Where has this year gone?!?!?! I can not believe that it's already July-halfway through yet another year!! And there's so much going on (does it ever stop??) that I don't know where to start. So let's backtrack to June...I think that's a good starting point.
Brandon got his first haircut on June 6th, 2009. It was a "home-done" job, with me holding him while Ben cut his hair. There are no pictures of the actual event (we kind of had our hands full!), but there is an after!! How could anyone resist this face?!?!? I tell ya, it's definitely hard some days. We had Vacation Bible School that same week, so we went to the kickoff on that Saturday as well. Brandon enjoyed playing with the bubbles with Nana, and decided that he wanted to ham it up for the camera. How stinkin' cute can you get? :) We also took a few pictures on Sunday of Brandon and Katelyn and I have to say that they are the funniest and prettiest pictures of the day!
My friend Sabrina recently got on to me for not reporting Brandon's first words, but in my defense, when you have a very LOUD 5 year old, a loud 11 month old, 2 dogs, and the TV blaring over all of it....Well one noise runs into the next and new words are lost somewhere in the middle! But Brandon did start saying "Dada" first and has been at it for a couple, or maybe even a few months now. He also says "Mama" on occasion, but it's usually when I'm trying to cook dinner. Or am in the middle of washing dishes. Or really any time he's whining but I'm not at a point to be able to pick him up! I remember the first time he said it really well, I was standing at the stove with my housecoat on and he was on his knees holding onto the bottom of my housecoat looking up at me going "Mama mamamama mama". But again, I was cooking dinner, telling Russell to be quiet, yelling at Ben to turn the TV down only to have to repeat myself when he turned the TV down to ask me what I had said....So the novelty of Brandon saying "Mama" was kind of lost in the mix. :) But I do remember him saying it and that's all I need. He's also figured out how to say Nana, and that is all he says. I wake up in the morning hearing "NANANANANANANANANA NANA NANANANA NANANANA"! And it's all in caps for a reason---That's him YELLING Nana! And finally, a new thing he's doing is any time I tell him "No", he hits whatever it is that he's being told No about. I was feeding him on the kitchen counter one day and he was trying to get the paper towels. I told him no, and he stopped trying to reach them and instead just leaned over and hit them. Does that mean that he's learning that no means he gets to hit something?? Uh-oh! But I had to laugh, because that's totally something I would do. It makes me wonder though if that was a foresight of what to expect in a couple more years-him doing something for the sole reason that I told him not to!!
I recently took a trip to Florida with Kacey and 2 other girls, and it was a blast! I don't know what my exact emotion was at the thought of leaving the boys; it was a mix of worried, sad, nervous, and excited all rolled into one. They were staying with Ben, and I know he's more than capable of taking care of them, but as a mother I feel that no one will do as good of a job taking care of my boys as I would. But I needed the break (Ben needed me to take the break!) and definitely came back more relaxed than I was before I left. While I was gone, Russell took his first trip to Six Flags and had a blast! Ben said they rode every roller coaster that Russell was tall enough to ride, and some of them even got ridden twice. Ben didn't take the good camera, but he did snap a few quick shots with his phone that he would send to me every now and then. I hate that I missed it, but the two of them had so much fun that I would've only been a "third wheel" anyway.
Ben and I, and the boys, just got back from Virginia where Ben's side of the family (the Hill side) had their first family reunion. I had to miss the Phillips (my side) reunion, but it was good to finally meet the rest of Ben's family and put names with faces. We camped right by the river all weekend, and the weather was great. It was a little chilly on Saturday, but it didn't rain or anything so I can't complain. The guys fished the river while us girls went tubing. All of us came back half frozen, but it was fun and relaxing for the most part. We fried the fish that the boys caught and sat around the campfire talking. It was nice to see those again that I had already met, and it was good to finally meet the rest of the ones that I had only heard about. Hopefully this will become an annual event, and maybe even something we do more than once a year.
It was good to finally be home from Virginia, but now football has started for Russell. We may not be far from home, but we're never there now! This week he's had 2 hour practices each night, and will soon begin having practice 2 days during the week and then Saturday practice. All of that will last until games start, at which point we'll throw in an additional Friday practice to go over plays before Saturday's big game. Are we ever going to be able to stay home?!?!? But he was excited about getting to play, and I'm excited to see him play so it's all good. Ben's going to be an assistant coach (should be interesting) and he's trying to talk me into being a statistician, or basically the bookkeeper. I don't know if I'm up for the job though; I'd rather watch and take pictures! But we'll see, it's all still up in the air right now.
Russell has also recently moved up another level in TaeKwonDo and is a Tiger Cub Blue Belt. I don't know how much further he has to go until he 'graduates' from the Tiger Cub level, but it shouldn't be too much longer.
There, now I think you're caught up on most things going on around our house. I hope you enjoyed the update, and do keep an eye out for 1 year birthday party pictures!!!! Brandon will be 1 year old in less than a month, so pictures will be coming soon enough (hopefully!).
My friend Sabrina recently got on to me for not reporting Brandon's first words, but in my defense, when you have a very LOUD 5 year old, a loud 11 month old, 2 dogs, and the TV blaring over all of it....Well one noise runs into the next and new words are lost somewhere in the middle! But Brandon did start saying "Dada" first and has been at it for a couple, or maybe even a few months now. He also says "Mama" on occasion, but it's usually when I'm trying to cook dinner. Or am in the middle of washing dishes. Or really any time he's whining but I'm not at a point to be able to pick him up! I remember the first time he said it really well, I was standing at the stove with my housecoat on and he was on his knees holding onto the bottom of my housecoat looking up at me going "Mama mamamama mama". But again, I was cooking dinner, telling Russell to be quiet, yelling at Ben to turn the TV down only to have to repeat myself when he turned the TV down to ask me what I had said....So the novelty of Brandon saying "Mama" was kind of lost in the mix. :) But I do remember him saying it and that's all I need. He's also figured out how to say Nana, and that is all he says. I wake up in the morning hearing "NANANANANANANANANA NANA NANANANA NANANANA"! And it's all in caps for a reason---That's him YELLING Nana! And finally, a new thing he's doing is any time I tell him "No", he hits whatever it is that he's being told No about. I was feeding him on the kitchen counter one day and he was trying to get the paper towels. I told him no, and he stopped trying to reach them and instead just leaned over and hit them. Does that mean that he's learning that no means he gets to hit something?? Uh-oh! But I had to laugh, because that's totally something I would do. It makes me wonder though if that was a foresight of what to expect in a couple more years-him doing something for the sole reason that I told him not to!!
I recently took a trip to Florida with Kacey and 2 other girls, and it was a blast! I don't know what my exact emotion was at the thought of leaving the boys; it was a mix of worried, sad, nervous, and excited all rolled into one. They were staying with Ben, and I know he's more than capable of taking care of them, but as a mother I feel that no one will do as good of a job taking care of my boys as I would. But I needed the break (Ben needed me to take the break!) and definitely came back more relaxed than I was before I left. While I was gone, Russell took his first trip to Six Flags and had a blast! Ben said they rode every roller coaster that Russell was tall enough to ride, and some of them even got ridden twice. Ben didn't take the good camera, but he did snap a few quick shots with his phone that he would send to me every now and then. I hate that I missed it, but the two of them had so much fun that I would've only been a "third wheel" anyway.
The next couple of weeks went by very fast. And lots of things happened in those couple of weeks. Our family has lost two very special people, Uncle Charles-my mom's uncle, and Uncle Jackie-my dad's uncle. Both died about a week apart, so we've spent lots of time at the funeral home and with family. I've enjoyed the family time very much, but I definitely wish the circumstances had been a lot different. Please keep the Lee and Phillips families in your prayers. We do appreciate it.
We had a good 4th of July and watched fireworks from the lake. Kacey, Craig, and Katelyn made it out with us this year, and I think they all had a good time. The babies did very well, other than the times they had to wear their life jackets, and we all enjoyed the fireworks and the company.
Ben and I, and the boys, just got back from Virginia where Ben's side of the family (the Hill side) had their first family reunion. I had to miss the Phillips (my side) reunion, but it was good to finally meet the rest of Ben's family and put names with faces. We camped right by the river all weekend, and the weather was great. It was a little chilly on Saturday, but it didn't rain or anything so I can't complain. The guys fished the river while us girls went tubing. All of us came back half frozen, but it was fun and relaxing for the most part. We fried the fish that the boys caught and sat around the campfire talking. It was nice to see those again that I had already met, and it was good to finally meet the rest of the ones that I had only heard about. Hopefully this will become an annual event, and maybe even something we do more than once a year.It was good to finally be home from Virginia, but now football has started for Russell. We may not be far from home, but we're never there now! This week he's had 2 hour practices each night, and will soon begin having practice 2 days during the week and then Saturday practice. All of that will last until games start, at which point we'll throw in an additional Friday practice to go over plays before Saturday's big game. Are we ever going to be able to stay home?!?!? But he was excited about getting to play, and I'm excited to see him play so it's all good. Ben's going to be an assistant coach (should be interesting) and he's trying to talk me into being a statistician, or basically the bookkeeper. I don't know if I'm up for the job though; I'd rather watch and take pictures! But we'll see, it's all still up in the air right now.
Russell has also recently moved up another level in TaeKwonDo and is a Tiger Cub Blue Belt. I don't know how much further he has to go until he 'graduates' from the Tiger Cub level, but it shouldn't be too much longer.
There, now I think you're caught up on most things going on around our house. I hope you enjoyed the update, and do keep an eye out for 1 year birthday party pictures!!!! Brandon will be 1 year old in less than a month, so pictures will be coming soon enough (hopefully!).
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