6 month recap

What the crap! I can only add more photos to my blog if I update my storage??? That's rediculous!

So anyhow, the last time I updated my blog, my baby boy was turning 2. A LOT has happened since then. I'll try to recap for you in short. Without pictures. Because apparently that is going to cost me money which I do not have. Booooooo!!!!!!

*Over the summer we spent a lot of time at my parents' pool. Collin and Ronan took swimming lessons and by the end of the summer Collin was swimming int he deep end without floaties.

*Collin played t-ball. He loved practice in the beginning, freaked out at the first game, and slowly started to love it again.

*Aunt Dani came home to visit and we had a big family party at the pool.

*Ronan started 2 day a week preschool. He never cried at drop off, but that sad puppy face was enough to break me. I started doing "The Kissing Hand" with him to help him through the day. He now loves going to school, but still wants his kissing hand every morning!

*Collin started Kindergarten and turned 5! I can't believe that my baby is in kindergarten! We celebrated with a pool party and then went to a Wingnuts game as a family. Collin is loving school and getting so smart! He's starting to read, loves doing math, and has tons of friends.

*We announced to the family that baby #4 is on the way! Everyone was shocked, though I'm not sure if they were more suprised that we were pregnant, or that we had made it over 2 years before getting pregnant again!

*Collin played soccer and loved it! Dan coached the team and had a lot of fun with it. I think we had a winning record, but we're not really supposed to keep score. It was a lot of fun to watch.

*We put our house on the market and are on the hunt for a new, bigger house. Right now baby doesn't have a room. Unless we get a new house, baby will be bunking with me!

*I got another year older. Boo! Only one year left of my twenties :(

*We found out that baby #4 is a GIRL! I might have cried a little when the tech told us. I'm still not sure that I believe it. I've already bought her some cute outfits fromt he last consignment sale, and purchased her first cloth diaper. We're going to attempt cloth diapering this time. Wish me luck.

*We survived the Thanksgiving holiday and I managed to not gain 10 pounds!

*Dan only has 2 more weeks of school until Christmas break, and Collin only has 3! Yippee! I can't wait for Christmas!

I promise I'll try to update more often. I know you've all been sad that I've been MIA. Maybe I'll even figure out how to get more pictures added. Stupid Blogger.

I should totally update my blog...

one of these days...
Today is not that day. What fun would a blog post be without pictures of my beautiful children? And I am too lazy to go to the desktop to do that. So wait patiently. It's coming.

Dylan is 2!

Today my sweet baby boy turned 2.
I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. For the first time in nearly 5 years I don't have constant diapers to change or a baby to carry around.
Luckily he's still my snuggly bug.

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First thing this morning (after using the potty of course, which is why he's in underwear. He doesn't wear pants around the house these days) Dylan found his presents and headed straight over to start opening them.

 We didnt' even have a chance to stop him before he was on the floor tearing into it.

 The sweet boy even handed his borthers a present thinking that they needed to open one too.

 "It Jake O Pirates!" (Jake and the Neverland Pirates)

 After gifts daddy made ham and cheese omlets upon Dylan's request.

These days he prefers eggs for breakfast over cereal or poptarts. He still loves oatmeal (usually) but would much rather have ham and eggs.

My Sweet Dylan,

I can't even begin to tell you how much joy you have brought into our lives. You are one of the happiest kids I have ever met, but you get your feelings hurt easily when you are told no (especially by Papa). Fo having just turned two, you amaze me with all that you are able to do. You are almost done potty training, can count to 10 and can almost completely sing the alphabet.

I love to watch you play with your brothers. You can be a little stinker at times, getting into the middle of their games just to get a reaction out of them, but they love and adore you.

You've become Mr. Independant over the last year though you still need help from mommy and daddy from time to time.

When we found out that we were expecting you, we were less than ready. However, we cannot imagine our lives without you. We believe that God made you extra sweet and adorable just for that, and to conteract your orneriness. You are a constant source of joy in my heart.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Love, Mommy

painting the driveway

The weather is gorgeous here today, so I decided I should do something fun outside with the boys. Thanks to Pinterest on which I found this, the boys and I headed out to paint our driveway.

This "street paint" is super easy to make: Mix equal parts water and cornstarch, then add food coloring.

Told you it was easy!

We mixed up the cornstarch and water and then divided it into 4 containers to add the coloring.

5 minutes later we were out the door having fun.

My kids loved it! We will definitely be doing this again over the summer. Next time I think I'll put the paint in balloons so they can splatter paint as also suggested on that site.

1st T-ball practice

Last night Collin had his first T-Ball practice. He was so excited and decared that he loved T-ball practice, even though it hadn't started yet.

  It was so much fun to watch him interact with the other kids and play a sport that he swears he is going pro at.

 Waiting in line to bat.

 Being shown how to hold the bat.

 First hit.

Running to first base (though it looks like he's skipping).


I can't wait till his first game. Pretty sure I'll be known as the crazy mom with the camera.

my little star

As I mentioned in my last post, Collin sang with his Sunday School class at mass last weekend. It was adorable and I had to force myself not to cry.
Here are a few pictures from the big performance.

 Collin is the cutie in pink on the back row on the right.

Very proud after his outstanding performance!

new dress

Saturday afternoon, while waiting for all the tornados to hit, I sat down to my sewing machine to make myself a new outfit for church the next day (I'm crazy like that). I had bought fabric about a month ago with the intentions of making myself a dress, and never got around to it. This seemed like the perfect weekend because Collin was going to be singing with his Sunday School class at church, and then after we had a baptism to attend in which Dan and I were the godparents.
So anyhow, instead of actually making a dress, I decided that a skirt would be easier. In the end it looked exactly like the dress was going to, I just didn't attach the 2 pieces.

Ignore my goofiness. My husband was taking the photos so I had to work it for the camera :)

If I hadn't been so distracted it probably would have only taken about 30 minutes to do. I simply cut to "triangle" pieces for the front and back, sewed them together, created a tube at the top and inserted elastic and then hemmed the bottom. Easy peasy! Then I made a sash to tie around the waist creating a bow int he back that you can barely see. The top of the "dress" is just an old tank top that was too short for me.
I love this and will probably make a few more to twirl around in this summer!

photography

I have always been interested in photography. In college I was actually going to take a photography class but on the first day I arrived and there was a note on the door saying class had been moved to a different time. I wasn't able to make it at that time and ended up dropping the class.
So last week I started taking a photography class at the Maize Rec. It's only a 4 week class, one night a week for 1 hour. Our instructor is a local photographer named Nicholle Goodnight who is super cute, fun and very talented. This class is calle "A Bit Beyond the Basics" so last week we talked about our camera settings and when to use which modes and then looked at some of her photos and took note of lines, the rule of thirds, and lighting. Our assignment last week was to take some photos using lines, shooting vertically and paying attention to the lighting. On Tuesday I took the 2 younger boys to the park while Collin was at school and took some photos to hopefully please the instructor. Here are some of my favorites.

 I love this waterfall. It's hidden back along the trails and is so peaceful.

 It was really difficult to get them both looking at the camera and not looking like total dorks.

 This kid is gonna be a heart breaker.

My instructor e-mailed me back today with positive remarks. Yay! I know I have a long way to go, but I'm getting there.

future model?

I think he may have a career ahead of him. He picked out his own outfit and everything.
I so love this kid. I mean look at him. How can you not smile?

Paying attention

Guest post written by my buddy Royce Heath

I think there is a ADT Small house system that is a bit cheaper than some of the systems for larger homes. I am not completely sure, of course. I have not done as much research as I should. My friends have had the security system in their houses for a while now. They have told me all about it before, but honestly I did not pay all that much attention. I have such a bad habit of not listening when something is not super interesting to me. It definitely comes back and bites me in the butt sometimes. I think the last time I was caught not listening, it was actually when a friend was venting about a co-worker. I just stopped listening because I did not want to get stuck and bogged down with negative thoughts. She actually was talking about quitting and I just completely ignored her. I hate to admit that because how do you just not listen to someone venting about quitting his or her job. That is a pretty big deal. Same thing happened when they were talking about home security systems. Might not be as bad to not listen to, but I do sort of wish I had paid more attention.

Dave

This morning after dropping Collin off at preschool the younger 2 and I headed to the park with my older sister to do some walking and feed the ducks. Little did we know that our entertainment for the morning would come in the form of a furry little brown creature.
Ronan and I were down by the water giving bread to the ducks and I turned around to find this:

Part of me thought I should tell him to stay away from the squirrel, but the other part of me was curious as to how this was going to play out. I know, bad mommy, but you're curious too, aren't you?

This is how it played out:

 Dylan chased the squirrel for a while.

 And then they spent 10-15 minutes feeding the squirrel bread.

Ronan decided that his name should be Dave.

Isn't Dave cute?

*I was going to share a video with you, but my computer is having issues. For some reason it keeps shutting itself down. Repeatedly. It's very annoying.*

Ronan's 3rd Birthday

Nearly 2 weeks ago (I'm so behind) my little middle turned 3. I can not believe that he is 3 years old already. Time sure does fly when you are having fun.

We have a tradition (which I love) of decorating the house the night before the boys' birthdays after they go to bed. I love to see their faces when they wake up and see streamers and balloons hanging all over the house.

 Before Dan left for work we let Ronan open 2 presents. 1: The Fresh Beat Band album and 2: an apron that I made for him.

 Ronan then helped me make his giant birthday cookie (another tradition I love! We save the cake for the birthday party)

 Daddy came home early and brought McDonald's for lunch.

 And then Ronan opened the rest of his presents. His favorite? A squeegie. Yup. A squeegie. He's been asking for one since December when we went on a Christmas lights limo tour. They had them in the limo to clean the windows so you could see and he fell in love.

A little after 3:00 Mamaw came over to watch Dylan and the 4 of us headed to Salina to see The Fresh Beat Band in Concert. The boys are obsessed with this show. 

 The day after Ronan's birthday he litteraly spent 30 minutes cleaning the front storm door with his new squeegie. He kept askin me to spray it for him and then he would squeegie and wipe. The kid is silly.

I'll post later about his super awesome dinosaur birthday party.
He's growing up so fast I can hardly stand it. He still throws major fits when things don't go his way, but when he's happy (which is most of the time) he's silly and crazy and loving and funny and I still can't believe he's mine.
Happy Birthday Ronasaurus Rex! I love you!