Ready Set Go... Take two...

Preparing to go...

The second egg hunt of the day was held in Wichita Falls at Lucy Park.
(We sat in the car until just before the hunt began due to the heavy winds). I know the weather was crazy to be out in but they had so much fun and I hated for them to miss out. Believe me I had a few other things I would have rather been doing but I knew how much the egg hunts meant to them. Plus seeing their smiles makes it all worth while.

Heading out...

Paxson went right up the Easter Bunny. He kept saying "hi bunny hi bunny" and Parker told him that he would see him next week when he brings eggs to his house.

Parker found a prize egg. He won a bubble bunny. :) Yeah

Paxson just kept saying "more more more more candy more more more".

It was a little difficult to watch them both as they ran to capture eggs. They were fast and quickly filled their baskets!

Mr. McGruff was there passing out cookie bags "say no to drugs". Paxson said "puppy come here puppy come here." Parker told him that he "met him a long long time ago at his mommy's old school." He also asked if he remembered him.

Ready Set Go...

Let it begin....

Parker waiting for the signal...

The Kiwanis club hosted an egg hunt in Henrietta at one of the parks. It was way way windy but we held strong, It was so worth it, Parker's comments "this is the bestest egg hunt ever thank you mommy for taking us" and Paxson's comments "balls, candy , yummy...more balls". We ended up with tons of candy 2 free blizzards and 7 free ice cream treats from Dairy Queen , and 2 quarters! I would say that was pretty good for our first hunt of the year. :) After the hunt we took all our eggs to daddy at work and opened them with him. Then we headed home for a short rest for Paxson. We still have a big day ahead of us! :)

Parker had a plan. He saw one egg that he really wanted so he planned a path to that particular egg. He picked up all the eggs in his path and of course a few others he pasted by on his way to his prize egg.

Paxson wanted to open each one as he picked it up. He quickly learned what was inside the brightly colored "balls".

My boy has gone girl crazy...

Today's discussion during our drive home from school...

Parker: "You know mom I am really going to marry Victoria."
Me: Oh you are?!?
Parker: "Yes because I am always very nice to her, I brought her flowers, I never say mean things to her and she will want to marry me."
Me: Well Parker remember it will be a long long long long long time before you are old enough to get married or even have girlfriends.
Parker: "Well I am going to be the wedding picker and I will pick Victoria."
Me: Okay well for now why don't you just have fun playing with her and your other friends and not worry so much about marrying her."
Parker: "Mom....I want to marry a good girl and Victoria is a good girl, you know there aren't very many left and I might not meet any more."
Me: What...there aren't very many of what left?
Parker: "Good girls"
Me: What do you mean?
Parker: "She blows sugars at me and she plays chase with me and she is pretty."
Me: Okay
Parker: "I told you there aren't many left?"
Me: Why are you saying that?
Parker: "Daddy said he wants me to marry a good girl like you and there aren't many out there."
Me: yes...
Parker: "Victoria is fun and nice and pretty just like you so I should marry her."
Me: Okay Parker well just have fun with all your friends.


This is one of many many discussions about Victoria.

Little boys and guns...

This is one of the 3 tubs of "weapons" we have in our home as well as two trunks full of dart guns!

Well I have to admit I am one of "those" parents. You know the kind that say "my child will never..." I was always very careful about the things I shared before being inducted into parenthood. I knew that the second you said my child will never..........well your confidence and arrogance just insured that your chances greatly increased that your child will full force do whatever it is that you so dreaded. Are you curious yet??????

I am guilty of saying................ My child won't have guns or get into that kind of play. Guns hurt people. LOL LOL LOL LOL Unless you are privileged enough to raise one of God's little warriors then it is difficult for you to totally comprehend and appreciate all that little boys entail. I quickly learned that it doesn't matter how you shelter or safeguard you little boys. They will make weapons out of anything. They are drawn to danger and have a craving for rescuing and protecting. It's their inner desire to fight evil. After all that is what God created men to be. His intentions were for men to be strong, courageous, protectors, and providers. So here I am today with ample guns, swords, light sabors, laser guns, bow n arrows, and dart guns helping Park and Pax fight bad guys. (I believe there is certainly a line to be drawn about weapons and I do believe that children must learn bout the dangers of real weapons, but for now role playing and fighting bad guys is a big deal in our household.) So I am pretty much saying I told you so to myself. Yet this I told you so doesn't seem to be so bad. I take it as a compliment when Parker tells me I am an "awesome ninja or really great at fighting bad guys." I do cherish these sweet words because I know they will soon only be memories.

Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

An oldie but oh so good!

Day 3...

Rainbow Cupcakes

I divided the batter into 6 different colors and the boys poured a spoonful of each color into the cups. I meant to use big baking cups and totally forgot. The turned out looking a little like mushrooms. But still fun!

We started the day with green milk in our cereal. At lunch our juice and water turned green. Dinner was celebrated with various green foods. We also made rainbow cupcakes with big fluffly white clouds. To fun..to cute...to yummy!

A Special Lady...

As I sat down to write this post..my mind keep wandering back to the words of a dear friend. Well friend really isn't a very sufficient title. She is so much more than friend. She was Parker's preschool teacher when he was 2 and I have been given the opportunity to get to know her personally over the past few years. She is a devout non-judgemental Christan (I say non-judgemental Christian because I have met many Christians in my life that have yet to learn how sad judging others makes our Father), she is an amazing listener, she is passionate about young children, and nature is her thing. I knew from the very first time I visited with her that God had placed her into our lives for many reasons. Her ability to pray, listen, and act is quite powerful. Recently she has made a big life decision about her occupation. She will be resigning from teaching kindergarten at the end of this year. From there she really isn't sure where she is going. She is praying and listening. She made some comments about money that were provoking. She said she really doesn't want any more money. I honestly believe her. She is right that money and things are society expectations. There are times that I literally hate money. I don't want to be dependent on material things and I get frustrated with myself when I am. Why does society place such an importance on "things" rather than people? How did we all get so far out of touch? When did owning a big tv, fancy car, or huge house become more important than helping others, having conversations, praying together, enjoying nature and simply just living. After all what really matters!!! In the last few years we have made some major changes in our life. Through these changes although hard at times we have gotten closer to who we want to be. Thanks Brooke for reminding me what matters. Everybody needs a "Brooke" in their lives.

Day 2...

Double Chocolate Brownie Cake with Dark Chocolate Frosting and Strawberries
I used the new Starbucks dark chocolate baking chips. yum yum

Casey had a friend coming to visit so I prepared a yummy dessert. I'm sending the left overs to work with Casey I don't want to end up eating it all and I know I will. :)

Day 1....Let the baking begin...

Guess what we are up to this week...

We made green rice krispie treats and used shamrock cookie cutters to shape them. They turned out very cute.

I hated the thought of wasting the cut out pieces so I shaped the left over pieces into balls. I thought they also turned out pretty cute. We are off to share with neighbors. Check back for tomorrows post. We are trying out a few new recipes for St. Patty's Day.

A Day out with Thomas

When I heard that Thomas the Tank Engine was going to be in Grapvine. I knew we had to go. We called Gigi and asked if she wanted to drive down and go with us (I was a little concerned going taking both of them by myself to such a big event. ) Gigi was in and headed our way. Saturday morning we ventured out and headed for Grapevine. It was a wonderful day full of adventures. I love these kind of days!

Paxson digs funnel cakes!!!!!!!

1st funnel cake (Parker has had bites before but must not have remembered how delicious they are!!!!!)

They both were hands on with it!

Visiting the Blacksmith. Parker even made a spark. :)

They both enjoyed taking a break playing in the sand box. It was a nice big box with several trucks, shovels, and various other sand toys. At one point the sand box became very crowed with little kids. One little girl (with her mother right next to her) came up and took Paxson's truck. His reaction was to cry. My reaction was to go get my sons toys back!!! The mother acted like she didn't realize...huh... How could she not have realized he was playing with it. I realized that Mamma Cub needed to come out and protect her baby cubs. I jumped in the sandbox (not caring that I was the only adult in the sand box) and sat right next to Park and Pax guarding their possession's. It's funny how that trait becomes ever so present when you feel your children need help defending themselves. However, Parker and Paxson didn't seem bothered by the crowded sandbox they enjoyed playing and played for quite sometime.

We had lunch and watched the magic show. They both really enjoyed the show. I believe the video proved that!

Audience participation was fully supported by the Piper. They passed out musical instruments to all participants and formed conga lines dancing with their instruments. It was cute.

Paxson wanted to but wasn't really sure about the slide once he got up to the top. What do you think happened after he slid down the first time. :) It took great distraction techniques and a really cool sand box to get him to leave the slide.

The jump house and slide were a big hit. Plus it was free, unlimited, and well supervised (no cutting in lines) LOL

This is just after they received their Thomas tattoo.

Day of Planting...

It is wonderful to have so much already started. Now we just have to add our touches and in a few years it will all come together.

On Casey's day off we tackled a few small planting and transplanting projects around the yard.

Corndogs + Magic Shows = Laughter

A sneak peak into our wonderful adventurous day!

More to come........ (I promise!)

Really AWESOME....Not just regular AWESOME

Parker stayed home with Casey on his day off this past week for some Daddy time. They started with breakfast at Altana Bread Company then moved on for a little shopping. Parker explained that he needed some new shoes. He and daddy went to 5 different shoe stores looking for the right pair. Casey attempted to guide Parker towards, Jordans or Nikes while Parker had his mind set that he wanted Skechers. When did Skechers become so popular that a four year old wants/needs them?

Anyway he a daddy had pretty different ideas about the "right" shoes. I even recieved a phone call from Casey about the type of shoes Parker wanted. Finally Casey gave in Parker selected a pair of light up green Skechers. Casey said they had a hard time finding the right size. I guess I didn't explain clearly enough that he wears an 11 or 11 1/2. :)JK Well Paxson and I met them for lunch at Samurai. Parker showed off his new amazing pair of shoes. His pride and excitement could be seen for miles. I watched him walk around the resturant in them and noticed he was kind of limping. I asked him if they hurt and he said a little but that "they are still new so I just have to get used to them". I asked Casey what size they were. He said 10. :) Casey said that Parker told him the same thing about having to get used to them. I immediately new the problem. It took both of us thoroughly persuading him to take them off and put his old shoes back on. I understand his hesitaiton to take them off. I know what it feels like to love your shoes! I explained that we could look online when we got home and order whatever pair he wanted. We even discussed how many days it would take for them to arrive...how fun it would be for him to get the package in the mail and to open it. I finally found the shoes he wanted online but with shipping they were going to cost $12.50 extra. (Maybe that doesn't sound like much but I am not going to hand over $12.50 for shipping when the shoes were on $38.00) So I convinced him to go back to Academy return the ones he and daddy bought and look around town for new ones. Once we finally made it to Academy I looked in the bigger boy shoe section. He has moved on apparently. There they were the exact shoes he wanted! Perfect ending!!!!! He was ecstatic to say the least!!!!!!! Later that day we were going upstairs to lay down for a nap and I was watching him swagger up the stairs with such pleasure looking at his shoes. He looked up at me and said "mom these shoes are really really awesome not just regular awesome but really really awesome." Just thought you all might like to see what really really awesome shoes look like. :)



While they are lighting up

And this is why we did it...

The past two nights we have hosted the neighborhood "sword" adventures. I looked across the front yard and joyfully watched 6 little boys be "boys"! There are several little boys that live around us. They are slightly older but very very good with Park & Pax. They invited Parker and Paxson over to their houses and I explained that they have to stay in our front yard with us. So the boys one by one migrated to our yard to join in the swords, light sabers, and buzz guns extravaganza. I am perfectly fine with this being a daily activity.......their friends coming to our house to play! :)

I so wanted to snap a few pics the first evening but I was afraid I might come across as the "creepy mom". However when the festivities began the second night I couldn't resist.

Paxson hangs in there pretty well!!!

Small towns, small neighborhoods, knowing your neighbors....this is why we moved. :)

Pay it Forward...

It's been a little while since I have had this feeling. You know the feeling you get when someone completely unexpectedly does something so sweet, simple, and purely from the goodness of their heart! I am so grateful for these moments. God knew we needed extra thoughtful people on earth to help remind us of his love.

Today a friend I work with brought me a Diet Coke. You are probably thinking .....what is the big deal it's just a Diet Coke. This friend is someone I work with and usually see on a daily basis but we don't always visit. We aren't extremely close but we are friends. I believe that made the gesture mean even more to me.

Yesterday while I was getting water for the water table we were visiting and I was saying how good a Diet Coke sounded. She reminded me of the beverage machine in the Rec. Lobby but it is a Pepsi machine. I shared that I wasn't a big Pepsi fan that actually I would rather nothing if it had to be Diet Pepsi. She felt the same way. She is also a Coke fan. We talked about it a little more and had a very casual conversation. Well this morning at school I was visiting with another teacher in the office and she walked by and said I dropped off a Diet Coke for you in your room. You would have thought someone gave me a million dollars with the expression on my face. I explained that I wanted to bring a diet coke with my coffee this morning but all I had at home was a 1 liter so it didn't work out. I was so excited! I thanked her over and over again. I carried my Diet Coke around like a prized possession and shared the story with anyone willing to listen. As I sat and waited for my first parent conference I drank my special Diet Coke and thought more about how sweet it was of her to bring it. She previously shared that she preferred Coke rather than diet Coke so I began to wonder did she have the diet Coke at her house or did she make a special trip to pick it up. It made the delightful drink even more special. As I finished the diet coke I thought about how much the simple gesture meant to me and I thought about "paying it forward" to someone else. In between parent conferences I ran to Walgreen's to pick up a few things. As I was checking out I noticed that the trail mix I was buying was on sale $2/4. I grabbed another bag (I also had a coupon for $1 off 2 bags LOL). I remembered that my next parent coming for a conference shared how much she liked trail mix on FB one day. I eagerly anticipated her conference so I could "pay it forward". After our conference I handed her the bag and smiled and said just because. She smiled in return and thanked me. Her reaction showed that she was just a surprised and appreciative as I was. We talked about how much we liked trail mix and whether it was okay to snack on or not (fat and calorie content). As she left I felt the same happy feeling I felt when my generous friend brought me the diet coke. I honestly believe that was the best diet coke I have had in a very long time!

Thank you Connie for an amazing Diet Coke!!