The "Big Shoe Award" {Lawson}

A few weeks ago as I picked Lawson up, and signed him out, there was a note stating that his "big shoe" was to be picked up in the office, and that he would know where to find it.

Sure enough... he knew right where to find his "big shoe".  This big shoe is his trophy, of sorts, for learning to  tie his shoes all by himself.

To say he was proud is an understatement.  He ties them very well, and is now able to fully dress himself.  The big shoe trophy is hanging on the wall in his closet, and will be there for years to come, I'm sure. :)   

Keep growing, big brother, you're almost FIVE, and we're loving every minute of it!!

He loves it.

Basketball, that is.

This boy eats, sleeps, and breathes basketball.  If he's awake, he's dribbling. Our no-carpet-house is quite beneficial for his favorite sport, and I am extremely thankful that the continual bounce of the basketball is not annoying.  We tune it out, somehow or another.  

We had an afternoon when it was a little warmer, and so we played outside for a while, and I took a few shots... picture shots, that is. :)  He took the real shots.

(My "picture teacher" said I must not have had my flash on in this one and a few others, as it is darker... trying to learn a few new things.)

No flash, once again...

We were sad to see Westview's basketball season come to an end this past week... they brought our family so much joy, and we made great memories over the past winter.  I have several from games to share, and will do that soon.  

Until the next sport season comes along, dribble on, Big Brother!

Shootin' Hoops {Lawson}

Lawson has been practicing basketball at every opportunity.  Here are a few recent memories from one night last week...

Daddy was cracking pecans, and E was riding his bike while I was snapping pictures of L's practice. :)

Fun times!

As of today... {Lawson}

So, time is passing a little more quickly than I prefer, and most days Russ and I feel like we are hanging on by the seat of our pants.  We know we're not alone in this fast-paced world, but good golly, where does the time go?!

As this year comes to an end, my feelings mirror the feelings of another blogger I follow who said something like... "our blog is like a time capsule getting ready to close for the year of 2012, and I need to fit in as many memories as possible".  Same here.  Therefore I am going to try to catch up on a few things over the coming days.

Back to the time passing so quickly - our boys are growing and changing significantly each and every day.  This post is to simply record a few things about them... as of today.

I will start with big brother...

Lawson...

-has a strong will, and is confident in what he thinks/believes.

-has learned to tie his shoes.  It is SLOW, and messy, but he's got the concept.  We will keep working on it, and "we" didn't teach him this, by the way.  We owe it all to Mrs. Glenda at school!  She is rockin' it in the realm of Kindergarten prep.

-can very nicely write his full name, and it is 100% correct.

-just last month he participated in his first US Presidential Election.  He was very interested in the presidential election, so I picked him up early that day and took him alongside to vote; he was so happy to be there.  We {including him} prayed and prayed for Romney, but have now had the "God knows BEST" talk, and we are trusting Him with all of our heart. God Bless the USA!

-knows his entire alphabet in sign language, and can therefore spell his name in sign language.  Thank you, Mrs. Glenda!

-is very into Bible stories, and can retell them better than we can most of the time.

-loves to count to 100, and then insists on going to 200.  This becomes annoying rather quickly although we're very proud of him.  :)

-scored a total of 5 goals in the last two soccer games of the season.

-sings two Justin Beaver Beiber songs from start to finish, thanks to two of his little girl friends.  I wish you could've seen our faces the day he began to sing this in the back seat.  I am so thankful that Russ and I were together to witness this.  We've never heard his music, have never even mentioned his name, and certainly didn't know our 4 year old knew anything about him.  However, after talking to a few others, we confirmed that he sadly knows the songs.

-is quite the storyteller... We are hopeful this will slack off as he continues to grow and mature.  He can tell you whopper stories and his level of confidence will certainly cause you to believe him.
   :: he's told people we're moving to North Dakota, and a few days later it was Trenton...
   :: he's told people he went hunting and killed a big elk with a bow and arrow...

-is a good eater and sleeper.

-continues to be very interested in all sports, and knows a great deal about most of them.

-is eager to cheer the WHS Basketball team on again this season; we're having a great time following them.  He is specifically interested in Teddy Vincent and Antonio Hogard.

-has begun adding numbers in his head, specifically 2+2, 3+3, 4+4, and 5+5.

-is very good at comparing numbers, thanks to scoreboards and his competitive nature.

-is very particular about he wears... from undergarments to clothes, to shoes, to coats, etc.  This  particular-ness can be very exhausting.  That strong will I mentioned earlier... this area catches it, too!  A new fave is his bow-tie... we used it in a few of our Christmas pics, and I love them!  Our other current battle is pants.  He cries to wear sports shorts every.single.day.  On the warmer winter days, we will allow him to wear shorts, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt, which makes him very happy, but the cold winter mornings are rough, thanks to those long pants... he believes they slow him down when he runs.  In his 4-year-old mind, it's all about running fast, not staying warm.

We love you, Lawson, and are excited to see what 2013 holds for you and our family!

I believe that's all for now... Emmitt's update will follow!

Soccer {Lawson}

Hello, there... I hope this finds you doing well, and enjoying cooler, fall-like temperatures!

Things are good at our house, and maybe, just maybe this will begin the blogging marathon in which I need to run.  A friend of mine recently posted how she "craves" blogging as she doesn't want to forget even one tiny memory... so perfectly taken from my mind.

Me going back to school has rocked our world, to say the least, but we are making it.  Russ is totally rocking it with his amazing help in getting the boys up, dressed, and out the door each morning.  His support, encouragement, cheering-me-on, and love has helped me so much as I've moved back into working outside of our home.  It hasn't been the easiest of transitions, I must admit... My expectations were a little too high, and I have been so thankful for him over the past seven weeks.

Anyway, although some days feel like they are coming and going in the blink of an eye, we are still making lots of memories, hence my "craving".

Some of our most recent memories stem from Lawson's new sports journey.  He is officially a soccer player! ;) And he is LOVING it!! And as you can guess, we have lots of soccer pictures!

Here he is... ready for his first soccer practice!

He definitely looks like his daddy in this picture...

Unlike tee ball, he is able to play soccer here in Martin at the age of 4, which is great!

We've been blessed with two awesome soccer coaches... Coach Wes and Coach Mark... they are so good with the kids!

Big Kicks!

Dribbling the ball up the field... 

Speaking of "dribble", who in the world decided to use that word for two different sports, meaning two different things depending on the sport?

Gotta love the English language... but we've finally got it now!

Dribbling in soccer = KICK!!

A happy boy... telling us all about it on the way home!

Pics from Game 1 to come soon!

As another friend says, I just might become a Blogasaurus as I run this blogging marathon!  

Isn't that a cute expression?! :)

We're proud of you, Lawson Bragg, and more importantly we're so happy that you're having fun!!

We love you, Big Brother!

Tee Ball Game #2 : Catcher

We've survived two tee ball games, and we are having so much fun!

Lawson was assigned to the catcher's position for this game, and he couldn't have been more excited!  It was so cute, and on occasion, his excitement brought tears to my eyes!

I must say that if my eyes weren't watering from my heart being warmed, they were watering from laughter.  Lawson takes this tee ball business very serious; he loves it.  As you know, we are big St. Louis Cardinal fans, and if you know anything about their team, you probably know that Yadier Molina is their catcher.  We are big fans of Yadi.  Lawson knows a lot about him, and told us all night that he was the catcher just like Yadi.  It was so cute.

As to my eyes watering from laughter... he was so attentive during the game that I'm pretty sure he was getting on the opposing team's coach.  He was right in there, playing the position very well... a little over the top for tee ball.  The funny part is that he tagged EVERY player that ran home whether he had the ball or not.  I mean like smacking them with his glove.  :)  Everybody was talking about him, and wanting to know who he was and who his parents were.  It was very funny!  Russ finally got up and went over to the fence to tell him that he can't tag anyone out if he doesn't have the ball.  His response, "Dad, I'm blocking home plate so they can't score!"... Russ told him that he couldn't do that, and I want you to know that he didn't continue to do this, but it was evident that it took a lot of control to stand back and watch.  Over time, he will learn, I suppose.  :)  

=1st bat=

=2nd bat=

Did you notice him tapping his cleats?

Too funny!

=Little Brother=

"Good Game" was exciting, once again...

Catcher shots...

Miller did a great job, once again, and he got several outs at home plate!

Lawson attempting a slide into home plate, although he was just tagged out by the other team. :)

Here he is helping with the tee, alongside the opposing team's coach... see what I mean? :)

Totally Random, but oh my word... this little boy also caused a lot of laughter!

He refused to play.  He rolled all around the field just like you see him now.  He actually ended up behind Lawson at home plate.

The poor coaches.  

Aren't there days when we all feel like this?

:)

That's all I've got.

Game 3 tonight; can't wait!

Off to wash sandy tee ball pants, socks, and a jersey.

Thanks for reading!