June 2009

June was also a busy month for us.

June 1-5 was Bryson's first week of Vacation Bible School. I did not get to help during the week, but he came home with some of the cutest crafts. The theme was Polar Express, and he was in his nana's class. He thought we was such a big boy. I was told he would get right in there with all the big boys and get rough and rowdy - great! June 7th was the program, and he looked so handsome with his hair fixed and his little blazer on! :) He even said a part in the program, and sang the "butterfly song." He is getting so big - tear!

Little Miss Jamison in the front (you could not see her otherwise)!

June 5-7 - 10 year High School Class Reunion.

I had so much fun at the reunion. It was so nice visiting with people I had not seen in 5 - 10 years, and catching up with others that I don't get to visit with that often (even though they live close). I was on the planning committee, and we really worked hard to get it all put together. In the end everything turned out so great! The reunion started Friday night at the Full Moon Cafe. We ate and visited until real late and headed home cause I was missing little man. Saturday afternoon a group of us girls (plus some spouses and kids) got together at my house for lunch and more time to catch up.

Back row (from left to right): Heather Forbis, Diane Krumm (Henderson), Leslie Stelzer (Eschbach), Leslie Thomason (Williams), me, Kellie Weaver (Wilson)

Front row (from left to right): Kristen Thomas, Christel Huddleston, and Sherry Wells (sorry can't remember her married name)

Saturday Night at the Radisson we had a good dinner, visited, and had so much fun all night!

Sunday was family day at the lake. We ate lunch under the gazebo. Jeremy Brownrigg grilled all the hamburgers and hot dogs. I was completely worn out by Sunday afternoon, and Bryson caught a virus so we slept all day Monday.

Friday, June 12th we took our first trip to Incredible Pizza. We went with our friends Ronnie and Bry and their two boys, Cooper and Cash. I only took one picture because my little man was not having any of the "stop so mommy can take a picture." You can tell by the one I got below how excited he was to have his picture taken! Brian and Bryson rode the go-carts, which completely freaked me out because he was barely tall enough. I nagged Brian so bad about not going to fast, and don't ram into anybody or anything. Well, my hubby is very competitive and of course they had to come in first place. Bryson got a little ribbon - he was so proud! He had so much fun running around, but he really could have cared less about playing games. He just wanted to jump in the little jupiter jump maze they had.

June 16th - 8 year Anniversary

Brian and I have been married 8 years now - crazy how time flies. On June 13th we decided to celebrate because his dad was having hip replacement surgery on our anniversary, and we knew we would be up at the hospital. We got a 1-hour Swedish couples massage, and it was awesome. I am still shocked Brian wanted to do it, but he said he felt so awkward while we were waiting for the ladies to come and get us. Neither one of us had ever had a massage. They told us not to eat right before, and our appointment was at 12:45. I was so embarrassed because my stomach growled so many times. When I finally relaxed I was in heaven! Brian was so relaxed he fell asleep and started snoring 15 minutes before it ended. I was trying so hard not to laugh, and he did not believe me when I told him he had fallen asleep! After the awesome massage we headed to PF Changs (with lines still on our face from the massage table). The food was so good. We had not eaten there in 5 years. After dinner we drove around Utica Square and headed home to watch a movie. We watched Defiance - not really the romantic comedy I would have picked for the occasion but hey it's not all about me right! :) We had a really good time together, and it was nice not to have to worry about what Bryson was going to eat and having to cut up his food and change his diaper.

June 21st - Father's Day!

Brian was actually off on Father's Day this year! Bryson and I got up early to get his gifts together. Then right before Brian woke up Bryson ran in there saying "open daddy, open daddy, dis for you." Bryson got him an OSU shirt, hat, shorts, and a memory book. He also gave him a gift card to PetSmart earlier in the week for his koi pond! We knew we would be busy all day Sunday, so Bryson and I took Brian to dinner Saturday night at Olive Garden. Sunday we went to my family's house for dinner. We had all kinds of food, and it was delicious! Then that evening we went to see Brian's dad, who was still recovering from surgery.

Happy Father's Day Babe!

June 27th - Animal Sanctuary

On Saturday, June 27th Amy, Richie, and I took the kids to the Animal Sanctuary in Broken Arrow. We really did not know what to expect, but it was pretty neat. You can buy chicken legs and actually feed them to the big cats. They also have a petting zoo part. It was really hot, but we still had fun. I felt really bad afterwards because Bryson did not feel good at all, and he would not eat and he was constantly drooling. I just thought he was teething, but I took him to the doctor that following Monday and he again had caught a virus and had a ton of ulcers on the back of his throat. Poor little guy!

Haylee and Bryson - he would not take his glasses off the whole time. We went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory afterwards, and he kept them on the entire time.

Jamison and Bryson checking out the new bear habitat.

Haylee talking to Mufasa the lion

My poor little guy!

On the way to eat afterwards Haylee rode with me and her and Bryson were playing with the monkeys Bryson had to bring. I hear Haylee say, "Bryson, you know I am just so amazed by Wal-Mart. I mean they have bikes you can ride on, toys, and even food." I laughed so hard. Later that night Brian asked Bryson if he saw the lions, tigers, and bears, and Bryson replied (without being coached or told beforehand), "oh my!" We both looked at each other and lost it. We could not figure out where he had heard that.

Vacation!!

We went to Arlington May 26 - 29th for vacation. Just the three of us - that was a first and we had a great time. I don't think Brian and I have been on a vacation by ourselves since 2002, so it was really nice for our little family to get away together. We had a jammed pack week, but it was a much needed vacation. We tried to do things geared more towards Bryson, but I think Brian enjoyed it just as much. If I have any more boys I may need a separate "girly" vacation.

This is Bryson ready to go with his Yankee baseball helmet on! We had to hide it from him so he would not want to take it with him - it would not fit in the bag.

We headed down on a Tuesday morning. The whole 4 1/2 hours there all I heard from Bryson was "I doe to baseball dame, yeah!" "What you doing mommy?" "I am riding, Bryson." We had the same conversation every five minutes until he finally took a nap. Brian and I were cracking up.

We finally arrived and ate an early dinner in Grapevine at the Rainforest Cafe. Then we headed off to the Rangers/Yankees game that night. The game was set to start at 7:05 p.m. At 7:00 the announcer says "the weather says a storm is heading this way, so the start of the game will be delayed for 25 - 30 minutes." We thought okay that is weird, it is not storming yet lets go ahead and start the game. Then at 7:35 the announcer says, "a storm is definitely headed this way sometime soon, so the start of the game has been delayed until further notice." At this time they still did not have the tarp on the field. A little after 8:30 they pull the tarp out, and it starts pouring down between 8:30 - 9:00 p.m. The first pitch did not happen until 9:45 p.m. and we had to stay for the whole game. We did not get out of there until after 1:00 a.m. We were so tired and exhausted. I felt really bad for Bryson because the whole way down he could not stop talking about the baseball game, and then he missed most of it.

My little man during warm-up.

Waiting for the game to start.

We had to take cover from the rain. He kept saying, "no, no rain, don't det me."

Around 10:00 - he got to watch exactly 1 batter.

The next day we got up and headed to the Fort Worth Zoo. We went to the Dallas Zoo back in January, so we wanted to try this one. We really loved this zoo. They have multiples of every animal - not just one or two - we are talking 5 -6. It is amazing. It is all mostly shaded too, so Brian really liked that part. A funny thing happened when we were in the gorilla area. Everyone standing around the glass was making a big commotion, so when it was our turn to get up there I thought I was going to throw up. The gorilla had pooped and had it all over his hand, and he was sitting there eating it. Bryson started yelling and shaking his head, "montey eat poop mommy, dat disdusting." I laughed so hard, and he just kept repeating it. We had to finally tell him that was enough.

Daddy and Bryson feeding a bird.

After the zoo we headed back to the hotel, which was next door to Papasita's Mexican Cantina. Of course we had to eat lunch there. After lunch we laid around the hotel and then got ready for the second baseball game.

Blue skies - yeah!

I took Bryson to the gift shop in the outfield and all he wanted was a bat, but daddy had said no more bats. When someone would walk up to us and ask if we needed help Bryson would say, "daddy said no more bats!" It was so funny!

Yankee bull pin

So, when Brian asks if I care if we go to a Yankee game I tell him sure lets go. I mean my two reasons for going below. Need I say more...

Again...I would love to see A-Rod I mean the Yankees!

On Thursday we headed to Six Flags. We got there around 11:00 and stayed until a little after 5:00 p.m. I could not believe we stayed that whole time, or that my white Irish skin did not get any sun whatsoever. Bryson got to ride a ton of rides, and I had to ride most of them with him.

Bryson not really sure about the swings, but then we could not get him off of them.

Meeting Daffy Duck - he held my hand so tight.

It was the perfect day to go because they were not busy at all, and we never had to wait in line. Bryson's favorite ride was a miniature boat ride that swings back and forth and turns. He would have stayed on it all day if I would have let him. He would raise his arms and yell wheee! I think he rode it a total of 7 times.

We headed back to the grand ole state of OK the next day, but we really had a great time. It seemed like Bryson grew up so much during our trip! The things he says just crack us up.

I will leave you with a couple of funny videos of Bryson. He had been trying to tell me the three bears story for a while, but I could never catch it on video. Finally on vacation I got it - enjoy!

A Lot to Catch Up On - Part 1 (May)!!

So, I have started this post so many times and then just given up because it has been so long since I have updated anything. I am surprised I even remembered my password! Anyhow, since Bryson is turning 2 on Saturday I thought I had better update this blog so I will be able to post about his birthday!!!!

Since my last post we have had something going on every weekend, and almost every night during the week! Bryson has gotten so big and so grown up. He repeats everything, which is not necessarily a good thing! :) And, he talks non-stop. When we go out people will ask how old he is, and they can't believe he talks so well for his age. He is my only one, so I don't have anything to compare him to.

Okay, so the month of May here we go......

May 8th was Bedlam Baseball at Driller's Stadium. My aunt's work always buys a bunch of tickets and they have a picnic. We have been lucky enough to get invited. This was Bryson's 2nd year to go, and our 5th. We love it and always have so much fun. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so no pictures. :( Bryson kept saying, "I doe to baseball dame, yeah!" He was cracking us up. Aunt Kelly had to take him down to look at souvenirs, and he got a baseball, bat, and glove. We had to hide the bat because I knew he was going to knock someone out with it. He stayed awake during most of the game, and he fortunately missed the part where OSU gave up the game. We still had fun with friends and family, but the ride home was a little quite. The hubby is not so good with loosing. He stirs on it for a while, and then he will go buy a paper the next day and he says the exact same thing every time, "just in case you were wondering I checked the paper, and we still lost yesterday." He is such a dork.

This was us last year at the game. Bryson has changed so much!

May 9th - I headed to Edmond for a wedding with my "sister chicks," Allison, Connie and her husband Aaron came too, (sorry for the sister chick comment Aaron). We met Rhonda there, and we had so much fun!!! I think we were the only ones that danced, and we just got up there with mostly old school songs and made fun of ourselves. Those are the best times! On the way home at midnight I got a hilarious video of Connie rapping and Aaron joining in - so funny, but I was told it could not be posted publicly! :) I don't think I had ever laughed so hard - I love these girls!!! They remind me that even though I am a momma I can be young and have a good time with my girls!

Rhonda and me

Connie and me

Rhonda, Allison and me. I was Allison's date! :)

May 10th - Mother's Day! I had a great Mother's Day this year (except the hubby had to work). I woke up and Bryson ran into the living room bringing me a bag yelling, "dis from me mommy, dis from me. Open it mommy!" He was so excited because Brian showed him the night before what he got me, and that made it so much more fun for him! He had gotten me a beautiful orchid, and a heart necklace with diamonds and rubies. Brian had to explain to me later that Ruby was Bryson's birthstone! Wow, he actually put some thought into this. After presents we rushed around to get to church on time and he made me the cutest card with his picture and hand print inside during children's church. He ran up to me saying, "look mommy, dat me, dat Bryson Mack." We ate lunch at my granny's house - the guys grilled, but the women still had to clean up. I will never understand! After lunch we headed home to find daddy and we had enough time to change and headed to Grandma and Poppy's house (Brian's mom and dad). We went to dinner at Logan's and we were highly entertained by Bryson. He is very independent and does not want you helping him eat, and he is very much like his momma in that he does not like to share food. I took a bite of his, and he literally stuck his finger in my mouth saying, "I want dat mommy, dat mine, I eat dat." I felt really horrible, so I gave him his fourth roll to munch on - ah, yeah the kid likes his rolls (like his daddy).






May 12th - My sister Amy graduated with her Master's Degree from OU-Tulsa. I think it was in Education Administration, but I am not sure and I know she will correct me if I am wrong! j/k :) Amy is certified to teach secondary education, but has not had any luck finding a job. If anyone knows of any leads let her know! The ceremony ended between 9 and 9:30, and then we headed to Chili's to celebrate. My child stayed awake for this whole thing. I really wish I could have gotten a picture of Brian and Bryson at the graduation because here we are OU's graduation and they walk in with their OSU shirts on. I was laughing so hard.

Amy's family (not sure why these are so small)

Amy and me. I was doing the go pokes sign, but Kelly cut it out of the picture.

May 16th - We had Amy and Richie's graduation party. Richie graduated from Rogers State on May 9th with a Bachelor's in Business. My dad grilled and we had cake and ice cream and lots of fun of course. The guys left the party and went fishing and us girls, my dad, and Bryson headed to a fund raiser for Baby Ella. After the fund raiser we went back to my mom and dad's and had a game night. We played Apples to Apples and Sequence (boys vs. girls). We have so much fun when we get together.



May 19th - Miss Ella went home to be with Jesus just a couple days shy of turning 9 months. She was so precious and so loved! Ella Bella was laid to rest on May 22nd. Please continue to pray for Jay, Jenny, and Cayden. They are some of the strongest people I know, and I admire the fight in them.

May 21st - Bryson had tubes put in his ears. I had to get up at 4:30 a.m., and guess who wakes up with me...uh no not Brian...Bryson did. I could not believe it, and he would not go back to sleep. We had to have him at the hospital by 5:45 a.m. He went back to surgery at 7:00 a.m. and fifteen minutes later the doctor comes out to tell us he is finished. I was shocked. We went back there while he was waking up, and he was not happy. He literally did not calm down until we finally got to leave between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. They wanted him to try and drink something or eat a popcycle, but he was not having any of it. He slept most of the day, and then the next day he woke up like nothing had happened. He has never acted like they bother him, and (knock on wood) he has not had an ear infection since.

This was him at 4:30 a.m.

Bryson after the "happy juice." This was obviously taken before the surgery.

May 23rd - Mom, Amy, and I headed out for a girl's day, well morning. We went to a new nail place in Owasso and got pedicures and manicures. It was so nice sitting in the massage chair relaxing and visiting. We went to lunch afterwards and then headed home.


May 26 - 29 Family Vacation - I will put this in a separate post - way too much to talk about!

Dancing Idol

We love the DVR in our house, and I really did not realize we watched that much Reality TV until I was deleting things from our DVR play list. Every Monday and Tuesday night I watch Dancing with the Stars, and every Tuesday and Wednesday night is American Idol. Bryson likes to watch these too because of the upbeat music (or so I thought).



We had to take Bryson to an ENT Specialist on Tuesday. He is getting tubes put in his ears on May 21st. Anyhow, the nurse came in to go over everything with us and Bryson is playing around the room. All of sudden he starts yelling "nine, nine, nine." Then he says "nine, ten, nine." He was using different voices for each number also. I was cracking up and Brian had a confused look on his face. I told the nurse "I guess he watches too much Dancing with the Stars," and then Bryson says, "dance mommy. Nine, nine, nine." We all lost it.



This little guy has so much personality - it cracks me up! He likes for me to tell him the story of the Three Bears, and then he will try and repeat it back to me only all I get is "somebody been sleeping in my bed." He changes his voice with each line too - so funny! He loves to sing songs from Sunday School and do the motions with mommy (over and over and over). He is becoming such a big boy!

Bryson loves to dance to American Idol and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Hot Dog Dance. He gets all excited when the Hot Dog Song comes on. He will jump up and down singing "hot dog, hot dog." I love this little man! Below is a video of him dancing, but trust me when the camera is not running he gets a lot more jiggy with it! :)

Say What??

On Monday I came home from work, said hello to my boys, and went to the bedroom to change. Brian starts yelling "Mandy, what are you doing?" I can't hear him, and so he continues to yell. I start to come around the corner and there is my precious baby boy with a huge smile on his face yelling "manny, manny, MANNY." I told him I was mommy to him and gave Brian a look. He replied "hey don't look at me like that I am not going to start calling you mommy. That would be a little weird." Bryson thought it was so funny so he continued to call me Manny. Brian said if I ignore it he will stop - uh no he doesn't he just follows me around the house saying it over and over again. He is so ornery. Now he has picked it up when someone else calls me Mandy he will laugh and start yelling "Manny, Manny." I know he just does it because I don't like it. That settles a long time question about boys knowing what gets under peoples skin and pouncing on it - they are born with that annoying characteristic. :)

Donut Trip:

Brian took Bryson to get donuts yesterday morning. Brian called me and told me to listen. I could hear Bryson yelling something in the background and he sounded mad. I asked Brian what was going on. Apparently they were having to wait in line in the drive-thru at the donut shop, and Bryson was yelling "det (get) back tar (car), dose (those) my donuts." He was so worried the car in front of them was going to eat all of his donuts. :)

He just continues to crack us all up!

More Ramblings by Bryson....

My little guy is talking up a storm, and it is cracking us all up. Of course when we laugh he thinks it is funny to and continues to say it over and over again. He has started laughing really hard any time we laugh and he will cover his mouth and hold his belly while laughing. It is so funny.

Friday night I wanted to take Bryson to see Monsters vs. Aliens. Brian was sick so my mom went with me. We were running late and then the road I took was closed, so we had to turn around and go back another way to get to the theatre in Owasso. When we finally arrived the previews had just ended, and of course Bryson's diaper was soaked. But, we went into the theatre anyways. In the first scene Reese Witherspoon's character, Susan, starts to turn into a giant and it starts to get pretty wild. Bryson is sitting on the edge of my lap yelling something. My mom and I are cracking up because he has his hands over his mouth yelling "oh my dosh (gosh), oh my dosh, OH MY DOSH, OH MY DOSH!" He continues to yell this louder and louder each time. I decided now would be a good time to change the diaper (not even 5 minutes into the movie). When we got done we went back into the theatre and it is the scene with the President meeting the aliens. Bryson turns around grabs my neck really hard and yells "my mommy, I wanna do (go) back, I wanna do back (to the bathroom). He started shaking, so my mom and I decided the movie was too scary for him. So, we got refund tickets and left. I really wish we would have had a video camera because it was hilarious. What we saw of the movie it was cute, but I would not recommend it for any kids under the age of 3.

Then on Saturday we went shopping and out to eat at Red Robin. My mom got up to go wash her hands, and Bryson yells after her "you donna do poop Nana?" My mom was so embarrassed. The people around us were cracking up along with myself. And, remember like I said above when people laugh he continues to say it. So, he yells it until he can't see her anymore, and then he turns to me and starts saying it to me. Sorry mom but it was funny.

After dinner we went to Kohl's and Bryson kept knocking shoe boxes down all over the place thinking it was funny. I told him to stop or he was going to get into trouble. Well, he decided not to stop so he got in trouble. He then starts yelling at me "you hurt my butt, my butt hurts." I said, "we do not say that word and Mommy told you to stop." So he replies, "you hurt my bottom, my bottom hurt." My mom and I had to turn around because we were trying so hard not to laugh at him.

Do your kids ever go through phases? Mine goes through movie phases where we have to watch the same cartoon/movie over and over again every day. I hate to say it but he comes by it honestly (did I mention how many times I have seen Twilight). I truly feel sorry for my family that had to put up with all of my movie phases. Anyhow, he went through Nemo, Kung Fu Panda, Bolt, Madagascar, and now it is Tigger and Pooh and a Musical Too. We watched Tigger and Pooh three times last night. He will go and play in his room for a little bit and then he will remember he was watching a movie. He runs back in the living room and tells daddy "turn that back on daddy." Not only does he go through movie phases, he also goes through clothing or shall I say shoe phases. He found these frog rain boots in his closet one day, and for two weeks he had to wear them every where. He wore them around the house, outside when it was sunny, sitting in his chair watching a movie, to nana or grammy's house, to the store, and to get donuts with daddy. He had to have them on at all times. I had to hide them from him in order for him to stop wearing them. I know, I know, what a mean mommy. But, I draw the line at trying to wear them to church. Not that God would care, but my son is a bit clumsy (he gets it from his dad) and he fell down so many times with those boots on it was ridiculous.

Watching Bolt with his boots!

Riding to nana's house.

Did I mention how much I love him, and I love each phase and new word/sentence he says. He is so funny, and he keeps Brian and I on our toes! :)

Desparate Housedad!

Brian usually has two days off during the week and he and Bryson do all kinds of things (like mainly watch Bolt and play ball in Bryson's room). Most of the time Brian will call and tell me he is bored and headed to his moms for a little while. In other words, "uh, we don't have any food at our house, so I am going to eat lunch at mom's." Such a typical man. Of course he never calls before he goes, and then he arrives and she is 1) not home or 2) not been to the grocery store.

When Brian is home with Bryson I usually get several calls a day from the both of them. I crack up because Bryson will run around the house with the phone while Brian is chasing him trying to get it back. So, yesterday morning Brian was off and I receive a call from Bryson yelling "yuck mommy, Ma poop." Brian is cracking up in the background, and then he grabs the phone to tell me the dog had pooped and Bryson was running to his room and did not see it and ran right over it. He had it all over his feet and was so grossed out! It was so funny to listen to him because he was so mad at the dog! He kept running after the dog pointing and yelling "no, no Ma Ma, bad dog."

Then, yesterday afternoon I get a call from Brian's mom's cell phone. It was Brian. I asked him why he was calling from his mom's phone and he then tells me he went outside to let the dog out, and Bryson locked him out of the house. Apparently, Bryson shut the door behind him and turned the lock. The funniest part is Bryson starts bawling, and Brian tells him to unlock the door. Bryson says, "you need tey (key) daddy. Otay, daddy I det tey." He runs over to the table and can not reach the keys, which would not help any way, but it was a nice thought. He then runs back to the door and says, "tan't reach tey daddy, daddy open door." After fifteen minutes of this Brian's mom just happened to show up at the house (divine intervention)! She can't find her key to our house, so she tries to get Bryson to unlock the door. Well, my little man was a little busy watching Madagascar, and he runs to the door and starts dancing and singing "like to move it, move it grammy." She finally found her key and Brian had to crawl through an entertainment center in the garage to get to the door to unlock it. Bryson heard him come in and he says "you unlock door daddy, yeah!" I was laughing so hard I had to shut my door at work.

So, after they get the door unlocked they all went outside to work in the flowerbed. Bryson loves to sit on this huge rock in the flowerbed and look at the fish (Brian put a coy pond in our flowerbed - it is actual pretty cool). Brian turned around to say something to Bryson and he could not see him, and then he hears him yell "help daddy, I fall." He had slipped of the rock backwards and was just laying on his back in the flowerbed. He has a big boo boo on his back from the fall.

My desperate househubby!

Here is the little sly boy himself!

I didn't do it!

They had a pretty eventful day! I am glad my weekends with little man are a little more relaxing than that (riiight)!