Jeepin'

Since moving into the rental, many of our things went into storage (otherwise known as one of the barns at Brock's parents' house!). One of those items is the Jeep.

Now it's kind of an unspoken rule at any of the Eubanks' households that if you leave your vehicle there, whether it be a truck, car, four wheeler, Mule, horse!, etc., it is most likely going to get driven! That was the case with the Jeep this summer. When the weather was just right for jeepin', Brock's brother Craig (with permission) took her top off and took her for a ride!! (whoa, that did come out exactly how I planned in my head..hehe) Let me rephrase...he took the hard top off of the Jeep and drove her to and fro.

Which leads me to a few weeks ago...Let me set the scene...

It was a beautiful almost fall day...one of those days in September when a bit of cooler weather finally begins to give us a break from the summer heat. After attending Cowboy Church we arrive Craig's house, when coincidentally the Jeep is now parked, with her top still off (crazy girl!). Brock rushes inside to change out of his church clothes and throw on something a little better suited for getting muddy. And before I could ask, "What do ya want for lunch?" those boys (Brock and Craig, not the little boys) where off in that Jeep leaving me with all the kiddos!!

Okay so maybe that's a little dramatic, but it's my story!

Anyway, if it wasn't for the fact that we were having a surprise birthday party for this mom (more on that soon) which included hamburgers and cake, the man might not have left the seat of that Jeep all day long!! And I can't say I blame him. It was a B-E-A-UTIFUL day and he hadn't seen her in quite a while!

He did however get the chance to do some jeepin' with Pawpaw Ty. And that's when I stopped everything and snapped this picture...



Those cowboys were having so much fun, I think they even snuck off and took another ride later that day!

This photo is now one of my favorite candid shots. It's one of those shots that makes me wish I had a fancy camera that I could do all kinds of fancy zooming and editing. More importantly, this is one of those pictures that makes me realize how much I love my family. This photo will forever be embedded in my mind and my heart. When I think of it (and I have often over the past few weeks) I am reminded of this...

I love both of these men.

I love how much Pawpaw Ty loves my husband.

I am thankful that we live close to him and that he is healthy and active at nearly 87 years young.

I miss my Grandpa Hoot and sometimes wish so badly that he could have lived long enough to know Brock and love him too, they would have had so much in common.

I cherish each time I get to see my Granddad Dennis and I KNOW he loves me and Brock. The last strong, clear words he spoke to us were just that, "I love you".

I wouldn't trade anything for that moment when Pawpaw Ty tipped his hat to me and rode off for a joyride!

GO FALCONS!!!

The Eubanks Gang has officially entered the world of organized sports!!! Tytus started playing soccer this fall and he is having lots of fun!

I think it would be safe to say that no one in our family really knows that much about soccer..and I think it would be safe to say that one doesn't need to know much about soccer when watching four year olds!!

He's having lots of fun! (did I say that already!!) And he really likes running in his new cleats!

These pictures were taken at the first game of the season...I'm excited to see how the team and our T-Man progress...right now, let's just say that they are all having lots of fun!!

Here's T-Man...this was the stance that he took for at least the first half of the game.

(It's hard to run and kick when your arms are above your head!)

Practice makes perfect!!

Did I mention this was the first game?!? Our team did great, but there was a bit of
head scratching and confused looks.

Number 8 (just like Daddy was!) Once he loosened up, he did a good job. He always does his best AND HE HAS LOTS OF FUN!

GO FALCONS!!!

(Tytus said this was his favorite part of the game!)

Why do I do this to myself?

**{Spoiler Alert: If anyone out there reading this has never seen THE BEST epic mini-series of all time and is interested in doing so...DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER...I'd hate to be the one to prematurely open up your tear ducts!}**

A couple of times a year, one of the cable TV stations will air one of my all time favorite movies... "Lonesome Dove".

And I watch it...every time. And I DVR it, every time. And I watch it and pause it and watch and pause again. I can't stop myself!

And I cry...NO, SOB...every time!

Why do I do this to myself???

Well, today I found myself right back in that place that I love and hate all at the same time. That place on my couch that was made just for me. With my giant glass of water, my three (I think it was three, I could have lost count) bite-size dark chocolates, and my two baskets full of laundry, I fell into a hypnotic state and headed north to Montana, drivin' cattle, with the cowboys from Lonesome Dove, TX.

I've seen it so many times now that I can pretty much hold it together when the Irish kid gets bit by the water moccasins and I tear up pretty bad when Gus rescues "Lorie Darlin'" from the Indian camp, but from the time Deets dies to, well, when the final credits roll, I am a basket case...a blubbering mess! When Call promises to take Gus back to Lonesome Dove, I'm done...I can't even see the next hour through all the tears!

Oh Gus...I won't even get started on Augustus McCrae...I tried to name each one of our boys Gus, but obviously their father is not in love with the feisty Texas Ranger as much as I am! It about rips my heart out when Gus won't let Call and the doctor cut his leg off.

I don't know why I put myself through it...it's kind of like my very own cinematic Bermuda triangle. I get completely sucked in and I can't get out!

So much about it touches my heart...the adventure, the loyalty, the good versus evil, the love, the cowboys,...oh I could go on and on.

I'm not sure why I enjoy inflicting pain upon myself, but I do...I just LOVE that movie.



{NOTE: No children were neglected during the watching of LD or during the blogging about the feelings toward LD...Tytus was unloading hay with Brock and the younger two were napping and happily playing and making messes that "I can't think about today, I'll think about that tomorrow." (my favorite movies are on my brain!)}

Back to School

A few weeks ago, Beau started "preschool" too!

I had spent so much time emotionally preparing myself for Tytus to go to Pre-K EVERYDAY, that I forgot to get myself pumped up to sent my little lover-boy off to learn and grow two days a week!

And he was not going to make it easy on me...as we got out of the car the first morning he said, "Mom, I don't need you to hold my hand." Whoa, wait a second...when did this happen...at this rate, he'll be driving himself to "big school" next year!

He was really excited, in an ultra-cool sort of Beau-Beau Show style of course. He was about to show those little cry babies how this is done!

He just jumped right in there and put his puzzle together, as well as the puzzle of the "cry baby" girl next to him and the boy sitting across the table who couldn't really concentrate due to his mom and dad and grandma taking pictures of him! I decided to give a little wave and slip out of there before anyone noticed that my taller than everyone else in the class son was doing everyone's puzzles!

And YES, I cried once I got back into the car and drove away!

He had a great first day of school. Once he got in the car to go home, he scowled his forehead and crinkled his nose and said, "I had fun at school today. I DID NOT have a little fun, I had VERY MUCH FUN!!!

And he has had fun every time...except for the day the "got in a fight with that one boy under the table...He knocked down the tower that I build and I told him not to, but he knocked it down and kicked me in the face with his shoe" (And he had the big red mark across his cheek to prove it!) I asked him if he hit the boy first or hit him after he got kicked and he said "NO, I was trying to find my words, but they wouldn't come out!"

His teacher must have been busy during this little scuffle and I wasn't about to fill her in on the details (as told by a three year old). I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time Beau has an encounter with a kid at school, so we'll just keep this one to ourselves!

Let the Record State....

Tonight Tytus announced to his brothers and me...

"When I'm older you're gonna see me on TV."

I wasn't sure where he was going with this statement. He had spent the last twenty minutes getting his "bakskit ball" clothes on (including wristband and jersey tank top), then shooting his OSU basketball into a cardboard box in the kitchen. SO I was prepared for him to explain that he would be playing Cowboy basketball in 15 years. But he followed with this...

"Yup, that's right you're gonna see me on TV playing my guitar!"

Musician, athlete...makes no difference to me.

"And mom, you might not know it's me, but I'm gonna be wearing a shirt with sparkles on it...a sparkle guitar and a sparkle piano and a sparkle microphone...and a sparkle basketball! And I'll be playing my guitar like this..."

Then he takes a total rock and roll stance and plays the air guitar, complete with arm spinning around and around and sound effects.

My dream for him is that he is happy, and healthy, and making a positive difference in peoples' lives and for the Kingdom...and if that means playing his guitar on TV then I will be one proud Momma.

So just in case my son is a future Joe Perry, or Brad Paisley, or David Crowder let the record state that he told us it would be so on this day!

Cash's 1st Birthday Party

Since I didn't throw a big shin-dig of a party for Cash's birthday this year, he got to have two small family parties, one at my mom's with all the Seal girl kiddos and one at Nana and Papaw's with the Eubanks clan! Here's a little recap of the party at Grandma's house...

p.s. these pictures are a bit out of sequence, but rather than starting over and risking NEVER getting this post out in cyber-world, I'm just going with it!

He is so cute and so chunky and so ready for his first corndog and first cupcake!

He was pretty intrigued by the fire at first, but once he got a taste of icing on his tongue
it was bye-bye cupcake...

In case you don't remember it was REALLY hot this summer, and REALLY hot on

August 4th...so we had a picnic on the carpet in the very cool and comfortable air conditioning!

Our friend, sweet little Piper, joined us for the party!

For some reason, even though we never set foot outside in the scorching heat that day, all the boys managed to end up with no shirts on. Frankly, I'm surprised Cilla had her clothes on as she is usually right there in the middle of all the action and keep up with the boys!

Yup, the days for sitting and quietly playing on the floor at Grandma's house are long gone...

Cash discovered the stairs and it only took him about two minutes

to figure out how to climb to the top



Of all the gifts he received...this little green ball was his absolute favorite!


Sharing his cake with mommy! And it was GOOD...Grandma's Red Velvet!

Did I mention it was GOOD RED VELVET CAKE?!?!

Cash was a fan and so were the rest of us!

Thanks, MOM for throwing this together for Cash (and me)!

Brain Fried and Dog Tired

Well, I don't usually go this long without blogging. My goal since starting this venture has been to blog two to three times a week, unless we are on a roadtrip or the computer decides to freeze up and not let anyone touch it!! But these past few weeks has been a struggle for me. I have lots to talk about...Cash's birthday party, Tytus starting Pre-K (oh I guess I did blog about that), Beau going to preschool and the many hilarious one-liners he has been cracking me up with, the older boys going to AWANAS, finally starting dirt work at the land, doing some contract work, T-mans playing soccer, Cash saying more and more words, Cowboys football, a fun weekend away with Brock, oh and running into Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood!

I'll be honest, with all of that going on plus having a bad case of the seasonal allergies....I'm exhausted! I was prepared in NO WAY AT ALL that our new schedule would wipe me out as much as it has. The boys have always been early risers, up and at it around 7:00, but there just seems to be something to having us all out the door by 8:00 that has pretty much rocked my world!! I'm assuming that this is a universal mom duty so I'm trying not to swim in my own pool of pity... for too long. Working moms of the world, I applaud you and I don't envy you! The silver lining to my new cloud is that most mornings I can at least throw a baseball cap on and leave the baby in his pajamas!


I do plan to blog about all of the above topics as soon as I can breath without the assistance of that allergy medicine you have to sign your life away for and if you use too much the police will come and bust into your house in the middle of the night under the suspicion that you are cooking meth in your basement!! And also as soon as I reclaim my blogging time back from my exhausted body (in other words, use the time when all the children are napping to blog rather than curl up in the fetal position and go into a comatose state for as long as the boys will allow!)


Until that time comes I thought I'd share one of my favorite pictures from the summer. All four of my boys in their jammies on a Saturday morning...this is why I blog, why I live, why I had to start getting up between 6:00 and 6:30 everyday! Oh how I miss those lazy summer mornings!