Heaven

Gage: In heaven I bet the blind can see again.

Me: Yes, I bet you're right.

Gage: Heaven is a magical place! I bet there are whoopie cushions all over the place!

Our Weekend with Daddy

Josh was home for the weekend, and we had a great time being together after about 11 days apart. He got home Friday evening, and we all went out to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. It was so exciting for the kids to get to go to the theater since we hardly ever do that. (Ok, I was just as excited! haha) The movie was great. If you haven't seen it, you should! There was really only one part that we thought was inappropriate for the kids. I guess Dreamworks thinks they have to throw in some adult humor to keep parents interested. I have to admit, it was pretty funny. :)Saturday we just hung out and Josh tried to squeeze in as much wrestling and hugging with the boys as possible. We played Life (the board game) that evening, and Dr. Gage beat everyone by about a billion dollars. Sunday we went to church and then did laundry so Josh could be ready for another week of hotel living. He left the house about 4:30pm and made it safely to Kansas City a few hours later. It was fun to be together for a couple of days. We are looking forward to his two weeks at home starting on Friday.

Here's a funny clip of the movie (this is the part with the adult humor):

Spring Break

We had a great spring break (except for the fact that we were gone while Josh was home). The boys and I had planned to go to Abilene after school on Friday, but Gage had fever Thursday night, and after a quick trip to see Dr. Clarke on Friday, we found out he had walking pneumonia and an ear infection. So we decided not to go anywhere until he'd had a couple days of antibiotics. On Monday, we headed out to Abilene. We spent the night with Aunt Soosy and had a great time visiting and making final plans for the surprise party for my dad's 60th birthday that we were hosting the following Saturday.

Tuesday, the boys and I drove on to Lubbock and met Gran'Mama, Kacee, Cade, and Jacob for lunch. Then we went to Petersburg and spent a couple of days just catching up and enjoying being with family. It was so nice to wake up in the morning and sip coffee with Mama and Kacee.

Thursday night, Kacee and I went to Lubbock to spend the night with Kamie. On Friday, we decorated for the party until about 3:30 then gathered the troops and went to my dad's for a "fake" birthday party. We sung "Happy Birthday," ate cake, and he opened gifts. "It was really a nice party," my dad later said when he found out it was all a part of our plan. :) Saturday we all headed out, at different times, for different reasons, in different directions to different places... supposedly. In reality, we all went back to Lubbock to get ready for the party. By 6:00, there were 110 people at the church ready to help surprise my dad for his birthday. When he showed up, he was so surprised, overwhelmed, and happy. I don't think he stopped smiling for the next few hours. It was really a wonderful tribute to him. We all had a great time. We also had a great time planning it. We started in November of last year, 5 months ago. It really paid off to see my dad so happy and surprised.

Friday night:

Saturday night:

Josh's Birthday

For Josh's birthday, the four of us had a little party at home. Here is a video of Gage blowing out a candle in honor of his dad's birthday.

In case you're wondering (grandparents, etc), we had a little talk about the use of the word "freakin'" after this was taken. :)

Strallbellies

For the past few weeks, Griffin has been working really hard to say his "L" sounds correctly. Until recently, when he said a word with an L in it, it sounded like a "w." I could see how hard he was thinking each time he said one of these words. At first, he was very slowly pronouncing the sound. For example, he was showing me his 2 Batman toys one day and told me, "This Batman is ber-lllue, and this Batman is ber-lllack." I never said anything but found this extremer-llly amusing. I was also very per-llleased to see that he recognized, on his own, the need to correct his speech. The past week or so, his self-help techniques have escalated and are becoming even more amusing. He's now replaceing ALL R's and W's with L's. Today he asked me if he could have some more "strallbellies." I gently colllected him and put some molle strallbellies on his plate. :) It's great to watch a 3-year-old mind at work.

I also love you.

This little conversation happened this morning, and I thought I'd share:

Griffin: Do you almost like my daddy? And do you almost like my dog?

Me: I do like them. And I love them.

Griffin: Oh. And do you also love my brother?

Me: Yes.

Griffin: Oh. And do you also love me?

Me: Yes, I do love you.

Griffin: Oh. And I also love you.