Brindee's Farm Party

My friend Bridget's little girl Brindee turned two years old last month and she had an awesome farm themed party. They had the party at Old McDonald's Farm in Humble and we had so much fun. Kevin had to work that day, so it was just me and the kids. It was such a neat place, they had all kinds of animals, pony rides, playgrouds, and trainrides. They gave each child a small bag of food to feed the animals. We stayed there for hours, and were completely exhausted by the time we left....it will definitely rank high on my list as a memorable day with the kids. And, I was in a picture taking mood that day I guess, because there's lots of them!

the baby goats were their favorite

one of many pony rides for Hunter

this is Hannah trying not to smile....I'm standing on the side of the arena yelling like a crazy person for her to smile for the camera. She does this sometimes, and it cracks me up...she tries soooo hard not to crack a smile

this one cracks me up....I noticed after I took the picture that both the guys are texting on their phones....I wonder if they are texting each other?

Brindee's farm cupcakes...I wish I'd gotten a better picture because they were so cute, all surrounded by a picket fence!

look at her eyeing that cake, she's thinking how good that looks!

and here she goes!

can you tell he's having fun?

they gave each child a ticket to pick out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch on their way out

Pioneer Woman's pretty cool

I discovered a new show on food network a few weeks ago about Ree Drummond, aka, the Pioneer Woman. After one episode, I knew I was hooked. I've visited her blog a few times when checking out a recipe I've heard someone talk about, but never really took the time to look through it...aka blog stalk it. I have to say her recipes and their way of life is pretty amazing. She's got a kinda quirky, dry sense of humor that I love. Watching her show and reading her blog made me want to move off to the country and live on a ranch. I told Kevin that...it didn't go over so well. I don't think he's quite ready to throw on some chaps and become a wrangler yet. So for now, I will just cook all of her mouthwatering recipes, and pretend like I'm on a ranch while I'm doing it. Seriously, if you haven't checked out her show or her blog you should. It will make you happy...she's one cool chic in my book! I also came across a few other great food blogs that I will be copy catting this week, so check it out!

Hunter's 1st hunt

Kevin and his Dad took Hunter dove hunting last weekend, this was his first experience at hunting, and he loved it. I didn't know what he would think about the birds, but Kevin said he really got into it by helping them find them and putting them in the bags. I could tell he had so much fun doing this, and I was so glad that he got a little one on one time with Kevin and his Dad. Hopefully this will be the first of many trips! I sent my camera along with Kevin and told him to take lots of pictures....he actually did a great job capturing the hunt. Hannah and I took advantage of having a "just girls" day and went shopping, then came home and made homemade malted chocolate chip cookies. Then, we put our jammies on and watched Tangled while eating way too many cookies. If you want a great chocolate chip cookie recipe, visit my recipe blog next! I'm posting a bunch of new recipes and these cookies were amazing!

can you tell this little boy is excited?

can you tell these big boys are excited?

hunter asleep on the way there, he wouldn't take the hat off

"See mom, when I'm with Daddy I get to eat cheese puffs"

I love this picture

um, I don't think this is very effective

he looks like he's done something wrong here

nope, just being silly

showing off their catch

one proud papaw

one proud daddy

Deep Talks

Earlier this evening as I was busy cooking and attempting to clean my counters off, I looked over to see Hunter sitting on the bench of our dining room table. Of course I knew I was about to get a "hey momma" question about something....Hunter is all about asking questions about everything these days. He surprised me when he asked if I know "stuff" about God. That got my attention, so I joined him at the table, along with Hannah now, and asked him what he wanted to know. He of course asked if we have Jesus in our hearts. He's been talking about having Jesus in your heart for a few months now. I'm assuming it's from school and church. They do daily devotionals and chapel at school now, so I'm sure they are teaching them more and more things. I answered him the same way I always do with saying "yes, I have Jesus in my heart, and so does daddy. Do you have Jesus in your heart?" Both of their replies were "Yes! Jesus is in our hearts"

Typically the conversation would have ended here and I would have continued cleaning and they would have continued playing but, I kept it going for a little while. See, I just finished reading the book Heaven is for Real the night before. It is an awesome book, if you haven't read it, get it. It's about a little boy who has a near death experience and experienced what it was like to be in heaven. True story. It's the kind of book that makes you really think about stuff you don't normally think about, and I thought it was so weird that Hunter randomly came and asked me if I "know stuff about God" right after I read this book. So I decided to take the opportunity to see what they already know and what they wanted to know. It was harder than I thought it would be to explain things to them in 4 year old terms, but here's a recap of how it went....Hunter and Hannah actually did a lot of the explaining to me.

Hunter: Does God love us a lot? (this was his first question)

Me: Yes, he loves us more than anyone does...he loved us so much that he gave up his only son to die for our sins (haven't ever used the word die with them yet)

Hunter: Jesus?

Me: Yep

Hunter: So God is Jesus's daddy?

Me: Yep, and do you know where they live?

Hannah: Heaven! (Pointing to the sky)

Hannah: and our teachers say that Jesus wants us to love each other,and not fight or hit

Hunter: or kick in the face (not sure where that came from, maybe somebody got kicked at school)

Hannah: and Jesus wants us to listen to our mommies and daddies and teachers and be respectful

Me: that's right

Hunter: and God wants us to be happy and heals people who are sick?

Me: Yep, that's why we pray for people who are sick or sad so that God will help them

Hannah: Because God answers our prayers?

Me: that's right....do you want to pray for anyone that needs Gods help now?

Hannah: I want to pray for Jaxson and Skylar at school to stop being bad and not listening

Hunter: and for Ryder to stop being mean and for him to share

Me: Ummm, ok. We can pray for them to be nice, to share, and to listen

* Hunter prayed this prayer for us*

Me: Is there anyone else that's sick or needs healing you can think to pray for?

Hannah: Like paw paw Leveritt? That he feels better? (they still hadn't grasped the fact that he passed away and is no longer here. This is the only funeral that they've been old enough to ask questions about and we just told them he went to be with Jesus...I knew they didn't really understand it though)

Me: Well, paw paw leveritt isn't here on earth anymore, remember he passed away. But he had Jesus in his heart so he is in Heaven now. I could tell they got it now, because they both thought about it for a second.

Hunter: Well, how's Grandma Leveritt doing?

Me: She's doing fine now, she probably misses paw paw though

Hunter: Well, we can pray for Grandma Leveritt that she doesn't get lonely (this brought tears to my eyes)

Me: Good idea

*Hannah prayed this one, and we also prayed for grandma Kim's back to get better*

After we finished praying, I asked if there was anything or anyone else they wanted to pray about. To this Hunter scrunched up his face and replied:

"no momma, I think that's enough talkin to Jesus for today"

WORD FOR WORD....then went about playing with his toys

I sat there still not believing we had such an impromptu meaningful conversation...totally unexpected. I was so glad I had taken the few extra minutes with them because it made me realize how much they take in at such an early age, and how innocent and impressionable they are. I hope I explained at least some of the things the right way, I'm sure we will have plenty of opportunities in the future, but it makes me feel so good to know that they've already grasped some of the most important things we need to know about God's love. As a parent, I can't think of anything more important than that.

Dancin'

Well, I just finished watching the most disturbing show on lifetime called "dance moms", and unfortunately it reminded me that I forgot to post pictures of Hannah's first dance class! I will come back to this show in a second, but here's a few pics of Hannah first class. She has been asking to do ballet forever and we found out about a new studio opening up in Conroe so we decided to try it out. Adalee is doing the same class with her, so that makes it even more fun! They did a "try it out" class a few weeks ago and started their first real class last week. The "try it out" class went great....Hannah did awesome and wasn't shy at all. They didn't have the block out shades on the doors at that point, so Katy and I got to hover by the door and take pictures. Last week, the door was shut and shades were up (we can see in, but they can't see out). Hannah did great the first half of ballet, but when she came to get her tap shoes from me she had a meltdown because she couldn't see me and didn't want the door to be shut. I think it was the combo of being tired and the fact that Hunter was sitting with me in the hallway. I guess they are not really used to being separated. It broke my heart because she was pretty upset, but she finally agreed to go back in and finished the class. I was proud of her for that, and I'm optimistic that maybe it was just a one time separation anxiety kinda thing. Their next class is tomorrow, so I hope it goes better.

Here's a couple of the cutest dancers making silly faces...

About this show called dance moms. I came across it on lifetime and wish I hadn't....don't watch it, it will make you sick to your stomach. It's about this "prestigious" dance studio that follows the life of the little girls and their moms. All I can say is that the dance teacher is crazy and so are the mothers. It was one of the worst examples of parenting I've ever seen....talk about all the wrong ways to build up and tear down a child's self esteem. These poor children are spoken to inappropriately and are worked way too hard for their age, and the worst part about it is that the moms just let it happen. I understand that if you are seriously pursuing dance or something of the nature, you have to have a strong work ethic and put a lot of time into it....but these are KIDS! Watching the show was almost like watching a train wreck, it was so bad, but yet I couldn't turn it off. It amazed me that people are really like that I guess.

Whew! I know that was a "heavy" subject compared to my usual posts, but I guess it struck a chord with me and I felt passionate about it. For a second it made me question whether or not it was something I wanted her to get involved in, and then I remembered....she's 4. Bottom line is I want my kids to enjoy "just being kids" and do whatever makes them the happiest. Something tells me that this is going to make Hannah pretty happy....

4th Birthday Party

In case you haven't heard, Hannah and Hunter turned 4 this past Saturday. Kevin's dad asked them how they felt to be 4 years old, and Hannah's reply was "No Papaw, we are almost 5 now". What a way to think ahead, huh? We celebrated with a hawaiian luau party and a bouncy house. And yes, it was about 105 degrees that day. We had promised the kids a bouncy house for several months, so we had to follow through with it. As far as the heat it actually wasn't too bad. Kevin set up misters on the back patio and we kept the kids well hydrated while they played, luckily everyone survived! The pinata was the biggest hit with the kids I think, they really had a blast. Every year I say I'm going to keep it simple for their party, but each year one thing leads to another and it turns out to be bigger than expected. Same thing goes for this year. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it, and I know they did too. We found the kids two lightly used powerwheels online, and after getting new batteries, they were good as new. They loved them. Hannah still hasn't quite figured out how to steer, but Hunter is a little daredevil. If I could figure out how to post a video, I would show you. Here are some pics of the party...they are in total random order, but hope you enjoy!