The Joys of Boys!

Stormy Weather

2011-05-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.

Nehum 1:7

Whew! What a WILD weather week we have had! I am constantly amazed at just how quickly life-anyone's life-can change in a matter of seconds or minutes! I am so thankful that my little bubble here in Birmingham was spared by the massive tornadoes we saw last week! Why, I will never know! Why was my neighborhood only hit with power outages and downed trees when just a few miles away, there was complete devastation? I just have to remember that the Lord is good-even in times of trouble. Here is a recap or our last 5 days and how we weathered the storms:

Rainy, cloudy weather started last Tuesday, April 26. It was not a really terrible stormy day. Just rainy, and with two little boys who would MUCH rather be outside, those rainy days are looonnng ones! I tried to be creative, so we had "movie morning". I rented the boys a movie off of pay-per-view, popped popcorn, poured Cokes, and got out the beach chairs. I thought it was genius! And it was-for about 10 minutes! It's really hard to keep their attention when it's a movie at home! Here is a picture I snapped as the movie began to play:

The rain was gone by the time naps were over, so we enjoyed a nice afternoon outside. The next day was Wednesday. We knew rain/severe storms were coming, but thought we would go to school, come home and wait for the storm. Boy was that a miscalculation!

At 5:15am Wednesday, April 27, I woke up to tornado sirens. I have a real fear of storms! I mean REAL fear! My mother says I watched the Wizard of Oz too many times when I was little. So, when I hit Robb in the arm to let him know the sirens were going off, he simply handed me the TV remote control and never said a word. I was so confused by this weather, because I thought it wasn't going to get bad until later-as in 2:00 in the afternoon later! What were the sirens about SO early?! I turned on the weather and there it was-a nice red squal line headed our way. I watched for a few minutes, and then informed my sleeping husband we needed to be up and start getting prepared. As the sirens blared again, I was taking measures "to get ahead of the storm". I made us coffee, got the flash lights out, shut all the doors to our hallway, (which has become quite a popular place in our home), and turned on 3 tv's-because I needed to be updated and informed in all areas of the house. The storm became a little more intense, and that's when my exasperated husband started taking me serious! (he's been through many false, hysterical, overreacting storms with me) He has learned a few things from me, and did something that was VERY smart-he filled up the bathtub with hot water-"just in case we do loose power"-he said.

We watched and waited a little while longer and then I made the call-get in the hall-get the boys out of the bed! By the time we got the boys up the power was gone. We sat and waited for about 15 minutes and then decided to get back in the bed for a few more minutes of rest. By this time, it was about 6:15ish. The four of us all laid in the bed and "rested". I think I was just waiting for the power to come back. I can remember checking the time on my phone to see just how much longer I had before I had to get up and get showered for school. Time went by and no power came on. Thankfully we had a tub of HOT HOT water! So hot, we had to add cold water to be able to use it!

With a wet head of hair and a bit of makeup, we were off to school. That is a plus about working at the preschool where my boys go-we all go together and leave together. I remember pulling up to the school and thinking about how pretty the day had turned out! The sky was blue and it was as if there had never been any storm at all! In fact, I had only observed a few trees down around our house, so it was weird we were still without power. We quickly learned that Cahabla Heights had been hit really hard! Many of the schools were without power and so they were encouraging parents to keep children at home. As a result, school was cancelled for us as well. We played at school because I didn't think coming home with two little boys and no power would be much fun.......at least not for me.

Listening to the radio that morning, weather was still all that was being talked about. Storms were expected to hit around 2 and get really bad around 6. The boys and I had lunch with Robb and then I borought them home for a quick siesta! It had been a long morning and we all needed to rest!

Robb surprised me and came home early. He decided he should start the little generator we have to keep the fridge going. He even connected one TV so we could watch the storm radar. And boy was it something to watch! I have never seen SO many tornadoes on one radar screen! The weathermen could not even stay on one storm for very long, because they were tracking so many and trying to tell so many people in different places to take cover!

When the storms started getting close, we put the boys in the hallway. Flashlights, iPhones, and iPads were the entertainment of choice for the boys. Here they are playing their games.

Here is when I really REALLY lost it! This is a picture I took of the TV screen as the tornado hit Tuscaloosa. There was nothing anybody could do but watch! I can't imagine how scary it must have been for all the people who were hit by this massive storm! It was unbelieveable! I just watched and cried.

Learned a lot about tornadoes that day. One was that a debris cloud can bring things MILES away and drop it in your yard. After we watched the storm hit, we began seeing shingles floating in the sky above us. Here is a picture of a piece floating in the air, and one that the boys found in the grass. Harris has been collecting them. He calls them bricks.

This is a piece of foam that we watched fall out of the sky and land across the street in a neighbor's driveway.

The generator that we ran while the power was out.

Things we did while we were out of power: rode bikes, sidewalk chalk, painted, and played games on the iPad. Here are some shots of the boys after the storms passed. Thankfully Thursday was a really nice cool day!

We left Birmingham Friday after school to head to Montgomery for Robb's sister's wedding. We left the house with no power and came home to no power! A positive to being without "full-time" electricity-cleaning out the fridge! Yes, it hurt my heart to throw away so much food, but it did make me clean/scrub the inside! Thought a picture might inspire me to keep it so clean. We'll see how long that lasts!

After so many nights of eating out, and being out of our routine, it was nice to get back to normal. The power came back Sunday, May 1 around 6:30 pm. I was like a child at Christmas! I squealed with excitement as I turned on all the lights, ran the dishwasher, and washed a load of clothes! The boys were excited they got to read a book with their daddy-and not with the aid of a flashlight!

There has been so much devastation in AL this last week. I am encouraged by the faith that I have seen by so many people who lost it all. As they stand before a pile of rubble, everything earthly truly gone from their lives, it is awesome to see God given the glory! My prayer is that I could have this same faith and thanksgiving! That even in the storms, I will praise God, know that He is good, and seek him in times of trouble.

Easter Egg Hunting

2011-04-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

Oh what a fun day! We went to an egg hunt on Saturday. I asked the boys to let me take pictures before we left, and this is what I got:

A temper tantrum from Miller. He did NOT want to have his picture taken!

A sweet couple of smiles from Harris.

After lunch, it was time for the party to start! I was able to take a few pictures of the Easter bunny . Probably could have gotten a better shot, but I was a little scared of the ole EB! Look at it! Wouldn't you be frightened too? The boys didn't seem bothered, but oh my goodness! A childhood phobia not quite gone! Anything dressed up is a little bothersome!

Miller and his buddy Drew.

This is where the fun began. Miller is ALL in the action and was quite the little egg hunter. His older brother though had a little bit of a hard time.

Apparantly, Harris fell running up the hill. That was the strategy I gave him-run all the way up the hill and start at the top. By the time he recovered from his fall, he got up and just stood-and looked-and looked. All the eggs were gone and this is what happened.....

A meltdown at the tree when he realized he didn't get ANY eggs! We took a few from Miller's basket, but that did not help the situation.

A little pep talk from Daddy to get ourselves all back together.

Meanwhile, Miller was checking out his goodies! He even hid his eggs under the grass in his basket-just in case anybody else wanted to try to get some!

And then cam Sunday morning! Just a few treats in their baskets. Harris loved his flip flops, and Miller told us his favorite was his sunscreen!

The Easter bunny also hid eggs for the boys. Harris had a much more successful hunt!

After all the eggs were found, they were both all smiles!

We decided to go to the 8:30 service at church, and then Robb and I came home and prepared our lunch. It was so nice to be at home with our little family. It's a busy time of year, so it was nice to be able to just be! What wonderful boys I have-all 3 of them!

The Joys of Boys!

2011-04-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a LONG time since I have "blogged". Is it too late to make a new year's resolution? I think mine is going to be better about updating!

As I looked back at my pictures from the last 12 months, I realize just how much has happened! Not anything that would be real exciting for anybody except Robb and me probably, but so much that I want to remember! Well, most of it I want to remember!

The past few weeks have been really good-no great-weeks for us! I have read two really wonderful books that have brought insight and provoked my thinking about lots of things! One thought being my mothering/parenting. As we sat in church on this beautiful Easter Sunday morning, I was overcome with emotion during one of the hyms. As I visualized Jesus' journey to the cross and the suffering he endured, I could'nt get out of my head, "What was Mary doing while this was going on? How was she able to watch her son be tortured and hung? How in the world did she make it?" There have been several instances in the past few months where the strengh of other mothers has truly amazed me! I have really been shaken to the core by how quickly and dramatically life can change. Just like Mary's life was changed SO dramatically and so quickly!

All that to say, I don't want to miss a thing! I want to be able to look back on what I do have and be able to remember it all! And with technology, I am able to basically have an online journal! I used to think that blogging was to keep everyone else updated, and it still will be, but from now on, I want to remember all the small things that happen in my life. From now on, I want to remember my "Joys with Boys!"

Two pictures from this weekend. Trying to get a great shot of everyone is harder than it looks! We took these Good Friday. The boys were having such fun looking for "snakes" (aka..worms). They were such great sports to stop and let me take a few pictures. Even Maggie was patient with me.

November...thank goodness it's over!

2010-02-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hardest month of motherhood! If there was somthing to get into-the boys did! It was never ending! I can kinda laugh at some of these pictures now-but at the time they were NOT funny!

Miller climbed in the tub as I undressed Harris-who knew he could get in by himself?

Harris got the water hose after Miller-Harris thought it was hilarious! Miller did NOT!

Harris decided to take keys off my computer keyboard. They don't just snap back on-the entire keyboard had to be replaced!

This is the paint the boys got into. I found the pencil later-I guess this is what they were trying to paint. It was a mess! The pictures don't do it justice! Miller looked like a smurf after this episode!

October

2010-02-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

A quick recap of October:

Went to take pictures and look at pumpkins at a local nursery

A trip to the pumpkin patch with play group-so much fun!

Play group came over to our house and we painted pumpkins

Trick-or-treating

New Kitchen

2010-02-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

Don't be fooled by the title in this blog. The kitchen is not completely new, but we did have to get a new floor because our refridgerator leaked. This all happened back in September. What we thought was going to be a two week project turned into an almost two month project! We were able to move everything back into the kitchen on October 30th! Here are pictures of the MESS!

The small area we thought we were dealing with

About 4-5 layers under the tile that Robb had to get up

Finally all the layers are up and ready for new flooring

New paint on the walls and cabinets-floor is ready to be put down

Long Time, No Blog.....

2009-11-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since I have blogged, and boy do I have A LOT to share! I will try my best to get caught up in the next few days. The world of "boys" has been quite interesting the past few weeks. I am planning to highlight some of our fun memories from the past few months.

September! Back in September the boys started back to "school". They both go MWF while I work part time. Miller is in MDO and Harris is in the 2 year old preschool class. September also brought football. Harris LOVES going. Robb is so sweet to let Harris go to the game with him. Robb's only concern is with how much Harris loves the band. Robb would rather Harris be more facinated with the football players, so he tells Harris, "The band plays for you, son. You don't play in the band." We will definitely have a tuba player I'm sure!

Here are pictures from September:

First Day of School

Auburn Games

Big Boy Bed

2009-08-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

We have moved Harris into his toddler bed. He mad the transition very easily! I was most concerned with nap time, but he goes right to his bed and "reads" books until he falls asleep. Same thing at night! Hopefully around Christmas I will be ready to move him into twin beds. (if I can get all the bedding made before then!)

Bike Accessories

2009-08-26T14:30:00.001-07:00

Harris wearing his new helmet, knee and elbow pads. Who knew they made a construction truck set! Perfect!

Tractor Riding

2009-08-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

Videos of Harris and Miller riding in the "tractor".

What a Week!

2009-08-09T13:05:00.001-07:00

No pictures for this post, just some funny (now) memories from the past week or so.

I have learned a lesson this week from my two precious boys! It took three times for me to learn this valuable lesson. The lesson is this-if you hear my boys in another room laughing hysterically over and over again-RUN to find what mess has been made! It sounds so sweet to hear them playing so well together, but they are surely into trouble! Here is what I have found the three times I let the laughter go on for too long:

1. Harris had the BOX of Cheerios out. He was taking handfuls of them and throwing them all over the floor. Miller thought this was so funny, so what did Harris do-throw more Cheerios out!

2. Turkey EVERYWHERE! In the time it took me to prepare myself a sandwich at lunch one day, the laughter started again. I walked in to find turkey on the windowsill, on the floor, on Miller's highchair...everywhere! Again, Miller thought it was so funny to see turkey flying across the room, so Harris continued to throw it.

3. An entire container of Vick's Vapor Rub emptied in my bedroom. Harris covered the bottom of my metal clothes bin with the stuff. He then began to "play the drums" for Miller. Miller must have thought it was so funny to see the stuff flying in the air, because it was spalttered all over the bedroom-carpet, armoire, not to mention the front of Harris' pajamas. To make it even better, Miller's ENTIRE backside was COVERED in Vick's! It was truly a mess!

With all that said, I am really looking forward to the beginning of school and the schedule/routine that follows! I love summer, but WOW-my children must be BORED!

Almost..

2009-08-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Miller is getting really close to becoming a walker! We are proud of Miller, but as you watch this video please also notice Harris.

Thanks to sweet Robb, we now have a new video camera that we can hook up to the computer. Hopefully, I can now post some videos instead of all pictures.

Off We Go.....

2009-07-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ifyou have ever spent as little as 5 minutes at our house, then you have seen Harris ride his "tractor". He loves to ride anyone who is brave enough to get on with him. Some have been literally run down by him in the past (sorry Caroline) and some have been thrown off (sorry Miller)! Now that Miller has been initiated by being thrown off and run over, he LOVES riding with his big brother. It is so much fun watching them! This has become our afternoon activity.

Happy Birthday Miller!

2009-07-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's hard to believe Miller is already one! I feel like we just brought him home from the hospital! We gave Miller two parties this year-a family party and a "friends" party! The weekend before his birthday we invited our families to come celebrate with us. We splurged and rented a moonbounce for the backyard. The neighbors thought we were crazy, but with 6 children(all first cousins) under the age of 5, not to mention the adults that enjoyed a few bounces, it was money well spent! Because his "real"birth day was on a Wednesday, we decided to have Birmingham friends over in the middle of the week. The highlight of both parties, for me, was Miller eating his cake. He ate the entire smash cake on Saturday and a chocolate and vanilla cupcake on Wednesday. Here are a few pictures from both celebrations!

Fun Filled Fourth!

2009-07-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July this year at the lake. One of Ms. Holly's kind friends allowed us to use her house for the weekend. We had a blast riding the boat and sea doo's, doing a little bit of fishing, as well as watching Harris put his new swimming skills to use!

Harris jumping in

Harris needed a quick bathroom break!

Robb and Harris riding on the Sea Doo

Miller enjoying the boat

Miller and his name sake!(not really! but as chilled out as he is you might think so!)

Harris and I enjoyed watching the fish

Miller and Robb-after Miller's second breakfast of the day!

Beach Birthday Party

2009-06-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Lizzie, my niece, turned three this weekend! She had a beach themed birthday party at the beach/lake in their neghborhood. The party was complete with a blow-up water slide that the kids really enjoyed! The pictures are of the water slide and playing in the lake. It was a typical HOT Mississippi day! Thank goodness we had the water to help cool us off!

   The birthday girl!
   Miller enjoying his float
   Trying to find shade
   Harris going down the slide
   Of course Miller spent most of the party under the food table!

Miller and Maggie

2009-06-27T13:09:00.001-07:00

Miller having his picture taken by himself! He is still a happy baby-most of the time!

CAUGHT!

2009-06-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Harris decided he needed to wash his hands, of course by himself. He moved the stool, turned on the water and started washing. He had a blast until I had to stop him!

Swimming Lessons

2009-06-27T12:44:00.001-07:00

Harris completed his first week of swimming lessons. Here are a few pictures of him in action. Yes, he does have on a bathing suit-it's an orange and white seersucker. I promise he's not naked in the water!

Skinny Dipping

2009-06-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

Harris, Miller, and Caroline decided to play in the pool with no clothes the other day. Pool time wasn't really on the agenda for the evening (obviously) until Harris fell in with his clothes on right before the Thames family arrived for dinner. Well, monkey see, monkey do! Off came the clothes and in they went! The "big" kids had a blast sliding into the water while the babies watched from the sidelines.

Little Porky!

2009-06-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Miller is growing so fast! Hard to believe he will be 1 in a month! He has surely made his presence known in our household by the amount of food he intakes! His favorite activity is EATING! He has a sixth sense when it comes to food. If anyone is eating anything in the house, you better believe Miller will hunt you down and beg for some! Here are some pictures from him eating watermelon last week.

Summer Time Fun Time!

2009-06-19T11:22:00.001-07:00

It seems the only way to stay cool these days is to stay in the water! Harris has enjoyed splashing around in our little baby pool during these hot summer days. He also loves when Caroline comes up to play too!

Tractor Riding

2009-06-19T11:10:00.000-07:00

For those who know Harris, know his first love is tractors! A couple of weeks ago, he woke up from his nap because he heard his good buddy, Mr. Bill (the neighbor), cutting the grass. It was the highlight of his day to ride the tractor. Mr. Bill is wonderful and almost as active as Harris! For an 82 (maybe 83 now) year old, he hangs in there with Harris quite well!

Potty Trained

2009-06-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Yes, Harris is potty trained. He has done wonderfully, but not without one good accident. Because 2 1/2 year olds are SO independent, he insisted on about day 2 that he was going to do it by himself. As he climbed up on the toilet he fell off hitting the metal magazine rack. Here are some pictures from the black eye and cheek laceration. As of today he still has a scar on his cheek! It has been 5 weeks since the accident, so it's looking like that little reminder is here to stay!

2009-06-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Below are pictures I downloaded from Easter. I also put a picture from my "photo shoot" I did with the boys and Maggie. Miller is wearing the gown Robb's mom made that he was baptized in. Harris is wearing one of Robb's outfits from when he was little. Can you believe I got a picture of all of them looking at me at one time?

2009-06-18T13:07:00.001-07:00

OK-I have been trying to figure this thing out for way too long! I am going to get Adrienne to tutor me since hers is looking great!

2009-04-21T10:04:00.000-07:00