Trick or Treat

Smell my feet... give me something good to eat (I mean lets talk about this - who even created this saying?!... smell my feet - that is so disgusting (guess that must be my foot phobia coming out) and not to mention its flat out rude - thank the heavens Philip hasnt learned this little saying yet or else we would have heard it at every house). What a fun day for our boys... we went to a Dilworth block party on Tremont with our great friends the Luciers and Philip and his best friend Tyson were the hit of the party. One Lion + One Dinosaur = Best Friends! The two boys chased each other, wrestled and rolled all over the ground, jumped WWF style doing pile drives on each other in the blow up jump house (thank you Phil for teaching our son these moves), ate pizza and cupcakes together all before hitting up over 30 houses for candy. The boys wore matching lion outfits (Parker wore the lion costume that Philip wore his first halloween and when Philip heard that Parker was going to be a lion which is Philip's favorite animal these days, he insisted on matching his little brother)! Phil was needless to say overjoyed as he is already hazing both Philip and Parker to be SAE lions... at UGA of course! :o) Trick or Treating was a riot... Philip would run up to each house and scream "knock knock" as loud as he could (and as most of you know - he is as loud if not louder than his daddy... which is flat out obnoxious -dont you know these neighbors were pleased) as he practically banged these poor people's front doors down. Then as they came to the door - he would scream "I'm a Lion - ROAR." He literally did this at every house - what a scream!! And Philip was very polite at the beginning always only taking one piece of candy even when they thought he was too cute and offered him two. But by the end of the night, his little lion legs could barely put one foot in front of the other and he requested a ride on his daddy's shoulders and started grabbing handfuls of candy at each house. Gotta love his thought process here... he knew he only had a few houses left in him to hit up - so he was going to make those count. Too funny - we had a blast!! And Parker of course was our perfect child just looking precious in his costume in the stroller and never making a peep even when it was his dinner time - oh how blessed we are!! Needless to say we had two tired little cubs when it was all over. Happy Halloween!

So not feeling his outfit at this point

The boys wrestling in the jump house

Taking a cupcake break before we go trick or treating for candy

Can we say SUGAR HIGH?!

Tyson, Philip and Avery... precious

Trick or Treat

Mommy's late night photo op

Philip already crushing his candy at 8:30pm

The boys... officially over the photos

My tired little lions... (love how Philip is literally passed out in his candy)

FRIDAY NIGHT OUT

Tiger and Elin (so sad you couldnt see the blood we had coming out of Phil's eye to prove that I had literally just beat the sh@! out of him with my golf club and my sign that I wore all night that said "Nobody likes a HOMEWRECKER". What can I say - we were all class tonight!

And this is what happens when mommy and daddy get a night off - we had a fun halloween adult party and yes, we actually wore this to dinner and to the bar afterwards... scary I know. Praise the Lord we live in Charlotte and not Atlanta... this might not have gone over as well in the ATL! We had an entourage of Brett Favre and the reporter (The Culps) and Karen Owens and her Duke Lacrosse player subject #5 (The Harrells). Needless to say, we were a sight to see and its a good thing we don't seem to remember most of the night! :o) Happy Halloween!

Philip's School Halloween Party

Today was Philip's Halloween party and boy did he have a big surprise when mommy, daddy and Parker all showed up with frosted cookies for him and all his friends at school. They were all so good and cute and sat so politely while they ate their ORANGE frosted cookies... don't you know their mommies were surprised when they picked up their little ones from school all covered in ORANGE. Happy Halloween!!

So excited to be eating lunch with daddy and Parker (who is in the background)

Philip's best friend at school Charlie

Is there anything cuter than...

Seven little precious babies all dressed up in HALLOWEEN COSTUMES?!! I think not, what a fun Halloween playgroup at the Harrells!

L-R: Robert, Holden, Macon, Philip, Parker, Lawton and Anna

Gotta love playgroup (or should I call it mommy's wine time) - well at least the kids have fun! :o)

Love love love this pic of all the precious little bald babies in their white onesies (we almost couldn't tell who was who) post their halloween costume photo shoot

Pumpkins, Pumpkins everywhere

A few weekends ago (I know I am so sorry - this is a post so overdue... such is the life of a mommy with two kids under the age of TWO I guess) we took the kids to the coolest pumpkin patch... and we had so much fun with the Culps, Whites and Oxenhams. The boys loved "roughing it" while picking out the perfect pumpkin!

The boys sitting big all by themselves on the fun hay ride

Sweet Leighton and Katherine... I love this pic!

Precious Court and beautiful Leighton playing on the fun hay ride to the patch

Parker sporting his "Go longhorns sign" as always

Happy Monday

We love and will miss you always Texie!!

Today, I write this post with a heavy, heavy heart... today, feels like the worst day of my entire life... today, I lost my first baby, my best friend and my protector. Our sweet Texie went to be with Jesus in doggie heaven where his dog food bowl is overflowing with treats, his back hips don't hurt anymore, and he can run and play fetch and never get tired! It is a place where dreams come true and the sky is the limit. However, for those of us who sweet Tex left behind, we are in a complete depression. Yesterday seemed like the perfect day for our family as the dawgs finally pulled out a victory against Tennesse... (Yay for the dawgs) and then we came home to my parents house and played ball with Texie, Philip and Parker with the new GA football that daddy brought home to all his boys from the game! Texie was running like a puppy playing fetch and Philip and Parker cackled at every toss! I couldnt believe how good Tex was running and playing and it was truly God giving him his one last memory with us here on earth! And what a perfect memory it was!! The next morning when we woke up, Texie just laid there and didnt move. We called his name... but got no response or movement. Finally I went to him where he was lying on the ground and touched his heart... there was no beat, no sound, no movement... just complete peace. I immediately went hysterical as any of you dog lovers can imagine... good thing Philip decided to sleep in late this morning so he was not awake during this dramatic time of loss. Phil and my dad picked up Texie who as we all knew was already gone and put him in our car. We took him to the emergency vet as it was a Sunday morning where the drs determined that he must have had a massive heart attack in the night but had gone in his sleep with no pain and very quickly. Wow I thought... what an amazing way to go when we its time... I just kept thinking how that is how I would like to go someday too - playing with my family and running and laughing as if I was a child and then going peacefully in the night. However, Tex was only 8 1/2 so I am struggling with losing him so young and just still cant even wrap my mind or heart around him being gone! At the vet, we got a clay paw print impression of Texie and said our sad goodbyes... I will never forget that moment as much as I wish it never happened. Then after Phil and I left the vet, we decided to stop at Starbucks for a latte and so Phil of course went in as I was balling uncontrollably in the car and he had somehow found the strength to dry his tears. When he came out he was in complete amazement and very humbled. He was like you will never believe what just happened. When I got done ordering our coffee I went to pay and the lady said, "sir, it has already been taken care of." He thought, what? are you sure? taken care of? But how, because he didnt know a single person in this starbucks in alpharetta and was at a complete loss for words. She said, "yes, I am sure, it has been taken care of and your coffee is ready to the left." Wow... what an amazing feeling we both felt to know that in this depth of despair, God was with us and wanted us to know he was there. You think... oh God has so many more important things on his plate than us right now and our little cup of coffee... but it was so amazing to know that he was there even in such small tiny things like a latte. Then we went home to my parents to have the dreaded talk with Philip. Afterall, Texie has been Philip's best friend since birth... from playing ball (where Tex was all time outfielder) and riding on Texie like a horse to sharing snowcones and ice cream together... they were BFF! So when we got home and Philip asked where his Texie was... we just sat him down and told him that Tex had gone to heaven to see Jesus. He responded with, "mommy, I go see Jesus too!" Wow... you gotta love the innocent and sweet heart of a two year old. Then with each question of Tex's whereabouts... I try to hold it together and then cry where Philip cant see me. It has been so hard and I just keep praying that it will get easier. It is so hard to have lost my baby... but it is even more difficult when Philip keeps asking for him every 30 minutes. I prayed that God would give me the strength and calmness to get through these awful long days. And just when I felt like it wasnt getting better... I put Philip down for bed tonight. HE looked at me and said, "mommy, tomorrow is a new day." It was amazing... those were just the words I needed to hear and God spoke them right through my two year old! We are truly saddened as we lost a family member today but are humbled knowing that he is in a place where he can run as long as he wants and jump as high as he wants! He will truly never be replaced and will always hold a special place in our hearts! You know its not coincidental that DOG is GOD spelled backwards... I truly believe doggies are a little piece of heaven here on earth for us to enjoy. Today I was reading a doggie memorial on the internet and I fell in love with the sweet explanation of a 6 year old little boy. He was trying to answer the question of why a dog's life here on earth is so much shorter than a humans. And his answer truly brought joy to my heart. He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?" The 6yr old continued, "Well dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long." A child's heart really does bring such joy and understanding to our crazy world!! We look forward to one day seeing our Texie in heaven!! And as my sweet sister in law Avri put it so perfectly... I know we will see Tex again in heaven... God wouldn't keep that joy from us! We love you Tex and will miss you always!!!!! xoxo

Texie playing for the last time as Philip's all time outfielder (this video was filmed 5 days before Texie passed away)

BFF's... sharing their last red snowcone together

Our clay paw print of our sweet Tex... may he rest in peace

Beachin it with the Barksdales!

A few weeks ago we had an amazing family beach vacation thanks to some of our best friends the Barksdales! They invited us, although we joked that maybe they didnt know what they got themselves into when they invited us, for the week to Litchfield beach! Needless to say Phil for a week is a lot to handle for anyone- but I think they enjoyed it as much as we did - or at least we hope!! It was so relaxing with no schedule which was so fun, the guys got to play golf (although I think Mac and Phil are both holding me to the fire for those last four holes) and Libby and I got to read magazines in the sun one afternoon while the babies all napped at home with the boys! And not to mention the perfect weather - September at the beach is the way to go... if you havent ever tried it... you definitely need to because the weather was amazing! Philip and Parker had an absolute blast playing morning, noon and night with their beautiful girlfriend Betsy Grace... I see some fights over her in the future between my two boys for sure! And the kids really enjoyed the beach and loved their water holes we built for them time and time again with the changing of the tide. Thank you Libby, Mac and Betsy Grace for sharing your amazing vacation with us... we hope we can make it a Brosseau/Barksdale tradition! We love yall!

Parker cheering on the Dawgs!

Sweet Libby and Betsy Grace

The Kiddos in their favorite position... water holes lounging on the beach

Precious Betsy Grace

Daddy and his boys

The Barksdales

Mac, Libby and sweet Betsy Grace... I love this picture!

Attempting to get a good beach shot on our way out of town of the little ones... Take One

Take TWO and already not happy (although I love how Philip is kissing Parker on the head in this shot)

Take THREE... pretending to be asleep

Take FOUR... PRICELESS!