Just Can't Get Enough

I simply just can't get enough of this two-tooth grin, making its appearance any time I look in his direction. Honestly, it is the easiest thing in the world to get a smile out of this boy. And I don't know if there is anything cuter than a big old grin with just those two pearly whites proudly popping out. And since I can't get enough, I figured you probably wouldn't be able to either, so I'm overloading you with a plethora of pictures of this boy, those teeth, that smile, that laugh. Awwww....

And as it is proved by the drool stream down the chin and the puddle on the shirt, I don't think it will be long before there are more than just two little chompers. And I gotta admit, I'm going to be a bit sad when that happens. I just love that baby smile. But the further into the teething process things get, I'll probably be glad to have it over with and have the others come in. But for now I'll just enjoy these.
But now, dear Sammy, could you please just stop growing so fast? Please?

The Plan

Garrett and I have a very ingenious plan in order to achieve all our dreams of financial stability and a comfortable retirement. You see, we have decided that we will teach our kids how to golf, and keep our fingers crossed that at least one of them is amazingly good at it. Because not only will it pay for their college because they will get scholarships to play (thus meaning that we definitely don't need to be concerned with saving for their education, right?), but then they can hit the PGA Tour and start makin' some big money--which will be the point in time where they start supporting us. Yep, they'll pay off any of our debts--which we'll probably still have some student loans at that point since I don't think those will EVER go away--and then they'll buy us nice houses and nice cars and Garrett can retire early and we'll travel the country watching them play golf and life will be grand.

So, lucky for us, this complex we live in has this little gem of a putting green just a short walk away, so it gives us ample opportunity for Tyler to get working on paying off our student loans, uh, I mean, learning the finer points of the game of golf. Because we all know that we drive for show, putt for dough--so we better get this putting thing down. It's all part of the plan...

But I fear that I should be a tad concerned that he's using his putter like a driver...

Or that much time is spent running off into the bushes in search of the ball...
Well, the stance here looks good, but wait...where's the golf club? That might be important. (take note of Tyler's already shot pair of green summer sandals. He goes through them so fast!)

OK, this is looking a little better...
Oh boy, and if we can get this two ball trick down, we're going to make some really big bucks!
Proof of the hard work is found in the fact that he's DRIPPING with sweat after a trip to the putting green. Don't worry, Tyler, all that hard work and sweat will make us really happy one day. It's all worth it.
(ok, maybe it's not so much that it's a ton of hard work--it might have something to do with the fact that it's SO hot and humid here and Tyler was practically born sweating...)
Well, here's hoping our plan works because there is no plan B. It's all riding on you, Tyler. Well, I guess there's always Sam too. So, no worries--we ought to be just fine...

Memory Lane

OK, I guess since life is pretty uneventful right now (see previous post), I have succumbed to the pressures of doing this tag. I hesitated and drug my feet, but I am now giving in. So, please humor me and play along. I need some entertainment in my life (again--see previous post)!

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog (if you have one) and see how many people leave a memory about you. HAVE FUN! (you don't have to have a blog in order to leave me a memory!)

I guess it would be kind of fun to see the kinds of things you all come up with. So please play along, so I don't feel like a loser who doesn't have any friends. :( LOL! Thanks!

The Heat. It's Getting to Me.

I believe I am suffering from heat-induced lack of sanity. Our ventures out of the house consist of walking to the pool, swimming, and walking home. Other than that, our adventures out are kept at a minimum--generally consisting of necessary errands that need to be run. So at times we all go a little stir crazy and we all start doing bizarre things.
For instance, this activity is not allowed at our house. Especially kept off limits since we got our new mattress and our new bedding. And since it's not allowed, it is truthfully very rarely attempted. But yesterday proved to be a different story for all parties involved.
He climbed on my bed and jumped. Once. And he glanced at me with a sure look on his face, knowing I was going to tell him to get down. And I just ignored it. So he jumped again. And again. And I, just for that moment, didn't really care that he was jumping on my bed. Every time I turned my head in his direction, he looked at me just expecting that he was going to have to get down. And I can honestly only blame it on the heat, because I just didn't stop him. I guess I figured it wasn't the worst thing in the world at that moment. So away he jumped.
And he jumped. And he laughed. And he said it was so much fun. And he would plop right down, let out a big sigh, and then say that it was such hard work jumping on the bed.

And then...I lost it even a little bit more when I obeyed the command of: "Mom, you must take a picture of me jumping on your bed". I'm a tad concerned that he may have had the foresight to realize that he may need photographic evidence of my temporary lack of sanity to use against me in the future when he wants something.
So I took pictures, he jumped, and I actually just enjoyed the sound of wonderfully genuine laughter and joy. But I'm sure I will regret this when he thinks he can get away with this all the time.
But have no fear, I believe there is hope for my condition and a possibility of my sanity returning. When Tyler said "Mom, now YOU jump on the bed and I'll take YOUR picture", I declined. So maybe I'm not as crazy as I think I am.
And what was Sam doing admist all this craziness? Just sitting on the floor sampling one of the many cell phone chargers that migrate there. And...I didn't stop him. Gosh, it's getting hot in here.

10 Months

Well, somehow, we've managed to make it into double digits. Now THAT is just crazy! I've said it before, though, and I'll say it again--it does help that he gets cuter every day. :) At 10 months, he loves:
baths
swimming
the vaccum
Tyler's trains
CRAWLING everywhere
pulling himself up to things
following me around wherever I go
Macaroni & Cheese
waving "hi"
yelling and blabbering SO loud :)
dancing to music
bouncing up and down when he's excited or happy
the Fisher Price farm
the TV remote (I mean, after all, he is a male...)


Just a few hours after I posted about him not crawling the "right way", he woke up from a nap and just took off. And there's no stopping him now! As much as life changes when they start to crawl, and as much as I was dreading it in some ways, I honestly had totally forgotten how stinkin' cute crawling babies are! Oh my, it's just adorable. They are just so excited to be exploring and a little bit more independent, it's impossible to not find joy in that! And he just loves it. If he's crawling somewhere, there is a smile on his face and he's just babbling away as he goes. And he gets so excited to get where he wants (i.e. me, the train table, his room, etc.). And he loves it when we get on our hands and knees and play too. Life doesn't get much better than this when you're 10 months old!


If the remote is on the floor, you can bet he'll make a b-line for it. Boys, I tell ya!
Oh, I just love him and can't believe he's 10 months old. I'm going to try to quit thinking about how soon he'll turn one and enjoy my 'baby' while I've still got him. Time's just a flyin'!

The Result

The result of sitting with Dad on the couch after church and snackin' on some Edy's Dibs. Some happy boys in my house, that's for sure. Oh my, life with boys is a messy thing! And I deserve an extra round of applause for getting the stains out and getting that white shirt sparkling once again.

Happy Blog-a-versary!

It had dawned on me that this week marks the one year anniversary of my blog. And I had to laugh in realizing that I've actually kept up this blog for an entire year. I honestly didn't think I would. And here I am one year and 139 posts later! But I have to say that I've totally loved blogging. It has helped me feel like my family is at least a little bit more in on what my kids are doing, how they are growing, how stinkin' cute they are--which is hard to describe in phone conversations sometimes (and especially more difficult since one more has joined the family this last year)! And it has helped me stay in touch with SO SO SO many of our wonderful friends we've made in our 8 years of marriage and some from high school and college. It's kind of amazing really! And of course there are the connections that have been made through blogging which are just awesome too, people that I maybe didn't know before or had completely lost touch with. And let me also say that the thing that has kept me blogging is YOU! Each and every one of you who read this and comment are what keeps me going. Granted, I love the fact that I am documenting our family life, which is very important to me, but seriously, who doesn't LOVE comments??? OK, I admit it--I definitely do! So really, you all keep me going. So, thank you, thank you, thank you!

So in the spirit of celebrations (and the fact that I can hardly bring myself to post without some pictures), I realized that I never blogged about our celebrations a month ago for Garrett's big 3-0. I don't know how they slipped through the cracks, but they did. But have no fear (since I'm sure you've all been losing sleep about it), I realized this and now they are making their appearance on the blog. So here's a quick re-cap...

The day started off with chocolate chip pancakes complete with whipped cream and candles--one for every decade. (yes, that means I got up BEFORE he went to work and made them. Ugh, sacrifices, I tell you!) And they were served on nothing but our finest paper plates, of course. I mean, it was his birthday after all.
The chocolate chip pancakes were a hit amongst the old and young and our house. See below...
Tyler especially loved the whipped cream. Surprising...
And I don't know if this is considered celebrating Garrett's birthday if he wasn't with us, but the kids and I headed to the Children's Museum for a few hours. I guess it was in remembrance of Garrett's youth, since he's now an old man. :) The museum is always a hit, and our season pass is well worth it. So, we checked it out for a while.

And Sam literally spent the entire day like this with his head to the side watching EVERYTHING Tyler did. He was in awe and I'm sure by the time he can run around that place, he'll know exactly what he's doing.
And then it was home for dinner of kabobs and pasta salad and CAKE. And I gotta say I was pretty proud of my cake this year, because let's face it...I am NOT a cake maker. :) Never have been, and probably never will be, but I had fun making this and was happy that it turned out. I attempted a chocolate mint satin cake. The name kind of explains it all, but it had a yummy layer of minty goodness inside. Tyler kept saying it was a big donut, I guess because it was round with a hole in the middle!
Either way...it was delicious and I probably won't attempt at making another cake (besides one out of a Duncan Hines box) until Garrett turns 40--and even then, I'm not making any promises!! (see the minty layer in the pic below...)
So, there's the b-day recap, and while we're talking celebrations, why don't we all say Happy Blog-a-versary to my dear blog! It's always nice to know who's reading this blog for various reasons, and of course I'm always tossing around the idea of going private (which I'm not planning on as of right now, but who knows...), so it would be nice to know who needs an invite if I do go private. So I'd love to get a shout out from you in honor of making it one year in the blogging world. I was racking my brain to come up with some sort of fun giveaway to lure you in, but I got nothin'. Sorry. But I will have another giveaway around holiday time, so be ready! And again, thank you all for reading my blog! :)

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, & Chevrolet

Well, the pie was blueberry, but that was all that was missing in having an All American 4th of July. Our celebration started on the 3rd with an outing to the baseball game with fireworks afterwards. Garrett and I came to the realization that we have made this a tradition without even trying. We have gone to a minor league game for the 4th of July for 5 out of the last 5 years! It's a great seat for fireworks if you ask me, so that is why I like to go. We would prefer to be in Paris, ID with Garrett's grandma, but that hasn't been feasible since we moved away. There is just something about the 4th there that I have grown to really love. There's nothing like a small town celebration for the 4th of July, it's just the best! So we always miss going, but try to make do anyways.

So we stuck out one of the longest games of my entire life on Thursday night just so we could see the fireworks. After about 8 innings, we were all getting ansy and tired (especially the boys--but they had been SO good), and then it ended up going 11 innings! I thought it would never end. And don't get me wrong, I love a good baseball game, I really do, but at that point, I honestly didn't care who won or how they won as long as somebody won so the game would end! We were thinking after one more inning, if it hadn't ended, we'd just have to go, but luckily 11 innings ended it. And since Tyler had been asking if it was over for about 6 innings, he was THRILLED to finally see the firework show. He loves them! And by this time, Sam had finally given up and was sound asleep through all of them. And I gave a try at getting some firework shots this year. It was a better attempt than last year, but I have come to realize that you just sit too close in the stadium to get amazing pictures, so this was about all I came home with. Here are a few that turned out ok.

So the 4th was mostly spent at a BBQ with friends. Mmmm, yum! The food was excellent! The hostess even makes her own BBQ sauce and it was delicious. So we headed home and lit off a few 'snakes' outside. Isn't this the picture that every parents wants to get of their child?
(yes, we had lots of talk about fire safety yesterday!)
And who doesn't have at least a slight fascination with watching a snake "grow"? I know I do! and Tyler definitely does! I loved them as a kid and still kind of like them today!

And then we attempted a few pictures after Sam woke up from his nap.

This one is a serious goofball, if you didn't already know that! :)

I always make it a point to have at least one picture of us all together on the 4th. I don't know why, but I just like to. So, take in to account the fact that we're taking the picture ourselves, they are never great, but I love having one of us all together. So this year we have to settle for the flag in front of Tyler's face! Oh well!


And it finally got dark (Tyler didn't think it EVER would!) and we got to our own amazing show, as you can imagine. It included a lot of sparklers, fountains, jumping jacks, and the like. It was fun and we were all pretty exhausted when it was over! :)

As a kid, I think sparklers were my favorite firework and I still like them quite a bit nowadays, but they never seem to last long enough. So I was thrilled to see some seriously HUGE sparklers and bought a few. I thought they were awesome! I just love them! Here is an example of one:
And a few impressive fountains for you...who doesn't love a few driveway fireworks, eh?!

And we played around with camera shutter speeds and sparklers and had fun. Tyler enjoyed dancing around in front of the camera with his sparklers. He kept getting confused and calling them sprinklers. He kept saying, "Oh, I LOVE sprinklers!". So, I leave you with a few photos of our sprinklers:
Tyler called this one his roller coaster:

And that's a wrap of our 4th of July...the end!