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!

Weekend with the Wilsons/Our First Family Campout!

I'm playing a little catch-up on this post. Over Mother's Day weekend, we met my best friend, Andrea, and her family in Houston. Joe, her husband, is a professional bodybuilder (all natural, no steroids), and he had a body building show near Houston the day before Mother's Day. He did really well, and ended up winning 3rd place in the pro division and winning his first cash prize! We had never been to a body building show, so it was quite the new experience, especially for Dane. It seems as though he really connected with the whole deal, and he has been showcasing his muscles for us ever since. He really has his poses down good! It was really great to get to spend some time with Andrea again. We try to get together once a year, and I'm so glad it all worked out for us this year again. Her kids, Reed and Elliot, are so sweet, and Dane really got along well with them, especially Reed. That's probably a good thing, since he has been betrothed to her since the day we found out he was going to be a boy! It would be a shame if he didn't like his own future wife!

Dane, Reed and Elliot

Dane - showing off his muscles

Lane caught Dane sleeping in this position - probably dreaming about his muscles!

This past Friday, Lane and I decided that we would take Dane camping for the first time. I had really meant for us to go a little sooner before it decided to become summer in Texas! We decided to go Friday morning, so it was a pretty impromptu trip. We decided to go to this really great camping place near Daingerfield that doesn't charge for tent camping. It happens to be on my parents' land, and it really worked out great since we were able to string extension cords from their house out to our tent for our fan. As we were setting up our sleeping bags, Dane and I looked out the window and saw Lane coming down the hill with my mom's little lighted Christmas trees that she puts on her front porch at Christmas. We used them as our lights outside our tent while we hung out before bedtime! A big thanks to my parents for all of the supplies they provided for our poorly planned out first camping trip. Here's a list of the borrowed items: an air mattress, extension cords, electricity, sheets and pillow for Lane (he forgot his sleeping bag and pillow), shower, toilet, kitchen for breakfast, trash bag, great company from the host family, a great big open view of the sky to watch the International Space Station go by, and for the finale, a complimentary Dairy Queen lunch before we left! So, if any of you are looking for a friendly, affordable and comfortable campsite, I'm sure my parents would love to have you! We really thought that we would end up in the house to sleep if Dane didn't want to stay in the tent, but he really was in the "roughin' " it mood, and he slept in the tent all night until about 7:30 Saturday morning. We were able to build a little fire and roast marshmallows before bedtime, too. I, on the other hand, decided to head on to the house around 6:00 and lounged on the couch and visited with Daddy until the boys came up for breakfast. It was really fun, and I can't wait to do it again in the fall once it starts to cool back down. As a side note, we discovered a must-have item for any camping trip with kids - Glow sticks! They give off just the right amount of light in the tent so the kids don't get scared! 15 glow sticks for $1.00 at Target - you can't beat that!

Setting up camp and visiting with our gracious hosts - We loved the cozy atmosphere the Christmas trees provided!

Enjoying a refreshing Capri Sun before bedtime

Lane and Daddy building a campfire

Roasting marshmallows

This is my new favorite picture of Dane - he was actually panicking because he had too many marshmallows in his mouth, but he was kind enough to wait for me to take his picture before spitting it all out!

Sleeping hard

I can't believe he stayed in the tent all night! Notice the Cars theme we chose...Cars sleeping bag, blanket and pajamas. It never hurts to be completely coordinated!

More Jed Pictures

I just wanted to update everybody about sweet little Jed. They were able to go home Saturday morning, so of course, more pictures needed to be taken. He is really such a good baby, and I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the great parents he has and the peace of mind and assurance that he feels from them.

Mama, Daddy and I hung around just long enough for them to get home and get unloaded. Thankfully, we followed them back because Jed had been holding out until then to let me get the picture I had really been wanting to get the most...his feet (well, foot). There's nothing sweeter than a newborn baby's hands and feet, I think. I was also able to get a really good family picture of the newly expanded Bowers family in their home for the first time.

Enjoy the pictures!

Father & Son

The Happy Family!

It always feels better to have a good cry!

A great family photo at their house

Jed Bowers is finally here!

Well, the newest addition to the Bowers family is finally here! Jed Wyatt Bowers made his grand debut into this world at around 3:00 a.m. this morning (May 15). Stefany was great, so I'm told, and her labor lasted around 12 hours. Jed weighs 5 lbs. 10.2 oz. and measures 18 1/2 inches long. He's very strong and wiry and very, very sweet! Oh, yeah, and intelligent, too! He and his mom are both doing great, and we're all just so happy that he's here! I'll try to get a good family photo of Joe David, Stefany and Jed together, and I'll add it to this post later.

The proud grandparents!

Bonding with his favorite aunt! I guess Robyn, Jennifer and Alyson may all disagree, but I feel very confident in my declaration!

Happy Birthday to our Wonderful Cat!

Nine wonderful years ago, my sister-in-law's cat, Pascal, gave birth to four kittens, and one of them was my C. John. It was an exciting day for us all, and I instantly fell in love with the biggest, fluffiest kitten of the litter. Pascal had a teenage pregnancy, so, of course, I wanted to do everything I could to help her out. So, adopting one of her sons was a pleasure and the least I could have done. I'm happy to say that Pascal is also still alive and is doing well in her new home near College Station.

Lane and I got C. John the summer before we got married, so he's been through it all with us. There was only a few months after September 11, 2001, that C. John was missing, and other than that, we've stuck together. I have helped him over these past four years, as he has fought and struggled with Feline Urinary Tract Disease, a condition that nearly took his life before we caught it. Thankfully, his condition is easily managed with the right food. He has done marvelously with his diet change and has continued to bring our family joy!

Dane and I thought that it would be fun to have a birthday party for C. John today, so since Granna (my mom) was coming to watch Dane while I went to the dr., she was so nice and made a birthday cake. Dane picked out a cake mix with sprinkles in it, and we used whipped cream and crushed oreo cookies for the frosting. I carved on Dane's 2 yr. birthday candle and made it into what kinda resembled a 9. We used left over party plates and half-eaten boxed Neopolitan ice cream, and whalla! - we had ourselves a party! To make the party even more fun, Dane's friend, Winter, came by for a couple of hours to play while her mom went to the dr., so she got to help us celebrate. We even talked Lane into coming home for a while for the party. I think the cake and ice cream part had more to do with his coming home, rather than his desire to celebrate a cat's birthday, though. We'll take what we can get, though!

Dane, trying to give C. John his present

For those of you who are not quite sure, we do not normally have birthday parties for our pets. I just happened to remember that C. John was born on May 1, and I thought that it would make a fun day for Dane, and it did. We have had a great time. I'm not really so sure if C. John even cares about all of the time and effort Dane, my mom and I put into his special day. He mainly just wanted to go back and finish his afternoon nap! Some thanks!