SunnySide Daycare!

August could not have come sooner! No, I'm just kidding. I've actually really enjoyed having the kids home. We did miss the first day of school because Mia was sick and I didn't want Benton going incase he was sick as well. So we had a GREAT three days at home actually. I made a huge effort to fill our days up so that we weren't bored and I even took the kids to the beach Wednesday morning! Mias a fish and fearless. She kept running into the ocean like it was made of chocolate or something. We all know how much she loves chocolate! Benton the more careful one took his time and on his own would venture to the water. I always running to the gym first thing in the mornings, so to not have the option of going to the gym turned out to be a breath of fresh air. I got to enjoy the kids and it was awesome!

 

 Thursday came around and everyone woke up happy and healthy! I was so excited for school, packing their stuff, feeding them and getting them ready I forgot to feed myself! Hahaha. That NEVER happens! But they were excited and ready to go!

 This week was only a 3 hour day, usually it's 5 hours twice a week, so I'll have a lot more time to get to appointments and run errands hands free which will be nice. Having them tired when they get home will be nice too. Gosh, they have grown so much in the last couple of months. They're babies no more. How'd they grow up so fast?

As much as they fight, they sure love each other and that just melts my heart. Through the moments of frustration when they are hitting and yelling, to see them hug and ask about each other when they aren't together, is everything. Benton always stays by mia when they are at the gym daycare and Mia cries when they are in separate rooms at church. In the end, Mias teachers told me she did great and didn't cry after I left. Benton on the other hand, a seasoned pro, walked in like he had been attending this school since he was born. :-) Oh, he apparently thinks he's attending Sunnyside Daycare from Toy Story 3. Close enough, they both have rainbows on their doors. lol. I love them.

Hear me "VROOM!"

We were pumped up! Ear Muffs aka Ear Muscles according to Benton, in hand, tickets in the other and two VERY, VERY excited toddlers. Benton had been in excruciating pain all day because he didn't quite understand why we had to wait till 7:30pm to see the monster trucks. I mean, they were already in town, so why did we have to wait? It was so sad because he didn't quite understand the concept of waiting THAT long.

 Here's Daddy and Benton waiting for the monster trucks to start the show! So adorable with his ear muscles on!

 Mia...SO tired because she decided to skip her nap that day. I'm pretty sure it was a lot for her to take in, with how many people were in the crowd and just all the activity going on!

 Mia didn't want to hear her ear muffs in the beginning but once they started their engines, boy was she grabbing for those muffs! hahaha. I did get concerned about her cause her head is so small and the muffs didn't fit her perfectly yet they were SO incredibly tight on her jaw cause they were so big on her. Poor kiddo.

 She started getting too startled about 20 minutes into it and I just couldn't sit there with her knowing that it was startling her. So I ended up taking her out in the foyer but the arena was open at the top so it was just as loud in the foyer. Brandon and I took turns being with her in the foyer.

 When they started doing donuts though, was when the noise was really just unbearable and we ended up taking them home early.

 I think if the stadium had been bigger and it was an outdoor arena it would have been a much better experience but you know what the first thing they asked me was when they woke up the morning the next day?

"More Monster Trucks please!" Aihhhh

San Antonio January 2014! See you then!

Sunny July

A week late but all for a good cause! Our wonderful friends Rob and Cye and their cutie Jackson moved into town and its been fun getting together! It's been rough for them since their stuff can't be moved in as they had expected. Two weeks late! What? At least they've had the space clear of furniture so that they can repaint their house. And repaint they did! The house looks COMPLETELY different and I can't wait for their stuff to come tomorrow so that they can be comfortable again!

We had July 4th dinner at our house full of ribs, burgers, fruit, and veges.

 

 We were SO stuffed! We couldn't even have dessert! What? That's crazy!

 Jackson and Benton get along SO well even though Benton is 10 months older. It's so funny listening to them have conversations because half the time I don't even understand them but they seem to understand each other just fine!

 Mia is smitten with Jackson as well. She asked for him first thing this morning when she woke up. lol. What a goon. I do use it to my advantage though when the kids aren't cooperating with me ;-) "Okay then we don't get to go see Jackson tonight if you don't clean up your toys!" lol. Ah but it works. Sadly enough.

 I can't get enough of my little doll. I am having so much fun with her and how girly she is. Granted she doesn't like to play with girlie toys a lot, she sure loves it when I do her hair! I'm soaking it all in because it's so much fun and I know she'll only want me to help her with her hair for so long before she wants to do it.

 These strawberries definitely look prettier than they are delicious to eat. They actually tasted horrible but the kids seemed to like it....mama didn't like the sugar high.

 We decided to fly kites at the park instead of going downtown to see the fireworks just because I'm a little paranoid of the crowds with the kids and who knows how many drunk drivers there are on the roads on a holiday.

 I didn't think that the kids would be able to fly kites but they all did so well! I was definitely surprised! Benton loved it and besides the couple times that we had to run after a loose kite, it was a lot of fun and they did so well!

 Mias been learning how to hop, jump and skip all at the same time and she is just adorable!

 The kids racing! Oh my SO cute!

 Mr. Jackson Lloyd!

 Oh she just loves posing and flirting for the camera. She definitely is a girl.

 Cye and Jackson

 July is also the 5 year anniversary since my Aunts passing. I am a really emotional person but it so SO hard for me to express my feelings and I just HATE crying infront of people. So I tend to remove myself mentally and emotionally from situations that I know will make me break down. And this is one of those times. I will always ALWAYS regret not being there when she passed away and I wished I were stronger to have been able to be there for her. I'm thankful to God that Mia looks a lot like her and is a constant reminder of my aunt.

Summer Splashin fun!

8am. It's 89 degrees. That about sums up the beginning of summer here for us in Texas! I must have been delusional when I packed a pair of jeans to change into after the gym. I don't know what I was thinking!

So we were suppose to work on the kids playhouse one day a week, which is usually either Saturday or Sunday. As you can see here we accomplished nothing this weekend but fun in the water! It was so hot, Brandon had to go get some kiddie pools. Two in fact because we couldn't leave the dog out of this fun!

 Brandon doesn't get much time to really enjoy the beauty of the kids at this age, much like most working dads during the work week. He gets home in time for dinner then the kids play for a bit while he studies for his next event in the morning before they go to bed. We stay up another hour and a half before we go to bed, so time to ourselves is limited too.

 So when he gets to just relax and enjoy the kids when they are not fussy is a true gift! The kids were so excited to get in the water they didn't even want to put their swimming suits on!

 The kids have been getting up in the middle of the night. Well...to be exact, Bentons been waking Mia up in the middle of the night, opening her door and sending her into our room first to wake me up. Way to go big brother. So the past two nights I spent an hour one night and 3 hours another trying to put them both back to bed. Of course this happens when Brandon has to get up at 530am for his event and so I get up as well. God gave me rest before those nights happened with an incredible 2 hour nap on sunday to gear me up for the following two nights.

 Speaking of lack of sleep, I really shouldn't complain because a family in our church is really lacking sleep. They've been in our prayers since their kids were hospitalized after they caught a strain of E.Coli from an aquatic park. I feel so terrible and I keep putting myself in their shoes and how tough that must be. They've had surgery and now going through a series of dialysis. Poor little babies. I guess our member passes for the aquarium will be put on hold for the rest of summer! (they didn't catch it at this aquarium but still, it's hot here and germs spread rapidly).

 I haven't posted pictures lately of their playhouse so I will update those now. Even though we didn't get to work on it this weekend, yesterday was windy and so it wasn't too terrible to be outside and I was able to finish painting the playhouse.

The inside is a heather color.

 Benton insisted on a BLUE house and he chose a pale blue but mommy overruled and went with a much more familiar color.

 A mini replica of our WA home. I sure miss that house badly and all the memories that we made with our kids there. Their first home, their first place to roll over, crawl, spit their rice cereal in my face, the first place I got peed on but not the last. Oh WA, despite your ever gloomy skies, I sure miss you.

 

 

 

 

Concrete Canvas

I love seeing the excitement and intrigue when they get to experiment with textures, colors and creativity. Their splashes of paint on the pavement somehow turns into art and I think....I could use my kids to make a lot of money by selling their art. Just kidding! lol. But they are put together rather beautifully from uncoordinated hand and arm movements.

 There are hardly any days where Mia gets her mama all to herself. It's been since Feb or March back when we were in Whidbey. She's usually the one that's taking a nap. Yesterday was the first time she wasn't tired and Benton had already passed out on his bed. I was tired still but I thought she would like to get a little messy. I made some sidewalk chalk paint and here is her masterpiece..

 I just adore her chubby little fingers! My chunky monkey even though shes hardly chunky anymore. Oh, I miss those chubby baby fingers!

 Teasing me with her paintbrush. I'm sure she's thinking about sticking that paintbrush right on my camera lens.

 I just love photographing her. She stays in one place long enough for me to find a good shot. Plus, she likes the camera ;-)

I made more paint today as well while I mowed the lawn. Mia had lost interest in it already after her first go yesterday but Benton had a blast! He was out there with me for an hour and a half at least. Not bad cornstarch, water and food coloring, not bad!

Do you ever just get so fustrated that you just all of a sudden start chuckling because it is just SO ridiculous? That has been me ever since we got to Texas. I'm not sure if its because we got here at the end of the school year meaning that there are NO regular ongoing activities aka I'm going insane, or if its because my son keeps asking all these bizzare questions over and over and over again to which I have no answer to or if its because of the constant toddler battles raging from 6:30am till 8pm, or if it is this insane humidity. This only brings me to the conclusion that my stage in life kinda pretty much contains alot of downs. I wouldn't say it is greater than the ups because clearly that is not the case but those darn downs really do stick with you! I've been working on it folks and I need those prayers! Speaking of prayers, we have found a church home which I think has a lot of great opportunities for serving. Its a good sized church with a womens ministry as well so I'm pretty excited for the fall studies coming.

By the way, Brandon and I are 7 years old in marriage! It seems every year it gets harder and harder to get him a present. Hmmm....and everything that I know Brandon would want weights about a 500 lbs so the element of surprise is kinda lacking of late. After the gym on monday (our anniversary), I drove him to Northern Tools in town to pick out his floor fan. He was surprised! I just wish it was something I could have handed him when he woke up in the morning. I guess I could have, but I'm pretty sure that he would have gotten a broken rib. These fans are huge! Like, blow my kids away huge but heres the toss up. Get a fan and prevent the rusting from the humidity here or have him eventually get all NEW tools. Hmm....:-) THAT was NOT a toughie. hahaha.

The weekend flew by even though Brandon had 3 days off since he worked so hard he didn't have to go in on our anniversary. What a husband! We decided that it was a GREAT idea to build the kids a playhouse...outside. These projects always seem like a great idea until we actually have to start doing it while the kids are awake, needing this and that every other minute, fussing, screaming, fighting, pushing, shoving, spraying us with the hose, changing....why did I say this was a good idea? No in all reality THIS project has been pretty fun once we got started and the kids were inside watching movies. hahaha. We got all the supplies on Saturday and started working on it Sunday after church. Of course when you start to set everything up to cut is when the thunder storm clouds start rolling in. lol. Luckily for us, we got the base all put together that day, granted the kids didn't get into bed until 9:30pm. Monday, I got to paint the floor a nice Heather color and then helped brandon building the frames for the walls. It was 5:30 by the time we had the frames put togehter but we decided to go ahead and screw it into the floor because really its kinda fun making a minature house. It's MY house isn't it? Oh yes, paint here in TX dries in under 5 minutes.

 Are there pictures of Mia without food?

 The floor

 YAY! The wall frames are done!



The kids are growing so much. Benton is so old fashioned sometimes with his expressions and mannerisms. lol. I can't help but laugh at him when he's being serious. Mia is now understanding most of what we are saying and what she wants to communicate to us. It's amazing how intelligent these little munchkins are. It always takes my breath away. How is that even possible? You went to sleep last night, woke up and you can count to 3 and poop in the toilet. What?

 This is how Mia wakes up from her naps

 Way to smile benton. Good timing!

They know how to get comfortable thats for sure!

 



Amongst these amazing feats, I want to turn that volume dial to off when Benton asks me on a daily basis still 'I want to go home.' Now, I have been compassionate about this ever since we left WA and he's been asking to go home....but after 2 months of it I just want to say "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Mia isn't getting off easy either. She has this temper (obviously not from me, right? ;-) ) and she turns into a monster! Kids, it's been an hour since you got up and you make me want to go back to bed! I think they just need their regular schedule back. With school and with friends. Benton however social he is, always tells me that he likes his new friends but he wants to go to school with Bryce. Those two were kinda made for each other and I feel so badly that they are separated. If I feel this bad now, it's only going to get much worse when they get older. Oh, the joys. All I can say is, it's quite time now and I am enjoying every drop of it!

Nemos EVERYWHERE!

 

There's nothing like being stuck in your home for two days waiting for the plumbers to finish up their work. There's also nothing like getting up at 6:30am because they say that they will start the job at 7am and then not showing up till 9am. BOTH days they have been 2 hours late. There's nothing I love more than not having enough sleep and a cranky 19 month old toddler. Add on to the fact that we can't go anywhere because we obviously have to be in the house. This couldn't have happened when Brandon was on vacation? Of course not. Needless to say above all else I'm SO thankful this is not my house and I don't have to pay for it.;-) That makes all the stress actually melt away. It's also quite invigorating to be able to tell Brandon "It's not our home, we don't have to worry about fixing it!" Sometimes I think we forget we don't have to fix everything that happens in the house cause ultimately it's the landlords responsibility and boy does that feel good! 'Oh, plumber you want to put three holes in the wall?' Suuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee....aint my house ;-)

 
Over memorial weekend we decided that it was a great idea to go to the Aquarium downtown Corpus cause the kids seem to be obsessed with fish lately, namely Nemo (from the movie) and they have a waterpark there. Note...memorial weekend = busy. Anyways it was fun but somehow it always ends up being the adults who are tired in the end. lol. We got a year pass since it pays itself off in 2 visits anyways. I'm sure we'll be going there alot this summer when our thermometer bursts open cause it is too hot to register anything. The older Mia gets, the less brave she is to touch things. I guess thats the same with all kids. I tried to have her touch some type of sea creature but she wouldn't do it. lol takes after me I think. Germ freak.

 
They began being really excited about all the fish in the tanks and slowly but surely the excitement died and dolphins were just another fish in the sea.

 Our cuties on the wharf at the Aquarium waiting for mommy cause I had to pee for the second time in 2 minutes. Never drink a 16 oz mango smoothie right before you go ANYWHERE. lol. Mental note!

 Daddy showing Mia the porcupine but I have a feeling she missed the exact spot where he was.

 Their favorite part of the whole trip! The kids waterpark! Honestly, I have a thing about wet floors and barefeet. It doesn't just kinda creep me out, it really makes me want to hurl. So dad to the rescue. Mom is just gonna sit on her behind and take pictures in the shade. ;-) I'm gonna have to get the kids and I some aqua shoes or whatever. The feeling of wet ground on my feet.....urgh.

 Benton had a blast! He's sitting on water thats gushing out of the ground. lol. Yup, thats my child.  Meanwhile Mia decided there are better things to do at the waterpark than playing in the water.....

chips. Chips seem like a great idea after 5 minutes playing in the water. Need to build up energy for the nap on the way home, right? My cuties.