Fun Giveaway!

My sweet and super talented friend, Christine makes these beautiful handmade dolls! You have to go look and enter in her drawing for a super cute Halloween doll- she's giving away 3 of them! Chris made me 2 Halloween dolls for our Fall Swap and I'm in love with them. I'd love an Ezzmerelda doll to add to my collection of beauties!

Go here for details! you WON'T be disappointed!

Some pictures of our fun

Thanks to my sis-in-law Melonie, I have some pictures of the fun we had when they were here. It was so nice that our trip/move overlapped, so we could see them here.

On Monday while the boys were at the All Star Baseball game, we saw Toy Story 3, and loved it!

On Thursday, we all went to Laguna Beach and had an awesome time:

Thank you Mel for the family picture, and really for taking all the pictures! I love my Nikon, but I don't like taking it places where it could get destroyed, like the beach... and frankly, I was feeling very lazy! She was so on top of things and got great pictures of everyone!

The kids enjoyed jumping the waves and playing in the sand:

The boys enjoyed throwing the frisbee/swimming!

Then on Friday when the boys went deep sea fishing, we went to Build A Bear!

First they picked out the animal they wanted. Lily got a kitty, Isaac a doggie, Tyler a monkey and Jackson picked out the cutest little teddy bear, with my help of course :)

Next they picked out a sound to put inside and stuffed it with stuffing:

Then they grabbed a heart to put inside and make a wish and sew it up

Then they gave them a bath,

Then we named our new friends, Tyler wanted his monkey to be named Cararee, or something strange like that, so I suggested a few and George was the ultimate winner.

Jackson's giggly bear is named Giggles, quite appropriate for my happy smiley little guy.

we had so much fun with Mom and Melonie!

Thoughts on a Sunday Night

This is just a little post on a Sunday night about how much I love my little ones.

Tonight we sang the alphabet song (which I decided I need to be better about doing with them) and realized that Tyler knows a good deal of it. He got a little stuck around LMNOP...and told me, "I can't do that" so we sang it slowly and it came out like "el-an-elmo-pee." So that made me laugh. Jackson smiled the whole time and sang "abababa"

Tyler is a little fish in the water. My parents have a beautiful pool in their yard and the kids ask me to go swimming daily. I have to muster up some courage to go out there, because Tyler loves my swimming attention and Jackson is a little dare-devil. He thinks he can just walk off the edge and start swimming. So between diving bombing Tyler to the bottom to get a toy and saving Jackson's life every 5 seconds, it's always a blast!

Jackson is becoming quite the accessories fanatic, especially with shoes. He also loves sunglasses, hats and ties. There's a little basket where we put our shoes by the front door and Jackson will bring both his shoes and my shoes to me periodically throughout the day. He'll say "sh,sh,sh,sh" until I put them on then he'll grab my hand and walk me around the house. The other day, he had them on right before nap time and he wouldn't let me take them off when I put him in bed, so he slept in his shoes!

Our lesson today in Relief Society was Tell me the Stories of Jesus. I am reminded in a new ward where I don't quite know where I fit in (yet) the church is the same, and the gospel is true, and Christ is the center.
--I kept thinking about how I always had this beautiful picture of Christ and the children in my room growing up. Now my boys have the same picture in their room. I hope it reminds them, as it did for me, that Jesus loves us and that one day we will be able to gather around his side and hug Him. I hope I can teach my children that He loves us more than we will ever realize and that He is always there for us, no matter what our problem is; fear, doubt, pain, loneliness.

Before we came to California, we were walking the halls in our Allen building. I pointed to a picture of Christ and asked Tyler "who's that?" He usually answers right away, but this time didn't. I gave him a hint: "He's our special friend" His reply made me laugh and then brought tears to my eyes. "Grandpa?"

I hope my boys realize that our Heavenly Father and Jesus love us even more than our parents, or grandparents or closest friend. And that they show us their love by giving us special friends that support us and love us.

Here are a few of my favorite lines from the talk:
Have we told them of the love Jesus has for children, how He held them in His arms, prayed for them, and wept? Do our children know that Jesus stands ready “with open arms to receive [them]”?
To fathers and mothers, to grandfathers and grandmothers, and to those without children of their own who lovingly nurture children and youth, my counsel is to speak more frequently about Jesus Christ. In His holy name is great spiritual power. “There [is] no other name given nor any other way … whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ.”
Although there may be times when a child does not listen with a believing heart, your testimony of Jesus will remain in his or her mind and soul.
If a child is not listening, don’t despair. Time and truth are on your side. At the right moment, your words will return as if from heaven itself. Your testimony will never leave your children."
Beautiful words!

First post from California

Well, our move went very smoothly, thanks to the many friends who came to help and the others who sent happy thoughts and prayers. I saw many miracles and tender mercies unfold last week that helped us get through it safely and happily. As hard as moving day was, I remember having a very peaceful feeling that this change -albeit sad is a good one. That better things are coming and happy memories will follow.
The boys and I traveled well and Jeff and his mom arrived a couple of days later with the Penske Truck and our cars. Thank goodness for Jeff's mom who drove with him so the boys and I could fly.
We've had a week of fun jam-packed in the schedule but Tyler and I have come down with a nasty virus that has us feeling pretty lousy. We did manage to get to the beach today for a couple of hours with the whole family and that was nice!

More updates coming soon when I find a new lens for my camera and take some descent pictures! I love the internet and blogging world even more now that I have tons of Texas friends to keep up with... think of me when you start slacking on the updating! :) I miss you all already!

A few notes:

• There are boxes everywhere... flattened ones, taped up ones, empty ones, full ones, ones my whole family could fit inside... I feel like we could make a dr. suess book about all the different types of boxes in my front room.
• I think Jackson walked over to the fridge, screamed, I opened it and he pulled out a piece of bologna a total of 7 times today.
• Tyler keeps asking me "are we takin' dis to cawafona?" about pretty much everything he looks at.
• I hate moving. I wish I could just transport my whole house and everything in it anywhere I want anytime I want. Wouldn't that be nice?
• Tyler has chigger bites. On his crotch and on his neck. Poor guy. He keeps telling me "my teeter bites hurt. Teeters give me owies" I know they hurt. I've had chiggers. Darn chiggers.
• I should be sleeping, but I'm posting. That's funny cuz a few minutes ago I was thinking I should be packing, but I'm sleeping. Then I couldn't sleep anymore.
• A week from right now I'll be in Cawafona. Claremont, California, to be exact. This week will be too long yet not long enough at the same time. We have so much to do! Art classes, packing, cleaning and cramming in as much friend time as possible!
• I keep thinking about how blessed we have been the past 2 1/2 years here. I have loved every minute. We have had good times and challenging times, I'm a better person because of it all. And through it all, our friends have been like family. That's the thing about living in a place where we don't have family. Friends become family. I will miss my Texas family.
• As hard as this is, I know we are meant to move to Ca. I'm so excited to have family memories and for my children to know and remember all their grandparents!

Big Change, Big Move...

Jeff's job hasn't been working out, so we have been looking at our other options for a couple months now. Things have been falling into place and we feel like everything is all happening for a bigger reason and we have so much to look forward to!
I'm really going to miss Allen and the great friends we've made here. I love our ward at church and our neighborhood. I've been prepping Tyler lately and told him we will have to say good-bye to our friends and make new friends in California. He said, "It ok, Grandpa's my friend." That made me smile. We are so excited to be near family!

A Few Flippin' Videos!!!!

I've been taking videos constantly with my new FLIP! I love how small it is and easy to just pull out of my bag and start rolling. Here are a few of my fav's!
TYLER'S SWIMMING LESSONS:
By the second day, he was dunking his head under and swimming to his teacher under the water and holding his breath!

JEFF SPINNING THE BOYS:
Why is this their favorite thing to do?

BOYS WILL BE BOYS:
I love the giggling in this one. If you need a good laugh...

SLIP 'N' SLIDE:

MORE SLIP 'N' SLIDE:
Jackson was having the time of his life!

LAST ONE, I PROMISE:
Me on the slip 'n' slide. So embarasing...


Sorry to have a billion videos on one post, but if I don't do it now that I have a chance to sit down, they'll never get added. Hope you enjoy them!

I love Summer Days!

It's been awhile since I've posted because I've been all mom lately takin' care of these little guys. Our favorite thing to do is go to the pool or soak ourselves with the hose in the backyard. Today, we decided on Sherbet ice cream a la alligator pool. It was awesome!

 

And just in case you were wondering why they created swim diapers for babies. This is exactly why:

I got a good laugh out of the way he was waddling around the back yard. And then I put him out of his misery (yeah, right, like he cared) and put a real swimmer on the little guy!

More Tyler Funnies

Man, if I don't write these down, I'm gonna forget. And then he'll be 15 and I'll have no stories to tell him :) Tyler has been so funny lately!

Today we were on a walk with the double stroller. I stopped to write a text to my neighbor and Tyler climbed out of his seat and told me he wanted to run. So he ran on the sidewalk next to me for a good 3 or 4 blocks! I told him to tell me when he was tired and he could get back in. He said "I tired bamorrow". I laughed and said, "yes, you will be tired tomorrow!" Then he kept telling me, "I almost tired" and when his cheeks were red and sweaty, he finally climbed back in his seat!

The other day I was sitting on the couch and got up to do something. I went right back to my seat and Tyler sat in my spot to be funny. I giggled and sat on top of him and said, "Wait a minute, that's not a pillow. It's not soft!" He said, "Mom, I have bones!" He loves watching the Curious George goes to the Doctor episode where the kids trace their bodies and then draw in bones.

One evening I asked Tyler what he wanted for dinner. I gave him a few chioces, "Macaroni and Cheese, soup, or corndogs?" He got really excited and said "Macaroni and Cheese Soup!" Haha. Those are his 2 favorite meals! I laughed and said, "No just plain Macaroni and Cheese." Then he got even more excited and said, "playin' with it, like playin' toys?"

Last week it was a beautiful day so I decided to walk the outdoor strip of stores from Hobby Lobby to Tom Thumb. Usually I drive if I need to do both stores, but this day was just too nice. In between, there are all kinds of stores like Staples, Petco and Bath & Body Works to tanning and clothing shops. When we passed the clothing store, he took one look at the headless manikins and yelled "Oh, his head broke!"  It must have been traumatizing for him to see, because he just kept talking about it, saying "His head fell off" and "His have no head". Oh, and they were girl manikins :) But everyone is a he/his!

Today Tyler took a late 5:00 nap. I hate it when he wont take a nap, falls asleep so late, and it makes him stay up really late. So I called Jeff to see if he would swim with him when he got home. He texted me to tell Tyler they could go night swimming and it would be fun. I told him, "Daddy said he would take you night swimming when it's dark outside" He thought for a minute and said, "Night swimming? Like this..." and put his head sideways, on his shoulder, closed his eyes and pretended to snore.

oink, oink

Today Tyler climbed on my back and said, "I want a piggy bank ride!"

This good day

My blog is my journal, it's my special place. I come here to see my very best friends and my close family. I keep up with my loved ones and those I admire. I love that I am able to upload a picture, type what I'm thinking and read back whenever I want. Things on my blog stay where they're put and they don't collect dust. It contains my favorite memories and my sweetest loves.

Today Tyler said his first prayer. In the middle of the day. I was changing Jackson's diaper and he kneeled on the prayer rug in his room and told me he wanted to pray. We invented the prayer rug to make night-time prayers fun during a stage when Tyler did not want to say prayers. We pick an animal and get to kneel on that square. He sometimes likes to copy us line, by line, but hasn't been doing that lately, just listening.

So we kneeled in the middle of the day, right before Jackson's nap, just to pray. Here is his first prayer all by himself:
Dear Heavenly Father;
Thank you for this good day,
Thank you for Jackson's nap and Jackson's clothes.
Thank you for Tyler, right here {giggle}
Thank you for Daddy and daddy work.
Thank you for Mommy.
Jesus Christ, Amen.

Oh, my heart is happy!

Attitude Adjustment

Today started early; I woke to the kids and heard my husband mumble a little "thanks for letting me sleep in" About 10 minutes later, his phone rings off the hook with work calls and it wasn't even 7:30 yet. So much for my turn to sleep in tomorrow :)

The day seemed to go by in slow motion, yet the boys are running around in hyper-mode. I feel like it must be time to start getting ready for bed and somehow the clock says its only 4:30. I make dinner and by the time it's done, Tyler's asleep on the couch. I pretty much yell nice things to him, shake him a bit, and pinch his cheeks, and... nothing. This means he'll wake up when Jackson goes down and I wont have a break until Jeff gets home at 10pm.

I stand in the kitchen and look around; paper streamers spread around the house, a bowl of popcorn dumped out on the floor, play-doh snakes on the table, and a sink full of dishes. I swear I woke up this morning to a very clean house. Now only hours later its a disaster. I call my mom for a good ol' attitude adjustment and she reminds me:

cleaning the house while the kids are still growing

is like sweeping the walk while the snow is still snowing

Thanks Mom, I needed that. I often get overwhelmed by the constant cleaning and especially the vicious laundry cycle- I can't seem to keep up and have our dirty clothes clean or our clean clothes put away. But my good friend, Christine told me her positive view:

piles of clothes mean I have loved ones to dress,

money to buy clothes,

and the convenience of a washer and dryer.

So, I try to look at my house a little differently on days like this. We had a good day; the boys got their fair share of fresh air at the pool this morning, healthy food in their tummies, lots of kisses from Mommy and Brother, so what if my house looks like a tornado dropped a bomb on us. We are healthy and happy and have so many blessings.

Playroom and Preschool!

Our LEARNING PLAYROOM! More fun stuff in this room coming soon!

I did a trade with the fabulous JoDell of Parker*Jane Boutique, and I got these fun alphabet animal vinyl stickers. I decided to paint canvases and line them up above this wonderful...

Shelf that Becca's dad made for us! I saw the pattern on Knock off Wood and just HAD to make them. But do you know me and a hammer? Doesn't really work out. Jeff said he'd give it a stab, but his work schedule has been hectic, so, enter Becca. She's my fabulous friend who always loves my ideas and usually comes up with even better ones! Her dad made one for us and one for them at the same time.

I just love the colors. I will be staining the shelves dark brown *someday* but wish I used red in the canvases. What do you think? I also have a huge fabric map of the world that is half cool/half dorky, but it was a yard of fabric on sale at Walmart for less than $2 and had the exact colors I'm using! I'm also in the process of putting up a sheet of cork to hang the preschool colors and shapes posters for next year. I'm calling this a "learning playroom!"

For preschool last week, we did the letter Q... I'm pretty sure I did the letter Q last time too and what do you do with Q? This time, we painted with Q-tips! I love when all gets quiet and the kids are concentrating very hard!

We were supposed to host R too, but Jackson came down with a horrible fever for 2 days. I've never felt a hotter baby and he was miserable and wouldn't sleep, so we owe you all one summer day to make Recyclable Robots and Rainbow Rice!!

Tyler LOVES his preschool friends! After they all left the other day, Tyler sadly asked me, "Where mine kids go?"

Relay for Life

Here's part of our team-- I wish we got one with everyone! Dang it! The other members were manning the fundraising table or walking in the relay at this time.

Here's our Sole Sister's fundraising table

I made keyfobs and headbands! You can go to my kirstikoo blog or etsy store if you want to participate in post-relay fundraising! Go here for more info!

Kim brought a bounce house for the kiddos.

Shannon donated 10 inches of her hair to locks of love! Her idea was contagious and 2 others decided they wanted to participate too! My good friend Becca was the hair cutter/stylist and I was her assistant! :)

The lovely Cheryl announcing about our team.

I love both Shannon's and Becca's faces in this pic!!

The hair-cutters with the Chick-fil-A cow!

I wish I got more pictures of our other team mates, but there was always so much going on!

At about midnight, they turned off the lights and did the Hope Ceremony to honor those who have had cancer.

They did a silent walk with the luminary bags lit up honoring those who have fought cancer or died from cancer. I was honoring Jeff's Grandma Clark, my Grandma Lanie, a good friend Kathy, and my dear friend Toni who is a part of our Sole Sister's team, and she inspired me to be involved. We miss Gma Clark very much, and I was emotional thinking about her.

I am so happy to still have my dear Grandma Lanie, Kathy and Toni. I just felt such an overwhelming love for them and am so happy we get to continue making memories together!