Today was filled with relay races, water hoses, baseball tosses, sponges & a lot more outdoor adventuring.It was the 2nd year I’ve been able to attend Braylon’s Field Day. While I was there, taking pictures with my phone, memories came flooding back from all my Field Days at Community Christian School.
See, my dad wasn’t just my dad – he was my school Principal. Continue reading
we took the 4-5 hr. drive to spend the long weekend with my hub’s dad & step-mom! kind of a make-up celebration for bray’s 6th b-day & great chance to catch up on visiting, relaxing, & loving each other, face-to-face.
today we spent a few wonder-filled hours at the “caldwell zoo” ~ photos are on braylon.com ~ the wildlife was all so close. but strangely, our fave was feeding all the colorful birds on the wild bird walk. braylon’s fave was the white tigers. he saw so many animals he’d never seen or even heard of before.
angel’s eyes were bright and filled with curiosity. i think her favorite was the bird walk, too. she was quite content to be there and wasn’t frightened in the least when they all seemed to land on her at once. her beauty and ease made me think of her as a miniature version of “giselle” from the movie, “enchanted“.
tonight papa rick and granny took them to chuck-e-cheese’s…they said the pizza was entirely nasty and the place was crazy, but our lil ankle-biters tore it up, playing.
tomorrow we may hit the east texas state fair & take some shots of them on rides, & then have a long-awaited visit with great-grandma, deenie.
times are good in tyler.
this mornin’, i thought i’d take a moment to shamelessly promote some photos recently posted by my hubs on braylon.com. (i needed to go ‘meet the teacher’ at his school, but ricky & braylon were able to experience their 1st real circus with gramma janis while in town for his birthday) …what a special memory it turned out to be. bray earned his ticket from the library by participating in their summer reading program. he was sittin’ on the edge of his seat the whole time & kept yelling, “awesome!!”.
he had the best time…except for when he got so excited about eating the cotton candy off his hand, that he chomped on his thumb (ricky was right there with the camera to capture the cry-face). click this pic for more snapshots of bello and the greatest show on earth!
so through a strange turn of events, and no real effort of my own, i’ve been graciously handed a wonderful little part time job as a teacher … of wee little ones (my favorite age-group ~ 2 yr olds!), starting @ the end of this month! angel baby will be a classroom away, and i’ll work during braylon’s school hrs, following the same ISD schedule. just call me, “Miss Chelan“!
hutto baptist church / parents day out program has taken me in as one of their own, and made me feel so comfortable. PDO staff had the best 30-hour adventure on lake buchanan this weekend! i don’t know the last time i’ve felt tired yet completely refreshed, inadequate yet freely blessed, oh, & a little guilty yet deserving! my fave parts:
i just absorbed love like a sponge, through the beauty of His creation. i’m filled. He can wring me out now. the whole adventure and just having this job opportunity has definitely been a wink from God.
the “kutless” concert was a few hours away. the boys were gettin’ excited. my hubs, ricky & his best friend, jason were biding their time watchin’ tv in our apartment. ricky was clipping his toenails, neatly placing them aside after each clip so they wouldn’t land on the carpet. after a good 10 minutes, there was a nice-sized pile sittin’ on the table. as they were chattin’, he stares at the pile with a twinkle of innovation in his eye, pauses & asks jason, “if i ate this whole pile of toenails, would you buy me a tee shirt of my choice tonight?” jason craked up…but wasn’t surprised. he knew ricky well. the same ricky that made up a church small-group game & called it ‘fellowship factor’, complete w/dares to eat mayonnaise, anchovies, jalapeños & dog bones…& shave entire limbs. the same ricky that surprised 20 church folk at a 4th of july party by casually stepping out onto the back porch in my 2-piece swimsuit, askin’, ‘anyone for a swim?’
well, the dare was on. he couldn’t spit them out. he had to crunch them up in his mouth at one time.
and crunch…
he
did.
thank God for that orange juice chaser. thirty seconds later, those pointy things were all swimmin’ around in his belly on their way to digestion city. and three years later, the two of them still text & ricky’s still wearin’ that faded black tee he so proudly earned.
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all these memories came a-floodin’ when i was biting off my little angel’s toenails & fingernails yesterday. see, i’ve discovered how to distract her & make it fun! my secret? gently biting one off, keeping it on the tip of my tongue & sticking it way out for her to quickly grab. she then ever-so-methodically places each nail on the top of her hand. instead of a battle of wills with a squirmy whiny wee one, it’s now a game we play ~ me & my smiley, engaged & yes, almost as goofy as her daddy, little girl.
about 6 mo.s ago, i pushed a button on the blender and heard a loud noise ~ in stereo. baby girl was screamin’ from the other end of the kitchen (w/a big-o-smile). since then, those visceral vocals have turned contagious. angel does it, then i do…whoever’s in the house joins in, all at the top of our lungs! it’s 20 seconds of crazy caterwaulin’ & it’s not just the blender anymore; these last few months, the vacuum, the mixer & the coffee grinder all wanted a piece of the action.
what are ya gonna do.
ya just gotta give yourself permission to lighten things up around the house & be a kid again.
having a kind, fun husband who happens to be the best father in the world, yesterday throwing off all the sheets blankets & pillows off our bed, & throws our kids around the bedroom for an hr. straight, til they just die of laughter …and pushes the blender’s “on” button & cant help but add to the chaos by screaming this insane high-pitched noise until the whole family joins in, all looking at each other & screaming at the top of our lungs
Chelan 