Garrett's 5th Birthday

Today is Garrett's birthday. And not just any birthday, but his 5th birthday. Half-way to 10, birthday. One year from kindergarten, birthday. It's funny how fast that time seems to fly when you look back over it from this vantage point. But in the beginning, it feels as if your child will never outgrown this stage or that phase. And you'll forever be cursed with a child who plays in their poop (or some other crazy phase that you just have to suffer through with some kids.)

Garrett is smart, loving, loyal, friendly, talkative, stubborn, cautious, persistent, crazy kid. It's awesome to think of how much kids learn over a very short time-span and how firmly developed his personality already is.

I have many stories about him that I want to share. However, we've had a very busy weekend full of partying and presents, cupcakes and little sleep, so I'll share the stories later and just stick with pictures for now.

This year, for the first time, we had a "friend" birthday party. We've always just stuck with family parties and invited one couple who we are good friends with (and they have a son who is close to Garrett's age.) But this year I figured Garrett has some pretty well-developed friendships so it would be fun to invite some of those friends to a party. We had it at a local kids' gymnastics facility and it was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure how many people to expect at the party because I limited the number of invitations we sent out. While Garrett is a people person and loves doing things with his friends, he's not a huge fan of big crowds, so I didn't see any point in overwhelming him with every friend he knows. We sent out 10 invitations to friends of Garrett's from school and church and everyone came except for one. I was really surprised by the turnout, but it was great.

Here are a few of the pictures from the party.

Things that Stay at Home Moms Would Like You To Know

I've read a lot of different articles based on the "Things that .... wish you knew" so I thought I would take a stab at one for SAHM (stay at home moms). This will NOT be an all-encompassing list. Some of the things I list, certainly do not apply to all SAHM and I know there will be things I neglect that others would have the top of their list. I'm also not writing this as a complaint, just an observance after having been a SAHM for a little over 4 years now.

•Our husbands' don't make loads of money, therefore allowing us to stay at home. We cut back a lot in order for this to happen. I could go off on a tangent describing all the areas we cut back in, but I'll save that for another post.

•We do not sit around eating bon bon's all day. If I have a snack of any sort, I would have 2 beggars right at my feet asking for a bite. It's not worth the trouble.

•We don't sit around watching soap operas all day. If I even show an interest in turning the TV on and changing the channel to a non-animated show, there would be lots of cries of "I want to watch my show!" Again, it's not worth the trouble. If I happen upon some freetime during naptime, I might watch a show on my computer, but that's the extent of it. (And it wouldn't be a soap opera. I'm just sayin'...)

•We get asked to volunteer for a lot of different things because everyone assumes we have lots of available time on our hands. If we turn down your request, please know it's truly because we don't have the time for it. We're probably already up to our ears volunteering in other areas and really don't have the time to add anything else.

•We really don't have lots of free time during the day. Lots of time is spent doing the following: preparing meals, serving meals, cleaning up after meals, getting out toys, playing with toys, putting up toys, getting out a game, playing the game, putting up the game, discipline, time-outs, reminders of why we don't jump on the furniture, tending to bumps and scrapes from when the kids don't remember why we don't jump on the furniture, refereeing fights (yes, I'm already there and Cooper is 14 months old), reading books (sometimes many, many times on the same book), chasing toddlers, keeping toddlers out of rooms they shouldn't be in, keeping toddlers off of things they shouldn't climb on, keeping toddlers away from toys and things too small for them to play with safely, arguing with preschoolers, explaining rules and manners and basic etiquette to preschoolers, doing crafts and cleaning up after crafts with preschoolers, answering one million and one questions throughout the day. Notice I didn't even touch on housework (aside from cleaning up after meals and toys). No laundry has been done yet, no bathrooms have been cleaned, no vacuuming, dusting, mopping. Not to mention the volunteering most participate in. The errands to run. The playdates scheduled. The groceries to be bought. Our days really are full. Even if it may not seem like that's possible to some.

•Our homes are not always clean. Very, very far from it. Sometimes we contemplate hiring a housekeeper. Until we remember the fact that we don't, in fact, have any money to pay them.

•We do not have home-cooked meals every night. There are many cereal nights. Sandwich nights. Breakfast for supper nights. Fend for yourself nights.

•We don't love our children more than anyone else loves their children. We don't think we're better than working moms. We get just as stressed out with our kids as everyone else does. Maybe moreso since we rarely get a break.

•We don't constantly go and do things. I personally limit the trips we take to places like the park, zoo, museums, etc. I want them to be special experiences, not routine and expected.

Bottom line, we want people to know that we're just like everyone else who works a "real job". We don't always get a lot accomplished. Our days can be tough and hair-pulling. We sometimes question whether or not this is what we should be doing. But we continue to stay at home with our kids. Not because we don't have other options in the work place. Not because we don't want our kids around other kids. Not because we're "old-school" and think that a woman's place is at home.

But because it works best for our families.

One Year

One year from today, I will be preparing myself and Garrett for his first day of school. Laying out clothes, fixing a lunch, getting his backpack ready, stuffing Kleenex into my purse and all available pockets on whatever I will be wearing that day. Just generally rushing around, trying to make it to school on time along with everyone else.

Can I just say that I'm not ready? That typing this actually gives me great feelings of apprehension and lots of sadness? Yes, I know that's life, kids grow up, they start school, but it really does feel like this has come up on me so fast. I remember when I was teaching school, I used to silently make fun of the parents who would be seen leaving the kindergarten hallway on the first day of school in tears. I always thought those kids looked plenty big to be bringing to school and I couldn't figure out why in the world parents would be sad about this day when they knew it would eventually come. I want to go back to that old me and slap her a little.

Yesterday morning at church our pastor talked about a tradition he started with his boys where they would say a quick prayer when they dropped their boys off at school every morning while they were still in the car. He started this when his oldest son was in kindergarten. His son just recently turned 16 and will now be driving himself to school so those mornings of his dad praying for him in the school parking lot before he walked into the building are a thing of the past. Just hearing that story made me tear up a little. How ridiculous am I.

What I do plan on doing is to attempt to savor this next year. Do breakfast out on occasion, go fun places during the day while school is in session for everyone else, just generally try to soak up these remaining 364 days I have of being the main focus for my child. I will soon become someone on the sidelines along with many other someones: teachers, coaches, principals, friends. I'm just not ready for it yet.

The One With All The Pictures

I initially want to apologize for a lack of pictures being posted lately. I've been doing most of my blogging from my work laptop (not during work time!) and it doesn't have any pictures on it. So now I need to apologize for the inundation of pictures on this post. It covers the last couple of months, briefly.

Back in July, we celebrated Keith's birthday. Nothing fancy, just broiled steaks and ranch-style beans the day of his birthday (on which he didn't get home until 10:30 pm) and then the following weekend we had cake and icecream. So here are "the boys" about to sing Happy Birthday.

This was Cooper's first time to have cake after his birthday party in June. He was thrilled and gobbled up every bit of the piece I gave him. Though he did offer to share a crumb with Daddy. It was his birthday and all.

This summer, we've had quite a few preschool playdates with other preschool families at our church. A different outing has been planned every week. We missed some and made some. Juggling both boys didn't allow me to take many pictures at the outings, but here's one from our bowling trip. It was Garrett's first time bowling outside of the Wii. As you can see from the picture, his technique still needs a lot of work. He looked more like a basketball player throwing a chest pass than he did a bowler bowling a ball. And the racket from the ball being lofted was not pleasant, but he enjoyed bowling. He actually bowled 2 spares. Though they did have pads in the gutters for the kids so that helped.

This is very common around our house. Garrett enjoying Cooper's toys whenever he can. And asking me to take a picture of him while doing so. (Sorry the flash washed him out here. He's not really this pale in real life.)

Cooper found Mr. Potato Head's glasses and had a lot of fun wearing them. I took quite a few pictures of this, but this one is one of my favorites.

A new favorite pasttime around here. Cooper has decided that he needs to color when Garrett does. So far he has actually kept the crayon on the paper and he really likes it. Garrett gets annoyed when Cooper continually tries to flip pages when he's in the middle of an intricate picture. But for the most part he's an extremely patient brother.

Garrett loves playing dress-up with his action hero costumes. Sometimes his ensemble requires a belt, so every now and then one will be laying around in the living room. Cooper decided to do his own dressing up, but figured the belt works better as a scarf. He loves draping things behind his neck like this.

And just to prove that our days are not all fun and games. We see this face a lot. I don't know what he was mad about here, but we've already entered the beginnings of terrible two's at 14 months old. He hits, he throws fits, he throws toys, it's lots of fun.

Cooper "Walking"

Cooper loves walking like this. He won't do it any other way.

My apologies for the lighting and the brevity. My memory card was almost full so I didn't have much room to work with.

Our Weekend

The weekend got off to a rough start because Keith worked until midnight on Friday. It looks like that is the last of his late nights for awhile, but I really don't like staying up that late anymore. I could have gone to bed, but I ended up staying up till he got home.

On Saturday morning, we went out for breakfast. I always enjoy eating breakfast out when we can. It's crazy though that Cooper now needs his own breakfast rather than just eating off of our plates. He has a pretty big appetite.

After breakfast we drove down to Keith's sister's house for a birthday party for 2 of her kids. One has an August birthday and another has a September birthday, so she just has a family party together for both of them. Since Cooper ended up not getting a nap beyond some sleeping in his carseat, he was a bear that evening. Keith and I went to bed by 9pm because we were so tired from staying up late the night before. At 11:30pm, I woke up to Cooper crying. Garrett used to do this when he would get "overtired". I always knew if he didn't get a good nap in, he was not going to sleep good the night either. Cooper apparently is keeping up this tradition. He was up for about an hour before he finally went back to sleep. I tried a few things to get him to sleep, but he kept waking up. Keith held him for awhile to try and calm him down, but ultimately he had to cry himself to sleep.

Sunday morning we both woke up feeling as if someone had ran over us with a truck. Cooper definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed and was throwing fits right and left as soon as the sun came up. We ended up missing church because we didn't want to have to hand him over to the nursery workers to have to deal with an extremely cranky kid. I hate missing church when we don't have to, but in cases like this, I feel like it's better for everyone involved if we just stay at home. I ended up putting Cooper down for a morning nap (which we've done away with for awhile now) and he slept for almost 2 hours.

I was able to get all of the laundry done and mostly put away and Keith worked on putting pulls on our hallway cabinet. Both boys get into this cabinet all the time. On the bottom shelf is all of our games and puzzles and on the top shelves is where I keep all of our craft stuff and office supply stuff. Since Garrett has access to it, he's painted his carpet along with writing all over in his room with marker. I've been wanting to make these cabinets inaccessible, but there wasn't any way to do so. They're right outside of Garrett's room so if I put up a gate, then he wouldn't be able to get into his room (plus he can get over gates if he wants to). So we put pulls on them and then I bought a child-safety latch that goes over the pulls and keeps the doors from being opened. It's so nice! Now I just need to reorganize those cabinets now that little hands can't get in them and make big messes.

That afternoon we did a little shopping. I've been needing to buy Garrett's birthday presents for awhile now, so I dropped the guys off at Sears and then went to Toys R Us. I met the guys back at Sears when I was done and Keith decided we need to get new bath towels. So we picked out 2 new ones for each bathroom (so basically a new towel for each of us). Towels are expensive! But all of our current ones are 8 years old, so I guess it's time to start buying a few new ones here and there. Then we went to another store and looked at new bedding. We've had the same comforter on our bed for years now, not to mention the same pillows. We ended up just buying new pillows because all of the comforters I liked were more money than we wanted to spend.

Last night we worked in the yard, mowing, weedeating and pulling weeds in the flower beds. Even with watering our new grass everyday, it's still dry out there and there are some areas where the grass is looking a little brown. But I'm sure that can be attributed to the 100+ degree days we've had for awhile now. Keith has upped the watering schedule, so hopefully everything will perk up soon.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow Cooper will be 14 months old and in 13 days, Garrett will be 5!

Our Day

Today we had a fun day.

This morning we went to a local kids' gym which is the same place where Garrett's birthday party will be held in a few weeks. I've only been there 2 other times and, incidentally, those times were in the winter and the spring. Not the summer, till today. Turns out the building isn't quite as cool as you might hope it would be given the 100+ degree days we're having right now. So the birthday party will be interesting. On the bright side, she has lots of fans all over the place, so hopefully everyone will find a good spot in order to keep relatively cool.

This afternoon has been spent helping Cooper practice his walking. He and I have walked all over the house with him just holding on to one of my fingers while he led me around. I'm in hopes that by doing this regularly, he'll start walking independently soon. He did stand up in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything for the first time, so that was good.

Something else that he's learned today is how to open the doors in our house. Of course I was expecting this to happen at some point, but I really thought it would be AFTER he learned how to walk. Kind of backwards if you ask me. Our doorknobs have lever handles, so they're pretty easy for little kids to open, unfortunately. He's now tall enough to reach the lever on his tiptoes and he pulls it down and pushes on the door. Of course, if the door has to open by pulling, then he can't open it yet, but of course the rooms I don't want him in and therefore keep the door closed, all open by pushing them from the hallway side. So I've had to bring out my 2 babygates who have been waiting on the sidelines (we bought 3 babygates when Garrett was a baby. That tells you how active that boy was.) Now we get to juggle a stepstool around these gates as well, in order for Garrett to have access to a bathroom and his bedroom. On top of all of this, with the stepstool hanging out in the hallway today, Cooper has learned how to climb on top of it to stand. How the boy is learning all of these things and still refuses to walk is beyond me!

And on a sidenote. There's a stomach bug going around our area right now. Anytime I hear about bugs like this, I always get paranoid. I feel like I'm constantly watching my kids for any signs that they might have it. Constantly checking myself out for any symptoms. I feel like a crazy person and I hate being that way, but in the back of my mind I'm figuring that we'll probably get it somehow and I want to be on the lookout for it. And if I knew it wouldn't send me over the edge, I would probably avoid going out to very many places because of the chance of catching it, but I'm trying not to go completely overboard with my OCD. Please forgive me for being this way! I keep telling myself once Cooper is a little older, I won't stress about bugs like this as much because I don't remember worrying about it before he was born. And Garrett has always been super healthy and I've never worried about it much, but I find myself being more of a worrywart as of late. I'm not sure where that's coming from. Does anyone else do this or is it just me?

Getting Ready

Today the boys and I stepped out to do some school supply shopping.

Garrett has been going to mother's day out/preschool for the past 3 years, so buying supplies for him is nothing new. But it was different to be buying supplies for 2 kids instead of one. Especially since Cooper will only be 14 months old when he starts going this fall. I waited until Garrett was 2 before I sent him for the first time. But now that I'm working at the church again, I have no other choice but to put him in MDO for 2 days a week (though he may only end up going once a week. We'll see how he does. And how I handle it.)

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not a mom that must be with my kids 24/7. I relish opportunities that will afford me a bit of a break, even going so far as to volunteer to mow our yard when Keith is home in order to have some "me" time on the mower. Yes, I'm weird. But I will admit to some guilt over putting Cooper in "school" so young. I feel like I should wait one more year, but I also keep reminding myself that Garrett was in daycare for the first year of his life, so that basically compensates the amount of time that both will ultimately end up spending away from my care. But I still can't lose the guilty feeling.

Back to supply shopping, I will confess to feeling a bit of a "rush" when getting the supply list for the first time. As well as going up and down the supply aisles at the store. I always loved that part of "back to school" when I was growing up and I even enjoyed it the years that I taught school. Stocking up on crayons for a quarter and notebook paper for a buck was always fun for me.

With the boys going to MDO at our church, we have to buy additional supplies that I would assume are not included on a public school's supply list. Items like rolls of paper towels (4 per child) and boxes of baby wipes (also 4 per child. And these are obviously for clean-up. And dirty diapers.) Throw in things like paper plates, ziplock bags, and kleenex, on top of the usual suspects, we had a bunch of supplies in our cart this morning. And subsequently in a closet for now until Meet the Teacher day in a few weeks.

Garrett wasn't too happy to discover that he wasn't getting a new backpack, but Cooper was. I've tried to get Garrett's backpacks to last for 2 years before buying another one. His current backpack is only a year old, so I told him he would use it again this year and then get a new one when he starts kindergarten. But he did get a new lunchbox. Mostly because I hated the one he had last year. It had 2 compartments, which I did not use because I didn't want to have to worry if Garrett would remember to check the second one at lunchtime. So I would cram all of his food into one compartment just to be sure he got it all.

And on a side note, they really don't have backpacks for little kids. Sure if Cooper was into Cars or Toy Story, I wouldn't have had a problem getting him one, but he's not there yet (and I know it really doesn't matter. But I didn't want Garrett "borrowing" Cooper's). I found one Elmo backpack, but it was tiny. I know the main item that goes into their backpacks is a folder and that backpack wasn't near big enough for one. So we settled on Hot Wheels.

The part that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is Cooper taking naps on a nap mat, on the floor, with other 1 and 2 year olds around him. That should be interesting.

Girls' Night Out

I very rarely have a girls' night out. Sometimes I'll get out by myself in order to do some shopping that would be impossible if I were accompanied by the rest of my family. But going out with friends rarely happens. Maybe once a year.

My friend Kelli called me yesterday afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to the movies. But first, let me back up a little. About a week and a half ago, Kelli called to chat and during our chat she asked me if I had seen the Twilight movies. We got to talking about them (yes, I've seen the movies and read all of the books. Twice. Don't judge me unless you've read them. They really are good.) She hadn't read the books, but she had just finished watching the second movie and really wanted to go see the third one which is out in theaters right now. I hadn't seen it yet, so we decided we would do it soon.

Fast forward to yesterday and we made plans to go to the 7:30 showing at a local theater. But first me and the guys went over to their house for supper. Kelli picked up a to-go order from Chili's and we ate at their house. Which is nice when you have two 5 year old's (in 20 days technically) and a 1 year old. Then she and I headed out to the movies leaving the dads behind to take care of some crazy boys.

I was so stuffed from my dinner, I didn't even get anything to eat or drink which is pretty amazing because I can't hardly resist the yumminess that is concessions.

The movie was really good. Definitely the best from this series so far. I still feel like books-turned-movies tend to be really lacking on screen. If I hadn't read the books, I would feel confused about some things that aren't addressed in the movies. And I spent most of the ride home filling Kelli in on those details that weren't made clear (without giving away anything from the last book. I promise!)

While I'm sure our night didn't nearly measure up to many other girls' nights out, it was still pretty fun since we rarely get to do stuff like that. Her birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so we may just have to do this again soon.

And as an aside, I don't understand why people are vocal in their criticism and disdain for parents who bring small children on flights, yet we seldom hear criticism of the parents who choose to bring their small children to an adult movie. And by small children I mean a 2 year old and a baby younger than 1. To a movie starting at what should be close to their bedtime.

So instead of focusing on a movie that I paid $10 to see while leaving my own children behind so they won't disturb and distract me and the rest of the movie-goers, I get to watch a mom and a dad alternate pacing back and forth with their baby (right in front of me, as we were on the front row of the "stadium seats"). Seriously? It's not "necessary" for parents to bring their babies to movies. (Kids movie? Have at it. When you go to see a kids movie, you expect to see and hear small children.) Wait until the movie is available to rent and watch it in the privacy of your own home after putting your kids to bed. Or let them waller all over you while watching it, if that's your druthers. Which it apparently is for those who take their kids to the movies with them.

However, there are times that call for parents to travel by plane with their small children. (Wedding, funeral, attempt to avoid an excruciatingly long drive in order to visit family you haven't seen in forever...) I don't want to see eye rolls and hear sighs when I enter a plane with my child, yet I could bring a squalling kid up well past their bedtime to a movie they shouldn't even be seeing and no one will even bat an eye.

And the best part about the whole scenario was the dad verbally (and loudly) reprimanding his BABY for crying.

Goings On

Keith has still been working long hours. He's hoping those will end real soon. So am I.

Cooper finally took a couple of independent steps yesterday for the first time. Of course he has to do things his own way on his own terms. Not only is he waiting more than 3 months longer than Garrett's first steps, but he's also refusing to take any steps towards me. If I stand him up in front of me, he either sits down and laughs, or he free falls towards me assuming I'll catch him (and of course I do.) The only way he's taken steps is just in walking back and forth between the couch and his toy basket. Every now and then I've looked up to see him take a step here or there today, but he hasn't walked more than 2 steps in a row. I'm curious to see how long it will take before he's walking more than crawling. At this rate, who knows.

I took the boys to the library today and let Garrett check out 5 books. (The limit is 10, but I don't want to have to keep up with 10 borrowed books. 5 is plenty.) When we were checking them out, the librarian asked Garrett where he got a tractor book that he had chosen. He told her where it had been and I explained it was propped up on display and asked if it was ok for us to take it and she said it was fine. Turns out they had been looking for the book for a long time and couldn't find it anywhere. And it was open and on display on a shelf. Sounds kind of like me when I'm trying to find something. She told Garrett thanks for solving the mystery of the missing book. On the way out of the library, Garrett asked why he didn't get a sticker for finding the book. Apparently we need to talk about being proud of our accomplishments no matter how minor they are and whether or not they are tangibly rewarded.

Garrett's birthday is coming up in just a few short weeks. I can't hardly believe that he's going to be 5. I'm just not ready for that yet. I think we're basically ready for the party though. It's going to be so nice having it someplace other than our house this year. I just need to either order some cupcakes from somewhere or start making plans to make my own cupcakes this year. I also can't decide what to do for a meal for our family after the party. We'll have some extended family here who won't be going directly home after the party ends at noon, so we need to figure out what to do for lunch. There will be about 14 of us in total and several who have food allergies. So I can't decide if we should just come home and I should have something already made or if we should find somewhere to go where everyone could find something that they can eat and where we also wouldn't have to wait forever for a table to hold all of us. Who knows what we'll end up doing.

On Tuesday we went swimming for one of the first times this summer. It was actually Cooper's first time to swim in a big pool. In our area, there aren't any public pools nearby. The closest one is about 20 minutes away and it's not very clean. But one of our friends who lives nearby has a pool and she invited us over. (She's given me a blanket invitation to come anytime, but it's just not in my personality to show up at someone's house and swim without an invitation for a specific day and time.) It was a lot of fun. Garrett loves to swim. I never did sign him up for lessons this summer and I'm kicking myself for that. But I think if we had regular access to a pool, it wouldn't take much to teach him. I taught myself how to swim in our neighbor's pool when I was younger. Cooper also really enjoyed the water. He splashed a bunch and was extra talkative. Maybe we'll get in atleast one more swim before the summer is over.

Please pray for my friend Mary. She just had her new baby, Megan, this week and Megan has a blood infection and will be in the NICU for the next week or two. That's all the details that I know right now. I haven't been able to talk to Mary, I've just been updated by her sister and sister-in-law on Facebook. Mary and I have literally known each other since birth. (Well, her birth, I'm 6 months older.) I have very few memories before the age of 10 that don't involve her. Even though we haven't lived close to each other in years and years, anytime we get together, it's as if we just saw each other. I love friendships like that. She currently lives in Florida and of course I live in Texas, but thankfully our parents only live about 45 minutes apart. So whenever we're both in Indiana for a visit at the same time, we always make plans to get together. I'll keep you posted on Megan and Mary. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

Funny Garrett Story

Today, Garrett was drawing a picture (thankfully on paper and not on his carpet as he has done lately.) He showed me the picture and I asked him what he drew and he said "God." God took up the entire page from top to bottom. Then Garrett went on to say that Superman was really little compared to God, but Superman can fly and God can't.

I said, "Well, God could fly if he wanted to. But he doesn't need to because he's everywhere all the time." Hard concept to explain or grasp, especially when dealing with a 4 year old.

Garrett focused on the fact that I said he "could fly" and said "No way. God can't fly. He has feet."

Me, "Superman has feet too and he can fly. What does that mean?"

Him, "God is a person and people don't fly."

Me, "Superman is a person and can fly. So God can too."

Him, "Well, in my Bible, the pictures do not show God flying. But all the pictures I've seen of Superman, he's flying."

Apparently we need an illustrated Bible showing God flying so Garrett can grasp that concept (and know that Momma was right about this one).

Weekend Recap

First I have to say that I'm sorry for my sporadic posts. Now that I'm working again for our church, my writing time is spent writing articles for the bulletin and other aspects of my job.

On with my weekend.

Last Friday, me and the boys went to visit my grandparents. They live about an hour away and we try to get over there for a visit every other month or so. We had a good time visiting with them along with my aunt, 2 uncles, cousin, and her daughter. We went to Fuddruckers for lunch, which is always a good choice. Before we left another uncle, aunt, and 2 cousins came by on their way to Oklahoma. So we visited with them before hitting the road to come home.

Thankfully Keith was home around 7pm that night, which is early for him lately. He's been working roughly 7am to 10pm every day plus working Saturdays. So not only did he come home early on Friday, but he was off on Saturday too. It was nice! On Friday evening, I kicked off our mowing marathon. Since we killed everything in our yard, reseeded, and have been watering and fertilizing like crazy, our new grass is growing by leaps and bounds, which requires more mowing than normal at this time of year.

Saturday was spent with more time in the yard before it got too hot. Then we went to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. I love that place. Once we got home, I vacuumed, mopped, and did laundry. In the middle of all of that, I somehow managed to break my little toe. Pretty fun. I was stepping over some toys and kicked a corner on our wall. My toe caught and snapped. Now it's swollen and purple. Thankfully I've mostly been able to walk with just a little limping. I've made sure to not wear any close-toed shoes and to keep my weight shifted onto the inside of my foot instead of the outside. If it bends a certain way or gets hit (I've noticed my boys hit and step on my feet a lot! Didn't even realize it till now.) then it really hurts.

On Sunday we went to church and then ate lunch at Chili's. We normally don't eat out twice in the weekend, but we were enjoying the fact of a "normal" weekend for a change. After Chili's we had to go shirt shopping for Keith. He has worked for the same CPA firm for 11 years now and the entire time the dress code has been business casual. Khakis and polo shirts with the occasional button-down. For some unknown and absurd reason, they've decided to implement one business dress day a month. That starts this Wednesday. Keith has a suit, a multitude of ties and several dress shirts, but most of his dress shirts don't fit him well in the neck. When we bought them, they weren't necessarily purchased to wear with a tie.

And just a brief lesson on shirt sizes (which I just learned this weekend), the bigger the neck size on a shirt, the bigger around the shirt is. Keith has a bigger neck, but not necessarily a big stomach. (He's 6'6" and weighs 275, "big stomach" is a relative term.) So the shirts with a comfortable neck look kind of tent-like on him. But he'd rather not choke to death on a tie, so we bought a couple that will work along with some button extenders for the shirts he already owns. Turns out you can buy these little things that clip onto your shirt's button and it will extend the neck size about 1/2" or so and it's hidden by your tie knot so no one will ever know.

Once we got home, Keith put together Garrett's new wagon. Keith's grandma got him one as an early birthday present. The only wagon we had was a little one meant more for kids to pull their stuff around in, but this wagon is more for kids to be pulled around in it. It has a seat with a seatbelt on it and everything.

Last night after the boys went to bed, we watched "Shutter Island". It was an interesting movie. I didn't know anything about it ahead of time, besides the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was in it. Keith and I both thought it was good, though hard to follow at times. Now that we've seen it to the end, it all makes sense, but when you're watching it for the first time, it's confusing.

And in other news, Cooper is getting really close to walking independently. I seriously didn't think it would take him this long. He's been pulling up and walking holding onto stuff since he was 9 months old. He will now walk holding onto just one of my hands instead of two. He stands for long periods of time in the middle of the floor and takes falling steps. He's intentionally falling and he will take a step or two on the way down. I hope he'll start walking soon. Mostly because he's moving up to the toddler nursery at church in 6 weeks and around that same time, he'll start attending Mother's Day Out in the toddler room as well. I'm sure it would be a good thing if he was actually "toddling" once he moves to these classes.

How old were your kids when they started taking steps? Garrett was 10 months old. Cooper is 2 weeks away from 14 months and still no independent steps.