May I Have This Dance?

This afternoon we went to my cousin, Christopher's, wedding. Clayton actually sat through the whole thing and was very quiet. YAY! By the time that the reception rolled around, though, that boy was ready to dance! He said, "Mommy, do you want to dance with me?" I replied, "I look kinda silly when I dance, though." He said, "You don't look silly, Mom, you look great!" I still wasn't so keen on strutting my preggo self out there. So, Wade and I convinced him that he should ask this 20-something girl to dance with him. He walked out there and watched her for awhile (acting timid). After a minute or so, he tapped her on the leg and asked her to dance with him. She was so sweet and danced with him for two songs. The second one was the Cha-Cha slide (see the video below). When they finished dancing he pulled one of the red roses out of the vase on our table. He walked over and gave it to her - what a little Casanova!

Congrats Christopher and Tara!!!

Us with All my Aunts & Uncles
Becca, Me, and Aunt Ann
Clayton and His Date

Say Cheese!

You know how there are some things in life that you dread doing, but love the results when you are finished? Things that come to my mind are... school assignments, planting flowers, painting a room, cleaning, cooking, and taking your 3 year-old to get his picture made. :) I love having new portraits to hang up, but the process of having professional pictures made is such a pain! We had a disastrous experience back in February that resulted in me paying a $40 sitting fee and not buying a single picture. It took me 3 months to recover from that! So... I took Clayton today to a new place that my friend told me about. They did a really good job and took a ton of pictures (70 total!). I ended up buying a bazillion pictures for a really reasonable price. I will be passing out pictures to friends, family, and maybe even a few perfect strangers - seriously, we got that many! Clayton did a really good job and it wasn't nearly as painful of a process as I was prepared for.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there! I have to say that Mother's Day may be one of my favorite holidays! At church this morning everyone from the greeters to perfect strangers that I passed stopped me to smile and say, "Happy Mother's Day." It was so nice to get that recognition. :) My boys have done a lot for me this weekend, too. They washed my car, planted flowers in the flower bed, took me out to lunch, and Wade even folded a load of laundry. Clayton has given me TONS of hugs and kisses and has said "Happy Mudder's Day" about a million times. :) Man, this is the life! A girl could get spoiled really quickly with this type of behavior.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of my "moms" - both the mother that raised me and the mothers that I inherited through marriage. I am blessed with a wonderful, godly mother. She devoted so much of her life to my sister and I (something that I never fully appreciated until I became a mother myself). When I was in high school, my mom went back to teaching high school English. I think that it was originally out of necessity - I wanted to go to a private school and the teacher discount made it more affordable. As time went on, I think that my mom remembered how much she loved teaching. She got very involved in AP and SAT prep. In 2001 my mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. After a bad exacerbation this past fall, she was forced to retire from teaching. Recently, the school that she was teaching at published an article about her in their school magazine. It was a really sweet article that made me so proud to be her daughter. I scanned the article as a JPEG below. If you click on it, you should be able to enlarge it enough to read it. I know that some of you are former students of my mom, and I thought that you may enjoy reading it.

On to my second mom, Wade's mother, Marsha. I am blessed to have a great mother-in-law! First of all, Marsha raised a WONDERFUL son that I feel so honored to be married to. From the time that we got married, she has been the kind of mother-in-law that would never dream of "intruding" or giving her opinions. She is always there, though, when we have a question or ask for her advice. I know that she would do anything that we needed for her to do. She also retired in the fall and has taken up golf and quilting. She has gotten quite good at both over the past 6 months. She has been so great about watching Clayton for us when we went to San Diego and several other times when we just needed a break. I couldn't have asked for a better mother-in-law.

I am also blessed with two of the world's sweetest grandmothers. Both of my grandmothers passed away when I was a child. I have some great memories of them, but I have always longed for more time with them. God gave me two new grandmothers when Wade and I got married. The are both awesome! Wade's Grandmom is really fun and has a sassy side that I just love. She helped me A LOT with Clayton when I was working. She would watch him for me whenever I needed her. For that, I will be eternally grateful! Wade's Mamaw is this super sweet little lady that is extremely loving. She is a wonderful cook and feeds every person that walks in her door. She can throw together a meal on a moments notice. I adore her as well.

Well, that's my tribute to all the moms in my life. I hope to be half the mother to Clayton that they have all been to me.

"Cheers to a Hot Summer Day!"

The temperature is rising and, although it may not be officially summer, I declare it to be so. :) Today we busted out the blow up pool and filled it with water. Clayton was beside himself with anticipation as the water level rose. I got him a popsicle to tide him over until his first dip. He was a happy camper! I got myself a popsicle as well (who can resist a freezer pop?). Before I knew it Clayton tapped his popsicle against mine and said, "Cheers to a hot summer day!" I was crying with laughter!

He "swam," splashed, and had a good 'ole time in the water. I finally coaxed him out with the promise of going to his first Ranger game. Needless to say, he ran inside! We fought traffic all the way to the game, but it was totally worth it. Clayton LOVED it! We had gotten free "nosebleed" section tickets from our newspaper subscription, so we figured that it would be a good trial to see if Clayton would do okay. Much to my surprise, he did really well. We made it all the way to the 8th inning! He had gotten a real baseball outfit for his birthday - complete with XS baseball pants, a real baseball shirt, and belt. He looked soooo cute in it (thanks Kimi and Joe)! I seriously almost cried when I saw him dressed in his baseball duds. My mind fast forwarded through tee ball, Little League, and, before I knew it, I was imagining him playing college ball. It was all that I could do to hold it together. These pregnancy hormones are no joke! He said all night, "Mommy, I'm not Clayton. I'm a real baseball player."

We had a fun evening and the Rangers ended up winning 4-0. YAY!!! Bring on the summer fun!



Showing off his muscles in the pool. What a stud!

Is he precious or what!?!?! Where did my little boy go??

Theological Questions from a 3 year old

Clayton has reached that age where kids start asking questions constantly. Our days are filled with, "But why does...?" and "How does...?" I try to answer his questions as best as I can. So far, most of his questions are pretty easy. Lately, however, he has been asking LOTS of questions about God. Here are a few of our recent conversations...

Clayton: Mommy where does God live?

Me: Well... (silently praying that I am not going to give him the wrong answer and turn him off to Christianity forever - no pressure there!) God lives in heaven, and in our hearts, and everywhere, really.

C: Does he live in the rainbow?

M: No, not exactly...

C: Does God walk?

M: He doesn't have to, he just is everywhere.

C: Does He talk?

M: He talks, but you can't hear him with your ears. You have to listen with your heart.

C: Is God a boy or a girl?

M: Hmmm... I'm not sure.

C: Is Jesus a boy or a girl?

M: Jesus was a boy.

C: Okay.

Fast forward to dinner that night.

Clayton: Mommy, I'm going to heaven tomorrow.

Me: No, baby, you won't go to heaven until you are a really old man.

C: How do you get to heaven?

Wade: (snickering) Are you asking me or Mommy?

C: Mommy.

(Thanks Wade for stepping up to the plate!)

M: Well, when you get older you can ask Jesus to come and live in your heart and to forgive you of all of your sins. You can ask him to help you to be more like him and to change your life. Then when your heart stops beating, you will go to heaven.

C: When Jesus comes to live in my heart, I am going to take Him to my room and show Him all my guys (a.k.a. his stuffed animals).

M: (realizing that I probably went to deep for a 3 year old) Sounds good, honey.

I knew that all of these questions were going to come one day, but I figured I would have some time to research how to answer then on an age-appropriate level. Guess that I thought wrong... :)

Here is a video of Clayton saying some Bible verses that we have been working on. He just sounds so sweet saying them that I just had to capture them on video. Enjoy!