Nathan and I have spent LOTS of time at the pool!  I prayed for a water baby and I sure got one!  He wants to be in the water, moving around, jumping in from the side and floating!  He had a floaty ring that just didn’t cut it.  It didn’t give him the freedom he wanted and me the security I needed.  He also had a floaty ring with a seat in it.  Gave me more security but still didn’t offer him freedom to move about the pool without me hovering!  I tried a life jacket and my son turned in to a turtle (toe-toe).  He would get deep in the water and would be so boyant that he would float to the top and then roll over on his back!  Funny, but not too funny!  I thought about getting arm floaties.  I had some and they were wonderful, but the package says that they are for kids 3+.  Nathan is a year and a half!  However, I saw several other kiddos his age or younger wearing these arm floaties and doing well with them.  I talked to their parents and got a resounding  two thumbs up!  I purchased some, put them on Nathan and he never looked back!  HE LOVES THEM!  As you can tell by the pictures, they have given him more freedom and I am not hovering.  I still keep a watchful eye and maintain a close distance, but he just goes now!  In the bigger pool he lets go of me and floats.  He has even started kicking his legs and moving himself from one place to another!    Thank God for my sweet water baby!  Notice how blonde his hair is getting from being at the pool so much! 

Notice that smile!  Pure joy!  He loves being in the pool and having the added freedom that these floaties give him!

Here are a few pictures of the fun that we are having.  My son is ALL boy ~ which I love!  We had to go to a local hardware store to approve a shingle for my parents’ new house and on the way in Nathan saw the army of riding lawn mowers.  I told him we would look at them on the way out! 

Nathan looks like he is in awe of the lawn mowers, wondering if this was really real or if he was actually dreaming! 

He climbed up on this one and LOVED it!

Later that week we went to the library. They have special programs on Fridays and I thought the one with the Army Jeep would be interesting to Nathan.  Truth be told the presentation was WAY over his head and we lasted about 3 minutes in the presentation.  We went inside the library to look at books and other things and met the group outside to look at the jeep!  Nathan was interested until they started the jeep to put it back on the trailor.

It was really hot outside so we didn’t stay long.  I love summer time and all the fun stuff that people have planned.

Yesterday we met my brother and his girls in Waco to spend some time together and look at some houses!  It was a quick trip but it was really fun and great to see my brother and his girls.  We haven’t seen them in a while. 

Memaw loving on Rachel and Hannah!

Memaw at the Baylor Bookstore with Rachel, Nathan and Hannah!

Me and my bear!

Aunt Christie with her favorite nieces (minus Megan) and Nathan!   From Lt to Rt: Bethany, Nathan, Hannah, Christie, Rachel and Michelle!

The Joneses!

Here are the Steven Joneses . . . or should I say the DR. Steven Joneses? 

Steven is holding Bethany and Tamber is holding Rachel (on her Rt) and Hannah (on her left)!  Great looking family family, huh?

We were looking for the bear and finally found him in the underground cave!  He is in the cave right above Michelle’s shoulder!  I am not sure Nathan ever saw him! 

Michelle and Bethany found the bear in the cave.  It was super hot yesterday and the bear was staying out of the heat!  Smart, if you ask me!

Steven (holding Rachel) and mom (holding Hannah)! 

Steven and Rachel just hanging out!

I am so glad that Steven and his family are moving closer!  Driving to Waco is a great quick trip!  I have the best family in the world!  We missed Lori and Papa, but they will be with us very soon! 

On Wednesday morning we joined another mom and her kiddos at Mayborn Museum on the Baylor Campus.  It was incredible.  Here are a few of the pictures that I took!  We will HAVE to go back! My nieces will love this place!

Ready or not, here I come! He was in a goofy mood this morning and these pictures prove it!

Cheeeeeeeeeeese!

Here is the group of kids that we had a blast with.  I got to know Brittney’s friend, Dana, and her kids a little better.  What a beautiful person, mom and friend.  God is so good to bring people like this into our lives.  I have a friend like this in Tyler and I am so glad that Dana and Brittney are friends.  Our kiddos together are the most precious thing I have ever seen!  From L to R: Kaitlyn, Lily, Jonathan, Hannah, Nathan and Ethan

Funny, the last time I looked at the Mona Lisa, it wasn’t nearly this cute! 

Nathan has a new love with school buses!  Every time he sees one he starts singing “The Wheels on the Bus!”  (No one else may realize that is what he is singing, but mommas know what their babies are saying!

Here he is singing the song and doing the “round and round” motions!  I am, of course, singing “The Wheels on the Bus”.  I would post the video but it is short and my voice is a bit annoying!  Take my word for it, this kid is adorable and when you add this song, he just down right melts your heart!

Here is another picture of the bus a little later!  Notice, Nathan is STILL singing “round and round”! 

Isn’t Police Officer Jonathan the cutest thing you have ever seen?  Look Ethan, it’s a cop car!

Again, my heart is mush and I am laughing hysterically at the silliness of my kiddo!  I love this kid!

I also love taking pictures of kiddos from behind (notice the Dallas zoo pictures for more evidence).  Here Jonathan, Nathan and Ethan are playing in the water table!  We all left wet!

The music room was next and Nathan was initially interested in this ‘larger than life’ guitar!  Maybe he will have longer fingers than me!  I tried to play the guitar and couldn’t make my fingers reach the strings.  Oh well!

This set up reminded me of the scene in Big where Tom Hanks and his boss enter a toy store and play Heart and Soul on the floor piano!  This piano didn’t play quite as well (of course, I tried to play it) but it sure was fun and the kids loved it!  Isn’t it cute to look at those toddlers crawling all over the piano?

Working on his mixing skills with Kaitlyn and Hannah (and some random boy)!

Pioneer Room ~ on the wagon trail with my favorite little boy!

Now this room is just plain cruel!  Nathan and Ethan sat down for what looked like a wonderful snack after a long, hard day of playing and exploring and (look at Nathan chowing down) THE COOKIES WERE FAKES!!!!!  They didn’t seem to mind all that much, but I could see a touch of disappointment! 

I pretended to pour some tea, the boys drank and then we left and got some real lunch!  Chickfila!  Brit and I always have a date with Chickfila when we get together!  It was wonderful having 6 kids (4 under 2 years) and three adults in the middle of lunch hour on a weekday!  It was utter mayhem and I loved it!  I hope we can do it again real soon!

Hah, at the end of the day our kiddos were pooped!  They played hard and slept hard!  What specials blessings these guys are!  Thanks, Brit, for letting us hang out with you!  We love you and can hardly wait to hang out again!

I bought a pool for the backyard and Rusty loves it just as much as (if not more than) Nathan! 

Look at this face!  Pure joy!  We visited the Tyler Sprinkler Park on Monday.  I wasn’t sure how Nathan would do with getting sprinkled, but gave it a shot anyway!  Of course, as with everything but the mechanical dinosaur, he LOVED it!  Look at these faces of pure joy!  You better believe we will be going back!

There is also a great playground next to the sprinkler park.  Although I thought it was rather hot to be playing OUT of the water, Nathan just had to explore.  There was a super cool spider web and, as Nathan watched the bigger boys climb it, he tried to do the same!  He did rather well, too! 

I hope you are enjoying your summer!

What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it?
Chickfila

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Sausage, black olives, and any veggie except green peppers and onions

***********TECHNOLOGY*************** 
What color cell phone do you have?
lime green of course

***************BIOLOGY******************
Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Both, I can also write backwards in cursive

********BULLCRAPOLOGY**************
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to
die?
No way
 
If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I like mine, I think I’ll keep it!

Would you drink a whole bottle of Hot sauce for  $1000.00?
Doubt it!

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
I have lost count!

*************FAVORITOLOGY****************
Last person you hugged? 
My favorite little boy and some dear friends!

Favorite Holiday :
Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas (can’t choose just one~ sorry)

Day of the week? 
Thursday during the school year, during the summer, every day!!!

*********CURRENTOLOGY*****************
Birth month…….
April

Missing  someone? 
You bet

Mood?
Content, blessed and very thankful
 
What are you listening to?
silence (and Rusty snoring)

Worrying about?
Asking the right questions soon and is it really going to happen

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************
First place you went this morning?
Sonic

Last movie you saw?
The Lakehouse

Do you smile often?
I think so!

************** QUESTIONS**************
                         
1) Do you always answer your phone? 
Most of the time

2) It’s five in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
My mom or Jennifer

 3) If you could change your eye color what would it be?   
Blue , however, I rather like my eye color
   
4) Do you own a digital camera?
Yes,and I know how to use it, too! 
 
5) Have you ever had a pet FISH?
yes, Scooby!  He was the mascot for my Pre-K class until his tragic ending!

6) Favorite Christmas song? 
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire and Oh Holy Night (sung by my father and Point of Grace)

7 ) Can you do push ups? 
Yes, like a girl!

Can you do a chin up?    
Not sure

9)Does the future make you more  nervous? 
Not today

10)Do you have any saved texts?
absolutely

11)Ever been in a car wreck?
 nothing more than a fender bender

12) Do you have an accent?  
Pretty sure I do!

13) What is the last song to make you cry? 
A Mother’s Prayer

14) Plans tonight?  
Pedicure with a friend

15)Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? 
Oh my gosh yes, but thank God for faith, family and friends! 

16) Name 3 things you bought yesterday. 
Custard at Andy’s, a pair of shoes and a Diet Dr. Pepper

17)Have you ever been given roses? 
Yes, yellow ones (my favorite)
 
18) Current hate right now? 
ummmm . . . resilient mosquitos in my backyard!  I can’t get rid of them!

19) Met someone who changed your life?
without a doubt

20) How did you bring in the New Year?  
 At my parents house with my brother watching the ball drop!

21) What song represents you?  
Your Grace is Enough; How Can I Keep From Singing; Thank You, Lord; Broken Hallelujah; Free to Be Me: Amazing Grace
  
22) What were you doing at midnight last night? 
Sleeping and dreaming
 
24) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?  
Not telling

I Tag: KarenD, mab, Jennifer, Brit 

PS.  One of my sweet friends just discovered how really odd I am.  I usually have several books going at one time.  Currently I am reading 4 different books!

May 2008 ~ Smiling and rolling over, not yet sitting on his own

I didn’t think it could get any better than this . . . but sure enough it has! 

May 2009 ~ Walking, running, climbing, talking

My heart is full looking back on our short time together and how much it has changed me!

Happy Half Birthday, Kiddo!  I love you!

This weekend, I went to the Dallas Zoo with a group from my church!  It was so fun!  Here are some pictures!

Instead of bringing two strollers, my friend and I rented a wagon to tote around our munchkins!  Aren’t they cute?  My kiddo had a hard time keeping his feet to himself, though!  Sorry, Jonah!

Nathan also did amazingly well on his first pony ride!  He really seemed to like it!  That’s my cowboy!

Looking at turtles!  Nathan started this “trick” here and continued it through out the zoo!  Also turns out that Number 5 is also named Nathan! Good name! 

Nathan with his new little friend, Jonah!  They have so much fun together and are so DANG cute! 

Stopping for a quick drink!  I love this picture! 

Both boys are intensely looking at the monkey!  My family knows this but I LOVE pictures of the backs of heads!  Something goofy about me!

My love! 

In front of one of my favorite animals!  I love giraffes!  The Dallas Zoo had just receive two new giraffes!  Notice the babies that are behind Nathan’s head! 

I will post more pictures tomorrow about our weekend!  It was a great weekend, full of friends and family!  I hope you had a blessed Mother’s Day!

Here are Nathan and Jonah ready for the trip!  Rusty kinda  made it in this picture! 

Here are Nathan and Jonah sitting in the bluebonnets wondering where the wonderfully loud motorcycle went!  Nathan is saying, “Where did it go?” and Jonah is saying, “Oh my gosh, it’s gone!” 

Today after school Nathan and I ran straight to the zoo!  I think this is going to be a regular outing on Thursdays!  The zoo was incredible!  The animals were out and interested, some were getting dinner and we got to watch, and the zoo was very empty of people!    Here are some pictures that I took this afternoon! 

Looking at a white pelican-like bird! 

Asking where the mountain lion went! 

Up close and personal with the white tigers!  It was feeding time and they were ready to eat!  I have never seen them so active!  It was quite exciting!

Here birdie!  “Nathan, hold the stick up so the birds will land on it!”

Yay!  He got one!

and another one . . .

and another one!  He had a blast in the bird house!  After that we headed to the reptile house!  It was really cool and quiet in there!  We looked at the snakes (almost got to see one eat dinner – frozen dead mouse), lizards, frogs and turtles!  We had a very fun time and are already planning our trip next Thursday!

Mom, this is the offending metal pole that left a permanent mark on my son’s forehead!  GRRRR!!!!