Silly Kids

Tyler had us laughing in the car several times over the past few days. Here are the silly things he said:

Tyler: Cooper, who is your favorite Star Wars character?
Cooper: I don't know
Tyler: Mine is Yoga!


We were discussing everyones middle names on our drive.
Tyler: What is Claire's middle name?
Mom: Elise
Tyler: Oh! Like Elise Navidad?

Christmas Program

Yesterday the boys participated in their Christmas Program at school. Tyler played the part of Joseph and Cooper was one of the shepherds. Lily, Tyler's best friend, played the part of Mary. I LOVE going to watch the boys programs because the kids totally crack me up. All of the kids did a really great job and sang their little hearts out. During the program Mary and Joseph went and sat in little chairs by the manger. I was sitting on the front row and noticed that Tyler started to rock and lean back in his chair. I knew that could mean trouble and I tried to get his attention to tell him to keep it on the floor, but to no avail. Minutes later Tyler looses his balance and flips the chair and lands flat on his back. The entire audience gasped! I saw it coming and couldn't believe it actually happened! He proceeds to get up, pick the chair up, and plop back in the chair. Once seated, the tears started flowing. He didn't really seem embarrassed, I think it knocked the breath out of him. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if I should go get him off the stage to calm him down or leave him up there to suffer the consequences. I left him on stage- tears and all. Mrs. Iris, the Preschool Director, went to him and said a few words. He calmed down after that and continued to sing the last song with the group. This will definitely be a story we tell years from now... Remember the time you played Joseph and flipped the chair over! I don't have a video of it yet, but the Preschool is making copies for all of the parents. I did get some pictures before the "incident"!

Mary and Joseph enter the stage

The angel leading Mary and Joseph

Mary and Joseph sitting by baby Jesus in the manger

Shepherd Cooper looking a little frightened by the crowd. He finally warmed up and sang with all his might! He loves to sing!

Shepherd Cooper a little lost on stage!

The kids singing "He's got the Whole World in His Hands"

Broadway Star

As I said in a previous post, Travis recently starred in the musical "Oliver". If you are at all familiar with Oliver, Travis played the part of Mr. Bumble. Last weekend I took the boys to watch him perform and they loved it! Cooper was especially mesmerized by the whole production. Travis did an amazing job as well as the entire cast. Travis' boss, Dr. Leibert, started a non-profit organization to bring wholesome entertainment to Harlingen. Dr. Leibert approached Travis about being a part of the production and Travis agreed, thinking it was going to be a small part. Dr. Leibert had Travis in mind for the part of Mr. Bumble from the beginning, which is a major part. He had at least three songs and many lines. I was nervous for him! Everyone commented on how out of character this was for Travis to do something like this, but I'm so proud of him for stepping out of his comfort zone and being involved in bringing something like this to the community. Travis really enjoyed it, but we are glad it is over. I felt like a single mom for several months due to all the rehearsals. The last month they had rehearsals at least 4 nights a week and Saturday mornings. But the hard work paid off. Here are some pictures I took from the night I took the boys. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a video of any of the performance due to the contract they signed with the company who owns the right to the musical.

The Star of Bethlehem

During my last few years at Texas A&M, Rick Larson started giving a presentation on campus about the Star of Bethlehem. I heard many great things about it, but never had the opportunity to attend. He is a lawyer by trade, but was also a management professor at A&M. I had the privilege of having him as one of my professors while studying business at A&M. The other night Travis and I started talking about the birth of Jesus and we started talking about the presentation. I decided to look it up and I found the website here and saw that it was going to be aired on TBN later that evening. We set the DVR to record it and watched it the next evening. It was AMAZING!!! He uses Astronomy software and scripture from the Bible to prove that the Star of Bethlehem was real. He goes into great detail and also covers some interesting events regarding the death of Jesus as well. It will leave you speechless and with a greater respect and reverence for God. It will be airing again on December 16th on TBN. Check your local listings and set your DVR! You will not be disappointed!!!

Just a Swingin'

Claire Bear

Today we actually had some colder weather and so I dressed Claire up in her cute little hat that I bought for the winter. She looked so stinkin' cute that I decided to snap some pictures of her when we got home. While we were at Target today, everyone was ooohing and aaahing over Claire. Living primarily around the hispanic culture is very different with a young blond, blue eyed baby. People are constantly coming up to her and touching her. I don't really know the whole story behind it all, but it is something about touching the child to ward off evil. Anyway, here are the pictures of our sweet girl:

Silly Kids

The kids are constantly saying things that crack us up. On Sunday I was sitting on the couch with Cooper looking over the Sunday ads out of the newspaper when he said, "Kmart Smart!" I looked at him and asked him what he said. He pointed at the lightbulb on the Kmart ad and again said, "Kmart Smart!" We just died laughing. I didn't even know that was their slogan and couldn't remember the last time I saw a Kmart commercial, but their advertising sucked in my 3 year old!

The other day Tyler came home from school and asked if I knew how to get to Beau's wrench? I was totally confused, but I knew Beau's family often goes to their family ranch, so I asked him if that is what he meant. Yes, his ranch. I guess they had been discussing it at school.

I love when they mispronounce words. Tyler calls granola bars chewnola bars and it cracks me up every time he says it.

I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog yet, but Travis is going to be a part of a production of Oliver Twist. His boss is one of the directors and convinced Travis to do it. He plays Mr. Bumble and he has quite a bit of speaking lines and 3 songs! Well, one night Travis took the boys to play practice and they came home singing, "Halibo, Halibo!" instead of "Oliver, Oliver!"

Lately, we have been talking with the boys about eating healthy foods and we often tell them certain foods will make you grow big and tall like Daddy. Well, yesterday, an A/C repairman came by the house to take a look at some stuff. We were talking with him and his teenage son and something came up about how Tyler was going to be tall and Tyler shouted, "Yes, because I eat a lot of lettuce!" We all had a good laugh!

Sweet Boy

I love this picture I captured the other day. Cooper must have been napping because he would have definitely wanted in on the fun.

Tyler has a special friend in his class named Lily. She lives in our neighborhood and goes to our church. She is the cutest little thing. He colored a picture for her the other day and we left it in her cubby. She then gave him a silly band in the shape of a "T" for Tyler. So today he said he wanted to make her some more pictures and he wanted to put it in our mailbox and let the postman deliver it. I tried to talk him into just putting it in her cubby at school, but he refused. So I helped him write a note to her so she wouldn't get a random picture in the mail from him. He wrote most of the letters himself and he was so proud!

Lamp Makeover

I've been looking for lamps for our bedroom for probably over 6 months, but every time I would find something it would be way more money than I was willing to pay or it would be the style I liked and the wrong color. Well, a few months ago I came across this design blog that I liked and she did a tutorial on how to paint lamps. After I saw this I was on the hunt for some inexpensive lamps to paint! I searched Marshalls and TJ Maxx high and low, but didn't fall in love with any that I saw. I was hunting for something like these Potter Barn lamps, but I definitely didn't want to pay the $100 they were asking for each lamp base.

One day I was in Target and spotted a great lamp. It wasn't in the regular lamp aisle, it was in one of the special decorating aisles. And all of you regular Target shoppers know that those aisle ALWAYS go on clearance at some point. So I waited and waited and waited. Every time I was in Target I would go down that aisle to see if my lamps were on clearance. Finally the other day I saw the big red clearance sign hovering above my lamps! I grabbed two and put them in the basket excited for my next project. They were $25 each! Great deal for a lamp. I went and bought the needed spray paint supplies and got to work right away. Here is the before:

And Afters:

I love how they turned out and especially for the price I paid! I think I need to add one more coat of the gloss sealer to make them a little bit more glossy. I love having lamps in our bedroom and the way it warms up the room with a soft glow. Now I just need to finish the rest of my projects for the Master Bedroom!

6 Months!

Claire turned 6 months on the 16th and I'm just now getting around to posting! I guess that is what happens when you have three kiddos running around. We took her to the doctor last week and she weighed in at a little over 17 pounds (75%) and she was in the 90% for height. Here is a list of things I want to remember about Claire at this age:

• She is a great eater! I have started feeding her veggies (squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, and peas) and she loves all of them so far.
• She is sleeping great at night. She sleeps from around 6:30-7:00 or even 7:30. Her naps aren't as consistent, but I think it is because we are always on the go with the boys and she doesn't always get to nap in her bed.
• She is a very happy baby, but just this past week she has become more aware of when the boys or I leave the room and she has been letting us know that she doesn't like it!
• She sleeps with a little lovie blanket and she is already very attached to it. She rubs it in her face when I give it to her and it is never far from her when she is asleep.
• She rubs her eyes when she is tired, just like her daddy!
• She loves blowing rasberries at the moment and she thinks it is fun when you blow them back at her.
• She is starting to sit up on her own, but definitely still topples over. Those cheeks are just to heavy to hold up!

Blowing rasberries at Mama.

Showing off her new skills of sitting up by herself.

Cooper is never far from his baby sister. He loves her so much!

Blog Makeover

I was recently the recipient of a blog makeover from Penny Lane Designs. I love the new look for the blog! She had lots of cute pre-made designs to choose from and it was hard to settle on just one design. If you are looking to makeover your blog, check out pennylanedesigns.net!

Beautiful Day

This past week we finally had some beautiful weather come our way, although I think by tomorrow it is supposed to be back in the 90's. UGH! But we have been trying to enjoy the nice weather as much as we can while it is here. This past week the boys decided that they would like to have a picnic in the treehouse. I thought it was a fun idea and so we all climbed up in the treehouse to enjoy dinner. I figured we might just be able to get through dinner without any whining or complaining about what was being served because they would be having too much fun, but I was WRONG!!! Oh well, at least we could enjoy the lovely weather!

Cubbies

We are Awana Cubbies, we're happy all day long.

We know that Jesus loves us! That's why we sing this song.

We hop because we're happy and we jump and shout for joy.

For Jesus is a friend to us. He loves each girl and boy.

It's that time of year again! Both of the boys are in Cubbies this year and they love it. Cooper was so very excited when I told him that he would get a vest this year and would be able to earn patches. I was a little worried that he wouldn't be brave enough to tell his teachers his verses, but he has done great and is working really hard at memorizing them. Tyler must have grown tremendously over this past year, because his vest is tiny on him! I can't imagine what it will look like by the end of the year!

ZOO

The boys have been begging me to take them to the zoo lately. I promised them that once the weather got a little bit cooler that we could go. This week we got a small cool front and it made it bearable enough to be outside, so we took off to the zoo with some friends and Aunt Kelsey. The kids had a great time and especially enjoyed the new playground that recently opened. It was an amazing playground that resembled a huge tree house. We had a great morning and topped it off with some Chick-fil-a before heading home for naps.

Tyler, Beau, Cooper, and Brooklynn

Tyler and Cooper checking out the animals.

All the kiddos looking at the tigers.

Claire enjoyed her leisurely stroll through the zoo.

Several giraffes came right up to where we were standing.

Close up

Nap time

Callie enjoying the slide.

Some more monkeys we saw at the zoo!