Red Raider Basketball

This past weekend, we took the boys to their first ever Red Raider basketball game. I have to admit, I was very hesitant to take 2 toddler boys to an event that required you to be stuck in a seat for longer than 15 minutes... Plus the fact that we only had 4 seats and 5 bodies (Mom, Dad, the boys, and I)...meaning the boys would have to sit in our laps! Thankfully, we lucked out and had plenty of room to spare on both sides of us so we weren't cramped at all! They truly proved me wrong, and made it through the entire game! (With only 2 bathroom breaks!) It was great. They LOVED dancing to the band, and watching Raider Red prance about. (As long as he didn't come near our seats, they were fine...ha!) Cayden quickly lost interest in the game, and chose to play with his Scooby Doo figures for most of the first half. But, Coley was glued to the game! That is until the popcorn and Starbursts arrived...in the second half. Cole just didn't think it could get any better!!! Here are a few pictures of our adventure!

A Date with Mommy

Dean and I have recently starting making time for Mommy/Daddy and me dates. We will each take one of the boys with us, and just have some one on one time together. It has been so much fun for all of us, and the boys absolutely LOVE getting all the attention for a little while.

Tonight was my night to have a date with Coley, and of course, he always makes things interesting. It started off with the car seat.... His FAVORITE thing to do when he rides in the car without Cayden, is to be able to sit in Cayden's big boy car seat. It is a Turbo Booster, which does not have the harness, so it only uses the actual car seat belt. I am VERY hesitant to let him do this....#1 because he is not 3 years old, and he is 3 pounds shy of being 40 pounds(yes, I know..he's a big boy!), and #2 he is fully capable of unbuckling his seat belt. However, because it means SO much to him, we have allowed him to "practice" sitting in Cayden's big boy car seat. And up until tonight, he's never tried to get out. So...we are driving down the road, jamming to the music, and as I look in my rear view mirror, Cole has climbed out of the booster and is on his way to the middle seat to "sit by himself." Yikes! In a matter of minutes, he had unbuckled that baby and was out! I immediately pulled over and discussed how that was a very "bad choice" (common vocabulary at our house...), and that he had lost his privilege of sitting in Cayden's seat. Luckily, he agreed and willingly climbed in his own seat and we were on our way. Don't think we'll be advancing to the Turbo Booster anytime soon!

He loves to eat "chips and sauce" so we dined at a local Mexican restaurant. He was SOO excited to get a bowl of hot sauce ALL to himself! ha! The little things... As the waiter was delivering our meal (Quesadillas, with guacamole and sour cream on top), Cole takes a look at our plate....looks back up at me, and points to the guacamole...."Look, Mommy....it's POOP on my plate," with the biggest smile on his face. I quietly informed him that no, that was not "poop" on our plate...it was guacamole...as everyone around us was getting a big kick out of Cole's remarks, and my complete and utter embarrassment! He continued to poke the "poop" a few more times, giggle at himself, until he finally decided he would taste it... He didn't much care for it. Note to self...next time we order quesadillas...leave off the guacamole. There is never a dull moment with this angel of ours...but we love every minute of him!

The life of a blogger's spouse...

I’m not much on the blogging, MySpace, Facebook, etc. etc scene, but because of Melisse, I now have been immersed in this social networking thing. I have setup a Facebook account and found it quite amusing. With that craze by Melisse, she has now started this blog, so I’ll sit back and wonder why in the world is this sooo special. But, maybe this is her craft, her time away, her ability to socialize and network. And, to keep me from digging a deep hole, I appreciate you for stopping by and reading about our crazy family. But, remember, your visit to our blog encourages my wife to BLOG more! This means she’d rather talk to y’all than me. And, with that said, I’m certain you think that’s probably the better option. Okay, okay, I’m just being a pain in the rear….

My true reasoning for blogging today is to give Melisse a little PDA…no pics, I promise!! My posting is to express to her and her blog followers how much I appreciated her, especially over the past few weeks. As some of you may know in greater detail than others, quite simply, we had a pretty rough couple weeks. It was just “one of those times” in our lives that caused us to bend a little, but wasn’t close to breaking us or our spirit. Truth be told, Melisse’s spirit and faith impresses me more and more as the years pass. After all, you all know the headache she married! Seriously, here’s my note of thanks to her faithfulness, tender spirit, and affirming heart. Here’s to her ability to be my wife, a mom to our precious boys, and a special friend to us all.

Blogging along…as Melisse has mentioned, the boys have been hilarious! We could post something daily that would be humorous to no end. I will add one of my disciplinary moments gone wrong…background: Cayden and Cole have learned the word “stupid” from somewhere. And, as our attempt at good parenting, we have tried to nip this from their vocabulary. Well, we were in the suburban last week or so ago and Cole said it, and so I tried to discipline:

“Cole, no sir, we don’t say ‘stupid.’” I said with a stern voice.

And, without hesitation, Cole responds, “Stupid.”

I tried again, “Cole, we don’t say that.”

“Stupid.”

“Cole!”

“Stupid.”

I don’t remember how it exactly ended…but, in obvious defeat. Melisse was fully supportive as she sat in the passenger seat beet-red from laughing so hard. Parenting at its finest!

Cayden is quite the personality as well. The boys are two in the same, but totally different. Cayden and I did spend the day together today since he was at home sick with a bug. I hope we’re on the tail-end of it and we can get back to normalcy.

In blog-clusion, thanks for stopping by. I don’t think you will hear too much from me…but, in the event I’m in the doghouse or want to express some PDA, I may drop in to say hi. After all, it’s not like y’all really want to hear about me. If so, you must be bored! Ha!! Just kidding. Take care. God Bless. And, thanks to all of you for our friendship.

Morning conversations....

Cayden and Cole are at a stage in their lives where they are actually beginning to have real conversations with each other. It has been so much fun to sit back and listen to how they communicate with each other. Here is a bit of their conversation at breakfast this morning....

As they are eating their favorite cereal, Lucky Charms, Cayden says, "Coley! Are you ready to go to storytime at the library today?"
Cole stares at his cereal for a minute, then replies, "No, bubby. That snowman scares me at the strawberry (ie. library..ha). That snowman says AHHHCHOOOO and made me sad!" (Okay, rewind...a few weeks ago, at storytime...the lady was reading a book about a snowman. The snowman sneezes in the story, and she overexaggerated the sneeze and it scared Cole so bad! He started crying and decided to sit in Leslie's lap for the rest of the story!!! And, as you can see....he hasn't forgotten about it either!)
"Coley, you don't have to be scared today. You can sit in my lap, and I will protect you." Cayden says, as he continues eating his cereal.
Cole got this huge smile on his face, and loudly he said, "MOMMY! Bubby said I can sit in his wap today at the strawberry! I'll be happy today, mommy!"

Just melts my heart...it's nice to remember the sweet, kind, loving conversations between the two of them because that's not always how it goes! But I have to say, Cayden absolutely loves being able to be a big brother. He loves being able to answer questions that Cole has, and he never misses an opportunity to say, "You can do this when you get big like me!" As if he's SOO much bigger than him...ha!