Ian is 4!!!

Well, my middle child is 4! Sooo crazy to me! He was the baby for quite awhile, but not so babyish anymore! This hilarious picture is a very honest reaction to opening his favorite movie "Highschool Musical"....He LOVES these movies....and I had the camera ready to capture his face when he realized what it was, and I was not disappointed!!!!

Ian is our most dramatic and imaginative of all the boys....and right now, he's into swords. So we had a pirate party for him. He actually thought that everyone was supposed to bring him a sword as his present, and that he would get all these different swords...haha...but I told him that wasn't how it worked, though we did get him a new sword!

my 3 precious pirates...

we had hot dogs that were pirate ships...

Happy Birthday Big "E"!!!!

My baby is in Kindergarten!

First day of school, and totally ready! His first words when I picked him up: "It was awesome" with a chuckle in his voice. He really loves school!

Teacher: Mrs. Gandy

This morning, he insisted on tucking in his shirt...he's really growing up on me! I almost cried cuz today I didn't walk him in...I just dropped him off and watched my baby run up the sidewalk into school all on his own! He kept asking why I wasn't going to walk him in...and I told him I would if he wanted me to, but that I can drop him off at the door too. I asked if he was sure and ready to walk by himself, and he said yes....I think he was a little nervous, but he did great!! I wish I could call him to make sure he got inside ok...but I know that's silly. It was definately much harder to let him go in alone....

Camping Out

the boys had a campout last night...right in the middle of our living room. it was a huge hit...they had so much fun! we watched 'chronicles of narnia' for the first time with them, and they LOVED it! i had worried about it being too scary at points, but during the fighting scenes logan was ranting "oh yeah...he's gonna die. get him...yeah! that's right...he's going down"....i was laughing so much! it was really neat to show them the ties to Jesus, and them catch some too....

of course, they didn't go to bed until 11:30 or so....i'm thinking they will ALL need naps today! :)

Wedding Weekend

my adorable little men...all decked out! they were the ringbearers in a wedding of one of our youth leaders....it was so much fun! the boys did sooooo good walking down the aisle...everyone got a big kick out of tysen, who kept stopping to dance in the middle of the aisle. it was awesome! andy co-officiated and did amazing! no one would have known it was his first time! congratulations to russell and caitlin!!

misc

granny came to visit last weekend and we had so much fun spending time with her!

so, tysen loves shoes...he will put them on, and then just walk around like he's trying them out...

i LOVE to watch my boys sleep! i figured i needed to take a picture so i can always remember those sweet sleeping faces!

(ian is definately his daddy's little boy)

4th of July

i started the story about our experience on the 4th...so here's a few pictures...
the boys at the lake...


of course, tysen hadn't taken a morning nap, which he obviously still needs...he passed out just after getting cooled off in the lake.


andy and i...


me and tysen hanging out --out of the water. i was done with the lake after a fish quite literally jumped through my hair. i'm serious. there was some major flapping between my neck and hair (along some with some major screaming)...i thought it was a bird flapping its wings, but kyle actually saw it, and it was most certainly a fish. sick


cooling off inside...and playging with cousin katie!

we are all happy to be inside!! aunt kyle, max, and katie...

proud moment

i've never pretended to be a "health nut" by any definition of the word...but i do try to instill a sense of health consciousness/self control in my boys. do we splurge sometimes? YES. do we give in some? YES. is my freezer always stocked with chicken nuggets and corn dogs? YES. but we also almost always have fresh fruit of some kind too.
its on the day to day basis that i try to always serve something that i can tell the boys "this makes you strong and healthy". and as a mom, do i always get to see the fruits of my labor? NO WAY. but the Lord gives me a glimpse every now and then...and even the tiniest thing gives my heart the greatest joy.

last night we were hanging with the family...well, we started the day at andy's parent's campsite in mineral wells, but when the thermastat read 107 at 4pm...and there were 16 of us trying to stay cool in the camper...we bailed (all of us) and moved our party to ritchey and kobi's house in weatherford. after dinner, we kept the vanderveer tradition of smores (though over the grill instead of campfire)...blah, blah, blah...my point is coming. we were getting our things together to leave, and logan came up, and said,
"mom, can i have 1 cookie before we leave? i only had 1 smore earlier..."
while this may not be a big deal to anyone else, my heart just about burst with pride, as my 5 year old had the discretion to only ask for ONE cookie....and he knew my first response was going to ask what dessert he had already eaten....so he let me know he had only eaten ONE smore. so much self control in my little man.
i smiled at him, and said, "sure, buddy!"

i love that he came to ask me.
i love that he had eaten only 1 smore (unsupervised).
and i love that he only wanted 1 cookie.

now, does this always happen? NO.
but i must be doing something right. RIGHT??? :):)