Morning.

I'm so glad to be back home after being out of town for over a week...these little moments were missed!

Mr. Happy-Pants.

This guy has a school performance tomorrow and he told me in the car he was feeling shy and nervous about getting up on stage (!).  I am a) so glad he told me and b) really surprised my outgoing little J is actually nervous!  I told him I knew how it felt and he agreed that most people get stage fright :)

He is growing up... 

Football Zombie (Halloween).

J decided to be the Football Zombie (a la Plants vs. Zombies game) this year.  I couldn't find a mask (locally...and waited too long to buy anything online) so we came up with this paper mache' get-up.  

This ended up being pretty cheap, actually . . . just had to pay for the paints!! Already had the football gear, and paper mache stuff was paper bag, newspaper, flour and water. Miraculous! 

Halloween 2013 .

Once we got some meds for J, he was good to go along with sister for some Trick-or-Treating. It was a fun night . . . we always enjoy a little time at the end of our culdesac with neighbors, and J found a friend later to go door-to-door with which was a fun bonus!

And just for proof that he DID actually smile in a picture, here is the one of J smiling :)

spunk. pizzaz. energy. brains. humor!

rockin' the new school year.

Bittersweet time of year . . . end of summer, beginning of school, first day of school jitters.

I've missed you this week, J!  But I know you have some very lucky teachers to have a sweet and joyful boy like you in their class.
Looking forward to some lunch-dates once pre-school starts for little sister!

(pictures from the pre-braces era. more including the braces to come in the future!)

Party Barn, May 2013 .

Every year Dad's side of the family has their Ranch Party at the "Party Barn".  Got to take Jackson and actually go myself this year with some of us!  Good time to catch up with some, meet some others for the first time at the reunion beforehand, sit and listen to the GREAT music they had, and enjoy the beautiful weather we had that day! (this was in May)

summer, from june.

poppy .

Meet our new pup, Poppy!  Our little Miss Mary Poppins, "Poppy", dropped in to our lives, via umbrella right out of the sky on J's birthday eve . . . She sure is sweet, full of puppy-ness, and been a load of fun around here . J is her best buddy, A is just getting used to her (haha) . . . she wasn't sure about the jumping and puppy-teeth chewing/nipping at first .

Anyways, she has been a nice addition to the family, especially with everything going on lately (24 hour bug, that we ALL caught! J's ribs being weird and needing x-rays, ct scans, and our sweet neighbors in Oklahoma dealing with devastation right now . . .)

Here are some shots that capture only a teensy bit of her and J playing . He was blowing bubbles and she went nuts trying to catch them!

                       

bluebonnets, b & w

bluebonnets

Out-takes! This is what most of the pics consisted of before 

Mr. Ladybug made his appearance and had the kids mesmerized . . . HA.

 (this is actually a favorite of J . . . this is SO him!)

happy valentine's day . . . boy style !

not sure why, but for some reason J likes to rip his shirt off and do this, saying, "ROCK AND ROLL, BABY!"  this is the toned - down version of that, lol (didn't come all the way off!).  of course, sister tried to follow suit . . .

and below, this one cracks me up.  getting tired of holding that silly face pose, eh??!!! 

these two must have missed their mid-afternoon latte.