she knew we were coming to see her, she got all dolled up in one of her suits. It was SO precious! I just love my Granny!!

Unfortunately, since she was in bed most of the time, I didn't get a single picture of her. After looking through all of my pictures, I was very sad when I realized it. I did get a lot of pictures on the trip though, so I have several posts to do tomorrow!

The trip was a success and overall, Parker and Peyton were pretty good! They are acting much more like themselves now though, since they are back on their schedules and taking good naps. Man oh man, what a difference in their behavior, with just a couple of extra hours of sleep!!

This weekend was spent with Granna. She came home with us to finish out her vacation and watched the kids for Adam and I last night, so we could attend The Lash Outs show. Thanks Granna!! While we were heading out for the evening, she was loading up the kids and taking them to Chuck E. Cheese. She said they had an absolute blast! I wish she would have had the camera to take some pictures.

Shortly after returning home from taking Granna back to Hachie, Nona came over. She brought with her a lot of delicious food for dinner, along with some fruit for me and Peyton! YUMMY!! Aunt Kate and one of her friends, Katie Joe, along with her daughter, Kendalynn, all came over for dinner as well. We enjoyed the pools and sprinklers in the backyard until dinner was ready.

The dinner turned out delicious!! We had steak, salmon, shrimp, roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, spaghetti squash, sauteed mushrooms, and brownies with Blue Bell ice cream for dessert. WOW! It was a lot of food, but hardly any of it was left over.

We ended a great week with a great weekend!! I am so grateful for my family!

I hope you all had a great week and weekend as well. Stay tuned for some posts, that I hope to complete tomorrow. Love you all!!

Fun Weekend at the Lake

2009-06-21T19:53:00.008-05:00

We had a very good time at the lake this weekend! There was lots of time spent in the sun; thank goodness for sunscreen and water!!

I bought the kids some fishing poles to take with us and they loved casting and reeling, over & over! I got the kind that don't actually have hooks. Peyton's had a purple, plastic butterfly attached at the end; Parker's had a red, plastic fish attached to his.

I also found them some life jackets at the re-sale shop on Friday. You know, just in case! I am so paranoid about the water. I got Peyton's for $9.99, which was $29.97 at Wal-Mart; got Parker's for $5.99, which was $22.97 at Wal-Mart. I love re-sale shops! I couldn't believe how much I had saved when I checked the prices.

Aunt May's birthday was Saturday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAY MAY!!), and of course, today was Father's Day (HAPPY FATHER'S DAY ADAM & DAD!!), so we all had a great time together celebrating.

We also ate a LOT of delicious food! Last night for dinner, we had steaks, corn on the cob, homemade french fries, cantaloupe, watermelon, and home-grown tomatoes...YUMMY!! This morning for breakfast, we made breakfast tacos full of sausage and bacon, and fried potatoes with a little onion...DELICIOUS!!

The only down fall to the whole trip, well other than my brother's anniversary being the same day as Father's Day, was the fold out bed...again!! Since we stayed there the first time, the trailer has been leveled, so we thought that would fix the problem with the leaning bed. Once we pulled it out last night, I laid down on it to test it, and it seemed fine. Well, it wasn't!

Adam, Peyton, & I were the 3 that were sleeping on the bed. Peyton was on the inside, then Adam, and then me. Well, needless to say, I didn't get hardly any sleep. I kept feeling like I was going to roll off the edge, so I would wake up in a panic, and then it would take me for ever to fall back asleep, before it happened all over again.

Before we go down there next time, I am going to get some bed risers to put under the two legs. Hopefully that will fix the problem. I would definitely prefer feeling like I was rolling in a little bit, rather than feel like I'm falling onto the floor!

This will be my last post for several days, because we are heading to Houston for most of the week. We are heading to Hachie tomorrow evening to stay the night, and will head South early Tuesday morning. We'll either come home Thursday night or Friday morning, so I probably won't be posting again until Saturday. Just when I decided that I am going to make a conscious effort to blog everyday, we are leaving. Sorry!

Hopefully I will get lots of pictures while I'm there and will have lots to blog about. I'm going to try to get a more recent 5 generation picture while we're there, so I'll definitely be posting that for y'all to see! I hope you all had an awesome weekend. Love you all!

Here's Adam helping Peyton "fish" Parker does an awesome job all by himself!!
Here's Dad in his typical lake attire!

Peyton got to drive from the dock to the pool!

If you recall, the last time we went to the pool, Parker didn't want to be by himself at all in the water. This time though, I brought different flotation devices, and Parker was a swimming fool! I guess by having two different types of floaties on, he felt a lot more comfortable. I bought the same exact things for Peyton, but she still wouldn't have anything to do with the water.

Parker had SO much fun "swimming" around the pool! He even decided he was brave enough to jump in from the side. At first, he would only do it if Adam was right there to catch him. Eventually though, he was jumping in all by himself. I was very proud of him!! It was awesome to see him & Adam having so much fun together. Maybe by the end of the summer, Peyton will be brave enough to swim too!

Here's Parker jumping in!

Adam and Peanut...of course, he has his tongue out...doesn't he always when there's water involved?!?!

See how much braver he was getting with his jumps? Look how high he jumped for this one! That smile on his face just melts my heart!

Today, before we left, Adam got out the kite for the kids. They are so amazed by kites! Since most of the lots by my parent's lot still haven't been bought, there is an open field next to them. It was the perfect place to fly a kite.

Parker got a turn to do the flying!

Peyton got a turn too!

I took a video of them flying the kite, but it was so grainy that I'm not even going to post it. I was sitting pretty far away, so I had the camera on zoom, and I guess the camera didn't like that very much. I was sad though, because about half-way through flying the kite, Parker decided he was going to chase the kite's shadow. It was hilarious!! He was running in circles trying to catch the shadow, and then he would just fall to the ground. It's something you definitely had to see to appreciate!

9 Long Years

2009-06-21T00:00:00.001-05:00

I want to start this post by wishing my dad and husband a Happy Father's Day!! I love you both and I hope you have a great day today!

The real reason for this post though, is to re-introduce you all to my brother. I have only spoke of him once since I started blogging. It was here, when I was wishing him a Happy 26th Birthday! I still can't believe he would be that old.

9 years ago today, my little brother passed away in a car accident. WOW!! 9 years?!?! It definitely doesn't seem that long ago. I can remember everything like it was yesterday.

He and some of his friends were heading home from the lake, and the boy that was driving, fell asleep at the wheel. No, there was no alcohol involved. That's normally the first thing people think when I say that. All 3 of the other boys were asleep, so I guess he was having a hard time staying awake.

From what we can gather, when he woke up and realized he was heading off the road, he tried to correct the car, but did it too quickly. The car ended up flipping several times, throwing out the passengers, and rolling over my brother. The only positive thing I can say about the whole matter, is that we know Jeff didn't suffer.

The driver and my brother's best friend walked away with only a few scratches and bruises. The other passenger injured one of his legs and had to have skin graphs done on one of his ears. They all 3 survived the accident though, with minimal injuries.

I know Jeff is with the Lord now and is living the perfect life, but I still miss him like crazy! I know he would have been an amazing uncle to Parker and Peyton and they would have loved him SO much!

Jeff was an awesome person and was loved by almost everyone he ever met. He was definitely the class clown and got in trouble a lot in school, but it wasn't for being the "bad" kid. It was because he couldn't keep his mouth shut!

I have never seen a funeral more packed in my life. There were SO many people there! It was great to be surrounded by so many people who loved my precious brother, on such an awful day.
Sorry to be such a downer, but I really wanted everyone to know about one of the most important people in my life, that never gets talked about on my blog.

I also wanted to share some pictures with you. All of the pictures of us growing up are at my parent's house, so hopefully I will remember to get some and I can include them on the post for what would have been his 27th birthday. I have many months to do this, so I'm sure I can remember!

This is probably my MOST favorite picture of my brother! It just shows his goof-ball side and that's what I will always remember the most about him. I scanned it in the frame that it sits on a shelf in my living room. I couldn't believe I found such an awesome frame to put it in! This was taken the weekend he died.

This was taken at a wedding in 1997 or 1998. It isn't a good picture of either one of us, but I love it, because it makes me laugh! I can vividly remember posing for the picture and neither one of us wanted to take it. My Mimi made us pose and we were laughing hysterically after she took the picture. It was Jeff's idea to pretend he was reading the book.
This was taken in 1997 I think. We were leaving my Mimi's house in Houston to head back home after church, and she had us pose for a picture before we left. It's crazy how short Jeff is in this picture. He was over 6 foot when he died. He had a HUGE growth spurt just a few months before the accident.

This is his headstone. He was very big into drama and starred in several of the high school plays. He was also a movie junkie. He had every movie ever made it seemed, and could recite some of them word for word. That's why there are drama faces and a movie reel on the headstone.

This is what his plot used to look like at all times before the cemetery changed the rules. Now we can only have a couple of things out there.

The back of the headstone

The family bench. You can't tell because of the lighting, but it also has Mullin etched in the sides of it.

This is a cross that used to be at the site of the accident.

This is a tree that Waxahachie High School planted in memoriam of Jeff.

This is the stone that sets in front of the tree.

6 New Posts!

2009-06-19T23:35:00.000-05:00

I did some blogging tonight! Here's a list of the posts in order:

My "P"s - the next Picasso?!?!

Lunch with Daddy

Park with Nona

Cool Dude

Tow Tractor

So Impressed!

Happy reading everyone!!

So Impressed!

2009-06-19T23:15:00.000-05:00

When Adam got home this evening, I had to run to Wal-Mart to get cards and gift bags. While I was gone, Adam and the kids played with sidewalk chalk.

As soon as I opened my car door to get out, I noticed an awesome drawing on the driveway! I know my husband can draw, but to be able to draw this well with crappy sidewalk chalk, was pretty impressive to me!!

Here's his chalk drawing of Dora the Explorer! Isn't that unbelievable?!?!

Don't believe me? Here's the picture before I edited it. It was for sure drawn on my driveway! Oh, and I asked him what he looked at while he was drawing it, and he said nothing. Is it just me, or is that pretty cool?!?!

Tow Tractor

2009-06-19T23:06:00.005-05:00

Today was spent running errands and getting gifts for Aunt May (her birthday is tomorrow), Adam, and Grumps.

We also had to pick up some stuff to take to the lake. I got life jackets for the kids, child fishing poles, water shoes, and a bunch of other things to take with us this weekend.

This morning though, before we got dressed, Parker wanted to ride his tractor for a bit. His tractor has a hook on the back, and he likes to hook up whatever he can to the back, and pull it around. Today's choice for towing was the tricycle.

I thought it was pretty cute, so of course, I had to take a picture!

Cool Dude

2009-06-19T22:50:00.000-05:00

Thursday was another day spent outside. We played as usual and wore ourselves out!

It was super sunny on Thursday! At one point, while Parker was riding his bike, he told me, "Mama, the sun is burning my eyes. I need my sunglasses!"

I thought he looked so cute riding around in his shades, that I had to take some pictures!

Check out my cool man!
SO stinkin' handsome!!

Park with Nona

2009-06-19T22:40:00.000-05:00

Wednesday is usually spent with the Crabtree's, but they were unavailable this week, so we went and hung out with Nona. She took us to an awesome park in Coppell. The kids had SO much fun! The best thing about the park, is that 75% of it is completely shaded. It made it comfortable and I didn't have to worry about the kids getting sun burned!

After having a blast at the park, we headed back to Nona's house for lunch. After the kids and I filled our bellies, we headed back home for nap. Parker & Peyton don't tend to nap very well at their Nona's. Well, to be honest, Parker will hardly ever nap anywhere but home, and the only other place that I can get Peyton to nap on occasion, is Granna & Grump's house.

They were pretty pooped from playing so hard, so they took a pretty decent nap. Thank goodness! I was worn out too. There's just something about this Summer heat that will wear you out!

Parker trying to climb one of the chain ladders
Riding in the race car!

Peyton & Nona on one of the bridges

Getting ready to slide!

So sweet!

He looks so grown up!

Sliding down the big slide! Look at that precious smile!

At one point during play time, Parker had to go potty. So, we headed over to the picnic area to use the restroom. There were a lot of birds flying around and Nona suggested that we feed them some snacks. The kids thought that was an awesome idea! They threw out several goldfish for the birds and enjoyed watching them eat their snacks.

Birdy #1

Birdy #2

Lunch with Daddy

2009-06-19T22:20:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, I was ready to get out of the house, so we loaded up and went downtown. The kids and I met Adam and his work group for lunch at Jason's Deli. YUMMY!!

The kids ate pretty well, so they were able to have ice cream for dessert. Believe it or not, they didn't even get that messy. Well, other than the fact that Peyton got tomato all over the WHITE hem of her pretty dress. I spot treated it pretty well, so I am hoping that it comes out!

After lunch, we weren't quite ready to go home, so we drove to the World Trade Center to go see Aunt May. I didn't call her until we were in the parking lot, and needless to say, she was pretty darn excited to see us!

Aunt May's best friend and co-worker, Susie, also had some visitors. Her daughters, Meredith and Mallory, went to see their mom after they went to the aquarium. It was great to see the girls! I have known them literally since they were born, but hardly ever get to see them.

I took a lot of pictures while I was there, but for some really strange reason, when I uploaded all the pics from my camera, they weren't there. There was only ONE picture from Aunt May's office, and it isn't even a good one! I was very bummed, because I took some really cute ones of Susie and the girls.

Here's some pictures from our Tuesday outing!

Parker enjoying his ice cream cone!
Shawn liked his too!

Parker & Adam

Bitty ate it very delicately!

Doesn't he look guilty?!?!

She was pushing around her high chair

Adam's work group: Kevin, Jim, Adam, Shawn....Adam wasn't being a very good sport!

This is the one and only picture from the visit with Aunt May. At least it's cute of Peyton!

My "P"s - the next Picasso?

2009-06-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

I don't know why I don't do a daily blog post. I wait until I have a weeks worth of pictures and then decide to put them on the blog. I think it would be a lot easier on me, and a lot less time consuming, if I did it daily!

Anyway, I have 5 or 6 posts to do, so it's going to take me a while.

We had a pretty slow week, but we still seemed to do a lot of fun things. We spent a LOT of time outside, either painting or playing in the water. We also ventured out of the house 3 out of 5 days this week. That's pretty impressive for us! Normally, other than our weekly trip to Hachie (which we didn't do this week), we may only leave the house one other day until the weekend arrives.

The kids are still bickering with each other quite a bit, but I have to say, it looks like it may be getting better. They are definitely playing a lot better together! The only big issue we are still having, is the hitting. Does anyone know how to make this stop?!?! If they do end up getting mad at each other, the first thing they do is hit. It drives me crazy!! It doesn't matter what I do to discipline them, because there have been several times when one of them has come out of time-out, and within minutes, they have hit again. I don't understand!!

Well, I hope you have all had a great week! We are headed to the lake this weekend for some family time and to celebrate Father's Day. Hopefully I'll get some good blog material while we are there! I wish you all a great weekend, and on the off chance that I have any dad's that read my blog, I wish you a VERY HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Monday was one of the days where we spent pretty much ALL day outside. We went to Wal-Mart that morning to pick up some more paint supplies, and after nap, the kids painted for an hour or so. They had SO much fun! Parker doesn't know how to do anything neatly. He had paint EVERYWHERE!!

I love the little smirk she is making! He's putting paint on a sponge Here's Parker's half-way through
Here's Peyton's half-way through How do you get it on your nose?!?!
Trying to get every last drop of paint! "Look at my brush Mama!"
Man, he's a MESS!! Parker's finished work-of-art! Peyton's finished work-of-art!

So what do YOU think? The next Picasso's?!?!

Several NEW Posts!

2009-06-11T01:51:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to doing some blogging. Woo hoo! It's been a week already since I last posted. Whew! Time goes by WAY too quickly sometimes!

Here's a list of the posts. Just click on the title and it will take you to the post, or you can just scroll down and see them all below.

I hope you enjoy all of them and I hope everyone had a great weekend and is having a great week so far! Love you all!

New Trailer

Trying out the Lake Pool

Water Colors

Sprinkler!

MORE Water Fun!!

Where does he come up with this stuff?!?!

Where does he come up with this stuff?!?!

2009-06-11T01:47:00.001-05:00

We had some pretty bad weather come through tonight. The sirens started going off while the kids were in the bath. I wish y'all could have seen Adam & I scrambling to get the kids out of the tub and into their jammies. It was pretty funny!

I had Parker go with me, half naked, into the hallway where I finished getting him ready for bed. Bitty soon followed, and the 3 of us hung out in the hallway and the bathroom for the next 20 minutes or so.

Pretty much as soon as we settled in the bathroom, the electricity went out. Luckily, Adam was already prepared with flashlights. We lit a candle in the bathroom and gave each of the kids a flashlight for entertainment, so the 20 minutes went by pretty quickly.

Parker kept asking what the "ooooohhhhh" sound was and Bitty told me a couple of times that she was scared, but they did great hanging out in the dark bathroom. I was pretty surprised!

Once the sirens stopped going off and the storm had died down a bit, we all headed to the living room to hang out until it was time for the kids to get in bed. Adam started playing the "guessing game" with Parker, where you give a few clues about an object, and the other person has to guess what it is.

I didn't hear the first clues that Adam gave Parker, but I did get to hear the clues that Parker told his daddy. Here's how the conversation went:

Parker: "1 leg, 2 black eyes, 1 hand. Dad, do you know what I am?"
Adam: "I have NO clue!"
Parker: "I'm a dinosaur!"
Adam: "But Parker, dinosaurs either have 2 or 4 legs."
Parker: "OK. I have 4 legs, 2 hands, and a dinosaur thingy. What am I?"
Adam: "A dinosaur?"
Parker: (really excited!!) "YEAH!!"

Now, it was Adam's turn to give the clues.

Adam: "I have 4 legs, made of wood, and people sit on me. Do you know what I am?"
Parker: "Yeah! Elephant!"
Adam: "Good guess Parker, but are elephants made out of wood?"

This went on for at least 15-20 minutes and I was cracking up almost the entire time! I swear that boy says the funniest things sometimes!!

Oh, and we were without electricity for 3 hours! Thank goodness it finally came back on. It was getting so hot in the house that I was getting ready to load the kids up and take them to my parents. When I went in to check on them after they had been down about an hour, they were already sopping wet. It was miserably humid!

I hope everyone else in the area survived the storms without too much damage!

MORE Water Fun!!

2009-06-11T01:14:00.000-05:00

Today I blew up the other pool that was given to Parker for his birthday. It provided hours of fun for the kids this morning and afternoon!

I took a few pictures, but there is also a video. The video is pretty long for a blog video, but I did a LOT of splicing to get it to 3 minutes. It was over 9 minutes of video to begin with! I think the video turned out pretty precious.

Parker has the most vivid imagination of any child I have ever met! He is always making up stories and telling me about his "friends" and what they did that day. At the very beginning of the video, Parker is telling me about one of his "friends".

If you can't hear it on the video, here is what he told me: "I call my little ant boy & he's supposed to see me & he's a boy & he's my best friend!" OKAY! Whatever you say Buddy!

When the video fades back in for the second part, you will notice that Peyton has started to play along with Parker and all of his imaginary tales. She starts calling for "ant boy"! They crack me up!

Also, listen closely when I ask Peyton what color the fish is on her bathing suit. Her accent is going to be just as Texan as mine. She says "paank", instead of pink. I tried to get her to say it again, but she said it so low that you can barely hear it on the video. Both of the kids have taken on my twang!

Here's Peanut on the slideI thought her little hiney looked so cute in this suit!

Sprinkler!

2009-06-11T01:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, after their watercolor fun, the kids needed to be rinsed off before I would let them into the house. What better way to rinse off than by running through the sprinkler in your undies/diaper?!?!

For some reason, they thought this was the best thing ever! They laughed and ran the entire time the water was running. I loved it!

Peyton normally doesn't want any water spraying in her face, but for some odd reason, this didn't bother her at all. Not that I am complaining by any means. I was just pretty shocked!

The kids were still rinsing off/playing in the sprinkler when Adam drove up from work. I thought he had thrown a beach ball out of his window when he pulled up, but apparently it had drifted into our yard, just as he was pulling into the driveway. It was so strange!

Running through the water!
LOVE this picture! I didn't notice this until today, but if you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see the beach ball in the street, behind Parker. It just so happened to make it to our yard at the exact same time Adam drove up!
He loves running through the water, but hates for it to get in his eyes

Bitty was starting to get brave

There she goes!

Parker with the magic beach ball!

Loving it!

Posing for me

Water Colors

2009-06-11T00:41:00.000-05:00

We have spent pretty much every waking moment outside the past couple of days. It has been hot, but luckily not too hot to enjoy playing outside.

Yesterday, after the Crabtree's headed home, we needed something fun to do to pass the time until dinner. I got out their washable watercolors, 2 bowls full of water, the paint brushes, and let them go to town painting the driveway. They had a blast!

They loved it so much, that they wanted to do it again today when they got up from their naps. They used up all the paint today, so I think I need to head to Wal-Mart tomorrow and get some more. I have a feeling that this will be a pretty frequent activity this summer!

Here's Parker yesterday after painting How did it get on his face?!?!

He's showing me all the paint brushes

He had it EVERYWHERE!

Here's some pics from today's painting adventure!

She was making a masterpiece on the concrete!

Showing me her brushes

Finally - an activity they can do together without fighting!

Sweet Bitty

LOVE my babies!

Trying out the Lake Pool

2009-06-11T00:29:00.001-05:00

There is a "neighborhood" pool located on the grounds where my parents bought their lake lot. We decided to take the kids swimming for a bit before we cooked some delicious burgers for dinner.

Peyton's floating device didn't work too well and pulled her face-first into the water. It was NOT a good thing! She was terrified to get in the pool after that, so she hung out on the lounge chairs with Granna most of the time.

Parker wasn't real sure about the pool either, but he still had a blast! He would jump to me and let me swim with him on my back. He just didn't want to be out in the middle of the pool by himself.

Luckily the kids are getting their first swim lessons this summer. One of my dearest friends, Emily, used to give swim lessons for extra money when she was in college. She volunteered to let me and the kids come to her house and she would give them lessons for free. Woo hoo!! I am hoping to get them done before the 4th of July, because we always attend the Stark's annual pool party.

I got some pretty funny pictures of the kids. Actually, the funny ones are of Peyton. Be ready to laugh!! The goggles she wanted to wear distorted her poor face into someone unrecognizable!

Parker wanted to wear his swim trunks under his floating suit. They looked hilarious crumpled up underneath the spandex!
Poor Bitty! She will kill me for taking these pictures one day!

Bless her heart. It doesn't even look like her, does it?!!?

He looks so precious here!

She was done! It was time to go eat!

New Trailer

2009-06-11T00:15:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday, the kids and I went to Richland Chambers Lake, where my parents just recently bought a lot. They got the trailer in last week, so we all went down there to stay the night and check it all out.

The trailer is awesome! It's a lot roomier than I expected it to be and it looks/feels like a home on the inside. I couldn't get over all the storage space either. I think the trailer has more storage than my house does!

Parker & Peyton loved it too! Anytime we go to a new place it's like a vacation to them. They love to be able to explore new territory and see what it has to offer. I think they opened every single drawer in the trailer and asked a million questions. I love to see them get so excited over the smallest things!

The sleeping arrangements were quite comical. All 3 of us slept in a full-size bed, which would normally be ideal. Well, they wanted me to be in the middle of them, and the bed has a slight downward slope on one side. In the middle of the night, I was startled awake by Parker falling off the bed!

Believe it or not though, he never even woke up! I moved him to the middle, took his side, and knew immediately why he had fallen off. I had to cuddle up extremely close to Parker because I thought I was going to fall off too. I think we need to make a few adjustments to the pull-out bed, but other than that, everything was absolutely perfect!

There is still a lot that has to be done outside of the trailer, but the inside is great! Within a few months, Dad plans on having the cover up over the trailer and patio, the deck completed, and the driveway expanded. He has several projects up his sleeve and I can't wait until it's all complete. My dad is a perfectionist, so I know it will all turn out amazing!

I am looking forward to spending weekends at the lake with my family! What's better than a day of fishing, hanging out by the pool/lake, going out on the boat, cooking out, watching the kids have a blast, and being with the people I love most in this world?!?! Not much!!

I took a bunch of pictures of the trailer to show y'all. They really don't do it justice, but here they are.

The master bedroom
The closet, drawers, and TV in the bedroom

The window in the bedroom

The bathroom

Another view of the bathroom

The couch/pull-out bed

The dining room table

The kitchen

Another view of the kitchen - the pantry and refrigerator

The living room

Dad already bought a flat screen TV and DVD player

The outside of the trailer

VOTE!!!! - PLEASE!!!!

2009-06-03T19:07:00.001-05:00

You've all heard me talk about my husband's band, The Lash Outs, many times, but this time I would like you to pay close attention and do them a HUGE favor!!! PLEASE!!!

They have been nominated by the Dallas Observer as the Best Punk Act in Dallas for 2009!! I am asking all of you to please go and vote for them. It's a very short survey that you have to fill out, so it won't be very time consuming.

On the first page of the survey, you only have to fill out what has an asterisk (*) beside it. The question that involves The Lash Outs is #18. Thank you so much to those of you that will take the time to do this!

Here's the link to the ballot:
http://polls.dallasobserver.com/polls/dal/musicshowcase09/

The Lash Outs have worked SO hard this year and I think they really deserve this! I know I am biased because my husband is in the band, but they really are a very talented group of musicians. To receive some recognition for their abilities would be awesome! Thanks again!

Seriously?!?!

2009-06-03T10:19:00.003-05:00

Today Parker tells me that he has to go poop, so off he goes just like any other "normal" time. Today wasn't any "normal" time though! Of course not!

He had been in there a little longer than usual, but I honestly didn't think anything of it. This may be TMI for some of you, but he often gets a little constipated, so I just assumed it was taking him a little longer to get it out. Boy, I was wrong!!!

Parker comes out of the bathroom, covered in water, telling me he's sorry. OH NO!! I ask him what he has done and he tells me that he "flushed the things with the flowers on them", and water went everywhere. I knew immediately that he was talking about my tampons!

First thought of course, since I'm a mom and a blogger, was to grab the camera. I turn it on to record as I am walking into the hallway and the bathroom. OH MY GOODNESS! I was not prepared for what I saw!

There was SO much water, about an inch covering the entire floor, that it had flooded out to the carpet and there were tampons in the hallway. You will see in the video how many tampons there were. It was almost an entire box of 40! They were EVERYWHERE!

I had to stick my hand in the toilet, up the pipe, and dig out about 10 tampons. Luckily though, I think he had done his business first and flushed, because there wasn't any poop or pee in any of the water. I'm pretty sure he had finished up, went to wash his hands, and saw the tampons on the counter. Then he had his bright idea!

It took 12 towels to get all the water soaked up and I soaked up as much as I could from the carpet. I have had a fan blowing on the carpet all day, so luckily it is almost dry. I know toddlers are capable of just about anything, but I never expected this! Not to mention the fact that I have enough laundry as it is. Did he really have to add 2 more loads?!?!

I hope you all enjoy the video. It's pretty comical to me now, but it wasn't AT ALL when it happened!

Smith & Andrea's Wedding

2009-05-31T21:30:00.012-05:00

Saturday night was the wedding and it was beautiful!

Andrea was a breathtaking bride and her gown was absolutely stunning! Scott looked very handsome in his tux as well. They made a beautiful couple! Everything about the wedding and reception was gorgeous.

Everyone had an amazing time hanging out, dancing, eating, drinking, and celebrating with Scott & Andrea! We were all so happy to be a part of their special day!

Here's the happy couple exchanging rings.
The kiss!

Some very serious eating was going on!

Craig & Czarina...bless her heart...she wasn't feeling very well and was having contractions all throughout the reception. She was a trooper though and stuck it out until the end! I hope you're feeling better!

The first dance

LOVE this picture...don't they look so happy?!?!

You can see in this picture how beautifully decorated the reception was

Christal & Ramos

Adam got a hold of the camera and started taking some pretty random pictures. Here's Craig!

Alli & Mel

Hilarious picture!! Joe, Craig, & Stacy were hamming it up for Adam

Pete with his mean face

Me & Brian

Ramos & Cyrus

Czarina, Mel, & Christal

Adam & Me...didn't he look SO handsome?!?!

Me & Alli

Brian giving his Best Man speech...he did great!

Cutting the cakes...they were delicious!!

Mmmmmm!

Brian dancing...looks like he was going to do Lord of the Dance

Adam looking very pretty with a sugar flower behind his ear

Me, Melody, & Alli

Some of the girls...Andrea, Czarina, Ashley, Me, & Alli

It was such a great night! I hope you all had as great of a weekend as I did! Love you all!

Smith & Andrea's Rehearsal Dinner

2009-05-31T21:24:00.005-05:00

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner for Scott & Andrea. Since Adam was a part of the wedding, we were invited to attend. It was at Abuelo's and the food was absolutely delicious!

Scott's parents did an amazing job orchestrating the dinner! They even brought in cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory for dessert...yummy!! I ate so incredibly much that I was absolutely miserable when we left.

Czarina and I were sitting across from each other, with bowls of dips between us. We each devoured 3 baskets of chips a piece, along with almost all the dip, and even ordered an extra queso. She has an excuse since she's 36 weeks pregnant, but what's my excuse?!?! I guess I just have to face the fact that I'm a piggy!

We all had an awesome time at the rehearsal dinner. It was great to be able to hang out with some of our best friends and be a part of Scott and Andrea's night.

Czarina, Alli, Me Neal & Christal

Adam and Ramos being goofy

Here they are again

Me & Cyrus...it had been FOREVER since I had gotten to hang out with him. He's one of our best friends, but has been in Oklahoma for the past several years getting his PhD, so we hardly ever get to see him.

Alli & Brian

Alli & Me

Christal & Me

Scott & Andrea

Ramos & Holby being goofy

Me & my handsome hubby

As you can tell from above, all of our guys have serious issues with taking normal pictures! I've told y'all several times how nutty they are and this is just more proof. I must say though, that that's why we love them and we definitely wouldn't have as much fun together if they weren't all a little crazy!

Water Fun!

2009-05-31T21:22:00.005-05:00

Aunt May came for the weekend to babysit and play with the kiddos. Adam was in a wedding this weekend for some of our good friends, Scott & Andrea, so we needed a sitter both Friday and Saturday night. Thanks Aunt May!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend, so a lot of our time was spent outside. Last year for his birthday, Parker got several water toys, but because of the condition of the backyard, we just now got them out to play with.

Last Summer, because we had laid new sod, the backyard was still very patchy. If there was even a small amount of water back there, it turned into a muddy mess. This Summer though, the grass has finally filled in, so I'm sure we will be spending the majority of our time back there.

Parker had an absolute blast playing in all the water toys! Peyton wasn't too keen on the ones that sprayed water, but ended up loving the blow-up pool. Aunt May joined in on the fun on Saturday afternoon and Adam actually got in the pool with the kids yesterday. He wouldn't let me take any pics though, because he didn't want pictures of him in a bathing suit on the blog...not that I blame him! There's NO WAY I would ever put a picture of myself on the internet in a bathing suit!

I hope you all had a great weekend and were able to enjoy the beautiful weather! Love you all!

Here's Aunt May in the water ring with the kids LOVE this picture! Bitty was extremely cautious!

Parker wasn't at all! He loved every second of it!

Such a cutie pie!

In the pool...Bitty was taking a nap

Here's a couple of videos that I took. They aren't very long, so I hope you can take the time to watch both of them. I think they're pretty cute!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Kid's Room Edition

2009-05-31T19:57:00.007-05:00

Yes, I know I am a couple of days late. Aren't I always? I wasn't able to do Kelly's home tour the last two weeks, because they were for guest rooms and dining rooms, which I have neither of. This week though, is kid's rooms, and I have two of those!!

I just recently posted pictures of Peyton's new room, because we finally moved her to a big girl bed, but I didn't like the coloring of the pictures, so I took some different ones today.

The pictures of Parker's room are probably going to be the last ones taken of his room in the current state, because we are getting ready to re-do it very soon!

Parker was moved to a big boy bed very early, at 20 months, in preparation for the arrival of his little sister. Since he was still so little, we left everything from his nursery, and did nothing but convert the crib into a full-size bed.

I think his room is a little juvenile for being 4 years old now, so we are going to make it a little more grown-up for him. We will keep the bedding, but probably remove his letters, paint over the mural, remove the shelves, and my MIL is going to do some paintings.

With all that said, here are pictures of their rooms!

This is the top of the chest-of-drawers, which is on the wall to the left of the doorway. The plate and cup are one of his keepsakes from his Aunt May. She got both of the kids a plate, cup, and silver spoon from Tiffany's for their 1st and 2nd birthdays.
This is a close-up of the picture above the chest-of-drawers. It's one of my most favorite pictures! It was taken of Parker when he was only 5 weeks.

These are the shelves and knick knacks that cover one wall in his room.

Here's the letters that hang above his bed, which were also above his crib.

This shows the mural and the corner of his room.

This is on the wall to the left of his bed. Alli had it in Trey's room and was going to trash it, so I took it! It goes perfectly in his room and is the perfect place to hang his backpack and cape!

This is a better picture of his bedding. I love it! Both of the kid's crib bedding and full-size bedding all came from Pottery Barn Kids. I love almost all of their stuff!

Here's a close-up of one of the frames on his shelf. They're all pictures from his first 6 months. So precious!!

This is his corner shelf that is full of Pluffies. We have a lot more, but some of them have been taken over by Peyton. Granna and I started collecting them for Parker when I was pregnant. They are the softest, sweetest stuffed animals!

This is his mural, which was painted by my MIL. She is amazing!

Here's a close-up of the right side. Turtles are my favorite, so she incorporated them in just for me!

Here's a close-up of the left side. She has the names of all of our family all throughout the mural. I am going to be very sad when we paint over this!

Here's a close-up of the top

Now, onto Peyton's room!

Here's her bed

A painting that my MIL did to match her bedding

A different view of her bedding

This is to the right of the doorway. A lot of this was also in her nursery.

My MIL bought the dress before Peyton was even born, and since it's so beautiful, it has been a part of the decor in her room. It won't be too long though before it will be able to be used for dress-up!

The other corner of her room, to the right of the closet. The thing on the wall is magnetic, so once she starts school, I will be able to hang up some of her artwork.

This is a close-up of one of the pictures in her room. It is Parker holding Peyton when we brought her home from the hospital and introduced them for the first time. We were all bawling!

Another close-up of a picture of Peyton when she was only 2 days old. This is probably my most favorite of her as a newborn!

This is her bow holder that hangs on the outside of her closet. The sad part is that this isn't even half of her bows! The ones that she wears all the time are in a seperate location.

This is just to show you the mural that was in her nursery. It matched the sheets that went with her crib bedding. I was very sad to have to paint over it, but it didn't match the new bedding.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my "P"s rooms! Please go to Kelly's blog and check out all the other rooms!

Popsicle Fun

2009-05-30T13:21:00.004-05:00

On Tuesday, after dinner, we were letting the kids play outside for a bit before bath and bedtime. Well, the ice cream man was heading down the street, so of course the kids wanted some! We stripped them down and let them have a popsicle before they headed inside for their bath. They had ice cream everywhere and loved every second of it!!

Peyton eating her ice cream It was supposed to be Dora...looks creepy to me!

Parker chose Spider Man

Messy boy!

My 2 precious "P"s!! I love them SO much!

Miss Priss

2009-05-26T09:35:00.002-05:00

Peyton decided yesterday that she wanted to wear make-up like Mama, so I let her play with some blush and put on a little lipstick.

She pranced around for the next hour or so, thinking she was the best thing since sliced bread.

I definitely have a Miss Priss on my hands! I can only imagine what the future is going to hold. I don't think I'll ever be ready for it!

Putting on her blush Isn't that lipstick just perfect?!?!

As always, she had to have a "cheese" picture!

Big Girl Bed - UPDATED!

2009-05-24T20:50:00.006-05:00

UPDATE: It is now 8:00 the next morning and Peyton did great in her bed! We didn't hear a peep out of her until 7:35, when she started talking. Adam and I went in there together to ask her how her first night went, and she was ALL smiles! She didn't even want to get out of bed! I don't want to jinx myself by saying this, but it looks like the "big girl bed" is going to be a success.

My baby girl is officially in a Big Girl Bed now! I can't believe it! We pretty much finished her room today, but I still need to find some more things for the walls.

We had been talking it up to her all day about sleeping in a bed like Parker's and she was super excited! When we put her to bed this evening, there was NO fuss, and she layed right down and snuggled underneath the covers. I just hope it continues to be this easy!

She has been in bed now for about 30 minutes and other than her usual talking, we haven't heard a peep out of her. I'm just wondering what time she'll be waking us up in the middle of the night?!?!

I took some pictures of the room after I finished up tonight, but the color isn't very accurate, because I had to have the overhead light on and the pictures are WAY too bright. I will take some more once I have some natural light, but I was too excited to not post these tonight!

Her bed The painting that Nona did to match her bedding

The wall to the left of the doorway

Standing in the doorway, facing somewhat to the right

Standing in the doorway...her bed is coming out of the corner

This is the most accurate as far as color goes

So happy to be in her bed!

Lookin' at her Daddy!

Precious Bitty Princess! She's growing up WAY too fast!

LOTS OF POSTS!!

2009-05-23T12:33:00.006-05:00

Over the past week or so I have done 10 posts, so I am going to list them here. It makes it a lot easier for you to view them in order this way!

T-ball Time!

Water Gun Fight

T-ball Pics

New Glasses for All

Kids LOVE Dirt

New Glasses for All

Chuck E. Cheese

Grandpa's House

Fun at the Park

The Lash Outs

Lake Fun

Hope you enjoy all the posts!

Lake fun!

2009-05-23T11:01:00.002-05:00

Now that my dad is officially retired (Congrats Daddy!!), my parents decided to buy a lake lot and a trailer to have stuff to do on Mom's days off and on the weekends. A couple of my dad's best buddies also have lots at Richland Chambers Lake, so they are all looking forward to having family and guy time out at the lake!

The kids and I went with Granna & Grumps out to the lake yesterday so they could show me the lot that they bought, as well as their friend's lots. Mike, Dad's buddy, has had his lot for several years now, so his is already set up with his trailer and deck, and is right on the water.

Mike and his family were going to be spending the holiday weekend there and his precious Grandson, Luke, was already there. Luke and Parker are only 1 1/2 years apart, so they had a blast together! Luke got out his fishing poles and he and Parker "fished" for about an hour.

I was shocked at how well Parker did with his casting. Within a couple of minutes, he was casting like a pro! I thought for sure he was going to get frustrated with it and give up within a couple of minutes, or end up throwing the pole into the water.

I can't wait until Mom & Dad's trailer is all set up and we can start going out there on the weekends! It is a beautiful lake and I know the kids will LOVE it out there!

Here they are fishing. Granna was helping Peyton!

Her pole didn't work to well! Parker LOVED it out there!

Parker and Luke

The Lash Outs

2009-05-23T10:52:00.005-05:00

I can't believe I was actually able to go see my hubby's band twice in one week. I hardly ever get to go to shows anymore, so it was a treat! I went last Saturday, while Nona watched the kids...thanks Nona! I also got to go on Thursday, while the kids stayed with Granna and Grumps...thanks to y'all too!

They played some great sets and I also got to see a few of my friends that I never get to see! Fun times!

The Lash Outs Where they played on Thursday

Joey

Adam

Brian

Dustin

Me & Chelsea - look how big my head looks next to her's!

Me & Stacy - she is Brian and Joey's sister, but a friend of mine as well, that I hardly ever get to see!

Quinn & Chelsea - they are a trip!

Fun at the Park

2009-05-23T10:34:00.003-05:00

For our weekly visit with the Crabtree's, we went to the park. It was a gorgeous day! Luckliy the kids didn't get burned, but I sure did! My arms, shoulders, back, and face all got pretty crispy. Especially my back...it is still bright red and hurting!

The kids had a great time and we let them play until lunch time. Then we headed to Wally World for lunch at McDonald's and a little shopping for me and Andrea.

We were both in the need for a new bathing suit, so we thought we would see if we could find a cheap one. I only wear mine 1-2 times a year, so I refuse to spend a lot of money on one! Let me tell you though, it was an experience!

We were all in one dressing room. Imagine two adults and 4 kids in a dressing room...pretty comical huh?!!? They were acting like we were at an amusement park and running and screaming all around that little room. After a few minutes of the chaos, we finally made them all sit on the bench and have quiet time. It actually worked out pretty well.

I ended up getting a bathing suit, but it's a tankini, and I normally only wear one pieces, so I don't know if I'll end up keeping it. The only one pieces they had were too old lady for me, so I am still going to look at Target before I give up on my search.

Parker in the big swing I wish I had one at my house!

Of course, she had to do her cheese face!

She looks so grown-up on that swing!

Annie & Carter on the big swing

Running around the big wooden part of the park. It's huge!

The girls

Claire Bear

Grandpa's House

2009-05-23T10:13:00.005-05:00

You have already seen a video from last Sunday at Grandpa's house, but we did a lot more than have a water gun fight, so I thought I would post some pictures as well!

The kids have so much fun when we go over there, because they can run and play for hours. Luckily the rain stopped long enough for them to get to play and we all had a really good time!

Grandpa cooked some delicious BBQ, while Nanny made some baked beans and potato salad...YUMMY!! Everything is growing great in their garden too, so it won't be long before I get some home grown veggies!

Peyton spraying Grandpa Parker though it was hilarious when Grandpa sprayed him in the face!

Too cute!

They had so much fun!

Get Grandpa!

Such a cute picture

Parker getting ready to play golf

Grandpa tried to teach him how to swing, but it didn't work very well

Why does she look so grown up here?!!?

They got a new puppy, Libby, and she was the sweetest thing! She is a MaltiPoo (sp?) and she LOVED playing with the kids!

Libby giving me kisses!

Chuck E. Cheese - UPDATED!!

2009-05-23T09:56:00.007-05:00

Last Saturday we were supposed to spend the afternoon at a birthday party for one of our friend's kiddos, but because of all the rain, they had to cancel the party. We were pretty bummed and wanted to take the kids to do something fun, so Adam suggested Chuck E. Cheese!

We had never taken the kids there before, so we really didn't know what to expect. It ended up being an awesome afternoon!! The kids had a blast and so did we!

UPDATE: My MIL was reading the blog and reminded me of one of the funniest things of the day! Apparently my son has seen TOO many Chuck E. Cheese commercials! As we pulled into the parking lot, Parker says, "WOW! Chuck E. Cheese. Where a kid can be a kid!" It was hilarious. I was laughing SO hard!

Adam and Parker on one of the big kid rides. It was SO cool! It moved all around, shook, vibrated, and made lots of loud noises. Parker thought it was awesome!
Precious Peanut playing Skee Ball
Parker and Adam...I LOVE this picture!

Nona & Bitty...she's holding the token cups!

You can't go to Chuck E. Cheese and not eat pizza! Apparently Parker was pretty hungry, because when we told him the pizza had arrived, he actually WANTED to go to the table!

Bitty Princess

I don't know why this picture is sideways. Anyway, they got to ride some rides together!

Playing air hockey...look at that tongue...he was really concentrating!

This was Peyton's favorite ride! She loved that "Mouse" was in the car with her. She rode it probably 10 times!

He drove that little car like a champ!

I couldn't believe how much better this ride was than when I was a kid! It used to go up and down about a foot, and it was only a couple of feet off the ground. I wish I could have ridden it too!

The kids loved it!

Adam wasn't very happy about posing for this picture

Nona and Bitty were happy though! Peyton LOVED "Mouse", and talked about him for days after we went!

Kids LOVE dirt!

2009-05-23T09:48:00.004-05:00

When we got back to Granna's house after a long day of getting my glasses, the kids decided they wanted to play with their new Dollar Tree toys. There is a patch of dirt on the side patio where Grumps had to pull up some bushes, so the kids decided they were going to dig there!

What is it with kids LOVING dirt?!!? If it hadn't have been time for bath and jammies, I think they could have played out there for hours!

He has his foot on the shovel like Daddy does! Trying to rake up his mess!

"CHEESE!" His fake smile is a little more realistic than Peyton's!

She's wearing a new necklace from one of Aunt May's friends. It has a "P" on it with diamonds. She loved it! Thanks Brenda!

Watering the bushes!

I don't know why he is giving his guilty look!

New Glasses - for ALL!

2009-05-23T09:19:00.004-05:00

Last Friday I went to get an eye exam that was LONG overdue! I ended up just having to get reading glasses, mainly for the computer. He said they would really help with my headaches. I have to say that he was right! I have been wearing them religiously any time I am on the computer, and I have only had a couple of headaches in over a week! That is amazing, considering I was taking at least 4 Excedrin a day for over a year.

Anyway, while I was at the eyeglass store, Mom took the kids next door to Children's Place to look around. They ended up walking out at the same time I did. I guess the kids had heard me talking about glasses, because they each picked out a new pair. Parker also picked out a new baseball cap and it looked SO cute on him!

I thought I would post some pictures of the kids in their new glasses. I will post one of me in mine as soon as I have one taken when I'm not looking like a scrub!

Peyton picked out the funniest pair! If you can't tell, she LOVED them!

Parker picked out a pair that were WAY too big for him! Doesn't the hat look cute though?!?!

SO precious! He looks so big in this picture!

T-ball Pics

2009-05-23T09:19:00.000-05:00

Although I posted a video of their T-ball experience, I also chose a few pictures to post as well. They had SO much fun playing...Grumps did good!!

He may need to work on his form a little bit. Hopefully his Daddy can work with him before he joins the T-ball team next year!
He has an awesome swing though!
Poor Bitty! She was a bit clueless on what to do, but it was still adorable!

Looks like she's going to take a big swing, but that wasn't the case.

Just a little tap

Big hit!

So cute! She didn't even hit the ball!

She had to concentrate VERY hard before each hit!

At least she could make contact with the T

Water Gun Fight

2009-05-17T22:19:00.005-05:00

I still haven't had a chance to do any blogging, so I thought I'd post a quick video so y'all would have something new to see.

The video isn't very exciting. I just love hearing the kid's laughs and their precious voices! Peyton's evil laugh is hilarious!

We have had a fun-filled weekend and I have LOTS of pictures to post. I hope you all had a great weekend and I promise to have some posts done by tomorrow!

Love you all!

T-ball time!

2009-05-16T10:43:00.003-05:00

I have been a horrible blogger lately! I finally signed up for Facebook and it has been taking up all my computer time...sorry! It's pretty addicting. Hopefully the posts that I'm going to make will make up for my absence!

Grumps bought the kids a T-ball set on Thursday and they LOVED it! They were so cute playing with it, that I had to take a little video. You'll have to excuse the quality of the video, because it was taken with my camera and I don't have a steady hand.

There are several funny parts in the video. I tried to edit out as much as possible, but it's still over 3 minutes. Also, Windows Movie Maker was acting up last night, so there are some parts in the video that kind of skip, but it's not too bad.

OH, and my Texas accent is awful in the video...I wish I would have kept my mouth shut!

Stay tuned for a few picture posts! I hope you enjoy the video!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Living Room Edition

2009-05-10T02:05:00.004-05:00

It's time again for Show Us Where You Live Friday!! This week is showcasing Living Rooms & Family Rooms. I am late on posting this by a couple of days, but late is better than never, right? Last week showcased kitchens. You can go HERE to see Kelly's kitchen and links to all the other kitchens, or go HERE to see my kitchen.

Right now, until the kids get older and want to play more in their own rooms, the living room doubles as the play room, so there are toys EVERYWHERE!! We have tried to keep them in the kid's rooms, but they always end up right back in the living room. So, I have tried to contain most of them in buckets, baskets, and in the TV cabinet.

Our tables and end-tables are cheapies right now from Ikea. We used to have wooden tables with big iron feet on them and got rid of them when Parker started being mobile. They were WAY too dangerous! The Ikea tables are great for right now though, because when the kids are coloring on them or whatever other activity we are partaking in, they just wipe right off.

Our couches are 8 years old and need to be replaced VERY badly! Our love-seat is actually "Lucky's couch", which she claimed to herself when she was just a puppy. We desperately want to get new furniture, but don't want to get it while Lucky is still alive. I know that sounds awful, but we know that she only has a few more years, and there is no way we could teach her to not get on the new sofas.

Oh, and the pillows in the glider serve as the seat cushion. When Peyton was around a year old, she got a severe case of the stomach flu. My mom was rocking her in the glider and she proceeded to get sick on the cushion. I tried everything I could to get the stains out, but nothing worked. It looked disgusting, so we threw it out. Eventually, when we get the new furniture, the glider will be replaced with a chair and ottoman.

This is the view of the living room from the kitchen. The doorway to the right leads to the kids' rooms and the guest bathroom. To the right of the doorway, is the entryway. This is our massive television and some of my pictures. Can you tell I'm a picture freak?!?! Please ignore all the finger prints on the TV! This also shows Parker and Peyton's anywhere chairs and their personalized buckets from Annie.

This is the view from the entryway. We have been in the house for 6 years, and I have yet to put up curtains. Once Parker arrived, the thought of putting something else up in the house that he could pull down on top of him, deterred me from ever putting any up. I guess now that Peyton is 2, I should pick some out! The table to the right used to be the coffee table, but I moved it over there, so the kids could have more room. It now serves as the coloring/puzzle table. Also, please excuse the awful baskets underneath it! I bought them at Target for storage bins, but they definitely need to be replaced with something plastic. The weaving definitely wasn't a match for 2 toddlers!

This is the view from the left of the TV, which leads to our bedroom. The doorway on the left hand side used to be the open dining room, but before Parker was born, Adam put up walls and turned it into an office. It has french doors, so it can be closed off if need be.

This is one of my most favorite things in my living room! It is a trio of pictures that were taken when Parker was only a few weeks old. We had them taken of Peyton too, but haven't been able to afford to get them framed.

Here's my other 2 favorite things in my living room! The top picture is Parker and the bottom is Peyton. Sorry about the glare, but I couldn't get a good picture of them.

I hope you all enjoyed the tour of my little living room! Don't forget to go to Kelly's blog and check out all the other living rooms!!!

Turtle Videos

2009-05-09T22:43:00.008-05:00

Here's the video of the Crazy Turtle! I doubt any of you will think it's as funny as I thought it was, but there's not doubt that you'll still enjoy it! After all, it's a singing turtle!

Here's another video of Lucky Lou and Crazy Turtle! She didn't like him too much! I think it scared her more than anything!

Oh, and so much for me going to bed early. I have tried a few times already to go to sleep and it's not working. I guess that's what happens when you take several naps throughout the day!

A few Pictures

2009-05-09T22:35:00.003-05:00

Here's the pics I talked about in the previous post!

This is the only one I got of Baby Kate on Wednesday. When she was asleep in her carrier, her headband had fallen down around her face. So cute!!

Here's Parker eating his first popsicle from the Ice Cream Man!! He LOVED it!! He chose a Sonic the Hedgehog Ice Cream. There was blue EVERYWHERE!!

Past Few Days

2009-05-09T21:24:00.002-05:00

A lot has gone on the past few days and I forgot my memory card for my camera! I left it in my laptop on accident and didn't realize it until I started to take pictures and my camera said the memory was full. Since I have it on the highest settings, the camera will only hold 2 pictures in it's memory. I was SO bummed!!

We ended up going to Hachie on Wednesday this week because Michelle and her kids were going to be there and my grandparents were coming to town for a couple of days. I wasn't able to get together with Forbes until Thursday though, because Peyton ended up taking a late nap, and by the time she woke up it was almost dinner time.

So, Thursday morning we headed over to Forbes' mom's house and let the kids play. I got over there at the perfect time!! It was time for Kate to wake up and eat, and I got to do the job. I LOVED holding her and loving on her! It was the first time I had seen her since she was 2 days old...WAY too long!

I was also privileged enough to get to be the one that held her and played with her during her awake time. She is SO sweet and lovable!! She likes to sit up and look around at everything. I even got a couple of smiles!! She is such a beautiful baby and I am so happy I finally got to spend time with her!

Brody and Parker played so well together. They had a blast playing with train sets, blocks, balls, and Brody's scooter! Brody is a great sharer and even let Parker wear his helmet. I was shocked! My kids are NOT good sharers and Brody could have cared less if Parker played with his toys. He is such a good little boy...so polite and absolutely adorable!!

Peyton was NOT good that day! She had an awful night Wednesday night and didn't get enough sleep, so when we were there on Thursday she wanted to do NOTHING but cry and be held. It was NOT fun! I think the only time she was happy was when I was holding Kate on the couch, because she could sit next to us and love on the baby. She LOVES babies! She gave Kate several kisses and loved on her a bit. After a while though, the jealousy was starting to kick in , and she didn't like the fact that Mama was showing her attention to another little girl.

The grandparents had been in town since Wednesday, but were spending time with other family. They got over to Mom's house on Thursday just after I put the kids down for nap. We had a great visit and Mimi brought goodies for the kids! Peyton got an original Cabbage Patch doll and Parker got some cars.

I even got a little gift, which is hilarious!! I have collected turtles for forever now, so every time Mimi sees a funny one, she will get it. This one crawls along the floor and sings. It actually moves it's mouth! I played it over and over and was laughing hysterically. There is just something about the mouth!

On Friday we visited some more with my grandparents before they left, and after Peyton woke up from her nap, we headed to Nona's house. Nona hadn't had them overnight for a while, so she wanted the kids to come spend the night. The kids were SO excited! It took us an hour and a half to get there and Peyton wouldn't stop talking about it the entire way.

Adam and I got to go out last night for an awesome dinner with Smith and Andrea! We went to Cheesecake Factory and then went to Cru Wine Bar for some drinks afterwards. It was a great adult night with great friends! We needed it!

I spent most of the day today laying on the couch, catching up on sleep and my shows that I missed Wednesday and Thursday night. It was much needed therapy for me!! Adam left this morning to go watch a live radio show and play frisbee golf with the guys, so he picked up the kids on his way home. I'm not even going to lie...a day to myself on the couch is exactly what I needed for Mother's Day!! Thanks Adam and Nona!!

Adam is gone tonight for a surprise birthday party for Derek. They are having a guy's poker night. I got the kids down around 8:30 and am spending the rest of the evening fiddling on the computer. I need to get to bed early tonight because I have lots to do in the morning in preparation for everyone coming over.

We are having Mother's Day lunch/dinner at my house and I want to get some cleaning done before everyone arrives. I don't have much to do, but with the kids, it always takes double/triple the time to get anything done! Hopefully since it's Mother's Day, Adam will rally the kids for me so I can get everything done quickly!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and all the mom's have a very happy Mother's day!! I am hoping I will have some pictures to post soon. I have a couple from today of Parker's first ice
cream truck popsicle and I want to get a video of the singing turtle. Maybe I will get those posted tonight!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Break My Heart

2009-05-04T15:47:00.002-05:00

This post is going to be all over the place, and probably pretty long, so I am apologizing at the beginning.

Let me start with a little background.

Parker has shown signs from the beginning that he may have speech problems. He could pronounce all the individual words, could say his ABC's by the time he was 2, could count to 10 by age 2, but had a very hard time with full sentences. I knew that it wasn't a problem with comprehension, so at first I thought it was just because he was a boy, and I had always heard they were slower than girls.

Our pediatrician didn't seem to think there was a problem. He knew that Parker's vocabulary and comprehension levels were great, so he said the same thing that I had been thinking; eventually the full sentences would start coming.

Finally by the time he was 2 1/2-3 years old, he finally started speaking in full sentences, but that's also when the stuttering started. At first, it was quite often, but only at the beginning of the sentence, and only on certain words. I was really worried about it, but everything that I read, and everyone I talked to, said that it was completely normal at his age.

Then, all of a sudden, it stopped; for a good 2 months or so! I was so relieved, thinking that he had grown out of it. Well, he hadn't. It started up again and was way worse than it was the time before. It was at the beginning of almost every sentence and seemed to be worse when he felt like he didn't have your full attention. I would work with him and tell him to slow down and think about what he wanted to say.

For the past several months, through now, it has been pretty bad. It makes me so sad!! When we went to his 4 year appointment a couple of weeks ago, our pediatrician still didn't seem to be worried about it. Of course, he didn't do it nearly the whole time we were there, so Dr. Lin didn't get to see how it was 90% of the time.

He said that he thought it was just that Parker had so much to say, and couldn't process it fast enough, so it made him stutter. I had been thinking the same thing, so it kind of made sense to me. Dr. Lin said that if it was still happening by the time he turned 5, then we would look into a speech therapist. That seemed like a long wait to me, but I wanted to trust the doctor. I was worried that it would still be happening when he started school and the other kids might give him a hard time.

Well, Nona has been out of town for the last 2 weeks for a contract job, so she came over yesterday to see the kids and spend the night. She wanted to do something fun with the kids today, so they went to see a movie. On the way there, Parker was trying to tell her something, and started stuttering. She said he got really mad, made a frustrated noise, and said, "my voice makes me SO mad!!"

When she told me that, my heart literally broke in two! I could tell that it frustrated him at times, but he had never said anything to me about it. He never acted sad or mad about it either. To know that something he deals with on a daily basis is making him so upset, just kills me!! Now I am feeling SO much guilt for not doing something about it before now.

As soon as we got the kids down for their naps, I got on the computer and started looking up doctors. I found a group of women that are all Speech Therapists and Speech Pathologists, and they happen to be within 15 minutes from my house. They are going to talk to our insurance company and find out what it will cost us, and call me back tomorrow to make an appointment.

I know Dr. Lin said that I should wait until he is 5, but I can't!! Now that I know that it is seriously bothering him, I have to do something NOW! I feel like if I just sit around and wait, and it is still happening a year from now, that not only will he be behind in his speech, but he could also have some mental issues to deal with.

I am just feeling so down about this right now and feel like I should have been more proactive. Have any of you ever had to deal with this? If so, please let me know how soon you started with therapy, and how quickly it started to make a difference.

Thanks for listening to me. I haven't ever talked about his stuttering before, because deep down I really wanted it to be something that he just grew out of, but I am really starting to realize that that's probably not going to be the case. Please pray for my little boy! Not necessarily that he won't stutter anymore, but just that he can have a peace with it. He shouldn't have to be disturbed by something at such a young, innocent age!

Bless my Peanut's heart! I love that little boy SO much!

Czarina & Craig's Couples Shower

2009-05-03T14:08:00.011-05:00

Saturday night Adam and I attended a couple's shower for Craig & Czarina. It was SO much fun!!

Czarina is 32 weeks now, so it was the perfect time to start stocking her & Tedina up with lots of baby goodies! She got a lot of the essentials, plus a few special things for the nursery. I think she had a great turnout and she still has another shower coming up. Czarina will definitely be ready to go by the time Baby H. arrives!!

Let me explain why I am calling the baby Tedina. They haven't decided on a name for baby girl just yet, so we have combined Craig and Czarina's names and have been calling the baby Tedina. The guys have always called Craig, "Ted", so that's where it comes from.

I can assure you that the names they have it narrowed down to are WAY better than Tedina!! Well, I am sure the guys would disagree, but I have told y'all several times that they are NOT normal!

The Beautiful Couple Me & Stacy

We played a game where you had to make a baby out of PlayDoh, and Craig and Czarina got to choose the best baby. It was hilarious!! These are all the "babies!"

Czarina holding the winner!

Andrea and her "baby"...we called it the Blair Witch baby...it was awful!!

The winning baby! It was Adam's!

I was presenting Craig with his Daddy Diaper Changing Toolbox

There was a ribbon that said, "Dad to Be"

He's reading the rules for How to Change a Diaper!

Wearing the goggles!

Charleigh Ray had a blast at the shower!!

This was supposed to be a pic of Silvana, Andrea, Andrea, and Cristal...see what I mean?...not normal!!

Alli made the best little gift...it looked like sushi...it was baby wash clothes and a finger puppet!

Craig was modeling the funny onesies that Alli made!!

White Trash Walking

2009-05-02T00:15:00.003-05:00

Y'all are going to die when you see these pictures!!

Let me explain.

Aunt May has started something with the kids that I'm sure she has come to regret, but still does anyway. Every week when we go to Waxahachie, as soon as she gets over to Mom's house, she always takes the kids for a walk. Most of the time it is before dinner, but yesterday, they decided they wanted to walk after we ate.

Well, I had already stripped them down to their skimmies and thrown their clothes in the washing machine, because Mom was about to start a load. The only other clothes I had with me were their good clothes, and I wasn't allowing the kids to dirty them up just to go on a walk. I know, I'm anal, but I have enough darn laundry to do!!

So, Aunt May went rummaging through the laundry basket of the kid's old clothes that is in my mom's laundry room. She couldn't find anything for Parker other than Winter jammies, and it was too hot for those. She found what looked like a shirt for Peyton, but no bottoms. They came out looking like absolute WT to go on their walk! It was hilarious!!

Luckily I don't really know anyone who lives in my mom's neighborhood, because I would have been mortified if someone had seen them walking around like that without an explanation!

HERE ARE THE PICTURES!! ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE READY!?!?

Here's Peyton in her "shirt", no pants, and tennis shoes!

Wanna know why I put quotations around shirt? Because it wasn't a shirt at all!! It was a dress from when she was an infant...size 3 months!
This is how Parker went walking...just undies and tennis shoes!

That is pure love from their Aunt May!! She wasn't embarrassed at all to take them out like that!

Hope you all enjoyed the hysterical pictures! There is never a dull moment with my kiddos!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Kitchen Edition

2009-05-01T23:35:00.008-05:00

I have been a huge fan of Kelly's blog for a long time now! She just started hosting a home tour on her blog and every Friday she will choose a different room to showcase throughout your house. I decided I would join in on the fun!

She decided to start the tour with kitchens, since it is her favorite room in the house. Kelly LOVES to cook! It's not really my favorite thing, but y'all already know that!

I feel bad, because earlier today I just posted a link of my old kitchen post that I did in March, but I didn't have anything on the post about the Home Tour. So, I decided to do a totally separate post, which links to the home tour, but that will also link to the old post from March. Does that even make sense?

Anyway, go HERE first, to see the original kitchen post. THEN, look below to see some additional pictures that I added.

Also, don't forget to check out all the other kitchens that are linked through Kelly's blog! There are some awesome ones!! Oh, and you have to see how beautiful her precious daughter is too. Harper is an absolute beauty!!

If you looked at the original post, you saw the trio picture that was all by it's lonesome. My MIL was going to paint me some pictures to go on either side of it, to complete the look, but since she got laid-off, I didn't want her to have to mess with it. So, I went ahead and retired my beloved Chef Trio Picture and did a little montage on the wall instead. I really liked the way it turned out!

I also noticed that I didn't have a picture of my actual "cooking" area on the other post. Can you believe how small it is?!?! Ridiculous! I think I might enjoy cooking a lot more if I had more room to work with! I seriously need about triple the counter space and cabinet space!

Oh, and since I have redone my kitchen, I have had several people tell me that I should take all the clutter off of my refrigerator, but I can't! I love all the pictures and silly cards that I have up there!

I hope you all enjoyed seeing the new pics, and I hope you will go see some of the other kitchens!!

Scott & Andrea's Couples Shower

2009-04-26T11:57:00.004-05:00

Last night, Adam and I attended a couple's shower for Scott and Andrea. It was in Ft. Worth, at her brother's house, hosted by her bridesmaids. The shower was a great success! There were a lot of people in attendance and there was a LOT of delicious food!! I ate so much that I felt sick the entire way home!

Scott and Andrea received SO many wonderful gifts! Although it was a couple's shower, where there can also be gifts for the groom, almost all of the gifts were for their home and kitchen. Scott did receive some tools, a shop vac, and an air compressor though, so I think he was pretty happy.

Scott had also registered for some Dallas Cowboy's stuff at Target. Since he and Brian always get season tickets to the Cowboy games, Brian and Alli bought him all of the Cowboy's gear as his gift. I think he was pretty excited!

All of our guys are just as crazy as Adam, so you can imagine how it is when we all get together. They have a blast and there are always tons of inside jokes that only they can comprehend! Half the time I don't even know what they're laughing about, but when they're all laughing hysterically, it is so contagious, that I end up laughing right along with them! For all I know, they could be making fun of me, but it wouldn't make it any less hilarious!!

Anyway, we had a lot of fun with our friends and it was great to see Scott and Andrea get so many nice things to start their new home with.

Can you tell that Scott wasn't that excited about opening gifts? He liked it better though when he received some stuff for himself!

The happy couple!!

Czarina and Craig

Me and Alli...she is barely pregnant with her third baby...I am SO excited!!

Craig, Pete, Adam, Scott, Steve...all friends for over 15 years...some since grade school!

Me and Mel

Me and the preggos...Czarina and Silvana...aren't they glowing?!?!

The group!

Haircut? NO, Hair Torture!

2009-04-26T11:30:00.004-05:00

Aunt May and I took Bitty to get a much needed haircut on Friday night. Before we left the house, I had pumped her up about it, and she was very excited! She kept telling us, as we were getting ready to leave, "haircut, haircut!"

Well, once we got to Wal-Mart, there was a 30 minute wait. So, we put our name on the list and went to get the things we needed in the store. When we got back to the salon, the idea of getting a haircut no longer sounded like a good idea to Peyton. She was MAD!!

I had to be the bad mom and take her out of Aunt May's arms while she was crying and throwing a fit. When I sat her in the chair, she was still pretty upset, but luckily she calmed down pretty quickly. Even when her haircut was complete though, she was still mad at me!! She refused to look at me so I could take a picture!

We kept telling her how pretty she looked, to try to get her in a better mood, but it didn't work. She would shoot me sideways glances and then turn her head again. It was quite comical!! She is definitely going to be my little drama queen!

Bless her heart! She was NOT happy! Calm now, but in strong concentration.
"What are you doing with those?!?!"

See what I mean? She would NOT make eye contact with me!

Overall it was an OK experience. I think her hair could have been cut a little shorter in the back to take off more of the stringy hair, but it still looks a LOT better than it did!

She's just going to have hair like mine...very thin, but a lot of it. She still has a TON of hair growing in. There are layers and layers still growing in where her bangs are and underneath. Hopefully within another year or so it will start looking less stringy!!

OH MY!!

2009-04-20T10:52:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when your 2 year old can dress herself!! Hilarious!!

Oh, and she pooped on the potty today too!

Such a big girl!

Who said socks with sandals wasn't cool?!?! Did you notice her sandals are on the wrong feet?

So stylish!!

Andrea's Bachelorette Party

2009-04-19T21:20:00.004-05:00

Our friend Scott, that we have known since grade school, has found an amazing girl to spend the rest of his life with!! They are getting married on May 30th, and their bachelor/bachelorette parties were this weekend.

The guys all went to Austin for the weekend, but the girls just did a one-nighter in Dallas on Saturday night. We had such a good time!

I am so happy for Scott and Andrea and I am so excited she is going to be a part of our big "family" of friends!

Andrea in her veil...looking gorgeous as usual! Heather, her sister, and Andrea

Silvana, Me, Czarina, and Mel

Cristal, Andrea, Annie, Silvana, Me, Czarina, and Mel...all the "D'ville" girls with the bride!

Opening one of her lingerie gifts

Of course, we had to take some self-portraits!

We're pretty cute, huh?!!?

Uncle Chuck

2009-04-19T21:15:00.003-05:00

My Uncle Chuck came over on Friday to see the kids for a bit before he went fishing. The kids call him "Uncle Duck", and Parker has always loved him! It took a while for Peyton to warm up to him, but the last couple of times she has seen him, she has been ALL about her Uncle Duck!!

She walks up to him and has LONG conversations with him in her own language...so cute!! Here's a couple of pictures of the kids with their Uncle Duck.

They're both saying "Cheese" in this picture, that's why his mouth looks funny! LOVE this picture!

WAY too big!!

2009-04-19T21:11:00.003-05:00

Mom and Dad still have the kids' swing in one of their guest rooms, but it is broken down and stuck in a corner. Peyton decided she was going to climb in it on Friday morning. I thought the picture was TOO cute to not post!

Peyton's Panties - well, kind of!

2009-04-19T20:59:00.002-05:00

On Friday morning, Peyton was "helping" Mom with the laundry, and decided her way of helping was to put on Granna's panties! Mom hollered at me to grab the camera and come in the laundry room. Peyton was SO proud of herself! She kept those panties on until her nap that afternoon. Every time we would change her diaper, she would make us put them back on her. It was hilarious!!

How funny is this?!!? Her bo-bo!

Sitting in Granna's lap

Do you think she was proud?!?!

Later on that morning, she wanted to put on her brother's shoes too! This picture is really bad quality because I took it with my phone. This little girl always keeps us laughing!!

Sleepy Girl

2009-04-19T20:35:00.003-05:00

When we went to Hachie this week, Bitty decided she wanted to sleep in Granna and Grumps' bed, instead of her crib. Parker has slept with them since he was teeny tiny, but Peyton has never been one to want to sleep anywhere other than her crib, until recently.

The only person that was ready to go to bed other than Peyton was Grumps, so he went to bed with her. Of course, she had to take her milk and blanket, but she also wanted to take one of her books.

Dad said that she talked for awhile and it took her a bit to calm down. He said that once she calmed down, she grabbed her book to "read", and was out within 30 seconds of opening it.

I went in there to check on her a little later, and this is what I saw. So precious!!

LOTS OF POSTS!!

2009-04-14T15:25:00.002-05:00

I just made 10 new posts!! I hope you all enjoy them! You can click on the titles below and it will take you directly to the post you want to see. That way you can look at them all in order!

A Visit with the Easter Bunny

Decorating Eggs

Silvana's Shower

Happy Easter!!

Little Artists

Easter Baskets

Hunting Eggs

Adam's Pictures

Payback

Pooped

Pooped

2009-04-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

Apparently Easter weekend was tiring for everyone! There were several pictures taken of me and my family passed out!

Nona and Peyton crashed while Parker, Adam, and I decorated eggs
Peyton fell asleep in Aunt May's arms on Easter Sunday
Sweet baby girl!!

I even crashed on Easter Sunday!! I fell asleep on the kid's giant lamb, and of course, Adam had to take a picture!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! If you ended up as pooped as I did, I hope you are now fully recovered.

He is risen!! I thank the Lord everyday for my wonderful family and friends!! I love you all!!

Payback

2009-04-14T15:18:00.000-05:00

I got my payback!! I wrestled him, while he continued to take pictures, until I got the camera away. I took about 25 random, close-up pictures of him!

Who can still take pictures while they're wrestling?!!?
I was determined to get the camera!!
One of my Adam shots!

Here's another!

He is going to hate the fact that I posted these pictures! That's what he gets though!! I LOVE YOU BABY!

Adam's Pictures

2009-04-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

Before I gave the kids their baskets, I gave Adam the camera to take pictures. BIG MISTAKE!! I'd say that 90% of the pictures were either random shots, or close-ups of my face! I have learned my lesson to never give him the camera again!

Here are some of the pics he took!

Blurry shot of Aunt May
The TV?!?!

I was giving him "the look"

I was over it!

Parker's bottom

Nona

Why do I ever leave things up to him?!?! I know how crazy he is, yet I continue to put faith in him that he will be normal for at least 15 minutes. I don't think it's ever going to happen!!

Hunting Eggs

2009-04-14T15:05:00.000-05:00

It was supposed to be a pretty nasty day, so we weren't sure if we were going to be able to hunt eggs outside. Luckily though, it ended up being a pretty nice afternoon. It was a little chilly, so the kids had to put their jackets on, but the sun was out and the wind had died down.

Adam and Aunt Kate hid the dyed eggs first, then we had a second hunt with all the plastic eggs. The kids had so much fun searching for their eggs!

After they found all of their eggs, Parker wanted to use his sidewalk chalk to do hopscotch. It was hilarious watching Aunt May and Nona trying to do hopscotch! I wish I would have gotten some pictures! Granna and Adam drew with the chalk too. I got some pictures of their drawings.

On the hunt!

Found one!

Running...got to get there before my sister does!

Aunt Kate helping Bitty!

Parker doing hopscotch!

Granna's drawing

Adam's self portrait

Easter Baskets

2009-04-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

Of course, the Easter Bunny came to see the kids!! He brought them lots of goodies this year. They each got a set of headphones to go with their new DVD players for the car. They also got jammies, cups, plates, sidewalk chalk, lots of candy, and other little goodies!!

Parker's Easter basket

Peyton's Easter basket
Bringing them their baskets!

Checking out all their goodies!

SO excited!!

Parker had to try on his new headphones right away!

Bitty wanted to open her candy right away!

"CHEESE!!"

Little Artists

2009-04-14T14:50:00.000-05:00

Nona brought the kids some prizes when she came over for Easter. She brought them a couple of Dr. Seuss books, giant coloring books, and paint markers. Luckily the paint markers were washable, because Parker had paint EVERYWHERE!! He had so much fun painting; I loved watching it!

He had enough paint on this paper for 5 paintings!Look at that mess! Bitty painted too, but she was very neat about it! Being silly as usual! All in his hair!!I swear he uses his hair as his napkin!

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-14T09:30:00.003-05:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday!! We had such a great time with our family. The kids got all dressed up in their finest to go to church on Sunday morning. They looked so precious!

Bitty Princess

Aunt May and Bitty Parker would NOT cooperate for pictures!
She looked so pretty!
Aunt May and Parker She looks so innocent! My silly man!
Playing with their May May
Me and Peanut

Silvana's Shower

2009-04-14T09:19:00.001-05:00

On Saturday morning, I co-hosted a baby shower for our friend Silvana. We decided to do a Easter theme since it was the day before Easter, and it turned out really cute. We all pitched in and brought different foods, which all turned out delicious!

Silvana had already had a big family shower, so along with all the stuff she got on Saturday, she is ready to have her baby boy! We are so excited for her and Steve; can't wait to meet Baby Miller!!

The cake

Czarina made a baby carriage out of the watermelon

Me, Alli, and Charleigh
Me, Andrea, Czarina, and Alli
Melody and Silvana
She's having a monkey themed nursery

All the hostesses with Silvana; Stacy, Czarina, Melody, Silvana, Me, and Andrea

Silvana and Czarina - they are only a week apart!
Charleigh, Stacy, Meredith, and Czarina

Opening more presents

Stacy and Charleigh

Charleigh was doing yoga with Meredith...so cute!!

Jonah LOVED Charleigh! He was hugging and kissing her!

Decorating Eggs

2009-04-14T09:07:00.002-05:00

On Friday after we left the mall, we went over to Nona's house. Adam met us over there when he got off of work and we went to the park. We stayed for a delicious dinner, and after bath time, we dyed eggs with the kids.

Bitty wasn't that in to it; she wanted to drop a couple of eggs in the dye and she was done. She was more concerned about eating them!

Parker, on the other hand, was thrilled to be dying Easter eggs!! He was SO excited and had a blast! Adam did too; he's just a big kid when it comes to stuff like that!

Peyton salting her egg

Yummy! Putting the eggs in the dye Peyton did a couple too

All dyed and ready to decorate
Adam discovered that the dye wiped off, so he made a "Wilson" egg
This was my favorite egg

Using the "car" kit to decorate

LOVE this picture!

Parker's "taski"

So fun!

Parker's helicopter

No clue what this is! Can you see all the glue?

Hilarious!

This is one of Adam's eggs

It's hard to tell in this picture, but his head was covered in Elmer's!

He used half a bottle of glue

It was everywhere!

He's trying to clean up his mess

He had to add a big glob of glue to Adam's space shuttle before it could be complete

This is the funniest egg of all!

There was so much glue on it, it was still wet on Easter morning, 2 days later!

All of their creations

Parker was SO proud!

"Seriously mom?!?!"

A Visit with the Easter Bunny

2009-04-13T20:52:00.003-05:00

On Friday morning, the kids and I met up with Alli and Chloe in Lewisville. We went to Babies 'R Us first, to get a shower gift that we were going in halves on, and then we headed to the mall. The kids were SO anxious to see the Easter Bunny!! I was worried how Peyton would do, considering how bad it was with Santa, but she LOVED him!! She actually threw a fit when I had to take her away from him.

Here's a picture I took of the picture that I bought at the mall. Peyton wouldn't look at the camera at all because she was too enamored with the Bunny! I love this picture! I think it turned out SO precious!

What is your Wing Span?

2009-04-08T22:08:00.004-05:00

Outside of the bird exhibits, they had big displays of several different bird's wing spans. It was set up so that you could compare your arm span to the bird's wing span, to see which one you were closest to.

Andrea, Alli, and I were closest to the Turkey Vulture. Parker, Peyton, Claire, and Chloe were closest to the Peregrine Falcon. Carter was closest to the Owl. I had everyone take a cheesy picture in front of their bird and they turned out pretty funny!

Can you tell we had a great time?!!? I hope we get to go again before it gets too hot!!

Day at the Zoo

2009-04-08T20:21:00.009-05:00

We had such a great time at the Ft. Worth Zoo today!! The kids and I met up with Alli, Chloe, Andrea, Claire, and Carter for a fun filled day. We were there for over 5 hours and all the kids were SO well behaved! I was a little nervous that they would start acting up around nap time, but there was never a problem.

All of the animals that we attempted to see were out and about and close to the windows! It is so rare to get to see all the animals up close and for all of them to be out in their habitats when you walk by.

It was half price day at the zoo today, so we were a little concerned that it was going to be a mad house. Although there were a lot of people there, it wasn't too crowded, so we were able to let the kids get right up to the rails for almost every exhibit!

All of the kids had a favorite animal of the day; Peyton loved the rhinos the best, Parker's favorites were the monkeys, Claire couldn't stop talking about the chickens from the petting zoo, and Chloe loved the penguins and the giant fish tank! It was such a great experience to see their little faces light up when they saw a new animal!

As usual, I took a ton of pictures, so I hope you all enjoy them!

Precious Chloe! LOVE her eyes!

Look how excited he was to see the monkeys!One of the chimps
Peyton was waving to the chimp!

Alli and Chloe

"WOW!!"

Doesn't she look nervous?

I LOVE this picture! He was watching the chickens.

Bitty wanted to see them too!

Self portrait of Alli, Chloe, and Me!

Self portrait of Annie and Me!

CoCo was trying on the cute Sesame Street hats.

They loved playing with the "chompers"!

For those of you that know Peyton, you will know that this is her "up to no good" face!

Parker and Claire loving on each other outside of the Texas mines

Peyton giving Chloe a hug!

She had to give her kisses too!

Parker in his miner's hat!

Peyton got one too! That is what they picked out from the gift shop.

The beautiful Jaguar...this is not zoomed in...that's how close we were!

CoCo Bear!

Claire and Peyton on the crocodile

Please look at Bitty...do you think she's obsessed with "lipstick"?!?!

Chloe, Parker, and Peyton looking at the penguins

Isn't he cute?!?! I swear he was posing for me!

Bitty's Boo-Boo

2009-04-07T19:15:00.003-05:00

Yesterday evening, Peyton fell off of her tricycle, face first onto the concrete. Last night it was really red, but it didn't look like it had broken the skin. This morning though, when she woke up, half of her nose looked like Rudolph! She has a couple of little spots on her cheek and chin, but her nose got it the worst.

When I looked at it closely this morning, it looked as though it was just going to be bright red, but not scab over. Well, I was wrong! A little later, out of nowhere, it started gushing blood. So, I guess she is going to have a huge scab on her nose just in time for Easter! Bless her heart!

She was cracking me up while I was trying to take pictures of her!She had to put on her "lipstick"
No clue what she's doing here!

She's still precious, even if she does look like Rudolph!

Poor baby girl!

"Are you done yet?!?!"

We are going to the zoo tomorrow, so hopefully I will get lots of good pictures! Hope you are all having a great week!