Mother's Day Picture

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Don't Play With Your Food

I'm all about table manners and one of the major ones is to not play with your food. But, I guess it's okay to play with your food before you cook it, just not while you're eating? Either way, I'll let it slide on this once, because the boys had a great time doing this. I got the idea from someonelse's blog, so I can't take credit for it (but now I can't remember which blog, so sorry I can't give credit where it is due).

"Wacky Hot Dogs"

Cut hot dogs into bite size pieces

Break long strands of spaghetti in half

Then shove the spaghetti into the hot dogs like so:

Once you have finished loading up the hot dogs with spaghetti, boil them in a pot of water. Here is what they look like when they are done:

We added grapes to round off the meal.

Have fun playing with your food!

Yellow Belt

Will had his first Tae Kwon Do belt test since he started taking classes. For a few weeks before the test he kept telling me that he was going to get a black belt, it was pretty cute that he was totally convinced that he was getting the black belt. It turned into a good life lesson because it allowed us to talk about how we have to work hard for things that you really want.

When we got there and he saw all the people in the room to watch the testing he seemed to get very nervous. He did all his moves, but he was much more reserved than normal. It can be scary to have tons of people watching you when you are not used to that. Even being reserved he still did really well, he passed his test and got his new Yellow Belt. Way to go Will!

Potty Training- Check

Luke took to Potty Training like a fish to water. But, Luke will do just about anything for a candy, so that was motivation enough for him. After a few weeks of working and getting lots of candy we promised him the big trip to Chuck E Cheese if he made it one week without an accident. And he did, so we celebrated big time. We are so proud of him!

He even got to meet Chuck E

I have to say that I'm selfishly very happy about this new development. After he potty trained I realized that I've been changing diapers for 4 1/2 years. I've found a whole new level of freedom!

Juggling Act

I realized recently that my life is somewhat like an amateur juggling act. There are all these different pieces that I juggle. And by juggle, I literally mean throw them in the air and hope they go where I want them to. Some days everything falls beautifully in place and all the pieces I'm juggling go right where I want them and my life is just like I envision it. Then just when I start to think I'm getting good at juggling there are other days, when everything comes crashing down. I'm humbled and I come to the conclusion that I'm really not a very good juggler. Then when I'm tempted to just leave the pieces on the ground, I'm reminded of grace and reminded that I don't have to do this juggling perfectly. I'm reminded and so very thankful I know the Ultimate Juggler, the one who keeps the universe in motion. Thankful that He has patience with me when my piece fall down and comes along side me and helps me pick the pieces up and try to juggle them again.

So, today even though I don't feel like being Mom, disciplining, cleaning the house or getting ready for school tomorrow and the list could go on... through the Lord's grace I'm attempting to keep the pieces in the air. I updated our blog with what we have been up to lately. Here's to picking up the pieces and trying to keep on keeping on even when I don't feel like it!

Philippians 3:12- 14 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Easter Part 2

We've been celebrating Easter for over a week now. We did Easter with the cousins last weekend. The boys had Easter parties at school. We took them to get their pictures made in their Easter outfits (pictures coming soon). We went to church on Saturday night, then spent a nice morning at home on Sunday morning. So, the boys really have had a full week of Easter.

Will's egg hunt at school. Luke's class still doesn't want Mom's to come to their parties, so I didn't get any pictures of him doing his egg hunt. But, he told me all about it.

This really is our best attempt at a family Easter picture. We went to church on Saturday night and then had family over for dinner and an egg hunt.

Luke inspecting his eggs.

Will's showing off his eggs.

Since we went to church on Saturday, we got to spend Sunday morning together at home. I think we stayed in our pajamas until lunch time. It was actually very nice, it made our Sunday morning very relaxed and we had a great time together. I made a big brunch for us and we got to just sit with the boys and talk about the Easter Story with boys. They love telling Easter Story with the flannel board we got and the resurrection eggs. They can recite the story, and we are praying that it becomes real to them over the next few years.

Here are some pictures of our Easter Morning:

Luke's Easter Basket Treats

Will's Easter Basket Treats

And egg dying:

I hope you and your family had a wonderful time celebrating the Easter!

Easter Part 1

Last weekend we had an Easter Lunch with the Davis side of the family. The boys always enjoy time with their cousins. Here they all are with the adorable Easter Bunny cake that Aunt Jade made.

Will couldn't eat that cake fast enough!

Luke made such a mess of himself eating the cake, he had to change clothes. But, that didn't stop him from enjoying the other Easter treats.

More Easter celebrations to come.

San Antonio

Over Spring Break Jared had a conference for work in San Antonio, so the boys and I went to stay with him for a few days. It was a nice mini-vacation, but I think everyone else in Texas thought the same thing, it was very crowded. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Daddy and the boys at the River Walk

Dinner at the River Walk


Sea World

Some how I accidentally erased most of the pictures from Sea World, so this really is the best one that I got, so sad.

And the zoo was way too crowded to take any pictures.

The day we came home we drove through the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. This was a really neat experience. The boys really enjoyed it. Here are two of Will's favorite animals from the day, Rhinos and the Cape Buffalo:

Rodeo

We went to the Rodeo a few weeks ago, I'm just really behind on blogging. If you know Will, you know he lives for the Rodeo. Since before Halloween last year we started counting down to the Rodeo. He would say: "Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day, RODEO!" I guess if you live in Houston the Rodeo can be considered a holiday. In Will's book it is a holiday.

I'll start off with a funny picture, but this is one of the things that Will was most excited about doing, rolling down the astro-turf hill at the kids area of the Livestock Show. He couldn't wait to do it, it was all he could talk about once we got in the Livestock Show.

Of course Luke had to do it also, but I managed to get him still for one picture.

I think this is the only shot of either of the boys all night where one of them was looking at the camera.



Will loved feeding the animals in the petting zoo. One of the goats tried to eat his straw hat. It was pretty funny.

Then we made it to the Rodeo, the boys loved watching all the events.

Will was so excited the whole time.

And towards the end came the event we were waiting for, the Calf Scramble. My brother and the boys Uncle Brent was participating this year. Both Ben and Brian have caught calves at the Calf Scramble, so Brent had a family history to live up to. And he didn't disappoint, here he is trying to pull his calf into the square.
Will and Luke loved seeing their Uncle Brent up on the jumbo-tron!

Here he is with Mom and Dad after the Calf Scramble. Way to go Brent! Now the real work begins, he gets to raise a calf and bring it back to the Rodeo next year to show.

Will is happy to know that we are going back to the Rodeo again next year.

THE FEW THE PROUD

As of this past week my brother Brian is now one of The Few and The Proud, he is a Marine. I was so proud to celebrate with him at his Boot Camp Graduation. It has taken me a few days to process through it and decide what I really wanted to say.

When he chose to enlist last Spring it sounded like a good fit for Brian, and after seeing him at graduation, I know it is a good fit for him. I will risk sounding cheesy and cliche, but when I saw him in his uniform and marching with his platoon, the military became real to me. I now have real person to associate with the military. As I watched him and the other guys, a few who look like kids to me, I was humbled by their willingness to serve our country and protect my freedom. I gave Brian a book of quotes about everyday heroes, here is one of the quotes that stood out to me:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." Ambrose Redmoon

These young men have made the judgement that freedom, honor and service is more important than fear. What a brave decision they have made. Like I said I was totally humbled watching these guys, they have more courage than I could ever muster up. I never want to forget what our military sacrifices for my freedom.

Here are some pictures of our time:

This is Brian's platoon. He is in the second column from the left and the second one back. It's kind of hard to spot him, especially when they all look alike. I had the luxury of having binoculars at the graduation ceremony.

Brian and I right after the graduation

My little brothers, it's really weird to me that I'm about to be the shortest of the group. I remember holding each one of them as babies.

Here's my whole family

This first video is of the short speech given to the Marines. My favorite part was when he was encouraging the new Marines to go home and recruit he said: "You shouldn't be the only one to enjoy an all expenses paid trip to San Diego." Even though the guys couldn't move you know they were all laughing.

Here is Brian's platoon marching in front of us. Again, it's kind of hard to spot Brian.

This last video is the one made by the Marine Corp. Brian is the 3rd guy you will see. In the background you can hear them doing their drill yells.

Before I left I had been telling Will that I was going to San Diego to bring Brian home. I called home to check on Jared and the boys in between my flights and Will got on the phone, all he said was:

"Hi Mom, put Brian on the phone."

He just couldn't wait to talk to his Uncle Brian. Better yet, here are both the boys with Brian after he got home, they were so excited to see him.

Brian, we are so proud of you!