{Long Days, New Beds, Sunday School and Celebrities}

We are in the final stretch before school starts and the days are getting longer and longer it seems. Too much of anything can be a bit much and I think we have made it there with summer. Most kids are back to school this week, but we have an extra week or two for some reason. Since I was at a loss of what to do, I decided to bike/run up to he library with the boys and get them their very own library cards! It was so freaking hot, but somehow we made it in one piece. Luke parked his bike out front and we headed in to pick out our books. Of course Luke picked out a train book and Ben picked out a dinosaur book. These two are pretty predictable :).

 

Ben is still in between needing a nap and not needing a nap. If he takes even a short one, he is up till 10:00 pm but he can't quite make it without one. So on the way back from the library, he fell asleep as I jogged with him in the stroller. I let him sleep for about 30 minutes, but then woke him up because he would be a nightmare to get to sleep last night if not.

 

And that resulted in a cranky Ben for about three hours after that. I pretty much handled fits and tears and tantrums from then on until Daddy got home. Like I said, long days! We have much more good days than bad days, but there are some just plain old hard days.

But in other news, we love our weekends since Daddy is not working. Our favorite thing to do is get up and have a family bike ride to breakfast before it gets too hot for the day. We sit at the same spot every time and we all really cherish the time.

Big news around here...Ben transitioned to a big boy bed!!! We planned to have the boys share a room for the longest time. I didn't want to rush Ben out of his crib though since he has so much trouble falling asleep at night, but it was time. I ordered the beds and they finally came in last weekend. We still have to order a new dresser, new rug, their toy trunks, lamps and comforters, but the beds are in place and they are using them!

Here Ben is taking his first nap on his big boy bed! I had to lay down with him to fall asleep, but he did it and stayed there. Woohoo!

 

The day the beds were delivered, the boys played in them a lot. We spent time just getting used to them and enjoying something fun and new. So of course we had to take some selfies of us doing that...

 

Nighttime was a different story. The boys acted like they were having a sleep over and could not stop laughing. Hysterically. Just listening to the giggles was absolutely precious, but also very annoying after an hour of it. They each had flashlights and things were just nuts. So finally I had to step in. Luke finally fell asleep but it took another 45 minutes to get Ben down.

But he finally did! And then slept there all night. Since then bedtime is still a bit of a challenge for Ben, but it is overall okay. We put Luke down first and then start the process of Ben going to sleep. It can take 20 minutes up to an hour and a half. I just never know! But once he is down, he stays down. I know once he does not nap anymore, all this will not be a problem anymore. Thinking he just needs a few more months to get to that point.

Chat and I signed up to be Sunday School teachers at our church for this year. So we had our training this past Sunday and should be getting our rosters soon. We signed up to teach Luke's class so that should be fun! Ben will finally be going to Sunday School this fall instead of the nursery, so I am so excited about that! Here is our little Benny after church this past weekend. He insists on buttoning his top button on his polo shirts. I used to hate it but now I think he looks adorable.

 

This past Saturday we went for Mexican food and we were sat right next to Hakeem "The Dream" -- an old Houston Rocket's basketball player. He was huge when Chat and I were growing up, so Chat was a little star struck. When he got up to leave, Chat asked for a picture with him and the boys. He was so gracious and nice and happily obliged. The man was huge!

 

We booked our tickets to see Thomas the Train in Burnet, TX at the end of September. The boys are sooooo excited! I have wanted to do this for a few years now and the boys are at the best age to do this. We are going to head to Austin on Saturday and spend some time at UT showing them where Mommy went to school and see some fun things in Austin, then heading to Burnet Sunday morning and spending the morning/early afternoon there before heading home. So a very quick trip, but I can't wait!

Luke thought this was so funny the other night. His bubble bath was so full, he looked like a floating head. So of course we had to take a picture and send it to Daddy at school!

I think I have taken too many pictures of the boys because now they like to pose and ask me to take their picture. Example below! This was outside of church after bible study on Tuesday and Luke struck a pose. Funny guy!

 

Playing game sis still one of our most favorite things to do. Chat and Luke are still going strong with Chutes and Ladders. Luke absolutely loves it and I think Chat likes it just as much!

 

 And I think winning is getting to Luke's head...

That's it for this week. We are on the homestretch back to routine, school, fall and better weather and I can't wait!

{My Little Bedheads!}

I love when the boys will just lay with me in bed in the morning and watch some TV and we get to snuggle a bit. It usually ends in crying fits because they start fighting or giggles because they start playing. This was a giggle day! 

 

 

 

 

 

Love these boys!

{Travels to Lost Pines: 2014}

We went to Hyatt Lost Pines again this year (remember last year?) and apparently we are making it a family tradition. It is amazing to look back at the same time last year and see just how much the boys have grown. We thought it was easy last year, but man oh man, this year really was a breeze. Now don't get me wrong, Chat and I worked our buns off with these boys. They are still two and four, but overall it was just a much easier trip than we have ever taken.

My boys still love their fruity drinks...and boy did we all have a lot of them!

So the first day, I tried to get a few cute pictures of the boys together. EPIC FAIL. The next few pictures are entitled How to Drive Your Mother Crazy....

At that point I gave up as families (with older children) around us started to snicker. Clearly we just aren't ready to take cute pictures with the boys looking at the camera. EVER. Ugh!!!!

However, the boys were ready to have their picture taken on the token statue horse in the lobby. It is one of the first things we do every year. Secretly I hope one day they want to ride a real horse!

My favorite part of the trip is always the s'mores. And you will see a few pictures down, that it is Ben's too. He double-fisted every night and would be begging for more as we left each night. The boy likes his food and I think s'mores tops the chart for him. What can I say? The apple does not fall far from the tree.

Traveling with these two has become quite easier as far as sleeping arrangements go. We asked for a roll-away bed for Luke and a pack 'n play for Ben. Around 9:30 pm, I realized that the pack 'n play was just not going to work. He is just waaaaaay too long for it. So I called the front desk and got them to bring up another roll-away bed and FINALLY everyone fell asleep. Ben is my night owl and, well...just wants to party till at least 10:00 or 11:00 every night. I was thinking swimming ALL DAY would wear him out. Apparently not.

Even though he drives me crazy at night, he still does some pretty cute pictures for me during the day...

So this was Ben on Saturday afternoon. We went back up to the room for about an hour or two to let the boys get out of the sun for awhile and rest. Ben proceeds to pass out with the TV blaring and all of us playing a board game. And for the life of me I couldn't wake him up. I finally got him up within an hour or so, but guess what that meant?  Yep, partying all night long and resisting bed time!

The boys played a little tether ball again this trip.

The pool was awesome -- whether it was just swimming, floating the lazy river or going down the water slides. The boys love every minute! And now that Luke is great at swimming and Ben will wear his float, it has gotten extremely easier to be at the pool with these two.

With all these amazing water activities, what did Ben really love? The self-serve water station. He was constantly add it filling up cup after cup after cup. 

A little downtime after dinner before the fun with s'mores began. We rarely let the boys play with the iPad, but they get to when we are on a trip since there is never any appropriate tv shows for them on. But boy do they get hooked quick! Luke asks me no less than 20 times a day for the iPad since coming home. Sorry Charlie!

A little family selfie was in order on the last night after s'mores. We really needed this family time together. With Chat's new job and his school schedule, we needed the time together without any distractions. We put up the phones and electronics 90% of the time we were away and it felt really good.

That is almost 90 pounds of children in Chat's arms here. I think he felt the burn.

To follow tradition, we had to ride T-Bone and Ribeye, the Hyatt's longhorns. Luke couldn't wait. And it was very important to him to be able to wear the cowboy hat. He was fired up!

Ben surprisingly did not want to ride the longhorn at all. In the end, he opted to just pet him and give him a little lovin'.

The best part about the whole resort is the water slides. The boys LOVE it and both actually could go on it by themselves (hallelujah!). We had to be at the bottom to catch Ben since you couldn't wear floats going down it, but that was no problem at all.

 

So another year down! It was just what we needed and I am in major vacation withdrawal at the moment now and trying to get over my crabbiness since we still have 2.5 weeks till school starts. How I wish we could be back!