The Cox Family Blog

Happy Birthday Brenan!

2012-01-11T22:01:00.004-06:00

(this picture makes me laugh, I love the line of drool)

Brenan turned 1 today! I can't believe how this year has flown by. It's been a bittersweet day. I'm just not ready for him to grow up yet!! He has been such a sweet fun baby, I could keep him like this forever. Chad assures me there are good times to come still too.

This little boy has some major personality. It's hard for me to get much done with him around cause I just want to play with him. He has started taking more steps the last couple of days and is standing great on his own. He loves playing with his older brothers, and they are so patient and sweet to him. He gives the best slobbery kisses ever, and will give them whenever one is requested. He's getting a few more sounds down. He is totally all boy I can tell already. I'm going to have trouble with this little guy and his manners. The other day in the bath tub he was tooting up a storm (I'm pretty sure it was on purpose) and after each one he would bust out laughing. I'm in for trouble for sure, haha.

We had a little family party for him tonight that was fun. We ate chick-fil-a (I love that place) and then had cake, and sang to Brenan. I made him his own little cake and he dove right in. It was so fun watching him, he was in heaven. Devan and Tristan were happy to help him out with it to. We got him a cozy coupe car. We didn't have time to take him for a ride in it tonight, but I'm super excited to see how he likes it tomorrow.

I'm so blessed to have this little guy as part of the family. Happy Birthday Brenan!

hmmmm.... what do we have here?

Tastes good...

Seriously Mom? I can just dig in, you're not even going to stop me??!!

K, I'm gonna need some reinforcements.

Nevermind guys, back off, I've got this.

Best day EVER!

Cruise, Christmas, New Year

2012-01-10T21:51:00.002-06:00

Long time, no post! December was a busy busy, but very fun month. On the 10th we took off to Houston, and left the next day for a 7 day cruise. My Mom, Iwalani, Bruce, and Grandma Paquette were all able to join us. It was so fun to spend some time with family around the holiday season.

We had a little bit of a scare while we were checking in. Chad had left his passport in his checked luggage. Without it he wouldn't be able to board the ship! I am so thankful for good friends. One of our friends came to our house and found his birth certificate and had it faxed over to us. We were seriously down to the last minute of boarding. I don't know how Chad stays so calm in those situations, but I was a wreck. He said, "It's ok Lana, you guys just go and have fun, I'll drive home, and come pick you up when you get back." haha, I'm glad things didn't end up that way!!

The first couple days we just cruised, found our way around the boat, and ate to much. Our first stop was Cozumel. We didn't plan any excursions there, but me, my mom, and Devan got off the boat for awhile to check things out. There wasn't a whole lot to see right off the boat, but I did buy a Nacho Libre mask for the boys ;)

The second stop was Grand Cayman. We went to 7 mile beach there and it was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the boys had a blast!

The last stop was Jamaica. At the port they had a really developed, quite touristy area, with some shopping. We took the boys on a pirate excursion which was a lot of fun. They took us out on a pirate boat, sailed off, performed a show, had an encounter with some other pirates, took the kids on a treasure hunt, and had a little lunch. We all had a lot of fun.

Other than those stops we enjoyed our time at the ice skating rink, swim pool, different shows, and having the boys try new foods (Devan had escargo). Devan said his favorite part of the cruise was ice skating, who would have thought! We really enjoyed having the boys with us, so much in fact, that they didn't got to the kids club until the very last day. There wasn't much going on that day so we took them there and they had a great time, and ended going back that evening!

When we got home it was hard to get back into the swing of everyday life. I got a little to used to being waited on! We had made Christmas Eve plans with a group of friends, but had to cancel when Chad and Tristan got sick. Poor Tristan had a stomach bug that night, but thankfully he was doing much better by morning. We ended up having a nice quiet Christmas at our house. It was fun, like always, watching the boys open their gifts. (pictures to come... someday.)

New Years Eve we took the boys fishing. They got poles for Christmas and were excited to use them. We drove to Blanco State Park which is about 45 minutes north of San Antonio. They dam off the river there and stock it with trout. Also in Texas you can fish for free in State Parks. We didn't catch anything, but it was still a lot of fun, and cool to visit a new place. That evening our friends came over and played games. We played a fun one called "Ticket to Ride". (pictures to come... someday.)

Devan started school again on the 2nd. Although it's nice to get back onto a schedule, I was a bit sad to have him go again.

Tomorrow Brenan turns 1! I want it to be a happy day, but tonight I just feel sad about it :( That Mariah Carey song "Always Be My Baby" keeps playing through my head, haha. He's been such a fun, loving, snuggly baby I would be ok keeping him like that forever. Does he have to grow up?

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T08:10:00.004-06:00

We had a nice relaxed Thanksgiving this year with just our little family. Last year we ordered our Thanksgiving meal and it was horrible. This year I decided to do it myself and it turned out pretty tasty with Turkey, gravy, candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, vegetable cas
serole, jello salad, rolls, and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. We went over the Thanksgiving story, and made little popsicle puppets to act it out, along with a couple oth
er activities, watched some football, and went on a little walk to work off all that food! It was so nice to have Devan home for a week from school. I miss having him with us during the day. Poor Chad worked so much the week of Thanksgiving. He worked through the weekend before, had an 18 hour Monday, followed by an early Tuesday. I was glad to see by Thursday he could relax and take the day off. Friday I had a photo shoot for a friend.

The other day I asked Devan if he'd like to go on a nature walk. He said, "

Ya, lets go on a nature walk and kill some animals!" Yikes, it looks like he has some Lufkin blood running through those veins. We ended up going on a walk, but did not kill any animals, haha. After the walk we stopped to vacuum at the truck. Some hunters had just g

ot back from a trip and were cleaning up their truck, when Devan heard they were hunting deer, he was quite impressed, and said "I want to go do that!"

Tristan is under the impression that there is nothing faster than uncle Jess's four-wheeler. We were on a walk and saw some big kids on their bikes. He said, "We're much faster than them" When I told him, they were probably faster, he said, "ya, but not faster than uncle Jess's four-wheeler!". A bit later we saw a motorbike and he was absolutely positive it was "not

faster than uncle Jess's four-wheeler!". I love how these boys idolize their uncles. I wish they could hang out with them more.

We leave for our family vacation in less than 2 weeks. I'm so excited to be cruising to Cozumel, Jamaica, and the Grand Cayman. It's just started to get "cold" here, so it's perfect timi

ng. I'm super excited that my mom will be joining us as will as Iwalani and Bruce, and Grandma Nancy. We'll have lots of hands to help with our 3 crazy boys!

A couple weeks back I took my friends family picture and she took ours. Our boys are so awful when it comes to family pictures. They weren't even unhappy that day, but this is still how our picture turned out...

Last year they looked just as grumpy...

Yep, when it comes to family pictures, no smiles for these boys.

Halloween

2011-10-26T21:51:00.003-05:00

We had our ward trunk or treat tonight. The boys were SO excited to get dressed up, except for poor Brenan, he hated his costume. I thought my boys would think it was cool if I dressed up. I came out of the bathroom with a green face, black hair, and a witch nose, and they didn't even react! Brenan looked at me a little funny and tried to grab my nose, but that was about it!

Dear Santa

2011-10-21T16:19:00.006-05:00

Devan had a bike rodeo Wednesday. He had such a great time, and did really good. When I came to pick him up later that day he said his head hurt and he didn't want to ride his bike home (not like him at all!) I ended up walking him home in the stroller and leaving his bike at school. Turns out he caught the flu bug that's been going around our home :( The next day when I went to pick up his bike, it wasn't there. I figured someone stole it and gently broke the news to Devan. His reply, "Santa's not going to be happy someone kidnapped my bike, he's going to give them something really stinky for Christmas. Can we write Santa a note for a new bike?" He wrote the cutest little letter. That evening when I checked my email I got a message from his teacher saying his bike was in the gym safe and sound :)

It's clear

2011-10-16T21:23:00.004-05:00

I think it's clear...

that these handsome lil' buggers...
get their good looks from their dad :)

Update

2011-10-14T20:15:00.006-05:00

Brenan had his 9 month appointment and is doing great. Tristan and I have the flu and are doing not so great, and Chad's feeling miserable too(but has been super helpful in spite of it) ! And a couple weeks ago I had parent teacher conference, and things have gotten a bit better with that (even though some things still drive me crazy, haha).

Fun :)

2011-09-30T22:17:00.003-05:00

I did my first maternity photo shoot the other day, and loved it! Check out the results here.

Thanks everyone for your advice and encouragement on my last post. It's really great to get others take on it.

I totally forgot to mention that Tristan "really" started preschool on Thursday. I say really because the first 3 weeks were at our house. Thursday was at a different house. He was pretty hesitant to go, but after much bribing I got him there. He had a good time. I get a kick out of hanging out with him during the day. Today he said, "Mom, since you've been a good boy, I'll let you play Candyland with me." I said, "Well, Devan, I'm not a boy, I'm a girl". Devan, "Oh, well, I just thought you'd been a boy... but you can still play with me." haha! He cracks me up. One last thing. How bad is it that I stack the candyland deck? Is it to bad that I make sure Princess Frosting is near the top of the deck? Some of our candyland games last FOREVER, and I find this helps both of us stay a bit more focused on the game. When I read him the little story that goes with the game it says "Isn't Princess Frostine Beautiful?" Tristan always gets a sheepish smile, blushes, and says "yeeeeh". Love him!

Today we went to costco, picked up a couple things, and had an easy cheap costco $1.50 hotdog and drink dinner. The boys love that. Then we went to the Dollar Tree. They actually had some really fun halloween stuff, so if you have one close by go check it out before it's all gone!

Gotta get it out.

2011-09-29T10:23:00.004-05:00

Devan has really enjoyed going to school, and there has only been one evening where he has said he didn't want to go. I on the other hand have had a hard time having him in school! There has been some things going on with his teacher that have made things difficult. I feel so protective over my kids and never want their feelings hurt, or self image damaged (like any parent I'm sure).

As I have said before, on Devan's 3rd day of school he got moved to a new classroom. His original teacher, Ms. Hill, was the last teacher hired, and because of budget cuts they had to move her to a different school. Devan was put in Ms. Montalvo's class.

My first day picking Devan up from his new class I asked Ms. Montalvo how he did. She threw her arms up in the air and said, "He is so distracted! He just can't focus..." and went on about it RIGHT in front of Devan, RIGHT in front of his peers, RIGHT in front of all the other teachers. I could feel myself burning up inside. What did they expect, they moved him around from class to class, he's brand new to the whole school experience, and a 5 year old BOY. Isn't it kind of a given that he would be a bit distracted after all of that? I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, she had just unexpectedly received a couple new kids in her class, and maybe she was just stressed.

2nd day rolls around... more negative comments, nothing positive, and again in front of everyone...

3rd day rolls around... more negative, no positive, in front of everyone. I asked her, "Can you give me specifics so I can talk to him about it better, and know what to work on. Her reply, "It's just in general." In my head, "Thanks, that's really helpful :( !!! But what I really said, "Well, can we sit down and talk about it." I emailed her and set up a time to meet.

The 2nd week of school I was already having a one on one with the teacher, sigh* The meeting had a bit of good and a bit of bad. She gave me a write up with what has been going on in class. I could relate with her on some of it. I taught in Devan's preschool co-op for 2 years, and know it can be difficult to get him to focus in a group setting. She had assessed Devan and said he was where he should be as far as his letters and numbers go. The letter started with Devan is a sweet child... Yay a positive! The rest of the letter, for the most part, was VERY negative. Some things that were added seemed to be just personal annoyances "He has a tendency to stomp in line"... really? Other things that got under my skin, "He cannot sit still". He cannot? I've seen him sit still many times, I'm pretty sure he can. She quotes Devan, "Yeah uh, huh, uh, huh" "uh huh, uh huh". Just a few things to give you a picture of the letter.

At one point in the meeting she said. I'm not a fan of medicating children but... I cut in, "I'm not a fan either."

There were some good suggestions and comments made through the meeting. We talked about having the school psychologist and speech therapist come in and observe (I haven't heard anything back about this). She agreed that Devan is a bright boy, but has a different learning style. He learns best through active hands on activities. She said he already has a good foundation to continue learning, and is where he should be. She also said he does good socially and gets along well with the other students. I told her I would talk to Devan's pediatrician about him focusing, and also continue with some focusing activities we do at home.

Something I have found interesting is the kids are grade on behavior everyday. Green=Excellent, Yellow=Satisfactory, Orange, and then Red. The majority of days he has gotten green, he's gotten a couple yellow, and 1 orange. Her grading has left me a bit confused. Every day I have asked how he's done, I've only gotten negative feedback, yet, the majority of the time he gets a "green" mark.

Last week was the first week for homework. I had to read her instructions about 10 times, because they were unclear to me.

"All homework should be completed in the homework spiral and kept in your child’s BEE binder at the very back of the notebook. I will check homework spirals every Friday.

Write your sight words 5 times each using rainbow writing. Write 5 “an” family words. For example: ran, can, man, etc.

Create an ABC pattern at home. You may draw shapes, use crayons, clippings, or any material you can find."

I understood it as complete the homework in the back of the homework spiral. What it really meant was the homework spiral is in the back of the binder. I had no idea what rainbow writing is. Does this mean we write in different colors...do we write in an arch like a rainbow... what the heck is rainbow writing? When I picked Devan up from school he said, "I got a red today...and a green". I had no idea what he was talking about so I asked Ms. Montalvo. Her response, "You're suppose to do the homework in the front of the spiral". Me, "oh, I thought the newsletter said the back". Her, "No, start at the front". When I opened his notebook there was a big red frown face and "NO HOMEWORK" written in large letters. It was then crossed out, with a new message. "Complete homework at the front of the notebook." So apparently Devan showed her that he had completed his work, it was just where we thought we were suppose to have it. He got a smile on his homework, although, it took me awhile to figure out what it was... a very messy smile. For being so critical of Devan being messy I would think she would be a bit more neat, haha. This also made me think, If I can't even understand her directions, maybe Devan is having a hard time understanding what she wants. Does she present things to him in a clear way?

A few nights back I was tucking Devan into bed. Out of nowhere, he started tearing up. He said, "Mom, I want to stay home with you forever. I don't want to go to school." And then the tears began to fall. My heart sank. I tried my best to put on a positive encouraging face. "Buddy, what's wrong, why don't you want to go to school". Devan, "I don't know how to do my homework". Me, "That's ok, I always help you with your homework" Devan, "No, I mean at school, the homework I do at school. I glued the picture in the wrong spot, and they said I can't redo it. I didn't know how to do it." He was so sad. It completely broke my heart. I told him as long as he focuses on the teacher when she gives instructions I'm sure she won't mind if you ask for help... he seemed hesitant. I said, "Devan, as long as you are doing your best, I'll always be proud of you. Sometimes we don't get things right the first time, but that means we just try harder the next time". I just wanted to stay and hug him until he fell asleep. I HATE HATE HATE, seeing my kids feelings hurt. I understand if Devan isn't focusing while directions are being given, it would be very frusrating for a teacher. I NEVER want him to feel like he can't ask questions though, and NEVER want him to be embarrassed or scared to ask. I really hope his teacher hasn't made him feel this way.

A couple weeks earlier he was what seemed to be talking in his sleep, but he was sitting up. He was saying "Mom...mom...I just cann't do it mom... I just can't do it." I said "It's ok, Devan, you just do your best." and he drifted back to sleep. It gave me the chills though, and left me wondering, if he was feeling to much pressure from me, school, or both.

Iwalani and Bruce came over Labor day weekend, and it was helpful talking to them about it. After talking to Iwalani she said how much Devan sounded like Chad at this age. For those of you who know my husband, you know what a great, smart guy he is, so her comments left me feeling better about things. Bruce read the letter from his teacher, and I can't remember his words, probably something like "sack of garbage" (haha Bruce if you're reading this, you know that is totally something you would say!) Whatever his words were he gave it no merit. I really appreciated their comments and suggestions. Chad has talked with his Dad as well, and gotten great feedback. My mom, poor lady, has had to listen to me go on about this nearly every time I talk to her! She has been so supportive and offered great advice. I'm SO lucky to have these people in my life. They are such wonderful parents, and grandparents!

Today I took Devan to his pediatrician to get her take on things. She said she rarely will diagnose kindergarteners with ADD or ADHD. Kids this age in general have a hard time focusing, so it makes it a difficult diagnoses. At the end of my meeting with her, and after discussing the situations above she said, "This isn't a problem with your child. This is a teacher problem." She said, "You need to be his advocate, and escalate things to a higher level if you need to!" She also mentioned how unprofessional and negative her letters were.

I have parent teacher conference next week, and am anxious to see how things are going (I've stopped asking after school, I got sick and tired off hearing all the negative, and don't think Devan needs to be hearing it either!) I'm sure if something is important to report back to me she'll let me know all about it.

In the meantime, we are continuing to help Devan on focusing. I've tried really hard to keep his evenings after school very structured. He has a chore chart, and checks off his chores every day after school. We then do homework, have free play time, eat dinner, and go to bed. He's done very well with his routine. I've tried some other things as well. He's started taking fish oil, and I make him a high protein breakfast in the morning (these are both suppose to help with focus.

He's such a sweet fun boy, and I LOVE his personality. His teacher might have a easier time if he was just like every other kid, and learned just like every other kid, but he doesn't, and I'm not going to put him on medication so he will. Like my husband said, "Who has an easy job? I want one of those!" I think some teachers need to remember why they chose to be teachers. If it's not to help children (and by help I don't mean medicating them, I mean sitting down and figuring out how they can learn the things they are teaching), maybe they should consider a new profession.

Well, that's it. If no one reads this, I'm not offended, haha, just had to get it all out there.

Lazy Blogger

2011-09-18T21:27:00.002-05:00

I've been a bit lazy on my blogging lately.

Devan started school a couple weeks ago and loves it. A lot of days he rides his bike to school and I push Tris and Brenan in the jogging stroller. We are super lucky to have the school so close to us!

Tristan started preschool 2 weeks ago. He loves it. I'm doing the preschool co-op with some other mom's. We have 6 kids all together, and they are all sweet and fun. I'm scheduled to teach the first 3 weeks and then will only have 2 weeks later in the year to teach. Not bad at all! It's actually quite fun.

Brenan has got 6 teeth in and is all over the place lately. He has such a fun loving personality. It is so easy getting smiles out of him.

We were happy to have Grandma Iwalani and Papa Bruce visit us over Labor Day weekend. The boys always have such a fun time when grandparents visit!

This is a summer picture, but I'm posting it now because I love it :)

As of lately...

2011-08-03T13:20:00.002-05:00

We've had some serious "chill" time since we've been back from vacation. We have managed to get out and do a couple fun things though...

One morning Devan came down from bed and asked if he could come cuddle with me. He patted my fat, and then said, "you just look so soft and cozy". Shortly after, to other cutie pies joined us.

Picnics in the back yard are always fun!

How about a bath in the kitchen sink? Brenan was so messy after eating it sounded like a good plan.

Off to the zoo...

Saturday is game day!

Taking a dip to cool off from this hot San Antonio summer.

Home Run!

I don't know where I'm running, but this is fun!

Some day I'll be out there playing too.

Am I just the cutest baby ever or what?

Do I really have to sit by the girl?

batter up!

And we even won a metal!

Idaho fun!

2011-07-17T12:16:00.001-05:00

Yeh, Idaho was pretty much awesome. We were super busy the whole time having a blast.
The first night we were there we had a hot dog roast, and uncle Brandon took the boys for a lift in his work truck. What a cool uncle!

It was great being with Grandma Sherry (the boys LOVE her!) and seeing Uncle Jess (we hadn't seen him since before his mission) Jess was so good to take the boys around on four wheeler rides and to feed the horses. They thought he was pretty dang cool.

Shout out to Aunt Bree... Even though she was VERY pregnant she took time to hang out with us before baby Claire was born. We had a blast with her kids, Grandma Sherry and G&G Jones at the splash park.

Aunt Laura invited us to do LOTS of fun things with her and her girls Grace and Olivia. We loved spending time with them. The girls even let Devan go for a spin on their 4-wheeler.

I had my 10 year class reunion while I was there and got to spend some fun time with two of my favorite people

The boys loved all of the fourth of July celebrations.

We also had a family reunion, and I got to see my cousin Marie, who I hadn't seen for years. Our kids got along great

Rigby lake was alot of fun, so much that we went a couple times!

We didn't expect to be seeing any of our Cox family in Idaho, but Papa Cox, just happened to be coming through and we got to meet up with him!

I don't have pictures of our trip to the ranch, but the boys LOVED it. We four wheeled, roasted smores, went on the paddleboat, hiked, and Uncle Jess shot a beaver!
It was awesome meeting this lil' gal (Claire)

We also spent a day at Riot Zone. The boys loved it!
I'm sure I'm leaving out alot of our fun adventures, but bottom line, it was an awesome trip. It was very bittersweet leaving. We love being back with Chad now, but are really missing fun times and wonderful family in Idaho. Here's a few more pictures from the trip.

K that was a long post, but how could I leave any of that out!

Graduation

2011-05-24T18:12:00.002-05:00

Devan had his preschool graduation today. After 2 long years of preschool, he has made it and is ready to move on to kindergarten! I love this boy :)

better not leave Tristan out...

or Brenan...

Hi...my name's Brenan

2011-05-03T00:36:00.002-05:00

Hi, my name's Brenan

I'm a 3 month old who gets mistaken for a 7 month old. All the ladies think I'm super cute. I like to eat and sleep and cuddle with my mom. I have gigantic thighs, and am very strong. I can flop over from my belly to back and back to belly.

My Mom loves me even though she never updates any posts about me, she would rather cuddle with me than edit and upload pictures...

See, she doesn't edit her pictures any more, not even the red demon eyes...

Good thing she married a handsome hunk who doesn't need photo editing...

Fire Station field trip

2011-04-21T14:38:00.002-05:00

Devan had a field trip to the Fire Station today. Tristan got to go as well, and they were both super excited. They just built a new one, so it was pretty cool to get a tour. It was REALLY nice! Seriously, I had thoughts about becoming a firewoman, just so I could hang out. Afterwards, we played at the park and ate lunches.

field trip and preschool pics

2011-04-17T08:39:00.004-05:00

For the past 2 years I've joined a group of mom's to teach preschool. At first I'll admit I joined because I didn't want to dish out the money for a preschool, but I am SO glad I did. It has been a lot of fun teaching a few weeks out of the year, and so helpful to see how Devan does in a learning setting and how he interacts with other kids. We took the kids on a field trip to the zoo a couple weeks ago. It was pretty crazy with all the kids (even though we had a lot of parents). It was a lot of fun though and the kids especially enjoyed it. This past week was my turn to teach. I thought it would be fun to make a little yearbook for the kids graduation, so we took our very first school pictures. Devan was not wanting to smile in his picture, but he still looks pretty dang cute.

This next week is Devan's "kinder round up", so we will be heading to the "big kids school" to register him for preschool. There have been moments I've been sad about Devan starting preschool, but right now I'm pretty excited about it, and so is he. I experiencing all these new stages with him. He told me today, "When I get home from kindergarten, you'll need to give me a kiss before I go to bed." haha, love this boy.

And just for fun, a pic of all my boys...

and one of Tris

April Fool's

2011-04-04T16:29:00.004-05:00

We had a fun little April Fool's dinner for the boys and my friend Michelle's family.

The kids were quite excited when I told them we would be having cake for dinner. When I put it on the table I heard, "ooooo... cake, yum". What they didn't know was that this special cake had cheese instead of frosting and was filled with pepperoni, sausage, cheese, and pizza sauce. They also had a special drink, that looked quite yummy, but when they went to drink it, it stayed in the cup. This was jello :) My friend's little girl had the cup tipped clear over and said, "It's not working!"

These are Michelle's delicious "Moldy rolls".... yum!

Since we had cake for dinner, I thought we better get some protein and veggies in for dessert, so we had peas and carrots with butter (taffy rolled into peas and carrots, and melted white chocolate for the butter). The chicken nuggets were sugar waffers covered in peanut butter and crushed cornflakes. And the "Ketchup" was strawberry jelly.

It was fun watching the kids discover the food wasn't quite what it seemed.

St. Patty's Day 2011

2011-03-17T10:04:00.004-05:00

This morning when making breakfast, we discovered those tricky leprechauns had turned our eggs green! The boys enjoyed eating their gold and green shamrock eggs. After breakfast Devan asked, "where are the leprechauns hiding mom?" So I the boys out back to find them. They didn't find any leprechauns, but they did find some treasure that had been left behind :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

What's St. Patrick's Day?

Devan- Leprechauns come to our houses and like give us new bikes. And they tip toe. That would be nice of them.

Tristan- We get some like money to people and buy a toy or something, like some of this money, the Leprechauns give us

What do we do on St. Patrick's Day?

Devan- We wear green and look for a treasure chest.

Tristan- We feed our fish, or like wear green shirts, like I wear a green shirt like you

What is a Leprechaun?

Devan-It's something that tries to eat us.... Leprechauns don't eat people... I don't like stepping on Leprechauns.

Tristan- I don't know what he doooos

Tristan turns 3

2011-03-15T10:50:00.003-05:00

We didn't do to much for Tristan's birthday since he had a party the day before and it was on a Sunday, and the same day as Brenan's birthday. He did open a couple of gifts from Chad and I though, and Chad got him a yummy cake!

Tristan's 3 year old survey

What is your favorite color? a train, actually an airplane
What is your favorite food? oatmeal
Favorite animal? elephant and a giraffe... some elephants not nice mom
What is your favorite TV show? probably mickey mouse clubhouse
What kind of music do you like? cars
What are you really good at? playing at the park by the houses
What are you not so good at? breaking my toys

Who are your best friends? My friend Dev
What is the best thing about having a brother? I like Devan to be happy with me and not say potty talk mom
How are you different from brother? sometimes I like to bring a lunch bag to my house
What do you want to do when you grow up? eat icecream and cake
If you had a lot of money, what do you think you would buy? a toy, a train
What is the best thing about your mom? I don't even know yet
What is the best thing about your dad? I don't even know yet either
Tell me something that is really funny... A book in a puzzle
What is your favorite thing to wear? My gap shirt
What does love mean? I don't even know
What does it mean to be a good friend? I don't even know yet either

If you could fly somewhere where would you go? to target

Brenan's Blessing

2011-03-15T10:35:00.003-05:00

Sunday Brenan was blessed. It was nice that we had family here to share the special day with us.

Birthday Party 2011

2011-03-15T09:15:00.003-05:00

I've combined the boys birthday parties every year, 2009 was Thomas the tank engine, 2010 was pirates, and this year was a medieval knight theme. We had it at a park this year and it was a lot of fun. Iwalani and Bruce were able to be here as well which made it pretty special for the boys ( the extra help was awesome too!)

The kids went on a knights quest.

(Bruce Reading the quest from the King)

First they found a horse and trained it (They made stick horses and rode them around the track)

Next they had a jousting tournament ( I had balloon targets with faces on them that they jabbed with pool noodles

After that they defeated the Giant (Bruce was a good sport and took on the part of the giant, the kids threw balloon boulders at him and fought him with their pool noodles)

And last their last step in the quest was to slay the dragon. (I had a dragon pinata for this)

Their reward for the quest was the dragon's treasure.

(Amanda showing off her dragon treasure)

After that the kids had lunchables and we sang and had birthday cake. The boys got alot of fun new gifts as well.

I was pretty happy how everything turned out. The weather was beautiful, all the parents were super helpful, and best of all the boys (and hopefully all the other kids had a great time!)

Devan turns 5

2011-03-09T15:41:00.006-06:00

Devan's birthday was a lot of fun. We all woke up early so he could open presents before dad went to work. He got a batman cave (that he's wanted since before Christmas), and a batman lego game for the wii (that he LOVES, and is quite good at). For breakfast he had German pancakes, with strawberries and whip cream. He went to preschool in the morning and brought cake pops to share with his friends. Before picking him up I loaded up the boys bikes and we went for a bike ride at the park and played on the toys. I let Devan pick the next activity and he chose to go to the zoo to see the snakes. Both boys were exhausted by the time we finished at the zoo and pretty much passed out with in minutes of leaving the zoo. We had Devan's favorite for dinner, Big Shrimp, and he also requested to have mango. Later in the evening we sang to him and had a spiderman cake. It was a wonderful day and I can't believe my little guy is not so little anymore. 5 seems so grown up!

A little bit about Devan...

Here is Devan's 5 year old survey

What is your favorite color? Black and red and brown
What is your favorite food? Shrimp and Fish
Favorite animal? Dinosaurs
What is your favorite TV show? Batman
What kind of music do you like? some fun and silly music
What are you really good at? playing games like batman and star wars
What are you not so good at? at reading stuff cuz I'm tired at night time
Who are your best friends? Abby and Stewart and Alexander
What is your favorite thing to do at school? I like learning and playing games
What is the best thing about having a brother? going to the zoo and seeing the snakes
How are you different from brother? probably I'm kind of inceptive
What do you want to do when you grow up? I want to cook some food in me from my kitchen for me to eat and for you to eat cause food can strengthen our bodies
If you had a lot of money, what do you think you would buy? nothing, I can just buy toys with Tristan when he's being good
What is the best thing about your mom? playing games with you
What is the best thing about your dad? I like playing games with him
Tell me something that is really funny... Making silly faces is funny, well, I don't like being funny
What is your favorite thing to wear? My skateboard shirt
What does love mean? That means I like eachother and being nice, but not being mean
What does it mean to be a good friend? being nice to eachother and playing with eachother

If you could fly somewhere where would you go? To India with Dad

I built a little patio in our back yard over the past couple of days. It was a fun project and it will be fun to expand it when I get another "project craving"

Some things I want to remember

2011-03-02T09:29:00.002-06:00

If it were up to Tristan the people he loves would never leave his side.

When we leave to take Devan to preschool Tristan says, "I miss you Devan, I'm gonna really miss you".

Almost on a daily basis, "Mom, I really miss Grandma Sherry".

When Daddy was gone to Idaho, departing the airport... "I really miss daddy" 1 minute later "Mom.... I really miss dad" 5 minutes later "When's daddy coming home, I really miss dad" and it continued like this the next 5 days :) When I told the boys I was going to have a babysitter watch them for a couple hours "I miss you mom" me, "I'm not gone yet Tristan" Tristan, "I know, but I miss you mom". When we took our awesome babysitter home, "Aubrey...Aubrey...AUBREY....I gonna miss you Aubrey.

Devan said to me the other day, "Mom, when it's night and it's dark, and you get scared, you can come in my bed and sleep by me."

1 month!!

2011-02-11T15:06:00.008-06:00

Well, sorry I've been so lame and never update the blog. I do have a couple excuses though...

#1 Life is pretty darn busy with 3 boys!

#2 My computer died :'-(

#3 I usually only have 1 hand available while at the computer (the other is occupied with my sweet lil' one), which makes typing not so fun

#4 Life is pretty darn busy with 3 boys... did I already say that?

So I know I am totally lame, but I will try to make it up by posting a sweet pic. of Brenan...

Wowza! Brenan is 1 month today. Time sure flies when your changing a gazzillion diapers, er oops, I mean when your having fun.

So here is an update on the fun we've been having...

Like I said in the last post, Brenan was born on 1/11/11 (pretty cool eh?) at 11:20. The day before I had gone to the doctor and she said I was far enough along that I could be induced that night if I wanted to! I told her I'd better clean my house up a bit first, so we scheduled it for 5 am the next morning. By the time I got settled in at the hospital I was already dilated to a 6, so they didn't have to give me pitocin. I did however have an epidural this time, and oh my goodness gracious, when that kicked in I heard choirs of Angels singing. What the heck was I thinking opting out of it with my first two kids??!! I'm so glad I got it, because this lil' Bruiser was a whopping 9lbs. 6oz. Labor quick, and both Brenan and I were/are as healthy as can be. Looking back and remembering my feelings when I first got to hold him, I just couldn't stop thinking about how blessed I am. 3 beautiful boys, wonderful husband, awesome friends helping me, awesome family calling and thinking about me... it was a great feeling.

The first week at home seemed like a pretty easy adjustment. I was healing quickly, Chad had the week off and was super helpful, the boys were behaving pretty well, and lots of awesome friends brought us meals. The 2nd and 3rd weeks were awesome because my mom came in from Idaho. She was so helpful, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and entertaining the boys. I couldn't believe all she did. On her last day here me, her, and Brenan made a trip to Austin and went to Ikea. It was so fun to get out of the house. I had never been to Ikea before, and I will definately be going back :) We were super sad to have my mom leave. The boys have mentioned a number of times how they've missed her.

The week after my mom left kind of stunk. For 1, my mom was gone... bummer. For 2, it got cold as all heck! We had a snow day in San Antonio!! It was cool for my boys to see snow though, and Chad got to work from home so that was cool too.

Because it was so stinking cold, the boys couldn't go out much, making it kind of hard to entertain them. And then to make it worse they got sick :-( Today things are looking better. The sun is shining again, and I'm not hearing many coughs, yay!

My awesome husband gets to go to Idaho in a couple weeks to recruit people for his work. I'm glad he gets to go, but obviously a little envious too! I hope he'll get a little fun time and relaxation in while he is there. He is seriously amazing and has been working his buns off this last while, not just with his own work, but picking up on all the things I can't quite keep up with lately. I'm pretty lucky to have such a great guy :)

Oh and I forgot to mention, about my boys...

Devan and Tristan have been AWESOME with Brenan. I'm so happy there haven't been any problems, with jealousy, and such. They have just been super sweet to him since the day they met him. So although they can be lil' stinkers and not listen to a word I say... They are sweet to their bro, and I like that :)

So in a nutshell, that's our lives lately.

a very "natural" family picture

one last one of the lil' monkey

Introducing...

2011-01-13T20:19:00.002-06:00

Brenan Edward Cox
Born 1.11.11 @ 11:20
Weight 9 lb 6 oz
Height 20.5 in

More Pictures and details to come :)

2010-12-29T23:23:00.002-06:00

Our poor neighbor has about a gazillion dandelions growing in his front yard. I'm sorry to say, it's probably from my boys blowing on these every chance they get. I have a tough time not letting them though when I hear them make wishes like, "I wish that mom will be my best friend forever". Love my boys :)

2010-12-28T23:49:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we put the bunk bed together (see story below). Devan and I started on it, while Chad kept Tristan from driving me crazy. Lately Devan has liked using big words. It's really cute because sometimes he knows the meaning and uses it in the right context, and others he doesn't. As we put things together, he said, "Santa making a mess in my room makes me feel so inceptive". I asked him where he got that word from and he said, "from me" (as in, he learned it from himself). Then I felt a little foolish as I typed "define inceptive" into my iphone.

2010-12-25T22:28:00.006-06:00

After a fun Christmas Eve with some friends we headed home and got the kids to bed. I figured we would be up super late because we had got the boys bikes and bunk beds that needed to be set up. While Chad brought the bunk bed upstairs piece by piece (it was SUPER heavy!!), I put the bikes together, and then we both headed up to get the bed put together. Well, we got all the pieces sorted out, and then realized they didn't put the instruction manual in! So we tried to find one online for about an hour and it was no existent. We finally decided to print off a picture of the bunk bed and tell the boys Santa forgot the instructions, but he would get it to us by Monday. I was SO disappointed because this was the only thing Devan really wanted. When we had talked about presents before he told me he really wanted a bunk bed. I told him if he got one, Santa probably wouldn't be able to get him very many toys. His reply was, "That's ok, I have enough toys." That coming out of a 4 year old boys mouth affirmed to me that a bunk bed was the way to go this year! So we ended up leaving all the wood pieces out in the bedroom (the boys slept in the guest room) because there was no way we were hauling them around again.

I woke up at about 6 today to anxious to go back to sleep. Devan was the next one up. When he saw me, he said, "Is it Christmas??!!" I told him yes and he got pretty excited. I didn't realize he was headed for his room to change out of his p.j.'s until I heard, "HOLY MOLY, Santa left a MESS in my room! Mom... Santa left me a bunch of wood to make a bunk bed!" HAHA! I could not keep from cracking up. I love that boy. I was so happy to see he was still super excited about the bed.

Awhile later Chad and Tristan woke up and the boys made it downstairs to find their stockings, bikes, and other presents. I just love Christmas with kids. It was so much fun watching them get excited over everything.

After gifts we had breakfast, nothing to fancy, but definitely more than I've done for breakfast in about the last year I'm sure, hehe. The boys enjoyed playing with their new toys while I prepped things for our dinner. When I finally got that all out of the way, Chad and I took the boys out on their new bikes. Devan especially enjoyed his. It was pretty cool out (for San Antonio), so Tristan didn't last to long, but Devan and I made a loop around our neighborhood. I had a hard time keeping up with Dev. My waddle is definitely getting slower! (Speaking of... only 2 1/2 more weeks to go!!)

Dinner was a success. I made prime rib for the first time, twice baked potatoes, cucumber/tomato/mozzarella salad, fresh fruit and dip, rosemary garlic bread, and Sparkling Cider. I think we'll definitely be making prime rib a tradition! We have left overs galore, and I'm so glad I won't be cooking again for a couple days. It was fun and all, but I'm all cooked out. I made an apple pie for dessert as well, but everyone went to bed before it cooled. I could have been nice and waited until tomorrow for everyone to have a piece together, but nope, I am eating it as I write this post :)

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Here's a couple pictures from this holiday season...
This is Devan's new camera look, AKA "Blue Steel"

Daddy and Tris
The boys... and some more "blue steel"
handsome Tristan
K Dev, enough with the Blue Steel!
Christmas Eve pajama's
Anyone want some gingerbread??
Gingerbread men

2010-12-22T22:46:00.002-06:00

The boys got these really cute stuffed animals as an early Christmas present from Grandma. They have both been keeping them close since they opened them. Tristan was laying by the monkey and needed a diaper change. I started changing him and he got a very serious look on his face and said, "He's not giving me my privacy". At first I thought Devan must be around, and then I realized he was talking about the monkey, who was looking right at him. I told him to turn the monkey the other way. He faced him in the opposite direction and felt much better about the rest of his diaper change. hehe. Silly boy.

Chad's Home!

2010-11-22T08:56:00.006-06:00

Chad made it home! It's been so nice to have him back. He got home Thursday evening and has been transitioning from the 12 hour time change. The boys have loved having their Dad back. I had forgot what it was like to be able to sleep in on Sunday, and have extra help getting the boys ready. He spoiled us all with treats from Singapore, Tokyo, and India, and lots of other neat things. Trains, puzzles, books, and traditional Indian clothes for the boys. Shoes, a shawl, jewelry box, and bangles for me. I figured he would have spoiled himself as well, but he only bought 1 shirt. He took a lot of neat pictures, and we've enjoyed seeing and hearing about the culture in India.

Chad's friends
Work Building
Forgot what these are called, but a lot of people drive them around
Some houses
Some old technology mixed in with the new
Sites
Crowded bus ride
What a cute girl! And I love how traditional Grandma looks

Lots of people get around on motorbikes
The hotel

Visitors

2010-11-15T11:24:00.002-06:00

Grandma Iwalani and Papa Bruce came to visit over the weekend. It was a great visit and the boys were digging all the extra attention. We went to the zoo and train ride, to the park (while mom got a much needed haircut), out to ice cream, Devan's football game, out to dinner, played lots of games of hide and seek with grandpa, put together lots of puzzles, and made homemade ice cream. It was so nice having all the extra help. I felt like I had a live in maid over the weekend. The boys were so sad to see them leave to the airport. When it was time to leave the house Devan asked them why they couldn't live in Texas forever. And after lots of "goodbye's" and "love you grandma and grandpa" we dropped them off at the airport. The boys had the most heartbreaking looks on their faces, and as I pulled the car away, Devan said in a sad whisper, "I love you too grandma and grandpa". It broke my heart! What lucky boys to have such great grandparents though.

Lackland Airshow 2010

2010-11-09T23:59:00.006-06:00

Kudos to my friend Michelle for introducing us to the Lackland Airshow, it was awesome. Every year Lackland Airforce Base puts on this airshow. My boys LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Days later, Devan is still talking about the airshow and asking when we can go to it next. Oh and did I mention, it was free! When Devan talks about it, he reminisces about how the planes flew right over his head, how loud they were, and how he got his very own airplane to take home. Not only were there planes to watch in the air, but they also had lots of planes and helicopters on the ground to look at and tour. There were many booths with food and souvenirs set up. All of the airmen and women helping out there were so nice to the boys and seemed to really enjoy making them happy. I sure do appreciate these people and the service they give to our country. One of the things I really liked about the airshow was the sense of patriotism and pride it made me feel for this country. God Bless the USA :)

There were so many neat planes displayed
Devan piloting a helicopter
"Spooky" A plane flown in Vietnam. The boys got to go in and tour this plane. They thought it was pretty neat.
Devan loves "Airwolves" AKA helicopters
Tristan was hypnotized by this. It caught his eye and he just walked up and stared at it for awhile.
Devan in another helicopter, trying out the machine gun.
Tora! Tora! Tora! Pearl Harbor reenactment. This was really neat. They had fires going off on the ground and lots of planes and smoke!

What boy wouldn't love this?
Or this?

As we were leaving, this plane was doing some cool tricks. To bad I can't capture the motion, but he was twisting, flipping, and stopping in mid air.

Interesting

2010-11-08T09:21:00.003-06:00

The other day my neighbor told me my boys are always dressed "interesting". What would make her say such a thing???

Anyhow... an update on our sick bug. It has now passed through all of us. I caught the last of it Saturday night. My boys must be a lot tougher than me because they handled it SO much better than I did. I was totally miserable. Luckily I was feeling quite a bit better by Sunday evening, and today I'm feeling almost back to normal other than this head cold. I can deal with that though.

Saturday morning we went to an airshow that was totally awesome. The boys loved it. I'll make a post about it soon!

Good News!

2010-11-06T15:40:00.001-05:00

Tristan is so much better today!! It was a nasty bug, but at least it has a short life!

Bummer

2010-11-06T01:02:00.002-05:00

We've got a bug going through our house.

Saturday the boys both got bad colds, and Sunday we missed church because of their snotty noses. They got over the colds pretty quick, but Wednesday evening Devan got a stomach bug and was throwing up like crazy. The poor kid couldn't even hold down water. I thought it was food poisoning because we had ate lunch out that day and there was no fever with it. Thursday he was back to his normal self. He was perfectly fine all day so by this time I was about positive it was food poisoning. Thursday/Friday I woke up through the night and could feel a sore throat coming on. I felt better after a hot bath Friday morning. Friday afternoon I could tell I was getting a BAD cold. Friday night I put Tristan down to bed and he said his tummy hurt. About an hour later when I was checking on him he started throwing up (guess it wasn't food poisoning with Devan after all). I'm really really really hoping I don't get this stomach bug. The cold/sore throat I can handle, it stinks, but I can deal with it. I don't know how I'll be able to take care of the boys and myself if I get the flu though :-( Crossing my fingers and saying my prayers!

As much as I hate seeing my boys sick. They are so sweet when they are sick!

Devan after throwing up... "I'm so sorry Mom" Me, "It's ok Dev, I'll never be mad at you for being sick, I'm sorry you're sick" Dev "It's ok Mom" Later I told him to try to make it into the bathroom if he threw up again. Dev "Mom, I did it in the bathroom because I'm a BIG boy now!" Me "Can I get you anything Devan?" Dev, "Can you get me some medicine" Me, "What kind of medicine" Devan, "The kind that makes me not throw up anymore" (Me wanting to cry, because I don't have the only thing he wants) After taking care of Devan and cuddling with him, Dev, "You're the very best Mom EVER"

Tristan after getting him cleaned up and into bed, "Will you sing to me mom" Me, "What do you want me to sing?" Tristan, "lead me guide me walk beside me" After singing it once, Tristan, "Will you sing Lead me guide me walk beside me again?" I sang again and then he said, "Will you sing another song" Me, "What song do you want now" Tristan, "One about Jesus".

I don't give justice at all to the cuteness and sweetness of my boys, but they really are sweet. I love those two so much.

Halloween

2010-10-30T22:38:00.004-05:00

I would have posted a picture of me in my Halloween costume, but unfortunately, I won't be dressing up this year. When I asked my boys if I should dress up for Halloween, they both laughed at me, and Tristan informed me, "You're to old."

While Chad's been out...

2010-10-29T23:18:00.002-05:00

We've tried to stay busy this last week with...
(in no particular order)
Football games,
Parks,
Preschool,
Playdates,
Playgroups,
Library,
Pumpkin Painting,
Table Painting,
Doctor Appointments,
Walks,
Shopping,
House Projects,
Trunk or Treat,
making cookies,
staying up late,
sleeping in late,
and taking lots of long naps.

I can't believe a week has already gone by since Chad has left. It's really helped keeping busy. Although, we still miss him! One night Tristan woke up crying for his dad, and Devan has mentioned a number of times that he misses him. They have done pretty well though, and I'm not as crazy as I thought I would be at this point. We hear from Chad usually a couple of times a day and it helps to be able to talk with him. It sounds like he's really enjoying the experience of being in such a different place.

Devan's football game went well last week. It was strange for us to go to church without Chad on Sunday, and a little lonely at dinner time. I had planned to barbque on the grill Sunday in his honor (a Sunday tradition he has started), but the matchless charcoal wouldn't light! So I broiled chicken instead (and it turned out pretty dang good!)

We've filled our time with the usual weekly things like preschool (which I'll be teaching for the next two weeks), trips to the library and park, walks, and playgroup. Wednesday we had a special playgroup and I brought things for painting pumpkins. We all brought healthy halloween snacks to share, knowing that our kids would get PLENTY of treats later in the week. We've met a few more of our neighbors over the past couple of weeks and the kids played together a couple of different days. Devan really enjoys spending time with one of the boys his age, and before we went to bed one night he told me, "I love Alexander, he's a really nice boy." It's nice for him to meet more boys, it seems like all of my friends have little girls. There is only one other boy in his church class (and he is VERY shy), and he is the only boy in his preschool group! Tristan had a friend over today, and had a lot of fun.

One day while we were at home I covered the table with butcher paper and gave the boys plates full of finger paints. They had a blast smearing paint all over the table. I'm glad I remembered to take off their shirts before they started because it was quite the mess!

I've had a few late nights getting some projects in the house done. Awhile ago I framed the mirror in our downstairs bathroom, and this week I finally painted the cabinets to match. It looks a lot better! I also painted the baseboards. I painted the guest room, which is now actually the boys bedroom. I'm going to be decorating it soon too! I painted a desk that I had painted awhile back, but it always looked blotchy to me and drove me crazy. AND I fixed my oven!!! I'm quite proud of the last one. I ordered one part awhile ago and installed it and it got part of it working again, but "bake" still wasn't working, so I ordered another part and by golly it works now. So after I fixed the oven of course I had to bake some cookies, and I've been eating WAY to many. That's what happens when you deprive yourself of homemade cookies for so long I guess.

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment and everything looked good. I had to take that icky glucouse test though... I HATE those drinks. As much as I hate needles, I'm getting pretty use to having my blood drawn and shots.

Tonight was our ward Trunk or Treat. They always make it alot of fun, and my boys had a blast. Devan dressed as "a knight in shining armor" and Tristan dressed as an "astronaut". They both picked out their costumes themselves and have been super excited to wear them. I really enjoy Halloween and it was alot of fun seeing the boys have so much fun. The part I don't like so much however is ALL the candy. Devan does pretty good about it, but Tristan turns into a little monster with it. Last year we gave Devan the option of leaving his candy out for the candy fairy and in return, the fairy would give him money for a new toy. He decided that was a pretty good idea. I think we'll try that again this year. Hopefully Tristan will agree to it.

Tomorrow I have Super Saturday at the church, and luckily they will have a nursery there so I'll be able to go. After that we have Devan's football game. And I'm trying to decide if I'm up for taking the boys to "Boo at the Zoo". I guess we'll see how tired we are by that point.

It seems like every day we've worn ourselves out. Luckily the boys have been good about taking naps with me. It's been fun having some late nights with them and sleeping in. And I feel pretty darn lucky that they have been sleeping in!

So now we've got over a week down, and only 3 left to go. I think we can do this! Oh and I have some help coming in on November 10th. Chad's Mom and Stepdad will be here. We're looking forward to the company :)

2010-10-22T13:43:00.003-05:00

Our little kitty died yesterday. I was so sad. It was doing so well, and getting a nice big belly. I thought it was going to make it for sure. Wednesday night she wasn't eating very well and I thought it was just because she had ate a lot earlier. Thursday morning she didn't have much of an appetite either. We took Chad to the airport around noon and when we got home the poor little thing was having a really hard time breathing. I picked her up and she was really weak and wouldn't eat at all. I held on to her for awhile not really knowing what to do and she died soon after in my hands. I felt awful.

I didn't know what to tell the boys, especially Devan, because he was so excited to have a pet. I considered telling him it's mom came and got her, but then I thought I better just tell him the truth. He was pretty sad. A few days earlier when I was considering whether or not we would keep the cat, I had asked Devan if he would feel ok about giving the cat to someone who had other cat's so she wouldn't be lonely and we could get a fish instead. He had agreed to this and so when he asked if we could get a pet fish last night, I couldn't turn him down.

Today we went to the pet store and picked out a fish for Devan (named spiderman) and a fish for Tristan (named Ponyo). They've enjoyed watching them and feeding them.

Oh and my boys are kind of obsessed with wearing hats

Sucker

2010-10-16T22:50:00.002-05:00

Yep, I'm a sucker...

It all happened yesterday when I heard a knock on the door. My neighbors were out of town for the weekend and his mom had come to check on his house. When she checked on it she heard crying in the backyard, so she went to see what it was. It was a tiny kitten that "she couldn't bring home because she has 2 dogs". I made the mistake of going back to look at it with her. It was just so tiny and helpless I couldn't help myself. I mean, the poor thing still had it's umbilical cord in! So... to keep a long story short, I brought it home with me.

I'm now waking up every 4 hours in the night to feed it, it's $16 a can kitty formula, out of it's kitty bottle. Did I mention how I've never really ever cared much for cats. Sooooo....

I've got a dilemma now. The lady at the pet store told me it was a 50/50 chance it would even survive being this young without it's mom. The longer I help it survive, the more I get attached to the dang thing. And then there is Devan. He tells EVERYONE, how we have a new pet now, and how it's going to grow SO big. And he asks me, "Do we get to keep it forever?" How the heck do I say no to that.

But then I think... I REALLY don't want a house pet. Maybe, if we had hardwood floors, but the thought of cat hair everywhere creeps me out. So I think of it as an outdoor pet, and then I think of all the crap I'd have to clean up off of the lawn, ugh, and who knows what kind of gross stuff it would get into.

And then I go back to thinking about Devan, and how excited he is to finally have a pet, and I end up keeping the kitty for another day because I can't figure out how to tell him without breaking his heart :-( What to do, what to do...

TOUCHDOWN!

2010-09-25T15:32:00.003-05:00

Devan made his first touchdown today! He played 100X better than last week and pulled more flags than any of his teammates. I was a proud mama. We're now off to Sea World for Chad's work celebration. They were named the #1 IT company to work for by a popular computer magazine, so they are treating everyone to dinner and Sea World. Busy Fun Day :)

Here's some pictures of Tristan being a cheeseball. Chad got him a trick or treat bucket that he asks to take everywhere with him. And the hat he got from the dollar store.

football 2010

2010-09-18T15:50:00.005-05:00

Devan had his first game today. It was quite entertaining watching a team of 3 & 4 year olds run (or forget to run) the ball around. Even though they didn't all know quite what to do, it looked like they all had a great time. Chad is the assistant coach and it's fun to have him be involved with the team. Here's a few pictures from the 1st game.

Devan's turn to run the ball.
Waiting for the play.
Tristan showing off his new boots
Devan looking good in his jersey.

water fun

2010-08-17T09:50:00.003-05:00

We've spent most of the last week recovering from our trip, but we've still found time for some water fun. Chad's work is having a pinewood derby competition that he entered into. While he was cutting out the boys car, he let them go in the sprinkler with their clothes. Dad's are great for that sort of thing, I would have made them go in and change into swimming suits :) Since our vaca, we've been trying to do what we can to beat this Texas heat. Trips to the pool, sprinklers, pretty much anything to do with water is perfect.

Engagement photoshoot

2010-07-13T16:29:00.012-05:00

K, who knows when I'll get my stinkin' photo blog up, so here's some pictures from the shoot I did Saturday. There were way to many cute ones to post them all, but here's a little preview.

It's a...

2010-07-13T14:24:00.005-05:00

BOY! I was at my doctor's appointment yesterday and I had an ultrasound to check the baby's measurements. The doctor said, well, we usually can't tell the gender for sure at 14 weeks but lets look. Yeh, she didn't even have to say anything, it was pretty dang obvious the baby is a boy :) I'm way excited. We are going to have one crazy house! When we told the boys Devan said, "But I wanted a baby sister". It's probably my fault, I think I had them pretty convinced they were getting a little sister, hehe. We are going to move they "big boys" into the guest room, and let the baby have their old room. I'm excited to re-decorate the guest room for Devan and Tristan (any ideas) And don't worry people, even though our bedrooms will be all occupied come January, we are still taking visitors! We decided we'll just have to have the boys sleep on the pull out couch, so no worries (I bet they'd love it anyway!)

So that's our latest news, but in other news, we FINALLY had a family picture taken! My friend just got a new camera and I think she did a great job. I'll be taking her families pictures this weekend. I'm all about swaps :) And speaking of taking pictures, I did my first engagement photo shoot last weekend. I thought they turned out pretty good (it helped that they were a gorgeous couple). So hopefully I'll get my photography blog up and running so you can all take a look!

Even with the boys acting like this (above picture) the whole time, Michelle still got some good ones!

Surprise Surprise!

2010-06-28T12:23:00.002-05:00

I'm preggers!! I can officially tell everyone now because I finally went to the doctor's and it's official. I'm 12 weeks along now (almost done with the first trimester, woohoo!), and the doctor said everything looks great. The boys have been really cute about it. When I asked them if they wanted a brother or sister, they both said a baby sister (gosh, I've raised them well, haha) So, I'm kind of hoping for a girl this time around, but of course, I'd be happy either way.

Devan asked where the baby was and I told him in my belly. He said, "spit it out mom!" Silly kid. So I had to explain to him that the baby had to grow first. Luckily he didn't ask anymore questions about it. He asks if he can touch the baby (by touching my belly) and if he can give it kisses. I asked both boys what they would like to name the baby, Devan thought about it and said, "hmmmmm... how about Uncle Jake." haha, so if I have a baby girl named Jake, you'll know why.

We are pretty darn excited about it. I found out on Mother's Day, and it was the perfect gift. The day after my birthday was my first doctor's appointment and I got the perfect birthday gift by finding out the baby is healthy. It made everything alot more real being able have the ultra sound and seeing the baby moving around. "She" was so active moving all over the place. I love the technology we have today, it was so neat being able to see details like the babies little toes!

I've been pretty lucky and have felt pretty well. I'll definitely have days I don't feel as well, and am more tired than usual, but other than that I'm doing great. I just can't wait to officially meet this sweet little thing!

Visitors, Sea World, and Crafts

2010-06-26T19:10:00.004-05:00

We had a fun weekend with some fun visitors. Bree, Avri, and Emery came down on Thursday and left today. Thursday evening we stayed around the house and let the kids play together. Friday we had a fun filled day at Sea World. By the time we were done there, everyone was exhausted, but we had a great time. That evening Bree and I got some fun craft items to make this. We have loved having some family in Texas (even though we're still 4 hours away). It's really a treat every time the come down!

2010-06-20T20:05:00.003-05:00

Happy Father's day to Chad. He is an awesome daddy to our boys. They light up whenever he gets home. He is a wonderful teacher to them and a great example. He works so hard to provide for his family (even if it means logging on to work on Father's Day). He is the absolute best!

Happy Father's day to my Dad. Whenever people tell me about my dad there's always a great sense of respect and admiration for him. I feel very proud to be his daughter.

Happy Father's day to my Grandpa Jones who has been an awesome fatherly figure to me my whole life.

Happy Father's day to my Grandpa Doyle who has taught me the value of hard work.

Happy Father's day to my Father-in-law Ed, without him who knows how we would have gotten through our college days. He's always done whatever he can for us.

Happy Father's day to my Father-in-law Bruce, who always has a listening ear and offers fabulous advice.

I'm pretty dang lucky to have all of the wonderful men in my life, and I'm SO glad my boys also have them as examples to look up to. Thanks to all of you for making our lives even more wonderful!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Sweet boy

2010-06-14T10:21:00.003-05:00

I took a nap with Devan on Sunday and woke up to him telling me, "I love you so much, do you know I'll always take care of you." That's my sweet Devan.

Danger Zone

2010-05-19T14:19:00.003-05:00

Devan has a talent show coming up in primary. I thought he might freeze up on stage so I chose the option to show a video of him. So here are a few of Devan's many talents... singing, swimming, doing crazy moves, jumping, running, and riding his scooter.

Catching some rays

2010-05-03T14:47:00.004-05:00

We took the boys swimming for the first time this summer.

And I gave my flip flops a makeover :-)

Family Fun Day

2010-05-02T15:25:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we went to USAA Springfest. It's a yearly celebration USAA throws for their employees and families. They had lots of food, bouncing castles, climbing walls, pictures, live music, and even a fireworks show. The coolest thing for the boys though was the huge helicopter and firetrucks. They let the kids sit in them and "drive". This totally made Devan's day.

Aren't the grounds their beautiful? They always keep them looking so nice.
Devan by the hummer fire truck. Id didn't get a picture of him by the big one. And what's with the face he's pulling here? Silly boy.
Devan was in heaven sitting in the helicopter.
Dev and Daddy
Daddy and the boys Love this picture :)

Bitter Sweet

2010-04-21T22:36:00.004-05:00

Today I said goodbye to these 3 sweet little faces.

I've been in Seattle the past 5 days helping my sister in law recover from surgery. It was great seeing family. Saying goodbye however was pretty bittersweet. I miss my own boys like crazy, but am so sad to leave my other family!

Missing these sweet faces...

2010-04-14T11:40:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend. James, Bree, and their beautiful girls Avri, and Emery stayed with us for a few days on their way to Houston. Saturday we went out for some Texas Bar"b"que, Sunday we went to church and then spent some time downtown at the Alamo, and the Riverwalk, and Monday the kids played in the backyard before they had to leave. This was my first time meeting Emery and I couldn't believe what I've missed out on! She is the sweetest most smiley baby. She was a little hesitant with my at first, but by Monday we were pretty good friends :) Avri has grown up so much since I saw her last summer. She is such a beautiful girl and played so well with Devan. They really got along great. Chad is now fully convinced we need a little girl! I'm so excited to have family fairly close for the summer and am hoping Bree and I will be able to get together a few times while James and Chad are busy working!

The Backyard

2010-04-09T21:36:00.007-05:00

haha

2010-03-23T01:16:00.001-05:00

Let me get this straight. We're going to be gifted with a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president who also hasn't read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke.

What the hell could possibly go wrong?

Home alone

2010-03-22T23:50:00.008-05:00

Chad had some training in Vegas last week so I was home alone with the boys for a week. I was a little nervous about how it would be for a whole week without Chad's help, but we ended up doing pretty good. Wednesday we had a St. Patty's day picnic in the park with some friends from church. Everyone brought a green food to share, which ends up being a good color for food because everything was healthy and yummy! The park was super busy though because it was spring break as well, but it was still fun.
(this wasn't from the park, but I thought it was pretty darn cute)

Friday we went to the zoo which was packed!! We had to park at least a quarter mile away. The boys decided they wanted to go on the train ride which goes around the park, and I'm glad we did because it was really nice and relaxing, after that the boys found a big tree stump in the park that they would climb up and slide down. When we got home and pulled into the driveway Devan convinced me to take him out to eat. I gave in and I'm glad I did because it was a lot of fun. I found out while we were there that Tristan takes after his mommy in his love for lemons, hehe.

Chad got home at midnight on Friday, and it's been great to have him home. Saturday I had a baby shower and made these yummy desserts for it. I'd never made lemon curd before, but I love it in the mini tart shells. The other ones are marbled brownies, truffles, and mini cheesecakes. YUM!

Some pictures...

2010-03-22T22:22:00.010-05:00

Here's some pictures from the boys party and Tristan's birthday...
Tristan loves Elmo! I couldn't find a big cuddly Elmo anywhere, but he loved this one just fine.
I love that they have all these old school toys back, to bad I didn't get a better picture though. Every time we go to Target Tristan has wanted to get this play radio.
We actually had a hard time getting Tristan to open presents, he just wanted to play with balloons.
At the party, we colored pirate pictures while we waited for everyone.
Chad helping Tristan make a pirate necklace
Abby showing off her necklace.
Jared found the next "clue" in the treasure hunt
The kids finding the treasure hidden in the sandbox.
Yummy treasure treats
I know what Tanner wants for his birthday, trucks trucks trucks :)

Devan and Tristan didn't want to dress up for their own party :(
Devan and Abigail checking out their loot
I love how Daniel's Mom gave him curly chest hair, haha!
opening fun gifts
Happy birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you!
Yummy pirate cupcakes!
Are they crumbs or a beard, I dunno?

Tristan 2.0

2010-03-20T18:07:00.002-05:00

I've put this post off for awhile now, maybe because I've been in denial my little baby is already 2. For his birthday Grandma Iwalani and Grandpa Bruce were here to celebrate. We had a combined pirate party for both the boys on Saturday. They had a lot of fun. I sent out invitations the week before, and Devan loved them, he had me read it over and over again. Here's how the read (in a gruff pirate voice of course)

AHOY THERE MATEY! Ye be invited to a swash-bucking time at Pirate Devan and Tristan's Buccaneer birthday bash! Chart yer course for, 13631 Topaz Lake, the 13thd day of March because ye ship sails at 10:00. They'll be needing all their mates to help raise the sails, wash the deck, and search for buried treasure. It be requested that ye wave yer flag if ye be attendin, or have yer mum send message (555)555-5555 or imnotputtingmyemailhere@hotmail.com. See ye there, if not you'll be forced to walk ye plank!!

**Wear yer finest pirate gear

At the party we had a treasure hunt with one clue leading to the next. At the end they ended up at the X marks the spot on the lid of the sand box. I had helium balloons attached to their goody bags and when they took they lid up they all floated up. After that we had pizza and a pirate hat cake and cupcakes and opened gifts. It was great to share their birthday with some family and fun friends.

Devan version 4.0

2010-03-04T21:31:00.005-06:00

Devan turned 4 yesterday, and it was such a fun day. Here's how it went...

-Devan woke up at around 6 and we all went down to open presents

-Had waffles with whipcream strawberries and syrup

-The boys played with Devan's new toys while I made Devan's "Rocket" cake

-Had lunch (Devan and I went to the grocery store the day before and he picked out the things he wanted for his birthday lunch)
-Had a mini photo shoot for his 4 year old pictures (and by mini, I mean about 5 minutes, haha)

-Went to target and let the boys pick out a matchbox car and airplane
-Took a nap (even me!)
-Made Rocket ships with Devan

-Went to the park and drank Big Red soda (Devan picked it out) and ate fruit snacks
-Dropped Tristan off at a friends house and met Chad for Devan's "special birthday dinner" at Olive Garden (He was SO excited about this and mentioned it many times on the week leading up to his birthday)
-Picked up Tristan, went home, and had birthday cake

It was seriously one of the best days ever. Both of the boys were so good and we all just had a blast!

Giveaway

2010-03-02T23:36:00.002-06:00

My rad friend is holding a giveaway here. http://trainermomma.blogspot.com/2010/03/trainer-momma-tj-maxx-giveaway.html You all should go check it out. If you're into diet and excersize you need to look at her blog, she posts lots of healthy recipes and nice excersizing tips. I really like that she doesn't follow any fad diet junk, it's all healthy over at her site! http://trainermama.blogspot.com

Not a whole lot...

2010-03-02T15:14:00.005-06:00

Not a whole lot has been going around here lately, but we've been having fun anyway, and we have a few special things to look forward to.

#1 Devan's birthday is tomorrow!! (this will get it's own post of course)

#2 Iwalani and Bruce are making a trip down. Yay!! We love visitors!

#3 Tristan's birthday, the big 2.0!
#4 Devan and Tristan's combined Pirate Party :)
#5 St. Patrick's day kiddie party (if you haven't got invites to the parties, don't feel left out, their on their way)
#6 Chad has training in Vegas and will be gone for 4 days (not looking forward to him being gone, but it will be a fun trip for him! He invited me to fly down the last day, but tickets were $500, Yikes!)

So our month of March will be pretty filled up, with lots of fun and exciting things.
Here's a few things we've been enjoying lately...

-The wonderful weather and going to parks. Most days have been 60s-70s, luv it!

-Playing with chalk, Tristan got a $3 gift card at toys r us for his birthday, he decided he wanted these huge pieces of chalk. They've been fun!
-Making candy necklaces. The boys REALLY enjoyed this. And I REALLY enjoy anything that will keep Devan occupied for 30 minutes.

-I planted flowers. Not many because I've never planted them before and I thought I better keep it small my first time around. It was a lot of fun and I got them on a really good discount.
-And last but not least, I've finally started running again. We got a treadmill and I love it! A friend and I signed up for a 10k in April so I better keep moving!

RR crossing

2010-02-15T13:55:00.002-06:00

A couple of weekends ago I went to a garage sale. I was late so most of the stuff had been picked over, but I did find this. What is it you may ask, well, it was a small table top.

I think the people at the garage sale were quite surprised I wanted it. This is what I turned it into...I think the boys will love the new addition to their room!

And all for $2 :)

Spring cleaning

2010-02-15T11:22:00.004-06:00

In an effort to get a little spring cleaning done, I organized our laundry room! It's a pretty small room so I tried to make it as effecient as I could. I'm a big fan of these peg boards now!

this is the peg board and I organized the buckets by crayons, markers, string and ribbon, etc.

Yay, I finally have something to hang up the ironing board, broom, and mop :)

And last but not least a place for the 5 games we own.
The Big picture...And LOOK at this, can it even be possible... NO laundry in the laundry baskets. I've made it a goal to do a load a day from now on and I'm finally staying caught up with the laundry!!

conversation...

2010-02-14T21:11:00.002-06:00

Devan woke up early this morning so Chad went and snuggled with him on the couch. Later Chad told me about this cute little talk they had.

Chad- You know I'll always take care of you right?
Devan- Yeh, I know.
Chad- Devan, what can I do for you?
Devan- hmmmm... (ponders the question for a bit) just love me.

Short and sweet. It actually made me cry when Chad told me, haha, I'm such a baby.

My little Artists

2010-02-11T09:35:00.003-06:00

Look at Devan's masterpiece! The only problem is that it was made on my guest bedroom wall and done in permanent marker.

Meanwhile, his assistant (Tristan) added this to the work of art.

So now the question is... What color should I paint the guest room?

Valentine's Party

2010-02-11T09:11:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I had a Valentine's party for the kids at my house. It was a lot of fun. We made Valentine bags, decorated sugar cookies, and exchanged valentine's. Their ended up being 12 kids + moms which made a pretty full house! I was pleasantly surprised by how well all of the kids played together and got along. Devan has really been into robots lately so I found some robot valentine's on familyfun.com to make and he loved them.

The Army of Robots

My new friend. Dez is the nicest girl and isn't her daughter cute! We met at story time at Barnes and Noble.

Devan and his friends Amanda, Abby, and Tanner. Amanda and Abby are in Devan's preschool group.

And you all know who this little stinker is!

Pump it up!

2010-02-03T13:09:00.003-06:00

For a Christmas gift, James and Bree, gave my boys passes to "Pump it up". It's a kids place that has rooms full of those huge inflatables. Today was a perfect day to take advantage of our passes seeing as it had rained all last night and today (we have huge puddles in our yard!!!) They had such a good time. Devan especially loved it. Tristan was still a little young for some of the things, but had a blast anyway. And I got a good workout in helping Tristan climb up the inflatables! Devan loved it all, I noticed he was a pretty good basketball player while we were there. I might have to get him a hoop for his birthday. Tristan especially liked the slide (I'd ride down it with him, and it actually was a rush for me too!), and he also really liked a room that had a bunch of balls in it. I thought we would probably be there the whole time, but after and hour and a half I could tell the boys were exhausted. Now I'm enjoying some "me" time while they take a nice long nap! Thanks James and Bree for the awesome gift :)

Devan told me a bedtime story tonight...

2010-01-27T21:07:00.005-06:00

If you liked "The Runaway Bunny" you'll LOVE this...

Once upon a time there was a little kitty who ran away, he went fishing in the swimming pool and then he went up the mountain. The End.

Short and sweet.

Here's some other funny things Devan has been saying...

When he spills something or something goes wrong he usually says, "Ohhhh, just great!" or "Gosh dang it" (I guess the 2nd one could be worse)

I heard him playing with his dinosaurs and he was saying "ooooo....gross...disgusting..." When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "The dinosaur put a garbage can in his mouth!"

They can come stay in our house

2010-01-27T00:18:00.004-06:00

This last week Chad and I told Devan why we've been praying for the people in Haiti. We told him that their homes had been ruined and they didn't have very much food or water. The solution to him was so simple, he said, "They can come stay in our house, and I'll give them a drink of my water." So now almost every time he prays he says, "Please bless the people in Haiti, whose houses fell down..."

Christmas and New Year

2010-01-07T11:42:00.003-06:00

We had such a fun Christmas. I swear every year just gets better with the boys. For New Years Eve we went to a friends house and shared it with a couple different families. There was wonderful food and a fun talent show. When we got home that night the boys opened a gift from Grandma Sherry that included cute Christmas p.j.'s and some new books. They both liked the books, but Tristan REALLY like his, on Christmas morning when he walked down the stairs, he completely ignored the kitchen and tool table we had set up, his stocking, and gifts, and went straight to his book he had left on the coffee table! Devan knew just what to do this year and it was alot of fun watching him open his gifts. Later that morning I made a brunch that ended up being quite good. I made a crustless quiche, muffins, bacon, and orange juice. It was a tradition growing up to have brunch at my grandparents on Christmas, so I'm trying to keep that (although mine isn't near as delicious!!) For dinner we enjoyed a Christmas ham, Chad's favorite vegetable casserole, and this salad (which is great the first day, not so good the 2nd though), fruits and veggies, rolls, and sparkling cider. Chad got me a fisheye coverter lens for my camera which has been a lot of fun and I got Chad a World of Warcraft gaming mouse that he thinks is awesome :)

The day after Christmas we did a little shopping to get the boys helmets for their scooters and to spend some gift cards we got from Chad's parents. It was awesome to have some guilt free shopping! After the shopping we took the boys to ride their scooters. Tristan mostly just had us push him around on his, but Devan went all out and got the hang of it really quick. We were really glad we had picked up helmets because Tristan crashed and fell right on his head! Later that evening we saw Devan had banged up his knee, so it looks like we'll need to pick up knee pads too!

New Year's Eve we decided we didn't want to be on the roads because of all the crazy people out :-P So we just spent it at our house as a family and had rootbeer floats. Sadly, none of us even made it up to greet the New Year. New Years we made some resolutions as a family.

Even though

2009-12-23T13:50:00.005-06:00

Even though we didn't go on the cruise, we had a fun week having Iwalani, Bruce, and Grandma Nancy staying with us. I can't even say how much the boys enjoy having family around. They love all the extra attention. We didn't do a whole lot, it took us a couple of days just to catch up on sleep alone. We did see a couple of good movies though, Julie and Julia, the guys watched the newest Terminator, Harry Potter and the half blood prince, and we went to Planet 51 (which I was a little disappointed with). We also took everyone to the alamo and riverwalk. This was grandma Nancy's first trip to San Antonio, so it was fun to show her some of the sights. Here's a few pictures.

Cruise, what cruise?

2009-12-15T22:53:00.002-06:00

So I should have been sitting on a beach in Mexico sipping on a bahama mama today, but instead I was napping and trying to recover from my 5 hour drive back to San Antonio last night (We pulled in at about 3:30 am). So what happened? Here's the story.

After Chad's work Christmas party (which was quite fun by the way, we rocked the night away listening to REO speedwagon live), we spent the night packing for the cruise. We had put it off until last minute and finished about at 3 in the morning. We then got a couple hours of sleep and were off by 9ish.

Once we got to the port we had to stand through a crazy line to get on the ship. We had loads of luggage and two crazy boys who were restless from a long drive. However, we finally got on and were able to get settled. All the craziness payed off when we were in our room and Devan said, "this was a wonderful day!"

Anyway, to get to the point of the story, the fog was horrible in Galveston so the port was closed. By the 2nd evening it was still not opened and we were told we would not be making our first stop because we still were unable to leave. We were given the option to leave that night by 11:00 pm and get full credit towards another cruise or to stay on the boat, but even if we weren't able to leave the port we would not be reimbursed for anything. We talked to the rest of the famliy and we were all in agreement that it would be best to take up the offer for a new cruise down the road.

So we all packed up and headed back to San Antonio. Chad still has the week off work and Iwalani, Bruoce, and Grandma Nancy were all able to make it down with us, so things ended up working out just fine. And now we get another cruise to look forward to!

A little drive

2009-12-10T21:05:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago I took the boys on what I thought was going to be a little drive, but as I was driving I saw a sign for "Lake Medina" and thought we should go check it out. It was fun venturing out and finding something new. Once we got there I had no idea where to go or what to do, but it was a pretty drive out of the city. Here's a couple pictures from the trip.

I liked this one because you could see both the moon and sun.

I found these bottom two pictures interesting because I took them both on the same bridge. One side was bright and happy, and the other was dark and a little spooky looking.

Thought I better

2009-12-09T21:34:00.005-06:00

Thought I better update our blog before we leave on the cruise. I have a feeling I'll have lots of pictures I'll want to be posting afterwards, and I just might not ever get back to posting our latest.

We got our poor little Charlie Brown tree up. I bought it last year for really cheap thinking I'd get a nicer one when they go on sale after Christmas and I never did. After Tristan and Devan pulled it down and made a mess of it this year, I'm thinking we might just have to stick with this one until they are a bit older. I figure if they ruin this tree I won't be to heart broken, but if I buy a $200 tree and they wreck it, I might be a little upset. We decorated it half way up because Tristan kept pulling off the ornaments and running off with them.

I took the boys to the park today and we had to bundle up because it was quite chilly. When we got home we made hot chocolate to warm up. After dinner Devan and I made gingerbread men and houses. I had never made them before and it was a lot of fun. Oh and parchment paper is a lifesaver for roll out cookies! Devan is so funny, he had ate way to many cookies, but still wanted more. I told him no, so he went up to Chad and said, "Dad, do you want to share with me? Would you LOVE to share with me?" The way he says it is so cute. How can you say no to that? Well, I guess we did say no, so it is possible, but it was tough! Oh and the gingerbread houses came from a halloween cookie cutter set from williams sonoma that I got for $1 (the set was originally $20!) They are actually haunted houses, but I thought they passed pretty good for gingerbrad houses. I'm hoping the Christmas cookie set goes on sale after the holidays :)

I almost forgot one last thing, the boys and I took all their old crayons, took the wrappers off, broke them up, put them in a silicone cupcake baking thing, and melted them down. Here's how they turned out.

Oh dear...

2009-12-07T14:38:00.002-06:00

I just got back from a lunch with my visiting teaching group. The lady who held it has a room at the upstairs of her house filled with fun toys. She said it was child proof and they could just play up there while we visited. I took a look around to make sure there wasn't anything breakable and felt good about it, so I went downstairs to visit. Well, not to long after, Tristan came walking down the stairs with a sharpie marker in his hand, and his face was covered in marker. My stomach sank thinking the whole upstairs was probably covered in black. I went up to check the damage, and luckily it wasn't everywhere, but he did draw on her foosball table. I felt SOOOO bad! I've heard of kids doing this before, but somehow until now, it hadn't happened to me. I felt like such a bad mom and was so embarrassed, sigh*

2 things

2009-12-01T13:29:00.002-06:00

1. Thanks for all the nice comments. I really enjoy taking pictures and your nice comments make me feel good.
2. I can't even remember what Devan and I were talking about at the time, but he used the phrase, "super dang cool" I thought it was pretty cute.

Boys Pictures

2009-11-29T20:23:00.015-06:00

I took some pictures of the boys the other day...

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-27T20:03:00.002-06:00

I just put together a little something at our house for Thanksgiving...

Beautiful isn't it... ok our dinner looked nothing like this, but I did make dinner all by myself :) I cooked a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and apple pie. I would have loved to do more sides, but doing a Thanksgiving dinner by myself was quite the task. Oh and we ate on paper plates because I knew I wouldn't want to do all the dishes after cooking all day.

Chad did a good job with a lesson about Thanksgiving and sharing with the boys, and I made a turkey activity with them. After that we went around the table and said what we were thankful for. Devan was so cute, he came up with a huge list of things he is thankful for, his brother, mom and dad, grandma, grandpa, trucks, food, Jesus, houses, and the list went on. Then we ate way to much, cleaned up, watched Charlie Brown, and that was pretty much the day.

Here's a list of things I'm thankful for...

1. Chad- He's been my best friend since shortly after I met him. I was just thinking the other day how while we were dating the only time we even spent a day apart was when I went on a trip to Costa Rica, and a trip to Denver. We didn't date for very long, but since we spent ALL our time together we got to know eachother super fast. I've been so impressed with how he has done with his job. He's such a hard worker and SO smart. Another thing I love about him is he's always so supportive of things I want to do. Oh and he makes me feel pretty (what girl wouldn't like that!)

2. My boys- Devan has such a sweet personality. He's always very aware of people's feelings. One day at the park a little boys brother wasn't being nice to him and the boy looked very sad. I watched Devan go up to him, put his hand on his back and ask him if he was alright. He's protective of Tristan, so much in fact, that one day when I got after Tristan, He looked at me and in a very stern voice said, "You be nice to him, he's my brother". Tristan is such a fun boy. He has a smile that could get anyone to grin. His laugh makes our home a happy place. He is always willing to give a hug and pooch smooch (kiss).

3. My other family- My Mom, Dad, In-laws, Brothers and Sisters, Grandparents, I'm pretty convinced I have they coolest family EVER. My Mom is the strongest person I know and she is so much fun to spend time with. Even though I haven't been able to know my dad like some people know theirs, just having people tell my stories of what a great man he is, makes me extremely proud to be his daughter, and also makes me want to live my life in a way that he would be proud of me. I really lucked out with my Mother in law and Father in laws. From the time Chad and I were together, they always have made me feel loved and a part of the family. Some of Chad's other family members have become some of my best friends and I'm so blessed to know them. My brothers and sisters all married AWESOME people. I love being able to spend time with them when I go back home and kudos to all of them for putting up with my crazy family. My brothers and sisters have gone from being just brothers and sisters to being my best friends. I love being able to go home, have all of us together, and have everyone get along. I know I could call anyone of them at anytime and they would be there for me. Anyone who knows my grandparents know I'm extremely blessed. Some of my best childhood memories are of spending time with them.

4. Modern technology- As I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I thought, this would really suck having to cook this over a campfire. And where would I be if I couldn't look recipes up on allrecipes.com?

5. Freedom!!! This is something I probably take advantage of way to often, but when I read about people that don't have it, it sure makes me grateful. Chad's stepmom sent me an email awhile back about the women who helped get us our voting rights. The things they went through were awful, and that wasn't even very long ago! It was a good reminder for me to ALWAYS take advantage of the freedom and vote. We are so blessed to live in a country with so many freedoms. And God bless those who are out there protecting them for us today!

My list could go on and on. I really love Thanksgiving. It's nice to be able to set aside a day to think about how blessed we truly are. I hope all of you had a wonderful one!!

It's raining, it's pouring...

2009-11-20T22:41:00.003-06:00

We got a good rain storm today, and with the little amount of rain we've got in San Antonio this year, it's worth documenting!

"We're all best friends"

2009-11-18T18:22:00.004-06:00

Today when Chad got home from work he gave me a hug. Devan came over and joined in on the hug, and then Tristan. After a minute Devan said, "We're all best friends". It absolutely made my night. I hope it stays that way forever!

The Candy Fairy

2009-11-03T10:35:00.003-06:00

With all the Halloween fun this year, we were left with an abundance of candy in the house over the weekend. I really didn't want the boys (or myself) veggin' on junk all day and knew I had to do something about it, but didn't know quite what to do until I read this on my friends blog. So Sunday I had a talk with Devan and told him it's ok to eat a little candy every once in awhile, but eating to much would make his teeth and belly hurt (he suprisingly understood). I then went on to tell him about a place called Candy Land, a place where the fairies use candy for money. I told him if he would leave his candy out for the Candy Fairy to bring back to her home, she would in turn leave him some money to buy a new toy. Devan agreed this would be a good idea. Monday morning we set off to buy him and Tristan a new toy. Usually when we pass by the candy aisle Devan begs for a treat, but he didn't say a word this time. We picked out a helicopter for Devan and a truck for Tristan and that was that.

halloween 2009

2009-10-31T20:17:00.009-05:00

Halloween was so much fun this year. We started off by friday going to our ward trunk or treat party. Whoever was in charge did such a good job! The kids night started with the trunk or treat outside the church and then afterwards moved inside the church for games and treats. They had a room filled up with balloons for the kids to play in, a fish pond, a picture station, a cake walk, frito pie booth (put on by the missionaries) and lots more. I was very impressed by all the work they put into it. Devan and Tristan loved it. Tonight was fun as well. I served a special Halloween dinner of witches fingers with a side of ghost goo for dipping, goblin eyes, monster toes, apple bites, bat dropplings, vampire's delight to drink, and brain cupcakes for dessert. Devan thought it was so funny! After dinner we got the boys into their costumes (Devan a firefighter and tristan a dalmation) and we went trick or treating to a few of our neighbors houses

Goblin eyesWitch FingersGhost gooMonster toesApple bitesBat droppingsVampire's delight

Brain cupcakes

Apple Pie

2009-10-26T21:59:00.004-05:00

My mom sent me this fun apple pie cutout the other day and I'd been anxious to make one ever since. So yesterday I went at it. I've made an apple pie once before but did a crumb top so this was my first real attempt. The top broke when I put it on so it didn't turn out as pretty as it could of, but it wasn't half bad. I'm on a diet right now so I resisted having a piece, but Chad said it was wonderful. He also said he wasn't a crust person, but he loved the crust on this. So if any of you are interested, here's the recipe. And thanks again mom for the fun new kitchen tool!

Oh, and I almost forgot my funny story...

Today I was going out shopping with the boys. I ran upstairs real quick to get my shoes on and when I got back down Devan and Tristan had pulled a chair up to where the pie was and were hovering around it. As I got closer I noticed a fork right dab in the middle of it, and Devan turns around and says, "mmmmm... I LOVE apple pie mom, I LOVE it!" I couldn't help but to crack up.

Visitors :-)

2009-10-17T22:51:00.004-05:00

Chad and I had visitors last weekend!!! Iwalani and Bruce saw an open weekend and decided to head on down to San Antone. I thought it was so awesome they would do that just spur of the moment. We didn't plan to much, but it was really nice to visit and let the kids play with their grandparents. They got here late Friday night and the boys were so excited to see them Saturday when they woke up. Later that day we took the boys to the park and had a picnic. That evening Iwalani and Bruce treated us to a yummy dinner at Papadeaux. Sunday we went to church and spent the rest of the day watching the Seahawks kick the Panthers butt :) It was a happy night for the boys. We were sad to see them leave early Monday morning, but SO glad they could make the trip in the first place. Here's a few pictures from the park...

Can you believe this poor boys eye??!! He has a bad allergy to mosquitos and got bit the day before .

Chad and Bruce having fun :)

Just me and Tris

2009-10-01T14:00:00.002-05:00

Well, like I mentioned before I'm done teaching preschool now so 2 day a week Tristan and I get some time just by ourselves. I LOVE the one on one time. It's just really nice to be able to focus on Tristan. Before we picked Devan up today I took a couple pictures of Tristan and I thought they turned out pretty cute. So here they are...

On a different subject, What are you all planning to dress up for as Halloween? Originally Devan had wanted to be a monster, so I was thinking Chad and I could be star trek officers and the boys aliens/monsters from a different planet. But the other day Devan saw a fireman costume and has his heart set on it. Tristan loves dogs so I think we'll end up having Devan as a firefighter and Tristan as a dalmation. I love Halloween though and it's even more fun this year because Devan is getting REALLY into it!

rain gutter shelves

2009-09-28T13:57:00.005-05:00

Hey everyone, I had a couple people ask me to post pictures of these diy shelves. I love how they keep things more organized and out of my boys reach! I've put them up in the boys room, the downstairs toy closet, and the laundry room so far. If you're interested in putting some up yourself, here's a tutorial. Here's the shelves I put in the toy closet...

Oh and one last thing, they suprisingly hold a lot of stuff in them. The two shelves pictured were only half of a gutter and they held 3 drawers (like the plastic ones in the bottom picture) that were pretty packed with things.

A couple things.

2009-09-24T20:44:00.003-05:00

I've been busy teaching preschool this month, but today was my last day for the next 3 months! It was actually pretty fun and I really enjoyed it for the most part. Devan is in a group with 3 girls. Today one of them proposed marriage to him, hehe. After she asked him he said, "Noooo...don't ask me that!" haha! I was cracking up. Although I enjoyed it, I have no problem handing the papers over to the next mom in line :) It's going to be nice having a couple hours through the week to have some one on one time with Tristan...or to myself if Tristan takes a nap!!

Devan is a pretty smart boy and is learning the art of charm. Whenever he wants something that he knows I usually wouldn't give into, he comes up to me, gives me a big hug, and says, "Mommy, I love you soooooo much!" Who does he get this from??? Where did he learn this??? And how can I say no to it??? I didn't realize what he was doing the first few times, I thought he was just being sweet, but I'm starting to see a pattern with it now...

Tristan has been talking up a storm lately and it's always fun to hear new words from him. It's interesting to see the differences in him and Devan. For instance, Devan I noticed one night at dinner, Tristan wouldn't touch his broccoli, but ate all of his meat, Devan on the other hand barely ate his meat, but gobbled down his broccoli. They both love animals, but Tristan loves dogs and Devan loves cats. Those are just a few, but I love seeing how individual they both are.

Besides preschool, I finished up a couple projects in the last couple days. I made a couple magnetic boards for family pictures, a coat rack that I've had since my trip to Idaho in July, and I also put up rain gutter shelves in the boys rooms. If you've never seen the rain gutter shelves, you should google it. They are so handy! And also really easy to put up. Anyway, that's about it from us lately, oh wait, one more thing...I'm sooooooooooooo thankfully we've got some rain lately and that it's cooled off...Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!!

Remembering

2009-09-11T10:28:00.002-05:00

When I took out the trash this morning I noticed my neighbor had his flag flying and I couldn't think of why. Then I went to check the news and couldn't believe I had forgotten today is 9/11. So this morning I'm just sitting around remembering, and dang it, I can't stop crying.

I'm "that" person

2009-09-10T18:43:00.003-05:00

I'm "that" person in the grocery line who probably drives you crazy. Sorry, I can't help it though. I just got back from a Target trip. Groceries that would have cost $99.30 ended up costing me after coupons $37.46. Not bad eh, but that's not all. I also recieved a $5 target card and have a $10 rebate to mail in. So after all is said and done I spent $22.46 on what would have been $99.30 of groceries. Here's what I got...

-2 boxes of kellogg nutrigrain bars

-2 boxes of kellogg apple jacks

-2 boxes of kellogg special k

-2 boxes of kellog cinnabon bars

-2 boxes of kellog fuit snacks

-1 hillshire farms lunchmeat

-1 bag organic carrotts

-1 gummy crocodile

- gummy trantula (the treats the boys picked out )

-2 archer farms mini artisan breads

-5 general mills single serving cereal (for Chad at work)

-2 1/2 lbs of bananas

-2 bertolli's frozen meals

-2 market pantry precut cheese

-2 market pantry shredded cheese

-4 boxes fiber one cereal

-1 box fiber one bars

-1 rimmel mascara

So I might be "that" lady, but daaaaaaaaang!

Shirts

2009-09-04T23:08:00.004-05:00

I saw a tutorial for these and thought I'd give them a shot. I can't sew worth a darn, but I think they still turned out alright. Devan loves guitars, so I think I'll try that next. Here's where I found the tutorial... http://crapivemade.blogspot.com/2009/03/appliqued-tie-onesie.html Oh and I didn't have wonder under, so I used some spray fabric glue.

I also made this tomato sauce for our spaghetti tonight and we loved it...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/quick-sausage-meatballs-with-a-tomato-and-basil-sauce-spaghetti-and-sweet-raw-peas-recipe/index.html

I didn't have plum tomatoes so I added 2 14 oz drained cans of tomatoes (I chopped them up a little more in a blender first). I also added 1tbsp brown sugar (not packed), parmesan cheese, and then instead of adding it to the recipe they have I added it to browned hamburger, kiabasa sausage and onion. Chad said it was the best spaghetti he's ever had :) I think Tristan liked it too...

A tip

2009-09-03T18:37:00.003-05:00

I've had this problem when I post pictures on my blog they are all grainy. BUT, I finally found a fix for it. If you open the post in the Edit HTMLmode and examine the URL following src=you might see something like /s400 inthe URL, delete that part, and yep it's just that easy.
Devan started his first day of preschool on Tuesday. He had a blast. A group of girls I know are all doing the preschool together, and so far it's working out really good. We had it at my house today and it was fun. I use to think Devan was shy, but holy cow, he was off the wall today! I guess he was showing off for the girls (he's the only boy). I tried to take his picture for the first day of school, but he wasn't to into it. So here's what I got.

So you can't tell from the picture, but he was actually super excited to go to preschool. He hates getting pictures taken though, haha. He woke me up at 5:30 that morning and said ok mom, let's go to school.

Train Ride

2009-08-30T16:03:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we went to Brackenridge Park to ride the train. We had alot of fun and the boys loved it. I had taken Devan a few times before Tristan was born, but it was Tristan's first time. We had planned to stop part way through and feed the ducks, but it had been so long since I had been there, I missed the stop to get off. So then we figured we could just drive to them after the train ride, but the boys were so tired we decided to just treat them to a lollipop and go home. It was a good decision because not long after we left Tristan zonked out in the car!

2009-08-25T14:14:00.002-05:00

Devan has been SO excited to start preschool. Every day for about the past month he'll get himself dressed, sometimes put on his backpack, and say, " ok mom, I'm ready for preschool, lets go." I have to explain to him that it's not time for preschool, and then he'll ask when he can go, and I tell him when "HE'S OLDER". Well, inbetween all of this I've been talking with some other mom's who have wanted to do a preschool and each of us take turns teaching. Today I got a call letting me know we'd start next Tuesday. I was excited to tell Devan because he's been so anxious to be in it. So I said, "Devan, guess what... you're going to start preschool next week." He thought about it for a minute and then got a big grin on his face and said, " Mom....I'M OLDER!" It was just funny how it clicked on him what I had been telling him.

Another cute thing he said was after we had both got dressed for the day we were sitting downstairs and he goes, "I like your jeans Mommy....you're a pretty mommy." haha, that boy knows how to make me smile!

Tristan has been chatting away lately, some of his favorite words are "truck" "car" "shoe" "sock" "bye" I'm always surprised at the new words he repeats back to me. He knows his body parts pretty well now and likes to practice showing me where his eyes, ears, nose, etc. are.

The other day we all went to the high school and played soccer on the field there. The boys had a lot of fun. Devan is pretty good at soccer. He also had fun running around the track.

One man's junk

2009-08-16T21:09:00.003-05:00

I got this ugly chair at a garage sale for a buck..

After some sanding, spray paint and stain...
I also found this coffee table for $20, but I forgot to take a before picture. The color is kind of off in this picture, but it matches the chair.

My next goal is to find an entertainment armoire! Oh how I love finding good deals :)

5 YEARS!

2009-08-12T10:30:00.003-05:00

I'm a bit late posting this, but the whole month of July was SO busy, it took me awhile to get caught up on posts! July 23 Chad and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! Some of our friends were celebrating a 5 year anniversary as well so we did a weekend kid swap. It was the first time I had spent a night away from either of the boys, and man was it nice! It felt so strange to wake up in the morning and not have to do anything for anyone except for myself. We will have to do these swaps more often I'm thinking! Chad brought home these beautiful flowers and we celebrated by going out to The Melting Pot to eat. It was delicious! We spent the rest of the evening just enjoying eachother's company.
Dorky to wear a hat, I know, but I had 0 time to get ready.

The best

2009-08-07T18:50:00.005-05:00

Every day in Idaho was a blast, but I think the best part was hanging out at my mom's and having family over to play! Jake and Lauren were awesome and we hung out almost every day. The rest of my fam is awesome too, but just not as...haha, just kidding I love you all and thanks everyone for spending so much time with us. My mom gets a shout out to, I just love the quality time she spends with the kids when we come over. She's always pulling out toys for them or taking them outside even if she had been at work all day. So here's my last Idaho pictures...FINALLY!

Devan's first time with sprinklers! Uncle Jake put on a pretty good firework show that night as well. Tristan having fun on the swingset.

Devan LOVED jumping on the trampoline.

What a kiss!

Devan and his buddy Blake, my cousin Ben's son. Devan had so much fun playing with him. He's a year older than Devan and Blake taught him some cool new things, like how to climb on top of the sandbox :)

Devan with "Dog", yes that's his name.

Exploring the farm.

Devan Grace, and Olivia. These guys were so funny, they'd come up with different poses and say ok now take our picture like this. Grace and Olivia were so sweet playing with my boys.

Tristan

Sweet Sawyer

2009-08-06T10:23:00.005-05:00

Walker Reunion

2009-08-06T09:37:00.005-05:00

I was glad I could go to our Walker family reunion while I was home. It was held at the Rigby Lake. Those who put it together did a wonderful job, you could tell a lot of time and effort went into it.

My Grandma (bottom middle) and her sisters and brother.

Tristan at the lake.Nieces Grace and Olivia at the talent show. They are quite the comedians.
Potato bag races.
Devan LOVED these kittens. He'd hold them and say, "It's ok, I'll take care of you."
This little "train" was so much fun. It kept all the kids entertained for hours!
Tristan getting into trouble. He actually tried to pick up one of the buckets and drink the water like it was a cup. He got soaked!

Idaho Falls Zoo/ Rigby Park

2009-08-06T09:25:00.004-05:00

I'm a little slow getting all our Idaho pictures up...
We had a lot of fun going to the zoo. Tristan especially liked feeding the goats in the petting zoo. Lauren and Londyn came with us for Londyn's first official trip to the zoo. She slept the whole time! On the way home, my mom dropped Devan and I off at the park/Rigby fairgrounds while she ran an errand. They have an old caboose that Devan thought was pretty neat and also an old army tank.

Grace and Olivia

2009-07-29T15:36:00.004-05:00

I'm not done with Grace and Olivia's pictures yet, but I finished this and wanted to post it. These girls are so stinkin' cute. We took their pictures outside my mom's house by this old truck "the green weenie".