playing catch up

decided it was high time to dust off the ol' blog. i mean i love reading blogs. man, i love reading blogs. so why can't i write one myself?

my "puppies" are now full-on humongous wooly mammoths!

we had to keep two puppies. which, really, is fine by me. it's FINE.

we love these guys so much. scout and chief. chief and scout.

it's football season again, y'all. so that means our thursday through saturdays are filled with football. i have a confession. until last year i didn't even like football. i mean, i loved some college football but nothing else really mattered and i'd honestly rather spend a friday night doing things that most cool people do on friday nights like go out with friends! but now that coop is playing it has changed everything. boy am i glad.

these are from the first game.

2 sacks by #50! woo hoo!

coach dad

getting coached up by your little bro. priceless.

todd and his team. love this.

one one more fun thing to share. pep rallies have become a BIG DEAL lately. last week was 80s theme. so fun. i had the most fun of all reminiscing and then showing the boys clips from the great movies of the 80s. so. much. fun.

coop ended up as joel from risky business. epic.

this is too good not to share. 

cam wasn't sure if he wanted to be a preppy prepster, then wasn't going to participate, then was going to be urban cowboy, which was pretty sweet. 

but the big belt buckle and belt were waaay to big so the whole get-up just wasn't working. so, working with what we had on hand, and a 9:30 p.m. trip to my parents house to get the hat, let me introduce elwood blue. on a mission from god.

todd was proud. eventhough he can't spell. but he was still proud.

both boys won spirit awards. so i was proud. yes, i'm a little competitive. next week super hero day.

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busy to the beaucoup

who isn't?

but for real. i've been busy making these:

i'm in love! i love the awesome texture the old wood gives these signs. well, the pony ride sign in on canvas. just made to look old. but just go with it.

don'tcha love 'em?

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Take Heart

I subscribe to KLove's Encouraging Word daily emails and this was the verse today and it really spoke to me. We've had our own little trial recently. I love the hope that this offers. The honesty. I decided to make a cute graphic for myself (because that's what I do) to have in my office and I felt compelled to post it here, too! Download this and display in your office, home, car, whatever!, too!

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The Time Has Come

Cooper has waited his. entire. life. for this day....his first football game. It's always been like the cruelest joke for the boys that their dad is a football coach yet he would not allow them to play pee-wee football. So, they've waited and waited and waited for THIS day!

I have to admit I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be. Todd on the other hand was on edge just about all week! Coop was just plain out excited.

It was a misty/rainy day. My parents, who thankfully come to almost all the kids' games with me, wanted to sit way up at the top to get out of the rain but I toughed it out, sitting on the front row so I could get some pictures.

He did really, really good, making two goal-line tackles to deny the other team a touchdown! They even announced his name over the loudspeaker! It was a great day. I was so proud. And, I'm pretty sure that good, ol' nervous dad was pretty dang proud himself!

team captains

touchdown

campbell was the waterboy and super excited for his brother!

pumped up waterboy!

nervous dad

relieved dad!

Oh yeah, we won! 38-20!

As any photo-loving mom would, I was dying to take some pictures of Todd and Coop after the game but he wouldn't have anything to do with that. Ugh. Maybe next time!

Go Bulldogs! We love #50!

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Pup Pups!

Just a few fun puppy snapshots from yesterday. They are all such snuggle pups. We love them so very much!

Sweet, sweet mama, Honey

puppies beaucoup!

Summer has been a whirwind. Baseball, track meets, vacation, etc. etc. It's hard to believe that school starts in less than a week. But SOME of us are happy for getting back to a regular routine...and bedtime (ahem).

The most exciting news is that our sweet, sweet dog had puppies a couple days ago!! Nine puppies to be exact. Goldendoodles! However we seem to be not so much golden but the unique black velvet color. Hooray!

So Saturday morning at the crack of 5:30 we hear a yelp and rushed into action! Chloe was there from the first minute. What a really neat experience to share with her. By the time the last puppy was born (5 hours later) we were all worn out!

They are such whiny babies. It is so funny just how LOUD a bunch of hours-old pups can be. We are having so much fun with them. Honey is such a great mom. Just two days before they made their debut, Honey wouldn't put any pressure on her front foot and was hopping around on three legs. Poor baby. Turns out somehow she broke her foot. 

But the vet told us that once the puppies were born that she would forget all about her poor foot. And, sure enough they are right! When she gets up to eat or go outside she runs out and then rushes back in as fast as she can to get back to her babies. Such a good mama!

Now to just come up with nine names...Velvet, Coco, Kohl, Steele, Jet, Onyx...what else would fit a matched set of nine black puppies (five girls, four boys)?? Suggestions appreciated! 

They are the most precious, precious creatures. What a reminder of just what a real miracle life is and how blessed we are!

Puppy love!

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victory

It's only been one week of summer and I'm ready for a break. Typically you think of summer and a nice break to the hectic schedules of the school year. I think it's pretty much been established that we're not a typical family so summer means crazy times.

Last week we had 6 baseball games, 2 baseball practices, summer track workouts for all three kiddos, and a really fun, awesome week-long experience for the boys to participate in the FCA Victory Bowl. So basically the boys left each day about 6:30 a.m. and didn't get home until about 10:30 each night. They were absolutely exhausted. Especially the biggest boy.

The Victory Bowl was put together by FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). It's basically an all-star showcase for graduating seniors. It is a big honor to be selected to play. And to coach, too. They have practices, speakers, devotionals, dinners, a pancake-eating contest, service projects and fellowship. Cooper and Campbell got to be there all week, handing out water, doing chores, setting up practice fields, and basically just hanging out with the big boys who were really just awesome to them.

The game is a pretty big deal around here and is televised locally. The boys were really pumped about getting to play at Floyd Casey Stadium, the home of the Baylor Bears! Campbell was the ball boy and was really excited because on Friday nights he hasn't yet gotten the call downstairs. Coach Seward asked Cooper to signal in the plays. How cool is that?

The Red Team has never lost so there is a lot of pressure to keep up that tradition. The game was really close and came down to the last minute. Literally. We caught an interception on the 5 yard line to basically end the game, ensuring a Red Team victory. It was exciting for sure.

Like I said before, Campbell hasn't gotten to be on the field on Friday nights yet. He's had plenty of JV game time but hasn't been called up to the big leagues yet so being on the field for this game was super-awesome for him. The one thing about the boys is that they study football. Just about all they do is draw up football plays and talk to each other about different formations. It's kinda exhausting to be honest. Bottom line, they know a lot about football. So when the Blue team was kicking off to us with just about 2 minutes left, Campbell ran out into the huddle with the warning "Guys, they are going to do an on-side kick."Hilarious. Super-hilarious. Well, it's super-hilarious now but the coaches really didn't see it as so hilarious in the heat of the moment. Now it's something the coaches, and players!, will probably never forget. Good times.

I'm definitely a reluctant coaches wife but when my kids get these really incredible opportunities I'm so, so thankful. I'll add this to my list of the only good things about having a husband who is a coach:

1. Free ice. (crushed ice people!!!!) 
2. All the girls want to babysit for us (little do they know...)
3. and just added...Incredible opportunities for my kids (in the future I might just make this number 1)

Onward.

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