every captive thought

Yesterday when James got up from his nap he had on one muff-muff and one cowboy boot.  Such an interesting little guy.  So when I dressed him for church he still wanted to wear them.  Too bad it was 101 degrees outside. This morning we went to hear Brad's dad's first mass as a deacon. It was wonderful!  He did a great job!  I was so proud of him.  Then tonight my sister, Christi and her boys came into town!  And today is Grant's 9th birthday! We had a great time singing to him, eating a cookie cake and watching him open presents! Happy Birthday to you... Papa and Will James, Will, Grant, and Brock James LOVES when his cousins are in town!  They all have so much rambunctious fun together.  And then he sleeps really really well.  Love it.  Jude is finally getting in on a little bit of the action too.  Mostly he just sits in amazement and watches all of the activity. Brock and Jude Jamesie and his Daddy Jude looking all official with the potato head glass

Jamesie snugged up in bed with me this morning.  I love his puffy little morning face. Tonight James did a little training with Brad.   He didn't know what they were training for...he was just glad to be running around with his Dad. Then we went to the park for some real fun.   James wanted to push me on the swings. About one millisecond after Brad took this picture I swung into to James and knocked him flat down.  He muttered, "Ouwwww....that's not good...".  Poor baby! Let's stick to Mommy doing the pushing.

Psalm 28:6-7-Praise be to the Lord, for He has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him. We heard back from Dr. Regueira's office today and Jude's labs for this month came back normal!  Thank you Lord! James celebrated this fine day with a Sprite, some gold fish and a little Bob The Builder.  Live it up boy.

Brad's favorite cartoon growing up was G.I. Joe.  He wanted to share this love with James.  Dad ordered some of them for Brad off of Ebay.  Unfortunately James hasn't taken an interest yet but lucky for me...Brad is watching them anyways.  (Did you pick up on the sarcasm there?)  So as if it is not great enough that I get to watch cartoons during the day, now I get to watch them at night too.  Living the dream, baby.  But here is the deal...the dialog in these G.I Joe cartoons is ridiculous!  What were they thinking back in the 80's? While most of it is above my head...I did catch one line.  Duke said, "I'm gonna kick the mustard out of that crazy hot dog!" Yep...that is exactly the kind of thing I want my toddler saying. "Yo, Joe!" Today after nap time James asked for some ice cream so we ran over to another new frozen yogurt place by our house.  It was not as good as Orange Leaf but James didn't seem to care.     And our sweet Nana joined u

I know this video is a little lengthy (4 minutes) but this is typical of what we go through when we serve James something he doesn't want for dinner.  Bribing.  Begging.  Threatening.  Pleading.  Tricking.  We try it all.   (And I don't know what was so darn funny to Jude in the background). Jude on the other hand will eat anything.  And everything.  I've mentioned before some of the delicacies that he's snacked on...spiders, roly polies, leaves...well as of tonight we can add bird poop to that distinguished list.  Gross.  He definitely does not have the same refined palate that his brother has.  If he can get his chubby little hands on it, he will eat it. Last night Brad got him up to feed him a late bottle and he just couldn't wake up for it. But he ate it anyways. Today Nana came and took Jamesie for some ice cream.   When he got home he played outside while Brad worked in the front yard and I cooked dinner. Jude really wanted to go outside too and play wi

Jude sleeps in the craziest positions.  I don't even know how this was possible.  Today was our monthly appointment with Jude's oncologist. Unfortunately we had to see his partner who I don't so much care for in spite of the fact that I asked the nurse to make sure Dr. R was going to be in town when I made our appointment. Whatever. I am learning that it doesn't matter what I do or say or no matter how much I try...they aren't going to listen to me or care what I want or what my opinion is. I am so frustrated.  Plus this other doctor totally, 100% said the opposite of what Dr. R has been telling us.  I could just pull my hair out.  All of that hard work to get on the same page with our oncologist a couple of weeks ago just totally flew out the window today. Anyways...we will get his labs back in a week.  Not that they will call me like they ALWAYS assure me they will.  I will have to end up calling them and they will say..."Oh yeh!  Here are your results.

First and most importantly...my Mother made a delicious meal as always tonight but the dessert....OH. MY. GOSH.  It was a new recipe she tried out and I haven't stopped eating it since we got to her house.  The good news is that they are really thin and so you can eat several of them and still have room for more.  They are called PRALINE BARS but that name does not do them justice.  At all.  And the recipe doesn't do them justice either...you are just going to have to take my word on this one and make them right away. Praline Bars 12 unbroken graham crackers (4 squares each) 2 sticks of butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup pecans, chopped 1 cup chocolate chips Place the graham crackers in a jelly roll pan with sides.  Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add brown sugar and pecans.  Boil slowly for 2 minutes.  Pour over the graham crackers.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top.  Bake at 300* for 15 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Cut into squares. How easy is that?!?!?!

Today Brad and I took the boys to the pool.  James tried out a new swimsuit. He loved having his Daddy there with him. Because he does fun stuff like this... Over and over again...   Until James is tired. Mommy just sits on the side with Jude because he is a little freaked out by all the action. He feels much safer here...strapped into his car seat and under the shade. James was exhausted and ready to go home for a nap.  Brad and I realized this is a really nice perk to going to the pool! After naps we were off to church.  And Jamesie got to see his girlfriends. I think I need to go a little easy on the sunscreen.  At least we can tell it's working.