Hoppy Easter Weekend!

Here is a recap of our fantabulous weekend...

Friday night, Jackson has two buddies spend the night, Cal and Hudson. They played basketball for three and a half hours outside and only came inside to eat an entire pizza and a pound of blueberries. They also drank a gallon of milk. Here they are before bedtime watching, what else....basketball!


I actually followed up with something I pinned on Pinterest...and this necklace arrived Friday.


Our friends AJ, Alli and Bowman were in town and they came over Friday night as well for pizza and light saber fights.


My sweeties outside under the Isaiah tree. Love this time of year when it starts to bloom!


Our church had their annual Easter egg hunt Saturday morning so we picked up Renzi's mom and all headed out for the fun! Here is my oldest baby and I before he dominated in his age group's egg hunt.


See that determination???


The boys afterwards in front of their loot.


Me and Walkman!


We raced to Jackson's soccer game after the hunt. Here is Walker enjoying some snacks on the sidelines.


He's a natural athlete!


Cute boys with Coach Furnish!


Whoever wasn't in the game at the time played with Walker. Sweet things!


And this morning, the Easter bunny came!!!!


We all went to church and brunch with family. Such a joyful day.

This one keeps me on my toes.


Mommy and her boys!!!! Love them so.


Walker and I were STARVING by the time church was over. This is us in the car on the way to brunch yelling at dad to drive faster!


And what Easter is complete without a couple of headlocks from your brother?


They even got me in the action. These pics might be the funniest ever. True depiction of wrestling with these stinkers.






Hope you all had a blessed day! So thankful for the price Jesus paid for all of us on the Cross. He is risen!!!

Spring Break

Spring Break is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Kids are home from school, the weather is pretty good, tons of free time!

Did I mention tons of free time????

Oh, I did?

Well, Jackson has had a TON of free time...and that little toot wants to be doing something all of the time. So...to keep him from watching too much TV I consulted Pinterest (really, what in the world did we do before Pinterest? Seriously...I don't think my family ate or did any crafts before Pinterest), and figured out a way to keep him outside and busy.

We grabbed a ton of his army men and little animals and placed them on a random TV tray I found, on top of red solo cups and got out his nerf gun and nerf missles.

Boom.


He seriously played outside shooting at these things for an hour. Score one for mom!


The next morning we spent all morning outside playing a little street baseball.

Look who is walking!!!

Walker is obsessed with balls. Can't stop saying "ball," and won't stop until he has one in his hand at all times. *Note: Look at Renzi squatting down! He's still in recovery mode but he is doing so well!


Swing, Batta Batta, SWING!



This guy melts my heart at all times. That killer smile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Jackson has been helping Walker "walk" for a couple of weeks now. It sure is cute catching them "walking" together.


I had to work Monday, so our babysitter Kayla and her family took the kids to the Jasmine Moran Childrens Museum in Seminole, OK. They had a BALL!!!!


Jackson laying on a bed of nails. He does look a bit concerned.


How big is Walker??? "SOOOO Big!"


And this morning before I headed to work we had a bit of snuggle/silly time. I'm not working the rest of the week so we are off for some adventures tomorrow-Sunday. Look out world!
    Lee Anne

Walker's 1st Birthday Letter

Dearest Walker,
My sweet and precious angel baby. 

You have brought me so much joy over the past year...and so much healing. You have healed my heart in places I didn't know were broken. You have mended my fears, calmed my thoughts and made our family feel complete again. Of course, we are always going to miss your brother, Isaiah,  but I believe he picked you to heal us, encourage us, and because he loves us so.

The first time I saw your face I burst into a thousand tears of happiness. Your sweet scrunched up face...and that head full of dark hair. My little man, I called you.

And so our journey together began....

Over the past year you have grown a ton, eaten a ton, laughed a ton, cried a ton, and slept a....well, you slept some. :) You started out at 8 lbs. 7 oz , 20.5 inches long and you were three weeks early! I thank you for not making me wait and end up having a 12 pound baby. You now weigh 25 lbs. 15 oz. and you are 31.5 inches long. 97 percentile across the board.

You love to play with basketballs, soccer balls, baseballs, you name it. You say, "Baa," and point to the ball. You also try to shoot the ball into anything that is near. You even throw the ball amazingly well. You and I spend countless hours rolling and throwing the ball back and forth to eachother.

You love to dance! Anytime there is music on you start shaking your booty and bobbing your head! I love it so much!

You can say, "Mama," "Dada," "Abell," (Annabelle), "Nigh Night," "Nack," (Snack), and when you are calling for Jackson you make this funny sort of grunting noise...You also sign More, All Done, and Thank you. I love watching you learn new things!

You took your first steps a few days before your first birthday and you are now taking about 8-10 steps at a time. I love watching how proud you get...you have great balance so you never fall down, you kind of glide down and then you stand back up with that incredible smile on your face and wait for us to clap for you before you try again. I love your determination and the fact that you love an audience!


You have a head full of curly brown hair and I love it so much! Your smile is so stinking cute and I love how you flirt with every girl that you come into contact with. You will smile super big and then bury your head in my shoulder and peek out while smiling. Then you will lunge for that person and give them a huge hug! Too cute.

You love your Mothers Day Out and your teachers love you too! You go on Mondays while I work and then on Thursdays.  They say you are very vocal (translation LOUD!)...and you like to play with the other kiddos in your class. I love watching you when I come to pick you up after school is over and you are playing with someone or snuggling with the teacher. I love that you are getting to interact with others and be social with other kiddos! (It's also good for mom to get a break as well! :)

My hope for you is that you will always be strong but loving, opionated but humble, joyful in the spirit of the Lord, and always laugh and not take life too seriously.

My hope for myself as your mom is to teach you the Love of God so that you will always share it with others freely. I pray that I can teach you how to be a gentleman, a good friend, and to understand the importance of family!

My sweet sweet love....thank you for giving us a fantastic first year. I can't wait for the many years to follow!

Love you always and forever,
Mommy

Mucho Crazy-O

Things have been mucho crazy-o at our house lately....with Renzi recovering from surgery and not able to pick up Walker, it's been quite a ride on this crazy train doing most all of the caretaking by myself. It really makes me appreciate just how much Renzi contributes on a daily basis. But, good news is...week to week Renzi is beginning to feel a little better. It is a long process but he is getting there!!!

In the meantime, my friend Allison sent me this...it's now my motto for life.


Friday, Jackson didn't have school because of Parent/Teacher Conferences and Renzi (and the rest of us!) needed a change of scenery so we hopped (well, I hopped, Renzi hobbled) into the car and we headed to the lake. Jackson napped most of the way. Walker did not. This is how Jackson "blocks out the light and noise" or so he says.

We arrived at the lake about 2:00 p.m. and Jackson immediatly beelined for the hammock. He says he relaxes well there. Walker was mesmerized by watching him.



We haven't been to the lake house since the first of December so it was interesting to realize we had not babyproofed the house at all! Walker was all over the place and really wanted to go up and down the stairs. We didn't have a baby gate so I made a janky baby gate out of an ottomon and a recliner. It did the trick.

The boys were so cute looking at out at our view of the lake.


We went on many many walks this weekend. It's really the only PT the doctor told Renzi to do so we did just that! Annabelle loves being at the lake because she just runs and runs. This "lap dog" of mine sure isn't much of a "lap dog." I forgot our nice stroller, but was happy to find that I had left an old umbrella stroller in a closet at the lake house. Walker is almost too big for it but it worked just fine!


Saturday we took a drive over to Grove (the thriving metropolis) and discovered a new Mexican restaraunt. If there is one thing my crew loves it's some queso. Here are the boys outside the restaraunt. 2 things to point out: (1) Yes, Walker is in his jammies. (2) Jackson is also in his jammies...he packed himself this trip. He told me he packed, three jerseys, three underwears, three socks, a headband, and no pants. Hmmmm....no jammies and no pants....we improvised and I found some shorts in the house from this past summer and he wore those and his jersey to sleep in.


Yum yum. Walker loves beans and rice. He has decided he only wants to use a spoon to eat...not much of wanting to eat with his fingers any more...which is great, except that he misses his mouth 90% of the time.


After the meal, Walker was feeling, "Sooooo Big!"


We decided to hit the park in our neighborhood after lunch and this boy LOVED to swing. The look on his face was priceless. What joy!!!







We then took a turn in the sandbox...in their jammies. Afterwards Walker got a bath before his nap because he had sand in the bottoms of his footie jammies. I also found some rice and 1/4 of a tortillas in the bottom. Yum.



Later that day we took another walk to check out our boat. This might be my most favorite picture of all time of Jackson!


We loaded up early Sunday morning and headed back to OKC because Jackson had been invited to go to the Thunder game with one of his buddies from school. They had floor seats! Jackson was over the moon excited.

After he got home we facetimed with Aunt Ginny and Cousin Miller. What cutie pattooties!


And we rounded out the weekend with this........Oh Walker Bear.

Love, Love, Love!

Walker Stone Is One!

This past Thursday, February 28th...my Walker Bear turned one years old!

Here he is right after he woke up...we all walked in singing Happy Birthday to him. He was quite confused as you can see.


He quickly got over the confusion and he and his brother took a photo together. Look at these sweet brothers.


Doughnuts for the birthday boy! He licked it but he didn't eat it...guess he is not much of a sweet eater....you can find out more about that later on in this post.


We had his birthday party this last Saturday at our house. I remember not so long ago I vowed to NEVER EVER have a birthday party at our house again. Clearly, I forgot and/or have lost my mind.

We had a "mustache" bash for our "little man."

Here is the food table.....BBQ, potato salad, broccoli salad, bread, and dips and chips.

And the dessert table! Yummers.



And what one year old party is complete without a bloody mary and mimosa bar? Yup, I'm that parent. And proud of it.


Renzi and Uncle Tim with their mustaches. Tim did the handlebar mustache and Renzi apparently went for the husband from "Not Without My Daughter/Sleeping with the Enemy/Middle Eastern Terrorist" look. Imagine rolling over in bed and waking up to that? Not for the faint of heart ladies. Seriously Gross.


Two cuties in their mustache shirts and mustaches. Well, Jackson has his on. Walker ate his 2.5 seconds before this picture was taken.


And as promised from above...Exhibts A, B and C on the sweets front.

Exhibit A: We put the smash cake in front of Walker. He looks at Jackson and I like we are crazy.


Exhibit B: Ok. Fine you guys. I will put my fingers in this cake.


Exhibit C: THIS IS LUDICROUS! DISGUSTING! SOMEONE GET ME SOME BROCCOLI STAT! (Seriously, the kid would rather eat broccoli. I have questioned whether or not he is my child. I mean, he doesn't like to sleep that much and he doesn't like cake???)

Clearly he recovered from the cake debacle and snuggled with me for this one pic. He then was off and "toddling."


Opening presents with his Uncle Tim. He loved all of his presents so much. His favorite part was putting the wrapping paper in his mouth.


Later that evening, I left the boys (Renzi included, remember Renzi had surgery so he has to rest and can't pick up Walker or Jackson) with Kayla our babysitter, and I headed to the wedding of one of my dear friends from high school. We had a fab time and the wedding was equally as fabulous. The reception was at the top of the Devon Tower and the views were spectacular! Love my high school friends so much. We laughed and laughed and laughed all night long.



Yesterday was really nice and warm out so the boys and I hung outside a lot. I brought out the sidewalk chalk and Jackson drew free throw and three point lines form his basketball goal and all was going well until.....


Walker decided to eat the chalk. Oh well. Parenting fail number 1027 for me. :)



The boys ended up the evening last night wrestling with eachother on our bedroom floor. So many giggles and squeals from them it made my heart so full and my face hurt from smiling at them so much. Love them.

Renzi is still in full recovery mode. He is getting very frustrated with having to rest and lay down a lot and still being very sore. This is all to be expected, but it is still very hard for him. I ask for prayers for him to be able to relax and let his body heal! The doctor says the healing will come in due time, but in the mean time he needs to stay put and just chill out. Easy to say....so hard to do!

Love Love Love,
Lee Anne