Curious George?

Happy Halloween-ish to all! Here is my favorite one year old channeling the animal he most resembles on any given day...a monkey.

Here we are trick or treating

Here's the bub riding the choo choo all by himself!

Puzzled about something...maybe wondering why all the small peoples parents dressed them all up so silly and keep laughing at them.

October

The way I figure it, I'm averaging about one post a month. So, in keeping with the spirit of tradition, here is an update...let's call it October. Yeah...

Because I don't know anyone who doesn't like pictures like this...I've included two. This particular one occurred 2 nights ago. I went in to check on Bubba and I couldn't see where he was under all the animals and blankie, so I did what any other good parent would do...I got our the camera, made sure the flash was on, and took a picture to ascertain his location. This is what I found.

Here he is napping the next morning...on, I think, all of the animals that live in his bed with blankie thrown in for posterity.
Here's Bubba and Pops on Memaw's bus. I dunno if he was having fun or not...what do you think??
Here he is in Daddy's Colts Jersey...you cant tell from this picture that he would proceed to strut around our bedroom with it on, well aware he was lookin' good...
Here is Brayden...in his old bouncy seat. That thing has sat where it is for months without any interest in using it how its intended to be used (usually it gets thrown or tipped upside down). But, my friend Lena and her 3 month old came over and Natasha used it...so of course Bubba had to get in on the action the next morning to drink his bottle. If any parents out there don't already know, the surest way to get your kids to play with an old toy is to let another child use it. Instant favorite.
Here is Bubba hittin' up his friends on the celly on a Friday night.
And...here he is after his first round of eating spaghetti solo. Well...not really solo...someone had to periodically put the noodles back on the plate for him to push back off. We did actually manage to get 90% down the hatch...after a long long long time. After it was all said and done, one of us had a nice round belly full of noodles...and one of us scoured the dining room. Such is my life with the Bub...I'm a lucky girl!

Crumbs

Look Mommy...a cracker!

It's really goooood....
Want a taste?

Here we...he is...

Here is a sampling of our trip to see Luke's family in Indiana. As you will notice, Pops and the Bubba werent apart much if they didnt have to be. There really are pictures with other people in them, but I dont have them right now so I'll post those later.

Here they are on the 4 wheeler

and the lawnmower
and building a chicken tractor


enjoy!

We're still alive!

Hello to my faithful reader...

We are still alive, just out of town. I'm writing this from Middletown, IN. Brayden and I will be up with family until Octoberish, so posting will probably be much what it has been...scarce.

But have no fear...I will try to have pictures when I do post...probably...

Meet My Mate Monday

So when I last left you, I let the phrase "two year plan" hang ominously in the air until next time...which would be this time.

Somewhere along the line the bonfires (and school) ended. On the last day on campus several of us gathered to say goodbye. Long story short, I ended up following a friend most of the way home because her car was unreliable. As it happens, it wasn't on my way to go as far as she needed help, so Luke also followed (ya know...to be a help and all...) to help her get where she needed to go. I popped in my sad mix CD and shed a tear or two at the thought of not seeing the boy of my dreams for a whole summer. Oh the agony!

When I arrived home I found that he was on instant messenger (this lovely piece of technology turned out to be a thorn in the side of our relationship down the road, but that's a whole other series of posts). We talked for quite a while that first night home, mostly flirting shamelessly.

Now on to the 2 year plan...

Luke and his roommate had decided to sign a pledge to not date anyone for the first two years of college. For some reason they thought this would be a good idea and that it would work. As it turns out, his roommate had been breaking this rule quite flagrantly...but whatever! I had known about this plan and found it to be very silly and ridiculous (mostly b/c it stood in the way of my schemes to snag Luke). Well, Luke decided to bring this point up, mostly to torment me and make me think he was being held back by a code of honor to not date set up between he and his roommate. I shouldn't have taken him seriously, and if he tried to pull something like that now I would see right through it, but love is blind...and paranoid. I really thought this guy wasn't going to ask me out after all this shameless (and I do mean SHAMELESS) flirting. Well, after much deep thought, contemplation, and internal angst on his part (hah!) he decided to toss the 2 year plan and asked me out. I guess I was just cute enough for it to be worth it.

That was over 5 years and 1 baby ago, so I guess he made the right decision.

I only hope he thinks so!

Meet My Mate Monday

From last week: I have said before that we both ran in a rather large circle of friends, so when a bonfire to celebrate the end of the year was planned, there was no anticipation in regards to time with Luke. Fate, however, had other plans...

While at the bonfire, the flirtation bug hit my future husband with full force (now that I know him, I too am shocked at his behavior). We were all sitting around the campfire singing and chatting when Luke invited me to come sit on his lap because he was cold and so we could keep each other warm. I wasn't cold, but I'm also not stupid, so I went. And for the record, Luke's is a furnace. He's not the one of us that gets cold. In hindsight this only adds to the comedy...don't you think? Anyway, as you can imagine, this raised the eyebrows of all our friends. Did I care? Mmmm...no! I was just dizzy with excitement.

This was the beginning of the end for me. I was totally crazy for this guy! Over the course of the week I stole his screen name from the girl who went to his banquet with him and added it to my friends list on instant messenger. No sooner had I done that then he messaged me...literally as I was adding it. Well...this led to a very long night of "studying" and chatting. The next night we chatted for a while, and then my phone rang...who could it have been? I wonder.

We talked on the phone every night of finals week until at least 4 am. We talked about interests, family, and other such things. Then, when we would see each other during the day we tried to play it cool like we hadn't spent all night on the phone. My friends were on to me, though. It could have been the matching dark circles and goofy grins in each other's direction...or they were just psychic...

There was just one problem with this whole flirtation, though. The 2 year plan...

Dance Fever

Grumpy?

Bubba is wearing my "Grumpy" hat that Luke bought for me our first Christmas married while we were in Florida. To clarify...Luke was not trying to send me any messages. I wanted the hat. I thought it was funny.

Are we proud of ourselves?

Absolutely!

(and Mommy is scared!)

Meet My Mate Monday

When we left off, there was a banquet that Luke had to go to that I was DYING to go to with him...

So I slyly told one of my friends to put a bug in his ear. This, however, backfired on me. She managed to tell him I wanted to go to the banquet. Just with his friend, and could he put in a good word for me with this friend. (Now at this point I could have just died...and brought my friend with me...). I kindly told her she was VERY WRONG and that Luke was the one I wanted to go with. Alas, it was too late. He asked the girl who lived across the hall from me, and if that wasnt enough, his friend took someone else, too. This all wouldnt have been quite so bad if the girl Luke took hadn't proceeded to tell me, when she got home from said banquet, how she thought that Luke liked her. Ugh!

Needless to say, I went against how my Momma raised me and gave up. This girl was very pretty, and I wouldnt have blamed Luke for going after her. He had no idea I though he was wonderful. I went on, rumpled in spirit but alive.

I have said before that we both ran in a rather large circle of friends, so when a bonfire to celebrate the end of the year was planned, there was no anticipation in regards to time with Luke. Fate, however, had other plans...

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Meet My Mate Monday

I apologize for missing last week... When we left off: I probably passed dozens of evenings in the library where Luke was there for at least part of it. This went on the whole first semester.I dont remeber seeing him much the first half of the second semester...but the second half things came into focus quite a bit. There came a point in time when all of a sudden I remember a lot more of Luke. Probably around Spring Break time I noticed that Luke was everywhere. I saw him on my way to class, in the cafeteria, when our large group of friends were out making trouble...and one day he was standing outside my dorm as I was coming back from a class. He had been standing talking to someone else (who I couldnt tell you). As I walked up I remember feeling jealous of whoever he was talking to and excited to see him all at the same time. He stuck around after he was done talking with _________ and told me he wanted to ask me some questions. He had just decided to change his major and was trying to figure out what he wanted to change to. I guess my major was one of the contendors. We talked outside for almost 3 hours, and only about 10 of it had anything to do with my major. The rest of the time was about our families, friends, interests, and some shameless flirting on my part. From there we walked to dinner together and sat and talked through dinner, too. Much to my embarassment, this did not go unnoticed by my girlfriends who peppered me with questions as soon as Luke and I werent near each other anymore. I of course, was not successful in deterring their curiosity. I think the grin from ear to ear gave away the truth of the matter. It's safe to say, I went to bed a very happy girl that night. Luke was in ROTC, and I knew he had a banquet coming up, so I slyly (or not) put a bug in a friend's ear to mention me to him as a prospective date. This, however, didn't quite turn out how I planned. Tune in next Monday.

Meet My Love

To clear up any confusion about the following, I am participating in Meet Your Mate Monday started by Lora Lynn at Vitafam. A group of us bloggers will be sharing over the next several Mondays how we met the loves of our lives...and letting others in on some of the funny moments that led us to where we are now.

Here goes!

I, like so many other young ladies who go off to college, never intended to seriously get and MRS. Oh sure, you secretly hope it will be a perk of attending a small Christian college, but you convice yourself you will be one of the ones who leaves unattached.

I entered Olivet very excited about my new independance and the road ahead. I made a lot of friends in the first week at Olivet. Many are still friends...one is still my best friend.

I was an Exercise Science Major with a Biology Minor, so that basically meant that I got to take all the intro level science classes with the pre med kids and pretend I was smart like them. This also meant that I spent many a late night in the library studying and meeting to work on projects. One of my fellow bio nerds was a guy named Andrew. Andrew had a roomate named Luke (you see where this is going, right?). Luke was a nursing major, so he was a kindred spirit to all of the bio majors as far as class load and time spent in the library went. I remember thinking he was really cute, very nice, but also very quiet. In case any were wondering, I'm not the demure type, and much to my embarassment now, took great fun in making fun of his roomate and friend, Andrew. I also had to qualms about sharing my opinion on most topics, whether it was asked for or not (I like to think I've tamed my tongue a bit...a small bit maybe). At any rate, I probably passed dozens of evenings in the library where Luke was there for at least part of it. This went on the whole first semester.

I dont remeber seeing him much the first half of the second semester...but the second half things came into focus quite a bit.

You'll have to come back next week to hear more...

We are still here...

I've begun writing this post at least 3 times, but can never find the words. I just dont know how to wrap my brain around it all. I guess I will just do my best at explaining emotions that I dont quite know what to do with yet. I'll try to make this short.

Luke arrived safely early Tuesday morning and, as far as I can tell, has hit the ground running since then. He has meetings and other such things to prepare them for when they move out to their real destination...Iraq. That will be sometime in the next 3 weeks I would think.

I've talked to him on the phone about 4 times since he left, and he sounds like he's keeping busy. He sounds good, though. It's hard to know if I like that he's keeping busy or whether I want him sitting around missing me. I suppose he can do both...be busy and miss me, right? I like to think so. The strangest thing about it all is talking to him while I'm feeding the Bubba lunch, and he's getting ready to head to bed.

Brayden is doing fine. He is catching on to the fact that he's stuck with just me, but mostly just goes about his day like normal. We do play the DVD of Daddy reading bedtime stories right before he goes to bed, and he gets up and points at the TV and says, "Dada" so I know he knows whose reading to him. I'm sure he is quite curious, though, about why Dada is living in our TV now...We'll explain when he gets older...

I'm probably not faring quite as well as the Bubba, but thats to be expected. Sometimes I'm numb and sometimes I'm...not numb I guess. Like I said, it's very hard to wrap my brain around all of this. Sometimes my day seems to go by fast, and sometimes I cant believe its just Friday. Thats to be expected. I'm anxious for my upcoming visit to Illinois where I'll get to see both my parents and Luke's. It will be nice to be out of a house where I see Luke everywhere and a routine that he still seems so much apart of. God is truly providing for us, though. He has provided me with great friends here and across the country who know what I'm going through firsthand, and that is a huge help.

Thus endeth the update...and my ranting. We love all of you!

Antics

If you read this blog regularly, you know who the star of the show around here is. This blog is a feature for the many antics of the Bubba. This blog will be no different, so hold on to your hats people!

This is Bubba climbing into one of his drawers in the kitchen

Playing in said drawer
"Are you just going to stand there? Help me out!"
This is a curious little habit the Bubba has. When we change his diaper the takes off as soon as he can and plays for as long as we will let him.
Here he is showing off his new shoes we got yesterday. I call them his "blue piggies." This is our attempt at getting him used to wearing shoes before my sister's wedding this summer.
The "blue piggies" up close.

Family Pictures

So you can see for yourself

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday

Since Luke is leaving this weekend, I decided to throw both boys a birthday party tonight. It was just the three of us here at home for a quiet dinner followed by...well...you'll see.

Both boys with their respective birthday desserts (because they both cant have the same thing!)

You see where this is going, right?
Ah yes...cake EVERYWHERE!
Can we say "Sugar High!"
MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Cake!!!
And now you know what followed...

Pictures of Luke half naked with his cake all over him in our next post (just kidding!)

Quick Fluff

Among the many things Bubba has a pension for, the dryer is top on his list. He can hear the laundry room door opening from a mile away, and will come grunting and scooting down the hall to come play with the dryer. Yesterday, since he was in the way anyway, I stuck him in the dryer while I was folding his diapers (we cloth diaper) and then ran to get the camera...of course!

This is what went down

Ribbit...

We have a new addition to our Texas home...a froggy pool compliments of Brayden's Memaw. As you may have previously noted, our Bubba loves the bath, so it stands to reason that a pool would be a big hit...and the logic doesnt fail us here! He loves it! A little trepidation at first, but after the initial shock of having a bath outside, he warmed up to the idea swimmingly (no pun intended...haha).

Here are our first cautious moments.We like...we like...
We LOVE!

(Of course, Daddy had to join in to make the adventure complete).
Testing out the sprinkler attachment...
And thus endeth our first foray into swimming.
I think all boys concerned were thorougly entertained!

Stud Muffin

We, per usual, were having a bit o' fun with the Bubba last night before bathtime. I found this face especially comical. Here is the Bubba standing in the tub. He insists on taking baths standing up now, so I'm thinking its time to give the shower a try (just kidding Gigi and Memaw!)
Buen poto, no?

Quack Quack

My mother of the year submission...

So this morning Luke and I decided to have a little fun with the Bubba and see if he would fit into his halloween costume. With some maneuvering we managed to cram our 10 1/2 month old into his 0-3 month duck costume...because we could...sort of.

To catch both of you up...

I am taking advantage of it being naptime to update our two readers on whats been going on deep in the heart...

Brayden, in general, is quite the little ham. I know that this comes as quite a shock to our readers...or not...but he is just that. If the camera is out, our little performer doesnt miss a beat. Here he is showing Daddy his "piggies." Here he is climbing on the couch in his room after bathtime. I believe, if I remember correctly, this look was meant to convey to us that he was perfectly prepared to make it an all-nighter. His mommy was not.
Here I am, looking very enthusiastic. As we moms know, if we want a picture of ourselves with our children, we often have to take it ourselves.
Here are the boys. They pretty much run things around here given the numbers are in their favor. They are thick as thieves. Make no mistake, though. I'm more than willing to bend to their wills. They're too cute to do any different.
To illustrate my point, here is a picture of Brayden watching Luke change the oil in my car. He was very vexed that Mommy would not allow him to help his daddy. Because, of course, Daddy needed his help.
Here the boys are chipping a few golf balls into the neighbors yard.
As you can see, Brayden is often quite proud of himself. He loves pushing the bar stools around and climing up and down...up and down...
Daddy cuddles.
Another wresling match...Once again, we are not sure who won, but they all look exhausted!
Consider yourselves caught up...until naptime is over.