Side Note

1. The BUDDY WALK was awesome. I will post more pictures of this soon, but Brody raised $300 for his team and simply had a blast!

2. Please check out my guest post on THIS BLOG. What an honor it was to be asked to share!

3. All three boys had checkups on Wednesday...

Bryce is 5 years old. He weighs 43 lbs and is in the 50th percentile all the way around. He aced his vision test and is growing like a champ!

Brody is 2 years old. He weighs 24 lbs and on the "regular folks" chart he is in the 10th

Braxton is 9 months old. He weighs 22 lbs (YES! only 2 less than Toder....he is for sure a fatty) and is in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He has 6 teeth, is cruising around all the furniture, waving hello and goodbye, babbling lots and saying mama!!

Bryce Joe is FIVE

My cute as a button first born is five. If you are wondering if I cried on his birthday...well I did. I just cannot believe how big he is. He is so smart and independent and adventurous and hilarious! Our days would surely be boring without him in the mix. He is the most fantastic big brother, such a kind friend and again...probably the funniest kid I know. He still eats pretty much nothing but cheese and tomatoes. He LOVES football and golf. He got a new big boy (no training wheels) bike for his birthday and rides it like a champ. He is charming and wild and will call you out in a heartbeat. He is so so so very passionate about Christ. He prays and prays and shouts his love for the Lord at the top of his lungs. He LOVES going to AWANAS and Sunday School and has more friends than I could ever keep up with. He is my big boy...my precious Bryce.

Birthday festivities in pictures:

Bryce got to hang with Kevin Fowler :) They became buddies quickly!

Bryce waiting for his party guests!

Bryce and his two kindergarten pals!

Daddy let baby Braxton have a cupcake

Bryce had a MONSTER themed party!

Pretending this was his eyeball

PRESENTS!

Best Pals!

Our newest family members! We super love our Ms. Joanie and Mr. Jerry!

On his birthday, EMS came to preschool to teach kids about safety. Bryce got to be the volunteer!!

Most handsome little guy around.

He chose to go to Willies for his birthday dinner!

Hooo are you Tuesday...on Wednesday :)

1. List 3 words that remind you of fall.

pumpkin patch, chili and costumes!

2. Do you wear jewelry often?

i wear my wedding ring and the ring a precious friend gave me to remind me of my mom always. i switch up the necklace and earrings often, but i am not the match all that to your outfit kind of gal.

3. Do you like your toe nails painted or natural?

omg. painted! my mother would fly down here and slap my face if i didnt get regular peddies.

4. Do you ever wear a hat?

no ma'am. i look absolutely ridiculous in them.

5. Do you have someone that you talk to everyday on the phone?

yup! i love my phone time with my bestie :) we can save the world with our chats!

Hoo are you Tuesday!

1. What is your Zodiac sign?

I am a Taurus. I def. do not follow my horoscope...but the overall message of a bull is stubborn.

Coincidence LOL!

2. Name 3 things that are always in your purse besides your wallet.

first aid kit, make up bag and some type of race car

3. Which magazines do you look at the most?

real simple is the only one i look at these days...its a quick read and has some awesome tips

4. Do you pluck or get your eyebrows waxed?

i get them waxed when my kids are not with me...which is never...so i pluck

5. How often do you go grocery shopping?

every other week i do that wretched deed. i generally go at midnight when the kids are asleep and justin can handle them (lol) but usually once i month i end up taking the whole brood. we are just a sight for sore eyes. i would pay extra money for HEB to make grocery carts for moms with lots of kids, we do costco once a month....thankfully justin likes it there so he will go with. he would rather give his eyeballs to a homeless person than go to HEB with me :)

your turn!

we are the church

We are the hands and feet of Jesus. We are the BODY. We are the church. I am watching loved ones make some amazing commitments...and our very own hearts are changing as well. Justin and I are currently praying about going on mission trip. Yeah...you read that right. My heart is for an orphanage and farm in Peru and Justin's heart is for rebuilding Haitian schools. We are praying hard about this and plan to make a commitment with our Sunday School class soon. I ask that you pray for God's plan to be fulfilled. Wherever he wants us to serve is where we want to be. I am to be a disciple. I am to spread the word. I am to follow His plan. There are others in my life that listening to his calling. From making meals for a sick friend to feeding the homeless to teaching sunday school to adoption. I do not want to sit back and watch it happen either...I want my hands all the way in the mess. What a beautiful mess its going to be.

Please pray for Justin and I as we will need all of your support going into this amazing venture. Pray for our hearts and minds to be open and it to financially be possible.

Please visit a blog of a dear friend who is opening her heart and sharing her story of how she is going to be the hands and feet of Jesus as well...

http://oureyesareopened.blogspot.com/

Please pray for them. Please help them if you can.

hall

a picture of my latest hallway project for my non-facebook friends. we have 3 preschoolers now (and they each have a preschool bag) + my gym back + a diaper bag + a laptop bag = chaos. everything was kind of showing up in a big hurricane of a pile. NOT OK. so i made a mad dash to michaels and whipped up a solution for under 10 bucks!

monday blogaroo questions (because hoo are you tues was cancelled this week)

1. Do you feel guilty spending money on yourself?

oooh thats a tough one. i am the world's worst about spoiling everyone but myself (everyone meaning my 4 boys). i just love love love buying them things! i mean dont get me wrong...i love to spoil myself now and again...BUT i get so much more satisfaction out of making them rotten!

2. How well do you know your neighbors?

not so totally well. we are friendly with some of them, but nothing like our family in houston. we were bff with all of our neighbors in houston. literally...we hung out every single day. i dont miss much about houston...but i miss our neighbors like crazy!

3. What age are you looking forward to being?

none. 25 was my favorite. 26 is boring and nothing else ahead sounds too super cool.

4. Do you get excited when the mail comes? Why?

i love the mail because there is always something super fun in there. amidst all the gross and ugly bills there is always a fun letter from pop-pop or a copy of real simple magazine or one of bryce's special magazines from his meme and papa sullivan. our mail lady is a little bit of a biddy...but fortunately i dont have to look at her.

5. What is your earliest childhood memory?

i remember making my own bottle when i was 3. uh-huh...thats what i said! when i was THREE my mom let me have a bottle still...i would stand on my little stool and microwave it and then go to bed. i was her baby...she would have probably let me take a bottle to high school if i had wanted to.

6. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up?

I am positive that Bryce is going to be either a politician or a minister. hoping for the latter. i pray that brody will be my little buddy forever...but i am positive that he is going to be super successful in whatever job he decides to have. if you ask justin...he is going to be the first kid with DS to be a professional golfer. and mr. braxty.....well he is just going to be cute. i will pick something fancy for him when he is not just a little cute ball of jello.

7. What do you think makes a good friend, or friendship? well lets just end with a bang! to me...i am so schizo and add and all over the place and so over stimulating/stimulated (lol) that i dont have a specific friendship "criteria" i just like people that are fun, that dont take themselves too seriously, that will laugh with me, cry with me, make fun of me, lift me up, party with me, do NOTHING with me and just plain have a good ol time with me. my best friendships are my friends that i just talk about nothing with everyday. i am blessed now with some of the best friendships i have ever had in my life. taking the word friend to a whole new level. i have the best friend i have ever had. ever. and then i have a slew of amazing ladies i could NOT live without. could NOT. i have been told that i have a very eclectic group of friends...its just my gift. i flipping like friends :)

Brody, My Hero

9/11 is a day to remember some very special heroes. It is a day to pray big time for some families that lost big time. It is a day to be proud to be an American. It is also a day to praise God.
On this day...I praise God for my freedom, my country and my very own little hero...Brody. Lots of people fought for their lives on this day. So did sweet Brody. He was born on September 11th, 2008 in the midst (very scary midst) of Hurricane Ike at 36 weeks gestation. Little Brody showed us what a little fighter our gracious Father had created him to be. He showed us BIG time. In his two incredibly happy and amazing years he has gone through 55+ days in the hospital, 5 ambulance rides, a stomach surgery, 21 stitches on his forehead, rsv, pneumonia, his first year at preschool, countless haircuts (seriously his hair grows like a wild man), the most amazing therapist (OT and speech), some pretty severe reflux, first friends, first tricycle, a baby brother, a puppy (see ya, noodle) and so much more. He is a fighter...a little bad ass if you will. My man is awesome. I love his guts all the way to pluto. He is walking 90% (10% giraffe/crab/mowgli) and his verbal capabilities and general communicative skills get better and better each day. He eats like a gorilla and is ALWAYS smiling. Actually is pretty much always laughing. Giggling. Cracking up at himself. He totally knows he is cute.

Brody John McElhannon is MY hero.

He struggled.

But....darn it...he stayed cute the whole time :)

first hair cut

mommy's sweet angel.

I truly do not know what we would be like as a family without him. He has made us who we are. And I like us.

Our awesome Sullivan family celebrated round 1 of Brody's big day at the river house!

They spoiled the boys to death with tons of presents and yummy cupcakes!

Brody is just one big boy with all his cars and trucks and super hero toys!

Can you believe he is TWO? He got to have the most AMAZING birthday party. We celebrated with 14 of his very bestest friends at the build a bear work shop. He had the most precious teddy bear cupcakes and made a cute as a toot camo teddy bear! All his sweet friends got to hold a little red heart, make a special wish and put them all in his bear's tummy. Get out of town with the cuteness. I made his friends bear shaped peanut butter and honey sandwiches with teddy grahams and gummy bears (ok and some fruit to pretend like we were atleast a little healthy) and put it all in a red picnic basket with little bears on them. I only have crummy pictures posted for now (all from my phone) BUT soon I will post the AMAZING pictures that my BF @ Mustard Seed Photography took.

Brody and his friends picking out their bears.

singing happy birthday!

giving his BF alex a big smooch

Look how blessed he is! So many people that love his guts!

He got so many fun presents. Bryce picked out a very special gift for him...a shopping cart. He shopped the whole house today. There was toilet paper, a shoe, my brush, every car he could find, some books and almost his baby brother in that shopping cart today!

Thank you all for loving Brody as much as we do.

Fancy pics to be posted soon :)

So easy, So fast, So good

RUSTIC CHICKEN PIZZA

Ingredients

chicken cut into bit size pieces (i cheat and use a rotisserie)

2 roma tomatoes

1 package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

ranch dressing

parmesean cheese

mozzerella cheese

refrigerated pizza dough (i use the pampered chef pizza dough....half to make it thin crust)

Roll our your pizza dough onto a cookie sheet

Cook it for about 6 minutes on 375 degrees. You are wanting it to start to not be so gooey.

When you bring it out of the oven, cover the crust in a mixture of ranch dressing and parmesean cheese. This is basically your pizza sauce - so use as much or as little as you like.

Put on spinach, chicken, cheese, and top with tomato slices (i of course add jalapenos too)

Put it back in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

And then.........

ENJOY!!!!

hoooo are you tuesday

1. Do you type on a keyboard the correct way or do you peck like a cute little chick?

Mostly the correct way.

2. Typically how long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

20 minutes. Moms of three preschool boys do not get more time than that. End of story.

3. Do you prefer lip gloss or lipstick?

Lip gloss...but I can never seem to find one that I just LOVE. Maybe I should go lip gloss shopping...

4. Do you take clothes to the dry cleaner or wash them yourself even if they say dry clean only?

I do all of our laundry...but the fancy stuff goes to the cleaner. I do not like ruining things and I especially hate things that look faded.

5. Do you prefer Wal Mart or Target?

I heart Target. I get in lots of trouble there. We buy our formula there...so its an excuse for me to get to go each week. Justin is perfectly aware that I cannot just walk in and get formula....EVER. BUT i have also been known to get into my fair share of trouble at walmart too.

SCHOOL!

My precious big boys on their first day of school! (FBC preschool)

YES, they MATCH. because they are AWESOME!

little stinker brody getting ready to go see ms. kathy!

big boy bryce headed to see ms. sheryl!

even this little guys gets to love on ms. karol!

my classroom! and my bandana curtains!

some more cuteness i made for my classroom

i heart owls

view of ms. misty's class!!

brody's napmat that i made him!

napmat i made for abby

fudge for the boys teachers on the first day of school...little suck ups...

and...brody is a stud on the playground!

I am so proud of my little family! We are doing some crazy fun things!! God is so GOOD!

Hooo are you Tuesday...on Wednesday :)

1. What is your least favorite thing to clean in your house?

I am not a fan of the dishes. Mainly because its never ending. I do a full load everyday....and we even use paper plates!!

2. What color of shirts do you wear the most?

I thought I hated the color purple..but apparently I don't because I just looked in my closet and half of my shirts are purple!

3. Do you have long hair or short hair?

I have in the middle hair. I am in a wedding in November, so I will keep growing it until then and then possibly go for change! I am so schizo about my hair. I have had every color, every style and every length!

4. What time do you usually eat dinner?

WAY TOO LATE! The boys eat dinner at 6:00 no matter what. But, if I want to eat with my husband...we have to eat when he gets home from work (which is NEVER before 8pm).

I long for the day that we will see his handsome face in the daylight :)

5. What is your favorite dessert?

Dessert is currently a kid with a runny nose. I avoid it at all costs.

But,if it was a life or death situation and I just HAD to have it I would want cheesecake...or apple pie...or fudge...or ice cream...or oatmeal raisin cookies...or anything with pumpkin...or anything with cinnamon...

do you see the problem here lol??