This Has NEVER Happened...

From the time JBS was born, he could fall asleep anywhere...sitting up, laying down, talking.  He is practically narcoleptic.  JLS can fall asleep in front of a movie or a football game.  He even falls asleep in the car on occasion.  WHS NEVER goes to sleep unexpectedly.  He never falls asleep in the car. He has never fallen asleep all snuggled in the bed with all of us together watching a movie.  He only goes to sleep at night by playing in his bed until he literally falls over.

WHS is the third child and in no way wants to miss any piece of action that MIGHT take place should he relax his eyelids...EVER!

THAT is why this picture had to be taken and is so remarkable that we must document this somewhere.  WHS fell asleep in the den, mid-goldfish snack with the rest of us watching TV together.  Of course, he is in his skivvies and of course, it didn't last long.  But it happened.  And this picture proves it.

Riding to School

I remember when JBS was a baby, not knowing how big my family would be, thinking my life with "Big Kids" is so far away.  I thought, "When will I ever sleep again?" and I wondered what it was like to go days without changing a poopy diaper.  When will I be able to eat without cutting, coaxing, and feeding someone else besides myself at the table?  When will my life NOT revolve around a nap schedule, feeding times....and the list goes on.

Here I am.  I am there.  No more diapers, my children feed themselves, if I miss out on sleep, it's typically my fault.  I do, however, by choice, continue to revolve around a nap schedule :)  Naps are the beauty of childhood and I love having the excuse for quiet time in our house.

This one wants to ride his bike to school to get "the boys" with me.  Unfortunately, I won't let him, as the mile of sidewalk between our house and the elementary school turns into a mile of highway when school lets out.  It is dangerous.  Even Babe had a terrible bike wreck while covering for me when I was down.  It is no place for a careless 3 year-old to be riding a bike.  Not only for his own safety, but the safety of others.

 Every day, he begs to "wide his bike" and every day I tell him, "No."  And every day he asks "Why? Why?  and more Why?"  I finally explained to him that he had to get rid of his training wheels and be a strong rider if he wanted to ride with me to school.

So now, guess what?  Every day he asks, "Will Daddy take off my training wheels?  I want to ride with da boys!" It's time.  I keep pushing the Razor, knowing how much it helps to learn balance before getting on a bike.  But, I am not sure if he can be postponed much longer.

Please note that in all pictures, his precious and much-loved "Puppy" is hanging by his own noose bandana, as WHS takes Puppy everywhere he goes...and Puppy loves it very much.

 They are all my babies.  But this is THE baby.  And he is all grown up.  Time has gone so fast.  Hindsite is definitely 20/20.

Before I know it, I will be losing sleep again, being forced to stay up until my boys come home at curfew and we won't be worried about bicycle training wheels...UGH!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Cannonball!!

There is nothing this child {thinks he} can't do.  If JBS and JLS run a mile, WHS can, too.  If JBS and JLS do a front flip in the pool, WHS is right behind them.  The child has no fear and confidence to spare. 

JBS and JLS have been really into hiding and shooting us with their guns of late.  Babe and I stood in the kitchen and watched as JBS and JLS ran by with guns and all appropriate hunting gear adorned. At least 2 solid minutes went by before this little squirt ran by with upside-down goggles, his camo pants and a gun shouting for JBS and JLS.  The most precious, "Jake!  Wuke!  Where awe you?  I want to pway wif you!"  It broke my heart in two.  JBS and JLS are VERY inclusive of WHS and I am so grateful for that, as this moment of him begging to find them killed me.

They all disappeared into my room, a big roar of laughter, sounds of wrestling, and shooting sounds only a boy can make...three of them.  A few minutes later, WHS stormed out of the room leading the pack in his loudest and most guttural voice, "Cannonball!!!"  JBS and JLS ran behind him yelling the same and they all dog piled in the in the foyer.

And so that is a "Day in the life".  And "Cannonball" is now a highly versatile word in WHS' vocabulary.  While most of us would associate it with a jump in the pool, WHS tends to use it as "Charge!!" or "Onward" in addition to the "Cannonball!" in the pool.

If we happen to hear it come out of WHS' mouth and we are close by, it means. "Clear out!  I am coming thru!"

Gingerbread Party

The boys were dying to have their friends over for a Christmas party, so we invited the neighbors to a Gingerbread party.  JBS and I pre-made little houses the night before.  The day of, we divided the candy and conquered!

JBS and MV

JLS and DV...

 Sydaroo...

WHS...

LS thoroughly enjoying the sprinkles...

A finished product...

We may have been sweating bullets at 75 degrees and 100% humidity, but the cold was on its way that night.  So we pretended it was cold and guzzled the hot chocolate....It's nice to pretend!

What Child is This?

Who is this child?  WHS never ceases to keep us on our toes.  Without much effort on my part, if any at all, he has become the biggest TCU fan in the house.  He wears his TCU football jersey with a huge amount of pride, he chants for TCU randomly as we drive down the road  AND if he sees anything purple, he yells for TCU.  I LOVE this!

Babe and the boys watch football on a regular basis.  It doesn't matter who is playing, the boys are obsessed and whoop and holler as the game goes on.  Last week, the big boys were yelling at the NFL game on TV and little WHS came running in the den without missing a beat, "T-C-U!  T-C-U!  T-C-U!"

Love this baby.

Picnic in the Park

I almost cried when I looked at the original Elizabeth Arden post.

Look at these babies!  This was 3 1/2 years ago.  How much has happened in 3 1/2 years!  Both boys were still in preschool.  Be still my heart.

I would be lying if I said they didn't still LOVE their Elizabeth Arden picnic baskets.  I made mention that we could ride our bikes and eat lunch at the park one day when we were off of school.  Immediately, the 2 picnic baskets were on the kitchen counter.  They have grown up so much since that original picture...

But they still love their baskets...

And they are still my babies...

Handsome

For the last month or so, we have been getting bits and pieces of the Christmas songs that WHS has been practicing at school.  Having been at our wonderful preschool for 5 years now, we are familiar with the songs the kiddos sing in their Christmas program every year.  WHS is particularly smitten with the "Happy Birthday Jesus" song.  Babe found the song on iTunes and has been playing it in the car.  If ANYONE tries to sing the song with WHS around, he will hastily yell, "Dats MY song!" and proceed to sing.  There is even a point in the song where the kids start to sing the chorus even louder and WHS always tells Babe to "Turn it lowder Daddy!" so he can belt it out at the top of his lungs.  He sings with all his might and he loves it!

The day of his Christmas program last week, we were getting dressed in the clothes he picked out: a button down shirt, jeans and cowboy boots.  I told him how handsome he was and he smiled proudly.  I told him that Daddy was coming to watch him sing and he said, "NO!"  I told him I was coming to watch and he said, "NO!"  I couldn't understand it.  He LOVED practicing his songs.  I told him that today was his day to sing HIS song to everyone.  He said, "NO!"

Then, he looked at me and said, "I don't want to sing.  I just want to be handsome."

And handsome he was.

Santa's Workshop

Never to miss the Junior League's Santa's Workshop....The boys love going to the workshop.  It is upstairs during the Holiday Market and the kids get to make cool Christmas crafts, ice cookies, and meet Santa.  They love it.  This was WHS' first year to go.

Icing cookies...

 Making Reindeer Food...

Creating Christmas Ornaments...

 
Working with visible remnants of red icing...

 Sweet brothers...

  Fun was had and time to go!

Merry Christmas!!

Fishin'

We are fully enjoying having Daddy around more since taking his new job.  I may not have mentioned that since I have been out of the blogging loop a few weeks.  Babe took a job in The Woodlands roughly six weeks ago and we love it!  He goes to work at 6-6:30 and is home by 4pm.  Life is GOOD!  We have had multiple fishing trips to nearby ponds with a picnic for dinner.

This particular trip, we were at a pond down the street that has 2 resident ducks.  Resident ducks that have no fear of people and have great desire to eat your food.  This did not bode well for WHS.  He did not like those ducks one bit and every time they tried to waddle over to our blanket and eat his food, he cried.  JLS, being the protective big brother that he is turning into would run screaming and whooping and waving his arms, shooing the ducks back into the water.  Then, the ducks returned, WHS cried,  and JLS ran and yelled and shooed.  And the cycle continued until WHS climbed in the back of the Burb and decided to stay in the car.

JBS caught several little perch...or maybe just the same one over and again.

When we got home, Babe suggested to WHS that we get a few ducks to live in our pool.  Of course, THAT made WHS cry.  Ironically, these days, WHS begs for pet ducks.  Really?  Nothing like conquering your greatest fears head on.  How quickly things change.

Allergy Shots

Pha-ew!  I had NO idea how crazy this little stationery venture was going to be starting in the middle of the holiday rush!  I am barely coming up for air and its already Christmas.  I am not sure I was fully prepared to have a full-time job, yet.  BUT, now I have it.  It's getting to be more fun as I know more.

The boys and I are having fun when we can and are fully embracing not having any sports practices or games to be held accountable to in the evenings.  Our weekly stop:  the allergist for allergy shots.  The boys happened to snap a few shots with the camera while we were there.  How in the world can we not document the allergist?  We love our doctor and everyone that works there.  They take great care of my allergy-stricken babies.

Old Friends

These two toots met when we first moved to The Woodlands.  We were renting on a cul-de-sac when this cutie moved in a couple houses down from Scotland.  He has a brother JBS' age and we all hit it off.  He was just learning to walk and JLS was still giving me fits with his not sleeping, {unbeknownst to me} not hearing, not eating.  Oh, so happy those days have passed!  I hate to say it, but it's true!

NOW,  they are 5 and 6 years old, they are both in the same kindergarten class and appear to be inseparable.  I love that JLS has a buddy with him at school and we love this buddy.

One day during the semester, I surprised JLS at school to have lunch with him.  When I approached the table I could see that he had been crying...which is very RARE for JLS.  My mother bear came out and without thinking about the kids listening, I asked in surprise, "What is wrong, JLS?" I looked at his sweet buddy sitting next to him as if to ask, "What's wrong?" and he just shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows.  He didn't know.  When JLS saw me, he lost it and the tears started flowing as he came around the table and gave me a big hug.  It broke my heart.  It wasn't until we were seated at the mom table and almost finished with lunch before he told me that he ran head-on into the slide at recess just prior to lunch. OUCH!

Sweet buddies.  May there be many more years together!

First Haircut

It was finally time to get sweet WHS his VERY first haircut....at age 3.  I've known it was coming, but I have dreaded it.  I hate that every time a child gets a haircut, he looks older and older.  He is my baby and he will always be the baby! :)  However, it was time.  It was also time for JBS and JLS, so we called for an appointment and lined 'em up.

WHS climbed right up in the chair and L.O.V.E.D. getting his hair washed.  He kept giggling and telling me it tickled.

He told me she was putting shampoo in his hair and then conditioner.  He was well-informed :)

In the chair...He was perfect!

The first curl...

Pretty much having the time of his life..

The final precious product that looks 3 years older, in my opinion. {sniff. sniff}

 He was so proud and strutted around the salon telling everyone he got his haircut while we waited for JLS to trim his lucious locks.

Just for the record, here is JLS' 1st haircut...To his defense, he was much younger.  HOWEVER, it was a much more stressful event!