Shiner!

Baseball season has arrived and with it came John's first SHINER of the season! He got hit pretty good with the ball right in the mouth at practice last week....OUCH! Poor guy's mouth was all cut up and everyday his bruise got a little bit uglier. It was swollen for a couple days, but now there's just some bruising that will take time to get better. I told him it made him look super tough!!! For the LOVE of the game!

John's MOB Season!

Well, another season has come and gone. This time it was BASKETBALL. John played MOB this year for the first time and had an awesome experience! His coaches were awesome and he made some new friends on his team too! They finished in 3rd place and got so much better as the season went on. John did awesome (of course!) and even made the all-star team at the end of the season. He improved a ton and towards the end of the season was scoring several points a game, even a 3 pointer or 2! Great job Johnny! We are proud of you!

Toys For Sale.

Today, Braidy watched the first 20 minutes of Toy Story 2 (you know the one with the YARD SALE where Woody gets taken by the big mean chicken man?), and then told me he was going to his room. Um...a little strange, but ok. He comes out with a basket of toys and tells me and dad that he is going to go sell his toys that he doesn't want to kids that want them. Easy enough, right?

So I see him outside sitting in the driveway with his basket of toys, and a small tupperware bowl for his earnings, of course. I am watching him through the window and notice our friend and neighbor, Britni come over. They are talking, she is laughing, and he is instructing her to come back with money for a toy. Customer #1 leaves empty handed. Braidy continues to sit. Britni now drives up with her mom and cousin, and they are dying. Her mom bought Ryker a car, and gave him a dollar (toys were only a penny! What a steal!). They leave, I bought a toy, Ryan bought a $5 toy, and then Braidy was off to Crockett's house to sell his unwanted toys to his cousins.

Jess told me that Braidy made Crockett and Bowen pick a toy, and then he asked Jess to give him money for their toys! Pretty demanding, huh?! So he sold a few toys, made a few bucks, but he was serious business man, and it cracked me up. I was laughing and laughing. Ryan later told me that he used to sell his toys all the time when he was younger....so maybe we have a business man on our hands, in this 4 year old boy of ours. 

He did make a "CLOSED" sign and hung it on our front door, so if you're interested in some used, unwanted, but one cent toys, please wait until we are "OPEN" again for business. This boy makes me laugh and I love the imagination and the ideas he has everyday. He is very literal, so we must be careful what he sees and watches, because if Andy's mom on Toy Story 2 had a yard sale, Braidy can too!

quin's new bed!

Quin has had several big changes in his life lately, with starting school earlier this year, to turning 2 and being in the "big boy" class at church, to suddenly becoming too "big" to sit in his booster chair at home or in restaurants, to being completely potty trained, and now, he sleeps in a big boy bed! Ask Ryan, I was fairly positive that he'd stay in his crib until middle school, because "if it's not broke, don't fix it!"....but I had a dilemma. He wet the bed several times a week. So I thought, well I can't "lock" him in a bed for 12 hours and expect him to be dry. So after a couple of weeks, (and a incident that caused me to need to bleach and scrub his crib completely), we decided to go for it and make his bed into a toddler bed. I was dreading this because Braidy was SUCH a nightmare....heck, he still gets out of bed! But, I should know. My kids are completely different in almost every way. Quin is our very obedient one.

The first night, he tried to get out one time, and daddy spanked him pretty good. That was it. He hasn't gotten out again since. That's all it took. He even waits for me to come get him in the morning. I remember the first morning, he was still in there after 8am, which is pretty late for him. But after a while I heard, "MONICA! MONICA! MONICA!" He was calling my name for me to come in there and "let" him out. Blows my mind, and it completely cracked me up that he was calling me "MONICA". He hasn't had an accident since we've changed his bed, so maybe just the thought that he could get out and go potty if he needed to helps.

Quin, you're a rockstar. You've always been SO easy and so "go with the flow" but you prove to be even more so now that you're such a big boy. You make us so proud. Ok, enough with the changes. Stay this age and stage forever. You're the best!

Valentines!

I am not sure why I always feel the need to do something "creative" on valentine's for my kids because it just ends up in tummys and in the trash, but I do. I can't just let myself buy them at the store, although there is NOTHING IN THE WORLD wrong with that. I actually wish I just could. But anyways, this year the boys helped me make their Valentine's. Braidy and John gave their friends a bag of unpopped popcorn, and it said "I hope your Valentine's Day really POPS!" and then for Quin I had no clue what to do (I had a box of fruit snacks in my basket thinking I'd just sign his name on them) but then I was grabbing some apple sauce and saw these, and I thought how perfect! Quin LOVES these and what an easy way to make a cute (and healthy!) Valentine for his little 2 year old buddies!

Here are the boys assembling and signing Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day from our 3 little handsome Valentines!

Ryan and I don't make a big to-do out of Valentine's Day...we aren't willing to fight the rest of Lubbock for a seat in a good restaurant, and really we just enjoy spending the day together and with our boys too. This year was no different.

Braidy had his class party before lunch, so I got to go to that, and it was so fun. The kids were so excited about their yummy food and most of all, about their giant heart cookie and the GOBS of icing and sprinkles that they got to decorate their cookie with! They were so funny. Braidy slathered on some icing and ate it up...saving just a little to take home with him for "yater".

After a sweet lunch with B and Q, and a few errands (a little something for my big valentine!) we went to John's school and attended his Valentine's party! He was SO excited to see his brothers, and his teacher was seriously so sweet in welcoming us to his class. She treated them like they were part of the class and gave them pizza, drinks, candy, you name it. John had tons of candy and valentines from his friends and I loved watching him be around his school friends! We had a great time and were so glad we go to be there with John!

That night, Ryan and Ty cooked Danielle and I (and little boys) a steak dinner, complete with Danielle's famous cakeballs. It was a perfect dinner and the best company around! I love a good double date, and one in the comfort of my home is even better!

I am a girl, so naturally, I kinda like Valentine's Day, but I'm SO very grateful that my husband shows me love the other 364 days of the year too, so Valentine's is fun and all, but it's not super out of the ordinary to be spoiled rotten by my man. However, a few roses, a couple cards, and sweet time spent with my guys made this day perfect in my booK!

COTW

This past Sunday-Tuesday, we had the incredible opportunity to be a host family for a couple kiddos with "Children of the World". These kids are part of a choir that travels around the country singing at churches, seeing the sights, meeting new friends, and changing lives one stop at a time for 10 months. I was a little nervous, being the somewhat anti-social SAHM that I am, but I honestly would do it again in the blink of an eye. These 2 boys (Jeremiah and Bernard) and "Auntie Justine" found a place in my heart that I can't shake. They changed me. I grew to love these strangers in less than 48 hours, and I can honestly say my world has been rocked. These precious boys were filled with hope and joy. They had the greatest smiles and the sweetest personalities. They were grateful for anything and everything, and the simplest things brought them the greatest joy. It opened my eyes beyond my little "Lynnhaven Drive" bubble, and made me realize how so many things I think matter in the life, simply do not. I would have taken these boys and adopted them right then and there if I could have. I am not sure what their lives look like in Uganda, but I know they do not have a mommy and/or a daddy, and that breaks my heart. One night they put on a little show for us and sang and danced to their songs they sing at the churches, and it broke my heart that they don't have parents who would be SO proud of them and would love to see them doing their performance. That's where I fell in love with these kids and my heart broke into pieces all at the same time.  I don't know if adoption is in my future, but I do know I want more of this. I want more of kids that need love, and that taught me so much in being with them only one full day. I want to know God's love in a way beyond the comforts of Lubbock, Texas. I am so grateful for this opportunity we had through our church. I hope and pray we can see them again. Goodbyes are always sad, but not knowing if you'll ever get to see them again makes it even harder. I pray for these boys and Justine and I want so much for their lives. I love them!!!

Our boys had been SO excited about "their new friends from Africa" coming to visit. They finally got here Sunday afternoon and hit it off instantly. They played basketball with the other neighborhood boys, Jeremiah became a PRO at the Ripstick, Bernard loved Braidy's "Green Machine" bike, and we learned that they LOVED Tom and Jerry....which our boys love too....although to them it's the "Cat and the Mouse".  Monday we took them to Blue Sky where Lulu treated us all to lunch. The boys loved the sandbox and their food was good too! That night we ordered pizza, they LOVED it, and then since they put on such an awesome show for us, we treated them to ice cream! (a little bribery never hurt anyone!) We had such a special time with them. We were all sad when Tuesday morning came and it was time for them to get back on the bus and head west. As soon as they left Braidy said "I miss my friends!" I do too, buddy, I do too! They called Quin, "Quinny Belly" the whole time and they just fell in love with him. 

I have been praying that God would use this in someway. That I wouldn't just forget about it in a week or 2, but that somehow he would use this to do something in my life. It might look like being a host family more, or go on mission trips, or maybe one day look into adoption, I have no clue. But I want to do something, and not just go back to my bubble, pretending nothing ever happened. I want to see the world and love on the world. Bernard, Jeremiah and Justine, we love you and thank you for bringing joy, love and hope to our home.

quin wears undies!

For the first time in almost 5 years, diapers are off of our grocery list!!! That's right, Quin is potty trained! This past weekend, on Saturday morning, he took his diaper off (normal) when he went #2 (sorry if TMI, this is what mom's deal with!) and he came and told me. Ryan said, "I think he's trying to tell you he wants to be potty trained!" And I couldn't have agreed more. Really, he couldn't have been more clear except to write it on my forehead --- "MOM PLEASE POTTY TRAIN ME NOW!" So we did. We went straight undies Saturday morning and he had no accidents that day, even at naptime. Very proud. We ran several long errands, went to a basketball game of Johns, and he stayed dry. Sunday was the same story, church with no accidents, etc. He has had an accident during the night everynight so far, but I can handle that, and I think it will get better, but I don't believe in pull-ups so we will deal with it. 2/3 nights I think he had an accident as he was waiting for us to get him out of bed, so when we make his crib into a big boy bed (soon, as soon as potty training is not "new") he will be able to get up and go as soon as he wakes up. We are soooo proud of Quinny! This was the easiest potty training ever....but I shouldn't expect anything less from Q, he's been SO easy from day one about everything. He's the cutest little thing in undies too, he fills them out better than his 4.5 year old brother! ha! We do still give him 3 m&m's after every successful potty trip, but it works and that is great! Way to go, QUIN!!! You're awesome and we love you and are so proud of your BIG boy milestone you've reached!