Weekend family fun in Feb...

My kiddo's love to wrestle and this time it was my turn to pin them down. Well pin down Jared. Then my sweet little Jake decided to take up for his big brother and jump in to get mommy... These are such fun times!!! :)

Mommy & Jared

Jake jumped on top of me to protect Jared

The next couple pictures are really fun ones for the kids. They received their Valentine's surprise from Aunt Tricia, Uncle Rocky, Brennan and Dylan. They were both so excited to tear into the packages and see what they got. How neat!! Thank you to The Sexton's for making their Valentine's Day special.

Jake & Jared with all their loot

Chandler was spending the night and wanted in on the action... hahaha

How cute!

Jared's MVP week at Grace Hartman

Each week at Grace Hartman the 2nd grade classes have an MVP. When it is your special week, you get to make a poster that tells all about you. Then you get to have a special visitor come and eat lunch with you and they can come back to the class and do a special activity with the class.

Jon and I went to eat lunch with Jared and he was so excited. I am not sure if it was because we were eating with him or because we brought him McDonalds. :)

Jared's special guest was his Grandma and Popo Gary and their bird Early. The kids were real happy to see the bird and hear all about him. What a fun afternoon for Mrs. Baldwin's class.

Grandma, Popo Gary & Early

Jared, Early & his class

Jared's current picture for his all about me poster

Dallas Children's Museum- Aug 08

FAMILY FUN...

We took the kids to the Dallas Children's Museum in Aug of last year and we had a blast. There was so many neat things to see and do. We will definitely have to make another trip back to the museum soon.. Enjoy :)

Some Old Pic's

I have been on a roll lately trying to get all these old picture's added to our laptop and when I saw these pic's I just had to share. I am not sure how many years ago these were taken... I am assuming they were 5 yrs ago??

Each time I look at the first picture I get teary eyed. I miss my Grandma Betty SO SO much that it is hard for me to even put my feelings into words. She was a beautiful woman inside and out. She had the biggest heart and such compassion for everyone and everything. She touched so many lives and will never be forgotten. Even though I know she will never be able to read this, I still feel like writing what is in my heart and what is on my mind. I love you so very much Grandma Betty and I can't wait for the day that we are able to meet again. My heart just aches for one last hug from her and to just hear her say I love you too.

Grandma Betty, me & Jared

Me & Tricia~ and Grandma Betty on the far left

Our family~ before Jake that is... :)

Mom & Jim

~Mom is holding Brennan and Jared is on the far left... Then my precious Grandma Betty is on the far right Mommy & Jared~ he is so little here... And where in heck were we when this was taken?!?!? LOL!!

It appears to me that we were in a bathroom.. How funny!!!

BEST BUDS... some more old pic's

No matter how far apart these little boys live from one another, they will always have a special bond. They will probably be Best buds for life!!!
I ran across these pictures of Jared and his cousin Brennan and wanted to share with everyone. I know these pictures are several years old, but I thought they were so cute!!!

Jared- Hulk

Brennan- Spider Man

Jared & Brennan

(please ignore the date on the bottom of this picture... i have no clue if the year is even right... i know it is an old picture though!)
Uncle Rocky, Brennan & Jared

Brennan & Jared

Yes~ I am eating my words!!!

OK... We all make mistakes... but hey, at least I can admit it!!! hahaha
In my last post I said my only memories of Jared's first soccer season was that he sat in his little chair not even facing the field. I ran across these pictures of my sweet little boy and guess what... It looks like he is playing!!!

Wow!!!

It is hard to believe he was this little

3yrs old- Black Stallions

He is totally into this game!!!

Smile and all.... :)

You can barely see him but he is playing... :)

He is the one in the red & black hat

Jared~ The Rockets Soccer

Jared has been playing soccer now for several seasons... Actually, since he was 3 years old. He has gotten so good at soccer and just loves playing. What a change from his very 1st season when he was 3 yrs old. :) He was to little then to play for the city that we lived in, so needless to say we had a bit of a drive for him to "sit on the side of the field" normally with his chair facing away from the soccer field. I guess we were lucky in the below picture because at least he is facing the game. It is funny now to look back on this picture... At the time though we didn't think so because his aunt's, uncle's, cousin's and grandparents drove 45 minutes to see him sit in a chair. :)

Jared~ Black Stallions

March 2004

Mommy, Jared & Jake
Jared~ The Rockets

Coach Shawn & Jared

Very Determined!!!

Jake~ The Yellow Jackets Soccer

You know you are behind on posting blog's when the new soccer season is approaching and you still haven't blogged about last season. And for both boys!!! But slowly I am making progress. :)

Jake played fall soccer for the YMCA which ended a couple months ago. He was on the Small Fry Soccer Team just to get familiar with everything and we ended up with a great team and season. Here are some pictures of him on the field... Enjoy!!

Coach Russell giving Jake some DAP before a game... We got such a great coach this time... Jake really enjoyed playing for him.

Jake is #9 as you can probably already tell he is the one that is practicing his moves "just in case"
he get's a goal...

Come On Jake!!!! You can do it!!!
KICK~KICK~KICK

Jake posing for a picture with daddy...

I am assuming that means Good Luck?!?!?!?
Jake~ he went into our bathroom and wanted to fix his own hair for his first practice. He had no clue that it had already started raining outside. Oh well!!! It was fixed and cute and he had fun!!!

Time to head back to CO~ departing day for The Sexton's :(

The day after Christmas was hard for everyone... Especially me & the kids!!! Tricia, Rocky and the boy's headed out for the long road home to Colorado. Rocky went to get Jack- their dog from his little doggie vacation and he played in the yard with the kids until they were all packed up to go. Ranger (our dog) really liked him... Heck- Ranger didn't even mind that Jack started chewing on his new candy cane bone. Of course my kiddo's were still in their pj's but that's ok, they were having fun.

Dylan, Jake, Jared & Brennan

Jack~ The Sexton Dog, is at the very bottom of the 2nd picture probably trying to hide in the sandbox to get some peace.

And let me introduce you to Ranger.... Ranger is our German Shepard and he is about 8 1/2 yrs old now. He likes to nap like this below picture....Very laid back!!!!

Gosh~ I wish I could relax like that!!

Christmas Morning & Gingerbread Train

Ok- I promise no more Christmas post after this one... I totally forgot to include a couple pic's from our house on Christmas morning and then a couple from the gingerbread train we made with the kids and our nephew's.

My sister and her family came in from Colorado to spend Christmas with everyone and we REALLY enjoyed their visit. I can't wait for them to come back this summer... HINT HINT!!! :)

Jared~ got a motor scooter and remote control Chevy Silverado

(I am SO glad Santa got him this scooter so now he can get out of the house with me rather then following Jon all over the place....Santa is SO smart!!!)

Jared made us the neatest cookbook at school... What a neat idea!! Each 2nd grader had to bring a recipe and the teacher's put them together in the form of a cookbook.

WE LOVE IT!!!!

I am convinced he is really Batman!!! He got another mask, bat wings, a Batman tent.... He is set!!!

Jared, Jake, Brennan and Dylan making the Gingerbread Train with a little help from me & Tricia

AWH!!! HOW CUTE!!!

Aunt Tricia & Jake~ he must have talked to her a hundred times on the phone before their trip to Texas and he couldn't wait for Aunt Tricia & Uncle Rocky to come and tickle him.

Christmas Eve at Mom & Jim's

The kids had so much fun on Christmas Eve. We all went to Mom & Jim's and had a yummy dinner and opened presents. We decided to let the kids draw name's this year and Jake got Brennan and Jared got Trinity. Below are their gift's from the kids. The adults even made out pretty well. Mom & Jim were so good to us again this year... They had a special envelope for all 3 of us girl's and our spouses. Hmmm... I wonder what was inside?!?!?!

Let me just say~ I feel so blessed to have such wonderful parents!!! They truly mean the world to me!!!

Brennan~ opening his gift from Jake

Our Family

Trinity~ her gift from Jared

Mame & Jared

Jim & Mom

Christmas afternoon at Gary & Diana's house

We spent Christmas afternoon at Jon's parents. Grandma and Popo Gary had a mound of presents for the kids and they could not wait to jump in and starting opening them. We got to visit with Aunt Angela, Uncle Anthony, Momo, Rudy and Steve. Jon's cousin Jason was also there with us. Jason was recently accepted into the Dallas Police Academy, so he moved here from Indiana to pursue the police force. We wish him the best of luck and we are glad he is here because the boy's LOVE Jason. Jared is always talking about how funny he is.

Gary's youngest sister Laura came out and brought Sydney & Ethan as well. So that was nice to be able to see her and the kids.

Laura was able to leave and go pick her husband Trevor up from Baylor Hospital so he could enjoy Christmas with everyone. Trevor is a police officer for Watauga and was recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Bronchial Pneumonia. His illness was a complete shock to the entire family. Trevor is someone who is never even sick. He said himself that he rarely ever went to the doctor. Trevor had not been feeling well for a couple of months. He just felt run down and had been having frequent headaches. He finally went to the urgent care center and it was at that point they realized something was definitely wrong. They did all kinds of blood work and then told him that he needed to be transported to the hospital right away. Needless to say, Trevor was immediately admitted to Baylor Hospital for chemotherapy treatments. They recently found out that he will need a bone marrow transplant. Thankfully a donor has been found. Please keep Trevor and his family in your thoughts and prayers as they have a long road ahead of them. God has truly blessed this family with a donor being found so quickly.

The below website is a journal of Trevor's story.

http://caringbridge.org/visit/trevorlitzerman

Trevor

Angela- my sister in law got me the cutest shirt. Team Jacob!! How cute- I haven't ever seen these shirts before. And for those of you that are wondering... They did not have a Team Jared shirt. Jared would probably prefer me to wear the Team Jacob shirt anyway so he doesn't get embarrassed. :)

Jake got Operation!!! He was so excited. We play it all the time and he is starting to get good at it.

WOW! Jake got a WALL E computer! He will love to sit down and pretend he has to work. Then he will start talking about his pretend boss and co-workers. It is so cute every time he does it. Except for lately he has been asking us how much money he should make per hour? How funny is that!!! And he is not even 4 yrs old yet. He concluded that he will be making $500 an hr... I am not even sure where he got that number from. :)
So needless to say, he will be doing pretty well in the future.

Both of the boys got matching shirts... Jared is holding his in this picture. They looked so cute in them!! Grandma did good getting these. She knows how I LOVE to have them in matching clothes.

I am not even sure what this game is but it is a hit at our house.... Jared and Popo Gary had seen it somewhere and Jared was just thrilled when he got it.