Happy 4th of July!

We had a very relaxed, low-key 4th of July yesterday.  It was actually very non-patriotic (not that we aren't grateful for our freedom.  We are.)  It was still fun, nonetheless!

I started the day off early, super-excited that I finally got out of bed to make it to a class at the gym, and got there to realize... they were closed!  BUT, there was a Starbuck's across the street, and my kids wouldn't even be waking up for another hour or so, so I did something I haven't done in several years.  I got some coffee and read the newspaper.  The entire newspaper (well, except the sports section, ew!), all by myself!  It was glorious.

Then we got the boys up, picked up some pizza, and headed over to "Uncle Chris & Aunt Tara's" house!  We had such a great time!  It's so fun now that all the kids are old enough to interact and be cousins!  (Thanks for having us over, guys!)

Taylor is a natural mom!  She is so cute with the boys... she loves playing with them and is like the big sister they never had!  Look how cute she is holding Bo:

I love how Bo is smiling at Rylee here:

Toby had fun playing with toys that aren't his, plus having a cousin who loves trains as much as he does!

Taylor, with her beautiful picture she drew with me!
Toby loved this hat!

The highlight, for me, though, was this moment:

I cannot figure out how to post video (anyone wanna help me? :~) but this was HILARIOUS!  First of all, as a side note, Uncle Chris and Aunt Tara are celebrities in our home!  Seriously.  Anytime the boys hear a song that Chris or Tara have sung, they get so excited and squeal, "Uncle Chris' song!" or "Aunt Tara's song!" (and even sometime's "Tay-Tay's song!")  So, Chris got out his guitar and was gracious enough to let CJ whack it over and over again, and sing with him.  The video is hysterical, though... CJ just repeats whatever Chris says, and then adds some rap at the end.  I love the footage of CJ at the guitar, Taylor laughing with him and dancing around, Trevor jumping up and down and doing flips over and over on the couch, and Toby playing with toys in the background... all their personalities in one shot!  (Sorry, Rylee, I think you were sleeping! :~)
We came home, all tuckered out, and the boys fell asleep right away!  Later, while I was making dinner (BBQ chicken, chile-lime corn, and dill mashed potatoes with Lemon-Cornmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches for dessert) I looked out in the hall way to see this:
The boys were watching a Sesame Street with Ernie singing a song, and started dancing together, holding hands!  Sooo cute!  Again, I really wish I could figure out how to post video, b/c this picture doesn't really show their little "ring-around-the-rosie" type dance.  

So, after dinner, we put the boys down, Keith got some ice cream for us (I love him so!), and we watched "Vantage Point."  It was an insanely good movie!  I highly recommend it!  I didn't even finish my ice cream until the movie was almost done... I didn't want to look away from the screen...

It was all in all, not a very "Red, White and Blue" kind of day, but still tons of fun!  Maybe next year we can actually see fireworks :~)

Happy Father's Day, Keith!

I always knew Keith would be a great dad, even before we had kids.  I used to watch him play with Taylor, and dream about how much fun it would be to see him playing with our own kids.  When Toby was born, we seriously had NO idea what we were doing.  We were both a *little* frieked out by everything!  I mean, everything!  Keith has grown SO much over the years with Toby, by being comfortable with letting Toby become more daring and adventurous, and by recognizing when Toby is trying to work him, and has especially grown in disciplining Toby when he needs it.  It's so cool to see how much of Keith is in Toby.  He's like a little Mini Me of Keith...

I especially love watching Toby "tackle Daddy" now that he's old enough to really wrestle and be a boy with his Daddy!  

Then, about 6 months after Toby was born, we were unexpectedly blessed to find out we would have another little one.  I will never forget nervously telling Keith, and how excited he was!  There was absolutely nothing but complete joy in his reaction!  We were much more relaxed with CJ, and didn't friek out quite as much... 

We still have no idea what we are doing, though!  As the above picture shows, Keith is always ready and willing to get into the boys' world, whether that's messy spaghetti, or Thomas the Train, or making up little stories about Bert & Ernie, he will go to great lengths to make the boys laugh.  CJ is our crazy, hilarious, adorable, get-into-a-big-mess-and-love-every-minute-of-it boy, and Keith loves to get right in there with him!  He is such a combination of toughness while wrestling with them, and tenderness when they wake up from a bad dream, playing guitar and singing them lullabies before tucking them back in.

And now, he gets to start all over again with Bo.  Bo is already enthralled with Keith!  If I'm holding him, and Keith is around, Bo's eyes follow him around the room, like he just wants to see what Daddy will do next.  When Keith talks to him, his whole face lights up and he gets this huge smile!

My favorite, though, is watching Keith play with the boys all together!  There is just something so adorable about a Daddy playing with his boys.  I love how he gets down on their level, and just loves them, whether that's playing with their toys with them, pushing them around on their cars, reading them a Dr. Seuss book, or looking them in the eye and telling them they need a Savior.  I can't wait to watch these boys grow up to be men, as their father leads them and guides them in wisdom.  There is something that Keith has with them that I will never have, and I love it!  They are always watching, as he teaches them so faithfully what it means to be a man, and I am confident that we will one day reap a bountiful harvest of the faithful, day-in and day-out leadership that he provides our family!

Keith, I have SO enjoyed seeing you become a father these past 3 years, and there is no one else I would rather be on this crazy, wonderful journey with than you!  Thank you for how faithfully you have trained our boys.  Thank you for your gentle but firm leadership you provide our family!  Thank you for your intentionality in how we raise these boys.  Thank you for being the sole provider for our family, so that I get to stay home with them all day!  Thank you for being humble, receiving input from me, and for all the encouragement you have given me about how to train our boys!  You are the most amazing man, and the best father I know of!  Our boys are SO blessed to have you as their father!  I love you!

Memorial Day

We had a fun Memorial Day, spent with lots of food, and hanging with friends.  Our Care Group came over, and we got to meet some of our neighbors!  I LOVE the idea of having everyone over for a good old-fashioned, all-American Memorial Day BBQ, complete with apple and peach pies!  I know, I'm a nerd... I am still excited to be in our house, and to be able to grill and have people over!  

(Isn't Steph already a natural mom, holding Bo?  She and Danae served me HUGE by holding him so I could get stuff ready... I'm not sure they really minded, though!)

Thanks, everyone, for coming!  We had a blast with y'all!

Mother's Day

A couple weeks ago, Keith asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, and I told him, "A nap!  Just take the boys for an afternoon and let me sleep!"  Well, not only did I get the nap, but he gave me these beautiful lilies, along with a box of chocolates...

He also let me get rid of this:
and bought me a brand-new dishwasher!!!  One that actually washes the dishes!!!  Ever since we moved into our house, we have had problems with our dishwasher flooding, smoking, not cleaning dishes, encrusting the dishes with detergent, you name it!  The GE service people were not exactly helpful, and by last month, I had to completely rinse the dishes of any speck of food before "washing" them, and they still came out dirty!  So, eventually, I had to hand-wash everything!  Not exactly something I have time for right now!  So, Keith surprised me with a new dishwasher!  I love it!!!  I can put completely dirty dishes in, and they get sparkling clean!

Later in the day, I enjoyed being reminded of why I love being a mom...

 

Happy Mother's Day!!!

"A mother... by her planning and industry night and day, by her willfulness of love, by her fidelity, she brings up her children.  Do not read to me the campaigns of Caesar and tell me nothing about Napoleon's wonderful exploits.  For I tell you that, as God and the angels look down upon the silent history of that woman's administration, and upon those men-building processes which went on in her heart and mind through a score of years; -nothing exterior, no outward development of kingdoms, no empire-building, can compare in beauty, and wonder, and admirableness, and divinity itself, to the silent work in obscure dwellings of faithful women bringing their children to honor and virtue and piety."  ~Henry Ward Beecher (from "Golden Thoughts on Mother, Home and Heaven, see sidebar).

"Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me."  ~Matthew 18:5

Valentine's Day

So, around 1:00 on Valentine's Day, right after I put the boys down for a nap, the doorbell rings.  As I'm grumbling to myself about how someone ignored our "Don't ring the doorbell" sign, I open the door to this:

My sweet husband sent me an Edible Arrangement, a bouquet of fruit and chocolate!  Which is not only so sweet of Keith to send this to me, but it's perfect, because I can eat a lot of REALLY good chocolate, while feeling healthy because of all the fruit :~)  And it was DELICIOUS!!!

Then we had beef stew with heart-shaped biscuits, and gave the boys heart-shaped (vegan) brownies with raspberries and (vegan) Neopolitan ice cream... Toby was SO wired from all the sugar!

We also gave them both these Elmo Valentine's Day books, which they love!  It's so fun to get to make memories with them, now that they're old enough to get excited about stuff like this!