Our Visit with Gramie and Pops

This past weekend, the boys, my parents and I went to visit my grandparents, Gramie and Pops in Northern Iowa. Sean had tickets to the Big 12 tournament, so he stayed at home. We drove in the van for 5 hours and the boys did great! I was nervous about the drive, but they did well. Luckily we had our portable DVD!

This picture was taken as we were getting ready to leave. It was morning, and Gramie had been busy fixing breakfast, so she is still in her pjs. Notice how cute they are! I sent them to her and have a pair myself!

Both Pops and Gramie look great, and we had a wonderful time. I only wish we could see them more often. I've always wished they lived closer, and I especially do now that I have my own kids.
Myles never wants to pose for a picture!

Gramie will be 92 on March 20. Can you believe it? She looks and acts much, much younger. (Notice Max and Myles helping her to blow out her two candles....and Myles in his underwear!) It was lots of fun!

I am so blessed to be able to spend time with my grandparents and my children. Not many almost-39 year olds have grandparents still living. What a blessing!

I'm Back!

Where does the time go? Honestly, it's been since September since I've written on here, and I have no excuse. I have been busy...school and family. I've been trying to cut down on my time spent at school once the kids are gone, and I've done pretty good. Thanks to my dad, I have a motivation. I meet him at the gym around 4 which motivates me to get out of school! It's a win-win situation. (Now, if I can just keep it up!)

We're getting ready for Christmas around here. I LOVE this time of year, and I especially love to read books to the boys at night by our Christmas tree. It's been a special time when we (Daddy, Max, Myles, and me) talk about Christmas, Santa, Jesus, and happenings around our house. It's been great. I brought home some Christmas books from school, and we have all enjoyed reading them.

I'm looking forward to spending 2 weeks with my precious boys (Sean won't be here every day, but some!). Our life has been too hectic, and it's nice to slow down a bit. I'm secretly hoping it will snow and be too cold to get out of the house. Then we can stay inside TOGETHER! :)

BATMAN!

Lala took Max, Myles, Molly, and Libby to see Batman at the zoo a few weeks ago. As you can imagine, Max and Myles were very excited. They had me pin their Batman capes to their shirts. (The capes really go to pajamas, but they told me the shirts need them.) They even wore their Batman shoes. By the looks of Batman, I think I would have enjoyed going too. He looks pretty H-O-T, but I guess we would expect it. Afterall, he is Batman!

Batman gave autographs. Each time Myles has worn his Batman shirt since, he takes his autograph off of the bulletin board in his room and takes it with him.

First Day in the Blue Room

When I got the boys up for their first day of school, Myles told me he was excited. As soon as he was dressed, he ran downstairs to get his new Batman backpack. He had really wanted one, and I found one the night before. Max was excited about his Spiderman backpack, but not as much. :) Anyway, when I held up the camera to take their picture, they both turned around to show their backpacks.

It was also my first day back at school for in-services, so Daddy had to take them to school. They had a great first day as well as many more good days since. I know they like going to school---it's the waking up too early that they don't like. Like mother, like sons.

Melora and Doug, the Royals and Sluggerrrrrr

Last Friday Sean got a call from his sister, Melora, who told him she and her fiance Doug were on their was to KC. We were excited! On the drive here from Tulsa, Doug called a friend from work to get Royals tickets. Although it was last minute, our seats were awesome!! We loved them, and it was Max and Myles first visit to The K. Our highlight was seeing Slugger.

Max and Myles both saw Slugger throwing out hotdogs from the seats up above. Myles kept hoping he would come down by us and kept looking around for him. I never thought he'd come close enough, but he did! Melora, the boys, and I walked over a few sections to meet up with him. We all loved it!


It was a perfect night with cool weather. We even had waiters and waitresses take our order and bring us food and drinks. Too bad the boys in blue could not finish the night off with a win.

5th of July

All of the Bramble clan came to our house for the 5th of July. Sean had spent the day smoking ribs, so it was a great excuse to get everyone together. As you can see, the boys love Uncle Doug. And obviously, he loves them a lot to let them crawl all over him. (They were all watching a Thomas train go around the track.)
Our space is limited at the McDaniel house, so the kids loved having a picnic on the floor. The weather was perfect and there were no flies or ants!! :)
Sean wanted me to take a picture of his ribs. They were delicious, and we all appreciated the many hours he spent fixing them. Don't you wish you could taste one now?

Fun with Chris

About a month ago, Myles, Max and I went WAAAAAAAAAY out to Raymore to visit Tasha, one of my good friends and former teaching partners, and her son Chris. At the time Tasha was very pregnant so we went to play at their house. For lunch we went to one of the nicest McDonald's in Belton where the boys all loved playing with a basketball game. They had a ball playing together! Tasha and I enjoyed visiting and even had the privilege to sample the new Angus burger before it was in the other McDonald's. I never knew you could taste-test at Mickey D's!

I absolutely love looking at the 3 boys together. Tash was with me through the entire time Sean and I tried to conceive, and she was one of my biggest supporters. I was also teaching with her when she met and married her husband as well as the birth of Chris. Last year Tasha began a new job at another Catholic school. I miss her terribly, but we'll always be great friends.