Music Makers

Cole's preschool hosts "Music Maker" every year so that the parents may attend music class and see some special songs. Here is a little video of Cole using rhythm sticks. As you can see, the boy does have some rhythm...

Cole loves Music and most especially his teacher, Mrs. Crawford. So he was very happy to show off his moves.

Play ball!

We're officially a two-athlete family now. For the first time, Cole is playing on a team of his own and we're dividing our time between the two boys' activities. Cole is playing t-ball and Shayne is his coach. Travis decided that he wanted to play soccer again. So tonight marked the first night of many that Shayne and I went to two different sports fields for practice. This is the start of a new era for us. We're hoping their game schedules don't conflict.

80's Party

My friend Ginger threw an 80's themed birthday party on Saturday night. What a great time we all had putting together our outfits! Shayne and I found a great website with 80s t-shirts and got these two from Sixteen Candles and Karate Kid. And the accessories were easy to find as all the stores are carrying this stuff...I can't believe it's come back again!

We had our babysitter take a few pics before we left. She got quite a kick out of our getups...

Shayne with the 80s style redneck mullet!

He had the best hair of the night!

I tried to crimp my hair, but it didn't take very well. I can't believe anyone ever did that on purpose. Our boys didn't really know what to think of us looking like this. Travis in particular didn't really like my shirt. I don't think he liked the idea of me loving anyone else besides Shayne. But we told him it wasn't a real person...just a character from a movie.

The birthday girl, Ginger with her preppie man, Trey.

Thanks for a great party, you guys!

We had a blast.

Literature Day

Today was Literature Day at Travis' school. The children got to dress in the costume of their favorite character from a book. For many reasons, not the least of which was simplicity, we chose to go with The Cat in the Hat...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Addressing Valentines

This year's choices are...

Scooby Doo for Travis

and...
"Cars" Lightning McQueen for Cole

Extreme Half-Bath Makeover

I was itching for some change and with limited funds and even less time, I thought it best to tackle the smallest room in the house: the half-bath downstairs.

Before...

And after...

Before...

And after...

Extreme Fun

Cole and I joined some friends at an indoor playplace called, Extreme Fun today. I think Cole agreed it was aptly named. Only one small problem...the foam pit ate his socks right off his feet. After digging for them for a bit, I decided we were better off without them than to dig any further...

My 34th (Surprise) Birthday

Happy birthday to me!

Shayne really outdid himself this year and planned a great surprise party for me downtown. All I knew for weeks was that he'd arranged for the boys to stay all night with my aunt and we were going "somewhere." Later I learned he had a hotel room at the Hilton downtown and we were going "out." Well that's a treat in itself...a night out with no responsibility! But what I didn't know was that he'd conspired for weeks with some of my best friends to make a big party of it!

At the Iron Cactus

Jessica, Julie, Mindy, me and Ginger

We had dinner at the Iron Cactus (yummy), and then had tickets to Esther's Follies (hilarious), then headed on down to Pete's Piano bar to sing away the rest of the night. Thank goodness the Hilton was only blocks off of 6th street! Shayne gets "Husband of the Year" award for this one! I'm so blessed to have the best husband and the best friends in the world.

Cole's Half Birthday

Since Cole has a summer birthday, he never gets to have his "special day" at school. Last year, his teachers celebrated all the summer birthdays on the last day of school, but that was a little confusing. So his teacher this year suggested that we celebrate his 1/2 birthday. And today, Cole is officially 3 1/2!

I was fully prepared to make some sort of racecar cupcake...but Cole surprised me by saying he wanted something "sharky" for his special snack. Sooooo, I made blue jello cups and submerged gummy sharks into them.

The shark snacks were a hit and Cole enjoyed having some special attention. He's just disappointed he doesn't get presents! Gotta wait until July for those!

A Visit to the Bear Pit

We were in Waco on Sunday afternoon and had some time before meeting my family for dinner, so we pulled into the Baylor campus so I could show the boys around a bit, as they'd only ever seen it from the interstate.

Of course the most exciting thing to see is the bear, and the bear pit has been MUCH improved since I'd last seen it. And the bear showed off for us quite a bit!


Travis had his sketch pad with him and decided to whip off a quick sketch of the bear.

Later, Travis said that he might like to go to college at Baylor someday...Cole said that he might like to go bear hunting someday. That's a perfect illustration of how different the two boys are!

Crazy Hat Day

Travis' school had Crazy Hat Day on Thursday with each student wearing a hat they created. There were 10 categories into which the hats could fit, and Travis and I decided that we'd try for "Most Texan" And I'm proud to say he won his category!

We have a winner!

He's so proud of his $5 gift card to Shakes!

Cute...

Cole got this little singing deer for Christmas and we hear this EVERYDAY! He looooooves it, so I had to get his "Best Shot" song on video...

(scroll down and pause the blog music so that you can hear)

Pile on Daddy!

Handsome Litte Dudes!

No special occasion, just thought the boys looked especially handsome in their sweater vests for church this morning...

Wild boys!

For the last hunting trip of the season, the boys thought it would be fun to have their face painted like Daddy's when he bowhunts. Love these wild boys!!!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year at the cabin with Gran and Pop. It was very low key and low tech. There's not even a clock there, so except for our watches, we wouldn't have really known when it was midnight. Not that any of us stayed up until midnight! We celebrated with the boys' first firework experience...sparklers! We got the extra long variety so that they wouldn't burn their hands. Each boy got to burn three apiece and they were a hit!

Christmas Morning

The boys must have been extra good this year, because when we woke up on Christmas morning GG and Grandpa's living room was filled with toys, games and books!

The big present Santa brought was a Nintendo Wii. He even left a note taped nearby that specified it was for "both of them" and that they were "expected to share nicely." Santa said he likes it when brothers get along! We saved the note for when (not if) we need to pull it out as a reminder...

"Oh yeah! We got a Wii!!!"

A little Mario Kart Racing

And a little Trophy Deer Hunting!

Christmas Eve Part Two

After church and family pictures, it was time to get into Christmas jammies and get on with the good part--presents!

But first...pizza!

Cousins!

L-R: McKenzie, 6; Gray, 1; Morgan, 4; Travis, 7; Cole, 3

Travis and McKenzie


Cole and Morgan



Many hours of opening presents later...it was time to set out some milk and cookies for Santa and hop in bed and cover up your head!

Christmas Eve

It's tradition Christmas Eve to attend the early evening Mass, then return home for pizza and presents. Here's some pictures of everyone all dressed up...

A rare shot of Mommy and her boys!

Our family and the "Year of the Cream Sweaters"

With GG, Grandpa and cousins, McKenzie, Morgan and Gray.

Tracking Santa's flight path on Grandpa's computer.

A loooooong roadtrip!

We drove 14+ hours from East Texas to Georgia. We got off to a bit of a rocky start, stopping 3 times before getting out of Texas, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. The boys had the DVD to keep them occupied, but by the time these pictures were taken (around Atlanta) they'd had about enough of being cooped up in the car!