New Look

Someone showed me how to make your blog look cute. I love it! Anyone that's been in my house knows I can't resist some animal print. Tastefully done, of course. Because obviously animal print = classy. Right??The fact that pink is involved just makes it that much better. There's one part that's bothering me but I'm trying to ignore it. I'm not going to tell you, so you won't have to dwell on the imperfection when you come visit me. Anyway, you can see in the post below little Walker's room is done in blue animal print. I still can't quite believe Tom was ok with me getting that fabric. Actually, Tom picked it! Of course, I had shown him so many options for so long I think he might have just pointed at one randomly to put an end to it. I'm also a little surprised Tom lets me dress them the way I do sometimes. I've never seen a sweater vest or plaid pant that was "too much." 

 Harris is to the point that when I tell him it's church day he asks if he gets to wear a "sweater-best." Look at this one. Loud pants AND a sweater vest. Be still my heart.

That's his good buddy Jack. Can you tell Harris is excited to be getting their pic made together? He's even attempting a side-hug.

Tom and I have stayed busy this week. Tom is swamped at work and we've had things going several nights. Hopefully we can relax and do some family things this weekend. Tomorrow is a triathlon benefiting our friends' adoption. They are bringing home two sweet children from the Caribbean! So exciting! I'm not doing the event because I DO NOT ride a bike and I'm not much of a swimmer. I haven't enjoyed bike riding since about age 8. Maybe if they had a mountain bike with a banana seat. I've snorkeled in the ocean a few times, but it just involved me holding out my arm while Tom pulls me along. I don't know how I managed it when I was single. Probably more punch on the boat and less snorkeling, would be my guess. Regardless, there's a good number of people signed up so it should be fun and definitely beneficial for our friends. If it's not raining we'll probably spend some time on Harris' new Big Wheel. This is NOT like what I  had as a kid. It sings, has blinker signals, so fancy. You still can't steer them though. I think I would have preferred steering capability over blinker signals, but whatever. He spends more time inspecting it that pedaling it.

I think he had more fun with Tom and I sliding him across the floor in this box. We will attempt to remember that lesson at Christmas.

Walker is pretty easy to please right now too. He is loving the rain. If we had even stepped on the porch in a rainstorm with Harris, he would have gone crazy. It's funny how different they are. Walker would have walked around in it all day if I would have let him.

One of the things we did this week was visit our friends' student ministry on UTSA's campus. It's called Chi Alpha and they are doing GREAT things! It was awesome to see students worship and lead others to Christ. One of our sweet babysitters is involved and we'd heard so much about it we just wanted to check it out. There is a few minutes of "Say hi to the person next to you" like you would at church. Those poor college kids were so nice to Tom and I, but they were clearly a little confused about what we were doing there. Apparently, we're no longer able to blend in at all with college kids. I could have lived under that delusion for a little longer......Oh well.

Walker got his 1 year pictures taken this week. They were looking pretty cute, even though he was not really in the mood. For every 1 cheerful picture there are easily 5 of tears and tantrums. I would have done it another day but if we kept postponing they wouldn't have been 1 year pictures anymore! He's currently doing a zombie walk that is precious. Cuter than it sounds.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

"Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." 1 Peter 1:17



Bible Study and Getting Old

I've been training for a half marathon for a few weeks. This is the THIRD time I've trained for one and I'm determined to run the stupid thing. This time I am NOT MISSING IT. I went to do my run last night and felt a twinge of back pain, but kept going. I only did 3 of my 3.5 miles and was really feeling the pain by the time I got home. Since then, it's just gotten worse! I am wanting to curl up in bed with a heating pad at this point. I think that is officially old age when you are complaining of back pain. Dinner in our house will be served at 4:30 this evening.

Anyway, we had Bible Study this morning. Last week, Harris learned a verse "I will trust in your word." Psalm 119:42. What's so funny is that he keeps saying " I will trust in MY word." It's our own Abbot and Costello routine, with me saying "your word baby, your word" and him telling me "That's right Mama, MY WORD. Got it." He says it with total confidence. Another funny thing he's been doing is asking me to sing Life is a Highway for him every night at bedtime. I'm giving Rascal Flats a run for their money. And just because I can't post something and not have a picture of those sweet boys, here is Walker sleeping. Notice the ENORMOUS drool spot by his head.

Also, he's missing a sock. It absolutely kills me to see a baby foot with no sock on it. Tom has been known to take the boys socks off just to mess with me.

A frightening thought came to me yesterday, how are we going to feed these boys when they are teenagers? Now that Walker is off his bottle he eats a staggering amount of food. The first thing Walker's teacher told me was "WHEW! He is an EATER!!!" Ummm, I know. Tom and I don't even really eat the mass quantities of fruit in our house because Walker gets such joy from it. And at the end of every day, I ask Harris what his favorite thing was. It is almost always food related.  On the plus side, it makes bribery (when necessary....don't judge!) very easy.

 "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua 1:8

Weekend Wrap-up

Fri night was girls night out for my friend's 40th! We had so much fun. We painted coffee mugs for her and went to dinner at a neat Italian place downtown.

I'm not at ALL gifted creatively but I did the best I could. They had stamps you could just put paint on and stick on the mug. That was the safest way for me to go.  The others were turning out mugs that literally could be sold. Seriously. When it was time to take pics holding our mugs, I posed with someone else's :) But it was fun. I'd go back and do it again. Anyway, Saturday morning we did our new favorite thing and took the boys to a football field to run around. This is the perfect thing for them! They love it and Tom and I took turns running around the track so we got some exercise too.  As the weather gets cooler it will be even better.  They both took 4 hours naps that afternoon, leaving me some time to watch football! I saw OU dominate Fl. State. Life was just as it should be.

I know we are raising Harris right, because the first thing he asked when he saw the football field was. "Where's the Boomer?" He's seen enough OU games to know what a football field SHOULD look like, complete with a Sooner Schooner and some ruf-neks. Walker is into a different sport.

 This is how he spends his days now. He is getting SERIOUS about walking. Nothing stops him. He'll step on books, people, sippy cups, whatever is in his path. We cruised the neighborhood Sat night and headed to church on Sun morning. Look at these cuties. 

 

Walker starts trying to run away everytime I take his pic, so I was lucky to get this. Here's what he was doing a nanosecond later. Harris is telling him, "Sit down, sweetie" in a high voice voice that is apparently supposed to sound like me. It's so funny to hear him mimic us.

We were supposed to get family pics taken this weekend but Walker busted his lip sat morning. It didn't end up  looking that bad but still would show in a close-up. Our photographer has her work cut out for her to get pics of this one. (Please don't change your mind, Allison!) Church was awesome, as usual. Tom watched the boys AGAIN Sunday night while I went to a Hillsong concert. He had gone to one a few months ago and loved it, so he was sweet to be a trooper about me being gone again. I didn't get any pics but it was a neat experience. They're such humble people. The concert benefited the Children's Hunger Fund and there was a great turnout.

 

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Walker Turns 1!

Walker's birthday was ALL ABOUT HIM. We literally did whatever he wanted to all day long. It was particularly special for me because this was the first full day I've gotten to spend with either boy on their birthday. We went for a walk, Walker pulled all his clothes out of his dresser, he got to pull all the wipes out the wipe box, he played with the phone, turned the lights on and off, pressed buttons on the microwave, and took some pretty serious naps. It was so fun to just be able to indulge him completely for a day. Harris was a trooper about the whole thing, even the presents. I just went through our toy storage and got the things Harris played with when he was one, and wrapped those up for Walker. What was funny was that Harris clearly had no memory of even his very favorite toy (Leapfrog Drum).  He acted like it was all new to him. Of course, Walker got a treat. He had a chocolate chip muffin and devoured it. He's so picky I wasn't sure if he'd eat it. But he did, and there were some balloons around, so it was a festive atmostphere :) Because 1 year olds are really into atmostphere....Here's the evidence. I went to upload these and thought they were gone forever, but something happened and they're here. I have no idea what happened but am so thankful I didn't lose all these pics!

We have so enjoyed this year with our sweet little Walker Thomas. He lights up a whole room when he smiles and loves to interact with people. He's started waving and saying "Hi" and "Bye" with a southern drawl. It could not possibly be any cuter.  He was so  mellow when he was born that Tom and I were secretly afraid he was deaf. Even when he was in the little baby warmer right after he was born, he just looked around calmly. That phase of his life is OVER because he's now pretty vocal about his needs and wants, but that's fine. He has me trained.  He loves to play peek-a-boo and imitate anything Harris does. If he's fussy, we can just toss him up or swing him around and he's back to grinning. He ADORES being spun around in the air and loves to be outside.  We are SO thankful for this little guy and cannot imagine life without him!


"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man." Proverbs 3: 3-4

Labor Day

Our weekend was good. Yesterday I took the boys to a football field down the street and just let them run off some energy. Check them out.

We stayed there a good hour, until Harris had a bathroom incident. These days, it's not a party till someone poops.  So it was bathtime when we got home and after that I got the urge to cut Harris' hair. Now, I have seen this done by many people and by Tom, and it looks simple enough. I put on Toy Story, gave him fruit snacks, and got started. It was looking ok.......but still needed to be shorter. That's where I got into trouble. In my defense of this next picture, Walker was literally hanging off my arm when I made this move with the clippers.

I realize it's blurry but that was the best I could get. There is a fairly noticeable bald section in the middle of his head and don't even LOOK at his neck or the sides. I don't know why I kept going after that......I had forgotten we're getting family pictures made this coming weekend too. Perfect.

We went to a birthday party this weekend and some of the party favors were a space shuttle and some Toy Story tattoos. Here's Harris showing off his loot.

He has an irrational attachment to that space shuttle.

We went to toddler time again this morning. I had to do the walk of shame out of there. I made the rookie mistake of letting Walker out of his stroller. Now, I know better than that. There's just no excuse. Of course, he was all over the place and any attempt to corral him led to a fit, so I just picked him up and put him under my arm, football style. He was still screaming and squirming while I'm trying to explain to Harris why we can't stay. And it's pouring, so I fought the rain twice for that 5 minute experience. On the way home I said something to Harris and called him honey. He told me "I not honey, I Harris William Goolsby!" He says his name so fast it just takes about 2 syllables for him to get all 3 words out.

Our lights are flickering, so I'm off to get my cleaning supplies together in case I wind up cleaning in the dark.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12

Fig Newtons at Church

I LOVE our church. The message today came from the story of the withered fig tree and they passed out fig newtons. Church can be silly. But what I REALLY love about our church is the heart of the people. The message today was something I have been wrestling with for a little while, that you are expected to bear fruit in your life if you truly walk with the Lord. After Tom and I had been at our church for awhile and slowly taking baby steps back to God, we took a step of faith and started tithing. This was HUGE for us, it was sacrificial giving and truly an act of faith, even though the amount wasn't that large. God blessed us richly for that, financially and otherwise. Since then, though we have given more money to things and used a little of our time in service, nothing has been as sacrificial as that act. What God expects from us (the fruit) is more than just working God into your time or budget; as you walk with Him more deeply and grow in your knowledge, you are called to do and give more. Right now, I'm just not doing that. I give what I can afford to, both with time and money, read the Bible on my schedule, but certainly don't miss a workout to do it, etc. So what I'm wrestling with now is what exactly does bearing fruit look like for me and for our family? I know it involves sacrifice. I received some upsetting news on Friday and just didn't know what to do with it. It was somewhat unexpected and I was absolutely heartbroken. I made a small sacrificial gesture to God, not knowing what else to do. He honored it, not in fixing the situation the way I hoped, but in giving me a peace that He is in control, not me. It brought home the point to me that He honors our efforts, however humble they are, if your heart is pure in it.

On that note, I've been reading Bible stories to Harris lately and he is so suspicious of anything involving Baby Jesus. I think he is imagining another baby in the family. He relaxes when I change the subject. God clearly has a sense of humor so I bet He thinks it's funny too.

Completely changing the subject, Walker is walking. I knew when we named him Walker that it was going to be annoying to have to say that. So I've said it and we can move on :) He is so so cute. I forgot how funny they look, careening across the room. Harris was trying to be sweet and gave him a hug while he was taking a step. Poor thing just faceplanted. Harris walked off quickly, I think he was trying to stay out of trouble.
Here is a funny video of the boys playing together. Walker was throwing the remote off his highchair and getting the biggest kick out of Harris picking it up for him.

"Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.

When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21:18-22

Headed to the Library

We are toddler time professionals. I know the right spot to get so Walker's stroller doesn't block anyone, but both boys can still see the action. I know to take goldfish and not cheerios to keep Walker entertained, because he drops the cheerios and they get stomped on, leaving a huge mess, while goldfish are just right for his chubby little fingers to grab. I know to leave the house 30 min before it starts, even though it's a 5 min drive, because "our spot" will get taken and that throws the whole routine out of whack. I know that Harris likes to sit by himself on a rug, until a bigger kid sits too close and then he hustles back to the safety of my lap. I know just when to feed Walker in the morning so he'll be ready to munch while we're there, and how far in advance to get the getting ready process started in the morning so we're out the door on time. I was doing all this on autopilot and realized how much thought and preparation goes into such a simple outing. I don't know if it's the stage my kids are in or if it's just my nature to approach everything with strategic plans that could rival military operations. Other moms look like they just breeze in and out, no big deal. Regardless, Harris had a blast and Walker tolerated it, so that's success in my book. Harris is the first one to make the animal noise/row his boat/shake the sillies out or whatever they are being asked to do. He has so much enthusiasm that other people around kind of giggle at him. It's cute.

Harris is currently obsessed with GoGurt, these squeezable, portable tubes of yogurt. The only problem is he hasn't mastered squeezing it himself, so he eats it for about 5 seconds, then says "I want you to show me how this works!!" and needs help. I have positioned his little fingers and shown him how to get it going over and over again and he just isn't paying attention. This happened NUMEROUS times yesterday and I was just done with it by dinner. In front of Tom, I told Harris that he was on his own with the yogurt because I had already shown him 100 times. Tom takes GoGurt to work with him and just texted me that he needs help with his yogurt. That made me laugh so hard. I never know what he's going to come up with.

Someone needs to explain to Walker that he's only 11 months old and that is technically still an infant. He thinks he is Harris' age.
Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Anyway, fellowship team/date night is tonight and I'm looking forward to both!

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:3-6