Monday, November 17, 2008

Dear Jesus...

I was in Brayden's room tonight putting him to bed. We spent a few minutes reading (Dooby Dooby Moo) and then we said prayers. I started him off by saying, "Dear Jesus, thank you for..." And Brayden picked right up with, "Dram-ma's house. And... (here he mumbled a little and I'm not sure what he said). And Mal-Nart." I was trying so hard not to giggle. I mean, my kid is thankful for Grandma's house and WAL-MART?! Is it really THAT great of a place? It must be to him because he'll all the time ask if we can go there. Actually, he'll ask if we can go to Grandma's and we'll say not right now, then he follows up with asking if we can go to Wal-Mart. I guess it's just the whole idea of getting out of the house... Anyway - it was just so cute that (of course) I had to scrap it.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

On the Flip Side

I've been meaning and meaning and meaning to get my rearend over here and blog about everything that's happened. I'm going to try to do it in sections so that I don't miss anything.

HALLOWEEN
We went down to Fletcher for Halloween because we had a church visit scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 2. Not to mention we *had* to do something on Saturday for my birthday (more about that in a minute). I put off getting the boys' costumes this year because I really didn't want to spend money on them. I mean, Mom & Dad were going to be in Hawaii and I wasn't even totally sure we'd be doing anything, so I wasn't going to go all out... Well, it got closer to Halloween, and we realized we were going to go to Fletcher. I decided that I had better get the kids SOMETHING to wear. I didn't want to be a bad mom. Haha. So one night while putting Brayden to bed, we read "The Cat in the Hat." Well of course you can see where my mind went from there. A can of blue hair spray, two red shirts & two pairs of red sweats later and voila! Thing One and Thing Two. Cheapest Halloween costume a mother could make - I'm sure of it. I think the entire getup was under $15 - and I get to use the red shirts & pants the rest of the winter! They were really cute - even if we didn't technically go trick or treating. (But fear not! Brayden got PLENTY of candy at the harvest carnival. He knows how to work the scene.)



MY BIRTHDAY
So on Saturday, Erin, John & I got up and got all ready and then went and dropped the boys off at Hannah's house and then picked up Alan & Jen. We all enjoyed a nice jaunt over to Lawton in the minivan. It's so very nice to have a vehicle that seats so many and still feels like there's plenty of room to spare. I'm looking forward to taking it on road trips. Anyway... We went to eat at Chili's and had a pretty good time. Our waiter was kind of slow and obviously cared less than an iota that it was my birthday. *sigh* I was pretty disappointed about that, but oh, well. So after that we went to Wal-Mart because, as everyone knows, you can't go "to town" and not stop by Wal-Mart - it's like some sort of unspoken policy to small town life. As soon as we walked in the door, Mom called to wish me a happy birthday. They were having a great time! I'm so happy that they got to go on that trip. We finished up shopping (actually, we were getting groceries so that I could fix everyone supper!) and headed home. We picked up the boys and then went back to Mom & Dad's. Alan & Jen ran to their house and grabbed the Playstation and Guitar Hero. We spent the rest of the night goofing off. All in all it was a pretty good day.



JOHN'S NEW OBSESSION
While we were in Fletcher, Alan gave me my birthday present of two tickets to see Twilight during opening week. Of course, everyone (Erin, Alan & Jen) are going with. Well, Alan somehow got sucked in to the obsession of reading the books - he was finishing up the fourth one while we were there... And it ended up that John got bit by the vampire bug, too. He had seen the trailers and had already determined that he wanted to see the movie - but I guess the books were too much to resist. He's had them for 2 weeks now and is almost done with the second one. That's pretty hefty reading for someone who has a job and two or three other full time hobbies. I'm actually pretty excited that he's reading the books... It makes for better post-movie conversations. However, me and my big mouth keep upsetting him. I'm horrid at being a plot spoiler. Or even a plot hinter. I give too much away unintentionally, so I am now forbidden to even MENTION the books in his presence.



THE BOYS
Brayden & Tyler just keep on growing up on me. Tyler keeps picking up new words (mo-mo: Nemo; sues eee: excuse me) and he LOVES to sing with, dance with and watch the TV. He likes to sing along with the "Jack's Big Music Show" theme song. It's very cute to watch. He's still our little cuddle bug. But he's also as onery as the day is long. He likes to throw things and his favorite game is hitting Daddy and watching him fall down. He likes to wear shoes (Brayden's especially) and HATES to be in trouble (you should see his bottom lip!!). He is Brayden's shadow and tries to do anything and everything Brayden does. He's started really liking books, but will only hold still for one.

Brayden is growing like a weed. I think he'd fit 5T now if I had enough to put on him; 4T still works, though. He's started using the potty on his own. We have a sticker chart for him which he loves. It all began one night last week when I was doing stuff on my computer... I heard the toilet flush and knew John was in our bedroom, so that only left one other suspect. Sure enough - a second later he comes bolting out of the bathroom yelling, "I deh eet! I go pee!" And that's how it started. We are no where near potty trained, though. He's still in diapers most of the time, but will go to the bathroom about 4/10 times all by himself. If I can remember to ask him, it's about 6/10 times. He's also learning new words and phrases every day. He's a little sponge!!! The other night we were driving into town and he goes, "MOMMY! I see stars! I nee a telescope." Huh? What's that? My kid knows what a telescope is?!?! The the next day he's watching Little Einsteins and yells, "MOMMY! Look! Is a pyramid!" Sure enough. Where is he getting these things?!?! He also is very opinionated and lets us know what we can and cannot do. It's funny how bossy he is (not funny haha, funny roll-your-eyes-and-sigh).



Oh...and one more thing... Brayden AND Tyler (!!!!) spent two nights at Grandma & Pa Pa's house all by themselves!! That's the first time that Tyler's every stayed somewhere overnight without Mommy. Huge milestone. And it was a very, VERY nice two nights for Mommy & Daddy. I actually got to sleep in as late as I wanted and didn't have to worry that something/someone wasn't being taken care of ('cause John's a big boy and can fend for himself for the most part). So for the first time in almost three years, I had a childless night. As great as it was, I wouldn't want to do it too often.... I missed my little boys tremendously.

I almost forgot my biggest news.... Thanks to anyone who read my last blog and actually went and voted for my layout in that contest! I actually was one of the ten winners, and I get an AWESOME prize. It should be here Nov. 20th!! I'm super excited and happy. What a great belated birthday present!!!!