It's That Time of Year Again

I got to go to the Mercy Me concert again this year. LOVE IT! I went by myself last year and ran into my friend Katy there. This year she ditched her husband and kids and the two of us went together while our husbands kept the kids. I caught a free t shirt that they threw into the crowd! Yipee! It's just an awesome concert and I will probably be posting about this same thing again next year. As long as they keep having a hometown concert, I will go!

So Proud

Well here is a picture of Bradley and Randy with the trophy for winning the game against Hico. We lost the friday after Thanksgiving to Cisco. We are excited to be in Lone Oak and thank God for leading us here. We love Lone Oak! Jake didn't get to make the picture because I was holding all 43 pounds of his sleeping self while this picture was being taken! He was upset to find out he missed the picture with the trophy.

Look Alike Meter

Something fun from Jaime...

Birthday and Play-offs (Exciting, but Tiring!)

So, the Buffaloes won last night...28-21. It was a late night. Jake fell asleep in the third quarter in Nana's lap and stayed asleep through all the excitement. I took our blanket into Saltgrass Steakhouse after the game and he slept on it on the floor for an hour and a half. We got home at 1:30 am...thus the delay in updating on the game. Next week we take on the team ranked second in the state, Cisco. We will do our best!


Today (while daddy went to work :( ), we celbrated Bradley's 9th Birthday! Thank goodness mom is on her way down to take us out to eat dinner, I'm worn out. We had an army themed party. There was an obstacle course. They had to pop a balloon that had a bouncy ball inside of it, run and jump the hurdle, throw the ball into a bucket, run to the bounce house, find the slip of paper that had a shape on it, run to the puzzle pieces and grab all of them that had that shape on the back of the pieces, put the puzzle together, then kick the soccer ball into the goal. This took all of 5 minutes. HA!!! They loved it though. Then we had a shark pinata (we invited his soccer team and they were the sharks). You can see the pinata hanging in the upper right of the picture below. Then each child got four cans of silly string to have a war with. Everyone had a good time, and for some reason all the kids decided to turn on me and spray Bradley's mom with the silly string HA! Anyway, We had a great time, but we are pooped. I guess in the back of my mind when I planned this party, I thought Randy might possibly make it home. He walked in the door as the last kid was leaving :( I'm glad we are in the play-offs though. Well, here's pics....ENJOY!
36 cans of silly string! Woo Hooo!!!
Kids working on the puzzle during the obstacle course. This was the only chance I had to grab my camera during it.

Opening Preasents!
This is Bradley's friend from church who was also on his soccer team


SILLY STRING WAR




Don't look too enthused son!

GO BUFFALOES!!!

We're about to leave to go to our first round of the play-offs against the Hico Tigers. We're favored to win by 8....I'll update later and let you all know.....HOPE WE WIN! Either way, I'm proud of Randy! GO BUFFALOES!

Halloween

Well, since I couldn't find where to order Mr. Mainways costumes, we had to go with Buzz Lightyear and Peter (Chronicles of Narnia) from Disney.com. The boys are soo cute!

Happy Halloween!

Well, it took me a while to figure out what the kids should dress up as for Halloween, but I finally got some good ideas from Mr. Mainway in this you tube video. I really like the invisible pedestrian. I tried to find his company but couldn't. Darn the luck! I had a hard time deciding, but I think you will be pleasently surprised with my choices when I post pictures Wednesday night!

This is a picture of my kiddos last week BEFORE their soccer game....TIRED BOYS. Not a good way to start a soccer day. However, this Friday night was a by week for Lone Oak, so I let the kids rent a movie and start watching it at 6:00 pm. By 8:15 the boys both said they were tired and ready to go to bed. Just for the record, this is Bradley's FIRST time ever to tell me he is tired and wants to go to bed. I didn't tell them that this it was before their bedtime. I just let them go on to bed and then popped in a movie for myself to watch. This morning they were much more rested and ready to go. Jake's game was at 9 and now we have to wait until 2:00 for Bradley's game. I'll try to get pictures up of Bradley's game if it's not raining. We got a few sprinkles this morning but it looks like it may be raining later. JAKE THROWING THE BALL IN IN THE HUDDLE AFTER THE GAME DASH IN ACTION: Jake's coach calls him Dash because there is another Jake on the team and it can get confusing. Jake used to tell other kids his name was Dash so he responds well to it. Not to mention he can beat any kid down the field. Once Jake breaks away with the ball he is usually down the field. The kid defending him got confused here and Dash backed off so the other kid could take the ball and score for our team!

Don't know what's up with video...I'll keep working on it. Here's what happened at Bradley's game... We played in the rain for ten minutes, then it started pouring and lightening. We were out there just long enough for everyone to get soaking wet and then load back into the car, AFTER handing out snacks to the players for their ten minutes of running (it was Bradley's week to bring snacks). I am just so glad Randy was able to go to the game today. It was kind of a bummer that this was his one weekend off to get to see Bradley play and he only got to see ten minutes, but it sure was nice for Jake and I to head back to the car early and not worry about being in the pouring rain.

Here's another video...The other team was playing DIRTY...they were throwing elbows and pushing! This one kid repeatedly took kids out and the ref had to pull his coach over and straighten him out after he did this to Jake!

SPIDERS!!!

OOPS! I realized the photo I had here had a copywrite symbol next to it! I think it's illegal to put it here, so if you want to see a cool photo of the spider webs go to the link on the right that says SPIDER WEBS.

Bradley got to go with a group of kids from his school today to Tawakoni State Park. They went to see this giant spider web that thousands of people from all over have come to see. They say the first one was over 200 yards long. The rains have washed the webs away I think 4 times now and the spiders just build the web back. I'm sure it would have been cool to see, but I am a little glad I didn't make this field trip because it was probably CREEPY too!!! I let Bradley take his camera. The pictures below are his. The one above, I coppied from the Lake Tawakoni State Park website.
THOUSANDS OF SPIDERS JUST HANGING OUT!

What every good mother lets her children do after school...

PLAY IN THE MUD!!!






And the famous last words of a fool (before she came in to cook dinner)

"DON'T GET TOO MUDDY" At least he left his face and hair out of it! Jake was cracking me up here. I told him to turn around so I could get his picture and he told me no and started singing over and over "Not until you take a picture of my bahootay" while shaking it!

Well, here it is! The magazine will hit the stands soon (next week maybe, I can't remember). Mom and I are excited. Mom has worked VERY hard on everything. For those of you who don't know, this is mom's bracelet she designed on the cover of the magazine. Today, my aunt and I went to mom's house and helped her move everything out to the garage. Tomorrow I will go back over and help my mom fill 13 orders that were all placed in one day! These orders came from people who subscribe to the magazine and get the first issues. We are hoping that orders keep coming in...who knows?!!! Check out our website....www.wiredupbeads.com

UPDATE: I'm tired...going to bed soon...I went to help mom fill our 13 orders and by the time I left we were up to 24!

My work in Lone Oak is WONDERFULL. I LOVE it! I love working with the student I shadow. And the 6th graders are much nicer than I thought they would be. I love knowing that my boys are in the building right next to me, and that I walk right by the playground everyday when Jake is out there and get to stop and hug him. Jake is exhausted from his first week. He has never gone all day everyday like this, so it has worn his little self out. Especially after staying up untill midnight last night for football.

Football is going good so far too. In fact last night we played the team whose head coach was the first coach Randy worked for. I got to talk to his wife for a long time. That coaching staff was probably the closest one we have ever been a part of. That's probably why we stayed for four years. We all got along sooo good together...in fact almost all of us went to church together. Their little boy (5th grade) remembered Bradley. He told Bradley that he always tells his friends not to run in his house because of Bradley's mishap from when he spent the night there. Bradley and this little boy were chasing each other and Bradley came home with stitches in his head after he tripped and hit the wall! It was sooo good to see them! I love running into old friends. I wish I could run into my blogging friends! I miss a lot of you guys too!!!

Walmart Made my Day!

Seeing that I have had a very crazy, busy week, I have sort of neglected getting the Sunday School curriculum together for tomorrow, and for the teachers that will be teaching next week. So, that's three classes that I have to find different games and crafts for all on the same story of Moses (not the whole story, just the part where God wins and the Israelites cross the red sea). It's for toddlers as well so you also have to keep in mind anything little could be a choking hazard. We study the same story all month, so the first two weeks is fairly easy to come up with different ideas, but by the third week you start really having to search. Anyway, I was trying to come up with stuff tonight and ventured out to Walmart to see if I could find any "quick solutions" And although I found no ideas for crafts or games I did find these cute toys to use as bible story visuals....I am so excited about them! They had a set for Moses (obviously), Noah, Jesus' birth, David, Daniel, Jonah... They even had Big figures that told their own story...but they were kind of out of my budget. I had to really refrain from not buying more than just Moses, because I know Jonah is in our curriculum for later in the year. Oh well, I will buy them as we go!

What would I do without her?

I had to add the blinky, because like I said, I can't stand tons of words on blogs without some kind of visual....and I don't have a picture of my mom and I together. My mom is just the best! I don't know what I would do without her. We talk on the phone just about every day together and we see each other at least once a week it seems like. Not to say we can't get on each other's nerves ocassionally, but that gets overlooked quickly and we really enjoy being so close.

She will be coming to my rescue big time Tuesday. Evidentally there is a Hep. A shot, that the state just started mandating two years ago, and all pre-k and kindergarteners have to have it before the school will even let them register. The shot is given at two years of age, so Jake was not required to have it when he was two.

And, since he had been going to the Christian school here in Greenville, I didn't know about it, because they can have different rules than the state, so they did not require it. So, when I went to register the boys yesterday, it was too late to get Jake a shot. Luckily, his doctor could work him in Tuesday! So, Jake will stay with Mimi Tuesday and she will take him to get his shot.

THANK YOU MOM!!!!

Well we start the new job and school Tuesday!!! I took the boys today to see their classrooms and teachers. We are all excited to start teacher's aiding, 3rd grading, and pre-king!!!!

Check out my sister's blog (My Nephew! Link on the side) for some more funny stuff....I have needed some laughs lately and I laughed when I saw her dog acting like a baby on her blog!

It took me forever to figure out how to post video on the blog and I even messed up some of the blog but I think I have it normal where you can watch it now....I'm excited if the video stuff works!!! There will be more to come.

Less Typing more pictures Please...

I'm tired of job stuff....and that is way too much reading for me...I hate to read....so without further ado (sp?) Here is a video that makes me laugh....MIKAH WITH DAD


This one makes me laugh too because Bradley saw me with my camera and asked me to take a picture of him....he didn't know I had the video running on my camera :)

Bradley and I had such an awesome week together in New York. We are glad to be home but sad that we couldn't stay longer. We had so much fun getting to see my sister, Jamil, and baby Mikah! I managed to survive driving through Brooklyn and Manhattan. I drove DeeAnne to her doctor appointment Thursday in Manhattan and was fine driving, but I sure was glad when the doctor released her to drive after the appt. and she was able to drive us home. I think she was glad too. We did soooo much while we were there but and I wish we could have done more!

I got really good at riding the subway and figuring out which direction to go and how to get on and off the trains and running to the next train and reading the subway maps. I wouldn't mind riding it some more, but I didn't really care for it. I totally agree with Jamil in that you start to feel like cattle being herded everywhere.

A bunch of pictures are below...I will just type about our days and events...not necesarilly in order and try to fill you in on what all we did. Of course we LOVED holding baby Mikah.

Hanging out in the apartment. They live on the third floor across from Pratt. I loved that anything you needed was within walking distance. Okay, clothing wasn't, but everything else was. I LOVE walking to the grocery store. I can't tell you how many times I have wished I could walk to Walmart here. In fact when we lived in Ferris I used to walk 6 blocks to our small grocery store just because I liked too.

I thought this was a cool picture I took of the subway. One time we were waiting on out train and I saw a guy who looked just like Joe Hays. I didn't want to look like an idiot so I didn't ask him if it was him...I knew he lived in Brooklyn, but my mind said "don't be stupid...millions of people in Brooklyn and you think you see Joe Hays?'' I left a comment on his blog asking if he was on that train at that time and sure enough it was him!!! Crazy. So, I thought that meant I should go visit them. Bradley and I walked over to their apartment the next morning. I am excited that they are close to DeeAnne and Jamil! I think Ira and Sophia are precious! But, I am partial to this other little guy in Brooklyn :)
Bradley and I were chased by a wild pack of wolves in central park! I was somehow able to grab the camera, run backwards and snap this shot of Bradley making his get away. Please, nevermind the fact that it was snowing this day :)
Bradley rock climbing in central park. He made it all the way to the top. On his way down he really scared me. He made it though with no hurts. Oh, did I mention that the Museam of natural history was right across the street from central park? We went and enjoyed the planetarium, ocean exhibit, wild animal exhibit :) ....
Jamil's mom lives on Long Beach Island in New Jersey. We went and stayed the night with her and Bradley enjoyed a day at the beach. He walked up to me with a small Jelly fish in his hand and asked "what is this? It's all squishy." I am so glad it didn't sting him!
Bradley took this cool picture below. This was at a fair at LBI. Bradley rode some rides and won a stuffed dog at the frog hop game.

Our afternoon at Prospect park. Jamil stopped at the sporting goods store and bought a football and ball and bat to play with. We had a great time enjoying the picnic of 2007. I believe Jamil will be at this same park next weekend for THE Birthday of 2007 :) Bradley and I went to Toys R US at times square! It was AWESOME!!! There was a ferris wheel inside the store. It was three stories and this is the lego section Bradley is in front of. The Statue of liberty built with legos!!! This toy store was incredible...go to it when in New York! I believe it put FAO Swartz out of the running for best toy store. Me on the lego car of the ferris wheel in Toys R Us.
Lola with baby Mikah. I babysat this night so DeeAnne and Jamil could have a date night. I had no idea Lola was a pit bull until halfway through our visit. It's a good thing because I would have freaked if I had known that earlier...I always hear such bad things about them with children on the Dallas news. I'm still not too sure about them, but Lola is a pretty good dog...unless she's eating my salad while I change Mikahs diaper!!!!!! Cutie Mikah!

And of course we had to leave my Jake behind in the care of Mimi and Grandpa. We missed him soooooo much....in fact my mom and dad picked us up from the airport and took us straight to eat dinner. I was showing mom and dad some pictures and looked up and saw Jake in Bradley's lap. I think he really missed his older brother!

Bradley's New Hobby

This weekend when Bradley stayed with his Nana, he somehow managed to come home with her really nice camera. She had bought a new one because her flash quit popping up automatically. It still works, you just have to pull it up manually. Randy and I struggled a little with the fact that an 8 year old has such a nice camera, but Bradley is a very responsible kid and we know he will take care of it. I am going to buy him a simple notebook and he can use his allowance to develope the pictures he really likes, so he can put them in the notebook. Then, he can journal about the pictures. Bradley is so creative and I can't wait to see some of the pictures/stories/ideas he comes up with. We are hoping Uncle Jamil can give him some simple pointers when we see him next week in New York :)

Anyway, I am housesitting again for my parents while they are visiting my sweet Mikah right now. I took the boys on a bike trail at Parr park this morning and roller bladed. We stopped to take a rest by the pond and I let Bradley get out his camera and photgraph away. I love nature and I want the boys to really appreciate God's creation. Bradley took this picture of me and Jake and I didn't even know it. I thought it was really good.

I also got to go to Texarkana this weekend and see my good friend Kelley. That's when Bradley stayed with Nana...these were some of Jake's friends from when we lived in Atlanta. Kelley is an awesome cook and taught me a new recipe while there. She's one of those people who can just create and throw food together and make an incredible meal. We had a good time with our friends.
Cade, Jake, and Clay

Jake singing to Kyndal