Just In Case You Ever Wondered...

What the inside of a dryer looks like after a red-violet crayon makes it through the wash and dry cycle! Also notice all the little streaks on the clothes, too! Noah came in from school today looking for his favorite camo shorts. I suggested that he look in the dryer since I had washed clothes while he was gone. A few minutes later, he came walking through the house with pink streaked camo shorts on and my heart kind of sank. The pictures tell the rest of the story. Yep- I'm now the proud owner of pink lined, less than one year old dryer. And, by the way, the load of pink streaked laundry came free with the deal! To all you fellow moms out there- No, it was not a "washable" crayon, so I'm not sure what the odds are of ever getting rid of the streaks. I'm open to suggestions if anybody wants to throw something out there. Once Noah noticed the problem his initial response was his typical "That's not good", followed by a confession that he pocketed a crayon in class at church Sunday night and "forgot about it!". Oh well- I guess everytime I do laundry for the next 15 or 20 years, I'll always have a little something to smile about!

The First Fish of 2008!

I promised Noah that he and I would go fishing at the pond behind our house today since it was such a nice day. We started our trip by going to Westend Outdoors and getting Noah his very own cricket cage and a 1/2 tube of anxious little crickets. All was well and we were enjoying our manly father/son outing until Noah lost his footing climbing into his seat in daddy's truck and you guessed it... Noah fell... in the truck... onto the cricket cage... and more than a few of our new little prisoner friends escaped into every possible nook and cranny of the cab. Needless to say after reassuring Noah that he would be alright and the scrape on his knee would actually heal; I spent the next several minutes rounding up as many as I could find of the happy-to-be-free bait. I got a good number back into the cage, but I'm sure a few of the little critters that were more experienced escape artists and I will cross paths again some day soon.

After arriving back home we walked down to the pond and fished the end nearest our house for a few minutes without even so much as a nibble. We decided to walk to the opposite end of the pond to the dock fondly referred to by Noah as "the bridge" and try our luck. Not long after arriving daddy helped Noah cast his trusty Finding Nemo rod and reel toward a familiar honey hole and then it was on! Us against the fish. Man against beast. And, as you can tell by the pictures, Noah won. After catching his four bluegills in about 10 minutes the wind picked up and Noah began to get a little chilly realizing daddy may have been on to something when he tried to get him to wear something more outside than camo shorts, crocs and his VBS t-shirt . So, we called it a day and walked back up to the house. Pretty productive for about 30 minutes worth of effort. Noah 4, the fish 0, and daddy walks away with the priceless memory of a winter fishing outing with his little buddy.

David's First Solo

The images in the movie you see attached chronicle what will always be one of the most significant days in my life. As such, Becky has encouraged me to share this on the blog.

If you know me well at all, you know that flying and anything to do with aviation is in my blood. I inherited it from my father who, being a pilot himself, passed on to me an absolute love of flying. I have enjoyed many priceless memories of past flights and days spent at the airport with my dad. Like many sons my life's dream was to follow in my dad's footsteps in that daddy flew F-89 Scorpions and F-94 Starfires while in the United States Air Force. And, although my testing and aptitude for becoming a pilot in the Air Force was good enough to qualify for flight school, unfortunately I was not blessed with sufficient eyesight and my vision kept me from realizing my dream of being a career military aviator. However, with God in control and knowing better for my life than me, He made a way for me to fly and get paid for it anyway and I have enjoyed a professional flying career now for 11 years as a flight nurse.

Words cannot adequately convey the meaning to me of the day I first flew an airplane by myself. Next to the day my daddy baptised me, mine and Becky's wedding day and the days our two boys were born, October 3, 2007 will always be one of the absolutely best days of my life. I had always heard that the greatest moment of your life as a pilot was the first time you land an airplane the day you solo. No. Not for me. There is an image in the movie that, after my instructor Mr. Ken King walks away from the airplane and I taxi to the runway, that you will see the very moment my wheels first left the ground. THAT moment in time will ALWAYS be the best feeling I will ever have flying. I am so thankful that God saw fit to let me live to experience that day, that flight and that feeling of finally, finally after 37 years of dreaming to finally be a pilot.

There are a few items of sentimental significance included in the movie. The fact that Becky was there to support me and experience that day with me was incredible. Thank you baby for being there and taking the pictures and video. I love you! I could not have done it without the instruction of Mr. Ken King and all of the lessons learned from my dad. The instrumental music is that of the United States Air Force Band playing "The Kittyhawk Flyer (The First Flight Suite)" as I felt it appropriate for the event of my first solo flight. I attempted to transition important events of the day along with transitional portions of the music. The movie ending with the open runway is the freedom of flying I now enjoy. Two thousand feet of roadway takes you exactly two thousand feet. Two thousand feet of runway takes you anywhere... "High Flight" is a poem by 19 year old Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., No 412 squadron, RCAF, Killed 11 December 1941. Pilot Officer Magee penned the poem, just a few months prior to his death, after being inspired by the experience of flying a spitfire over England during the Battle of Britian.

Some items of personal significance I took along for the flight were a Bible, photos of Becky, Noah and an ultrasound picture of Jackson who was born just two days later, photos of my mom and dad, some patches from my dad's 59th FIS squadron and some of my dads flight training tools. It was an incredible day!

"Hey Mom- Look at Jackson!"

You never know what you might find when you hear those words come out of a four year old's mouth! Luckily it was just Jackson looking cool in Noah's Superman sunglasses! Noah is such a good big brother. He wants to make sure Jackson gets included in everything- even if Jackson doesn't have a clue what's going on!

Rollin' Away!

I caught this shot of Jackson today practicing his new trick! He has mastered rolling from his back to his tummy. Gone are the days of laying him down in one spot and expecting him to stay there. The only problem is once he makes it to his tummy, he gets stuck and becomes quite angry! Guess he'll figure out how to flip back over soon enough. I'm not sure I'm ready for his adventures into the world of mobility, but we can't stop it either! He's growing like a little weed!

Diego and Baby Jaguar

Noah is really into imaginative play right now and changes who he is on a regular basis. Today was Diego day- from the kids show "Go Diego Go!" for those that are wondering who Diego is. Diego wears a vest with a little patch on it like the one you see on Noah's vest. That was my first challenge of the day- to make the patch that looks like Diego's. Once Noah's was done, he decided Jackson (who is playing the Noah assigned role of Baby Jaguar) needed one too, so you can see Jackson has a smaller version on his chest. I thought they looked pretty cute with their matching patches!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Noah and Jackson want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Noah made the sign himself! I (Becky) had a surprise present from the boys this morning- they let me sleep in a little bit! Noah didn't wake up until about 8:30, and after Jackson woke up to eat at about 5:00, he went back to sleep til after 9:00. Can't complain about that! They finally decided to cut me a break and let me get some rest. Thanks Noah and Jackson! Daddy's at work (Hi Daddy- We Love You!), so we're going to try to get out in a little while. Noah's going to make a valentine to take to GG and Grandy, and I'm sure we'll have to make a stop by McDonalds while we're out! Have a great Valentine's Day!

Valentines Day is So Good!

"Valentines Day is so good" Noah said today after his Valentines party at preschool. Daddy went to school to eat pizza with him and have a party with his classmates. After pizza we ate some delicious cupcakes and even got to put our own icing and all the sprinkles we wanted on top! It was great! Noah gave out his Valentines to all his friends and got a bunch of Valentines back as well. We had a great time and Mrs. Drea even gave Noah a red balloon to take home. After we got home mommy suprised Noah with a Handy Manny t-shirt and his own set of Handy Manny tools from the Disney store! It was a good day... :)

I Like Squash!

Becky has been trying Jackson out on some baby food lately and tonight was squash night! Jackson really seemed to enjoy it and ate like the little garbage disposal he has proven to be. At the doctor today he weighed 15lbs 3oz. Pretty chunky for only 4 months old. Noah better watch out because his little brother is catching up fast!

Big Ole' Chunk of Love

We promise we're not getting addicted to the blog tonight, but we thought Jackson deserved equal time with Noah on the web. Check out how big he's getting! He's four months old and weighs about 15 pounds! He has several nicknames- Chunky Monkey, Chubby Wubby, JD (thanks Uncle Kevin!), Dackson (with a heavy southern accent- thanks big brother Noah), and our future lineman for the UT Vols. Doesn't get much cuter than this!

Willy the Whale

Willy the Whale came home with Noah from Mrs. Drea's preschool class on Friday. It was Noah's job to take care of Willy and take him everywhere we went over the weekend. Noah let Willy play with Jackson in the playroom and fed him Kix cereal and jello. He watched "Chicken Little" with Noah while going to sleep on Friday night. Noah even took Willy to sit in Daddy's helicopter when it came to Athens on Saturday afternoon. Willy went to church with us on Sunday and was pretty well behaved for a killer whale at a church service in Alabama. We all think Willy had a good time visiting our house and we hope he can come back real soon.

Beginning Bloggers

Well, we finally succumed to peer pressure and decided to create a blog for our family. Welcome to the "Blog O' Bowmans!"

We are a family of three boys and one brave mommy/wife/cook/homemaker/head diaper changer, etc, etc, etc. David is the biggest boy of course followed by the Bowman brothers David Noah and Jackson Dean. Becky is the lone girl until she gets her "it's going to be a female" puppy. Becky will probably be doing the majority of the posts, but I may chime in from time to time. We hope you enjoy the life and times of Becky and the Bowman boys.