"I put my shoes on all by myself!"

(yes, they are on the wrong feet. no, he doesn't seem to mind.)

Sad baby... silly daddy

Wanted

Name: Jonas

AKA: Chunky boy, trouble-maker, chunky monkey, cuddly boy,

Favorite things to do: throw things on the floor then laugh, taking/hiding mommy's shoes, running while laughing, taking/hiding the remote, giggling,

Favorite sayings: "uh-oh"

Last seen: grabbing all the food out of the pantry he can reach





Name: Aaron

AKA: big boy (it's the only nickname he'll tolerate)

Favorite things to do: singing, coloring, bossing Jonas around, going outside, reading, giggling with Jonas

Favorite sayings: "It's not an 'uh-oh' Jonas"

"where's my blue car?"

"Aaron's pooping"

"I have a question for you"

"uh-oh spagetti-oh"

Last seen: Driving his tonka truck at speeds in excess of 20 m.p.h.

Parade

Every year, a town in our area has a parade on Memorial Day weekend. I saw the signs about it and thought it might be fun to take the boys. I later found out that three people in our family had never been to a parade.

Aaron and I sat and talked about flags while we waited for the parade to start. We were sitting at the very end of the route, so we could hear it long before we could see it......

Daddy chased Jonas : )

This I do not understand! When I was a kid the parade would go right by our house. So we would watch it and have to fight with like 10 other kids for the candy.... there wasn't anyone near us, so Aaron didn't even have to work for his candy.
Lucky!

Surprised by Oxford

I've been reading this book:

Let me just say.... I love it!!

Broad synopsis... the author goes to Oxford to study English literature and goes on a journey of faith and discovery. I love it because she not only quotes the Bible (and her love for the word is infectious!) but she also quotes Shakespeare, Emily Dickenson, Milton, C.S Lewis and many other classic authors.

I thought I would share this quote. The author is talking to one of her professors about her professors decision to leave the workforce and stay home with her children. Her professor says

""What does it matter what committee you serve on? What promotion you get? That book you labor to write and push to publish, someone will end up resting a coffee cup on, without any care as to your sacrifice. Your children are only young once. Your marriage provides you a chance to put someone else first daily. Such things refine your soul" A faraway look passed over her eyes, and I caught myself remembering that she was a widow" (pg. 233-234)

Summer days

FroYo

A few weeks ago, David and I went to Orange Leaf a frozen yogurt place. LOVE! so awesome! If you haven't been.... I'm dragging you there (that includes you mom!).

Monday, I wanted to do something fun, so after lunch we took the boys there.

After one bite, Aaron didn't want anymore (too cold) so he stole my Nilla wafers instead. Jonas ate a bunch, then it got too cold for him too and every time we offered him a bite, he would violently shake his head : ) Pretty funny!

After we ate, I tried to get a picture of the boys together. I sat them down next to each other and said "sit still, I want to get a picture of you" and they immediately rolled away from each other and started climbing all over the bright orange couch.

Surfing USA

When you think about surfing... you probably don't think about surfing in Texas, but it turns out you can in fact surf the Gulf of Mexico : ) That's what we did this past weekend! We were given the opportunity to attend an adaptive surf clinic by the Wounded Warrior Project. This event was such a blessing to us. We had been talking about getting away for a day or two for awhile, but didn't know when it would happen and the WWP payed for everything, we just had to pay for gas to drive to Corpus Christi!

So we were able to go surfing, kayaking, and boating. One of the nights, the local yacht club put on a dinner for us!

Here are some pictures from our trip

We really enjoyed our time in Corpus Christi and David really had fun learning how to surf. He got pretty good at it too. One of the instructors told him that he had a lot of natural talent and that he should keep doing it : ) I tried it for a little while, and I was able to stand up on the board a few times... for about 3 seconds. But that's ok, I enjoyed reading on the beach almost as much as David enjoyed the waves : )

The local newpaper in Corpus Christi covered the event, you can read their article here. David is in one of the pictures they took... can you find him?? : )

Happy Mother's Day!

Yellow vs. Wellow

A recent conversation overheard at our house : )

Aaron: this is wellow.

David: Yellow.

Aaron: Wellow

David: Say 'Yellow'

Aaron: Wellow!

David: Say "Yes"

Aaron: Yes!

David: Say "Yes, yellow"

Aaron: Yes, Yellow!

David: Yellow

Aaron: Wellow

Sunday funnies

Now that Aaron is 3, he sits with us for part of the evening service at church. This has led to some.... interesting incidents. A few weeks ago, a couple played a guitar and a mandolin during the offertory. All was well, until the mandolin player began to do some trills. Every time he would do a trill... Aaron would giggle. In the middle part of the song, he started to do a lot of trills... which resulted in lots of giggling... which started to make David and I giggle. It's really hard to shush your 3 year old while you're giggling. He couldn't stop giggling. We couldn't start giggling. We started getting funny looks. Finally I decided to take him out of the service until the song was over. I had tears in my eyes as I left the service.

Tonight wasn't quite as memorable, but it was still funny. When the songleader of our church started the service, Aaron said (loud enough for a lot of people to hear):
"it's time to sing now!"
When the pastor was doing the announcements he said:
"It's Mr. Blakey!"
We had just had the pastor and his wife over for dinner two weeks ago, so I guess it made an impression on him.
In the beginning of the service, he and one of his little friends caught sight of each other and started to smile at each other... and giggle, of course!
Needless to say, we're still working on sitting quietly in church.

This picture is from awhile ago, but I thought it was pretty cute. He's helping!
The next 2 pictures are also from awhile ago (it's before Jonas' haircut), but they remind me that if nothing else... our house is usually full of laughter : )

out-takes

I'm not sure why or how taking pictures of two little boys is so hard, but it is. They were playing together very nicely and I decided to get a picture of them. As soon as the camera came out... they were both trying to play with it. At one point I was laying on my stomach with one or both of them crawling on my stomach... still wasn't able to get a good picture. David tried to help me out... and the in the resulting picture he's the only one looking at me. So enjoy the out-takes! that's all you're going to get!

Jonas was pretty determined to get the camera

This is the one picture I was able to get before the boys realized the camera was out : )

Cinco De Mayo resolution

If you've been to my other blog recently... or anytime in the past 2 years, you're probably wondering "is she ever going to write again?" To tell you the truth, I've been wondering the same thing. On the one hand, it feels like there's so much going on, how could I possibly write about all of it? On the other hand, it feels like nothing really happens at all. It's kind of a weird place to be. Sitting in front of the computer with that little line blinking, waiting for me to tell it to move... can be a little intimidating. My days are filled with many of the same things, laundry, cleaning, cooking, cleaning the room I just cleaned, running errands before the boys have a melt-down in the store, cleaning (again!). I feel like I have nothing to write about. But, when I have a few minutes to stop and ponder my life right now... I realize that I have a baby (ok, ok, I will acknowledge he's not really a baby anymore) turning into a little boy, and a little boy turning into a "big helper." Before I know it, they'll both be all grown-up! Plus there are grandparents and great-grandparents who live many, many hours away and I want to make them feel like they are apart of these boys lives, like they've been able to watch the boys grow up. So, my Cinco De Mayo resolution is to.... post *something* at least once a week, even if it's just a picture. By putting it out there for everyone to read... I actually have to do it! And I know there are a few people who will hold me to it. Afterall, if you don't keep your cinco de mayo resolutions... what will the world come to??