First and Last

Will and Luke had their last day of school for this year. This year sure has flown by. They have loved their school and teachers so much. The last day was very sentimental for me because I thought back at how much they have grown over the year. Their teachers sent home little books with their work and pictures from the year and I just sat and cried. They are growing up right before my eyes and I don't want to miss a thing.

Here they are on the first day of school last fall:

Here they are after their last day of school this past week:

Organization Ideas

My friend Sharee is hosting an organization party at her blog, you can check out this post.

I walked around my house trying so hard to find a great organizational idea to post, and I'm sad to say that I couldn't find very much in my house that is organized well.

But, I do have some pics of when I first organized the boys toys in our toyroom. I took pictures of the all the toys and then printed out labels and stuck them to the front of the toy bins. I attached the labels to the bins with velcro so that I could move them around if needed. The Early Childhood Teacher in me hopes that it's showing my kids that pictures and words go together, the Mom in me is just happy that the boys (and hubby) know where to put the toys away. This has really helped everyone be a part of the clean up efforts.

Unfortunatly these pictures are old, currently the toys need to be re-organized and I need to make a few new labels. If you were to come over today it doesn't look like exactly like these pictures. But, maybe posting this will hold me accoutable to actually doing it, we will see...

Upclose picture:

An Editorial - Jon and Kate

I'm hijacking our family blog for a few minutes for my own editorial post. The views expressed in this post are soley my own and not shared by all members of my household (actually I can bet that 3/4ths of my household doesn't care).

I am typically not one for celebrity gossip. Yes, I scan the magazines at the grocery stores, but I am hardly ever compelled to buy one and read it cover to cover (probably because I'm too cheap). But, I just had to find out some more details after I saw the cover of People this week. The situation with Jon and Kate is breaking my heart. Of course I didn't buy the magazine, but I did run home to search it on Google. I know that everything I read on the internet isn't true. But, there's gotta be some truth to it, and it's so sad.

I used to be a faithful viewer. I loved watching the kids and how they managed all those kids, it encouraged me that my days with my boys were manageable. We decided to cancel our cable in January, I know you can call us crazy, but we're saving tons of money and time and really haven't missed it that much. So, without cable I obviously haven't watched it since then. But, somewhere along the way it hit me that they had moved over from just being people on a reality show to celebrities. I went to see Kate speak with some other ladies when she came to our area. I was amazed that the "celebrity" type feel and they lines of people waiting for her to sign their book.

For all the fans, there are also a lot of critics of Jon and Kate out there. From my research on the internet, I found more sites bashing them than supporting them. I guess I can understand some of their points. Everyone has an opinion about how they got into this mess and what they should do to get out of it. I have my opinions too. But, that's all they are my opinions.

What struck me the most after reading about them this week, is that they desperatly need some people praying for them. Their children need people praying for them. So, I'm going to remember to pray for them when I see them on the covers of magazines from now on, would you too?

Fishing Trip

This past weekend we went down to the coast for a fishing trip. The boys played at the beach and Will got to go out fishing with Daddy and PawPaw. Will did great for his first fishing trip on the boat. Jared says he was 2/3 of the way to a Texas Slam: He caught a Flounder, and a Trout, he was just missing a Red Fish. Will was very excited to tell me about the big snake that he saw swimming next to the boat. As you can imagine Mommy was not very excited to hear about the snake. Here are our pictures for the trip:

Sorry this one is sideways.

Daddy's Splash Park

Last week Jared set up a "splash park" in our backyard. The boys loved it!

"My Happy"

Since today is Mother's Day, here are some thought on being a Mom.

My friend Lauren had a great post a few weeks ago on the Obscurity of Motherhood, check it out she shared some great thoughts. Her post has caused me to think, I could very much relate to much of what she said. My oldest is looking at his 4th birthday which amazes me and I still don't feel like I'm settled into this motherhood thing. I'm always wondering when or if ever I'm going to figure this thing out.

Then on Friday our speaker at MOPS had us do a puzzle without the picture to guide us with what the puzzle should come out looking like. Her point was that motherhood is like putting together a puzzle without the big picture. We have ideas of how we want our kids to turn out, but we don't know what the picture will end up looking like, only God does. She then told us about the piece of her puzzle and how she let God grow her through being a mom. That demonstration clicked in my head, because I'm such a planner and I almost always need to know the end result. With my kids I don't know the end result, I can try my hardest, point them in the directions that we believe are correct, but ultimately I leave the big picture up to God. On that note one of my favorite things that she said and I think she was quoting another friend: "We can't be our kids Jesus, Jesus is a much better Jesus to our kids than we could ever be." That is hard and freeing all at once.

This past week one day when I sat down to have lunch with the boys I started telling them how happy I was to be with them today and to be having lunch with them and that no one else in the world enjoys them as much as their Mommy does. Will looked over at me and he didn't know how profound he was, but he said, "This is your happy Mommy?" And I said, "Yes, Will this is my happy."

I've thought about that for the rest of the week. And it came to mind again at lunch today and I looked at both my boys and started to cry. On this Mother's Day, I'm reminded of how very special it is to be their Mommy. Even when I feel like the job is obscure and there's no picture of how to put the puzzle together. And even when I feel totally lost and like some days are a failure. I can honestly say "Yes, Will this is my happy."

Happy Mother's Day!

Slightly Inappropriate

I'll just go ahead and put my disclaimer first: this is slightly inappropriate which I guess makes it even funnier to post. I'm learning that as the mom of boys there will be potty talk in our house, even though it makes me squirm, boys seem to think it's so fun to talk about. There have been many things that Will has done and said I have refrained from blogging, but this one I will share with the hope of giving someone who needs it a good laugh.

Last night while going to the bathroom Will looks up at Daddy and says very proudly:

"It's like the hose on a fire truck"

Shaving

Will wanted to be like his daddy.

Summer Hair Do and Will's Commentary

Will got the perfect little boys summer hair do.

Before:

After:

He went and looked in the mirror and he said:

"Something's happened to my hair."

And the next day when we were brushing teeth and would have normally had to comb his hair also he looked at me and said:

"Mommy, I want my big hair back."

For the Aggies

We saw this shirt at Academy and knew we had to have it. There was only one in Luke's size, so I'll have to keep hunting to see if I can find one for Will. Isn't it too cute!