Work in Progress

Some of you wanted to see a picture of my front door/porch when I got finished. Well, its going to be a work in progress until we're totally out of hurricane debt. So for now I'll just show you what I've gotten done. Its been done for awhile but I wanted to add another coat of stain to the porch b/f I posted a picture. Then Jalyn wrote "i love you mom" on it with chalk and I don't want to wash it off so I just went ahead and took a few quick pictures this week.

Obviously this isn't the front porch, it was supposed to be at the bottom of this post but I can't get it to move so here it is. We looked out the kitchen window last week and this is what I saw...Jalyn putting himself in Samsons cage...I PROMISE this is not something that we've taught him! Guess he just wanted to see the world from Samson's point of view....who knows.

So here's the door/porch. I sanded, primed, painted and then lightly resanded the door to make it look a little aged, put the kickplate on the bottom b/c that's the part the boys beat up the most as they kick the door open with their feet. I plan on adding some black metal scrollwork above the door to match the black numbers, door bell, and kickplate, but that will come later when I find something I love and its on sale. I also stained the porch the gray color you see, it was just regular cement that had all kinds of junk stuck to it and melted crayons, etc...The stain did an amazing job of blending it all together.

Just a little closer picture that might show the sanding a little better. The door was just flat black that was really beat up and scratched but not in that pretty aged way, just ugly and beat up and needed a good cleaning. I just sanded it on the corners down to the primer.

And this is just a random picture of a HUGE strawberry that Jalyn ate last week. He LOVES strawberries and was so excited to see that I had found a whole carton of this size. It was huge even with the top cut off. I'm sure it was probably that size from all kinds of nasty chemicals, oh well it still tasted good to Jalyn.

Seeing Red!

Jon Michael tested today for his red belt. He only has black tab and then black belt. He was sitting on the couch just now and said, "I just thought about it...I have a red belt!" It was funny.

This was a hard test for him, he had to know the normal stuff for the new belt but also the names of all the stances in english and korean. He did a great job though and knew his defenition when they asked. He was also the only one testing for red belt so he was all alone when it was time to do his thing. It just shows how much he's grown, never b/f would he have stood in front of a group by himself with all eyes on him for anything. We still talk about the first class he ever went into he had to be carried in by Mr Webre and now look at him.

Self Defense

Kicking

Sparring, he's in the red gear

His break for this test was a "jump 360 reverse turning kick"

Awful picture but he got it after one test try.

Getting his new red belt

2nd Gup Red Belt with his broken board

(gup is kinda like ranking, black belt tab will be 1st gup then black belt)

We are super proud of him! He's really stuck with taekwondo, a lot longer than I would have! He's got a goal and we're proud that he's working so hard on his own to attain it.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone. Besides having the worst stomach virus EVER, we've had a great resurrection holiday. I was so sick I didn't make the boys their easter bags so this morning I had them come to my room and while I laid in bed I handed them their bags and then handed them their things to fill them on their own...I think they enjoyed that more than having them ready on the table this morning. There is LOTS I didn't get done b/c we've been so sick, didn't get to make resurrection rolls, easter bags, easter cupcakes, and didn't even make easter dinner. Just the thought of going to the grocery store and then cooking turned my stomach. So I loaded the boys up and took them to Sonic for lunch!!! (They ate, not me.) Jalyn made a cross out of construction paper today and wrote this on it, "Hees crist ovr are livus"...can you read "Jalynese"? Translation, "He's Christ over our lives".

Jalyn made easter bunny ears at school, I love that he actually wore them around the house.

Jon Michael would have showed me and then refused to put them on and then it would have been a game of trying to put them on his head w/o him knowing.

The bunny hat even had a little cotton ball tail, so funny.

This is Jon Michaels easter bunny ears.

Its been a great week to be reminded that Jesus Lives and Reigns. I hope that each of you have personally experienced that new life found in Him.

Update

Hey everyone, here's just a lot of pictures updating ya'll on what we've been up to the last few weeks around our house.

We got to watch Grayson again a few weeks ago. Grayson is my dear friend Haley's little boy. We met in College Station when I was assigned to be her mentor in the Excellent Wife class at church. We watched her get married, move, and start her family and now they live 3 miles away from us! It has done my heart so much good to have her and her family in Cypress.

I was sweeping the day he was over and he wanted to "sweep". I think it looks like he's dancing with the broom.
Then it became like a game of shuffleboard. I'm sure we've got tons of magnets under all the appliances. The boys bought Gray his own set of letter magnets for his birthday last week. Haley's gonna have a great time with her OCD and lots of little magnets everywhere...ha ha ha!!!

Gray trying to climb the coffee table, for some reason he thought it was hilarious, which of course made us laugh.

Jonathan and Gray building, so cute together, look at that little hand on his knee! We were to busy cleaning up throwup with our boys so we missed this part of enjoying them.

I love it when Jonathan lets the boys "help" when he's being my handyman around the house. This night they were fixing a spring that had come out on the couch.

A rare moment of catching Jon Michael playing with "toys", little skateboards and skateboard park they were designing.

Jalyn was so excited to find a little gecco.

This is the gecco after he got 1/2 his tail pulled off! He was so little and "see thru", very wierd.

Friday b/f spring break was rodeo day at school. Jalyn dressed up, super cute. They tried chili for snack time that day...he was not a fan of it. (I promise I'm not trying to pass on my "meat issues" to my children!)

One of the days during spring break they spent nearly the whole day outside. This is Jon Michael refusing to turn around while they ate lunch outside. Its so great that they are getting old enough to play outside by theirselves.

Another day they loaded water balloons into a laundry basket and let them fly in the back yard.

Another day we walked to the lake/pond and fed ducks. Jalyn and Jon Michael always try to "catch" one.

Samson wanted to catch one also.

What a great final picture, huh?!?! This is Jalyn on the second day of his stomach bug and allergy attack! Pretty miserable spring break for him. Its how we rounded out spring break!

Finally

I've been wanting to post some pictures for the last few weeks but it got really busy so I'm finally just making the time do it tonight. We've had lots going on, below are a few pictures, you know me, I'll just put the caption w/ whats going on, all in no particular order.

Jalyn is my creative one, his "creations" don't usually make much sense to me but he loves it. This day he asked if he could go outside and color. He's getting so big, wanting to do things on his own, getting very independent....well, except for when its time to clean his room and then independance is thrown out the window!
I didn't know that Spider Man was bashful but apparently so.

A rare chance of catching Jon Michael being silly while playing.

Just had to take the picture when I saw Jalyn with his arms around some stuffed animals while sleeping...not sure how much longer I'll be able to see this kind of thing....yes, that's a longhorn that they won at a carnival type game at the aquarium...believe me I've tried to "sneak" it out of the house but they are proud that they "won" it.

Valentines week was busy, 2 different days of deliveries. Which also meant two different days of tracking down flowers and then making them up and then cleaning up the kitchen.

Everytime I do this it reminds me how blessed I am to have a husband that supports me working at home. I have to put off daily chores when I do flowers and I realize how much time it takes away from my family and all that I do for them.

Jalyn made a "heart hat" for Valentines at school. He was giving Samson a kiss.

So one more thing on my list of reasons I HATE TILE FLOORS....they don't get warm!!! Our entire downstairs is tile so its always a battle to keep it warm enough b/c your feet are always cold even with socks on. The boys hate to wear socks and this day I caught Jalyn wearing my gloves on his feet, it was pretty funny.

My dear friend, Haley and her family have finally arrived in Cypress! I got to spend some time with her little boy Grayson while they did the closing and then while they movers were at their house. We had a great time. I "caught" him feeding Samson some of his snack, it was funny, Samson enjoyed it.

So funny...I'm sure its the helmets fault that it won't stay on right...I mean it is a longhorn helmet.

This was the second day, he went to the kitchen got the little chair, put it at the end of the coffee table, and said please...apparently that is the official snack spot.

Uncle Bob called today and said he was in the area at a truck show, so Jonathan took the boys to hang out.

Jalyn got to take home the "class pet" peanut for the weekend and take him to do fun things with him. He went to church this morning also.

Things are crazy busy right now, hopefully we'll be able to soon post more of what's going on but for now, hope you enjoyed the pictures.

How?

How did he get this big?!?!

Big enough to:

- pick out his own hairstyle (thats been going on since he was 2)

- start forming his own sense of style

- ask questions about God that I'll never have an anwer for

- make his own sandwiches

- start the car to let it warm up

- read books on his own

- check out and read chapter books in one day

- think he's old enough to join the adults in their discussions

- almost be a black belt in taekwondo

It goes on and on....all the things he's growing into. I really can't believe that this 8 year old that is almost as tall as me was ever small enough to be in my belly kicking and causing trouble, even then. It's amazing to see him growing, changing, and developing into his own person.

I loved when I walked into the living room and found him just hanging out and reading....such a big kid....we're very proud of him.

Oh My Boys....

Boys...for real boys...sometimes I just can't say anything else....

What would cause those two boys to laugh so hard, jump up and down, roll on the floor trying to catch their breath, point fingers at their mom while enjoying something you know only boys thought up?

THIS!!! This is why they are laughing so hard at me, well technically they are laughing b/c they are enjoying what they did to their mother! I opened our bathroom door and this is what I saw....every kind of slithery creepy crawly thing they could find in the toy box to play a trick on mommy!

Jalyn even asked me later if I was sure I saw the big scorpion..."Yes, Jalyn I saw it"!!!!

Seriously, they thought they had played the best trick ever, it was so fun playing it up for them.

The thing is that we're so used to their toy snakes and bugs it didn't scare me as bad as they think it did.

These are just a few pictures that we took at Christmas. Jalyn was so done with picture taking...totally summed up his attitude that day.

Jon Michael just hanging around....Jonathan hung him up on the beam, it was cute.

That's all for now, post more later!