very merry

Our Christmas was definitely MERRY! We were all very spoiled. But most of all, we got to hang out with all of our families at some point during the week. Here are some highlights from yesterday:

Uncle Jason is the Transformer expert, so he and Ben spent some quality time together figuring out this new Optimus Prime!

Andy and PawPaw had lots of fun building puzzles!

These boys are amazing artists!

This was first thing in the morning...scoping out the loot!

And here is Mika B...maybe she'll be a teacher when she grows up!

Merry Christmas!!!

better than the zoo

Yesterday, the boys and I went to Cabela's for a few last minute gifts. We were there for an hour and half! The boys love to go there and I love to take them. It's better than the zoo for many reasons, but here are my top three:
-it smells better than the zoo
-it's free!
-it's five minutes from our house

torrible!

Tonight, Ben was having MUCHO trouble listening and obeying his parents! After several warnings from Kevin and me to pick up the toys in his room, I went in and gave him a little smack on the booty to get him moving. He told me, "You're mean, momma!" I said, "You are making very bad choices." He said, "You're torrible!!!"

I had to walk out because I was cracking up.

I told Kevin I wasn't sure if he meant horrible or terrible, but Kevin said he probably meant both.

rudolph

My dad and I took the boys to Casa Manana to see Rudolph yesterday. This was my boys' first experience with live theater...unless you count High School Musical on Ice???
Anyway, I wish you could take pictures inside because the looks on those sweet faces when they saw Santa and Frosty and Rudolph...Precious! They were so good and had such a great time. Andy looked through the playbill and decided that he wanted to see just about everything listed. Especially CATS, because that is his favorite animal. (That is an exact quote!) He told Kevin tonight that he got to see the REAL Rudolph. He was also quite impressed that the REAL Santa was there to be in the show. :)
It is so much fun to watch them grow up and take in new things and try to process it all. They amaze me with the things they know.

ring pops rock

Look at those lips!!!!









I am loving Thanksgiving Break! It was so nice to hang out with the family all day on Sunday, knowing that laundry and lunches could be left off of the to-do list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

i am not so good at the blogging...

Well, Kevin pointed out to me today that it has been 20 days since my last post. Yikes!!!

Here are the boys in their Halloween garb:

Here are Ben, Jesse, and Andy at a hotel in Big Spring. They are watching Kung Fu Panda. Ben was thoroughly excited!!! We were in Big Spring for my cousin's wedding.

And here we are...in love. Awww...
Kevin has mentioned a time or two that we have no pictures of US on the blog.
I thought we should.

This week, we are out of school! I'm not sure who is more excited-Andy or me! We all needed a break from the day-to-day. Wednesday, we are heading out of town to go camping for Thanksgiving. I can't wait, because being in the trailer is one of my very favorite things.

I promise to keep this thing a little more updated. Well, I promise to try!

whew! what a weekend!

***I wrote this on Sunday, intending to add pictures and post...but i cannot find my camera! So, pictures later!***

So, we start with Friday...the boys were super-excited about Halloween this year. They are all about candy. But, I think their very favorite part was the prizes for the games they played at the Harvest Festival at our church. Ben hasn't stopped playing with his little plastic camera. He looks at the animal pictures inside it and says, "Momma! I took a picture of a giraffe (or lion, zebra, alligator)!" Good job, Shellee, on picking prizes!
Andy decided to be the Red Power Ranger, and Ben was Jabba Fett (I know Jabba Fett doesn't seem like the right name, but it is. It's from the Clone Wars, which I know nothing about!)

On Saturday, I got to go to the Aggie game with my brother and sister-in-law. I watched the game until halftime (which is my VERY favorite part of an Aggie game!!!), then LeAnn and I went to the bookstore to hang out with Deneise. Fun, fun, FUN!!! I had forgotten how much I love College Station.

Today has been busy, too. Church, gym (because I did not work out once this week!), groceries, and laundry.

Whew! It's been kinda crazy, but great. I'm sad about having to go back to work tomorrow.

tough!

Kevin: Andy, who do you think is cooler: momma or daddy?

Andy: YOU! I think you're even awesomer!

Kevin: You do???

Andy: Yeah! Momma's just tough.

guess what???

1. Ben wore undies all day today with zero accidents. Even dry at nap time! Praise God!!!

2. Andy ate bat wings and drank vampire blood at school today. Yummy!

So, this week, I had resolved that I was cooking dinner every night, except Wednesday. (I used to be so good about this, but I just haven't stuck with these past few weeks!) When I got home, Kevin asked me what I was making--taco salad. He said, "Sounds great!" Then he says, "We should eat out one night this week. I am craving Boston's." I said, "How about tonight?" He started laughing. What can I say? I am weak.

fun pictures of funny boys

vocabulary lesson

From Andy:
erupt
(sentence) "Mom, Ben keeps erupting me. He won't stop talking over me!!!"

From Ben:
gibbling
(sentence) "I really love the gibbling Joker [on Batman]!"

Oh, they learn something new everyday!

not much

I know it's been a while...
Right now, Kevin, Andy and Ben are playing in the tent that Kevin has set up in our dining room (We no longer have dining room furniture because we gave it to my brother). They are playing space ship and I am just sitting here listening to them play. The boys have amazing imaginations. They are blasting off to Mars. Then to the fairest times. ????? Kevin isn't real sure what that means...maybe the fair? We went to the fall festival at my school yesterday--maybe that is where that came from.
And for today's Bible lesson...Andy's class talked about King Saul last week. He told me this morning on the way to church that "Saul used to be just a plain, old farmer with a farmer's hat. Then God gave him a crown and he took off the farmer hat and put it on. Then he got to be the KING of the Isrealites." I'm pretty sure those were his exact words. I love him so much.

math...

I asked Andy today if he did math at school.  He said, "What's math?"  Ben said, "Matthew, Mark, Luke, John!"  I guess someone's been listening when I sing the New Testament song!

oh, wait, i forgot...

I forgot to say that Kevin's injured hand is his right hand and the most injured finger is his ring finger. His pinky is also pretty bad. Fortunately, he is left-handed, so he can still write. And text, thank goodness!
I thought that was important for the story, but I forgot to mention it in the post. That is why we edit our posts before publishing!
And the way the whole thing happened is that he has a winch (yes, it's a real thing, Neesie, not just a person) on the front of his Jeep and he wanted to respool it to make the cable straight. So once it was almost all the way in, he was holding it to keep it straight and pushed the lever the wrong way, which sucked his hand into the spool instead of reversing.
And, since his right hand is currently lame, he can't even drive the stupid Jeep, because it's a stick shift.
And, do you watch The Office? I love that show!

okay, okay

I know...it's been forever since I last posted. But, I got a very sweet, encouraging phone call from my aunt tonight, and she told me it's time. So...
Last Saturday, I was doing something I never get to do--take a nap with my boys. Usually, Kevin lays down with them, but he had some work to do on his Jeep. So, we lay down in my bed and zonked out.
A few short moments into the nap, Kevin comes into the house in a major panic. This is not like him. He is yelling at me that I need to get him to the emergency room, because he has just nearly cut off his finger!!!
Ummm...WHAT?!?!?
So I jump out of bed and run outside to ask my neighbor (who we know well) to come stay with the boys till my dad can get here. She's not home! So I run across the street to the neighbors who are outside (probably watching me run like a crazy person) and I ask the woman to watch my kids!!! I seriously have only formally met this couple one time, and have said maybe 50 words to them since then. They are very friendly, we just don't ever see them.
Do you hear what I am saying??? I was basically leaving my children with a stranger.
Okay, but Kevin's finger was falling off, maybe.
But, as Donna (the one I didn't know too well) was coming over, another neighbor (who I do know) came to check on us and said she'd be here, too. Phew! So, I call my dad and he heads this way, as Kevin and I get in the car and drive to the hospital.
This is the only time Kevin has gone to the emergency room since he was, like, 9. I am trying to be calm, which is easy, being that I NEVER overreact. ha! Kevin is losing it on the way there. (I hope he doesn't mind me saying that--I mean, he had good reason to lose it!)
So, we finally get there, and I drop Kevin off as close to the door as possible. As he gets out, a very sweet police officer comes to my window to let me know I am in the wrong place to be dropping off. Well, I sort of lost it then. I gushed about the situation, and she kindly told me to just watch out for ambulances that might be pulling out. OK!
So I park and go in, and Kevin is already back in triage. This is the first time I actually look at his hand. It's yucky! I won't go into too much detail, but gross. Then we wait in chairs (that's what they call it on ER, which is where I received all of my medical expertise) and we quickly go back to a room. The nurse comes in to check him, and then the DOCTOR.
Y'all, I was glad that I had on this cute dress and make-up, even though it was a Saturday. Because he was beautiful. Dr. McDreamy of this particular hospital, I'm sure. If I'd had my camera, I'd have taken his picture. No camera. Bummer.
Oh, wait, huh? I lost my train of thought there for a minute.
Okay, yeah, the doctor. He looks at Kevin's hand, and makes these faces, like, oooo, not good. So, Kevin says, "What? What do you think?" And Dr. McDreamy says, "Well, I can't say you aren't going to lose this finger. And if you've broken any of these bones, here, you'll need surgery."
EXCUSE ME???
So, I just sit there as quietly as I can, because though I am a little freaked out, Kevin is a LOT freaked out. And still in lots of pain, because he's still had no pain medication at this point. The doctor says, "We are going to take some x-rays and go from there." Okay!
X-rays, then a BIG FAT needle full of glorious numbing juice, then Kevin can relax a little. And since he was numb, I went ahead and told him that I might be in love with his doctor. He really did not care.
His parents were, by now, in the waiting room, so I went to get them, and since only 2 visitors are allowed at a time, I waited for them to go back. The x-rays came back while I waited, so his mom came to tell me that there were NO BROKEN BONES! NO TENDON OR ARTERY DAMAGE! That was a complete miracle. It was.
So, all he ended up needing were a few stiches and some very nice narcotics and we were on our way. Now, a full week later, he is still in quite a bit of pain. It's what they call a crush injury, and so his hand feels like a ginormous bruise. He's only taking the pain meds at night now. So that is the most exciteing thing that has happened at this house in the past few days.
Oh, and Ben wore underwear all day yesterday without an accident. YAY!
Whoa, I think this has been my longest post!

cuties

what do you think???

Is a bag of chocolate covered pretzels and a cup of grape juice considered a balanced and nutritious meal? Because that is what I just fed my kids for dinner. And I promised them a popsicle if they finished everything!
Go ahead and nominate me for mother of the year...I totally deserve it!

happy third birthday, benji!

Yesterday was Ben's third birthday! WOW! That is so hard for me to believe. We had a fun time with our family. Ben got way too many toys, but that's fine with him! I'm not sure who was more excited about the new things--Ben or Andy.

When Ben opened this he said, "Ooohh, a swimming tang [thing]!"
He thought it was a life jacket!

He told Neesie it was too loud!

I am BATMAN!

He blew out each candle separately...so cute!

Happy Birthday, Benji!!! You are my favorite Benji in the whole world!

and happy birthday, papa jerry!

Well, I can't find any pictures of Papa Jerry, but today is his birthday. We love Jerry and Cathy so much. (these are my brother's in-laws) They have been grandparents to our boys and parents to Kevin and me.

I'll post this one, because I know it's one that Jerry will appreciate.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JERRY! WE LOVE YOU!

happy birthday, collin!

Yesterday we got to celebrate my nephew, Collin's, FIFTH birthday. I can't believe he is already five. He was the tiniest baby I have ever held. He weighed just over 4 pounds when he was born. He's still pretty skinny, but as you can see, he has GREAT BIG muscles!!!


There was so much chocolate icing on the inside of Ben's mask we had to throw it away. He also had yellow icing on his belly and arms.


Mika had a blast lounging in her little bikini. She is so sweet!