Early Birthday Present

Mom and Dad came to visit this last weekend to help us work on some DIY projects we have going on around here. They have been taking care of Elijah's birthday present for a few weeks and were ready to pass it on to him. We were all so excited we didn't even make it out of the driveway!

Mom (Juju) was talking to Elijah about what he might like to have for his birthday...


Oh the anticipation!!!....

Its a hamster!!!

It was love at first sight!

Elijah was so excited!

We got a special place for him set up in Elijah's room. Elijah and I were trying to decide what we should name him. We were going through all different names like Hammy, Nibbles, etc and then Elijah said "Mom, he looks like the rat on Charlotte's Web...Templeton". So we decided to name him Templeton.

Poor Templeton. Elijah carries his whole cage all over the house. Yesterday he even sat his fish bowl next to the hamster cage "so Templeton and Tooker could get to know each other". We had our first experience of Templeton getting loose in Elijah's room today. Actually, I was at work. Elijah put Templeton in an exercises ball but didn't lock the lid so Templeton got out. Beau was able to catch him though.

Luckily Elijah is a deep sleeper because Templeton is definitely nocturnal. And Elijah's room does not smell fresh, but he is loving being able to have some real animals to take care of!

Random snaps of our life

Here are a few of pictures of our lives lately. They're random....


Elijah took this picture of Sadie, but I think its really cute. The new favorite way for her to wear her hair is in "pony tails" (plural means pig tails)...



Later that day this is how I found Sadie taking a nap...

On Labor day we wen to Homestead Heritage. They didn't have their annual Sorghum Festival. They didn't grow any crops this year. I'm not sure if it was due to the drought or if it was their "off year" that they do every 7 years to let the land rest and replenish. We still had a good time though. The kids watched the sheep dog demonstration (always a favorite)...

This time they even got to pet the dog...

We also went to Homecoming. The kids have been loving going to the football games. Aimee has made them some super cute shirts that they love. Here's Sadie's...

They sat and smashed and ate peanuts for pretty much the whole first half!

Saturday was Janice's (Mimi's) birthday so we went to Salado for a birthday dinner. Elijah wanted to take some pictures together...

Then he said he wanted to do funny faces...

He was SO impressed that we made the exact same face!

Then he wanted to take a "surprise face" picture...

Once again he was SO impressed we made the same face and I gotta admit...I was too. I think we actually look alike in these pictures. Its the first time in 5 years I've ever thought we resembled each other!






The kids had a great time at Mimi's birthday party. They sat and ate cake and loved it! Every time some one would walk up with a camera Sadie would set her fork down and put her arm around Janice's neck say "Cheese" and then go back to eating cake. It was really cute.

Happy Birthday Mimi!!

There you go...that's what we've been up to!

It was ugly

My friend, Lori Anne, invited me to go see The Help today. I haven't read the book yet, but I plan to! I just have to say you have got to go see this movie! I'm sure the book is even better, but if nothing else please go see it! I laughed a lot, but I did a lot of crying too. I hurt inside knowing this kind of abuse took place not so long ago. At one point Lori Anne handed me a burp cloth out of her diaper bag because I had gone into the ugly cry...out loud! I cried all the way home. I walked in the door, Beau took one look at me and said, "That bad huh?!".

As soon as I saw Sadie I sat her in my lap and told her "You is kind. You is smart. You is important" and then I cried some more. (Go see the movie and you'll understand)

Pre-K Rocks!!

Last Thursday was the kids' first day of Pre-K. They both were SO excited. I had a hard time getting them into bed the night before. Sadie kept saying "I need to go to school to see all my friends!!"


This was their loot...


Cheeses...

Such a nerd...trying to look all grown up!

I adore the way Sadie is looking up to Elijah. She thinks he is so cool. She has to do everything he does...

Thanks for our new first day of school clothes, Mimi...

Backpacks on...we're getting serious now!

I really was just like some hard core paparazzi. I was running after them in my pjs and bare feet trying to get a few more pictures of them on the way to the truck...

"Okay...one more picture, Mother"...

"Mom, that's enough pictures!"...

They had a great first day. They had to tell me all about it when I got home from work that night. I love to see them so excited!!!

Sweet dreams!

With the kids starting a new school year I decided I wanted to try a new craft. I wanted to make the kids nap mat covers for their mats at preschool. I think they turned out pretty good and they weren't all that difficult.
Aimee put their names on them for me!!

Elijah's was dinosaurs...his favorite animal right now!

Sadie's was just frilly and girly....like her.

A princess can't just nap on a plastic nap mat!...not that she naps at school.

The kids loved them so much I had to keep them put up in my room the last few days before school started. They were using them all the time. They would lay on them to watch tv on them in the living room and even napped on them in their own rooms a few times!

Update: When Beau took the kids to school on their first day he handed Elijah's nap mat to his teacher and she said "Oh...what's this?" He said "Elijah's nap mat." To which the teacher replied, "we don't take naps in this class". Of course. Beau even said he knew that, just didn't think about it. Oh well, Elijah loved Sadie's so much I probably would have ended up making him one anyway...I guess he can take his to sleepovers...

New Beginnings

My babies start another year of preschool on Thursday. This will be Elijah's last year in preschool. I can't believe I will be taking him to kindergarten next year! He is very excited about this year. Mrs. Cyndi is an excellent teacher.

This will be Sadie's second year at preschool. She has a new teacher...Mrs Jenni. I didn't warn Jenni about Sadie....I don't want to scare her off just yet. I'll giver her a few weeks to "get to know" Sadie and then when she comes to me (like everyone else does) and says "Sadie sure does think she runs the place" I'll say "my Sadie?! Oh...I hadn't noticed." Come to think of it...it may not take a few weeks to have that conversation.

Here's to a new school year!!

Are you my best friend?

Aimee and the boys made their 3rd annual August trip to see us. (Grayson was technically there the first year, though still in the womb). I had lost my camera. Wait a minute....Elijah had lost my camera. I actually found it about 10 minutes after they left (I had been looking for 2 1/2 weeks for it!). I did snap this picture on my phone while the kids played at the Mayborn Museum.

We had a great couple of days. We have decided we will make a trip to the Mayborn a new tradition. It was great! The weirdest thing was that almost every hour Elijah would ask Grant "You're my best friend, right?" or "Are you my best friend?" I think Elijah just really wanted to hear Grant say it. He never did though. Actually, at one point he responded by saying "Stop asking me that!" Ha! Just what we all wanted to say! We're already looking forward to our next time together....November!