Ben's Build-A-Bear

Will had to take a bear to school on Friday for the letter 'B' day. The only teddy bear he has is a bear MarMoo made for him when he was in the NICU - I have kept it in his closet (safe from calamity) ever since. MarMoo has made a build-a-bear for Ann Phelps two times in the last year! First she made a cat then a chipmunk. On the way to school AP wanted to bring her build-a-bears too since Will had to take his. Poor Ben - he asked where his build-a-bear was from MarMoo. I guess my poor middle child has never had the build-a-bear experience with MarMoo. I called MarMoo (my sister) to let her know that an injustice had been done to my MIDDLE CHILD - she should feel his pain because she, too, is the middle child!! Well, being the WONDERFUL aunt she is, she told me to have him at Northpark Mall at 12 today before his TOT performance so they could build-a-bear!! He of course picked a camo bear with camo underwear and a football outfit! On the way home, Ben told me how he has the BEST MarMoo! I agree!!

Ben's TOT Performance

Ben with his fans!

Ben with his fans!

Look at how good this parent volunteer is!

Poor Ben- he was so nervous, he forgot where the

audience was!

That awesome Parent Volunteer!

Ben has followed in Will's footsteps and become a TOT Performer! This is such a sweet activity for the kids! He gets to learn brain skills as well as do physical activity! They don't actually shoot the basketball - it is more of a hand-eye-coordination drill versus a basketball game! Ben really enjoys his TOT days!! This is a mid-year mini performance they performed today at the halftime of the Belhaven basketball game. In May, he will do a 45 minute performance to show all of the skills he has learned!! They needed parent volunteers to shuffle the kids to and from the court - I signed Rhyne up!! He did a supper job as well!!

All Girl

I told Ann Phelps to get her shoes on so we could go ride bikes around the neighborhood - she goes and gets her gold princess shoes?!

Good Listener

In Ben's K3 class, if a student is caught doing something GOOD, he/she gets to take Bullseye home to play as a reward. Ben got to bring Bullseye home this weekend because he was a great listener this week!!! Maybe I need to start this incentive so he will be a good listener here? I am so proud of my Ben!

Feel Sorry for Me??

The BEST reason to HAVE to miss a concert

Senior Prom

So young!

I am going to play the "woe is me" card for just a minute. You see the sweet couple in the pics above? That was Rhyne and me almost 19 years ago! We are one of the few couples who psychiatrist would love to analyze because we have been together for almost 20 years!! We went from first love to dating through high school and college to married, and only took a break for about 3 months! I know this is not normal and many psychiatrist would argue that we have an unhealthy relationship - well, I disagree - it has worked for us!! I am a hopeless romantic. I am not as hopeless as I once was - kids change that! But every now and then there is a moment where my romantic/rose-colored glasses come on and I just can't help it! Any time I hear a song by Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Firehouse, Bryan Adams, and some more I am forgetting - I am instantly taken back to the carefree dating days of Beth and Rhyne. Those were OUR songs and made me fall in love with Rhyne many times over! Now that we are almost 12 years in to our marriage and chasing 3 kids and a black lab around, the carefree, romantic moments of dating seem sooooo far away and don't come as easily any more. I love my kids and my marriage, but sometimes I have to act like a spoiled little girl and say, "It's not fair!"

Let me explain:

A month ago, I saw an ad for a Bryan Adams concert in Baton Rouge. I called Rhyne and said we have to go - these are OUR songs - the soundtrack to our dating years!!! This would be one of those rare moments in our life now that would cause us to remember falling in love and help us reconnect - a part from the craziness of our season of life right now. Now let me state a disclaimer - I LOVE my husband, my marriage, my kids, and my life! I am just saying that life right now makes it hard to just sit around listening to 80's/90's love songs and gazing into each others eyes!! I saw this concert as a chance to feel like 15 year olds again! Rhyne got the tickets and I booked the hotel room and I COULD NOT WAIT!!! For those who don't know Bryan Adams look at "Heaven", "Please Forgive Me", "Summer of '69", "Everything I do" -just to name a few- on iTunes and see if it doesn't make you want to have a boyfriend!! Well, here is where I want some sympathy ----- the childcare we had lined up fell through (it actually fell through because God answered a prayer for someone we love, but that is another post)! We did not have a plan B for childcare. Because the concert was on a school night, I just couldn't ask any of our friends to handle my 3 for the night! I thought about plans for 3 hours on Tuesday night trying to make it work and I finally gave up and had a migraine to show for it! So here I sit typing this post instead of pulling into Baton Rouge right now with my sweetheart - the concert will start at 8pm and our seats will be empty! Don't you feel sorry for me!?

Now let me state this:

I have tried all day to feel sorry for myself. I really tried to be depressed about not getting my way. But I just couldn't do it. I have actually gone through my daily routine without resent. The reason all of my attempts to be mad and upset about not getting to spend the night with my sweetheart is simply, I can't. When I put my big girl pants on and stop to think about WHY we can't go to the concert, how could I be upset?? How blessed am I to have 3 kiddos that need me and love me?! God has called me to this job!! Now, I am a sinner, so I have had these "It's NOT fair" moments peak through all week, but in the big picture, I have peace. I know there will be other concerts or "just-me-and-him" get-a-ways, but it's hard to have a planned one slip away!! BUT I have peace that this is God's plan and He has something much better than Bryan Adams planned for me and Mr. Hooks real soon (please let it be real soon- we need it)!!

So now---

I am listening to my kids playing in the living room, trying not to watch the clock and count down to when the concert starts, and I am about to put in the Bryan Adams acoustic cd I have to take me back to the "good-ol-days" until I have to start cooking spaghetti!!!

Images from the weekend

Funny pics that really don't have a story?!

Daddy/Daughter Date

I mentioned earlier that AP was upset Rhyne has been taking the boys everywhere and leaving her behind. She asked Rhyne to take her on a lunch date today and he didn't disappoint! She requested 5 Guys (hamburger place) only because she knows it's one of Rhyne's favorite spots!! Before they left, she went and got dressed.....in a princess dress of course - Rhyne was ok with it and even helped her put on her gold shoes! She went as Snow White! What a great Daddy!!

MONSTER TRUCKS!!

This was a dino that had fire and crushed cars -

a boy's dream!

Rhyne took the boys to see the Monster Truck show at the coliseum last night. The boys came home around 10pm and could not quit telling me all about it!! They were so excited, BUT they were sad Grave Digger and the Batman truck were not at the show. Rhyne took pics with his phone - I told him to get good shots because it would be on the blog! He said Ben had issues with the noise level and wanted to come home, but Will rubbed his arm and said, "it's ok, you can make it"!! When the motorcycle stunts came out, Ben decided this was fun and wanted to stay! Honestly, these types of shows scare me as a mom - you always hear about fans getting hurt at these events. And the noise level makes me worry about their hearing - thankfully Rhyne is a NASCAR fan and has headphones that block noise!! Before Rhyne left, I told him to make sure the boys wear the headphones and pick seats (it was general admission) at the top!!! He did! AP and I hung out at Wal-Mart and grabbed a pizza on the way home! I love girl time with her! But she told Rhyne when he got home that they were going to eat lunch today - just AP and Daddy. She told Rhyne they were going to eat at 5 Guys - I think this is sweet because she named this because it's one of Rhyne's favorites!! Maybe they will and I can post about it??

Proof I am a cool Mom

I am documenting this day because one day my kids will not believe I can be cool! I let the boys skip school today so we could sleep in and go to the park for 3 hours!!!! It wouldn't be a day at the park unless one of my kids pulled down their pants to use the bathroom - instead of it being Ben, AP was the one - she was trying to stand and "go" just like her brothers do! I grabbed her before it was a disaster!

Silly City Dog

I grew up in the country and around hunters! My Dad still has hunting dogs that love when the weather gets cool so they can hunt. Rhyne and I aren't strangers to the hunting dog behavior. We own a black lab who just returned from Hunting Dog 101 camp - he is now a "Duck Dog" (the first lab we have owned that will actually hunt ducks ;-) ) The problem is Otis has acquired a taste for hunting SQUIRRELS . This wouldn't be a problem in the woods or in the country BUT in a subdivision where the squirrels are big and fat and there are neighbors around- it is a problem. He can't wait to get out of the house in the early morning to run to the fence and "tree" a squirrel. Then he barks non-stop for 45 minutes trying to let me know "I got him, I got him, I got him -shoot!"!!!! It is so funny to see the big, fat squirrels staring down at him and "barking" at him. They make this chirping sound like "ha, ha you dumb dog"!! My Dad let me borrow a training collar to help Otis learn that he can't hunt squirrels in the city - he has to wait until he visits his country cousins!

Happy Birthday, Boots!

NelNoo was such a great hostess for the party!

helping Boots blow out the candle

NelNoo had the Disney soundtrack. So AP and MarMoo

had fun dancing to "Under the Sea"!!!

Ann Phelps and I traveled to Greenwood Friday night to celebrate my FAVORITE brother's birthday! The Hooks boys stayed in Brandon so they could play at Tripp's house and go to Sam's birthday on Saturday. It warmed my heart to hear Rhyne say, "I had the BEST time with the boys this weekend!!"! Now I sit here trying to get my game face on.....Rhyne left for Mobile for work this morning and I have a WHOLE week to know what being a single parent feels like! :-( I will surely blog about the events of this upcoming week!

No more diapers for the Hooks Family!

I might be jinxing myself, but AP has been wearing panties (don't call them underwear - she says underwear is for boys) for two weeks now and has only had two accidents. This is for sure a wonderful day - not having to pay for diapers/pull-ups anymore BUT it is sad for this sentimental momma!! I no longer have a "baby" in the house! One funny thing: one of her accidents was at Ms. Christina's house (she has 2 boys), I asked her why she didn't go to the potty and she said, "I didn't want to use the boy potty!" This baffled me because she has two brothers? Ms. Christina, being the wonderful person she is, has now designated her bathroom as the "girl bathroom" and she lets AP use that one! And on that note: her brothers don't always flush after they go to the potty and they drip - she refuses to sit on the potty unless I flush it and wipe it off!!! My GIRL!!!!

Day One of 2012

She is still trying to get the hang of

bike riding!

At this point she gave up the bike and wanted

to walk by Daddy