Multiple Blessings

Most of you probably know that I love the show Jon and Kate Plus 8 on TLC. I think I like it so much because their little ones are close to the same age/stage as Alex, and I see Alex doing a lot of the same things they do. There are also times when Shawn and I both see ourselves in the conversations, "discussions" (not arguments, just sometime heated discussions :-), and predicaments as Jon and Kate. And I'm sure that is why they have such a huge following.

ANYWAY I have just finished their book, Multiple Blessings. Shawn got it for me for Christmas. I read almost all of it on our trip home from Alabama, and didn't get to finish the last little bit until today. If you get a chance, it is a great book. I knew that they were believers, so it was really cool to read about how God has abundantly met all their needs. It is a great testament to the power of prayer and the way God can do great things in your life if you will just have faith in Him and his plan for you. He truly knows what's best. I hope she writes a follow-up book to this one, because it stops when the sextuplets are 3.

BTY Kate is going to be at the Home Show on Wednesday here in Indy, and I am itching to find a way to go during the day!

This is the next book that is coming out in April. It looks cool, and I will probably own it (I'm that crazy about this show), but it doesn't sound like it is going to be like Multiple Blessings. It sounds like it is going to be kinda "coffee table bookish", with lots of pictures, scripture and tips.

More to come...

With 3 days off from school because of snow, I have actually started catching up on my blog. YEA!!!! I hope to be caught up soon! It is SO overwhelming when you have so much stuff you want to blog about, but not enough time to do it! I probably sound crazy, but someone has to know what I mean! :)

Bass Pro Shop

Every year we either spend Christmas in Alabama with my family, or where ever Shawn's family is having Christmas. This year we were able to be in Alabama for Christmas. And since Christmas was on a Thursday, we spent a lot of time in Alabama for Christmas. We love visiting my grandparents and extended family, but there is only so much a 3 and 5 year can do for 5 days. Thank goodness it was so nice out, because they were able to play outside some. We also took the boys to the Bass Pro Shop that was about 45 minutes away. They had a blast! It was like they were at a museum or a zoo (except most of the animals were dead and stuffed instead of frolicking around).

Here are some pictures from our exciting outing over Christmas!

They were able to sit on Santa's lap (which neither one of them were too happy about...and neither was Santa...not a lot of personality from the man in red...no ho ho ho or anything). In true Bass Pro Shop fashion, they had play guns and bow and arrows to shoot. Brannon was actually really good at shooting. Poor city kids didn't get any help from their city slicker parents. It was actually pretty comical because all these camouflage clad kids would just go right up to the different rifle games and shot things left and right. Our kids (especially Alex) had no clue how to hold, let alone shoot, a rifle. Evidence of this is below. :( Poor Alex!

They also could write a letter to Santa and got Bass Pro Shop tattoos! Yahoo! I had the boys pose for me on the ATV's that we will never own (look at the price of that fun toy!). And of course, Alex chose the pink one! For those of you that don't know, Alex's favorite colors are pink and brown. It was also really funny (if you know Alex you will appreciate this :-) because Alex was completely amazed by the animal tracks through out the store. We would be walking and Alex would just belly flop on the floor next to some tracks and say, "Wook at dis Mommy! Twacks!" Oh how nice it would be to be three again and be god smacked by fake animal tracks. ;)

Craft Time

Right before Christmas, I had the "brilliant idea" to have the boys paint some things for my family to give to them as a present. In true Rebecca fashion, I waited until right before we had to leave, about 8:00 at night, to start. :\ Well, lets just say that in the end the boys had a great time and we got one ornament out of the endeavor.

Here are some picture from out late night craft time.

This was the funniest thing! Alex was working so hard on his ornament. Shawn was helping out by holding it in the air for him to smear handfuls of glitter glue on, when all of a sudden the metal piece that was holding the string pulled out of the ornament. CRASH! The priceless piece of smeared glitter glue and marker art fell to the floor. Oh well! It is the thought that counts right?

I should have known better, but I gave each boy a paper plate with a huge puddle of glitter glue on it. My thought was that they would use their fingers to apply it gently to the porcelain ornament. No...not even close...they chose to literally pick it all up in one big handful and try and smear or pat it onto the ornament. As you can imagine, it didn't work out too great for them.

Fogo De Chao

Again, awhile back, some of the couples in our small group went out for an evening on the town, sans kids! Dustin Sapp, one of our good friends, turned 30...ya, he's a young one. So his lovely wife arranged for a limo to pick us all up at their house and take us to Fogo De Chao downtown. If you have never heard of Fogo De Chao, it is a really cool restaurant where they have an all you can eat salad bar (I didn't partake in...except for the olives, bread and cheese :-) and meat. They have people that come around to your table with skewers of meat and they cut it right there for you. It was DELICIOUS! The funniest picture of the night was the picture on bottom of Kelly and Tony. Kelly, the non meat eater, and Tony, the "bring it on" meat eater.

We all had a great time!

Snow and Pockets

There are so many funny and sweet things the boys say all the time. Like this afternoon Brannon said this, "Mom. If God made the snow, does it go back in his hands when it goes away?". Brannon is the thinker of the two. Alex on the other hand is the wild hare/hair (I can see it both ways...sometimes there is no controlling him). He is sweet and extremely loving, but I don't think he is going to be pondering the meaning of life anytime soon. :) A while back, he said the sweetest thing. It was really cold out, and Alex shoved his hands in his pockets and exclaimed, "Thank you God for pockets!"

Boots

In the fall, I went to a kid's used clothing sale. I have gone quite a few times because I always get really good buys on cloths and other kid stuff. This last time I went I bought both boys a pair of snow boots. This is the best place to buy less used items like snow boots because they can be so expensive, and they don't wear them for very long. Brannon's boots were about $3 and are awesome! I got a really good deal on them. Alex's boots, at the time, were ok. They were only $1 or $2, and they looked fine for the occasional snow outing. I have let the boys wear their boots some when there was even the slightest amount of snow or ice. Unfortunately, Alex's boots almost immediately lost the top layer of plastic, and eventually tore off the tops of both boots. On Tuesday evening when they got home from school, they couldn't wait to play in the few inches of snow that we had at the time, so I bundled them up and we went outside for some snowy fun. Poor Alex, his boots would not stay on his feet, and they kept getting filled with snow. The next day, Wednesday, after we had our whopping 12 inches of snow, we all went out to play in the snow again, but this time we decided to duck tape Alex's shoe's to his feet. After having to do this a couple more times, I thought it was time to bite the bullet and actually buy him some more boots. Here are the pictures of the new and old boots.

The new and the old boots.

Shawn duck taping Alex's boots to his feet.

Our snow bunny with his dino face mask hat and duck taped boots. What a cool looking kid!

Daddy and Alex getting ready to go outside and play in the snow.

When I picked Alex up from school, I had his new boots in his seat. He was very excited, and we put them on right there in the parking lot. :)

This is what I see in the rear view mirror, on the way to pick up Brannon from school. What a sweet boy!

Proud boy and his new Boots!

Snow Day 2

This afternoon I was trying to get two little boys to lay down and rest instead of taking a nap. They wanted to watch Narnia. The first 10 minutes of "rest time" looked like this. How nice and peaceful. :)

Then the rest of the time looked like this. Oh well...I tried! :\

2 boys - 2 naps = 0 patience when they are whiny tonight

Two little boys are going to be going to bed early tonight! :)

John 3:16

At Brannon's school, they work on bible verse memorization. On day, a few weeks ago, he came home really excited to tell me his bible verse. This was really cool for 2 reasons, 1.) he never tells us the verses he has memorized (even though he has a sticker on his chart for it), and 2.) he had memorized John 3:16, the one verse every christian, young or old, knows and the verse that explains our faith.

We actually got him to do it for us so that we could get it on tape. He made a few mistakes, but it is priceless!

Smashed Potatoes

Tonight Alex was excited because we had mashed potatoes, one of his favorite foods (next to chicken nuggets). Alex, being Alex, doesn't call them mashed potatoes, he calls them "smashed potatoes". I was thinking about that, and had a funny thought. Not only does he call mashed potatoes smashed potatoes, but they are instead potatoes and not the real thing anyway! :)


Brannon yesterday also said something funny about food. I asked him what he wanted for dinner, and he said, "Could you fix me the bread that is burn with the cheese in the middle?" Yep, that's my boy...and that is how I cook grilled cheese a lot of times. :)