6 years in the rearview

Dear Griffin and Roman,

This week marks the 6 year anniversary of hurricane Katrina.  Although the event was such a dark time in the lives of many so much good has resulted.

Your daddy and I were newly engaged and ready to commit our lives to each other.  We were dreaming of our future together and suddenly everything that we thought that we knew was in question.

I was riding out the storm in Jackson, Miss while your daddy was downtown working at the Ritz Carlton.  At the time he was a manager with the hotel and had to stay behind to take care of guests stranded at the hotel.  It was very hard for me to drive away without him.  I had every intention of riding out the storm with him until at the last minute he packed me up, put me in the car, and set me on my way.

I remember watching the aftermath unfold on television while my heart was breaking.  The love of my life was stuck in the middle of so much ugly while the city that I loved so dearly was rocked to its core.  I remember thinking I can not possibly bring a child into such a broken world.

The days following Katrina were tough and the road was not easy.  We mourned the loss of our things and our city that was no longer.  However a valuable life changing lesson was learned.  We lost possessions but still had each other.  We cried out to God in a way that we never had before.  We were made aware of our vulnerability and weakness.  Without HIM we had nothing.  Without each other we had nothing.  As we started to rebuild our lives we set Him as our foundation.  From that point we started to build our future together.  Literally from the ground up.

The progress that our city has made in the past 6 years is encouraging.  So much good has come out of something so bad.  The memories of this devastating storm will always be with me.  I pray that both of you will never have to experience such a tragic event in your lifetime.  BUT if you ever do know that there is beauty at the end of the rainbow...

All my love,
Mommy

Up

Baby Bear comes from a long line of climbers.  You may think that I am referring to Brother Bear.  Well... I am but it goes back further than that.  The climbing trait was inherited from Momma Bear.  I am still reminded of this by my mother.  

Griff was a major climber.  He started climbing long before he walked.  Anyone who has ever watched him always reports back to me, "Wow, that kid can climb!"  Move over rover we have a new climber in town!  

Baby Bear has literally taken his climbing to new heights.  The past few days I have spent the majority of my time removing him from the kitchen and laundry room counters.  He knows that it is a "no-no" but does not seem to care.  He makes eye contact with me, points to his target, and goes for it.  Seriously, the child POINTS like he is Babe Ruth calling his ball to center field.  What will I do with this monkey-boy?!?  

Posing in the window sill.

Posing like a male model on the chair.

What can I say?  He is so lucky that he is cute!!

Monkey boy 1 and Monkey boy 2.

The shiner should be of NO surprise.  I can't exactly tell you which fall
caused the black eye.  Too many to pick from.  I'm sure  this is the
first of many...

Perfect day

I had the perfect day today.  We went to church this morning, took afternoon naps, and had pool time with my favorite peeps!  This is as good as it gets!  

Today spoiled me and makes me very excited to have Satch back full-time.  May can not come quickly enough!  (only for MBA graduation NOT for any other aspect of our life happening at neck-breaking speed!!)  

I am also looking forward to the fall.  I can not wait to spend the afternoons outside with my boys and my precious.  (that would be my camera)  I have so missed chasing my boys around like the paparazzi.  My phone camera is great fun, but nothing like the quality of my precious.

Family fun at the pool.

I love these eyes

and these too...

Picture of Daddy taken by Griff.

Nosey-roseys peeking into the clubhouse.

Fly for a white guy

It was about that time again.  In fear of causing permanent vision problems we brought the boys in for another haircut.  I'm not going to lie.  This is not one of my favorite Momma duties for a couple of reasons.

1. I like long hair on my boys.  If they had any hint of a curl their locks would never be butchered touched with a scissor.  (you lucked out on this one Kenton S!!)
2. Taking them (Griffin) in for a haircut has not always been the most pleasant experience.  Don't believe me review earlier haircut posts.  We were making it a habit to walk out of the salon a hairy, snotty, sticky mess!  

Due to #2 I always bring a back up with me.  Misery loves company right?!?

This round of haircuts was not like any other.  It was actually an alright experience.  "Snarly scissor lady" was very nice and my boys BOTH sat in the chair, still, and did not make a peep!  Cha-ching!! 

First up- Griff.

Wow... I am so proud of this boy.

Catching up on cartoons while getting his hair did.

"The chicks will dig this!"

"Doah....what's going on over there?!?"

Geesh.... I sure hope she doesn't take too much off the top!

With a death grip on his lollipop, Baby Bear was up next.

Yes, I am proud of this one too! 

"Hey Ma. What'cha think?  You like?"

"Hhhhheeeyyyy.... I like!"

"Hey lady... easy with the scissors next time!"

Cheese!  2 handsome dudes chilling!

Let's hope that this was not a fluke!  Don't worry I will still bring back up next time.  I am so proud of my boys!!

Car, boat, plane or train

MiMi and Pop have been away on a trip, or "on trip" as Griff likes to say.  Every day Griff comes up with a new way to set out to find them.  He has suggested that we go by car, boat, plane, and train.

Last week we were parked in the car.  He told me to drive.  I asked where he wanted to go?  He said to "find MiMi Pop."  I said which way should we go?  He said, "dack way" and pointed to the left.  I chuckled and said, "so if we go that way we will get to Canada?"  His response, "yeah."  So innocent and sweet!

Griff put on his conductor hat to drive the train to find them.

 

Splish Splash

The boys love bath time.  Especially on the the special nights that they get to take a bubble bath in our big tub.  When you are pint sized the big tub = swimming pool!

They had so much fun the other night playing, laughing, making mo hawks and bubble beards, and "wimming" (swimming) until they looked like prunes!  

This smile melts me.

The Griff back-strokin' in the bubbles.

Mohawk bubble head!

Sweet bros.

Oh how I love when they are sweet to one another.

Hummm.... wonder how this happened?

Funnier if it were your kid instead of mine

*The Big One, Mr. "I can do it self," (I can do it by myself) is helping The Little One put on his shoes.  Yes, the same one that put his own shirt on backwards.  :)

* Griff calls any lady that he perceives as old "Grandma." He means no harm and is rather sweet as he says it.  Makes me smile on the inside every time.  He says in the sweetest voice, "Hi Grandma.  Look Mommy it's Grandma."

*Last weekend I was in Griff's class in the church nursery.  He was wearing a shirt that had snaps up the front.  He would rip open the front of his shirt and say, "super-hero" as he pretended to fly around the room.  Over, and over, and over again.