Great day for hunting

Today was a beautiful day! The forecast was 76 degrees and sunny. Our Mondays are usually very low key. My mom is awesome and she takes Colton to school on Monday mornings so there is no real need for Cooper, Carter and I to go anywhere. We stayed around here and just relaxed. Cooper got dressed and headed outside to play and enjoy this warm and wonderful day. He decked himself out in his camo gear, grabbed his toy gun and headed out to the backyard. I watched him spend most of his time in the brush "hunting." He sure is his father's son. =) He looked so cute, I had to go snap a few photos of him.

Cooper and Sparky

My little hunter =)



Can you see him?

A little side note: Cooper had a fudgesicle after his lunch and let's just say it was all over his face. When I told him his face was pretty messy he said with a big grin,  "It's my camouflage."  He sure keeps me smiling!

Date Night

Cody and I got to have a long overdue date night last night. We went to the annual Blue Ribbon Gala. It benefits the local Junior Livestock Show. I always look forward to it because I know there will be good food, good music and great company. We got to hang out with some of our closest friends and catch up with some of the friends we don't get to see very often. It was so much fun to spend time laughing with my amigas and dancing with my hubby!

My handsome hubby and I

Misti and April~~ two of my oldest and best friends

My bestie Lynn and I

Saturday's game

Colton had his second basketball game yesterday and the Sharks played really good. Colton did a great job hustling again. He still played defense on both ends of the court but not as much as last week. I have to show you who he was matched up to guard this week. This boy was TALL!

At one point Colton looked at us and mouthed , "I can't see, he is too tall." It was too cute. He did stick with him though and his star award for this week was red for "Defense."  Go CoLtOn!!

Being silly and having fun on the bench.



The "good game" high fives=)



Five Question Friday

 I thought I would do something different and fun this Friday and I decided to play along with Five Question Friday.

1. If you had $1,000 to donate to a charity, which would you choose?

 I think I would donate it to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. One of my greatest fears is that one of my children would get something terrible like cancer.  St. Jude's seems like a great place for parents to go with their children for the care and help they need. Oh how I pray I never need to turn to them!

2. Snow days: Do you welcome them happily or are they a pain in your butt?
I would WELCOME a snow day! My boys always talk about doing snow angels and having a snowball fight. I would love to have pictures of  them all bundled up playing in the snow or posed next to a snowman we built together. Unfortunately,  in our warm and wonderful state of Texas, we will probably never have a snow day.

This is Cooper catching a snow flake on his tongue on the closest thing to a snow day we have had around here. It did not accumulate, school went on as scheduled and I don't think Cooper caught much on his tongue. But you can see a  little bit on the roof. =)

3. What talent did you wish you had and why?
I would love to be able to sing. You know~~ where people would enjoy hearing it. I don't think I would be trying out for American Idol (though I do love the show)  but I would love to sing well at church or for my family. Good thing my boys love my voice no matter what it sounds like. ;)

4. Are you a news, politics or celebrity gossip junkie?
I hate to admit it but I very rarely, if ever, watch the news. I get all the important stuff from my hubby a little later than I should. BUT I do look forward to my most recent People magazine showing up in the mail each week and I love shows like E! News.

5. What is your favorite "cocktail"? (Are you a beer person, a kiddie cocktail junkie, or perhaps your more the "Cosmo" kind?! Anything flies...doesn't hafta be alcoholic!)
My first cocktail choices would be nonalcoholic...Sweet Tea, a good ol' Dr. Pepper or a cranberry-vanilla Coke from Sonic (sounds weird but it is good.)
I rarely drink alcohol. I always feel better being the Designated Driver. If  I do have a drink, I like fruity and frozen~like a strawberry Margarita.

Sweet Sickie

I hate when my kiddos are sick. It is miserable when you can't "make it all better" with a band aid and a kiss. That sure breaks a Mama's heart. My Cooper was sick today. He got some sort of yucky, coming from all angles(if you know what I mean) kind of stomach bug. He is such a little trooper though. Never cried or complained just wanted to lay on the couch and have me close by. (Which I am always happy to oblige.) His jammies were his outfit of choice today so that is what he hung out in. I have to say tummy bug or no tummy bug he is pretty darn cute. ;)

He managed to give me a little grin.

He did perk up for about an hour in the afternoon and was ravenous. His menu choices were crackers, apples, Gatorade, toast and well, more crackers. He ate a decent amount and shortly there after was back in the horizontal position on the couch. Luckily, everything stayed down but he was pretty puny the rest of the day and evening. 

Poor baby with those sick little eyes

Cody and Colton went on to church and me and my two littlest boys hung out here. I am sending up a small prayer that my sweet little sickie is better tomorrow and that no one else catches this bug. Did I mention that I hate when my kids are sick?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am linking with Jaime again for What I am Loving Wednesday...

I am absolutely LOVING my new blog design!! I love the colors and patterns so much! Pretty cute huh?  It was done by Leslie and she did awesome! She was so easy to work with and she works fast too. My SIL Hillary also got a new look and it turned out awesome as well. So I am loving hers too. =)

This Wednesday I am also loving my "Mommy of 3" hoody sweatshirt. I ordered it last winter and got it to be big and comfy! It gets lots of wear in the winter. I ordered  from Demi Bella online.

Something else I am loving are these Dove Miniatures Ice cream bars. They are sooo good and only 70 calories per bar. They are not big but they definitely satisfy my sweet tooth. They are a must have in my freezer!! 

My new placemats are something else I thought I'd share this week. I have been looking for some new ones and I really prefer something pretty simple. I had a hard time finding some but finally of all places, I found these at Wal-Mart for only $2.00 a piece. The price is a LOVE. I would say the placemats are a strong like. ;)

 One last thing I am loving this Wednesday is my mantel updated with my newest pictures of my little men!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

Basketball begins

We signed Colton up for basketball this year and his team-the Sharks- had their first game on Saturday. Colton did really good, especially being that he has never played basketball other than on our driveway and on the playground. He was ALL defense and I do mean all. =)  Bless his heart, he was guarding his guy even when he should have been trying to get open so he could get the ball. We told him before the game that the most important things were to do your best and have fun, nothing else mattered. He did exactly that. My boy hustled and says he had a great time. We were very proud of him!! By the end of the game, the whole team was really getting the hang of it. They did great! I have to tell you that I love this league-Upward. It is a christian based organization. Everyone plays, the teams are balanced and each kid gets equal playing time. Each week the kids are given a bible verse to memorize and if they do it they get a green star for their jersey. Also, at the end of each game, the coaches give out a star for several different award categories...effort, defense, sportsmanship, offense and Christlikeness. Colton received a white star for Christlikeness. Right away he told me, "I got the best award." (It is certainly the one that is most important in life.) They prayed as a team before we left the gym. I love to see that...a group of 7 and 8 year old boys with their head bowed in prayer. Oh and at halftime, a woman shared a short and relevant story from the bible. Just Awesome!!

Praying...love it!!

Colton is so lucky that his grandparents want to cheer him on in everything he does.
Omi (Opi had to miss this one), Papa & Mammy

Colton and his two biggest fans!!

So proud of our bball player!



When we found out the team name was Sharks, Cooper got our swimming mask and said he would have to wear it to the games. This boy...Precious!!!

Compassion

Our family sponsors a child through Compassion International. I love this organization! Their motto is "Releasing children from poverty through Jesus' Name." That is pretty awesome! The child we sponsor is 9 and his name is Juan Carlos. We always get excited when we get a letter from him. Recently we received two letters in one day. The first one was from Juan. The second was from his mom. It touched me so deeply to hear from her. She thanked us in her letter saying that the family Christmas gift we sent had come at just the right time since her husband had lost his job. I can only imagine what her struggles are.... How it must feel as a mom to need this help to provide the basic necessities for her children(they have 4, we only sponsor one). I can imagine the relief she must feel to know she will be getting that help each month. Compassion also sent a recent picture of her and Juan. I love the lesson we are teaching our boys with this wonderful organization. We usually have Colton read the letters to us(which have been translated for us)and we are a captive audience. It always leads us to great conversations about how fortunate we are and how good it feels to be helping Juan Carlos and his family. Juan always writes about his pets, his siblings and how he loves to play soccer. He also draws and colors cute pictures that come with his letters. These things makes him so relatable to my boys. My hope is that this small thing we do as a family will help teach my children to be compassionate in their lives. I am so glad there are organizations like Compassion out there!

Juan Carlos and his mom=)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Since I love the idea-I decided to link up with Jaime again for What I am loving Wednesday.  Here goes:

This song "That's Important to Me" is my new favorite. I love the lyrics and the fact that the artists are a couple in real life. The line I am loving the most says this... "Havin' somebody to share my life, lovin' my husband and being a wife and the very best mother I can be...that's important to me." If you have a few minutes watch the video, it is very sweet. (I am not loving the overalls though. Yikes!)

 
I am also loving these slippers.Who doesn't love a little bling to go with their comfy pajama pants?  They are by Yellow Box...my favorite brand of fun and blingy flip flops.

I have been wearing mine a lot lately so I chose not to take a picture of my not so fresh looking pair.

The thing I am loving the most is my baby's hair. It is strawberry blond(more red here lately), curly, crazy and perfect! It is the kind of hair you just have to run your fingers through...I LOVE IT! A friend of mine referred to it as "McDreamy" hair. If you are a Grey's Anatomy fan, you know that is a good thing. =) I kid you not when I tell you that no matter where we go, at least one random stranger will comment on his hair.

I mean really--could he get any cuter?

Monday Funday

 There was no school today...YAY!! I love being able to sleep in and take our time getting moving, especially on a Monday. Once we got going, we used the day off to try out a new place in town, The Jumpy Place. It was so much fun and it was a great set up for all ages. There were big bouncy houses and slides around the walls, cute playhouses and toddler toys in the middle, snacks and comfy couches. (Not that I can sit down when I am chasing an 18 month old) One of the best parts was that we could order pizza and have it delivered or you can even bring your own food in. We were able to take a break and eat some pizza and they were energized to go again. Carter was running everywhere. When he would get to the big kid stuff, Colton would help him out. He would help him get in and out of the slides and go down with him.Such a great big brother. Cooper would join in and play with them too. All three of my boys loved every minute and wore themselves out. We will definitely be going back soon!

Cooper being silly on his way down the slide

Their cousin/one of their favorite people Graham was there to play with them

Colton kept gettimg up on the top of stuff.

One last picture before we left. Carter was ready to go.

Party Pics

Colton's birthday started with a candle in his chocolate chip pancakes and being sang to at breakfast. He opened a few small gifts from us and we headed to his party.











He wanted to have his party at Laser Legend. This place is the perfect spot for an 8 year old to celebrate! The kids started off with video games, then played a game of laser tag, ate pizza, then played another game of Laser tag, ate birthday cake and then played more games. It was a huge success and so much fun !

Our family of five



The kids fixing to get their gear on and play laser tag!



 

 



Carter was so funny. He loved pretending to drive.

Colton had a great turnout! His amazing GRANDparents... 













 his 2 brothers,

5 cousins, (only Luke isn't pictured. Sorry Lukey)

 

and 6 good friends made it to the party.

Not to mention his great grandmother, aunts and uncles. ( Sorry, no pictures of them either.) He was on cloud nine! (Oh my gosh, next year he will be nine- that sounds really old! Oh wait-- I have a year to dwell on that.) We left the party and headed home to open presents. He got some great stuff and he loved it all!

That evening we took him to see Gulliver's Travels and just spent time together! We had such a great full day celebrating our birthday boy!