Happy Birthday to Two Sweet 7 Year olds!

Our family is blessed to have two birthday parties to attend this time every year. One for our niece, C, and the other for one of the sweet Bird girls, A. They were born four days apart and this year, are turning seven! I cannot believe they are already such big girls, and I know my sister and CB cannot believe their little girls are getting so big either.

Our niece, C, is something special. She is the younger of my sister's two girls, and according to my mom, is very much like me. :) She has lots of energy and knows what she wants. She has a beautiful smile and is super creative. Hmmmm, maybe she does sound like me? LOL! Here is a picture of C from Halloween...I think this is one of my favorite pictures of her because it totally captures her personality. (She is dressed up as Belle from Beauty & the Beast in the Christmas Dress.)

A. Bird is the older of the Bird girls and is beyond sweet. She is so caring and thoughtful and tender. We have been so blessed to be around this sweet girl since she was born. In fact, she is so sweet and beautiful that my son, who is 3 1/2 years her junior. has said he wants to marry her! What can I say, he has good taste! I'd be happy for him to marry either one of those girls. (I know their daddy doesn't EVEN want to think about that yet though!!) Here is a picture of her at my baby shower in May. She was such a big helper that day and I was so glad she wanted to be there!

Next up, our big boy J turns FOUR...in just 3 weeks. Yikes, where does the time go????

Thanksgiving Program...and don't forget the FEAST!

Today, the hubby, baby and I went to J's preschool for his Thanksgiving Program & Feast (more on that feast in a second). After a cute slide show with sweet songs and pictures from the past couple of months, the kiddos got up to sing. We took video of the whole thing with our "real" video camera, but I also captured a snippet on my digital camera b/c it was too funny not to share. Note the one little dude who screamed the whole song. Luckily, J sang and stomped just like he was taught.



Here is J just before the performance began. Ever the ham...or right now I guess I should say turkey!

Being thankful for his food.

After the program in his classroom with baby brother. L was in awe of all the kiddos and of course, most of all, his big brother.

J and his best bud from preschool. Those two together are a MESS!

The hubby and I had to laugh though - the "feast" we were invited too was a plate of mini sandwich wraps (and not even enough for every parent there) and some trail mix. Oh, and some caprisun drinks. We were a bit mislead by the invitation, but that just meant we were able to have lunch together after leaving the preschool. (Sorry, but I am still a bottomless pit due to nursing. This mama can't survive on one mini turkey wrap alone!)

Despite that, I cannot say enough how impressed I am with this preschool, the teachers and the entire program. J has THRIVED at this school, and on several occasions, his teacher has told me how amazing it has been to see him come out of his shell and change since September. It has been a true blessing for all of us.

Proud of our Veterans (and my mom)

I think I mentioned in one of my previous blogs that my mom is now a member of the Alamo Chapter of the NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution). To become a member, you must prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution. It was a long, tedious process, but mom got all the necessary documents in order. Now she is an active member, and very involved in many projects of her chapter, including participating in Veteran's Day activities.

Below is a picture of a poster she made to take to my hometown elementary school on Veteran's Day. The poster has pictures of the special veteran's in her life representing different time periods and different wars. The top row, from left to right, includes pictures of my Popi (mom's dad), my Papa Scott (my great-grandfather & mom's grandfather), and my dad - he was such a cutie! The bottom row includes Sean (see post below) and Jimmy, Jill's husband who will be deploying for a year in January of 2009. The middle picture is of the ship that my Papa Scott came home on from France in 1919. He was actually in France when the armistice treaty was signed on November 11, 1918 ending WWI. Pretty neat history there, and very cool that my Grandma still has that postcard with the picture of the ship on it.


Here is a picture of mom speaking to a group of the elementary students. I think it's a great picture - the kids look so proud to be holding their little flags that mom passed out to them. It is so important for our kiddos to learn about the sacrifice of ALL of our service men and women, both past and present. Let's face it, the media doesn't paint the best picture of soldiers, so if we don't teach them to be proud of our men and women in uniform, who will?

Remembering

I remember November 13, 2004 so well. I remember exactly what I was doing that day. It was a Saturday and I was home being VERY pregnant. I was about 4 weeks from my due date, and the hubby had gone to the Aggie game that day in CS. I did not make the trip due to being so uncomfortable and close to delivery. I was sort of listening to the game, cleaning around the house and surfing the Internet for baby stuff. It was later in the evening and hubby was on his way home. I decided to check my email one last time before assuming my position on the couch. I was so unaware of what I was about to read.

I was excited to see an email from Heidi. She had been emailing me more recently to let me know how she and Colin were doing in Germany, and also to keep us updated on Sean. He was in Iraq and she had recently let me know he was in one of the more dangerous places. As soon as I opened that email, my heart stopped. I had to reread it several times before it sunk in. It was so difficult to comprehend. I couldn't wrap my mind and heart around it. Sean was gone? He had been KIA? That didn't make any sense.

Today, four years later, on the anniversary of his death, it still doesn't make any sense. Sean was a great man, a wonderful husband and had just begun on his journey of being an amazing daddy. We think of him often and still miss him. And today, we send out extra special hugs and prayers to Heidi. We pray for her often, but today, I want her to know we all love her and Colin and will never forget her brave, selfless husband. xoxoxoxo

Win or Lose, It Was a Great Day

We took the boys to CS on Saturday to see our beloved Aggies play. Well, see them try to play. Poor guys. It was a frustrating game to sit through, but the weather was PERFECT and J could have cared less who was scoring the touchdowns. He was up clapping and yelling, even when OU scored he still optimistically declared that the Aggies just "tackled the Oklahomas!" Yeah, we sure did, just about 50 yards too late. :P

J was so excited, even before we hit the CS city limits. Here he is "getting ready" for the game, listening to the Aggie War Hymn on Daddy's phone.



Since this was L's very first trip to Aggieland, we took him to the MSC for a picture in the flag room. This was followed by some fine dining in the MSC Cafe. (That became a tradition for me when I was in college. Heidi and I would meet mom and dad before games sometimes at the MSC. Hey, it was a free meal! :)
After the game, we have a new tradition - going onto the field so J can play football. It is worth sitting through a blowout to see our future football player so happy and blissful. Here he is posing just like a real football player - And playing football with Daddy. I have some priceless video of Big J taking Daddy down. LOL!We cannot forget about our newest future Aggie. He loves being outdoors, and even though it was getting late, L still had smiles for the camera.

Shots, Rice Cereal & Doctors, Oh My!

Today was L's four month well-check. Dr. H was so happy with how he is growing & developing. Here are his latest stats:

Weight: 16lbs 13ozs (75-90%)
Height: 25 1/2 inches (75%)
Head: ummm, can't remember the measurement but it's 75-90%!

Still smiling, even after getting two shots today.



Despite the fact that he is still a roly-poly, he did come down in the growth chart a bit from his 2 month check. Dr. H said he bets he will fall into the 50-75% for both weight and height by 6 months. Fine by me! This boy is starting to become very heavy in that infant carseat. Of course, he'll probably be out of it by 6 or 7 months!

Little L also tried rice cereal for the first time today. I made it very liquidy, just like the instructions say to for his first feeding. I think he wanted more of a challenge. I added a bit more and he did great. He didn't want all of it, but for a first attempt, I call it a success. The three pictures below were taken by big brother b/c daddy wasn't home from work yet. Quite a little photographer, isn't he?

Sidenote: I have been planning on trying cereal this week, but didn't think about where the poor baby would sit to eat! Thank goodness for the Bumbo. I must get daddy to put that highchair together.

My Three Sweet Boys

I must brag. I have the sweetest boys. Including my husband. :) They gave me a "party" last night to celebrate my birthday. The hubs cooked a yummy dinner, J serenaded me, singing "Happy Birthday to Mommy" while playing his ukulele (which we got on video...it's priceless), and they finished the evening with presents and little mini-bundt cakes with cream cheese icing (from NothingBundtCake...soooooo good!). It was perfect!

Today, the boys have continued to make me smile. After getting home from my Mom2Mom Bible class, we were playing on the floor, when the boys started "monkeying" around. Little brother is already trying to do what his big brother does...

Halloween...a little late

So I know I'm behind but I just can't seem to stay well longer than about 5 days in a row! I knew last week wasn't going to be my week when I woke up early Wednesday morning with HIVES! Then, on Saturday, I got the crude again. Yucky sinus junk. Ugh. I am SOOOOO ready to not be sick.

Luckily, I'm on the upswing today and know I need to post Halloween pictures of our little guys. J was so excited to dress up like Indiana Jones. Granted, he's never seen one of the movies, but the movie previews sure got his attention, as did the theme song. And what better animal for our L to be than a lion?

L was a good sport with his lion's hood, but was much happier with it off.This is the 3rd year we've trick or treated with the Bird family. A was a woodland fairy and EK was Little Red Riding Hood. Aren't they a cute bunch?
Our trick or treaters in action. J came home with WAY too much candy. Good thing Daddy and I can help him out with that problem!!!

Happy Four Months!

Another month has come and gone. My baby is getting bigger. And so much fun! L was four months old yesterday, and continues to be a happy, smiling, giggling little boy. We have had some big things happening lately -

• L is now sleeping in his own crib! YAY! I knew from the beginning I wanted to keep him in his cradle next to our bed for the first 4 months. Well, this past week, I decided it was time as he seemed to be getting cramped in his cradle. He likes to move when he sleeps. So off to the crib we went. He did great! Now if I could just get him to sleep all the way through the night...soon. I can feel it.


• He has already flipped from his tummy to his back and is now trying to flip from his back to his tummy. I think he can do it b/c he tends to roll right onto this side to sleep at night with no trouble. I just think he dislikes being on his tummy so he doesn't go all the way over.


• He is making all kinds of sounds. I even think I heard him say MOM! LOL! Probably my imagination, but he IS making the "mmmm" sound. And he likes to laugh. Big brother is good at getting him to laugh a lot lately.


• When he "talks" it's not quiet. He tends to be very loud, and much of his talking turns into squeals. I think he knows in order to be heard around here, he's going to have to be loud.

We go for his 4 month check-up on Thursday. I dread him getting shots, but can't wait to see how he is measuring. Then probably on Friday, we will start rice cereal. YAY! And on Saturday, he is making his first trip to Aggieland for his first football game with the family. Lots of excitement ahead.

Here is this month's picture with his squishy bear - he seriously loves to smile!