a pirate or a princess?

Berkley likes to dress up and we all know that she LOVES to dance. The two now go hand in hand. Fortunately for Berkley, her Marmie never gets rid of anything! Therefore, Marmie was able to give Berkley several ballet costumes that my sister and I wore over the years. She really enjoys dressing up in them and putting on performances... especially when she has a captive audience!
You would think since Beckham's heart is always set on boots and cowboy hats that there would be no room for ballet shoes and tutus... WRONG!!! I guess this is what happens when your older sibling is a girly girl. It all seems to have started when Beckham found Berkley's play make-up one day along with her toy hairdryer that really makes noise. He loved turning it on and off. And the make-up... well, it was definitely an easy way to make a mess; which is always fun, right?

Here is the little man testing out the dryer. Very proud of his artwork on his face!
As Berkley began to dress up more and more, Beckham wanted to do the same. (Doesn't every kid brother want to be like their big sister?!?) Unfortunately, we owned no boy costumes. It was all tutus and sequins. Beckham didn't care, he just wanted to put something on like Berkley. And he still loved using the hairdryer while Berkley was adding all of her accessories to her costume.Okay, so this pose is definitely not the most macho!!!Beckham continued to always want to dress up with Berkley. Daddy & JT began to think this might not be such a great idea. It was cute and innocent, but we decided he needed some boy costumes to dress up in. (However, costumes are pretty hard to come by unless it is Halloween!) Marmie, however, showed up one day with a surprise for Beckham... a pirate costume!!! He seemed pretty interested in it... especially since he had just seen his new hero, Ty, in pirate pants the weekend before. Within a day or two, Berkley felt the need for a performance. Beckham immediately followed Berkley into her room to dress up. I reminded him that he had a new costume to put on. Berkley had decided to be a princess, so I told Beckham that he got to be the pirate. It would be perfect! Although he seemed unsure at first, he willingly put on his entire pirate costume. He smiled and seemed to be a very proud pirate.

The proud pirate with his princess... Beckham even gave me his very best pirate face... ARRRGH!Beckham made a great pirate. Berkley most definitely made a perfect princess. It was absolutely perfect... for a moment. I walked into the living room to put something away and was quickly greeted by my princesses... yes PLURAL... within minutes of leaving Berkley's room. My little pirate man wasn't satisfied with his costume. Nope! He wanted the pink tutu.

Ready to conquer the world with his fairy wand. Who needs a sword?
I've decided my little man is just being a great little brother to his beloved big sister... so pirate or princess... it is perfect either way! (At least for now!)

the first sip... how sweet it is!

Today was a big day for Brenner... his first sip of a milkshake!!! He followed in the family's footsteps and immediately became a big fan. For some reason, all of my kids have had a hard time learning to use a sippy cup or sip from a straw. Mimi gave us some advice when Berkley was an infant, and it worked like a charm. She suggested we get a milkshake for Berkley, give her a taste of it, and then make her work for it using the straw. Guess what?!? It worked! The minute she had a taste she wanted more, and she worked extremely hard to figure out how to get it!

Here is Berkley thanking her daddy for this fabulous treat he has brought her!
Yep... she got that sucking thing down in no time! Totally satisfied and proud of herself too.

When Beckham also struggled figuring out what to do with the sippy cup or straw, we used the same technique. Again... successful!

Here is Beckham getting his first taste...

He also took to the sucking thing very quickly...and quite aggressively. He wasn't going to let something so tasty get away!

Obviously, we decided to use the same strategy for Brenner since he also does nothing with a sippy cup except play with it. Once again, we succeeded!!! Brenner quickly figured out how to suck on that straw for that sweet prize we had given him a tiny taste of. Thanks Mimi for the fabulous suggestion. Good thing The Paul Family LOVES ice cream of any kind!

Here is Brenner's first sip of milkshake. (Cookies'n'Cream from Chick-fil-a... could it get any better?)

Raising the roof... I would say he is a fan!
He went back for more, and amazingly he was quite the sucker as well!!!

For the entire play-by-play action, watch the video.

win a quilt?

Okay, so I have never entered a contest on a blog before... nor do I ever have much luck ever winning anything; but there is a first time for everything I guess! My friend, Karen, had this link on her blog and I thought I would give it a try as well. (Thanks Karen. I will wish you luck if you will do the same for me!) To try out your luck at winning a beautiful quilt visit http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com. May the best blogger win! (Ha!)

birthday full of blessings

Today I celebrated my 32nd birthday and it was absolutely fabulous! My family has always loved celebrating birthdays, and we often make it at least a week long event... birthday week! I did in fact begin my celebrating last week at a wonderful lunch with my mom and sister. Amy & Chris are on vacation this week, so she wanted to celebrate early. Then I was able to have such an amazing weekend with great friends, I felt like I was celebrating the whole time. (Not to mention, we kind of were celebrating together! My friend, Karen, who stayed with us celebrated her birthday yesterday! Happy Belated Birthday Karen!)

My actual birthday began perfectly simply waking up surrounded by my beautiful family and wonderful friends who were still in town. Since my birthday fell on a Tuesday, Berkley & Beckham were headed to Mother's Day Out today. Some of my very special friends planned a birthday breakfast for me. It was so much fun. We met at Alley Cats downtown and ate breakfast, drank coffee, and did lots of talking just like we always do... but today it was especially wonderful. My friends blessed me tremendously celebrating my birthday with me, and it was even more perfect since my friend Teri was able to be there with us! Thank you girls for the wonderful celebration you gave me. I am blessed by each of you and cherish our friendships!

My precious girlfriends celebrating with me! After breakfast Brenner and I headed home for a little down time. Matt is fortunately home this week, but he does have a lot of studying to do. He offered to take me to a birthday lunch, but I was so full from breakfast that I actually opted to just eat a PB&J at home with him. (I know... I eat this almost every day and had a chance for something different? What was I thinking?) Lunch was wonderful, though, because it was just Matt, Brenner, and I. Brenner was in a wonderful mood and he really enjoyed having mommy & daddy all to himself. I also surprised Matt with a Half Birthday gift for him which was lots of fun. He is exactly 6 months older than me... or half a year older. Therefore, on each other's birthdays we are technically celebrating our half birthday! (There might be more to come on this surprise at a later date!) I picked Berkley & Beckham up from school and we headed to Sonic Happy Hour for a birthday drink. (We are always looking for an excuse to swing through Sonic!) Tonight we celebrated with Marmie & JT with a dinner at Lytle Land and Cattle Co. After we ate, we headed outside to JT's truck to open presents. The kids were getting a little restless and we decided it might be more enjoyable for everyone if we had a change of scenery. Needless to say, Beckham was thrilled to hang out in the back of the truck. Berkley & Brenner had a lot of fun too. I have to say that birthday tailgating was a great idea. Thank you to my entire family for giving me a birthday full of blessings.

It was a little windy while we tailgated, but we still had lots of fun!

wedding weekend

This weekend two of our friends from Life Group got married. Matt likes to give himself credit for setting these two up, but there are some others who might beg to differ. Whoever the matchmakers, these guys are indeed a perfect match for each other. We are so excited for Brad & Amy and the life that they will now share together as a couple.

Some of our dear friends came in town for the wedding weekend and stayed with us. Both of the couples were in our Life Group when they lived in Abilene, and we miss them all so much. We had so much fun catching up with everyone. Karen and Shane came from Belton and brought their beautiful children, Bella & Gunnar. Teri, Brock & Ty came all the way from Corpus... and Teri is almost 36 weeks pregnant!!! Needless to say, we had a full house this weekend and it was absolutely wonderful. We were blessed by the weekend of fellowship and fun with old friends.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Brazell I love this picture! The look on Amy's face is priceless. Isn't she a beautiful bride in love?
The wedding was an absolute blast! Here I am with some of my Life Group gals. (Our Life Group has split into a few different groups over the years as it has grown. Some of these gals are now in other groups, but we are all still great friends!)
Beginning to get a little crazy...
Our kids had so much fun with our weekend guests. Here are Berkley & Beckham playing with their buddies Bella & Ty.Brenner wasn't sure at first about our house full of people. Here he is checking out Gunnar. (They are only 1 month apart!)Gunnar tried his best to get Brenner to relax a little and have fun!With great friends in town, we had a reason to celebrate with a lunch after church. Several of our Life Group friends headed out to The Homeplace for some great food, fun and fellowship.All of the kids had a blast together. Here is one of the few family photos we have. (As you can see, 3 moving subjects are a challenge to work with! Thanks Karen for the picture!)Our weekend was indeed a little chaotic, but we could not have asked for anything better! Congratulations to Amy and Brad, and thank you to The Smith Family and The Triplett Family for your visit. We already miss you.

sprinklers, splashes & sea-doos... fishing, fireworks & fun on the 4th

We spent the fourth of July weekend at the lake. The kids had such a great time. They got to splash and play in the sprinklers with a special friend, ride on the sea-doo with daddy, ride & drive the boat with JT, fish off of the dock with anyone who would join them, stay up late two nights in a row to watch firework shows, and simply enjoy the simple life at the lake!!! Not to mention, several of their favorite people were there too. Marmie & JT spent the whole weekend with us along with my grandmother, Granny. The kids really enjoyed playing with Granny. They kept her really busy! Amy & Chris also got to come spend Saturday night with us. Nothing could be better than celebrating the 4th of July with family at the lake!

Here is Berkley running through the water with the surprise guest, Ella. She is my sister's great dane, and she LOVES to play in the sprinkler!
Beckham had so much fun playing with Ella. I think she could be his horse!Beckham had fun moving the water around for Ella. They made a good team.

Berkley really enjoyed riding the sea-doos with daddy. She drove really fast, turning circles on the water and jumping the waves a little. Who knew she would be a little dare-devil on the water?Beckham had fun on the ride too... he LOVES to drive anything and everything.
Beckham got a chance to drive JT & Marmie's pontoon boat all by himself and he had a BLAST! (Good thing we went for an early morning ride before the lake got busy!)Berkley enjoyed the relaxing ride. She was really taking it easy!Brenner enjoyed the ride as well...
but it was a little too relaxing for him!

Beckham wanted to fish every opportunity he got. He had so much fun simply having someone cast his line into the water and reeling it back in. He did this over and over again!Thanks to JT for being Beckham's fishing mate. Berkley gave fishing a try a few times too... but she quickly grew tired of it. I don't blame her. I think we'll leave the fishing up to the boys!
Lake Brownwood had firework shows both Friday and Saturday night. The biggest show was Saturday night, but we enjoyed watching them both. Berkley was so excited about the fireworks since it meant she got to stay up really late. She and Marmie got a spot on top of the dock for the show, and Berkley loved every minute of it!
Beckham entertained the rest of the crew on the dock. Here he is swinging with Amy and Granny.

What would a weekend at the lake be without spending a lot of time just enjoying the outdoors? Brenner had a new swing waiting for him on the deck, and he was extremely satisfied with it.There was a lot of Old Maid to be played as well. Marmie & Granny were really good sports.

We couldn't have asked for a better 4th of July weekend. (Except for the fact that daddy was playing in a golf tournament in Abilene and did a lot of driving back & forth all weekend missing out on some of the fun!) The time we did all have together as a family was priceless though. The kids are already asking when we will be back at the lake. Do you blame them?