Cousins, Cousins, Cousins!!!

Grandma Stratford got the little babe cousins these adorable onsies for Christmas.
(they originally came without the drool collar)

So of course a photo shoot of the the 3 littlest boys was a must.

Problem was we never seemed to all remember to bring the shirt on the same day.

But here is what we got.

Trev and Nate

Trev and Rhett

Aren't they cute?

We then got the JOY of having this cute little man over to play for a morning.

Tate and Slater had so much fun together. I loved watching their little imaginations go wild!
Each year for Valentines my sister and I do a little sleepover trade so that each couple gets a night without kids to have a "romantic" date night for the holiday.

On the night we took her kids, we set up the air mattress to watch a movie and sleep on for the night. But the next morning, this is what we found...

Instead, they all somehow made it into OUR bed to watch a little Dinosaur Train.
We had so much fun.

Now I will be the first to confess that having a little girl in our home was a delight AND a reality check. I thought I was doing great when they were all fed, dressed, teeth brushed, and on a quest for shoes, that is until Miss Madi says, "Dee Dee, could you please do my hair?"
"What? Hair?"
I am so used to MAYBE spraying a little water and gel on the boys hair (on Sundays- maybe) and sending them on their way.
But, the little girl in me somehow emerged and I said,
"Of course Miss Madi. How would you like me to do it?"
"Would you please put it in 2 braids with a pony tail on the end and then curl it?"
The girl knows what she wants.
So I pulled out my small curling iron, brushed off the dust and got started.
And when we were done, Miss Madi says, "Oh Dee Dee, I LOVE it!!"

But Tyler, who came in to see what was taking sooooo long, says,

"Wow Mom! I didn't know you could do girl hair! Is that a braid?"
Isn't life just full of lovely surprises?!

Be Mine...Forever.

On Friday, the doorbell rang, at a very odd hour of the day. I curiously answered the door to find the HOTTEST DELIVERY BOY EVER sheepishly holding these beauties.

He greeted me with a lovely kiss, a Happy Valentines Day, helped himself to a sandwich, patted the children sweetly on the heads and was on his way.

Love that HOT DELIVERY BOY of MINE!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL!!!

*Be sure to scroll down LOTS and LOTS. I have finally updated this blog.

I'm talking 7 fabulous posts, loads of pictures and a couple silly videos.*

ENJOY!

Friday Moment

Many of my friends have been posting (this moment) on their blogs lately.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (inspired by SouleMama)
Love it.

School stuff!!

***WARNING*** If you are NOT ok with creepy crawly images, quickly skip down with your eyes closed. 2 images may/ DO contain creepy crawly, fangy creatures!!!

It is beginning.

School Stuff.

Its not just parties, fun books, math games, and ABC's anymore.

Nope.

We're getting into research and REPORTS!!

Tracen came home one day with a paper saying they were doing research reports.

Each student got to choose an "ANIMAL" to report on.

When you hear the word "ANIMAL", what do YOU think of?

I think of puppies, kittens, lions, tigers and bears... OH MY!!!

But did Tracen choose something fluffy and cute?

HEAVENS NO!

Look what he chose...

That my friends, is a GOLIATH BIRD EATING SPIDER!!

(These are really "tame" pictures by the way- didn't want to send anyone into the kind of panic attacks I had)

I say, as Tracen always says, "SERIOUSLY?"

....SPIDERS?....GIANT TARANTULA TYPE SPIDERS?...

"SERIOUSLY?"

I couldn't even touch some of the books we checked out without being afraid of being sucked alive! Not to mention some of the videos we discovered on YouTube.

*Did you know that, despite their name, they don't "usually" eat birds? Nope, they usually eat snakes, other spiders, small animals, etc... They simply bite their prey with their long venomous fangs and wait for the poison to paralyze them. Their insides turn to liquid and they just suck it all out leaving just a shell.

I now have ARACHNOPHOBIA! I am NOT ok with any of this "knowledge"! BUT, I suppose that this was TRACEN'S report, not mine.

Now, not all of 2nd grade is consumed by such gross things. I now speak of...

BOOK REPORTS!!!

Tracen has been reading many a great book these days, so his teacher asked if he would like to share one of these books with his classmates. He was thrilled and chose...

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

by Sir Thomas Malory (Abridged version of course)

He chose to do a "SHOE BOX REPORT". A Diorama of one of his favorite scenes from the book.
This would be Sir Galahad and his brave horse fighting a fire-breathing dragon!! With some lovely trees and a squirrel in the background.

Did the whole thing himself, except for a few cutting out and tricky gluing issues. He then got to present it to his class. He said his class thought it was "really cool". So SCORE!!
Now on to TYLER!!!

His Kindergarten class celebrated their 100th DAY AT SCHOOL by having a Hoe Down Party! I LOVE KINDERGARTEN!! There is always a party for everything!

He got to wear his BEST COWBOY ATTIRE!

They were making hats and scarves in class, but he wanted a picture with daddy's cowboy hat on. PLEASE excuse that it says CORONA on it. Got it in Mexico.

PERFECT!! Right down to his belt buckle. (straight from Texas-courtesy of Uncle Shane.)

Here is the "real" hat and scarf they made in class.

Now THAT is ONE REAL COWBOY!!!

*Stayed tuned, or not, to many more school adventures, that hopefully DON'T include creepy crawlys.*

January Boredom...

"Oh what do you do in the winter time, when all the world is...."

"Is that what YOU do? So do we..."

Eye Spy with my Little Eye....

... Not much. At first anyway.

About 2 months ago, I noticed my vision had changed. Especially in my right eye. It seemed my contacts and especially my glasses were not the right prescription. I thought it amazing that my vision could change that drastically so quickly. But I had recently had Trev and had heard that pregnancy/delivery could change a mother's vision. So I made an appointment with an optometrist. Well, he took one look at my eyes and did NOT like what he saw. Apparently, I had corneal edema. (My cornea was swollen because the white blood cells were growing into it). Therefore, causing infection and vision changes. How did this happen? Well, I quickly got ANOTHER LECTURE on wearing my contacts too long and my eyes not getting enough oxygen and he sent me to the opthomologist up the street.

The opthomologist did the routine tests again (can you see this better here or here? #1 or #2) spouted off a bunch of numbers in a language I had never heard to his assistant, then sat back in his chair, I think he was sitting in a chair, (vision issues) and proceeded to tell me all about white blood cells and swelling. What I heard was that I was band from wearing contacts for the next month. GLASSES ONLY!!! Then you must do these antibiotic drops 3 times a day and these steroid drops 4 times a day. Oh and remember... NO CONTACTS!

I scheduled an appointment for the next week and left, WEARING MY GLASSES that were almost no better to see through then if I weren't wearing anything, and began the drive home, that thank HEAVENS was familiar because I sure couldn't see a single street sign.

Well, that was the beginning of my "new look" for next couple months.

I am now happy to report, that after religiously following every command and only putting in my contacts once (for a fancy smancy date with my hubby-shhhh don't tell) I am ALMOST FREE from hiding behind these lovely spectacles. Eyes are healed, last week of steroid drops, and I will finally be able to see my own face, unhidden.

I write this, with the PROMISE that I will wear my contacts a little less and my glasses a little more.... and start saving my guts out for a little surgery called LASIK!!

Toothless Tyler

Two in the same day?

Lucky Boy!!!

**Now if only our toothfairy was a bit more reliable.**

She somehow missed the memo and didn't come till the next night. But hey... $2 was worth waiting for!