Big Boy :(

Bryson grew up a little bit today. (sob sob) He took a nap with all of the other kids on a  nap mat. When I first heard that Erin was wanting to do this I immediately thought she was crazy! Has she met my child? He is B-U-S-Y! I didn't think there was any way he would sleep on a mat on the floor- especially not with other kids lying next to him. But, we decided to go along with it. We got out the nap mat Grandma gave him for Easter and decided to "practice" last night.

I thought about it this morning. I prayed for Erin's patience (I can't imagine trying to get that many kids to take naps at once!). Then I got this picture on my phone:

Sweet boy! She said he was actually the first one to go to sleep. I am in shock!!!

He is growing up way too fast...

Weekend in Pleasanton

Last weekend we loaded up all of our stuff including the dogs and headed to Pleasanton to see Jason's family and several of our friends.  First stop- Granny and Grandpa's house for some cousin time and a yummy fajita dinner. The kids played and played. Bryson enjoyed seeing all of his cousins at one time {even though I didn't get any pictures of the older boys}.

Laynie and Bryson

We got a special treat and were able to attend Keaton Winn's first birthday party while we were in town. Family photo op. before the party:

Abby had cupcakes made and they were SO cute. I had to snap a few pictures...

The Birthday Boy

Relaxing with daddy...

Eating a cupcake and ice cream with Mommy...

Delicious!

Letting the dog lick it off his face...

The party had a fishing theme so Abby had little bowls with goldfish on every table. At one point we looked over and Bryson had gotten one of the bowls off of the table and was DRINKING the water (have I mentioned that he is really into climbing lately? not kidding...}!!! Everyone laughed- I thought it was disgusting- but what are you going to do? Not much at that point...

Here is a picture of Abby and Keaton, Amy and Layton, and Me and Bryson. Layton was born first, then Bryson, then Keaton- all five weeks apart!

On the way home:

bribery in its highest form!

We had an amazing weekend and are so excited to have the Winns visit us this weekend. We are also looking forward to the Holiday seasons of traveling and more time spent with our families.

Quote of the Day

"i barely survived yesterday and it's already today"

This applies to my life on so many levels...

:)

KENO!!!

It has been SO long since we've taken time to enjoy each other's company without any children or men around. Don't get me wrong- we love our men and our babies- but we definitely need to take some time {at least every once in a while} to relax and enjoy good company.

So- I decided to host a Keno party. A few sweet friends joined me and Amy last Wednesday night. We started at 8pm so those of us who have kids could get them ready for bed {Bryson was actually in bed by the time everyone arrived}. This was perfect- Jason slipped out the door to Jared's and the dessert eating, keno playing, wine drinking, and laughing- the kind of laugh where you laugh until you almost pee in your pants- followed. We had SO. MUCH. FUN.

We each brought a $10 gift for the prizes that would be given away. I won scratch-off lottery tickets that Whitney brought. Even better- I won FIFTY dollars on two of them! A. MAZ. ING!!!

(Sorry Stacey! I stole them from her at the very end. She was not too happy when she found out the value of the gift that was taken from her. I think it is very important to note that I won them in the first round. Stacey then stole them from me- and THEN I stole them from her! So really- I was just taking back what was mine to begin with! haha!)

{That's what you call justification! :) }

Love ya Stace!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Winner and the Contributor

The $40 Ticket!

Can't wait for Keno in September...

My Favorite Sister :)

Amy getting to come for a visit = one happy Momma!

Amy came into town on Tuesday. I was working and she surprised me at the hospital with a sweet tea from Chick-fil-A. A-MAZ-ING! She knows exactly how to get to my heart. :)

We got to enjoy a few days of relaxing, eating, talking, laughing, playing with Bryson, more eating, and keno. Doesn't get much better than that.

On Wednesday afternoon when we were baking we had a minor emergency. I was trying to remove a stuck beater from my hand-mixer when it turned on. My fingers were stuck in the beater and the result was a middle finger with what looked like a bone sticking straight out of it! It was bad. I have seen a lot of gross stuff- but I could not even look at this. Amy remained {pretty} calm, calling to get advice on what we should do {ALL nursiness goes out the door when it is your own finger sticking in a direction it shouldn't be}. Turns out it looked MUCH worse than it was. Still not really sure what was sticking out. After icing and Advil it's just bruised and sore today. So thankful Amy was here to help me deal with my stupidity {sidenote- always unplug your mixer BEFORE trying to remove the beaters}. Here is what the mixer looked like after my fingers got caught in it:

We were so sad to see Amy go today and are looking forward to the day when we live closer to each other. Someday? Maybe?

Love ya Sister!

A Simple Favorite

A few weeks ago I decided that I was tired of my living room. I feel like I am stuck in the same style. My ENTIRE house looks exactly the same. The same colors, the same theme, the same everything. Yuck and boring! So- I decided to change things up. I have gone with a style that isn't really me. Is that weird? But, I wanted change, and I got change. I went for a simple, more modern room. I brought in another recliner (that was previously in our bedroom), added a new painting, framed a letter "R" that I got at Hobby Lobby for $5 and spray painted, and added a few other finishing touches. Voila! Totally different room! I am getting used to it and am LOVING the difference these small changes have made.

I saw an idea for a silhouette on a blog and knew I wanted to incorporate it into my new room. Here is the finished product:

All I did was take one million a picture of Bryson, print it out on my own printer onto card stock, cut it out, paint it black, and frame it. LOVE IT!

Here is the picture I used:

So easy and unique! Not to mention that we now have a sweet keepsake of our sweet little boy. Love love love it!

Fruit Popsicle(s)

I found these cute little popsicle molds in the Michael's dollar section the other day. Oh the memories they brought back. :) I think I have tried to turn just about everything imaginable into a popsicle. It's one of the things we did as kids to keep ourselves occupied on long hot summer days. So, I bought a few. I used fruit juice and fresh strawberries (that were sitting in my fridge about to spoil). Today Bryson was fussy and drooling a lot- so I busted them out. He LOVED them! He had two. And I didn't feel guilty since they were just juice and fruit. A {mostly} healthy snack. :) Ahhh the simple things...

Old Friends

Okay- so no one in this post is old, but Tahrea and I are definitely old friends. We have been friends for over fourteen years. That is over half of my life! Seems crazy. :) Anyways, Tahrea and her kids made a trip to College Station last week to spend the day with Bryson and me. We started off the day by eating lunch at Chick-fil-A. After we finished eating Tahrea and I were able to sit and chat while the kids all played with Bryson in the play area. It was fabulous! Then we headed back to our house for an afternoon of relaxing and hanging out.

The Smiths were so sweet to bring Bryson a birthday gift (they were on vacation and missed his party).

Right after this picture was taken he ran into me (it looked like he was farther away than he really was- provided a good laugh for everyone).

A fun new piano for the bathtub!

A big thanks to Tahrea and her gang for making the drive to come see us. We had a great time and are looking forward to seeing them again in September!

Snack Time

Bryson and I enjoyed a sweet little snack this afternoon. He has had a rough couple of days- cutting three HUGE teeth. I decided we both needed a little TLC in the form of peanut butter and chocolate. He thought it was as good as I did. :)

Easy Wreath

I found this really cute idea over here at one of my favorite new blogs. I thought it was so cute! I am counting down the days until I can bust out my Fall decorations, but until then- this is just what my door needed!

Bryson and I went for a walk on Monday morning. I just happened to take my hand-held shrub clippers with me. The shrubs on the main street in our neighborhood were looking pretty scraggly, so I decided to help out the HOA and trim a few {don't tell!}.

I then used a straw wreath that I found {new in the package} at the thrift store for $1 and floral pins {also $1} and got to work. This took me all of about 10 minutes to do- and I love it!

Close Up:

Result: $2 Wreath.

Does it get much better than that?  :)

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Strawn

On Saturday we traveled to Fort Worth to be part of Matt and Shannon's wedding weekend. It all started with a rehearsal luncheon catered by Freebirds at Shannon's cousin's home. The food was delicious and we really enjoyed meeting the rest of the bridal party. Then it was on to the hotel {which was AMAZING}. We chose to wake up at the crack of dawn and drive to Fort Worth to avoid any more time in a hotel than we had to. We got there and were totally surprised!  It was just a Hampton Inn & Suites- but it was awesome. We had a suite that was HUGE, complete with a microwave and refrigerator. The lobby also had fruit and fresh foods available 24 hours a day. There was an indoor pool-- need I say more???

Saturday night the Moore's provided pizza (and lots of company :) for our family. Tristan and Doady also came! We had such a great {and relaxing} evening. Aunt Amy and Uncle Zach were so much fun as usual!

Our Suite

At the chapel...

The bottom of Shannon's wedding shoes...

Father and Son on the BIG day!

Sisters with the Beautiful Bride

Debbie (and the rest of the Moore gang) volunteered to keep Bryson at the hotel while we went to the chapel early to set up and get ready. She was a life-saver! Bryson did great- slept the whole morning- and we were able to perform our bridal party duties. Debbie also held Bryson during the ceremony. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to the Moore Family!

Ringing the bell after the ceremony...

Mom, Dad, Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Wayne

Tristan and Doady

Matt and Raney

The other newlyweds in the family...

Shannon's Family

Moms of the Bride :)

And they're off!

We wish the two of you a lifetime of love and happiness! Can't wait to see what the future holds for Mr. and Mrs. Matt Strawn!