Overheard at My House

Brayden (on the phone with his older cousin, Leighton):

Leight, you're seven?! Are you big now? 'Cause I am five and I'm HUGE!"



Enjoying a late night ride--Summer 2006--sheesh, time flies!

The New 'Do

The kids were to have pictures first thing this morning, so I thought it would be a perfect time to try out the sponge rollers I picked up recently at a clearance sale on Savannah's hair. Note to self and others: Using sponge rollers on naturally curly hair will most likely result in looking like a Chia Pet:


How could I forget this fact being a naturally-curly-haired girl myself???? Anyways, maybe I should have taken the result as an indication of how the pictures would go! No professional pictures were to be had today...but the ones I captured on my camera are PRICELESS!!

Interesting...and maybe just a bit scary...is the only thing I can think of to describe it. Brayden thought it was nothing short of hysterical. And Savannah, although intially quite shocked at the reflection staring back at her in the mirror, found it to be quite hilarious as well. I just loved how soft and poofy it was! And I always did want to have a Chia Pet to call my own...but that's another blog for another day. Of course, she's still the cutest thing even if she looks like she put her finger in the nearest light socket! But I'll let you form your own opinion on the 'do:

BEFORE:



AFTER:




Come to think of it, I know some people who would have done close to anything in the seventies for a 'fro like this. But, despite of what they thought, I doubt they were lookin' as cute as this little one!

WE LOVE FALL!!!

Thought I'd make an annual event out of taking the kids' picture on our old wagon. What a difference a year makes! Compare our three to last year's photos. Here's to hoping you have a blessed weekend!

A whole hand...PART II

Brayden is five. Its still crazy to me. He's growing up so quickly and I don't like it one bit! What a blessing our boy is to us. A few things that I love about him before I share pictures in no particular order: his eyes, the compassion he has for others, his love of helicopters, airplanes, shuttles, satellites, and trains, how he glows after spending the day working with his dad, his love for family, his love for anything camo or army related, his innate and unending curiosity about everything, his HUGE child-like faith, the sincerity of his prayers, his conversations on the phone, his vocabulary, his love for reading, his unbelievable driving abilities, his love for building things, that sweet face of his that melts my heart, his creativity, the amazing playdoh sculptures he creates, his love for me, the love he has for his sisters, that he's a great big brother and takes his role seriously, hearing him and his sisters laughing their heads off together, his silly faces when I'm taking pictures, the blessing of being his mom, his abhorrence to carrots, his love of anything chocolate and how it gears him up, his ability to tell a great story, his love for scaring people and loving to be scared in return, how hard he laughs when you do manage to scare him or he scares you, how he starts laughing for no apparent reason--only to tell you he's thinking about when he scared you or you scared him, how he serves (with his sisters) as a reminder to enjoy the small things in life and take in each and every moment...its gone all too quickly! I could go on forever, but now without further ado...

HIS FAMILY CELEBRATION

The cake that he LOVED (Please note there are four men on each hill battling for control):




Suddenly, Commander Mom left the post to tend to other matters at hand (AKA guests) and the troops called in for reinforcements...LOTS of reinforcements:



Unbeknowst to Mom, it must've gotten ugly 'cause the reinforcements (AKA Sgts. Becca, Brayden & Logan) kept delivering...






Hard to believe our boy is five!


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HIS SCHOOL CELEBRATION

The beloved Birthday Chair:

My only thought: why don't I have a Birthday Chair?? Life (especially birthdays) would be even more fun with one of these around! Daryl just may return home to all our chairs being painted like this. Even funnier is that I honestly don't think he'd be surprised!


Leapin' Leader duties:

Holding the flag for The Pledge


Being the Line Leader

A funny story about Brayden being the leader. The leader gets to pick how the kids will line up by four categories: boys, girls, colors, or tables. The first time Brayden chose colors. He would say a color and if you were wearing that color you line up. This repeated until all the kids were in line. Well the boys just behind him were, well, boys and started running, pushing, and jumping in front of Brayden as they walked to the new Reading Rug--which is super cool by the way. I could tell by his face that he wasn't all that pleased with the outcome. So, knowing my boy, the next time it was time to line up he shocked everyone. Including the teacher. He chose girls! The teacher said that had never been done yet. It was hysterical...and I knew he would do it. You know why? The 5 little girls in his class lined up quietly and stayed in line perfectly behind him. No pushing, no cutting in line, no jumping around, just doing as they were told. Everything was calm and orderly--just as my boy likes it. It was classic. A memory I won't soon forget :)

There was also a little girl in his class who made him a special birthday card. It was so sweet. She kept trying to slide it to him during reading time and he was too enamored in the book to take it. I think that he thought she was just trying to agitate him as Savannah often does :) At the end of reading time the little girl mentioned her card to the teacher and Brayden went over so she could give it to him! Sooo funny!!


Waiting for directions during Art. (Hey, is that Leight sitting next to Brayden?!)

The class singing Happy Birthday to Brayden at the end of the day (he's in the center of the circle). They also sang to him at the beginning of the day!

Enjoying the Friendship Circle as they say goodbye for the day.


And I must say that it was so cool to spend the day with Brayden at school (thanks to Aunt Krystal for keeping the girls). Brayden's snack was a hit--ice cream cone cupcakes, string cheese, and juice boxes! It was great to see what he does each class and to have more insight into what he's speaking of when telling me about his time there. Needless to say, I could work there in a heartbeat...I guess because it is what I practically do everyday anyways and usually love it :)

A WHOLE HAND!

Happy 5th birthday, Brayden boy!!! I cannot believe my first born is five. A whole hand. He is all smiles today as everyone calls and sings and celebrates his day. He is most excited, however, about being the Leaping Leader at school today and also getting to sit in the Birthday Chair...talk about excitement! It doesn't get much better than this for a five year old!!

We had a little party for him on Saturday. He wanted a helicopters and camo theme. So that we did! The party store had NOTHING camo or even anything remotely related so I improvised...got tablecloths in camo colors, balloons in shades of green and brown, and made a battle scene cake. He LOVED it!

We're off to celebrate his day at school and I'm the special guest :) Many more pictures to follow of all the events for our FIVE YEAR OLD!!

Happy 30th birthday, Daryl!

Today is my man's 30th birthday :) I know that I am biased, and with that being said I can say with all that I am that he is the greatest blessing of my life. It may be his birthday but the kids and I are the ones with the gift! Thank you, Daryl, for being the greatest blessing to me/us. You carry many titles: husband, Daddy, son(-in-law), brother(-in-law), grandson(in-law), nephew(-in-law), uncle, cousin, friend, Christ-follower, boss, Youth Group leader, etc. and you carry them all so well! I am continually amazed, loved, inspired, uplifted, challenged, and humbled by you, the man you are, and the man you constantly strive to be. Mere words will never be enough to exclaim my gratitude, my love, and my devotion firstly to God for blessing me so richly and secondly to you for sharing life with me! I celebrate you, your life, your hopes, your dreams--even more so knowing how quickly it almost ended four weeks ago! Happy birthday, Daryl. I love you more every day. We're looking forward to enjoying dinner with you tonight! As always, YOU ROCK!!