A first for our family!

On Saturday evening after a fun filled day at the caves, Dave and I were upstairs resting and the boys were playing downstairs. When what to my wondering ears do I hear, but Turner screaming and crying. So I sent Dave down to see what was going on. No sooner does he get downstairs then Hayden in upstairs explaining to me that Turner tripped over a little toy truck and fell. He then proceeds to tell me that Turner has cut his side and is bleeding. He of course neglects to tell me that after Turner fell over the truck, he, Hayden fell on top of Turner.

So Dave brings Turner upstairs and he is all emotional and tired. There is no cut on his side and no blood anywhere. So I hug on him some and get him in his jammies and hold him until he falls asleep, which really didn't take anytime at all. I then put him to bed in his room and go about the rest of my evening.

Come Sunday morning I hear my sweet boy crying and calling for me through the monitor and I go to his room to get him up and dressed for church. He is quite happy through the entire procedure until I put him down, at which point he gets really sad, grabs the side of the bed and says, "It hu'ts, it hu'ts." While at the same time favoring his right leg.

So Dave took him into the urgent care where they proceed to send him to the pediatric emergency center. And my sweet little Turner broke his leg.

It is just a fracture, but that boy is milking it for all it is worth. They wrapped it up at the emergency room and referred us to an orthopedic surgeon.

So on Tuesday we took Turner in and the orthopedic doctor confirmed it was a break/fracture called a "toddler's fracture" apparently very common in toddlers, go figure. I wanted to get him a purple cast, because no matter what color something is if you ask him, it is always "puple". But I got overruled and he ended up with a green cast.

Poor little dude has to wear the cast for four weeks. Surprisingly it hasn't slowed him down any. He can walk on it with assistance and without assistance he crawls like a mad man.

End of the Season

So the end of the spring baseball season has come and gone. Hayden and the Dodgers did a great job. They lost a lot of games, but they won some too. I was so proud of Hayden, when we started the season I was a little (aka a lot) concerned about his baseball abilities and his attention span. There would be times I would look into the field and he would be sitting in the dirt as the other team was getting ready to bat. And in the beginning watching him run to base was painful, it was as if he had all the time in the world to get to the base. By the end of the season, he was actually paying attention to where the ball was when he was on the field (okay he didn't always go and get it when he should, but you could see him tracking it with his eyes, and he was standing up) and he was actually running to the base like something was chasing him. It was incredible to see his growth on the field.

The Dodgers even went out with a huge bang by winning their last game by a land slide.



Today they had the closing ceremonies for the league. I figured we would go get Hayden's trophy and then leave. Boy was I wrong. The league had a whole little carnival going on with face painters, balloon artists and jumping inflatables. They even had hot dogs, chips, drinks and snow cones. Some much for dinner.

Hayden was very proud of his trophy.

Turner even got in on the action.

Okay so now I get to rant. This was our first taste of organized sports and I must say the coach was great and Hayden really did enjoy himself, but . . .I was so disappointed in the other parents. Sometimes I just had to shake my head when the other teams would get so upset about some of the littlest things. I mean really these are five years old for heaven sakes, isn't the point that they be having fun and learning about team work. The league made me mad because there were no set guidelines and every team we played had a different set of rules on when you could run, how many base you could run, when you could tag a player out and on and on and on. Our boys would get so confused and then not know what to do when they finally did get the ball or had to run. And lastly I was so deeply disappointed in the parents from our own team. Going into this I knew we would have to make sacrifices to make sure Hayden was not only at the games, but at the practices also. And like I said I thought Coach Mike did an awesome job and I must give him kudos for continuing on with little to no support. Especially because he didn't have kid on the team, it was his little brother. He would hold practices and only three or four kids (including his brother) would show up. We had concession stand duty twice which is supposed to be covered by the parents. Coach Mike worked the concession stand both times because none of the other parents would volunteer. We ended up working the concession stand on Dave's birthday because no one else would. Then Coach Mike would send out text messages about practice or games and ask people to respond if they weren't going to be there, and people would not respond and not show up. And then these same parents would complain when we lost, because the boys didn't know how to play together, and their son(s) were usually the worst players. I was just so discussed with the whole thing. I know we will continue to participate as long as the boys want to, but I was really discussded with these parents.

Okay rant over.

Home Depot Kid Workshop!

Home Depot has a kid's workshop on the first Saturday of every month. We don't always get a chance to take the boys, but we did make it today.

It is really kind of fun to go and help the kids build a little something. Plus they get the really cute Home Depot aprons with their names on them. And best of all it is free.

Yah, I'm all for free.

Today we made little valets. Not sure what they boys will do with them, but Dave and I will probably get a lot of use out of them for our keys and loose things on the counter top.

I just love this little boy. He can't hit a nail on the head to save his life, and my fingers are a little sore from being in the way, but he sure does have a determination about him.

Hayden did a great job with very little help. It is fun to see his progress since we started doing these workshops how much better he is at doing the steps on his own.

It was just a fun Saturday morning with the family.

Dublin - Dr. Pepper and Spanky

Anyone who knows me knows I love Dr. Pepper. It makes me feel better when I'm sad and if the boys are giving me a headache it fixes that too. I just love to drink Dr. Pepper. Other than water I don't think there is a more perfect drink on the planet.

So being a Dr. Pepper fan I was quite intrigued to learn about this little town in Texas called Dublin. Now Dublin is the first and longest running bottling plant of Dr. Pepper. Not only that but instead of using corn syrup (not that I have a problem with that, unlike some people) they use pure cane (Imperial, this is Texas after all) sugar. I've had an occasion to drink a Dublin Dr. Pepper or two in my time and I find they are just a little bit smoother than a regular DP (as we call them). And a Dublin DP is something that just can't be rushed, it most definitely must be savored. Unfortunately you can't just find Dublin DP anywhere. They only distribute within 44 miles of their plant.

This past weekend we were heading up just North of the Dallas/Fort Worth area and decided to take a little detour on our way to Dublin to take a tour of the bottling plant. And maybe drink a DP or two while we were there.

It really wasn't very big maybe the size of a large living room. They only bottle once a month so we didn't actually get to see the process in action.

They did give us free with our paid tour a bottle of cold DP. As the day was quite hot it was super good going down.

They had some of the old 16oz bottles I remember from when I was a kid, but they aren't manufactured anymore so they won't sell any of their stock. But we did get a couple of cases of their cans and a case of their 8oz bottles to take home with us.


I never did get a picture of the big Dr. Pepper can out in front of the plant. Guess that just means we will have to go back next time we head to Dallas.


What a beautiful sight to behold!!


We actually went up to Aubrey, TX for Dave's nieces mission farewell. It was a great opportunity to support family, now that we live less than a days drive from them. While we were there Hayden made a new friend. Her name is Spanky.

Spanky is the puppy of Dave's sisters Yorkshire terrier. She is a cute little dog and Hayden was in love. I felt bad for Spanky because she was all dirty and had fleas from being left outside all of the time. Hayden really wanted to bring Spanky home with us and I'm pretty sure they would have let us take her, but I just can't handle another dog right now. So poor Spanky stayed in Aubrey.

We have a graduate in the house!!!

Today was Hayden's graduation from Pre Kindergarten. Now as a person with what I deem some common sense I have to ask, "Really, graduation from Pre K? What have they really accomplished? And what are we going to celebrate next with a graduation ceremony, being potty trained? Really?" But as a mom, I was so proud of Hayden and he looked so cute up there in his little cap and gown. Hayden even got to lead the pledge of allegiance and he didn't miss a single word.
Each child was given a graduation certificate with a little present and then they were asked what they wanted to be when they grow up. Hayden stated he wanted to be a Firefighter. I was so proud.

This is a picture of Hayden in his morning teach Ms. Jennifer.

And his afternoon teacher Ms. Linda.

Both teachers have been incredible and Hayden has really learned so much from both of them. I have heard more than once from his little mouth, "Ms. Linda said . . ." or "Ms. Jennifer said . . ." and if they say it, Hayden thinks it's gospel.

So again, Pre K graduation, REALLY, but I did cry and I was so very proud.

Dave turnes 41!!

Dave turned 41 today. Where has the time gone. He can't really be that old I tell myself, but the numbers just don't lie.

We decided to go out to dinner to someplace we'd never been before. And of course when we got to where we thought the restaurant was supposed to be, it wasn't there. We were already downtown and decided to walk over to the Riverwalk and see what we could find. With two kids five years and under our choices were limited not only by the type of restaurant we went to, but how far we could walk without them whining overly much.

We ended up at the Texas Land & Cattle. It was okay. Nothing special.

The best part was just spending time with my boys.

While we were waiting for our table I let Hayden use my camera. We ended up with over a hundred pictures before the camera battery died. Below is just a sampling of Hayden's collection.

He had a real affinity for tree trunks.

He even caught the river police in action.

Easter 2011

For Easter I decided to make a red velvet cake. Yum, my favorite. And Turner decided he was going to help. Everything was going super good and I gave him the spatula to lick. I turned around to put the cake in the oven and this is what I found, Ronald McDonald had invaded my home. How that boy managed to get the batter between his eyes and all over the place, in like five seconds, is beyond me. We even dyed Easter eggs this year. Something we have not tempted in the past due to the mess potential. They came out pretty good.
The boys school had a little Easter program and the Easter bunny even made an appearance.

And what would an Easter program be without and egg hunt. The boys both did great and found way more candy then they needed.
Easter morning dawned bright and clear and the Easter bunny definitely didn't miss our house. The boys both got new Easter basket stuffed full of candy, toys and books.
And of course the Easter bunny hide a ton of eggs.
This is the first year Turner has really been into finding the eggs on his own, so Hayden had some stiff competition. He rose to the occasion though. After all the eggs where found they got to open them and find even more candy. Turner was really into the opening part.The Easter bunny had even put in gold dollar coins in some of the eggs.

And luckily he provided brand new piggy banks to save them in.