A Word that begins with B!

I will probably be called a mean Mom for telling this story at some point in Joe Braden's life, but it is too good not to have on the books for our memory. I must say that sometimes kids are just funny and seriously say the funniest things!

Tuesday we had a parent teacher conference with Joe Braden's teacher, Mrs. Hopping. I had told Joe Braden we were having this and he didn't seem to worry, and there was no need. It was a mandatory conference that they have with each parent in the first semester. Well Joe and I got there as they got out of school and Joe Braden was waiting with a smile on his face, until the moment he found out that he wouldn't be allowed to come into the classroom with us. You should have seen the look of sheer horror! He looked at me seriously and said.............

"OK Mom I HAVE gotten in trouble ONE time and I FORGOT to tell you!"

Me.... "It's OK son we aren't here to talk about anything bad only the good."

That seemed to calm him down and he got settled to start his homework. The conference went great and I was excited that he is doing really well and is scoring high in all areas. She complimented his behavior and didn't have anything negative to say, so this of course made me wonder what was it exactly that he had done that one lone day this semester to get in "trouble".

The following is the conversation that we had on the way to the car after the conference, (nothing has been changed and I didn't change names to protect the innocent)!

Joe Braden: "So how did it go?"
Me: "It went great!"
Dad: "From all she had to say, I am proud of the way you are doing in school."
Me: "Joe Braden, I am just curious, exactly what did you do the one time you got in trouble this year?"
Joe Braden: "I don't want to talk about it."
Me: "You aren't going to get in trouble."
Joe Braden: "Really Mom, I don't want to."
Dad: "Joe Braden, you may get in trouble if you DON'T tell us!"
Joe Braden: "OK, Well Mrs. Hopping told us to write a word that started with a B, so I did."
ME: "What exactly did you write?"
Joe Braden (holding his head down and mumbling): BIG BOOTY!!!!"
Me and Dad (laughing hysterically): "WHY?"
Joe Braden: "I don't know it is just the first thing I thought of, but I won't do it again because I had to sit out at recess for 7 minutes!"

It was just classic! I can't imagine WHY he did that, except that he is a 6 year old little boy, but whatever the motive I must say it was funny. It was one of those times where you think, "Gee I probably shouldn't have laughed in front of him, but it was just so dang funny!"

Joe Braden just know your brother has a funny, maybe embarrassing when he is older post, coming this way too!

News Flash

I have been out way too long now! I don't know why but I haven't been motivated to blog in some time. Some of it is pregnancy related, because I am tired and just unmotivated in general because of it. I have also kind of been in a funk for a while and need to get out of that! So here goes a new blog, where I will catch you up with the latest and greatest in my world.

IT'S A...............

GIRL

We will be welcoming Baby Isabella in about 16 weeks, and I am soooooo excited. We were in no way "trying" for a girl but it is a little blessing God has thrown my way and for that I am very Thankful. Her room is already coming along and I am super excited to finally get to use pink! I wouldn't trade my boys though, and I think it is super cool that she will have 2 older brothers to help protect her.

Joe Braden is doing wonderful in the first grade and loving every minute of school. He loves his teacher and I must say she is really good for him. She holds him to a very high standard, as do I, so it makes my job easier at home. He is so excited about having a sister. He prayed so hard that this baby would be a girl and God heard and answered yes.

Joshua is going through a phase right now, and I think some of it may have to do with the idea of no longer being the baby. He is coming and climbing in our bed around 4AM every morning and crying when I drop him off at daycare every day. Poor boy, this is going to be quite an adjustment for him.

I have a few more blogs planned for this week and one is quite hilarious so stay tuned!

Please Pray

OK I have been horrible lately with the blogging! It seems that I just don't have the energy most days between, work, kids, housework, Joe Braden's homework, Judo and Youth Group I am just running on close to empty! Today, I didn't feel like blogging again, but I have to. I happened across this blog today and had to have all the prayer warriors I could get to pray for Sarah. Go read up on their story, it is heartbreaking and they desperately need a miracle. May God bless this family!

PSF: Family Reunion Photos

Monday we had a family reunion and it was wonderful! Here are a few pictures!

Thankful Thursday!

I am linking up once again with Sonya to participate in Thankful Thursday. It is easy enough, just list the 5 things you are thankful for this week.

1) I am so thankful that I get to once again start up the Lady Bug class tonight and study God's Word with wonderful ladies.

2) I am blessed to have wonderful friends that I can laugh with, vent to, and cry with. What would I do without them!?!

3) My house is starting to get back in shape, from the 2 months where I couldn't do much!

4) That I got to spend much needed time with my family on the Labor Day weekend! We needed that time to reconnect!

5) Finally I am thankful that I got to see my Memaw's joy while she listened to her Children, Grandchildren, and Great Grandchildren sing Hymns of praise to the Father! I must say it was priceless and I am so blessed that I was there to enjoy that time!

WW: Me

I don't seem to take many pictures of myself, so I thought today I would share! We had a baby shower honoring my cousin this weekend and these were taken there.

Thankful Thursday!

I am linking up with Sonya from Truth 4 the Journey today for Thankful Thursday. It is easy to do, you just share the 5 things you are thankful for this week!

I must say this has been a GREAT week and I have many things to be thankful for. God has truly blessed our lives and I can't thank him enough, to God be the Glory.

The first thing I am thankful for as always is the fact that God chose ME! He made ME in his image and chose to SAVE ME! Now that will always be on the top of my list, because without the sacrifice of his son we wouldn't have the life we have.

Secondly I am so thankful that my Baby is safe! I have been so scared and afraid with this pregnancy. I as a human worry, though I try very hard not to, it isn't easy. God has granted me peace throughout this time, and Tuesday the sight of my baby moving and active in my womb, I was elated! The blood clots are gone and all looks GREAT, but please continue to pray that all goes well.

The third thing I am thankful for is my family. They are such a great support and loving. We have all been put through the ringer with this pregnancy, but now we can all relax a bit. I am thankful that Joe and the boys pitched in to make my life easier and that they even did it without complaint. My husband is showing my boys what a real Man of God and Father should be!

The fourth thing would be the fact that my Sister in Law is doing some better. She was put in the hospital yesterday and gave us all quite a scare, but hopefully she is on the road to a full recovery! I was honored to spend yesterday evening with her boys and loving on them while Mommy was away. I know they will all be happy when Mommy is home! We love you Val!

The fifth thing this week is that I get to spend the weekend with family! I am so excited to see my parents and brothers tomorrow night! I am also excited to be able to go to a baby shower honoring my cousin on Sunday, and then a family reunion on Monday. God has truly blessed me with an amazing Christian Family and I am so thankful to have them in my life!

I hope all of you have many things to be thankful for this week also!

WW: My little crazy boy

Joshua is my CRAZY boy, he has been since birth! He is into everything, acts like a monkey, and has more energy than any one child I have ever seen! He for sure keeps his Daddy and I running most of the time. Since he turned 3 he is also getting a lot less shy around other people, which surprises me, but I am happy that he is finally beginning to open up. He is a bright spot in my day and I pray that we are raising him up to be a God fear little man. These pictures just show how much "spunk" my little man has.





For more Wordful Wednesday

Nerf Gun War

The beginning of every school year, we have a BACK TO SCHOOL BASH for our youth group. Last year, Joe thought it would be fun to have a Nerf Gun war, and boy was it a HIT! The kids loved it and really got into the game. We do a capture the flag theme so they are in teams and using nerf as their weapons. Last year the boys didn't go, so we didn't have to worry about them wanting to participate, because they were at my parents. Well this year my boys were home and were convinced they were big enough to play with the High School kids! I fought them on this for a while, but finally I just gave in and told everyone to please be careful with them. They ended up doing GREAT! Joshua ended up being the official guy to tag his team back in, (once you are hit you have to stay where you are until a team member tags you in). Joe Braden actually won a game for his team slipping through the kids unnoticed to grab the other teams flag. It was a great experience for the boys and it was so good of the teens to allow it. I mean seriously these kids get so into it they modify the guns and buy machine nerf! It is just CRAZY!! Here are a few pictures, excuse the quality, I used my phone because I didn't dare take my camera into that WAR!

Making my Home Sing Monday

Welcome to the Making Your Home Sing Monday meme! Every day you are doing something to make your house into a home for yourself and your family (if you have one). My point with each Monday post is, what are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing?

It can be an attitude or an action. Motivation, our attitude, baking, encouraging our husband or children (if we have either one), organization, cleaning, saving money....the opportunities are endless. For more Making your home sing visit Mom's the Word.

I plan to make my home sing this week, by catching up laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning. Since this pregnancy has been so complicated I haven't been able to do much. I still can't do a ton, but I feel better and can at least do some. We are planning to get someone to come and deep clean, since I am still not supposed to be doing much, but I can do laundry, and de-clutter!
I am so thankful to my husband for helping out and making sure things get done, he is the absolute BEST!

Where I have been!

Well it has for sure been a while since I blogged! I NEVER thought I would go this long, but things happen and I just got busy, and had a lot happen! Let's see when I left you guys last we were about to head to our first vacation adventure at Great Wolf Lodge! It was a blast, and I will eventually post pictures! Also we had camp and with all that summer just got CRAZY, not to mention the fact, that I was feeling BAD! I didn't know what was wrong for a while and then finally took a pregnancy test and come to find out I am PREGNANT!! I thought that I found out at 4 weeks, but apparently at the time I was 8 weeks! I went into the doctor for complications a few days later and he did an U/S and found out we were 8 weeks, so that explained a LOT! I mean I knew I had been without energy for quite sometime, but thought maybe it was from all of our traveling! Well yesterday I was 12 weeks, still having some complications, but the baby looks great! So I can use all the prayers I can get! I want to update more on the summer and will do that soon, but I wanted to share my news, and why I have been missing in action.
I know many of you are thinking, "Weren't you suppose to have a Hysterectomy this summer?" The answer is yes, I was, but insurance denied it because it was a "pre-existing" condition and I hadn't been on my new insurance for a year so they wouldn't cover it. So needless to say, I am so happy I didn't have it done! I may even wait a few years now, since pregnancy is the best thing for endometriosis! Isn't God an AWESOME God?!?!?!

WW: Water Fun

While Joe Braden was recovering from his tonsillectomy we let Joshua have some water time! He had a blast playing in the water and was thrilled to watch the balls shoot into the air!





For more Wordful Wednesday visit Angie!

Making My Home SIng!

Welcome to the Making Your Home Sing Monday meme! Every day you are doing something to make your house into a home for yourself and your family (if you have one). My point with each Monday post is, what are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing?

It can be an attitude or an action. Motivation, our attitude, baking, encouraging our husband or children (if we have either one), organization, cleaning, saving money....the opportunities are endless. To join in this great meme go visit Mom's the Word



To make my home sing this week, I am getting things ready for our first family trip of the summer. We are not going far away, but we have a very fun trip planned. We are going to Lake Grapevine to camp for a few days, then on the Joe's brother to visit his new home for a night, and we will cap it off with a two night stay at Great Wolf Lodge. The boys are super excited. We have several outings planned like the Ft. Worth Zoo and the Dallas Aquarium, eating at the Magic Time Machine, and a special trip to Build a Bear.
I am working on our menu for the week so that we know what we need to buy and what we already have. We try to eat out only one time a day, if that, and with the camper, it makes it super easy to cook. I am making goodies that we don't have around the house to take with us. We will have Joe's favorite Chocolate cake, Joe Braden's favorite Chocolate Chip cookies, my favorite Banana Bread, and for Joshua, well he is a chocoholic so he will love any of it, and is too young to really have a favorite. We will have his favorite store bought snacks along for the ride though.
I am also washing all the bedding from the camper and getting it cleaned and organized, which is a job within itself! We are all getting super excited! We will be leaving Thursday and returning the following Thursday. I hope to blog and share some pictures from time to time, so watch for fun to come!

PSF: Is that there a Farmer?

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Joshua LOVES to dress as a cowboy and ride his John Deer Tractor. I think his is just precious! He wears his boots every where we go and most of the time his hat too! Sunday night after Church I captured a few pictures!

WW: Recovery

Well we have been without internet, so I haven't blogged. It is too hard from my phone so I just put it off. Today was Joe Braden's surgery! He had to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. He went back at 7:00 and the Doctor came out of surgery at 7:17! It is just amazing how fast it all was. He had a really hard time in recovery though! He couldn't get comfortable and was fighting sleep. He cried and cried for his "Mama" so they finally decided that they better get us to see if that would help. Typically they don't let the parents back until phase 2 but we were able to calm him down. We found out that he has a high tolerance to pain meds, and it takes A LOT to work on him! Thankfully he also has a high pain tolerance! Here are some pictures of him recovering!

PSF: Goodbye Kindergarten, Hello First Grade!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Joe Braden is now officially a 1st grader! He was so impressed when the teacher told them, that when they walk across to get their award, they were then in 1st grade! He is so EXCITED!! I couldn't be more impressed by the things that his teacher had to say, it made me extremely proud of MY BOY!

Wordful Wednesday: Born Again

We have had an amazing experience the last few weeks in our youth group. As many of you know my Husband, Joe is the Youth Minister for our congregation. Well in the last week there have been 5 Baptisms! We are just so excited! These kids have been taught at home and at Church, and made the decision to put their Lord on in Baptism. It has been an EXCITING time in our lives. We are so proud of all of them and the choice they have made, to GOD be the Glory! I have permission to share pictures of one of them, so here you go! This is Joe Baptizing Jaylon at 10:30 on a Wednesday night2 weeks ago.


For more Wordful Wednesday visit Angie!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

I am doing my Monday Post on Tuesday this week, because of our long weekend!
I am linking up with my friend, Mom's The Word to participate in her Monday meme, "Making Your Home Sing Monday." It's a day when we share what we are doing to bless our families in our home. If you would like to join in, click here.

Friday we left town to head for a weekend of Family, camping, and fun. Every Memorial Day we have a family reunion at my Papaw's house on Lake Palestine. It is always a BLAST! On the way there it was pouring rain and just yucky weather. We were pulling in to a place to stop for a minute to discuss where the campgrounds we were staying at could be and there was a BEAUTIFUL rainbow. I immediately got my phone ready for a picture. I was so mad that we had forgotten to grab my camera! So I take a picture and start talking to Joshua about this rainbow.
He looks at it and says, "He put a rainbow in the sky!"
I looked back at him and said, "Who Honey, who put it there?"
He quickly responded, "GOD"!
It was such a touching moment! I mean my 2 year old had just given credit, where credit was due!
Don't you wish it was that easy for us to give God the glory? Sometimes I have a hard time making sure to say Thanks or give him credit. Leave it to my 2 year old to teach me a much needed lesson! So for this week I will work on applying this lesson to make my Home sing!

Summer Here We Come!

If there is one MAJOR perk to working in the education world it is SUMMER OFF! I am so excited that we have 5 days of school left and I will once again be a SAHM! I have enjoyed being back at work this year, and I have actually balanced it all fairly well. I must say I have impressed myself with how easy the transition has been, but I am ready to have only 1 full time job over the summer. It is amazing how much harder I feel like I have worked this year with having a job and being a Mommy and Wife. Having to still keep up with the daily tasks and work is not easy, but I have managed to keep it done most of the time. I love being home with my boys though, so I am going to LOVE this summer. We are going to be super busy, but it is TOTALLY worth it!

Happy Birthday Joe

My husband Joe's birthday is today! He is 2 years from catching me, but hey he is 2 years from 30! I love you with all my heart Joe and I hope your day is amazing!

Making my Home Sing Monday: Race

I am linking up with my friend, Mom's The Word to participate in her Monday meme, "Making Your Home Sing Monday." It's a day when we share what we are doing to bless our families in our home. If you would like to join in, click here.

Friday night the boys and I took Joe out for his birthday, his birthday isn't officially until tomorrow, but we took the weekend to celebrate. While we were out we saw a man riding a bike, and he just happened to be African American. Well Joe Braden stopped to inform us of the "black" man on a bike. So this made me ask the question, "What do we tell our children to call people of different races?"

I do not want my children to see people for color, gender, body type or any other thing that we label people with. I want them to look at people and see God's handy work. I want them to love everyone no matter their race, ethnicity, social status. I want them to simply love everyone, because that is what we are called to do.

So when this happened I just looked at Joe Braden and said, "Who does Mama tell you we love?" He looked at me puzzled and said, "everyone?". I then said, "yes, and because we love everyone we don't see color." Then he wanted to know, "well what do I say?" This brought me to the above question. So to make my home sing this week I am going to re-enforce the fact that we love everyone, and try to come up with what I should have them say! Any suggestions?

Slide Show

Here is a slide show of my new Nephew Hunter. We had a shower 2 weeks ago and he is so precious! I just had to share!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sick Kid Fun

While Joshua was sick we had a TON of free time! We had to be home from Sunday until Friday per Doctor orders. Well the first few days were OK, I cleaned while the Little Man watched movies or slept, that is all he felt up to. Well as he started feeling better he was getting bored, you see he is an outside boy! He could live outside if his parents would let him! He was pitiful standing by the patio door crying, watching his brother play and Daddy grill, and I just couldn't take it anymore. My poor baby didn't feel good and he couldn't do what he so wanted to do. So I started thinking about something fun to do. I thought about the rice, beans, or noodles with cars or his dump trucks, but I didn't have enough of any of the dry goods to make it fun. So I decided we would wash cars, I went and got a box of his cars, 2 buckets of water, one with soap and one without, and a blow up toy. I used the blow up toy as a tarp, gave him a dish towel and let him have free reign! He had a blast and soon forgot why he had been upset! Of course he had to change clothes afterwards and I did have a bit of clean up afterward, but he had so much fun that is was for sure worth it! He is doing really well now, thanks to some powerful antibiotics and a prescription decongestant. Today is his first day back with his sitter so we shall see how that plays out! Thank you all so much for the sweet thoughts and prayers, it is nice to know people are thinking about your family!

Excuse the poor quality of the pictures, but I left my camera at my in-laws so I had to use my phone!