The Man Has a Desk

We have been doing a bit of furniture rearranging in anticipation of Toot #3's arrival. I have completely cleaned out the "Art Room" which will become the baby's room. It feels good. However, everything I cleaned out (ie the closet that was never truly un-packed), has been moved to our guest room upstairs. That doesn't feel so good. I have been sorting to the trash and a Goodwill pile and nothing felt better than my Goodwill deposit this evening. Clean and purge...my motto these days.

I moved my desk to the guest room, which left us with 2 desks in that room. Mine is used for scrap booking and is quite large. The other one was Gigi's and I love it. I remember sitting at that desk as a little girl playing with all of her things. We had it repainted and put new pulls on the drawers and surprised JBS with it in his room. JBS thinks he is SOO big now. He couldn't wait to sit down and organize his coloring books and colors in to the proper drawers. He also couldn't wait to position his trophies "just so" in order to show them off on his desk.

First the tooth, now the desk. Where did my baby go?

One Year Ago Today...

It has been exactly a year since the day I unknowingly deleted this blog...June 26, 2008. I didn't realize what I had done until I was driving to pick up my oldest son at our church from Science Camp. It struck me at an intersection that it was possible that the "technical difficulties" I was having with my blog might be that when I deleted an old e-mail account that morning, it might have deleted my blog. Surely not! In my panic, I called Babe at work and I couldn't even talk straight. I knew that had to be the answer and I was devastated. Babe actually considered driving home to deliver the boys and I safely home. I almost lost it.

I started blogging when we found out we were moving from our very settled, very safe, and very happy life in Tulsa. I thought it would be fun to keep my family and friends up to date on us via the blogging world and I would see if I really liked it. I loved it so much more than I thought I would. In fact, my journalling by pen and paper became a thing of the past and everything significant that happened in our daily life, was recorded in my blog...the kids' milestones, their funny statements, details of our future move, funny stories from my childhood, Halloween, Christmas, birthdays... And I had just deleted every bit of it.

Not only was I about to lose my mind from deleting my blog, I was also amidst the most stressful time in my life. A stressful move with a stressful job for Babe, renting a house with none of our things present, still trying to sell our house in Tulsa, building a house, and, of course, Toot #2 was still not sleeping well at night. For these reasons, my health was on the brink, as well. Not only was "Home on the Range" deleted, but I had just started "Penelope's Pitstop" and it disappeared with the rest of my posts. That wasn't as painful, but I had certainly put MANY hours into figuring out how to administer a more public blog. All of it gone in an instant.

So many people called me, e-mailed me trying to help me and support me. I was so humbled by how sweet my friends were to me even though it had really nothing to do with them. Everyone understood though and knew my pain. Tragedy had struck. The death of my blog. I desperately tried and tried to get in touch with Google...who I have yet to hear from. I contacted all the experts I could find on the Internet. I even called Google in California. Nothing. After a few weeks, I finally had gone through all the emotions and missed blogging. After all, I didn't want to miss recording any more important events in our lives! So, Penelope's Pitstop II and Home on the Range II were every so slowly re-invented. I prayed and prayed for God to bring my blog back. He could! It would be nothing for Him to miraculously bring it back!

A month or so later, I was at my Granny's and discovered she had printed out at least 10 of my blogs for her reading enjoyment. I was so excited. I saw it as a small answer to my prayers...at least it was 10! Eventually, I was able to re-type and post those 10 and I was thrilled.

I don't know exactly how long it had been since I lost my blog, but it had been long enough that I had nearly given up retrieving my original blogs and had made headway getting my new blogs off the ground. A sweet friend of mine emailed me and said something like, "I think I have some of your old blogs saved." I didn't think much of it, but responded with a "Great! I would love to see them. How many are there?" Her response was, "Well, I have all of Penelope's Pitstop" (are you kidding me?) "and I think I have Home on the Range back to August of 2007." I know I cried at that point. This rock star of a friend had almost 200 of the blogs that I lost. TWO HUNDRED! I was so excited, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to pay her, I wanted to drive to her home in Dallas and print them for her, I wanted to do whatever it took to get them safely into my hands. She, like a smart blogger, used a Reader to read her blogs and every one of mine was on there since she started reading my blog. So, for the next few days, this new mother of now three children at the time, e-mailed every single blog to me from her Reader. Un-believeable.

As I received each one of them, I re-read them so grateful to have each memory back! The pictures didn't come with them, so for the last year, I have been searching for pictures and reposting the blogs with the correct pictures with their proper back dates. I officially posted my last "re-post" last week. I can't believe I made it through all 200, but I did and I am so grateful to KRISTI for making it all possible. For the record, I have known Kristi and her family since she was probably 7-years-old, which would make me 10-ish. I love her....for more reasons than having all my blog returned to me. She is just an awesome chica. Period.

I immediately had a portion of my blog printed into a book for each boy. I will do that each year for them so they can have a copy of all their funny moments. I joined a reader, and I also learned how to back up my blog to my computer and to my back-up hard drive. On top of that, Blogger has made it even easier to back up blogs now, so I have created a second copy of each of my blogs on Blogger for even greater ease...just in case! I have five back-up plans. Make sure you do, too!

A large piece of my nerve and stress has completely disappeared. Between Granny's 10 and Kristi's 200 posts, my best guess is that I am only missing about 6 weeks of my entire blog! What a miracle! God didn't answer exactly how I thought he would, but boy he answered my prayers! I have never been so relieved and excited and I guarantee Babe is thrilled for the year long project to be complete.

Thank you sweet Kristi. If you know Kristi, hug her, kiss her, wait on her hand and foot. Not only did she rescue my blog, but she has 3 beautiful kiddos (one set of twins) and she is a rock star to them and to me! If you don't know her, just send her money. I think that would work for her, too! :)

And if you are a blogger, definitely back up your blog...in more than one way!

The Purse Police

I am a girl who loves purses, bags, bonus-time gifts...I love them all. However, I don't quite fit the bill as the perfect purse-loving fool, as I don't change out my purses very often. I will use a purse until it either falls apart or goes out of season. Typically, the ideal purse for me, can be used across all seasons so I don't have to change it at all. With all this said, since I have moved three times in the last year and a half, I have also been a huge fan of purging, cleansing and giving away of things, including purses, bags and bonus-time gifts. I just don't need all the stuff to store (and pack and move.)

However, last week I needed a few Lancome items and coincidentally it was the "pre-sale" time for their July Bonus-Time. On top of that, they had a really cute metallic purse as a "Purchase with Purchase." Somehow, despite the real sale not even starting until July 8th, the nice lady at the counter worked a deal to send me home with my products, and the metallic purse. She kept the product boxes and a Dillard's gift card in my name. On the day of the sale, she will use the card to ring up my purchase and ship my free gift to me with free shipping. What? I didn't follow it either, but I think she knew what she was doing.

When I came home, I evidently left the cute purse hanging in our utility room. Last night, JBS walked in to the kitchen with the purse hanging on one finger exclaiming, "Mommy! WHAT is this?" I told him it was a purse and asked if he thought it was cute. He said, "WHAT did I tell you last time about purses?" I was drawing a blank. "I don't know JBS, what did you tell me?" JBS goes on to tell me, "I told you NO. MORE. PURSES. You don't need another purse!"

Excuse me? Who are you my little 5-year-old blabber mouth, who is, of course, scolding me in front of Babe. When did JBS become the Purse Police? Holy Cow!

The little toot. I promise I gave away loads of purses and bags a year ago! I really don't have that many... not according to JBS, however. Mr. Bossy Pants.

JBS Minus One Tooth

Two weeks ago JBS told me he had a loose tooth. He has told me this before, but it wasn't the case. So, I asked to see it and sure enough the tooth was barely hanging on by a thread. How did it get so loose so quickly? And how is my 5 year-old already losing teeth?

I have distinct memories of being in the first grade and my favortie teacher, Mrs. Anding, was known as the tooth-pulling teacher. Kids from all over my elementary school came to Mrs. Anding to have their loose teeth pulled and we all watched. She had a "Lost Tooth" bulletin board where each child in my first grade class got to sign their name on a tooth and put it on that bulletin board each time they lost a tooth in her class. All my friends got to sign at least one tooth and most signed more. How many did Penny get to sign in the first grade? ZERO! I didn't lose my first tooth until I was in second grade. I was a little slow in the tooth department. In fact, when I was in the 4th grade, I had to have 6 teeth pulled just to get them out! Wisdom teeth...my wisdom clearly didn't come until after I was living on my own and in the working world. Even then, I only had 2 wisdom teeth to pull. So, you can understand my surprise that JBS has already lost a tooth!

He has been protecting that tooth and refusing to touch it. I told him after two weeks of pampering that tooth that he had better lose it before Big Daddy came because Big Daddy would pull it. Each time I talked to Grammy or Big Daddy on the phone, JBS would whisper in my other ear with complete seriousness, "Whatever you do, don't tell Big Daddy I have a loose tooth!"

He saved himself the Big Daddy experience. Anyone could have pulled that dangling tooth. JBS literally touched it and it finally fell out.

One more sign my baby is growing up. Sniff Sniff.

The Toot Can Swim!

This summer had the beginnings of a long and exhausting summer for this prego Momma. Gratefully, JBS is as independent of a swimmer as I will let him be. I am always close by, for sure, but he can jump and swim and play and I don't feel like I have to be on top of him. The first trip to the pool with JLS this summer was hard work. He, like always, wanted to jump and jump and jump some more. Forced breaks were necessary...for both of us. I actually had decided the life preserver might be the best choice for him, even though I really didn't want him to depend on it.

We started swimming lessons in April and decided to continue them through the summer since JLS was on the brink of swimming alone. Overnight, JLS became a swimming sensation. Instead of telling me, "Closer, Mommy" as he jumped in the pool, the next trip he was telling me, "Back, Li'l Mo', L'il Mo', Mommy." The next couple trips to the pool, he jumped and could swim back to the wall. JBS loved being on the receiving end of his jumps, so I was happy to step aside and let JBS do all the work. Now, JBS and JLS have races in the deep end to retrieve whatever foreign object they can muster to throw in the pool. It is amazing how quickly JLS got the hang of swimming and the kid can scoot! Several moms at the pool have asked me how old he is and where he took swimming lessons. I see people giggling as they watch JLS command from the edge of the pool. Even Babe, who was swimming with him on Father's Day, was cracking up as he kicked it in to high gear when he kicked those legs in to action!

Knowing absolutely nothing about swimming as a sport, since I can't swim a straight line myself, I am beginning my research on swimming and swim teams. JLS will be old enough next year to participate. I often think of Michael Phelps' mom saying he was so active, she put him in swimming to slow him down. I know the feeling, Mrs. Phelps. I know the feeling.

Watch out for this one. Babe and I are buckling our seat belts for the JLS ride...

Happy Father's Day!

We had a wonderful Father's Day together as a family. Not only do we appreciate our weekend time with Daddy SO much more these days, but JBS and JLS are so much fun now that they get excited about a celebration...any celebration.

Yesterday morning, Babe and I were startled awake to JBS and JLS running in our room and yelling at the top of their lungs, "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!" For the first few minutes we couldn't process. JBS knew where Daddy's gift was and threw it on him for immediate opening. They were most excited about the card I found: Darth Vader, of course. But is was a talking card and in Darth's breathy voice it said, "I am your father..." They, of course, have taken it as their own since and keep playing the voice over and over.

We headed to church, the boys and I made Daddy a light lunch, then to the pool for some quality time, a little R&R (ha!), and a whole lotta heat. The heat index is ridiculous down here. If you can find us outside, the only place we will be is at the pool. Otherwise, the A/C is where we will be...

Daddy was lucky enough to cook us all dinner on the grill for Father's Day. Am sure he loved every minute of it, but he did get to use a few of his Father's Day grill gifts! Babe, you are an awesome Daddy and we all love you very much...even Toot #3. He told me so.

Don't You Want Me Baby?

Out of the blue a few weeks ago, JBS started singing this song, "Don't You Want Me Baby?" by Human League. Yes, flashback to the 80's. It was the funniest thing hearing JBS sing, "Don't you want me baby? Don't you want me OH-o-o-oh!" Babe and I were dying laughing. But seriously, where in the world did he learn it? He even got the "Oh's" right. Thru giggles, he tells us that his friend, Holden, from school taught it to him. Even funnier is what he thinks the next line is...."I was working as a waitress at a car salon..." I am much happier letting him sing about a car salon as opposed to a cocktail bar. I still just couldn't see how even Holden had learned the song, unless, of course, his parents are die hard 80's groupies. A week or so later, I happened upon the newest Swiffer commercial and I figured it out. Holden must have had a little more help learning the words, but I am certain he first heard the song on television.

We have gotten quite a kick of JBS singing it, which lends JBS to singing it more because he sees how it makes us laugh. This morning, the boys and I were headed to the swimming pool post swimming lessons. This is usually a crazy 10 minute drive, as the boys are amped to go to the pool and being silly from lessons. JLS keeps saying, "Mommy, Mom, Mommy." I finally turn around to ask, "What do you need?" and JLS smiles his devilish smile and shrugs his shoulders while squinting his eyes. (This means something is about to happen that might not be good.) He looks at me and says, "Don yue wan me bebe?" as JBS and I erupt into laughter.

JBS was quite proud of his teaching abilities. Human League. Seriously?

Visitors

A couple weekends ago, a friend of mine from TCU came to visit from Austin with her family. Not having lived in Texas since college, I have been a little removed from all my friends here. I have had so much fun "fast-forwarding" and seeing everyone with families and children. Getting to spend time with their husbands and kiddos is so insightful. It seems like just yesterday we were doing the college thing and feeling like we had "no time." Ha!

CT's kids were so sweet. JLS, in his little speech-y voice very clearly could say, "Will" to her son. Except, it was two syllables..."We-il." I am not sure if that is an impairment or an accent coming out of his cute little mouth. He has heard the name, "Will" quite a bit, as it is one of our family names we are rolling around, but he sure loved saying it! Hmmm...

It was great to see them and the boys loved having new playmates for the weekend. I am sure they were thrilled to return to their quiet and peaceful house...no guns, light sabers, yelling, wrestling...Their time is coming, but they aren't quite there, yet. Then again, maybe some people just have quiet and peaceful houses with boys. That just can't be synonymous. It can't! Can it? No.

The Girl

I crack up every time I think of JLS and his love triangle at school. I think of the Tim McGraw song, "Don't Take the Girl". M is a precious and beautiful little girl who loves JLS. JLS appears to be a little apathetic. However, JLS will certainly be vying for her attention in a few years, guaranteed.

M's mom was at their end of the year "Splash Day" and snapped a few pictures of them together. JLS is a toot and a half, for sure.

Just give him a few years, M, we'll see who is chasing who...

Flashback

I have a couple more flashback pictures to post. When we were at the lake for Spring Break, Belle and her boys came to the lake to see us one day. We took them on a ride around the neighborhood and played a little. Between Belle and me, we are about to have six boys. We are certainly close to a team of some sort, I am certain. If we knew in high school the brood of boys we would have, I think we would have gone into shock. However, as adults, I can't imagine either one of us having girls. God knows best! So, here is the crew... What a team!

Of course, this was the same trip that JLS refused to wear anything but his Batman suit. While we certainly still wear it, I will say very quietly that he is not as obsessed with it as he was a mere 3 months ago. Ssshhh....Don't tell him!

Class Pictures

How did I forget these? I have been working diligently on my blog and re-posting blogs that were lost. More than likely you will never go back and read them, but I will. It feels SO good to get those lost blogs back up. My intention is to make my blog into a book for each boy...will keep you posted on that project once I finish the re-posting project!

In my efforts to find and match pictures to the recovered blogs, I have found pictures all over my computer that I didn't know were there. Too bad, I didn't have my blog somewhere on my computer. Who knows...it might be there, but I would not be the person who would know how to retrieve it. Point being, I have discovered several pictures that need posting that slipped through the cracks. This might be a week in review.

Here we have JBS and JLS' class pictures from this year. They are easy to spot, as I dressed them the same on picture day...bright green shirts! They may hate me for that someday. For now, they don't mind. JLS, in fact, loves it.

We absolutely love our school. We loved both boys' teachers and while I know we will love next year, too, we are sad to say "Good-bye" to their teachers this year. JBS learned so much this year and really loves to learn. It's so fun watching him enjoy reading and writing and oh, my word, how many random facts he has learned this year. Babe and I crack up every time he busts out with geography trivia. JLS has had a growing year, as well. His speech is really coming along, he is potty-trained (yahoo!), and I think he overcame a little bit of shyness/momma's boy-ness this year. OK, not the momma's boy part, but he is much better at leaving me at school than he was the first month or so of the year.

They are getting so big! There are no babies in our house, as stated by JLS, only, big boys.

Mini "Paul's"

Last summer, we had just moved to The Woodlands. We were stressed out, sleep deprived and exhausted. I was not able to find any sort of childcare situation here, barring Day Care, in the summers. It was crazy! So, the toots and I forged ahead. The first couple weeks we were completely over-scheduled with every kind of sports camp I could sign Jake up for. I promised myself we would not to that again.

This summer is a whole new story, thank goodness! Life is definitely more manageable, as we have a home we love, JLS finally sleeps through the night and then some, Babe's job is relatively stable. What a great feeling to realize we made it through the thick of it! Even better, I discovered the ONE church that has an amazing summer program for kids. It is one of many of the awesome churches we have down here, but this one is literally three minutes from our house. The program last for six weeks, two days a week for four hours a day. Just enough time for me to catch an OB appointment or run a few errands and keep my sanity amidst the summer, the heat and pregnancy. Even better, the boys absolutely love it.

For the next six weeks they are learning about Paul and The Romans. When we arrived the first day, the entire children's department had been transformed into Rome with stone walls, arched doorways, The Coliseum. It was quite impressive, even to an adult. Yesterday, the teachers were telling us all about the parade they had when we picked them up. Each child made a Laurel leaf crown and a sash and paraded all over the church. They were so stinkin' cute and proud when I picked them up, I had to take their picture.

Oh, and don't think that JLS isn't ecstatic. "Barah", aka "Sarah" from his pre-school, is in his class this summer. Teachers say she kissed him on the first day...

Here we go again.

My Freends

Last weekend I went to Dallas to spend the weekend with 2 of my closest friends from high school, "Belle" and "LGL." I was so looking forward to it. Belle lives in Bartlesville and LGL lives in Dallas, so we spent the weekend at LGL's house (the middle) talking, eating, and working on our scrapbooks. A friend of mine (clearly a male) was cracking up that we worked on our scrapbooks all weekend, but there is nothing more therapeutic for me than sitting with the girls chatting and catching up while attempting to catch up on my scrapbooks. Most girls might be whoopin' it up going out, but this prego is just fine sitting and talking and getting to see LGL's cute kiddos.

So, this blog would be boring without a favorite story about each of them. I have known LGL and her family since elementary school. She was a class behind me, but we not only lived in a small town, but we were involved in many of the same things, like tennis. I remember having to play against LGL in a tournament when we were probably late middle school. I loved to play tennis, but my personality on the court lacked intensity for sure. LGL knew intensity and competitiveness. Completely clueless, I was walking back to start the next point and LGL, in her frustration, hit a ball at me really hard. I heard people breathe in around me, completely missing the action that I was the center of and also missing being hit by the ball. LGL and I have not discussed this much since we were 13, but clearly, our friendship was not affected by her attempt on my life. (right?:))

Belle. Oh, Belle. One of our best stories has been laughed at and discussed many times and, of course, revolves around tennis. She already knows what it is if she is reading right now. Belle also had intensity on the court, which, in high school I was still lacking. My doubles partner and I did well, but we were always having fun on the court. We always had to play Belle and her partner in practice. Belle and I were fast friends, but on the court, not so much. So after a dramatic match, I talked to our coach and asked if we really had to play against each other all. the. time. Unfortunately, Belle overheard the discussion and wasn't so pleased. I followed her as she ran to her black Prelude trying to explain. Out of the sunroof of her car, she threw my Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits (yeah, man!) TAPE at me and sped home. We still get tickled over that, including Kenny Rogers and the fact that it was a tape. Clearly, that didn't scar our friendship either.

Both of these girls are amazing friends with a huge heart that loves Jesus. They have been my rocks through many good and bad times. I love to spend time with them, I love to watch their families grow and I love them. What a treasure to have such amazing friends and to have kept up with them since we were in elementary and junior high school. To the next 20 years, girls!

May we never play tennis against each other again...

Funny Boy

I feel that I often put pictures of JLS sleeping up on the blog which might lead you to believe he sleeps a lot. Actually, these days, he has finally found his routine and does sleep well...day and night. BUT, he is THREE! He should! However, the first 2 1/2 years of his life were not so exceptional and the reminder of sleep deprivation is still raw and the thought is still painful. Thus, I still get excited to take pictures of the toot when he is konked out. When he is silent. When nothing comes out of his body...no yelling, no crying, no movement. My sweet little toot is just a sweet little toot. Obviously, he still has to fall asleep in the middle of something. There is no such thing as JLS actually crawling in bed and putting his head on a pillow and going fast asleep. It is activity, activity, zzzzzzz.....

A couple weekends ago, when the last of our company was gone, the boys, Babe and I crawled into our bed to watch Wall-E and snuggle together. Having both the boys next to me just makes me want to touch them. I typically have a hand on both of them if we are "nuggling," which also helps them to fall asleep. So, I had a hand on JBS's head and I put my hand on JLS' tummy, just because it was handy. Within a few seconds I felt JLS turn and look at me. When I looked at him, he said, "No baby in my tummy Mommy! Baby in you tummy!" and he threw my hand off his belly. Heaven forbid I could make a baby grow in there!

First Fruits

JBS and I have taken on the "Chief Gardener" roles in our house. JBS loves to go peruse the garden with me to check on the water situation...see if things need to be watered more or less, pick weeds, water the plants that need daily attention, and snip dead blooms. The flowers are really starting to grow and look so pretty. I will give you a pictorial update in a few weeks when they really start filling in.

We have learned lots about fungus (from too much rain), rust, and bugs. We have also already had to transplant a couple trees and are gritting our teeth hoping for their survival. Our Japanese Maple was getting too much sun, so we moved it to a shadier spot and replaced it with a Lemon Tree! We are so anxious to see the first fruit from that tree and we are really excited to be growing our first citrus tree. Our Butterfly Weed, which is one of my favorite new plants, has recently acquired Aphids, so we are working to get rid of them this moment. I had never seen an aphid before, but the bright yellow variety that we have are actually quite pretty! Hydrangeas are fair, as I think some kind of bug is getting to them, so we are working on that, too.

The greatest excitement for JBS yesterday was picking our first green peppers. I haven't begun to think about landscaping the backyard, but I sure love having fresh peppers and tomatoes to cook with. So, for the first time, I planted peppers and tomatoes in pots and they are flourishing. Tomatoes have already started to grow and JBS checks on them daily. I am thinking that next year's labor will go into putting in a small vegetable garden in the back yard. JBS is having a blast and I am certain JLS will be in to it by then.

In the evenings, JBS and I often ride our bikes around our neighborhood checking out everyone else's flowers for ideas. We have found some very pretty ideas from seeing what grows well around here. Each time we return home, in his sweet little voice JBS says, "Mommy, your garden is still the goodest."

Goodest or baddest, I love that JBS loves working in the yard with me. It makes it twice as fun and always entertaining.

The Pirates

T-Ball season is almost over again. Two more games and this prego Momma can get out of the heat. This is our first team that really got our attention. We showed up to JBS's first T-Ball practice and Babe stared at the other boys practicing and asked, "How old are these boys?" They were bigger than JBS, who is usually the biggest kid on the team, and they were knocking the balls in the outfield with much greater skill than we had experienced up to that point. As it turned out, Jake was the youngest on the team and all but one other kid are going into the first grade in the fall. We loved it, as it has been a really good learning season for Mr. JBS. Our only concern is keeping JBS' head in the game. Since he is younger, he is still a little, "La-ti-da" in the outfield while balls are coming at him with some speed. We pray every game he doesn't get smacked in the face.

I was out of town this past weekend and missed one of JBS's games. I was so sad to miss his game, but sure did enjoy a great weekend with my girls in Dallas! I called JBS as soon as the game was over and asked all about it. He was still in his "calm and cool, I am a baseball player mode" so I didn't get much except that he hit one in the sky. I was so proud of him. Like I am certain my mom had to to for me, in order to get any information out of JBS, I have to continue to ask questions in different ways....for days if I really want the whole story. This morning, I told JBS that I still hadn't heard all about his T-Ball game on Saturday. He was overjoyed at sharing about hitting his ball in the sky. He said, "Momma, I hit the ball so hard it went through the clouds and it went all the way to Heaven. God found it, picked it up and threw it back."

That response was worth all 100 ways I thought of over 3 days to ask about the ball game.

The wind up...

The smash hit...

Running the bases...

A father-son "High Five" moment...

And, please. Don't discount Mr. Fancy Pants/Skinny Legs. Toot #2 officially begins his T-ball career this fall since he is "Big" now...aka 3! A typical T-ball game for JLS consists of running across 2 fields to a backstop and back....over and over and over.

And, the potential future track star loves every sweaty minute of it.

The Luau

JBS had his end-of-the-year program last week, Luau style. Babe had been home sick the day before, recovering from his "flu-ish" symptoms post house guests so he couldn't miss another day of work. I told him not to worry, as I had big plans and great intentions of using my great new tripod Babe bought for me to record the whole show while I snapped pictures. Somehow, the video camera would not attach to the tripod and I failed Babe completely. I captured lots of moments with my camera, but I got a big zero on video footage. Darn it.

I was completely impressed with the program, with the organization, with the kids...it was darling. JBS was even greatly improved from his Christmas program as far as knowing what he was doing. He knew every word to every song and every hand movement assigned to each song. It was a proud moment. The cutie-pa-tootie did great. It's officially the end of pre-school for us. Although, JBS doesn't know it as such, as he will return to the same school next year for Transitional Kindergarten...another blog for itself, but a decision with which we are very pleased!

With that, today marks the first day of summer for our family...wahoo!

Serious Conversations

We have had a few classic conversations with the boys in the last day that I have to share before I forget. Last night as we were tucking the boys in, I overheard Babe and JLS discussing the love triangle in our house...

Babe: I love you JLS

JLS: NO! Mommy loves JLS

Babe: Who loves Mommy?

JLS: Bake

Babe: Who loves JBS?

JLS: Daddy

Babe: Who does JLS love?

JLS: Batman

I guess with that logic, that leaves Batman to love Daddy. According to JLS's logic, no one can love more than one person in our house. So there!

This morning as I was driving the boys to school, the boys were discussing potential baby names.

JBS suggested Nick and William. Then he asked JLS what he thought. JLS really took it seriously and thought for a good minute with "umm's and uhhh's." Then, as though a huge light turned on in his head, he said, "I know, Mommy! Batman!" JBS, of course, said, "No, JLS, we can't call our baby Batman. Besides, I wanted a baby first, so I get to name him." JBS suggested Jackson. I love the name Jackson, but we have 3 "Jackson's" on a 10 man T-ball team. It's a little overused down here. So, I said, "No, Jackson is out. Let's think of something different." JLS was a little disappointed when Batman wasn't overwhelmingly accepted, so he thought for a second and said, "I got it! Wet's call him Barth Mader. (read Darth Vader)"

Limited vocabulary=limited name choices. There certainly won't be any Darth's on his T-Ball team. Maybe this is something we should consider...

Mother's Day

So, I am a bit behind on posting pictures... Mother's Day this year was wonderful. It was the first year that JBS really got in to it, and of course, JLS-the-toot, followed JBS' lead. I was made to stay in bed by the boys until Daddy finished making me pancakes. JBS brought everything to me on a big tray and waited on me hand and foot....JBS' forte. JBS would tell me to stay and JLS would say, "Yah!" and march off. JBS took my drink order (on a pad and paper no less) and turned on his heels while JLS said, "Opay, Mommy" and ran in JBS' trail. I love those toots so much...especially when they aren't being toots.

The boys gave me an awesome chair massager. I was so excited, as I have been having a lot of pain in my back this pregnancy. Babe was excited to get it set up for me so I could get a massage while I watched TV in bed. As he opened the box the first two warning messages were: 1-Don't use in bed and 2-Don't use if pregnant. Whoops! I still love it...

As for my other nameless son, we are feeling very blessed right now that we are still having wonderful reports from the doctor. Toot #3 is growing big and strong. Unless something unexpected comes up, I do not have to go back to my high risk doctor. When I saw him last week, he was firm that I was not "out of the woods" until this baby is born with regards to the antibody attacking his heart, but he had not seen any cases of such after 26 weeks. AND, I am 26 weeks! Praise the Lord. We are still praying, though!

So, at this point, we are taking any and all name suggestions...any ideas?

Slip-n-Slide

When our cousin, KM, was here, we had a slip-n-slide party. The kids had a blast. Initially, the sliding wasn't very successful, so Babe added a little dish soap to the mix and got his exercise "bowling" the kids down the slide. They were in heaven.KM getting her wind up down the slide......and her big debut!JBS working it out...Splash!!The one and only....JLS...The littlest guy wins with the biggest splash...
JLS didn't do much sliding down the slide. He actually preferred to run and splat in the pool of water. Either way, we wore them out. Isn't that the entire goal for the day?

Potty Training...Check!

The JLS-ster made up his mind to use the potty and by golly there was no turning back. He now says, "Mommy, I big." So, this means he does NOT use a sippie cup, he now sleeps in JBS's room and he certainly does not wear diapers. "I big." I love it and I hate it. I am through with diapers until Toot #3, but my baby is growing up.

As soon as JLS made it a couple nights with no accidents, JLS and JBS decided to sleep in the same bed. Each night, JBS threatened little JLS, "Don't you wet the bed, JLS! That is not allowed!" The novelty wore off after about a week and JBS graduated to the top bunk with his own space, while JLS took over the bottom bunk in JBS' room.

JLS had one accident his first day back at school to be contributed to his modesty. His sweet teachers said he didn't like to potty with the rest of the class, so they now take him alone for his own privacy. He is perfectly happy with that, although I am not quite sure where he acquired modesty. There is very little privacy in this house of boys...very little.

There may be a few accidents arise here and there, but for the most part, the potty training of Toot #2 is accomplished. Check!