Life...It's 'FANT' astic!

Date Night- February

2012-02-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

We had our February date night last night. We kinda used it as an early Valentine Date as well. :)

It couldn't have come at a better time, because Michael has been working craaazy hard for the past month or so and hasn't even been getting home until 10 or 11 at night...which is long after my bedtime, so I haven't seen him at all lately. Thank goodness for a night out where we could talk and spend time together. :)

Ray and Alicia came over and watched Bryson for the night. Bryson LOVED playing with them!! They are the first non-family (even though they really are basically family to us!!) members to watch Bryson.

I borrowed a few of her pictures, but here is her blog if you want to see other adorable pictures of their night. :) They are so good with him!

Bryson woke up this morning and saw Alicia'a Gatorade bottle on the sofa and picked it up and looked around and said, "A-yi-ya dink? Oh no where A-yi-ya go? Ray??" Don't worry, I assured him we'd see them very soon :)

Michael and I decided to keep it low key this month because we have some exciting dates planned for the next few months!! We went to Down town McKinney and had dinner at Sauce on the Square. Delicious. It was so nice to sit and linger with a glass of wine and just sit and talk and tell stories of our crazy lives.

Afterwards, We walked around the square and window shopped a little and then went to Landon Winery and did a little wine tasting. They were amazing. My favorite of the night was only a mere $70 a bottle... chump change, right? ;) Ha

awwwful pictures, but we didn't want to be obvious with the totally cheesy pictures of us holding a glass of wine. blah

We ended our night with some gelato at Paciugo. Yummm!

I love Michael so much and I love our date nights!! I am already looking forward to March :)

75

2012-02-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

(I should have known better than to think I was going have time to continue the story the next day. Sorry to keep ya in suspense all week. hah)

Ok, onto #3:

Short recap- We went to the Zoo all morning, came home and Bryson was out cold and Michael and I sat down for a few minutes to relax and he got a text from his mom asking where we were and if we were coming....

Michael read the text out loud and we looked at eachother wide-eyed as we both realized at the exact same second that we were supposed to be down in Dallas at his parent's house for Pop's 75th birthday party. HOW in the world did we forget such a big day??

His mom made the plans while were were at their house 2 weeks prior and still, it completely slipped our minds.

We jumped up, gathered a few essentials for B, scooped up our sleeping baby and zoomed off in the car. Of course, he woke up as soon as I clicked him in his car seat and he didn't go back to sleep. So, insteadof getting a 3hr nap, he got 30 minutes. eek.

The entire way down to the house Michael and I were just sick to our stomachs that we forgot. I was so mad at myself; I just felt soo awful. We never ever would have missed his birthday on purpose. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever be able to live that down, either. :(

With Michael's ~~speedy~~ timely driving maneuvers, we walked into the house as everyone had sat down for lunch.

We celebrated Pop's birthday with cards, presents, homemade pound cake and of course a few stories from Pop. We love to hear his stories. :)

Bryson loved pushing the shopping cart all over the house and playing with "Uh Beau". He even had to sit criss-cross just like him :)

Beau set Otto in the cart for a second...about 3 seconds after I snapped the picture, Otto jumped/fell flat on the floor. Poor little puppy

The birthday boy and Mr. B

Mammaw and B

Grandma and Papa and B :)

Even though we were a little late, we had such a wonderful afternoon celebrating Pop!

Happy 75th Birthday, Pop!!!

"Zoo Time"

2012-02-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

Michael's parents gave Bryson a Dallas Zoo membership for Christmas and we have been itching to go. We finally got a chance to go today and had SO SO much fun! We told Bryson last night that we were going to the zoo in the morning and he couldn't wait until "zoo time!"

He woke up quite early and after I reminded him on the plans, he recited a huge list of animals over and over with "yay zoo time soon" thrown in there every once in a while.

We packed up and headed out and got there a couple minutes before it actually opened.

Before I tell you about our day, I have to warn you that there were three (uuugh. THREE?) "Mommy Fail" periods of our day. The first --I realized I left my camera sitting on the counter. Uuugh. Anyway, back to our day...

It was amazing. We were literally there all by ourselves along with the workers! We saw a few families here and there, but it felt like a private day at the zoo for several hours. All the animals were fresh and active, the zoo keepers were ready to spout out information about the adorable animals and best of all, we didn't have to worry about keeping Bryson belted down in his stroller...he ran around with us as he pleased (which I think might have been one of his favorite parts :))

(I didn't take anypictures of just animals because, well, I know you've been to the zoo and you know what's there, right? right. Ha!)

He HAD to have his hands in his pockets, just like Daddy!!

Not sure if you've picked up on this, but Bryson is an active kid. Never stops. He had already run around the zoo for well over an hour at this point and had no interest what-so-ever to sit in his stroller. To coax him in his stoller, I gave him some gummie snacks, and as I was strapping him in, I set my coffee thermos in his snack tray across the front. The stroller jolted a little throwing my thermos of coffee (less than luke-warm, mind you--I made it about 3 hours prior) all over Bryson's shirt. Insert "Mommy Fail" number 2. AND, I didn't have an extra set of clothes. I couldn't possibly let him keep a wet, now cold from the wind, shirt on for the rest of our trip so Michael turned into our Superhero again. I stuffed a blanket up between Bryson's tummy and his wet coffee-soaked shirt and Michael ran like the wind down to the front enterance of the zoo to the souvenir shop to buy an over priced cheesy monkey sweatshirt for him. Good thing he's a runner because we just happened to be at THE furthest spot from the enterance in the entire zoo. What luck. Thank you, my superhero husband, for saving the day!!!

Ok, back to the fun!!

He loved pacing around with this crazy lizard. After pacing the length of the window about 15 times, he got down and crawled with it :)

Eww, snakes!

Bryson loved LOVED petting this snake. It really surprised me. We asked him if he wanted to, but definitely weren't pushing him one way of the other, but he ran straight to it. Then, he kept leaving the exhibits we were at to go back and see and pet the snake again. Definitely not my son at that moment!! I think he and Michael pet the snake several times!!

We had sooo much fun at the zoo with our little family! Bryson was totally worn out and passed out in the car on the way home. I was a little worried, but much to my surprise, he even stayed asleep as I unbuckled him from the car, carried him inside, layed him in his bed, and left the room. Which never happens!! We talked about how we figured how he would sleep for well over his normal nap, like 3 or 4 hours since he was just so darn tired from runnning around the Zoo all day!!

We sat down and relaxed for about 15 minutess until we got a text from Michael's Mom saying, "where are you? Are you coming??"

Insert Mommy Fail Number 3....

(I have to load the pictures from my camera and then I'll continue ;) )

Random Littles

2012-02-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

Life is Nuts. Nuts. So, you get the last couple, err several, weeks in a little ball of catch-up. :) iPhone style

He makes me laugh :)

Mommy and B at Razoos

Waffle on the sofa

Helping Mommy with her New Year's resolution- Mailing bithday cards :)

Celebrated Jacob's 1st Birthday!!

(he really wanted to hold Jacob! ooh SOO adorable!!)

Mommy's shoes :)

Loving on Mimi while she watched him and let us go out to an early movie--the very first one we went to since Avatar. That's a long time, people!

Early morning gym dates. I have made the decision to make fitness a priority again. I tried going after school for a while, but I just cringed knowing I was missing precious "Bryson time" and I just can't sacrifice that. So, I've been sacrifing sleep instead and getting up at 4:20 to go. Thankfully, Ray and Alicia also have been going so it's not nearly as bad!! (I realized that the only showers I have taken at home in the last 3 weeks are on Sundays. Crazy!!!)

New favorite thing-Bubble baths!! He'll stay in there until all the "bubbles go night night." :)

Mimi and Papa bought him a TON, I mean TON of clothes and he was dying to wear his new "yion jammies" the night before going to the zoo the next morning :)

And I have no idea where he picked up this little modeling pose! ;)

Date Night- January

2012-02-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

Michael gave me a little coupon book in my stocking for a date-night-a-month. I have really been looking forward to planning our date nights because we hardly EVER get out by ourselves!

We went back and forth about when we could actually go because our schedules are crazy crazy right now. But we figured it out and Steph so graciously came over to watch Bryson! Bryson had soo much fun with "Au Teff" and the next morning when he woke up, he was singing and talking in his room. Normally, he's calling for Mommy for a "new diafer" of to "come play" or to "eat beckfas" but not this time. He was in his room looking for Steph! "Au Teff, aaaaare youuuu???" SO precious!!

For dinner, we went to Jinbeh Hibachi Restaurant in Frisco. Hibachi has kind of turned into a favorite of ours- I can have tons of delicious sushi and Michael can have the sky high piles of food from the hibachi grill :) YUMM!!

Then we went ice skating!! Neither of us had been in about 10 years...I was soo nervous! Michael was talking about how he was a little shaky and nervous as well, so I figured we'd inch along the ice like an old married couple trying not to fall on our butts.

Well, his skates hit the ice and he zoomed off like he's a hockey pro while I, indeed did inch along the ice like an old woman! Haha! It took me about 10 minutes going around the ice to feel comfortable enough to actually "skate"! It was surely a sight to see!! Michael was so sweet and stayed and skated with me at the pace of a turtle round and round the ice :) At one point, he grabbed my hands and pulled me along soo fast! Scared me to death, I thought I was going to run into someone or fall flat on my bum! I told him it felt like he was pulling me around the ice like a wagon. :) Anyway, I finally felt a little more natural out there and we had a blast skating for quite a while.

It was such a fun night out with my husband and I loved that quality time with him!!

On the way home, we stopped to pick up some frozen yogurt and grabbed a bowl for Steph.

When we got home, we chatted a little and then as she was leaving she told Michael she would see him tomorrow (Saturday) which was a little odd, since we hadn't planned anything for that day. After MUCH convincing, we realized that the half marathon he and Steph were running, that we had thought was on Sunday, was actually on Saturday...the next day....at 7:00 in the morning....that he hadn't gotten ready for....and it was really really late!! We felt awful that we stayed out so late and ket Steph up too late for her early race and that Michael hardly got any sleep either. AAAHHH!!

They both made it to the race, and Michael beat the time he was shooting for and Steph got 1st place in her age group!! So apparently it all worked out alright!!!

I can't wait for our next date night!!

Silly Pictures Saturday

2012-01-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is "Friday Phone Dump" for procrastinators :) Haha

This is Bryson's look of choice right now: Boots and a diaper.

Sometimes he wants to wear gloves...or socks as gloves...or rummage through his drawer and put on big boy undies...He makes us laugh constantly!!

Playing at the mall :)

Driving with Daddy

(this was the WORST idea we ever had!! Now, anytime Michael drives, Bryson has a terrible meltdown because he wants to drive. "My drive Mommy car. No Daddy, MY drive!!"

Speaking of meltdowns, Bryson was having one at my parents house one Sunday when he skipped his nap, so Mimi gave him some Cool Whip to "paint" with on his tray.

This hideous thing caused a tantrum at Walmart a few weeks ago.

(do we see a trend here? Yes, we are full force with tantrums now!)

He wanted to "yit in Dora" SO badly.

LOVES bubble baths!!!

This is an un-babyproofed cabinet for him to play in. He loves to cook in his own oven while I'm making dinner.

(Speaking of babyproof cabinets- Bryson has learned to open the latches, so none of our cabinets are safe anymore. Anyone know the next step to keeping him out!??)

Enjoying a little popcorn and juice picnic outside in our beautiful 70 degree weather in January!

Happy Saturday

2012-01-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

We've had an eventful Saturday!

Michael signed us up for a 5K this morning, and we were really excited about that. I know I've mentioned before that Bryson likes to "wun yike Daddy", but I have to tell you again. Bryson LOVES to "wun yike Daddy!!" Bryson requests to wear his "wunning soos" all the time, then he continues to run laps around the house while yelling, "wuuun faaast! Weally faaast yike Daddy. Bryby wun faaast!!" Every.Single.Time. Ha!

So, we figured this wouldn't be a problem and Bryson would start out running and then we'd put him in the jogging stroller for the remainder of the run. Wrong.

All he wanted to do was run by himself. Or run the wrong way. Or make me hold him while he kept telling me to "wun more fast mommy". Or pick up and throw acorns. Or make Michael hold him while he ran. Or cry and get mad that we tried to put him in the stroller. It was a major fail. Around mile 2.5, Bryson and I gave up and played in a neighborhood while Michael zoomed to the finish line to get the car.

While Bryson napped, I met Alicia up at the gym for a workout. I went a few times last week, but it was SO fun to workout with her again! It's always better with a friend ;) I am SO out of shape and will definitely be sore tomorrow! Bryson was so worn out that he napped for over 3 hours, so I even got to take a little nap after the gym. What a treat :)

After Bryson woke up, Michael and I took him to the park. We brought his bike and he loved it. It wasn't long before he was going off roading on the hills of the playground :)

At one point, he fell down, but all he kept saying was "I okay I okay more bike!" What a tough guy :)

Michael took a little break to practice his pole dancing...haha! Ok, maybe he was just seeing if he could hang on it. ;)

And, amazingly enough, the hour long gym visit today did immediate wonders...{accoring to my shadow} ;)

I love fun family days like today!!!

Next Step Toward Goals:

2012-01-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

In our ABF on Sunday morning, we talked about resolutions and goals. One of the verses we read made me want to bee line it back to the house.

Habakkuk 2:2

Then the Lord replied: "write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it."

Writing down goals and resolutions is a big deal. It's much more set it stone, it's out there for others to see and keep you accountable, and it is visable for you to see it often and remember. Michael and I kind of added to each of our lists and put them in 4 categories: Faith, Family, Finances, Fitness (we must have a little "f" theme going...)

Anyway, I couldn't wait to get home to type them up really pretty and post them somewhere in our home that we'll be able to see on a daily basis.

I haven't quite finished typing them, because, well, like I said, I want them to be pretty if they're going to be posted in our home. :) But, I have made a few "first steps" in a couple of my original goals.

I bought a pair of some of the best running shoes I've ever owned!

I joined a gym

I sent out my first Birthday card!!

YAY!! I feel like this is going to be a good year!!!

2012 Resolutions

2012-01-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, Friends!!

2011 was a fun year. We loved watching Bryson grow and change, we spent lots of time with family and friends, went to Mexico wth the Zellners, took our first family trip to the Beach, and so many other things. It was a fun, busy year.

As we inch into 2012, I know this year is going to be a great year, too! We have some big things planned already and some high expectations of just enjoying our family time to the max. I'm starting a parenting class at our church that I am really excited about! We're taking a family trip to Belize in February and going scuba diving in one of the top 5 dive spots in the world. SOO excited about that!!

So, starting off the year right with a few new goals and resolutions in no particular order:

Have more people over to the house. At least once a month
I'm such a homebody, that sometimes I just never think to have people over. We love hanging out with our friends and going to their houses, I just want to be better about having people over and building relationships.

Get back in shape. Work out and eat better. (along with 99% of the US)
Being back at pre-pregnancy weight in NO way means I am healthy. Oh my gosh, I am SO out of shape and I hate it. The week before I found out I was pregnant, I completed my 2nd half mararthon (one of the toughest in TX). Last week, I jogged down the street with Bryson (he is SOOO into "wunning yike Daddy" because Michael is always going running) and I kid you not when I say I could barely make it 7 houses down the street. UGH.

Read Bryson's toddler Bible to him every night.
I almost always read him books before bed and I always want at least one of them to be a story out of his Toddler Bible.

Send Birthday cards in the mail.
I actually stole this one from my friend, thanks Kaylan ;) It's just always so nice to get a real old fashion letter in the mail, especially on your birthday. I already have a working list of birthdays, I still need a few addresses though.

To Not waste food.
Not the "eat all the food on your plate, young man" type wasting. But the "throw away tons of leftovers".
There's a commercial right now that says on average, Americans waste over $500 dollars a year in thrown out food. I would totally agree with that, at least in our house. There are so many times that I'll make dinner and never eat te left overs and throw them out. Or buy groceries and the week gets busy and then have to throw out the herbs or veggies or something. This year, we're making a valient effort to meal plan, plan to eat left overs, plan to make our next meal with left over ingredients (i.e. green onions-I ALWAYS end up throwing 90% of those away every time) and not eat out if there is good food in the fridge. I think this one will be one of the toughest.

Learn to use my camera better.
I have this amazing awesome camera that I have definitely not learned how to use. I feel like I know just enough about it to get a decent shot if I try, but not nearly enough as I would like. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with all the settings and stuff on the camera that I just end up shooting in Program. SO pathetic. So, if anyone has any SLR camera tips, comments, helpful ideas, I would listen for hours!!

I think that's a good start. Some of these are a little harder than others, but that's the excitement of a new year and reevaluating life. :) So hold me accountable, friends!

Mr. Man

2011-12-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

Michael and I took B out to take some pictures of Bryson. They're just too cute not to share ;)

ALL he wanted to do was climb up the gate and then back down the other side :) And when we tried to take a picture with him he told us "no mommy, up down yadder. oder der. oder der. oder der!!" (no mommy, up and down the ladder. over there. over there. over there!!) He was quite grumpy about us even thinking about taking him away from his ladder.

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!! We sure did! It was so so much fun with Bryson this year because he's SO into presents and being the center of attention with all of our family and gets SO excited so easily! He is such a joyful boy :)

Feel free to read this ~~post~~ novel split up over the next couple days because that's definitely how long it took me to write it! haha. (And yes, I know I have a TON of posts to catch up on, and I WILL get to them!)

Backtracking...

Our Christmas picture with Santa. B loved loved loved him from afar. Squealed with delight with every move "Yanta" made as other kids sat on his lap and got a candy cane, but as soon as I sat him down.. we reverted back to last year:

Mommy and Daddy joined in and he gave a teary half-smile.

We went to Preston Center again and they have the greatest set up. They have Santa, a massive tree with presents for the kids to climb all over and 2 live reindeer. It was so much fun!!

We made yummy christmas cookies and christmas pretzels :)

We went to Christmas Eve Candlelight service at my parent's church.

They had a kids Bible story, so I took B down to the front; he climbed up the stairs to sit and listen and I found a spot on the front row to watch. About 2 minutes in, he turned around to the congregation and the spotlight was in his eyes, so he covered his eyes and yelled, "oh no, so bright!" then layed on his belly and slithered until he found the shadow of a few poinsettias and then scanned the area where I was and when he spotted me. He yelled and waved, "hi, mommy! hi!" Then returned to listening to the story of Baby Jesus. I, on the other hand, waved energetically while laughing so hard that tears were rolling down my face. Just as I contolled myself, he fell on his belly AGAIN, found me and yelled, "hi, mommy!" and then stood up to walk closer to the book. Yes, more tears for me! It makes me laugh just thinking about it :) I sure wish we had video of that!!

We went back to my parent's house and fulfilled some of our Christmas Eve Traditions.

Happy Birthday Jesus Cake

Pictures infront of the fireplace

Christmas presents from Sisters and Out of town family

New Christmas Eve Pajamas (from Alaska!)

Christmas Eve Dinner

Then, we went home to wait for Santa...

Bryson, sadly, woke up screaming at 5:45 because of his poor tummy, but after a few good toots and an episode of Bubble Guppies, he was ready to see what Santa left for him.

Michael lost his Aggie Ring in Mexico over the Summer :( so all he asked for from everyone was money so he could get a new one. I made part of his present into the block ATM with $1 bills. I felt a little shady asking for all the money in one dollar bills ;)

I got a Dyson!!! I technically have been using it since Black Friday{shhh}, but it is THE best thing ever!!

Michael is the more romantic of the 2 of us. Besides the Dyson,he also gave me several gift certificates to be used with a "Date Night a Month" coupon book!! I am SO excited about this. Like, SOOOO excited!! We rarely get date nights and to have at least one a month planned is going to be so exciting! ;) I love him so much!!

Bryson just plain ol' LOVED opening presents. He would tear the paper off a present and get to a plain white box and squeal with excitement and yell, "oh wow!!" After we stopped giggling, we would tell him to keep opening and the whole time, he would talk to himself and smile and giggle until he got to the real present and get a silly face and tell us what it was. "oooooh wow!! drums!!" oooh wow!! Mommy, a moomie (movie)" Ooooh wow!! night night jammies!!" It was precious!

We made breakfast together as a family

Then, we went over to my parent's house around 10. I would tell you that we had to change clothes first, but we didn't, so I can't ;) We are a family FULL of traditions, and one of them is to get new Christmas pajamas from my parents on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas morning in our pjs. And yes, we're old and grown and have kids of our own and real jobs and such, but we STILL wear pjs on Christmas morning :) Love it. :)

Another tradition is for the sisters to make snowman pancakes

And then read the Christmas Story from the Bible and open Santa presents!!

Again, Bryson squealed during every.single.present!

He loved the car from Aunt Jenny and Uncle Brandon. LOVED it! He has played with it every day!

After presents we took our "Christmas Trash" picture

and ate some yummy food while B napped (a good loooong nap, thankgoodness!)

Off to the Fant's House. I am still kicking myself for leaving our camera at my parent's house :( Thank goodness for iPhone cameras, right!?

We opened presents as soon as we got there!

B got a Dallas Zoo membership that we are SO excited about!!

We all took turns and went youngest to oldest opening presents :)

I got a new lens that made me even MORE anxious to be reunited with my camera!!!

Michael added lots more money to his ring fund, and B got some amazing Cowboy boots!! So so cute.

4 generations in boots! How fun!

We had such a fun Christmas celebrating with our family. It's always so fun to continue with all of our family traditions, start new ones with our little family and get caught up in the excitement of presents and food and stuff. But, it is so important to remember the REAL reason for Christmas.

Every day for the last month, I've read Bryson a toddler version of the Birth story of Jesus. Sometimes I read straight from the book and sometimes I made up my own words and sometimes I even made it into a song, but I want so badly for him to know and understand the real meaning of Christmas. I know most of this is just reciting, but I get teary and tingly when we walk past the manger scene in the house and he waves and says hi to Baby Jesus. Or picks him up and gives him a kiss and says "my Desus, yuv you!" (my Jesus, love you) I don't care even for a second that he could drop and break the figurine.

THAT is what Christmas is all about!!

Happy 2nd Birthday {Party}

2011-12-04T18:50:00.001-08:00

Fant Airlines: Departing 12-3-11

Bryson's birthday party was so so much fun this year. Having all of our family and friends and little kids there made it special, but it was so neat that Bryson actually understood what was going on this year. He was so excited for his party. We have been preparing him for it for the last month and it was great! He knew what to do with the candles because of the iBirthday app, and he sings the birthday song everytime we see any kind of candle or cake.

I had planned on going with a SesameStreet theme for his party because he loves Ernie, but I pul;ed a switch-a-roo at the last minute and just continued on with our Halloween theme-- Airplanes, which he also loves :)

I went super low key this year and spent next to nothing on decorations and such. Food is a different story, but all in all a very cheap party ;) Although, I'm definitely going with a prepackaged party set next year! haha! I had no idea there is NOTHING with airplanes at stores. There are military jets all over the place but no airplanes...so I had to make everything. It was fun though :)

Before we get to the star of the show, here are a couple decorations:

Invitations were like a boarding pass

Couple things around the house

Picture op spot :)

Party favors along with a homemade luggage tag (before I put the strap on)

And on to the party!! We had a great tournout and were thrilled that almost all of both sides of the family could make it!! We had so many special friends come and several kids and babies :)

At one point, he grabbed a bag of gumies and just took a chill in the middle of the kitchen floor while everyone what standing around talking!

Michael said the caption of this picture should be "It's my party, I can do what I want." haha

He was such a champ during the entire party!! He was Mr. Social Bug and talked and played with everyone. He never got grumpy and loved opening all of his presents! He wanted to stop and play with several of them, but as soon as I gave him another one and said we'd play with all of them later, he was great and kept unwrapping. He was such a little gentleman and tried to thank everyone by name after the present. Although sometimes, it sounded more like, "Tank too ah di di di do" than their name ;) He is such a blessed little man. He was showered with love and lots of fun toys!!

Michael's Mammaw and Pop gave Bryson the cowboy hat and little wooden gun (just decoration) and I thought it was just the cutest thing...and then I found out that Pop made it 40 years ago!! It is something that will be so special for Bryson as he gets older. :)

He also got a bike from Mimi and Papa that I have been unpatiently waiting for him to open! I saw it online over the Summer and have been researching and reading about it for a while and have been SO excited for him to ride it!! It's called a Strider Bike and it's SO neat!! Bryson picked it up super fast and rode it around our house for over an hour the night of his paty! He's turning circles, backed himself our of a corner and is getting great at balancing. They aren't sold in the U.S., but apparently the streets are littered with kids on them all over Europe. I would totally suggest it! :) {Sorry for the little plug, I am seriously so excited for him to have this bike!}

And, on to cake! He was thrilled to have everyone sing Happy Birthday to him!! He had the biggest, sweetest grin on his face.

He may or may not have drooled all over the cake while blowing out candles. eek!

Yummy cake!!

Bryson and Piper had a blast opening all of his presents and stocking his new tool bench full of tools. Bryson loves playing with his sweet cousin and wanted to do every little thing that she did! It was adorable!

After everyone left, B played with almost all of his new presents, rode his bike around the house forever and then our family crashed. This is how you would have found all three of us Saturday night :)

I really can't believe Bryson just had his 2nd Birthday Party!! Time is flying by so quickly and he is growing up into a little man. I'm so proud of him and so proud that he is our son. We love him so much and thank the Lord for him daily. I can;t wait to see what this next year holds for him!

Happy Birthday, Bryson!!!

Also, thank you mom, dad, and jen for taking pictures!! Between the three of them there are over a thousand picyres of this kid's party!! haha! I'm not even sure we have a thousand pictures of our wedding!! :)

Thankful

2011-11-24T03:00:00.000-08:00

**Cue cliche Thanksgiving post:

In all honesty though, I really am so thankful.

Thankful for my amazing husband that helps with laundry and rushes home from work just to spend time with his family. Thankful that he reads his Bible with Bryson. Thankful that we can laugh together about the silliest things that happen in our home. Thankful that we've been together for almost 10 years and still love eachother so so much!

Thankful for our little ball of energy who makes us laugh all day long. Thankful for his hugs and requests for "moe amens" because he wants to pray again. Thankful for his precious heart that is being formed and molded everyday. Thankful for his excitement for the little things in life.

Thankful for our friends and family that make life special. Thankful they never tire {at least they've never told me} of me texting pictures of Bryson and the cute/silly/crazy things he does. Thankful they pray for our family and freely offer advice on life.

And, especially now, in this season of life, thankful for health. Several months ago my mom had a test result come back a little sketchy. Over the following few months, several more scans, tests and biopsies were done to pin point the problem. It was not fun thinking, knowing, that something was wrong with someone I love so much and there was nothing I could do. We prayed hard. So hard. Before her last biopsy, her doctor was trying to prepare her emotionally for the results to come back as lymphoma. But it didn't. God is so good. And we are all SO thankful. Instead, it ended up being something very minor that has no lasting effects on her body. Thank you, Lord for her health.

I am so thankful for the blessings in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

23 Months

2011-11-22T18:18:00.001-08:00

Man oh man. My baby is almost 2! In someways I can't believe it AT ALL, but other ways, I feel like he's getting so big that sometimes I feel like he's older than 2 already.

I'm going to do a big post this month because I know that next month will just be super crazy with his birthday, brthday party and all the Christmas festivities. :) I also realized this will be the opposite of most of my posts and more word heavy since I am lacking pictures. Sorry.

I feel like I have left out so many things that have been going on in Bryson-world since I haven't really done big posts in several months, so here goes:

The biggest change is definitely his increase in vocabulary and comprehension and just all around speech. He literally adds about 6 words every single day to his vocabulary, it is the most incredible thing to see and hear.

He's also been putting the ending sounds on words in the last month, which is neat. Instead of ba, he says, "baff"-(bath) and used to say ah duh and now, "all done". Same with "yes" "fith"-(fish) "wahwer"-(water).

Every single word that comes out of our mouths, will be echoed 5 seconds later by his little mouth. Its really cute to see our words come out of his mouth.

Recently, he's picked up on my "oopsie" when I do something silly, so when he drops his cup, or falls down, he blurts out, "oopie, mommy. otay"

He also needs affirmation on everything he says and wants us to repeat it. Most of the time, it's totally fine, but some sentences are still a "your guess is as good as mine" and I just smile and nod and see if he gives me any more clues as to what he's talking about. haha

I tried to take a video of B talking, but he pushed/hit the button in the middle, so it's split in 2 videos. They're super cute though. Just ignore him hitting the phone :)

I bought him some dull preschool scissors a while back because I had been doing a bunch of school stuff and he was incredibly curious about them. He was over the moon when he cut paper for the first time!! Oh man! It was so funny, the whole way to the store I was telling him that we were going to get Bryson's scissors and he would squeel with excitement and say, "yes, mommy. yidders. my!!!" We talked about how we ONLY cut paper. Our conversation went like this (for 15 minutes. No lie. He was sooo excited)

Me: What are we going to get at the store, Bryson?

B: Yidders!!!!

That's right! And what are you going to do with the scissors?

cuuuuuut!!!!

Yes you are! What are you going to cut?

papuuuuuh!!!

YESS! Are you going to cut your fingers?

NOOOOOOO!

That's right, that would hurt. Are you going to cut your clothes?

NOOOOOOO!! papuuuuh!!

{that exact conversation word for word repeated over and over for 15 minutes.}

Last week, we were sitting down on the sofa with a snack and he crawled up and sat in the middle and I sat next to him and he looked at me and said, "no, mommy, yit down oder dere.." and I scooted over to the side, just for him to come cuddle in right next to my arm. ;)

When I pray at night with him, he chimes in at "an mommy, an daddy an byebuh" (what he calls himself) and then usually adds in something that's in his bed with him, like, "an ernie or papie (paci)" It melts my heart!!!

He is LOVING Christmas already and gets soo excited when we see a "missmas tee" or "waindeer" or "yights". He might just go totally crazy when we put up our Christmas stuff in a few days :)

Since he says "yes" instead of just "yah", I've been reminding him to say yes, please. He does this about half the time on his own and the other day I asked him if he wanted help putting on the lid to his cup and he said, "no peese". I giggled with excitement that he made the connection while being polite!!

He is a total monkey and mans the playground completely on his own. I'm always close by for back up, but he is such a big boy!!

He may be nearing 2years old, but he definitely hasn't hit the "terrible twos" yet. Don't get me wrong, we have had FOUR enormously huge tantums in the last 3 weeks that remind me we're heading that way, but he has such a sweet and joyful personality.

He is never short on hugs and kisses at home and loves to play and cuddle and say "I yub you too"

He tries to share everything he has with other people. He shares his milk with his stuffed Ernie, put's his paci in my mouth because it's "mommy tun" (mommy's turn). When we are with other babies, he is constantly taking toys to them and telling them to "pay" (play).

He is almost always happy and helpful around the house. It's so crazy because I think he knows when he's starting to get grumpy because he self manages himself and will go to his room and lay in bed for about 20 minutes with his paci and blankie and relax and cool off and then come back out to the kitchen totally fine and ready to play. {He's only allowed to have his paci in his bed}

Ok, I feel like I could go on and on...oh wait, I already did.

I'll stop here because I'll be back soon with posts from my birthday, Thanksgiving and his birthday party, which is next weekend! eek!!

Happy 23 months, Bryson. Mommy and Daddy love you so so much!!!

Date Night/ Work Weekend

2011-11-11T18:55:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, Michael and I had the house to ourselves for the weekend for the first time in almost 2 years!!

Bryson went to spend the weekend with Grandma and Papa and had a blast!! They went to the mall, toy store, church, and the zoo :) He loved spending so much special timewith them!!

Meanwhile...Michael and I went on a real date on Friday night! It was so fun to get dressed up, put each other first in our marriage, and go somewhere besides Olive Garden or On The Border.

Michael made reservations at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, 560, at the top of Reunion Tower. It was SO neat! The restautant is in the "ball" of the tower and the whole restaurant spins slowly so you have a full 360* view of Dallas. We had some of THE best (and THE most expensive!!) food we've ever eaten!! Oh man, I'm still ~~dreaming~~ drooling over the food ;)

The romance was shortlived because we had a "work weekend" planned for the rest of the weekend. Pretty much trying to get everything on our to-do list done without Bryson in the house--all in a day in a half. We got SOO much stuff done, it was fantastic. We were both sore as can be, but it was worth it. A few things we knocked off our list: cleaning out and organizing the guest room and guest room closet, back flowerbeds, front flowerbeds, winterizing the yard, organizing my way-too-big-craft-junk, rearranging the house, buying and putting together a coffee table, and a ton of other little junk. Oh, and putting up the borders on the mirror in our bathroom!! LOVE them! {P.S. All told, all parts and everything was $45!!!}

Before:

After:

We were totally drained and exhausted, but honestly, I was counting down the minutes when Bryson was going to come home! I had renewed energy and strength when I opened the door and his face lit up and yelled, "Mommy!!! Hiii, Mommy!!" I love spending alone time with my husband, but I LOVE our family time together. That's who we are now :)

Fant Airlines- Departing Halloween Night

2011-11-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm jamming the rest of all the Halloween 2, 3, & 4 celebrations all into one huge long picture-overloaded post. Get ready for cuteness!!

This year, I wanted to have a family theme for Halloween, except I couldn't think of anything cute at all. A few months ago, I thought about being the smurfs, but then the costumes were everywhere, so nixed it. Then, last week, we were at the Halloween store and Michael picked up a pilot hat and it all clicked!

Pilot, Co-Pilot and PanAm Flight Attendant :)

I made my blue hat, wing pins and shoulder strips out of construction paper and then laminated them: Kindergarten teacher at it's finest! haha

Celebration 2:

Michael and I went to Jen and Brandon's Halloween party on Saturday night. They went ALL out; it was so much fun!

Celebration 3:

My parents, jen and Brandon invited us to their church's Halloween party on Sunday night. They had petting zoo and pony rides, so B was in heaven-again! 3 petting zoos in the last 5 days! He is seriously going to associate Halloween with animals!

(sorry Steph, apparently I take terrible pictures! It was so fun to see y'all there!!)

Celebration 4:

Trick-or-teat!! Michael and I raced home from work to my parent's house for B to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood for a little bit bfore Michael had to go to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) for the night. My parent's culdesac always has a huge halloween party, and growing up, it was THE best!! We had 21 kids on the street and all went trick-or-treating together. Ah, SO fun!!

Anyway, we went out last night and ate and talked and had fun with the neighbors...for a little bit.

Turns out I have strep, so I wasn't feeling all that fantastic and didn't feel up to much celebrating. Bummer.

BUT, B did get to trick-or-treat for the first time and LOVED it!!

Happy Halloween from Fant Airlines !!

Pumpkin Patch!

2011-10-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

We went to a local pumpkin patch at Story Book Ranch this year. It was perfect for Bryson; they had SO much fun stuff for him to do!

He got to ride a pony for the first time, do a hay maze, petting zoo, bounce house, hay ride, and run through aisles of pumpkins :)

I also have to add how amazing Michael was: We went on the night of game 7 of the World Series. Michael was so sweet and all he even cared about was wanting Bryson to have a great time, and never said anything about getting home for the game. He is SUCH a great Daddy!!

Happy Fall!!

Fall Festival

2011-10-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Our church puts on a fantastic Fall Fastival every year. Michael and I have always gone and worked our ABF's game station, and now that Bryson is older, we got to walk around and enjoy all the fun games as well!

Bryson LOVED it this year! We went a little early so we could be the first ones in the petting zoo beacuse the line gets super long really quickly. Bryson had a ball in there! He ran around chasing the bunnies and chickens and he found a little brush and decided they all needed a little makeover :) He was adorable with them!

He's also been trying to say trick-or-treat lately, so he was walking aound telling eveyone "tick a tee"

He also really enjoyed all the games and getting "nany"(candy) and putting it in his bag :)

There were probably 12 different inflatables and he would stay in there all night long if we let him!

We alwas have fun watching the kids get so excited about the Fall Festival and it was even more fun this year watching Bryson laughing a squeeling with excitement!

1 Halloween celebration down, 3 more to go!! :-)

Fall Pictures- Attempt 1

2011-10-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

I attempted to take some cute Fall pictures of Bryson this evening. I say "attempted" because there wasn't a chance on my life that I was going to get a picture out of him.

Mistake 1: finding a location that was close to a water fountain

Mistake 2: trying to take pictures of him at the top of a hill that led to the water

Mistake 3: sitting him near rocks, which he kept trying to throw in te water

Mistake 4: not bringing backup to keep his attention on anything but the water, rocks, and rolling down the hill

Here are a couple lucky shots I think thurned out alright

(There are only about 10 of these)

Here are a couple shots that are a true glimpse into his hyperactivity!!

(throwing rocks and pumpkins, running, rolling down the hill)

(There are about 60 of these! Oh I love this fun kid!)

Thankfully, Michael agreed to leave work a little early later this week so we can go for round 2 ;)

Aggie Land

2011-10-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

We went back to College Station for the first time in forever to meet a bunch of friends for the game against Baylor. I can't believe how much it's changed since Michael graduated in '05!

We all watched the Aggies BTHO Baylor! The BEST part about the game: being able to sit down!!! I love A&M and all, but they have a {terrible} tradition that all of the students stand up during the entire game. During the first couple months of football season, all I could think about during the game was trying to make myself not passout from the 110 degree heat and being squeezed between thousands of screaming fans. This time, we sat in The Zone and, oh my goodness, I loved it!! I actually paid attention to most of the game and it was so enjoyable!

Anyway, we had fun tailgating after the game and then went to Northgate with everyone that night. It was fun being back in College Station for the weekend and so wonderful to see friends we hadn't seen in waay too long ;)

We're excited to make this visit to College Station with everyone a tradition :) Even though next year we won't be playing Baylor and we'll be in the SEC ;)

Wordless Wednesday: 1st School Pictures

2011-10-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

ooooh I just love him to pieces!!!

{picture of a picture with the iPhone}

Dancing machine!!

2011-10-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

We went to my brother in law's sister's (that's quite a chain!) wedding and Mr. Personaliy lit up the dance floor!!

He was a machine out there! He get's it from his daddy!! :)

I LOVE this picture of him and Mimi!! :)

State Fair of Texas!!

2011-10-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

We went to the Texas State Fair on opening weekend with Steph, Jen and Brandon and had a blast! Bryson LOVED it! There was so much to see and do that he completely skipped his nap (which never ever happens!) But we all had such a fun day!

We stopped and painted a pumpkin and watched the trains before everyone else got there.

Of course we had to have waaay more than our share of fried food, which is a staple of the fair. :)

Big Tex Bryson was fascinated by the "big man. biiiiiiiiiiig man!!!" (random fact: the man that records Big Tex's voice is one of my dad's patients! :))

Michael spent a long time loking at the cars, so Bryson, Jen, Steph and I all had fun playing in one of the cars for a while

And, the best part...the petting zoo!! Brandon and Jen bought a cup of food for Bryson to feed the animals and he LOVED it!! He warmed up to them really quickly and wanted to touch and feed {throw food at} all the animals ;)

Can't wait to go back next year!

Oh, Pinterest. I love/hate you.

2011-09-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

I found Pinterest over the Summer, and I can not get enough of it!! It's so exciting to see thousands of fun crafty ideas all in one spot!!

During the Summer, I spent many of Bryson's naptimes on the site pinning ideas to do and getting really excited about them. And once I get an idea in my head I can't get it out. It consumes me!!

A lot of the things I have made went into my classroom and I don't have pictures of them, but a few of them were for the house. Pretty much everything was made over the Summer when I actually had a little bit of extra time, and every single thing was next to nothing to make...which makes it even better!!

{Click on the link to see the site with the full tutorial}

Bryson's Busy Board
This one took a little while to do because I was working in the garage during the heat of Summer. I didn't want Bryson around the powertools, so I only had a short time span during his nap. Michael helped after he got home from work some days, too. But, it was totally worth it. Bryson LOVES playing with it!!

Monogrammed Pumpkin {no picture yet ;)}

Fall Hurricane

Poster Board Christmas Trees
My mom and sisters all spent a Sunday afternoon making trees for Christmas time. The boys thought we were nuts making things for Christmas when it was only the beginning of September! haha

Chocolate bowls
Pain.in.the.butt. Well, it was my fault for not knowing exactly what chocolate to get, but after FOUR times of trying to make these, I FINALLY got it right on Michael's birthday! It was fun little treat filled with ice cream!!

(funny story: during attempt #1, I was dipping the balloon in the chocolate and it popped and splattered chocolate everywhere!! Counters, floor, wall, and al over my shirt. Bryson ran over and saw the mess on my shirt and said, "momma, poopie. yuh (yuck)" hahah!! That's definitely what it looked like ;) )

Cake Stands
This took a lot of measuring and remeasuring, but it was really fun and cheap to make!! I have materials to make more sitting in the garage...can't wait!

Framed Mirrors
I seriously can't wait to go but the molding for these mirrors!! AAAH!! Every time I look at them, I love them more!

Pinterest, thanks for being my addiction. :)

I love you. I hate you.

Go Aggies!!

2011-09-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Bryson is helping Michael and Ray cheer on the Aggies this afternoon.

Michael is very, ahem, passionate and loud when he watches sports, especialy the Aggies!!

Bryson would follow suit and yell "Go ayies" at the top of his lungs with him. It is soo cute!! :)

He's using his little bity talking voice in the video :)

Go Aggies!!!

"Happy bur day, dada"

2011-09-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to the BEST husband and daddy ever!! We are both so SO blessed!

We celebrated his and Melony's birthday last weekend with a delicious dinner and yummy cookie cake and homemade ice cream

We celebrated with my family last weekend with yummy dinner and a chocolate sheet cake that Michael finished making by himself! It was soo good!

Our little family celebrated on his actual brtday and went to a Hibachi Grill on Wednesday. We've taken Bryson before, but it was before he really knew what was going on. He was pretty apprehensive for a while, and really didn't like the big bursts of fire, but would yell, "yay!! more!!" through out the dinner. He's so much fun ;)

Bryson picked out his own card for Michael, the balloon, AND the present. Totally serious!!

He picked: a birthday card with a cartoon-y bear, an Elmo balloon and this awesome fishing game!! I knew I wanted Bryson to give Michael something they could do/play together, so I went to the game aisle and as soon as Bryson spotted this game, he went nuts. "Momma, {fish face and pointing} pease?? Pease?? Momma...me?" I kept telling him that we were giving the game to Daddy, but he obviously didn't really understand that because when I tried to wrap it, he was so sad the fish were going bye bye for a while.

But then Daddy opened his presents and he helped him rip open the box so they could play together...for the next 3 hours ;)

B telling Daddy Happy Birthday

(He was grumpy because he was waiting on his chickfila nuggets to cool off ;))

Our family hug

(which, sadly, Bryson wasn't as enthusiastic as usual)

Happy Birthday, Hubby!!

We love you!!

Guitar Hero

2011-09-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

We recently got Bryson a little guitar and he LOVES it! Almost every day when we get home from school, he runs in the door looking for his "do do doooo" (which he says in a sing song tune)

He plays the keys and dances to the music. ;)

He's definitely our little rock star!!

Wordless Wednesday: {Picture Overload}

2011-09-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

At this rate, I may only be doing these type of updates for the remainder of the school year. This year is soo much harder and time consiming than every other year. It's crazy! I'm bringing so much work home this year, so I have no time to be on here :( Pair that with Mr. B who has enough energy to power an entire city....there's no way anything gets done while he's awake!

So, {thanks to an email reminding me to update;)} here's Mr. Man and his charming self ;)

{oops...I used words....}

And, Happy Birthday to Michael- the best husband and daddy we could have ever asked for!

And happy 21 months to B- the sweetest, spunkiest, silliest little man in our lives! :)

Wordless Wednesday {I'm huuuuuuungry!!!}

2011-09-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Catch up/ 20 Months!

2011-09-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Man oh man, it sure has been a while since I have seen this lovely Blogger page. :/ Our life has been non-stop crazy. Seeing as how my "school night" bed time is in about 30 minutes, I'm going to try to do this fast!

Since I last updated, over 3 weeks ago (eek!) ....

I started teaching again and have been working crazy (13!) hours to keep everything running smoothly in the classroom. We have a REALLY hard group of kindergarteners this year. That, and the increase in class size is a sure fire way for me to be bald by Christmas time!

Bryson started back up at school. It was a rough first week, but now loves playing with his friends all day :)

Bryson transitioned to a toddler bed almost 4 weeks ago and never missed a beat! He did better than I could ever imagine. Never had a problem with naps, either. Big boy.

B still spells his name all.the.time. I love it :) He's also getting pretty good at learning colors. He's been forward facing in the car since the beginning of Summer (I couldn't even possibly bear to have him in the 120 degree car without air blowing on him) so he can see out all the windows, which he LOVES. We talk about the animals, cars, etc. He also tells us what color the stop light is: "gee...go!" or "no....bop!" complete with hand motions :)

Michael and Steph ran "The Hottest Half" half marathon in the middle of August. It definitely lived up to it's name. Michael's family and Bryson and I went out to watch them cross the finish line and we were steating like crazy just standing there!!

He has started to enjoy coloring more and more and likes for us to color with him. Most of his scribbles are him "writing his name" while orally spelling his name

He is becoming border line obsessed with his trains. He wants to play them all the time. He even sleeps with them occasionally. ;)

He gets excited to clasp his hands and "pay" before meals and at night time. I love it! Then, he is quick to chime in with "a-me" to close out the prayer

We went to a Wii party with our ABF and B got to play with a friend a few weeks older than him and we got to hang out and laugh at our awesome dancing skills. :) And by "our" awesome dancing skills, I mean everyone else's...I didn't play ;) There were lots of kids and Bryson especially loved seeing the babies. Oh how he loves babies. :)

Bryson went to big church for the first time out of a baby carrier. He usually goes to toddler room, but he did really good! he danced through all the songs and played on his magnadoodle during the sermon. At one point, our worship leader put down his guitar and raised his hands while he was singing, and Bryson followed suit. I know he doesn't really know that he was paising Jesus when he did it, but it made my heart smile just thinking about it :)

He is a tall skinny boy. We just now put away his 9 month shorts. Seriously!? 12 month shorts are still a little big, but he's working on filling them out. Poor kid, I have no idea what's going to happen when he needs to wear long pants...12 months will be man-pris and 24 months will be enormous!! hah!

He dresses and undresses himself often. This particular day, he took off his jammie pants and put on his swimsuit and swim hat and found his "po pol". I kid you not, he did this completely on his own!!

We went to the Safari park with Alicia right before school started and he was really into putt putt this time. He is his father's son.

He has cut 3 of his 2-year molars and I think the 4th will be poking through shortly.

I really can't believe how even tempered he still is. He has such a joyful spirit. His smile and laughter brightens up the whole house. He has his occasional fits, but they are very short lived, thank goodness! We love him so so much!

I can't believe he is going to be 2 years old in a few short months. I love this stage more than ever and I love how interactive he is!!

Happy 20 months, sweet boy!

Let's Chat

2011-08-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

Bryson has been talking SO much this Summer. I've been blown away with how many words he adds to his vocabulary on a daily basis. It's so fun!!

Almost every morning this Summer, we played with sidewalk chalk in the backyard. We drew all sorts of pictures, but his favorite thing was always for me to spell and write his name. He would "trace" over the letters and repeat the letters.

Now, he spells his name all the time. I'm not sure why he leaves out the "y" but he can't quite put that letter in there yet. He even does it all on him own playing around the house or driving in the car ;-)

He also REALLY likes to count. Most of the time he'll count along with us and say. "(no one yet) do, dee, (no four), eye, dik, eyeye, eigh, nine, teh!" He didn't get all the numbers in the video, but still, it's precious!

I've taken a lot of videos of him recently. I go back to work tomorow and it's killing me to know that I'm not going to be home with him all day anymore. :( At least I can watch him on my phone whenever I need a little pick-me-up.

Family Vacation. The kind where everything goes wrong.

2011-08-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

{Caution: read at your own risk. May not be suitable for the queezy stomach.}

After a fun couple days in Houston, it was time for our first family vacation!! We woke up Saturday morning, ate breakfast with my family and then left for Galveston. My aunt and grandma gave us a few "just in case" items as we were walking out. One of them was meat tenderizer and alcohol (that we've always used on bee/ant/jellyfish stings) and also a bottle of maalox (to get rid of the pain of sunburn). I took them "just in case", and we jumped in the car and headed South.

We decided to go to Stewart Beach. It's a nice, family friendly beach with lifeguards, outdoor showers and restrooms and a couple shops. The beach was busy. Very busy. There were people everywhere! Next to the building with the restrooms and showers, there was a massive inflatable slide set up and a couple of guys sitting under an umbrella manning the station. {this is important to know for later. :) }

We unpacked the massive amounts of beach gear and found our spot in the sand. The weather was so nice (92) and was a nice break from the 110 temps in Dallas. The only thing that was hot was the sand. And it was HOT!! Bryson, of course, sprinted straight into the "wawa" and belly flopped into the water. He LOVED splashing around!! It was soo funny to watch him belly flop face first into the water, splash around, stand back up and then do it all over again!! Michael and I had so much fun watching Bryson enjoy himself so much :)

He even loved the sand. He spent quite a while filling up and emptying his bucket.

We played a little catch. But he wanted to go run around with older kids that were playing soccer.

We enjoyed ourselves for about 3 hours.

Swimming, splashing, playing in the sand, drinking lots of juice, and watching the birds. Everything was going so perfect...

until....

Around 1:00, I asked Michael to go checkout the big building with the showers to see if there was A/C and just to see what was there. I was going to take Bryson back down to the water to swim and I noticed that he was standing a little funny {like he needed to go to the bathroom}. I figured his feet were hot or something, even through he was standing on a blanket, so I picked him up and carried him to the water. He said "momma, oh no" on the way to the water, but I didn't really think anything of it. His toes barely touched the water when I noticed yellow stuff was dripping down. I looked down at him and realized he had a massived explosive diahrrea poop that flew straight out of his swim diaper. I'm talkin': up his back to his neck, down both sides of his legs, ALL over my stomach and down my legs. It was BAD. I swooped him up and all I could think to do was to run to the building (where Michael was) and wash him off in the shower. But, to get there, I had to run through the hundreds of beach-goers that were looking at both of us with the utmost disgust. I never thought to run back to our umbrella to get my shoes or clothes, or a diaper--I just bolted straight to the building. At fist, it was no big deal, but after a minute or two of running through white fire, I was on the verge of tears; my feet were SO hot. Bryson was screaming bloody murder at this point and yelling, "momma, oh no. OH NO!!" the entire way. Several minutes later, I got to the inflatable slide, with the umbrella. I stood in the shade for a brief second. I kept my back to the guys manning the slide so they couldn't see us covered in yellow goo, but i know, without a doubt, they could smell it. With Bryson still screaming, I look down and realize my swimsuit top broke and is literally hanging on by a thread. Bryson, of course, yanked on it.

So, at this point, I'm fighting back tears because of my burning feet, both of us are completely covered in poop, my swimsuit top is about to fly open, Bryson is screaming and pulling on my barely there swimsuit top and Michael....well, Michael has absolutely no idea any of this has ever happened.

I finally spot him as he leisurely walks down the steps of the building. I started running as fast as I could and as I sprinted past him, I yelled, "Bryson just pooped EVERYWHERE!" He dashed back to our umbrella to get my shoes and a diaper. I ran straight into the bathroom and yanked off his clothes and wiped him down with toilet paper. I realized he had 2 massive welps on the inside of his thighs, right under his diaper. :( I had no idea what they were at this point; I just knew that if I touched them, he shot off and had more diahrrea. After I washed him off, and Michael brought me my shoes and the extra diaper, he ran back at full speed and packed up all of our massive ammounts of stuff all by him self. He was amazing. Oh, what I would give to have apicture of that!! Ha!

So, it's 1:15 at this point. All of this happened in a 15 minute time span! Michael drives the car up to get us, I set B in his car seat and he conks out before we even leave the beach grounds. I sent a picture of his legs to my dad and he thought it was a jellyfish sting which caused an alergic reaction with the instant, awful diahrrea. Thankfully, my Grandma and aunt were prepared and we had the meat tenderizer with us. We couldn't check into our hotel until 3:00, so we drove around Galveston for a couple hours.

We check in to the hotel, unpack the car, and get to our room. And our keys don't work. Great. Just add that to the list. B is fussy and we're totally blocking the hall with all of our junk. Michael runs to get a worker and after messing with the door for a while, we finally get in our room. We all shower off and get clean and I decided to put the meat tenderizer and alcohol on his legs. He screamed bloody murder for a while and I just couldn't take it anymore, so I poured a bottle of water all over his legs to get it off. Seriously, I'm feeling like the worst mother in the world right now.

Even though it hurt like crazy, it seemed to help his legs. He started acting like himself again!! We all got ready to go to The Strand for dinner. Michael had just finished ironing his shirt (see, I told you he was amazing!!) and we were putting up the ironing board and Bryson climbed up on the bed, stood up and tried to lean against Michael, but completely missed. So, just adding to the list AGAIN, he fell off and did a little side roll and hit his head on the leg of the ironing boad. He didn't cry or anything, but he has quite a battle wound from that little fall.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the end of our terrible, horrible, no good, 4 hour unending streak of bad luck. {Phew}

We headed over to The Strand to eat dinner. We ate at a really fun place called Fisherman's Wharf. Bryson loved the boat in the water right behind our table. The food was delicious and it had such a fun atmosphere :)

We tried to go back to the beach in front of our hotel on Sunday morning, but we were only there for about 15 minutes when Bryson said, "Momma, ah duh" (all done).

We packed up and drove back to Houston to eat lunch my Grandma, Aunt and Uncle. It was fun to see them again and tell them about the trip that went terribly wrong! Haha. Then, to split up the drive again on the way back, we stopped at the lake again since my parents, sister and BIL were there. It was good for B to get out some energy!! :)

Even after this crazy crazy family vacation, we're still looking forward to many many more to come in the years ahead. It's times like these that make fun memories! :)

Houston!

2011-08-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

A while back, Michael and I decided we wanted to take Bryson to the beach for the first time. Michael was busy at work, so Bryson and I traveled to Houston a few days early to spend time with my Grandma, Aunt and Uncle. It was so wonderful!

I was a little nervous about driving the whole way to Houston with Bryson because, recently, he gets super antsy in his carseat. So, I had my "busy bag" packed and ready for him

To break up the drive a little, we spent the night at the lake house Wednesday night at Richland Chambers.

It was a nice break, but we had the most sleepless, restless night. Bryson slept in the bed with me for the first time...and last time. It was awful. I woke up every 15 minutes worried that be was going to roll off the bed, even with pillows on the edge. And, I had a right to be worried, because he did fall off!! Thankfully, I put tons of huge pillows on the ground. {Just wait; this is nothing compared to the rest of our first family vacation...}

This is what kept me awake the next morning on the rest of the drive to Houston!!

This is what kept Bryson SOO entertained!! (toy computer and DVD player)

He played with the tape for about an hour!!

He also took apart and put the bottle back together for about 45 minutes. He loves taking things apart and putting them back together!!

We finally made it and had the BEST time!! Bryson loved seing everyone and was spoiled to pieces by them.

If I told you he was being a ham for them, it would be the understatement of the week!! He did anything and everything to impress them. Including about 30 front rolls :) He would always look around to make sure everyone was clapping for him. Especialy my Grandma (GiGi) he really wanted her to watch and clap for him, it was so cute!!

My Granddad caught a sailfish quite a while back and it's hanging in their dining room. Bryson loved going in to look at the fish. He tried to run in there often to look at it :)

My Grandma, Aunt and Uncle played with Bryson all day long, and he ate up all the attention!!

On Friday, we all went to the Houston Aquarium. It was soo much fun!! My grandma wasn't able to make it, and she was missed for sure. It was fun to go home and tell her all about it :)

It was a really neat place. Not only is it an amazing aquarium (with tigers!), but also has a restaurant, had a mini carnival outside and a train ride through a fun shark tunnel.

This tiger paced the window and wanted to eat.Bryson.for.lunch. ;)

B went on his first ferris wheel ride!

The Shark tunnel was great!!

It was such a fun 2 days with our family!! We already can't wait to see them again!!

Michael drove down Friday night after work and we were very ready for our first family vacation the next morning!!!

{Little did we know what the weekend had in store for us....}

The Greatest Show On Earth!!

2011-07-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the circus. Like, 30 minutes ago. And I couldn't wait to plug in my camera and look at all the pictures again. It's so unlike me to blog this quickly, but it was just that good! Bryson sat and watched the entire 2 hour show, it was just that good! It was so so much fun!!

Grandma and Papa found incredible seats and we were up close in all the action. We were a little apprehensive about Bryson liking it after being terrified of the animals at The Rainforest Cafe, but he really loved it!!

He had a little bit of nervous energy (and chewed on his whole fist of fingers) when the show first started and the elephant came out, but that wore off really quick.

He sat with incredible concentration and enjoyment with his mouth dropped down to the floor through most of the show.

He got really excited every few minutes and would point, squeel very loudly, clap and yell, "yay yay ya!!" It was adorable!!

The whole show was incredibly captivating. There was some craaazy "circus people" that preformed:

Some really amazing animals

And some not-so-scared-of-heights trapeze swingers and tight rope walkers.

Bryson was hilarious when they were up there (or when people would climb up too high). He got very serious and continually told them to get "dow" while pointing to the ground. {Haha- can you tell he's heard us tell him to get down from things a time or two!?}

Grandma an Papa also bought Bryson his first bag of cotton candy which also came with a super cool tall hat. B wasn't crazy about the cotton candy, but the hat was very fun :)

We dropped Grandma and Papa off at their house, and in the 8 minutes we were there, Bryson managed get naked and play in the sprinklers. :)

We had SUCH a fun day!! Thank you Grandma and Papa for an unforgetable trip to the circus!!

This picture pretty much sums up our whole day ;)

Dressing Himself

2011-07-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Bryson is SO into dressing himself these days. He's still working on how to put on a shirt (it usually just ends up like a hat sitting on his head) but he is ALL about putting on his shorts, swimsuits, swimdiapers, socks, and shoes.

There's no telling what or how many of something he'll have on. The other day, he had 3 socks on one foot and zero on the other and another day, he put on 3 swim diapers all on top of eachother.

Today, it's 2 pairs of shorts and one of them is on backwards :)

He is such a goose!! ;)

Family Reunion 2011

2011-07-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we headed to Possum Kingdom Lake for the annual family reunion. It's always special to spend a whole weekend with family you love. :)

We had to make a little stop to take a few pictures in a special little town ;)

Bryson had such a blast at the lake! He would have been in the "wa wa" all day, every day if it wasn't a billion degrees outside. We did swim a whole lot, though!

While we all sat outside catching up on life, Bryson played in the dirt. And since it wasn't time to swim in the water, he decided to swim in the dirt :)

Uncle Beau and Carter spent a long loooong time throwing rocks in the lake with Bryson. He was in heaven!

Mammaw and Pop brought Bryson a stuffed frog that moves his head and mouth and sings "What a wonderful world." It's really cute, but after the Rainforest Cafe, he was a little apprehensive about it at first. After about 3 songs, Bryson loved him and even tried to share his water with him a few times :)

Grandma got a big yummy yogurt kiss!

Family picture time...

Mammaw and Pop and Bryson

Four Generations! :)

It was a really fun weekend, but holy moly it was SO exhausting. I was on Mommy duty times 10. There was a bunk bed in the cabin and I'm not even kidding when I say Bryson climbed up the ladder about 50 times. Also, about 20 feet from the front door was a 10 ft drop straitght down to a bed of rocks. Bryson was constantly trying to sneak out the door to go outside. I was so tired on Saturday night that I ended up going to sleep with Bryson super early! Uncle Beau was a super hero on Sunday morning and swooped up Bryson as soon as he woke up so Michael and I could get a few extra minutes of sleep. :)

We always look forward to our fun reunion! We already can't wait until next year!! :)

Dr. PaPa

2011-07-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

Bryson and I went over to my parent's house to swim on Wednesday. It was heart breaking for Bryson because neither of them were there. He paced the house for quite a while yelling for "mimi papa" and saying "i doh knoooow!"

But, we went outside and he was as happy as could be swimming in the water. He slid down the plastic slide into the pool for the first time...and 50th time. He Loved it!

AND, he jumped off the side of the pool and went completely underwater for the first time. He was only under for a second before his lifejacket and momma pulled him back up and as soon as he wiped his eyes, he wanted to do it again and again. Little dare devil. ;)

After his nap, we surprised PaPa at work. It was so much fun!! Both of them were so excited :)

What a fun Wednesday!!

Week 3&4- Noah and the Rainbow

2011-07-16T19:39:00.001-07:00

We doubled up for this theme, so we got to spend 2 weeks with Noah, animals, and the rainbow/colors. It was so much fun!!

Our scripture for the week was Genesis 9:16 "God always keeps his promises."

We read the story of Noah every morning.

{Mimi even read it to him one day. What a treat! Bryson called Noah "no no" the whole first week-- complete with the finger shake. :) }

We made animal cookies.

{He LOVED wearing his apron and rolling the dough. He asks to wear the "ah pie" whn he sees it hanging in the pantry. I will definitely be pulling out some playdoh soon. :)}

We mixed colors using coolwhip

{My friend Jenny did this with her son last year and I loved her idea! I think Bryson liked rubbing it all over himself more than mixing or eating it. Such a boy :) We also used some of it for icing for the cookies. }

We drew a rainbow and an arc with chalk

We played in the "rain" and stayed dry with an umbrella

{I think it's rained like 4 days total since Bryson has been born (that may be an exaggeration. or it may not. I don't really remember!) but he got to learn what an umbrella was and why you use it. It's always neat to see him learn something new}

We ate lots of Animal Crackers

Went to a Safari Park

And ended our week(s) with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe

This is pretty much a whole post of it's own. Man oh man, Michael and I laughed a lot!! The restaurant has robotic life-like animals all over the walls and every 10 minutes they "come to life". Bryson never cried, but was scared out of his poor little mind the first 6 times they came on. He litterally climbed up me and held on for dear life with a look of complete terror. Michael and I probably looked like crazy people because we were dancing and making silly noises while the animals were "alive" so Bryson would think it was ok and not be scared anymore. He kept vigorously telling them "all done" and "nigh nigh" to make them stop. He never really enjoyed the live animals, but towards the end, he actually started to do monkey and elephant motions along with us. He did, however, love the fish tanks all over the restaurant. Nice, calm, noise-less, motion-less fish enclosed in the glass walls. :) We will definitely be going back...but maybe next year or so! Ha! :)

(sadly, my camera battery died about 10 minutes into eating, so we were stuck with phone pictures. SO sad)

Splash Park

2011-07-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

Since it is SOOO stinkin' hot these days, we've made the splash park or sprinklers a daily occurance. We get up and go as soon as Bryson wakes up and run around and play to his little hearts content before it gets too hot. It's been in the 100's for the last 2 weeks and doesn't look like it's letting up anytime soon. Thankfully, there are several great splash parks in our area. We are so so lucky.

Recently, we found out about a new splash park that also has an AMAZING, huge park attached to it. It's all handicap accessible and just plain amazing.

Alicia joined us this morning and Bryson had so much fun playing with her. It was so much fun!

(Thank you for taking pictures and letting be borrow them, Alicia!)

As long as this heat keeps up, you will definitely find us at a spash park or the backyard sprinklers every single morning!

Random Picture Post :)

2011-07-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

**I'm waiting to post week 3 until the end of this week. Last week was cut short with 2 days at the lake and then 3 days when Bryson was sick with a random fever, so we didn't get to do all of our fun things. So, we're doubling up on this one. Good thing it's a fun week learning about Mr. Noah!**

All of these are totally random silliness. I just get so tickled with things that Bryson does all day long!!

(No, you don't need to clean your glasses, they're all blury phone pictures)

Oh, kid, I just love you so much! Thanks for always giving Daddy and I a good laugh ;)

4th of July at the Lake!!

2011-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

What do you get when 17 family members get together at the lake house for three days with car loads of food, arms full of fishing poles, one 18month ball of energy, bags full of fireworks and lots of silly stories and jokes??

LOTS OF FUN!!!

And, with that, A LOT of (family) PICTURES!!!

Every year for the 4th of July weekend, my Mom's side of the family comes up from Houston and we all spend the long weekend together at the lake. It's always so much fun hanging out together.

There was A LOT of fishing...and a lot of fish caught!!

A lot of Bryson wearing his life jacket

(He would put it on first thing in the morning and wouldn't let anyone take it off. We literally had to hold him down to take it off for nap time or to cool him off. He knew that with having the life jacket on, there was always a chance to go on the boat...which is now his absolute favorite thing in the world. He said that word no less than 500 (no joke) times a day!!)

A lot of playing washers

A lot of wakeboarding and boating

A lot of Fireworks (and poppers for B)
The guys did fireworks for well over an hour, but I didn't really get any good pictures :(

(To say Bryson loved fireworks would be the understatement of the year. He LOVED them!! He kept yelling, "wow woooooow wooooow wooooow!!" with a look of pure amazement. The second they stopped, he popped up and adamently requested, "mo mo mo mo" until he saw them again. I really wish I captured his awestruck reaction on video.)

A lot of family time

We're already looking forward to next year!!

...if by some chance you actually made all the way through this crazy heavy picture post, you are a champ! :)

Week 2- God Made Fish to Live in The Water

2011-07-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

God Made Fish to Live in The Water- Gen. 1:20

This week, we learned about the fish and animals God made to live in the water.

We read the creation story again.

We went and fed the ducks, which he LOVED! The kid has no fear. He ran and threw bread at them while quacking and may or may not have almost ran straight into the water. haha!

He finger painted a duck with Daddy

We went fishing around the house

I tried to make "Duck in a Pond" for breakfast one morning. My Grandma always made it for us when we spent the night at her house and I thought it would go great with the week's theme, so I decided to try it. It didn't really work out too well for me ;) I think it look more like "Duck got run over by a truck!"

(It's supposed to be a sunny side up egg cooked inside of a toasted piece of bread with a hole cut out)

We read Make Way for Ducklings

We ate a "fish pond" for dessert

(vanilla pudding with blue food coloring and Swedish Fish on top)

I've really enjoyed these weekly themes and all the fun we're having with Bryson!!

Such a Ham

2011-06-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

Bryson and Daddy were pushing the car back and forth, and after watching Michael reach for the car that was a little out of his reach; Bryson decided that he had to do it too!! He is such a ham :)

And, since I finally fgured out how to add videos in here again, here is the funny video of Bryson turning on and off the vaccuum. Love his adorable laugh!!

Catching up

2011-06-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

I appologize; I have been a bad blogger over the last month or so. I have, however, been a blogging machine over the last couple days to try to chatch this baby up to speed!!

I post-dated several of the posts so they are in order, so I'll do a quick linky link in case you want to hop over and read any of them ;)

Cozumel

How To Crack a Coconut in Cozumel

Meanwhile...

Father's Day

18 Months

Week 1- God Made Water

Family Weekend At the Lake

Enjoy!!

Family Weekend at the Lake

2011-06-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Michael's family came up to my parent's lake house, so we had all of our family together for the day. We had so much fun!!

We spent a lot of time sitting around talking, playing washers, and running after Bryson.

The ski boat was broken, so the boys all went out in the fishing boat for a little bit while Rebecca and I cooled off in the lake.

Bryson joined us after his quick spin in the "bo" (which he loved!). It was his first time swimming in the lake (which he loved!)

If you ever wanted to know what a little boy looks like with ~~lipstick~~ ketchup all over his lips, here you go! ...or "cheese-ing" with food squishing out of his mouth! Eww, gross!!

We did a lot of relaxing and really, just had a great time being together!!

Bryson was loved on so so much! He ran around and played so hard on Saturday and then slept until 9:30 the next morning!! (that has NEVER happened before!!)

Like I've said before...we have the best families!! We love you!!

Week 1- God Made Water

2011-06-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

While I'm at home with Bryson over the Summer, I decided to have themed weeks. I've been gathering ideas for the last few months and now attempting to put them into action. I've found scripture that goes along with each theme and we constantly talk about it.

Week One-

God Made Water. Genesis 1:9

We did something related to water everyday throughout the week. I constantly repeated the Bible verse when we saw water, whether it was dancing in the sprinklers, playing in the bath tub, drinking ice cold refreshing water, swimming, etc.

For the first couple days, when I asked Bryson who made water, he would look up, point to the sky and yell, "DOG!" haha. Close, baby, but not quite. After LOTS of practice, now he'll say "Gah" ;)

Here are some of our activities:

Spash Park

Bath Time

Sprinklers

Me: "Bryson, where's the water?"
B: "I dun knooooooow!!"

Swimming in Mimi and Papa's Pool

Coloring a picture

I cherish my time with Bryson and seeing him learn about everything that God has made just makes my heart smile. I long for the day when he turly understands and knows the Lord. I can not wait!! But as for now, we will be doing our best to start his foundation!! :)

18 Months

2011-06-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

Holy Moly. Bryson is one and a half. And he is SOO much fun!!

He is learning new things and new words and phrases every day. It's so amazing! If I could learn this quickly, I could learn every SAT word in a matter of days! haha. Anyway, he's so smart ;)

We have been so so blessed with him. He truly is the happiest, most easy going kid. He say's "deese" and "tayk-too" on his own about 40 times a day. He rarely has tantrums and if he starts getting riled up, he can be quickly distracted with a song or fun toy or he uses his "big boy words" (deese-please, hel-pah-help, moe-more, no-no, ah-yin-open, ou-yied-outside, uhh-pah-up) which are magic in our house!

He's finding his independent side and has to do most things by himself. If you try to help, he will shoo you away and say "no". These things include: putting on his pants or swim diapers, anykind of buckle, getting up on the sofa or chair, eating with a fork or spoon (thankgoodness he's good at this now; mealtimes were getting super messy) throwing things away, unloading the dishwasher (after I take out all the silverware) and putting on his shoes.

In case he can't quite do it on his own, he's quick to yell "hel-pah" with so much emphasis on the last part of the word, that if he yelled it at a Greek wedding, someone is sure to throw down a few plates!!

He loves loves LOVES the Swiffer and the Vaccuum. It's so crazy. He will literally swiffer the entire house for me. And everytime the vaccuum comes out, he runs to help. We take turns cleaning- mommy vaccuums and then bryson uses the hose. He is such a good share-er :) One day, I was cleaning under the sofa and he turned off the vaccuum and he died laughing. I played along and we continued for a good 10 mins. (The video isn't working, so I'll add it later)

He is such a ham and if he knows people are watching him, he will do the goofiest things to hold their attention and get a few laughs. He is definitely a little camera hog and has "deese" down pat. He will yell "deese" with a giant grin until you snap a picture of him.

He also loves our phones. We have a few apps for him on there and he knows exactly how to turn it on, unlock and then go to the "moo" app.

He is still Daddy's little sports fan and loves to play hoops and golf and now kicks a ball into his soccer goal. He gets so excited when he sees a "bahh" on the "teedee" and points and jumps until it goes away.

Also, we discovered the awesomeness of Bubble Guppies. It is THE cutest show for toddlers; Bryson asks for "bubu bugu" all the time. He rarely sits still, but for the cute little songs and fish, he will sit for a good 10 minutes!!

He played his first video games this past weekend. One was at Best Buy when he went nuts with the Kinect and the second was waiting at the hair salon to get his hair cut. I swear some things are just in boys' genes, because I showed him where the "jump" button was and it was like he was actually playing the game. True, he had no clue what he was doing, but he got a ton of points; I was blown away.

The kid has SOO much energy and is always moving. I can hardly keep up with him! Thankfully, he plays hard and he sleeps hard. He is an awesome sleeper and will literally tell you it's time to go "nigh nigh" if he's tired. He hasn't put up a fight to go to bed in months and will blow kisses as I walk out the door. BUT, he has started crawling out of his crib... crazy enough, it's only while I'm folding laundry in his room. It's like a game for him. He's never done it during actual sleep time, so we're holding off on the big boy bed...I don't think I could handle that!!

Ok, I could type for another hour about how fun and sweet he is, but I'll spare you :) We go to the dr tomorrow and I'm already dreading the shots. eek.

Happy 18 Months, sweet Boy!!

Father's Day

2011-06-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy I could have ever dreamed of for our little boy!

We woke up Michael with big yummy breakfast in bed. (note to self--get a pretty tray for occasions such as these for the future!) Bryson thought it was so silly to bring food into the bedroom!

Bryson gave him an IOU for a Maverick's championship t-shirt (the only size I could find in a shirt I like was a 3XL)

I always knew Michael would be a wonderful Daddy, but he has blown me away with his loving heart and sweet, calm spirit with Bryson. He is the sweetest, silliest, most loving man. Bryson LOVES his daddy. He does every.single.thing. that Michael does...

Put on deodorant- check!

Get geared up to go running- check!

Watch sports- check!

Eat like a big boy- check!

These are just a few of the things. Believe me. He is very much a Daddy's boy ;) I am 100% ok if Bryson grows up to be exactly like his daddy.

We went to Michael's parent's for a Father's Day dinner.

How many Fants does it take to grill burgers? :)

We also had homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. YUM!!

Happy Father's Day to my dad, too! It was strange not being able to celebrate Father's Day with him this year, but they were in Alaska. :)

Happy Father's Day to three amazing loving fathers who love the Lord, love their wives, love their kids and love their families!!

Computer Down

2011-06-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back from Mexico and had an absolute blast!! But, it was SO good to come home and hug and kiss our little boy :)

I have so much fun stuff to blog about, but sadly, our computer went ka-put. Well, really just the charging cord and battery (thankgoodness), but still, no computer means no blogging...until the parts are delivered :(

I'm sneaking on Michael's work computer to say hi and to leave you with a ~~daily~~ dose of Bryson :)

I looove how adorable his little words are!! :)