Give Thanks Walk for St. Jude...

On March 16th, 2010, we received a phone call around 8 p.m. that we will never forget. We found out that our nephew, our brother and sister-in-law's SON, our little buddy, had a brain tumor. We immediately went to Cook's to be with them and tried to hold it together. We were all devastated and in shock. It was one of the worst nights of my life. The fear of the unknown was lingering and I couldn't stop thinking this couldn't be happening to our family, to Tyler. Tyler was covered in prayers and by the grace of God, his surgery to resect the tumor was very successful. After he was stable and discharged from Cook Children's, he went straight to St. Jude Children's Hospital for intensive chemotherapy for six months. We had the privilege of visiting him one weekend and we got to tour the hospital. It was amazing and like no other place I've ever been. It is a place of hope when there seems to be little or none. Obviously, this place is very special to our family and we would love for you to support Team Tyler and St. Jude by coming to the walk on November 19th. Here is the link:

https://waystohelp.stjude.org/sjVPortal/public/displayTeamPage.do?eventId=176361&programId=601&teamId=12638

Sweet cousins!

Best buds!

SPOILED rotten!

Well, to finish up our summer travels, Luke and took a fabulous trip to Dolores, Colorado to visit my Uncle Larry & Aunt Sharon. It was way fun and a sweet time with JUST Luke, hence the spoiled rotten title of this post. It was a great time of relaxation (I got to sleep in every morning!), sight-seeing, wonderful food as and always wonderful time visiting with my aunt and uncle who I love dearly. So thankful for wonderful family and the opportunity to see them even though they are far away!

Exhibit A-this is what happens when you give a child a lollipop to appease him in the car. Good parenting on my part...ha!

A. Sharon made homemade ice cream and it was delicious! If you know Luke, this is so typical....food in one hand and a ball in the other!

Luke and Grauntie playing on the floor....so sweet!

Grauntie Sharon made homemade pancakes for me! Yummy!

Okay, I'm laughing as I'm writing this post. Lots of these pics revolve around food! WE did eat really well while we were there. I came back from taking a shower to find Luke with some batter snuck to him by one Grauntie....

Uncle Larry and Luke!

Eating dinner on the back patio which you can do in the summer in Colorado! The weather and view were perfect this night.

We sat and talked fireside after putting Luke down for the night. So wonderful!

More giggles....

Luke and I at Mesa Verde, which is a really neat National Park close to Dolores. We had lunch there and then did some sight-seeing. Thank you A. Sharon and U. Larry for a wonderful visit! XOXO

Park City Pics!!!

We had a great time in Park City and it was quite the respite from the hot July weather in Texas this summer. We practically lived outside and it was a BLAST!

Papa and Pops having a great time at dinner!

Cousins watching a movie together...

Matthew and Mere-Mere on the bouncy castle slide...

All 7 boys....wild and crazy!!!

This was my attempt to get a good picture of all three boys...it didn't work out so well!

Matthew giving his Papa kisses....

Lukey giggling with Mere-Mere during breakfast time...

Pops on the early shift with Luke!

Cozy, cozy!

Doctoring a "major" boo-boo....

Caleb ate 3 of these slices of cheese pizza in one dinner...crazy! The slice was as big as his head.

Of course the grandparents sneak Luke a sucker....

Mommy and her boys at the ski resort....

Mommy and Chooch on the chair lift!

Caleb and Mom did the alpine slide together and went in the "slow pace" lane...

Can you guess which lane these two went in?!!!

Caleb riding an "airplane!"

We had to end the day with snowcones of course!

Sweet boys. Glad to capture this candid moment :)

Tim and his Papa....

Family pic...

Tim with the boys on our short hike through the mountain...

Love this picture! We rode the chairlift up the mountain and walked around and took these wonderful pictures....awesome memories with our boys!

Lovin' our summer...

Every summer we look forward to a week long visit from the Davis fam in which the Peyton clan always joins us for a few days. It is such a fun reunion for the three college buddies (Tim, Brian & George) as well as the wives and now the kiddos!

This is a pic of us with Brian and Jeanette at the Rangers game! Miss them terribly, but love our visits together.

This is a pic of all the kiddos under one roof! From the left, Samuel, Matthew, Jack, Luke, Caleb, Ainsley (holding Bailey), and Dustin. Sweet kiddos!

Caleb has had a crush on Ainsley since she was little. He asks about her a lot! It's so sweet. She is seriously so adorable and called everyone "peoples." If she was the only kid awake she would say "where are my peoples?" :)

Caleb and Dustin goofin' around!

Papa decided to put his hat on me for some reason! Gotta love our PAPA!

Brian and Jeanette at the pool!

Ava and Penn joined us for a little swimming. They loved the slide :)

Johanna with Bailey. Such a cutie!

George and Ainsley swimming away!

Meal time at the ranch! Now that was a production :)

Jack loving that popsicle. :)

Sweet Mr. Samuel getting all the attention from Caleb and Dustin....

Matthew and Dust during movie time....

Most Embarrassing Moments...

This past week, our kids have been on a role. Maybe I should clarify---the twins have been on a role. Luke has been his little sweet self for the most part and his big news is that he is finally taking steps!

Anyway, three-year olds are so stinking funny, but I have literally wanted to CRAWL IN A HOLE at least 5 x this week. I decided to write this tonight because I thought it would be therapeutic. The kids have been rather challenging lately and these stories just make me laugh thinking about them. Every word of these are true. I promise. And, just so you know, it HAS been therapeutic writing them. I love our boys...they are a mess, but they will never be three again. We must enjoy this time....to the fullest.

Story #1: Prego???

Matthew: (to a family friend who is over that we haven't seen in a while): Are YOU having a baby?

Family friend: Laughs...no, honey, I'm not having a baby. My babies are all raised and not babies anymore.

Matthew: But, you have a baby in your tummy.

Family friend: Oh, no that's not a baby sweetheart.

Matthew: Maybe your baby's name can be Luke, too.

Mommy: (speechless)

Story #2: Man or Woman?

I am with the three boys and we are in McDonalds after getting our food and sitting in a booth together:

Matthew: Mommy look at that man eating a BIG hamburger. (I turn to look and see a sweet little postal worker LADY sitting behind us eating a hamburger and my face starts to turn red...here we go!)

Mommy: Matthew, that is a sweet LADY eating a burger just like you have. Can you say hello?

Matthew: Hello.

Nice lady: Hi sweetheart. How are you?

Matthew: I am good. Mommy that man is talking to me now and HE is eating a BIG burger and HUGE french fries.

Mommy: Matthew SHEEEE is eating her lunch. Let's not disturb her, okay.

At this point, Matthew would not stop talking about this poor lady's food quantity and calling her a man and for those of you who know him, he talks soooo loud. So, I totally did some bribery and asked him to use his quiet voice and maybe we would get some ice cream soon. Don't judge me...I had to do it!

Story #3: Peeing in a cup....

We are the doctor's office for Luke's appointment. First of all, this is the first time I have ever had to bring all 3 kids to the doctor together by myself. Even though Luke was the only one with the appointment, it will still crazy. I will never do it again! I don't know what I was thinking. We are all sitting in the patient room waiting on the doctor (well, I am sitting and Matthew and Caleb are jumping off the bench in the room and Luke is screaming because he has an ear infection). We have already made a scene at this point because for Matthew's 3 year check up he got to pee in a cup and he really wanted to do that this time. So, when we went back to the bathroom, he threw the biggest tantrum when he didn't have a cup to pee in and kept asking the nurses if he could have a turn peeing in the cup. At this point, I am already flustered. Anyway, our nice, middle-aged doctor walks in and the first thing Matthew says is, "Mommy, that's silly. Our doctor doesn't have any hair. He is bald just like our Papa."

Mommy: Matthew, he has a LOT more hair than our Papa. He isn't bald, silly.

Matthew: Mommy, he doesn't have any hair. It must have flew away.

Mommy: Okay, Matthew, thank you.

Thankfully, we have a great relationship with our doctor and he just laughed but I could have died sitting there. Why do these things always happen to me and not Tim?!

Story #4: The Dreaded Public Bathroom Stall (Emily with Matthew and Caleb waiting in line for a stall with several other women..):

Matthew: Mommy, do all these people need to go poo-poo?

Caleb: No, Matchew (this is how he pronounces it), they have to go PEE-PEE and POO-POO.

Matthew (to the lady next to us): Maybe if you can go poo-poo in the potty you will get a m&m...

Caleb: Mommy tells us we can't go poo-poo on Buzz Light Year (who is on their underwear...I am desperate at this point so I've been telling them Buzz will be so sad if they potty on him!) or we won't get our m&ms...

Mommy: Speechless, again....

Summer Happenings...

I am slowly working my way through the summer to post pictures from our fun, but sweltering hot days! These pictures are from early June! I know I am a bit behind...hopefully I can get caught up soon!

Matthew doing a little putting in our backyard.

Not a big deal, just driving to work....

Sweet boys fascinated with the aquarium...

Tyler, Matthew and Caleb eating cupcakes for the twins' birthday!

Chooch and Mommy at the zoo...

Caleb with his "Nemo" goggles...ha!

Matthew touching the snake at the exhibit....

Mimi braving the heat with the twinker stinkers!

This is a pic of Matthew and Caleb with their bud Elijah before going fishing....

The boys got in the lake and splashed around in Mineral Wells...the water was pretty muddy but they didn't seem to mind one bit!

Mr. Jared was assigned to making sure no one fell in while fishing!

This is Luke at our first trip to a Hibachi Grill...he LOVED everything...the soup, the salad, the rice, the veggies! He had tons of fun :)

Pic of the little guys looking at the fish at the end of dinner...

Matthew, Caleb & Daddy eating their dinner...the boys really loved watching the chef cook our food right in front of us, but didn't love the food (except for the chicken). Overall, it was a great experience for us, especially since we hardly EVER take the kids out to eat!

Family pic :)