Lawsons Pledge

OK, Before you watch this video, you HAVE to watch the one of Lincoln doing the Pledge first....lol

Vacation, Can't Wait

Looking forward to our Florida vacation. The boys and I will get to vacation for TWO WEEKS on the beach.... Ron will meet us there for one of the weeks. We can't wait. I have just enough time to prepare to fit into my swim suit....

Today we are going on an event with a group.... Peter Piper Pizza. We have a group tour for the kids, and they get to make there very own pizza to eat..... That reminds me that I need to pack my camera. We aren't going to make it to Lincoln's pictures. We all slept in....

Ears

Lincoln went to the dr this morning, and has 2 ear infections. Yuck. Didn't stop him though. He went on as normal, but after the 3rd day of casually mentioning his ear hurt, thought I'd bring him in and sure enough they were infections. So, 10 days of antibiotics...
Tomorrow we will have his 4 yr old pictures made as long as he is feeling ok.

Pledge

I guess Lincoln learned this at preschool.

I've never heard him say this before.... Today I found him practicing in front of the mirror..

Late Valentine's

The boys finally sent out the last 2 Valentine's cards today. Two of you lucky readers will find a little something in you mailbox soon. We didn't forget you, it's just taken this long to complete them all.... So, Happy Late Valentine's Day...

Bread Helpers

We have been making an abundance of homemade bread around here.

The boys insist on helping now. They are pretty good!!

This is us this morning, making a mess once again of the kitchen....

The last one is a video....

Home

We are just hanging at home today....

Working on potty training Lawson.

My goal is to get through the WHOLE day without a diaper and no accidents.

It's 11 and so far so good. My ultimate goal is to have this done ASAP so we can vacation in April with out diapers.....

And yes, we ARE going to Florida!!!

Hungry Child?

I came out into the kitchen to find this.... Lawson went into the pantry to get a can of peas, got the can opener out of the drawer, and was attempting to open it. I have to say, I think he almost got it open. He just wanted some peas..... I really do feed him...

Dinner Out, Girls

Tonight is FBNO. A select few may know what that stands for. We will be dining at Cheesecake Factory this evening, Moms only. This time there will be 6 of us all from college in San Antonio, who have migrated to this area. I love it..... Nothing better than old friends. You know those kind that knew you way way way before you were a Mom. Tonight it will be myself, Cara, Darla, Debbie T, Shannon (Gordon), and Ali (who was Young, now Mobley: yes, she married Billy...).... Looking forward to this. A Moms night out is always nice, and I think well deserved...

A Bear Kiss

We cooked up asparagus for dinner last night. I was asking Lincoln if he wanted to try asparagus, which to our surprise he was really excited about it. Well, we found out later that he thought we were calling in "A Bear Kiss", and when he was saying it we didn't correct him bc "A Bear Kiss" really sounds like "asparagus". Well, he did like it and did eat a lot of it, but only bc he thought it was "A Bear Kiss"... lol

86

Holy Cow. It's 86 degree's here today in the Big D.

I'm going to take the 3 of them to the park when Lawson wakes up.

Saturday

Great Saturday. Sorry but no pictures.... Ron and I went out on a double date with a college friend of mine (Shannon) and her hubby. We had a GREAT time, and of course the boys LOVED having Dawn over to babysit....



Tomorrow, Sunday should be a great day too. Ron will cook up a turkey. No other reason than to get it out of our freezer... We have a couple of other fun things planned for the day...

FFF

Today is Flip Flop Friday. First, I watch my neighbors 2 boys for 2 hrs, then she watches L & L for 2 hours. Today, I will utilize my time to go get my hair cut, and hopefully run a couple of other errands.

This afternoon, we look forward to the twins (Maddie and Ryan) and baby sister Tori coming over for a couple of hours while Cara and Mike enjoy a dinner out, alone.... Looking forward to it Cara!! (Cara has been my friend for the past almost TWENTY YEARS!!). We went to college (sorority) together, then after college we were roommates, and now life long friends.... She has twins the same age as Lincoln so it's been a blessing to live close together again so our kiddo's can grow up together....

Anyway, the (other) boys are about to be here... We are ready for them...
We love company over here..... Please come....

Lincoln's Playdate

I picked up Lincoln and his friend Taylor from preschool today. She was able to stay until 8pm, so we had 4.5 hours of nonstop fun. We like Taylor a lot around here. She is so mature like Lincoln, and they are toooo cute together. They have these "adult" conversations, and they just play so calmly together. And she is really "nurturing" to Lawson. It was fun having a girl for awhile.... We ate cupcakes, they played "family" "shopping" "cooking" "house"... They pretended they were in "a band" and put us on a "show". We ate (pineapple) pizza, ate popcorn... they watched about 3 minutes of a movie.... but would rather have just played some more. We'll have her over again sometime soon. I had a bunch of things planned for them to do, but at this age I found out that you don't need to plan anything: they would rather just entertain themselves... Which makes it a lot easier...The three of them just played back in their rooms most of the time.

Lawson went over to the neighbors house to play for 20min while I went to pick up Lincoln and Taylor. When I picked him up, they sent us home with some yummy cupcakes.... Look at Lincoln's smile... He was just besides himself having a friend from school over to play...

Lawson and Taylor only ate the icing off the cupcake...

The traditional horse ride...Everyone rides the horses when they come over....

Dressed in PJ's, watching the 3 minutes of the movie....

AWANA

Lincoln has been attending an AWANA group since December. He goes to the church that Nanny and Grandpa Dave attend when they are here. They have AWANA at our church, too, but since he started at their church while he was here, we'll keep him there. He loves it. You have to be 4 to join...
The 4 and 5 year olds are called "Cubbies". It's such a cute program, it reminds me of Scouts. They wear a "cubbies" vest to the meetings which are every Wednesday night. Like Scouts, they earn badges for the vest by doing different things... Lincoln love it, of course.... So, on Wednesdays he gets a double dose of bible studies... CBS in the mornings and AWANA in the evenings. We drop him off from 6:30-8pm, so Ron and I always focus on some special one on one with Little Lawson.... Lawson can't wait to start going to some of the things Lincoln does...

Bake Off

I'ts cold (low 30's) and raining today. So, the boys and I are having a bake off right now. We have made two loaves of homemade wheat bread, one loaf of banana bread, and a batch of cowboy cookies. Now we will have some goodies for the weekend and for our special guests that will be coming over in the next couple of days...

Cheeeeese

Lawson at Win Kids this week. I have to say, he is VERY athletic....

We will stay at Win Kids until summer, then take a break for awhile.

We have had a busy, busy week so far. And it's not about to slow down anytime sooooon. Lincoln, Ron, and I saw the lunar eclipse last night.

This afternoon Taylor will come over to visit. Lincoln is beside himself. We are going to order a pineapple pizza because that is what she likes.... movies, popcorn, it's going to be fun...

Lincoln (and Taylor)

In case you didn't go to Shutterfly, here are a couple of Lincoln (and Taylor). BTW, Taylor is coming over for a playdate on Thursday. Lincoln is thrilled.

More Wedding Pictures

If you want to see 141 more pictures of the Best Friends Wedding, go here. One of the girl's mom is a photographer, and posted them on Shutterfly. You can even download from this website. (Nanny call me if you need help....)
Enjoy


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatWThs3auWEY&emid=sharview&linkid=link5

Heart Cookies

Better late than never. We made Valentine Heart cookies this afternoon. As you can see, the boys did them ALL BY THEMSELVES. They rolled the dough, cut them out with the cutters, and of course decorated them... Lots of Fun (for them... cleanup was let's say not fun...)

Friday, Flip FLopped

Our Friday swap worked great. I watch all boys from 9-11 and my neighbor watched all 4 boys from 11-1:00. I was able to meet a friend at Celebrity, AND run a bunch of errands. We will swap out next Friday as well.

We had a babysitter tonight, and Ron and I went to Carraba's for dinner to celebrate our Valentine's Day.... Yummmmmy

The boys and I went to a bday party today at Going Bonkers (and yes I went bonkers...). Great time... This was for Hannah (Debbie's daughter) turning 6. The boys loved it.

Boy Love

I Love Love Love having two boys. Can't even explain the fun it is.

Should we try for three?

CCake

Courtney, of course I took a pic of the cheesecake. It tasted better than it looks!!

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom - I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Africa

Lincoln said that Justice our cat went to Africa for a little while....

Valentine's Down

What did Valentine's Day look like at The Flower Mound Four Home??
Woke up, I hid a present for each of them to search for. Got the presents out of thier Christmas stash. Lawson got a LeapFrog Guitar and Lincoln got a Pirate Potatoe head. Then we started making the cheesecake for Ron. We all pitched in and it turned out delicious (and huge...). The boys spent the morning making Valentine's Day cards for Daddy (with bugs). Lincoln finished his Valentine's for school. After lunch, Lincoln had preschool and Lawson and I ran some errands. When Daddy got home we had a nice dinner and cheesecake. Daddy got a new comforter for his bed from Mommy, some peeps and jelly belly's, some losing lottery tickets. And that's for the excitement around here.... Ron and I have a babysitter for another night, and we will have our date.

Mom R:

Just FYI, the comments didn't come through....

Calling all Bloggers

Blogger Question: Does anyone know if you can password protect individual posts on Blogger???

From Lawson

Happy Valentine's Day from Lawson. SORRY if you haven't gotton one of these in the mail YET. I have only mailed out 2 Valentine's so far.

Life has been a whirlwind this week. But they are on the way......

These came with a package Lawson got, that's why it's just Lawson in the pic and not Lincoln.... You can look in your mailbox maybe around next week to expect your Valentine's Day card (except for you lucky two!!)

Best Friends Wedding Clip

See if you can guess which one is Lincoln.....

The Wedding

The Best Friends Wedding was the big event I was in charge of planning. Everything turned out awesome. We had about 60 people attend. The kids were adorable. I didn't take many pics because we had someone in charge of pictures, but here are a few I snapped. I'll post morewhen I get them.

The sun was in his eye's....

Lincoln's Teacher!!

Girlfriend

OK, I'll tell Lincoln that the votes show that he shouldn't have a girlfriend!! He has a special "crush" on a little girl in his preschool class (yes, this was one of the girls following him around at his bday party). She is also in his Sunday school class at church, and used to be in his Win Kids class. Anyway, this girl is like a female version of Lincoln. They are toooo cute together. She gives him "things" to hold in his backpack and "take care of" for her, like her sparkly blue headband. And boy, does he take good care of her things!! Somehow, I just don't remember having crushed on boys at 4yrs old. I remember thinking they were yucky...... Anyway, Lincoln and his "friend" really do get along so well..... He is begging for her to come over to play. And the other morning, the first thing out of his mouth when he woke up was "Can we go to Taylor's house today"..... (Look at the pic, they even look alike in a way....This pic was from his bday party)

Doggie Questions

For all you family and friends who are dog owners, please answer these 3 questions for me, someone who is brand new at this whole dog thing:
1. What kind of dog food do you use?
2. Do you have your dogs on monthly heartworm treatment?
3. Found any YUMMY smelling and long lasting dog shampoo you reccommend?

Thanks in Advance.

Papa Paul

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA PAUL (Ron's Dad....)

Hope you have a great day.

Sorry that your card is going to be late....

Lincoln and Lawson send thier LOVE

Wednesday

Best Friends Wedding Tonight. Wish me luck.

I couldn't have even imagined how much fun the boys could have with a dog. Love it!!

Valentine's Day is so. much. fun. as they get older. Lincoln is working on signing all his valentines for his preschool friends.

On our way to bible study.

All is well with the Flower Mound Four.

Weed

Lincoln is growing like a weed. He is definitely in a growth spurt. He has grown out of his shirt literally over night. Shirts that fit him last week are now tummy shirts. Amazing. He just looks soooo tall right now.

Cream Cheese

So, the cheesecake I'm making Ron for Valentine's Day (shhhhhh) calls for FIVE packages of cream cheese. That's right folks, FIVE!!! We will be sharing this pie with as many neighbors as we find available.....

Saturday is Actually Over

1. Ron and Lawson (aka the early birds) started the day off at IHOP, while Lincoln and I slept in just a bit.
2. Lincoln and I went out garage sale hunting... had a little success for some items to post on ebay. Got Lawson a Leapster for $5.00. That's $5.00 Folks!! We bought Lincoln one for Christmas and this is a $79.00 toy, and I got one today for Five Bucks, love it. Now they won't fight, they will each have their own....
3. While we were out GS'ing, Lawson and Ron went out on the bike bug, with Miss Lucky.
4. Ron spent the day at the Flower Mound library, where he was able to work on a work proposal w/o us bothering him!!
5. Pizza and wings for dinner.
6. Lincoln had "parents night out" at Win Kids, from 6:30-10PM: That's 3 1/2 hours of nonstop gymnastics. Boy, will he sleep good tonight. Ron and I had "parents night in", Lawson went to bed at 7 and we watched a good movie.
7. That's pretty much our Saturday in a nutshell, welcome to our world. It was 75 degree's and Sunny. We went on a few walks and bike rides somewhere during all of this.

Eyes and Ears

At Lincoln's 4 yr old check up they gave him a hearing and vision screening.

He passed his hearing test with flying colors. (When I was younger I NEVER passed this test. I had bad hearing and always had to go in to see hearing specialists...) I was glad his hearing was excellent.

One eye was significantly weaker than the other. He is fine for now, but when he starts kindergarden, they said he will probably have trouble reading the board, and will probably have to wear glasses at that time. Ron remembers having to wear glasses at a real young age. Lincoln will look great in glasses if that's what he needs at that time....

Flip Flop Friday

OK Great Idea:

My neighbor has 2 little boys, too. So, starting next Friday, we are going to try this

and see how it works:

I will watch ALL four boys for 2 hours (9-11am)

Then we will flip flop and she will watch ALL boys for 2 hours (11am-1pm)

That way we each have 2 hours to get things done. And the boys will have FOUR hours of playing together!!

I'll let you know how it works!!

Gotta Run

RON has been running EVERY night for at least two weeks.

AND he has given up coffee. Way to go!! I should start running, too...

I tend to run out of energy by the time the kids are in bed...

Potty Learning

I can't believe that Lawson is almost "potty learned", and he just turned two!! In the am's and afternoons, he is naked around the house and will go #1 and #2 in the potty chair. He even took his diaper off yesterday by himself and went potty on the potty chair..... I think it is so much easier to "potty learn" the 2nd one. Because for one: you have already been through this and know what to do and not to do.... AND the 2nd has an example to follow. Lawson started going potty on the toilet at 18 months bc he wanted to be like Lincoln!! Anyway, I am really happy at how this is all progressing so easily. Once I feel he has the capability to hold it a little longer, we will just go 100% to underpants.... No more diapers soon??? That will be nice...

Best Friends Wedding

At the beginning of the year, I vounteered to "help out" at Lincoln's Valentines Day Party. Well, then I was asked and I agreed to be the chairman of this event.
WELL, little did I know what an event it was going to be.... You see, it is tradition for this class along with the morning class to do a Best Friends Wedding for Valentines Day. Super Super Cute, but I feel as if I am planning a real life wedding.......
First, I had to find a place to hold the wedding. There will be at least 60 people attending: 20 kids plus parents, grandparents, and siblings. So I found a subdivision clubhouse to have it at.
All the kids will wear bowties and veils (provided by the teacher)....
The girls get to dress up in formals, or princess dresses....
The teachers' grandson will be dressed up as the minister and read the "friendship vows" which will include cute things about being friends like "do you agree to always share your toys"... etc... Then the kiddo's will exchange friendship bracelets with each other and sing us some songs like "make new friends but keep the old" and do the chicken dance, and do "slow dances" with parents, each other....
Luckily I had some talent on my committee. One mom makes professional wedding cakes for a living... So she is making a REAL 4 tier wedding cake with fresh flowers and everything... I happened to have a professional photographer on my committee.... so she will take photo's of everyone and put them on shutterfly so everyone can order what they want. She will also take an ind shot to put in an engraved frame another mom is making for everyone.....One mom is in charge of making bouquets and boutineer's for all the kiddo's. Another will decorate the place, and others will bring drinks and paper products....
It's going to be tons of fun, and the kiddo's are going to look so adorable, but boy I'm finding out how much planning something like this takes.
But those that know me, know that I (secretly) like to event plan.... Oh yeah, I made the invitations. I was happy at the way they turned out. I bought real make your own wedding invitations and printed them at home. Maybe I can scan one...
The wedding is next week, so I'll post some pics of course....

Miss Lucky

Miss Lucky likes Ice. Actually she loves Ice. At her old home, she knew how to operate the ice machine on the freezer and would jump up and help herself to a piece of ice. Now, that's not going to fly here at the Flower Mound Four house, but one of the boys favorite things to do with her is feed her ice pieces.....

We are taking her to the vet on Friday for a check up. She hasn't had one since she was spayed 3 yrs ago. I'm sure she is due for lots of expensive shots and treatments...

Benefits

OK, Just to let you know some of the benefits of my last post.

We just paid off my school loan (graduate school) that I have been paying since

I graduated with my Master's degree in 1998. TEN yrs ago....

Wow, 10 yrs to pay that off...

Thanks Ron for making that last payment.

AND we are happy to say that we continue to have no more credit card debt since our

first year of marriage.

Wouldn't it be great to have a house paid off...... Is this a possibility?? Has anyone done this??

Changes

So we are doing that mature responsible financial thing. You know, where you cut back on luxury's in order to save for the future and pay things off.....
Sooo,
Bye Bye Lifetime Fitness Membership
Adios Housecleaner
Nice knowing you Win Kids Gymnastics

(For Now...)

Cars

The boys went to a friend from MOPS (and church) birthday party a couple of weeks ago. The theme was Cars (the movie). We got a thank you note today and this cute picture was sent with it. We gave him a Cars sleeping bag and his mom said he slept in it for a whole 2 weeks....

Shhhh

I'm going to make my 1st attempt of making a homemade cheesecake for Ron for Valentine's Day. Cheesecake is his favorite, and I found a recipe I think I can do... Shhhhhh....

Next Top Model

Here is my 15 yr old niece, Lauren, (Sue's daughter), with her new hairstyle and color. Doesn't it look great? She is growing up toooo fast. La La come visit us again SOOOOON. I know you will be going to Aunt Jen's for Spring Break, but hope you can come here in the summer....I'll get you some babysitting jobs.

Southwestern White Chili

Healthy
Easy
Yummy!!
(And you can add or omit to your taste...)

2 Tbsp Italian Dressing
1 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 small onion, chopped
2 cans white beans (15 oz each), drained and rinsed
1 can (4oz) green chili's, undrained
1 can chicken broth
1 can white corn
1 tsp ground Cumin
1.5 cups shredded cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Heat dressing in large saucepan on medium hig heat. Add chicken and onions. Cook 7 min or until the chicken is cooked through.
Stir in beans, broth, chilies, and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low. Simmer 10 min, stirring occasionally.
Serve topped with cheese and cilantro.
Enjoy!!

Three Muskateers

For you other dark chocolate lovers out there:

Bite Sized Dark Chocolate MINT Three Muskateer's

What a Fabulous Combination!!

Shoe's

Shoe Size:

Lincoln size 11

Lawson size 8

Not for long, I'm sure...

Weather Pixie

See that cute weather girl over there on the left??? She will always be showing you the weather from right here in Dallas. AND her clothes change to match the weather..... so cute....

80

Forecast is predicting 80 degree's tomorrow. We'll be thinking about all of you up north whom are burried in snow. Come live down here....

The Kennel

Boy boys love playing in Miss Lucky's kennel. What Fun!! Yup, all 3 can get in there...

Super Bowl Sunday

After church this morning, it was sooooo nice outside (74), we raked leaves and the boys filled tub after tub of leaves into the trash. Such hard workers.

Made the mistake of doing my weekly shopping during the super bowl rush hour at the store... oh well, I saved tons of money today with coupons....

Plans for Super Bowl??? Well, Ron and I are actually going to watch it together with the boys. Super Bowl Party of Four... Plus Doggie. I'm going to make a new recipe for white chili and am currently baking some homemade whole grain wheat bread, pioneer women watch out......lol....

Ron made some chocolate and pecan covered apples... yummy..

Seventy Two

Like I said earlier, it is a sunny day here in F.M.

We spent the afternoon outside, Ron and Lincoln went on a jog to play basketball.

Lawson, Miss Lucky and I played out front and took a walk.

Getting ready to grill out burgers.

(me and the boys got great naps...)

Life is Good. Lucky, you are going to have to get used to the camera in this household!!

Lawson and Lucky walking together.

Boats

It's 72 and sunny here today in Flower Mound Texas. Love it. We chose to spend our day at the Dallas boat show. The boys had tons of fun climbing all over the $900, 000.00 boats. Loved it. Forgot my camera at home... Wore them out, then had Vietnamese for lunch.

http://www.dallasboatshow.net/show-info-discount-tickets

Look We've Grown

We had our 2yr and 4yr wellchecks today at the doctors.

Both boys are 100% healthy

(thank you Jesus)

Both boys had shots, but Lincoln had FIVE to prepare for kindergarden...

Lincoln:

3 feet 6 inches

38 lbs

Lawson:

3 foot even

29 lbs