VBS, a Cake Success, trying on Mom's shoes, and Two Sweet Friends

We have had a very busy last couple of weeks around here. We had our VBS at church last week, and it went great. Robyn and her three kids came and stayed for 3 of the 4 nights, so there were lots of great times around here. We had swim parties, ice cream and cake socials, and good times with Granna & Pa, too!

I know it may not seem like that big of an accomplishment to most, but I successfully baked a cake that actually did not collaspe on me. I had just about given up on making cakes, but this one stayed in one piece and didn't taste too shabby, either!

The rest of the pictures posted are just a little bit of everything. I caught Dane walking around in one of my high heels the other day and figured that might make pretty good blackmail material someday. I have to admit he is caught way more often in his daddy's boots, so it was quite a change to see the high heels come out!

The other day, I peeked in on Dane during one of his extra-long afternoon naps and found him like this. It's hard to catch him this still very often, so I thought I'd better jump at the opportunity to get some sweet nap pictures while I could. He is getting so big and it's sweet to capture these fleeting "babyish" moments from time to time.

Each Monday morning this summer, us moms at church have been trying to get together and let the kids play together on the playground. Today, it was pretty overcast, so it was just us and Holly & Winter. Winter is seven months older than Dane, so she does a great job of keeping up with Dane's things for him and keeping him in line. She's such a sweet little girl and a great friend for Dane. Holly & I caught them holding hands as we were leaving the church today, and I was lucky to get them to both look at the camera at the same time! We figure this shot will be pretty valuable in about 15 years!

On a side note, I'm helping put together an updated pictorial directory at church, and I've been taking everybody's pictures. Well, I thought I'd share our attempt at our own family picture so far. These may be the best we get (hopefully not, though)! I thought they were funny and really so typical of how Dane is most of the time now!

A Fun Day at the Zoo!

Wednesday, we decided it was a good day to make a trip to Tyler to the zoo. We hadn't been there since last Fall, so we needed to get back there to make sure all of the animals are still doing OK.

I made one special purchase at Wal-Mart prior to our trip - a child harness/leash. Lane called and told me that he had seen a couple of little kids with them, and the mom said that they worked really well. I figured it was worth a shot, since it would give Dane a little bit more freedom to walk around without the risk of running away, as he is known to try to do. It worked out great and he looked so cute.

Dane loved walking around, and we stayed there for about two hours. He did start to get tired toward the end, so I just carried him around on my shoulders for a while then.

His favorite animals this trip were those red birds in the picture, the elephants, the penguins and the leopards. He also seemed to pick really weird, random animals to stop and stare at forever. Then, we would get to the really cool, big animals, and he acted like they were no big deal. He also liked seeing the red fox, since we have been watching the movie "The Fox and the Puppies" lately. At least that's what Dane calls it.

Anyway, we had lots of fun, and the trip helped pass the day by quickly, since we were both counting down the hours until Lane got home from Harding on Thursday. Oh, yeah, the pictures are horrible quality because I forgot my camera at home and had to buy a way overpriced outdoor-use only disposable camera at the zoo gift shop!

Happy Father's Day!

It has been a true blessing to have been surrounded by such wonderful Christian men throughout my life. Both of my grandfathers were tremendous men, who loved their families and exhibited so many characteristics that I admire.

When I think about my Grandpa Bowers, I think about the words kindness and patience. I don't recall a time that I was around him that he didn't tell me that he loved me. I see his quiet strength in my daddy and brother, as well.

When I think about my Granddaddy Ross, I think about laughter and smiles, a stratchy face when he kissed us, and the most beautiful tenor voice there ever was! He was a man that lived his life with joy and easily spread that to those around him. I can still remember how he would laugh so hard he could hardly breathe. He adored my Grandmama and also made her a better woman because of his love. He shared his love for music with my mother, who then shared it with me. He also shared his red hair with me, which I will cherish until it turns gray or yellow or whatever color I have to dye it to. I can't wait to sing with him in Heaven!

When I think about my Daddy, there isn't enough time to tell all the ways I appreciate and respect him. All my life, he has been a constant presence of love, security, encouragement and determination. Hands down, there is no harder worker than Joe Bowers. In James, when he talks about expressing our faith through our works, I see this principle being lived out so well by my father. He touches peoples' lives in his workplace, where he is respected for his character as well as his abilities on the job. He exhibits his faith to his church family, by being there for them and helping them however he can. He has an incredible skill in carpentry, which he uses for good to help those who need it. I love that he learned that skill from both of my grandfathers, who were both great carpenters, too. More than anything, though, I am so thankful for all that he does for Mama and us kids and his grandkids. Almost every holiday, before we eat together, he tells us, "If I had to pick three kids from all the people in the world, I would pick the three of you", and he now says the same thing about his sons-in-law and daughter-in-law. This always kinda makes me laugh, but I feel the same way about both my parents. I have always known that I can count on Daddy for anything. As I grew, he provided me with such a clear picture of what I should look for in a husband and a father for my own children. Happy Father's Day, Daddy, I love you!

Before I can talk about Lane, I have to say a word about another special man in our life - Paw Paw! That's Lane's dad, Skeetz. A lot of the qualities I admire in Lane, he gets from his dad. If you can't handle tricks being played on you, then you don't want to be around Skeetz! He makes our time spent together so much fun, and it hasn't taken very long for Dane to become attached to his Paw Paw. Both my mom and Lane's mom joke about how much Dane LOVES his Pa and Paw Paw. Skeetz has a great way of finding what he has in common with you and growing a relationship from that. He has already started that with Dane, with their shared love of fishing. It really is amazing that Dane still pretends to call his cousin, J.J., to tell him the fishing story about Paw Paw in the boat, at least two months later. Most importantly, Skeetz makes a concerted effort to make sure that his kids and grandkids know about Jesus. One of things I love most about Skeetz is the way he interacts with his grandkids when it comes to talking about Jesus. He will take the time to talk about anything they need to talk about. When ones of them have decided to give their life to Christ, he always writes the most beautiful thoughts and prayer for them to commemorate their milestone. I admire him so much for that, and I hope to share one of those moments with him with my children someday, too. Thank you, Skeetz, for being you and for helping to mold Lane into the man he is. You are so special to us, and we love you! Happy Father's Day!

Now, to my Lane, Happy Father's Day! As I said earlier, my daddy's character and qualities helped me to find the perfect match for me - believe it or not, that's Lane Brown! There is no one I would rather spend my life here on Earth with! Lane is the funniest, most joyful person I have ever known. I love to laugh, and coming up this June 28, I've been laughing at and with Lane for 11 years! We were blessed to have met and worked together at Camp Deer Run, where I was able to see firsthand very early on in our relationship, that he was very gifted in his ability to work with children. I knew then what kind of dad he would be. I was also able to witness his relationship with our Lord, Jesus. He encourages me in my walk with Christ by encouraging me and helping me with my struggles. A lot of people ask me if Lane is ever serious, which he is on occasion. Lane has such a great heart, and I would say he is one of the most loyal people I know. If you want a good friend, he's your man. This week, Lane is gone with some of our youth group up to Harding for Uplift camp. So, unfortunately, Dane and I aren't getting to spend Father's Day with him. Now, if you don't know, Dane does not handle being away from Lane very well at all. He is normally an amazing sleeper, but everything gets out of whack when his daddy's gone, which is what we're experiencing a little of this week. So, if that doesn't tell you how important fathers are, I don't know what will. Dane needs me, but boy, does he sure love his daddy! I love to see the two of them together. They look just alike, which I'm glad of, because Dane is his daddy's #1 fan! Dane and I have fun together, too, but as soon as Lane gets home from work everyday, that's when the big fun begins! So, just like he's been filling my life with joy for 11 years, he's been doing the same for Dane these past almost 20 months. Thank you, Lane, for being such a solid example of Christ through your life. We love you! Happy Father's Day!

Remember the Alamo!

This past weekend, Dane, my mom and I all went down to San Antonio to visit my brother and sister-in-law, Joe David and Stefany. We had so much fun, and it was great to get to be with them. To sum up the weekend quickly, we mainly ate very good food, very often! Dane loved playing the guitar (or "music", as he calls it) with his Uncle Joe David. Dane brought his own little ukelele with us because he had a feeling that Joe David would want to have a jam session with him. He fell in love with Joe David's big guitars, so much so, that we had to put them all away so he couldn't get to them.

Thankfully, there was not an NBA Finals game while we were down there. Joe David and Stefany are diehard Spurs fans, and I just don't think that I would have been up to watching a game. My heart is still so broken at the premature ending to our Mavs season, so we've kinda given up basketball until next season starts. Sorry Spurs fans, while I respect your team loyalty, I just can't find any reason to want to share in your excitement right now. In fact, I'd kinda like to see LeBron get a ring. Not so sure that's going to happen, though.

OK, back to the trip...and the yummy food!

Friday night, Stefany made a wonderful meal of Chicken Parmesan with bowtie pasta. It was wonderful. Then, we headed over to Marble Slab for a sweet treat, which we all enjoyed. Saturday, we shopped a while and thoroughly enjoyed Freebirds for lunch. Joe David and Stefany had their new living room furniture delivered after lunch, so it was lots of fun to get to be the first to get to sit on it with them!

Saturday night, we went to a good place called the Longhorn Cafe, where we enjoyed down home Texas fried food (Yummy!). Right after supper, Dane was getting a little antsy, so I walked him outside to look at a windmill in the parking lot. I set him down in some rocks, and he tripped and his hands fell on the top of a cactus plant in that flower bed. Needless to say, I felt terrible and so did he! He had those little fine bristles stuck in his hands, and we spent the next thirty minutes in the car on the way to the Alamo picking them out. He kept saying, "So sorry, so sorry - fingers hurts!" When he gets hurt, I always tell him, "I'm so sorry", and so now I think he thinks that "sorry" means he's hurt, so he says it, too! Anyway, I felt so bad for the little guy.

We were on our way for Dane's first trip to the Alamo, and he fell asleep in the car about 10 minutes before we got there, and he stayed sound asleep the whole time we were there. So, we had to take pictures, so that he would believe that he's actually been there!

We really enjoyed getting to go to church with Joe D. and Stefany Sunday morning, and Dane only had to be taken out once for about a minute! So exciting! We ended the wonderful trip with a little more wonderful food at La Madeleine.

It was a great weekend spent with such special people! Thanks, Joe David and Stefany, for a great time! We can't wait to see y'all again!

Life at our house

I thought I would catch everybody up with what is going on around our place lately. Lane's summer schedule with the youth group is about to kick into high gear this next week, and will be that way until the end of July. He has a work camp next week, Uplift camp at Harding and also VBS in June. Then, we have another camp in Missouri, a mission trip, and taking kids to day camp in July. We are so excited about the summer, and we are so thankful for our wonderful church family and great group of kids here in Kilgore. Also, Lane just started an online Masters program through Harding University. He will begin his main coursework this Fall, but he's got a little May-mester course he's about to finish up now. I started off my college career at Harding and ended at A&M, and he started his at A&M and will finish up at Harding!

Anyway, whether he realizes it or not, I am so proud of him. I love getting to see him do what he truly loves for a living, and I'm so glad Dane and I get to be along for the ride, too!

Dane is getting so big and so grown up. He is really big into any kind of ball and has even written a song called "Baseball". It's just the word "baseball" over and over again, and he sings it as he plays his little guitar. He also likes to lead singing and talk about the Bible. There is a song that they sing in his Cradle Roll class about patting the Bible, and when you sing it, Dane really gets into it. The only problem is that the pounding he does on the Bible really is a far stretch from patting. So, we will have to work on that one, I guess. I haven't been very good about taking good pictures lately, but here are a few from the last couple of weeks. Dane really likes to put Lane's belts and ties around his neck and to wear our shoes. In this picture, he got all of his get-up on and said, "Bye, see ya later!" except it wasn't quite that clear.

My sweetie!

Answering the phone up at the church after playing hard on the playground

This is a new look...Swim diaper, a funnel for a hat and shoes. A simple and classic style!

Anyway, it's time for National Bingo Night on ABC, so I've got to go. I still haven't even printed out my Bingo cards yet! How will I ever win?!

Dane's Room

Well, I finally got most of Dane's room decorated these past couple of weeks. Dane has a sincere love and appreciation for flags, and I finally got the ones together that I wanted to go in his room. I still need to hang a few posters to fill in a couple of areas, but for the most part, it's done. I will have to tell you how proud I am that Dane can distinguish between the Texas and American flags. When I say, "Where's the Texas flag?", he runs over and taps the Texas flag and says, "Texas, Texas!" We're so glad that he's already proud of his Texas heritage! Then, when I ask him where the American flag is, he runs over and touches it. He can't say "American", though, so it's not quite as cute.

A Turtle Rescue & Fun with Granna and cousins!

Thursday, I was driving home from walking, and about two houses down from our driveway, my car straddled a turtle. So, I got Lane and Dane and we headed down to save that turtle from certain death. Lane carried it home and we put it in our yard to try to feed it some lettuce and carrots. Dane and I knocked on its shell to try to get it to come out. Obviously, that didn't work. So, after Dane needed to go back outside and check on it every 10 minutes for a couple of hours, the turtle had finally had enough of our family and "trotted" off to greener pastures. We all felt so proud of our brave rescue and we enjoyed singing the songs from one of our favorite shows, "The Wonder Pets", who rescue baby animals everyday! Turns out, it was a snappin' turtle, so we're kinda glad it decided not to stick around!

Then, on Friday, my mom was off work, so Robyn and I and our kids all met at our parents' house for a much needed Granna day. We all went to eat lunch and then had an impromptu party at the park, courtesy of Granna and my sweet little niece, Laura. We had ice cream, bubbles, balls and butterfly wings! Dane also took some time to work on his soccer skills, which are coming along fantastic! We had a great day enjoying how special our wonderful mother/Granna is! I have always been grateful for the treasure God gave me with my mama, but over the past few years, I have come to treasure her even more, not only for her constant love and encouragement, but even more for the friendship we share and so much enjoy!! I love you, Mama, and thank you for being the best mama ever! I hope you had as much fun as we did!

Dane's 18 Month Pictures

Last week, we all went to JC Penney in Tyler to have Dane's 18 month pictures and a family picture taken. All in all, the shoot was successful, I think. We had a little trouble getting Dane to sit by himself on the platform, but hey, once we stood a ladder on top of the platform, he climbed right up. So, that's the shot we ended up ordering some of. I just thought I'd share them with you.

Two Fish!

This past weekend, we went to the family house outside Timpson, TX to spend the weekend with Lane's parents to celebrate Skeetz's (Lane's dad) birthday. The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time. We picked blackberries, relaxed, and Dane had a big, big first...he got to go fishing at the pond with his Dad and Pa Pa in the boat! Needless to say, Dane gave himself credit (and we did, too) for all of the fish caught. They caught at least two fish on Friday, and Dane just kept saying, "Two fish! Two fish!" It was so cute. He got to go fishing again Saturday morning, and I think he definitely shares his Pa Pa's love of fishing, which I know they will both enjoy for years and years and will get to spend many special moments together.

Our little fisherman

Practicing his casting technique

"No time for pictures, Mom, this is serious business!"

Here Dane is helping his dad get into the boat.

The Big Catch!

Talking things over with Dad in the blackberry patch.

Each year for Skeetz's birthday, Wren (Lane's mom) always makes him strawberry shortcake. Let me tell you, to my knowledge, she is the only person who really knows how to make strawberry shortcake right! It's so wonderful! So, we all enjoyed that, especially Dane.

Happy Birthday, Pa Pa!

We had a great weekend and we had such a wonderful visit with Wren and Skeetz! We are so blessed to have such wonderful parents, and it's always so good to be able to get away and spend time together.

Dane and his big boy bed!

This was a very big day and night for us all. This afternoon, I put Dane's toddler bed together and disassembled his crib. Recently, I witnessed him hooking his foot over the top rail of his crib, so I knew that something had to be done soon. I had picked up a safety rail from Wal-Mart today, so once I figured out how it worked, we were in business. At first, I thought that there were two rails in the kit, but I was mistaken. So, rather than spend another $30 on another rail, I figured I would just position his bed in a corner up next to the wall, so he can't fall off that side. It was so much fun rearranging his room and letting him help me all along the way. Once we got everything put together, I showed Dane his new bed, and he practiced getting in and out of it and playing pee-pie through the mesh rail. After his bath tonight, all three of us played some more in there so that Dad could join in the fun, too. Dane was really good at climbing up on the side and hoisting himself over the rail onto the bed, but he was having some trouble getting back over and down. So, Lane and I moved the rail as far up the side toward the headboard as possible, so that he could have a little exit down by the foot of the bed. Well, that worked great for him getting down, but for some reason, he then thought he needed to climb up that way, too, which was difficult because there wasn't enough room for him to swing his leg up all the way. Eventually, he figured out that he can still go up the other way with ease. But in the meantime, as he tried to get up one time, he slipped and fell on his bottom and exclaimed, "Ah, man!!!" and then stormed out the door fussing! Lane made the comment that he looked just like his mother doing that. I didn't really know what he meant by that. He was just probably confused for a second or something!

So, I was worried that putting him to bed would be difficult, but I just kept our same routine and laid him down and walked out at around 8:45, and it's now 11:20, and we haven't heard a peep yet! So far, so good! He's always been such a good sleeper, for the most part, so hopefully this will be a smooth transition, too. That's all for now. Thank you, God, for my precious family, and the joy and love we share every day!

I love how proud he looks in this picture.

Playing Pee-Pie with me

Ice Cream before Supper anyone?

Well, today was a great day here at the Brown household. For starters, I only work until noon on Fridays, so I always look forward to having a longer afternoon off. However, earlier this week, our computer crashed, and we found out that the hard drive is dead, which means that we lost everything, including our pictures and videos. Luckily, I had been good and had most of the pictures uploaded to Snapfish.com, so I think that we are only missing the ones from this past November through March. And I just uploaded the pictures I took today and was surprised to see that I had forgotten to clear off my memory card, and we still had all of the pictures from this month back until Easter!!! Yea!! Also, it works out that I happened to start blogging last November, so most of my very favorite pictures I have here. All in all, the largest loss is my Christmas card address list. I don't think I had ever printed out a hard copy. Oh, well. So, if you get a chance, please email me your mailing address to cjohnsgirl@gmail.com, and I will start building it back again. Yea, a new project!

So, anyway, Lane finally decided what computer he wanted to get and we got it this afternoon. Not much has been going on with us this week other than that. My biggest news is that I spent a couple of hours each night this week working on getting my garage cleaned out and organized. I had never gotten this done since we have been here in Kilgore, and there were those boxes left in there that really just needed to be either thrown out or put in the attic. So, I got this finished last night around 1:00, and I immediately pulled both of our cars in it to celebrate that accomplishment. It's probably weird, but having a garage and not using it to park in is a big pet peeve of mine, and I'm been driving myself crazy for almost nine months now with my mess.

Other than that, we've just been having fun playing outside and listening to Dane develop new catch phrases. He's starting saying, "Are you ready?" when we start to put his shoes on before we leave the house. And, the other day, he started saying, "Come on!", like it's such a chore for him when we're trying to get him to do something, like eat when he's not in the mood. I think Lane and I say that a lot or something, who knows. He's really turned into quite the hugger the past couple of weeks, too, and he now shares his hugs with me and not just with Mr. Monkey and C. John, our cat. That's the best of all!

Tonight before dinner (I know - I'm totally setting a bad precedent), Dane and I decided to eat an ice cream cone and go outside for a few more minutes while Lane got the grill heated up for burgers. We've just started letting him handle his own ice cream cones and popcicles, so my rule is that we have to eat them outside (less mess to clean up). I love how deliberate and neat he is with his cone, except for on his mouth, of course. Anyway, these pictures are from tonight.