I Love My Life

I just have to say it - I LOVE my life. Of course, we all have our good and bad days and our not-so-great moments, but it's weekends like this where I realize how much I LOVE my life. I have the most wonderful husband and family, and the BEST little boy in the whole wide world! (And another one on the way - you just can't beat it....)

Saturday afternoon, while I cooked dinner, Brent helped Brody paint these little ceramic mugs for mine and Brent's dad for Father's Day. They were so cute working together. I could have sat there and watched them do that all day. I can tell they are going to be best friends one day :) I can't wait to see Brent with both of his boys here pretty soon.

Brent painted "PawPaw" and "Poppy" on the mugs and then let Brody go to town on them.

They were blowing the names dry, so that Brody wouldn't smear them while he was painting.

The finished products!!!! I promise you, they will be treasured forever :)

I wish I had one of my own...

Brody showing off his "war paint"

He also LOVES helping out in the kitchen. Don't all kids? Well, until they get to the point where we actually need their help in the kitchen...then they want nothing to do with it, right? Anyway, Brody helped me mix up some frozen orange juice this morning before we got ready for church. (You can tell he hadn't been up long in these pics.)

I try to treasure these moments with him . . . I know it won't be long before he wants nothing to do with it . . .

We had Brent's parents and my Dad and stepmom over for Father's Day dinner tonight. Brent grilled the most delicious BBQ ribs and sausage, and I cooked baked beans and fries. It was very yummy. While we were grilling and preparing the food, Brody played outside in the 98 degree heat with his sandbox from Ryan and Tara. He was so cute with just his shorts on. I could kiss on his squishiness all day long!!!

I sprayed him down good with sunscreen before he went out to play, so you can imagine the sticky, sandy mess that he was when he came back in - we headed straight for the tub!

Happy Fathers Day to all to all you dads out there! Especially to my own WONDERFUL dad and to Brent! I love you both VERY much! Thank you so much for everything that you both do for me and Brody!!

Smackover Oil Run 5K

Brent ran in his first 5K this morning! He did really good, and I think he really had a good time. He had several friends running in it too, so it was alot of fun.

We had to get up and leave early, so I just dressed Brody asleep. Here he is asleep on the couch waiting for us to carry him to the car.

He woke up good on the way, and was ready to cheer daddy on by the time we got there!

Brent, Craig, and Jesse getting ready to run....

And they're off!! I actually don't think Brent is in this picture. Oops. I was trying to block the sun, hold Brody, and snap a picture, and I think I took it about a half a second too early.

We let Brody run around and play for a bit, while we waited for the first runners to start rounding the curve toward the finish line. He and Gabe were there to clap for them as each one ran past us. They had a blast.

Here are a couple friends from church as they ran toward the finish line:

Way to go Adam! He placed third in his division!

You too Jay!! He also placed third in his division!!

And here is Brent's backside as he passed us. I did take a picture when he was right beside us, but of course, it was so blurry you couldn't even tell who it was :(

Brent did great - he finished in 29 minutes! His goal was to do it in 30, so I would say he succeeded!!!

Brody listening to music on Kaitlin's IPOD

Craig, Brent, Jay, and Adam after the race (with Brody and Gabe)

Brent is going to run in another 5K in about 2 weeks, so stay tuned! I wonder if he will beat his time????

Little Water Bugs

This is where I am sure we will be spending most of our time this summer. Brody is going to want to be outside ALL the time, so this is one place where at least I know I can keep somewhat cool. Mamaw is going to get tired of seeing my car parked in her driveway!! Brooke stayed the night with us one night this week, so we spent a couple hours the next day at the pool. They had so much fun! And I sure wasn't complaining :)

Brody watching Brooke jump off of the diving board.

Her favorite part was the big slide!

This girl has no fear...

Here are a few pics of Brody playing in the tub at home. Still his favorite part of the day. Yes, he was playing "dress-up"......we just won't tell Brent...lol.

We had Vacation Bible School at church this week, which was alot of fun. I love seeing the little kids talking and singing about Jesus. So cool. The youngest group was 3-5 year olds, but since I was working in some of the classes, they let Brody go around with that group every night. And he did really good! He was so cute walking around with those bigger kids and trying to do everything they were doing. And most of the time he was able to! Especially with the songs - I think he knew the words and motions just as well as most of the others! He even went on stage with them for the closing program on the last night and did all the songs. He was actually a little show-off. I don't have to worry about this kid having stage fright! Everyone was telling us afterward how good he did. And he was the youngest one up there! (Sorry I didn't get any better pics.)

So, tomorrow Brent runs in his first 5K race at the Smackover Oil Town Festival. I think he will do great - should be lots of fun! I will try to take a few pics (if he will let me...lol). Have a good weekend!

24 Weeks

Sunday marked week 24 of this pregnancy! I really can't believe how fast it is going. I know that it will slow down soon though. It did with Brody, anyway. Baby-to-be (according to babycenter.com) is a little over a pound now and is close to a foot long! It said to picture an ear of corn, although I don't really like these camparisons they make...seems a little creepy. Anywho, I am still feeling great - lots of movement from the little one, even more so than with Brody, I think. I wonder if that is a sign of things to come??? I am getting the leg cramps at night some, but they are pretty managable. I can usually just flex my foot for a few seconds and it starts to go away. Ummm....I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks, but I am not thinking that it will be anything other than weighing (always lots of fun), peeing in a cup (fun, too) and listening to baby's heartbeat (the best part by far!!). Sooo, I will leave you with a few new belly pics (and the one from a few weeks ago to compare) and a couple pics of me and Brody at the pool from last weekend.

A little monkey thought he needed in the picture too :)
And yes, my hair is blonde again! I just got bored with the brown...had to brighten it up for summer!!!

And here is my 21 week belly pic. I think I can definately tell a difference - can you?

My little fish

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!!!!!

Things are a changin'

Okay, well I just wanted to let everyone know that baby-to-be's name is not going to be Jett. No real reason...guess I just had a change of heart...as Brent put it. We still don't know what his name will be. It may be that everyone (including us) will just find out when he gets here. I never thought I would have such a hard time with this! Oh well, guess I still have plenty of time. Just wanted to put that out there - didn't want any grandmothers running out and having Jett put on a bag or anything...lol. (And yes, we have told Brent's mom not to do the blanket yet.)

Lake Claiborne

Mom and I took Brooke and Brody camping at Lake Claiborne this weekend. And I'm not talking about that "sissy" kind of camping with RV's and air conditioning and television. :) I am talking about the real thing - tents and campfires and critters. Actually, it was really a very pleasant weekend. Highs in 80's, but it would get down in the 50's at night, so we stayed very cool. It was great. And the kids loved it too. Here are some pics!


Our home away from home. And we were so proud of ourselves. We had it completely put up in about 10 minutes!
Roasting marshmallows - my favorite part of camping :)
And Brody's too!!

If you look very closely you can see a squirrel in this tree, with a marshmallow in his hands (do squirrels have hands? paws?). Anyway, Brody dropped one of his marshmallows before he starting roasting it, and this squirrel ran right over, picked it up, and took off up this tree, and munched away. It was hilarious.

Asleep in the tent...

Playing on a raft in the water. And no worries...the water they were playing in only came up to Brody's knees when he stood in it. I know it doesn't look like it, but I promise, it did. And he loved his floaties. Wouldn't go near the water without them!