How Boys Play Dress Up

Oh, you didn't think boys could play dress up?  Well, these boys know how to have fun and dressing up and pretending is one of their favorite activities.  Evan usually goes for his favorite cowboy attire, and Brody has really been loving his bling bling lately.   Brody raided the drawer and found these crazy mardi gras beads from Evan's preschool "bling" day.  Mommy added the pirate hat, shirt, and eye patch. We had a pretty lazy weekend so both boys stayed in their pajamas a lot.  I apologize now that you may get cuteness overload here!

It's baby bling bling pirate!

The eye patch really made the look. 

"What are you looking at?  Argh!"

Cowboy and Pirate brothers

I think I could just eat this pirate up!

Look out, he's got a gun!

Reminds me of this little pirate:

Evan ~ 2 years old

Or this little cowboy:

Evan ~ Almost 3 years

Sometimes and Always #8

It's Tuesday again.  *Sigh*  Why is my life passing me by?  I'm linking up again with Megan over at Mackey Madness to share my sometimes and always because it really does make Tuesdays better.  Hope you all are having a great Tuesday!

Sometimes - I feel like I am in a rut at work and wonder if it is all worth it.  I have so many things I have to do to finish up my last year of law school, and work is just not helping give me the time to get it all done.  *Sigh*

Always - I would rather be at home playing with my sweet babies than doing any of this other junk that is just wasting my time.  I mean, I know what is really important in life and this is it...

Sometimes - I really enjoy getting to see old friends I haven't seen in a long time.

Always - It makes me sad to see how much time has passed since the last time we were together.


Sometimes - I really love watching Team USA win the gold in the Olympics.

Always - I am actually okay when one of our athletes doesn't win because she has a bad attitude because she obviously messed up and didn't deserve it!

Seriously, Makayla, you needed a reality check.  I am truly sorry you fell on your butt doing your very difficult vault, but you really acted like a sore loser!  Cheer up!  You're young and have a long life ahead of you.  As my mama always said, "You'll get glad in the same drawers you got mad in."  Hehe!

This girl, Gabby Douglas, was a real winner.  Even though she didn't win a medal last night for her uneven bars routine, she had that winning spirit we all know and love!  So proud of her!

What I'm Lovin' Monday #6

Well, this lovely Monday is almost gone, and I can't say that I am not glad.  It has just been one of those days.  But in the spirit of keeping these happy, I will try to find a few things to love on this crazy Monday.

Loving coming home to the sweetest boys in the world after a long day at work!

Loving finally turning in my final paper for this crazy summer class.  It is over, folks!  I didn't meet the minimum page limit, but I don't even care right now.  I am brain dead!

Loving reading all of your sweet blog posts that just make me smile on a not so great day!  Ya'll know ya'll rock!

Loving that my sweet little man likes to color me sweet pictures like this!

Loving this sweet backpack that I have just got to buy my little man for his first year in big school.  He didn't need a backpack for preschool because they gave him a special bag so I really want him to have a special one that he will love!

Yes, he wants Spiderman!  

Loving that it is finally bedtime!  Goodnight, folks!

Backyard Fun

I have really missed playing outside this summer, but it seems like it has either been too hot, raining, or the mosquitoes are so bad they'll eat you alive.  The weather last weekend seemed slightly more comfortable so we decided to chance it and try for a little backyard play time.  Everything was going great, and we were having fun playing ball, swinging, and sliding...until Mommy sees the first mosquito land on Brody's little face. Well, at least we got these sweet photos before we called it quits.

A boy and his ball

I love this!  He is walking very well but still doesn't have a lot of confidence about walking around outside in shoes. 

Just wanting someone to play ball with.

So sweet!

Why so sad? 

A little red-breasted robin came to play.

Searching for food for her babies.

Happy baby in the swings!

He loves the wind blowing through his hair!

Big boy.  He recently learned to walk in flip flops and is so proud of them.

Just swinging.

An All-American Boy

What a sweetheart!

Climbing up to his "treehouse."

Down he goes.

Nothing like brothers sliding together.

They are having a blast together these days.

Down they go.

Brody wasn't scared a bit with his big brother holding him.

He liked it so much, he tried to go back up and do it again.

Is he going to make it to the top?

And he's back down again.

Off to explore.

Time to go in.

Sweet face.

More Proof Brody is a Mess

Although I don't have any pictures to document this event, I have to preserve it for his future.  Beware, this is what happens when the boys and Daddy are left alone at home!  Daddy stayed home with the boys yesterday and was trying to be a good husband and father and clean the house and do the weekly laundry.  Yes, he is pretty awesome and did manage to clean the floors and do all the laundry.  However, he sometimes forgets that when children are "silent" that isn't always a good thing.  Ha!  Well, I forget that too these days.  Brody and Evan can both play independently for pretty good lengths of time...Evan is actually worse at this than Brody because he constantly begs for someone to play with him!  Of course, I feel like we forget sometimes that Brody does need to be played with, and I do attempt to sit down with him as soon as I get home and interact and play with him on the floor.  Well, things in the house yesterday morning had gotten pretty quiet while Daddy was in the laundry room until he heard a strange banging sound and Brody's fussy sounds coming from the kitchen.  He went to investigate the source of Brody's frustration, and I apologize now for not having pictures of what he found.  Daddy is obviously not as good at documenting our lives as I am and has been appropriately reprimanded for this misdeed.  Ha!

So what did he find, you ask?  Well, our sweet faced little angel had  apparently opened the pantry door (as I mentioned before all of the doors in our house have handles instead of knobs making it difficult to use any type of kid-proof door locks on the doors) and was sitting on the floor with the evidence of his find all over his face, hands, and shirt.  Thanks, Little Debbie!  Yes, folks, he had found one of his Daddy and big brother's Little Debbie snack cake packages wrapped in its cellophane wrapper and had somehow managed to open it and had already devoured one of the two cakes inside.  His frustration resulted when he couldn't get to the second cake, and he had started banging the cake package on the floor.  Oh, geez!  We are really in for a time with this little eater, aren't we?  

On a happier note, he did make up for this little sweet treat by eating all of his salad at dinner.  Yes, I decided to try getting him a salad to see if his liking mine a few days ago was just a fluke.  It wasn't!  He loved the leafy greens with cheese and ranch dressing!  

Yes, Mommy caught this one on her phone.  He had a whole little plate of salad and some grilled chicken.  He did not want the chicken until he had finished all of the salad.  Hooray! 

This face better describes his appreciation!

Human Tornado

Do not let this innocent face fool you!

He is a human tornado!  5 minutes into his day he will turn his play room into this...

He goes from one station to the next just pulling out stuff with no intention of playing with it.  He knocks over chairs on his path of destruction too.  A ball haphazardly thrown here, a stuffed animal thrown there, a book, a car or truck across the room.  The cars and trucks hold his fascination the longest as he "drives" them around the house.   Later he'll pull out puzzles just to dump out the pieces all over the floor.

We love you, Mr. Brody, even though you do like to make messes!  Of course, mommy recently taught you to pick up the puzzle pieces and put them back in the box, and you seemed to like that game.  There is hope for you yet!  

Talkative Thursday #1 - Faith

I'm doing a new link up this week with Sandra at SANses.  She's a wonderful mom blogger from Singapore that I met through the M.O.B. Society recently.  Isn't it weird how blogging brings moms together from all over the world and how we can find so many things in common with these fellow bloggers?  I told Sandra that I couldn't believe she was in Singapore because she seems so "American."  Ha!  She is raising a couple of sweet, handsome princes and blogs about her life in a beautiful place.  Go check her out!

I am not exactly sure what I am supposed to "talk" about for this post, but Sandra posted on her faith and family today, and I am feeling that subject a lot today with all the present events.  My family and I ate at Chick-fil-a tonight.  We love that place.  If you don't know about this establishment, you can check them out here.  Actually, Chick-fil-a was my first job when I graduated from high school.  It was such a fun environment to work in during the summer before I started college, and I made so many wonderful friends.  It is no secret that Dan Cathy, the owner and founder of the beloved southern fast food chain, is a devout Christian.  His establishments boasts strong support for the traditional family and have always been closed on Sunday to allow their employees to attend church services if they choose.  They don't push any employees to believe a certain way and definitely welcome anyone through their doors.  They had the most healthy menu options of any fast food restaurant before any other fast food chains even started trying to add "healthier" options.  Recently, I have a new appreciation for the restaurant since they added grilled chicken nugget kids meals to their menus because my youngest little man loves them.  In an interview recently, Mr. Cathy proclaimed he does operate on "biblical principles" and that "We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit.  We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that."  I don't see anything in that statement that says Mr. Cathy is "anti-gay" or hates anyone for their lifestyle choices, but he has been crucified by several prominent political leaders and others in the media for this statement.  Since when is it wrong in our "free" country for any citizen to represent their personal beliefs?  Is it only bad when that someone holds views that are different than your own?  So what if he chooses to give his money to certain institutions that do not support gay marriage...it is his money!  I am just saddened by all the hateful and hurtful statements I have been reading lately by my so-called "friends" chastising Christianity for its age-old beliefs that support a nourishing and loving family system as defined by the Bible and Jesus himself.  But Jesus himself "predicted" that these events would happen and that Christians would be hated by the world for their beliefs!  While I hope that I haven't offended anyone by these words, I am not ashamed of my beliefs and only ask that you respect them as I will respect you and yours (so long as they don't involve or cause real harm to anyone). 

Here is the message that I want this post and blog to show to others:  

"Hi, sinners!  Guess what, I'm one too!  But I am also a Christian.  What, you say?  You thought Christians weren't "sinners" because of what you've heard and read elsewhere.  Ha!  Read the Bible.  All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  And guess what, God loves us anyway!  So much that His son (or Him in human form) died for us!  When I read hostile posts and blogs from people saying that it's the Christians who are being intolerant and hateful, I just want to shout that if that's the message they are getting from so-called Christians they know, then they are not being "real" Christians.  There are just too many hurting words going back and forth and no one listening.  My message to you is "No, I may not agree with your lifestyle choices (whether that be adultery, homosexuality, or any other kind of sin as defined by God's word), but that is your personal choice (as long as that choice does not physically or emotionally harm another and then it is our government's responsibility to stop or punish that harmful act to society).  Yes, I believe that the Bible and God say that it is a sin.  But I do not hate you or want you to suffer for that sin just as I don't want any one of us to suffer for our sins.  Jesus didn't want that either; that's why he died for us!  I truly do love you!" 

Happy Thursday, ya'll!