"Gooooooooooooo O'Connor!"

We joined the Shaw family (and several church family members) at the O'Connor High School football game a couple of weekends ago. We mainly went to support Brady Brown, one of Lacey's best friends, who is a senior on the offensive line.



I was looking forward to painting Jack's face to match Hope and Lacey's in support of the Panthers. Well, Jack wanted nothing to do with the face paint. I said, "Let Lacey paint Mommy's face to show you how cool it looks." So we did.



After I got all school spirited up, he said, "No, thanks." It wasn't until we got to the game that I realized I was the ONLY person over the age of 17 with my face painted. Oh well. I'm used to looking younger than all the other parents.



It was a great night. We are unclear which part Jack Everett enjoyed the most... the football, or the band. Don't tell Paw Paw, but I think it was the band. By the end of the game, he had learned the cheers and was doing all the hand motions.



I can't imagine sitting between Jeff and Mom in matching "Griffin" jerseys, watching Jack play his last high school football home game. I would get teary-eyed just thinking about the pride and sadness Shannon and Andy must have felt as Brady took the field one last time.

I wish we had gone to more games this season. I have many many memories of high school football games. I attended dozens of games over the years, some from the stands, some from the press box, and others from the sidelines. It brought back so many of those memories... watching Trey play, watching Dad get soaked with the Gatorade bucket after the game, and the awesomeness of concession stand nachos.

Ah, there's just nothing like Texas High School Football.

Stuffed.

I have been a bit absent from the blog, enjoying the Thanksgiving preparation, procrastination, and celebration. We enjoyed victories on the NFL and College football fields, and Davis celebrated the occasion by getting his first little cold.

There is so much to do and enjoy this time of year... leading up to celebrating Christ's birth.

As my Aunt Susan would say, "Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good nap."

Fighting for their Lives.

Want to fight the Freedom of Choice Act?

Go here.

Davis is 4 months old!

Davis turned 4 months old Friday. I just can't believe how quickly my little guy went from a skinny newborn to a chunky little infant. He has such a sweet little personality and is definitely getting stronger and more flexible. He remains pretty even-tempered most of the day, but definitely prefers to fall asleep while nursing. We are working on getting him to fall asleep on his own, but it is hard to enforce when he is so so sweet. I just know I will surely miss this time with him when it's gone...

He is starting to show signs of wanting to suck on two of his fingers. Mommy is on constant look-out and quickly takes them out if she sees them in there, or hears that tell-tale smacking sound. I have even employed Jack to help GENTLY take Davis' fingers out if he sees them in his mouth. I have made it this far with two kids and no pacifier... As long as it doesn't upset him, I am trying to stand my ground. We'll see.

Things are still going well with Big Brother although I have to remind him over and over not to jump and act crazy around the baby. Other than that, no real issues of jealousy. He is sometimes impatient with Davis' rate of development. "I can't wait until Davis can play steamroller with me. I can't wait until Davis can eat a lollipop..."

We still can't get over how different they look. We also can't believe the red hair on the little guy. He's practically bald on top, but has the soft little band of red hair across the back.

We introduced him to the Jumperoo this weekend. He loves it for about 5 or 6 minutes. He still barely fits in it and requires that we shove blankies all around him. He barely touches the ground, but will soon figure out how to bounce himself in it. For now, Big Bro provides more than enough bouncing action for him.

In a cute summer outfit. He looks even more fair in these colors.



Jack manages to get his head into most pictures I take of Davis. I usually try to take pics with Jack in them first, then ask him to make funny faces behind me to "help me" make Davis smile. He usually steps on my feet, gets in my light, gets his hair in the corner of the picture, etc. That's okay... we just thank him for being so helpful and remind ourselves to take pics while he is napping.



While trying to take Davis' monthly Bear picture, my helper kindly added his stuffed Lambie for me. Looking at Davis' little toes in this pic just reminded me: This boy has some stinky feet. Not like cute baby stink, more like teenage locker room stank. We can take him straight from the bath and cover him in lotion, and not fifteen minutes later, his toes are smelly. Precious and kissable, but smelly.

Left: In a big boy outfit from Kayla. He is quite pear-shaped nowadays as highlighted by the horizontal stripes. Right: With his first little buddy, Wade, who is five weeks younger.



I love this picture of Jeff. He really is an amazing Dad.

It's hard to express the amount of joy this little boy has added to our family in just four short months. We simply cannot imagine our lives without him. He had a precarious little start, but he is growing like crazy.

There are so many exciting firsts coming up... first Thanksgiving... first Christmas... pictures with Santa...

I can hardly wait!

"...Somebody Bit on the Gray."

Jack listens to a CD each night before going to bed. They range from the Beatles to Eric Clapton to Bible Songs to Bette Midler. Lately he has been requesting a CD containing classic songs and nursery rhymes.

Well, it must have "Camptown Races" on it. (You know, "Oh, de doo-da day...")

Out of the blue the other day, Jack started singing it with his own, um, special lyrics. I would laugh every time he sang it, but could not for the life of me figure out what he was saying. What I do know is that he says the exact same thing every time he sings it.

Finally, tonight I asked him to clarify the lyrics:

"Goin' around all night

Goin' around all day!

I went talk talk on the buck tick say,

Somebody bit on the gray."

Ah, yes... just how I remembered it.

Off we go... Into the Wild Blue Yonder

We were so excited when Mom gave us passes to the Lackland Air Force Air Show the Saturday morning after Halloween. I knew Jack would love seeing the jets up close and couldn't wait to get pics of him climbing in and out of the old planes and helicopters. We loaded up the car and headed out early Saturday morning to beat the crowds. When we finally found parking and walked the half-mile to the Air Show, we could see that it was going to be a hit. There were old timey planes to climb into, flight simulators, and "REAL" soldiers.

We arrived, visited the port-a-potty, and met up with Mom and Jeffry. About one minute later, the first jet flew overhead. Oh... my.... goodness. It was loud like a Sonic Boom. Jack and Davis both immediately started screaming and crying. Jack fell to the ground in a heap holding his ears and screaming. "I wanna go away from here! Take me away!" The jet looped around and swooped overhead again. More screaming. Davis was beside himself and I started crying. I felt so terrible. I don't know what we were thinking. We don't even take him into the church service because the music might be too loud... and here we are at an air show? I guess I thought it would just sound like airplanes overhead. Sounds dumb now, but it never crossed our minds how intense it was going to be.

So anyway, Jeff took Davis to run for cover (and from a jet, that is no easy task) while I tried to convince Jack to take his hands off his ears long enough for me to put earplugs in. He was screaming "I DON'T WANT THEM! TAKE ME AWAY FROM HERE!" We had been there twenty minutes, but knew we had to leave NOW.

The flight finally ended so we raced to find Jeff and Davis, who were hiding out under the awning of the Saturn vehicle sales trailer. Thank goodness for Saturn. They were displaying four brand new shiny car models. I grabbed Davis, who was inconsolable. My eyes got all teary again. Jeff said, "Get inside the Saturn!" Davis and I jumped into the back seat of the Saturn and closed the door. Ah, quiet. Sweat box, but quiet.

I quickly began nursing him to calm him down. Plus, it was about that time. I was hoping they would "cool their jets" long enough for us to feed and leave. In the front seat was another mom, in the same boat, feeding her two-month old. No kidding. I introduced myself and she said, "What were we thinking?" I asked her if she would ask the saleswoman to give us a demo of the air conditioner or how to roll down the windows, but she didn't get my humor.

We fed Davis and left. We were all totally sweating. So now we know for next year. Or the next maybe. When we got back to our car, reflected on how early we had gotten up, how far we had driven, and how much time we had spent on base and how little we had actually seen, we just had to laugh. Jeff said, "Well, this has blog post written all over it." He was right.

Our two pics of the Air Show. *sigh*

Are we there yet?

Okay, I am finally getting around to writing about our road trip.

Via e-mail, my Grandmama invited the whole family to my Great Aunt Alice's Open House in Athens, Louisiana the weekend before Halloween. I can imagine her surprise when I asked to go with her... two little boys in tow. We loaded up the car and headed out on our adventure.

Strongly devoted to movie-less car trips, I stuck to my guns, refusing the offers of several well-meaning friends and family members offering me their portable DVD players. "It sure doesn't hurt kids to learn to be alone with their thoughts! They need to soak in nature and learn to appreciate the world around them!" Famous last words. When we arrived at Grandmama's house, I realized I had forgotten the bag of books and toys. Luckily, I had just checked out five or six books on CD and had Jack's CD music library ready to go. We were about five minutes down the road when I noticed Grandmama's car does not have a CD player. Oh dear. So, we stopped at WalMart, bought a portable CD player, and hit the road.

Three hours, one feeding, and one baby wardrobe change later, I decided it was time to turn on some music. Jack had been alone with his thoughts long enough and Grandma and I were getting tired of playing "What starts with P?" We stopped at McDonald's to nurse the baby, let Jack play on the playground, and get the CD player all set up. We got there, took the player out of the box, and loaded the batteries only to find that it was broken. Even worse, there was no playground at that McDonalds.

So, on the road again, still no music, no books, and no movies.

Short story long, 12 hours after leaving Marble Falls we crossed the Louisiana border. We stopped to call Aunt Linda to get the final few turns when she informed us that we took a wrong turn somewhere and that we were still 3 1/2 hours from her house. Keep in mind we had been in the car since 9:30am and it was 9:30pm when we got this news. We had to laugh to keep from crying. I wished I had brought the DVD player, but super-impressed that Jack had behaved so beautifully thus far, we pressed on. We arrived in Winnfield, LA at about midnight. We promised Jack we would buy a CD player for the ride home. Bless his heart.

The highlight of our road trip to "Aweeziana" was introducing my boys to my four first cousins and all of their kiddos. We have resorted to watching each others' kids grow up via the Internet, so even though I was meeting them for the first time, I felt like I already knew them. Because of the sheer chaos and exhaustion, I took only four pictures the entire trip. That is SO incredibly NOT like me. I am so disappointed, but I was on survival mode. It's weird the things I DID take pictures of.

Anyway, I never realized what a city boy Jack Everett was until I took him out of the city. When we got to Aunt Alice's log cabin, Jack was immediately drawn to the black cows at the back fence. He (not before asking my permission) climbed up the wooden fence to be face to face with the cows. (I know, missed photo op.) My cousins and I were watching the kids through the screened in back porch. After a while, I realized he hadn't moved from the top rail of the fence and started to fear that he couldn't get himself down. I casually asked my cousins, "Do you think he is stuck? He hasn't moved in a while." Without skipping a beat, Brian yells out to his nephew across the ranch lawn, "Rick, can you run and git Jack? Boy's never been on a fence before!!!" We all laughed, but I knew it was true.

As he carefully climbed down in his pristine white "Vote Now" shirt, I realized he is definitely not Country Mouse. The other funny thing was that here we are in the middle of Louisiana on a moist night where you have to raise your voice to talk over the buzz of mosquitoes, and the only person with a bottle of bug spray was... you guessed it... ME. When I asked to borrow some, they were like, "Well, he has long sleeves on, socks, and jeans... do you think the mosquitoes will bite his neck or face?" I said, "Nope!" and sprayed him down. The next morning, no lie, he still had a huge swollen mosquito bite on his forehead.

Left to right: Landrie standing up, Parker holding Nolan, Rick holding Davis, cousin Jack, Jack Everett, Lauren, and Rebecca holding Julianne. Not shown: 1-year-old Bailey would not stay in the picture. She would run across the room and we'd try to catch her in the shot. You will just have to take my word that she was super cute.

We exchanged the CD player in a Minden WalMart, so the drive home was more of a breeze. We still managed to make a whole day of it between stopping to nurse, diaper blowouts, and road map mis-reads. It was the blind leading the blind until we got back into Texas.

On the last day, we made it to Tyler where we decided to get a hotel room. In this photo, we have loaded all of our suitcases (you have to pack a lot with a baby in tow) into the hotel-provided crib. We were thrilled that it worked out to drop in on Nanny Lucy, and the boys loved stretching their legs and getting some snuggle time with their Grandma. Sure wish Nanny lived closer. Davis thanked her for her hospitality by spitting up all down her shirt and recliner.

All things aside, Grandmama, the boys and I had a great time and the conversation was awesome. We talked about politics, family secrets, marriage, politics, parenting, how much we miss Granddaddy, and politics. We got to know each other even better than before, and I think she was reminded why God gives you your children in your twenties. My boys pretty much exhausted her. She was also pretty much forced to become more comfortable with someone breastfeeding at her table in a restaurant and taking a little boy to the potty. Sorry, Grandmama, but thanks for letting us come with you on a most memorable trip.

Last week Jack asked me where his friend Lawtie lived. I said, "New York." I reminded him that she moved far far away. He said, "Yes, but do you know what is really REEALLY far FAR away?"

"Aweeziana!"

Scripture, Week Six - Kid's Quest

There is no Week Five Kid's Quest scripture to record. We have officially begun our lessons with Jack about taking responsibility for his own work. Last week before Kid's Quest, I suggested that we get our Bibles out to read the story and memorize the assigned verse. Jack Everett said he didn't want to learn it this week. I explained that it's HIS choice and HIS responsibility to keep up with his "homework." So, he chose to go to class without it. As hard as it was, I let him go unprepared, hoping the teachers would make him miss out on the all-important stamp for that week.

When he got in the car after class, he didn't want to tell me how class went. He finally said, "The teacher had to help me rememberize the verse." I asked him how it felt to be unprepared and he told me he looked at the carpet and did not want to say anything. I could tell he HATED that feeling and was embarrassed. This week he INSISTED that we learn the verse and practiced it several times on his own.

I can totally see how parents get too involved in their kids' work. Naturally, I would love for him to be the teacher's favorite, the head of the class, and have the most impressive projects and speeches. However, I cannot do it for him and WILL NOT manage his work load and keep up with his assignments. He is responsible and capable and I want him to know that and take pride it doing it himself. I will have to remind myself of this over and over, I can already tell.

"I have commanded ravens to bring you food there." 1 Kings 17:4 *

*They are reading about Elijah, who obeyed God's commandment to hide out beside a brook and trust Him to provide his food and fresh water during the draught. As promised, ravens delivered food to Elijah for each meal because he obeyed and trusted God.

Change is here... ready or not.

Well, it's over. Jeff and I sat somewhat silently through most of the election night coverage. When Obama's victory was finally announced, we weren't sure how to feel. For the most part, it feels like I felt Saturday night when the Longhorns lost to Texas Tech in the final moments of a long battle. That sounds silly, but its feels eerily similar. The wind is out of my sails, and my stomach hurts a little. When McCain was talking, I wanted to cry. When Obama was speaking, I wanted to cry too, but for different reasons. By the end of his speech, I actually smiled and felt a sense of hope. Jeff and I are both having trouble going to sleep.

So, it wasn't the outcome for which we had hoped, but it forces us to examine a couple of things:
How will we respond? How will we behave tomorrow? How will we speak about this when our nieces and nephews, our nation's youth - or worse - our parents and grandparents begin discussing the country's new direction? Will we spew bitterness and cynicism, or will our actions and words reveal God's character?

No matter how you voted, it is undeniable that it is an amazing historic day for the American people. I plan to talk to Jack tomorrow about our first black president. It's yet another opportunity for us to teach him about tolerance, acceptance, and love for all of God's people. It's really amazing how far we have come. Unfortunately, I know that I will need to protect him from conflicting messages of hate and prejudice - from our society, and even from members of his own family.

My boys will have to learn to follow leadership with whom they disagree in order to succeed in life. They will have to make the grade in classrooms with teachers they don't like, play on teams with coaches who are unfair, thrive in the workplace with bad bosses, and excel even when given unfair rules. My prayer is that Jack and Davis will be able to maintain their values and preserve their ideals when placed in situations where they do not agree. That is what we are now being asked to do. We are to show them how to disagree with our President, while still respecting the authority he has been given. This is our responsibility and it's a big pill to swallow.

As a Republican, I am leery and skeptical. I am worried. It is unsettling for any party to control the Presidency, the House, and the Senate. I am worried about how other Republicans will react, and a little worried about how White America will react. I am equally anxious about how Black America will react. However, I am also really proud. I am proud to see Democracy work. We the People got to choose, and for those of us who made it to the polls, we (collectively) got what we asked for. Like it or not, tomorrow is a new day.

I received this e-mail today... Despite my mass appeal NOT to receive any political e-mails... one snuck through, and I am glad it did. Here is an excerpt:
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God's Word actually has a lot to say about politics and world leaders - and here are a few critical facts we might want to put into our perspective:

First of all, it is God Himself who determines the winners of elections. Yep - and all along we thought it was the voting system and the Electoral College? Sure, they were the tools, but the Hand behind it all is the Sovereign and All Powerful King of the Universe:

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God (Romans 13:1)."

The 'governing authorities' that are referred to here were not democratic or even friendly towards Christians. But that didn't matter then - or now - because it is crystal clear from this verse that there is no senator, judge, or even president who wasn't placed there by God Himself.

I actually take some comfort in the fact that when Barack Obama is sworn into office in January, he is the one that God established to be President of the United States.

So what does this mean? Well, whether you can vote or not, whether your candidate won or not, whether you kept up or not...really doesn't matter in the big picture. This is our responsibility:

"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity (1 Timothy 2:1-2)."

What usually happens when the 'wrong' person gets into office is we moan, complain, make jokes, and do everything else but what we are supposed to do...which is pray. So...are you praying? Even if the election outcome is different than you want? I've seen a lot of passion and emotion with this election, going forward, are you willing to direct that into your prayer life?

Remember...God ultimately elects our President, and our ultimate responsibility is not to flame our opponents on Facebook or blog away our sorrows.

We must pray:
-that God will turn the heart of all presidents and kings and rulers to Himself.
-that our President will rule fairly and justly.
-that God will accomplish His perfect will through those He placed in authority.
-that we will properly submit to our government regardless of whether or not elephants or donkeys are running the circus.

That...is how we rock the vote!
====
Tonight I prayed for God to reveal Himself in my words and attitude regarding our President, for healing and unity in our country, and specifically for the Obama family. I will speak for myself: There is no doubt this will be hard for me. Jeff and I promised each other today that we will be intentional about getting on board and giving Obama a chance. We just have to.

Just like we will root for the Red Raiders if they take Texas' place in the BCS Bowl.

Fall Festivities... a LOT of them...

Okay, so for a holiday that we don't care much about, we sure did celebrate the heck out of it this year. I realized this when I started looking over the pictures from the past couple of weeks. I can already tell this will be a LONG post.

On October 13th, Mom and I took the boys to see Grandmama in Marble Falls and stopped by a Pumpkin Patch on our way out of town. They were closed, but kindly agreed to let us shop around so we had the place to ourselves.

Davis enjoyed the wagon ride and Jack picked out three pumpkins to carve.

The day before Halloween, we went to Mom's office with the kids to show them off. Luckily, Davis' outfit dried green, albeit three different shades. All I know is... he turned out to be one precious turtle! Jack was Ironman. He had agreed to be Batman, using a costume we already had, but Mamaw and Pops surprised him with a Brand New AWESOME Ironman costume when we got home from our road trip. He loved the huge muscles.

Mom also surprised him with an Ironman action figure, then we hit the road to meet Julie and the kids at the pumpkin patch. Happy Turtle, as usual, was along for the ride.

Jack and Alli Jean enjoyed running around the Pumpkin Patch and pretending to be pumpkins. Here they are saying, "Boo!"



Best of friends! Davis is not so sure about this...

There is something about seeing him in the same turtle costume big brother wore. It was the sweetest thing.



It was hard to choose the best pics, so I uploaded them all!

Left: It was worth a try. Right: Mad because I just told him we are NOT buying another pumpkin.

So, we stopped at McDonald's to let the kids play. Hey, a turtle's gotta eat! We have all but mastered the public breastfeeding thing, thanks in part to my awesome Nursing Bonnet. No, this is not paid advertisement, but I just love it. It covers everything, is super soft, and I don't have to be hot. It's the funniest thing... when I put it on Davis' head, he gets all excited and starts smiling. He knows it's time to eat!

The next day, Halloween morning, we headed on the second stretch of our Halloween parade.

First stop: Nana's office. Jack loved seeing Ms. Gracie and the rest of the staff. They remembered seeing Jack come through those halls just four years ago in the same costume.

Next stop: Meemaw's house. She was having a garage sale and enjoyed the unexpected visitors.

Next stop (and always the favorite...) Daddy's work!

Jeff treated Jack to a short clip of Ironman the Movie on the bigscreen. These are the "D-Box" seats that move to the movie. We actually got Darin to hold the baby for a quick picture. I immediately sent the pictures to Marilyn for photo evidence. He doesn't know it yet, but he will make a really great Dad someday.

After naptime, (it was SO hard to get him to nap) we met some friends and neighbors in the front yard for some pre-trick-or-treating photos.
The Davis' on the Left: Jack, Tug, Victor, Austyn, and Will

The Axsoms on the Right: Will, Max holding Davis, Ben, and Jack

Just me and my boys! What precious times. We got so many comments on how cute Davis looked in the Baby Bjorn and Jack started to get a tad bit jealous. He would pipe in, "Did you know I used to wear that turtle costume when I was a baby!?" When it was time to go trick-or-treating, I asked Jack what he was going to say when he rang a doorbell. He said,"I will say, Hello, I am Jack." I didn't realize he truly did not know what trick-or-treating was. I got a little choked up when I saw him getting to do what his friends are doing and having a "normal" experience. He didn't care that we gave away most of the candy. It was all about the fun.

Alli Jean and TJ (Beautiful Ballerina and Bob the Builder) joined us for trick-or-treating. They were a little impatient with us for making them take ONE MORE PICTURE before heading out. Julie and Dwaine convinced TJ that he had to have his hat on to get candy... so, he kept it on the whole time. It was so cute.

Last stop: Aunt Mel's house to hand out candy. Jack was all into it until a couple of teenage scary clowns came to the door. After that, we called it a night. Whew. I am exhausted just thinking about it. We will not likely do all of this next year. It made for a super-long CRAZY day.

And, no, we never got around to carving that pumpkin. Hey, you can't do it all.

Happy Halloween!