Valentine's Day part 2

So, yesterday after work Kyle gave me a travel coffee mug, too, and then offered to trade my new mug for his new mug.

Apparently he wanted one with a handle.


He also gave me a dozen roses.

Happy Valentime's Day!

No, that isn't a typo.

Braden says "Valentime" and I think it is cute!

Yesterday, the boys and I went to Target to pick out a travel coffee mug to give to Daddy for Valentine's Day. Kyle has recently started using the timer on the coffee pot to make coffee in the morning, and is using a lid-less mug to transport his coffee all of the way to Huntsville. We have three or four more travel mugs, but I can't seem to remember to bring them home from my classroom. I thought giving Kyle a special mug just for him would be a good idea--even though we agreed on no presents. Anyhoo, back to the shopping trip...First, Braden was pretty sure that Daddy wanted a race car for Valentime's Day, then he was certain that Daddy wanted the shiny pink mug, but I convinced him that Daddy would like the much more manly black and silver one. I put it in a gift bag and left it by the coffee pot this morning. Kyle seemed to appreciate it.

Last night before we went to bed, I got out Braden's Valentine's shirt (same one he wore last year...has the kid not grown at all?!). It depicts a frog wearing a crown and says "Kiss Me." Braden was very excited about wearing it today until I went to go wake him up this morning.

me: "Braden, wake up! It's Valentine's Day. You get to wear your shirt!"

Braden: (grouchy) "Go away. I'm sleeping."

me: (kissing on him) "Braaadeeeen. Wake uuuuUUUuuup."

Braden: (rolling away from me) "Just let me sleep five more minutes."

Agh! I had a major flash forward to Braden at 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, etc. He can't help it though, mommy and daddy love to sleep, too. Garrett, on the other hand, usually wakes us up by singing over the monitor.

I attempted to get pictures of the boys as we left for school this morning. The results perfectly capture their morning personalities:

Pool Trout Fishout

The Stutts family got up this morning to attend the 26th annual Pool Trout Fishout at Southwood Hallaran pool on Rock Prairie in College Station. The city stocks the pool with 1000 pounds of trout (kind of a gross concept, if you ask me) and kids of all ages can fish until their heart's content (thank you, Shakespeare, for coining that phrase).


The fishing was limited to kids under the age of 10 from 9am to noon today, and Kyle wanted to get there at 9am sharp. Garrett and Braden were amused by the fish in the pool for a few minutes. Garrett did his little squat down and jump dance and waved at the fish, all while yelling "fishie, fishie."



By 9:30 the kids and I were ready to go. No fish bit; no fish seemed even interested. In fact, about that time I looked around the pool and it was mostly the dads who were fishing (so much for kids under 10!).


Two little girls in Braden's daycare class came with their dads, and we all fished together. I was very impressed that their dads were manly enough to fish away with a pink plastic Barbie fishing pole! Skylar's dad caught two fish and had several more nibbles, but Catelyn's dad didn't have any luck.

The pool gave out "goodie bags" to the kids, and Braden's mouth is full of Snickers in this picture.

I saw two former students. Gregg Bean and his little girl and Joey Shoemake and his little brother both limited out within about 10 minutes. They have been fishing at the Fishout since they were little boys and told me the secret: get there first thing in the morning, use a tiny hook with no weight on the line, and use either the bright pink dot-looking bait or little pieces of Velveeta.

Our good friends Patrick and Parker Corley came for a little while, but, like us, they didn't have any luck fishing either. Parker can sure pose for the camera, though:

Beautiful day!

Such beautiful weather today! When we got home, we spent an hour or so playing outside. We refilled the bird feeders, played on the swingset, played in the driveway with the tractors, wagons, and tricycles, and raced each other from the driveway to the tree and back. My boys are fast!

Here is Garrett playing peek-a-boo with me through the back of a tricycle.

Braden loves his tractor and was happy to pose for this picture!

A visit from an old friend

Barret Kolle isn't actually old...we've just known him for a while! Kyle and Barret knew each other from showing cattle; Barret and I were friends in college.

Barret was in town for a few days recruiting Aggies at the College of Ag career fair for his company. He came over Wednesday night for dinner and catching up. Barret and his wife Laci have an adorable 8 month old boy named Brady, and we heard lots of cute baby stories and saw pictures--he looks just like Barret! Barret works for Daymon Worldwide (http://www.daymon.com/); his life in the business world is very different from our life in education!

I tried to take a picture of Barret with the boys, but Braden wouldn't cooperate. I bribed him with gum, and he finally agreed to the picture. (Perhaps I should have bribed Garrett, too!).

It was great to see him and catch up--next time we get together, I'd like to see Laci and Brady, too!

We have birds!

This afternoon a few birds showed up for a feast! I ran to get Braden, and he looked at the birds, looked at me, and said, "I told you they would come!" We then high-fived. I tried to get a kiss out of him, but he wasn't having any of that mushy stuff.

We have at least three varieties. One is a cardinal. I had to get the bird book for the others... some sort of chickadee (a Carolina chickadee, perhaps?) and I couldn't identify the third bird. It was small, about the size of a cockatiel, but all grey. Any ideas?

I must be getting old. I never thought I would get so excited about birds! Perhaps Gran-B is rubbing off on me, after all.

Brother oh Brother!

After completing our birdfeeder project (see next post), the boys wanted to hang out on their playset for awhile. They are in such a monkey-see, monkey-do phase. Whatever one boy does, the other is sure to follow.

These are their goofy faces!

Birdfeeder buffet

Last November, the boys' Grandaddy (my dad) wanted to create a birdfeeder station in our backyard. The plan was to sink a 4x4 into the ground, attach decorative hooks on three sides, and hang various types of birdfeeders. However, when Grandaddy went outside to dig the hole, he quickly gave up because the ground was rock hard. Our backyard is very native (meaning it is all rock!).

Two weeks ago, after several days of rain, I dug a hole. Last weekend, Kyle enlarged it with the help of a borrowed post-hole digger and we added the 4x4 and backfilled.

Today, Tiffany and I went to Tractor Supply and bought two more birdfeeders (we had one), birdseed, and a copper cap for the top of the post. The boys helped me fill the feeders and hang them...now we just need birds!

Welcome to my blog

This is my first venture into blogging. The plan is to share pictures and stories of the boys and of my family, sort of an online scrapbook so all of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and loved ones can see updates of the boys! Be sure to bookmark the page and check back often.