Missing "My Daddy"

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the death of my Daddy. I always called him "My Daddy." I still do. People have often asked me why I don't simply say, "Daddy." I am not sure why I have always done this but I think it might have something to do with the fact of how proud I have always been of him and that I probably wanted to make sure everyone knew that he belonged to me! I miss him so much. My heart aches with the wish of getting to hug him and talk to him one more time. I am sad that he did not get to see Keyton start school. He would have loved hearing Keyton tell him all the things he is learning. I am sad he does not get to hear all of the funny things Garrison is saying since learning to talk. He always had such fun watching them grow. Keyton sometimes says, "I know what 'Bud' would say if he were here!" He knew him so well. Keyton started out calling him Poppy Bud like the other grandchildren, but he somehow shortened it to just Bud. It bothered me and I tried to correct him, but my daddy told me to let him call him that. He thought it was cute. He also stopped calling my mom Me-Ma and shortened hers to "Aggie!" My daddy thought that was cute too. I guess he thought everything they did were cute. Both of my boys still include him in their nightly prayers. Keyton continues to pray for him like he is still here. He says he wants to keep him on his list of people to pray for like he always did. Garrison includes "Take care of Poppy Bud" in his sweet prayer. We all miss him very much but we take comfort in knowing how happy he must be in Heaven, and we know without a doubt that he is watching over us with much love and pride. I miss you, Daddy. I am so blessed that God made you "My Daddy!"

I LOVE MY BOYS!

They are "pretending" to cook something for me by the heater.

I love my boys!

No matter how wild and crazy they get, how many messes they make,

how much they test my patience, or how much noise they make...

I LOVE THEM MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD!

I am so thankful that God has blessed me so greatly!

"Eggs-tra" Special Easter

My Easter creation

They loved their cake!

Presents from Easter Bunny

Presents from Mommy & Daddy

Sweet Keyton

Sweet Garrison

My sweet boys

Today was a cold Easter Sunday. We even had snowflakes! Brrr! The boys were excited to get ready for church this morning. On they way, Keyton was asking me to explain the real reason we celebrate Easter to him again. He likes to know every detail. He got tears in his eyes as he was asking me about Jesus being nailed to the cross. He is very soft-hearted. Then Garrison chimed in with, " My love God. Do you love God, Bubba?" How sweet! Keyton said yes of course. Then Keyton wanted to talk about my daddy and what all he thought he was doing in heaven. Garrison was looking out the window at the sky shouting for his "Poppy Bud." They miss him so much as do I and I am so thankful they continue to have such wonderful memories of him. I went to Tammy's house last night helping her cooking for our family dinner today. When I got home I stayed up late baking the boys a little Easter surprise. I had an idea for a cake when I was fighting my way through the Easter aisle at Wal-Mart! I am not usually very crafty at cake decorations, but I wanted to give it a try. I think it turned out fairly well. The boys LOVED it, so that was plenty of reward for me! The Easter Bunny was good to Keyton and Garrison. They also got a little something from Mommy and Daddy! They found over 100 eggs between church and Tammy's house. Keyton was the winner of finding the most. Garrison was the winner of finding the largest egg. He found a HUGE gold egg that was about half the size of his head! This was a wonderful Easter with my family even with the snowflakes!

Jelly Bean Collector & Chick Magnet

Well, we finally left the house today! We have been home all of spring break because of Keyton having the flu. He said he felt much better. (He sure acted it too! WILD!) He didn't have a fever either, so we went out. We got our oil changed, new tires, and went to WAL-MART!!! Two cute things happened (well, actually more, but two I will write about!). # 1: Keyton wanted to buy every kind of jelly beans they had! Why? Who knows? But, we ended up with Original Jelly Belly, Drink Flavored Jelly Belly(he wanted these because of the root beer! YUCK!), Lifesavers, Jolly Ranchers, and Starburst! Whew! We took a picture of all of them combined in a ziploc bag because they were so pretty and colorful! #2: Garrison wore a shirt that said "Chick Magnet." When we got home I told him to tell Keyton that he was a Chick Magnet. He strutted so proudly up to Keyton and said, "Bubba, My a Chicken Maggot!" HaHa! It was so funny! It totally changed the meaning of the phrase! They are so funny. We called him Chicken Maggot for quite awhile! I also got them matching Easter polos today. They are red with white and blue stripes. Garrison had to try his on as soon as we got home and he cried because I took it off of him. Keyton fussed because I made him even try his on! Go figure! Fun day out! (As usual with these two guys!)

Not even the FLU can keep them apart...

Well, our first day of spring break didn't turn out like we expected. We discovered Keyton had the flu. What a way to spend our spring break! We had so many fun things we wanted to play together. We took Keyton to the doctor right away and started him on Tamiflu. It started working right away and he is gradually getting more and more of his energy back. He is getting bored staying at home. We are hoping the rest of the family doesn't get it too and are trying to be as careful as we can but the boys have been having a hard time staying away from one another. Garrison wants to make Keyton better and Keyton is just about to go crazy not getting to kiss on Garrison! They have such a special bond. Today, as we were in the living room, I heard them laughing and I turned to see what was going on. They couldn't stand it any longer and were hugged up on the couch. I hope the threat of catching it is over but not even the FLU can keep two loving and caring brothers apart. Precious!

5K Run (and walk) :-)

I entered my 2nd 5K run today. The first one I entered was back in October and I entered it only planning on walking but ended up running just a little. Today I ran more than I did in October, but I still had to walk through some of it. This one was full of hills and curves and is started raining on me on mile 2. I did, however, make it through 5 minutes faster than the one I was in before. I am not a true runner...yet...maybe one day. It is hard for me to run because I haven't really ran at all since I was a kid. It's even harder considering I have just lost 90 pounds and still have a long way to go! But, I entered it with my niece Whitney and we had fun getting to do something together! She placed 1st in her age division and I placed 3rd in mine. We got medals, t-shirts, and some other little trinkets. There is another one coming up in April...maybe I will try again!

Something "Fishy" is going on!

Dana came and got Keyton just a little early today at school to take him fishing. He hardly ever gets a chance to do this with his daddy so this was a real treat for him. It was such a pretty day and Dana hurried to get all of his cattle fed early so they could have this time together. As you can tell from the picture they had a great time and I'm sure made some wonderful memories! The fish are in my kitchen on ice right now because Keyton would not let Dana throw them back. Tonight when I was getting the ice out, Keyton was so excited. He said he was glad I was getting them ready so he could eat them for breakfast! Ugh! Funny little boy! Garrison was sorry he missed the trip but he did get a SpongeBob rod & reel for his birthday and he says he is going to go catch jellyfish! HaHa!

Garrison's 2nd Birthday Party!

Garrison's 2nd Birthday!

This is the poem I made up for his SpongeBob invitations:
( I always create my own)
He doesn't live in a pineapple under the sea,
But, boy oh boy, he's as cute as he can be.
Garrison Ellington Dowdy is going to be two,
And he's sending this invitation especially to you!

They are so excited for everyone to arrive!

SpongeBob birthday cake! Yum! Yum!

"Is everybody singing for me?"

"This is how old I am...2!"
(Holding up 2 thumbs is much easier to learn!) :-)

" There are so many presents, I don't know what to do!"

"Thank you everybody!"

"Can I FINALLY play with some of my presents?"

Garrison had a wonderful 2nd birthday with a bunch of family and friends here to help him celebrate! He got so many nice gifts and he is so proud of all of them. He told everyone thank you and told them he loved them. We played with all of his new gifts all the way to bedtime. We saved a couple to play with tomorrow so it will be even more fun! Keyton was so excited to watch him open what he had picked out for him! Garrison LOVED the cowboy boots Keyton got him! He has been wearing Keyton's everyday for months, so now he has a pair of his very own...just like Keyton's! This was a wonderful birthday for Garrison!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby!

Mommy loves you with all of her heart!

Looking....Waiting...

I saw Keyton and Garrison sitting like this in my bedroom. I thought it was so adorable I just had to make their picture! I can't decide if they were looking at how fast the snow was going away or just hoping guests to the birthday party would arrive several hours early! :-)

Snow :-) No party :-(

Look what Garrison got for his birthday....SNOW! Fun! Fun! Fun!

Well, It came a big snow overnight...Yay! We love snow! But...we decided to not have Garrison's birthday party today. Boo! We are going to have it tomorrow after church instead. We were afraid the roads would still be slick and we didn't want anyone getting hurt trying to get here. So, the boys just got to play in the snow instead. Keyton said Garrison was a lucky little boy to get snow for his birthday! Garrison was a little disappointed at first but then he was okay with it. He is a kind-hearted little guy. Now, we will just have to wait another day to see him open his presents! Oh, the anticipation...

Birthday pictures with the family!

Here are a few snapshots of Garrison with our family on his 2nd birthday!

Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you!

Garrison & Keyton early this morning before we left the house! Sleepyheads!

Birthday boy posing with Keyton & Mommy!

Birthday boy posing with Keyton & Daddy!

Wascally Wabbits...

Keyton got some cute bunny glasses for Garrison as a little gift for his birthday. Garrison was nice enough to let Keyton try them on! Here is what they both looked like in them! Garrison loves wearing all kinds of glasses. Keyton picked out a cool gift for him! Every "bunny" would look good in these cute glasses! :-)

My baby is 2!

Today is Garrison's 2nd birthday. I cannot believe he is already 2 years old! However, he does talk and act like he is about 4! He amazes us every day with his large vocabulary. He is so precious! When he opened his eyes this morning, I started singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He is so excited because tomorrow he gets to have a SpongeBob birthday party! He has been ready for it all week long. He keeps saying, "My ready to go to my birt-day party!" He can hardly wait! Keyton helped me pick out a couple small gifts and some SpongeBob balloons to have delivered from the flower shop this evening. He was very excited to get them. He thought that was a really big deal! Keyton can't wait to give him his presents tomorrow...neither can I! It is sure to be another fun filled day with my little dudes!

Part 2...

Garrison won! I couldn't resist posting this. This is the way I found them this morning. This is a very funny contest to be watching but I must say that is is kinda fun to see who ends up "winning!" I tried to suggest that I get in the middle but they do not want that... must be the competitive male DNA kicking in! Ha! The joys of little boys! (Editor's note: Garrison does have more sleep shirts than this one.... I just happened to wash this and grab it again for him 2 days later. I was not planning on making his picture again! :-) I must start being more careful with my little "Hollywood Stars!" :-)

Sleep Wars...

My boys both sleep with me. Maybe I should say they sleep ON TOP OF ME! They crawl over each other in the night to fight over who can get the closest...all without ever actually waking up to fuss about it. It is just kinda like a cycle that takes place. They end up in some very strange positions sprawled out over the whole area of my bed! A very funny sight! This morning as I got up to get ready for work, I looked at them and found them like this. I thought it was very cute. It looks like Keyton was the final winner of this sleep war, as he ended up lying beside me when morning finally came! Maybe Garrison will win tonight! HaHa! They are so much fun! It is wonderful to be loved so much by two boys this precious. I am one lucky girl! :-)