My New Favorite Home Pedicure Miracle Product!

You may have seen this product advertised on TV lately. Well, Lane and I saw it a few weeks back, and it really peaked my interest. Does it work, you might be wondering? Well, let me tell you, instead of saving up for new socks to hide my horrible feet during my upcoming hospital stay, I now want to go out and get lots of new colors of nail polish! This thing is fantastic! I am so excited that it works!

Lane called tonight, and I told him that I went to CVS and got one. He said he is definitely ready to get home and give it a try himself! I'm not so sure I'm OK with sharing it with someone else, so we may have to go and get him his very own and put his name on it. We have really had some good luck with As Seen On TV products lately. Lane recently purchased the Save A Blade product that sharpens razor blades. He has been very pleased with it, too.

So, if any of you have been experiencing overly calloused heels or very dull razor blades, these products may work some miracles in your life, too!

My Week So Far

For the last two days, I have been trying to remember what in the world I did with my free time before Dane came around. Well, if I recall correctly, a lot of that time was spent in a Dallas highrise with my trusty 10-key calculator, pondering the world of debits and credits (which I truly do love, no joke!). Lane and I also spent a lot of time eating out, which I also dearly love. And, I probably spent a lot of time shopping, too (which I'm trying to avoid doing this week). This week, Lane and Dane are both gone to Harding University for a youth camp called Uplift. Lane had told me a couple of months back that he wanted to take Dane on this trip with him, so that I could have a week to rest and finish up any pending baby projects before Sydni comes. He also informed me last week before they left, that he and Dane would be going on their "Baby Moon", or their last hoorah together before the boy to girl ratio in our family is put into balance! I had told him that if he changed his mind at the last minute, that would be OK, but those boys were ready for their time together, I think.

My boy is getting bigger and bigger every day, and it was so much fun getting all of his stuff packed up for his big vacation! After I finished packing everything, I called Dane in there for me to show him where everything was in each bag, so that he could help his dad out in case Lane couldn't find something. He helped me pack a toy bag, with all of his most essential toys. Then, he really cracked me up when he started exactly repeating back to me all of the contents of his snack bag.

When the group left Saturday morning, Lane called everybody together for a prayer and after that, told them to load up in the van. Well, it was a bittersweet mom moment for me because Dane was on the other side of the church van from me, and he yelled out, "Bye, Mom, see ya later!". Of course, I stole several hugs and kisses from him once I got him all buckled in, but it really did strike me at how fast he is growing up! I know that some of you may disagree, but I am so proud that he is my son, and I always tell him that he is the "best boy EVER". That's yet another reason why I'm so glad we're having a girl because now I'll have both the best boy and the best girl ever!

The boys have checked in several times so far this week, and it really sounds like they're having a great time. Dane did get extremely offended Sunday after lunch, however, at several squirrels on campus. Lane said that Dane really wanted to play with these squirrels, and of course, they ran away from him immediately. When they did, Dane said, "Well, that wasn't very nice!" And then Lane said that Dane proceeded to chase them around yelling at them, and then the whole ordeal ending with Dane throwing his sunglasses at the squirrels! Other than that, Dane's really enjoying his first experience with dorm life, and Lane says that he has a hard time getting Dane to leave the room. This does worry me a little bit, as I think ahead to the type of college student he might be - never going to class and always hanging out in his dorm room.

Anyway, I can't wait for them to come home Thursday! I'm hoping that Lane will have taken lots of pictures that I can post here later.


Oh yeah! Big news! Last night, I went to my parents' house to go to church with them and spend the night. Well, Daddy's been looking at buying a new truck lately, and I got to go with him this morning to get his brand new Toyota Tundra! I am so excited for him! This is his first brand new truck, and I'm so proud that he got to get it! All my life, and I'm sure before I was even around, he has always put us before himself, and I know, has sacrificed doing things for himself so that he could do things for us. So, I'm so glad that he finally got to do this! If anybody deserves a new truck, Joe Bowers does! Of course, the whole time we were looking the truck over, he kept saying, "Don't you think Mama will like this?", and he's even told her that she can take it down to San Antonio to Joe David's house later this week. So, even with his new toy, he's completely being his unselfish self. Here's a picture of one like he got.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! I have really been feeling extra thankful this week for Lane. Last summer, I was fortunate to be able to go on most all of the youth group trips. This year, that just wouldn't have been possible, though. Well, the summer has officially started, and Lane was gone with the kids to Memphis for Work Camp this week. It's at times like these, when Lane's gone, that I am constantly reminded how blessed Dane and I are to have him in our lives. In so many families, I think that it would be accurate to say that it is the mom around whom the family revolves and gets its strength. That is not the case in the Brown household. As long as I have known Lane, 12 years now, he has been a man who people want to be around. He is the most fun person to be with, and he definitely fills our family's life with joy and laughter. More than being my best friend, he is most definitely the center of our family's life. Everyday, Dane will ask all afternoon long when Daddy will be home, even though on most days we have just seen him at lunch. And, everyday, when he hears the garage door open, he drops whatever toy he is playing with and yells, "Daddy's home, Daddy's home!" over and over and runs to greet Lane at the door. I think this is the sweetest thing to watch - it reminds me of when I was little and how Robyn, Joe David and I would hide and "surprise" Daddy when we would hear his truck pull into the driveway. There's just something special about having a daddy like that! This week was really hard for Dane each afternoon when he would ask when Daddy was coming home and I had to tell him not until Saturday. I am also so thankful for the relationship Lane and I have. If you know Lane, it's not very hard to believe it when I say that he is definitely the talker out of the two of us, and I'm so thankful to have him to talk to and share everything with. I guess a lot of my conversations this week were with my sweet 2 year old, which centered a lot around legos, cars, flags, etc., so one night on the phone with Lane, I was telling him something, and he started laughing. I asked what was so funny, and he said that he could tell that I had been talking to Dane all week because I had used one of Dane's common, very vague phrases, "Somethin's doing somethin'...".

So, thank you Lane for being who you are...my companion, friend, confidante, helper and joy! Happy Father's Day. Enjoy a look back over this past year with our buddy and please know how important you are to both of us. We love you so much and thank God that you're the rock of our family! And I know that very soon you will capture the heart of a very lucky girl, too!

New Fashion Statement for Church Tomorrow! Yea!

I am so excited (not really) about my new fashion accessories for the next few weeks! You may be able to tell from the picture above exactly what my life is like at 34 weeks pregnant chasing around a very swift 2 1/2 year old. OK, it's really not all because of that, but mostly, I'd say. This morning, as I got all of my gear on to survive the day, this question popped into my mind, "How can I pull this look off tomorrow at church?" I haven't really come up with a good solution yet, but I'm working on it.

If you will remember my acrobatic fall on our vacation last summer where I sprained my ankle (see picture above), then you will understand my situation a bit better. I come from a family who, not only has strong tendencies to trip and fall frequently (Robyn seems to be the best at that, we think), but we also have extremely weak ankles (I think this is one of the reasons Joe David was attracted to Stefany - she's got them, too). So, we tend to injure our ankles a lot. Anyway, my ankle was doing fine until this week, and it really started swelling again pretty badly. So, my theory is that I started favoring it and putting more weight on my left leg, which is causing some nerve pain below my knee. On top of that, my daughter decided to have a growth spurt this week, which added a little more strain to my joints. So, long story short, it's really not that bad - mainly I've just decided that it's now time for me to start to kick back for the next 4 1/2 weeks and stop trying to run as fast as Dane all the time. I really can't stand moving around slowly - it's been one of my goals in life to get places as quickly and efficiently as possible, and slowness absolutely drives me bananas. But I guess I can do it for a few weeks.

Anyway, back to my point, I realized yesterday that the best pair of shoes for me to wear to help with the impact on my joints are my Nikes. They really do make all the difference. Well, I looked down and laughed about how an outfit for church would look if I wore them with all of my braces and supports! What makes it even better, and you can't see this in the picture, is the wonderful menthol odor emitting from my knee from the Icy Hot knee sleeve under the knee brace. With it on, I won't even have to wear any perfume to church at all! It makes me laugh thinking about all of the people sitting by us at church trying to figure out where the BenGay smell is coming from.

I won't really wear all of this getup to church. I'm sure I can survive without it for a few hours. I just thought it would be funny!

Hot Summer Days!

We have discovered the best place to hang out in East Texas during the hot summer afternoons! The city of White Oak replaced their city pool with a splash pad play area. Robyn and her kids are visiting for a couple of days, and we thought it sounded like a great place to check out. It's free, which is always good, and they have covered canopies with picnic tables when you're not playing in the water! The kids really had a lot of fun - so much fun that we are thinking about going back tomorrow before they head back to their house.

I think I'm finally finished with Sydni's room!

I think that I am officially done with Sydni's nursery, as of today! I had mostly finished all of the painting and decorating last week, but a couple of things still HAD to be taken care of. I had been putting them off because they're not necessarily fun.

The furniture that I am using in her room, the dresser, chest and guest bed, are all from my grandparents. They bought the set when they got married in 1936 from Sears for $35, and the shipping label is still on the back of the dresser, which I have always thought was very neat. After they passed away, I inherited the set, and it really is one of my most valued material possessions. That's yet another reason why I am so excited that we're having a girl, so that I can pass this furniture on to her, too. Anyway, over the years, especially through all of the moves we've made, the dresser drawers had really gotten messed up and needed to be repaired (not to mention, cleaned out). So, I emptied all of our overflow stuff (mainly junk) out of them and got them put back together where they're sturdy again. I am really excited to have that done because I was finally able to fill them today with what will be their contents for at least a couple of years...diapers, wipes, etc.!

The other task I had been putting off was to figure out what to do about the unpainted ring around the top of the ceiling fan. When we painted the rooms when we moved in, we didn't paint the ceilings (I don't know why), and when we put up the new ceiling fan, there was this unsightly ring around the fan mount, and it has driven me crazy ever since. Well, I decided to paint a flower around the ceiling fan to disguise that awful ring. It's not perfect, but I think it looks so much better than before. By the way, it is extremely difficult to paint a flower on a ceiling while 33 1/2 weeks pregnant. Difficult, but it can be done!

Anyway, I just thought that I would share some pictures of the finished product with you. I'm so glad to have it done, and I really hope that Sydni will like it for at least a few years.

Goal/Prayer Request for June (2008 preferably)

What little boy wouldn't want to hurry up and get to wear these great underwear?! We had a pretty good day yesterday attempting to get potty trained. Today has not been as successful, but we'll keep pressing on. I would absolutely love to have Dane potty trained by the time Sydni joins us. I know this may not be possible, but maybe we can be well on our way.

So, needless to say, this is our main goal for this month. I mean, we've had these Cars underwear for over six months now, and I'm afraid Dane's gonna miss his chance to get to wear them before he outgrows them and it's too late!

That's basically all that's been on my mind today, so I thought I'd share!