Thanks again for all of the movie recommendations! As soon as we get a dvd player (hopefully this weekend!), we're going to get started on them! Here's the list...
1. Music and Lyrics
2. Freedom Writers
3. Because I Said So
4. The Holiday
5. The Good Shephard
6. Employee of the Month
7. Pursuit of Happyness
8. National Treasure
9. Little Miss Sunshine
10. Spellbound
11. Catch and Release
12. Pirates of the Carribean
13. Stranger Than Fiction
14. We Are Marshall
15. Garden State
16. Night at the Museum
17. Apocalypto

I am sooo excited to get started! This should last us all summer!!

We just got back from our Destin trip with our college friends yesterday, and we had a WONDERFUL time! It was Josh's group from college + wives. I would love to write all about it, but I have a ton of laundry and cleaning to do before Jo Anna and Hannah get here during James's nap, so I'll try to highlight the trip through pictures. Also, I'm including a link to my flickr account if you want to see all of the pictures. Destin Photos Here are some of my favorites...
The weather could not have been better! It was warm with a cool breeze on the beach, and this night, the sky was so clear.














Our friends were wonderful and gave us some alone time (this was not it) on the beach by watching James! They were so sweet to him, and he loved all of the attention!



The guys...Adam, Josh, Cody, Joe, Brad, Greg, Chad. I put a link if they or their wife has a blog. I'm going to put my links back on, btw, because I've gotten complaints that I took them off and people not being able to find certain blogs. These guys are a tight group of guys. There are many tears of laughter when they are together (they are some of the funniest guys I know), and they were all in our wedding.

The wives. Me, Kim (one of my bff's, Adalie's mama), Jennifer (Joe's wife...7 months pregnant), Meghan (Chad's girlfriend), Lauren (Cody's wife), Jaren (Greg's wife...we spent the summer in Florence together for HUF), and Cory (Brad's wife, mother of two adorable little ones)



Kim and me. We had a blast together...getting sun (mostly her, because I put on sunblock 50 since I've had precancerous moles), talking mommy talk, laughing so hard we cried, eating yummy food, doing cartwheels and assisted handstands on the beach like kids (my arms are sore now!), playing on the same team in catch phrase, and many other good times! I miss her already!

James was not a fan of the beach!














It scared him, and this was where he wanted to be the whole time.










He loved the pool, though. It lulled him to sleep in Daddy's arms.

Did anyone else just LOVE the American Idol finale last night?! It was my favorite so far! It was so entertaining, and it just made me so happy to see things like
1)Sanjaya singing with Aerosmith's guitar player (can't think of his name)
2)the cat/tiger guy...I laugh inside every time I think about him
3)Ruuuuuuben, the velvet teddy bear
4)Kelly
and many more things!

I need your help! Josh and I have not seen hardly ANY movies in the past two years, due to being pregnant and having James. We haven't even been renting because 1)our dvd player is broken and 2)we're out of the habit. Josh has actually seen more than me, because he'll go with my brother-in-law at night sometimes, but the last movie I saw in the theater was "The Nativity Story" during Christmas (which I LOVED!). Now that all of the fall shows are over, we want to start renting movies again. Can you please tell me a movie or two or three that you've seen in the past couple of years that you really loved? I figured you all could benefit from this, too! I saw Dreamgirls on an airplane and loved it, by the way! Thanks!!

Yesterday, I thought it's be fun to put on our swimsuits and run through the sprinkler in Elizabeth's backyard to cool off from the already warm late morning. James and I both didn't have our swimsuits over there, so we borrowed! That worked really well for me, but not so well for James! Thomas's and Matthew's were much too big for him, so we had to go with ME's from last year. It was hilarious, because he is just all boy! There's not one part of him, except maybe his eyes, that looks like a girl! Check out those thighs!!

James wasn't too fond of cold water spraying on him, but ME, Thomas and I had a blast running back and forth! Maybe next year James will enjoy that a little more.
Here James was being a little cuddle-bug!














Could be brother and sister!

We didn't have any plans this weekend, so we got to just relax, get things done, and enjoy the incredible weather outside! Elizabeth brought over these two pots, which was my birthday present from her. She's not quite finished with them, but I think they look great! I'm really excited about having something beautiful to look at in our backyard! Just a little bit can make such a difference! Our front yard is starting to shape up a little bit, too, thanks to Josh's hard work and all the rain we've gotten this Spring. Here are pictures of our yard last fall and the way it looks now...

October 2006




















May 2007



It's coming along!

In other news, I'll be going to the dentist possibly a few times this week. Last week I was having major tooth pain on my left side. I went to the dentist and he filled two cavities. It didn't get better at all, so I called Friday (I was going to go in, but James hid my keys and I couldn't go) and he called in a prescription for an antibiotic just in case it was trying to abscess. Well, apparently it was, because it started getting better yesterday. This whole time, I've been chewing on my right side because it's been too painful on my left, and today, I noticed that my lovely crown on my right side is now loose! SO, I get to go in and have that fixed, too! Also, I have been noticing lately that I have wild hair at the start of my hairline. Apparently, I lost hair from breastfeeding for over 10 months, and it's now growing back! I've heard of that happening, but I didn't even realize it had happened to me. I've been wearing lots of headbands lately, and now I know why!

These next few weeks are going to be lots of fun. We're going to the beach with our college friends, where I'll get to be with Kim (yea!!!), and then when we get back, Jo Anna and Hannah (my sis-in-law and niece) are coming for a couple of weeks!!! I can't believe it's already here! I still feel like it should be March or April (I'm really behind!). I hope everyone has a great week!

This was really what I saw on my front lawn this afternoon! There was a rainbow in a perfect circle around the sun! It looked like the world was about to come to an end! You can't see all of it with my camera (I was laying on the ground just to get this much...it was huge), but you get the idea. The second one is on my front porch looking up with the sun blocked.













In case you didn't know, I was trying to be Blake in the title. We ran out last Friday night, and I happened to have my camera in the car, so I videoed him dancing, yeah-ah-ah-ah! (I'll never be able to sing that song any other way now) It was his bedtime, and he was very sleepy, so the dancing is a little more subdued than usual.


James learned a new trick today! One that will make me a little more nervous every meal time...


















He also did this completely on his own! I was trying to keep him entertained while I worked on my books, so I put a tin can, his snack, and his bottle on his high chair. I looked up, and he was drinking his bottle this way! Pretty creative!














Here is James hangin' with the girls. Elizabeth was watching him so I could work on my books, which by the way I'm just about finished with! I'm finished with everything I can do at home at least. All I have left is to punch the holes and put the rings in! YEA!!!!

Elizabeth and Bryon watched James for us Saturday night so we could go on a date. We went to Outback, which we hadn't gone to in ages, and thoroughly enjoyed it! I did have to eat my steak, salad, potatoes, and bread on one side of my mouth, because I was having some major tooth pain, but it was still great! Elizabeth took this picture while she was watching him.


Today, Elizabeth had to take ME to Fort Worth to have her follow-up appointment, so I had the privilege of watching my little Sweet-T all day. We went to the dentist this morning so I could get my teeth fixed, and the ladies who work there had a great time watching the two of them. Thomas is extremely literal and corrects you every time you say something that isn't exactly right. One of the ladies was saying how Thomas was telling her all of the books he has read, and he said, "No...not ALL of the books!". I told her he was very literal, and she said that figured that out 5 minutes into their conversation. He is so much fun to hang out with, and James especially loved getting to be with him all day.

In case you're wondering what I have been doing this weekend and will be doing probably every minute of my spare time (besides blogging) the next few days, I will be here...


working on the end-of-the-year books for my pre-schoolers. Thursday is our last day, and I am somewhat of a procrastinator, so I have got a lot of work to do!! Good thing I enjoy doing it! Well, enough procrastinating for now. Hope you all have a great start to the week!

I got to see Suzanne at church this morning! Always a treat, and crazy that this was the last time to see her at church without her quads! She looks so adorable pregnant, and it was so good to see her. Just for fun, here are a couple of pictures of us last year at church at different points in my pregnancy with James.


















My second Mother's Day has been a great one! We tried to take pictures today, but James was being a little stinker! I thought you might enjoy these FABULOUS pictures!







This last one will have to do!

















It was so much easier last year!!

Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.
-- Stevie Wonder


It seems to me that my mother was the most splendid woman I ever knew... I have met a lot of people knocking around the world since, but I have never met a more thoroughly refined woman than my mother. If I have amounted to anything, it will be due to her.
-- Charlie Chaplin


The future destiny of a child is always the work of the mother.
-- Napoleon Bonaparte


Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe


The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.
-- Henry Ward Beecher


God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.
-- Jewish Proverb


The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.
-- W.R. Wallace


Life is nothing but a series of crosses for us mothers.
-- Colette


I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.
-- Abraham Lincoln


My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.
-- George Washington

My friend gave me the pictures she took of our boys, and they were too cute not to share!


James's 12 month check-up was today. He needed shots and was sick for a couple of weeks, so we had to wait until today. He is in the 67% for height and head and the 75% for weight (finally 25 lbs!). Supposedly this year they don't gain much weight, but get taller, so it'll be nice for him to stay in his clothes longer than he used to! He took one look at James as he was exploring every inch of the exam room and said, "Boys like him are where cowboys come from!". I laughed and laughed because it is so true! He is so busy, going from toy to toy to toy in no time and is ready to roam the house. He wants and demands his freedom, but wants his mama right there with him. Holding him down to change his diaper is a nightmare right now, because he HATES to be confined in any way. The highchair, stroller, and car seat are all getting too confining for him and he lets me know it! He has to explore constantly and touch, see, and hear everything that is going on. This is the story of my life right now! He did say though that between the age of 5 and 10, boys become very predictable and simple. My mom always said that my brother was a much easier 16 year old than 2 year old. This gives me a little peace knowing this!

I took these pictures yesterday, and the lighting was good, so it really captured his sweet face the way it really looks. I have been so emotional and sentimental the past couple of days, mainly due to the death of Elizabeth McCullough, the young mother my mom and sister work with, and on top of that James has been so perfect, fun, and sweet lately, so I just wanted to put some pictures up of my sweet little love who just has such a strong-hold over my heart.
I have had an achy heart non-stop, and it goes back and forth between a good and bad feeling. Good when I look at my loved ones, and bad when I think of Elizabeth's husband, children, and mother. I have been getting weepy at everything!
I was listening to the music on one of James's toys, which plays prettier music than most toys, and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" came on. You're going to think this is crazy, but it really is so pretty, because it sounds like an organ, and it has several part harmony, and the way they play it is really pretty. Well, it sounded like wedding music, and I was looking into my boy's sweet, big blue, puppy dog eyes (I'm tearing up right now) and I just started crying thinking about him getting married one day and how fast it's going to fly. How crazy is that?! I know he's only a year old, and I don't usually think that far ahead, but I think this situation just makes you that way.
The song is going through my head over and over and over, and I just want to go wake him up right now and give him a hug! (Don't worry, I'm not that stupid!) This age has it's hard moments, but he has been so much fun lately we can hardly stand it. Here are a few things that I have to write down so I don't forget.

~Josh came home yesterday, and James yelled, "DAAADDYYYYY!!!". James has been so extra affectionate lately, and really into us. He's still into everyone else, too, but he's just realizing how much he loves us. He's playing little games where he wants us to chase him, and when we do, he starts cracking up or screaming because he's so excited. He's using our names more and more, and it breaks my heart when he calls out for me when I have to leave him (like at church). I'm starting to really feel the whole "mom thing" in a new way. When someone starts calling you mama, it just brings a whole new feeling to motherhood. He has this dramatic thing going on, where he will cry and call out for something (like "pa....ci, pa.....ci, pa....ci!") and then as soon as I give it to him he laughs. Today after mother's day out, I tried to get him to take a nap.
He cried and cried, so I went in there and could tell he wasn't going to go to sleep. I picked him up and turned off the fan, and then he immediately started laughing like this, "he...hehe...hehe...hehe". I busted out laughing. I think he knows what's up. I'm dying to see what he's going to be like as a 2 year old! I also forgot to mention that 4 of his molars have made their way out of his gums. He was working on them a few weeks ago, and I think he's finally over the pain. Enough rambling for now!

Please check out my sister's blog and say prayers for this family. Their worst nightmare came true today, and they need many prayers.

*Friday night we got most of the house organized. It felt so good to have that done! We have more rooms to do (for instance, the room I'm in right now...the office/spare bedroom/ebay stuff-to-sell room/library/james-old-clothes room/books-for-james room), but we got the bulk of it done.

*Saturday I joined the gym again! I cancelled my membership in the fall (I think?) when James was not liking it in there, and I have been itching to get back in there! We made up a schedule that I'm really excited about, because it won't take too much time away from one area. It felt sooo good to work out, and James did great in there! Josh walked by at one point and saw James sitting in one of the girl's laps, which made me feel good about it. I am extremely sore, but I love it!

*Saturday night we ate Mexican with our friends for Cinco de Mayo. James and their boy are interacting more and more and were being so funny in their high chairs. Their boy screamed and James looked at him like "What's wrong?", and they played peek-a-boo. Our friend was holding both James and their boy after dinner, and they started hugging and gave each other kisses! It was the cutest, sweetest thing we'd ever seen!

*Sunday afternoon, I went to a shower, and I tripped in front of everyone and fell to the ground on my hands and knees. Talk about embarrassing!! There was a step down to the living room and I didn't see it. I twisted my ankle a little, but I'm okay today. I needed and got a starbucks treat with Josh after that to decompress! I'm sure everyone falls at some point during their lives, so hopefully this is my one and only time to fall! :)

*Life group is getting harder and harder with James. They all love him, and we enjoy it so much, but last night he just walked around constantly and was so verbal and loud! He's the only baby, so they swear that it doesn't interfere, but I'm wondering how much longer we'll be able to go with him! Hopefully we won't ever have to stop!

**My aunt Barbara emailed me something great to go along with this...
"A mother of 6 children once told me not to waste time worrying. 'It's like sitting in a rocking chair, you spend all that energy and go NOWHERE.'
Love, Aunt Barbara"**

I am up late from my java chip frappachino I had tonight and reading my old blog posts. I decided to repost this post (I am on a roll!). It was good for me to read again!

What Really Matters
I was really struck by what our preacher talked about on Wednesday night. What gets you worried? What do you obsess about? These things will be long forgotten and no one will ever remember the things that we put so much importance on or obsess about....the size of our house...having the latest shoes....did I make a good impression...do they like me...am I getting a little bulgy in this or that area...etc. What will be passed on from generation to generation is how we raised our kids and how much love we gave to the people around us. If we don't raise our kids to love Christ, then they won't teach their children to, and their children won't teach their children to. Eventually hundreds of people could possibly not know and follow Christ, unless someone from the outside intercedes. (That also makes me want to do more interceding-think of how many people that really affects, when you include children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.!) Lyndon B. Johnson said that when reading about President Lincoln, he couldn't even bring him back to life in his mind, and if a president couldn't bring another president back to life, then there's no hope for the common man. He said that he wished he would have spent more time pouring love into his wife and kids than worrying about what other people thought of him. I think that's great advice.

We put James in his crib at 6:50 tonight and threw 3 extra pacis (in different places) in his crib. We walked in there just now to put some clothes up in his closet and saw this. He does something new every day to crack us up! I thought he went right to sleep, but apparently not!