Five!

Yesterday was Spence's 5th birthday! Since we're going to Space Center Houston on Saturday instead of having a birthday party, we let him open all his presents first thing.

The night before his birthday, he could hardly wait to figure out if this was what he thought it was!

I'm five!

The big one is the Super Bat Cave from Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Brent, and Aunt Dre. Grandma also gave him the Joker van. Nana and Poppa gave him the Penguin and Clay Face. We got him the Green Lantern house. He is a little obsessed with Bat Man at the moment! With Coleman at school and Allie at Nana's house, he played with his toys until 1:00 when I finally made him get dressed so we could meet some friends at Stomping Grounds (an indoor play area).

Spence and his friends at Stomping Grounds

His friends were so sweet to bring him a present! It happened to be a Bat Man toy he already had, so we went to Target so he could pick out something else. He and Coleman teamed up with their money and chose a big toy! I even let them take it into Double Dave's to play while we waited on Daddy.

Samurai Castle

Who needs a birthday cake when you've got CHOCOLATE CHIP PIZZA?!?!

And you know I had to go back and reminisce about all the previous birthdays...

November 7, 2006

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

My messy 5 year old!

I love you to the moon and back Spence! You are my sweet, loving, funny, unique, handsome little guy. Happy birthday!

Camping Weekend

So I have to admit, after the night we had Friday, going back to being a house wife was a tad on the boring side! The boys left to go camping Saturday morning, and Nana took Allie home with her. (I couldn't have planned that better if I'd tried. Two year olds just don't grasp the concept of "falling back" an hour.) I sent Brian a text telling him that I was thinking of going sky diving or something. I needed an adrenaline fix! I did not jump out of an airplane, instead I went shoe shopping! Just as exhilarating!

Saturday afternoon Brian called to tell me that he'd just gotten a call from the wife of the guy who had his car. Here's basically what she had to say:

"You know who this is. Why'd you have to break into my aunt's garage and steal the car like a common thief? You almost gave my aunt a heart attack! You know what kind of people we are and that we were going to pay. My husband was in a really bad accident and is in a cast from head to toe. As soon as we got the money we were going to pay."

I'm pretty sure you could add in a few "blankity-blanks" here and there. We haven't heard anything else from them though, thankfully. And just in case you forgot, the garage door was open. The only garage door in the whole complex that was open. That's a God thing.

Enough of that! Here are some pictures from the guys' camping trip at Lake Livingston!

Guys' weekend! (Keller is behind Spence!)

The trip didn't start off so well for Spence, but after a few naps he felt better.

Cool tower

Daddy and the boys

Camping Buddies

Mixed Up With the Gypsies

In all my 36 years, I've never experienced a birthday quite like today. But before I can tell you about that, you need to know the back story. None of what you are about to read is made up or embellished. It's all the truth, crazy as it might sound.

Last Spring Brian put his BMW on Craigslist after he bought his truck. After several people looked but didn't end up buying, he was getting really anxious to sell it. A young guy came by to look at it. He didn't have the cash, but sat down with Brian to work out a down payment and payment plan. Brian wrote up a contract and went over everything with him.

After the down payment, he came up with all these stories about why he couldn't pay. Someone in his family was always sick or dying. He left town for a month to stay with some of his wife's family in Dallas. All the stories were very convincing. But finally enough was enough, and Brian told him he was going to have to repossess the car. Soon after that conversation, we couldn't get in touch with them at all. They moved and didn't tell us where they were and also changed their cell numbers. Finally he called Brian to set up a meeting, but gave Brian a fake address of their new place.

Last week we found out that their former land lord lives around the corner from us. Brian walked over there tonight but she wouldn't talk to him. So he went to the house where the guy used to live to see if he left a forwarding address. The new tenants said no, but they called the land lord and explained the situation. She gladly gave the forwarding address of the guy's uncle since they owe her over $10,000 in rent.

So what do we do before my birthday dinner? Drive by the uncle's house to see if our BMW is parked outside! It wasn't. So after dinner we did a second drive by. This time a guy was standing out in the street talking to someone. Brian decided to ask if he knew the people that lived in the house. It turned out to be his house and he was ticked because people were always coming by looking for cars and rent money. He finally told us he knew the guy, who happened to be a gypsy, and described our BMW without us saying a word about it. This guy and the guy he was talking to were gypsies also. He told us he'd tell us where it was for $100! We didn't have any cash, but he went ahead and told us where the apartments were where we'd find it parked. He didn't believe us when we said we'd bring him the cash if we found the car.

We found the apartment complex, said a prayer that God would protect us and help us find the car, then drove around and around and around looking for the car. There were parking spaces and garages (all of which were closed). On the last row, there was one opened garage, with Brian's BMW parked inside! We were freaking out big time, and Brian started fumbling around for the key. He jumped out and I took over the truck. He went in the garage, backed it out, and we drove off without any confrontation. We went straight home and he cleaned out the garage and parked it in there! We decided to go back to the apartment and get the unit number so we could tell the land lord where she could find them. Then we took $100 to give the gypsy that helped us.

Brian called the police to let them know what happened. He had gone and told them about it a few weeks ago, but they couldn't do anything since it was a civil matter. They told him he should have called them before he took the car, but next time he would know. NEXT TIME??? He let them know there would be no next time! Lesson learned. But boy did it make for an exciting birthday! I married a guy that knows how to show a girl a good time. "Hey baby, wanna grab some dinner then go repo a car?"

As I look back at this story (I always proofread before I hit "publish") one sentence really sticks out. Never in a million years would I have predicted that on my 36th birthday I'd be writing, "Then we took $100 to give the gypsy that helped us."

This was all 3 hours ago and Brian's heart is still racing!

The Tooth Is Out!

Yesterday morning Coleman came downstairs and said, "I pushed my tooth out with my tongue!" Since I've been named the designated tooth-puller for our house, I was thrilled! I had been wiggling it testing out it's readiness, but I was hesitant to yank too hard. I remember not wanting to lose any teeth after the first one. My parents could tell you many stories about me and my reluctance to have teeth pulled.


So we're all excited to have this milestone under our belts! And now our house has officially been visited by the tooth fairy! She left $2 under Coleman's pillow. Coleman asked, "How much did you get from the tooth fairy?" I told him probably 1 or 2 quarters. He said, "Wow, it's rised a lot!"

Today Spence (dressed as Batman of course) and Allie were riding in the stroller on the way to pick up Coleman from school and we had a funny conversation:
Mommy: Spence, can you believe you're about to be 5?"
Spence: Yes, I believe it.
Mommy: Ha! Well, it's hard for Mommy to believe.
Spence: Why? You have to believe it!

I guess I do have to believe it! It's coming in 4 days!

Since I shared something about Coleman and Spence, I thought I'd share this picture of Allie and me. I was wearing a hat because my hair looked gross. So Allie wanted to wear a hat also. Unfortunately, every time we left the house, she would forget it.

Trick or Treat!

As I write this I'm staring at a pile of empty candy wrappers. We got lots and lots of treats. I mean the kids got lots and lots of treats!

Batman, Arf Trooper, and Shirley Temple ready for candy!

Allie sees her little friend out trick-or-treating

Walking with Daddy

Getting the hang of this trick-or-treating thing

Spence and one of his favorite neighborhood decorations

Time to dig in!

We hit the jackpot!

Church Carnival

If my favorite fall activity is the pumpkin patch, then my kids' favorite is the carnival! They had a blast at our church carnival tonight. I'd love to share pictures of them playing carnival games, coming down the giant bouncy slide, riding a pony, taking a train ride, and me feeding Allie a red snow cone without getting it on her white dress, but I can't. Not because I didn't have my camera. And not because I didn't have charged batteries. But because I left the card in the computer after uploading the pumpkin patch pictures. Ahhhhhh! I almost went back home to get it, but I decided to just enjoy the night and get lots of pictures when they go trick-or-treating. We did get a family photo taken at the carnival, so I'll share that when I get it! And here are a few I took when we got home.

Batman, Shirley Temple, and an Arf Trooper (Star Wars guy)


Since my kids don't like their faces painted on, I decided to go for it!

Here's a better one of Shirley

Pictures from a Patch

We were bribed to smile!

Sometimes I smile for free!

Pretty pumpkin dress from Grandma

See my loose tooth?

Proud of Those Bees!

The Bees played in the championship game last night. They were up against the best team in the league and played awesome! They only lost by one run. So close! But they had a great season. Coleman learned so much and had a blast (even if he won't admit it). We'll see if there's more baseball in his future.

Coach telling them they should be proud of themselves

After getting his medal

A future baseball player???

Maybe once she's fully potty trained! There was an accident and Mommy forgot to bring extra pants.

Pumpkin Patch Season!

Today Spence's class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch. Yes, my favorite place! And of course this is the "city" version of the pumpkin patch. Isn't his class adorable? He has wonderful friends and two awesome teachers!


This is his best friend, Roman. In a few years I imagine Roman's mommy and I will be telling all the girls to leave our boys alone!

When Coleman started going on field trips in Mother's Day Out I avoided going at all costs. But Coleman wasn't really the kid that wanted Mommy around anyway. Now I'm more inclined to enjoy a little one-on-one time with my kids and tag along for a field trip or two. Here we are chillin' by the pumpkins.

And I had to snap a picture of this on our way in to school this morning. Aren't they sweet?

If you can get past the sweet curls and fun shirt, take a look at her shoes! She picked those out this morning. One of the teachers was commenting on her shoes and I replied, "Spence prepared me for anything!" She's following in the green croc footprints, only Allie style!

Fall! Fall! Fall!

Cooler weather is here (if only for a little while). I'm awakening from my heat-induced coma and ready to start blogging again! Also, we just got a new computer and our technical issues are solved! I'll have more posts soon!

Lessons From Little Ones

I pray that I teach my kids half as much as they teach me. They give me such a deeper understanding of how God loves me and how I should respond to Him.

Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— Psalm 103:1-2

Coleman reminds me that I should not be quick to forget all the blessings God has poured out on my family. It's been 16 months since Brian started his job and Coleman thanks God every night "that Daddy found a job." What a sweet, sweet thing. I pray that he always remembers how God blesses us.

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:17

Spence helps me remember that this world is just my temporary home. His prayers are usually very short, but quite to the point: Dear God, Thank you that we love You, and that we're going to see You in Heaven.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14

Allie is a little ball of energy, but sometimes I find her sitting on the floor saying, in a sing-song voice, "God made me. God made me. God made me." And I think, "And what a wonderful job He did." He made each of us for a purpose, and my kids remind me daily that I need to be looking for Him in everything, even the small things.

"P" Is Not For Piks

The "p" in this story does not stand for our last name. It stands for... well, pee. I was telling Brian some of the daily happenings and he said they were quite blog worthy. Sometimes funny things happen, but I think you probably would have to be here to think it was funny. So maybe it's funny, or maybe it's just funny to us. But at the least, something Brian and I will think back on and laugh about when our kids are fully house broken!

A few nights ago Spence was getting dressed for bed and thought it would be fun to see how many pairs of underwear he could put on. My first thought was to make him stop at ONE, but I figured it wasn't hurting anything so why stifle his creativity? I didn't do an official count, but I think he got about 6 pairs of underwear on. I really thought he would be uncomfortable and take 4 or 5 pairs off, but he didn't! He put his pajama shorts on over them and went to bed! The next morning while I was helping him make up his bed I realized that he had had an accident. So not only did he have wet sheets and blankets, but 6 wet pairs of underwear. Everything went into the dirty clothes and all was fine. Until about 2 nights later when he's getting ready for bed and realizes he has no clean underwear! I told him he could get the ones he'd worn that day out of the dirty clothes or wear a pair of Coleman's. He seemed quite traumatized, but ended up choosing to wear Coleman's. He survived. And I think he learned a valuable lesson: Don't wear more underwear than you need to, especially if you might wet the bed and your lazy mom decides not to wash clothes for a few days! I love letting reality be the teacher!

Since Allie's been in school, she's come home every day in the same pull-up that I sent her in. It's usually wet because she's just woken up from a nap, but I knew she wasn't going in it before nap. Her teachers and I decided she would wear underwear and they would put her in a pull-up for naptime. Today was the first day and she made it without an accident! She's doing so much better! I've decided that I'm just not the 3 day potty training method kind of momma. I'm so glad that works for some people, but it's not my style. She's doing well, but she has quite a stubborn streak. One day she was squatting on the dining room chair, pulled her pull-up over to the side, and peed all over the seat. That just screams, "You try and make me go to the potty. I'll go wherever I want. But I don't feel like being wet right now, so watch me pull my pants out of the way. How do ya like that?" I totally wouldn't be surprised if she said that.

So those are my pee stories. Maybe tomorrow I'll have some more baseball pictures!

Laughter

Thank You Lord for laughter, without which I would have gone insane long ago. The kids always give me lots to laugh about!

Coleman: What do you call a car that's sour?
Me: I don't know. What?
Coleman: A lemonsine!!!

Coleman was asking about homophones and I was trying to remember the difference between homophones and homonyms, when Spence said, "What about M&Ms?"

The boys were also trying to come up with rhyming words:
Coleman: What rhymes with cat?
Spence: Hat!
Coleman: What rhymes with go?
Spence: So!
Coleman: What rhymes with road sign?
Spence: (paused to think) Soad sign!

And one day while sitting in the pick up line at Coleman's school, Spence wanted to get unbuckled to get something, but I told him no because we were already starting to move. A little later Allie told Spence, "Pencey! Don't unbuckle! Hear me?" She is totally a little boss!

Coleman wanted to share one last joke with you that he just made up:

What didn't the car run?
Because it didn't have any legs!

Choose Your Favorite

Here is my list of excuses as to why I have not been blogging lately. You can choose your favorite!

1. Baseball has been taking up almost all of our time! Four days a week... Yikes!
2. I had to have a week-long session with Dr. Leman. Seems my kids' attitudes and behaviors needed some serious adjustments. Thanks Dr. Leman! (If you have kids you need to read Have a New Kid By Friday. I had read it a while back but needed a refresher.)
3. Our computer has been having problems.
4. Fall has arrived, but it's still stinkin' hot. So I'm busy sulking.

As for baseball, Coleman has been having fun. At last night's game, he got another hit! He made it to first base, then with the next few hits he was able to make it home. You should have seen the look on his face! He was super excited! You also should have seen the look on Brian's face! He was super excited! Nana and Poppa were also there cheering him on. Allie and Spence have already lost interest in the games. But they are enjoying climbing all over the bleachers and getting snow cone syrup everywhere!

Coleman had a game today also, but no hits. He and Brian had batting practice this afternoon, and tomorrow they are going to a teammate's house that HAS A BATTING CAGE WITH A PITCHING MACHINE IN HIS BACKYARD. Just so you caught that. Brian was going to take Coleman to the batting cages, but why when your teammate has his own! Cool!

Maybe we'll get some nice fall weather here soon and I can scratch excuse #4 off my list and get back to blogging more!

Base Hit!

After two weeks of practice, tonight was Coleman's first baseball game! He was cool, calm, and collected, but I was nervous! The coach lets them try out different positions, so tonight he played center field and pitcher (who doesn't pitch since there's a pitching machine). He got up to bat 3 times and the first time he got a hit, but was thrown out at first. The second time he got a base hit! The third time he struck out. I loved watching him play! I was so proud of him.

Coleman is a Bee!

Putting his gear in the dugout

First up to bat

Coleman's personal cheerleader

This one was just excited about the snow cones!

Swing!

Hit!

On first base!

Playing pitcher

He might just make a baseball fan of me yet!

Welcome Back Fall!

Today was the first day of Mother's Day Out for Spence and Allie! They had a great time, and so did I! I love this time of year - getting back into school and routines and cooler weather. And we actually have had cooler weather the past few days! It's been crazy because we went from having more than 40 days of temperatures over 100 to being chilly at the pool yesterday. This morning Spence thought he needed a jacket. It's been so long since we haven't sweated I think we all forgot what it feels like! Here are some first day pictures:

Welcome back to school!

Spence walked right in to his Pre-K room!

After dinner Allie was begging to feed the baby ducks. This is her favorite activity, and now that the evenings are nice it's pretty fun. Spence joined us, but Coleman and Daddy stayed home to practice baseball.

Walking Maestro while wearing Spence's socks and shoes

Look! Baby ducks!

These are the babies that are half-grown now. We call them the teenagers, so every time Allie sees them she yells, "Hi teenagers!!!"

Good night ducks!

You can see that Allie has inherited Spence's love for eccentric footwear. Love it! And that little sweetheart has been doing pretty well with potty training. There are still plenty of accidents, but we've had several occasions to celebrate. Overall I think it's going well.

Please pray for all those dealing with wild fires in Texas. There aren't any close to us, but there are some north of Houston, and many around my hometown in north east Texas. I pray we'll get rain soon, and for safety for all the fire fighters and volunteers.