The great outdoors!

These 2 little guys love to be outside and the fresh air helps my 3rd trimester crazy emotions, so it's win-win for the family to just go and explore God's great outdoors

We've gotten so much rain that the creek has flooded over the road into our neighborhood. One morning T-rav said it was up to the 2ft marker when he went through it at 6 am. We decided to stay home that day and not risk getting stuck in the rushing water. The car doesn't have 4-wheel drive like the truck. After a few days it dried up again to this low level, so on occasion we'll go play in the creek some afternoons 

C talking to daddy about possibly jumping in the deep end

I got him so stop and say "cheese" but he couldn't take his off of the water and look at mommy.

Running through the water

T-rav crossed that creek about 20 times with them while we were there....

once across then they would run back to the other side on the road

Running through the water on the road

Going back through the creek 

The creek wore him out.....he fell asleep on his pallet. 

Our soccer player

He was so funny. Here they were in the "huddle" before the game and their coach was just reminding them not to touch the ball with their hands. J closes his eyes to concentrate on what she was saying and nods with agreement.....He is hilarious to me so days....those face expressions!

 

Parent participation is encourage. They play for 1/2 the game 15 mins and then switch with the other 1/2 of their team. T-rav was coaching him after he played on the whole purpose of scoring......feeding that competitiveness in J

After throwing a HUGE fit because he couldn't play with big brother in the game, I  got his bike out of the car for him to be distracted with. I knew J doing something he couldn't do would be an issue so I brought the bike for backup. Poor kid still doesn't know he's riding a girls bike :-). Good thing tho, cause he's gotten pretty good at it and is sitting on the seat and gliding on it now......sometimes picks his feet up a little too.

And now a soccer player

J plays soccer and LOVES it! Course at this age it's mostly just a kicking and running fest (with a little elbow rubbing too), but he's pretty good at it. Last Saturday was our 1st game. There was a little bit of confusion as to which way they need to kick the ball to score, but at 4 you can't really expect much. Here's a video of our soccer player. J is the one in the blue shorts

boys playing around

Someone gave us a Bumbo just like our old one....C loved playing with it. He rides a pink bike and she gets a blue bumbo.....I think that's a fair trade, no? 

Pretending to read. He loves to look at books. I'm trying hard to make them love books. As a girl who loves to read herself, I'm hoping that reading will be something they love in life.

J was making C laugh. This picture is so cute. I love how they entertain each other

Both giggling....I could just eat them, they're so cute! The book that J is holding is FANTASTIC! To make a long story short, a friend told me about this book to help J learn to read. He has a lot of energy in the afternoons and learning to read has really help direct that energy towards something constructive and quiet his brain for awhile so mommy can get some down time too. He's not reading novels, so don't think we've excelled beyond. Right now Bob Books are on tap and those have given me at least 45 mins of silence! 

The ladies of the house. I HATE maternity pics and the internet. Talk about letting the whole world scrutinize you! I'm only putting this on here for my mom and for someone else who asked so very nicely. This was taken at 24-25 weeks or 6 months. I was able to hide it pretty well for awhile but I've popped and feel huge lately (note the shadow from the flash that makes me look even bigger, ha! ha!), and gosh it's only going to get worse! 

turning pro

And this video is of the boys about 3 days later. I love seeing them gain confidence and skill when they learn new things. Their eyes say "I can do this!" Being a mommy has so many un-spoken rewards. Thank you Lord for a few of these!

another video

C's first go on his bike after his nap that afternoon. Yes, it's pink! Hey, what's he gonna tell his therapist if I don't give him some easy ones, but when you get a bike for basically free, color becomes a non-issue when the child doesn't even know them yet. 

ha! ha!

1st day on the balance bike

J testing out his balance bike when we got home

Time marches on....

So much to say, so many things happen and yet I never have take the energy to put funny things my kids say on here. What can I say, right now I love to sleep when I can because I feel more and more exhausted every day.

We just hit the 6 month mark and I'm shocked at how fast this pregnancy is going. We are in no hurry for her to show up, so of course that makes things go a little quicker.

Here's some pics because those are way more fun to look at.........

At the Dinosaur Park

J inside the life-size T-rex mouth

One of the many many life-size dinos in the park. The T-rex is J's favorite

A T-rex nest. 

Digging for bones with daddy

C checking out the playground. He's our climber

Up the rocks

To the top!

J telling me about the bones he excavated

back home playing with the dinosaurs

J is the ever-teaching-dino kid. He loves to tell you the names and now has become by-far a dino expert. He can pronounce the extravagant names and corrects his not-so-interested mom, who chops and butchers the names every time. C'mon, science is not this girl's thing! I do however love that he is so passionate about learning

He bought a few things at the dino park with some $ he had saved up.  This was a clay block with t-rex bones buried inside. To say he loved it would be an understatement. Mommy, on the other hand was all for the hours of quiet I got out of that block of clay. Next time I will buy every single one they have on the shelf

Letting C help him. 

C's helping turned into him high-jacking the block. He's is turning into a selfish little 2 year old right before my eyes! Augh!! I thought we just mastered selfishness 2 years ago and yet, here we got again! God love 2 year olds.....He must cause that's why He made them cute, otherwise.......Oh, lets just say I'm not a fan of this stage. I'm thankful how patient J is with him tho. He's not a saint by any stretch, but he definitely is gentle with the little un-redeemed-sinner in our house. ha! ha!

Say what?! Busted! I pay dearly for when they are giggly and laughing uncontrollably, conveniently out of sight of mommy. I may or may not have seen this first and then hurried to go get the camera because it was too funny.  

The destruction was fed by mommy laughing hysterically. What can I say, it was funny! 

Oh, yes that IS Santa wrapping paper! I may be against the big obese man but I still will purchase the paper because I'm a poor planner and it was the only paper available at Walgreens when I needed some "now". Just keepin it real, folks

He finally learned how to put his socks on my himself. Course I still do it for him because I don't want to wait for his high school graduation to get out the door, but hey we made some progress

Doing a "sticker project" with C. I learn my patience from J some days. ha! ha!

Loves that stick horse. 'Ol Victor has been a good stick horse for these boys.

The bros.....C does everything that J does at this point....some days this is a blessing some days....not so much

We had a wave of family blow through town. This was the day that they left and these boys were wiped out. They just laid around most of the day. A nice change from the bouncy balls they usually are. ;-)

Don't judge. We got a sweet deal on these balance bikes. I really thought that I'd have it painted by now, but to say that he LOVES his bike is an understatement. He's going to be so mad when he sees these pics as a teenager. I'll have it painted as soon as I can keep him off of it for more than 24 hours

These boys love bikes......and mommy loves the energy it burns

Yes, my love affair with H-E-B goes hand in hand with my children. They have cute cupcakes and my boys love being surprised with them! 

The boy is serious about his cupcakes

C had to have another set of tubes put in those adorable ears and they also went ahead and nabbed those pesky adenoids cause they were contributing to the non-stop ear infections again. We had to be there bright and early one morning and while C is a morning person, he wasn't so much a fan of all the strangers taking his oxygen, pulse, temp.....He put Hobbes over his head and tried to hide while they prepped him for surgery

Right before they took him back. I liked this children's hospital a little better, they didn't make him gown-up because he was a little cranky. They just took his pj top off after they put him under. Thank you nice anesthesia Dr for making my life easier. Going to recovery put things into perspective for me., There he was in his diaper, holding his Hobbes, laying on the bed with an iv in his hand, blood pressure cuff on his leg and some heart monitor stickies on his chest. Praise God we only suffer from ear infections and seeing him this way is not a daily or routine reality for me. I'm blessed beyond I could ever imagine with my family's health, relationally, spiritually, financially. It really stirred up more of this "I have too much, now what?" storm that God has been brewing in my heart for over a year now.....augh, more on that later. 

J spent the post-op afternoon helping me take care of his cranky brother, including laying with him while watching Wonder Pets (which held some perks for J too).  Not sure if it was lack of sleep or his terrible 2's but the boy had me hopping all day.

J loves his PJ's. He won't take them off unless we go somewhere that day. A boy after my own heart, ha! ha!

After C's hair cut. His locks were pretty and curly, but he would scream everytime I had to comb his hair and since I'm not one to create un-necessary battles with these boys because I'm lazy smart, I decided reluctantly to cut off his curls :(

More of their shenanigans. Course you put a crawling tunnel in a crib with a preschooler and a toddler.....adds to the excitement I guess!

C's true love, his guitar. One more thing in the crib....boys!

Finally a smile on camera!

And another smile......he's learning how to pump on the swing

daddy tickling

Loves to push his brother, course mr. un-appreciative screams when J does it......makes me curious if J just does it to get his brother screaming? ha!ha!