Change Places!

Can it be? 74 degrees outside on May 27 in College Station, Texas?? A very windy but precipitation-free cold front moved in this afternoon, and it feels fantastic outside!

After a yummy dinner of Little Caesar's Hot-n-Ready pizza (they've gone up to $5.99!) and a round or two of Dora, we moved the Stutts Tuesday night party outside onto the deck. Braden decided to play imaginary baseball. He stood in one corner of the deck, swung his "bat" and hit the "ball" with all of his might, and then yelled, "CHANGE PLACES!" at the top of his lungs and ran his stubby little legs to the opposite corner of the deck.

Apparently he doesn't understand how baseball works.

His yelling did get the neighborhood dogs to barking, though.

Garrett picked up on things (he does and says everything that big brother does), and he was soon yelling "tange paces" and running around the deck, too. Kyle and I just laughed and pretty soon we were pitching and batting, too!

"Dress like your favorite community helper"

Yesterday Braden's daycare class celebrated the end of their lessons on community helpers by having a dress-up day.

We borrowed the mailman outfit from the Corleys--Parker wore it for Halloween. Braden was SO excited and got lots of compliments about how handsome he was!

Splishing and Splashing with good friends

Last night we went over to the Corley's house to just hang out and relax after a very long week. Parker is an expert at the Slip 'n Slide, but Braden caught on pretty quickly. Tyler and Garrett had a great time splashing in the water spray.

We all reminisced about the Slip 'n Slides of our childhood, and agreed that they sure have come a long way since we were kids when they were just a flat piece of yellow plastic, and you had to use your own sprinkler!

The boys capped off the evening with ice-cream sandwiches and bike/trike riding on the patio. Garrett sure made a mess of his sandwich!

Linsey's graduation!

A few weekends ago, Linsey graduated from the University of Houston-Clear Lake with her master's degree in instructional technology. We had a very nice, relaxing weekend with lots of family fun.

Our little family drove down to Houston on Saturday morning and went to brunch with Linsey, Mom, and Tom. Linsey chose a yummy Mexican restaurant near her apartment in the River Oaks area. The restaurant reminded me of the fancier restaurants found in Mexican border towns (If you've never been to one, I guess that doesn't make much sense, but trust me; this place was great!). Linsey, post the name of it in the comments section!

After we stuffed ourselves, we went back to Linsey's apartment and took pictures of Linsey. Isn't she pretty!

We skipped the graduation ceremony itself so that the boys could take naps and Kyle and I could attempt to catch up on schoolwork. That evening, my Dad and Janet came over and cooked a delicious dinner of grilled shrimp, chicken, and veggie kabobs. We swam in Linsey's pool, and the boys opened birthday presents from Linsey, Dad, and Janet. They're in a diaper/underwear in the pictures because we had been swimming, then came inside to eat, and I didn't see the point in getting them entirely dressed when we were just going to head back out to the pool.

Braden loves Linsey's apartment, especially because of the pool. He swam with the safety lifesaver around him. It had a long rope attached, which made for lots of fun when we pulled him across the pool really fast!

Braden's first fish!

One beautiful evening, Daddy and Braden went down to the landing on our little lake, and Braden caught his first fish with his Lightning McQueen fishing pole. I imagine that this is the first of many, many fish. Daddy was very proud of him.

Braden took control of the camera and took a picture

of Daddy

and one of the moon.

Gifts from Uncle Matt

The boys' Uncle Matt (Kyle's brother), who lives in Key West, Florida, sent some fun gifts for the boys' birthdays. Thanks, Matt! Garrett received a Florida Keys gator and a bouncey ball with a tail.
Braden got a fun kite! Check out that awesome dinosaur!

More Party Pics!

My friend Courtney gave me a disk with pictures and video from the birthday party. I'm impressed that she did that so quickly (of course, Courtney is always on top of things!).