Playing in Puddles

Until it got really hot outside, we would play outside everyday at 4 o'clock in our cul-de-sac with our neighbors until Daddy got home. And usually there was some kind of water that the boys wanted to play in and I usually said they could not get in the water. Well, the other day it poured outside and I told Sam that we could play in the puddles when it stopped raining. His whole face lit up. I was the greatest mom in the world that day. 

Here are some of the pictures. Sam had on his rain boots and he had to wear his cowboy hat to make sure that he didn't get his head wet. 

It didn't take long for Sam to ask his girlfriend, Marin to join us in the puddles. 

I think Micah enjoyed the puddles most of all, he loves the water. 

Fishing with Daddy

I just had to show these pictures because it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Wes bought Sam a little fishing pole and they went to the pond in our neighborhood to go fishing. I don't even think they have fish in the pond, but Sam had the best time fishing with his Daddy. 

Sweet Micah had to watch from his stroller because I was scared he would be in the pond if I let him walk around. 

New Orleans Trip

At the end of May we took the boys to New Orleans for the first time. We had so much fun! BeBop, Pop Pop, Aunt Audrey and Uncle Taylor went with us. We went for a wedding of one of our friends from high school. It was great to see everyone. My family always gets together at the end of May to remember Austin. I miss him a lot. It is hard to believe that it has been three years since we lost him. Sam reminds us of him so much, it is really cool. I hope that Sam follows in the steps of his Uncle Austin. 

We had a great time with my family. Here are some pictures of the trip. 

Here is Sam and Wes taking a little nap in Jackson square. 

Here is BeBop, Pop Pop, Uncle Taylor, and Aunt Audrey enjoy lunch at Acme. 
And the Fikes Fam at the other end of the table
This is Sam and his daddy making their excited face. When you are only 2 and 1/2 making different faces is an exciting part of your day, at least it is for Sam. 
We took the boys to the aquarium. If you have not been to this aquarium it is really awesome! Here is Sam with his BeBop. Sam loves his BeBop!!!
I am going to try and post pictures from our trip to Padre with Wes' family later. We will see if my boys will let me do that today. You know how it goes. 

Update

So I just thought I would start with an update since it has been a long time since most of you have heard from me. Sam is two and a half and his new found love is the movie Cars. We watch it probably everyday if not more. These are some pictures of when he got home from getting the movie at Target. 

Micah just turned one on May 2nd. Here are a few pictures from his party. He had a great time! 

I will post some other pictures later. The boys just got up from their naps. 

Back to Blogging

I am going to try this whole blogging thing again. I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to get into it. Shauna made me a new beautiful page so I hope I will be able to keep up with it. Thank you  Shauna!!! Stay tuned for new updates of the Fikes Boys. 

Exciting News

I got a new laptop!!! This is so exciting because it means that I will be able to do everything that I have been wanting to do!! I am SUPER excited!!! I am going to post new pictures of the boys tomorrow and I will start posting more often. We had a wonderful Christmas holiday, the boys were spoiled by all of our family. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! I will write lots more soon.

Wonderful Vacation!!

It is pouring down rain, both boys are sleeping, and I should be packing for yet another trip...But I could not wait to tell you about our vacation. We had the best time. Wes' aunt and uncle bought this cabin (it is really a nice size house) that we used for 10 days in Ruidoso, New Mexico. It had the most wonderful back porch where we spent every morning and every night sitting and enjoying the weather. The high while we were there got up to 80...and the nights were about 60, just perfect for a sweatshirt and jeans (my favorite outfit). Anyway, we spent a lot of time together. Not really doing much. We went shopping a couple of days and hiking one day. We went to the White Sands National Park and the zoo. We took naps and read books. We never turned on the TV and made time for each other. It was wonderful! Micah started cereal while we were there, which was interesting because we had no bibs and things got a little messy. Sam loved being outside all the time. We found this cool playground that we went to everyday, Wes and I wanted it to be our size so we could play. It was a great trip! Here are some pictures.

"Life is good!"

White Sands National Park

Really Busy

Okay...it has been forever since I have added a post. I don't know what happens to my time. So this one might be long so that I can add everything that has happened.

1st I went to Tulsa with my mom for a week. We had a great time. It is so nice having my mom around being she is such a help. I never have to ask her to do anything, she just does it. We introduced Micah to my mom's side of the family and got to see my cousin's new baby, Sean. Micah is the third great grandson of four for my MamMaw. See pictures below.

On the way home from Tulsa, we stopped in Keller to introduce Micah to my dad's parents. Micah had a very big week. But everyone loved him...of course!

These are a few pictures of the boys with my dad's parents.

We had a week to be home before we left again for another trip. But while we were at home Wes and I took the boys to the children's museum. It was awesome! They have a toddler room that has door the size of Sam and a light switch and door bell his size. A small car to climb in and change the tires. It was really neat. That was only the part for toddlers. Then they have the rest of the museum which he enjoyed too. Sweet Micah just hung out in the stroller most of the time. It was a great family day.

Nope, not finished yet! Next we were suppose to go with Wes to camp. That sounded like a great idea up until I really thought about it the night before and realized that might not be such a great idea. His parents live an hour and half from this camp and so we spent the week in Kerrville with Wes' family. We drove over to camp two different days to see dad. We had a good time. Of course I have a few pictures of that too.

We are home for the rest of this week and we leave AGAIN on Tuesday to go to New Mexico. But this trip I am VERY excited about. Wes' Aunt and Uncle have a cabin and we are going with the boys to spend 10 days...just us! We are so excited. So my next entry will be about our wonderful trip. Sorry about this long entry. I will try not to wait so long between entries. I am getting a laptop for Christmas and it will not be so hard to find time to write.

Surprised by My Own Words, Part 2

As a set-up for this one, remember, our oldest boy is only 19 months.

Tricia, Sam and I were sitting down eating supper tonight, and this little bit of quote candy came flying out of my mouth: "Sam, put your gun down at the table!"

Go figure.

Super Mom

I feel like I could take on the whole world today. I went to the Wal-Mart with both boys and actually bought a cart full of groceries. And I did it all by myself!!! This is a huge deal! I put Micah in the front backpack thing we have and then Sam in the cart. It was great! Micah slept most of the time and I got Sam some McDonald's to eat while I shopped. That is the trick. They did awesome. If I don't wear Micah then his carseat takes up the whole basket and you have no where to put groceries. It was almost ugly when we were only there about 5 minutes and I realized that I forgot Micah's pacifier in the car. But not to worry...you just buy more. So we headed to the baby section and opened a package. But don't worry, I put it in my mouth before I put it in Micah's. Shauna, I have no idea how you shop with three. Well, I guess they can walk at a certain age...silly me!

After we mastered the grocery shopping thing, next was cooking a real meal. Poor Wes, for the last 2 months (probably longer) we have been eating something that was frozen before we ate it or it came from a box. So tonight I thought I would actually cook and while I was at it, why not cook for two other friends who just had babies. So, I fixed 3 huge pans of King Ranch Chicken. I added some yummy greenbean bundles and a fruit pizza for dessert. I think Wes was happy!

So today I was a mommy and a wife. Usually I am just a mommy...but I am starting to feel sorry for Wes. He is an amazing husband. He helps me so much with the kids and never complains about the house or how I look. So today I decided to take a shower before he came home and have this great meal. I need a few tips from those of you who have mastered doing this on a regular basis because I am exhausted now! My Abilene Mom, that means you!

Here are a few more pictures of my boys.

I am trying

Well, I was going to post something about an hour ago and I started reading other blogs and playing around...now it is 10:00! Way past my bed time. Not really! I have to stay awake or wake up at 10:30 to feed Micah. But, Sweet Micah is sleeping through the night!! This is very exciting! He is only 9 weeks old. I am pretty happy about it. I think Sam slept through the night at 10 weeks, maybe. I don't remember. Anyway, he sleeps from 10:30 to 5. That is sleeping through the night when it comes to newborns. I should be a much happier person since I get to sleep longer...but for some reason it is the opposite for me. I think I need to sleep from 8 to 8 to be happy. It will be years before I can do that again.

Wes was gone tonight so I had both boys by myself. I am getting pretty good at reading stories, brushing Sam's teeth, praying, and putting him to bed... all while nursing Micah. The things you do when you are a mom. They can be kinda scary.

I am going to include a picture. Just because I want you to see my boys. Aren't they sweet?

Finally

I am finally adding an entry to our blog. I have been telling several of you that I would do this about a year ago. Now that I have two children, it seems that I have lots more time to be on the computer. Two children, WOW! My boys are almost 17 months apart and they love each other. Sam is so sweet! I was a little nervous about how he would act and what he would do. But he just wants to kiss on Micah all the time. And two kids are not as bad as I thought...for now. It gets a little crazy when they both want something, like when they both want to eat at the same time. But I love my boys!

Sam is now a big boy because he is sleeping in a big boy bed! For those of you that are moms will understand that this is very sad and very exciting all at the same time. It is sad because my baby is getting big! He has started to eat his cereal by himself with a spoon and tell me what he wants. But it is very exciting because I don't have to do as much for him as I did when he was smaller. It is fun to watch him become a little person with his own personality.

Here is an example of his little personality. He has a cowboy room now and so he wanted to wear some of the things in his room. Isn't he cute? Notice the straight face, no smile.

I am going to try better about posting. But like I said, I have so much time now that I have two children.

Things I Wasn't Prepared to Say to My Kids

I'm going to try to add to this one as often as I have these moments. There were things I was prepared for as a dad - roughhousing, dirtiness, loudness, lots of energy, general boy stuff. There have been, and will continue to be, many moments like these. The following are a couple of those comments that caught me by surprise. If you've got any of your own, post them for me to read.

1) "Sam! Don't hit your brother with a hammer!" Sam has a toy hammer that makes sounds when you hit it on something. He tried it out on the wall, a coffee table, my head, then his little brother. Micah is tough.

2) "Sam, you can't stand on Micah." I think this one is pretty self-explanatory, eh?

3) "Dirt doesn't taste too good, does it?" Sometimes, a dad has to let his son learn these things for himself.

As boys, it's our job to try out how things taste. Dirt - scratch one more off the list (which includes mulch, leaves, crayons, ...).

As dads, it's our job to watch, encourage, enjoy, remember, keep 'em safe and clean 'em up afterward. Dads are big boys in nice clothes ready to mud it up if their sons get that look on their faces.

So wonderful!

I have had frustrating trouble getting back into this account. So, finally an update. It's around 3 am, so I'm not that coherent and quite eager to get to bed. I do want to show you a picture of Tricia and our boys, though. Thanks for checking us out!

Oh ho, this is our new baby boy, Micah James, born May 2. He was 7lb 11 oz, and 20.25"! We are very happy to have him! Praise be to our God for giving us these 2 blessings!

Like a Machine!

Alright, this is our kid, Sam. He'll turn 7 mths. next week. He started crawling about two weeks ago. You'll hear us say quite often how proud we are of him and proud to have him. Here's a little run-down of what he's doing: crawling, pulling up on anything and everything that's heavier than he is, eating solids, and making noises. I think noises are a seperate category all to themselves.

He started making coughing noises a week ago and now fake coughs all the time. Blowing bubbles seems to be a lot of fun, also. AND, Sam has a squeal that he is practicing in all ranges and pitches.

I titled this one 'Like a Machine,' because Sam is going all the time, until it's time to take a nap. His crawling takes him over obstacles like toys, pillows and mom; and his pulling up on things has lead to several good head bonks. We love Sam and are so excited watching him grow and become who God has made him to be! He is all boy and all fun!

It Seems Katrina Happened Only Last Week

I just spent 5 days with 14 middle school kids. That is 120 hours of non-stop, around-the-clock, in-your-face attention from 14 kids who have more energy than 50 adults combined. For the first 3 days, we gutted houses in New Orleans. That means, we walked into a house that had been flooded with at least 8 feet of water, and some houses had 12 or 15 feet. The water had subsided months ago, but the damage was still as real as if it had happened yesterday. My kids carried out ruined furniture, shoveled mud and dirt, broke down walls and ceilings and carefully moved salvageable memories for 3 days. At the end of those 3 days, we rested. Destruction is hard work. On the fourth day, Sunday, we worshipped with a local church, then went sight-seeing in New Orleans - Cafe du Monde, the Aquarium, etc. On the fifth day, we came home tired, worn out, but somehow wanting to go back. God is good.

I'd like to comment a little on what I saw. The amount of destruction from Katrina is overwhelming. Block after neighborhood block have houses that are still waiting for something to be done to them. As we were gutting a house on our first day, I began to realize the enormity of what happened. And I don't mean on a national, state, or even community scale. I mean the enormity of personal loss and upheaval. Let me explain.

Let's say you are 45 years old and you and your wife are holding down good jobs. Your kids are in school, your mortgage is never late and your cars are over half paid for. Food is always in the fridge, and leftovers even have to get thrown out every once in a while. The dog gets his walk every day. Then, if fifteen minutes you lose everything. With enough time to get in your car and take what is actually important to you - your family - you leave it all behind. Your house, which isn't a house but a home. Inside are not pictures, but laughter hanging on the wall, proud tears standing on the mantle, and beauty on the table by the bed. Left behind are all the cool-evening suppers in the backyard, the bicyle rides around the neighborhood, the walks with your wife. You're not leaving behind wood and sheetrock. You are leaving behind your life.

You find a motel to stay in for a while. And then reality sets in. The house isn't paid off and you still have to make payments if you want to keep it. But you can't live there. You still have your jobs, so you can't work on your house. So, you find a new place to live. But, now in addition to all of life's normal costs, you have a second mortgage and the anxiety of trying to figure out what to do with your first home.

That is what stopped me cold. I grew up middle class, which means you don't have the luxury of paying cash for a house, a car, sometimes even a computer. Both my parents are teachers. Good people, the best, in my opinion. They love God and they love their family. Recovering from something like Katrina seems almost insurmountable. I know FEMA is doing some things, like paying for living space, but that can't go on forever, in fact, it can't go on much longer. I'm not going to try to get into the good or bad of the government. I am going to get into the church, though.

I believe this disaster has been monumental for the body of Christ. Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Evangelical, Protestant, whatever. Differences aside, the body of Christ has taken a huge step in reclaiming its heritage - helping those who cannot help themselves, loving the hopeless and feeding the hungry. I believe the true nature of the church is shining in New Orleans. The church is who is gutting houses. The church is who is sitting with owners and listening to their stories. The church is loving people. The government isn't in there gutting houses. And it's not their job. It is ours, it is the church's. And we are doing it. Not out of obligation, but love. God bless the church. I can go on, but think I'll save it for another blog. Peace.