Thoughts on Heaven

The boys and I have had many conversations about heaven lately. Some are pretty funny. Some make me cry.

In the days after mom died, Braden, being the literal kid that he is, accepted the fact without question. Grandma died. We're not going to see her again. She's in heaven. Garrett, at two years old, didn't quite get it. He kept mentioning Grandma and Braden would quickly say, "Grandma died. She's in heaven."

In the past week or so, Braden's been asking questions. Last week we were driving home from school and he asked, "Mom, where's heaven?" and then "Can you drive a car there?" and "Can an airplane fly there?" I attempted to answer, but how can heaven be explained to a four year old?

Yesterday, Garrett slipped out of my hand and ran out past the truck while we were in the Petco parking lot. I freaked. I grabbed him about the time he rounded the bumper and jerked him up of the ground by one arm. I shoved him into his carseat, heart pounding, and said, "Garrett don't ever run out in a parking lot. A car could have smooshed you because they wouldn't be able to see you!" Braden matter-of-factly said, "Yeah, Garrett. And if a car smooshes you, you'll be dead and then you'll be in heaven with Grandma." Oh, gosh kid. It's moments like that when I don't know whether to laugh or cry or be horrified.

Today as we were driving home Braden asked, "Mom, Grandma's in heaven, right?" When I responsed affirmatively, he said, "I can remember her shopping at Wal-Mart."

I wondered what the connection was. I don't even pretend to have an understanding of heaven, but I sure hope that there are not any Wal-Marts there. Although, knowing mom, if she had a choice of shopping at Saks or shopping at Wal-Mart, even in heaven, she'd choose Wal-Mart. And that thought made me smile.

Happy Birthday Blog!

I just realized that my blog is one year old today!

Thanks for reading and allowing me to share over the past year.

Playing hard and sleeping hard!

GrandTom was here this weekend working with Kyle on a landscaping project. That meant we all spent lots of time outside, especially because the weather was amazing! The boys sure played hard! Here's Garrett on his scooter. This scooter was a Christmas gift from Braden. Braden has one exactly like it, but he wanted Garrett to have one so that Garrett would quit using Braden's scooter.
This is Braden on Garrett's bike. Santa Claus brought this bike for Garrett--apparently it is okay for Braden to use Garrett's toys. Notice the arbor and fence in the background. This is our new landscaping project, phase 1. Phase 2 will be the installation of flowerbeds around the fence. I'll post pics in a few months when it is complete.
One of the best parts about the boys playing so hard is that they sure sleep hard! They each took a three hour nap yesterday. Ugh! Look at their scraggly hair. They got haircuts last night. I didn't think they needed it, but now that I look at these pictures (especially Braden's), they sure did!

Mom's obituary and memory video

My sister posted Mom's obituary and the video we played at her service. Check it out:
http://www.lchafin.com/lindaallen

Conversations with Garrett

Garrett and I are sitting at the breakfast table eating lunch. He just said to me, "Mommy, I love juice. I love juice and apples. Wait! I don't love apples. I just love juice. And milky milk. I love juice, milky milk, and Cali. I really love Cali. And I love mommy, and daddy, and brother."

(Cali is our chihuahua).

I just asked, "Garrett, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

His eyes lit up and he said, "a tiger. I can be a tiger and brother can be an Elmo. I can be an Elmo like brother. Elmo has to be red."

Garrett and I aren't alone very often. When we are, he sure does talk a lot and is pretty funny.

He just told me, "Mommy, I have to get that red Elmo back" and took off running saying, "come on, Cali, we're superman."

Handsome spray

Braden picked up a small spray bottle of water off of daddy's sink and exclaimed, "Hey! Handsome spray!"

A beautiful January day

What a great day! It is a sunny 66 degrees in the beautiful town of College Station, and life just doesn't get much better than this. We're all home today puttering around, doing laundry, washing cars, watching Dora, playing on the computer, pulling weeds, making a grocery list, and basically just enjoying a quiet Monday at home.

Papa and Sheri gave Braden a tunnel and tent play set for Christmas. I thought today would be a great day to pull them out. The play set has a tent, a tepee, and four tunnels that connect to a central hub. I added the tunnel and play tent we already had to create a tunnel and tent extravagana. After some tears on Braden's part ("the wind is going to break it"), the boys got down to business.

The addition of a slide made for a great obstacle course.