Rain, Rain, Go Away

The month of May has been a wet one.  I think there was rain on record for about 25 days out of the month and this past weekend really set us over the top.  The lakes are all well above capacity which has caused extensive flooding in the area.  The worst many of us have seen in years.  One statistic stated that we have had enough rain to cover the entire state of Texas in 8 inches of water.  This past weekend was when our sports complex saw the worst of it.  When Lake Ray Roberts releases water, it flows into Lake Lewisville which releases into the Trinity River, which runs adjacent to our largest sports complex.  Saturday when I got police clearance to go check on our facilities, we discovered 22 of the 27 fields at that complex were completely submerged in atleast 6-8ft of water.  We are still waiting for the water to recede so we can assess the damage.

 Aerial view of our complex on Monday that was taken by a drone

 Entrance to our facility

Top photo was Friday morning, bottom was Saturday afternoon

 Entrance to our back soccer complex

Top photo was Friday morning, bottom was Saturday afternoon

Areas of our neighborhood also experienced some flooding, but our street is fine.  The sad part is the playground we have always walked to with Gray is under water.  I guess we will have to make the trek over to the playground near my parent's house until the water recedes and this playground can be inspected and repaired.

During all of the rain, I tried to find different ways to keep the boys entertained since we were stuck inside most days.  I found a few ideas on pinterest that they seemed to enjoy.

 Paint in a ziplock baggie for Beckett

 My heart

 I feel like he looks so grown-up in this photo.

 Paint and shaving cream art for Grayson

 I love his face.  I think he dropped a toothpick in the 

shaving cream and he didn't want to put his hands in it.

 I made some roads out of masking tape so he could 

play with his cars.

 Lining them up in the parking lot.

Not sure where he gets his OCD...

 Of course we baked some cookies.

 One afternoon it dried up enough to hang 

out on the patio.

Beckett is doing really well and on the move.  This kid should enter some sort of crawling competition because once he hits the ground, he is off!  His other favorite past time is standing and holding on to things.  Anytime we are on the floor or the couch, he is standing next to us.  We made another trip to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and he recommended we go see our ENT.  Last week we went to the ENT and he said one ear looks good but the other does not.  He added a few days of antibiotics to our current regiment and we are taking him back next week to recheck.  As of now, there is a 50/50 chance he will be getting tubes.  

 Watching and waiting for a storm to roll in

 First visit to the ENT

 Ready to move over to the next room.

He officially started in there this week.

 Mommy trying to entertain herself.

 Gray loves to play with Beckett and is so great

about sharing his toys with him!

 Someone is sitting up in the tub now!

 Sitting up means joint bath time!

 I think he looks grown-up in this photo, too.

I think this little boy loves his momma!  ;)

This is what happens when mommy and daddy

aren't paying attention and they think their son is 

just crawling around on the tile.

Looks like we have to put the other gate up now!

Grayson is doing great, too!  He is doing so well with potty training.  There are accidents from time to time but we never thought it was going to be a seamless process.  We are always so proud of him when he lets us know he needs to go and just how quickly he picked up the process.  Last Saturday he took his last gymnastics class and this weekend he is going back to soccer.  His gymnastics teacher was leaving to go back to school and it was the last class of the session so we felt it was a good time to change things up and make the transition back to soccer.  The guy that taught his class before is still there so we are excited about that.

 Cute little tushy running through my house in undies

 Aunt Cra Cra went with us to gymnastics

 Little daredevil jumping off the mat into the pit

 A future Olympian!

 Such concentration and great form

 Grayson and Miss Whitney

During all of the flooding I had to go to work over

the weekend.  Gray and I were out running errands so I 

dropped him back off before heading to the complex.

Looks like 2 of my boys were sad to see me go.

In other news, Shane has a big announcement.  He has officially resigned from teaching to run his own business!  It's a company he started a couple of years ago that he ran alongside teaching, but it has really taken off lately.  After alot of discussion and number crunching, he decided it was something he wanted to pursue full time so we are making the leap.  I won't lie, it's nerve racking to make this transition but I know it's something he's passionate about and I have seen how hard he has been working to get things in order.  What's the business you ask?  It's called Bybee College Prep (click to view his website).  He will specialize in preparing students for the college application process as well as test preparation skills for the PSAT and SAT.  Over the years he has been offering PSAT and SAT tutorials after school and they have always maxed out.  Being able to do this full time will allow him to expand and offer more classes.  We know there will be an adjustment period for awhile but I know over time this is probably the best decision for our family as it will allow us to provide more opportunities for our boys both physically and financially.  

I am gearing up for summer and apparently assessing flood damage.  On top of documenting all of the damage from the floods, I am also in the process of building my first dog park!  We finally broke ground late last week and I hope we can open it to the public by the end of June.  My next project is constructing some practice fields and then I will also help design and build a second dog park by the end of this year.  I also have a baseball complex renovation that we will start this summer and hopefully finish by the fall.  Needless to say, my work days are packed full of meetings and facility walk throughs.  

Summer starts next week so I am sure I will have photos from the pool and other fun activities to post over the next couple of months.  Only 2 months until we go to the beach with my friends and their families!  Here's to hoping the rain will hold off for alittle while so we can get our heads above water (no pun intended).  Haha!

7 Months

Have I mentioned how in love I am with this boy?!  Here are some things we noticed about Beckett this month:

• Beckett is a mover!  He started moving around earlier in the month but now he is in full gear and unstoppable.  The ladies at daycare always comment about how mobile he is and how difficult it is to keep up with him.
• He started to say "da da" and "ba ba".  He isn't necessarily referencing Shane when he says "da da" but it was the first official sound he made.  Gray's first sound and word was "ma ma" so I will give Shane this one.  ;)
• He's been eating solids really well.  So far he has had cereal (oatmeal), sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, green beans, peas, bananas, apples, pears and peaches.  There are times when we try to give him small baby puffs but he doesn't seem to like the texture yet and usually gags when we put them in his mouth.  
• We are still working on getting him to sit up but he is doing better.  You can tell he has the strength to do it, but still needs time to master the balance.  He caught us by surprise the other night when he was climbing on me and just all of a sudden sat up next to me on the floor.  Shane and I were talking to Gray and completely missed it!  
• He has started pulling himself up when he crawls to Shane and I or the couch.  A couple of times he has used our legs as leverage and was able to get both feet on the ground and stand up.
• He is wearing size 3 diapers.
• He is mostly wearing 9 month clothes but still fits in some 6 month clothes (mostly shorts).  He is really long but doesn't have much of a butt or stomach so 9 month shorts/pants slip right off him.
• He still sleeps about 9 hours at night and can't seem to move past that threshold.  After the second double ear infection we thought he might sleep better once it cleared up but he still has alot of congestion which I think keeps him up coughing at night.  

My little model.

This kid already knows how to work a camera.

Comparison of the boys at 6 months.

They look so different!

Crawling like a champ!

It was hat day at school so I had to put 

him in the outfit to match.

My little Dapper Dan!

Looking so cute and petite at the doctor.

It was a follow-up to his second double ear infection.

Infection is gone but he continues to have drainage.

We will most likely be looking at tubes for this

one later in the year.

Gray was alittle clingy this morning.

This kid likes to plank.

He's going to have one strong core!

 Our serious artist

 He stood up on his own

 Climbing in the bouncer chair at school 

 Sitting up on his own and singing

while Gray plays the guitar

When Beckett is close to falling asleep,

he likes to touch your face and grab your nose.

A couple of videos of Beckett crawling.

We took this picture and gave a copy to all of their

teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Dressed like Anpa in
his Columbia fishing shirt.

It was sports day at school so Gray

was sporting his throwback Man U jersey.

Gray finally figured out the rope and held

on for a couple of swings.

One teacher created an obstacle course.

He probably climbed through this 10 times.

This was one of my recent projects.

We tore down a small, old playground

and had this new one built.

We took Gray to be one of the first to

break it in after it opened that morning.

Some good 'ol static!

After our 5K Shane brought Gray by so 

I could take him to gymnastics.  I think

he will do really well as an Athletics Manger

one day!

Cookies with mom at school

Making brownies in his new apron

Those brownies look delicious!

Gray sporting his rain boots from his cousins.

The new thing is for the boys to sleep in the

big bed.  Gray got a nap this day and Beckett fell

asleep later that night.

This is how we began Mother's Day at 6:45am

all huddled in our guest bathroom while the 

tornado sirens went off.  

Here are a couple of videos of Grayson showing off some of his fantastic dance moves.

(He had to stop and point out that I got my car back.

It was in the shop that day for some maintenance.)

Both boys are doing great!  Grayson moved up to the next room a couple of weeks ago and he is in full fledged potty training mode.  We put him in a diaper and undies in the morning and he goes with nothing but undies most of the day at school.  He has an accident from time to time but does pretty well most days.  We are struggling to get him to go at home and have discovered it's sort of a social thing at school since he sees the other kids going and wants to go himself.  It's not something we are going to push and know he will eventually figure it out.  I am hoping that we will have one less kid in diapers this summer!