and they call the thing a rodeo

It's dust and mud and boots and blood..Good ole Garth. We took the kids to the rodeo at the MSU stadium. Pretty sure we were the only ones there with little tikes. We even heard comments on the way out from the people behind us, "why would you bring kids to the rodeo?" to them I respond, "why the heck not?" It's noisy, dirty, and rowdy which is exactly what a little boy is...a noise with dirt on it!! Axel cried loud a couple times and guess what? no one even noticed because the rodeo was louder than him! It is a beautiful thing really. It isn't like it is church. Gee Whiz! On one occasion Axel got a wild hair and in the blink of an eye grabbed his glasses and flung them into the arena. We were not surprised, boy that kid is unpredictable. We still are convincing him that his glasses are not a toy, it's not an option to wear them, and they are not expendable. So, here is the proof that we actually went on an outing together. Yes, hold on to your hats we actually left the house.

An Ode to Tennille

After much sweat, tears, worry and loss of sleep Tennille, my sister, sent Axel his birthday present early. It took about three weeks to get here, because of some wierd mail issue, which accounts for her loss of sleep thinking it was lost, but it finally arrived. She made him two car roll ups and a crayon roll up..with a sewing machine that has a mind of its own...I would know mine is identical and sometimes a simple project requiring a straight stitch can take hours. For those of you like me who did not know what a car roll up is, it is like a crayon roll up that you stick crayons in to take in the diaper bag so they are not all over the place. Only in a car roll up there are slots for cars and there is a road on one side. So, since I am still bringing cars to church, Axel is obsessed with his cars, that will come in very very handy. Unlike the couple sitting behind us last sunday...They have seven kids from age jr. high on down to age 2 and they all were so quiet with their arms folded saying "amen" after each testimony... No toys no snacks just well-behaved children. Meanwhile, we are frantically trying to keep control of Axel and minimize his fit outbreaks with Eli clinging tightly to him telling him to calm down, and the occasional pretzel taking flight across benches...yep that is us. But I'm sure there is someone out there who can relate to a wild two year old with a stubborn mind of his own. So, back to my ode to T-bomb. She also gave us a copy of her book "Twitch's surprise" which has the cutest illustrations...hopefully the world will be able to enjoy it soon...hint hint Tennille GET IT PUBLISHED...along with all of her other brilliantly written soon to be masterpieces. Anyways, the best part of putting together a gift that you know someone will love is seeing them open it. Well, since the miles and states separate us, I thought I would video it and snap some pictures. Just so you know at the end of the video he did say "thank you" it was just in a whisper so you probably didn't hear it..and he LOVES his car roll ups. It makes it much cozier to sleep with his cars cause he has been taking them to bed in a bucket. So, thank you thank you thank you for thinking of Axel! We love and miss you all. Here it is Axel's early Birthday Party!!

And so Grady doesn't feel left out here are some pictures of him...

Fell asleep eating again. I had to post it though cause his hair is growing in so well. You can hardly see his scar anymore. He finally doesn't have a doify looking hair cut! Yeah!

And introducing Grady in the Bumbo chair...thank you mariah for letting us use it. He is such a happy happy baby. He is getting to be a big boy. He weighs 15 lbs and 15 oz. now, no wonder I get a kink in my shoulder when I put him in the sling. We missed all of our time with him as a baby in the hospital...he is growing up too fast but don't they always. Speak of the devil...he just pooped, probably out of his outfit so duty calls....