No little ones left

I'm in the process of updating some of my frames so I had a photo shoot with my kids. The hard reality of the fact that there are no babies left in my house hit me when I was looking through the files.

I'll go boo hoo while you look at my big kids' most recent photos...

Field Trip

Rory went on his first Pre-K field trip and had a blast. His mom and his brother tagged along and got to join in on all of the Children's Museum fun.

Pre-Field trip donuts

They let you paint on the walls here!

Being charming with the story telling lady!

Kings of the castle

Rory Fishing

This is Rory's last week before school starts. His sister is already restricted with early bed times since her school started on Monday.

Casey's cousin Kelley has been in town and the boys have been doing a lot of fishing and Rory got to tag along for some night fishing. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and obviously feels right at home on a dock!

"It's a major award"

Rory fell asleep with his T-Ball trophy last night. Awesome.

Four Years Old Today

Dear Time,

Please slow down so I can cherish my little boy before he becomes a
little man.

Little Cowpoke

Every year about this time in Houston, we celebrate the Rodeo. "Yeehaw" enters it's way back into everyone's vernacular and western wear makes its appearance in the oddest of places. One of those is "Go Texan Day" at school where little two year olds go to preschool in Ropers and cowboy hats and kindergartners wear bandannas and rhinestones. It's all very amusing.

Here is a picture of my rough and tumble cowboy.

Grandpa's little helper

He Got In!

Our early morning paid off. All of our boys got one of the coveted
spots. Hallelujah! One of them had better go on to cure cancer.

"Mom?..."

These are the moments you can't re-tell...you can only hear it first-hand. God bless the iPhone to allow me to capture my precious conversations with my kids!

Sweet Child of Mine

If you tell me that my middle boy is sweet, I won't argue with you. He is so well mannered and not in a hurry to go anywhere. He is good to the core and I don't know how to prepare him for a world that will surely eat him alive.

The other day after a long grocery shopping experience, little Sully had had it and was ready for his morning nap. Rory asked me if I would like some help carrying the groceries in.

"Sure!", I said. I proceeded to hand him a fairly light bag.

"Too heavy." he said with a sweet smile

So I handed him the bread and we headed inside. I took Sully upstairs to change him and put him to bed and when I returned about 5 minutes later, I noticed little Rory working so hard and the pantry looked like this...

Mind you, the pantry was 70% empty which is why I went to the grocery store in the first place. He had shoved the contents of those bags in whatever nook or cranny he could find. You may notice the butter and frozen waffles but what you don't see is the bag of frozen chicken and baby wipes that also found a home in our pantry (that's not typically where I keep those items ;o)

What a precious gesture it was. What a great helper!

Not a Little Boy Anymore

How can one haircut change a little boy so much?Like this...

Aargh, Matey!

No this is not Rory's Halloween costume.
We went to a toy store with Mimi yesterday and she bought him an eye patch and an earring and he rolled in the stroller saying "Argh!" to passer-bys. It actually came in handy for the car ride home. We were already 50% in on the nap process thanks to the eye patch. All he had to do was close the other eye and off to sleepy land he went. Thanks, Mimi!

Mighty Bow Hunter

A mighty bow hunter in the making... Rory got a bow that shoots nerf balls at Bass Pro Shop on Saturday. I hung my stand in the backyard and let him shoot out of it.

NOTE: Before anyone calls CPS, or I get an angry call from a grandmother, the tree stand is about 18 inches off the ground.

Bob the Builder

This was the day Ike hit. Everyone was out of school and off of work early in anticipation and the sky was a strange color the whole day. Rory was ready to help with any repairs that needed to be made.

The Boys

With Maggie being at school all day everyday (still adjusting by the way) I have had some really good quality time with my boys. They are so fun and it's great to see Rory in the "big brother" role. Maggie certainly reminds him of his standings in the family when she's around but he is less competitive when it's just him and Sully. He saw that Sully had a shirt just like his the other day (a product of Robin buying one for Luke and one for Rory... both of which have now been passed down) and he wanted them to be the "Beatle Brothers".

Family Resemblence

I saw this picture recently and was completely taken aback by how much it reminded me of Rory. This is Casey's grandfather when he was little...

and this is Rory at what I figured was about the same age.

My Little Napper

I spent (literally) years trying to convince Maggie that she needed to take a nap. I can remember days of repeatedly putting her back in bed. Threats, bribes, spankings, long back-scratching sessions, stall tactics (i.e. "I need a sip of water first" or "just one more book, Mommy?" or "I need to go potty" ...for the 5th time). When she turned 5, I gave up and she hasn't napped since.

Then, there's Rory.

He asks to take a nap. He doesn't want any pomp when it comes to his nap. Simply take him to his bed and leave him alone. He actually will tell us..."Mom, can you leave and shut the door on your way out so I can get some rest?" It doesn't matter where we are, when it's naptime, he's going to take it.

Here he is at Incredible Pizza. Neon flashing lights all around him. Buzzing, shouting, sirens, whistles and loud music. Sitting up at the table. BAM...naptime.

My Little Buddy

He's rough...

and tough...

He likes to work...

and likes to play.

But at the end of the day,

he just wants to sleep in a box.

First Astros Game for Rory!

>

It's a bird, it's a plane...

...It's SUPER RORY!

We had a fun family party for our little super hero on Wednesday. It was so much fun to watch him loving all of the attention. The final present was a red power wheel that he has been on since he got it.