Little Sneak

This would be Grayson. This would be Grayson sneaking into my purse and getting my camera. This would be Grayson taking 25 pictures in the changing room at Old Navy.

Yes I let him. He was totally preoccupied. You can thank me later for sparing you from the other 24 pictures.

Blakester

This week Blake had his 2nd grade awards ceremony. We are so proud of him!

Copy Clown

We love our boys' elementary school. They do a little program called the Kindergarten Circus. It is the cutest thing ever. Sam was the "Copy Clown". Blake was also the "Copy Clown" when he was in Kinder. His role was to come out after every act (all 26 of them) and do something funny while they set up for the next one. For example, after the horse act he came out with a pooper scooper to clean up after them. Then after the elephant act he came out with a HUGE pooper scooper. He did a great job!

Waiting to start the show!

The HUGE pooper scooper!

The End!

Mema

My Mema and my aunt came to visit us in Austin for a week. It was so fun. My Mema is 77 years old. She was super nervous to fly, but it all turned out great. I think she was probably exhausted when she got home. She is hilarious and such a trooper to hang out with our whole crew.

This is her with all the kids except my niece Ann Marie who was napping.

Oh No He Didn't!

This was the e-mail I received when I got home from having dinner last night. (I don't have a smart phone by the way)

"I love you and will call you after we get tyler's leg stitched up at the Brazilian army base. On our way now..."

Oh, yes he did! I got a call about an hour or so later. Thanks babe!!

I am kind of kidding, but I did talk with Tyler and he was great!!

I just got a text from Tyler saying he wants to stay in Haiti a year and skip the 5th grade!! There you go!

Check out Jeremy's updates here!

Haiti, day 2

Check out Jeremy's blog post today.

I talked with Jeremy last night. He said Tyler is exhausted. He isn't sure if it physically, mentally, or emotionally, but he is tired. I think he took a 3.5 hr nap yesterday. I am sure it is hard to take in a country like Haiti, especially at the young age of 10. I am praying like crazy for the whole team.

Haiti

Please keep Jeremy and Tyler in your prayers as they go to Haiti this week on a missions trip. They leave tomorrow and get back on Saturday. I know God is going to use them in a mighty way. I will update you throughout the week.

I love Austin!

One of the many reasons we love Austin is the food. They have amazing unique restaurants. Not only is the food good, but most have outdoor seating and a lot of them have live music. I am all about the experience. Anyway, on Easter evening we (21 of us), went to eat at Verde's. We all ate outside, the food was good, but the best part was this fenced in field. Our kids ran and played like crazy. You can bring your own balls, balloons, and whatever else you want to play with. It was so nice to have dinner and the kids could be loud and get up and play and come back. Loved it!!!

Every now and then...

...these boys sit down for more than 5 seconds.

Go Gray!!

This past Saturday our family served at Springfest. It was fun, hot, and did I say hot. The jousting station is where Jeremy and I, okay mostly Jeremy served.

Grayson begged to have a turn. I wasn't even sure he could pick up whatever that thing is called. Jeremy just told me it is called a lance. (He totally googled it) Gray did AWESOME! We credit him having three older brothers for his ability to hold his own against a 6 year old.

Happy Easter!!!

This is the only picture I took all day.

The boys said they looked like rugby players.

Our Easter Rocked!!!

The End.

A little bit of Easter

You know you have all boys when the theme of your eggs are:

1. Superheros

2. Sports

3. Camo

FYI: We have never, I mean ever, in the 10 years that I have been a parent dyed eggs at our house. I am not so much of a paint, play dough, sand art, dye eggs kind of mom.

These two boys did wonderfully dying eggs and to my surprise it didn't end up being a disaster!

Today...

Tyler got a haircut. Have I mentioned my hairstylist comes to my house to do our hair?I love it.Blake has Pioneer Day!
Blake lost his 3rd tooth. Tyler is 10yo in the 4th grade and has only lost 6 teeth. Blake is in 2nd grade and almost 8yo and now has only lost 3 teeth. To put it in perspective, a girl in Blake's class has braces and almost all the kids in Ty's class have permanent teeth and some have braces. And while we are mentioning braces, I get mine off in about 7 weeks. So happy!

Servolution

Every year the week before Easter Free Chapel participates in Servolution. We get out and serve the community! Jeremy, the boys, and I look forward to it each Spring.

I made Nest Egg Cookies and boxed them up to invite our neighbors to Easter Service.

Saturday we gave out cold water bottles at the City of Lakeway's Easter Eggstravaganza! We also did a little egg hunting as well.

Parker and Gray trying to be patient as possible to grab some eggs.

Don't you love my child with no shoes and a Dillard's bag for an Easter basket.

Here are my excuses why: 1. I need Jeremy to grab our lovely Pottery Barn Easter baskets from high up in the garage. 2. We had 4 parties this weekend. 3. I can't do everything.

The Blakester who loves any type of competition. He really wanted the Golden Egg.

Thumbs Up

This is Sam. My third born. Happiest child ever. Should get in more trouble than he does because he is always smiling. Thumb sucker.

Sam has been sucking his thumb since he exited the womb. Seriously. He doesn't have to have a lovie or a blankie. He is a solo thumb sucker. Tyler was also a thumb sucker, but totally stopped when we took his blanket away. Jeremy and I decided not to push it, even though we wanted to so badly. Sam started Kinder this year and we thought he would stop once he started school. Not so much. Sam is a SUPER CONFIDENT kid. He could care less if someone makes fun of him.

Out of the blue a couple of weeks ago he wanted to make the chart below, wear a reminder bracelet, and put tape on his thumb. He has had a hard time, but for the most part he has completely stopped sucking his thumb on his own.

Here is the funny part. We promised him a toy if he could go all week without sucking his thumb. Of all things....Lots-O-Huggin Bear. Really??? $54.00 Really??? Smells like strawberries???

He loves it!

Hands Down

Hands down this is my favorite veggie mix. I eat it all the time.

red/orange/yellow bell pepper

onion

1 can of pineapple, drained

garbanzo beans, drain

olive oil

400 degrees until roasted

You gotta try it!

This is a before shot and I forgot the after shot :(

Spring

It doesn't get much better than Tulips and Easter!

Project Mode

I saw this awesome photo collage on Under the Sycamore blog. I think hers looks better, but she is a professional photographer and I am clearly not.

I have been looking for something really big to go over this black piece of furniture in my dining room, but everything big cost some major bucks. I loved this because it was super easy and inexpensive. The boys actually LOVE looking at all the pictures. Now I am searching for a pair of turquoise lamps to go on each side. I followed Ashley's directions: 111 photographs cut 4x4, hot glue them to your wall (yes, you read that right), start with the middle photograph and eyeball your rows.
I wish their wasn't a glare. It looks a lot better in person.
I will make sure to take a picture of the finished product once I find my lamps!!

Have a great Monday!!

Hello Houston

Well, it was a short hello and then good bye. We drove 4.5 hrs to Houston today for Jeremy's Papaw's family reunion and back. Let's just say I was glad to get home just a little while ago, not because of the reunion, but because of being in the car with our sweet, precious, loud, whiny, and sometimes stinky B.O.Y.S.

Here are some highlights:

1. Gray (3yo): "You just got owned!" "My bottom hurts." "I'm thirsty" x 100.

2. Tyler (10yo): trying to lay down in the back seat which he shares with his brother. And lets not forget all of the Justin Bieber quotes.

3. Jeremy (33yo) Singing 90's worship music at the top of his lungs. I actually said "you like this because this is when you came to know the Lord" which he responded "they didn't have music this good then, this was way later."

4. Sam (5yo) Has spent all week trying really hard to quit sucking his thumb. We had a little regression. My mom said "Maybe he splurges on the weekends!" Maybe so!

5. Blake with his favorite food of all time!!!

Here Goes...

I really want to start blogging again, 3-5 times a week. I have plenty of excuses why I have been so terrible lately, but I will not even bore you with those. Hopefully I can branch out from just blogging about the boys (whom I adore), but I have other interest also. I know its hard to believe, but I do! I like to run, shop, decorate, and steal other peoples ideas from their blogs on anything and everything from crafting to parenting.

So, here goes....