Warmth, sunshine, and my babies

I love Spring, love, love, love it! I love that the boys can finally get outside and just play for hours. I love watching Carter's imagination run wild. Watching Tucker try to keep up with him and mimic every step... it's sheer joy. Why do I deserve this? What did God see in little old me, that deserves such sweet blessings each day that I open my eyes?

It's the days that are a bit hectic and loud that humble me. When my nerves are rocking and we escape the four walls of our home to the beautiful outside. All the chaos, tension and craziness of life seem to blow away in the peaceful breeze. The boys stop their bickering and the giggles begin to flow. I sit on the step and I watch them in complete amazement. Think about it, children are always in the moment. Always enjoying whatever it is they are doing (well unless, of course, they are in time out). Watching them is stress relief for me.

I'm glad that God stops me and whispers to me, "just let them be, let them be little."  As I watched Carter draw on the front porch with his chalk, I thought about how quickly he's turning into a 'boy'. The days of my little Carter are quickly becoming a memory.  Little Tucker who is growing quicker then it seems Carter did. Seconds, minutes, hours, each day... I must treasure it. I must make each one a memory I want to cherish forever.

Soon they'll be off and the sidewalk chalk will be no more.  The giggles as they chase each other will be the laughter of teenage boys.  Their tiny, chubby little hands will one day outgrow my own hand. The just because hugs, sloppy kisses from little T, these are just little memories of my babies.  Again, how did God choose me for these precious little guys?  Blessed far more than I deserve, thank you Lord!!!

Never wake a sleeping bear

We've all heard that before, never wake a sleeping bear.  Well same goes for our little bear. He's still a nap kind of guy and for that I'm so thankful.  It means that for two hours a day the house is clean while he's napping and Carter's at school. So if you'd like to see my house during that time, come between 11-2.  Somedays nap time doesn't always happen when it should and by 4:30/5:00 in the afternoon our little Tucker turns into quite the sassy pants.

I decided that a late nap would just have to do this day. He still wasn't feeling 100% and the only place he was content was either in my arms or in our bed. So we snuggled down for a minute and when he drifted off, I snuck out to do some stuff around the house.  An hour or so went by and it was getting closer to 5 and I just knew if I let this nap go on it would make for a very sleepless night, for both of us.

I headed into our room to wake him.  He did not wake up on the right side of the bed for sure. I don't even know if the other side would have been a good start either.  He cried, and cried and made the most pitiful faces.  Most mothers would have picked up there unhappy toddler. I'm not your typical mother though. I'm the momma that likes to stick her camera in the unhappy toddlers face and capture those pitiful, yet oh so very cute faces.

Carter and I were getting quite the kick out of making him wail.  I know, sick isn't it.  But you can't honestly tell me these pictures don't make you chuckle at some point.  We always joke that he's going to retaliate one day and when he does, we're all in big trouble!

I won't put it past him to shave my head when I'm sleeping or sneak under the table and tie my shoelaces together when I'm not paying attention.  He'll get me back, I don't doubt that one bit.  Oh, and Carter... he's in for it just as much as I am.  We better invest in some helmets and defense armor! Just look at Carter's face... tell me he wasn't enjoying every minute!!

Food, it's his passion

Our little Tucker-bear, God bless his pea pickin' heart.  Maybe in this case I should say his peanut pickin' heart. If I didn't take pictures, seriously, no one would believe me when I tell them the things that this little child will do. I was doing something, obviously not watching Tucker, when I heard him making lots of racket in the kitchen.  I peeked my head in to see what he was doing only to discover him sitting on the floor.  Above his little red head was my utensil drawer pulled all the way out. His back was to me so I wasn't quite sure what he was working on.

When I discovered that he did not have anything sharp, I exited the room to get my camera.  This was good stuff!  Our little bottomless pit had helped himself to a can of peanuts in the pantry. Instead of bringing them to me, he went to the drawer where he knew the can opener is kept and low and behold he found it.  Sat his little self down and was bound and determined to get that can open.  Look at the picture below, sheer determination on his little face.

Momma always tells me, "God knew what you needed when He gave you sweet Tucker."  Ha!  She's exactly right.  I'm still learning that God wants me to just enjoy the very moment that I've been given. The messes will clean, the laundry will wait, but moments like this one are just that.... a moment, gone before we know it.  As I took his picture I asked myself, "aren't you glad you didn't miss this?" Looking back at the picture now, it makes me smile even bigger. He's so independent, yet he needs me so much.  He's determined and he's sneaky, but he's just what I needed!!

That sure was a yummy snack he chose that afternoon.

Here piggy, piggy, piggy

It was a typical Saturday morning around our place.  The boys were playing, I was attempting to get my tail in gear and clean, do some laundry, and enjoy a cup of coffee. The weather was just perfect outside and where there's perfect weather in my neck of the woods that means my windows will be up and the breeze will be blowing through.  As I made my way into our bedroom and opened the blind on my side of the bed I looked out and thought I saw our dog laying in the sun.  I literally shook my head and rubbed my eyes because he looked awfully big.  After my second look I realized, it wasn't our dog. It was three, yes THREE pigs in our yard. We don't have pigs.  Hmmm... so I stood there for a minute and then in a uncertain voice I called for T-rav., "Babe... umm, can you come here. There's something in our yard." Of course Travis didn't jump to my calling, I had to walk to him in the kitchen where I looked at him with the strangest of strange looks and said, "Babe, I think there are some pigs in our yard."  He followed me to the room where he said, "those are hogs."

Well, I knew what they were, but why on heavens earth were they in my yard?!  And better yet, why on earth had our genius dog allowed them to hunker down for the night?  Those pigs had rooted up our yard and hung out for who knows how long that night.  Last year it was cows taking over our yard, plowing down our garden (if you missed that wonderful little post, travel back in time and read it here). This year, it's pigs/hogs... call 'em what you will. Once again, never a dull moment on good 'ole Cow Bird Lane.

Yet again...

This was becoming the story of our lives.  Antibiotic... antibiotic... more antibiotics.  Poor Tucker and I could not catch a break regardless of how hard we tried. If it wasn't him, it was me. We had sinus gunk that I've never dealt with before.  I seriously started to contemplate stock in Kleenex. I actually did ask the pediatrician if we were becoming regulars, her answer... yes, you are.  Nice. You never want to be known as a "regular" at your pediatricians office or your primary care.  Trust me, I've worked there... you don't want that label.

However, after four rounds for each of us (I think that's where we both ended up) we are both well.  Tuck had severe allergy, sinus, upper respiratory problems and I had a severe case of bronchitis that lingered for weeks/months.  Since November we've been sick. I am so grateful to say we are both well, no sneezing, no coughing and praise the Lord there are NO antibiotics in this house.  :)  HOORAY!!!!

Crazy Hair

Crazy hair day was approaching at Carter's school and the day before he finally decided that he wanted blue hair.  Okay, have you ever tried to find blue hair day anytime other than Halloween?  It's almost next to impossible.  I googled the kool-aid trick and after a little thought I just couldn't bring myself to attempt that on my child's head.  So finally a friend messaged me and said she had several different colors at home that I could borrow.  So we made a trip back into town to pick up this color.

Mr. Cool was super exited about spray painting his hair blue, the night before.  The morning of Crazy hair day he wasn't having any part of it.  So this is what we ended up with.  Crazy spikes all over his head but no blue. None, zip, zilch, notta.  He was happy with the spikes so off he went.  We had to make Carter's hair crazy, little T... well he wakes up everyday with crazy, out of control hair.

Wranglers, cowboys, and bulls

That's the best combination around if you ask Carter.  There's nothing more exciting to him than watching bull riding.  We decided, last minute, to take him to the PBR event in our town. He was grinning from ear to ear as he put on his cowboy attire and headed out for the evening. He looked so darn cute in his little Wranglers and his bright red cowboy shirt!  There's something about that grown act he does when he tries to act like the big guys that just makes me smile.

Science Night

Carter was super excited about Science night at his school.  There were different stations set up all over the school.  His favorite was the fishing boat where he was able to cast his line.  He smiled and grinned from ear to ear.  He was even more happy when he found out he was getting his very own fishing pole, tackle box, and t-shirt.






I can't believe we are over half way through his first year of school. We had a great time spending the evening with this cool little guy!  Love you Cart-bug!

If you're happy and you know it....

then your face will surely show it!!

How can you not smile at those crystal blue eyes and chubby cheeks? He couldn't resist jumping off the step stool at my moms. I remember jumping off this same stool when I was little.  He would jump and then say, "TA-DA!"




Ta-Da~

I can't believe I'm posting this.....

***I'm posting this for my friends Kari and Lindsey who said they didn't believe I had the type of mess that I was dealing with.  Girls.... these pictures are just minor.... it was MUCH worse than this!***

Before I start let me say, this is not how we live on a daily basis. I like things organized and neat and this post will make you think I'm lying through my teeth! This is the result of me getting a wild hair and deciding to de-clutter our home. It started with one small little closet, and rolled into a humungous task that ended up taking over a week.  From that small little hall closet of only five shelves, I headed to Carter's room where I cleaned out his closet, rearranged furniture and dusted from ceiling to floor. From there I went to the playroom.


Toys that were living at the bottom of the play baskets were donated to our church or local thrift store. The boys haven't missed one bit of it!  From the playroom I was off to the laundry room.  It's not a big room but when you are a pack rat like yours truly you can put a whole lot of junk into a teeny tiny place.  Again, I dusted from top to bottom, swept, mopped and rearranged.

For days there were laundry piles here, boxes of toddler clothes to sort over there, things that just needed a new home in our home or a one way trip to the thrift store... things were EVERYWHERE just needing to be placed in the correct holding box.  I will claim again, I am highly ashamed of this clutter hence the reason I am now clutter free! Friends, I unpacked boxes that were never opened from when we moved in November of 2008.  That alone makes me shutter.


The laundry room led me to the kitchen, from the kitchen I hit our room. Where this burst of energy came from, I haven't a clue. But I can promise you I'm very glad I stuck with it and have a 'clear' mind now. I new I had a lot of junk treasures but oh my stars, whew! there was more treasures then my treasure box could hold anymore.



It feels so good to accomplish this large task. Opening closets and seeing that they are organized is music to my ears.  To open the hall closet and still have room on the shelves for more items is huge!  I even talked T-rav into helping me clean out the shed. I went through every box and weeded out what we needed and what could go to the dump. There were several loads going to the dump!  Our shed is now organized, neat, and you can actually walk in it!  I am willing to say you could probably even drive the four-wheeler in there if we had too!

Again, I can not for the life of me believe I'm fixing to post this disaster for the world to see.  Oh well, at least you know it's not like that now.