We've Been Busy!

Shew! I'm sorry that it's been so long since I blogged. I stay so busy. I have an extremely high maintenance baby boy. We really love him and enjoy him but he is a stinker.

Owen is five years old. I can't believe it. His birthday was September 26th and he got to camp at the Kentucky Horse Park. Brad and my dad camped with Owen and Judd. The boys loved it. Owen is doing so well in preschool and has learned so much. We are amazed by him constantly. He has a great memory and thought process.

Wyatt is close to walking but not there yet. He is way ahead of Owen who didn't walk until 16 months and Judd who didn't walk until 15 months. I think he will be walking by his 1st birthday in a few weeks. He is always working his way in to what his brothers are doing. Sometimes they trick him and get him to leave the room and then they shut the door real fast. It breaks Wyatt's heart. Of course, I get on them and make them include him. It's hard though because they have lots of little pieces and they love puzzles. They have to do their puzzles on the kitchen table because he tears everything apart. Wyatt says DUDD (Judd) all the time. He has a very loud, deep voice. I think he calls both Owen and Judd this. He babbles all the time and is very loud. Much louder than the other two. I wonder why? Probably so he can be heard around here!

Judd is as cute and funny as ever. He can tell you anything you want to know (or don't want to know) about Star Wars. He knows all the characters and the story line. It's amazing. He has become attached to a little stuffed penguin. He calls it his baby. He says he is potty trained but he really isn't. He knows what to do and will do it when he has to but otherwise he won't. I'm not sure what to do. Any suggestions? I've tried lots of things.

Here are some funny things the boys have said lately:

1. Georgetown College recently named their new fitness center after George H. W. Bush. He came to speak so the preschool walked the kids down to see him. When my dad picked him up he asked him who he got to see. Owen shrugged his shoulders and said, "Some man named Bush."

2. Owen has show-and-tell on Fridays and he is always trying to find something to take and share. Judd likes to pretend he is in school but he calls it ho-and-tell. This got a chuckle from Brad and me.

3. I was pushing the boys on the swings yesterday when the following conversation occured.
Owen: Mom when Judd burned his finger at Gram's house did you put ice on it when he was napping and did the ice melt in our bed?
Me: Yes, that is what happened.
Owen: Well, that's what my daddy told me but I wanted to make sure he was telling me the truth.
Me: Owen if daddy tells you something then it's the truth.
Judd: But mommy my daddy is crazy. I love him though.

4. After I had been pushing Judd in the swing for about 30 minutes in the heat he said, "Mommy, you are the best in the whole wide world."

These boys are a hoot!

UK Fan Day

It takes a while sometimes for us to find time to post a story or photographs but because of the holiday weekend, both parents are home and we seem to have a bit more time today. On Saturday, August 9, Keith and Karen (Dannette cousin and wife) came down from northern Kentucky and we went to the UK Football Fan Day at Commonwealth Stadium. We also met up with our good friends, Amy, Marvin, Ben, and Matthew. The boys loved the football field. They spent most of the time running in circles and rolling in the grass with some of their friends. We, too, had a nice time and intend to go again next year. There are five photos below of our fun-filled day in Lexington. (BTW, did any of you watch UK smash the University of Louisville yesterday?)

Photo 1. Future UK linebacker ready to go.

Photo 2. Wyatt with Matthew, a good buddy.

Photo 3. Touchdown celebration in the west end zone.

Photo 4. Judson after the game, "We left it all on the field."

Photo 5. Owen after the game, "We blew the doors off the place!"

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, AUNT LAURA!

We love you and we hope you have a wonderful birthday!
I love Aunt Laura because:

Judd
*She bought me a present.
*She and Eric took me bowling.
*I like her dog, Diva.

Owen
*I like it when she visits.
*I like it when she takes us to the park.
*I like the Yoda shirt she bought me.

Wyatt
*She and I are both the babies of our family.
*ma ma ma da da da

Family Portrait

Owen drew this picture of our family. I think he did a good job. He was drawing with a black marker so everything is in black. He said that he put red lipstick on me. He said that he made him and Brad larger because they are bigger than us. He gets his creativity from Brad. I love seeing how he is changing. He loves learning and asks lots of questions about numbers and letters. Yesterday was his first day back to school and he had a good day. He said, "My belly was a little nervous when you all leaved me but then it got okay." He is such a sweet, sweet boy. He was happy that his friend Cooper was back. It's almost the exact same kids as last year.

Piano

Little Motzart loves the toy piano. He is very active and into EVERYTHING! I have put my plants out of reach and several other things. He is happiest when he is near his brothers. They try and block him sometimes but he is so big that he just rolls over them.

Updates

Wyatt will be 9 months on Friday. He went for his check-up today and he weighs 23 pounds and 2 ounces (75-90 percentile) and he is over 29 inches long (75 percentile). Like his brothers, his head size is greater than 90th percentile. His weight tends to match up with were Owen was at this age but Owen was longer. Wyatt is crawling and pulls up to everything and is cruising around. My favorite is when he pulls up to the little piano and plays it. I hope to get a video of it soon but the camera distracts him and he loses his balance.

We get together with the Fraziers often. We are glad to have friends close by. I thought it was funny to see Brad and Jimmy both sitting on the couch holding the babies. They are both such good dads.

Owen and Judd have been happy to spend time with their Highley grandparents this summer. They set up a pool for them and they both love it! I'm glad that they have two sets of grandparents pretty close. They will have such good memories when they get older.

Brad is the best husband and dad ever! He took a week off of work to build the boys a "set." That's what Owen and Judd call it. I'll take a better picture and post it later. I did good to get this one. It's hard to get them all to be still. It has a large deck, slide, and three swings. He built it from scratch and it's awesome. It also has a sand box which the boys have loved. These boys are lucky to have such a great dad!

BOOK

I have been reading a great book for mothers of boys. It's called Preparing Him for the Other Woman. It's a mother's guide to raising her son to love a wife and lead a family. This book was suggested to me by another mother at SCC whose children are almost all out of the house. She has great kids and I hope mine turn out as good as her children. If you have a son you must get this book. It is great! It gives you suggestions of things to do starting at 3 years old. I plan to go back and read it periodically. I've also been encouraged by it. Since I came from a family of three girls, I feel lost in boy world sometimes. I worry about how active they are but she explains how important it is to encourage them to be warriors. We want them to fight for their family someday. She also lists prayers after each chapter. I plan to copy them to index cards and pray them over my boys.

Owen and Judd went to Bible School at my parents church. Me being their mother, I knew that they would NOT preform at the program. My mom just knew that they would because they participated and were so cute during the week. On Sunday, everyone was going up on stage and Judd and Owen just sat in the pew. The teachers directed them on stage to which they just looked at the other kids and had their backs to the crowd for at least 1/2 of the time. I was laughing so hard. It was really funny. I wish I had it on video. They didn't sing one word or do one motion. Sometimes Owen even had his tongue hanging out. I couldn't stop laughing. Brad's parents drove all the way from Richmond to see it. Brad's mom said that he would have done the same thing. I never liked these performances and only did them because I was made to do them. At least we know that our kids didn't get mixed up in the hospital nursery. These are our children! I won't make them do it again.

The other morning Judd got in bed with me and was laying on my chest and I was rubbing his back. It was a sweet moment. I did a big yawn and Judd said, "Mommy don't do that stinky air again." I couldn't stop laughing.

Chrissy (my sister in Phoenix) is still very sick with her pregnancy. She is more sick than anyone else I've known. She has to get IVs and has a pump of nausea medicine. She is 14 weeks. Please pray for her. She found out it's a boy. My parents had all girls. I wonder if they will have all grandsons?