Happy New Year!

We have been truly blessed this passed year. Cody's side of the family has kept us on our toes with health and injury issues but we are very fortunate that all has worked out. Aidan turned 7 and has grown like crazy. Joshua as always kept us on our toes. He started kindergarten and turned 6 in October. Maude has had a wonderful year of health sense being diagnosed with asthma last January. She also grew like crazy after turning 4. Cody seems to be getting busier and busier with more patients. I seem to be losing more and more of my memory by the kids adding more and more activities to our schedules. We have added land and cattle to our busy schedule. We have 50 calves to start with. Aidan thought he wanted to get a horse but now thinks a four wheeler will be just fine. Maude however still wants a horse after getting to ride her cousin's at Christmas. Joshua just wants whatever ever goes fast... I just want safety. So I think we have settled on a ranger for mom and dad.

I look forward to the new year with our growing family and the new things that God has in store for us.

Wishing all of you a very blessed New Year as well...

J Diamond A

Missing Gaye...

Maude just asked me if I had Gaye's number...I think she might be missing someone
So we are posting these pictures to maybe let Gaye know what she has to look forward to when she 'finally comes home' as Maude put it.

more pictures

3 posts

Christmas flew by with 5 Christmases here and there. Then we took off to the Gaylord Texan on Friday after Christmas to see the Ice sculptures. Joshua checked out the Gaylord in a whole new way... He stopped the revolving door, he knocked down a walkway light, he got lost in the thousands of people and dove after a light up necklace in the fountain. Apparently the light up necklace had a hole in it because last night when we got in bed and lights went off our bed was glowing and so was Maude. And we only stayed a couple of nights then we hurried back for the annual football game this morning. They won again this year. Aidan scored this year and was very excited. Aidan and Collin (his best friend #29 in the pictures)have talked about this game for the past year and really a bunch in the past couple of months. So we hated to see Aidan miss it. Pictures are of all the randomness this past week. Hope everyone had a wonderful happy Christmas.

Yesterday I went to have my kidney stones blasted out. Cody was sick so my mom took me. All went as well as it could have. You know if I am involved something is bound to happen. Sure enough when I put on my hospital gown there was a tear in it in a very bad spot. I informed the nurse that came to get me for surgery that when she wheeled me back to make sure nothing was peeping out. She reassured me she would take care of it. I was placed on a nice warm bed of water, then they hooked me up like they were charging a car battery. As she was placing the meds in my IV and telling me good night, I reminded her of our arrangement to keep me covered. The next thing I remember is the nurses telling me to get up and walk and then go to the bathroom. Ok they said you can go home. All I wanted to do was sleep in fact when they were having me sign some paper I just layed over on it. I vaguely remember the ride home, I do remember waking up in random parking lots while my mom was shopping (I think). She asked if I wanted the rest of my sandwich, didn't recall eating the first half. A little sore today but doing much better than I thought I would. Thanks for all the prayers.

Beds

I wish we had the card "Santa is watching..." all the time. I would use it.
Maude has never made her bed. Joshua even tucked in his animals.

Christmas Tree

Notice anything about our tree?
Maybe that a 4 year old found a box of ornaments that we hadn't put on yet. So she did!

$1.34!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah! Gas is at $1.34 in Amarillo. I never thought there would be the day that I would be excited about Gas but here it is. We have been filling up close or over a hundred dollars every time. I filled up for $29 the other day when it hit $1.34 and today for not over $30. I will have to say here in the bustling city of Tulia it is still at $1.69, go figure. My sister and I text each other every time we think we found it cheaper. So what is your home town gas going for?

The Hunt

**Warning, if you don't like blood details don't read**
It has been a while, ok a very long time since I have gone hunting with my dad. I know it has been at least, I think 7 years. I don't think I have got to go since we have had kids. Well, today I got to go with him. We pulled up to a 10 pt buck laying under a tree. This is were I think he wished maybe a guy was with him. I thought it was a donkey. He was huge and had big white ears with a black nose. I couldn't see the rack with the mesquite trees. Anyway we got out and slowly made our way through the mesquite. Finally we made it to a tree we were going to hide behind and when we looked he was gone. I made my way around and there He stood in all his glory with two doe. My dad came around took a couple of deep breath and nailed him. This is also the moment I am sure my dad might have wanted a guy with him. I started jumping up and down, yelling "you got him, good job!" high fiving him all over the place. After calling his friends we field dressed it, I kept asking if we could take the heart for the boys to see. We didn't... Then we (my dad and me) had to load this 200 lb or so deer to the back of the pickup. We did it after several tries and one time it falling off and hitting my eye with his rack. All worth it, I got to be with my dad when he finally got the 'Big one'

Kids pictures

We just leave this little camera laying out for the kids to take pictures when they feel like it. I checked it today and there were a bunch of new pictures hope you enjoy. The song really doesn't go with the pictures but I was enjoying it while making the slideshow. Thought y'all might like it too.

Baylor vs tt

Funny thing about the cookie cakes, everyone who ate the BU one got the stomach bug that night. Our time is probably limited with Joshua liking BU. It sure is hard bringing them up Baylor fans in Red Raider land. Especially living in Lubbock 3 years they got to meet Red and the masked rider several times. Cody wore his Baylor sweatshirt and cap but the day before he sported his Tech sweatshirt. He has graduated from Baylor (undergrad), ut (medical school we hate to claim that one) and Texas Tech (Residency). The kids still think if they make a bad grade they have to go to UT.

Funny words

Tonight I heard Joshua, as they were watching America's funniest videos, "That guy just got hit in the peanuts." WHAT? He said he learned it at school.

Then Maude was looking at a painting of Santa. Santa is looking at a Christmas tree and the kids names are written on the Christmas ornaments. She said "The elks wrote on the ornaments."

Do you think Elks have peanuts?

I will try to post pictures of the boys at the game yesterday BU vs tt.

Scene for the week

Watching Aidan and Joshua playing football outside early this morning through the kitchen window. The best part was watching Aidan let Joshua score.

Girlfriend

I have no idea how this topic came up. Aidan and Joshua got to talking about girlfriends in the car the other day. I popped off and said "you can't have one until you turn 20." Aidan, yes Aidan I know shocking, said "Well, when I turn 16 and get a car I am getting a girlfriend too." (Like they go hand and hand) He then said "I am getting a mustang and a girl." Maude replied "You should get a motorcycle that is what I am going to get." Boys! At this young age they are thinking about cars and girls.

It pays to be friendly!

I would like to say that I am always friendly but I know my sister will bring up that ONE time at 5:00 am the day after Thanksgiving sale when I was pregnant. So I will say most of the time I am friendly. Today it payed off. I was buying cat litter when this man started talking to me. He was the Purina guy and he talked to me about all of our animals. Then he handed me coupon after coupon. When I checked out I saved $4. It pays to smile and say hello.

Painting

I have been painting Maude's room off and on for a few weeks now. I always do it on the nights Cody is on call so she can sleep with me. After 4 pinks and one turquiose and kilzing the pink I thought I was going to love so painted the whole wall. I finally decided all turquiose. So today while Maude was at home and awake I painted her whole room. I was her captive audience for the entire day. Now I remember why I was doing it without the kids in the house. She walked through the paint. So I got to clean the hardwood floor. Then she got it on her shirt. So I got to go find another shirt and change her. Then she talked the entire day and I mean the entire day about her dolls. So I got to learn just about everything I could about a doll and her 4 year old mom.

After reading this (I Struggle from Trey's blog) blog entry and talking with a good friend this morning I feel I should write this.

It isn't always perfect...
I seem to always see the best in about everyone. (Even my husband and kids.) You know what though? We fight all of us. Cody and I struggle with making us a priority sometimes we even yell about how we should show each other we love each other.(weird I know) Aidan and I struggle with his temper. Joshua and I struggle with his lack of focus. Maude and I struggle with drama. I only write the good times and cute things we say, so we can focus on those. In the end they far out way the bad times.

Don't get me wrong we are very blessed by God. We have 3 great kids and Cody isn't too bad to look at or talk with. Everyday isn't a bed of roses...ok so here I go again see I really have a hard time with looking at the negative. I think as long as we step back and look at each situation with God's guidance we have a good chance at making it through each small or giant storm.

Another Cody in the making

I should be very afraid or sad or nervous. I don't really know what my emotion was when Cody and I were awaken yesterday morning BEFORE the alarm clock went off with:
"Dad Dad Tech is still number 2 in polls, Alabama is still ranked 1 Why do they not have Tech ranked 1?" This is about the time I here blah blah blah about the polls and ranking. My voice slowly drains off the pillow "You have to be kidding me you have our son waking up at the crack of dawn with ESPN reports." He is only the young age of 7 and he know how to turn the TV (ok I still can't get all the remotes to work most of the time) find ESPN and knows what a BCS or something like that poll is!
What is my world coming too? Soon there will be 3 of these ESPN boys running around our home. Maude and I have to find refuge somewhere.
(I love the fact that when I did spell check I misspelled Alabama)

2 out of 3

We vote in our house pretty often. Where to eat? What movie? Aidan caught on when Maude was little and would persuade her to vote for whatever he wanted. She finally figured out and votes on her own. Well last night we voted for dinner Logan's or Johnny Carino's. Joshua lost and we ate where you have to be civilized and not through food on the floor. He was mad the whole time. After we ate, well 4 of us ate, we drove over to Target. Along the way was a Hooters. Joshua announced "That is where I wanted to eat, I love it there!"

15 years and still going

Once upon a time, 15 years ago, there were two awkward 17 year old kids that never knew what these words would mean 15 years later.
They were good friends and were the third wheel while there 2 other friends would were dating girls. They spent there evenings waiting in the car for them to say good night to whatever girl those boys were dating. In fact I use to fix him up with girls all the time. Who knew? One day a girl asked me if Cody and I were dating. I told him that night what the girl had said, November 14 1993. His response "Tell her we are" And that is how it all began. What a great 15 years it has been. We got to experience our Senior year together as friends/dating. We experienced college together and had a great time making new friends. What a life we have led together, marriage, kids and being Christians side by side. Love you Cody, oh by the way don't ask Cody his side of this story.

Red Ribbon Week

Red Ribbon was a week or two ago, I can't remember. I don't know how I feel about teaching our kids about not doing drugs when they are 6 and 7, anyway they do it at school. (Before you get on your soap box about there are kids that know already..ours don't yet.) So tonight the boys and I were eating dinner (Cody and Maude went to Amarillo to see Jill) and they started talking about drugs. They told me we shouldn't eat pop rocks because their could be drugs in them. Also we shouldn't eat at IHOP in Amarillo, I have no idea what Cody told them. Then Aidan asked if we drink beer. Joshua piped up real quick said "we do we just drink the root beer kind." I think Red Ribbon week went really well for my kids.

update

Cody's mom was able to be moved to a room today. She is in very good spirits considering all her breaks and bruises. We were able to take the kids up to see her today. They were very excited it has been a long week for them not being able to see her...hearing all the things that happen to her made them very concerned. Thanks again for all of the prayers. I thought I might include her name this blog to help while you pray, Jill. We still are waiting on a release date from the hospital and when she will have surgery on her arm.

50's day

I was going to blog this earlier and haven't had a chance. So I will try to remember how the story went. Monday the kindergartners had their 50th day of school. They were asked to dress up boys/white t-shirts rolled up jeans and girls/same as boys or poodle skirts. They had hula hoop contest and bubble gum blowing contest. Joshua won the bubble gum contest.
Ok now to the whole point. At lunch my mom and I drove by to see the kids at recess all dressed up. I was looking and couldn't find Joshua finally my eyes found him holding hands with this really cute little girl with a light blue poodle skirt on. Then they just started hitting each other and chased each other all over the place. (true love) So that night at dinner I told Joshua that we drove by and I saw this really cute boy holding hands with a girl in a blue poodle skirt. Then I told him how they started hitting and chasing each other. He tried really hard not to smile. I finally asked him who he thought that little boy and girl were. He replied "Let's just call him 'boy'." He paused and then said "We do that everyday...fight and chase each other."
We are going up this afternoon to check on Cody's mom, so I will try to update more in the morning.

Update

Cody's mom will not have to have surgery on her neck but will have to on her wrist. We are very thankful that she will not have to have it on her spine. She is doing as well as can be expected with all of her injuries. She will be in the hospital for a few more days. Thank you all for the calls, visits and most of all the prayers. We appreciate all of it.

Prayer Request

I am writing this blog at 2:08am, so please excuse me if it doesn't make perfect sense. Cody's mom, Jill, was putting Christmas lights on their house this afternoon and fell off the metal roof. She is in the hospital with a broken right toe, broken left thumb, broken wrist and she has broken three vertebrae in her neck. She also has a large cut in her hair. We are suppose to find out in the morning if surgery will be necessary for her neck. Please pray for her recovery and all of the doctors that are taking care of her. I will update as soon as we know more.

Visiting Sunday

Yesterday we went to church with my sister and her family. (my sister and her boys didn't come they were sick) We got there early, I know amazing, and while sitting there this man came up and asked Cody if he had served communion before. Cody replied "Yes." Then the man asked Cody if he would help serve. Cody replied "Yes but we are just visitors." He said that was ok he could serve anyway. Justin arrived after all of this and the service began. When communion was about to start Cody got up and went over with the rest of the men (you know the ones that attend the church). Justin kept looking at me and then all of Tammy and Justin's friends started looking around. It was completely awkward and very funny all at the same time. Now that is making someone feel at home. You know how we always worry about making people feel like they are part of the family. I say we just put them to work, nothing says come back to visit like jump right in.

The Boys

Aidan and Joshua got to get their jerseys signed Saturday night by Jared Brock. He plays for West Texas A & M University and is a great Christian guy on and off the field. So I am really happy that the boys like watching him, he is a great roll model for kids. We hope to continue to get to watch him play at the next level.
He came to our church a few months ago and the boys got to meet him there but it isn't the same as when he is all dressed in his uniform. Jared's great Uncle and great Aunt are my Aunt and Uncle so that makes him feel like he is a little more accessible to us. He is so nice though I bet he is accessible to everyone. Enjoy the picture. (Thanks for sending it to us Aunt Peggy)

Church Clothes and Pumpkins

This combines a couple of three topics. Hope you followed that...

I knew today would be crazy when my phone dinged with a reminder. I went to look and it said early release. What does that mean? Oh......call the school....School secretary let's me know the kids are outside waiting.

First pictures are of the Narnia cast. We had our annual Trunk or Treat this past Sunday.

Next are pictures of the kids carving pumpkins. I thought I would let the kids do it all on their own today. Cody always seems to take over helping them. Joshua broke his first knife and cut his knuckle open with his second knife. I then realized why we never let them carve on their own. Bad idea...Note to self don't let Joshua have a knife...I am sure I have that noted somewhere.

Tonight Joshua was getting ready for church. (We make them shower before church so they can come in and go to bed.) He had a collared shirt on and he couldn't find his 'church' pants. I told him he didn't have to wear 'church' pants. He said he wouldn't be a Christian if he didn't have his Christian pants on. Guess what the world stopped turning for a few minutes and Joshua and I had a long talk on what makes a Christian and it wasn't his pants.
So are you just wearing Christian pants?
Have a great rest of the week!

Happy 6th Birthday! Joshua

What boy doesn't want a mohawk for his 6th birthday? So for the evening he gets to wear one around the house. We celebrated his birthday last Friday at Jump n Jive, of course I don't have pictures. Maybe my sister will send some to me and I can post those.
The other picture is of Checkers. When I got the pictures of Joshua off the camera to put them on I found this picture. The morning I was leaving for San Diego I had let the dogs out one last time before my parents came down for the weekend. Well, when I was ready to leave (bags at the doors and ready to walk out the door kind of ready) Checkers came flying in the door very proud carrying a live dove in his mouth. He flew right into his room and got in his bed with his dove. He was so proud! He kept trying to bury it and couldn't figure out why it kept moving away slowly. I of course called my dad and made him come get this bird. While waiting on my dad I snapped a quick photo.

I am getting worried....

Our week has stayed very calm and quite. Cody had to go off and jinxs it last night, he mentioned I haven't wrote anything on my blog in a while. So now I am worried and waiting you know like the calm before the storm. So just wait I bet it is going to be a big one. We never go this long without something being said or done. I am hoping it might be that tonight while I was teaching Bible class that I didn't notice I was missing 4 children (2 of them being mine). When I was checking row I noticed one was missing when I went to find her there sat 3 more. Mrs. M you might want to find someone else to fill in when you are sick. :)

4 year olds!

I just got back from taking three 4 year olds to preschool in Happy. So on the way up there they wanted to watch Sleeping Beauty. All three of them called it 'Sleeping Booty.' How cute is that? Just when I think they are all getting so big.

to hit or not to hit

Sunday after church we ran to Plainview for lunch and groceries. On the way the kids got into a discussion of hitting girls and if it was right or not. We have always told the boys they can not hit girls at all because one day they will be stronger and also it is just not right. Aidan told them all of this. So Maude leaned over and poked Joshua and said "yeah, you can't hit girls." Joshua said looking at his sister "I know you can't hit girls BUT you can hit your sister." The new golden rule... all the rules count just not if it is your sibling.

part 2 numbers

Just an update-last night at church we had 7 girls at our table and 6 boys. We also counted how many smarties and how many of each color. Strawberries she has eaten since last night- 5 last night 4 for lunch which makes 9 but she would like 1 more to make 10. We have 2 babies on the couch snuggling but she might need to get one more that would make 3. Maybe we can turn our focus on our ABC's today...

numbers

Aunt Tammy you will be so proud! Maude does not want to do much with letters. However, she is OBSESSED with numbers. She is constantly counting things and I mean everything! She counts how many are at the table every time we sit down. How many Cheetos she is eating. She is the object counting queen. It was great at first but now we are wearing thin on counting everything. She literally can not do anything without counting something in the process.
On another note Cody and I along with the Hoeltings and Subealdea won a volleyball tournament today. Cody and I are feeling it tonight every time we move we moan. Cody jammed my finger in between games trying to take the ball from me. We are getting old! We had a lot of fun though, being together and playing together. I forgot what that feels like.

Parent/teacher conference

After the blog entry a few days ago and today's parent teacher conference, I am beginning to wonder where we went wrong. The boys both are doing wonderful and their teachers are very sweet. However we noticed while the teacher was showing us Joshua's test that some of the words he used to rhyme....well....let's say they weren't exactly what a 5 year old should be saying. What rhymes with hill? kill
What rhymes with Sam? dam Yep you heard it right he used the words kill and dam to rhyme. The teacher tried to make us feel better by saying they could make up words. So we are sticking to that, he made it up. We don't even say shut up or stupid in this house without serious consequences.

boys and eating

I always thought after we had the boys "How am I going to be able to feed 3 (including daddy) boys?"
I had heard parents talk about how much boys eat and I kept thinking how will I be able to do this. Roxanne has always had helpful hints and reassurance I will be able to do this. Well, the past few months I have figured it out. It is going to happen slowly. Slowly we have had to start making 2 cans of biscuits or cinnamon rolls. Slowly we have doubled things. Well, tonight we made 6 grilled cheese, 4 eggs in the middle of toast and 2 egg/grilled cheese sandwiches. A whole loaf of bread, half a dozen eggs and a package of cheese and they were still a little hungry. They finished up with push ups.
Lea you have any hints?

Halloween

The other day at target:
Maude- I want these sparkly red shoes
Me-For Halloween?
Maude-Yes, I want to be Little Red ROBIN HOOD
Me-Oh you want to be Little Red Riding Hood with the red hood and basket of cookies
Maude-No, I want to be Little Red Robin Hood with the blue dress and a puppy in my basket
Me-That is Dorothy from Wizard of Oz
Maude-Oh that is who I want to be the girl with cute shoes and a puppy

Then at church we can dress up as biblical characters for our Trunk or Treat. So the boys said they wanted to be Ninjas.

I heard this story...

There was this wonderful couple that was teaching bible class. When this little boy told the man that his mom had a stamp that wouldn't wash off. So after bible class the bible class teacher went up to this little boy's mom and said "You won't believe what (let's call him Joshua) told us in class." Then he proceeded to tell the mom about the tattoo story. Well you can imagine the mom's awkwardness when she had to reply that the little boy hadn't made it up.
I told Cody I couldn't write this story because my parents didn't know. Well, he informed me that I was 32 and it was time that I got over it.

Drum Roll Please

I think with a lot of persistence (bugging) from me and several others. We have a new blogger it is the first team one, I think. Which is going to be really cool and fun! So go on over and give them a comment. (Nice ones)

The Baird Escapades

For the kids

This picture is for the kids. It is on the beach north of San Diego and the water was very cold. We hope y'all are having fun with Mimi and Granddad. Be Good!

It isn't just the kids...

sometimes mommy has her funny moments.

The only thing that would have made this story better was if my mom was there to wheeze with my sister.
My sister, Maude and I met at a bakery today for lunch. There was a very friendly man working there, that brought Maude a cookie after our lunch was finished. Then of course after we at lunch we went and bought cookies for us. Tammy bought 6 DOZEN! Ok, they were for all of her teachers but still 6 DOZEN! It takes a while for them to box them so we talked with this man for a while. When we were all done he said "Bye Pumpkin." I reply with "Bye....oh...oh... you were talking to Maude." Knowing full well he was talking to Maude it made for a very awkward moment between the man and I. Then Tammy starts laughing/crying/wheezing, she can't even walk straight. Refer to Valet story if this doesn't validate that there is never a dull moment with me around. Did I write about the Valet story? I hope not!

Contest

Here are the rules:
1. You can not drink anything until the minute is up.

It is that easy of a contest, now for the contest.
How many Saltine crackers can you eat in one minute?

They say you can't eat more than 6 and 6 is extremely difficult.

So have at it, use fresh ones and post how many you ate. (Don't act like you didn't just get up, run to the kitchen, get your crackers and try!)
I only was able to do 3. I will tell you how many Cody did tomorrow after everyone has responded.

Are you smarter than a Kindergartener?

Last night as I was gathering all the things for school this morning, I noticed Joshua's backpack was heavier than I thought it should be. I opened the pocket and there was nothing in it, then I opened the front pocket and found he had been bringing papers home and not taking them out. As I went through them I noticed one of them with the stamp 'Please sign and Return' and out beside it was his name. I asked him this morning why he had signed it and he replied "It says 'Please sign and Return!' We had a quick lesson that is for Moms and Dads to sign not the student.

ahh just another Sunday

Just another day in our lives...

Late to church: can't find the boys because they are outside in the alley looking for frogs and climbing fences in their church clothes.

Church fight: Joshua decides to draw pictures of Ashlyn (friend visiting) being attacked by a shark and then gets tickled at himself. I decide to put pencil up and he elbows my arm to prove his point, he is 5. So I try to take him out (note I am sitting in the middle of the pew,also to be noted I am wearing 3-4 inch heels) then he becomes dead weight and refuses to be taken out. Cody takes him out! Then Cody returns without Joshua, cool off period.

Attempt a nap: Lay down to hear the front door open and shut a million times. Maude's room is next to ours get to hear her drag out everything she owns. Joshua appears and rubs my back for a while. Still no sleep!

Game of Monkey football: Boys made up I guess... one in the middle is monkey he tries to get the ball. One hour of this game I didn't have to be monkey too often.

Let grass snake go into the wild: Let him out of the cage and he went under our house. Aidan cried he wanted to keep it forever. He later was satisfied by telling his sister that the snake would be crawling up through the floor vents.

Went to church: We actually I think made it on time and made it out without any major event.

Instant: Love the new word instant in our house. Why has no one ever mentioned that Idaho instant buttery mashed potatoes are pretty good? And soooooooo much quicker.

Bed: Where I belong as I am writing this... Where I hope all my children are as I write this...
Hope you had a great Sunday!

6 Quirks

I was tagged by Brooke and didn't even realize it. So here are 6 quirks about me.
1. I won't eat pointed french fries.
2. I don't really like ice cream (kind of a weird thing if you are a Culwell)
3. I can not go to sleep unless my feet are warm then once they are warm I stick them out of the covers.
4. I only watch the last episode of reality tv, I don't watch any until the last one.
5. Sleep till noon if I can, I don't really see this as a quirk but Cody told me it was one.
6. I have a lot of patience, I think that is a quirk in this day in age.
I tag Bruce/Amanda (so maybe they will start one), Tammy, Cara and Leigh.

payback

I knew the day would come that I could pay my sister back for her blog entry but I didn't know it would come so quick. Last night I was laying with Maude and she said she was hot and then asked if she could take off her pajamas. I said that was fine but she didn't need to sleep naked she would get cold. Then she said "Oh Aunt Tammy sleeps naked all the time." Hee Hee Hee Hee! So Aunt Tammy what you think about that!

The Perm

So I got a perm, what is the big deal? Much against my husband's request I went ahead and did it. I have received compliments even from Cody but the one I didn't expect came from Maude. I was laying down beside her Thursday night and she keep looking at my hair.
Finally she patted my head and said "Maybe you can go to Rosa tomorrow and she can fix this."
I replied "Rosa did this."
Sadly she replied "Ooooooh."
Then today in church she hopped up in my lap and kept patting my hair. Then whispered "I really don't like your hair, you need to make it straight again."
Who knew she had such an opinion?

To Blast or not to Blast....

Sometimes I think God almost likes to mess with me. (I have been reading the Shack and finished it today.) Today was a test of patience as if he does not do that in my every day life. Cody and I got up early this morning dropped off the boys at school and Maude at a very sweet friend's house. We headed to Amarillo to have my kidney stones blasted out. We got there went through the whole admitting process including the IV and 2 hours of admitting. I was in the truck in the water and everything and they said they couldn't do it because my blood was not clotting in the right range. I am completely ok with this because I would much rather be safe then something major go wrong, which apparently would if my blood didn't clot. So like any other day of my life, we made it an adventure. Cody took my picture without my permission while I was in my hospital gown. So that caused a little ruckus in room #11 but other than that we were all good to go. I will get to add another Dr. to my resume this will be a hematologist. Woo-hoo!

forgot to blog this one

Scroll down to Kid's Pictures entry. There is a picture of me looking down at Maude in our bathroom. Don't focus on me but notice the towel rack to the left, silver shiny thing next to shower door. It doesn't have a towel on it so to the normal eye it might look like something you might could hoist yourself up in the air with. You know after you have been watching the olympics, you might think that. Well, Joshua tried Thursday night right before bedtime to climb the wall and flip hanging on the the towel rack. As much as the towel rack tried to hold the weight of a 52 lb boy it couldn't and ripped off the wall and dropped Joshua onto his elbow and head. He survived no blood and no concussion. He received a deduction for dismount from China though and received silver instead of gold. We hope the next four years of training will help him acheive the gold.

First Day of School

Aidan thought it was cool to be the oldest one in the school this year. He is helping out with the little ones. He said "It was hard to tell the kindergarteners apart from all the 1st graders, they were all so little." Joshua loves his teacher and his class, it was worth the long wait. Today when I went to pick him up he waited until all the kids left and then went up to hug his teacher. He really likes her. She sure is sweet. Maude was beside herself with excitement! She wanted to dress really nice because she would need to be a big helper today. There would be a lot of young kids there today that didn't know were everything was so she would need to help.

kids pictures

Because

Today Maude and Joshua were sitting at the table. I don't really know what they were doing but I overheard a little conversation.
Joshua "Maude you know you are my best friend"
Maude "Uh Huh"
Joshua "You HAVE to be because you are my family!" Not so happy tone...

Team USA

As we sit and watch the amazing girl's gymnastic team...I can't help but to think which of these things will he try. Will I catch him making parallel bars out of the laundry racks, will it be the horse off of the back of the couch...which one will he try. I am sure I will be blogging about how it happened and which thing it was.

Aidan's Pictures

Most of the pictures are at Bass Pro Shop. A few of them are our hotel room, Rangers game and in our car. I guess they are of what a 7 year old sees and thinks that would be a good picture. Most of the pictures got trashed just because he knows how to use the trash function on the camera.

last vacation of summer

One of the pictures is of the water park (The Great Wolf Lodge) we have been at for the past 3 days. We have had so much fun! The next picture is of Maude and what happens when you swim for 3 straight days. The boys took in a Rangers game the first night. They had so much fun. Maude and I went to American Girl this morning for breakfast to make things 'even'. We came with another family from Tulia and had a real good time with them. Aidan and Hannah paired off and we didn't see a whole lot of them. Joshua and Marti went together and the young two hung out with mom's for the most part. Cara and I enjoyed massages and I mean we enjoyed them, an hour away from water slides is relaxing enough in itself. We will be going strong for the next couple of weeks until school starts so this has been a real nice break. When I have more time I will post pictures that Aidan took they are pretty funny. Cody and I were cracking up looking through them. A 7 year old and a camera very interesting subjects.

words

Ok so tonight I was saying my good nights to the kids and it happened. The boys have had there moments that slowly turn into this but Maude had not. She said the word, so now they all are have said 'it' the one word I am never ready to hear. She said "Good night Mom" I just wanted to cry. She is my baby she isn't suppose to call me Mom yet. I still hear Mommy out of the boys mouth but just not often and I know it is just a matter of time until the word "Mommy" leaves all of their vocabulary. Maybe I am getting sentimental about school starting and having 2 in school now. I can not believe it is August and almost a week into it. We still haven't done enough stuff to qualify for summer to be over. Some recent pictures of summer fun.
Lake and soccer. We are coaching Maude and Joshua's team, very entertaining. Both boys have scored every game. Maude has decided she just wants to cheer, which Cody and I are both fine with at this point.

Fishing again

Nobody went in water this time, unless you count the dog, or unless you call Bryn being mudded by Joshua. Hey Bryn send me that picture and I will post it!

joshua diving

This is just one of the many many many many dives Joshua has been doing the past couple of days. I took it on my new phone tonight. It is not great but just trying to become more computer/phone savvey. He really can dive much better but when mom isn't in the pool to make sure he comes up for air he tends to get scared. The child will stay at the bottom of the pool forever. Aidan likes cannon balls much more than diving but he can dive. Maude is keeping me busy with having to clean up her language. Last night while on a walk she was just talking away and she said "I was like...What the Heck?" Much to my surprise I didn't spank her. But let her know the next time that phrase came out her mouth it would end with a spanking.

blog plug

Nothing to crazy going on here. So I thought I would take this moment of silence and plug a friend's blog. Once a week she post a scripture to memorize. Her blog is Rehearse the Verse. Really cute blog from a really talented young lady. I say young because she is probably around my age or younger. Enjoy the site!

What a week with Joshua...

and it is only Tuesday. So there I was in the bathroom at the JCPenney outlet in Plainview. Joshua was waiting outside on me. When the fire alarm went blazing off LOUD! My first thought Joshua Byron you better not... then I look up to find two little eyes peeping through the stall. Mind you had not been in there but seconds.

Me "Joshua, Did you pull something?" Two bright little eyes widen
Joshua "No mommy...but I did push something."
Me "A Door?" (I am out of the bathroom at this point)
Joshua "Yes and it was really loud and scared me."

We went and found management and apologized. So we left the bathroom/management area to go find my sister and the rest of the kids. As we walk up they smiled and ask (having no clue) "hey guys did y'all set off the alarm?" My sister said midstream through the sentence she thought my face pretty much answered the question that should have not been asked.
After writing this it just doesn't seem as Spectacular as it did at the moment.

Wall-e

This blog is for those who have seen Wall-e. I have not so I had no idea why my son was walking around with my bra on top of his head saying "I am W-a-ll-e."

A boy and his hat

Let me just start he is ALL BOY! Here lately Joshua will pick any bug and keep it forever. Including taking them in my car. Well, today was the big picnic in Tulia. So we spent 3 hours at the park, the kids had a blast to run around with there friends all day. Well, we packed up after a fun day and headed to Sonic for Cold drinks. We all sitting there in the pick up when Joshua took off his hat to unload hundreds of pebbles into Cody's pickup. He had completely forgotten they were there. He was as surprised as us.

Miss Splash

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Round 2

Cue 'Rocky' music here. If I was really cool, I would know how to put the song from Rocky on here. Ok so I am not, but as you read this you are to hum that theme song from Rocky. The Kidney Stones and I went onto Round 2 this past Saturday. I am completely ok with the kidney stones winning every round and I will happily bow out of the competition. I gave the kids a hard time last week for not even knowing I was in the hospital. So this past Saturday when we got back from the hospital. I would awake in my bed with random items placed in my bed...a box of chocolate, colored heart cut out, and someone unraped my hand that had been bandaged from the blown vein from the IV. Nice kids! Last night came Round 3 but my sweet husband loaded me up with some pills before the pain got the best of me and we were able to spend the night in my own bed. Today I had a beautiful bouncing...oh...that is right I keep forgetting. However, I think we are going to start naming them.

I hope to post pictures tomorrow night of the Miss Splash contest. Maude is so excited. We went last year to watch all of her friends and she couldn't wait all year to walk in her bathing suit around the pool. Wish us luck that she doesn't fall in. In true Culwell fashion I am sure something will happen.

the protest part 2

I blogged a few days ago about a cute little protest. Well, today it backfired on me. I had been letting Joshua have his little protest and going behind him and shutting the door. Well, today I forgot to check the door. We went into the Church for an hour and half for a funeral and when we came out the back passenger door was wide open. Guess who decided to leave her purse in the car? Which I will say I NEVER do...I just thought today it really didn't go with my outfit so I left it. There it sat not touched. I guess it helped that there were 20 game warden officers in the church.

The passing of a friend

Sunday morning a good friend passed away to our Heavenly Father. Ralph Nevins was kind of special to our family and especially the little kids. Maude enjoyed doctoring him and teasing her daddy that she was Ralph's new doctor. We visited not often enough it seems like now. We went to the funeral home this morning and the kids just looked and never really said anything. We went to Amarillo after we went by the funeral home and then on the way home the questions came flooding in. What was Ralph doing now? Why did they have glasses on him? Won't Lela Mae (his wife) be awful lonely without him? Joshua pointed out that God might could put mud on his heart and make him all well now and he could go fishing. (Story of the blind man mud on his eyes, just in case you weren't following) Ralph's heart is healed now I am sure and he is enjoying deep breathes of heaven. Joshua at the very end said "I wish I could have hugged him one last time." Me too...

One tiny stone

I have been through this 3 really bad times and one not so bad. And after all these times I still haven't figured out how something so tiny can cause SO MUCH PAIN! I should have known this little stone was coming for a visit yesterday all the signs were there. There is something called denial that I like to listen to when it comes to these stones. I had a ct-scan and had been on 5 days of antibiotics and then another round of 10 days of antibiotics all because I was peeing blood for 3 weeks and thought it was a bladder infection. At the last time I passed one of these guys they did an x-ray and said I had about 22 kidney stones. So maybe I am getting under 20...
Anyway yesterday was somewhat minor compared to the past ones we made to the hospital in time to get pain meds before I completely lost control. A quick 4 1/2 hours later I was home pain free and today I passed a beautiful bouncing...oh that is right it is not a baby, just feels like it, tiny stone. I missed out on my family reunion, the kids were taken care and my sister lied for us. Oh I bet I wasn't suppose to mention the not telling truth part. (I would have posted a picture but that is just pretty gross)

Happy 4th of July!

Have a safe 4th! And enjoy the weekend with family and friends.
A Culwell picture wouldn't be complete without a kid injured. Maude received a black eye last night at a sleep over. Funny thing it wasn't a kid it was the dad who gave it to her. He was opening a pop up tent (not a kid one) and Maude received the pop of it. She is always proud to show off a shiner must be having two brothers that makes that a cool thing.

The Protest

I went to Amarillo yesterday. I picked up my sister and her boys and we went to eat and shop. I was looking for big pots for a Gazebo down town (long story). Anyway my sister thought I should blog about this, I hadn't seen the oddity in it until she pointed it out. We went to several different stores and we were in and out a bunch. Everytime there was one door left open and without saying anything I would get out and go shut it my side or not. After a while she asked what is the deal with the door. I told her Joshua was protesting shutting the suburban door, he feels like he is always having to shut it. I haven't really thought about it, I just knew that is how he felt and without hearing them all argue I just shut the door. It is funny our every day craziness I don't even notice anymore.
Little prayer request our new preacher and his lovely wife and 4 children will be making their way to Big Tulia from Alaska this Sunday. So please pray for their safety and sanity as they travel with 4 kids.

the big fish

The kids and I went fishing this afternoon with my dad. Cody was oncall so he missed out on all the fun. Once again it was eventful. You can always bet there will be something that happens that is worth blogging if we go out for anything different. I am not going to name names but we will call this girl 'B' and her dad big 'Z' (not that he is big but that is the name of a penguin from surf's up.) Ok now with the story. We threw out a bunch of poles so everyone could catch a fish. When one of the poles started moving towards the water. Ok now let me back up...I had on tennis shoes, socks and jeans on, when 'B' was wearing shorts no shoes and a swim suit top. Got the picture? We jumped up and started running towards the pole...ok now go into slow motion with me...the pole slowly was jumping inching towards the water. Every time I leaned down to grab it, it went a little more and then all of the sudden it was in the water. Everyone and I mean Everyone including BIG Z and cute little 'B' started yelling "Get the pole, Get the pole!" ok in my head I was thinking just let it go, but then it started floating so I thought just barely step in and get it. Well, I ended up knee deep getting this pole! I started winding when the pole stopped letting me reel it in, so now picture this me running up the hill with a pole so I don't miss getting this fish I jumped in a lake to get. Now for the funny part...this pole was broken and could have been fine going down in the bottom of the lake. Big Z just had forgotten and Miss 'B' stayed nice and dry on her beach towel. Made for a great afternoon.
Also couldn't resist these two last pictures. The first one of Maude is of her with the water hose and the second one is what happens when you spray your daddy after he just said 'don't do that'

postman

Ok apparently the Post office lady has not met our son 'Joshua'
Because she was very surprised he was able to open a combination mail box today.
Me not so much...
Brother & Sister pretty impressed but not so much surprised...


Kenneth this one is for you...
Today we were at church getting ready for VBS and Joshua was running (you know the thing we as parents forbid him to do at church) when he fell pretty hard on the tile floor,(same floor he cracked the tooth on) Kenneth jumped. Joshua hopped up and said he was ok. Kenneth looked up and said "You didn't even flinch!" Later he fell once again all the kids came running to let us know that his knee was bleeding. He came hobbling in, same knee from the jump in Red River just tore the scab off. I failed to mention the the scrap he received in Red River was pretty deep. I guess from the impact jumping onto asphalt from 3 feet up onto your knee. So anyway the cut looked funny to me. I mentioned to Cody tonight it looked like you could see the bone no worries it is just to the fat layer now. So this is for you Kenneth I actually did flinch when Cody said "Oh that is ok it is just the fat sticking out."

Red River

Well, we just got back from our annual Red River trip. This year was full of fishing everyday. We were steps away from the kid pond so the boys would roll out of bed and dress and run to the pond. You would think that they were catching something. My boys never caught one fish. Jaxon got 4 and Cole one in the 3 days they fished. They loved it though. Like we always do in standard travel with the Culwells we took dermabond. Thankfully we only had one minor scrap and didn't have to use it. Apparently jumping off a 3 foot front porch with a fishing pole is not the best way to get down. He did however use the stairs the next exit he took from the cabin. Like I always say "Live and learn" sometimes though it comes with a little blood loss and tears. We got back into tonight and went to the baseball field for Aidan's game. Uncle Zane he wants you to know he is up to $6 and does a ball all the way to the fence count? He missed 3rd base and had to go back and touch it. If so, you owe him $8. :)

boys and the giggles

I just went into the boys room because the noise was floating into our living room. I don't mind them talking and giggling themselves to sleep but when it gets too loud and sleep is no were near, I usually go in. Well tonight I went in and they were bouncing on their beds and just giggling. I told them to lay down and turned the lights off that they had on. I quote to you exactly what I said "Boys if I hear another peep out of you the Red River trip is off and no one gets to go." Any guesses what happened next....You guessed it as I walked out the door and was shutting it, I heard a little voice say "peep" and then the giggles that come out your nose because you are trying not to laugh to hard that Mom gets mad all over again. I had a really hard time not laughing were they could hear me.

Golf

quick photo op

The kids are taking up golf this summer and it has been very interesting. Joshua now gets to have a real club. After hitting his sister in the eye with a iron we had not let him touch a real club in a couple of years. Aidan loves the game and plays pretty good for a 7 year old. On #5 today in the middle of Joshua's back swing on the tee he announced "Maude come look there is a ladybug next to my ball." Then preceded to out drive his brother by 4 feet. Did not sit well with Aidan...big surprise there. When we got up to the green Joshua said "Aidan your doing really good on this hole I bet you make a chicken." Eagle...chicken...birdie you know what really is the difference?
Maude only hits her big club off the pretty grass with her pink ball and pink tee and then sits in the cart until the next hole. My kind of girl, my golf game is lacking because I don't play when they play too crazy. With the rattle snakes and all I have to walk with them in the grass.
I have video of them playing golf last week still trying to figure out how to put it on the blog.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

I won't bore you with how much I love my husband. But if you want you can watch the video. Cody and I have known each other almost all of our lives. We started really dating our Senior year of High School. I say really because we dated a couple of times randomly before our Senior year. We really fell in love once I moved to Waco our second year of college. I love that he still thinks I am hot and still calls me his 'Babe.' He still flirts with me and teases me no matter how much I protest (I secretly love it) Enjoy the crazy video, I had to take pictures of pictures because our scanner wouldn't e-mail them to may computer.

Sports

Pictures of the basketball stars and the wrestling team.

We had a bit of a reality check for Aidan this past week. At basketball camp his brother won two awards and we had to suck it up and be happy for him. Hard thing to do for the older brother. Joshua felt so bad for him he was willing to give him one of his two awards. We got to have that talk with him about being happy for someone else and it is not all about you. I thought later it really is all about Aidan most of the time because of the age thing. Joshua is just now old enough to do sports and other things. Boy am I glad there will be one school year between them. I can't imagine them being back to back like Joshua and Maude in school. Ok if you never click on the pictures the wrestling picture is pretty funny...click on it. Notice the cat's arms.

Baseball and haircut

The boys started baseball this week along with basketball camp. Started summer out with a bang. Joshua will play every Monday and Friday, Aidan will play Tues/Thurs. Cody and I will get to enjoy baseball every Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri for the month of June. Aidan hit two infield homeruns tonight. Uncle Zane owes him $4.00, last year Uncle Zane told him he would pay a dollar for a homerun in teeball. So Aidan thought machine pitch should be $2.00. Who knew the kid would go out and hit 2 in his first game...
We spent the morning with a blogger friend while the boys were at basketball camp. Maude played with Ashlyn and even wanted to spend the night. Ashlyn had the cutest haircut. (check out her pictures on Mommysmart's blog) I had been wanting Maude's cut for a while now. So spending a little time with her, Maude decided she wanted her haircut. Lucky for me!
So that is a run down of what pictures I am putting on the blog.