Injured Reserves

Did you watch the Cowboys beat the Packers last night? The Cowboys are now 11-1, woo hoo!

Honestly, I'm a fair-weather fan with the Cowboys. If they're winning, I'm proud. If they're not, then who cares?

As I watched Brett Favre get sidelined with an injury last night, I thought of an incident in my home earlier in the week.

I noticed that Jackson had been in the bathroom a little longer than necessary to take care of his business, so I snuck up on him to find him admiring his elbow in the mirror. Upon his elbow is a week-old scab received after taking a nasty spill at the park.
Incidentally, he had no problem holding this pose while I ran for the camera.

Then, he wanted to show the camera an up-close and personal view. Is that face pitiful or what?

After I took the pictures, I said, "Okay, wash your hands, and join us in the living room for book time." To which he replied, "No, I can't read books with my 'nelbow'. It hurts."

I guess he and Brett can watch life from the sidelines while they heal.

I Love You More

I was recently sent a copy of Laura Duksta's "I Love You More" for review. It is the story of a mama telling her son how deeply she loves him. Halfway through the story, the reader flips the book to hear the child's love for mama.

The story itself is very touching, and my boys enjoyed cuddling up to read it with me. Periodically, they would sign "I love you" to me, which made my heart flutter!

Karen Keesler's illustrations are brightly detailed. I found my boys reaching out to touch an object on every page.

If you're having a particularly hormonal day, then you might want to grab a tissue before reading this story to your little ones. Not that I could speak on that topic personally or anything. Ahem.

Wordless Wednesday: Pleeease Buy Me This!

Jack

Repeat After Me

..."I will not buy this book for my children!"

It might look very cute in the book store. I agree that each pop-up filled page is quite cute.

But the last page makes me want to call Christmas off, and it's not even December 1! That page has a little tab that can be pulled to play the most annoying version of "Jingle Bells" ever known to man.

And your children will not be satisfied to play it once. They'll want to hear it over and over again, until you are ready to either hide the book or run away until January 1.

I'm currently happy with the former. But if this blog takes a six-week hiatus, then you'll know that my children have found "Jingle Bugs" and I have flown the coop.

Consider yourself forewarned. You're welcome.

Can You Help Me?

Fellow bloggers using Blogspot, when I post pictures, it never fails that spacing between paragraphs becomes a problem. While composing, I am careful to make certain that my spacing is correct. But as soon as I publish, Blogspot either adds extra spaces between paragraphs so that it looks like I've hit "enter" fifty times too many, or it takes my properly-spaced paragraphs and runs them together.

Take, for instance, my Thanksgiving post. Everything was fine and dandy until I posted the picture of my mom and me. Every paragraph thereafter runs together.

This happens every single time I post pictures. I usually dabble with the HTML and repair some of the issues. But I'm quite tired of posting what looks correct, only to find more problems. It's as if I fix one problem, only to find 2 more.

My Type-A personality can take it no longer! Every good post should have its proper spacing!

Anyone out there have some suggestions for me?

Thanksgiving 2007

So here's the obligatory run-down of our Thanksgiving.

We woke up to some cold weather, finally! I was thrilled to open the back door to cold air that took my breath away for 0.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds, I shouted to anyone listening, "It's finally cold outside! Now it can be the holiday season!" The boys came running to see for themselves, and they were also thrilled. I'm raising them correctly...love the cold, hate the heat.

But because Liam had been up three times during the night for breathing treatments and Jack had a fever, I decided to shut the door and turn up the heater. I'm such a wise mama.

By late morning, we loaded up and made the three-hour trek to my parents' house. Because we drove through six-foot deep snow drifts, we were lucky to make it by lunch. I'm kidding. It takes 3 minutes to drive 1.3 miles to my parents' house. And there was no snow. This is Texas, after all. But I can dream.

And we did see a few snowflakes later in the day, but I digress.

After wishing my parents a Happy Thanksgiving, Jack found the toy ads and made himself comfortable on the couch making his Christmas list. He pointed to several items that he wanted and insisted that I acknowledge each and every one of them. Oh, JackJack, you may be disappointed on December 25th, because I've already bought your gifts and not one of your choices made my list. There's this thing called budget that you'll learn about one day.

And a little later, I found him asleep on the floor. At this point, his fever was 103.6, so that toy shopping wore him out. He woke up as I crawled towards him to snap this shot. Notice the orange sunglasses in his hand...who knew that 30-cent Hobby Lobby treats could become your child's favorite toy?! Maybe budgeting won't be so hard for Jack.

Here's the bird we devoured. Liam is beginning to figure out that the meat we eat comes from actual animals. I hope he doesn't become a vegan over this knowledge.

Here's a shot of my daddy and me. Yes, he's squeezing me nearly breathless, but I feel the love. (Rick needs to learn how to zoom in closer to his subjects. I'm sure my mother enjoys her backside and her refrigerator's insides being shown on the internet.)

And here's my mom and me. Can you tell that I was adopted? Just kidding. I'm pretty much her spittin' image. (Yes, that's spittin', not spitting. I'm a Texan.)

After lunch, we rested and watched the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Jets. No Texas Thanksgiving is complete without the Cowboys, in good seasons and in bad.

And then, we played pin the tail on the turkey. (It was a game in the dollar section of Target. Gotta love that Target!) No pictures of the game itself, but here's a shot of Jackson taking his turn. He kept complaining, "I can't see!" Yes, that's the idea.

By the time we finished that riveting game, my dad was ready to turn on the Christmas lights in his yard. I don't have any pictures of this, but I write about it because I want to know why he puts his lights up before Christmas for my kids, but he never did this for my brother and me?! I was a deprived child, for sure. But there's something very exciting about bundling up the boys to see the first lights of the season!

Then, we allowed the boys to watch "The Polar Express" for the first time this season. I can tell my boys are no longer babies, because all three of them sat together on the couch and finished the entire movie!

When the credits rolled, Garrett was sure to come tell me about the last scene where the boy opens a gift of underwear and describes his disappointment with a "very bad word". For those of you who have not been blessed enough to have seen this movie 99 times, I can tell you that the boy calls the underwear "stupid", and that, my dear readers, is a very ugly word in our house. And for that level of innocence, I am thankful.

It is now Friday afternoon. The boys are napping, and my laptop and I are on the couch with the Aggie game on tv. I felt guilty leaving two sick boys behind, so I stayed home instead of attending the game. But I'm terribly jealous of Rick right now, who is whoopin' it up in Aggieland. Wow, the video of Kyle field is showing a lot of fired up players and fans. Good times!

The boys and I were sad to see Daddy leave this morning. We are supporting our team from home, though. Below, Liam is sporting his 12th Man towel, and Garrett and Jack are wearing their Aggie shirts. If you're not an Aggie, then you just may not understand.

And Jack's Jr. Park Ranger hat...that has nothing to do with the Ags. He just needs a hat on at all times.

Liam wanted to be sure to get a shot of his hat, too.

Gig 'em, Ags!

Have a good long weekend, y'all!

Giving Thanks Part V

I'm thankful to each of you for reading my blog. It is a fun hobby, and it's made more fun when I hear from you. That's not a guilt trip to leave a comment...today, at least. How about next week, since I know you're busy?

We'll be spending tomorrow with my parents. I'm looking forward to a day filled with food, family and football. And I'm really hoping for a nap!

Rick and I will travel to College Station on Friday for the Aggie game. They play the University of Texas every Black Friday. I think this year will give new meaning to Black Friday, as we've had a rotten season, thanks to our coach that will be leaving us soon. May the best team win, but I fear that isn't us this year.

Happy thanksgiving, wherever you are. Enjoy yourselves!

Giving Thanks Part IV

I'm thankful for this couch, where I'm about to take a cat nap.

I don't normally nap during the week, but I've not been feeling 100% this week, so can you cut me some slack today?

Giving Thanks Part III

I'm grateful for Rick's job. It's the first job he's enjoyed in a long time, which allows him to be a happy man. And I'm a happy woman, because his job allows me to stay home with our boys.

Giving Thanks Part II

As I got out of bed this morning, my thoughts turned to my blog, as they usually do. I knew immediately what I wanted to give thanks for today.

God's sovereignty...although I don't fully understand it, I am glad He is.

God's sovereignty led me to break off my first engagement and to wait for the "right one", who ultimately was Rick.

His sovereignty caused me to be infertile and to wait for my boys. He knew that becoming a mother was what I desired, but He also knew that there would be children in this world that would need me.

Without those four men in my life, I would not be who I am today. God knew that my life would be better with each one of them.

"[S]ome...may say 'I hear all of the promises, but I don't see any glory.' That's because there's a valley between them which might last a week, a month, a decade, a lifetime. But God's plan is being unfolded, nonetheless, for glory always follows suffering. Always." (Jon Courson's A Day's Journey)

To God be the glory.

Giving Thanks Part I

In thinking of Thanksgiving, I want to post my thanks each day from now until next Thursday. I have so much to be thankful for that I wasn't sure where to start today.

But then Jack pulled my top nightstand drawer off its sliding mechanism this afternoon, and everything tumbled to the floor. I stumbled upon this gem as I was restocking the drawer.

It's a note from Rick back during our most trying time of failed infertility treatments. It reads, "Garni, You are my beautiful wife for whom I'm so thankful. God is going to continue to bless us. I know this. He has been generous and we have been faithful. The day will come when the children will run all over the house. I love you. R"

Indeed this note has come to full fruition, and for this I am thankful. I have a loving husband and three awesome boys who run amuck. I deserve none of them. Thank you, God!

And for any of you that might be stuck on the nickname "Garni", I'll get to that...someday.

What are you thankful for?

Wordless Wednesday: When No One is Available to Take the Photo

Garrett (2 1/2) and Mommy

Potty Issues *UPDATED*

Can I just tell you how wonderful it is to have three potty-trained boys? Every day I thank God that I am no longer changing diapers!

I still have to wipe rear ends and check for hand washing, but all of that is like a vacation compared to changing diapers for "twins".

I only have one complaint in this area...I wish that one of our bathrooms had a ur*nal. If I am ever able to design my own house, I will seriously design the boys a bathroom with a ur*nal and all tile floors and walls.

If you have a boy, then you understand.

*UPDATED* My brother left this comment: floor drain. problem solved.

First of all, hi Ben! I didn't know that my brother read my blog. Anyway, yes the bathroom that I will design will certainly have a floor drain and a hose, so that I can teach them to hose it all down daily.

Nothing to Complain About

I'm finding myself a bit grumpy, and I can't quite put my finger on it...oh wait, could it be because it's 80 degrees on November 12, only 10 days away from Thanksgiving?! Yep, that could definitely be it! Really, if I wanted it to be in the 80s for the holiday season, I could move to Florida.

But I realize that I have very little to be complaining about. I do have a house with air conditioning after all.

And I have my freedom, thanks to the veterans of this free country I call home.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Wordless Wednesday: Do Girls Do This, Too?

Garrett (2 1/2)

WFMW: Putty on the Carpet

My question is this: Does anyone know how to get silly putty out of carpet?

Not that I need to know for any good reason, Hubby!

Thanks to Shannon for hosting Backwards Day!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Daddy was explaining to the boys that God has a plan for each of their lives. Jack (2 1/2) said, "I want to see it!" [I think we've all said that a time or two about our own lives.]

For more TTT participants, please visit Not Before 7.

Aggies

It was a beautiful weekend in this neck of the woods. The boys spent a lot of time outdoors. In this photo, they are enjoying a juice break in their mini chairs.

Notice they are sporting their Aggie shirts. The boys have learned the correct attire for Saturdays. Even when our Aggies can't play a decent game, we still Maroon Out around here.

But we Aggies are smiling today, when we read that Coach Fran may be leaving before the end of the season! I do hope it's true!