Valentines - Brady Edition

*(Blake's edition was posted earlier today)*

This picture was taken this past weekend on a family outing to the Dallas Children's Theater to see a play of 'Goodnight Moon'.  During intermission Brady put on a show of his own.  Here he is with a pig puppet making *oink oink* noises.  One of the things I love most about Brady is his zest for life and I love how this picture captures it.  All the other kids bee lined to the snack bar, but not my Brady.  I enjoyed the show well enough, but nothing can top how I felt watching the boys reactions to the show, especially Brady's.  He had a smile on his face so wide.  The entire time.  And at any remotely humorous part he cracked up.  I mean, full on belly laugh.  And not one of those forced kids laughs, I mean the real deal.  It was so infectious that the adults sitting around us went, "awww" and started laughing themselves.  Brady spreads joy because of the zest he has for life.  How can you not love that??  

Brady makes me want to squeeze him and attack him with kisses alllll day long.  He's just so ADORABLE.  And I can't get enough of him.  He also has no problem at all dishing out the I love you's.  In fact, he loves telling his loved ones he loves them probably every 60 seconds.  Not even an exaggeration.  He has all the soccer parents cracking up because while we sit watching Blake's game its a constant, "I love you momma."  Can never get sick of hearing that.  

I love that Brady is so full of joy he usually doesn't just walk or run, but he gallops.  He can't help it.  I can't tell you how peeved the stinkin lifeguard got at Brady this past summer because Brady would gallop any time he was going somewhere at the pool.  Lifeguard would blow his whistle and yell, NO RUNNING.  And Brady would stop but then would immediately start galloping again.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  I mean he literally can not help it.  People say they love watching the world through the eyes of their child and I mean I LOVE watching the world through Brady's eyes.  He makes me want to be a more joyful person and live life to its fullest.  I love that about my Brady.  

Valentines - Blake Edition

*There are endless reasons why I love my kiddos, but I thought it would be fun, in the spirit of Valentines to write just a few about each boy.  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!*

Oh my goodness I love this kid.  Yes, he tries my patience on the daily, but he also is just so.incredibly.awesome.  I love watching him grow and learn and become more and more of the person he's destined to be in life.  What a gift being his mom is.  One of my favorite things about Blake is his heart.  He's got the biggest one I know.  I witnessed an example of this after school one day the other week.  His teacher was passing out two skittles to each kid as they walked out the door to find their parents.  One of Blake's classmates got some for her little brother too and then he proceeded to drop them on the floor.  Blake having witnessed this exchange, went to his teacher and politely explained the situation and asked if he could have more to give him.  Such a little thing, but such a sweet thing that he did on his own with no prompting from anyone.  He does things like this all the time.  He just is so caring of others and I just absolutely adore this about him.  
Another thing I adore about my Blakers is his passion.  He is passionate about life and in particular he is passionate about soccer.  Seriously its kinda of an obsession maybe?  He knows all the European team names and even the players names and loves watching them on TV.  Its kind of funny hearing him talk about Van Persie or Messie scoring goals or how Chelsea or Arsenal won their games.  Names I NEVER would know if it were not for Blake.  He loves to play FIFA13 on the XBOX and he LOVES playing soccer himself, either at the park or on his team the Strikers.  He said to Brad in the car the other day on our way to a family fun day, "What if I played soccer on TV?" and Brad said, "You mean like professional soccer?" And Blake said yes.  Brad said, "Well, that would be awesome, but those players spend years practicing and playing and putting a lot of time and energy into playing soccer so they can be the best and be good enough to be a professional. It takes lots of practice."  Blake thought about it for a minute and then he asks, "When we get home can I practice soccer so I can become a professional?"  And he's been asking every day since. Passion.  Gotta love it.
And last night as I was tucking Blake into bed he asked me for extra hugs and kisses (a rarity from him) and then asked me to sing him a song...the one I sang to him as a baby.  As I sang "You are My Sunshine", while he closed his eyes to fall asleep, my heart has never felt so full.