What's up with the Brians?

Summer is almost over for us and we are beginning to wind things down as Chris and I both start school in two weeks. Cade's pre-school doesn't begin until September, but he will be going with me and will be kept by Ms. Pam whom he loves.
Chris has started two-a-days for football, so it has been mommy and Cade the last few days. We haven't done alot in the past few weeks, but I will highlight some end of the summer fun. Of course, everday consist of playing with Caleb and Ace during the day, which could be riding their battery-operated vehicles, playing baseball, finding big rocks in the yard, mowing the grass, playing with sidewalk chalk, playing with play-doh, taking walks, and maybe a few tantrums scattered within. They do love each other though.

My friend Jennifer and I took the boys to Chuck E Cheese and they had a blast. We also tried to take them to the splashpad at Burns Park one day, but none of the boys wanted anything to do with the water. They wanted to play on the playground instead... keep in mind part of the reason we went was that it was so hot, and we both thought the water would cool them down...nope, they could care less it was 95 degrees that day!

Cade and I took daddy down to the river one day. He had never been and Cade wanted to show daddy how far he could throw the rocks. Even at 3 boys try to out-do themselves--Cade kept insisting to pick up the rocks that were way to big for him to throw...so cute.

On Thursday, Cade and I drove to Chattanooga to see Nana and Papa and to celebrate Brody's birthday. (my brother's little boy) Nana took Friday off and we did some school shopping for Cade and he rode the train in the mall. Later that day Nana and Papa took him to the zoo. He had a great time and loved seeing the big turtles and watching Nana hit her head on the turtle tank. (LOL) It was so much fun!

This week will be hard for Cade. We found out 2 weeks ago that he will need another set of tubes in his ears and they want to remove his adnoids. That will be done on Tuesday. I tried to figure out a way for him not to have another surgery for a while, but this fluid has been in his ears for about 3 months and is affecting his hearing. The thought of him getting upset at the hospital just breaks my heart and makes me hurt for him. The surgery is only about 30 minutes, but it is all the pre-op stuff that he freaks out about and I can say I can't blame him.

Also, today he has an eye appt. with his vision doctor and surgical doctor. I am praying for positive words and that his vision has improved. This visit doesn't scare Cade, but just the thought of going to the doctor makes him upset. On a side note, we will be scheduling an appt. with the cornea specialist in Ohio in weeks to come to remove the scarring on the cornea.. Praises that he is already in our insurance network!! THANK YOU JESUS!!

Cade, I promise you there will be a day when you will not have to visit the hospital as much. I know the Lord has big plans for your life! You are a very strong little boy whose strength comes from the Lord. I pray that you will be a young man who others look up to for enduring strength and confidence that God is good, all the time!! We love you and you are "OUR WARRIOR."

Josh. 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous..for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Down by the river...

So I try to find some different things for Cade and I to do together once Chris starts football in July. We live very close the Harpeth River and live about 5 minutes from a park that leads you to the river. We have passed this park many times and often wondered what it was all about.. it certainly didn't look like a park.
Well, I got a little adventurous one day and decided to take Cade to see what this park was all about. We walked a little while and it led us to a shallow place on the Harpeth with lots of rocks.
We ended up spending about 40 minutes down there. Cade threw small and big rocks, but he kept wanting to pick up the bigger rocks of course. We walked down the river some as well and continued our fun. I tried to perfect my "skipping rocks" skills, but could only get two skips.
I decided the next time we would visit the river we would ask Cade's buddies next door-Caleb and Ace. He absolutely adores the two of them and loves being with them. Jennifer was the wise one and brought along her camera to take some of these pics.
Love them! They definitely had fun at the Harpeth!
Sometimes I wonder if God made rivers, creeks, and other types of water, not just for our pleasure as adults to gaze at His beauty, but for little boys who just want to have fun throwing rocks. Thank you Lord for these small wonders that bring so much pleasure to children!

Making our house a Home

During the summer Chris really only has about 2 weeks off. He has football workouts every morning and then it all begins the second week of July, so we spend one of those weeks at the beach as you saw in my previous post. The second week we both decided we wanted to do some things to the house. We have been in our house a year and still had not decorated our walls. There were just a few extra things we wanted to do. The first thing we did was paint our bathroom. I love the color! We replaced the old brass light fixtures in our bedroom and bathroom. That made a huge difference. Chris was trying to be such a handy man-I do have to give him props-he tried to install our vanity light for about 4 hours and finally had to ask someone to come do it. He really tried and was so mad he couldn't get it to work. He kept saying, "nothing can be easy, can it?" I tried to hold my tongue and encourage, but he kept pressing hard to get it done. (btw, it took our friend 10 minutes to install the light..hee-hee)

Anyway, the next day my friend and I took an excursion to Old Time Pottery! Wow, love that store. We found many things for our walls, many prints, and many canvas prints. I absolutely loved everything she picked out!! She not only picked out some beautiful pieces, but she helped me place them in our living room and bathroom once we got home! So thankful that a decorator lives next door and a great friend as well!!

I am so blessed to have this wonderful home the Lord gave to us and thankful that it now feels like a home as well!!

Seagrove Beach

Something we look forward to every year is our time at the beach with our family. This year we traveled back to Seagrove Beach, Florida. We have been making these annual trips since I was in highschool, and it Never gets old! We love it!!
Cade had a great time this year, but hated getting "messy" as he would call it.. meaning sand on his hands and feet. He had to wipe them off each time he got sand on them..ugh!
Each day we would head down to the beach in the morning and spend a few hours and return for lunch. The week we were there happened to be the hottest week in Florida so far.. one day, the heat index was 111. So hot! We kept the kids under the tent most of the time and in the kiddie pool.
Cade was not so sure about the ocean. He loved watching everyone get in, but wasn't so sure about the big body of water in front of him. The last day of our vacation, he finally decided to get in the raft with Chris and I and he didn't want to come in all day! He had so much fun in the water. He kept saying the "water going up and down, that's funny."
At night Chris and "Papa" would take the kids to catch crabs. This was a highlight of the trip for Cade. Nana bought him a net and all he would talk about during the day was catching crabs. It was a blast!
We are so thankful to be able to spend time with our extended family every summer. Thank you Nana and Papa for our trip to the beach! Can't wait until next year!