The Ferguson Family

And now we play the waiting game..

2012-02-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

This house was owned by an older couple. So it came with little old lady flora. Not that I mind the gimpy bushes and the irises and....whatever these are going to be.

I just don't like where any of them are.

So, you can bet they will be getting relocated at the appropriate time.

For now, I am curious as to what they will look like.

The "Beep"

2012-02-08T14:10:00.000-08:00

Coen got a super fun toy from Grammy and Gramps this Christmas.

A Jeep.

Or "Beep" as he affectionately calls it.

Coen LOVES driving Wallace around.

He watches out for him and makes sure he doesn't stick his arms out of the doors. Which he always does.

Apparently it's hilarious when they almost run over me.

Wallace wants to drive some times.

Maybe in a year or two, kiddo!

January in Pictures

2012-02-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm being lazy and consolidating all of January in to one post of pictures. Don't bother me. :)

Christmas 2011

2012-01-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

December 25th

I made it! Finally got around to Christmas!

We had a pretty busy Christmas day. We desperately wanted to go to church that morning because this season is first and foremost about Christ. Unfortunately, with the time constraints we had with family coming on Christmas day, we really needed to consider everyone's schedule so we weren't able to make it. The Lord knows our hearts, though, so that's all that matters.

The stockings were stuffed and ready to be opened!

What a great Christmas morning. I recorded a lot of it, so there aren't many pictures.

Wallace wasn't very interested in ripping paper, just playing with the little pieces he found. Fortunately Coen graciously accepted the burden of assisting his little brother.

New boots! Hooray!!

Well, we had to buy some new trains!

Wallace is fixing to realize that he's getting the tiger xylophone I let him play with in Toys R US. He bawled his eyes out when I had to take it away to pay for it.

Giving brother a turn. ;)

They play so well together. I think My mom has a picture of Julie and I in almost this exact way.

It's sad that the drill was necessary to open a child's toy.

I was so excited to give Wallace this stuffed puppy dog! He loves dogs. He always touches the nose first. See? HA!

We also gave them this joint gift of plastic balls. We put them in a tent we already had. They had so much fun with this!

The aftermath, I am glad to say, was not too bad.

Each boy got three gifts not including their stockings and the one joint gift. I want to have a system to gift giving in our home. I want them to always get a book and perhaps something to promote creativity. I recently heard a saying about giving gifts, "Something they want, something they need, something they wear, something they read." Sounds good to me! Daniel got me a robe, which I love and I gave him some money, cause I'm awesome like that. :)

Coen was the first one ready to head over to Grammy and Gramps' house! :)

Everyone was waiting on us to arrive and once we did we dove into Christmas festivities. Coffee, brunch and gifts.

All of the kids loved the light up spinning tops they got. The adults did too!

I love this picture of Aunt Julie multi tasking in the background. :)

It was also baby Wyatt's first Christmas and for some reason I have no pictures of him on my camera. I remember taking some, but I think it was with someone else camera. Bummer.

Sweet kisses from Grammy!

Workin on that empty box top...

Gramps reading to Coen and Julie and Wallace.

Wallace checkin out his loot!

This is funny for so many reasons. :)

And the grand finale...Coen got a jeep!! He was SO excited and he plays with it every day! WOW! Thanks Grammy and Gramps!

A few hours hater, after playing games, eating and cleaning up the house, my Dad's family came over. I guess I was too busy keepin up with kiddos and socializing to take pics, but we did get one big family photo. Whew!

Ornaments

2012-01-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

December 23rd

We've started a tradition of getting the boys an ornament every year but I also wanted to have some handmade, heirloom ornaments from their childhood. I'd seen this ornament craft done here and wanted to give it a try! They turned out OK.

This is Coen's

This is Wallace's. His hand print was a little harder to get. ;)

I also found these little DIY ornaments in the clearance section in Walmart for Coen to paint. Such fun! Sometimes it's easy to forget that kids don't need a lot to have fun.

He started out using one color at a time but then eventually all of the ornaments ended up being brown.

I snagged the train and candy cane before they met the same fate!

The North Pole Express

2012-01-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

December 18th

This year we took the boys to Grapevine's North Pole Express. Surprised? Coen had been watching The Polar Express at Grammy and Gramps' house whenever possible so we had to go!

Grapevine is such a neat little town.

The boys got to wear their pajamas on the train! Parents had to come fully dressed. ;)

There were activities and things for the kids to do while waiting for their ride.

Here's Coen, ready to go with his ticket in hand!

First we watched a little show with singing and "acting" and a conductor with an English accent. I don't know why he had to have an English accent. Most kids liked it I guess. Suffering through corneyness without making sarcastic comments is a parenting skill Daniel and I have yet to perfect. Or work on in any way.

The best part was when the show was over, and not just because it was over, although that was nice, it was because Coen got out of his chair and started making his way to where the line was forming to get on the train. He did this on his own. Left us all behind! Coen never does anything like that. It's the best part for me because it was confirmation that he knew what was going on, and he was excited. I LOVED seeing that. LOVED it. I'll sit through a thousand of the corniest plays to see my kids get excited about something. It's probably one of the best moments of my parenting life so far. Loved it.

First we had to walk through the Christmas Tree maze and it was "snowing". :) Coen was holding Daniel's hand and pointing and talking the whole way. Precious.

All aboard!

We made it! YAY!

Grammy and Gramps we actually staying in Grapevine for their Anniversary, so they came by to see us off. Coen got to wave to Grammy from the window. He loved that, too!

Here comes the conductor to punch our ticket!

Later Santa and Mrs. Claus came to pass out gifts for the kiddos.

Jingle Bells!!

Merry Christmas!!!

9 months

2012-01-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

December 15th

Wallace turned nine months on December 15th. NINE months! I'm happy, though, because that is a perfect first Christmas age! Look at this cutie!!

This month Wallace got his first tooth! He finally made it to the Dr. after I missed his other check ups. (Oops!) His pediatrician was worried about his size. Apparently he is off the charts small. Solution, give him bottles and stop breastfeeding him at night.

....

I'm not kidding.

Here's a little behind the scenes action for ya! My kid looks great huh? He's dressed like that all of the time. And look, he so happy, perfectly posed in front of out quaint little family Christmas tree.

Here we go, folks.

We got the fail to stand up shot...

...distract with the dancin' Santa shot...

...and the half nude child wanting to pass out presents in the background shot.

Cuties

2012-01-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

December 14th

Coen has discovered cuties. You know, those cute little tangerines? I bought some on a whim hoping that he would eat them and I got my wish. The child can go through no less than 24 cuties in three days. I don't feed them to him, he sneaks them off of the table and counter top. He can eat them himself because in a fleeting moment of pure genius I showed him how to peel them. I did this because I was being asked to peel one every five minutes. Once he had that down I would catch him in a corner or a room or under the table peeling a cutie. That or I would find piles of peel all over the house. So, I told him to start peeling them over the trash can. That's where he spends most of his day.

He not going to have any enamel left on his teeth.

Yes, we need a new trashcan.

The Chesapeake Building

2012-01-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

December 13th

Amaaaaazzzziiinnnnggggg. That's all I have to say about the lights display in downtown Fort Worth in front of the Chesapeake Building. I took lots of pictures but they just don't do it justice.

I'm lovin' It

2012-01-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

December 12th

No, not McDonalds.

This.

He sits on his knees and I think it's absolutely one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I love it, love it, love it.

Love it.

It's even cuter when he's wearing his Halloween costume.

What? It's cold.

The Trains At Northpark

2012-01-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

November 29th

On one of Daniel's days off we hit up the Big D for some entertainment! First stop was lunch at The Cheesecake Factory!

Here are my big guys waiting for their food! Wallace was pumped.

After we were all sufficiently stuffed we headed over to the mall. Coen was in heaven and Wallace was pretty entertained as well. Tickets were $5 and went to a charitable cause. Worth every penny!

Here we are on our way in. Coen is already zoned out and in train heaven.

If you get a chance to go, you should. Especially if you have train lovers in your family. Choochoo!!

8 months and a Photo Shoot

2012-01-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

November 15th

Remember when I asked everyone to vote for my boys to win a mini photo shoot from Nicole Hager Photography on facebook? Well..... I WON! I never win anything and I was so excited to win this, especially since I had always admired Nicole's work. We scheduled the shoot for November 15th which was the day Wallace turned 8 mos. old. Perfect!

Look at my sweet little man!! I wish I could post the rest of the pictures Nicole gave me on a FREE cd! What a blessing! However, our drive isn't working right now.....maybe later! For now, here is my special little guy. We love you so much Wallace!!

" I thought engineers did that."

2012-01-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

November 25th

With Wallace getting bigger and needing a little bit more attention and all of the projects we have going on at the house, Coen had to start learning how to put together his own train track.

As you can see he likes to use all of the bridges, crossings and turn tables. :) Did I mention that we got that train table for Coen's birthday? Found it at an estate sale for a steal. It's huge and I have big plans for it.

They are pretty good. This one sends trains under the TV cabinet.

Though, I wonder about it's structural integrity.

Talkin' on the front porch

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

Wallace is a talker.

Bike Discovery

2011-12-31T09:57:00.000-08:00

November 11

Daniel and I bought bikes together when we were engaged. We took them camping on our first anniversary and they hold a lot of good memories.

I LOVE riding a bike.

After we moved in we had a "throw together" garage sale. Anything that was in storage in the barn got tossed out onto the lawn. Our bikes made it out there too. I couldn't bear to part with them! After vowing to clean them up and use them now that we live in a neighborhood and lots of other promises we'll surely break we pulled them back into our "Not For Sale" pile.

Until Coen found them.

He was BEAMING!

Daniel and I had been talking about getting him a balance bike for Christmas and now we knew we had to. Coen was hooked!

He really like chasing Daddy too. Loved them. Just loved them!

Flat tires and all.

He's such a great kid.

Did I mention that he does some pretty amazing stunt work too?

The Ugly

2011-12-30T07:54:00.001-08:00

November 9

Fixing up an old house isn't all fun and games. As a matter of fact we have yet to enter that phase. This picture is testimonial to the complete frustration involved in the "renovating" process. (Note there are still no drawers in the kitchen. We misplaced them when everything was getting sprayed and totally forgot to paint them. They get put in weeks after this pic was taken.) We bought this dishwasher when we lived in the barn. I hand washed dishes for almost five years because we didn't have anywhere to put a dishwasher. After I had Coen and the dishes increased and the time decreased, I begged Daniel for one. He said yes right away, of course. He's like that. I begged because I'm dramatic.... Anywho, It's a portable dishwasher. You roll it to the sink and hook it up when you want to wash dishes then roll it away when you are done. We loved it until this day. We were told it was convertible. Meaning portable when we needed it to be, but also permanent when we bought a home. Perfect! Turns out the kit needed to convert the washer costs as much as the machine itself. Enter genius husbandry. It took a few days. I'm not gonna lie, I was cursing in my head when Daniel told me he was going to have to take the whole thing apart to figure out how to DIY, he got it done though. He was murdering me with his eyes when I snapped this photo at the height of his frustration. I hadd to document our progress though! Good job honey! Eventually we will gut the whole kitchen and get all new matching appliances and cabinetry and an island. When that happens, it'll be nice to look back, right?

As a side note this pic was taken the day after our eighth Anniversary. I have no picture documenting our 8th like I do every other year. I don't even remember what we did to celebrate. Seasons of marriage, huh?

Jack-O-Lantern

2011-12-30T07:47:00.000-08:00

October 26

When you've got a baby at home, and your remodeling and unpacking and doing everything else you usually do on top of that, it's hard to make yourself stop and remember to do the fun things. To take a moment and just do something easy and enjoyable for no other reason than life is short.

I bought the pumpkin when we first moved in and it graced our porch in it's dutiful fallish fashion. We brought it inside and...well, you know.

Coen's favorite part was poking the pumpkin. As a matter of fact I found several of our pumpkin carving tools buried deep into pumpkin skin and snapped off at the surface. :)

The goopy insides.

He also like taking the top on and off, on and off.

Makin' memories!

Halloween 2011

2011-12-30T07:29:00.001-08:00

October 31st

I'm tempted to justify our Halloween festivities because...well, I'm not quite sure why actually. I'm not going to. I understand that a lot of people have a problem with Halloween. I don't like a LOT of things about Halloween. To us, however, it's just another reason to get together as a family. So we did.

I bought the boys goodies for Halloween morning. Just some little treats from the dollar section at Target.

Goodie goodies!!

We had special waffles with raspberries and fresh whipped cream. YUM!

The squishy spider was a big hit. ;) BOYS!

We also spent some time at mom and dad's, carving pumpkins, watching movies and eating of course!

Check it out, my sis freehanded that spooky tree!

Coen was a sellp walking, candy eating conductor.

Wallace was a lion.

Guacamole and Halloween chips! Coen's favorite!

New baby Wyatt, all dressed up as the cutest little monster ever!

Cousins!!

Halloween jammies to boot! What a fun day!

Coen Turns Three

2011-12-30T00:52:00.000-08:00

October 20th

THREE yall!! Make him stop growing!!

A few days after we moved in Coen turned the big three. Each year brings exciting new experiences and I love learning more and more about this amazing little boy God has intrusted to us.

For a year solid he has constantly, tirelessly and relentlessly played trains. He's obsessed. So we had to have a train themed birthday.

We woke him up early so he could open his presents before Daddy went to work.

Thomas PEZ despensers and Bertie the bus!

I love this boy! He told us all about his gifts. This one was a marble run...with a train, of course. :)

See?

Candy on the couch and watching cartoons? It's officially your birthday!

Later that evening my family came over for cake and ice cream and to bring Coen their gifts.

His first Chuggington train! Grammy introduced him to that.

Cake Time!

He knows the drill. ;)

Wouldn't be complete without eating cake and ice cream in his new train plate Aunt Julie got him!

That weekend we had a little party for him, to celebrate his big day. Daniel and I make him a cardboard train out of our surplus moving boxes. Thank you Pinterest! Here he is in the train. The only pic I got that morning because I videoed instead.

We decorated the house for "traintastic" party fun! See how our renovating is coming along?

All of Coen's favorite snacks to boot! Chips with salsa and guacamole, cheese balls, fruit and cuites and juice boxes too!

We set the train up out side for Coen and his friends to "drive" and decorate.

They really liked it! I was so glad!

Next, we were on to gifts and cake!

What else? ;)

Happy Birthday, Buddy.

Swing

2011-12-29T23:31:00.000-08:00

October

I bought this swing at a consignment sale when Coen was small. I had every intention of hanging it in a tree for him when we lived in the barn, but there wasn't any good place for it.

Then we move and I'll be darned if our yard isn't full of the best swing trees around! This one is actually right outside the kitchen window. Perfect, huh?

I think we just found one of Wallaces new favorite things!

Watch out now!

Playpen

2011-12-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

October 18

Unpacking in an unfinished house with two littles can be....challenging. Wallace spends a LOT of time in the play pen where I know he is safe. On my back or hip doesn't work right now. Coen has been keeping him company, though.

He plays so sweetly with Wallace. I love watching them together. Already making sweet memories in our new home!

Moving Day

2011-12-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

This day was harder than I thought it was going to be. It wasn't until I heard my voice echo throughout the living room that it hit me.

I'm not coming home. I've lived here six years. Six of the eight years we've been married have been spent between these walls.

We were babies when we moved here. Speaking of babies...

This wasn't even here when we moved in. We only added it on because we were going to have a baby.

Our baby boy.

I tape and bedded this room in the middle of the summer, five...six months pregnant. Coen and Wallace both came home here.

Home.
Home here.
There were balloons.
I rocked them both to sleep in this room. Too many times to count.

Now we're moving. I don't remember why I thought I could do this. Why are we leaving our barn??

I had been crying before we took this picture. We had to balance the camera on empty boxes and a trash can. I love this man. I'll go anywhere, and leave any "home" to be with this man. With him, I AM home. We made this barn a home, and I'll miss it. It's hard to leave a place filled with so many good memories, and it's hard to make good memories without someone you love.

THE Pumpkins

2011-12-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

I drove to four different Target stores to find these little plastic pumpkins for Coen's rice/sensory bin.

I found them in the dollar section and the preschool teacher in me knew they would be perfect for sorting and counting and such. I put them down for budgetary reasons and couldn't stop thinking about them. Of course after I couldn't find them at the first two Target stores I went to the challenge was on.

I win.

Look, no furniture.

Seven Months

2011-12-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

October 15th

Someone likes his fingers.

Stitches

2011-12-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

August 21

How could I forget about Coen's stitches!? Early Sunday morning Daniel was rough housing with Coen on our bed. I was asleep on the couch after tending to a fussy baby when I heard a sudden "OH! OW! OOh Gosh!! Ohhhhh." and Coen crying the undeniable "I've been injured" cry. I flew off of the couch and into our bedroom to find Daniel on the floor holding his face and Coen in the middle of our bed with blood streaming down his face.
I grab Coen and glance at Daniel, now missing one of his front teeth.
Back to Coen to find the source of the bleeding....there it is, a gash on his forehead.
On to the kitchen to get some ice or a towel?
Nope, not working. Too much wriggling, screaming and blood.
"Get in the car! Grab Wallace and get in the car!! Come on!"
Calm down, Amy. You have two boys. You're going to see much worse than this. Keep it together. Am I wearing shoes? Where is Daniel? Is Daniel wearing pants?

Yeah, I was scared. We made it to the hospital in Fort Worth where Coen received three stitches. No, it couldn't have been butterflied, it was a funny shaped gash.

He survived.

Daniel got some sleep and a temporary cap.

I lost one sleep shirt and a little bit of my nerve.

Mommies shouldn't have to hold their children down while they get stitches.

Of course I woulda hit the foo steppin' in ta hold my kid down while they got stitches.

Catch twenty two I guess.

Baby Wyatt

2011-12-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

October 6th

4:00AM
Bec- "We're going to the hospital."
Me- "What for?"
Bec- "To have the baby."

Welcome baby Wyatt!! I became an Aunt on October 6th! I headed to the hospital once I got the phone call. Thirteen hours later I got to hold Wyatt for the first time. It was worth the wait! Becky did a great job laboring. What an exciting day!

The new "family"! Congratulations!!

A Thousand Words

2011-12-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

September 27th

While searching through pictures I wanted to use for various posts I had to include this one.

This is our life. I guess I should say "was" our life in September. A few things to note:

It's dark outside. It's September. This means it's quite late.
Coen, half dressed, watching on as Wallace gets one of his last "sink baths" in the barn.
The dust on Daniel's legs. That white dust I mentioned in a previous post. We were always covered in it.
Coen's cloth diaper. Or should I say Wallace's cloth diaper on Coen. Trying to get him to notice when he's wet. Potty training sucks.

I just had to include this in a post. A season to remember!

Heavy Headed

2011-12-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

I've heard that the human head weighs eight pounds.

Baby heads must be even heavier.

Six Months

2011-12-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

September 15

SIX MONTHS!!??!

Where has the time gone? With all of the work we've been putting in the house and the other things keeping us busy it seems like Wallace has gone from infant to sitting, cooing, eating sturdy baby in no time at all. I miss having a little bitty one around....but not too much. Honestly this is when it gets the most fun to me, and boy is this kiddo fun. He's out of the whiny stage and into the unbelievably happy and completely adorable stage. Love you Wallace!

Baby Shower

2011-12-06T22:01:00.000-08:00

September 18

So, remember how I said I told my sister we could throw her baby shower at my new house?? Well, Daniel and I pulled several all nighters and got it somewhat presentable. It was a really fun shower and I would do it all again for my sweet baby sis. Sorry about the pics. I had camera flash fail.

Someone's lookin' hot! (She's gonna kill me)

The theme was "Woodland Animals".

"Woodland Animals and Cake Pops"

Happy Momma!

I Love this picture! Heehee!!

Construction

2011-12-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

By far the biggest thing we did was remove this load bearing wall. The scariest thing too. Daniel's bf Donnie came out, as well as my dad, to tackle this project. First they had to build two false walls for support, that's why we are missing popcorn in one spot. It's ok because it was going to come off anyway. I remember I stood in the doorway ready to run when they started knocking the fifty year old two by fours out. The ceiling sagged a bit. 'Bout an inch? Yep, it was scary. Turned out ok though and super sturdy!

Daniel handled all of the electrical. He's so handy. :)

At first we thought we were in for a real nightmare with the popcorn. It had to come down because it really dated the house. It had been painted with a thick white paint which basically turned rock hard. It was actually to our benefit, though, because it came of in thick sheets.

Oh yeah, this was a nightmare.

Nothing is more discouraging than finding termites all over your first home. Literally every, single sink/toilet leaked. The termites were attracted to water, and made their homes there. We had them in the washer dryer area, living room where there had been a roof leak and both bathrooms. Fortunately the only major damage was to about a foot of a two by four in the washroom, which we fixed. Everything else was just major sheet rock damage. They ate the paper, as it is a wood product, so the walls would just crumble when you touched them.
Yeah.
It's actually good that we located all of the spots and were doing construction because we were able to have our home treated better. So we shouldn't have a problem with them again.

LOTS of late nights. I worked SO hard to keep my boys from touching that carpet! Blech!!

Linoleum Up!

LOTS of dust. Powder dust. Ohmygoodness it got everywhere.

Popcorn gone, and so is the carpet.

Close in the old kitchen doorway.

Ohhhh, that yellow linoleum. I seriously considered setting fire to the house over these floors. In desperation we flooded the kitchen to try and loosen the old glue........it worked. Hallelujah!! Best night ever. It was a cinch after that. Good thing too because I'm throwing my sister a baby shower here in a day or two.

Yeah.

You read that right.

Oh! Did I mention that it's the hottest summer in Texas history?? No?? Well, it is.

Front bathroom.

I was so excited to start on fresh paint. Something productive and not destructive.

I'd love to stay....

2011-12-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

...but I really Mustache.

Wallace's First Cereal

2011-12-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

August 28

Seemed like time to start oatmeal. He started about the same time as Coen, actually.

Coen, who is quite curious as to what is going on with little bro

.Wash it all down with a little toe jam!

Not bad!

Sitting

2011-12-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

August 24th

On this day I decided to see if Wallace could sit up.

Apparently he can.

He sat like this forever. On his first try! I kept watching and waiting for him to tip over but he never did. I mean, he did eventually, but wow huh?

New Old House

2011-11-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. The good the bad and the ugly. Let's start with the ugly, shall we?

Welcome to our home. Here's a wall. A great, big, white, light blocking wall. That's gotta go.

For a house this size it's unusual that there would be a fire place. What is NOT unusual, however, is the paneling.

The big windows are nice and once the gigantic bushes are gone we will get even more light in the living room. The "vaulted" ceilings make the space feel much bigger than it actually is.

Turn the corner to the hallway. I'm sure hallways aren't really anything to get excited about, but we are because we've never lived in a space big enough for a hallway. See the doorway on the left? That's the very awkward door way into the very awkward kitchen. we're going to change it, we're going to change it...

STORAGE!! Be still my beating heart, there are even laundry hampers. The plastic knobs are a no-no.

Far right is the doorway I was talking about. The stove is the only new thing in the house. Like our goldenrod counter tops?

Don't worry, that's not just carpet in the kitchen. It's carpet over 40 year old golden rod linoleum. The tiny window will eventually become a gigantic picture window. Someday...

Oh hey! Look! Some of the linoleum! I was worried that I wouldn't remember it and the nightmares would stop. Can you spot the termite damage??

The boys future bedroom. Too bad I don't have a girl...

I married that. ;)

Funny story... we closed in the doorway to the kitchen (which you can see in this picture) so when it came time to move this gigantic, solid wood dresser out there was no pivoting room. That was fun.

Safety first.

Front bathroom.

Fortunately these were not permanent.

"not permanent, not permanent"

..."not permanent"

Here's the "master bedroom". It came with swan art. and goldenrod curtains.

Oh, and a pillow.

"Master bath". There is no shortage of safety bars...

...or seashell sinks.

Third bedroom.

Lots of work, lots of work. It's not our dream home, it's an investment that will help us get to our dream home. As easy as it is to focus on the ugly and the bad, Daniel and I feel so blessed to have a home and we are looking forward to transforming it. Fingers crossed!

Packing

2011-11-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

July-August

We're packing! It's such a sad and exciting time. Right now I am preoccupying my mind with packing. Not just packing, but sorting, cleaning, organizing, purging. I can't just throwing things in a box. It's the perfect time to sort and organize. I love getting rid of things we don't use. Our lives are a little....chaotic right now.

Insanity.

If anyone says that I need to give Daniel a break I'll smack 'em.

Order Among Chaos

2011-11-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

August 8

Coen is such a funny little boy.

I love finding little things like this all over the house. Crazy kid. :)

...and the kitchen sink

2011-11-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

August 4

I have a love hate relationship with this sink. It's a wonderful, deep sink. I hand washed dishes for five years in this sink until we got out portable dishwasher. Daniel shaved my legs for me in this sink the day before I had Coen.
I couldn't see or reach them, you see. Plus the barn doesn't have a tub.

Six years, two pregnancies a toddler and no tub.

That's right.

So here are the boys taking their first "bath" together in our kitchen sink.

Their first together and one of their last. Good bye sink!

A little lip

2011-11-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

July

Wallace has started a little habit of sucking on his bottom lip.

He makes all of these little sucking and smacking sounds when he does it, too.

It's super cute.

Welcome back.

2011-11-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Wow. What a whirlwind. Ya know what makes it even better in my mind? Documenting absolutely NONE of it along the way. When I think about this epic fail I have heart palpitations. For serious.

We still haven't figured out how to get internet to the new place so catching up with this blog will be touch and go for a while. Better later than never, I guess. Bear with me as I figure out how to cram three months of life changing milestones into a few days worth of writing.Oh and did I mention that my computer won't turn on? I can't upload new photos either?....It's super fantastic.

These next several posts are the ones I meant to write. The pictures I took. The things I wanted to remember and document for our children. All of the memories I don't want to forget. Here we go.

"Zavagah!!"

2011-08-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

My parents got Coen these moose slippers when they went to Wyoming for my cousins wedding.

Coen really likes them.

He's really getting into the whole "boy/hunting/animal sounds" thing. Thanks to my father. ;)

Here he is making the moose sound. His hands are supposed to be moose antlers. They need some work. :) A moose sounds something like.."Mmmuaaaaaaaak". He can do an Elk too. His elk is reeeaaly good. This past weekend he got to go to the Hunter's Extravaganza!! Or "zavagah!" as he calls it. He took his moose figurine with him and he would chant "ZAVAGAH!!" randomly. My dad took him in his big truck, which Coen was pumped about. They met up with Daniel and had a guys night out. Coen ran around the extravaganza and even rode the mechanical bull. They wrapped the evening up with some Mexican food, of course. I was so happy for him, that he was getting to go hang out with the men. My big, sweet boy, growing up!

Daniel came home with a flyer for hunting wild pigs with a machine gun while hanging out of a helicopter.

I guess the Extravaganza turns boys into men and men into boys.

Five Months

2011-08-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

He's turning into such an easy baby!!
Weight: I'm not going to try the at home thing. The miss calculations over the last two months really jacked me up mentally.
Length:
Fun Facts: Wallace has started sleeping with his hand over his face which is super cute, and he can roll all over the house if he wants to. Loves chewing on tags! lol!

Trouble in Paradise

2011-08-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

::Gasp!:: "Today was your birthday?!"

"Sophia! Don't turn your back on me, please! I am so sorry I forgot!"

:: Holding back sobs::
"You know you are the most important thing in my life! You know how much a adore you!"

"It was that krinkly Zebra cousin of yours. You know how much she tries to get my attention!"

"She does have that one mirror hoof that gets me every time..."

"Ahem.. But YOU, no one compares to YOU!! No one squeaks like you!!"

"And you neck! I ask you, how could I love another neck?!"

"And your head! With your ears and horn...antler....things..... You're divine I say!"

"And your tail...."

.....

I'm sorry, that went downhill real fast.

Layin' Track

2011-08-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've started taking into account logic, physics and topography when laying Coen's "Thomas the Tank Engine" track. You know you need to get out of the house when to say to your helping two year old, 'No, no son. A train could never take that curve after coming off so steep a hill. Too much momentum.".

(By the way, please note that I used the correct term 'Thomas the Tank Engine' instead of 'Thomas the Train')

Now if you'll excuse me. Coen is trying to connect the turn table waaaay too close to the switch track.

Psssh. Kids.

House

2011-07-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we bought our first home!

::screeching and squeals of excitement::

It's a fixer upper.

::horrified gasps and moans of certain doom::

Do you know how many years we've been looking for a house? Do you know how many realtors I've talked to? Did you know that the word "realtors" is apparently incorrect according to spell check?

God's timing is perfect.

After we had Wallace, with Daniel having a steady, paying job, we decided that now was the time. I guess God did too. On a whim we walked into a Century21 office. It was empty, except for Keith.

Keith. The realtor. Enemy No. 1.

I had my mind made up. I knew what I wanted, we knew what we could afford, and this "Keith" wasn't going to mess me around. Keith was going to work for US. If Keith asked how much we were looking to spend right off the bat we were walking.

Turns out Keith is a good listener. Keith is extremely patient. Keith wanted to sell us what we needed, not what we wanted. Keith wasn't going to tell us that yet.

Keith doesn't have a house or car payment.

We both love Keith.

When we were much younger, we wanted to buy a fixer upper. Daniel always clicked on the "homes $50,000 and under" links on real estate websites. I, longed for land. Not a hundred acres, not a first anyway. Just a few. Daniel's picks were always dilapidated and unlivable. The land I always chose was out of state. Stale mate.

Then we had kiddos and after six years of "making it work" in a barn, I didn't want a "fixer upper". I wanted a pantry. I wanted my washer and dryer to be in the same room. I wanted a garage. I didn't want to fix anything with a toddler at my knees and a baby on my hip. Daniel, working 50 hours a week, wasn't excited about taking on difficult household projects. He didn't want to come home and carry down laundry, or trip over the vacuum because there was no place to put it. Also, BOTH of us knew Coen was getting too big to take baths in the kitchen sink. We didn't want a cookie cutter so we were left with older homes that had already been renovated. We just couldn't swallow the fact that someone had done what we could do. Someone else was making the money. WE were the ones paying for a fix and flip. Not cool. Our best hope was for an investor so desperate to sell he would lower his price enough to fit our budget. We would end up with a 3/2 in a neighborhood. Good enough.

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and'such we are." 1 John 3:1

Turns out Keith had a card up his sleeve. An estate. 3/2 on TWO ACRES. Needing some TLC and updating, but not a tear down. Just enough to handle, just what Daniel wanted, just what I wanted, just what we needed, right on the upper end of what we could afford. We made an offer, low balled them. Got a call back the next day.

He knows what we need. He knows what we want. He knows how to give above and beyond anything we could have ever hoped or imagined. He knows!

It doesn't bother me that there isn't a pantry, that there are a LOT of things needing some updating and elbow grease and paint. When you know that God is for you, when you are the recipient of a gift so perfectly suited for you it must have been made for you, little things like that don't matter. I mean, they can start to bother you when you lose sight of the blessing. Right now, though, I would have to look around the BIG blessing to see all of the little imperfections. That would just be stupid. :)

Did I mention that there is a bathtub?

Giddy.

Four Months

2011-07-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

Four Months!?! Somebody stop this kid from growing so fast!!!

Weight: 11.8lbs?? Measured at the doctors office. Whaa? My home scale must be waaayyy off, there is no way he's lost an entire pound.

Length: 24.5 inches

Fun Facts: Wallace has started sucking on his bottom lip and has his hands in his mouth constantly! I have to pack extra clothes with us because he soaks his clothes with drool and spit! HAHA!

Progression

2011-07-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Don't....

2011-07-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Don't bake an entire chocolate cake in six minutes using your waffle iron.

Don't freeze said waffles so that the are available any time of day once warmed in the microwave for exactly 30 seconds.

Don't serve them with vanilla ice cream and strawberries.

Don't run out of strawberries and top them with peanut butter instead.

Just...ya know....don't.

Sharing

2011-07-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

"Here! Have a toy! Take this one too! Don't forget this one! Here, I'll put this one right on your face so you don't forget about it! Hey, hold on... I'll play with this one for a second."

Lately...

2011-07-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

Lots had been going on lately. Isn't that how I always start these posts? If the title is "Lately..." then you can be sure there has been a LOT going on.

We've been filling big boots,

playing trains,

and helping with dinner.

There was 4th of July,

free Chick-fil-A,

and a midnight showing.

Yes, I made this awesome shirt.

There has also been napping,

tunnels,

and, of course, more trains.

This is just the stuff I took pictures of! :)

Loving this life.

Beach Blanket Baby

2011-07-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

Alligator Takes A Trip

2011-06-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

This alligator hasn't left Wallace's crib since we bought it months and months ago. Coen found it one day and played with it for quite some time. Funny, because Coen usually has zero interest in stuffed animals or dolls of any kind.

First stop was the rocking horse.

Hold on with one hand...

...and the other as well...

...then go!

On to the swing!

Tuck in your tail!

Snap in...

...and turn the dial!

I found Alligator the next day snapped into the swing again, rocking and covered with Coen's favorite silky. What a sweet boy!

Cats and Cracker Jack

2011-06-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

Headed out to the Cats game a few weeks ago with the Shaw Family! Love those Cats games!

A little Cracker Jack snack!

Wallace, blowin bubbles like only he can!

The dads too the boys to run the bases ad Coen actually did it! He needed a girl to guide him because he took out onto the field, but he did it just the same! Didn't get any pics though because they went without us knowing. Bummer! But here's Coen getting some water afterward!

Three Months

2011-06-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

Three months!!!

Weight: 12.8 lbs (weighed at home on our bathroom scale)
Length: 24 inches (measured at home)
Fun Facts: Wallace is wearing clothes at three months that Coen wore when he was six months! He also loves the water!!

Rectangles

2011-06-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

Wallace has been sleeping like a champ! I forget how much babies need to sleep to be happy. Turns out Wallace needs a LOT. :)
Anywho, while he was sleeping one day I broke out some of my old worksheets and stuff and sat down with Coen to go over shapes. Rectangles specifically.

First, some free art.

Coen identified all of the shapes and colored them in matching colors. Rectangles are purple!

We traced this rectangle together.

While doing this worksheet, Coen kept making train sounds. Which inspired this...

How many shapes do you see, Coen?

Student led teaching is the way to go!

Covering the rectangles with our rectangle blocks.

And a train "puzzle" for fun!

One of the perks of doing a little "schooling" during the summer months, besides it being too hot to do much of anything else, is that school supplies and teaching aids go on sale. We found the Bob book sets at Sam's! Yipee! Coen loves them!!

Zoo Fun

2011-06-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

We hit up the Fort Worth Zoo for the first time this year a few weeks ago. Back when it was still a crazy 82 degrees in the middle of May. Probably good that we went then, because we are definitely not going again in this heat!

Coen says, "Mm, Mm, Ah!" That's his monkey sound.

"I'm an expert at escaping. Come on, follow me. Fast escape!"

Jack Black....anyone...?

Fine with touching the snake until it moved.

Momma and Wallace during lunch break.

Prairie dogs! I know they are rodents, but they are so cute!

Nice wing span Daddy!

hahaha!

Waiting for the train!

BYE!!

Boy in Blue

2011-06-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

Mix The Playdoh

2011-06-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

"Is Coen supposed to be mixing his playdoh?"

I was standing at the sink doing dishes when Daniel asked me this. It seemed like such strange question. One with an obvious answer.

No.

No! Of course not. If it's one thing anyone can be sure of it's that you don't mix the playdoh.

How can we enjoy yellow if it's not yellow? How can we make white bunny cut outs if the white is blue, pink, red and brown? Ten years teaching toddlers and not one of my students got away with mixing the playdoh.

That's why I was taken back a bit when the words that came out of my mouth were, "Umm, I guess so. It's his playdoh."

I mean, it is his playdoh after all.
And if he wants to enjoy it by smooshing it all into a big pile....so be it.

I mean, I understand that we can't destroy our things because we feel like it. I am assuming once Coen doesn't want mixed playdoh, he'll realize that he needs to not mix it together. Right now, though, he's two. Store bought playdoh is, like, what... $0.80?

Live a little.

Mix your playdoh.
:)

Texas Hill Country Road Trip

2011-06-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

So, Daniel never gets a two day weekend because he works on Saturdays. When Memorial Day weekend rolled around I knew we wouldn't be doing anything big like most people because, really, it was like any other week. Daniel works Saturday, gets off around five, church on Sunday, back to work Monday, off on Tuesday. However, Monday was Memorial Day.....soooo, three day weekend after all!! Sunday, Monday and Tuesday!! Last minute road trip to the Texas Hill Country?? Yes, please! So, we packed our bags Saturday night (after my ten year reunion) and loaded the kids up in the car. Here's how it went.

We left Sat night and drove to Cedar Park, got a hotel room and slept in! Indoor pool meant Coen and Daddy took a dip after breakfast.

After we checked out we hit the road again, stopping at Target for a few things I forgot in our packing frenzy and headed out to try and snag a few seats on the Bertram Flyer. Coen has been SO into trains lately, I really wanted to do this! According to the website, this train takes a scenic trip through the Hill Country and stops in Burnet with a 15 minute layover to tour the historic train depot. Only problem was that only a few of the cars have a/c. We did NOT want to ride coach, even if the windows DO come down. Not in 95 degree temps with a toddler and a two month old. Not for three hours. No thanks. I call ahead of time and they have two seats in an air conditioned car, but they have a blocked view. Better than nothin, but we can't buy over the phone. So we pull into the depot and people are already boarding, with coolers! Hmmmm. I make it to the ticket office and they have sold the tickets we were hoping for. The only thing available is in coach. I'm strongly advised NOT to buy those tickets. Bummer. Daniel and the boys were waiting in the car. We have nothing else planned for the day and we've been talking about the train the whole time to Coen. After breaking the news we figured we could at least go look at the train everyone else is boarding. One more stop in the office to see if there have been any cancellations....there HAD!! We quickly made pb&j sandwiches (ALWAYS stay at a hotel with continental breakfast. I swapped fruit and mini peanut butters and jellies from the breakfast bar. Hello free lunch!) , gathered our things and got to our seats!! The air felt so nice!! Coen was excited!

Here we are waiting for the train to go. Turns out most of the ride is the train getting ready to go, stop and turn around. And the "scenic route" is more like open fields and back yards. It's ok, it was still fun.

Playin' while we wait...

..we waited too long. Coen conked out before we even picked up speed!

Abandoned Douglas.

Everyone only wanted to sleep on Momma. Which was fantastic because I was in the sun, with two sleepin' babies on me and right about the time this picture was taken the air is starting to fizzle out.

I enjoyed every minute of it, though, because times like these are few and far between and are gone in an instant.

We woke Coen up when we got to the depot. He was a little groggy... :)

Great picture Daddy!

Coen is becoming a champ at posing for pictures!

So the a/c never recovered. Luckily, having an infant made some people really pity us. So we were moved to a little seating area in a car with air. Totally the Lord! Plenty of room and windows for the ride back. Afterward, we weren't sure if Coen had much fun, but walking to the car he was talking in jabber and then said, "woowoo!!" in his best train impression, so I'm thinking he did. :)

After dinner we were off to Blanco, where we hoped to visit some lavender farms and find a hotel for the night. Turns out all of the farms weren't doing great due to lack of rain, so we were turned away and Blanco is a hole in the wall of a town, so we trekked on to Marble Falls for a hotel and some pie at the Bluebonnet Cafe!

Sigh, the Cafe was closed on Sunday so no pie. :( So sad.

However, we do find a park and a hotel and ended up just relaxing! I did some research on our next stop, Krause Springs, and hoped that the next day would be a bit more promising.

Krause Springs totally delivered.

Probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

We hiked around first, knowing that our eventual destination was...

...here.

A spring fed piece of paradise.

Complete with waterfalls and several natural splash pools for the littles.

So we ate our lunch, tuna sandwiches with free mayo packets from target and free fruit from the continental breakfast that morning...

An apple a day!

...donned our cutest swimming gear...

...and jumped right in!

Actually, we didn't jump right in. It was a steep walk to the swimming area with lots of slippery spots. Also, the water was freezing, so it was more on an e-a-s-e right on in.

Coen enjoyed splashing around with Daddy. I wanted to get a picture of them under the waterfalls....biggest. mistake. ever.
The waterfalls weren't far away. I could see people under them and lounging on the rocks near them with drinks and floaties. A woman lent me her raft and I looped it under my right arm with Coen under my left and started paddling out there. Nope. Couldn't reach. REEEAAALLLYY couldn't reach. Trying to hold onto a raft, a 30 someodd lb. toddler and paddle is very difficult. I got super scared and finally made it to a spot I could touch ground. The raft lender suggested Daniel take him and they sit on the raft. I was out of breath and terrified for my son to be back over there, but Daniel assured me it would be ok.

This is one of three pictures I took.

You can't even see them.

I started having my first panic attack. I hollered at Daniel to come back, but he couldn't hear me over the noise of the waterfall. Then they went into the cave and I started crying. Right there in public. Standing on the slippery rocks, in my swimsuit, holding my infant and a camera, panic stricken and completely helpless with no one to comfort me. I just knew Coen would freak out from water splashing in his face. Slippery when wet, Daniel wouldn't be able to hold onto him and he would fall into the water and they wouldn't be able to get back. It was the best feeling in the world when I saw them emerge from the cave.

We didn't go back into the big swimming area after that.

Well, Daniel did. To do the rope swing a few times.

Coen loved watching that!

My sunbathing baby!

Next time we go we might try the man made, spring fed pool.

The place really is beautiful. I encourage everyone to go visit. Especially if your kids are a little bit older.

They have picnic tables, grills, and amazing restrooms/showers. Plus...

...free sticks for everyone!

Next stop....Fredericksburg!!
We checked in early to shower and relax before dinner.

"cheese!"

Every restaurant had some sort of mounted elk in it. Coen spent all evening making elk sounds. Fredericksburg has gotten a few new places. Not your typical "historic downtowny old lady boutiques" anymore.

This place, "Red" was particularly neat.

http://redinfred.com

We slept in again, and lounged....

It was so relaxing.

Then we hit the town for the park and lunch...

Yes, I've become a parent who stands their children next to random, inanimate objects that have no business ending up in a photo album and takes their picture. Turns out, everything looks better with my cute kid standing next to it. ;)

Then we hit up the candy store for some treats for the trip home.

Coen picked this sucker. :)

Such fun!!

Photo Shoot Contest

2011-05-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

HEY!
Ok, I don't normally do things like this, but I'm giving it a go! I've entered to win a free mini photo shoot with Nicole Hager Photography on facebook! This would totally rock because I've been wanting some pics of the boys, especially Wallace because he's new. Plus, this girl shoots excellent pics of children. Anywho, you can help me win by voting for my picture! All you have to do is go to Nicole Hager Photography on facebook, "like" her page and then "like" my picture! Easy!! My pic looks like this...

So PLEASE vote! Remember, you have to "like" Nicole's page in order to vote. Contest ends midnight this Friday!

Two Months

2011-05-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

Two months?!? Yowza! Here he is on May 15th. Lookin super cute in his church outfit...

Weight: 10 lbs!
Length: 22.5 inches
Fun Facts: Wallace hasn't spit up, but maybe....twice in his lifetime so far. I think that's an unusually small amount for a child his age.

Camera Trick!

2011-05-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Look what my camera can do!

These are S.O.T.C shots!!

Cool, huh?!?

The Shaws

2011-05-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, in a land far far away... oh, wait...just a long time ago.

A long time ago, when my mom first started homeschooling me and my sisters, we met the McGaughs. Emily, who was a little bit older than me, Erin, who was Julie's age, and their new baby brother, Matthew. "Thewy" they called him. Our moms became instant friends and all of us kids hit it off great! We spent countless hours playing with the girls. Birthdays, PuttPutt Golf, movies and the slumber parties? OH the slumber parties!!

Like most friendships, things faded after a few years. My family moved to a new town and Emily and Erin began attending private school. It was harder and harder to keep in touch. Occasionally we would run into each other at the mall, then Emily got married and Daniel and I (newly engaged) attended the wedding.

About five years ago Daniel and I started going to a new church. We joined up after sever months of scoping the place out and then who should turn up? Emily (McGaugh) Shaw. Emily Shaw with a baby on her hip and plans for a second! Goodness how time had flown by! It took us a while to get around to really re-connecting, but boy have we! Our boys play so well together and our husbands have so much in common! It's so nice to have my old friend back!!

This past week Emily treated the boys and I to a trip to the museum . A place we went together as kids! Such fun!!

Big Dino! It's kind of a running joke between Em and I. When Jurassic Park showed in the theaters my parents took us all to see it. Scared us all half to death. Her oldest son is obsessed with dinosaurs! Coen doesn't really know what to think.

After two boys, Emily was blessed with a baby girl! What a beauty!

Coen has been all about the trains lately, so he spent almost ALL of his time at this station.

HARDHAT!!

Of course the water station was a huge hit! Especially on a hot day.

Shaw girls!

Together again!! Yay!!

Trains

2011-05-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

We've had a couple of train sets around the house for a year or two now, but I could tell it was never quite the right time to bring them out of hiding....until now. These days it's trains and Blokus. Blokus and trains! A new found love!

He connects all of the cars he wants and drives them around the house while saying "Baaa, Baa, Baaa!!". His version of "Chooo Chooo!".

The greatthing is that the track to his IKEA set, his Circo set (shown) and his Thomas hand me downs all fit together! So we have TONS of track!

"Baa, Baa, Baa!!" Buddy!!

The Perfect Storm

2011-05-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm in one room trying to get Sir Demandsalot calmed down and asleep when I realize it's a bit too quiet in the next room...

"Don't touch the art supplies." I said a thousand times and then never put them out of reach.

Ever seen "Silence of the Lambs"? Ya know how Hannibal Lecter always spoke real calm and quiet, masking the madness within? I know how he does that. I'm reeeal good at it.

Fortunately 10 years of working with toddlers taught me to ALWAYS buy washable art supplies. Especially paint. Must've forgotten that when I bought these. The table cloth turned completely pink in the wash. That was with BIZ and bleach. It's a drop cloth now. I don't even want to talk about my beautiful "perfect shade of blue" place mat.

Meanwhile....

Blokus

2011-05-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

I brought some of our games indoors about a year, or so, ago.

Yes, I said indoors. Our apartment is too small to hold all of our possessions, so a lot of things are kept in the barn.

Anyway... Coen always wants to get into them. Especially Blokus. For FOREVER I have been telling him "No." because I KNEW he would lose a piece of one of them and I HATE it when games are missing pieces, and how stupid would I have to be to let him play with Blokus. I mean, one piece missing and the game is essentially trash.

Recently, however, I caved and I let him get it out. I think I was past the point of cracking with Wallace screaming all of the time. Being completely sleep depraved, things like missing game pieces just didn't matter anymore.

He sat silently and played with it for three hours straight.

He lines up all of the pieces, fitting them together perfectly until the game board is covered. He then cleans the board and starts over. When he's satisfied, he sorts every single piece by color and carefully packs each baggie. He hasn't misplaced one. single. piece.

Every day he asks for it. He has learned, and will say, the words "play" and "blokus". This is a BIG deal as Coen has had NO motivation to speak at all. He is also repeating the names of all of the colors. Colors he knew, but wouldn't say.

Thank you, Blokus.

The Baskervilles

2011-05-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Nicole is in Texas!! Military wife life is rough. I don't speak from experience, but I'm watching Nicole's life and thinking....yeah, I couldn't do that. Thank God for families like hers!! Anywho, she's visiting for an extended period of time and we've gotten to hang once or twice, let our kids meet, have fun! Recently we all went to the park for a picnic and some play time. Afterward....sno-cones!!

Giddy-up!

Babies!!

Hot slide!

Frigid Frog sno-cone stand!!

"There's a smile!!"

2011-05-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

Wallace is quite the...unhappy baby. If he's not nursing, or sleeping, he's crying. As a matter of fact, he's lost his voice completely. Truth be told it's really not his fault. He seems to have a LOT of indigestion. Ya know, a little colic. Plus he's a bit of a mama's boy.... which I love.

Anyway, he started smiling a week or so ago, but because he's usually so unhappy, smiles are a rarity.

But when he does smile....

...my world stops spinning.

OH, how I love this boy!!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2011-05-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful Mother's Day this was! There were a lot of tiny little details that made it extra nice, but I won't bore you with those. The big event of the day was our Mother's Day Brunch! We wanted to do something extra special this Mother's Day and a brunch seemed like the perfect thing. I hosted and provided drinks and Julie and Becky brought food.

So I set a pretty table...

(That's my china and those are my great great grandmother's glasses. Supposedly they are crystal!)

... and the nibbling and sipping and chit chatting ensued!

Daddy took Coen to the park during our brunch. Here he is with me before he left. Such a sweet boy!

Sisters!

Here's Mom opening her gifts.

Grammy with her grandsons!

This Mother's Day was also special because my sister Becky is expecting! Due in early October. First Mother's day! Julie and I got her a cute maternity shirt.

Here's what Daniel got me for Mother's day! I was sooo pumped. I've been wanting some kind of jewelry to represent my children and this is such a beautiful necklace! It's from The Vintage Pearl. Eeeek! Even better! I've been looking at their stuff for years! It's such a special necklace. Of course the "C" is for Coen and the "W" is for Wallace, but the pearl means something to me too. It represents our baby in heaven. I realized today that it was one year ago that I miscarried. Just a day or two before Mother's Day. That was difficult and yet look at how the Lord has blessed me. I have my sweet baby Wallace. A healthy, sometimes happy, baby boy. :)

Guy Talk

2011-05-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

There are just some conversations you don't interrupt.

Children's Book Week

2011-05-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

It's Children's book week!!

I LOVE Children's books! Seriously, I L.O.V.E them. I wanted to study children's literature in college but Biology stole my heart. :)

I dream of one day being an author of children's books. That's kinda personal, can't believe I just put that out there! Anyway, I would totally ROCK at it.

Just sayin'.

But seriously, this week is the week to recognize some awesome children's books and authors, to grow your library at home and to read, read, READ to your kiddos!! (Or to yourself!) So, in honor of Children's Book Week I thought I would share some of our favorite books around here. Of course there are the obvious winners, like "The Giving Tree" and "Goodnight Moon" and such, but here are a few personal fav's of mine and Coen's. I'll try and keep the list short...

Coen's Favorites:

"Rainbow Rob"by Roger Priddy

Such a great book! He's always loved this one. See?

It's been taped back together numerous times.

"Hooray for Fish" by Lucy Cousins

Again, an all time fav...

"Blue Hat, Green Hat" by Sandra Boynton

Hilarity! Even Coen gets the humor. I adore Susan Boynton books.

"Go, Dog, Go" by P.D. Eastman

A new favorite. Actually it's more like an addiction. We read this, like, five times a day.

I have to add this one my mom has at her house...
"There's a Bird on Your Head" by Mo Willems

He cracks up when Grammy reads him this book!

My Favorites:

A Childhood fav I found at JBF because God loves me,
"Pancakes for Breakfast" by Tomie dePaola

LOVE him!

Of course "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak

So beautifully written.

"Olivia" by Ian Falconer

DUH!

"The Big Red Barn" by Margaret Wise Brown

A great night time book.

Nothing too original but man is my wish list looonngg! :)

You can find more information about Children's Book Week here!

Main Street Arts Festival 2011

2011-05-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

Re-runs...I know, but we LOVE the Arts Fest! We almost didn't make it this year. I had a chance to go with a friend of mine, Kristi, but was so beat from days and days of restless nights and baking goodies for my JBF barter, I just couldn't do it. So, once Daniel got home later that weekend, and I had a chance to rest up, we headed out.

Check out the boys in their new ride!! I got it that weekend at JBF for a whopping $80.00. It's brand spankin' new. We got more dirt on it downtown than it had before I bought it!

Totally worth the barter.

Coen was old enough this year to participate in some crafts! Here he is painting a clay turtle!

Great job buddy!

This turtle is proudly displayed in the living room. :)

Fro-yo on the way home! Yahoo!

Menu Plan Monday

2011-05-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Haven't done one of these in a while. A post not a plan....

Menu Plan - May 1-7

Monday

B- Banana bread and smoothies

L- Leftover chicken enchiladas

D- Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad, and bread sticks

Tuesday
B- Sausage balls and Pumpkin muffins
L- leftovers
D- Tabouli

Wednesday
B- Smoothies and muffins
L- sandwiches, soup, veggie tray
D- Chicken pot pie and salad

Thursday

B- Pancakes and sausage balls

L- leftovers
D- Chinese with Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage and eggrolls

Friday

B- Oatmeal
L- grilled cheese, tomato soup and fruit
D- Chicken taco salads

Saturday
B- Cereal
L- Burritos from leftovers
D- Fish and Chips

Sunday
B- Muffins and Yogurt parfaits

L- OUT!!

D- Hamburgers on the grill

Bluebonnets: Year Three

2011-05-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

I'm not real good at keeping up with things like this, so I need a HUGE pat on the back for year THREE of taking Coen's pictures in the Bluebonnets!! Just look at how much he's changed!

6 mos.

18 mos.

2 1/2 years.

Ohmygoodness. This is craziness.

Here's one of all of my guys!!

Speed Boat

2011-04-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Daniel's birthday was April 10th. I got him a speed boat to take to the pond with Coen. They love going down there together and feeding the catfish.

And it wouldn't be complete without Coen falling head first into the water.

It was a long walk back to the house...

One Month

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Wallace turned a month old on April 15th! I can't believe it's already been one month! This is going by WAY too fast! Here he is at one month old. Heehee, he always looks cross eyed. I love it!

Weight: 8lbs 6oz
Length: 21 inches
Fun Facts: Wallace sleeps on his tummy. (I know, I know, "BACK" to sleep...) He toots like a grown man. I'm not joking.

Something is missing....

2011-04-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a little bit of Easter for ya. I wasn't really prepared for Easter this year. What with Wallace being born a short while ago. Daniel has been working hard, gone a lot, and there have been a LOT of tasks and events and things I have been trying to keep up with. Next year I want to go to the Good Friday service, even if I have to go by myself. Also, we'll incorporate some kind of family Easter devotions. Not just reading books like we did this year.

Good Friday we always go to my mom's house to dye eggs. Coen LOVED it! I was really surprised that he got so into it.

We've decided that we'll continue with our American tradition of Easter baskets, but that they will be modest and not brought by the Easter bunny, but given as gifts from Daniel and I. Also, there will only be one basket for all of the kiddos to enjoy and share

Hi baby Wallace!!

Confetti eggs!

Here's Coen, ready for church! I made that bow tie earlier in the week. It was sooooo easy. I think I'll start a little bow tie business! Waddya think?

The whole fam! Just finding outfits that matched was a huge ordeal. :)

My mom and dad had 16 people at their house this year. Whew!!

Here's me and my beautiful sisters!

When I Try To Blog...

2011-04-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday-ish I posted my blog about Wallace being born. Here's a little peek as to what was going on behind the scenes....

Ohhh, that's gonna itch...

My first born ladies and gentlemen!!!

I then "redirected" him to the living room, where he shredded a pop up book from my childhood.

Blogging only happens during nap time now.

Welcoming Wallace

2011-04-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

WOW!
So, I am finally getting around to writing about Wallace entering this world. Can you blame me? ;) I promise I'm getting back on the blogging bandwagon. It's a nice break.

So, let's begin with a little side note. My last post was about the Arbouretum. On our way to the car from the Arbouretum I noticed I was having pretty bad Braxton Hicks. Nothing painful, but enough to kinda knock the wind out of me. After loading up in the car (a feat which seems laughable with simplicity now that I have TWO to load up) I realized that these contractions were coming quite regularly. For kicks, I decided to time them. Long story short, after much stalling, we decided to go to the hospital to be safe. I was still at 1cm. False labor. A total bummer and a huge relief all in one.

So I go to bed on Sunday, March 13, and wake up sometime during the night with cramps. Ouchie cramps, but just cramps. Back to bed....kind of.

Monday I have these cramps on and off all day. I start to wonder if this isn't some sign of approaching labor. I text Daniel at some point that afternoon, "I don't think you'll be going to work tomorrow." By six o'clock that evening I had to sit down. The "cramps" were contractions and were getting stronger and closer together. I get Coen his dinner and decide to relax on the couch. I updated Daniel whenever I could.

Wait....things can't be that simple. Oh yeah! I forgot! Coen starts to vomit at the table. That's right. He gags at the sight of his broccoli fries. Pukes everywhere.

So after I clean up the mess, put away dinner, give him a bath and get him ready for bed I sit back down on the couch. By now contractions are 7-8 min apart and uncomfortable. I wanted to labor at home as much as possible. I knew I was a little more "high risk", but I figured 3 min apart was a good time to decide to go in. Now all I had to do was drink water and wait for Daniel to get home.

Updates are going out to my mom and sis, via text. Daniel gets home around 10PM. He starts cleaning and trying to remain calm. ;) His continues to try and convince me to leave for the hospital. It's not working. Contractions are 5-7 min apart and things are quite painful.

An hour later contractions are 3-5 min apart and I'm dying. Daniel is at my side letting me squeeze his hand. I'm trying all of the techniques we learned at a birthing class three years ago. I'm thinking, "Why didn't a take a refresher course?" However, I am pretty proud of myself at this point! I figure, we'll leave for the hospital and we'll check in and the nurses will tell me, "Great job!! You labored so well! Looks like you'll be able to start pushing soon!!".

I text a friend of mine around midnight. She used to work in the medical field and I knew I could count on her to be my go to person/coach. Daniel's pleas have worn me down. I text my sister a little after 1AM, Tuesday, to see if she would be willing to head to our house to watch Coen overnight so we can head to the hospital. She was. :) She wakes my parents to let them know we're ready to leave. She comes over and we leave around 2AM.

My parent's beat us to the hospital! We get checked in. I don't remember much about this part of the process. Contractions have been 1-3 min apart so I am just trying to remain calm. Here comes my nurse...this is where they tell me I'm at an 8 and I get some kind of award for awesome laboring.....WHAT!?!?!?....I'm still at a 1?!?!? .....Oh you SOOOO did not just tell me this might be false labor.....look at the monitor!! look at those contractions!!! this is the real deal!! get me a real nurse!!!.....don't you tell me to "drink some water" I've been drinking water!!!

Ahem.....where was I? K, so I end up laboring a LOT at the hospital. I lot longer than I had hoped. At 5:30 I'm at a three!! Hallelujah!! The nurse tells me she's going to get me some Demerol. ...What's Demerol? I didn't ask for Demerol! Why are you bringing me Demerol?...Turns out I couldn't have Demerol anyway because of an allergy I have. Back to laboring.

7:30AM I get an epidural. I debated whether or not I wanted to but I'm absolutely exhausted. I cry like a baby and imagine going paralyzed right there on the bed. Or worse. Spontaneously dying. It could happen... 10 minutes later Daniel is asleep on the couch. :D

8 ish My Dr. comes in and checks me. He tells the nurse they'll need to call him soon. Ohmygosh! It's happening! I'm going to meet my baby! I'm doing it! I'm doing it!!!

An hour later they are rolling in all of the gear and I'm pushing with the nurse. Three pushes. Daniel is handling everything really well. "Is that his hair?!" I hear him ask. Now I am really excited!! Dr. comes in and Wallace is born with one more push! Hooray!!!

I think he looks like Johnny Cash right here!! Am I right?

All in all it was a wonderful experience. MUCH better than my c-section.

Love you Wallace!!

Dallas Arboretum

2011-03-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

On Daniel day off we decided to head out to the Dallas Arboretum! We had never been and I had heard that all of their tulips were in bloom. A must see! Boy was it ever. I took soooo many pictures! The weather was nice, especially once storms started blowing in and brought a cool breeze. Coen had so much fun running everywhere! Take a look at what we saw!

This was just the entrance! Also, the best picture I would get of Coen all day.

I just LOVED this orangy tulip. So pretty!

According to the information desk there were over 500,000 blooms. I would have guessed millions.

Awwww, MOM!

They had this thing going on called Fairy Tale Castles. This one is from The Little Mermaid.

Here's Coen sitting in King Triton's throne.

Jack and the Bean Stalk. The castle is on top of the bean stalk. I kind of cropped it off. Sorry.

This one is from something called Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. I dunno...

Aladdin.

:) My guys!!

Coen LOVED all of the fountains!

Beauty and the Beast.

The Hyacinth...my goodness!

The Princess and the Pea.

Coen couldn't feel the pea. ;)

Rapunzel.

Peeking into the Poetry Garden.

There was a little Texas Frontier area that was really neat. Here's Dan and Coen in a sod house. It was pretty cool!

Tee-pee! You can see the storms blowing in...

Of course a covered wagon!

I have never seen these in person! Have you?

The Big "D"!

Lately...

2011-03-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well, there's been a LOT going on lately in addition to Wallace's quickly (but not quickly enough) approaching arrival.

Pregnancy:
We're making progress and have some good news. Still on track for VBAC!! Dr. McAlpine said that as long as the baby isn't too big we can go up to my due date and even a bit after! If he doesn't come by then, though, we'll have to do another c-section. When I went in last Tuesday I was dilated to a 1 which was cool to hear because I don't think I ever did that with Coen! Of course, now that he told me I have been SUPER impatient and expect to go into labor any second. I have another appointment in two days and Daniel has the day off, so we plan on taking Coen to the zoo. Then I'm buying some Raspberry tea. The combo should work. Fingers crossed!! ;)

Home:
So around the house has been....busy. I've been frantically trying to do everything I want to have done before bringing a baby home which is difficult when I have a two year old who doesn't understand that I am trying to keep the house tidy. We mostly spend our time outside of the home. Playing outside, running errands and hanging out at my mom's house. Me and my sisters trekked it out to IKEA and got a dresser for Coen so we could use the old dresser for Wallace. See?

This is Wallace's little corner of the world! We'll see if he ever even uses it!

So fun!

So that diaper cake is from my baby shower! A very dear friend of mine, and her mom, threw us one!! I don't have any pictures on my comp, but they are out there! It was so fun to get new things for a new baby boy. Mostly it was just nice to be "showered" and loved on by great company!

New Things:

Well, Daniel has started working closer to home, which is wonderful!! We can ever meet up for lunch now, which was out of the question before, and it doesn't take him forever to get home at the end of the day.

Also, my Dad got my Mom and new car! It's exciting because we got their Volvo!! WOOHOOO!!! Three rows of seats, leather interior, safety, I could go on and on about how much I LOVE this vehicle. Thank you Mom and Dad!!!

PLUS, my littlest sis found out she is expecting! I can hardly believe it! We'll have three babies in the fam by Thanksgiving!! That also means Coen will be the oldest cousin. Weird...

Oh, and I've started work on the garden. So far, not so good. I've only planted spinach, but it's well on it's way!

Coen:

Coen figured out how to get out of his big boy bed. We are desperately lacking sleep at my house because of this little stunt. He literally had a melt down day and finally crashed with no dinner, sleeping for, like, 14 hours or something crazy. He's been better about staying in bed now, but he comes in our room in the mornings, carrying his silky and blanket wanting to snuggle. Fine with me, as long as he's snuggling and not putting his fingers in my nose while I try to catch a bit of shut eye.

He also went potty on the potty once! We're taking the potty training thing really...really...relaxed. I DON'T want him to feel pressured and I honestly don't want to deal with training and a new baby. Everything we do is on his initiation. One day he finally went! So exciting! Here he is taking his sweet time one day...

I'm sorry, son. You're just so darn cute.

We've also been playing with playdoh, and coloring and painting...

...and spilling paint...

...and unrolling numerous tubes of toilet paper...

...and acting like we didn't.

Also, Coen has REALLY gotten into helping in the kitchen. He's always liked to, but now I can't keep him out of the kitchen! Here we are making pizza dough.

Me:
Because it's apparent that I have too much free time on my hands, I have started up KENO again and started up in a Book Club! We only meet once a month, each, but it's nice to have some time out of the house, having adult conversation. If you can call our conversation "adult". ;)

Be Mine

2011-02-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

This Valentine's Day was so much fun! Coen got invited to his first Valentine's Party. So cute!! All of the kiddos seemed to really have a lot of fun!

Coen made his own Valentines!

We used paper, stickers, paint, glue, crayons, doilies...just no glitter.

Ta- daaa!!

Here's all of the kiddos eating lunch, complements of Stephanie. Heart shaped PB&J sandwiches, apples and pretzels! We brought cheese, cut into little hearts, of course!

Oh mercy...these really put Coen over the top. He was WIRED!! Completely and totally out of his mind for the rest of the day.

Here's the proof! He's trying to take a cupcake from a pregnant woman. See that belly, son??

We played games, and made crafts and then passed out our Valentines!

Coen, really enjoyed playing with the other boys. Here he is practicing "taking turns". ;)

Mommy and her boy!!