The Auto

As we all know, Isaac loves to drive his auto, but he is starting to get some competition these days. Luke has discovered the auto and is quite a fan. Carl put both of them in it together, and I am not sure who had more fun...it was precious!

Just me and my boys...

Yesterday I took the boys on our first big outing by myself; we went to the Houston Zoo! I was nervous leading up to it, could I really handle that all alone? Both boys in such a big place with no help, was it a dumb idea? Well, I am here to say, it was great! The boys loved the zoo, and both behaved great and made my job easy! I am so thankful for them! It actually was kind of a calm trip, it was nice to not worry about any one else's agenda or what others want to do...it was all about my little ones! Isaac really enjoyed all of the animals, but I think the giraffes and ducks were his favorite. Although, he really liked the elephants, too. We've been to a few petting zoos lately, so the first 30 minutes we were there he kept asking me if he could pet the animals...even the elephants! Silly boy! Luke was very chill all day, he spent the entire time in his stroller, except during lunch. He seemed to really like the animals, too, but I think his favorite part was watching Isaac play the drums in the African Forest.

After the zoo, we headed over to a friend's house for a playdate. We were kind of in her area, so we decided to stop by and visit. She has two boys, both born in February the same years as my boys, so they are only a few months apart. It was really fun to visit with her and the boys seemed to have fun playing together! Luke was exceptionally relaxed and enjoyed being around the other boys. Isaac had fun playing with his new friend, and really liked playing with his trucks. ;-)

It was a long day, but a fun filled one! I'm so thankful to spend this time with my sweet boys, they are such a blessing!

Camping 2011

Isaac focused during the hay ride.

Riding Redbird!

Playing in the tent with the girls...Adilyn and Kacy.

One of my favorite pictures from the entire weekend...walking out to fish.

Somebody caught a fish, and Isaac touched it!

Nothing sweeter than these moments.

Finally a four wheeler just his size!

Kacy and Luke were deep in conversation.

My sweet boys.

Driving Daddy's truck to the edge of the property.

This weekend was the annual camping weekend out at the Durante's place. In the years past we have gone out for the day, but never stayed the night. This year we decided to go for it...so we bought the tent, the air mattress, loaded up the family and headed out. We had the best day yesterday! There is not much that is more fun for family and friends than to hang out outside, enjoying all things dirty and out of the ordinary. The kids got to do so much that they don't get to do often, such as play in a huge dirt pile, ride a horse, go on a few hay rides, go fishing, and just run around free all day! It was the perfect day for both of my boys! I think Isaac and Luke would both gladly spend every minute of every day outside...so this was heaven! We started the day with a hay ride, driven by the tractor....oh how Isaac loved the tractor! Next, we checked out the dirt pile, and Isaac got dirtier than I've ever seen him get. He used to stay away from dirt/sand, but he's getting more used to it and played in it! There were some power wheels to play with, so of course he had to drive around the four wheeler and the truck. Then, we headed over to check out Daddy's progress on the tent, it looked great! We put Luke in it, and he had so much fun crawling around free! Two of his friends joined in, and they had the best time laughing and playing! Oh, there was also some horse back riding during this time, as soon as he saw the horse Isaac said, "I want to ride it." I was a little surprised by this, but he was right, he wanted to ride, he had no hesitations! I am so proud of him! After dinner we headed over to the ponds to do some fishing, Isaac had been waiting all week to fish with his new fishing pole! He was so excited, and he did pretty well! Although it was hard for Carl to handle Isaac's inability to leave it in the water and wait for a fish to bite. So of course he didn't catch anything, but he didn't care he just wanted to cast and reel it in. Luke and I sat back and watched them fish, and I have to say it was one of the sweetest moments to see Daddy and his son enjoying this new experience together. These are the moments I live for! After the fishing we headed back to camp to get ready for the night. As soon as I walked in the tent, Luke said, "NO WAY, MAMA, I'm not sleeping in here." I tried to convince him otherwise, but he cried so loud and long that even Isaac said, "Tell him to stop crying, he's scaring me." So, I made the decision to take Luke home. I didn't want us to be responsible for keeping everyone awake. Our truck was blocked in, but thankfully we have some awesome friends, so I borrowed a friend's truck and we headed home. He slept like the sweet baby he is as soon as we got home. And I slept pretty good, too! We headed back out to camp this morning to pick up the big boys and help clean up camp. When I got there I found a happy big guy, he loved sleeping in the tent! Carl says Isaac slept great, he rolled all over the tent, but During this time Luke discovered Adilyn's little four wheeler. Isaac drove it around a lot (of course, he loves anything with wheels), but this morning he drove it over close to Luke, and boy was Luke excited! It was so precious to watch as Isaac got off of it, and started to tell Luke all about it, starting with the wheels. Luke listened closely, and then slowly inched his way on to it. Isaac thought that was great and showed him how to drive it. Isaac and I helped Luke drive it around in a circle, and Luke's face lit up! Then he sat proudly on it as we all watched and snapped pictures. He accidentally pushed the button on his own, it went forward a little ways, and he didn't even seem phased by it! Looks like there might be another four wheeler driver in our future! After some morning fun and cleaning up it was time to head out. Isaac helped Daddy drive the truck to the front of the property, we said our good-byes, and then put a crying Isaac in the truck...he was not ready to leave. We cannot thank the Durante family enough for opening their property and hearts up to us all, we have made memories we will cherish for a lifetime! And we are already looking forward to the next campout!

My Big Guy

Isaac has been talking nonstop for over a year now, but lately he has started saying funny things and really coming up with good/interesting/funny thoughts. I love the way the 2 year old mind works...

Here are some of my favorite things from lately:

• I've been really working on having Isaac ask for things by saying, "May I have...please." Recently he told me, "Mama I didn't say May I to Daddy when asking for a drink." I said, "Why not? You need to say May I." He immediately responded, "My May I is broken, Mama!"


• He told me the other day, "Mama, I love you, but I don't like you." Ha! I won't take offense to that, he is in a "I don't like..." phase.


• Whenever I ask him anything about his school friends the first person he always mentions is, Sophia....he tells me all the time, "Mama, I love Sophia." He asks me multiple times a day what she is doing, where she is, where does she live, etc.


• The other morning before his gymnastics class he was being, well, a 2 year old, and I was worn out, by 10:30 am! I told him, "Isaac you are wearing me out." A little while later he said, "I'm going to wear out Coach Sarah at gymnastics today." Uh-oh, I thought! Thankfully he was great during class! Whew!


• He has a new stuffed animal that he has grown very attached to, when he wants it, but doesn't know where it is, he says, "Where is my friend that I love?" He has named this friend, Schifsty (I don't know how he came up with that!)


• He has never had much of an opinion about what he eats for meals, he eats what we give him, but lately he has become a little more opinionated. The other day I told him I needed to pack his lunch to take with us to eat after gymnastics class. He said, "No mama, don't make a sandwhich, I want chicken." "Chicken," I asked, "what kind of chicken?" "From ChickFilA, Mama!" He has never been a big meat eater, so while I'm a little embarrased that it was fast food he asked for, it was at least chicken.


• He has been wearing underwear since November, but has yet to learn how to "make dirt" on the potty, as he says. Whenever I have him try to do it he tells me, "I can't do that until I'm BIG (emphasizing BBBIIIGGG) like y'all."


• We have talked to him a lot about getting him out of his crib and into a big boy bed. His friend, Taylor, already has a big bed, her big girl bed, so Isaac is convinced that he needs a big girl bed like her. Ha! I can't get him to understand why he can't have a big girl bed, but a big boy bed instead.


• When I ask Isaac to show me how to do something he always starts with, "Okay, okay, let me show you." (very maturely and assertively)


• He also likes to start sentences with, "Hey, ...." It's a funny hey, not a demanding hey.


• When he asks questions he often says them quietly and the pitch goes up as he says it. It's really funny.

I will admit that there are times when I just want some quiet, I want him to stop talking, but really I am so thankful for his words for they are a light into his mind. And I love hearing his thoughts! He is a sweet hearted boy, that is learning new things daily!

Our little model...

A few weeks ago Luke did a photo shoot for Haute Baby's fall clothing line. He did not cooperate as well as I had hoped he would, but he still looked precious in the outfit, and the company did choose a picture of him for the website! Check out their site, www.hautebaby.com and his picture should come up on the home page, if not click on the the boys Fall '11. He looks so cute in the little football outfit. (By the way, I did this for fun, a friend of mine was the photographer...no I'm not a crazy mom who wants to get the kids into modeling.)

10 months

My peanut is 10 months old today! I am starting to get sad, he is growing up too fast! My baby is trying so hard to keep up with his big brother, and he is pretty good at it. I love seeing them play together, hearing them laugh together, and watching the bond between them grow everyday!

I feel like Luke has changed so much in the last month, he is really developing his personality and showing us glimpses of the person he will be. One of my favorite changes from the last couple of weeks is snuggling. He has become so snuggly with me lately, he was never the baby that I could rock to sleep and snuggle with, but here lately he is really into laying his head on my shoulder and he has let me rock him to sleep at naptime, too. The last few mornings, after I picked him up from his crib, he gave me kisses and even tried to hug me! Aaawww, it is the best way to start my morning! He has always been my mama's boy, but lately he has gotten worse about it, maybe that's why there're more snuggling. He is fine with strangers or even acquaintances, as long as I am close by...if I leave his sight, we're all in trouble. ;-)

He crawls everywhere, everywhere!!! He pulls up on everything, including the stairs! He follows Isaac around, never letting him out of his sight. He has become a little fiesty lately, when he decides he wants to do something he will fight me when I tell him not to. The other day he was putting a magnet in his mouth, and I was telling him no. After the second or third time I said no, he looked at me and smiled. Uh oh! I think he's going to push the limits! He still loves his pacifier, but has started spitting it out when he finds something he wants to put in his mouth. If I put the pacifier back in, he just spits it back out. Oh goodness! Luke loves to swing in his outside swing. Obviously he can't talk yet, but if we're out there on the porch he will find a way to communicate his desire to swing. He can sit in it for an hour if we let him! He also enjoys riding in Isaac's Power Wheels Jeep, and if Isaac's driving around without him he doesn't let Isaac out of his sight. He enjoys playing with trucks, he pushes them around and checks out the tires. It's so cute to see my little peanut playing with trucks that are bigger than he is!

He is eating more, I have tried to increase the amount of solid foods he is getting, as well as increasing his milk. He looks like he is gaining some weight, I hope we're right! Thankfully, he is a good eater, he's not too picky and enjoys most of the things we give him!

My little peanut is such a blessing! I am trying to savor every day with him because I want to remember these moments forever! I am so thankful for the sweet gift of my boys, God has truly blessed me!

Rodeo 2011

My cowboys ready for a day at the rodeo!

Luke was not in the mood for pictures.


We finally made it to the rodeo!

Petting Zoo!

Pure Joy!

Pony Ride!

Taylor was a natural!

Naptime for peanut.

"Fun on the Farm"

planting a seed, which grew into a pepper

Milking the cow...Isaac was very interested in that. Silly guy!

Driving the tractor! This was his favorite thing from the whole day!

Me and my cowboys.

What a fun day! Today my friend Kristin and I took the kids (Taylor, Isaac, and Luke) to the Livestock Show and Rodeo. I must admit I was a little nervous about juggling the needs of both of my boys while there, but it went so well! I could not have asked for anything better; the boys did awesome and both had so much fun! I was expecting Luke to sleep on the way there, for his morning nap, but of course kids never do what you expect...he was wide awake the entire drive. Thankfully, there was so much action around him, so he was very content. We started out in the petting zoo, it was an exciting way to start the day. Isaac had the biggest smile on his face from the second we walked in there and it never left his face! He loved petting, feeding, and learning about the animals - all of them! There were sheep, llamas, a baby pig (which he was really into), deer, and donkeys. Luke was very interested in the animals, too, he was ready to get down and crawl around, but of course I didn't let him do that. Next, we headed out to eat some lunch, hoping to beat some of the lunch rush. After lunch, we went back in to check out more animals and see what else we could find. By this point, Isaac was insisting that we find a tractor for him to "drive." Okay, we're on it. First though we found pony rides! I didn't know if he would do it, but he said he wanted to and Taylor was all about it, so we got in line. After much waiting, and watching others ride the ponies, it was our turn. Isaac didn't hesitate a bit, the cowboy picked him, put him on and Isaac was ready to go! He was very focused, and had so much fun! I was so proud of him! It was after 12:00 and Luke was getting really tired, so I had to hold him because he was not having any more of the stroller. After the ponies we walked around to look at the other animals and baby animals, and thankfully my sweet baby crashed during this time. In my arms/carrier he finally gave in the sleep. It was a short nap, 15 minutes, but it made a huge difference. We went back outside after checking out the animals, and found the "Fun on the Farm" exhibit. We took the kids through this last year and they loved it! This year was just as fun! It is a great learning experience for the kids, they learn the process of the farm to market and get a dollar in the end. They got to feed chickens, get an egg, plant a seed, then get the pepper that grew, pick a peach from the peach tree, get an ear of corn, get some wool from the sheep, and milk a cow. Isaac's favorite of those was milking the cow, he thought that was very cool! Just before the market there were tractors, finally! Isaac was thrilled, he had the best time "driving!" Once we pulled him off of the tractor we walked over to see a butterfly exhibit, which was beautiful! The kids were worn out after that, so we decided to call it a day. Everything went so smoothly and was so much fun! I am incredibly thankful to be able to do these fun activities with my boys and so thankful to share the experience with our great friends!