Ty's first "story"

Tyler has really enjoyed learning to read and write. Thankfully he has been a pretty good student :-) Here is his first attempt at creating and writing his very own short story!! He is pretty proud of it. Translation...."One time a banana was in a pie. The banana got aten"(eaten)

Never leave scissors..I mean never throw scissors

Dustin worked very hard all afternoon Monday to put together a new basketball set for the boys. It must have been the sheer exhaustion that led to the costly mistake of leaving the scissors upstairs. Dustin was finishing up the dishes when I walked in the door from having dinner with some girls when we hear Tyler yell, "Daddy, Dylan has the scissors and he is trying to cut my shirt!." Dustin dried his hands and started for the stairs. He had just about made it to the top when Ty caught Dylan and took the scissors from him. He then turned and threw the scissors down the stairs and caught Dustin right in the eye. Dustin was instantly covered in blood and in fear of being blind!!! Thankfully he ended up getting hit right in the corner of his lower eye lid. No serious damage done. I think that we all learned a lesson...NEVER leave your tools about and NEVER throw scissors ever!!! Really, Thank God all is good, it could have been much much worse!

8 Years

It is really hard to believe that I have been married to my best friend for 8 years! The time has flown by! I thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful man. Really, Dustin is truly a gift from the Lord. He is the most giving, loving, and joyful person I know. He loves me so unconditionally and intentionally. He is a wonderful, patient, and caring husband. I could not have asked for better. I thank God that Dustin is such an amazing father. He does a terrific job at giving our boys just a small glimpse of our Heavenly Father. My heart leaps for joy when I hear Daddy and the boys upstairs wrestling one minute and then deep into a discussion about how Jesus calls us to be like Him. Wow, it blows my mind. 8 years and I fall more and more in love with him everyday....thanks Babe for an amazing 8 years. I am excited to see what the next 8 years hold for us.

5 boys!

This past Friday we got to have Tait and Grayson come over for a "movie night" and sleep over in the castle! It was a blast. The boys enjoyed Winnie the Pooh and then getting to sleep with their buddies in the castle. It was pretty easy getting them down, but a very very early morning for all!!!

Bed time battles

Now that Dylan is in the "big boy room" and is potty trained at night, we can't get him out of the bath room and into his bed. Here he has been sitting on the potty for 10 minutes! No joke, he just kept saying, "I poo poo Mommy, I do." Well after 12 minutes I finally took him off and put him in bed. Before I went down to get the camera, he was doing a balancing act to see if he could stay on without holding on with his hands. Oh my sweet Dylan........

Firsts

First Air Plane Ride
First stroller ride in Florida
First time in a high chair
First time to Sea World (mommy too)
First time in the pool (and swimsuit)
First time to leave boys for 5 days!

3:1

FINALLY!! We are down to one kid in diapers! Ah, how great is that! Dylan decided that now that he is in the "big boy" room he should not have to wear a diaper or pull up anymore either. So we went for it and he has not had an accident at all!!! Praise God, diapers for one should be a breeze.......

Three in one room!

Well we did it! All three boys are in the same room. Dylan has been begging to sleep in "Tyler Brycie" room for 8 months! Monday night we decided it was time to make the switch! All the boys were so excited. They went straight to sleep without a sound! It was amazing. I said to Dustin, "This has to be some kind of joke!?" Tuesday night we host a Bible study at our house. They had been in bed for well over an hour and all was quiet. All of a sudden Dylan comes down the stairs head first on his belly! Just dropping in to say hi I guess. It has been a pretty smooth transition. Avary was to move to the crib finally this week as well, but she did not like it as much. I guess she just prefers the dark, quiet, warm closet! Daddy said, "she will just have to suck it up and get use to it." I of course gave in and let her sleep another night in the closet just feet away from my bed:-)

Let it snow!!! (Southern style that is!)

The boys could not wait to get out in the "snow"A snowman was not possible, so "slushy balls" became the hit!
They loved running around and trying to catch snow flakes in their mouth

(in snow storm part two that is)

I love ice cream.....

I guess I am not the only ice cream lover in the family!!! Dylan had to make sure he got every single drop of ice cream out of his bowl!

Can we keep him?

So we are finished with Bible study at our house and just a couple of people are left when Molly and I are standing by the sink chatting with our spouses :-) when this little creature runs right in front of our feet! We run and I jump on the couch in true girl fashion when the guys look for it. We decide to put out a "humane mouse trap". I can hear in the middle of the night that we got the little stinker! When I get up the next morning I ask about the poor thing. "Mommy we caught a mouse! He was so cute! We wanted to keep him. " Wanted??? I think why wantED! "Mommy I was holding the mouse in his box and then I tipped it and he ran out! The kittens were chasing it and it went under the stove!" I look over to Dustin who just smiles and shrugs! So we set the trap again that night and when we caught it this time, I insisted we not wait till morning to show the boys, but get it out now! When I took a peek at it, I too had a moment of, "Oh he IS cute, can we keep him??!!"

Bryce is 4!!

Well I am a little behind here......but lets take a look BACK over the last few weeks. January 1, Bryce turned four!! This was a very big deal to him, he LOVES being four. He had a baseball party to celebrate! It was a ton of fun. He really enjoyed all his gifts which were mostly Cranium games. He also is still loving his rocket launcher and his fuse ball table! Turning four has meant no more pull ups at all at night. So most nights that means Daddy has to get up around 3 to take Bryce potty. But he has done well and says he can do it now because "I am four!"

A few of my favorite things.....

Birthday Parties and "Happy cake"

Dustin losing at Left,Right, Center and drinking a raw egg

Tyler trying on Avary's hair bow


Dylan putting this clip on his lip and saying "I am Dustin."

(not sure what this means??)

Oh how I LOVE cowboy boots!

Too Cute!

Grandma after a long day of shopping sleeping with the kittens.

Happy 2008!!

So what were your New Years resolutions??! Ever follow through with them? I personally don't make too many because something always comes up and I HAVE to break it. For example; one year I decided to limit my ice cream intake....lol, no really, LOL!!! For those of you who don't know me well, ice cream is a serious weakness, many would call it an addiction. I eat a HUGE bowl of ice cream every single night....sometimes I go back for seconds as Dustin is saying, "don't do it, back away from the ice cream!" So all that to say, I only made ones I think I can follow through with. 1) Run a half marathon in April 2) No texting while driving( I don't do it often anyway) and 3) be pregnant with twins!!!!! Ok so it might be a bit impossible (yes I mean it the way you are thinking, thanks Dust), but Oh how I ache to have more babies!!! Dustin was not too thrilled with that one. We shall see what God has to say about that:-) Anyway for New Years Eve day, the kiddos, Grandma, Daddy and I made our way over to Monkey Joes along with the rest of CHARLOTTE!! It was mad chaos but the sweaty boys had a blast. That evening Dustin and I boycotted the huge NYE Bash ( love you CC) and went to dinner with the Shaks, Pinks, and Millers!! It was a great time of laughter and fellowship! Our table was probably the loudest, but we had a blast! We then went to the Pinks to play Left, Right, Center.(great game introduced by the Faros!) It was a blast! Well I hope y'all had a wonderful end to 2007 and I pray you have a very blessed start to your 2008!

Avary Joy is 6 months old!!

Can't believe how time flys! Sweet princess is 6 months old and doing so many "big girl" things. She can now roll both ways (as of tonight), growl like the boys, sit up for a bit, play with her toys, and eat baby food!! She loves to "talk" and will just jabber away to anyone that will give her eye contact. She is so sweet and content. She is precious!!

"I do it Mommy"

Got to love those 2 year old words, "I do it Mommy." Whether it is buckling his seat belt, getting his own water, climbing to get the kittens, or dressing himself, Dylan HAS to do it HIMSELF!! This makes for a long wait and a messy floor. But we all know you have to try it to learn it and that when a 2 year old has his mind set to do, just get of of his way and pray he doesn't have a major melt down!!!