Carnival Fun

I am like the meanest mom in the world.  I never let my kids go to carnivals when they come to town.  I accidentally drove by one while running errands and Zack was so excited.  He begged to go and it actually looked like a decent carnival so I caved and let the boys go.  The first picture of Drew is worth all the dirty, nasty germs!

They rode this ride first and Drew LOVED it.  We ran into the boys cousins and so Zack, Drew & Que rode again.

 Ty, Jhett & Aydon ran off to find the big boy rides.  

 Zack is not a dare devil at all so he stayed on all the kiddie rides by himself since Drew wasn't big enough to ride the majority of them.

 Ty was the only one not tall enough to drive a bumper car so Preston was going to ride with him.  Waited in line with him and everything and then Ty jumped in with Jhett.  Here are the three boys having a blast.  They laughed so hard & had the biggest smiles the entire time.

 So glad Jhett got to stay with us at the carnival...the boys loved it!

 Zack jumped on the Yo-Yo but at the very last second got scared.  

Ty's not much for "scary" things and gets car sick so when he hopped on this spinning ride I asked if he was sure he wanted to go and after going back and forth for a while he made the right decision to come watch Aydon & Jhett with me.

 We finally found another ride Drew could go on.  I was a little nervous thinking he wouldn't like it but he is a daredevil & enjoyed it.

 We did our best to keep Drew entertained and he started pulling his shirt up for Dad to get his belly button and then would yank his shirt down when he did, laughing that adorable toddler laugh.  

 We told the boys one last ride with Drew on his favorite ride to end the night.

 Thanks Granny Vickey for taking the boys to the Carnival.  

 And just cause these pictures show how much he loved this ride that he rode about 10 times...

 Here he was waving at Granny & Daddy.

First Creek Day

It had been a gorgeous weekend so we decided to go canoeing down the creek.  Aydon had been begging to go jump in the creek for the last couple of weeks and I figured the water would be freezing but he didn't care.  Aydon & Ty started playing in the water as soon as we got there and were trying to load the canoe.  

Our normal picnic site was being used so we went even further back to our second favorite picnic spot and the boys were jumping off the rock after we ate.  I was still to scared to jump in myself and Preston and the boys kept teasing me.  By the time we rowed almost all the way back I was ready to jump in so we stopped at 'Dinosaur' and jumped in.  Ty was so close to finally jumping but decided not to at the last second.  As always, your very first creek jump is cold but in reality it wasn't much difference than a June jump, it felt good!  The water & rocks are really muddy for some reason so I hope it clears up soon.  The back of the creek where we picnicked was clear so maybe it will.

We always like to check out the petroglyphs and finally stopped to take some pictures this time.

We know there are antelope in the area and it looks like they had some elk on there too.  We were trying to decide if that was a turtle or a badger they drew as well.  Neat stuff whatever it is.

Bear Canyon Lake

The boys had an emergency make up day so that meant a 3 day weekend.  We had wanted to go camping but Preston had to work on Saturday so it didn't work out.  Since we weren't able to camp we decided just to go have a picnic in the woods.  My parents called just as we were getting ready to leave headed out to do the same so we all just went together.  My dad took us on a beautiful road that we had never been on and we enjoyed the time spent with them on this gorgeous day!

He took us to the dam of the lake.  

The boys were testing the water temperature.  It felt really good and the boys really wanted to go swimming but there were some people fishing nearby so they were too embarrassed just to swim in their underwear.

 Drew loves to hang on everything.  Here is hanging on the barrier to the overflow area.

 Me & My Love (loves-Ty got Aydon in the background)

 Drew was having fun playing in the dirt.

 They were looking for crawfish.

 Drew playing with his Granny & Pappaw.

 Preston & Aydon got brave and walked out on a bunch of these logs looking for crawfish.  Aydon and Preston were pushing each other here.  I was sure one or both of them would end up in the water but they didn't.  

 Aydon was the only brave one to hold the ladybug.

We walked down to the bottom of the overflow to look for crawfish and we found tons of them but they were all dead.  Ty & I said that looks like a fun slip-n-slide to us!

 We went and had our picnic.

 On our way back we had a cow elk and her three calves cross right in front of us!  It was a gorgeous day & a gorgeous ride.

 Oh, and Preston pulled Aydon's other front tooth just before we went out to the woods.  

White Sox Baseball 2012

Preston decided he would take on coaching a team this year and to make it easier on us, had Ty move up to Minors with Aydon (he should have played one more year of T-ball) so that he could coach just one team.  Ty could hit the ball well last year off the pitching machine but I was still a little nervous for him to move up.  He is doing great though.  He is quite the little hitter.  He plays outfield and we laugh at all the things he does out there (still T-ball actions in the outfield).  I think he is enjoying it though, Preston was even able to get quite a few of his T-ball teammates from last year.

Aydon started off struggling to hit the ball the first couple of games but has finally gotten to where he's getting hits at most games now.  When he does connect he usually gets a double.  It's so hard to watch him miss the ball because he is like less than an inch too low or high the majority of the time.  He is doing great at fielding. He was playing short stop but there are so many good hitters in their league so Preston moved him to center field and he NEVER lets a ball past him.  

 Drew couldn't stand not being in a picture so his brothers let him pose with them.

 Go White Sox!

Ty's jersey says "R. DESPAIN" but everyone calls him Ty.  I have a some people ask what the R is for...I guess I'm just gonna have to start putting Ty as his first name when I sign him up for things because everyone ignores the quotation marks showing that Ty is his preferred name.

I get to keep the score book for Preston at the games. 

I had Ty take a picture of the rest of us, the cheerleaders for the White Sox!

We had a nice dinner after baseball practice to celebrate the birth of My Love.  I felt like I was in the kitchen the entire day but it's worth it to make sure he has a nice day.  

Preston blowing out the candles on one of his cakes.  After I had already planned to make this one, the morning of his birthday he told me he wanted German chocolate.  So he got both.  

 He got a couple of pair of LSU shorts.

 Some 'comfy' sandals for summer from me since he bought himself a couple of guns over the weekend.

 Zack picked out a balloon for him.

 Look at all my handsome fellas.  Mmmmm, I just love them!

The two pranksters goofing off.  

Easter 2012

 My boys are growing up on me.  I was a little scared that Aydon might not be into egg hunting for some reason, thank goodness he was!  In fact, he said he collected 3.5 baskets full!  We're good.  :)  

 I was so excited to watch Drew this year, hoping he would be really excited.

 Zack Attack

Since Preston would be working on Easter both of us stayed with the younger boys to watch them so we only have pictures of them.  Can you see the thousands of eggs behind them?!

It took Drew a little while to catch on to what everyone else was doing.  Zack loved getting to fill his basket all the way up.

The tallest Easter Bunny on the planet was there.  The monstrosity of that rabbit scared Drew so only a pic of Zack.  I was scared of that Easter Bunny...he didn't look too happy to be there either.

 It was just the boys & I to dye eggs this year.  I made a special egg for me & Preston to pic msg him.

 Cause I love him!

 Not sure it Mickey Mouse or the Easter Bunny stopped by our house.  Aydon, Ty, Zack & I all got Mickey ears, Drew got a Mickey Mouse football & Preston & I got Mickey shirts.

 Drew found the good stuff and ran in showing it to me & looked so cute.  As I was trying to get ready to take a picture I turn around and he'd already opened his chocolate bunny & started eating it.  :)  It was a great moment!
 
For the first time in a few years we didn't make Easter cookies.  I had made some sugar cookies a couple of weeks before so I just didn't feel like making them again.  I made some Rice Crispy treats instead.  A lot quicker & easier to make too.  

Preston had to work, along with every other railroader in our family so I cooked dinner and had those that weren't working over.  It was a small group of us but it was nice!  It was hard work trying to hide eggs quickly so I could use some of them to make deviled eggs for lunch and take pictures.  Therefore, Drew didn't understand the whole point of what we were doing and only found the one egg. 

 The look on his face cracks me up!

 Aydon found the $$$ egg.

 Zack did great running around and finding a bunch before his older brothers could get all of them.  

 Ty found the most!  13 of the 24 hard boiled eggs!  

Drew found a hidden one that all his brothers passed right by.  I was so proud then realized it was only because he wanted to ride the four wheeler.  He picked the egg up and threw it in the yard.  Oh well, next year!