Mommy's New Toy

I got a new zoon lens for my camera! I am so excited and am already looking forward to getting great shots at future soccer games and t-ball games!

I was playing with the new lens, taking shots from across the yard last weekend. Here are a few that I LOVE.

My baby!

 The lighting isn't great on this one- but I was probably 30 feet from him!

 Picture this: Bryson playing with his best buddy Jake and me in the grass about 30-40 feet away just snapping away.

Still snapping away...

 ...snapping profiles of Halle...

 ...and Bryson concentrating really hard on whatever he is doing...

 ...and Bryson holding up a piece of dog poop...

 Dis. Gust. Ing. Guess I should pay a little better attenetion to my child next time and not be so focused on the new camera lense!

Boys will be boys!

Speaking of that-

the other night at dinner Bryson stuck his finger up his nose. I have never seen him do this before!  So- I told him to take his finger out of his nose and this is what he did:

BOY, am I in trouble!?!

Easter at Mrs. Erin's

I was able to sneak away from work on Good Friday to watch Bryson hunt Easter eggs at Erin's house. Of course it was over in about 3.5 seconds, but it was worth it! Bryson really just wanted to open the eggs and get the candy out, but he definitely got the hang of actually hunting the eggs, too. It was also fun to watch him interact with his little friends. The older girls were so sweet to help him. We are so thankful for the amazing Christian environment that Erin's home provides!

Bryson also brought home tons of cute Easter crafts in the weeks leading up to Easter. Here is a link to one of them. 

We will keep that one forever! So cute!

All Things Random {Again}

Bathtub Fun!

He is cra-zy!

 His favorite thing to do right now is to back up to the back of the tub, put his feet up on the edge, and hold himself up in a push-up position. It is so funny! I have pictures- but didn't know about flashing his bare behind on the blog. So you'll just have to take my word for it.  :)

 I caught Bryson under his crib- he crawled under there to try to catch Halle- of course that didn't work. I love this picture- not sure why, really- but I love it.

My boys vacuuming!

 Bryson's new favorite game. Jason always regrets starting these things!

I saw this idea somewhere a long time ago, and just wanted to share. Somehow we ended up with a whole swarm of fruit flies in our kitchen a few nights ago. I put together this contraption (a funnel made out of paper, placed in a jar, with sliced fruit in the bottom), and caught them all. The fruit flies go in for the fruit but aren't smart enough to get out! Genius! Then we just took them outside and let them go. I think that is definitely worth filing away in your brain for future use.  :)

The End!

A Garage Sale'n Kind of Weekend

A few weekends ago we had our annual garage sale. That's right- I said annual. I LOVE to have garage sales. Let me rephrase that. I love to have garage sales once a year.

We have got it down. I actually stock-pile stuff in the attic all year, knowing that we will have one in the Spring. Then, when the time comes, my sweet husband gets up there and lugs it all down that tiny ladder. I then spend some time setting it all up on tables and pricing it. I usually put an add on Craig's List and make a few signs for the neighborhood. Then, Voila! We are ready for Saturday morning.

And boy do the people come! It gets really crazy, but WE love it. I couldn't believe it--- but Jason actually said that he loves to have garage sales too this year. Must be a match made in Heaven...

 Our neighbor Donna with her dog Gunther {I'm sure he could swallow B in one quick gulp- but I try to ignore that fact because he seems really sweet and B loves him}.

 Luckily Grandma came to help us and to see her favorite grandson. Here they are being silly at lunchtime...

 Looks like trouble to me!

For all of our troubles we made over $400 AND had a great excuse to get rid of the "stuff" lying around our house. Our leftovers went to Felisa for her family members in Mexico and Good Will, and we were done by 11:00am.

Already starting the pile for next year...

A Boy and His Buddy...

... or not?

ENT Visit

Bryson has been really fussy lately, and we can tell that he is pretty miserable. We went in for a check of the ears after his last round of antibiotics, and the pediatrician said that he had lots of fluid {mucous} behind both ear drums, but no infection. She said this fluid could stay there for up to two months after an ear infection, and make him more prone to another ear infection. Her suggestion was to wait 4-6 weeks and let her check his ears again before we visited an ENT. She also said that the ear infections {he has had 5 since the month of December} should get better with the warmer weather and with him turning two soon.

After a week of him acting like he felt horrible, even on the allergy medicine she suggested, I went ahead and scheduled an appointment with an ENT. We saw Dr. Kuppersmith. The funny thing is I observed him putting tubes into a kid when I was in nursing school. Somehow I remembered his name, and it turns out that he is with a very reputable group here in town. We saw him on Monday. He was great with Bryson, and said that kids with these types of chronic ear infections usually don't outgrow them until they are six or seven. Bryson also failed his hearing test due to too much fluid in his ears. That was the deciding factor. Tubes it is!

I am a nervous wreck, but seem to be hiding it well. :)

{My husband may disagree!}

I know it is a simple surgery- but it is still surgery- and this is MY baby.

So, please pray for Mr. B as he is scheduled for surgery on May 6th. Please pray for the surgeon, for Bryson, for all who interact with him on that day, and for us. I think the hardest part will be that he can't have anything to eat or drink until his surgery. He LOVES his milk first thing in the mornings.

Here is what has been going on with Bryson's ears:

 Here is what Dr. Kuppersmith will be doing:

We are confident that this is the best decision, but it is still a little bit scary.

Please pray for our sweet baby!

{We also want to say a huge thanks to everyone who has offered their advice and wisdom!}

Easter Pictures 2011

Love, love, LOVE these pictures taken by Erin. She held Easter mini portrait sessions, and we were lucky enough to have her take pictures of Bryson on Friday while he was at her house. We did have to make a trip back over Friday evening due to the bunny not cooperating with all of the kids around that day {I suggested that she give it some Benadryl- but she didn't go for it!}. Luckily she only lives about two minutes away from us. I LOVE them, and had such a hard time narrowing them down to post on the blog {I actually DID narrow them down- but there are still a lot!}. What a problem to have!

Silly! Silly! Silly!

Sweet Boy!

 Maybe an Easter egg over the eye will make the bunny calm down...

A HUGE thanks to Erin for the incredible pictures! We are so lucky to have you as a childcare provider and photographer!