It's 9:25 AM...

...and we've already had 3 telemarketing calls. We average about 8 a day.

It is out of control.

I take the phone off the hook most of the day because I'm tired of it. I don't have the energy or time to waste to answer and wait through all of the computerized voices to get taken off their lists.

We could get rid of our land line, but what if there was an emergency and Courtney needed to use the phone?

What do you do? Do you have a solution to this madness?

My Sweet Boy

I'm so happy that he'll smile for pictures now. He is at the most fun stage right now. Just because I feel a little like David Letterman, I'm going to give you the top ten reasons that I just can't get enough of this little boy:

10. The cute way he wears his boots on the wrong feet.

9. His absolute adoration for his Daddy and his Grandads.

8. The way he plays so well with his sister.

7. The way he still cuddles with his little bear bear.

6. How he uses his feet to walk the tricycle instead of pedaling it.

5. His snuggliness.

4. The neat color of his eyes that he got from his Daddy.

3. His love for animals.

2. The way he runs to me when I pick him up from "school".

1. His kisses that are the sweetest kisses on this earth.

I love you with all my heart sweet boy!!

wEeKEnD fUn

We had a busy weekend. You can read all about it on the last picture from Courtney's star student book.

Ann, Jane, Mama, Courtney, Borsette, Anne, and Pepper. It was so good to see Ann this weekend in Meridian. I hadn't seen her in a long time! This picture was at the end of the race for the benefit for Darcy.


Courtney giving Shelby a ride in the Gator. This was so cute! We had fun this weekend with our puppy-nieces/cousins Pepper and Shelby.


Garrett doing a big no no driving the jeep through the wheat.


This picture cracked me up. The way the aperture is set it looks like the background is one of those fake ones, but it is real! I love the way the wheat fields look this time of year.


Courtney is star student this week at school. Here she is with the class bear Boris/Borsette.


Her story about the time she spent with Borsette.





I hope everyone is having a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

Yesterday was Grandma's birthday. We had a great day visiting with her and the Kruse family that came in from Houston.

Grandma is 83 years young. I feel so blessed that we still have her in our lives and that she is in such good health. I think that it's so neat that our kids have a Great-Grandma!

Dallas World Aquarium

Actually, this post should be titled "Dallas ISD Spring Break." Note to self: Don't go to Dallas during spring break.

Meme was on spring break last week so we loaded up and headed to Dallas on Tuesday because I wanted to go to the Arboretum and Meme wanted to go to the Dallas World Aquarium. It didn't take much convincing Garrett that we would take a long ride, but sea turtles would be at the end. We thought we were good to go. Until we got there. I thought that I'd written down great instructions on how to get there, but Mapquest doesn't tell you that Griffin street takes a sharp curve and if you don't get on it and you go straight like any normal road, well you won't get there. (nice run-on sentence) Instead of stopping and asking, I gave up and headed to the Arboretum.

That was mistake #2. My directions were great, but the parking was not. There was nowhere to park within a million miles. Plan B. Go eat.

We headed back downtown to the aquarium vicinity and ate at Old MacDonalds and found out how to get to the aquarium. We hiked through downtown only to find a line almost 2 blocks long. Any normal group of people would have turned around and tried to find the nearest exit out of there, but....remember that 2 year old little boy we promised sea turtles? So, we waited our turn in line to head into the jungle aquarium mosh pit.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:





I know, usually Blogger turns my pictures the right way. But, I guess it's the value priced camera that I bought for our ski trip that my computer won't even recognize's fault. Just turn your head this time. I promise I won't do it again. I also promise I won't use so many grammatical errors again, but it kind of fits with the kind of day we had.

All in all it was a really neat place despite the fact that we were super tired from all the driving around and waiting in line. Oh, and the fact that the place probably should have been fire marshalled for over-occupancy, but I reeeeaally didn't want to think about that when there were hundreds of people suspended on the same balcony as I was looking into the jungle/shark pool. ;)

We had fun spending time with Meme, but we all agreed that next time we'll go to the farm.

CHOO CHOO

We have been wanting to ride the train for a long time. It's just one of those things that we've had on our list, but sometimes somebody has to give you a little push to finally do it! When Charlene from Justin's office called me one day to see if we'd like to go with her and her grandaughter we just had to do it! Meme was on spring break this week, so we called her up and she joined us for a fun trip.

McGregor actually has it's own Amtrack station and it's less than 3 minutes from the house. We got on and rode to Ft. Worth and then had 20 minutes to get on the next train back. I highly recommend train travel with little ones. You can get on the lounge car and there is plenty of room for coloring and games. They loved it!


The guy that takes your ticket (if you look close you can see him at the door of the train) really does have one of those hats like Sir Toppam Hat from Thomas. Garrett called him that...it was so cute!


Garrett playing choo choos on the train.


Meme, Courtney, Charlene, and Abby at the Ft. Worth station.


Thank you Charlene for organizing the trip for us! We had lots of fun!

I guess you could say we were bored

...or crazy. Probably the latter.

For some reason when we were looking for something to do on Saturday night this came to mind. Just call us Jr. Bakerellas.



I think that Courtney is questioning my sanity at this point.


But, she's having too much fun to worry about that for long.


Stirring the icing...YUM!








I can now check baking a 12 layer cake from scratch off my list of things to do in this lifetime. Courtney was such a trooper and had a blast. She didn't even mind doing all the jobs that I don't like. She greased all the pans AND washed them all when we were finished. What can I say? We make a good team.

Go UNICORNS!

I'll apologize in advance for this being really long, but I just couldn't help myself. This weekend was a big weekend. Courtney had her first soccer game on Saturday. This marks the beginning of competitive sports in our lives. Definitely an exciting time for Justin and I because, well, we're both just a tad bit competitive and love sports just a little bit. Courtney may not be big into sports, it's really hard to tell this early, but we'll enjoy it for now. She is definitely having fun and that is really all that it's about this early on.

She has always wanted to play soccer and this past fall was the first time she was old enough. She didn't play then because we were gone for the month at the beach. So, that brings us to this spring. She has LOVED the practices, but she was very nervous about the game. By the last quarter she finally got the hang of things and got in the action a little bit. She really doesn't have an agressive bone in her body, so the act of taking something away from someone took a little getting used to.

Daddy getting her all geared up.


Coach giving the Unicorns a pep talk.



Here I am trying to explain the game to her. Not sure why though. I know nothing about soccer, which is actually nice. I was really worried about the coach coming out in me and not being able to enjoy being a mom at the game. I'll have to say that I did have to control myself. It just comes natural to get very intense and competitive. I'm working on it though.



I'm pretty sure this is after her first time in. I'm getting on her a little because she was being too timid. She's already got the "mom I'm not listening to you" face down pat and we're not even close to the teen years. Yikes.


She smiles the entire time she's playing. I love this.




I had to post this picture because the coach for the other team had a mohawk. He was really, really nice, but it caught Courtney off guard at first (well, us too) and it was funny.


Shaking hands after the game.


This was a very fun day. Her team had to play a team in the next age division up, so it was a little tough for her first time out, but still fun. Oh, and it just so happens that her team is maroon and white! That worked out just perfect because we went to the Lady Aggies/ Lady Bears basketball game right after. :)

The Hair Doctor

According to Garrett, he went to the hair doctor today. This makes complete sense. The barber has a white coat, khakis, and dress shoes.



Here he is showing me his haircut. We had a huge breakthrough....this time he was excited to get it cut and sat so still and smiled at himself in the mirror the whole time. It's kind of fun to take him to get a haircut. The barber shop here in town still has the candy cane stripe "thingy" outside and all. I have also learned that it's not like going to a beauty shop....you can't make an appointment. You just go in and wait your turn in line. I once asked if we could put our name on a list and come back when it was out turn and they looked at me funny. (You know, like the take a number thing at the manicure/pedicure place? )I am learning the barber shop rules slowly but surely. ;)

It's fun being the mom of a boy and learning that there is a whole other side to so many things!

FREEDOM

And she is SO proud!


Courtney has found a new freedom and I have continued to watch her grow up way too fast for my taste. She has been begging for a while to take her training wheels off but we've just been busy. Justin promised her this past weekend was the time. (He could have looked at the weather channel first though...it was COLD!) It took about two seconds and she was off to the races, turning and everything!