fall swimming

so, just because it gets a little cooler outside doesn't mean that we don't swim! every week, william does "swim team." yes, that term is used loosely! they practice jumping in at the same time and swimming to the same spot. so, it's somewhat like a race. however, he's 3...the rest of them are 5 (note the size difference in the picture). so there's not much winning on his part. but, he doesn't even know it's supposed to be a race. he just likes being in the water!

yesterday, they didn't do much racing. instead they were practicing on swimming across the pool while going under the ropes.



wes is swimming, too. he can float with the best of them. but, he's still working on his swimming skills. my camera was near dead, so i hope to get some video of him next week!

did i really just say that?

1. could you please call me when you need to be wiped?!! if i have to clean dirty off that potty one more time...

2. do not hit your brother with that helicopter.

3. the refrigerator is not a toy.

4. we keep our pee pee in our pants. yes, i know that i don't have a pee pee. just keep yours in your pants!

5. i don't care if you are a viking...don't touch your brother.

6. stop licking the cabinets.

7. stop slobbering in his ear.

8. yeah...anthony dixon (msu football player) probably sleeps in his underwear. he's such a big boy.

9. yes. girls have bellybuttons.

10. we don't run over people with tractors.

11. don't put sand in his hair. don't put sand in your hair. just get away from the sand!

12. you're right. referees have pee pees because they are boys.

road trippin'

we packed up on monday and hit the road for atlanta. by we, i mean me along with the little people.

yes, i drove to atlanta. by myself. with a three year old and a 16 month old. it was a long trip.

especially since william apparently has a bladder the size of a pea and an uncontrollable to urge to pee every 45 minutes or so requiring me to pull off the side of the road for him to take care of that urge.

especially since wes decided to not eat the goldfish that i handed him 1 by 1 but rather see how many itty bitty pieces he could crumble each one into and then fling them as far as he could.

especially since the dvd player broke and refused to play more than 8 minutes worth of Cars which left me listening to whining about how lightning mcqueen wasn't on the tv.

especially since an 18 wheeler flung a boulder at my windsheild and scared william so much that it brought him to tears thinking that the windsheild was going to break.

especially since atlanta has no gas meaning that i had to wait for 30 minutes to get gas somewhere in podunk alabama to insure that i could get out of that city when i wanted to leave!

especially since wes didn't want to do anything (including sleep) except pet and point at aunt holly's cats...


and destroy her house.


but, it was all worth it and we'd do it all again to get to meet alexandra...grandkid #6 on the henson side of the family.


the little lady arrived shortly after lunch on tuesday looking much like her older sister. and, the hospital waiting room wasn't all bad. if you have an msu football helmet with you, you can play football just about anywhere!


a mask and a hairnet come in pretty handy, too!


congrats on the new kid, holly and frank! and congrats, ari, on your new big sister status!


but, if y'all decide to have another one...can you wait until my kids are somewhere around the age of 10? :)

wheezer-ific

on sunday morning, wes woke up with fever and ill as a hornet. he would not drink anything, and he sure as heck wasn't going to eat anything. along with those wonderful symptoms, he was having difficulty breathing which was evidenced by a horrible wheeze. you could look at his little belly and chest and tell that he was working really hard for some air. so i gave him a bath in a super steamy bathroom to try and loosen him up. that didn't work, and then he threw up on me, the changing table, and himself as i was drying him off. (yes, he got a second bath.)

i don't know where it is written in the rule books that children must get sick on weekends (specifically sundays) when there is no dr's office and few pharmacies open. of course, the pharmacy i go to isn't open at all on sundays.

i didn't feel the need for another trip to the ER. and i really didn't want to go sit in some free clinic where we would contract something else to go along with what we already had for sure. so, i did the next best thing...i called my neighborhood pharmacy...aka, the waterer house.



these lucky neighbors of ours have had their share of illnesses with all three of their kids. so i called knowing that they had a nebulizer and some albuterol lying around somewhere. within the hour, i had both delivered to my back door.

after 4 days of a whole lot of this...

along with lots of tylenol and sleep, wes is as good as new. and we didn't even have to leave home.

now, if those waterers would just put in a drive-thru, they'd make a killing!

where's the love?

tonight after william said his prayers, we told God what we were thankful for from today. after the completely obvious...football helmet, football, trees and lights...i asked him if there were any people that he was thankful for.

the conversation went something like this:

me: are there any people that you are thankful for?

william: brooks. but he wasn't at school today. and i'm thank-va-ful for ethan, too.

me: anybody else?

william: yeah, and i'm thank-va-ful for riley.

me: is there anybody else that you are thankful for? (leaning in thinking that the closer i am, the more obvious i will be)

william: yeah. what's that girl's name at my school with the pink sandals?

me: i don't know, william.

william: you know...the cute girl.

me: yeah, i still don't know who you are talking about. isn't there somebody else you are thankful for?

william: oh yeah, wait!! jenkins!

me: is that all?

william: yup. night, mama.

i'm just the one that keeps his world spinning, but there's no need to be thank-va-ful for that when there's brooks and ethan.

and a cute girl with pink sandals.

it's tough to be a state fan

this past weekend, we packed up all the little people and headed to starkville for another day of tailgating and a superb football performance. if you happened to miss the game, we lost 3-2. no that was not the score of the soccer match...it really was 3-2.

but hey, at least the tailgating is fun!!

william taking a break from his chicken nugget to practice using his cowbell...


wes getting in a little cowbell practice time, too...


brotherly love at the tailgate...


we spent the first part of the game up in the MClub with wes so he would have some room to run around and not have to stay confined in the stands. when we made it back down to the stands, we find that even though the game isn't exactly high quality, when you have a box of popcorn and a good buddy (ben surholt) next to you...that scoreboard doesn't matter.


i'm not really one to complain about our players. this is evidenced by the fact that i cheered my head off for jamont gordon the last few years even though i'm not a jamont gordon fan. but, he's a bulldog, so you gotta cheer for the guy. and, it's not like they are out there wanting to lose...

but seriously, i realize that our punter had 2 great punts saturday night (he should have...he had enough practice), but how many times does he really have good punts. um...like next to never. the guy is averaging about 30 yards/punt. for real. for a punter in the sec that is just unacceptable. i mean, he kicked a 24 yarder against auburn! 24 yards! i'm a 28 year old white girl with toothpick legs, and i'd be willing to bet loads of money that i could punt a ball 24 yards! i know there are some guys standing on the sideline that can punt that far. or a soccer player on campus. or an engineering geek in a lab somewhere. for crying out loud, get us a punter. with the outstandingness of our offense, we're gonna need one!

or i'm gonna need lots of boxes of popcorn to get me through this season!

touch a truck

on saturday morning, we made our way to the park to check out the 2nd annual touch a truck. william had a blast last year, and there were even more trucks there this year to tickle his fancy. wes even got into driving everything he could get his hands on.


pretending to be just like major allen, though he could probably use a smaller helmet.


checking out the back of an ambulance with my new buddy, mr. emt.


chillin' on the gator.


piloting the police helicopter.


he thought being a mailman was way cool...


until he got to be the ups man. (this is one of two life ambitions for this kid.)


and here he is getting instructions from the garbage man on how to drive the garbage truck...


his #1 life ambition!

i didn't think we were going to be able to pull him off the back of this thing. but, a promise of a trip to starkville for the football game got him slowly down. oh, and some popcorn once we got there!