Bouncy, Bouncy

I realize I have been a terrible blogger lately, but things are just crazy busy lately. I don't even have time to write much now, but I will at least give you a little story to tide you over until I have time to write all the things on my list to blog about.

A week ago, we went to a bouncy place and met up with my Mothers of Preschoolers group. Since all the elementary kids were out of school because schools still were without power, there was no mothers day out either. All of the moms had been home for over a week, some with no power, so instead of cancelling our normal meeting, we went to Pump It Up.

We had our own room and 53 kids playing. The moms and kids had a blast! Barrett, Fisher and I definitely had fun. We were all playing the whole time. Fisher hung with the bigger kids with no problem, and Barrett just ran from place to place laughing and jumping.

When we got in the car to leave, I asked Barrett if he had fun. He said, "Yes, can we go again today?"

I then asked him what his favorite thing was about Pump It Up.

Did he say the slide?

No.

Did he say the basketball bouncy thing?

No.

Did he say the potty since we went 4 times?

No.

My lady-killer had an answer I don't think many 3 year old kids would have.

"I liked the mommy's boobies when they bounced."

Yes, you read that right.

My three year old is a boob man.

Ugh.

yIKEs

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we were busy preparing for, sitting through, and recovering from Ike.

We were very lucky. We lost our fence, a tree, and our power.

We actually were there for the storm, but the boys and I are now at my aunt's in Dallas since we have no power.

I will have pictures and stories once we return.

Please pray for all the families that were not as lucky as we were. There are not words to describe what some people are having to deal with.

Woo Hoo!

My cousin was called up by the Astros today! On his first pitch in his major league debut, he hit a homerun.

I'm allowed to brag.

That's little Mark on the left. :)

How cool is this?!

Cool Days

The boys started mother's day out last Wednesday. Barrett was so excited to be going back to "old school days" as he calls it.

Fisher didn't really know what the big deal was, but he was excited because Barrett was.

I tried to get a good first day picture at home, but it didn't go to well.

I also tried outside the house, outside at school, and again inside at school. Fisher was a little tired of it.

I finally managed to get a decent picture although the boys wouldn't stand together and Fisher is sporting his "pretty" smile.

Once it was time for Barrett to go into class, I told him to tell Fisher good luck on his first day. He was so sweet telling him good luck, and he even added his own I love you. Then, to make it all better, he asked Fisher for a kiss.

They both had a fantastic week. Fisher even asked for "cool" when he got up on Saturday. When we didn't get dressed to go, he brought me his shoes and socks and was saying, "go, go, cool."

I love that my kids love school because I sure love when they go!

Barrett's 3rd Birthday Party (2 weeks ago...)

Barrett had to have his birthday party at the gymnastics place. He had no second choice, so Barrett had his first "kid party" this year.

He was so lucky to have so many friends come to his party. He was so excited the night before that he didn't sleep.

He normally naps at 1:00. The party was at 2:00. Do you see where this is going?

No sleep the night before + no nap = grumpy birthday boy

Actually, he was happy for about the first half of the party. He just loves jumping into the foam pits!

Fisher had a ball too. He loved to hang from the bars.

Once we rotated to the mountain room, the kids really went wild. I didn't get many picture because I was trying to keep up with Fisher. He was a crazy little guy.



Barrett didn't play on the mountain much. He just wanted to jump on trampolines with one of his school friends, Chloe.

At our third rotation, Barrett was done. Coach Eddie tried to cheer him up, but he was too tired.

After we made it through all the rotations, we went to the party room for cake and drinks. My friend, Michelle, made Barrett's fishing themed cake and not only was it cute it was REALLY good.



Here is a picture of the table decorations. (I know no one cares, I just want it somewhere because I had to hunt down those giant fish!)



Somehow, Barrett perked up after a capri sun, and he was excited to have everyone sing to him!
After eating, we opted to keep playing instead of opening gifts. I think the only disappointed people were Barrett and one of the Daddies.

We'll call this Daddy the Pister. Barrett got a little confused because sometimes we call him Mister and sometimes we call him Pastor because he's one of our Pastors, and he called him Pister once. It cracked me up.

Pister is a great guy who my son has an interesting love/hate thing with. Barrett loves his daughter, and Pister hates that...

Pister was really excited about Barrett's gift because it was "a message".

As soon as we got home, Barrett was ready to open his gifts. I can't lie, Doug and I were both curious about Pister's gift.

When he got to the bag from Pister's daughter, we had NO idea what to expect.

Barrett dug into the bag, screamed, and pulled out his hand with a bloody finger.

What kind of message is that?

It turns out there was a battery package inside that he cut his hand on. So, those of you that go to my church, no, Pister did not purposely harm my kid.

Once we bandaided the finger (conveniently, he had just opened some Curious George bandaids from Nana), he came back to the package.

Then, he pulled out this...

Apparently, Pister is serious in his constant threats that he is watching Barrett.

Unfortunately for Pister, Doug and I both quickly thought that in high school, that will come in handy when he is sneaking to her window to profess his love. :)

I think the cut finger was more of a message than anything. Poor kid... all he did was fall in love.

There were two clear favorites among the gifts.

Again, Steve, Christi and Mary found him something he loves. He was so excited, he hugged the gift.



Then, the last gift he opened has been played with by all three boys nonstop since we got it.



If you are having problems with imaginary deer, hogs, and coyotes roaming your house, let me know. Fisher and Barrett get 'em every time.



Thank you to everyone who made Barrett's day special!

Our Florida Trip (three weeks ago!)

We had so much fun on our trip to Florida for Papa and Mary's wedding.

Barrett was so excited when we told him we would be flying on a plane, but it wasn't Barrett who was thrilled to see all the planes, it was Fisher.





"Pane, pane, pane," is all we heard while we waited.


Barrett was just ready to get the beach and see the dolphins, fish, and turtles.





We couldn't convince him that we probably wouldn't see the sea turtles.

We didn't get to Captiva until right before dark, but we stopped at Papa's beach house and ran to see the beach. Barrett seemed a little disappointed, but we assured him it would be more exciting in the morning when he could see the waves.

We then drove across the street to the house Papa rented for us to share with my sister and her family. Barrett and Fisher were thrilled to see their cousins when we got there. While "we" unpacked (I unpacked clothes and stuff & Doug unpacked his fishing junk and went straight to the dock at our house), all the little boys relaxed while watching the Olympics.

As you can tell, Fisher really likes my nephew, Tyler.

The following morning, Fisher was up well before anyone else, so Doug and I were playing with him in the living room. He was obsessed with the crazy little windows that overlooked the pool.

They were really weird, but the owners of the house were pretty proud that the house had been in Architectural Digest. Since the windows were the only really different thing about the house, I guess they were special.

Each day, Mary sent over little gifts for the boys to help keep them entertained. (Apparently, the beach, bay, two pools, two dogs, fishing, and people to play with might not have been enough!) The first day's gifts included something Barrett, "NEEDED!"

He was so happy to have some "gaggles" that fit him. Even Fisher had a pair.

While we were all getting ready to head to the beach, Fisher amused himself in his other obsession of the week, the cabinet...

Once we organized ourselves, we headed over to Papa's house to play at the beach.

Barrett didn't like the waves or the seaweed,

and Fisher HATED the sand.

Needless to say, the beach lasted about 10 minutes before we headed to Papa's pool.

Barrett had so much fun swimming by himself with his life jacket on. He would jump in, swim to the side, and jump back in over and over again.

Fisher was just happy to wash all the sand off of him and be held.

My cousin, Jeff, flew in with his parents. He was going to stay at Dad's house, but decided to stay with us instead. We are so glad he did. Barrett and Fisher both loved him and he was a huge help.

Fisher thought he was so big riding on Jeff's shoulders.

Barrett just wanted to do whatever Jeff, or "that big boy Jeff" as Barrett called him, was doing.

This is just a great shot of Fisher's pretty smile. Hopefully, he'll our grow this look.

That next day was the wedding. I didn't take any pictures because there was a photographer. The only picture I have is one of us before we left for the beach wedding.

The day after the wedding, Tyler and I went parasailing. This is us...

We had so much fun. I never get to just hang out with Tyler anymore, so it was fun to have him all to myself for a while. We literally hung out! We also convinced Papa and Mary to go to. Papa wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but he claims he enjoyed it.

Later that afternoon, we again spent all our time swimming and playing. Fisher wouldn't leave Tyler alone, so Tyler was a great sport and entertained him. He even taught him to show his muscles.

While Fisher was working on poses, Barrett was mastering his jumping techniques. Maybe it was watching too much Olympic gymnastics and diving, but he seems to be pointing his toes?

Because we weren't able to have the complete ceremony the night of the wedding (let's just say the weather didn't cooperate!), we decided to do the shell throwing part the next night.

Barrett's part in the wedding was to hand out shells to everyone.

After each person had one, we were to go to the edge of the water and say a prayer for people that weren't with us. After we prayed, we threw them into the ocean. Well, everyone but Fisher. He clung to his like it was his life source.

Barrett was very excited to throw his in the water.

After the shell toss, we all just hung out on the beach playing in the water and sand. Quite a few of us were hunting for shells. Apparently, Captiva is the shelling capital of the world? It seemed like we really were just pulling pennies out of a fountain since we all just tossed shells out that we were then finding.

The best part of that night was that Barrett got over his fear of the ocean. He was having so much fun playing in the water, jumping waves with Daddy, and making things in the sand.

Fisher, on the other hand, was still not a fan of the beach. He was happy to just sit on a mat with my Aunt Jeanne and hold his shell.

That night, Fisher was all about Tyler again. He didn't really care what they did as long as Tyler was touching him. It didn't take Tyler long to figure out he could play his games and amuse Fisher at the same time.

Our last day there, Doug went fishing with a guide, and the boys and I swam.

**Doug has fished for his entire life, but he caught something he's never caught before, a bird. I always worry if I cast near a bird, and Doug always tells me there is no way I would hook one. Well, he was wrong. He hooked one in the neck, and reeled it in. He was happy to hand the pole to the guide and let him deal with that catch!

The highlight was Barrett swam without his life jacket! By the time he swam all morning, he was able to swim pretty far without any help.

Later that afternoon, Austin and Barrett were swimming for gold in their own Olympics. Daddy would say,

"On your mark, get set, shake your booty,

take a deep breath,

go!"

Barrett would jump in and swim to Doug. Doug would then help him across the pool, and Barrett would swim the last 6 feet on his own and climb out. He was such a big boy!

The only real problem was that Fisher would walk to the side of the pool, say go, and step in.

We had such a great week, but we were exhausted when we returned. Thanks Papa and Mary for a great "bay-K-shun!"

Wow, Life's Been Hectic

Here's what's been going on:

• Barrett had an ear infection and didn't sleep for a week
• We went to Florida , on a plane, Fisher was a "lap" child
• Barrett learned to swim without a life jacket
• Fisher learned to walk into a pool without a life jacket
• Fisher learned to wear a life jacket
• Barrett turned 3
• Fisher turned 18 months old
• I worked my 20 hours from last week and this week's 20 hours in 4 days.
• We had our Back to School Rally last night at church. All I can say is that Keith Coast is a great entertainer and an awesome person to host.
• Barrett's birthday party is today at 2:30.
• Tonight is a benefit for our friend, Kim Dennison, to help with medical costs.
• Tomorrow is the busiest day for my job with all kids being promoted to their new classes.
• Tomorrow at noon, my life slows down A LOT.

So, now you know why I haven't blogged.

I'll give more details about Florida and Barrett's birthday soon!

Who's Your Daddy?

This morning, I was trying to get a few things done before Fisher woke up. Barrett was happy to just follow me around and talk. When he finally realized that I wasn't really listening, he decided to sing some songs.

He went through the usuals, Hey Good Looking, Baby Bumble Bee, Old Man Noah, Jesus Loves Me, and ABCs, and then he started one I hadn't heard before...

"Sneaky snake, sneaky snake, drinks root beer in the afternoon."

Huh?

So, I asked him who taught him that, and this was his response, "My dad, not Drott, Douglas."

I'm not sure when we have ever implied that Drott, our neighbor, is his dad, but apparently he felt the need to clarify it for me.

What a way to start the day.

Eye Wear

The boys seem to be obsessed lately with glasses.

Fisher has broken TWO pairs of my glasses. He broke my good ones, and then while I was wearing my old ones as the others were being fixed, he broke those too.

A friend of mine told me to not put them where he could reach them. Unfortunately, they were on my face both times he got them. I have yet to find a way to keep him completely away from my face. Now, I just wear contacts from before he gets up until after he goes asleep. So far, my glasses have survived.

Barrett always "needs" his sunglasses in the car, and he freaks out if he can't find them. Typically, he doesn't need them for more than a few minutes. He now thinks his glasses need to be in the holder that is in the car where I used to put my sunglasses...

When I was on a weekend get-away a few weeks ago with the high school girls, I found some really cute, cheap kids sunglasses that were supposed to be for Barrett.

Fisher claimed them before Barrett had a chance.

He loved their special feature.

Two minutes after these pictures were taken, the glasses were broken.

This past weekend, I went on the leadership retreat for my MOPS group. It was wonderful, relaxing, and productive which I was not expecting! (Hoping for, yes, but not expecting.)

When I came home, I was exhausted from all the fun, but Barrett was worried about me getting him some "gaggles". He talked about them for a good 30 minutes. I told him we would discuss it in the morning.

Tuesday morning, I was given the full report.

Apparently, Barrett HAS to have goggles for our trip to Florida. Barrett's explanation went like this:

"Daddy said I need gaggles. I need gaggles to swim in the pool and the ocean. Daddy took me to Target, but they didn't have any that fit me. After Target, we ran (ran??) to HEB. HEB had gaggles, but they didn't fit either. Daddy kept trying them on me, but they hurt my nose. Then Daddy took me to Walmart, but they didn't have any gaggles at all. Now Daddy says you have to buy me gaggles that don't cover my nose for our bay-k-shen."

Daddy's version of the story:

"Barrett was swimming in the backyard, and Sydney came over with her goggles. She told Barrett he needs a pair. I told him to ask you."

I didn't really think Doug went power shopping for goggles.

Barrett has got quite the imagination!

Summer Fun?

Summer is more than half way over, and I really can't say we have done a whole lot.

My new "part time" job is pretty much keeping me busy on a more full time basis, but I am loving it. I especially love that I am with the preschoolers on the weekend, but I help with the various other children's stuff during the week. How many people can say that they are paid to do things like this...

Yep, I had 80 elementary age kids digging through giant bowls of ABC spaghetti-O's to write words. I know most people wouldn't see that as a good job, but it totally fits me.

The boys have been having a blast at their summer mother's day out, and while I am excited to start back at our church in September, I will miss all their great teachers they have right now.

Fisher continues to be a wild man. He pretty much has two modes: full speed or asleep.

The other day, Barrett begged me to buy a cupcake at the grocery store. He picked pink for himself and blue for Fisher. After Barrett ate a little of his icing, he was ready to give it to Fisher. The wild man didn't disappoint his brother, and Barrett was the one who told me that I had to get the camera.

Fisher is talking more and more. Unfortunately, he speaks a language that we don't know. Barrett claims to understand, but when the translation ends up being that Fisher wants Barrett to have skittles, I am pretty sure Barrett doesn't understand him either.

Barrett has grown up so much this summer. He is quite the little man, and if he would quit throwing fits throughout the day, he'd be really fun to be around all the time.

He is really into organizing things now, and I love it. He has "homes" for all his toys, and if something is in the wrong place, he is quick to correct it. I know it sounds like a wonderful thing, but he has had more than a few meltdowns when Fisher has decided to help pick up.

Barrett is also very excited about our upcoming "Bay-K-shun". We are headed to Florida in a couple weeks for Papa and Mary's wedding. I've tried to explain that to him, but he is focused on the beach, the pools, and his cousins. Although, he was super excited about the attire that Mary requested he wear. Here he is modeling the two options he has.

Notice the surfer hands that Katie, his babysitter/ swim teacher taught him. He thinks that it is really cool to do.

Other than that, Barrett is still singing "Hey, Good Looking" to most girls he sees, and he has become the ring tone on quite a few cell phones at church. :)

I wish I had more time to write, but I need to send out more recruiting emails. If you are wanting more updates and you go to my church, sign up to teach preschool Sunday school, and I'll have a lot more free time!