Walk Like A Man

     So it's official now, Jude dude is "zombie walking" all over the place!! I call it that because he walks without moving his hips and both of his hands are usually held up high in claw-like form. Haha! It's too funny! I finally transitioned him to his crib in his own room...it only took me 10 months. Since he's my last baby I was having some difficulty, but thankfully my sister let me borrow her baby video monitor which is the coolest baby gadget EVER invented!

     We had our very first garage sale this past Saturday and the video monitor proved itself useful there also. It was a crazy day for sure! People showed up at 6am on the dot while it was still dark outside. We hadn't even fully set up shop but they came moseying on up anyway. We ran out of dollar bills before 10 and I made a mad dash to Kroger to get more, but aside from that everything went well. We both could not believe how much stuff we sold or how much money we made. It feels great to be rid of the clutter and make some cash doing it.

     I was able to purchase my bean bag couch(fuf lounger)with my bday money and some of the garage sale money. I am sooo excited, like a kid at Christmas excited!! I have been wanting one of these for a long time. We are turning the guest room into a cozy, entertainment room/reading nook. Since we have 4 guys it will be the perfect spot to snuggle up with all of them for story time before before bed. Eventually I will get to start reading my books again in there too. I miss reading but I keep reminding myself that I'll have all the time in the world to read when the guys get older and right now I need to soak them all up while they still think I'm cool and fun to be around. Lol.

     I was so proud of Phillip last weekend when I came back home from my Texas trip with the two babies. I arrived at 8pm on Sunday to a spotless house, his awesome grilled burgers for dinner, dishes done, laundry started, and he had surprised me by enclosing our swing set and filling it up with sand! It looks like an actual playground and the boys absolutely love it. His next project is to build a pergola with a fire pit in the middle. Then I'm gonna request a big porch swing too since he's becoming quite the wood-working expert. ;)

     Joey sure did enjoy the Texas visit and getting tons of affection and attention from everyone. He loves saying "I love you" and says it to me alone 20 times a day, so sweet. He's stepping up to the big brother plate now that Jude is walking and following him all around the house. He let's Jude know when he's doing something "naughty" and tells him "no, no", he'll give him his snacks or a drink and put his newni in his mouth for him.

     Jake and Jes have been quite the handful lately, little rascals. They can't seem to get along or agree and constantly tattle on each other for any minor thing. I informed them that I am not a teacher and unless they want to start paying me money I am not listening to tattletales. I know exactly what Jes is doing being that I was the oldest in my house too. He likes to aggravate poor Jakers and get him all riled up to the point where Jake runs to me screaming and in tears. Jake on the other hand is the type to enjoy laughing and poking fun at others but when it's done to him he flips out. Oh yes...it's been a circus over here. Who said only girls are drama queens?? I'm sure our neighbors think I'm certifiable because majority of this occurs outside and that's when I turn into "monster mom", Jesse's words not mine. And look it's just in time for Halloween...lol.

5 Years Ago

     "Happy Birhday to you...you're so young...age is just a number...don't you stop having fun"

"This is your day...your day...Happy Birthday...to you, to you, to yooouuuu!" LOL!  Had to bust out that old New Kids on the Block jam which I use to play to myself every year on my bday as a youngin. I'm officially 27 25 years old young today. 

     So I'm gonna do this every once in awhile...take a stroll down memory lane because it's unbelieveable that this much time has gone by already.  I feel so blessed and need to remind myself more often of everything God's given me.

     5 years ago we had already said our goodbye's to Daddy because he was given orders to go on an awesome vacation full of site seeing and beautiful places to Germany for 4 months! 

     We stayed in Texas at my mom's house during that time since no kids were in school and life was super easy. We sure did miss him a lot while he was away though!  Jacob went from nursing and sleeping only mode to really active baby mode.  I felt bad that Daddy missed out on all those milestones.  Jes has always been Daddy's little shadow and you could tell he wasn't feeling the situation at all. Aside from missing Phillip it was fun though!!  I truly miss being able to simply pack up and go for a visit like I use to.  We all went to the Waco Zoo which is a really unique, shaded zoo!

A little creek that you probably weren't suppose to get in. Lol.

We got to spend lots of time with family which I am all about! Also celebrated my 22nd birthday at one of my favorite mexican restaurants, Campo Verde!

Halloween was also spent in Texas.

I have to end it with this last image. Too ironic that at this very moment Joe Joe is wearing that same green, Old Navy t-shirt that Jes has on here!

Boys Will Be Boys

     Well, the rain has finally ceased over here and it left us with wonderful, breezy 60 degree weather! Woo hoo! I am not an outdoorsy type person at all, but yesterday even I was outside playing. Jake was hanging upside down from a tree limb like my little monkey that he is.  Joey was shooting hoops from Dad's truck bed. Jude was exploring the drive way since it was the first time I let him get down outside and of course he also decided to chomp down on some leaves and sticks. Daddy and Jes were tossing the football back and forth and I even made some pretty decent throws too. Although when it's passed to me I shriek like a little girl who's afraid of getting hit in the head. Lol. I couldn't believe that my 7 year old throws like a pro! He wanted to play football this year so badly(he actually requested that for his bday gift)and we almost let him but then we started thinking he's not old enough yet for tackle football. Whatever happened to little kids playing tag/flag(?)football? I can picture some enormous kid running into him and Jesse's lil bones breaking. Jesse is fairly tall for his age but he's lean.  When he was just a lil guy he fractured his leg and it broke our hearts. It happened at "Family Day" on the base in the fun toddler area where they had bouncy houses.

Jes and Jake jumping right before a herd of older kids ran in.

Several hours after the E.R. trip, poor baby.

  

      It was such a sad couple of months for him because he's always been a super active dude and he had to sit there and do nothing while the full cast was on.  Later on when they put the walking cast on him he was too afraid it would hurt again so he crawled around and dragged his leg. I never want to see him experience that again, or any of the other boys for that matter.  Anyways we figure a few more years and then we might let him play football.  Maybe my Jesse man could be a future Cowboy's quarterback.

     Speaking of Jesse and pain, he just came inside and showed me his elbow which is bleeding big time and scraped up pretty badly.  He said he flipped over on his powered scooter after pulling the brakes too hard.  I think God has a sense of humor seeing as I've never been able to stand the sight of blood yet I have 4 boys...who are very much into wrestling, jumping off high things, climbing trees, and the overall rough housing 24/7.  We just doctored up his wound and he is fine; yes I freaked out more than him. It's safe to confirm I will be seeing lots more blood.