Where to Start?

...might as well start with a picture of my 3 cute boys!

It's me again. I, apparently, took a little blogging hiatus, but I'm back and remourseful about my time away. We've been having a lot of fun around here, and I hate that I haven't taken the time to share/document it all, but I'm vowing now to try and do better.
We're really enjoying ourselves! Life is good! I have two happy, healthy kiddos that are getting funnier by the day!
Sawyer likes to tell me knock-knock jokes as he poops and I sit and wait to wipe his hiney.
Eli likes to jump off of everything after he warns me with his version of "One, Twoooooooooo, Three, Jump!" He does this in the swimming pool, off the porch, off other people's tall porches, etc.

A few highlights of my days around here right now are my conversations with Sawyer Williams. He is a character and a half, and I don't think he misses much! When asked at church last week where his daddy works, he said, "in Troy." They asked, "What does he do in Troy?" Sawywer said, "He makes money." Another highlight is watching Eli talk to the birds, frogs, bugs, etc. He says, "Hey, Bird! Hey!" or "Hey, Frog, Hey!" OVER AND OVER AGAIN (in the sweetest, deep voice I've ever heard!) He gets down at eye level, so he makes sure they see him if he's talking to a frog or bug. For birds, he runs after them. I LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVE THAT BOY!!!! I could look at him all day and be entertained! He's also learned the word "no!" and is a huge fan!
Me: "Eli, go throw it away."
Eli: "No!"
Me: "Eli, Do you want a spanking?
(Eli is getting LOTS of spankings these days. I hope he'll realize pretty soon that I would appreciate cooperation!)

We've been busy with Bama Jam, Sawyer's first swim lessons, our 6th anniversary, VBS, Father's Day, a trip to Hartselle, lots of days in the swimming pool (big ones and kiddie pools), and Eli trying to potty-train himself since my last post. I'm not sure what to think about that! He goes to the potty a lot, and he tee-tees and poops like a champ, so I guess I should just dive in head first, but I wasn't really prepared for all that. He's only 20 months old. We'll see!

Playing with Turner Weinman in Decatur -Turner has a new sister too, but I failed to get a picture of her!

VBS-SaddleRidge Ranch at HBC

My little Dumpling-Tater Face! :)

Swimming Lessons! Glad we did it! Sawyer loved it! He's not exactly a fish yet, but he's getting there!

Don't they look innocent here? :)

SO glad he's put up with me for the past 6 years! :) I look forward to many, many more!

Big Man!

When Walker got home last night, we played outside, and before we knew it.....
After months of being a happy, content passenger, Eli hopped in and DROVE the Jeep. His legs are now long enough to reach the pedal IF he's standing up. He was SOOOOOOOOO HAPPY and proud of himself.
I can tell I'm going to be running after these two characters a lot now with Eli behind the wheel.
Thought I'd share a video of Sawyer & E in action.
Just a fair warning....the end of the video is kind of scary, so watch at your own risk! :)
Sawyer adjusts the gears for him, and you'll hear them both saying, "Beep, beep, beep" as they back up....(just like a dump truck would! :)
Thankfully, no serious injuries occured!!

Mother's Day!

We had a great Mother's Day! I really, really, really like being a mama! I count it a true blessing! These boys of mine are so funny, so stinky, so dirty, laugh A LOT, eat A LOT, play A LOT and make life around here really fun! Who knew I could love two little boys so much?

So...I woke up and Sawyer asked Walker, "Is it Mother's Day yet?" Walker tried to hold him off until Eli got up, but Sawyer couldn't wait, so he brought me a sweet card that he was really proud of. He had colored on it just for me! :)
Then, we got ourselves dressed and headed South to PCB to meet Allyson and crew for Caleb's dedication.
When the preacher called Caleb's name, Caleb started clapping and saying, "YEA!!!" He cracked everybody up! It was very cute! The preacher said, "You can tell when the parents bring them to church a lot, because he knows just where he is." :) Here they are in their post-church clothes. We didn't quite get a dressed up picture in time.

Allyson, Wes, Caleb and Baby #2 on the way in November! :) WOO-HOO!!!

Allyson had prepared a small feast! :)

Hope Mama Brown had a good Mother's Day! They stopped by to see me on their way down to the beach for a little while Thursday night. Sawyer & Eli love G'mama & Granddaddy! Maybe Mama would have stayed a little longer, but her husband, my daddy, seems to always be in a hurry to get back home. We enjoyed their quick visit anyway!

A few things about my boys (so I won't forget)....

Sawyer's 3 years and 3 months old
-Sawyer likes the word "apparently" right now. "Apparently, I need some more orange juice."
-He is SUPER sweet to Eli. He's so good with him. He says, "We have to be sweet to Eli. He's our baby, right Mama?"
-He's getting really tall lately. Looks like he's growing every day! I look out and see this big kid at the swingset sometimes, and think who is that big kid?
-When we go to the gym, he has take a quarter, so we can get our "skim-and-nim-and-nims." I don't think I'll ever correct him on this one. It's cute!

-He LOVES chewing gum!
-At night, he always wants us to make up a story..."Daddy, you drive the bulldozer. I'll drive the excavator. Eli can drive the concrete truck, and Mama can drive the crane." Then, he'll tell us what we're building.
-He knows a lot about Jesus already. He knows when you die, if you have Jesus in your heart, you go to heaven. He loves to read the Jesus dying on the cross story or his long-running favorite, the story about the BIG FISH.

-He's a very sneaky 3-year-old when it comes to candy. If there's candy in this house, he'll find a way to get it! Lately, the stool is coming out of his bathroom a lot, so he can see what he can find! ;)

-Sawyer's SOOOOOOOOOO SWEET! He cares about everybody and wouldn't want to hurt anybody. I LOVE this about him!

-When Walker gets home, we all play in the yard. Lately, we've been playing baseball. Walker will pitch to Sawyer, Sawyer hits, I'm the hindcatcher, and Eli fields the ball. When he hits it, he'll say "Oh, Yeah! Oh, Yeah!"
-He melts my heart! Every once in a while...He'll say, I want to cuddle with you mama. :) :) I love it!!

Eli Williams is about the cutest thing Ever!!!

Eli is 18 months old.

-He loves his "Mimi" (blanket) and still calls Walker "Mama" although he has LOTS of other words. When he gets up from his nap, he'll point at a picture of Walker and say "Mama." I'll tell him no, that's Daddy, and he just laughs!!!! (like I know, but I want to call him Mama)

-He's a snuggle-bug these days! He wants me to rock him before he goes to sleep, and when he first wakes up, he'll cuddle for a few minutes before he really gets going.
-He LOVES cheese. He goes to the refrigerator, and says "Cheese" wanting a piece of cheese. His other favorites are ketchup and orange juice.
-On our swinget, if I'm outside, he'll climb the rock wall and say, "Mama" to help him slide, but if I'm inside watching, he'll FLY down the slide so fast that he bumps his hiney hard on the ground, but just get up and claps.
-He really likes music and to dance.
-He likes tractors and dumptrucks as much as Sawyer.
-He's really good at entertaining himself in "our garden." He looks intent like he knows just what he's doing.
-Eli also really loves Sawyer Williams, and they play together really well, but if Sawyer gets on his nerves or in his way, E is my aggressive child so far. He'll push him out of his way.
-I think for the most part, he's a tender-hearted, fun-loving doll face.

SWAGGER WAGON

This is HILARIOUS!! I stole this from Beth's blog, but I thought it was too funny not to share. I'd like to give a special shout out on this to my sister, Katie. Ride on, big sis, in your swagger wagon!

Playing

I am so very thankful that Walker allows me the opportunity to stay at home and take care of my boys/play everyday! I LOVE THIS JOB!!! So...if you read this Will, THANKS! I love you!!!

My smart, hard-working husband is in the midst of building a new patio with a pergola! I'm super excited about it! The rain held off most of the day, so he got a lot accomplished. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as they "get the job done." :) I'm SURE the job would go MUCH faster if he didn't have Pete & Repete helping him dig, but Walker doesn't make them move....he just works around them. I think that's SO NICE! Sawyer & Eli think it's GREAT!

Sweet Cabub and Allyson came to spend the night Thursday night. It's REALLY, REALLY fun to have them here! Sawyer & Eli love Caleb like they love each other! They play really well together, and it's so much fun to watch them! We did a little strawberry picking while they were here. Sawyer picked, and did not eat one. He knows we're suppose to wash them before we eat them. His Aunt Al and I didn't mind as much! We enjoyed our fair share! Eli and Caleb went to town! They were both shirtless and covered in juice by the time we left, but that's another reason why I do love that Brown-Brown...We could care less!! They had fun!

Here are the youngest two busy in the strawberry patch. :)

Allyson said before she had Caleb, she couldn't understand why I couldn't keep my boys clean. She said, she gets it now! She also said although Caleb was born and so far raised in PCB, he definitely has country-bumpkin' in his blood! :) I can't imagine where he gets it!!! :) He was cracking us up!!! I think he liked strawberry picking the best!!

Fishing with Granddaddy

Sawyer, Eli and I headed to Hartselle last Tuesday for a few days. Walked stayed home to work in the real-world, but we took off. (He actually got to go spend a few days in Clayton AND turkey hunt, so I think he enjoyed himself too!)
Anyway...Sawyer has a little Spiderman fishing pole he loves to "fish with" in the backyard. So, one day recently, he said, "Mama, we need to go fishing with Granddaddy." So...that became on our to-do list while we were up there.
The whole trip up there was good! I, unfortunately, left my camera on charge at home, so I don't have pictures except from the fishing trip.

• When we got into town, Renee met us at Dairy Queen. I LOVED seeing her!!! We got to chat while my boys played on the playground.


• Katie and her girls came over to play a lot! I love all those little girls, but I can't get over sweet Caroline!!! SHE IS A DOLL-BABY!!! Smiles & is happy ALL THE TIME! I love her!!! I really wish I had a picture! She's so sweet with a little bow in her hair! PRECIOUS! Sawyer REALLY likes them all too!!! When they'd leave, one day he'd say, "I don't want Grace to leave!" The next day it was, "I don't want Shelby to leave!" and I know he loves Julia too!


• We had a fun trip to the Priceville Park with G'mama where Eli managed to climb the rock wall and go down by the twirly slide all by himself. He's definitely fearless! He just goes and does his thing, which is DIFFERENT from my first child. I have to watch him close!


• G'Mama kept my boys one afternoon, so I could go shopping at Target ALL BY MYSELF! WHAT? I loved it!

I wish we had time to visit more with friends we don't see often!! I sure do love a lot of people around there, and it's so hard to get to visit as much as I'd like!! Hope we can make more trips up there this summer! I know there's a little Weinman baby that will be here before long that I wait to see!! :)

Thanks for a fun trip, G'mama and Granddaddy!

Easter Update...Jesus Is Alive!!

I'm a little late on my Easter post, but it was a great day/weekend!
A few highlights include:

• the Easter egg drop where Sawyer and I watched the Easter bunny drop 15,000 eggs out of a helicopter
• Walker killed 2 turkeys Easter weekend, which means he was VERY happy! :)
• Egg hunts with friends and with cousins
  
  It was all really fun! BUT...I guess the best part for me of this Easter has been Sawyer has been SO interested in the real Easter story, so it's been really neat explaining to him that Jesus died on the cross for us, but HE LIVES b/c God has the power to raise him from the dead. He overcame death, so we might have life!
  We also sang and taught this peppy, little "Jesus is Alive!" song to our first grade Sunday School class that Walker and I teach. It's a cute song, and it was fun for us to teach them the true meaning of Easter too. The song has been stuck in my head for days! :) It's amazing how many of those children several weeks ago thought Easter was all about the Easter bunny, and those are church-going kids. Here's a couple of pics of our little family Easter morning before church. Notice: My poor camera is on the brink of death! :)