library parade...

here's a few pix of brax and mia at the library yesterday...it was cute..the librarians read a couple books and sang a few songs then took all the kids on a 'parade' thru the big ole library...braxton of course took his own path so i missed seeing most of it! :) there is a pic of mia with her little girlfriends audry and ellie..and the bottom left is at her dance class where they got to dress up for that too! braxton kept coming back to this huge stuffed lion at the library...he'd tackle it, then kiss it, tackle it, kiss it, repeat...they had a good time!

tp tower...

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toilet paper and it's many different uses...hey, when it's cold outside you just gotta get creative! oh, and yes that is mia's tower under braxton....hence his nickname 'bulldozer.' the other is a pic of mia when i woke her up the other morning...we took the hint and finally turned the heat on. :)

brix's new doo...

these pix are taken the EXACT same day! the before and after of brax's new do!...he sat in brock's lap while april cut it...he did great!..i just can't believe how much older it makes him look...it seems like he all the sudden became a toddler instead of a baby..he has begun to make sentences...small ones..like we were pulling out of the driveway yesterday and he said "bye bye beep beep" (his little red car)...and "sock on"...his new thing is getting mia's shoes and bringing them to us to put them on him...very cute. you know, people with older kids, or even grandkids would always say to me..."enjoy every moment because they grow so fast" and while it sounds cliche' it is very true...it's very emotional sometimes when i think of all the time that has already passed...their lives are so special to me that sometimes i wish i could push pause and rewind..even in the hairy moments, i don't know that i would ever fast forward any of them...i feel very lucky to be their parents...very grateful...as i glance around at the mess they make sometimes, i moan and think "i'm so tired picking up after them" but you know i remember what an old lady told me the other day..that she walks around her quiet home and wishes she could go back to the days with mud on her floors and toys everywhere...how quickly it seemed those days passed...she was so sweet as she said it..you could see her almost dazing as she talked...so much love that moms have for their children..it's amazing..i truly never imagined being able to love so deeply...

pumpkin patch....

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here's a few pix from our trip to 'honeysuckle hill' pumpkin patch...it's a cute little farm with horses, cows, etc..i would hardly call it farm life though..we started on the playground (made mostly of old tires) (mia still insist that she ride in the only baby swing while brax survives on a big one) we watched 'hillbilly pig races' (they train 4 little pigs with oreo cookies and give them names like 'tim mchog' and 'leanne swines'..anyway they run around a little track while all the kids cheer them on) we went on a modernized hay ride (gone are the days when you ride on a little old hay filled trailer...this one had bars 10 feet high with a courtesy strip of hay down the middle..which we all chose to ride on the nice clean seats instead)...all the true farmers are rolling their eyes right now...brock joked as we all made a big deal about the baby cow "my daddy will think we're ridiculous paying 6 bucks to see a cow when we have a field full of em behind the house" true..but where else can you run into a field full of precut pumpkins and take your pick! anyways, i did see one glimmer of traditional 'good ole days' as i stood in line in the bathroom, a little 10 year old girl smiled as she was changing all the toilet paper rolls..she was the owner's daughter who seemed more than happy to contribute her share to her family's 'business'...it's nice to see that it is still a family affair...

bow making and close calls...

so lately i've been trying to make mia's hairbows instead of buying them (it really probably isn't much cheaper but i enjoy doing it!) today mia wanted to help...here's a pic of her making her bows(notice the red one on the table...) and brax making a mess! (don't think he really cared much for all the ribbon so he occupied himself with tupperware...???) so mia makes this red bow 'just for me' ..next pic you'll see me sporting it. i wore it all day (okay, so i took it off at naptime...) did i look goofy? yes. did mia feel proud and appreciated? absoulutly.
next you'll see braxton dragging the kitchen chair to the counter(notice the 'oh, crap, i'm caught' look on his face)..just started doing this so he can reach whatever he wants up there..the other day as i was sweeping i put one of his riding toys on the table...next time i turn around he had climbed the chair to the table and was sitting on his bike and was 2 seconds from riding his way to a concussion (now, i know that can't be how you spell it) it was cute. (sorry no time to grab the camera on that one!) ok story 2 on him climbing the chair..we have a 'treat drawer' in our kitchen and he had once again climbed the chair and had a mouth full of hershey kisses..no joke, at least 3 of them in there...with the foil still on...my days are interesting...

cantrells over..

here's a couple pix of the kid's goofing around

here's brax as he's learned to say "cheeeese"...just thought i'd add these with a cute little story...today we were outside playing (nice fall day...NOT!) and mia found a little ant on the sidewalk..now, brax and mia are total opposites in that braxton will chase anything moving(dog, cat, bug...eeww!) and mia is more like me and would rather look at it thru a plate glass window...well, anyway, she sees this ant and i see her thinking for a minute or two (ha, i guess trying to figure out if she's really brave enough to approach it) so she goes thru with her thought and tries to stomp it...(im chuckling as i picture her trying to stomp a tiny ant while jumping away from it at the same time..) so i see her hopping across the sidewalk yelling "mom! it won't let me!"...

braxton's been really goofy lately as i lay him down for bed..he loves laying down and will grab his 'mammie'(blankie...many thanks for it, laurel) and make a run for his crib...but the past couple of nites, he's started making all these last minute requests as i go to lay him in his bed...he'll yell "chuck!chuck!(truck) ball! reee!reee! (read) wawee! (water)..i go ahead and lay him down and he's fine..goes right to sleep...it's kinda neat..i feel that way sometimes as i lay in bed, falling asleep, and as i drift off i'll feel a flood of gratitude and thank God until i fall asleep or if i've got alot on my mind, i mentally spill out my last requests of the day to the Lord..usually nothing big.. 'help me remember this, let such-and-such work out' etc..but just wanting to be heard by the one who looks out for me or connect with Him one last time for the day...so it's neat to see such similarities in a baby and adult as we put in our last words of the day...i know, random thought...

pre-race nite

we stayed at meg's the nite before the race...here are a few pix...my sister and i are always getting the "look alike" comment so i thought i'd entertain you with this pic. *here's mia getting ready for bonnaroo

running thru murfreesboro

so yesterday i (and 2000 others) ran in the murfreesboro half marathon...i'm embarassed to say it was my worst time yet and i didn't beat my personal record of 2 hrs 5 min BUT i did finish (didn't walk!) and had a great time while there! i spent the first 6 or 7 miles running alongside keri acting as her personal tour guide (the first 6 or 7 miles was all the neatest parts of murfreesboro- mtsu, main st, oaklands mansion, downtown...) THEN we hit mercury blvd (for those of you who live in m'boro- you would agree this road makes for an extremely bland run) and at this point i usually pick up my pace to about an 8 min/mile BUT i found myself pretty unmotivated to speed up and tracing our remaining route in my head made it seem all the longer. the last 4 miles felt pretty hard as i could see people all around giving up and many times it entered my mind to do the same. however, my determination to hurry to the finish line trumped my laziness...and i soon saw my dad, sister, brock and the kids, and several good friends cheering as i crossed...a very neat moment. i must say i did get sentimental as i ran thru my hometown...murfreesboro is a place i dearly love and one that i never thought i'd leave...as i drove into town and saw all the new malls and restaraunts, i was a little disheartened ...i don't know i guess like it took away the small town beauty that had once been there...but as i ran and passed locations that were seeping with memories, i found myself very grateful to have lived in such a great place with so many great people. (yes, i shed a tear as i ran)i guess thats kinda how life works...once you get from one place in life to another(i don't mean just physically) it's much easier to look back and be grateful for where you've come from including all the not-so-good moments. once again, i will try to make a point to be grateful for each season of life.

china baby...

uncle chance and meg meg each came up monday nite....both came to watch mia's dance class, then chance went with brock to campus, while meg and i (and babies)had an old fashioned slumber party. it's funny how our slumber parties have evolved...back when we were 6yrs old, i don't think we lasted all nite without calling our parents to come get us, when we were 16 yrs old, i don't think we called our parents to tell them where we were so they wouldn't come get us, and now, well, we crashed before midnite!

well the old saying is true..."every child's favorite toy is a box" in this pic, you see their new fav. game "china baby"...we can be anywhere in the house and if i yell 'china baby!' they run to find this old ripped diaper box (we love the cheapos!) and squish themselves in so i can "mail them to china" by dragging them around the living room! they giggle and tip over and it's a thrill to watch them! oh, if life was always this simple!

a 'grande ole' time...

ok..so to continue our saturday...uncle "brynee" and "lee lee" came up to watch our game..and to play with the kids while brock and i went out...from what i hear from all, they had a blast...making cookies, harassing a wasp, and no telling how many 'elevators' mia talked them into...in the meantime, brock and i made our first visit to 'the grande ole opry'! oh, it was a blast!...the first hour i was kinda thinking it wasn't our thing because i guess it was a bunch of old country singers and such, but the second hour was awesome!! sara evans, josh turner, and WYNONNA! (you know 'how did you get to me' red head wynonna!) oh, i was like a little teenager! i was a HUGE fan of hers when i was a little girl so it was so fun to finally see her! they have this tradition there called "rushing the stage"...so here's how it works...when the singer you like comes out, you're allowed to leave your seat and run (repeat, run) down to the front of the stage to take pictures! well, we had gotten the cheapest tix for the show so we were on the very last row(like we would have been willing to trade someone to get their nosebleed seats) but don't think for a minute i was gonna miss getting a good picture! so after a 5 minute jog to the stage and back(about 5 times) i had worked up a pretty good appetite! we later ate at f.scotts (after 9pm everything on the menu is half price! my kinda meal!) and we enjoyed dinner and listened to live jazz till after midnite! we don't get out and leave the kids very often, so i sometimes forget how much fun brock and i have together when we go out! here are some of my paparazzi pix!

bring it on...

today is wednesday and this is almost always my catch up day on just about everything...well, except sleep(5am step class) so i'm finally recovering from the weekend and posting some of our pictures from it! starting this fall i have gone back to my spirted roots and taken up coaching a great group of cheerleaders. the school is west creek middle...i feel a bit like the movie "little giants" ..i think maybe 1 or 2 of the girls had ever cheered before and now, we have gotten comment after comment of them being the best among the other varsitys!(now i'm not partial or anything) but i'm really proud of them...here are a few pix from our game on saturday....yes, that's little mia up in the air...she did, however, boldly proclaim to me the other day, "now, mom, you know i'm a dancer not a cheerleader, right?" (look for pix from her dance class later...)

happy 4 years

yesterday was our anniversary...4 years! after making homemade pancakes, brock loaded the kids in the car and blindfolded me...an hour and half later, he took off the blindfold for me to see this!....it is Oakland's Mansion in murfreesboro, tn...this is where we were married...i came off the front porch towards him standing in the treelined yard...it was a dream..although many moments of our marraige may not have been a dream...yes, we do disagree...sometimes intensly...but thankfully, we are still very much in love...it has been a great 4 years and we look forward to many more to come! anyways, we had a little picnic in the yard under a magnolia tree (kinda funny, because this place is a plantation house from the civil war, they still do daily tours...we became part of the tour for people yesterday :) we then drove thru our old neighborhood, saw our 1st house together (they've totally fenced the yard and put long curtains in that large revealing front window) other than that, all seemed the same...we got to see a few old neighbors (who we love and miss very much!) ...after that, we went to OAKLAND h.s., where i visited a few former teachers and coaches...took home a few fake snakes( thanks ms.bohall) and some old cheerleading uniforms....we stopped in nashville and later came home to watch the vp debate...thats about it...a great day together...here are some pix from our wedding...fast forward 4 years to our picnic...kinda neat to see brock playing with mia just steps away from where we shared our first kiss....

little lives

i just finished watching an episode oprah did on mom's who are overwhelmed...the story was of a lady, who out of her original routine, forgot her 2 year old was in the backseat. at the end of the day, they found the little girl dead-heatstroke..can you imagine how confused she was as she called out for her mommy...just yesterday a friend emailed me- she was off somewhere in some poor country and was walking down the street and found two small boys who were one or so years old..they were crying..i'm sure they were hungry, confused...turns out they had wandered from their home a mile or so away..they tried to return the boys but the men of the house didn't want them...they eventually just had to leave the two little boys...i am heartbroken, i weeped ...how could such a sweet little life be tossed aside so carelessly....or what about the little children who are orphaned because of war or poverty etc?after hearing both these stories, my heart feels literally injured...how could i ever rescue all the little lives...adoption is great but what about the little ones yet to be found, who sit helpless...i can't imagine little braxton alone...anywhere trying to care for himself...how do we fix this?