Favorite Easter gifts

Here are the boys in their favorite Easter gifts and yes, of course they were from Grandma Jean. The boys know that all they have to do is ask Grandma Jean for it and either they get it right away or very soon after. These Mario jammies were found at Kohls when we were there looking for dress pants. Oddly enough they ended up in their Easter baskets 2 weeks later. The crazy socks came in a package all pre-shrunk as small as they could get them. To 'make them big', they had to be soaked in water. Dawson, who NEVER wants to take a bath said, "mom, I am REALLY dirty tonight, I need to take bath now........and can you get my socks out of my basket, I NEED them".

Easter Sunday

Ohhhh, here are my little boys all dressed in their Sunday best! Hunter is getting used to dressing up as he has to some what for Catholic school. Mr. muscle shirt, cowboy boot wearing, jeans man though is not always so thrilled to wear button shirts and dress shoes. But, Dawson got suited up and off we were to Church. I think his shirt was untucked by the time we pulled in the Church parking lot but maybe he knew we'd be there for an hour and thirty minutes and just wanted to get comfortable.

The nanny goat's gruff

Sunday was Hunter's first play with speaking parts. His kindergarten class of 30 all had a speaking part ranging from goats, to flowers, to bees to trolls to butterflies. Hunter and another friend were the opening and closing speakers. This sort of stuff is right up Hunter's alley, he loves to speak in front of crowds. It doesn't matter if it is 10 or 200, he believes he has something to say that others want to hear. Hunter's costume consisted of a shirt and tie. I didn't think he would wear the tie as when he was younger a tie would of sent him into a panic with thoughts of joking and sweating and possibly death. However, I called it his costume and he put it right on. He of course took it right off once the play was done, but he wore it and that's all that counts! He speaking parts and hand gestures all went well of course since he was so into the part he drowned out/stepped in front of the little guy next too him. Mike and I just gave each other that look as we usually do with Hunter in public situations, 'oops, hope their parents are ok with that'. Mike is getting more used to this feeling as the years go on. Two years ago he would of hung his head in shame, now he realizes, Hunter is a sociable animal who just seems to end up in situations that highlight his best parts.......and not so best parts. But hey, that's life its it?! There were 3 other boys in ties that day. Their spot when they were off to the side was on a riser. It was so cute to look at 4 little 6 year olds up there all sitting like men, legs all spread, look all rung out from wearing ties. Who knew the school play was preparing them for life as men dressed in ties by their wives.........

The big goose hunt.....

Dawson went with Mike goose hunting for Valentines Day. Hunter stayed with me as his statement was, 'mom, I just can't think about leaving you alone' :-). Dawson however left me with no problem, he was soo excited. Dawson is a hunter, he wants to go with Mike all the time. And he loves to be outside and to drive around. So, off Mike and Dawson went Saturday morning about 2 1/2 hours away to the duck lease. At each new town Dawson asked if they were there. He called me from 'upstairs' as you can see. Some would call it a top bunk, others, upstairs, to each his own. Well, as you can see Dawson got a goose and it was considered a successful trip. Him and his dad had a man's night that Saturday evening. Dawson took full advantage of Mom not being there and ate sugary snacks (see the evidence on the 'upstairs' picture) and drank soda. And to top it off, he was talking to me on the phone while he was doing all this 'forbidden' activity. Not really forbidden but I make it a lot harder for him to get that stuff than dad does. One of the things that Dawson had to call and tell me about was that there was a McDonald's all the way up there! He was completely astonished that they would have one too, all the way on the other side of the earth a McDonald's. Makes you think they might be everywhere if there's one in Carrollton, MO!!?? The next morning Mike told Dawson they had to load up and go home.......and then came the tears, Dawson was digging the man's life and was not ready to head by to civilization and rules. Needless to say, Dawson wants some waders for his birthday.

My baby lost his 2nd tooth today!

Hunter lost his 2nd tooth last night while he was sleeping. It seems like I just took his picture of his missing space not to long ago. That may have been though since I 'meant' to take his picture of his 1st missing tooth ASAP! Well, 1 week later Hunter said, 'mom, my lost tooth is growing in'. What! Who knew that teeth grow in in one week! I'm thinking I've got a month before I need to find the camera and take a picture. So, here we are, a morning before school, rushing because we are late as always and I'm instructing Hunter to smile so I can see his missing tooth. Well, if you don't have a 6 year old boy then you won't understand that by the time they start school they can either frown or smile so hard their eyes close. It's either one or the other, there's no happy medium. So here is our pic of the 1st missing tooth. A couple days after the loss of the 1st tooth Hunter came up with a great idea......'mom, I think if I stop brushing my teeth then the rest of the teeth will fall out!' Got to give him points for the thought because he was right, they would all fall out......they may not grow back, but you can't always worry about the minor details.

Dawson, the one who is always right

This is Dawson, my youngest, and my personal GPS, tape recorder, memory and cutie pie all rolled into one. Dawson remembers everything, everything you say, everything you do and if he doesn't want to remember it the way it may have happened because it doesn't favor him, he'll

make it up! Dawson is your man's man, he loves to hunt, fish, go outside, build, eat, road trip and make up stories. He can turn his tear on and off like a faucet and can melt your heart with his 20 teeth all showing at the same time. If things are not going Dawson's way or you have to get after him for not doing something you know he is going to cry and he knows he is going to cry because my friends, it is his strong point. He is a ladies man, a man's man, a be-friend- er. He knows what to do to get his way and if he doesn't than he ain't playing!! I have always said Dawson is the first one to hug and love you but watch out because he might be cutting your pony tail off behind your back, a little devil in disguise he his.

Dawson loves to be with his dad, if his dad is doing it it is the coolest thing in the world. He loves to hunt and he wants to 'gravel' everything. His 2 year old teach once told me, 'Stacey, you may want to talk to Dawson about how he talks about Mike killing everything out of season. I know he is not, but if the wrong person hears that 'my dad killed 2 deer, 1 turkey and 4 ducks last night' they may get the wrong picture! Dawson is also very much in awe of his big brother Hunter. He wants to do everything Hunter does, play soccer, play T Ball, possibly wrestle, he is unsure yet. All this however usually leads to competition which leads to, you guessed it, crying! Dawson wants to beat Hunter so bad but the 20 months of head way Hunter has it hurting Dawson's chances right now. I keep telling him though, you may not always be smaller and slower than Hunter, one day you might be bigger, you just got to keep eating your veggies and getting lots of sleep! We'll see how long he takes my word as far as that's concerned!

I think first I'm going to introduce everyone. Here is my oldest Hunter, he is one of a kind. Hunter is very anal, things have to be the same, always, or else something new could just throw off his day. His thoughts, actions and feeling are WAY easier to deal with now then they were when he was ummmm, 0 to 5 years of age pretty much. Hunter is so in love with video games, meeting new people, playing with 'big' kids and being the best, at whatever. He has a really hard time with not being #1. I'm not sure where he got that from, maybe my dad, but he wasn't a out spoken 'got to win individual' but he didn't want to play if he couldn't compete. I wish Hunter would have been able to get to know my dad because I think they would have really gotten along well. They both are super great with people but also loved to be alone where it was quite. Its a little hard to understand but in public, Hunter is a talker, a meeter, a greater and energized by activity. However at home, if you let him, he'd play video games, watch TV and NEVER go outside. You have to kick him outside, he gets that from me sorry to say. However when it comes to recess and sports, he is all over the outside. For him to want to go outside there has to be other kids and lots of action. This rare picture of him outside in the snow is a precious one as you won't find him in the snow for very long. He is like his dad, he gets cold easily and stays cold for a long time.

Hunter started kindergarten last fall and it has been a rollercoaster of all sorts of ups and downs. The first quarter was very hard, I always said putting him in those 4 walls was going to be tough and oh yes, yes it was. I think the 1st call from the teacher came in after a 1 1/2. Mr. Hunter could not sit in his seat, follow directions and would yell out the answer to every question. So, Mike and I sat him down and told him, 'Hunter, now you know if you don't do well in kindergarten you don't get to go to 1 st grade with all your friends right?' To which Hunter said, 'Yes, I know', pause, 'Who is going to be in kindergarten next year?'

Pray for us Lord, its going to be a long 16 years of school..............

Hello 2009!

I'm doing it and I still can't believe it as I'm doing, I'm blogging! This is very big for me. Already this year I've started to scrapbook, download music onto my computer, download one song onto my MP3 player (that is all I can figure out at this time) and have started to blog! Now that I have more time, or the boys require less hover time, I've realized that the last 5 years of being a mom of 2 boys has just flown by, plain and simple. At times I can't even remember what I was doing all those years, I guess just living and surviving, I guess. I know I wasn't sitting or watching TV, that's for sure as TV show have come and gone and I've never seen a ebisode! However I never had a spotless house, perfect body from nonstop running or tons of money in my account from not being able to shop for myself. So, what was I doing? I guess I was just picking up, cooking, packing, band-aiding and grocery shopping. But would I have had done anything different? Had the boys later in life? Had them farther apart? Sold them for a large amount of money before they learned to talk and their price went down? Nope, none of those! These last 6 1/4 years, the 1/4 is very important, just ask Hunter, have been awesome! Stressful yes, tiring, very much so, but very very rewarding. From here on out I am going to blog the present, past and future. Being a mom has either given me ADD or brought the best of it out in me. So, buckle up and visit often, hopefully I update often, its in my plan anyway!