i'm going to be an aunt!

My sister-in-law, Charise is expecting a baby this fall, and that means I am going to be an aunt! (this isn't exactly new news, but I am just now getting around to posting it.) I am so excited to meet my niece or nephew this fall, excited that they will only live about 2 1/2 hours away from us, and excited to spend some time with Bret and Charise while we are all in transition this summer and all living at Bart's parents' house.

Here's a picture of the cute parents-to-be that was taken when they came here to visit this past January.

happy memorial day!

Basically, we spent Memorial Day at the pool. First, we went to the nice pool at the community next to our complex. The boys had a great time going down the big water slide, and learning to jump into the pool all by themselves and swimming to the side of the pool with their life vests on. I thought they would get upset by having their faces go under the water, but it got to the point where they actually got mad if Bart or I caught them as they jumped in because they wanted to go underwater.
Later in the evening, we went and had a BBQ with some friends and went swimming again at their house. It was such a fun day, and we are really going to miss being in Florida and swimming whenever we want.

Ky going down the big water slide
Kade going down the slide (Yes, Bart is hidden in the splash)
My boys at the pool
Bart and Kade jumping together. Ky forgot to jump too.
Ky's jump.

purging

The dictionary defines purging as a forced cleansing or release. I define it as the first step in the moving process. I would like to say I have that process down since this will be our sixth move in the past five years, but I'm certainly not as organized about it as I would like. For example, this past winter I cleaned out my pantry, only to find 3 cans of tomatoes that were expired. But they weren't just barely expired, they had expired at the beginning of 2005. Which means that they had been moved 3 times and over 2,400 miles after they expired.


So I started purging things before it's time to pack to make sure that doesn't happen again. I decided to go through all my boxes of baby clothes that I have accumulated since the boys were born. I discovered that I had 9 boxes of clothes, size newborn to 18 months. And this is after I had a yard sale, gave garbage bags full of clothes to 2 different new moms, and took some to Goodwill. (People have been very generous and given us a lot of clothes.) I guess I have an attachment to so many of the boys' outfits, and even felt it necessary to keep 2 of the same outfit, just in case we have twin boys again. (I know, I'm crazy!)
Anyway, I went through the clothes, again, and decided to only keep 3 boxes of clothes. I was proud of how much I was able to let go of, even if I cried as I sorted.


So, if any of you are having a little boy and would like some cute baby clothes, let me know and we can try to work something out to get them to you.

camera phone

The great thing about having a camera phone is that I can take pictures at times when I haven't thought to bring my camera. The bad thing about camera phones is that the pictures are hard to transfer off the phone. I started taking cute pictures of my boys two years ago, but my phone only holds 25 pictures. So I would delete one I didn't really like to make room for a "Kodak moment." But, it soon got to the point where I couldn't bear to delete any of my pictures, so I didn't take any more. Well, after these pictures sat on my phone, some for close to 2 years, I finally figured out how to get them transferred to my computer without spending a fortune in cell phone charges. So here is part of my collection in random order.

5 amazing years!

I can't believe it's been 5 years since I married the most amazing man I've ever met, and my best friend. It started with the most perfect wedding day, and five years, so many wonderful experiences, thousands of miles, and two children later, we are happier than ever!

Thanks Bart for being an amazing husband, a wonderful father, and for making these last five years so special. I love you!

happy mother's day!

On this beautiful Mother's Day, I wanted to take a minute and honor my mother and Bart's mother.
This is my mom and the boys at Downtown Disney. We had such a great time with her when she came out in February. My mom is a very talented woman. She can sew anything! She made most of my clothes when I was little, she made my wedding dress--and it looked amazing. I can't imagine the care and time she took to make sure it looked perfect, including the time it took to hand-bead the entire bodice. She is also a talented cook. Growing up I never liked to eat at anyone else's house because I knew it wouldn't be as good as my mom's cooking. Along with this she makes the most gorgeous cakes, from birthday cakes to wedding cakes. She makes homemade candies and hand-dipped chocolates. She also makes amazing flower arrangements, basically she can craft just about anything. Watching her example, I often find myself thinking, "Why buy that, when I could probably make it myself?" Then I try, it looks horrible, and I realized just how talented my mom truly is. It's hard living so far from my mom, I miss her a lot. She is such a good grandma to my boys, and I know she wishes that we lived closer. I love you mom!
This picture is from last April at Bret and Charise's wedding. That's Bart's mom on the left, her mom in the middle and me. I love this picture. Bart's mom is one the most caring people I know. She's friends with so many people, partly because she has a special way of letting people know that she cares. She is so easy to talk to, and I've enjoyed some late-night conversations with her when we have had the chance to visit. Another thing I admire about her is how enthusiastic she gets about everything. It doesn't matter what it is, she gets excited about even the little things going on in our lives, it makes me feel special. One of my favorite memories with her was once when we were visiting, I went with her to a dance aerobics class at her gym. When we came home, we were in the kitchen trying to remember the routine, and ended up falling on the floor, we were laughing so hard. I'm excited to be moving closer to her, to get to know her better, and to have more "falling on the floor laughing" moments.


Happy Mother's Day to our mothers and to all our friends who are mothers. I learn so much from all of you as I try to learn how to be a mother to my children.

sunday best

I just had to take some pictures of my boys in their cute Sunday clothes yesterday after church. I bought these outfits last week with a gift certificate from "Aunt" Kortney, that she gave me 9 months ago. I finally found something that I really liked, that came with two of the same size. Thanks Kortney!

Ky says "cheese," but never looks at the camera
Kade wanted to sit in the flowers and fold his arms for this picture
Don't I have the 3 best looking guys, ever?!
This one needs no explanation, my boys are just silly
They picked flowers for me

creative thinking

The other day, Kade came to me and said, "Mommy, come see what I do with my ball hoop." I was intrigued, so I went in the boys' room to see this:

Now, that's creative thinking!

quote for the day

I was cleaning off my desk and I found this quote that I had scribbled on a piece of paper while watching the movie, "Martian Child" last month. If I could remember this thought more often, I think I would be more patient with my boys, and I would try harder to help them learn about the fascinating world around them.

"Sometimes we forget that children have just arrived on the earth. They are a little like aliens, coming into beings as bundles of energy and pure potential, here on some kind of exploratory mission, and they are just trying to learn what it means to be human."

-John Cusack as David in Martian Child