Winter turns into Spring...(Jan/Feb/March/April 2015)

I have done a really lousy job at keeping up with this the past several months. I hope I am able to hold onto the amazing memories that happen each day at home with my boys. And I pray that I am feeding them God's great word and teaching them to Love the Lord and trust in Him always.
As I sit outside on this spring day, I am not able to express the gratitude I have in being a mom to Edward and Eli.
So here are some of the things I did manage to write down and keep track of over the last few months.

• On January 21st I took both of the boys to a barber shop to get their hair cut, it had just become to much of a losing battle for Erick to do it at home, and I say you have to choose your battles. Well taking them was worth every $ we paid, way less stress and the boys sat still and patiently the entire time. Well that night after we got home, Edward was very concerned about his new hair cut "I hope my haircut no get messy tonight". You have got to love the sweet innocence of little ones.
• Eli marches around the house saying "Fee Fi apple fritter, I smell a little critter" from one of our Little Critter books, Jack and the Beanstalk. Of course, Eli is my rhythmic child, loves to sing and chant and catches on so quickly. Another fave for the month of January was " You are Mr. Grinch".
• Edward LOVES to build with blocks and is always looking to make his buildings more "stabilizer". 
• On February 8, I was finishing up my nightly prayer with Eli and he begins singing "praise Him, Praise Him"
• Favorite Colors:
• Edward-blue, black and red
• Eli-yellow
• My Dad has been working on an old car the past few years and is getting really close to finishing up, so he let us take and ride in it and now Edward refers to Grandaddy's car as being "Groovy" a word he had to have picked up from Pete the Cat (books).
• The middle of March seemed to have brought lots of little accidents and at one point Edward proclaimed that "I can run faster with my bandaid" (on his foot).
• "That's Crazy!" Says Eli as he rides his scooter backwards down the driveway....Yes, Eli, it is CRAZY!
• "Wanna see someting?" Eli asks
• The boys love the chant "who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?" Along with "Little bunny Foo Foo".
• On March 19, Edward turned 4 years old! I am still having a hard time grasping this fact, but he is such an amazing little boy, that I completely love watching him learn and catch on to new things everyday. On his 4th Birthday he measured 43 inches, 40.2 pounds, I think his height was average for a 5 1/2 year old, so he is one tall dude!
• Now as we enter into April, Edward is calling his dad "Erick" nearly all the time.
• Edward has his moments of completely being responsible "I clean up, it's no worries" and "That be good with you?"
• Eli has been carrying a little toy guitar around for days and singing "Lou, lou skip to my lou" "I sing" is what he says.
• When we saw the Easter bunny at one of the egg hunts Eli referred to him as "Santa Rabbit"
• And just this week, the boys have been abounding me in love by stating that "I love you with (all) my heart". This makes a momma's heart melt.
• The boys also love doing their Bible memory verses and I am just amazed at quickly they can learn and how much they love memorization.

Up on the Housetop...Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas! Here I am updating for the months of November and December. I'll just jump right in on a few of the merry memories!

• Eli is obsessed with "juicy tomatoes" (not eating them, just squishing them), picking "carrots" from our frozen garden and "Pete's bootie on fire" (from the Mickey Mouse Christmas cartoon) and "Pete not nice"
• Eli will just bust out singing the start of the Lion king song....you know, the one that starts the movie off with the random sounds and words...
• Edward wants to wear his pj pants backwards for the "taggies" and picks out his clothes according to which tags he likes.
• Eli asks to pray for 'Nana, grandaddy and Ethan' every night.
• Our first visit with Santa this year was on December 5 and Edward completely and totally surprised me on what a big boy he was!! Eli was very skeptical, so I had to sit with him. And then Santa asked Edward what his names was and he clearly stated "Edward" and then I answered for Eli. Next, Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas and Edward said without pause "garbage truck and cement truck...garbage truck with trash can and real trash in it" and Santa asked Eli and he said "cement truck". Santa knows what my boys wanted!
• Edward told Eli "Eli, on Christmas day we can open presents" . This year was a magical year as I watched Edwards anticipation for Christmas....leaving reindeer food out, making cookies, gingerbread house, Santa coming down the chimney. He was completely embracing all of the fun of Christmas and we especially celebrated Jesus' birthday and even made Him a birthday cake. 
• The boys were quite worried that Daddy was going to eat their gingerbread house "Daddy no eat gingerbread house"
• Eli loves to sing! This year 'Jingle Bells' sounded alot like "taco bell". Some of our other favorite non-holiday songs right now are 'muffin man' and 'farmer and the dell'. They both particularly loved the song "hit the road Jack" when we heard it somewhere recently.
• We celebrated the season with lots of fun activities which included:
• Breakfast with Santa at the discovery center
• Santa meet and greet at the PPHM in canyon
• Lights parade in Canyon square
• Zoo lights
• Botanical gardens lights
• Bishop Hills lights
• Christmas movies
• Christmas Eve Service at Trinity Baptist
• Trains at Canyon library
• Some of the most loved presents this year have been:
• Garbage and cement truck
• Hot wheels race track
• Leappad
• Eli got 'Spare Mint' from Edward and he is obsessed with it, will not put it down!

Ho, ho, ho Merry Christmas and a blessed 2015 New Year!

Feeling the Fall Weather...October and early November 2014

Hello! Welcome to what I feel like really shows the beginning of fall--October--cooler weather, falling leaves, Halloween, and my birthday :) So here are a few things that have been happening around our spunky Halloween house:

• Well, I busted out the kids Halloween cd's (monster mash, candy, ghostbusters) and the boys are/were obsessed with the Spiderman song....sure they have heard me kind of sort of sing the song before for fun, but have never seen any tv with it and do not own any spiderman paraphernalia, but still, Edward's already asking if he can be Spiderman next Halloween...
• On Oct 14th, I asked Edward "what are you chewing on?" and he answered "bugar"...nice...
• Eli loves to sing, and will sing with me all the time "Jesus loves me", "ABC's", and "Let it go" and many, many more
• The boys' love playing Hide and Seek! Eli is actually really quiet and difficult to find, while Edward is loud and can not stay hidden, but now as an update and into the month of November, Edward's hiding skills have improved immensely!
• Eli's best friends are his stuffed animals right now. He will line them up, put them on cars to ride on, lie them on bed, ect. Edward never did this, and I think it is just adorable his favorites right now are "pooh and tiger" along with "elephant, clifford, and polar bear"
• I LOVE Eli's 'jig'--dance
• On October 30th, Edward brought his chair and recorder into the closet with me while I was practicing my horn, such a cool and sweet moment.
• Eli turned 2! On October 31st, we had his party the weekend before, and I made mini-cupcakes for everyone, but Eli got the normal sized cupcake and he loves retelling his cupcake experience. "Big cupcake" (because his was much bigger than the others) and then he will clinch his fists really hard because after eating some of the cupcake he decided it was more fun to squeeze his cupcake and let it slime through his fingers :) Seriously, he loves this story!
• Around the first of November, Eli went through this phase for a few days where is said "mommy stinky" then would just laugh and laugh....not sure how I should feel about this.
• Eli thinks if he closes HIS eyes, then you can't see him
• One of the sweetest moments ever was this past week on the 7th and Edward, out of nowhere, states "I'm glad I have little brother"....me too, Edward, me too...

Some of the fun things we are doing consistently this fall are:

• Ladeeda Music on Wednesday mornings
• Edward Gymnastics on Wednesday afternoons
• Bible Study Fellowship on Thursday mornings
• Lunch with Daddy on Wednesdays

Some other Fall events we have participated in are:

• WTAMU football game and band
• Pumpkin Farm
• Fall carnivals

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Fall is Here! 2014

Yes, Fall is Here! And the leaves are beginning to change into beautiful autumn colors; brown, yellow, reds. I love being able to talk with the boys about the seasons and the nice brisk mornings and the many colors of this season!

Here are some of the fun memories we are making this fall together as a family of four:

• We took a quick camping trip to Cimarron Canyon, NM and attempted to fish, waded in the river, took walks, roasted marshmallows, drank hot chocolate, gathered firewood, pitched our tents, and ate yummy food! Eli who is also quite accident bound, got stung by a bee on the ear, and fell out of his stroller....what am I going to do with him? He gives me heart attack nearly every day!
• Maxwell's pumpkin farm opened the last weekend of September and we made sure we were there! Hay rides, bounce houses, corn mazes, tractor rides, pumpkin pickin', corn diggin', and goat feeding. The easy and fun entertainment for a 3.5 year old and almost 2 year old is endless....!
• Both of the boys are just sponges....they catch on to everything, and nothing slides by them!
• We love to sing! Here are some of our favorites right now:
• "you are my sunshine"
• "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho" and they love saying 'and the walls came tumbling down' and really making the word slide down :)
• "eat 'em up" with a toilet paper roll
• "bumpy road"
• Edward has also started composing his own songs about Eli "Eli, Eli, O , O, O" then Eli will repeat! 
• We had a caterpillar named 'toothless' who we watched for about a week eat through squash leaf after squash leaf, then die.
• Sometimes the tags on a shirt, pj's will determine whether or not Edward likes the item, because he rubs tags like crazy usually while sucking his thumb! Eli prefers to suck on his blankie.
• Eli loves his "Pout pout fish" and the book
• The boys like to feed Max in the morning and this will often lead us outside first thing in the morning, which turns into us all running through our huge backyard and being silly first thing in the morning! I love being a mom!
• "1, 1, one" (poop) "he doesn't have a family" Edward-9/26/2014
• Eli playing peek-a-boo through his crib with me in the mornings "I see you"
• "You're pretty" These simple words from Edward brought me to tears...
• I always tell the boys they are "perfect". So one night while we were reading the Bible I told Edward that everyone makes mistakes and that no one is perfect, but then he said "I'm perfect" followed by "you're perfect"! Heart-melting mommy moments! 

God is great! I'm so blessed! Happy Fall!

Summer Adventures

So I was just sitting here, enjoying the fact that both my boys are playing in the backyard without me needing to entertain.....awesome!
We took a great mountain trip to Colorado this year and enjoyed every minute of it! First we went to Tucker Ponds, up near Wolf Creek Pass, and camped out for 4 nights. Yes, in a tent. People think we are crazy, but I love it! Edward is 3 and Eli is 21 months and we could not have asked for a better way to spend time as a family. My parents, actually camped out with us too, in their tent, and that made getting meals and camped prepared a little easier, since we had some extra hands to help out with the boys. After our 4 nights of tent-living, we ventured on to Crested Butte, CO where we had rented a 'little yellow house' for 5 more nights and it was wonderful! Here are just a few memories from our great trip!

• Before we left Amarillo, we were waiting for my parents' on the outside of town, so we had stopped and Erick said "let's go camping" and Edward said in the most cutest way possible "here?"
• Bedtime in the tent, turned into playing in the tent, because Eli was all about rolling and tumbling all around on top of me and Edward. But one of the cutest parts was him spelling out Edward's name "edrdrd, Edward" in the cutest, most innocent voice, and all of us would just giggle and giggle.
• We forgot to take Erick's tent, so he engineered himself a side tent using a tarp.
• We did not have much luck fishing at all....so Edward insisted that "fish no awake" and Eli was obsessed with "fish bite".
• The first night my mom, nana, let out a big, terrifying scream, and then I could have sworn that she had seen a bear because of the little bits of conversation I could here my mom and dad having during the middle of the night, so I was up most of the night with heart pattering quickly. Needless to say, it was NOT a bear, mom had a cramp in her leg.
• When we got into CB, the boys most favorite thing to do was ride the 'bus', the free shuttle that would take us back and forth into town! Both would ask over and over and over again "bus, bus, bus"...
• On one of our bus trips, Eli is entertaining some young girls with his cuteness, then Edward "roars" and captures the attention of half the bus and of course Eli "roars" back.
• The boys could have thrown rocks in the river all day every day, and Max would have loved that too.
• We ended up running back to the car several times in the rain, glorious!
• Eli started covering his eyes and counting for hide and seek, as well as counting while climbing the steps up the playground, he sure is growing up!
• Eli copycats Edward "catch" (jumping off the bed, or boxes) and falling down. But sometimes Edward copies Eli "wobbling heads". I love have two active boys!
• Eli loves to sing "tip toe, tip toe, in the hot sand" a song from our music class-Ladeeda
• Eli before bed every night asks for a "hut", hug and "kiss"
• Killing flies in our house is becoming a hobby. Edward now chases the flies around with a big plastic crayon he has and actually got one the other day. And since it such a hobby Eli says "kill fly"
• The boys love listening to the "Puff the magic Dragon" CD and reading along with the book.
• "Zerberts"
• "I draw outside" Edward will take his magna doodle and go outside and sit down and draw and talk to Max. He is also obessed with chasing the birds and rabbits out of our yard!
• When Edward heads to the bathroom he is very purposeful about dragging Eli with him, so that when he is using the bathroom, Eli can not take over whatever toy he is currently playing with, smart little dude!

So this about takes us through the end of August! There is so much more that I know I'm forgetting, but I just want to live in the moment every single day that I get to be home with my two perfect little boys. Thank you God for blessing me with two sweet, energetic, kind, smart boys.

2014 Early Summer

2014 Early Summer--Beautiful and WET!

What can I say?? April was ROUGH with all the wind, but God has been ohh soo good to us here in the Panhandle of Texas with lots and lots of much needed moisture and cooler summer temps! Thank you God!
I just want to say how much I love being a mom, sure some days are hard, but wow, every day is beautiful with two perfect little guys! I've been trying so hard to just live in the moment with them each and every day and have not been so good at recording those memorable moments, even when I write them down, it just can not do the real moment justice. But here are some adorable happenings in my life right now:

• June 7--Eli loves his books! Some of his favorites are "la, la, la" -- 'moo, baa, la, la, la' ,"beep, beep, beep"-- 'little blue truck", and "Goodnight Gorilla" he loves the "eyes"!
• 9--I put a pillow in bed with Eli for the first time and laid him down for his nap and he just giggled and giggled!
• Eli LOVES trains! LOVES them!
• 20--Edward rode "tractor" with Daddy and here is what he told me when he came inside "Eli wave at me" and " Daddy lost my hat" because his hat blew off :)
• "Big poop, no corn in it"-- oh he doesn't miss a thing
• On the days that Edward decides to have a no-nap day, when I come in to get him, he always has the cutest smile and says the cutest things....sigh....
• 25--Edward can dress himself completely and loves to demonstrate his independence!
• "two minutes" is what Edward says when he wants to do something
• Edward always tries to make a trade with Eli, of course, he's on the good end of the trade
• The first thing Eli ask for when he wakes up is "broder"--'brother'
• on July 4th, Edward hated when we tried to do a few small fireworks with him "this no be scary" and none of us appreciated the late night fireworks that went on for more than a week! Edward would wake up, sit up in bed and cover his ears with his hands, poor guy...
• We all loved the 4th of July parade!!
• Edward loves to  ENCOURAGE! And I love that about him! I love to see him working with Eli on something and saying "good job Eli".  Definitely a proud mommy moment! 
• Eli is a hoarder--he always has a handful of something--cars, trains, trucks, bread for ducks, something!!
• July10, Eli must have been really tired around 11, I was out pulling weeds in the garden and Eli was trying to fall asleep in the sand box. He was literally laying down with half his face in the sand, covered with sand, it was so cute!
• This summer we've been trying to go swimming about 2 times a week. Edward loves the water and Eli is liking it more and more each time :)
• We also took the boys to Wonderland Park (Eli's first time, Edward's second time) on June 27th. It was so much fun, they loved the toy boats, cars and Edward got to do a few of the bigger rides. I rode the log ride with him the first time and I will never forget that little laugh when we got to the bottom of the drop, pure joy!

April/May 2014 life with two boys

So April 2014 was super dusty and dry, with absolutely NO relief here in Amarillo, TX. I seriously thought I was not going to make it but we did and praise God for rain that arrived middle to late May! Praise God for relief and beautiful showers! And praise God for my two beautiful, healthy growing boys! Edward is 3 and Eli is 19 months (end of May). They are silly, stubborn, goofy, listening, non-listening, sweet, kind, smart, encouraging, never-miss-a-beat, little guys. Here are just a few of the fun amazing moments, that the boys bring into my life each and every day, thank you God!

• "I go to mountains" --Yay! I might have a mountain boy in the making in Edward (and hopefully Eli)!
• Eli "no, no, no, no, no" while shaking his head. So cute, but sassy....
• Eli waves before he attempts to get away with something he knows he is not suppose to be doing....he is well aware of what he is doing, sneaky!
• Eli says "ankie" for his blankie and Edward use to call it his "B"
• "Love you all yours (my) heart" says Edward (middle April) and today (June 6) he started adding "love you all yours nose", "love you all yours body". He is always expressing his love for me and Eli, I hope this continues throughout his life and carries on to his life as a husband and father.
• In April, Eli was infatuated with the bathroom, mainly because Edward was constantly going to the bathroom to use it, but also around this time, Edward became captain of the "eli stinky" team and he will ALWAYS let me know when Eli has a dirty diaper.
• "Jesus turned rain on" Edward--April 20--AMEN
• "I watch cold" says Edward, meaning the new Disney movie Frozen, so cool that he knows they are synonyms without really knowing what that word really means :)
• Eli nods 'yes' and says "shh" before bedtime
• On May 5th, Eli walked around all morning with 1 slipper on, it was adorable
• Edward got his 'big, big boy bed' on May 11th! It is a twin bed that Erick made for him and will turn to bunk beds when the boys get bigger.
• Eli outgrew his nap sacks, the biggest clue--both feet sticking out the end, so funny!
• "I love you sooo much" "Thank you taking me hotel"--Edward is so thoughtful
• "mine"! --exclaims Eli!
• "Someday" is the word Edward uses to describe something that he eventually wants to do/watch/play/go
• "broder"--brother is how Eli refers to Edward. He always asks for Edward when he gets up in the mornings and after his nap. Brotherly love.
• On May 22nd, I looked at Edward and did not see a "baby" anymore.....
• Towards the end of May, Edward will just get a book and sit down and start "reading" it. Sometimes for several minutes at a time. Right now his favorite book to grab and sit down with is 'Captain Underpants' a book which I have never read to him and was just given to us as a hand-me-down from our neighbors. It is so neat, and he'll often look over to me and ask if I'm almost done with my book and he will say he is too...
• I love watching Eli drink the milk out of his cereal bowl in the morning, too cute!

We took a trip to Austin, TX from April 22-26th because Erick had a work training and me and the boys tagged along to get out of dusty Amarillo and explore Austin. While in Austin we got to stay in an amazing hotel--the Omni, and did some really fun things. We loved swimming in the indoor/outdoor pool at the hotel, we took the boys miniature golfing for the first time, went to the Austin Zoo and saw the animals and rode the train at the zoo,went to the nature and science center and went to Zilker park that had a really fun train ride around it and fun playground equipment. All in all, minus a few screams and tired boys, the trip was a huge success and so much fun! And Amy's ice cream in Austin rocks! :)