Nelson's new injury...

Nelson was having so much fun playing on the tree that he lost his balance and fell into the tree. 2 days later, it's a very ugly bruise on his cheek. I hope it's gone when he starts school next week.

The boys and the tree...

Proud Parents.

Cooper and Nelson have a VBS CD, they love the sone "Every Move I Make". They went to church early with Travis this morning and asked him to play that CD while he got all the sound equipment set up for worship. They started singing and managed to convince the worship team to let them sing into the microphones. Well, that went over so well that the lady in charge of worship asked them to sing the first song this morning. My boys sang the "call to worship" this morning! Travis and I were so proud. We'd like to add, Nelson is as tone deaf as all get out, but boy, can he make a joyful noise!!!! Hopefully the pictures my friend took turned out, she's going to e-mail them to me. I will post them when I get them.

I've been tagged.

middle name meme Here are the rules:
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
**IF you have already done your middle name than do the State that you live in with new adjectives!*****
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts. ***Or state if you have already been tagged before!***
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My middle name is Lynn.
L: lively...I want to be remembered as someone who ejoys life! Therefore, I try very hard to be lively.
Y: young... I'm the youngest in law in my husbands family. I get to hold that title for a few more yrs. tee-hee.
N: naughty... yes I admit I try to get away with things. It's very liberating to go against the grain.
N: nice... there has to be a healthy balance.

I'm tagging:1. Kimberly 2. Erin 3. Shanelle and 4. Niki

Shameless brag on Travis.

Thanks for being a fantastic husband and father. I have loved the last 8 years as your wife and hope and pray for countless years to come!!!! Happy Anniversary, baby!

Good job Cooper!

A first happened on Friday. I knew it was going to happen eventually, I just thought it would be later on in the year. The bus forgot to let Cooper off!!!! I was standing in the driveway, like all Kindergarten parents are supposed to do. I watched a Laidlaw bus zoom down our street around the time Coop is due home. It never slowed down, just kept going. Me being niave thought maybe it wasn't his bus. After 5 minutes, Cooper still wasn't home. I got on my phone and called the bus dispatcher. He asked for the name of the student and the bus number. I gave him both immediately. He then commented on how calm I was and said I must be an old pro at this. I corrected him and said this was my third day with a shoolaged child. While he was radioing the bus, it pulled up. Coop got off.
I asked Cooper what happened.
"The bus driver forgot our house."
"Did you stand up and tell him?"
"No, we can't stand when the bus is moving, I waited until the next stop, got up, moved to a different seat, and told him he forgot to let me off. Then I told him to turn around and bring me home."
"Did you know where you were? Did you have to tell him how to get back to our house?"
"I told him to go to the park, stop at the stop sign and then turn left. I told him to then go down the hill and stop at our house that had a 3 and an 8 on it. I told him the house was white and green too."
"Were you scared?"
"No, I'm in Kindergarten, I wasn't scared!"
I was so proud of him!!! He did everything right. I was most impressed that he knew to turn left and what our address was, we just started working on the address part with him about a week ago.

Deal of the day!

The older 2 boys are obsessed with Rescue Heroes. They have wanted the control centers for quite a while. I cannot justify a $50 toy. When I was out with my mom, I found one of the control centers at a resale shop for $8. I grabbed it immediately! The best part was, at a second resale shop that day, I found the exact same toy for $35.
Maddox loves the toy! It's the perfect size for him to stand up in front of. I'm waiting for the day he figures out how to climb on it to sit or get into more trouble.

Nelson's first smile since Cooper started school. I think it's only becasue Cooper wasn't home to play with the new Rescue Hero control center. He had it all to himself for over 3 hrs.

Kindergarten is finally here!

Nelson and Maddox so excited to see Cooper go to school.

Mommy trying to hold onto her little man for a few more minutes.

Daddy and Cooper messing around waiting for the bus to come.

Getting on the bus! This was his favorite part of the entire day.

Joy in the heat!

Today, and one day last week I loved the hot weather. When Lambert Airport reports 98* Maggie Moos gives out free ice cream for the next 98 minutes. This is all thanks to one of the local radio stations, Y98 FM. The boys and I were able to enjoy it last Wed. Today my mom and I kept the radio on everywhere we went and even in the house. As soon as it reached 98* I started making noise (Nelson and Maddox were napping). Once the boys were up, we jumped in the car and headed over for our free ice cream! As long as it's going to be disgustingly hot, we might as well enjoy some homemade, refreshing, tastey ice cream!

Auntie Hannah visiting!!!!

Hannah was in town for the weekend. She called us Sat afternoon!!! We were so excited to see her. She's been in Iowa doing a missions internship all summer. We were able to meet her and her fellow interns for the afternoon and evening.... Dinner was AMAZING!! It was a very late night since we got to the Old Spaghetti Factory AFTER the Cards game let out, but it was well worth the wait and it gave us all a perfect excuse to chit chat. The boys brought their A game as usual. Maddox hammed it up for everyone and Cooper and Neslon were angels.

Fun with Grandma

Party in the Park Part I

Party in the Park Part II

rent it, watch it, love it!

Stella Dallas...
It was reccomended to me by my dear friend Penny. She was even a gem to loan it to me. Now I have to be a gem and get it off my microwave and put it back in her hot little hands. She and I talk about how we think we fit in, and then discover that we don't. THIS MOVIE KNOWS EXACTLY HOW WE FEEL!!!! The birthday party scene just killed me. I fear that my boys might have to experience that.

Oh happy day!

When my brother in law and sister in law got married just over a yr ago I was given a bottle of Oliver Winery white wine. I had to wait months to drink it since I was pregnant with Maddox at the time. Since then, I have searched for this wine! I was told it was only available in IN so every time we went I would try to look for it. Today while grocery shopping, I found it!!! MO now carries it!!!!!!!! I can't wait to open a bottle and enjoy it. Perhaps I will wait one week, then my mom will be here, she can enjoy it with me. (the center bottle, is the original bottle, I loved the wine so much, I kept the bottle and make a candle holder out of it.)

He has his own toys, I promise.

Maddox has decided that the dogs and their toys are much more fun than his own toys. (He's also decided that their food tastes better than the meals I prepare for him.)

The boys' campout adventure...that wasn't.

Travis got home from work an hour eaerly on Friday. He set up the tent, the boys got all of their earthly posessions and put them into the tent. We had dinner, I left for a meeting and the boys and Travis started their boys' night. Halfway thru my meeting I head a HUGE storm. On the way home, I called Travis. The boys had just gotten settled in the tent when it started raining. Not drizzles, but buckets...a down pour. And, if you know anything about our house, anytime there is a storm, we lose power! I went home to no power!!!!! Thankfully, it was back on within 5 hrs. Usually we are without it for 4 days. The boys were forced to move the campout inside to the living room floor. As of this morning the sleeping bags, stuffed animals, and tent are finally dried out and ready to be put away.

WOO HOO a new project with Lindsay.

I love summers. Lindsay isn't teaching, my boys don't have much of a schedule, and I can take the days as they come. The boys were cooperating this morning and playing quietly together, and I was catching up on some iPod upkeep and enjoying my serenade by Barry (Manilow). The phone rang and it was Linds, we were able to chat for almost 45 minutes. I was able to "shop" with her at Kohls; always a good time. By the way, Linds, I hope the pants screamed loud enough to go home with you.
While on the phone we were talking about cooking. We both really enjoy it, but some days it turns into a necessary evil. For me, cooking is a time to relax and forget that I'm a mom. It's hard to forget some days with Maddox pulling on me and the older 2 boys constanly asking for snacks or when dinner is going to be or what it's going to be. For Linds, it's hard with a husband who comes home at a different time every night and a daily schedule that's not always predictable.
She was asking me about the Cornish Hens that I made for Sat. Celebration last week. I then started asking her about some new seafood dishes she made. We came up with a BRILLIANT idea. A blog we can both author and share our new recipes on. When you have a minute or two, go to http://crazycookingwomen.blogspot.com/ and check out our newest project.

Is he a dog or my 4th boy?