March reads

I wish I could stay as caught up on my blogging as I am caught up on my reading. I really think that one gets in the way of the other though. Reading also tends to get me behind in the area of housework, too. Oh, well! I finished three more books in March. Only one was on my book list, though. I read one of my March books in February, so I just had Kisses from Katie to read for this month. Of course, I found two other great books to fill my time though.


Kisses from Katie -by Katie Davis


Wow, and let me say again, wow! This book is written by a young lady from Brentwood, Tennessee (just down the road), who left the "normal" life here in the states to serve as a missionary in Uganda, Africa. As she said in the book, God came in a completely threw her plans for her life out the window and gave her a much better, bigger plan for her life. She's an amazing believer who is completely sold out for Christ. She left her home, parents, boyfriend, college plans and is now living in the heat of the African sun raising thirteen girls whom she has adopted! She's known all over her area as the one who helps anyone in need. She started an organization to help feed and educate many, many orphans, and just continues to give herself over to the work for the kingdom. It's an absolutely amazing story. Her blog continues to tell her story, too, if you're interested: www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com


Choosing to See -by Mary Beth Chapman


I had picked this book up Sam's (yes, an odd place to buy a book, right?) a month or so ago, knew of the family and parts of their story, but figured I could get Mary Beth's side of it all by reading the book. You see, Mary Beth Chapman is the wife of Steven Curtis Chapman, a popular Christian contemporary musician. I've listened to his music since I was in middle school. I remember hearing through the news that they had lost of of their adopted daughters through a horrible accident where their son ran hit her with his car. This book is Mary Beth's journey through life, meeting her to-be husband, their early years, their first three children, and their adoption journey to adopt their three young girls. It also goes through the accident where they lost their sweet girl, and the months and years afterward. It shows this precious lady's heart through and through, her growth, her grieving, and her joy. I cried all over this book, but her faith through everything (including two house fires!) blessed my heart.


The Rescue -by Nicholas Sparks


After the last Nicholas Sparks book was so, so very good (and the fact that mom brought me her entire Nicholas Sparks library), I decided that I could squeeze another one in before it was time for my April books. Mom suggested The Rescue, explaining that it was the first Sparks book that she had read and thought it was wonderful. Well, while it was a great book, I'm not sure wonderful would be the word I would use to describe it. Keep in mind I loved The Lucky One, so this next book had a lot to live up to. The plot of this story includes a single mother raising a special needs child who has to be rescued in a storm by a volunteer fire fighter. Long story short, she falls in love with him, and although he has some major issues from his past, they live happily ever after. 


Oh, me. I'm now reading Calm My Anxious Heart and The Coal Tattoo. No, I don't usually read two books at the same time, but the latter is an incentive to read the former. I'll explain next month.

The things in our yard

My camera and I went for a walk yesterday in our yard. This is what we found:

a sweet two-year old wearing a shirt with a pocket and his daddy's flip-flops

so very cute - he was determined to wear them while playing outside with big brother

speaking of - this lil' man was all smiles sporting his new "bug shirt" that I recently bought at a local consignment sale

Britches made it this far in his daddy's flip-flops, left them there, and ran to get his boots

this blonde fellow asked to go play in the dirt - I agreed

two little boys stomping ant hills with their boots

poison oak

dogwood blooms

mouse and mole hunter

two Doggett boys playing in the dirt with all their machines

it was a hot day, notice the red little face on B

this big guy was getting sweaty, too - by this time, he had already filled the wheelbarrow (not with the toy bobcat, but with his red shovel)

so this didn't surprise me - they like going shirtless "just like daddy"

Cash says it's so he won't get sunburned, hmmm...

what a tough looking worker we have in our yard

bath night? I think so

I spy with my little eye ... a kitty

and some yellow flowers growing on a vine in the tops of the trees in the "big tree forest"

So what do you have in your yard?

Discovering cotton candy

Mom also bought the boys some blue cotton candy when we went to see Elmo. We told them they had to wait until after lunch to eat it though.

So we went home, had lunch and gave each of the boys a small piece of blue cotton candy...

Cash took a small bite after licking on it for awhile.

B also took a very, very small bite.

Cash went back to licking his piece. He didn't like that it was "hairy."

Kennick licked on his, too. As you can see, he was very unsure.

Baylen decided that he didn't like it and handed it back over to me.

Kennick sucked on a piece of his for a bit longer,

but eventually gave his over, too. 

Cash also ended up not liking his and left his on his plate.

After discussing this with Karalee, we've decided that these are not our children. :)

Can you tell me how to get...

On Tuesday, March 27th, Mom and I took all three of the grandboys to SKyPAC to see Elmo and Friends. I'm not sure who really was more excited about it, mom and I or the boys. :)

The show was at 10:30, but mom and I wanted to leave plenty of time to find a parking place, get inside and buy anything that "the boys needed." We met at 9:30, and after parking in the new parking structure, we made our way into the new SKyPAC. (I love, love, love it!) There was lots of things the boys could do before the show even started, although I think they were overwhelmed at first, we made our way around the foyer area dancing with Zoe, singing with Elmo and sitting on the front steps to Hooper's Store and Gordon's apartment.

Cash and Baylen checked out Elmo's piano in the "Elmo's World" area. Cash used to love Elmo's World. He'll still watch it if it's on, but Tom and Jerry is definitely more liked now. Baylen just doesn't watch TV at all. He knows who some of the characters are though, from Cash's books and having Sesame Street on some mornings.

I had to include this picture. It shows their true character. Here they are fighting over who gets to push the button to make Elmo talk.

Waiting for the show to start - Cash was very excited, but Kennick was unsure of it all.

Kennick sat with mom during the show. He's not a fan of "live" characters, so he stuck close to Grammy!

Excited boy!

Bert and Ernie were the first on stage. (My personal favorite.)

Then Big Bird came out, too. Baylen started getting interested when the familiar Sesame Street song came on.

Yay! B was in my lap, and Cash was sitting next to us. Cash carefully pointed out all of these guys to little  brother.

During the intermission, Cash decided he wanted to put on his super cape. (The plot involved Super Grover losing his super powers. In the end, he learned that to be "super" you had to eat healthy foods, exercise, get plenty of rest, and have good hygiene. I'm not sure the kids picked up on this plot line or the agenda with it, but they all enjoyed the show!)

Can't you tell? Yes, about halfway to intermission, B decided to fall asleep. He woke up right after intermission and watched the rest of the show. He just needed a small nap to get him through all the fun!

There's Captain Fuzzy, or Elmo with his super cape, rescuing Oscar's World.

Yes, in the end, Abby, Telly, Elmo and Zoe all taught Grover the lesson - in order to be super, you had to take care of yourself! :)

Happy boys sitting with Grammy watching the show. (Notice the elaborate, beautiful chairs in the new SKyPAC.)

Before we left, Grammy bought each of the boys the "spinning Elmo light." 

Yay for Elmo and Super Grover, and yay for Grammy!

I'm so happy that the boys are able to go to things like this. We took Cash when he was 18 months old to see Elmo in Nashville. He was in love with Sesame Street at the time. I can still remember going to see Sesame Street on ice in Nashville, too, when I was little. I'm hoping that these are fun memories that will last a lifetime!

A new kind of chase

The boys love playing chase at night after supper. I think it comes from the crazy amounts of Tom and Jerry cartoons that are viewed in our home. Cash runs laps around the dining room, kitchen and living room. Heath and I chase him, and it never fails that Baylen wants to be carried while chasing, I guess so he can keep up. It's hard, though, running around the house carrying at twenty-pound toddler.

But we've come up with a new strategy...

Baylen's new wheelbarrow has saved the day!

Chasing with Baylen in the wheelbarrow has brought new life to our usual game of chase.

Uncontrollable giggles from both our little boys -- how fun!

Party time for B!

By Saturday morning, the 24th, Baylen was a whole new kid. Well, he was two now, but he also had lost the cough that had slowed him down the two days before. He still had a bit of a runny nose, but for the most part, he was ready for his party! We finished doing some things around the house, I ran into town to pick up the cake, and by mid-afternoon, family began arriving and both B and Cash had finished their naps.

Here's my sweet guy with his "tractor, tractor" birthday cake, and yes, it's all edible. Tammy always does such a great job on the boys' cakes. 

On top was a pig, the sheep was in the middle, and, as requested, there was a cow on his cake, too. 

We hung some balloons around, had a banner behind his seat, I hung some streamers from the balcony and placed all their John Deere toys around on the tables. Easy decorating for this party!

Here's mom and Bubba on the swing with B and Kennick. Most everyone arrived early to hang out, catch up and see how big the new two year-old was! :)

I used my Cricut (shocker!) to make this "banner" for the mantle. Lots of pictures of Baylen Neal and some tractors, too.

Here he is waiting for his cake. 

Yay! (Seriously, the cake was super heavy.)

And he blew them out on the first try! Big boy!

Here's his piece of cake. He didn't finish it all. Not sure why - it was delicious! And these special balloons were tied to his chair.

My aunt Kathy is always the cake cutter. The top layer was white and the bottom layer was chocolate chip. Most everyone had a piece of cake, some had two or three pieces. Those names will not be revealed here. :)

Yummy!

Cheese! Notice his tractor, tractor birthday shirt that Gran-Granny made him. He loves it!

Cousins Kennick and Kenle were there to celebrate the big day, too!

And, of course, Cash ate up his piece of cake, and was soon ready to open presents!

Here he is "reading" the first card. (Thanks to Bubba for taking pictures!)

He got a pair of binoculars from aunt Kathy and J.P. He took them immediately to Heath. I think he knows that Heath always has a pocket knife and can get toys out of packaging the quickest.

Hilarious!

Everyone loved the new binoculars!

Next he opened a wheelbarrow from Grammy and Grandad!

Here he is reading the card from Aunt Stacy and Nathan. They gave him lots of sand toys and a new tractor.

Gran-Granny gave him a red rocking chair. (When the three older great-grandbabies were just a year old, she got them all wooden rocking chairs for Christmas. I told her that Baylen's could be red when he got one, so we would know them apart. Baylen is always rocking in Cash's chair, so now he has his very own.)

And what's in this box from Grandad?

Oh, wow! He's probably worn this every day since he got it - it's a baseball glove. Grandad searched high and low for a small, right-hand glove (or do you call it a left-handed glove?). Anyway, we think B is going to be a southpaw, so instead of wearing Cash's upside-down on his right hand, he has his own now!

His last present was a blower, just like daddy's, only his blows bubbles!

He did love his baseball glove, though. Here he is asking Grandad to play catch. :)

And that was his party... lots of family gathered together to celebrate the life of our sweet little two year-old. Happy, happy birthday Baylen Neal!