Mae's Friend Allie

Last year I had a GREAT Bible Study small group. One of the girls in group, Lauren has a daughter only a week or so younger than Mae. Her name is Allie, and she and Mae have lots of fun playing together at Bible Study, in Sunday School and most recently at VBS. This morning Allie came to our house to play because Lauren needed to go look at houses. It was a perfect morning for her to come because Thomas was gone to a movie with MiMi, and so it was just the girls. They played really well together!

Having a snack

 

 

A little cup of "tea"

 

Cousins-En Route

In case you haven't heard, my sister Sally and her DOCTOR(!!!) husband, Carlos just moved to Northwest Arkansas so Carlos could start a job at a clinic there. Sally, Joaquin and my mom drove from South Carolina to Arkansas, stopping here in the middle! On the way here, at a Cracker Barrel, mom found these "transportation" themed shirts. She bought them for the kids to represent Joaquin's big move!! This was the best picture of the three of them...Can't wait for the cousins to get to spend some more time togehter on our upcoming trip to Arkansas!

 

My Silly Kids

These pictures literally happened within one minute of one another. Thomas called me in to see what he was doing, and I had to take a picture of his acrobatics! Then, I thought I should probably see what Mae was doing. I had left a pack of crackers on the table and she had helped herself AND found Brax's keys!

 

 

Concert in the Park

Last Monday we hit up the free concert in the park. I've wanted to go to these since moving here, but because our kids go to bed so early sometimes it's hard to make it to stuff like that. We went, and ended up running into a whole group of people from our church-added bonus! As you can see it was beyond hot! (I'm pretty sure it was still 99 degrees when we were on our way there at 6:00) It was a fun family night, and time spent with friends! Yea Bluegrass!

Mae, Caitlyn and Thomas

 

 

Mae dancing

 

Thomas, VERY SWEETLY sharing his shaved ice with Mae!

 

Thomas's New Glove

Thomas has been begging for a "real" baseball glove for awhile. Brax noticed that they marked them down and brought one home the other day. Thomas was thrilled. They've played catch two different times now, and Thomas has caught the ball once, but he's having a great time!

 

 

 

A Change of Pace

Normally when I cut Thomas's hair, his reward is colored shaving cream in the bathtub. On Friday, I thought I'd change it up a bit! After his haircut I just put some of their washable (non toxic of course!) paint into a muffin tin. They painted themselves before jumping into the pool. As you can see, that they both got pretty into it!

 

 

 

 

Car Funnies and a BIG God

I have two drawers of shorts for Thomas. One is a drawer of nicer shorts, and the other is a drawer of play shorts. Last week, MiMi took Thomas to a free movie and I got him some shorts from the top (nice) drawer to wear for his "date." Well, two days later MiMi took Thomas to see another movie and he was sitting in the backseat of her car when she heard a cry of frustration.
MiMi: Thomas? What is it? Are you ok?
Thomas: I can not believe I forgot to wear my date shorts!!

Thomas was riding home from a softball game with Brax when they passed a deer on the side of the road.
Brax: Look Thomas, there's a deer!
Thomas: Is someone going to shoot it?!?!

Kim: Thomas, please do not look at Mae anymore. You're bothering her. You can look at your window or look at Daddy.
Thomas: Can I look at you?
Kim: That's fine.
A few minutes pass.
Thomas: Mom, I can kinda see Mae because my eyes curve.
Kim: Ok, well please just don't look at her all the way.
A few more minutes pass.
Mae, making noise.
Thomas (whispering): Sorry Mae, Mom said I can't look at you.

There was an impromptu version of this, so I asked them to do it again so I could tape it.

Alisha and Erin

In the midst of a very busy VBS week my friends from college Erin and Alisha were in town. Erin is a(n amazing) third grade teacher in North Carolina and Alisha is a teacher at a school in Uganda. As always it was a WONDERFUL visit for me, and then for the kids! Thomas loved them both (although he didn't think they were very good at Wii bowling, which was only partially true). He got to see Uganda on the globe and had an all around good time! (As you can see from the pictures he was feeling very silly-which is easy to do around those two girls!)

 

 

 

VBS 2010

 

This week was VBS for us. Thomas (and of course Mae) isn't old enough yet, but got to go because I volunteered. Both kids had a great week (although you can't tell from Mae's picture), but I think I had the most fun! I was the volunteer snack room co-coordinator with my friend Lindsay. We were basically in charge of recruiting people to bring snacks for the volunteers, as well as setting up the schedule and manning the snack rooms. Also, we had the very important job of making the coffe punch, which apparently is a Southwood VBS must have! I had a GREAT time getting to hang out with the other volunteers, and hope that I can do it again next year!

CELEBRATION!!

Last night we got to celebrate-sans children!!! Brax's parents were kind enough to take us all to The Melting Pot to celebrate Brax's BIG birthday and the fact that he passed the CPA EXAM!!!!!!!!!!!!! (We've been waiting to officially announce it until Brax got the actual paperwork, but it's taking too long.)

EVERYTHING was excellent! It was a delightful evening that lasted from 7:00-9:45. What a great restaurant for a special occasion! We're ready to go back!

 

 

 

 

Sweet Marly!

This week we had a huge treat. Our friend Marly came to help me out, and get some babysitting experience. This is really funny because I started babysitting Marly when she was just a little younger than Thomas is now. She was here for three days and it was great! Thomas probably said, "Marly, I love you!" about 60 times a day, and Mae even said, "Mah-ly" over and over again! I got to go get new shoes and try on as many as I needed to, and Brax and I got to go on a date last night!! Sweet, sweet girl!!! Thanks Marly!!!

I pulled some pictures out of the vault for this post!

Marly and her brother Will when she was about 4 1/2

 

Marly, her brother Parker (our ring bearer), and her cousing Kile at our wedding

 

Serious picture

 

Silly picture (requested by Thomas)

 

Crimson Caravan

On April 22 Brax, his parents, his friend Travis and I all went to something called Crimson Caravan. It was a night where some people from the University of Alabama talked, and most importantly Coach Saban talked. It was a lot more fun than I expected it would be, and we even got to meet Eli Gold. He calls the Bama games on the radio and we LOVE his voice!!! (I was tempted to ask him to say Thomas's name, just so I could hear what it would sound like in 14 years when he's down in Tuscaloosa! ;))

Funnies & Dick and Jane

I have FINALLY gotten the Dick and Jane things up in the playroom. We have a table and chairs, some bulletin boards, Dick and Jane pictures, and then two windows filled with pictures of Thomas and Mae's grandparents and great-grandparents when they were younger. I'm really pleased with how it had all turned out, and we use the playroom ALL THE TIME!!!!!

 

*This funny involves a little potty talk. Please don't read if it will gross you out!
I had stepped out of the bathroom for 30 seconds while the kids were taking a bath to put something in Thomas's bedroom.
Thomas (yelling frantically): Mom! Come quick! Mae just pooped in the bathtub!
Thomas (much calmer): Oh, it's ok. She threw it out.

Kim: Thomas, can you please go get Mae's hot pink barrette from off the counter in the kitchen.
Thomas (returning with the barrette): Mom, it's not hot at all!

Kim: Thomas, can you please take these coasters back into the living room?
Thomas: Where do these roller coasters go?

Mae (oveheard in the backseat): Excuse me. Good girl. Excuse me. Good girl. Excuse me. Good girl.

Mae's Baptism

Today was Mae's Infant Baptism (we are aware she's not an infant). It was such a special and important day, and it was great to have some of the awesome people that we've gotten to know in our 2.5 years at Southwood there with us! I was thinking on my way home from church about how different Thomas's Dedication and Mae's Baptism were, and how memorable they both were.

After church we came back to our house for a little lunch with some of the families! And of course PaPa, MiMi and Aunt Katey. We missed you Gram, Pops, Joel, Aunt Sally, Uncle Carlos and Joaquin!!!!!