The Big Fall

Ever since moving to our new house, Greyson has started randomly coming into our bed in the middle of the night. We sometimes hear him come into the room or sometimes he wakes us up as he crawls over us to get comfortable to sleep.

Last night Greyson came into our room. We didn't hear him. We didn't feel him. He didn't climb into the middle of the bed. Instead he gently climbed into the bed and fell asleep on Brandon's side. Between Brandon and the edge of the bed. Bentley(our beagle) started howling in the middle of the night for some odd reason, and Brandon shot straight up into the air. When he shot up, he flung Greyson off of his arm, and into the air. Greyson landed head first on the corner of Brandon's nightstand, and then fell on the ground. We heard a scream and then silence. Brandon immediately woke up out of his dead sleep as did I. He grabbed Greyson up and checked to make sure he was okay. At the time we didn't know that Grey had hit his head. So we tucked him back in our bed and turned off the light. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I felt THE BUMP. After feeling Grey cringe when I touched it, I turned on the light to find this:

The picture doesn't even do it justice. We thought for a minute that our very hard headed son, may have cracked his skull. It just kept swelling. We kept him awake for a while and tried our hardest to make sure that there was no concussion. We kept ice on him for most of the night. We were both a little freaked out.

By the time morning came, the swelling was going down. The bruise was still getting its color. But Greyson was back to being Greyson. Thank GOD!

Twins Club Fun

About five months after the twins were born, Brandon and I ran into a couple of ladies that told us about the Greater St Louis Mothers of Twins Club. Twice a year the club has a re-sell it consignment sale. One for fall/winter and one for spring/summer. My friend Carrie is one of the co-chairs for this part of the club. It's actually how we met.

I had never been to a sale like this before. Brandon and I walked in and were in complete amazement. The club rents out a high school gym and divides it up. Everything has a place and a very precise tag on it. It is truly amazing. You can find just about anything you need there for a great price.

In years past, I've gone a little crazy with the shopping. I've purchased a Peg- Perego double that retails for almost $400 for $100! This year, I tried to really watch my spending and stick mainly to purchasing clothes. I was able to get 55 shirts (Lands End, GAP, Polo, GreenDog, Tommy Hilfiger, etc), 30 pairs of pants, khakis, cords, or sweats(same as the tops), 2 heavy GAP jackets, 4 fleece jackets, and a handful of toys for $200. I was excited. Brandon and his parents were impressed as well.

Carrie got the twins these cute shirts!After the sale was over, I was able to go out with five ladies from the club for dinner. Since our move was sudden, I didn't really get a good chance to say good-bye to the ladies that had supported and befriended us. It was so much fun, being able to have some bonding time and not worry about rushing home! After dinner, I headed back to Brandon's parents house and visited with them. Brandon's dad knows my love for ice cream, so we headed to the frozen custard place down the road, and chatted for a while in the beatiful weather. We headed back to the house and I promptly went to bed. I woke up Sunday morning hoping to get back to Ozark in time for Sunday School. I timed it perfectly. I walked in the door at 9:45, exactly when church started.

When we were talking about moving, Brandon and I debated about renewing my membership to the twins club. Would it be worth it to drive to STL for the sales? Would I be able to ever attend a dinner meeting? We had decided to put a hold on renewing for this year, but as a gift the club president, took care of my renewal. It was so nice of her, and I am so excited to be able to continue going to the sales!

Preschool!!!

Today was yet another big day in the Howard Household. My little bitty babies ( Lincoln and Daniel) started preschool today! We were blessed to be able for them to even get in. Who knew that preschool in this area was so competitive?! It's hard to believe that the twins are old enough to be in school. It seems like just yesterday they were coming home from the hospital and learning how to roll over.

When we moved to Springfield, I called all over the place trying to find a school with two open spots. I got a mixed review of responses. I had a couple of churches laugh at me, we were wait listed at a total of 7 school, and one lady talked to me for 45 minutes and gave me every answer under the sun to any question I could think of. I was a little discouraged and shocked to say the least. I was very shocked to recieve a phone call out of the blue almost two months later, telling me that their school had two openings for an afternoon program. Brandon and I were elated!

Everyday for over a month and a half, I was asked atleast 25 times a day, if today was the day for big kid school. Maybe I should have kept my exciting news to myself a little while longer! The boys were so excited. They thought they were the biggest kids around when we went school supply shopping. They only had to have a handful of items, but they got to help pick them out and put them in their backpack. Speaking of backpacks, they had to put them on half a dozen times everyday! But a big shout out to Aunt Heather and Uncle Nate for the awesome backpacks!

Finally, the day arrived. It was a little bittersweet. I was a little worried about how the twins would do, and how Greyson would react with them getting to do something cool while he goes to Mimi's and takes a nap. Brandon took a longer lunch so he was able to meet us at the school for the walk in. We walked in, the boys were so excited. They put their bags in their cubbies, and ran up to their teacher, Ms Tracy. We took a couple of quick pictures and they ran off to play with their new friends.

When 3:30 rolled around, I couldn't wait to hear all about their big day. I was a little disappointed, when they didn't really tell me anything about it! I talked to Ms Tracy about a couple of things on day two, and relieved all my fears. I can't wait to see how much they grow and learn over the next nine months!

Brooks & Dunn

My dad and I are super close. I might be 26 years old and married, but we still go out on an occasional date, we still talk almost every day, and I still call him daddy. We both LOVE country music, so when the opprotunity arrises for us to be able to go to a concert together we take it! Granted, the last time that we went to one was my senior year of high school, we still talk about that Alan Jackson concert like it was yesterday. Since my good friend Carrie's family runs a concession stand business, she was able to get us tickets to the Brooks and Dunn Final Rodeo Tour in St Louis.
I had the crazy idea of having a garage sale the morning of the concert, so dad picked me up that afternoon and we headed to St Louis. We were so excited, we were also both exhausted. We made a quick stop by Brandon's parents house to pick up some outdoor stuff that we had left, and ran to eat dinner at Steak and Shake. After a yummy dinner we headed out to Verizon Wireless Ampitheater. It is a really cool place to see concerts. I took my dad on a scenic drive and showed him a couple of cool hidden gems that Brandon and I had found while living in St Louis.
I was supposed to call Carrie's dad when we were getting close so he could give us our tickets and so our dad's could meet each other. After a couple of tries and no luck- we winged it. We parked in employeed parking, and snuck in past security. We were supposed to be on a workers list, but weren't for some odd reason. Good thing that I have worked out there with Carrie several times, so I somewhat knew what I was doing! After meeting up with David, we headed up to the top of 'the hill' and grab our seats by their concession stand. Gary Allen was an opening act. He was okay- he was losing his voice and they were having a problem with the sound, so you could only hear half of what he was actually able to sing.
We were just there for B & D anyway. They were amazing! They played for almost 2 hours, and played everysong you could think of. Dad and I grabbed a bag of yummy kettle korn, a huge lemonade, and we were set. We sang, we laughed and we did lots of people watching. While Brooks and Dunn isn't my all time favorite country group, it was one of the best concerts I've seen in a long time. They are iconic to country music... their new music will be missed.
I am so glad my dad and I were able to take the night away and have an awesome date night.

The BIG 5

Yesterday was a big day in our house. Brandon and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. Normally people would go on and on with how wonderful it's been. I'm not gonna lie folks; it's been hard. I'm not gonna say that I've loved every minute of it- because I haven't. But I do love my husband.. nobody can make me madder than Brandon Howard, but nobody can make me as happy as Brandon Howard.

Have we been through a lot in our short five years? YES!!! Will we go through so much more in our next 50+? You betcha! There is no one that I would have rather had by myside through the hard and happy time, other than my wonderful hubsand. There has never been a doubt in my mind that Brandon will do whatever it takes to take care of his family. I can honestly say that I am more in love with him today, than the day we married. Happy Anniversary Babe! I love you!

We kept it simple this year. We were hoping to do a weekend away, but with three kids and our crazy schedules it just isn't that easy to do. Plus I am crazy and planning a garage sale in the morning. My parents kept the boys for the evening while we went to dinner. After wrestling them to get them in the car, we went home and I kept slaving away at garage sale. We are hoping to take a weekend getaway to Kansas City, but haven't set anything in stone yet!

Watermelon Crawl

While I grew up in Missouri, I and my family are originally from a small town in northern Louisiana. It's in an area that has annual festivals for fruits and vegetables. They crown a princess, and the whole town shuts down for the weekend. I LOVE IT! I was only 4 when we moved to Missouri, but as soon as I go back or talk to any of my family, my southern accent comes out, and I miss it. I don't miss the heat or humidity, but I miss the kindness and how it just seems to go at a slower pace, how you don't get strange looks for saying yes ma'am. and no matter what age you are it is still okay to call your mom, momma! I especially missed it while living in St Louis.

The first year I even experienced the Watermelon Festival was in July of 1999. My mammaw (my momma's mom) had just passed away, while we were down visiting, and the funeral home was a block away from all the festivities. So at the end of visitation some of us headed over to wonder around.

I had heard about Watermelon festival. My brother was in the parade as an escort to my cousin, Erin, when they were little kids. I had always wanted to go, my aunt even sent me a shirt every year. While it isn't a big deal to my family... I have to beg in order for them to go, I love it. It is what the south is. For the past two years, my mom and I have loaded up the car and the boys, at the end of July. and made the seven hour drive to Farmerville, Louisiana to watch a parade. You read it right, we only go to the parade, it might be 101 degrees outside, but we will be standing in the shade watching the parade go by. The boys love it just as much as I do.

We left on Thursday morning, in no rush. I can't really rush when I am finishing packing for four people, have to load all the stuff that those four people require, have to get breakfast, gas, and then go and pick up my mom. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off, not to mention that this was the first real trip that the twins were taking since being potty trained in Feburary. I was a little nervous as to how it would all turn out. They did great! We only had to make two stops. Two stops in seven hours!! I was so excited.

Once we arrived at my aunt Bonnie's house, we unloaded and the boys were instantly ready to get in the pool. Being the mean momma that I am, I wanted them to eat first, but after a complete meltdown, I said forget about it! To the pool it is! None of my boys have had swim lessons, so we heavily relied on life jackets and people in the pool. After a hour or so of swimming, we headed in for a quick bite, and went to bed.

On Friday, my cousin Erin and her little adorable son Parker were coming over to spend the day. We lounged around the house, swam, head into "town" for some yummy Johnny's pizza and got our Watermelon Shirts. We made a quick run to Wal Mart, where we turned into complete tourist. My dad is a HUGE Dallas Cowboy fan, and Brandon and I are LSU fans. And the only places you can really get it at a good price is at Wal Mart in Louisiana! So we headed out with 3 outfits for the boys, a shirt for Brandon, 2 shirts and a pair of pants for me, and a shirt for my dad. We headed back to Bonnies, for more swimming with some of my younger cousins, and dinner.

On Saturday we woke up ready to hit the ground running for the parade. It started at 10 so we left the house about 9:15, and got a great spot in the shade. Don't get me wrong, we were in the shade, but there was no breeze, and it was 101 degrees at 10 in the morning. NO LIE!

After about 45 minutes the parade was over, and we headed to walk around for a couple of minutes, until we could justify going to get lunch. We headed into the courthouse, where I found the cutest dresses for my two neices in Alaska. (I'll explain more in a different post)

My mom was craving some fresh shrimp, so we headed to a little seafood joint and had some lunch. Erin and Parker came with us, and my cousin Sheryl and her family joined us a litle bit later. After lunch, we headed back to Bonnies, hoping the boys would take a nap, but were unscuccessful. We headed back outside, to the pool, trampoline, and rode PaPa Jerry's four wheeler. My three boys were in Heaven!

After it cooled off a lot... we headed to the Marion Volunteer Fire Department, where my cousin volunteers, and crawled around on the fire trucks. My cousin Bryan, let the boys crawl up and turn on the lights, honk the horn, just about anything they wanted to do was game! They loved it. We would have stayed longer had it not been 100 degrees at 7:30pm. You've gotta love the southern heat.

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready to head back north. We once again decided that there was no point to being in a rush, so we didn't even get out of the door until 10am. It was 101 degrees. No wonder Brandon refused to go to Law School at LSU. He would've died in the heat.

We tried to be a little efficient, and take a short cut that my family swears by. After driving around for a hour and ending up in a town that should only take us 45 minutes at max to get to, we decided that I had made a wrong turn somewhere, and swore to never EVER go that way again. Why fix something that's not broken?!

We finally pulled into the drive way around 7 that night. We were tired but starving, so off to eat we headed. The kids passed out on the way home, and I was out like a light shortly thereafter. I am so glad we went, but I forgot how much it wears me out! Can't wait until next year!

I forgot to load the album before I started blogging, so you can check out the pictures from our trip here!