All Grown Up

Lately Kevin and I have been in disbelief over how big our boys have gotten. I remember when they were just little bitty and just fresh from the hospital. I can't believe that they are two and have grown so much in just a short amount of time! They have gone through all of the adorable baby phases (little babies, little old men, baby/toddler) and are now just little boys. Thats all I can say to describe them. So, since they are no longer babies we have decided they must dress like big boys for church. While at the grand opening of a new Good Will I picked them up some white button ups ($2) and my friend bought them little clip on ties (for their birthday) ($2). I then was in search of some dress pants. Did you know that little kids clothes are just as expensive as adult clothing? I think its silly. However, Kohls was having a sale and I picked up some pants ($8) and found some shoes on clearance at WalMart ($5). When it was all put together yesterday morning I couldn't have been a prouder parent. The boys were just beaming with excitement of their spiffy new outfits and the fact that they looked just like daddy. Of course, I tried to do an impromptu photo shoot in our backyard before church and was not able to capture the picture I wanted... but these turned out super cute still.

Cooper is a ham for the camera. 

The Value of Role Reversal

So, Friday night I told Kevin that I would mow the lawn in the morning but he would have to watch the kids. He agreed. The whole reasoning behind me mowing the lawn was so we could go to Home Depot to get some edging to finish up our newest flower bed that is in our backyard. Trust me, offering to mow the lawn is a foolish deal. However, I did learn a valuable lesson.

You see, it has been amazingly hot here. Not just hot, but like blistering, disgusting, every time you go out side you are covered in your own sweat storm, HOT! With it being so hot we neglected to mow our lawn for at least three weeks to a month. When I went outside to play with the boys Friday, I felt like I was in a forest. No joke. Our grass weeds were that tall. So, it was inevitable that our lawn had to be mowed.

I woke up Saturday and put on my work out clothes and a brave face and walked out to the garage. I attempted to start the mower and to no avail, it did not start. Not until I noticed the choke. Once I figured out how to start the blasted machine I was on my journey of conquering the forest. Kevin always mows the outer edge of our lawn first, so I did that. It wasn't too bad most of it was a straight line except for the little curve around our flower bed in the front. Once I completed the "perimeter" of our yard I sought Kevin's approval to mow our front yard just straight instead of diagonal (like he does it) because I don't know how to do fancy. He said it would be fine and that I was doing a good job. I was probably half way done with the front lawn when the mower quit. It just quit! I had no idea what the deal was, and then it dawned on me to check the bag. Yes, our mower has a bagger on it and I had to empty it a million times! So I dragged the mower from the front all the way to the back and grabbed my husband for instruction of removal and emptying of the bag. But, he took to long so I figured out how to take it off and empty it; he arrived just in time to teach me how to install the bag correctly. I was off again and gradually tackled the yard, {front, back, and side}. I emptied several bags of grass and really disliked the whole process the whole time, but I made a deal right?

Once I was done, Kevin, my loving husband, reminded me that I had to still weed eat. WEED EAT! Are you kidding me? I just agreed to mow the lawn, not weed eat. I was not happy to say the least. After learning how to use the weed eater and tackling the yard once again. I took a small break for lunch. Then I finished up our yard by blowing all the grass out into the street. Thats right, I blew the grass into the street. It beats having to sweep it. I have a new love for blowers. Really, I do. Oh, and if you are concerned about the grass, don't be. It was very little when you compare it to the millions of bags of grass that have been dumped into my easement.

However, all of that story was just a background for you to really get at why I am actually appreciative of the terrible experience of mowing my lawn. While I was disliking life and the process of mowing, I jokingly told Kevin

"You should really love and appreciate me for all that I'm doing for you." 

He responded:

"You should appreciate me for doing it all the time"

And that right there was the kicker. I really didn't realize until I put myself in his shoes (literally) that he worked super hard just so our house looked nice. He has mowed our lawn for as long as we have lived in our house, almost three years. Most of the time in the spring and summer it has to be mowed once a week. He just sucks it up and does it, on top of working 40+ hours at a hard laboring job. Its amazing. I am so thankful that I have such a loving and dedicated man in my life who is willing to endure such labor intensive and tiring jobs just for us to live and for our house to look nice. I truly am blessed.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I am not going to volunteer to mow the lawn ever again. However, I am sure that I will help out if it is ever asked of me. 

busy busy busy...

Holy Cow! I cannot believe it has been almost a whole month since I have posted! We have been so busy here lately that I can't even think straight.  I'll try to do a brief catch-up and more posts tonight/this weekend.

Aiden & Cooper:

These two little boys are keeping me so busy! Their favorite movie(s) are Woody & Buzz or Toy Story 1 & 2. Everyday we discuss Boody & Buzz. They have expanded their vocab of characters to include Pig (Hamm), Doggie (Slinky), Yee Haw (Jessie), and Rawr (Rex). They crack me up. We seriously watch a Toy Story film almost every other day. I try not to watch it every day so I can keep my sanity. But, they have become so aware of what happens in the films that they say "OH NO" before something happens. They even know when Buzz arrives in the first one. As the camera pans up his little space ship box Cooper screams out "BUZZ!"

They have learned to climb and push anything they want to get anything they need. This has made for "child proofing" my house super difficult. Almost all chairs are removed to rooms that are unaccessible to them. One day they figured out how to move my antique yellow chair and since then it has been sequestered to my bedroom. Sometimes, they even go in there and move it out to the living room so they can get their movies off of the bookshelf. This is a serious problem. I have no idea how to stop them. If you have ideas, please enlighten me. They are stubborn little boys. While we are on the topic of climbing, Cooper had another accident! Thankfully it wasn't as serious as the "staple incident" but still, the kid will not learn that climbing = ouchies. This past time it happened on Sunday. He decided he wanted to dance on Kevin's bed side table (which is very unstable = reason for bedroom) and it kicked out from underneath him. He scratched up his face pretty good but it wasn't serious. It's practically gone now and by Tuesday it just looked like he had some chocolate on his face. Trust me when I say that TWO is all we can handle at the moment!

Kevin:

He has been super busy with work. He is the only employee now and has taken on so much responsibility! He's such a good mechanic and can fix pretty much anything that is broken. I'm so proud of him! He is looking in going back to school in the Spring which will be nice to have a break from paying on student loans! I know that he will do great in whatever he decides to pursue. He still is the 2nd Counselor in YM's and it keeps us both pretty busy on Wednesday nights. I think he really enjoys the Deacons even though they are a handful and more and more seem to be piling into his class. If anything, it'll be good preparation for when our kids get that old.

Jacque:

Well, we have taken a leap of faith and decided that I should still go to school. I know you are thinking, "Wait, didn't you announce you weren't going to school?" Why yes, yes I did. However, my AMAZING advisor was able to get me 3 night classes and an online class. This means I can still stay home with the kiddos and go to school. I'm really happy about it. My classes are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday which is awesome so Kevin can still go to mutual. Plus, I think it'll be a good opportunity for Kevin to spend more time with our kids. He has been so busy this summer working pretty much non-stop that he's missed out on so many special memories I have with the boys. Besides school, I'm still trying to adjust my schedule to being as productive as possible during the day. I'm currently looking into ideas and ways to educate my kiddos. I want them to start their alphabet and numbers. I know they won't go into Kindergarten until they are six because of their birthday, but I still want them to be the smartest little ones around. So, if you have any ideas {Andrea} that you would like to share, please send them my way! Oh, and I had aspirations to open an etsy shop. That is still in the work, I just haven't found the time to develop my products. So, don't worry it will debut eventually.


That is all I can think of at the moment. I'll be back with some cute pics of the boys from when some friends came to visit.

Tough Decisions

Sometimes we have to made really hard decisions as adults. Its one of my least favorite things of being a "grown up." However, this past week Kevin and I made a big decision... one that affects not only us but our kids as well. What is it you ask?

I have decided to stay home with the boys and not work, not go to school, not do anything but raise them to be the most amazing kids they can be.

It has been a very long and drawn out process. Something that I've prayed about. Something that we discussed in detail. I know its not going to be easy. I know it's going to be difficult {it already has been}. But I also know that it is the best thing we can do for our little ones right now. They need guidance, structure, and to know that their parents love them. I would love to be in school and finish  up my degree,  but the thought of them being with a stranger more hours of the day than being with me saddens me. I should raise them, not someone else.

And so I start my journey as a stay at home mom...

Project Apron: Complete

Today was a fun filled day of sleeping in, swimming, and sewing. We woke up late (always a plus) and then headed over to Grandma's for a swim in the pool. The boys love it and are obsessed with water which always makes for a fun time.

Once we came home and put them down for a nap I decided I was going to conquer my apron project that has been sitting around forever... seriously since March. I did have someone teaching me how to sew, but she is busy and so I figured I could do it. I followed a pattern and am pleasantly pleased with my final outcome. Of course, it is not perfect. My seams are not straight and i'm sure it is not exactly as the pattern calls for, but I am proud of it!

{in case you are wondering: no i am not preggers, just slouchy and a little pudgy in the midsection}

Saturday Steals: Family Favors

My friend, Camille, does a fun segment every Saturday on her blog, Archives of Our Lives,  called Saturday Steals. She talks about all the cool things she gets for free or super cheap. It's amazing and other people in the blogosphere join along. This is my first Saturday Steal so enjoy :)


Well, since I am back in school I needed a new laptop. My old laptop I got my 2nd year of college and while it was good and great, it has officially died and now disappeared. Luckily, I have a super awesome uncle who loves me. To say I am his favorite is an understatement I think, even my mom and sister would agree. The other thing about my uncle is that he is a super geeky computer guy. I called him asking his advice about purchasing a netbook or a laptop, I figured he would know better than pouring over reviews online. I was right! He told me netbooks are great for on the go stuff, but not what I needed for school. I told him I wanted a smaller laptop because a big one would be too cumbersome and heavy to trek around school with on top of books. Well, it must have been my lucky day because he told me that he had a Thinkpad which was small and a full power laptop! I was super excited. He told me he had to find a battery for it and then would mail it out.

A couple weeks later this came in the mail:

Now I have a super awesome little Thinkpad which was given to me free of charge. It has fingerprint protection, so there is no need for me to remember a password. He also lovingly loaded it with all of the "Office Essentials" that I would need for school. How awesome is that? I love it and am eternally grateful to my Uncle David who sent it to me all the way from Minnesota.

Trauma-rama!

**Due to the Graphic Nature of some of this post please be warned **

Please brace yourself for the intense amount of updating that will be going on here.

First and foremost, I bought us a new camera!! YAY! Our old one is still lost, but at least we have one now right? Plus, its totally awesome. Its the Samsung Dual View.

Why is it awesome you ask? It has a front screen that you can easily turn on. My kiddos love to look at themselves whenever I get my camera out so it makes taking pictures easier. It also has a "kid" setting where a clown dances around and music plays to entice little ones to look at you. We are in love with it and I have been making sure that I keep a good eye on where it is at all times. (pic here)

Moving on... Last Tuesday we had our first "Emergency" situation. Scary, Yes? Did my little man handle it like a trooper? Yes. I am pretty sure I was the worst out of Cooper, Aiden, and myself. The details of what really happened are still unknown to me and probably will be forever, but what I can conclude is that Cooper fell off a table. How? Well, him and his brother like to climb like little monkeys. They will push, pull, drag, flip over, do whatever necessary to the objects in the room to help enable themselves to achieve a greater distance vertically. They had pushed over their table over to the big table where the TV is setting at work. They like to get up there and push buttons. I was in the other room around the corner doing some work when all of the sudden I heard a loud THUD followed by screaming. I bolted out of the little room I call an "office" to find Aiden screaming and Cooper laying on the ground face first. I thought he had just tripped and fell like normal. I scooped Aiden off of the table and picked up Cooper. Cooper was screaming so hard no sounds were coming out, yes I started to panic a little. I sat down with them and attempted to get them to calm. After getting everyone to an okay place I looked down and saw blood streaming down Cooper's head. Me, freaking out, held him like a football, ran to the back shop yelled at Kevin to come because Cooper was bleeding and began to totally freak! Kevin came running, cleaned up Cooper with soap, water, and peroxide and then consoled him while I calmed down Aiden. After Cooper had calmed down to a good point and we were able to keep him still we looked at his head. I even asked Linda if she thought he needed to go to the doctor. She said no, that he would be fine but Kevin and I felt that he deserved to be looked at. It would only cost me $10 anyways so, wheres the harm in that? All of this scenario took place in a matter of like 5-7 mins. It felt way longer to me! But, we went to the doctor, and he said that he was gonna need one, just one, staple and that he didn't need to be numbed because it would just hurt more. I agreed and we proceeded. Cooper was great. He cried for just a little bit after he got the staple inserted into the top of his head. I am so proud of my little Coop! It was such a traumatic experience for both Cooper and Aiden, and I am fearful of what we will experience next on this little adventure down Growing-Up Lane. But as they say "Boys will be Boys" right?

Traumatic Experience #2, well really it was the first traumatic experience in the week of first time experiences for the boys. We were headed up to Missouri for Father's Day weekend and both boys were a little feverish in the morning, but seemed okay once we started our venture. We stopped and got something to eat at the KFC in Clinton, bad idea if you ever take Hwy 65 North -- just sayin. Now, if you have ever taken Hwy 65 to Missouri you know that the road gets a little curvy, there's lots of twists and turns and after St. Joe there is nothing for a while. Well, right as we approached St.Joe is when Aiden did one of the funniest and most disgusting things I have witnessed first hand... he threw up. Not like any adult would do because they know the feeling and would try to avoid it at any cost, no no no... he just started spewing and crying. Once it happened the first time, Cooper started crying. I felt so bad for the both of them! Aiden didn't know what to do and was covered in disgusting and continued to heave a couple more times. Fortunately we stopped at a service station, the unfortunate thing was that it was closed. WHO CLOSES A SERVICE STATION? Apparently the people who own Jimmy's in St. Joe, thats who. Anyways, we stopped and cleaned him up to the best of our ability with baby wipes. There was a hose sitting out that we used to clean off his clothes and car seat. Once he was "clean" and had new clothes on I put a blanket down for him to sit on top of in his carseat which was gross. We did what we had to do to make it work. Thankfully he fell asleep not too long after we started out on the road again. All I can say is that I'm thankful I packed their blankets for this trip and glad that carseat covers can be easily washed! I am crossing my fingers we don't have to experience anymore traumatic events for a while.

As promised:

I cannot believe how quickly they have grown up.

Cha Cha Cha Chages...

Ugh! Seriously it has been forever since I have posted on my blog. I would like to offer you a sincere apology because I have been super busy and with out a camera :(

First, lets address this camera issue. When Kevin and I got married we got this super awesome point and shoot camera. It was like our baby. We took it everywhere, recorded videos of our kiddos, used it all the time. Well, One day we cleaned our house. Probably because we had guests coming over or something... and it was misplaced. This happened back in April according to the last picture that was taken on my memory card, which thankfully we still have. So, the only camera I have at the moment is the one that is on my cell phone. Sure, it works great for random picture but no where as good or awesome as our real camera. I am currently on the hunt for a new camera and am seriously considering getting an Elph. I would get a dslr but I think it would be too fancy and I'm scared of breaking something that fancy.

Now... Here is what we have been up to...

I got bangs.

Liked them but wasn't loving them.
So I got my hair cut again.

I am currently LOVING this hair. cut, color, everything = perfection!

I also found these sweet aviators after my children broke all of my sunglasses.

What makes these even better is that Kevin got them on his mission in California 10 years ago. Can you say FREE?!!!

I have also been debating paining my kitchen....

I have decided after a evening of design discussion with my friend Kara that I am going to leave it tan. This kind of depresses me because I really want to paint because I am bored with the tan color that consumes my  house. However, there is no way I can paint my kitchen. I have a weird wall that makes it difficult and it would look silly. I have discovered what inspires me and how I would like to decorate my house. So my new mission is finding the perfect accessories to make it awesome.

Right now I am taking a break from school. Apparently the school I go to costs a lot of money to do summer school and that doesn't really fit our budget at the moment. So, I am taking a break. I did however fair very well this semester!

I currently have a 3.76 GPA. We will see what happens once they factor in my transfer credits. But I am keeping in my goal of a 3.5 GPA. In the fall I am going to be taking 18 credit hours. EEP! Yeah it's a lot but I have to do it in order to graduate in a fair amount of time. I'm currently debating a full week schedule versus a three day a week schedule. Either way we go Kevin and I have decided that daycare is a requirement for our kids. Which, unfortunately, is just another cost to our budge. But, its what is best for our kids and us.

Speaking of the boys, no post would be complete with out pictures of them.

I cannot believe how big they are getting. They will be TWO in September and I am in no way prepared to deal with that. They are so much fun. Cooper loves to drum on any and everything and Aiden loves to sing. He sings along to every TV show that they watch. Just this morning Kevin and I were listening to him sing the theme song to Sesame Street. I love them so much.

I know that there is more that has happened or that is going on but that is all I can process at the moment.

Just Taking A Minute...

To tell you about my weekend at Time Out For Women. It was probably one of the most AMAZING weekends I have had in a long time. Do I accredit it to the fact I was sans children? NO! But it was nice to have a little "grown up" time with my friend Dana and her family. I'll be honest with you and tell you that at first I was super apprehensive about going. I was worried that Kevin couldn't handle the kids, it was my dad's birthday on Saturday, and I didn't really feel like going. Well not to much of my surprise... Kevin CAN handle the kids on his own for a night and most of a day. Some times I have too little faith in my husbands skills... but we can save that for another day. Anyways, the weekend started off how most of my days do... with me running late. Our game plan was to leave around 1 pm so we could do a little shopping before the event started. I didn't get home until after 1 and I was not packed. It was okay though  because I packed quickly, we (Dana, Rachel, and I) loaded up my carseat free car and were headed towards Memphis. The drive to Memphis was super quick... well it seemed that way because we chatted and danced and did fun things that you do while on "road trips." We found our hotel, after little bit of trial and error, and then headed to downtown Memphis. The Convention Center was easy to find but parking... not our favorite thing. By the time we had driven around the area and found parking the event was starting so no shopping. I was a little bummed but we had to save seats and the event was about to begin!

Friday night we listened to amazing music by Jenny Oaks Baker that just put me in a state of awe and wonder. She is so amazing! Plus, I found the stories that she told us so inspiring. What a wonderful way for her to share her talent with the world! Sheri Dew was suppose to be there to give a talk but had an amazing opportunity to go and deliver books to children in an impoverished country. So, she did a video presentation talk. It was my first time listening to her speak and again I was touched. I didn't have a note book so I didn't take notes over her talk, but I did take away from it that I should turn the TV off more. It seems like something so small...  but I can tell you it has already made a difference! The second speaker was John Bytheway (yes that is his real last name). I really liked his style and that he was funny. He talked a lot about marriage and making it work as a team. One of my favorite points by him was "Appreciate/Expect/Demand." You should always appreciate the things that your spouse does for you. If they do things over a long period of time we come to expect it. Then if it stops, we demand it from them. We should never get past the point of appreciation... but I know that there are instances in my own life that I have "demanded" of Kevin to do things that he does just to be nice. Another great point I thought that John Bytheway made was to ask yourself "What is it like to be married to me?" Would you want to be married to yourself? I can tell you I wouldn't want to be. But that just makes me love and appreciate Kevin even more because he can put up with me and my ways.  After it was said and done for the night we (Dana, Rachel, Alessa, Tracy, and I) all went back to our hotel. We sat and talked about what we liked and just chatted away. Somehow in our conversation we started talking about friendships and their importance... I don't even know how. But, out of that conversation came a startling revelation that I had never thought about: "We need to focus on our relationships with the people we are taking into eternity" which pretty much means our family. Oh haiii... something else I need to focus on in my life.

Saturday began early. Earlier than I ever wake up at my house... and that says a lot.  The musical guest for the day was Hilary Weeks who I found funny, charming, and amazing! She even played a new song that she was inspirited to write from TOFW's theme of Hope. It was beautiful and through her stories she really inspired me to be better at not gossiping. It is so easy to do these days and it so pointless... The first speaker was Emily Watts. Let me just tell you that I love lady! She talked about so many things and was so relatable as a mom that it was incredible! My favorite quote from her was "If we have hope we wait with patience." What incredible words! I sat and  thought about how impatient I have been in my life and how in those times I didn't have hope. I found her so inspiring that I bought a book and want to by another one! If you have hard days as a mother and are looking for some comfort and inspiration, I would highly suggest reading one of her books. S. Michael Wilcox was the next speaker and I was inspired by him and how the journey stories in the Bible are there to help us on our journey through life. The third speaker was Mariama Kallon who has an amazing story to share with the world! Her testimony of finding the gospel and hope was so touching. I don't know if I would have the strength that she had when faced with such vast adversaries in Sierra Leone. I don't think that there was a dry eye in the place by the end of her segment. I strongly suggest that you take a moment to read about her life and how amazing of a story she has. The fourth speaker was Amanda Dickson who was really funny... but I missed her talk because I was sitting in the lobby with someone discussing something else... However, my friend Dana did tell me her talk was really good and explained that you are the best mother for your children and that you the best wife for your husband. So that made me feel good :) The closing speaker was Mary Ellen Edmunds who is really funny and super inspiring. She talked about resilience and how when people tell you you can't, you should believe in the part that you can. She really helped me to realize more about myself and believing in me because others do.

All together, all I can say is that it was such an amazing experience for me this past weekend. I was spiritually uplifted, I laughed, I cried, I had insight, I changed. I would strongly suggest to any woman to see if you can attend one in your area. It is not a church thing and all religions are welcomed to come. It is a place for women to go and to feel all of the amazing things that I did.

Christmas Past

I know that this is a little late, but honestly I think that our Christmas this year was our best Christmas as a family. My morning started out with finishing my beautiful cream cheese braid, which has become a new tradition in our family because it was AMAZING and super easy. I decided to just half the dough roll it out and really braid it instead of how the recipe said to do it, and it turned out really pretty and delicious! While I was waiting for the dough to rise Aiden woke up and decided to join me in the kitchen. Then he noticed that something was different... there were packages under our tree. He slowly walked over picked up a bag and handed it to me. I told him "Yep, thats a present and it's for you. Go ahead and open it." He was just beaming with light and slowly took out the paper, set it down, then pulled out the toy. He loved it. He sat and played with it for at least 10 minutes. While he sat quietly and played I woke up Kevin and told him we should get Cooper up too to open presents. Kevin, being the amazing husband he is, suprised me with probably the greatest present this year. I woke up to two brand new and assembled bookshelves flanking my tv. I have been wanting bookshelves for a really long time to fill up some space on our empty wall and they look quite esquisite. I will post pictures once I find things to fill them with, because they look boring now. Opening presents was an all day adventure at our house for the simple fact that the boys enjoyed opening each gift and playing with it. We didn't have that big wrapping paper mess that usually is affiliated with Christmas morning and it was a nice suprise. I let Kevin be our camera man on Christmas day because he got us a new tripod. I thought he would be better... but he just shot a couple of videos and totally missed my first Christmas dinner that I prepared all by myself! I made a bacon "wrapped" turkey with sage butter and a maple glaze, sweet potatoe cassarole, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, and fresh cranberry sauce. I atttempted to make gravy and was horrible at it so Linda fixed it and she made homemade rolls. Our dinner was a feast full of goodness and fullness. We were so full we couldn't even eat dessert. We had cherry, apple, pecan, and pumpkin pie! All of which was delicious as well! I was so proud of myself and my yummy and moist turkey. After we ate I realized that my Christmas glory was never photographed! Again I blame Kevin for this. But none the less, it was a wonderful day spent with family and friends and we enjoyed all that it brought us. Here are some pictures of what they got from Grandma and some videos of Christmas day :)

Aiden opening this cool car that plays music.

Cooper and Aiden's sweet dance moves.

The Night Before Christmas

Christmas Eve this year was by far one of the most stressful Christmas Eve's I have ever experienced. It had been raining for 2-3 days straight in Arkansas and all of the roads were FLOODED! Kevin decided to go to work and left the house around 10ish. Later, his whole family (mom & brother) called me stating that he needed to go to work get the truck and rescue them from their house. They only had a Jeep and a little Honda. Needless to say, Kevin was off rescuing people all day until about 5:30. During that I had made dough for my Christmas morning cream cheese braid, baked two pumpkin pies & a cherry pie, cleaned the entire kitchen, all whilst taking care of the kiddos. It was a lot of work and I was tired, but I was more frustrated with the fact that Kevin was gone all day. It was Christmas Eve and I was expecting him to be home all day having fun and making memories. However, our Christmas Eve had a beautiful new tradition added to it!


Our friends the Well's invited us over for some home made clam chowder and a night full of fun and games. It was some of the most delicious chowder I have ever had! The boys even had lots of fun "playing" their piano. It was a wonderful evening full of good times and good food!

When we got home we put the boys in their Christmas jammies and then tucked them in for the night.

Photo Shoot

I TOTALLY forgot about these darling pictures of my kids that my friend Kara took for their 1st birthday! She is AMAZING and I love when she takes their picture because they turn out way better than anything that I could ever do! She only sent me a couple because she wasn't very pleased with the way they turned out {she didn't feel well the day she took them} but you can obviously see how great they turned out!

Aiden is waving and Cooper is contemplating something?

I can't remember who's bum is whose, but I loved this picture!

She wanted to enter it into a Hallmark Card contest, I think it would totally win!

Thanksgiving

{Please bear with me while I play catch up}

This year we went up to Missouri for Thanksgiving, because I wanted to stay home for the babies first "real" Christmas. It's so nice that we have family close enough to spend the holidays with and still feel like we are "getting away." It was my first time going up to Missouri without Kevin. (I went up Tuesday, he came up Wednesday) I was a little nervous at first, but Linda decided to drive up with me and the babies so we could help bake pies and stuff the day before Thanksgiving. It wasn't too bad of a drive, and I've been up there and back so many times I didn't have any problems finding my way! The babies do really good on the ride there and back. It is about 4 1/2 hours long and I generally try to leave around their nap time. They sleep half the way and then we break when they wake up. The last half of our trip was a little bit rougher because they wanted to play and obviously they couldn't so it was rather loud and fussy in our car. Linda tried her best to entertain them, but it was pretty much unsuccessful. We arrived at Kim's house around 630 which was good because we left about 2pm. The boys were super excited to get out and play and they love Siera (Kim's foster baby). After unpacking and settling in we had dinner, bathed the boys, and put them to bed. Then we watched a movie in Kim & Andy's theater room, which was pretty amazing.

Thanksgiving day consisted of yummy food, pies, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Football , and movies. I only made pies this year and they were well loved. I don't think any of them made it past Saturday. Our Friday consisted of shopping, but not early shopping I am no Black Friday fiend. We picked up some really good stuff for the little ones and for ourselves. All of it is to be wrapped and placed under the tree for Christmas day. I bought some awesome tights at TJMAXX and want to wear them so bad, but must wait and it is killing me! Kevin even got a really good deal on a drill and saw set from Home Depot. After the shopping we went over and visited with Kevin's dad and his wife. Its always so nice visiting with them. Karleen always takes lots of pictures and I have her to thank for these ones, because I am terrible at remembering to take them! We ended our night with a trip to Andy's frozen custard! {no springfield trip is complete with out it} Saturday we headed home and spent Sunday recouperating from the busy weekend. I am so thankful that we got to spend some time with our family!

Halloween

Yes this is SUPER LATE, but I finally found the few pictures that were taken on Halloween. I had intentions of retaking our Halloween pictures the following weekend because it was probably one of the most miserable days of my life. Kevin decided to go to work that day and didn't get home until 4:45 and we had to leave at 6. This is not a good time frame for the four of us to get ready in. On top of him being late, he didn't have his phone which left me worrying instead of getting ready. After rushing to get out of the house we had a wonderful evening with friends. We went to church for Trunk or Treat then went to the Bradford's for food and festivities. We even took the babies on a "hayride" around the neighborhood. They loved it and it was so much fun. I'm excited for next year because they will be big enough to collect candy! {i love candy} Here are a few pictures of that day, forgive me for not looking my best.

 

The boys were Thing 1 (Aiden) & Thing 2 (Cooper). Kevin was Brett Michaels and I was a Powder Puff Player (girl football player).

Mischief and Mayhem! OH MY!

Ugh I know it has been FOREVER since I posted about my little boogers, but I feel that this is appropriate to share. Now that the boys are bigger and can walk and climb and run they have figured out how to sneak out of their playpen at work. They both get together, pull it in on themselves, climb over, and then pull it back into an upright position. I only know this because I had to put them back in to figure out how they got out. {maybe I should record them breaking out of jail!} We had to break apart the play pen into two smaller ones for nap time and now "time out."Anyways, they have been nothing but mischevious since that day. They can now open doors. ie: the pantry door, the bathroom door, my bedroom door. All of which are places I would prefer for them not to go. So we have started locking doors and using the good ol' string trick to keep them from opening doors without locks. Also, they have learned to play with the water fountain at work and think its fun to make a mess. All of these things have made watching them a little more difficult, but it is always hilarious.

Little Moments

Last night I decided to bring the boys home while Kevin stayed and worked late. I set up our Halloween decorations in the yard, made dinner, bathed them, and played with them all before Kevin got home at the nice hour of um...9pm? Yeah, it was a late night for him but I am glad he worked. We had so much fun! They helped me in the kitchen, by constanly grabbing on my to my legs and not letting go. We had a splash zone in the bath tub. I ended up being soaked by the end of their bath but it was all worth it. Then we played in their room. I let them just run around and be free sans diapers! I had so much fun with all the time that we spent together just the three of us. I am grateful for the little moments in time when I get to spend time with my boys and be silly and fun. I look forward to the many more memories we will be sharing as they grow up.

My awesome Dollar Store decorations and yes, those are Christmas lights.

An upclose look at one of my different tombstones

They really enjoyed the lights and the decorations as a whole. I am super excited for Christmas time!! :)

A Year Has Past...

Since these cute little boogers were born!

As you can probably tell, I haven't taken very many pictures of them since Kevin cleared off our camera for their  birthday extravaganza! But, I cannot believe my little babies are a year old already. Its so crazy to look back on the past year and see how much they have grown and changed and become their own little people. They both definately have their own personalities and things that they do and I could not love it more. Even today I told Kevin I want another baby, which I say everyday so its nothing new. We had a nice family birthday get together. We took the boys to Larry's our favorite pizza joint to get the most fantastic pizza ever! Plus they are free until their 5th or 6th birthday? So, who doesn't love free food? Anyways, afterwards we gave them their own little cupcake mosters to celebrate their special day. I got them at Harps which is probably my favorite grocery store but we rarely go there since its on the other side of the highway. Aiden enjoyed digging into the frosting and making the biggest mess ever. Cooper, on the other hand, was scared of the way that it felt and that it was cold and was just not having it. Bud tried to force Cooper to touch it and it just made him upset so he cried even harder :( Eventually he came around to it and enjoyed making a mess with is brother. It was so nice to spend the evening with our family outside of work and focus on the babies and how awesome they are. Please enjoy the pictures of their mess making mayhem.

Aiden is the one who has the frosting up on the side of his face and covered in green goo. Cooper is the one who is a little bit cleaner. I tried to group them together but bloggers new editor is weird and I'm not used to it. I had a video of it but don't know how to upload it now. :(