102.7

I'm home with a sick baby. Carter woke up yesterday morning with a fever. He doesn't really have any other symptoms so probably a "fever virus". That's what my doctor always says when there are no other symptoms. So we'll see how he does today, thankfully his fever is lower than yesterday but he looks pathetic. His little eyes aren't opened all the way and he just wants held all the time. He climbed up on James and fell asleep last night...anyone who knows Carter knows that's not normal. He only has a day or two to get well. We leave for the beach Wednesday! We don't have time for any sickness.

All Done

Water Slide
Running

What a week! We had VBS from Sunday to Thursday. It's tiring for anyone...especially the boys. Just the daily scheduling around the house changes when you have to be napped, dressed, and ready to walk out the door at 5:30ish. It was a lot of fun...we all enjoyed it and we all learned from it. The last night we only had one session and then had some fun things to do outside. Cason has gotten so brave in the past few months...I don't think he would have gone near these inflatables in April or May.

Our God is Awesome

Cason in class
Cason and Greg in the pillar
Carter loving class
Carter's first artwork
That is the theme for the week at our Vacation Bible School. The boys are having a great time. Cason keeps talking about "Station Bible School". Both boys are having a great time learning about how truly awesome our God is and learning some of the amazing stories of the Bible. Carter and Cason have classes that stay in one place. Cason's room is greatly decorated, and he has about 13 kids in there. They are doing all kinds of things in there to stay busy. I wish I could watch more but I'm working in a different room. Carter's room is also lots of fun and he has 6 or 7 kids with him and the room is so inviting that there's no crying to leave him or anything. I set him down and he starts playing. His class is focusing on God's creation so their room is filled with animals that God made, and water,etc. There is a pool of rice that has animals buried in that they can sit and play in, there is a tub of water with floating ducks or frogs(it changes). Last night Carter was so wet he needed a second set of clothes. I'm sure I will post more VBS later. The room James and I are working in is one of the rooms that kids rotate to and it is the story of God leading with the pillar of cloud and fire..one of the pics is of Cason with our friend Greg in one of the pillars.

California

Sunset at the beach
James onstage at Universal
This post is a little out of order but I thought I'd show a few pictures from James' trip. I can't tell you much about the trip since I wasn't there. They went to the beach a couple times and they went to Sea World, Universal Studios, and drove through Hollywood. They had a great time and then they made the long drive home....James drove all the way from LA. I'm really glad he got to go...he needed a break.

Fathers Day

Since James was going to be gone on Fathers Day we celebrated Fathers Day on Saturday. It was such a sweet morning. This is really the first year we have celebrated Fathers day and involved the boys because this is the first year Cason could understand. We all went and ate breakfast at a restaurant(super rare) and gave James his present and card. Cason had worked very hard to make a Fathers Day card for James so he insisted that we wrap it. It was so cute and he even signed his name. I was so proud of him because he had known James' gift for over a week and had not peeped a word about it...but as soon as I handed James the package Cason said, "Open your coffee cup, daddy". I just thought that was perfect, it was so sweet and innocent. We had gotten James a coffee cup with the boys pictures all over it. After we finished our breakfast we drove James to the airport and went home. Cason has not had any type of airport experience so it was neat to show him the plane or two we could see on the way in, but I really wish that he could go in and see James off like the olden days. So he was a little dissapointed because he wanted to see James get on a plane...but he quickly forgot.

Even little people know

There is a peace in my home today. James was able to go with our youth group to California. He was gone from Saturday to middle of the night on Thursday. I took that opportunity to spend a few days at my parents(Pepaw and Grammy) house which I really enjoyed. Plus it was nice to have a little extra help for a few days. We also were able to spend an evening with Minnie and Papa and Granpa and Granma...also a lovely evening. I just have to say it's a good thing that it wasn't any longer. I don't think Cason would have made it. It's not like he asked for him daily, or talked about missing him....but his behavior slowly deteriorated and thankfully is back on track today. It is so interesting to me how that works...his little mind probably couldn't process to tell you that's why he was so out of sorts but I know he needed James. Carter's behavior didn't change,but it's funny because one day he sat with a picture book and just kept pointing to James and looking at us like "what about him?, where is he?". Anyway, we are grateful to have James home that everyone had a safe trip and that our life can go back to normal.

10 Years, BABY!

James and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary today. It is so crazy to us...we can't believe it's been 10 years. We met in "prime-time" my freshman year of high school. "Prime-time" was Gatesville's fancy word for study hall. We dated through high school, went to prom together, were at each other's graduations, and sports banquets, and academic banquets, and band trips, and anything else you can think of. Then we both went to college in San Marcos, stayed in the same dorm building, and got married while in school. We then moved into apartment #1501 on Linda Lane and finished school while both working almost full time in retail jobs. After I graduated we moved to Georgetown and lived in an apartment while James commuted to San Marcos! After James graduated we soon bought our first house in Round Rock...and soon added our dog Packer. Three years later we were blessed to bring home Cason...2 years later we were blessed again to bring home Carter...and then we moved to our current home. Wow! We've done so much together and I love that our history is filled with pictures of high school events and graduation and that we've known each other for so long. The first ten years have been awesome! We are blessed beyond belief. We thank God for everything and everyone in our life.
Love ya,babe! (I wish I had a picture scanned in to post of the beginning-but I don't)

"And I got m and ms!"

You just had to be there to here the excitement in his voice and see the sweet look on his face. Here's the story. I went to the grocery store one night this week, bought my groceries, checked-out and asked for $8.00 in cash. I got ALL THE WAY home and realized that she didn't give me the cash. So back to the grocery store we went(me and both boys at dinner time). When we get there the girl that had checked me out was on break and I would have to wait on here to get my money. I needed the money because Cason and I were going to the movie the next morning. So we waited and Cason handed me some m&ms, and I was talking and just set them aside on the check out stand(in my head that meant no, Cason, we are not getting m&ms). Luckily, the girl remembers, gives me my money and we are out the door. And I'm like Yeah, now we can go to the movies, and that's when I hear..."And I got m&ms!" YIKKKKKEEESSS! He sure did! He had picked the package back up and did not understand that we didn't pay because he saw me do the money thing with the girl and so he thought that included his very desired candy. Needless to say we took the candy back inside and put it on the shelf. I love kids!

"Nigh-Nigh"

Yeah! Carter is finally adding some things to his repertoire. He says "nigh-nigh" and waves his sweet little hand when he is going to bed. He also voluntarily blew kisses last night to a friend when we were leaving bible study. He's just so precious, and learning new things every day.

Day After Day

Day after day Cason sucks down the toothpaste...how do I teach him to spit? Somebody help me! I've tried several tactics that have failed. He always says he's going to spit and then basically pretends to spit...therefore swallowing every bit of toothpaste. I'm becoming frustrated with not knowing how to teach this....somebody please give me an idea!

Too Funny

For various reasons Carter has a twin bed in his room along with his crib. The twin bed is Cason's old bed and therefore he still refers to it as his and every once in a while wants to sleep on that bed in Carter's room. Today, was one of those days. At nap time I put Carter in his crib and Cason got into that bed. Well, let's just say that 20 minutes later there was no sleeping going on and when I walked in to discipline this is what I found: Cason out of bed, everybook from the bookshelf in Carter's crib, and Carter sitting in the middle of them as happy as he could be, reading. It was one of those moments when the stern discipline face I had put on to open the bedroom door did not work for me because I just couldn't help but laugh.

I would have never....

"I can't believe I'm eating a sandwich!"
"See, it's really a sandwich, PawPaw!"

given Cason a sandwich at this age. Pretty much everyone reading this knows how I am about food but more how I was with Cason. I tore everything he ate till he was like 18 months old into shreds. I was so terrified of him choking-and give me a little credit...he only had 1 tooth when he had his first birthday. Carter is a different story...I do still tear most things to shreds but he's getting some second child privileges that Cason never had (lasagna at six months to name one). But this week he got to eat sandwiches(of course I flattened out the bread flatter than a pancake and then cut it into fours)-what a happy child! He was so excited-I think he felt like a big boy. I just wanted to share the excitement that was written all over his face. I've come such a long way!

Somebody is going to wiggle!

Well...we did it. We bought tickets for a special concert that Cason and either James and I are going to watch. I got online to buy four tickets but after all the crazy extra charges that they put on top of the ticket prices we decided to only buy 2 tickets. Carter would have lots of fun but wouldn't appreciate it like Cason will. Cason doesn't understand the concept of "going to the concert" he thinks we're going to have to figure out how to get in the tv. Everybody have a great weekend.

Now THIS is fun

Carter's thinking, what are they doing to him?

We had family in town this weekend. So we were able to have some extra special fun. We don't get to play with Ashton very often. This is actually only the second time the boys have played together. It only takes a small time to warm up and then they do great-this weekend they played as a team in order to completely soak Grandaddy! All the boys were enjoying the water and decided to start throwing cups of water at Grandaddy till Grandaddy decided he'd just get in. What a great sport!

Birthdays

Cason on the rings
Carter practicing his gymnastics
Sweet boys at the sprinkler park

We have had birthday parties the past two weekends. (Although we are sad because we missed out on our friends, Caleb and Ashlyn's birthday) We have had a lot of fun. Our birthday last weekend was for our friend Abby and she had her party at a sprinkler park and this weekend was for our friend Ella and her birthday was at a gymnastics place in town. Needless to say these were fun places to go. The end of the gymnastics party called for real tears and a breakdown. Both boys had a wonderful time at both parties and both places were completely new experiences for us. I love watching the boys see and do new things! Both girls, Abby and Ella, did a wonderful job turning three and we're glad we could be there to celebrate with them. Cason has been friends with Abby and Ella since they were born. We were all pregnant together. I hope they get to celebrate many more birthdays together.

Father and son time

Daddy & Cason mowing
Cason with his "weedweeter"

Cason and James do special things by themselves every now and then because we think it's important. It's good for Cason to get to go with daddy, without Carter, and do something fun. Even if the something fun is a trip in daddy's "big big truck" to home depot. Cason thinks that is very special. Friday after James got home from work they had a special evening. James took Cason to a park in town that he has been begging to go to but the park isn't Carter friendly so we haven't gone. James surprised him...when they pulled out of the driveway Cason only knew they were going somewhere and he had to wear his tennis shoes. James said Cason was so excited when they pulled up to the park. They played a while and then came home to work in the yard-Cason wanted to do everything James did which was mowing and "weedweeting". They had a great time and it was so much fun to watch Cason's eyes admiring his daddy all night and wanting to be just like him.