Fun photos

Grandma and Grandpa

My parents came for a visit again this month to help out while Dave was on a week-long road trip. We love having them around, and they are such a big help. I don't think I took a single picture while they were here, so these are all courtesy of Dad.

One day we made it out to Bass Pro Shops, which if you haven't been, is great entertaiment for kids. Charlie loved the fish and all the stuffed animals.

Charlie seemed personally offended that someone else was looking at his fish, too. He even pushed the little boy out of the way, so I hope we don't have a bully on our hands.

Some thoughts on parenting

Wherever I go, I find myself looking at boys and men, and wondering if Charlie or Nate will be like them as they grow up. I see a high schooler with tattoos up his arm and hope my boys won’t do that. I see a college kid being respectful and calling everyone “Sir” and “Ma’am” and want to call his parents to find out what they did right. I read about a little boy suffering from a debilitating disease and think I would never be able to handle that if it were to happen to my boys.

None of these thoughts are bad, of course, but lately I’ve been feeling very convicted of my motivation behind my hopes and dreams for my sons. They mainly come out of pride and fear. I care too much about how people may judge me based on my sons’ actions. And I worry whether I can handle any bumps along this road called parenthood.

I have come to realize that my hope for my boys should be for their salvation and that their lives will glorify God. I should not worry about what other people think, and also not worry about my strength to handle challenges. God has blessed me with these two amazing boys, and he will equip me to do what’s needed. Throughout their lives, Charlie and Nathan will make mistakes and bad decisions (Lord knows I have), and we will face plenty of challenges as a family. But I choose to trust God’s ultimate plan for His glory. That He will protect my sons’ hearts for Himself, and He will give me the endurance and wisdom needed to raise them.

As we approach Easter season, we are reminded of a parent’s ultimate sacrifice, and how He did it because He loves us so much and desires closeness with all of us. Becoming a parent has opened my eyes to how much God really loves us. If I love Charlie and Nate this much, how much more does God love me.

More misc from Feb. & March

I told you I'd get caught up!


Blanket from Aunt Jane


Sip-n-see for Nathan


Charlie loves to "read" the paper and even shares it with his brother.



He climbed in all by himself and buckled himself.

Toddler Charlie

My dear, sweet, angelic Charlie. Man, is he a lot of fun these days. He gets so excited about everything and has the best smile in the world. He loves playing outside. He's starting to say so many words. Most of them sound very similar, but they are starting to differentiate more and more every day. He is finally over the flu which he had last week. Poor guy was in pretty bad shape for a couple days, but he is all about the snuggles when he's sick, so I loved all the extra cuddle time. We're thankful Nathan didn't catch it.

He loves his little brother more than anything. Sometimes a little too much. We often have to play referee to keep Charlie from laying on top of him or hitting him because Charlie just gets so excited about him. "BAY-bee! BAY-bee! BAY-bee!"

Charlie is such a joy, and a great big brother. I love hanging out with him. Except when there's this:




Welcome to the terrible twos. I've decided they started at 18 months.

Sue and Macy's visit

Misc. from February

Smiley

I am very, very behind on blogging, and hopefully I'll catch up soon. But in the meantime I had to make sure I shared Nathan's smile with you. He's been smiling maybe a couple weeks now, and is usually pretty generous with them. I think he has the best smile ever!

Happy Anniversary Hubby

Today is the anniversary of the day Dave and I met (for the second time). It was 2001 and I was in my last semester at TCU working in Athletics Media Relations. I worked at all the basketball games, and this day I was assigned to work for the TV broadcast as the timeout coordinator. As the TOC I was responsible for starting the games on time and letting the refs know when TV was going to commercial. (We'll just say I wasn't a good TOC, because in my two attempts I started one game early and one game late! Can't believe he married me anyway.) Dave was the producer that game, so we talked on headset throughout the game. We didn't meet in person until after the game. I remember thinking that I liked how this guy conducted himself. He wasn't a screamer as a lot of people in TV (especially producers) can be. He says that when I came back to the truck after the game he thought I was pretty cute. He was producing a game at TCU two days later, so he decided to ask me out if I was there again, which I was. So two days later I was his TOC again, and I remember before the game that he was chatting with me quite a bit, and then I finally realized he was hitting on me. :) After the game I ran into him in the hallway, and he asked if he could ask me a question. I thought he was going to ask me where the media relations director was or where he could find the bathroom, but he asked for my number.

Our first date was a few days later at the Flying Saucer in Fort Worth, and the rest, as they say, is history.

at a Final Four practice session, 4/01

at my graduation dinner, 5/01

Oh, and that comment about meeting for the second time: We realized a little while after we met that we had actually worked together at a basketball game at TCU before. I think it was in 1999. I did stats for him at a women's game on a Super Bowl Sunday. He was sporting a rockin' platinum blond hair color back then. I'm really glad that went out of style before we met again.

4th photo tag

Lynette tagged me to do a 4th photo post. I always think this one is neat because it sends you on a random trip down memory lane. You are to open the fourth folder in your photo file and choose the 4th photo. Here's mine:


It's my nephew Calvin and brother-in-law Doug at a park near our old house in Carrollton, November 2006. It's the weekend my whole family came down for the weekend so Sue, Dave and I could run the half marathon. It was a really fun weekend which also lead to some other pretty memorable photos.

Now I tag Sue & Doug, Ashley, Leslie and Sara. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Yes, even the football made it in the photo shoot.