Vacay

Apparently, my *mother of the year* award comes with a special prize, provided by our future selves. We're off to enjoy a much needed family vacation at "The Happiest Place on Earth!". Kyle could not be more excited about getting to go to "Mickey's House," and has been telling everyone all about it.

I will catch you up on all our fun and adventures soon!

Mother of the Year--Part II

Ryan woke up, hungry, at 3:00 a.m. I was tired, having just gone to bed around midnight, and didn't notice that he and his blanket were all wet until I'd already brought him downstairs to feed him. I stripped him down, changed his diaper, and fed him. Once the little tick was full, he was practically asleep again, so I didn't want to risk waking him up by putting new pajamas on him, so I just wrapped him in a dry blanket and put him back in his crib. Unfortunately, as another result of lack of sleep, I forgot to turn the baby monitor back on before I climbed back into bed.

Not to worry, though, because my back up monitor (Kyle) was quick to wake me up by loudly informing me that, "Baby Ryan's crying!!" Who knows exactly how long he'd really been crying, but it doesn't take a genius to guess that it was for longer than a few minutes. I walked into the boys' bedroom to find Ryan......

........completely turned around in him crib; his head was where his feet should be,

flipped over from his back to his stomach,

unwrapped from all of his blankets,

diaper-free,

COMPLETELY NAKED,

and lying in a puddle of pee.


I felt bad for about a second until Ryan stopped crying the moment he saw me in there to rescue him and when I felt that his hands and feet were still warm. It must have only taken a few minutes for him to totally flip around and strip himself to his birthday suit. I swear he was trying to one-up his cousin, who was recently discovered in her crib with her toes exposed. He took exposure to a whole new level!

I just *know* he's going to be scarred for life. Can't you tell how distraught he is over the experience?



Even though he's just as happy as ever, and probably enjoyed the chance to let it all hang out, I still felt like *Mother of the Year* for not hearing my helpless baby crying and leaving him in there long enough to wallow, naked, in his own urine.

Mother of the Year

I hope you could hear the sarcasm in my voice as you read the title of this post. Let's just say that the last few days have not been the best, for many reasons, and feeling like an awful mom doesn't help the situation.

Yesterday started off fairly well, but the rain ruined my plans to go to the park or pool or even on a walk to get the mail. Stir crazy goes straight to insanity in our house, so even though we had a successful morning, by early afternoon bedtime couldn't come soon enough! (P.S. Stephen is working 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. this week, so I'm basically a single parent.)

After dinner I was feeding Ryan, and Kyle decided to be *so helpful* and put a glass bowl in the sink. Of course, he missed, and the bowl split into a million shards the minute it left the counter. (I think a piece just might have grazed my cheek!) Safety comes before hunger, so I had to leave an only half-way full, SCREAMING baby on the floor while I swept and vacuumed up the glass off the kitchen tile and the surrounding carpet so that I didn't have to clean up blood from Kyle, too. (Did I mention that I had already swept and vacuumed earlier in the morning?) It was not my finest half-hour.

Trying to bring the anger/screaming level back down to calm, I decided to read some books to Kyle while I finished feeding Ryan. I guess somewhere in all the commotion of a crying brother and an upset mom and trying to watch me clean up glass, but getting in trouble for trying to walk with his bare feet on the floor, Kyle had a lapse in bladder control. While he was picking out some books for me to read, he wet his pants on the floor. So much for trying to regain patience.....

The baby got fed, the boys were bathed, books/scriptures were read, prayers were said, hugs and kisses were given, and bedtime finally arrived.


Today the sun is shining, and I really must get out to the park. Especially since I've already felt like "Mother of the Year" again. I was trying to do "school" with Kyle, but had to run upstairs to change Ryan out of the outfit he spit-up and pooped on. In 3 minutes of unsupervised activity, Kyle managed to dump all the crayons and colored pencils all over the floor, as well as to color his nose with blue marker. (You can see remnants of his work in the top picture. Thank goodness I had the good sense to take the scissors out of the box!) Later, while I was changing Ryan's diaper, Kyle was trying again to *be helpful* and almost knocked a brand-new container of apple juice off the counter. In a moment of brain freeze on my part, I forgot the safety-first rule and jumped up to stop apple juice disaster, leaving Ryan on the couch. You guessed it: he rolled right off. Luckily, Kyle had made a "shake-a-later" out of pillows and blankets to soften Ryan's fall, but still! It's not like I'm a rookie! I KNOW BETTER! Thank goodness babies are resilient and most kids don't have memories from when they are 3. I just want to erase these last few days from existence. I'm not even looking to receive an actual World's Greatest Mom award. Not being "The Wicked Witch of the West" is good enough for me.




P.S. I'm so glad that Ryan is a happy boy. If he weren't able to cheer me up and go straight back to his jolly self after a fall off the couch, I'd feel even more awful than I already do!

Falling for You

Happy First Day of Fall 2010!

I hear in some parts of the country it is actually starting to feel like a season other than summer. Or hurricane.

For those of us living in Northern South America, we just have to rely on bringing in a few artificial autumnal touches.

Our house (and the boys) are sufficiently dressed for one of my favorite seasons of the year!

Mommy Moment

"When I envisioned myself as a mother I saw someone who was always dressed, hair done, accessorized, and level-headed. Smeared peanut butter or a splatter of spit up were not really accessories I had in mind. The mother I envisioned always got her kids where they needed to be on time. Her children were perfect, lined in a row, dressed in clean clothes, freshly washed and curled hair gleaming in the sun, each face emblazoned with a glittering smile. They would all listen to their perfect mother's every word with baited breath (I had yet to come in contact with selective listening), and they would instantly obey when she set them to a task.
Well, needless to say being a mother for real has made me drastically change my idea of perfect motherhood.
I've learned that one of the biggest secrets of motherhood doesn't lie in the ability to dress children immaculately or to always be perfectly patient. The secret is to remember what is really important and to actively employ the word "Whatever" to the rest."
--Shawni Eyre Pothier



This day started off so well. I woke up on my own a little before 6, just as Ryan was getting up for the first time since going to sleep at 9:00 last night. I was able to feed him, read scriptures, and eat breakfast before Kyle woke up. I fed Kyle, worked out, fed Ryan again, and read some books with Kyle all before 9:00.
Stephen is off today and went to get his haircut this morning. I was planning to shower and start some of my other chores/plans for the day while he was gone, but then the phone calls started and I didn't get off the phone until almost noon. Once we got lunch and I fed Ryan again, I thought I'd be ambitious and get all the fall/Halloween decorations put up, but that turned into a very long process, which still isn't quite completed. Plus, no "real" chores have gotten done, either!
I just fed Ryan again, still am not showered, Stephen's been studying for quite a while, and I feel like the good jump start I got on the day kind of stalled before it really went anywhere. But, Kyle really wanted to watch a movie and Ryan was happy to hang out next to his brother. Could they both be involved in something more productive? Probably. Could I be more actively involved with them right now? Of course. But, I really need a shower and as soon as long as these two are content and entertained by "Up," I'm going to "actively employ" a big, fat "Whatever" to this situation!

White Trash Activity Mat

We used to have one of those cool activity mats for babies. Kyle loved it, but he loved it a little too much and ripped one of the fabric sleeves that held the arched activity part (the thing that held up the ball/mirror/squeaker) to the mat part. I've thought several times about getting a replacement mat for Ryan to play with/on, but I always remind myself to be responsible and put that 40+ dollars towards buying diapers and wipes instead of toys.

Luckily for us, Ryan seems to be quite resourceful and finds his own ways to play, even though his parents can't afford the fancy toys!

We usually put him on the floor next to us during dinner so he can be near us and still play with toys. Last night he rolled himself over to the vertical blinds and kept himself entertained for the entire time we were eating, long enough for me to film it, and then some. It was hilarious to watch his face as he realized that he could move and control the entire blind just by kicking it. We could almost see that light bulb of understanding turning on above his head.

Roll/Play

I think Ryan enjoys his new ability to roll and move closer to the toys he wants to play with. He's even started to grab and pull at blankets to bring toys to him. I'm amazed at how quickly he can move from one location to another. Yesterday I took a few pictures of him on this blanket because he was just SO happy and giggly.

I ran upstairs to change the laundry from the washer to the dryer and came back to find him like this:


He left his baby toys behind and rolled over to play with Kyle's Aggie Alphabet blocks. What a cutie!

Sling Shot

Northern South Americans just love my boys. Between Kyle's blond hair and Ryan's "blue" eyes, (which are really just that white-baby-gray-not-sure-what-color-they-will-turn-into-color), the locals are just drawn to them. I can't go anywhere without getting stopped by a dozen-or-so locals, oohing and aahing and complimenting away, unaware that just about the only thing I can understand from their gushing is "Ay que lindo" or "Que bonito." Okay, okay. That's an exaggeration. We do have a few fellow English-speakers in Northern South America. And they have plenty to say about the boys, too.

The other day the whole fam went grocery shopping, and I thought it would be a perfect chance to try out my new accessory: a new baby sling, which was almost free--just had to pay shipping after using a promo code! The sling was great. There was much more available space in the cart for Kyle as well as groceries AND our fellow shoppers had one more reason to smile and gush over this cute little guy. And who couldn't use more smiling while having to grocery shop at the end of a long work day?


Kangaroos have the right idea. A pouch definitely comes in handy, and I look forward to using this sling whenever I get the chance!

A Happy Thought for my "Smiles Box"

I read a blog post this week that shared a simple activity idea for kids called the "smiles box." Take any small box and fill it with words, pictures, or other items that hold special, happy memories and whenever you are feeling down, you open the box and are reminded of what makes you smile. The part of the story that really hit me was when the author shared that her daughter thought they should make a sad box to write down all the sad things, too. As she writes....

In her 7 year old brain, it logistically made sense: if you have a "happy box", you also need a "sad box". And though we all laughed, I couldn't help but think that this is actually how so many of us live out our lives. We walk around holding our "sad boxes" and our piece of paper and pen in hand, just waiting for the chance to record something sad and file it away. We protect its record like a mother protects her child, so that at the necessary and apropos time, we can pull it out as evidence of our unfair life inflictions. We take a "woe is me" approach to our days, and habitually record all the ways we have been wronged by those around us. And in a low moment of self pity, we pull out our "sad boxes" and go through the list of evidence. When we reach the end of our list, we sit and survey the wreckage. Clearly, we can rest our case...we have been wronged and our "sad box" runneth over.

After reading this, it hit me that I need to start filling up my "smiles box" more. I don't want to be one of those people who is constantly trying to point out all the ways she's been wronged, constantly trying to "one-up" everyone with stories of "poor me" and woe, or one of those people who always conveniently seems to have a "crisis" whenever she needs some attention.

I recently got sucked into a mini "sad box" funk. Between some much-needed advice from some lovely people who let me vent and were wonderful examples of how to close away those unhappy feelings, combined with some stress release/butt-kicking from my new "frenemy," Jillian Michaels, I'm back on the happy track. And in case that sad box tries to release itself from its current chains, here's one more happy thought: My Smiling Boys. I love that they are starting to play together and laugh at each other. It's so hard to be unhappy when you have such wonderful examples of joy in the small things.

This little game of "Where's Ryan?" is quite reminiscent of a similar game called, "Where's Kyle?" Those of you who have been long-time followers of this blog will probably remember a post where Kyle played the SAME GAME with the SAME TOY a while ago. That puts another smile on my face and another happy thought in my "box."

Mommy Moment

"Mothers often feel like the guy in the circus who is spinning plates. He starts with one and then adds more and more, much to the awe of the spectators. But how can he possibly keep all those plates spinning for very long? How many more plates are you going to be able to pin before you crash?" --Barbara Bowen

I'm starting to feel more and more like that man spinning plates, only I'm the second-string plate spinner, the one who hasn't quite been able to keep all the plates spinning long enough to make the cut for the big show. There are so many things I want to do, and do well, but the minute I try to add one more "plate" to the ones I already have spinning, something else drops.

Maybe one of these days I'll find that perfect balance of things, the one where I can clothe and care for my boys, cook wonderful meals, spend time with Stephen, keep my house clean, study scriptures, keep the blog updated, plan lessons for Kyle, read with Kyle, have patience with Kyle, get errands done, find all the great deals at the store and plan meals accordingly, get in a good workout, read the latest books, do my visiting teaching and other church callings, shower/put on make-up/do my hair, take Kyle to the pool/park, keep in touch with family and friends, scrapbook, and get enough sleep.

Yep. One day I'll have it all together. And, then I'll have another kid or have to go back to work. Or worse: get called as Relief Society President.

Grandparents Day

"As we seek to strengthen the enduring values of the family, it is appropriate that we honor our grandparents.....Because they are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations." (Grandparents Day Proclamation, 1979).

We wish a very happy Grandparents Day to all the grandparents in our lives. We have grandparents, great-grandparents, and many others who step in as surrogate loved ones and have created wonderful bonds with us and our children.

We love you and are grateful for all you do! Happy Grandparents Day from 2 of the best grandkids I know! :)

Never Forget

It makes me so sad and angry to remember the terrible things that happened on September 11, 2001, but it's true that we can never forget. I always thought it was cool to hear stories of people in older generations talk about where they were when.....astronauts landed on the moon, JFK was assassinated, etc. I now have one of those experiences to pass on. I only wish is was more of something to celebrate, like the moon landing, than a day of great pain.

I remember the shock and anger and sadness at the loss. I remember the evil hatred and awful acts that were committed against New Yorkers and all Americans. But most of all, I remember how Americans came together in patriotism and love for country and respect for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I remember that we started to show more gratitude for the things that really matter, more respect for those who selflessly serve our country, and more reverence for God. I also remember that in all great stories, even when it seems that all hope is lost and that evil has the upper-hand, goodness and truth and love conquers all. As long as Americans can cling to the principles upon which this nation was founded and stick to faith in God, that goodness will triumph over any evil in the great story of America.

One of the greatest ways I think we can remember 9/11 is to continue what was started on 9/12. We need to keep up that patriotism, love for country, and gratitude for all that God has blessed us with. By living life in a way that honors the loss, without taking life for granted or wasting our days and the gifts we've been given, we show that those who lost lives on that day were not lost in vain.

On 9/11/01, I was a student at Texas A&M. I turned on the TV like any other day and watched in awe as the 2nd plane hit the towers. My day was completely broken up by going back and forth to classes where several professors seemed apathetic and amazed that students would question their refusal to cancel class. Somehow in the shuffle I missed that the towers collapsed and broke down and cried as the images replayed. I didn't want to believe that people could hate us so much.

That was then; This is now....

On 9/11/10, I am a mom in Florida. I woke up like any other day to the sound of two beautiful boys. My day was broken up by patterns of feedings and changing a baby's diapers, building of and knocking down stacks of blocks, crashing toy cars, reading books, taking walks, chasing a toddler up and down stairs, and lots and lots of other daily chores. I was completely relieved and grateful that Kyle woke up happy and back to normal with no symptoms of being sick. He was running and jumping and climbing like he does everyday, which made me very happy. He even "helped" me clean up and put the vacuum cord by wrapping it up for me:


Somewhere in the shuffle of the day, I missed that my baby rolled over. I noticed that Ryan had changed positions a few times today, but just wondered if Kyle had given him a little help. I even had a conversation with Stephen about how I really thought Ryan might crawl before he rolled. Then out of no where, he just rolled over! I could hardly believe it, even when it was right in front of my eyes. Thinking it might have just been a fluke, I didn't think he'd do it again on camera, but he proved me wrong. He rolled several more times, and even tried to roll over in the bath--I'm really going to have to watch him on that one! I took a chance that he'd roll on cue and almost lost hope after 13 different attempts, but finally captured a live-action roll.

My September 11th of this year wasn't nearly as significant to such a wide range of people as the same day 9 years ago. It didn't change the landscape of a city and the stir the hearts of a nation, but it is still a day I want to remember. I can say that I lived my life today and was grateful for even the little things. I hugged and kissed my babies, told the most important people in my life how much I love them, and gave thanks to my Heavenly Father for all that He has blessed me with. Those are good things that I should never forget.

Sick

Kyle is a very healthy boy, knock on wood. He is rarely sick, and even then is quite tough about fighting off the cold/flu on his own, with minimal symptoms/changes in behavior. We've been very lucky.

I had a bad feeling about Kyle last night because I kept hearing him cough. I wasn't sure if it was real because Stephen has been pretty sick this week, and I thought maybe Kyle was just pretending to cough and sneeze, which he has done lately to get a "bless you" in response. Then, he didn't touch his dinner AND told me his tummy had an "ouchie" and "needed a "bandaid." He went to bed like he normally does, though.

I had the hardest time falling asleep last night, so was up past midnight. Ryan woke up at 5:00. I was just about to put him back in his crib when I heard Kyle coughing. He woke up and told me he needed some medicine and a bandaid. I put him in bed with me. I was just about back to sleep when Kyle sat up, coughed, and vomited everywhere. The poor kid didn't know what to make of the whole thing--he's only thrown up one other time, when we were still in Texas!

After a bath, some Sprite, and crackers, he felt much better, but has spent most of the day like this:

You know something isn't right with Kyle when he just wants to cuddle and stay cozy on the couch instead of being up running around. He ended up taking a morning nap, falling asleep in the car on the way to the post office, and just fell asleep again. Hopefully a good day of rest, lots of liquids, and lots of attention from mom will help him feel better soon!

First Food

Ryan's pediatrician told me to start feeding him solid foods at 4 months. That just seemed really early to me, as I think I remember being told with Kyle that babies should start eating solids around 6 months. Since I'm pretty good with simple, 5th and 6th grade mathematics, I decided to split the difference and give Ryan his first taste of "real" food when he turned 5 months old. Here's Ryan after his first bite of solid-ish food. He loved it, even though a good amount ended up all over his face, bib, arms, legs, the bumbo chair.....



It's quite the challenge to spoon-feed a baby and film it at the same time, but anything for the sake of a blog post and posterity, right?

5 Months Old

The trick to staying young is to keep smiling, and Ryan has learned this at an early age. He really is happy and easily entertained. He loves to laugh and LOVES his mom, smiling whenever our eyes meet. It's so fun to take his picture because he smiles/laughs so easily. I took about a dozen pictures of him in this outfit to make sure I got a good one, and he was grinning/laughing in every single one. It kills me to choose my favorites and delete so many cute pictures, but I also realize that if I keep a dozen or so pictures of him in every pose, it's going to get out of control. (MORE out of control.)

Some things about Ryan at 5 months old:

• He's started to sleep an average of 8-hours every night. (Every now and then he'll wake up to eat around 3 or 4 and then go right back to sleep.)
• He gave up being swaddled a few weeks ago. Since this was always how he went to sleep at night, I kept wrapping him up tightly, even though I didn't do this for his naps in the swing. One night he kept struggling and trying to get out of the blanket instead of falling asleep. I unwrapped him, and his eyes closed right away. Now, he just wants a binky and a blanket by his face and where he can hold it, and he will even fall asleep on his own most of the time like this:
• He's a total momma's boy! I'm sure it has more to do with the milk jugs than me, so we'll see as time goes on.
• He's extremely ticklish.
• He's forgotten how to roll over from him tummy to his back. He used to do this all the time. Now, I'll find him face down, screaming, like he's totally immobilized. I usually give him a little nudge to remind him that, yes, you can roll over if you get tired of being on your tummy.
• Even though he's given up the whole rolling thing, I do wonder if he's going to be crawling before he rolls over. Today he was having one of those fits on his tummy and I couldn't get to him because I was in the middle of washing what I THOUGHT was washable marker off of Kyle (another story). Anyway, Ryan managed to turn himself completely around and was at the other end of the blanket, still on his tummy!
• I finally put away all of the 0-3 month clothes. Has anyone else noticed what a wide range of actual sizes there are between different brands? The Polo outfit in this picture is 6 months, but the shorts in a Faded Glory (Wal-Mart) 0-3 outfit are still a little big, even though he outgrew the top!
• He ALMOST made it to 5 months without ever peeing while having his diaper changed. I even wondered if this had more to do with my skill and speed than any effort on his part, so I started purposely taking my time! He still had the record going until 2 nights ago, and I was even trying to hurry because I wanted to get back to sleep!
• We'll hear him chatting/laughing to himself sometimes. He also gets great pleasure out of watching Kyle and his craziness. Here's a little video we took this week. Ryan was just playing on the floor, talking and laughing to nothing in particular, so I decided to get out the camera. I think I interrupted his "me time," so he kind of stopped what he was doing. Thanks to Dad being funny, we at least got some good laughs out of him!

Happy 5 months, Ryan. We just love this little guy!

Back to School

We've taken a LOOOOOOOOOng break from "school." My maternity leave excuse is way past due, so it was time to get back on track, quit procrastinating, and start up with lessons again. I must say that no longer having nap time as lesson planning time AND having to juggle a schedule around a new baby are definitely challenges, but I'm up for it. I just needed something to give me a little jolt to get going again. Labor Day AND Grandparent's Day coming up were just the combination I was looking for.

Plus, can't you just tell *how excited* Kyle is about doing lessons again?????


P.S. You can check out more of what we're up to by clicking on my curriculum link. And, if you are a Grandparent of this family and happen to see something we may-or-may-not be working on for you, just pretend to be surprised when/if it shows up at your house!

Iron Chef: Miami

It's September: school is back in session, fall is almost here, and it's time for Season 2 of our local Iron Chef! I've really missed this fun group and am so glad that more chefs have joined the competition this time around!

September's secret ingredient was: APPLES

The Menu:
Apple Cider Punch & Apple Cheddar Soup--Chef Shannan
Apple Salsa Frittata--Chef Jenn
Apple Strudel Muffins--Chef Heather
Country Apple Dumplings--Chef Kathi******WINNER*******
Apple, Ham, and Cheddar Melt--Chef MEL!
Apple Lasagna--Chef Jeniece
Apple and Onion Pork Chops--Chef Heidi
Apple and Chicken Salad--Chef Angel
French Apple Pie--Chef Tina
Braided Fruit and Cream Cheese Loaf--Chef Rachel



This was Ryan's first Iron Chef experience, and he loved it, especially since there were some baby girls there for him to flirt with!


(Kyle was too busy having fun with some friends his own age to pose for any pictures!)


It's fun that so many more chefs were able to come to this season opening of our competition. We had 10 dishes to taste and judge, and a few people came just to enjoy the company!

Valerie, Kathi, Jenn, Tina, Rachel, Angel,....

...Heather, Shannan,....

.....Heidi, and Raymie. (Jeniece skipped out on posing for the photo.)


Tina and I both had flowers in our hair, so we needed a picture!


(There's Jeniece!)

One of my favorite parts about Iron Chef is just getting to meet new people and make some new friends. I hope everyone will come to next month's competition, too! It makes me sad to think that I will only be competing 3 more times in our Iron Chef group, but I will try to keep up with the action and great recipes from far away. Maybe I'll have to start up a Texas chapter of the experience when we get settled! For now, I'm looking forward to next month, my last month to host here in Miami, when the secret ingredient will be.....BACON!!!!!!!

Trials and Blessings

This week has given me an opportunity to focus on trials and the blessings that can come from enduring difficult times in life. Between Sunday School lessons and testimonies given today, it seems that trials have been one of the main topics. I've gotten various perspectives of different trials and how to stay positive and have gratitude for our many blessings. I was a week behind on my Old Testament lessons, so I had to play catch-up this week and study Job as well as Jonah. It actually helped to compare the stories and reflect upon two types of trials we may face in life, those that the Lord allows to come in our path to test us and to strengthen us and those that we face because of our own choices. It's interesting to think about difficult periods of my own life, looking back now that I'm really not in a particularly tough time, and realize all the growth and experience I gained from the challenging times. Also, hearing the trials that other people are going through makes me even more grateful for my personal experiences.

I once heard a testimony where a woman said flat-out that she was NOT grateful for her trials and that she wished she didn't have to go through anything bad. Of course, never having anything bad happen may seem wonderful, but how would we ever progress if we are not challenged? I think Orson F. Whitney summed it up well:
“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”
It gives me great comfort to know that our Father in Heaven is aware of us and of both the blessings and the trials we need to make our lives full. I'm also so grateful to be where I am at this point of my life. It's taken a great deal of time, tests, trials, and tears to get here. Stephen and I have had quite the list of experiences in just 10 short years, but we can finally see the light at the end of the educational tunnel. We will soon be back on Texas soil. We have two beautiful, healthy boys, which can be both a blessing AND a challenge! We are blessed, and I'm sure there will be many more trials coming our way, too. We will face them and remember all of our blessings and try to never be one of those people who says that we are NOT grateful for the challenging times.

College Game Day

We kinda like college football around here.



And, Aggies:


Please?

21 Weeks

It's been a pleasant few weeks around here now that Ryan is growing up and starting to sleep more consistently through the night. Oh, how happy that makes me! He is so happy, too! As I go through pictures, it's hard to choose because he's smiling in almost every one. It also melts my heart when he lights up the moment I come into his view. So far, he's definitely a momma's boy. We are all in love with this one, and I can't believe how quickly 21 weeks has flown by!

Speaking of time flying by....
It's September!?! That means that Stephen has less than four months until graduation, which means we have less than FOUR months left in Miami, which means it's less than FOUR MONTHS until Christmas!!! I LOVE Christmas!!! In fact, I think I'm about 60% done with my Christmas shopping already. It's so exciting to think about finding/making gifts for everyone and getting to be creative and have that spirit of Christmas. It's going to be a little tricky this year with trying to pack and move 10 days before the big day, but I'm still totally excited!

I'm also looking forward to another White Christmas in Utah, but we are so used to dressing for summer year-round, I don't know what we're going to do! We actually were most concerned about Kyle, who has almost NOTHING that would keep him warm in the snow. He needs some more "nice" clothes, anyway, since I'm getting tired of him wearing Toy Story shirts everyday and the rest of his wardrobe pretty much consists of swimsuits and flip-flops, so most of his Christmas--probably all of it from us--will be clothes, stuff he can layer to keep warm while in Utah and stuff that can be worn into the spring/summer in Houston. After a particularly successful shopping day (plus sales) at the Polo Outlet, a few great eBay finds, and some basic layering pieces from Gap and Old Navy, he's almost set! Now I just need to finish up a few more things, figure out who my secret sibling is, ask a few people what they really want/need, and I can check Christmas shopping off my list. It IS less than 4 months away, after all, which is a great deal less than 21 weeks! And I know a little something about how quickly 21 weeks can fly by.

{P.S. I am in no way soliciting gifts with this blog post, but many people who read this blog are great shoppers, seem to be drawn to amazing sales, and occasionally pick up some unbeatable finds for my boys. Since I do most of my thinking while I'm writing blog posts, this is one of the best places for me to write everyday-type thoughts, too. So, while I'm thinking about it--if you happen upon a sale, Kyle does NOT need any more blue shirts, white shirts, flip-flops, or swimsuits in size 4T or 9(shoe).}

Gig 'em

In honor of college football starting this week.....


I really hope at least one of our boys follows in our footsteps and becomes an Aggie. I guess it's fun to play dress-up for now!

The Big Park

Jacob, Kyle, and Carson

School is back in session and that means it's time for the preschoolers (and moms) to start up our weekly play group at the park again, "The Big Park," as Kyle calls it. It's amazing how much different these 3 boys are since our last park day in May and how much they've grown up over the summer! They actually play together cooperatively now, make up games, and are having fun with each other without having to have a mommy/ referee break up a fight every 7 seconds. It's so fun to watch our little baby boys start to grow up and become big boys. We stayed at the park for 2 full hours and the boys played the whole time!

A funny story:
All three of these boys are in the nursery together at church, along with LOTS of other toddlers. Carson's mom is also the nursery leader, so she has some great stories to tell. (Luckily, she loves Kyle and understands his rambunctious behavior!) Before church this past Sunday, Carson was telling her about what he was looking forward to about going to nursery: "I'll see my friend, Jacob, and Kyle will fight me!" Then, Carson was going around to all the kids in nursery, telling them that Kyle was going to fight him. Maybe it was self-fulfilling prophecy, but guess who was involved in that nursery wrestling match I told you about on Sunday????? Yep, Carson vs. Kyle. I'm picturing all these 2-year-olds meeting around the flag pole for this big fight that Carson has talked about all day long. "Fight, fight, fight, fight!!!" You gotta love boys!