Joey Jammin in Daddy's car

So, Joe's latest craze is anything that is boat/car/motor vehicle related. And Everything is "BOAT".

So last week, Jason let Joe play in his car and he had such fun. I thought I would share a bit of Joey headbanging and playing with the buttons. :)

Happy Monday and Happy Birthday Aunt Kiki! :)

Happy Valentines Day and it's MAGIC

Happy Valentines Day. Today was such a nice day... I got flowers yesterday from my gorgeous son. :) Jason and I had agreed that we weren't going to get each other presents because we went to see Mystere in Vegas. :) I should have known that my romantical husband would do something. I am such a bad wife. :( But I am enjoying my flowers. :)

I did let him sleep in this morning though... :-D Joe and I had a good night and woke up this morning around 6:15 to play and watch the wiggles. He had juice... I had coffee... he played... I facebooked... what more can a mama ask for? :)

When Jason awoke... Joe decided it was nap time. SOOOO he and I went in and took a nap and while we were snoozing, Jason went to get donuts. What a great hubby. :) And there is nothing quite like the small comforting sounds of a baby sleeping on your chest. The small puffs on your neck as he slumbers on. It's a small slice of heaven I tell you.

Then I went and got my toes and nails done. When I got home, we packed up and headed to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science that has a childrens musuem. We had such fun. Joe got to play on the firetruck and with leggos but the BEST part was this section that had a water table. There were little shawls that you could put on them but Joe was having NO Part of it. So we stripped off his sweater and let him go at it. He splashed and played and called BOAT to his little hearts content. It was GREAT. We finally moved onto the farmers section and the "in your backyard" sections. The farmer part had an area to "plant" foods and then harvest them. Joe was MUCH better at harvesting. HA!


In the backyard there was a big anthill... or really just a big mountain you can climb through and pretend you are an ant. I had to show Joe the way... which I am sure was funny to other parents... but it worked and he had a ball.

He did NOT want to get back in his stroller though to come home... alas we wanted to get an early dinner in before the crowds got crazy.

We tried Outback but there was an hour wait at 4:40 pm... so we went with a hibachi place that had no wait (at the time) and it was perfect! We sat down with two other couples that had the good fortune of going out to dinner WITHOUT their bundles of joy... so I am sure they were overjoyed at us having brought ours... but... oh well. He did remarkably well. He was enthralled with the chef though. As you can see......


The funniest portion of the evening had to be the magic show though. :-D

Jason was trying to keep Joey entertained so as not to disturb the other diners... so he was taking his napkin and making it "disappear". Joe was loving it. So, after a few times... Joe took the same napkin and he, in fact, made it disappear. It was hysterical. He stuffed it under his sweater thinking none of us would know where it was. It was CLASSIC!

When we got home, Jason pulled out his magic stuff and Joe just sat there watching it and then trying to do it himself. Watch out James Cielen... we have a budding magician on our hands. :) Too cute.

It was a great valentines day and I can't think of ANY other way I would have wanted to spend it than with my two favorite men. :)

I hope you guys had a good one too.

Just some general cuteness to offset the somber tone to my last post. :)

HUH?

Wrinkle Nose. :)

I'm cute! :)

Seems like lately...

I have been overwhelmed by an abundance of blogs of people in need of prayers. I suppose that this is the way God works... people are put into your path especially when they need it... but yesterday a friend of mine posted about blogs that you read.

I opened the post and it said how she had gotten involved in a random persons blog and she regularly signs on for her "harper fix". It's a great blog... in fact, if you want to read more... it's called Kelly's Korner Blog and she has a gorgeous little girl, Harper, who had some difficulties in the beginning. But she has a fabulous style about her and she is quite fun to read. :)

But, yesterdays post led me to another blog. A blog about Cora. It is NOT for the faint of heart, I assure you. It is a terribly sad yet oddly, uplifting, blog about a little girl diagnosed with cancer. She went to be with Jesus three weeks after diagnosis and her family could most definitely use your prayers. But I started to cry when I opened the blog. I continued to cry when I went back to her diagnosis. And I was openly sobbing when I read that she had gone to be with Jesus. For some reason, this little girl has touched my heart. Her family has touched my heart and I cannot get them out of my mind.

Do you ever notice that when you are first pregnant you notice ALL pregnant people? It seems like everyone is pregnant. Or, when you first have your angel... everywhere you look, people are walking with infants? Now, I am NOT saying that anyone I love or hold dear is battling with this. It's just that all of a sudden I am recognizing it.

It seems that lately I keep reading or hearing about these instances with children being diagnosed with cancer. A friend of mine from high school has a five year old son (Matthew) who has leukemia. He is doing tremendously well and her younger son was an exact match for his bone marrow and was able to be a donor, thank you Lord. He is doing so very well.

Another friend of mine, a little sister of sorts, Danielle, is battling with an AGGRESSIVE form of cancer and had to have something like 200 nodes taken out of her abdomen. She continues to be uplifting and positive about her situation. She is, and always has been, an inspiration to everyone around her.

I mentioned to Jason that I was feeling called to volunteer at Cook Children's Hospital. He thinks I should wait until Joe gets a little bit older and that is probably wise. He knows me better than I know myself and I know that this would rip my heart out of my chest. But volunteering isn't supposed to be easy is it? I don't know. It scares me, but I do also want to help.

I am feeling rather vulnerable in wake of reading about this little angel and then I heard of another one today. This is the story about Tuesday. Tuesday was also diagnosed and went to be with Jesus. Why?

If you could please keep these people in your prayers or in your thoughts, they could most certainly use it. Danielle, Jess and Joel, Tuesdays family, Matthew Gray and I am going to be selfish and ask for you to pray for my family too. All of this scares me. I know it is completely irrational... but can you please pray that I gain the insight to know why all of this has come tapping on my doorstep?

Need to update

I have been very remiss in writing... but I haven't had much to say or the time to say it. :) Last week, my parents came in right before the superbowl. YAY steelers, btw. :) We had a great and relaxing Sunday and watched the fantastic game... Mom taught Joe to say "GO GO GO" and with all of the yelling I wasn't sure we would ever get him to sleep. :)

Then on Tuesday, Jason and I left for Las Vegas. We were going to the World of Concrete. Last year the five of us... mom, dad, Jason, Joey and I... went. We had such fun, although we learned very quickly that Las Vegas is NOT the kid friendly place they tried to sell it as long ago.

So, this year, with a new business under our belt we can't just up and leave it... Mom and Dad came to watch the business AND the baby. Not sure which one we were more worried about. :-D Just kidding... am I? ;)

This was the first time we were going away together, alone, in quite a long time. MAN did I miss my little guy... but I will also say that it was GREAT to spend that time with Jason. We laughed, we ate, we held hands, we cuddled, we went and saw shows and worked. We walked and walked and walked and walked the World of Concrete... and we entertained some customers. We gambled a little bit... we lost... we even went down to Old Town Las Vegas. I loved the three dollar tables... lost there too but at least only lost twenty bucks.

I think my favorite place is the Parasol Down bar at the Wynn hotel. You sit outside and there are comfortable tables, heaters if you need them and a lake with a waterfall that every thirty minutes turns into a mini-show. there is a large frog that sings... a huge talking head that comes out of the water and my new favorite... two colored orbs that come out of the water and one is a girl and one is a boy. :) The boy chases the girl... the girl runs. The girl comes back... the boy turns around. They chase... and all of a sudden a baby orb pops out. :) It's all set to music and super cute.

But even during the day, this area is great. I could sit outside and have drinks and read a book all day... except for the fact that the drinks are hugely expensive. :)

And luckily, I got to meet one of Jason's old Lufkin friends. She is the Food and Beverage Manager at the Wynn and is absolutely delightful. I so enjoyed getting to know her. And she blessed us with tickets to see La Reve on Friday night. It's a cirque d' Soleil show and it's all in water. It is so different than "O" but equally spectactular.

I also had the chance to see my friend, Isabelle whom I had not seen for two years. I worked with she and her husband, James, on ships. Had the great fortune to see the two of them married. Now... she has two beautiful boys and gosh... it's just amazing to me the people that come and stay in your life. I know for certain, that I am better for her being my friend. :)

WE got to come home on Saturday and I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was to see my baby. To hear his little giggle and squeeze his baby fat and have him give me kisses. Awesome.

Now... real life. I learned a somewhat valuable lesson last night. Marriage is an ever evolving thing... and I guess this is why God knows what he is doing. He puts us opposites together to ... make us crazy... make us better... and teach us. Teach us to rely on others, to rely on their strengths and to strengthen their weaknesses.

When we are on vacation... we both go with the flow. When we are home... it's not so easy. It's great to know that I can be a bit more regimented ... working on this, I promise... and my dear husband can be a bit more "go with the flow". So... my love... if you are reading this... thank you for making me better and I love you very much. :)