Wow.

*On the way home from the grocery store yesterday...*

Anna Bell: Eww! Somethin' stinks!

Me: Really, Belly? What does it smell like?

*Long pause*

Anna Bell: I like the smell of poop.

...alrighty then.

My Husband Rocks

Friday was my 30th birthday. Big stuff, huh. It's strange to think of myself as a 30 year old. Not that I think 30 sounds that old or anything...it's just weird to think that I am no longer a 20 something year old. It seems like I just graduated college last week!

Anyways-- my sweet, thoughtful, creative husband did a fabulous job of celebrating my birthday. He took Joshua and Anna Bell to school on Thursday morning and texted me a few minutes after he left telling me to look in the garage. There, I found a packing list instructing me to get things together for us to be gone thurs-sat and to be ready to leave by 4:30. SO fun, right?!!? I was super excited! I quickly finished laundry, packed everything that's needed for our little family to travel, ran to Wal-mart to grab snacks for the car and breakfast/lunch stuff, and cleaned up the house! ...If only I had a surprise destination to motivate me to get everything done every week! When Fred got home we all hopped in the van and were on our way. I had no clue where we were going and didn't know for sure until we were about 10 miles away! We ended up at Hilton Head. We stayed in a condo right off the beach. It was so wonderful! The beach is probably my favorite place in the world, so to spend my birthday there with Fred and the kids was just about perfect! Thank you, dear husband! I love you!

To Do...

*Make the biggest possible train track.

...check.

8 Months.

Sweet Caleb Judson is eight months old! Fred and I were talking about the fact that 8 months have past since he joined our little family and I cannot believe how fast it has flown by! He is such a joy. He is very content to sit and watch his brother and sister play around him- no attempts at crawling yet (this mommy is thankful!) He has yet to get any teeth either (again- thankful!!!) He LOVES food; I have not had to buy a single jar of baby food this time around. He eats mostly avocado, banana, and sweet potato straight out of the peel. I've also steamed carrots, green beans, broccoli, & squash. He likes those too, but avocado and cheerios seem to be his favorites. He can say "Mama" and "Dada" and we are working on "uh-oh" and "bye." Caleb has the greatest cackle of a laugh and laughs hysterically when Anna Bell falls down (this happens a lot- she's quite clumsy) or when someone has the hiccups. He is still very content to ride in my sling when we're shopping or at church. I have joked that he's going to go from riding in my pouch right on to walking- actually, I think that's his only option...so I hope he doesn't get super heavy all of the sudden!:) We are so thankful for this little guy. I am humbled by the fact that God has placed him in our family. Thank You, Lord for Your lovingkindness!

Worth Boasting About

thus says the LORD,

"Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom,

and let not the mighty man boast of his might,

let not a rich man boast of his riches;

but let him who boasts boast of this,

that he understands and know ME,

that I am the LORD who exercises

lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth;

for I delight in these things,"

declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Can 3 and 2 Year Olds Have Pica?!!?

Me: Joshua...Anna Bell...tell your daddy what you did to mommy's pens today.

Joshua: We ate them.


It's true. I walked into the play room yesterday morning only to find my two oldest chomping down on ball point pens. ...Thankfully, they were not so much interested in the ink as the surrounding plastic...that they had crushed into tiny little plastic pieces...that lay all over the floor where Caleb was playing. What in the world?!!?

Good Friend...?

Anna Bell: Momma, Caleb spilled (meaning that he spit up)

Me: Where, Anna Bell?

Anna Bell: I cleaned it up.

Me: Well thanks, sweet girl.

Anna Bell: I'm a good friend.

...I don't know where she's come up with this whole "good friend" thing. She decided that Uncle Luke was a good friend at the beach... what can I say? my AB is a little random...a lot cute:)

Blogworthy.

Over a month has past since my last post. ... and it's not that there haven't been happenings worth posting about in the Broome family:
* I traveled to Missouri and flew with all three kids. WITH the help of my 15 year old sister...yeah...I don't know if I'll be making that trip all by myself with all 3 in tow anytime soon. All three were really good and cooperative, but things just happen, ya know?!? Joshua had to go potty as we were taking off. Caleb had a blowout. The Atlanta airport is INSANE. You get the idea.
* While in St. Louis, I was able to see and hang out with family and dear friends...however as with every trip back to the midwest, I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to. Joshua had a really tough week which in turn, was exhausting for me. Everything was a battle. He's not a typically aggressive kid, but really was while we were there. I still don't know exactly why it was such a difficult week, but I know that part of it was being away from his daddy. I was reminded of how great it is to have a husband who loves me and loves our kids enough to be really involved in loving, correcting, and training them.
* Caleb is now 6 months old! How did that happen?!?! I have SO enjoyed the baby stage with him...much more than with the other two. I find myself savoring the fact that he can't crawl or eat food or do anything on his own yet. I'm so thankful for that. He is such a little ball of sweetness. He started clearly and deliberately saying "mama" about a month ago and it melts my heart! At his 6 month well-check he was 25th % weight and 90th % length!!! How did I get such a long baby?!!? ...Fred may get his bb star after all!!!

* We're having the outside of our house painted. It's not exactly how Fred and I would have liked to spend our money, but it needed to be done. And it looks SO good! The guys are almost finished and I'm amazed at what a fresh coat of paint does for the curb appeal.

* IBC's student camp was the first weekend in June and it was INCREDIBLE. This was the first year of doing our own camp, so Fred, the other student pastor and their administrative assistants put tons of work into making it all happen. God did some amazing things in students' lives and at least one became a follower of Christ! Praise be to GOd!!! I didn't go so Ash came and helped with the kids. I am so thankful that she did- it made those days while Fred was away so much easier and it was great to be able to hang out with her for those days. I'm already looking forward to getting to go next year!
* We had Xtreme Week at church last week (IBC's vbs). I taught 3k Bible study time. It was so fun getting to share Truth with those little guys and gals! We were worn out by 1:00 everyday, but it was so worth it!
* And now, for the source of motivation for this post: Check out this DISGUSTING critter that FLEW across our bedroom about an hour ago! ughhhhhhh!!!! Apparently, this is just part of living in the deep south. I guess this is the season for these beastly creatures to be seen and with all the windows open with the painters, this horrid thing got into our bedroom. ...SO that's why I'm posting well after midnight-- because WHO can go to bed after that nastiness is flying around your bed?!!??

THIS is what our bedroom looked like after tearing it apart trying to track the thing down! I have said since moving to Macon that there are A LOT of things I love about life here; our church family, our friends, southern culture, ... But there are 3 things that I HATE: the fire ants, the mosquittos, and the roaches!

A Week in Pictures

The past two weekends have been just absolutely fabulous. You know the kind, when you just step back and thank our God for life. Here are a few of the adventures the Broomies have experienced in the past week (or so...:))

We had a GREAT Mother's Day weekend at the beach! We went down to Jacksonville and visited my MiMi and PaPa (of which I did not get any pictures with because the camera battery died...ugh...) Joshua LOVED the water! I can't wait for Prosser family beach trip '09...Maddie and Joshua are gonna be SO fun! The picture of Anna Bell is a bit deceiving; she was quite the chicken anywhere near the water...she may be spending most of her vacation poolside:)


Just a couple pics of Caleb last week-- oh, how I love this little guy! He is so fun and sweet. He seems to be easygoing so far...of course we all thought that about AB at five months as well!







We visited one of our favorite May/Macon places on Friday; the Elliot Farms strawberry patch. (I think that this was our fourth trip this spring already!) It is one of the greatest places on earth for toddlers! Pick strawberries, eat some along the way, meet fun farm creatures (peacocks, goats, cows, chickens, roosters, and dogs all included) and eat amazing homemade strawberry ice cream. All that for about $7.00. You can't beat it.













On Saturday morning as we were sitting around finishing up breakfast, Fred and I decided that we wanted to get out with the kids again. We made our way to a great animal rescue/rehabilitation place called Daucet Trails. It's a free "zoo" filled with all kinds of cool animals and beautiful trails winding through forests and around a lake. There's another free zoo that we've been to a couple of times called Noah's Ark. This is somewhat similar, but we decided we liked it even better.
*Check out my three guys all sportin their Tarheel ball caps!:)



Caleb tried rice cereal for the first time on Saturday. He didn't love it. He didn't hate it. I don't know if I'll start into full swing with the whole baby food stage quite yet. It's just not my favorite milestone. We'll see.





Yeah...this is what happens when I think that unsupervised finger painting is a good idea while I'm trying to get dinner fixed. Mommy thought it was hilarious. Daddy was not so amused when he walked in the door. I wish that I could post a full-body shot of the aftermath of this activity, but it's just not right to post nude pictures of your 3 1/2 year old.



We actually took these a couple of weeks ago, but I had to stick them on here. We took our kite to a church park near our house. I love the church in the background...:)

Some Spring Pics

The egg hunt with church.

Caleb representing the best basketball team in the nation.

Our palm Sunday devotion. This went pretty well. The kids acted it out complete with palm branches.

Nothing to do with Easter...just enjoying push pops on a cold day:)

Joshua REALLY loves Caleb...he can't wait to share a room with him.

At one of our best buds, Lucy's house. Fred and Lucy's dad spent ALL day setting up their new swing set and the tire swing was a HUGE hit!