Happy 2012

Happy New Year!!  I REALLY want to get back into this crazy little thing called blogging!  This also means i need to recommit to taking photos and loading them regularly.  baby steps.  I have an iphone now so maybe i can post pics from my phone a little easier.  ha ha.  we'll see.  We started off the new year at my parents' lake house and had a blast!  My kids were especially lucky this year as they rang in the new year with both sets of grandparents!  Jay Pops, Mimi, Zizi, and Eden came to join us for Nye!  We felt so blessed to have so people we love under one roof (but we missed Aunt Leanne, Uncle Mike, and sweet baby Harper!!)  We played lots of games, ate too much food, and most all LAUGHED!  A LOT!!! 
As a family we are really excited about what 2012 has in store for us.  We have made our list of resolutions after grading ourselves on how we did on last years list.  (which was one of our first passing grades in 6 years!) ha ha ha.  but just like an Christian parent and family unit we can always do better and are excited about the new things to add to our list! 
For my own record I need to write about my sweet boys!  They are both at such a fun stage right now!
J.David is mr. independant!  Now that he is 4 he thinks he can run the house.  He LOVES to help out and is so sweet about playing with his brother.  He still loves cars and trains.  And still loves sports, especially the Cardinals!  We are so excited to see him play tball this spring!!  Right now he is in soccer and loving it!  There isn't a league playing right now so he is doing instructional soccer indoors.  The BEST quote from his soccer so far (and it completely sums up the precious heart of our first born, he has such a loving heart) Morgan:  Buddy, you ran so fast out there today!
J.David:  yeah I did.  But none of my friends saw me!
Morgan:  Why not?
J.David:  b/c they were all in fron of me!
 We are working on his ability to lose.  ha ha.  He has a fantastic sense of humor!!  Most of all he is inquisitive right now.  he loves to look at things in depth and wants to know how and why all things are!  This produces some wonderful questions and usually lots of laughs throughout our days.  He is also very clever and will come up with some very good reasons to keep us coming into his room everynight after bedtime!  ha ha. 
Myles is our child of smiles!  He constantly (ok usually) has a huge smile on his face or a sweet chuckle spreading joy to the room.  He LOVES to dance and really has some moves.  He isn't saying much (in English) but is really trying hard!!  He is so smart and will come up with some really creative ways to get his point across when we aren't understanding the language of Myles.   He also believes that he is 4.  He thinks he can do ANYTHING J.David can, and gets pretty upset when he can't!  its as sweet as it is funny and frustrating at times.  He follows his big bro around ALL day long!!  Myles also is great at playing by himself!  If is has wheels or bounces he is set!  Oh and we can't forget Barney!!  ha ha.  He is such a sweet boy that loves his family and still loves to cuddle! 
We are so blessed!!!  Happy 2012 Kickoff!!!

November Mini Pen Pals

So, again I forgot to take any pictures of what we sent to Carson.  But we had a BLAST putting it together.  We sent him one of the goodie bags from J.David's pirate party, one of our famiy's favorite boy books The Prince's Bedtime, a Melissa and Doug colorable placemat with crayons, a green sock puppet kit, and a copy of J.David's drawing of our family portrait.  I did a copy b/c he really took his time and was the first one ever that looked like people!  I couldn't bring myself to send it off so we made a copy and the original went into our J.David memory box.  We left for a whole week to Arkansas for Thanksgiving, and J.David was so excited to get his package when we got home!   Here he is ready to break into it!  (his book came before we left and it is so cute!  365 devotionals for kids, such a great book!)

He loved the truck!!!!

All the goodies!!

Such a cute drawing!  And J.David thinks its so cool that Carson is also a big brother, and even cooler that he will also have a brother named Miles soon!  He now keeps asking about Carson's Miles.  ha ha.

Loved his baseball drawing too and book tags....Mommy is a huge fan of the book stickers!  Thanks Carson's mommy! 

My boys!!

And what's a post with a little Myles??  So cute!!

Mini mail pen pals

Last month we signed up to join a mini pen pal swap via Meredith's blog.  We were so excited to find out that J.David's pen pal was Carson.  His mom and I went to church together during my Houston years and is also mommy to all boys.  Plus, J.David and Carson are only 1 day apart and when reading his mommy's blog I can really see these two being the best of friends!  J.David was so excited to pick out some goodies for his "new friend Carson".  That was how he referred to him for about a week..ha ha.  We picked out some fun Cars goodies, candy, and ordered a cute monster shirt from my mom's new business.  SADLY, i didn't think about taking any pictures of what we sent.  ha ha.  But here are some cute ones of what J.David received.  An adorable handmade fort kit, halloween funfetti (our family fave), and a cute cow sound maker (Myles has claimed this one!) Thank you Carson (Mer) for the adorable package and I promise to take better pics next month!  He is already looking forward to sending something off to Carson for November's assignment.  Such a fun idea! OH! and Friday night we are having family movie night and the first order of business is to set up the awesome orange fort! 

Picker Sisters

I know I have so much back logging to do on here BUT I saw this show last night and had to share!! It's another Lifetime homerun!!  Tanya McQueen and Tracy Hutson (from Extreme Home Makeover) travel the country and go through people's "junk" to find awesome pieces full of potential that they turn into beautiful design pieces to sell in their new store.  Example: Last night they took old run down house built of weathered wood and turned it into outdoor furniture, and nests of barbed wire became beautiful rustic chandeliers!  My hubby watches American pickers, which I find interesting, but I am not a big collector so I don't always "get it".  Sister Pickers is more my language!  I am always looking at things for what they could become, it always amazes me what a little paint or sewing modification can do.  Morgan better watch out b/c this new series might just inspire me to pick up a power tool!!  ha ha.  check it out!

Love my Boys!

I took these pics the morning before J.David's first day of VBS in June.  I thought the progression of photos sums up our day to day happenings..ha ha!

Trying to get them to smile, look at the camera, and stay put at the same time.  sounds simple enough.....ba ha ha ha!

 Cheese!!!! 

 Myles fighing back...ha ha ha!

Love these boys!!!

10 months!

Myles Glenn is 10 months old this week!  I say this week b/c there is no 31st in June, so sometime in the middle of last night he turned 10 months old.  ha ha.  He is such a joy!!  A few things to document about Mr. M:

He loves his brother and his dog

He doesn't like Mommy to be out of sight

He loves to dance (SO CUTE!)

He is pulling up, cruising, and occasionally letting go for a few seconds at a time.
Loves to play with cars and toys...he will play by himself for the longest time!
Is so laid back when we are out and about
loves ALL foods!
Isn't saying anything we can understand yet, but has his own little language that sounds like he is trying to comminicate.  When he gets mad, he repeats the same thing to me in this raspy loud tone...its hilarious!
He is a biter...ouch!  I currently have 3 spots on my leg the size of quarters...we are working on this. 
Naps well, taking two a day.  Nights......arrgh!  I'll leave it at that for now.  ha ha
He is mr. snuggle.  I LOVE THIS! 
He SMILES ALL THE TIME!  And did I mention he has the BEST smile!!!!
He is starting to eat more solids and feeding himself really well.  And he conquered the sippy cup months ago
He is determined...if brother can do, Myles will try it.

His voice is deeper and raspier than J.Davids and its funny when he is yelling

He has very little interest in the TV, w/ the exception of musical TV shows to which he dances to more than watches.  again, ADORABLE!

Plays peek a boo

He is a FLIRT....he will find the nearest sales associate or older lady and make googly eyes.  ha ha!!

And finally is CRAZY ticklish!!

I can't really remember what life felt like without him.  He is just so precious! These last 10 months have gone by so fast I nearly feel like I've missed them!  We are getting excited about his upcoming birthday and I'm starting to get in planning mode.  oh how i love party planning, especially for my boys!!   

We survived!!

The boys and I made it through our first week of Morgan traveling!  In 2009 he was gone nearly sun-Fri of every week but he's been home with us for over a year, so it was hard to see him go.  I didn't need this trip to show me all the things he does for us, he is such a fantastic hands on dad, but boy was I tired after a week of going at it alone!  It was a big joke when he used to travel b/c everytime he left J.David would sprout teeth.  Literally, every time!  And wouldn't you believe that Myles cut his first tooth last week and working on the 2nd?   ha ha ha!  We did great though and had a lot of fun with the boys.  JD had a full week of activities since it was the week overlapping classes.  We had our last gymnastics class, school, and our first swim class.  All went great, but boy were we tired!  We didn't really get any pics from last week but here are a few from the weekend: