The real deal...

Who's going to the circus!!!

Got to downtown a little early, so we stopped by daddy's office. It overlooks the water wall. We do have a little bit of a black eye...fell off the scooter.

Scared stiff of the wall and hiding in the corner

The circus!

checking out the elephants before the show...


You can get up close and personal with the performers beforehand...
T & Drew watching the clown

and the jugglers ...

presentation of the American flag...the start of the show

the ringleader...

the boys loved the riding elephants!

they even had a little bit of fireworks!

a dog show...

7 cycles in a metal cage...

spinning around...

men on stilts...

a motorcycle on a tight wire...

T with his sucker...he literally ate the whole thing. Didn't know he had the patience!!

dancing tigers...

acrobats...

and the flying trapeze...

It's an overload of pictures, but it's a bit of what the circus was like! BJ and I decided to take the boys to the circus today for a late birthday present. We thought we would do it right and get some great tickets...we didn't remember that we also had 2 tball games plus a Sunday school dinner party. So after, barely making it through the tball game (Drew was just not into it today, unless I was rewarding him with goldfish) we headed to downtown. We got there early so we stopped at the water wall. In all the 5 minutes we were there, Drew must have heard the water and decided to pee his pants. He did not like the wall, it was a bit overwhelming for him anyway. So, we made a quick stop into Gymboree to get new pants and headed to the circus. We got there early enough to hit the pre-show where you get up close and personal with the performers. Very cool. We found our seats with cotton candy, the biggest suckers ever, and lemonade to help entertain the boys for the next 2 hours. They loved every second. BJ and I both were grinning ear to ear as we watched them giggle, laugh, cheer, and scream! We were impressed and even after a long day (since we rushed back to the party) we were so glad we went!

But it's for strength...

Parents sit outside the room...behind a plastic window...

Step in time...marching to the beat

Teaching them coordination

Drew is more interested in everything else around him

...particularly who is on the bars (his favorite thing)...here his buddy is on them.

But, look at Tyler's coordination! 'End to end with your sticks.'

Drew rolling

He is supposed to be jumping from one to the other and then doing the splits in the middle. I can just hear him telling everyone 'a bridge, I made a bridge.'

And...he's over it!

Tyler doing the jumping course. He just got done jumping various heights. You get to the top and you work on flexibility with a spread eagle.

Ok, so my boys loooove gymnastics! And they have now been in it about a year and a half. For boys, they say it builds upper body strength, flexibility, and coordination. It definitely has done that for them. But thanks to gymnastics, they do their best to mock it at home. I came into the living room today to find a mountain of all 3 bedspreads, all the cushions off the sofa, all the decorative pillows off the furniture, all 7 of my pillows, their 4 pillows, and 4 blankets. They were standing on the love seat arm and jumping into the pile having the best time ever! And I wonder why we get broken bones in this house!!

The girls!

They are not really our cousins, but more like our sisters!

So...this is how they feel about them...

Tyler loves Erin. He wakes up talking about her, spends the day with her, and always thanks God for her in his prayers!


Brooke is Drew's best friend. He always makes sure that we save gummies for her, always wants to talk on the phone with her, and will go or do anything if we tell him Brooke will be there!

The boys love to hug on Kam and hold her. She is their favorite doll toy and they always make sure she is entertained...usually by sticking their face in hers making funny sounds.

'No one can stop me, I'm 4!'

When I got to briefly hold T...

Four weeks old & home!

7 days old, the day he got home.

It was a wonderful day when Tyler come into our lives. We had recently sold our home in Eagle Springs (about 40 minutes away from here) and were renting a town home in Memorial from a co worker while we finished building our home in the Woodlands. It was to be completed in June, but we didn't move in until late August. So when Tyler came on Mimi's birthday, we were basically homeless! I was sleeping at Sarah's and BJ was starting a new job that day (literally his first day of work). I tip toed into Erin's room, and whispered (or so I thought) into her monitor..."Sarah, come here.' She rushed into the room asking if Erin was alright...I said 'yes, but I'm not.' We told BJ to go to work and report in and that we would go check it out at the hospital (he lasted an hour his first day). I called mom to wish her happy birthday and tell her I was in labor. The contractions came on at about 3-4 minutes apart from the beginning and continued to get stronger. I got showered, made a quick trip to the donut place, ate, and left most of it in the parking lot, since holding food down was not an option. I rushed through labor but stalled at delivery. Once I started to push, they realized just how big he was. My measurements and sonogram on Friday had said to expect about a 7 lb 2 oz baby...it was Monday and they were off by almost 2 pounds. So, after pushing for two hours, and the epidural weaning completely off, forceps being prepared, the nurse tied two knots in a sheet and had BJ and I play tug of war (no elaboration on that, except that his back was to me). Tyler came into the world at 9 lb 2 oz and almost two hours of pushing & no epidural! Our amazing doc calming said 'he's got a knot in the cord.' But it was not an issue since it was loose and most likely came from his late turn (36 weeks). However, he was spanking Tyler's bottom over and over...the nurse hit the call button, and about 9 people in scrubs came rushing in. T let out a faint cry and we thought we were in the clear. They cleaned him up and gave me him to nurse. After about 10 minutes of not nursing and slowing getting more blue, Sarah encouraged me to send him to the nursery to get checked out. They returned him twice (saying that was his 'tick,' which was him really struggling to breath), but the third time we sent him down he was admitted into the NICU for 6 days. After a spinal tap, breathing tank & nose piece, and lots of cords (ivs, etc), it was determined that he had pneumonia in addition to fluid in his lungs from not crying a 'hard' cry to get it cleared out. Through it all, it was God's strength and endurance that kept us going! We spent many sleepless nights holding him in the NICU and pumping to get my milk to come in! It's been an awesome road and we have loved every minute that God has given Tyler to us!

Sorry no pics of the NICU, they showed error every time I tried to upload them.

Heat wave TBall!

Drew getting ready for his game, with ball, hitting gloves (of course!) and glove in hand.
One super cool dug out!

Saying the Pledge with daddy


Guess which hand is Drew's...

Waiting to bat...

A hit!

This is how Drew guards first base.

Daddy talking Tyler into playing...

a little bit of gentle guidance...

and off he goes!

Mimi was excited to watch them play

Tyler in the 'dug out'

T was the third base men...I love how he is holding his glove!

Drew sat on every one's lap

Daddy taking a picture with his phone of T on third with his thumbs up

Scoring is a guarantee

Getting advice from daddy...good listening T

Good game, good game, good game...

Wow, Houston Tball in July is hot! We were in an instant sweat crossing the parking lot. Drew was into the tball game and played almost the entire hour. He hit, ran, and chased balls. All without ever taking off his gloves (our ongoing addiction, like Brooke with her shoes, he will put them on anywhere). When we where in PA, he found a bag of gloves. Ran inside and hide behind a chair. He sat there with the bag behind his back against the wall. When he thought no one was looking, he started to pull them out and try them on one by one. As you know, he was not far from a glove the rest of the trip. So today with tball, it was no exception!

Tyler, however, was slow to start his game, but finished like a champ. He choked on some water at Drew's game and threw up. Once his game started, he sat down off on the side and refused to play. BJ evaluated him to determine if he was sick or if it was an isolated event. He soon felt better and after some coaxing, he joined the game as they were hitting. He quickly made up for lost time, jumping around giving high fives and chasing grounders with everyone else.

We were proud of them and how they played today, but mostly because they kept their endurance and over came obstacles to have a great day!

Change...or not

I threw this old pic of Sarah and I on here, because when I hold Kameron (her third, and my niece) I get 'is that your baby? She looks just like you!' Since I am 'girless,' I will totally claim that.

Some things never change...
Sarah still has more hair then me.
I am still taller than Sarah.
We still don't look much more alike then we did at one year.
Sarah's smile still lights up her whole face.

Some things do...
I'm not the shy one, as I was in this picture...these days neither of us is shy, but Sarah use to be. I was the blonde one (can't tell here), but Sarah is now.

You won't see us dressing identical, at least not on purpose.
You definitely won't see us wearing a dress with booties.

Just a fun post, in case you have been missing them. We have been busy with pool time, science camp, and tball (which at least they have the same practice day now!!).

T's T Ball!

First base man!

Running the bases...standing on first

Showing his skills!

Tyler playing first

Drew sat clapping for about a minute...

I really envisioned that both boys would be on the same team, making it very easy to sit on the sidelines and enjoy the entertainment of teaching little ones t-ball. As it's worked out, Drew's practice is on Monday nights and T's is on Wednesday nights. There's no sitting, not much anyway... It's constant work to entertain the other one while the other is practicing (especially when it's Drew). But Tyler was awesome! This age gets it. He was picked to be first base man, after his hitting skills exceeded the other's. He loved it. He was involved every time the coach would hit a ball to the field, since the players would throw it to first (Tyler), who would throw it back to the coach on home plate! He was constant smiles and very confident. I, for one, am not looking forward to the super hot and super humid weather! Too bad it's only started. The season goes till late August...