DEMOTED!

A month and a half ago, my sweet husband decided to lower Braidy's crib into a toddler bed. I was a little apprehensive, but daddy assured me that after a week or so, he'd be good to go on the big boy bed. He even said he'd get up with him if he got out of bed. Unfortunately, neither of these proved to be true statements. (Don't get me wrong, if I woke him up, RYan would gladly put him back in bed, but he sleeps hard and doesn't wake up for anything.)

The nightly routine went from easy to very hard. Braidy would get up time and time again, peek his little head out, smile, and after we'd tell him to go to bed, he'd go back in his room...only to sneak out and very quietly come into our room, again, with a big, proud smile on his face. Other times he would cry and lay his head by his door and watch us from underneath the door. Other times, I would go in there to "check" on him and he'd be playing with his toys, unplugging his sound machine, or rocking himself in the rocker. Besides the "before bed" routine, every night/morning he'd come into our room around 4 or 5 and either finish the night in between mommy and daddy or mommy would curl up and sleep with Braidy in his itty bitty bed.

SO, moral of the story, Braidy is not quite ready for the big boy bed. He's been demoted back into the crib, but he seems happy (after the first night of screaming) and he even slept through the night last night! Hallelujia. I felt like I had a newborn again there for a while.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Uncle Mike Comes to Lubbock

My Uncle Mike is working in Odessa/Midland for a couple months so he got to come visit us last weekend. We had such a fun time with him, and I'm positive the boys are ready for him to come again. Ryan and Uncle Mike went to the Tech/UT basketball game (he BLEEDS burnt orange and white....eck...but we love him anyways)! Uncle Mike was such a good sport and played whatever they wanted to play. They went to the park, played in the sandbox, jumped on the trampoline, played swords, etc. Braidy called Uncle Mike "Poppa" (he was a little confused...Poppa is my dad, Uncle Mike's brother, and they definitely resemble each other) so Poppa might have gotten "credit" for coming this weekend! haha. It should be interesting to see what Braidy does when Poppa AND Uncle Mike are in the same place at Crockett's party...then he'll be REALLY confused! Thanks Uncle Mike for coming and spending time with us and loving on our boys! We love you and can't wait for you to come back again!

S is for Slacker

Many people have nonchalantly mentioned how the blog has been neglected as of late. I have been SUCH a slacker and I'm disappointed in myself. This will be a "catch-all", but I will pick up the slack starting today! I know what the deal is: usually, naptime meant a chance to blog/clean/etc, but these past couple of weeks I've been using that time to clean and do invitations, etc. Poor little blog got neglected. Oh, but I'm back. Ok. Now, where to start?

The weekend before Valentine's, Nena and Pops came to visit for a few days. We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving...that's a long time without seeing your grandbabies. So they came, we had a great visit. They jumped on the trampoline, took Braidy and John to Chuck-E-Cheeze, went to a movie, went to John's school, and just had some good 'ol "Nena and Pops time". We sure were happy to get to see them!!!





Crockett and Jess came the week before Valentine's. Crockett and Braidy are to the point where they have SO much fun playing together. They will just chase and chase each other. Crockett will tackle Braidy to the floor. They will wrestle and laugh. Yes, 11 month olds and 19 month olds wrestle. Boys. LuLu brought Valentine cupcakes for them and they were in heaven. Crockett went to town and loved it. It was good practice for his big first birthday next month!





Valentine's Day. Ryan and I didn't do much for each other (except cards..oh, and I got some GIRL SCOUT COOKIES...i'll take thin mints over roses anyday!) My husband knows how to make me happy...chocolate! I made dinner, Braidy made his "own" dinner, and that was about it! I tried to make my mother-in-law's famous Shrimp Fettucini. I think she'd be proud. It wasn't quite as good as her's...but it was YUMMY!! I am pretty sure Ryan and Braidy loved it too, because between the 3 of us, we finished off the small pan of it that I made. Braidy and I made chocolate covered strawberries that were DELICIOUS. (except Braidy took all the chocolate off...)



On Tuesday morning, the children's staff from eLife went to the C3 Kids Conference at Fellowship Church in Grapevine. It was a fun 2 days away. We ate a ton, learned alot, and had some great fellowship together. I am so lucky to get work with the greatest staff on the planet. On Wednesday before we left, the WHOLE staff came into town (not just children's) and we went to Main Event to bowl, play games, and play laser tag. So fun. We had a great time. After dinner the girls came back to Lubbock, while the rest of the staff stayed for C3. I sure missed my boys at home, but I'm pretty sure they enjoyed some daddy-only time!!! Here are some pictures of the fun we had!




That should catch us all up for the time being. More tomorrow!

Happy V-Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to YOU from US!

Love is in the Air...

I've finally started doing what I really want to do...invitations/announcements/etc. My friend Alisa found this cute idea on a blog, so we tried it out for her Ava, and they turned out so cute! So, I put an "ad" on facebook saying I'd do them for free for any and everyone! I've done quite a few and they are all so precious...of course it sure doesn't hurt that all of my "subjects" are the most precious babies ever!!! Printed in a wallet size (3.5x2.5) with a couple holes punched, a sucker stuck through, and there you have your very own personalized, custom Valentine for school/PDO/or just family and friends. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but it was not me!!

Here are the BOYS designs to choose from (they were a little harder to come up with, can't do too much "Valentine-ey" stuff for them...)

The "Carter"

The "Braidy"

The "John"

The "Crockett"


And here are the girls...

The "Farrah"

The "Kambri"

The "Evyn"

The "Ava"


If you want one for your babies, let me know!!! If you pick one out, just specify the name, or I can do one of each =)