You know....?

You know how your three year old is now able to get in and out of the frig and decides to take several bites of an apple and then put it back in the fruit drawer?

Or when your children fight all day long and you feel more like a referee more than a mom. You know where your oldest starts to figure out he is bigger, smarter and faster than his younger sibling so he torments him all day?
(Joseph won't let Christian play with his disciples, well, technically, Jesus' disciples, but you get the idea.)

You know how you spent months collecting cars for your eldest because he loves Cars, only to realize how much you dislike having them around the house and want to throw them out? You know when the youngest goes to get one and your oldest child rushes over there, even though he isn't playing with them, and shuts the case so his little brother can't get to them, only to look at you, as if to say, "What?"

You know how it is to have a super smiley baby that is a ham when the camera is rolling or snapping? You know what it's like to have a second baby and realize that the first year of his life flew by much faster than his brother's?

You know that feeling when your child learns a new trick and you just can't wait to show it off? (He can smack his lips when he kisses).

You know when you go to get a drink of your water only to realize your 3 year old has somehow managed to get pinto beans inside your glass?

Or when you go to move your husband's suitcase out of the hall after having sat there for three days to realize your 3 year has placed a bag of carrots in there?

You know the feeling when you go to brush your teeth at night and your toothbrush is gone and you look in the one place that it usually is (the tub), when it's not in the holder, only to learn it's not there. Then several days or this time, it might have been weeks, you find them in the bottom of your diaper bag while at church?

You know what it's like to have a 3 year old?

You know what it's like to have a 1 year old?

You know, right?

Our weekend and Monday

Our weekend went by very fast so I was excited about that. I had been dreading it a great deal because I thought and knew that I would really miss Jeff over the weekend.
Friday was a beautiful day, so I took the boys to the zoo and to ride the train. On Friday night, the Harrell's hosted date night daycare(we don't have a name for this yet), so I took the boys over there and I went out with one of my favorite girls, the lovely Juanita. We went and had dinner at Mimi's cafe.
Saturday, Marnie took the boys for a good part of the day while I went grocery shopping. After going shopping, we came home and hung out here for the rest of the evening.
Sunday morning we went to church, then out to eat with my in-laws.
We came home, took naps, watched the Colts win (Whoop!), and then headed over to the McDaniel's for some devotion, food, and fellowship.
While we were at the McDaniel's, Joseph didn't take a bite of his dinner and complained here and there that his stomach was hurting. I didn't really pay much attention to him not eating his dinner because when he is around other kids he is usually really distracted. The stomach hurting, I wasn't too concerned because I just thought he had to go #2, so I tried taking him while we were there, but he wouldn't go.
As we were starting to head out, he got sick all over their couch. So a quick bath and a change of clothes, we sped home and got settled for what I thought was going to be a long night. I am so thankful that he slept good and woke up pretty healthy. After we arrived home, he threw up two more times and maybe a little, early this morning, but that was it. He went shopping with me today and to Chick fil a, and he has been happy and running around since.
I finally broke down and called his pediatrician today. I called because several times last week he complained of a stomach ache. I just chalked it up to be that he had to go poop. (I am pretty sure my child has anxiety about being wiped, so therefore, he holds it for several days. FYI, if you are ever taking care of my oldest and he says he has to poop, he has to go and he has to go now.)
Then towards the end of the week, he was complaining more about it and then he said his back hurt. This raised a yellow flag for me regarding his hydronephrosis problem. When he was 9 months, the urologist said, the fluid around his kidneys was gone, but if he ever starts complaining about abdominal pain, come back in. I wasn't able to speak to the Dr. directly, but he did call back and I missed his call. He said he wanted to talk to me, so I don't know what he wants me to do with him.
I have only three more nights and our knight and shining armor will be home. I can tell you that it is going to be a mad dash for him when he arrives home.

Can you guess what C is eating?

It is something very yummy and he got to have his own tonight!

I really wanted Joseph to wear his boots to church on Sunday, so a little pep talk.."...and Jack wears boots, so does Mark, Junie, Tilly and Papaw..." and four M&M's later, I was able to get him to put them on. Go me!

(To answer your question, No, he didn't like wearing the boots or the belt.)
Alright, please continue to pray for us because I can feel God's peace and grace over this household.

Later

*Christian is eating an icecream sandwich.

Day 3 and 4

*No Pictures*

The last two days have flown by which I am super excited about. Yesterday, I started my bible study at Friendswood Community Church and it was great. After my study, Marnie, me and the boys, along with the Harrell crew went and had lunch at Chick-fil-a. It was a good time visiting and letting the kiddos run wild.
After lunch, we headed home, took some naps and then when the boys woke up we played for a while. We ate some dinner and off to church we went.

Today, we didn't do anything other than go to the Y. After that, we grabbed lunch and then the boys went down for some naps. I organized our linen closet and it looks awesome. I organized the medicine and put it all at the very top!!! (Those of you who didn't hear, Joseph got into my pre-natal vitamins a couple weeks ago. Apparently, this is very serious! We called poison control and they right away said we had to take him to the ER. But once the lady talked to us a little longer, it was determined that he would be okay. FYI, iron overdose is very fatal to children under 6. We got lucky because the vitamins were over the counter one's and not one's prescribed by my doctor for when I am pregnant.)
Once the boys woke up, I had asked Marnie to come over because I thought I might have an ear infection. Being the most awesome MIL that she is, she cancelled her night with her quilting group to come watch the boys while I went to the clinic in Walgreen's. I didn't have an ear infection, but the lady said there was a lot of drainage, but it was all clear. She thinks I ruptured my ear drum. By dinner time tonight, my left side of my face was so sore and it felt like I had been socked in the face. She prescribed an antibiotic and highly recommended me to go see my ear doctor. That's on my agenda for next week.
Tomorrow we are headed to the zoo. I hope to get some pics, but this is usually pretty hard when you are at a place like that. It's hard to mess with settings of the camera, keep the subject happy and watch the other child run wild.

Later.

Day 2

Day 2 started out a lot better. We woke up, had breakfast and played a little. Christian went down and then Joseph and I continued our study on Creation. This has been a lot of fun. I know this is only day 2, but I am really enjoying the one on one time with him and the teaching part of it.

After nap time we headed over to the property for a photo shoot with my wonderful sister in law, Lindsay. We had Christian's one year pictures done and they are so cute! Well, the one's I have seen. I really wanted to post the one's I have so far, but I decided to reveal them later. We got Christian and Phillip (my nephew who is 2 days older than C) matching Birthday Boy shirts and got a couple of pictures of them together.

After the photo shoot, we came home, the boys took naps while I organized, cleaned and hung up some pictures. I finally heard from Jeff and he was at his hotel room safe and sound. I breathed a sigh of relief. He ate some pasta and shrimp for dinner, and he was very pleased with it. The one thing I do like about his trips are the food stories. His Mexico City food experience was very interesting! While I was organizing I found Christian's birth information and realized I don't have either one of the boys birth certificates yet. Am I the only mother that has gone 3 years without getting that done?

Once the boys woke up, we took a nice little walk around the neighborhood. The boys really do love being outside and our new ride. Once we got back home, we took the tractor to the cauldesac and took some more pictures.

We then came in, heated up dinner, took baths, played and then it was bed time.

Pretty easy, laid back day. Tomorrow I will be going to my bible study class and I am looking forward to it. It is going to be a study by Kelly Minter and her book called 'No other Gods.' This should be very interesting.

This is what I see all day. Joseph looking at me like, 'What?" And Christian freaking out. (Now when I call Joseph's name, he immediately responds, "Why?" I don't know if he is asking me Why he is doing what he is doing or he just doesn't want to hear me tell him what he shouldn't be doing, and just wants to know why he can't do it.)

There is this too, throughout the day.

No, it's not his birthday. He just had the shirt on from the pictures earlier.

Boy, tractor and thumb...can't beat that.

Please continue to pray for my energy and peace. I couldn't go to sleep last night. I think I ended up going to sleep after 1 am and then woke up at 6:30. Then tonight, my ear started hurting, so hopefully, it's not becoming an ear infection.

See you tomorrow.

Day 1

Today started my first day with me and my two boys. Jeff will be out of town for ten days, and since I won't have an adult to talk to at the end of my day, I will let you all know what I did each day.

So, hold on to your seats, this goin' be excitin'.

This morning started out really rough. I will spare all the embarrassing details, but having Jeff leave is always hard for me. First, having him be away from home, having to fly, having to fly over the ocean and being in another country(Don't other countries dislike Americans?). I honestly don't feel like I breathe until he steps foot into our door.
After me trying to spend most of the morning pumping myself up for the next ten days, we had our breakfast, played and then put Christian down for his morning nap.

Today I wanted to start something new with Joseph so we did and it went pretty well. Lately,I have been feeling really convicted about getting him into the Word and him watching way too many cartoons in the morning. So, yesterday, I grabbed his little Story Bible and made a lesson plan for this week. Today we started with creation. I read the story from his book, sang a song, and then said a memory verse and then we were done. I posted the memory verse on the frig and in his bathroom and the goal is for him to memorize it by Friday. I then created a memory chart that we will fill with stickers and when he gets 10, he gets a prize.
The only thing I am conflicted on is how much of the verse should he repeat? Any suggestions? I don't want this to be stressful thing, but a fun, learning experience. When I asked him throughout the day to say his memory verse, I would start it and he would finish it. I know it's just the first day, but it made think how much of it do I want him to say, to be able to get a sticker. All, half, or just a word?
After our lesson, we loaded up and headed to the Y. That was a stress reliever for me and it was really nice to get out of the house since I was cooped up all last week with two sick boys.
We came home, had lunch and then the boys took naps. I did some chores and have started organizing like crazy! Seriously, I have been in this 'nesting' phase and I usually get that way for one of two reasons. I am pregnant or I am ready to get pregnant. Well, I can assure you that it's not the first so maybe the second.? I have been cleaning and organizing drawers, closets and today, I started on the garage. So much junk and I have even started a garage sale pile. I haven't decided if I want to have a garage sale or just wimp out and give everything to Goodwill.
After nap, the boys and I took a quick walk around the block in the new limo, as Jeff refers to it. I have debated whether or not to get a double stroller, but some Christmas money I had been saving and then a coupon to Babies-r-Us gave me a friendly nudge to go for it. After a sale and my coupon, I got $100 off this stroller. We love it!! I didn't realize how much I hadn't been doing because I dreaded hearing whining from a little someone about not wanting to walk. I used to love taking walks in the evenings after nap when it was just Joseph and I; now I can do that again because my eldest has a little place to sit.

Here is Joseph telling Christian to smile. By C's look, it is as if he is thinking, "Don't tell me what to do." Mr.Happy back to his normal self. He had an ear infection last week and man it was a long week!

I bribed him with M&M's to pose for me here.

So, one day down. I have been trying to track Jeff's flight but it never fails, "The airline code is invalid," I always get this even when I type in EXACTLY the info Jeff gives me. UGGH. Please pray for my energy and loneliness. I really miss Jeff after the boys are in bed and no one here to keep me company.

See you tomorrow.

My life the past four days

It has been one of those weeks with two sick children. It has been long days and a lot of worrying for the little one. It started with Joseph getting a runny nose and cough on Saturday night. That was followed with a low grade fever, and it continued on into Sunday.

Sunday afternoon, C started coughing and having a really bad runny nose. Monday Joseph started to really bounce back and started doing laps in the house. One down, one to go. As Monday carried on, Christian started getting warm and we soon discovered he had a low grade fever. Poor baby.

Starting Monday evening, he started to not eat much, which is unlike him. Then the worry starts to set in. Tuesday, no temperature was taken, but he felt warm here and there, but never bad enough for me to take his temperature. Tuesday continued with little food consumption and noses being wiped all day long!!!

Wednesday rolls around. *Third day inside the house!* Joseph is almost 100% with an occasional nastiness flowing for the nose region. Christian is looking worse and worse as the day goes on. He is beginning to cry more and every time Joseph gets near him or touches him, he cries. Not like him at all. Take his temp three or four times that day and it was at a consistent 101. He starts to eat a little more here and there and is drinking which is a sigh of relief for me. At dinner, a light bulb went off in my head and I blurted out to Jeff, I bet he has an ear infection. *Finger in nose* DUUUHHHH.

Thursday morning he wakes up and I scoop him up, eager to see if he has a fever and when I kiss his forehead it was hot. Temp was taken and we are now up to 102.5. Tylenol was given and then he was back down for a nap a couple hours later. When he woke up, he was still warm and had a fever of 101.8. I called the peds office and they got him in immediately and they discovered a single ear infection.

I hate that he is starting so early with those. Joseph didn't have one until he was over 2yrs.
I know this isn't exciting stuff, but nothing exciting has happened to me in last four days because we have been home not doing much. It has been nice, however, being in pj's until 2p and playing with Joseph's cars....errrr, watching him play. I can only sit and watch, no touch.

Sorry for no pictures. I haven't had very happy, smiley babes the last couple of days. I will try and take some this weekend and get them posted soon.

Until then....

Adios 2009

(I forgot to add the picture first before I typed my entry, so read all the way to the bottom to see why Jeff and I are all snazzy looking.)

I can't believe another year has come and gone. We have had a great year and we are looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us.

Some highlights from 2009 (Not necessarily all great things, but things that stand out):

-C-bear joining our family.
-Joseph being sick for about 3 months straight. He had two stomach virus' that lasted 5-7 days both times, a double ear infection and a sinus infection.

-Seeing thousands of plastic eggs being dropped from a helicopter and the madness that followed.

-Taking Joseph to the beach two times this year. That kid loves the water.

-Unfortunate event in Galveston.

-Taking Joseph to Schlitterbahn for the first time.

-Joseph found a new love: Cars.

-Potty training Joseph. He has pretty much mastered it now, with the occasional accident because he is too busy playing or watching his stories.

-Christian crawling, pulling up and sucking his thumb...all day.

-Collecting Cars characters. We have become obsessed with this and we need to stop.

-Joseph hanging from the ascending garage door.

-Christian nearly falling head first out of his highchair.

-Our family trip to Great Wolf Lodge.

-Our family trip to the beach house.

-Jeff's job laying off hundred's of employees and Jeff being spared.

-My sister finding out she is expecting.

-Our good friends Mark and Megan expecting.

-Getting to see old High school and college friends this year.

-Driving through ice and snow Christmas Eve to see family.

-Jeff and I celebrating 5 years of marriage.

Speaking of our 5 year anniversary, Jeff arranged a nice evening for us (Which explains the picture). We started by going to Vic and Anthony's Steakhouse for dinner. We went out on a huge limb and ordered each of us a glass of wine. Tasted horrible, but I was able to hold it down. We then order portabello mushroom's for an appetizer. For dinner, we each ordered a steak, in which I got a loaded baked potato as a side and Jeff ordered mashed potatoes. We tried to leave room for dessert, but the food was too darn good, so we stuffed ourselves full.

After dinner, we headed on the other side of town and went to Radio Music Theatre. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a cross between, stand up comedy and improv. These three people do an entire show playing different characters which is absolutely hilarious. We went to see the show titled 'A Fertle Holiday,' which is a classic.

That pretty much sums up 2009. Hope your year was full of joy, memories and little stress.

Some things I'm looking forward to in 2010:

-Meeting baby Manning.

-Meeting baby Selby.

-Watching Christian become a little boy.

-Watching Joseph grow out of this sassiness phase.

-Watching God's work be done in our home, church and Jeff's job.

Everyone have a wonderful year!

We celebrated Joseph's 3rd birthday Lightning McQueen style yesterday. It was a nice, quiet, day time party. We had just a few guest come over and celebrate with us.

We started the morning off with Jeff making a trip to Shipley's and bringing us a wonderful breakfast. I took some pictures of my sleepy eyed boys eating their breakfast but my blog wouldn't let me load anymore pictures at the time and I just wanted to be done with it, so you will just get to see pictures of his party.

I love this picture! Joseph was in need of a little help blowing out his candles so I asked Luis to help. John decided he wanted to help too. Can you guess which side the adults ate from?

You honestly can't get much more beautiful than Miss Liliana!

The lovely Miss Tilly Belle.

Joseph had some help opening his gifts.

Opening up his Cars race track. This was a two thumbs up gift.

We bought this jumpy jump from a friend and the boys love it. It serves as a nice play pen for Christian and for Joseph, he is able to practice his mad dare devilin' skills.

(Hence the below picture where he is wrestling C.)

Christian and his favorite toy...a ball.

C-bear trying to escape. I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to be tossed to and fro.

Our only picture of Joseph when it snowed here. He doesn't share the love for cold weather like his Mama. One morning we were leaving the YMCA and is was very very chilly. I looked over at Christian and there he was all smiles and bouncing up and down. I then turn to look at Joseph who was grimacing and saying he wanted to go home.

Giving Thanks with a Grateful Heart

Ever since I have had kids, I feel like I have learned a lot about what it means to really give thanks and to count my blessings. I don't wait until Thanksgiving Day to give God the glory and thanks for what He has placed in my life, but every day I spend time in prayer thanking Him for blessing me.

One thing I am thankful for is this guy. This little 2 1/2 year old that is now about 1 month away from turning 3. I am thankful for his health, his witty personality, and his constant love and affection. And this little ball of energy. My little 10 month old that has a smile to offer to anyone who looks at him. A kiss to offer when asked. A feisty personality that makes me believe that I am going to have my hands full when he is 2 1/2. I am also thankful for his health and well being.

My amazing husband of almost 5 years. Thankful that he asked me to be his with my dream proposal. Thankful that he works so hard for our family and is always willing to serve at any moment. Thankful for a husband who will see that I need help with something and won't wait for me to ask for help, he will just do it. I am so thankful that I have a husband that meets and exceeds every expectation that I have ever had for a husband. He is my hero, the rock, backbone and heart of this family. I can't imagine this family functioning without him.

Thankful for my parents who raised me up to have Godly morals. For my dad who taught me to take care of and cherish the important things in life. To invest in my spiritual life, family, and education. Thankful for my mom who has modeled for me for what it means for be a forgiving, patient mother and spouse, and loving unconditionally.

Thankful for the greatest in-laws in the world. Thankful for a family who has welcomed me into their family as their own. Thankful for these individuals who have shown me what it takes to love genuinely and to serve whole heartily. Thankful that my boys have such wonderful male role models surrounding them and the most awesome cousins, nieces and nephews. All these kids walk into a room and the place just lights up. I am so grateful that each one of these children are all healthy and happy.

I am thankful for my sister and brother in law, Josh(whom I was unable to see this Thanksgiving). She is a beam of light and has a heart of gold. I am praising God this holiday season for answering all our prayers and blessing her with the gift of pregnancy. I can't wait to hold baby M and bless the britches off him/her.

I am also thankful for my health and that I am able to get up every morning and be a mother and a wife to some of the most amazing people. My heart and mind grieves for those mothers who are sick or have sick children. I have been blessed and I don't/can't explain why God has been so gracious to me, but I am forever thankful for what He has brought into my life.

And most importantly, I am thankful for the freedom of salvation. I am thankful that Jesus died for me so that I may have life. One of my new favorite songs has been around for a while, but now that I am kind of an adult, I really understand the meaning of the words. "Jesus paid it all, all to whom I owe. My sin has left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." I am thankful for Jesus who is patient with me everyday and each new day, it is a clean slate.

Finally, I am thankful for you who have taken the time to read this blog. I am curious if people even read this anymore since all my blog friends are on Facebook. Have a wonderful holiday season and if you don't hear from me in the next three months it is because I am a terrible planner and decided to have a baby 4 days before Christmas, get married on New Year's and have another baby soon after Christmas. I will be busy planning parties, preparing for parties and shopping. Yea for the busiest time of the year. *sighing....heavily!*

My boys

Christian's new trick. I always think he is about to stand up, but he plops down on his bottom. Even in public we have to sit Broseph in time out for not playing nice.

Scary, but this is what I have in store for myself. Two crazy brothers joy riding. I think I will start praying my safety prayers right about.....now.

If I wasn't scared of CPS taking my babies away, I would totally eat his cheeks. I love this babies face ;-)

This kid loves balls.

Sorry it has been such a long time since I have posted, but we have been extremely busy and the only reason I am posting tonight is because Jeff is out of town and I finally have some free time.
We have been doing very well. The boys are growing like weeds and CHK is now 3 months away from turning one! For Halloween, Joseph, Christian and I went to Dallas for a four day weekend. Friday, my mom, sister and my family made a trip to Canton and did some shopping. I realized here that my boys are BOYS and do not like shopping. On Friday night, we bundled up and headed to my old high school's homecoming football game. It was a lot of fun to be back at RHS and to sit in the bleachers and look at the field where I played a lot of soccer games.
Saturday we laid low in the morning and then in the evening we headed out for some trick or treating. I was planning on dressing the boys as Mario and Luigi, but right before we left I tried the overalls on Joseph and he didn't want them on...at all. Thank goodness I had a back up plan and have realized that some things just aren't worth fighting over. The boys ended up dressing up as boys for the 60's and it turned out okay. The neighborhood that we went to was awesome! Some houses gave out FULL size candy bars and bags of skittles. I have never seen that and have wondered if that really existed.
Then Sunday and Monday we did our usual shopping trips and my mom spoiled the boys...as usual. Joseph was able to add to his collection of Cars, so he was happy.
Here are some pictures of us over the past month.

Jeff and I have determined that C's going to be our expensive child. As you can see, he is going to need braces because he sucks his thumb all day (I love this, so this isn't a complaint), he LOVES remote controls, phones and pretty much anything that is electronic. OH BOY!

Joseph-Excited about getting candy.


Christian-Could careless.

This picture is geniune...Joseph really does love his little bro.

I love this boys eyes.

If only I looked this cute sleeping like this. (You notice his Car book? I am telling you, he sleeps with something Cars related every single night.)

My birthday boy and his guitar cake. I made it for him and Jeff really liked it.

Cars

Joseph's new love is the movie Cars. I bought this movie sometime in the summer and he took to it faster than ants going after a dropped cherry snow cone. He L--O-V-E-S this movie.
During potty training I decided to get him a little surprise one day at Walmart for doing such a good job. As I was checking out, I noticed they had a Lightning McQueen car. I bought it, brought it home and surprised him with it the next time he had told us he had to use the bathroom. I honestly don't think he has put it down since.
Then two weeks ago I was at H-E-B and I turned a corner and there was this shrine of the same series of cars. Joseph's mouth and face beamed with excitement and he told me he wanted down. I let him pick one out since we were about to go on a trip and I thought it would be fun for him to have in the car.
Well, it is starting to get out of control. I buy a new car for him every time I go to Walmart or
H-E-B. And just today this is how a conversation went between Joseph and I.....
J-"Mama, we going to the store?"
M-"Nope, not today. Why, what do we need from the store?"
J-"I need sheriff."
Oh boy, I have created a monster. The picture below is proof of how much he loves these cars. He takes them to bed with him every night and he has a Cars backpack that I had bought way before he ever started watching the movie and loads it up with his Cars cars and his Cars books. Yes, there are books too. Last Christmas my Aunt Kim had bought him this adorable set of 8 Cars books and carrier. I thought he was too young last year to have it out, so I put it in his closet with some other books that he isn't quite ready for. Well, we had watched the movie, he had fallen in love with it and then one day I was switching out some books and found the Cars books (which I had completely forgot about). It was like having Christmas in July. He was beaming. So now when we go places, we grab both boys, diaper bag, Cars backpack that contains 8 Cars books, McQueen, Chick, Big Mater, King, Doc, Red, baby Mater, and Sarge.
Praise the Lord these cars are only $3.98 each....and maybe I should practice some self control before he turns 16 and he wants several different cars. Jeff might not approve of me getting him a Honda, Toyota, Beamer and a Lexus.
I guess I will enjoy it while I can.

This past weekend we attempted our first family trip, with just us four. It was a great time to go to a hotel and not have to cook, clean, or have to worry about anything. Friday we headed to Grapevine, TX to the Great Wolf Lodge. We arrived around 3, unloaded and then headed to the water park. Joseph had a wonderful time. The toddler area was perfect for him. He was able to do everything in that area fairly easily.

Christian had a good time too splashing in the water and army crawling through it. I told Jeff that Christian looked like a Navy Seal in the water, because he moves along on his belly through the water. We even sent him down some slides, holding him of course, and he enjoyed it a great deal.

Joseph was telling my mom on Sunday that I pushed him down a big slide and that it wasn't very nice. That is true, but seriously, these water parks need to get on board and let me go down the slides with him. We went to the bigger kid area and I strapped on his life jacket and gave him a nudge and off he went. However, on the first turn, he ate it, and he ate it hard. He didn't cry, but Jeff, who was at the bottom waiting for him, said he looked very concerned. Joseph was done with that area after that.

There was a lot about this place that I loved and I really want to go back in the future, but Jeff says we need to wait until our youngest is about 3. And by youngest, he means our fourth (If the Lord allows it) being 3. I can't wait that long. I think if we wait two more years, Joseph will be 4, C will be 2 and maybe have a baby, it will still be fun for the two older one's. We did learn this week that Joseph is still at an age that he can't really get off his bed time routine or nap time. We ended the trip with him hitting me and having to sit out. I was making him get out of the water so we could dry off to get dressed and head out to Mimi's house. I did like his enthusiasm for wanting to stay in the water though.

October's off to a great start!

This past weekend my parents came in and we, of course, had a good time. The weekend started off with Jeff and I getting to go on a date. We went to Las Rosas where we shared some beef fajitas. We then headed to Home Depot to pick up some mulch and flowers for our flowerbeds that we were going to work on the next day. That evening ended with a stop at Starbucks where we were able to enjoy some coffee, conversation and just trying to kill time because we had just done the previous two in record time. (I think we are used to eating and doing things so fast because we always have the kids, and then when we are by ourselves, we are able to go slower, but I don't think we know how.)

Then Saturday morning, Jeff and I were going to work on the flowerbeds, but he ended up with the flu junk. He came outside and lasted for about 10 minutes and then ended up back in bed until after church on Sunday. I was very thankful my parents were in town because that could have been a long weekend without any help. So between my parents and myself, we were able to fix up the flowerbeds.

Then Saturday evening my parents, the boys and myself headed to BJ's for some good ol' pizza and Aggie football. The food and company were perfect, but the Aggies stunk it up.

Then Sunday afternoon, my mom and I took both boys to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Joseph laughed a lot and Christian was surprisingly interested in the movie too.

I have the pictures backwards, but here are the flowerbeds afterwards. You can't really tell that we did anything, but there are flowers in there. They are just really small.

Playing around with my new toy.

The beds before we touched them.

October is off to a good start. I really enjoy the fall now that I have kids. Tons of fun things to do. This month holds for us some exciting things: This weekend we are going to go to Grapevine, TX to the Great Wolf Lodge. It has an indoor water park and the the kids beds are replicas of tree houses, tents, and caves. We are in a cave room! They are also going to have a Trick or Treat Trail this weekend, so that should be fun. This month is Jeff's birthday, so I need to think of something to do there. Then we will be heading to Dallas for Halloween where my boys will be dressed as a famous brother duo.

Then of course, the pumpkin patch! I love dressing them up and taking pictures, so this should be fun. Oh, if anyone is willing to help me do this, please let me know. I don't think I can do it during the day by myself, and I don't really want to wait until the evening to do it.

Have a great October!

Happy 8 Month Birthday C-Bear

Seriously, he is 8 months old today. It is going so fast, that it's kind of 'spooky.'

At 8months, Christian:

-Can scoot around and get from room to room if he is really motivated.

-Goes after every single toy Joseph is playing with, even if there are other toys around him.

-Wears size 3 diaper

-He is in 6-9 mo clothes.

-Is starting to dislike it very much when things are taken away from him.

-Has begun to go to Jeff when he gets home.

-Sleeps through the night. Will head to bed around 8 and will wake up from anywhere between 6:30-7:30a.
-Still sucks his thumb.

-Very sweet baby if you are holding him. Towards the end of the day, it is almost near to impossible to put him down.

Happy 8 month C! I can't believe in four months he will be a year old.