Texas!

We took a trip to Texas this past September.  

Now, it feels so long ago that I can hardly remember the details.  

So here are the pictures, with just a few memories!

We got there on Saturday and as we walked out of the terminal, Gamma Karen looked at me and said "Oh a third!  How wonderful!"  Which shocked me, because we were waiting to get to TX to tell them that we were expecting again.  Grandma's just know I guess!  :)

Aunt Trisha and Aunt Chrissy and Auntie Mel-Mel and the four of us went to see a Ranger's game on Sunday. Last year we got to tour the stadium.  This year, after a two hour rain delay, we got to watch the game from our super swanky box seats (thanks to Auntie Brandy!).  After the rain delay, the boys were pretty restless, so we each went for a walk around the park.  Brayden and I were snuck up on by the mascot, some kind of cool horse, who rubbed Brayden's head as he walked by!  Tricia and Chrissy also took a day of work just to spend Monday with us.  We always have such a fun, fun time with them, and the boys love the special attention.  We got to see Papa Graham, Grannie Glenna, Jen, Tim, Graham, Olivia and Lauren, too!

Grandma Betty, Aunt Micky, Rick and his lovely wife came down to visit for a couple of days too.  Grandma Betty even taught me the secret family recipe for home made ice cream!  Wohooo! We went to Dinasour World, Steve got married and we saw a long horn cattle drive down the middle of the street.  It was awesome!  Even with all of that going on, we still had time for special treats like hair cuts and shopping and movies.  It was an awesome trip!  The best part was that we got to spend a lot of time with everyone...especially Calvin and Crew!

I am really frustrated with how these pictures are loading, so I am going to leave them in the random order they come up in.  I just need to get this up already!  Sorry about the random-ness!

Before we left, we worked on canning all of our tomatoes-I really wanted to bring some with us, and then I didn't even get to give any go Grandma Karen, I just used the dang things up in a recipe.  

This sign made me laugh so hard I almost peed my pants!

Steve's wedding-Daddy was the best man!

The "horses" at the Fort Worth Stock Yards!

Aww!  Such a good looking couple.

All of the little fella's at the wedding!

Just the four of us!

And Little Baby Love tucked in there under that belt.

Daddy with the man of the hour.

Pappa George took care of feeding Jack for me during the wedding dinner.

He took so much better care of Jack then I would have!

He wiped his little face after every bite and kept him entertained and full.

It was so sweet!

Aunt Brandy and Jack played games on her phone for a little while too.

It was hard to tell who was having more fun.

At bed time, Gamma and Pappa took them home.

It was a really, really fun night!

Best man speech. 

More box seats at the baseball game.

(sorry about the random order!)

Passing the rain delay together.  :)

At the River Legacy Park Nature Center.

Tuttles!  Look!  Tuttles!

Jack's favorite.

Catching Geckos.  Real  live ones that weren't in the exhibits, just out running around.

We saw armadillos to (but they were dead on the side of the road...next time, a live one!)

Brayden and Lauren

Having fun at Dinosaur World!!!

Heaven on earth for these 4!

And none of them spit at us this time, or were scary!

Texas dirt!  Who knew?

Long horns!

Long Horn cattle Drive!

Cowboy museum! 

As of today, we are about 15 weeks along with Little Baby Love Number 3.

Everyone is very excited!

See you in March LBL!

p.s.  pic's of TX coming soon!

The zoo and stuff

We got to take the boys to the Zoo again this year.

We love the zoo.

I love taking pictures of the bear the most because they just pose in their sleep.

That is a bear down there at the end of the cave.

 And one right there, next to Jack, by the rock wall.

Don't you just want to go lay down next to them?

The penguins were the highlight though, and they followed the boys around the glass.

Since our big guy loves dinos so much we decided I should have a special date with him (and daddy with Jack) and we went through the dino exhibit.

It would have been handy if it came with a PG-13 recommendation though.

They played super, super scary music.

Before we even went in, some dino's peeked over the gate

and spit at us.

And they were terrifying.  

Let's just say I carried my three year old through most of it.

and only could take his picture if he didn't know one was behind him

Or if I promised not to let go of him.

Finally we found a lambiasouras who looked kind, gentle and approachable.

He took right to her and climbed on before I even knew what has happening.

He let me take his picture by the sign at the end though.

Brave little soul.  :)

This is a picture of Jack at 10:30 at night.  

Right after we got off of the phone with Poison Control.

Again.

This night was probably the kick off to the greatest struggle I have ever tried to wade through,

and I wish I could say that I was doing a good job.  I wish that I could say that I didn't feel desperate (which is funny because if you asked me a year ago if I could possibly feel more desperate than I did at that point I would have told you it was impossible) and like I was failing.

Mostly because when everything is going wrong I look at my sweet, sweet little ones and I know we doing okay because they are so good.  Little boys, but sweet and caring and good.

And then yesterday I sat down on their bedroom floor in tears because they were so, so naughty and I felt like the whole world was collapsing in around me...and my heart was a little broken.

Jack had just eaten an entire, complete tube of Butt Paste (we are so, so blessed we made the decision to go natural long before that child came along-Poison Control said he would be fine) and the two of them had broken everything in their bedroom.  Brayden tried to tell me Jack was eating Butt Paste, but I was so tired from Naughty Day that I had them in their room and I was taking a well deserved 15 minute break in mine (two feet across the hall) before I had to make them dinner and then go teach a class.

So later on when my boys come back to read this blog love letter to them, or when they have kids of their own and wonder why the heck their mommy went so dang nuts, I want them to know these were my daily chants:

I can do hard things.

This too shall pass.  I am not sure what we will look like when it does, but it shall pass. All of it.

Savor the Kioros moments (like when 3 year old Brayden helps me muck out the paddock!)

The days are long, but they years, the years are so short.

Just get through today (procrastinate the bills until tomorrow! Again.)

I am the best mommy for them.

I pray for that every night and every morning-that I am the best possible mommy for them, and that I don't ruin them.  And that they get my best every day.  And that my games of Bed Time Wac-A-Mole with Jack leave some time for me to work so that I can please, please earn a little cash, too.  Not a lot-we don't need a lot...but enough to keep us floating and to get the occasional haircut would be nice. 

And maybe fix the dang Xterra, too.

So Jack jack baby-some day when your kids can't go to sleep at night....I am going to laugh my mean old butt off and tell you just to get through it.  One night at a time.  You are the best daddy they could have. 

And come over so I can cut your hair.

Love you.

Where did July go?

 We have been sneaking in some super fun times around here.  Daddy took the boys on their first ever boys only camping trip.  I wasn't sure if my heart was broken or if I just couldn't stop dancing from joy.

Ahh, a mother's angst!  :)

I did calm down pretty quickly though when the thunder and lighting started and I had to go round them up and bring them back inside.

 Jack has still been having a hard time with the trains.

We can hear them pretty well from our house, but for some reason, that scares the bejesus out of him.

He will come running from any part of the yard to find me at that first train whistle.

So I got little crafty on the little guy and used Dinasour Train to my advantage.

We started talking about Tiny Pteranadon, and Laura the Giganotosauras and

Mr. The Conductor and Buddy the T-Rex, and just who all might be on that train, and just where might they be headed and what noises might they be making?

Then, when I was putting Jack to bed on night, I reminded him that the window was open and he might hear the Dinasour Train go by.  It would be okay though.  Tiny was probably on the train.

Then I made my pteranadon noise, just for effect.

About 20 minutes later, sure enough, a train came blasting through.

And I heard a little, timid "braaack!" out of Jack's bedroom.

And then he fell asleep.

SCORE ONE FOR MOMMY!

 Auntie Danielle and I got to take Brayden to a horse show.

And by horse show, I mean the Parelli Horse and Soul Tour.

 The last time I was at a Parelli show, we lived in MT and I was about 

6 weeks pregnant with this guy.

It was really, really fun for me to bring him to the show.

Especially, since he got to meet Pat Parelli himself!

Pat is pretty human and down to earth.

He asked B. how old he is,

if he had horses (B totally perked up at this!),

and if he was married (which confused him all over again). 

Highlight of our combined life so far, I think! 

Except for the ice cream cone after wards.

Okay, new highlight already!

Brayden also got to meet Newton and Josh, one of the teams in the show.

Josh asked him if he had horses and Brayden talked all about them and how we ride them.

Then he added "But we don't ride the chickens though!"

and melted everyone who was standing near enough to hear him.

 Brayden's still taking his own pictures.

He's getting pretty good at the self portraits!

And getting pretty good the Jack-portraits!

One morning, Jack sat at the breakfast table, narrowed his eyebrows and said

"Mad at you!".

Then he said it again.

And again,

and again.

We still haven't figured out why, but now he say's "I'm mad!" any time he gets into trouble.

Which is just about as funny as when he used to stick out his belly,

put his hands on his hips and shriek, "No!  I don't!"

Goodness sakes this kid melts my heart.

He is just so dang beautiful!

Here is a Mommy-portrait by Brayden.

And what big brother does, little brother isn't far behind.

Please excuse the bugger and the messy face!

We tried painting again.

Jack still hasn't figured out that paint goes on the paper and not in your mouth/on your face.

Another Mommy-portrait.

Right after I said the required "cheese burger" I put the camera up just a little bit higher!

Jack can get out of his crib.

And he wants to cuddle at night.

He calls me and says "Mommy?  Cuddle you?  Can you?"

in the sweetest voice you could possibly imagine.

So, we put the crib away.

Brayden's bed got bigger two.

Jack hasn't figured out just how perilous big beds are though.

So far, he has split his eyebrow open, busted his lip and bonked his head.

We hear Brayden telling him "Jack, stop jumping!  You're going to get an owie!"

He does fall asleep eventually though.

I wonder if he will ever sleep like he is supposed to.

He is just as busy in his sleep as he is when 

he is awake.

 

June

I keep trying to write this post, but it keeps coming out c.r.a.n.k.y.  So I keep trying.  I think tonight, though, since I am resting on a miracle, this one will be a keeper.  :) Plus, someone at church was telling me today how she tries not to let her circumstances determine her happiness (took the breath right out of me when she said it!).

Brayden started taking his own photos.  Above is a couple of them. 

You can tell he gets better every time I get on the phone.  :)

The boys have been growing and changing so fast I can't even believe it.  Jack is the one who has been growing the fastest.  At his 18 month check up, he weight 27 pounds and 11.2 ounces (72%) and is 34 inches long (89%).  With a head circumference of 19 /34, that puts him in 96th percentile.  He says things like "I sad Mom?  I cry!".  Today he said "I full!"  which is a pretty abstract concept for a 19 month old.  He is also up to 5 word sentences if you can believe that!  Today when he was getting dressed after a diaper change (potty training starts Monday!)  he said "Self?!"...he wanted to get his own little pants on!  He has extra special audio powers...that kind of freak him out.  When a train goes by or a loud noise is near us he screams and cries...even in the middle of the night.  Sometimes those trains go by 6 times a night!  But he speaks well anyway.  :)

We also got to meet baby Lyla.

Here she is with her proud daddy.

Brayden and Jack got to spend a little extra time with Grammie Tammy and Bapa Steve.

Jack is a natural at fishin.  Even tries to kiss the fishies before they go back into the water.

Brayden enjoys his swimming much more than fishing, though, I think.  Though, he has caught quite a few fishes himself!

We also used the slip and slide. 

I say "we" pretty loosely.  Daddy was at work, and a few days before that I fell off the mustang and wasn't ready for any running leaps down a slipper slope.  So the boys kind of had to figure it out with out a demo.

So they hopped.  

Let's give this a try here...

Super Fun!

Whoa, super cold!

Definitely worth doing again! 

WEEEE!

Speaking of speaking, when we were celebrating Lincoln's birthday, Jack and I were sharing a bowl of ice cream.  Spoon for him, spoon for me.  I got the last spoonful.  Jack looked at me and said "more cream?"  I said no.  Then he narrowed his eyes at me and said "'tinker!"  Ha!  He was calling me a stinker!  He is so smart!

Lincoln said something to Brayden at the same party, that made me laugh so hard I almost peed my pants.  I don't remember what Brayden said but Lincoln turned and looked at him and said, "You are shit out of luck" without missing a beat.  Ha!