Sweet Memories

I was happy to hear via phone calls and facebook updates that most everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day! It is such a nice holiday because it seems to almost always involve food, sun, and family - 3 of the best things in life! I am so grateful for everyone who serves, has served, or loves someone who has served to protect our country. I am truly speechless when it comes to expressing how I feel about our soldiers and public service workers (firefighters, police officers, etc.). Thank you to everyone who has sacrificed for our nation!

We are trying to save for our trip home so we didn't really have anything planned for the holiday yesterday, but it still turned out to be a great day. Nate and I spent time working in the yard (still trying to get these crazy Texas weeds under control) for most of the morning. Then Nate decided it would be fun to go to the swimming pool at the Y which is very kid-friendly and of course I agreed! However, we realized Audrey doesn't have swim diapers or a swimsuit. Well, she doesn't have much of anything right now for clothing because we know we have so many generous family members awaiting our arrival next week who will replenish her wardrobe! We decided to see if Walmart had anything ridiculously cheap for her and were pleasantly surprised. Some of you may know one of my life-long dreams is to have an adorable, chunky baby girl so I can buy her a baby bikini (I know, I dream big). We found an adorable, festive little suit for only $5! We went to eat lunch and then swimming and I could not get over Audrey the rest of the day. There is seriously nothing cuter!

Now, if you are wondering why I loved a day that seems so simple, that is the beauty of a family. There is nothing more satisfying than a productive day with your family that also involves some playtime. With how busy Nate has been at work lately, a fun day that ends with everyone going to sleep exhasted and happy was just what we all needed.

Lastly, Taven had his little preschool graduation last week. He learned a lot this last year and I love seeing the little man he is becoming. I couldn't be more proud of my son and all that he is!

 To put the cherry on top of our sweet lives right now, we will be flying home 1 week from tomorrow! I could not be more excited to see all my friends and family and am looking forward to a great summer! Especially one that will not be a steady 150 degrees....(might be a slight exaggeration)...

See you all soon!!!

School's out!

I have been having so much fun with my cute kids since the semester ended. During the school year, I feel like my brain is always preoccupied and I can't seem to get myself to do the simple activities with my kids that make the happiest memories. Since school ended our house has seen a lot of pajamas, snacks, forts, indoor basketball, and books. I have had so much fun playing with Taven and being lazy snuggling with Audrey. I'm sure the laziness will wear off soon, but for now I am in heaven!

It's been raining off and on the last week and all Taven has wanted to do is jump on the tramp in the rain. Here are some pics of the happy little guy fulfilling his life dreams. You should have learned by now if you read my blog or know my son most of these pics are sans pants. Sorry. :)

I also finally snapped some pictures of adorable little Audrey, which I have been wanting to do for about two months now. You wouldn't think it would be hard to find time to take a few pictures, right? Well she is eight months old now and I couldn't postpone any longer. Love this little girl!

As you can seen, my life is all about my kids right now and I couldn't be any happier! It also probably helps that I have a great friend visiting for the weekend and then I can start counting down the weeks before we head to Utah. Life is good!

First and foremost, I have to apologize for all the semi-fuzzy photos. I am NOT a photographer and do not consider myself camera proficient. I also have a mischievious 3 year old who I have placed on the suspect list of messing with my auto focus. :) That being said, the memories are what matters and my two little ones are making my memories more and more precious everyday! Last weekend a local grocery store was having a huge sale on live crawfish and our awesome neighbor invited us over for a Louisiana crawfish boil. I tried crawfish once before and hated it, but I knew Taven would think it was cool and it would be nice spending some time outside with the family and a good friend. Taven was a little nervous at first and would barely even touch the live crawfish.

After he got a little more brave he did nothing but stir them up to get them moving. He thought that was pretty awesome.

I did not think Taven would be willing to eat something that was moving twenty minutes ago, especially something that had to be cracked open and pulled out. He ended up really liking it! The potatoes, corn and sausage were too spicy for him so he ended up just eating bread with his crawfish meat. I'll admit that I even enjoyed it too, even though my previous crawfish experience was less than noteworthy. Not something I would crave regularly, but yummy every once in a while!

The next day I noticed that Audrey had a bottom tooth that had cut through and I didn't even know she was teething. Unfortunately I went off bragging to others about how Audrey doesn't even have teething symptoms and what a champ she is. Needless to say, I turned my good fortune around on myself and she made up for it the next day. Her insane amount of drool left her gagging and puking for about 30 hours or so. I have never done more laundry at one time in all my life. Four days later her second tooth has still not cut through, but she has learned to deal by just chewing on her tongue.

We have spent the last few days in pajamas, doing laundry, and otherwise sitting on our butts. She is still so sweet and happy despite her painful teething! I finally got her to keep some food down and chew on some celery so that is helping. Hopefully it will cut through soon so we can get back to being presentable! Then she only has how many other teeth to go? Sigh....

FYI tent forts are one of the best ways for your toddler to still think your cool when your stuck at your house for days on end. :) How do you entertain your little ones when you're stuck at home?

We're back!

So, like most parents of young children my kids are often doing things so cute or funny I think the whole world needs to know about it. However, Nate and I are usually the only ones that end up enjoying it because I don't want to be the guy smashing his wallet of kid photos in everyone's face (Family Guy reference). My family members were giving me a hard time about not posting since we live so far away and hardly get to see each other so I decided I needed to get back to it. It doesn't hurt either that Taven is usually getting into blog-worthy mischief for me to write about.

We have been getting a lot of much needed rain this year after the intense summer drought. I LOVE rainy days and I could sit and listen to it all day if I didn't have any responsibilities (like those kids I mentioned). After I put Audrey down for her nap I came downstairs to find the back door open and Taven nowhere in sight. I wouldn't normally care, but it was STORMING like crazy outside. I looked out in back to find Taven sitting in his mudhole he created earlier this year beneath the dryer vent. This is "Oh no, I'm caught" face:

I asked him what the crap he was doing to which he answered with this face:

By this point it was only drizzling (you can't really see it in the pictures) and he was already soaked so I let it continue for a while. I had to get serious and ask, "No really, what are you doing?" He finally explained that he was worried the mud was too cold so he was warming it up (the dryer was running so he was warming the mud in the dryer vent air). This is him checking to see if the mud was warm enough: 

Nope still too cold, need to warm it some more.

After he felt satisfied with making the mud warm enough I told him he needed to come in for a bath since he was a mess. He told me, "I can't mom, now my feet are too cold. Just a second."

After warming his feet in the dryer vent for a while he finally agreed to come inside. He was so matter-of-fact about it all like the questions I asked were absolutely ridiculous. Funny kid.

On another note my little girl completely adores her big brother. Love these two.

P.S. - If anyone else has a little boy that is capable of keeping pants on, please let me know how you convinced him it was a good idea :)