a little bit of country and a whole lot of heaven

To Beckham, a visit to Mimi and Papa's house is like experiencing a small taste of heaven. He loves all of the exciting things he gets to do while he is there... playing with their FIVE dogs, riding on the tractor with Papa and helping Mimi with anything and everything in the barn. Of course, his "taste of heaven" are the horses... the little pony named Corduroy to be specific! If he had his way, he would ride Corduroy the entire day. He just loves it!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we spent a long weekend at Mimi and Papa's house, and Beckham had big plans. The first morning we were there, he was ready to get to the barn and saddle up the pony!

Berkley likes Corduroy too, but I'm not sure she shares the same love as Beckham. She does enjoy riding him, and she likes to help brush him and get him looking "handsome." Brenner usually loves Corduroy too, it just takes him a little longer to "warm-up" in the barn. He needs time to investigate everything and check things out.

Beckham is usually always the first rider. He pays very close attention to everything Mimi does, hoping to be able to do it all by himself someday soon!

Corduroy is such a great pony... he even lets "city folk" lead him!

The minute Beckham gets on the pony his face lights up. He just seems so proud of himself!

Berkley and Brenner watched Beckham as he took the first ride.
Berkley was interested for a while, but soon she needed some other entertainment.

After Matt led Beckham around the practice arena a few times, Beckham convinced his daddy that he could do it "all by himself!" He was absolutely right.

He listened carefully as Mimi instructed him how to pull the reigns to make Corduroy turn or stop. He was obviously paying close attention, because he did just as she showed him. He kept great control of Corduroy, and we were all very proud of him.

Beckham could have ridden forever, but there was another b who was waiting patiently for his turn. Brenner had warmed up, and he was ready to ride.

He sat very still while Mimi and Daddy got him situated and ready to ride.

He had no problems striking a pose on his pony! Someone was feeling pretty big.

And a little playful too.Matt led Corduroy and Brenner held on tight.

He seemed to be enjoying his ride and trying to keep his concentration too.It wasn't long before our busy little b needed something to do... so he got to help lead Corduroy with his Daddy. Too sweet!

After all the excitement, Corduroy was ready for a much needed break. The kids helped Mimi and Daddy get him back into the barn and into his stall. While Beckham was back in the barn he decided he might need to ride the "big" horse. There is only one "big" horse, and his name is Requente. Matt has only ridden him a couple of times and has even fallen off of him before. But, Beckham must be a salesman like his Daddy, because he convinced him that he could handle it.

And...he did!Without any fear or hesitation...

and with quite a bit of confidence! He was one proud cowpoke!

And of course, since Brenner had seen his brother on the "big" horse, he had to do it too. Beckham wasn't thrilled to share this opportunity with his baby brother...

But he did it anyway and everyone got to feel pretty "big."

grandparent's day round 2

St. John's always has their Grandparent's Day right before the Thanksgiving holiday, which I think is a perfect time. It is a great way for the kids to show their grandparents how thankful they are for each of them! Beckham is indeed VERY thankful for ALL of his grandparents, and he is extremely BLESSED to have Marmie and JT living in the same town as him. He was SO excited to show them all of the things he has been doing in his classroom so far this year.

He was very proud of the turkey he had made and wanted to show it off first thing. He then quickly took JT over to the game table to show him an activity that kept him quite busy.

Beckham was also very excited to show Marmie and JT some of the letters he had been learning at school. (This is definitely still a work in progress!)

Marmie got to listen to Beckham read one of the books he made at school.

And JT got to sit with his two biggest fans in the special rocking chair! Beckham was so happy to share this special treat with him.

I think Brenner felt pretty big too. He loved being a part of this special day.

We ALL had a great morning visiting Beckham's classroom. He has learned SO much this year and has such an amazing teacher. We are extremely proud of our busy little b.

grandparent's day with baby b

Grandparent's Day was really special for Brenner this year. He got to have Marmie and JT all to himself. Last year, Beckham was still at First Friends too, so Marmie and JT had to split their time. Brenner really enjoyed getting to have all of the attention. (Especially since this rarely happens for him being our #3 little b.)

When Marmie and JT first arrived at Brenner's Mother's Day Out, he was acting a little shy.Once he got Marmie and JT into his classroom, he began to warm up quite a bit. I think he started realizing that they were there to see just him! He seemed to really enjoy being in the spotlight.He got to enjoy a yummy snack with them...
work a puzzle with them...

and share many, many important stories with them!!!

He quickly realized life is good when it is all about you! Not a bad day at school after all.

partying, parading and tailgating

Celebrating the boy's birthdays is so much fun since we get to do it at the same time. I'm sure there will be a time in the future when they might prefer not to share the spotlight, but for now they don't seem to mind. Since their birthdays are only 2 weeks apart, it just seems to make sense that we have one big party, instead of 2 parties back-to-back that would create a lot of unnecessary chaos!!

This year we actually did a "repeat" birthday party. We had this exact birthday party for Beckham when he turned 2 just days before Brenner joined us. It was such a great party and Beckham had so much fun we decided to do it again. (Who needs original when you can have familiar and easy, right?!)

This year I had a little more time and energy to plan this parade party since I wasn't huge and pregnant like the first go around. With A LOT of help from Marmie, and some from Berkley too, we were able to make stick horses to use as part of our invitation. Beckham and Brenner had a great time delivering the horses to all of their buddies.

The invitation that hung on the stick horse read:

Saddle up your horses and come on down
to the biggest and best parade that ever came to town!

That's right cowpokes - it's parade time again.
We're ready to celebrate our birthdays with friends.

Beckham is turning 4 and Brenner will be 2.
We've got lots of partying, parading and tailgating to do.

(All the specific details followed.)

We also attached a label sticker to the invitation that read:

This pony needs a name. What will it be?
We're giving a prize for the best entry!

All of the guests were instructed to name their new friend before the parade, to stick their label onto him/her, and "ride" their horse to the tailgate area the day of the party.

Here is Beckham showing off his new friend, "Thunder."
Decorating for this party was pretty simple. It involved parking a couple of trucks in the designated spot the night before to hold our place and tying some balloons onto those trucks. Brenner pretty much took care of that part! After all, he does LOVE balloons.It wasn't long before we had guests arriving for the party. Everyone was dressed in their best cowboy attire, but there was one rodeo princess who made a grand entrance. Beckham's friend, Avery, was looking precious as always!As soon as each guest arrived, Berkley was right there to greet them and record their pony's name. She was appointed as the judge of the "pony naming contest" along with a couple of her friends. She took her position VERY seriously!!!
We decided to sing "Happy Birthday" to the boys and cut our cookie cake before the parade began.
The boys waited patiently while we tried to get the candles lit. However, one of them did look a little suspicious! (I think he was possibly considering swiping a good lick of the frosting.)But luckily he went for his better judgement. He flashed another grin and waited patiently to get on with the good stuff. His friends were all waiting with him too!After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, I came to the sad conclusion that the candles were not going to stay lit. The breeze blowing around us was just strong enough to take the flame each time it began to glow. There are some things you just don't have any control over, and I was beginning to have to come to terms with that!!!
We sang a quick "Happy Birthday" to the boys with promises that they would have a chance to blow candles out later that day. They seemed okay with that, and they were even better when they got to grab their candles that didn't stay lit. Brenner seemed to think that was his treat I think. How is that waxy number 2?Not so sure...The parade finally began after MUCH anticipation and it was LOUD...

but it didn't seem to bother our spectators any. In fact, they seemed to think it was kind of funny.

As the parade went on, it seemed to get more and more exciting. Soon some of our friends were able to brave the loud noise and even begin sharing some waves.Before long, the excitement and amazement overtook the need to cover their ears.

Their own cheering began...and the parade took all of their attention.Brenner loved every minute of it too.The parade seemed to bring pure joy to his sweet face...and he couldn't stop smiling!!!Berkley didn't seem to be as impressed with the parade as the boys were...

but she finally flashed a smile too!Of course, I think she was more worried about her "job" as a judge. As soon as the parade ended, our "judges" met for some serious business. They had a big decision to make on announcing the horse with the best name.

After much consideration, the girl's chose the pony named "Sissy." She was "ridden" by Avery, our lil' rodeo princess. I wish I had a picture, because her pony truly fit her name. Sissy was even wearing a pretty pink bow. (Which might have won these "girlie" judges over!!!) As an added side note; Avery's precious little sister, Ainsley, named her pony "Bud." Too funny!!!

The boy's parade party was so much fun! Easy set-up, fantastic entertainment, and very little clean-up. I'm beginning to think this party could be a birthday tradition for the boys!?! After all, the West Texas Fair and Rodeo Parade is held in downtown Abilene every year on a date very close to these b's birthdays. Something to definitely ponder...