Obedience

don't we all want obedience in our children? i recently heard a mom speak on teaching obedience to your kids, and i loved her ideas! (she's pregnant with her 6th boy, so she's had some experience!!) its basically that obedience is a learned behavior...we have to teach and train our kids how we want them to respond in obedience. it makes perfect sense! if we are expecting obedience, shouldn't we first train them? otherwise, the majority of training they get is when they disobey, and we are correcting, and it can become a negative thing. well, this mom had a great perspective...she "practices" obedience, so that when she really needs her kids to listen and obey, its natural. she will tell them they are going to practice...tells them exactly how she expects them to respond, and then she calls them from another room, and they "practice" that response. it becomes a game, and the kids have fun. you can give them silly commands like 'rub your tummy and count to 10', or 'toss the orange ball into the chair'...but it teaches them to respond immediately to your call, and obey whatever you are asking. anyway, i loved that idea of training....

the other thing she suggested that i really liked, is to find a phrase that you can engrain into their head. i'm totally stealing hers, cuz i loved it. she asks them "how do we obey?"...to which they respond "right away, all the way, and with a happy heart" .... i love that! i have already implemented that with my boys, and if there's a time that i see some feet dragging, i can stop them and just ask, "hey logan, how are we supposed to obey?", and then he tells me, and in saying it, realizes he's not doing what he knows he should be... and he changes his attitude! (most of the time) :):) ....anyway, i really loved this approach, and thought i would pass it on!

soccer time!

oh, man, i love soccer games! i love to see logan loving sports and and he has really enjoyed playing soccer! i love to see him sweating from playing hard... i love to watch him pick off every piece of grass on his socks when he falls (before he'll keep playing)....i love to see him wave at me from the field...i love to see him miss the perfect shot cuz he has to switch sides to kick with his left foot...i love to see him kick the ball away from a teammate cuz they haven't quite figured out to work as a team...its all sooo much fun!

just a cute little fan....

these next three are particularly hilarious as these are logan doing a crazy dance cuz they made a goal. not necessarily logan making the goal...he dances for every goal the team makes! he has quite the reputation on the team for celebrating each time we score. everyone on the stands waits to see what he will do....and he knows it!! its so funny to see that side of him cuz a lot of times he's more shy, but here, if someone on his team scores...he rallies the stands by doing a dance!! i have no idea why he feeds off attention! :)

yep...they still make tunnels to run thru at the end of every game!

his first soccer team... go scorpions!!!

my baby is in school...

well, the dimples are still there, but my baby is growing up! he has been begging me to go to school, and it took me some time, but i think we are ready to give it a shot. we enrolled him in Ann Windle School, which is a public school that is all pre-k...he was so excited to go to school, and 'do homework'...(i will have to remind him of this one day)...

today was his first day. i'm not really a super emotional person, so i was a little nervous for him, but not sad or anything. i tend to love that he's growing up, and just really embrace his years, though at times his baby pictures can bring tears to my eyes. he was chattering all the way to school, absolutely thrilled.... as i was handing the office a few last signed paperwork, i turned around to see logan's hands on ian's shoulders and very seriously saying "well, bud, i'm going to go to school every day now. and i'm going to really miss you"... he then tried to pull ian in for a hug, which ian quickly wormed out of...as logan fought him to get his hug, he was saying "no, ian, i have to go to school now...aren't you going to miss me?"....now that made my heart melt to see him get sentimental with his brother.

here's him coming out of class on his first day! his teacher said he was just perfect! :)

this is his carpet spot in school with his name on it...

of course, the gang that picked him up...

6 months

Well, my little Ty-man is 6 months now. He's definately going to have a little personality. He yells so much for attention...and is just the happiest little thing when you are giving it to him! He weighed in at 20 lbs. and 13 oz. which is 94% in weight....and measured at 28 1/2 inches which is 97% in height. I think he looks more like me than the other boys....Logan is a pretty decent mix of Andy and I, and Ian is all Andy...:) I do love my boys...

I set Tysen down this morning to go get his clothes out of his room, and I came back to find Logan reading to him. It was so cute! Logan would ask him questions about the pages, and then take Tysen's hand and point to the answer...he's such a great help for me!

State Fair

we went to the state fair of texas last week (thanks for the free tickets, mom!!)!! soooo much fun!! now that the boys are old enough to enjoy it, we have a lot more fun too! they loved the petting zoo, and the dog shows! of course we played a couple games with them, and they won matching swords!

yeah for brotherly violence!






and here's their new swords...

they proceeded to sword fight for the next hour...
i'm not even kidding.

it was a long hard day, and poor ian doesn't do well without a nap...

Baby V -Not Mine though!!

Took some pictures of my sister-in-law last weekend. This is their first, and they are letting the sex be a surprise...as much as i hate not knowing, there certainly is some anticipation as we wait for "baby v's" arrival! she's due early december...come on baby boy!!! :)

playing in photoshop can be lots of fun!! hence the new page layout... and here's another i made for molly...