(Sickness, VBS, James Taylor and Father's Day 2014}

We finally are back!  After 12 days of someone being sick in our house, it is wonderful that all the boys are healthy again.  It started with Chat getting strep and flu two Sundays ago. He was sick for about five days, meanwhile Luke got sick with a crummy virus and had a fever for eight days, then Ben got sick (we even made a trip to Texas Children's last Sunday for breathing treatments).  It was a loooooong two weeks, but as of last Friday, no one had fever and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

This was Ben when we were waiting at Texas Children's. Poor guy was a trooper!  Luckily we only had issues with his breathing on Sunday and the rest of the week he just felt crummy and had some fever. 

I felt like the boys were okay even though they had fever. We watched a lot of movies and tried to lay low, but they sometimes still played and goofed off.  This particular night, they picked their pajamas (Ben picked Santa pjs and Luke picked Micky Mouse pjs that were about two sizes too small) and then decided to raid my closet and try on shoes. At this point, I let them do whatever made them happy and kept me sane for those two weeks we were stuck inside.

The boys and I had VBS at our church and even though they missed a bunch of days due to their illness, they both got to be there on the last day.  I volunteered all week providing snacks to the 550 children that attended and it was super fun!  Except that most of the days, the boys were home with our babysitter because they were too sick to go.  But the last day was great and they got to enjoy the big celebration after it was all over...

 

At the carnival afterwards, Ben saw the teens spray painting kid's hair. He immediately insisted on green (of course Ben would want this)! Luke wanted red and unfortunately it didn't show up in his almost-black hair. The teens doing it practically sprayed his scalp from like an inch away, so days later we are still trying to get the red off his scalp. I am hoping lucky number five shampoo will do the trick tomorrow!

 

 

 

After those crazy two weeks, Chat and I really needed a night out. Luckily we had lined up a babysitter weeks ago because we headed to the James Taylor concert on Saturday. We love James Taylor so much. For some reason, I always listened to him during both of my pregnancies and we went to his last concert in Houston when I was pregnant with Ben. I just have a real connection to him and his music and the concert was amazing. For a man in his mid-60s he put on an amazing show!

Father's Day was seemed to sneak up on us...maybe due to the illness plaguing our house. But it was still a nice day. We all got up and went to church this morning.  This was the only picture I got of Chat and the boys.  It was walking into church hand in hand.  It is cute, but so sad I didn't get their faces! 

We then went to my parent's house for lunch. It was a zoo with all the cousins, but still fun. Here is good ole Grandad with his two grandsons.

 

The rest of the day we hung out at home and played in the sprinkler. These pictures are actually really nice looking, but let me tell you, there was a lot of laughing, but a whole lot of screaming and fighting between the boys. They were both getting upset because they wanted to be the 'leader' of the two going through the sprinkler. Well...pretty much in between the fits of giggles, there were screams and tears.  Yay!

 

 

 

(Luke has really gotten into climbing trees all of a sudden!)

 

 

(This was more like it!)

 

 

 

We still had a nice day even though the fighting was there. The boys and I took Chat to his favorite restaurant Lost Tios and then we headed home for the night.  Now the boys are in bed.  Luke is asleep and Ben is still talking in his crib trying to convince me to come back in and talk with him. Pretty much our typical scene every night!

{Me at 33}

Today I turn 33.  This birthday has been a bit different than most. Usually my whole family spends it down at our bay house and everyone is in summer mode. It has always been a blast! But this year, we are at home and Chat is super sick. We got home from DC for my cousin's wedding on Sunday and Chat started to fight something. Today, while I was at bible study at church and then a meeting for Vacation Bible School, he came home from work with 101 fever. He went to the doctor and he was diagnosed with strep and flu. And he couldn't drive home he was so weak. So I went and picked him and went to the pharmacy and got him soup, etc. I dealt with driving the boys to their activities and two rather large poop explosions. So it was a rather normal to hard mom day as is and throw it being my birthday on top of it....well, not super glamorous.

 

But after I fed the boys dinner, we went on our daily walk. While I was walking and talking with the two cutest boys and I realized this is what my birthday is about at 33. Counting my blessings and happy I have the two of them to walk with even through all the sacrifice. So although it wasn't quite the birthday I expected, this day truly signifies my life at age 33 -- wife and mother. The most challenging roles I ever had, but the most rewarding. So I am going to go get my husband his medicine and sprite and read my boys their books and tuck them in tonight and be happy that this is me at 33.

 

I am sure once everyone is back to normal we will go out in celebrate, but in the meantime, I have a cupcake waiting for me when everyone goes to sleep for the night. And I am super excited!

 

{San Antonio in May}

We took a quick trip to San Antonio with some dear friends this past weekend. This was the same place that we stayed last year and we loved it all the same!  We were able to get a two bedroom and so we could share the den and kitchen so we had lots of togetherness.  It was so fun!

This picture was taken right after I fell down stairs on my knees and bloodied them up in front of probably 75 people. Ben's legs are hiding my wounds luckily. I am impressed that we got everyone looking at the camera -- however the boys don't look too happy. Ha! I think they were mad that we made them stop moving for two minutes to take a picture. They actually had a ball and played so hard!

The three amigos!

Ben and his s'mores.  Enough said.

Yep, that is chocolate in between his eyebrows.

They loved holding hands everywhere we went.

Luke wanted me to cover his legs with sand. He loved every minute of this!

Awkward brother picture :).  The best!

And this sums up Ben in one picture. Well, this picture plus tantrums.

What a fun trip! I feel so lucky to have such great friends who enjoy the same things we do! Unlike last year, this is really one of the only trips we are taking other than going down to my family's bay house. So this was a real treat!  But it is always nice to be back in our own beds :).

{Life Lately...Trying To Play Catch Up}

The last month has flown by! As much as I want to remember the details of the last month, I literally cannot without the pictures I snap on my phone. I am so glad that I try to take a few each week so I have some knowledge of what goes on in our crazy life. So in chronological order, this is what happened (or at least some of the things that have happened) over the past few weeks...

1. Both boy asleep in the car. This never happens anymore!  I enjoyed the five minutes of quiet. Ahhhhh....

2. Our babysitter apparently showed them how to do 'silly' faces because I get this A LOT when I try to take a picture.

3. Back in April, we went to a family BBQ for Chat's MBA program. They had a bounce house, balloon artists and face painting. My boys decided to go for sharks! Luke could not stop looking at himself so I decided to take a picture so he could just stare at the picture. Good thing because he smudged it 3 minutes after this picture and a major meltdown ensued. But luckily we had to picture to remember it by!

4. I took the boys to the zoo one more time before it got sweltering hot. I love when the orangutans come right up to the window. I feel like I love the zoo just as much as the boys do...maybe more!

Of course we had to ride the carousel -- Luke's favorite thing to do at the zoo.  I love to see what animal he picks out every time. This time was the zebra!  Good thing because it was right next to the benches...

...where Ben sits every time. He isn't up to riding on the big animals yet. Meaning he freaks. So we sit on the bench and it is the perfect opportunity for a selfie!

We then had lunch since the boys were starting to get whiny. I didn't really pack anything and all the restaurants were overrun by field trips, so these boys got to pick out a juice and a bag of chips. They were in HEAVEN!  Doritos and capri suns?? What is not to love?! Oh and I always match them in shirts when we got to the zoo so I am always just looking for one color in the crowds of kids. It gets so busy with so many children, I want to instantly find them in a crowd. Matching shirts help so much.

Before we left, we of course had to ride the train. Luke and Ben wanted to ride together and I sat right behind them. I love when they are getting along and being sweet brothers!

5. Wrestling. It happens a lot in our house!  And I think this is just the beginning. Ben is usually the instigator (ahem and that maybe his nickname!). I usually end up feeling sorry for Luke and have to pry Ben off of him.

Ben just loves him to pieces...

And this is typically what pictures are like these days. Ben still likes taking them and will smile and say cheese and Luke just covers his face. He is so over them.

6. On Fridays, Luke is in school and Ben and I have the morning together. We go to his Little Gym class right after Luke's drop off and then usually run errands or go to a park. This particular day, I needed to go to the grocery store and someone was not having it. Nothing a little (or big) donut can't fix!

7. Bath time is full of shenanigans these days! They love for me to help them take their shirts off but stop short. I call them my flying nuns!

8. Sadly tee ball is over, but I got a few more pictures at our last practice. Luke loved baseball and is so sad it is over. One Saturday several weeks ago, he woke up in the morning and ran into our room (we were still sleeping) and yells, "Daddy!! Today is baseball day!!" It made Chat's year! No prompting, just pure love of the game at such a young age. I secretly hope it sticks.

9. Ben became harder and harder to deal with at tee ball practice because all he wanted to do was be on the field with the boys or be using all their gear. I took a bat to the shin the other week and I still have the bruise.

I told Ben to give me his 'baseball face'.  Ha!

10. In early May we went to our friend's Cinco de Mayo/Kentucky Derby party. We get a family picture like once a year, so I am so happy we got this one. We all look pretty decent!  Love all my boys in pink :).

 11. Several nights a week we go on a family walk. It is one of my most favorite times of the day. We bring the dogs and head out after dinner. For some reason Luke hopped up on this fire hydrant and got stuck. And of course I take a picture!

12.  Luke photobombed the picture I tried to take on Ben.

13. Luke is still in swim lessons once a week. I wasn't sure if it was paying off, but we went swimming for the first time this past weekend and I can definitely tell Luke is improving. And then there is Ben who I have to occupy during his swim lessons.  He is such a nut!

14. More wrestling...

15. Not sure why this selfie was taken, but here it is!

16. Soccer season is coming to a close. Due to the heat, we won't be in soccer this summer and will pick it up next fall once the temperatures fall. Ben and Stella decided to get sticker happy one day while waiting on the big boys. I swear Ben is going to have tattoos when he gets older. If he isn't stickering himself, he is drawing all over it with markers.

17. My friend Tori from college came in town from Wyoming and so a few friends and I got to meet her new baby girl Lexi. It is so funny that even a night a way from your own kids still feels like a night out even if you are holding another baby. She was precious!

Okay, officially caught up with iphone pictures!  The boys last day of school was Monday so we are on our own for a few weeks before summer school starts up. Chat leaves for Europe for is EMBA program on Friday for 10 days. We are going to miss him so much!

{Dinosaurs!}

My big Benny boy is obsessed with dinosaurs! It is so fun to have a son who likes something more than trains and experience something so new. I love trains, but after 2.5 years of only that, I needed a change. And Ben is such a different character than Luke, I should have known he would enjoy lots of new things!

A few weeks back I was bringing the boys to ride the train at the zoo, but when we got there, it was a parking nightmare. I couldn't find a spot anywhere -- not even blocks away (I was willing to walk far to keep the boys happy and occupied for a morning with nothing on our agenda). But sadly everyone in Houston apparently had the same idea. So I told two disappointed little boys that we couldn't go for a train ride as I drove by the Museum of Natural Science. Ben had been when he was a baby....waaaaaaaay before his obsession started. So we changed plans and the three of us spent a morning among the fossils. And Ben loved it!  

Luke really enjoyed it too!  Although lots of my time was literally chasing them around and trying to keep them from climbing on all the exhibits. Man do they have a lot of energy! 

And of course, we had a lot of silliness...

All in all a very successful trip! Ben is even more obsessed than ever with dinosaurs and pretty much insists on dinosaur pajamas every night and a dinosaur t-shirt every day. I do TONS of laundry just to keep up with his obsession. People must wonder if I have any other clothes for him...which I do...but I don't have the energy to deal with the tantrums that follow if I tell him he has to wear something else. So I pick my battles and dinosaurs it is! So I pretty much have to wash the same shirts and pajamas every night. He got to pick out a new T-Rex shirt before we headed home and has worn it no less than four times a week since. The boy knows what he likes!