Broncos Fans

Denver might not have won, but there are still loyal fans in this house!

Fort Hood

Anyone watching the Fort Hood memorial service? Do any of you care? Well let me tell you, I do. In fact, I am having a hard time holding it together while I watch. I lived at Fort Hood for 5 out of my 18 tender childhood years. It was from there that my dad was sent to combat Saddam Hussein in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War for 7 months: all while my mom had a high-risk pregnancy. My brother was born 2 weeks after his return. My dad is a humble, decorated veteran, whose birthday happens to be tomorrow, Veterans Day. God knew His plans for my father even from the day he was born. Whatever "thing" you are into: may it be going green, climbing the corporate ladder, having a good time, just hanging in there until something good happens - might I remind you that is only possible due to the men and women who have, are, and will valiantly serve our country. Their lives have given you your freedoms. And while you are pondering, may you also think upon Jesus, who was nailed to a cross, completely guilt-free, to take away YOUR sins. Be thankful. Take action. Change your priorities and get them straight. It's not that hard. Be proud to be an American. I praise the Lord that I am a forgiven soul proud to call myself an American. May you be able to say the same. God Bless America.

Dexterity Lesson

I was at the Toyota dealership having the Yota serviced for an hour and a half with the boys last week. We must have played 50 different imaginary games, broken up by 3 visits to their lovely restroom. At one moment when Aiden was occupied playing with some little semi trucks, Ashton somehow got a hold of Aiden's newest car. I caught him spinning the wheel, which is an excellent feat for a 7 month old! And today, on his 7 month birthday (yay!), he was intent on rolling a solitary pea around the dining table with his pointer finger. Adorable!

Rough Days for Aiden

My precious firstborn has been having some attitude issues as of late. I believe they are partly due to being almost 3 years old and the other half due to his younger brother on the move, getting into his "things" and receiving praise for his baby efforts. Please keep Aiden in your prayers as he battles through this rough patch. Please also keep Andy and I lifted up to the Lord in our efforts to correctly responding to Aiden's acting out.

Happy as we "play cars."


Little Brother on the toy prowl


Deep in thought on which toy to share with his brother. (I am also assuming pondering where to shove said toy!)

Chaos!

Ashton is clean and freshly lotion-ed, his hair combed in baby toe-head perfection. He is garbed in soft fleece pajamas and is nursing himself to sleep as only the sweetest babies do. That is the only thing going smoothly in this house. Half my left leg is soaked from Aiden dumping a cup full of water from Ashton's bath onto himself (and half of me!). Hence, Aiden is running around the house, in what I thought was just his underwear and socks, but as I found out later, was nothing but his birthday suit, as he stripped while Daddy was on the phone with his mom. At least he is happy. I can hear him squealing and serenading himself with his own version of ""Frosty the Snowman." Like I mentioned, Andy is deep in conversation with his mom, while simultaneously running a homeopathic experiment on our downstairs toilet in an effort to get it unclogged. Did I mention this experiment took over an hour and included things like large boiling pots of water and all of my dish soap?! And I hear Sara running out the door to catch her ride to College and Careers at church. I missed her. I had meant to apologize to her for her having to witness me yelling at Andy while I dealing with Ashton choking on a cracker. (Men ask the craziest questions in times of crisis!). Plus, Ashton's choking occurred just as Sara had asked me about our plans to go to town tomorrow and get pizza at our favorite place. We never had a chance to finish that conversation. That, my friend, is what I consider chaos in my house. I always thought the mom of the house could control how the household ran. I was misinformed!


All this makes me think of our first "baby." She was a crazy dog, but she did have her sweet moments. She was a good precursor to kids!

Captive Audience

I don't talk about this Big Boy enough. A neighbor had a tree felled this morning, so we camped out on the back deck and watched the entire process. Yes, it was cold, but the sun was shining! The man in the crane saw Aiden and got so excited that he had an audience. He talked to us in his booming logger-man voice and prompted us on what he would be doing. Aiden was so captivated!




Happy face after the tree went "crash"!!

Where Have We Been???

Well, first I got sick, then Andy was feeling yuck (but fought it off), then Ashton had the sniffles, and Aiden has been pathetic, with a runny nose and scratchy throat the entire time. So 5 boxes of Puffs Plus and lots of naps and early nights to bed later, and we're still on the mend. Praise the Lord for Sara being here, as she "sits" for me during the boys' naps so I can do errands and not get them out in the cold air or germ infested places (like the grocery store. Eww!) So hopefully by next week we will be on the mend and back to our "A Game." LOL

Around the house: Shampooed the rug in the living room this morning. Bad idea. 1st: Aiden was scared of the "noisy thampooer" and hid in the corner behind Ashton's highchair. 2nd: the rug is so thick that the shampooer didn't do a very good job of sucking the water back up, so we spent half the day with the front door open and the heater on, trying to get the carpet dry.

Aiden: Talking up a storm! Only 1 tantrum a day. Loves making his little brother smile by getting close to his face and obnoxiously laughing. "Plays cars" (ie. transferring them to and fro furniture, in neat rows) and loves to help put clothes in the washer and dryer and take things to the trashcan during meal prep. He mashed bananas for banana bread and was excited to eat the product for breakfast the next morning. Oh, and potty training is mastered! Running to the bathroom and "going" all by himself! Yay!

Ashton: Smiles at everyone! Tries to roll over everywhere (even on the changing table - you've gotta keep a close eye on that bugger!), is diggin' eating baby food in his highchair 3 times a day, gets mad when you don't "share" bread or anything starchy with him, grabs at everything within reach, and crawls to anything that he can't! Yes, he's crawling! It's not quite the hand-over-hand crawling thing yet, but it's more of an inchworm thing that still gets him from A to B. And zooming around the house is fun in his walker! Oh, and he absolutely loves baths. I think he would sit in there for hours if I let him!

So that's what we've been up to lately. More later!

There are eyeballs ...

... hanging from my ceiling. Two of them to be exact. It's almost Halloween and Andy and Sara took an unsupervised trip to Walmart today. Need I say more?

Here is Peechoo in an adorable outfit that our neighbor let us borrow.

Additions to Sass' Birthday Post

Because it was a birthday that involved Andy and Sara, there were plenty of goofy pics as well, and I just couldn't help sharing some of them!

Happy 20th Birthday, Sass!

Yesterday was Sass' birthday. She was missing Mom and Dad something awful, so we did our best to make her feel special. Bye-bye teenager-dom, Hello adulthood!

Have you seen this man??

I haven't seen him much lately, but whenever he is around, I sure love it!

Not Me Monday

I did NOT have a melt-down over my in-organization of my entire personal life. (Nor have I had them before, and will no doubt continue to have them in the future!)

I did NOT blow my nose into a tissue I knew already had a "boogie" wiped into it a few hours before by my 2 year old.

I did NOT refluff the clothes in the dryer 3 times throughout the day - after that poor load had already finished its original drying cycle.

I did NOT do as an adult what I swore as I child I would never do: sit in my parked car, waiting for my spouse to finish shopping in a store, meticulously cleaning the vehicle dashboard with a wet wipe. In and out of vent holes, around the shift column, ... well, you get the idea. I DIDN'T do that!

AND ... I did NOT use ice cream as bribery to my 2 year old in exchange for a wholly consumed dinner. I am a wonderful mommy who has wonderful children who comply with everything their wonderful mommy says; no bribery necessary. (-:



Don't have a blog or too chicken to leave your Not Me's there? Just leave your Not Me's in the comments of this post so we can all enjoy them.

My Little Pumpkin

I haven't written about my baby in a while. Shall I gloat for a bit? He is a wonderful baby: easy to please, smile, eat whenever I get around to feeding him and no-fuss when we're on the go. I think he knows he is the baby and enjoys cuddling but on the other hand, he is on the baby fast track. Almost crawling at 6 months and enjoy tasting foods other than, well, me! LOL

I hope you all enjoy these pics as much as I do. Don't be surprised if they show up in our Christmas letter! I feel like the lucky one because I get to see him every day!

Out to Lunch

The In-Laws only have a few more days of visiting, so after the pumpkin patch we all went out to lunch before Andy headed off to work. We dined at one of my favorite places that was established back in the 1700s and is fabled that George Washington ate there. And since he is my hero, how can I NOT like such a restaurant? Plus, the food is touted to be Revolutionary War era. Hearty and American - we love it!

Aiden's Room

The day that Rick and Sharon flew in, Andy and I spent most daylight hours working in our eldest's room. We transformed the toddler bed into a full. It definitely makes the room "full!" It's a perfect little hacienda for my little cowboy!

Fall Walk

"Mom, can we go for a walk?"


"Sure, baby! Let's get Little Brother bundled up. It's chilly out there."


"Ima walkin, Mommy! Ima walkin wif my wittle wagon!"





Aww. Little using the walk as his mid-morning nap. Little angel.


"Can I put weefs in da scary-scary [storm drain]?!"




"I find some pinecowns!"


The latest "prize" for going in the big potty. It goes everywhere Big goes.