Preschool

I want YOU to look at my first day of preschool pictures.

This backpack sure is heavy!
Preschool has been fun so far! I was a trooper both days and hardly cried at all when my mom dropped me off. When she picked me up, I loved telling her about playing, the park, pizza, and going pee pee in the potty. I can't wait for more school!

August

I've been away for a while. Actually, I've still been here, but I've found a new hobby. It's called Sorority Life on Facebook. It is probably the dumbest game in the whole world, but I am obsessed with gaining power and advancing to higher levels and obviously growing the largest sorority! :) I never think I spend that much time playing, but eventually glance at the clock and realize that, yet again, I've spent my entire evening playing SL and failing to blog. However, thanks to a 3 day weekend where my husband watched the kids, I've filled up my sorority with sisters and have nothing more to achieve in this game for a while. Therefore, it is on with the blog show!

We've been busy lately, so hopefully I will have several entries forthcoming. This post will just be some random pictures off of my camera from the month of August. In August, Levi turned 5 months old and learned to crawl. Really. He gets all over the house on all fours. It's kinda nice that I don't have to carry him everywhere and that he can go where ever he desires (within reason) around the house. Sometimes he follows me, sometimes Colt, and frequently our dog, Molly, much to her dismay.

Look at these chubby chubby cheeks....

Oh yeah, and Levi finally learned to sit. After he learned to crawl. He occasionally still falls over and cries because it scares him. Or he'll sit when he's in his crib and doesn't want to fall over in order to lay down and sleep, so will scream. What a goober.

I've struggled to take pictures of Colt recently. He is potty trained, but I still let him run around with his pants off most of the time (at home, of course), just because it's way easier for him to do his business without having to pull on/off pants. He's not that good at it. Plus, he has aiming problems, so if he does wear shorts, they usually end up wet from his wild stream. Anyway, a pant-less Colt makes taking pictures kinda tricky.

Here is a rare picture of Colt smiling. I love it! He usually just doesn't want to smile at the camera and is more interested in trying to touch the lens.

Also, Colt chipped his tooth. Ty and I are huddle leaders at our church for the next FOUR YEARS, starting with this year's freshmen class. At our huddle luau, Colt fell down the cement stairs, busted his lip and chipped the tooth. Don't worry, he took it like a man.

Colt has been much better recently at playing with Levi. He will pick him up if Levi falls over and sometimes will share toys with him. He loves to run into Levi's room when he wakes up from a nap, climb in Levi's crib, and JUMP! Anyway, here are some pics of them playing together and a video where Colt is trying to get Levi to dance and clap.

We also have spent lots of time spending time with our friends. And what better to do this HOT summer but go swimming.
I guess that kinda summarizes our month of August. Like I said, we have much more going on in our lives right now that I will blog about in the weeks to come. Perhaps I'll try to set some boundaries on my Sorority Life playing so I can actually get other things done around my house. But, with that said, come join my house at http://apps.facebook.com/sororitylife/?action=vote&target=689422719 and see what all the hype is about!

Jonas Brothers concert!!

Recently, my wonderful step-mother organized a fun family trip to San Antonio. My 7th grade step-sister, Abbey, really wanted to see the Jonas Brothers in concert this summer, so my step-mom bought us all tickets to the big event. There were 8 of us in all and we had a blast!

Amy, Alethea, Rachel & Ashley, Andie & Abbey, Jennifer and me

My sister and Andrew's girlfriend, Amy

Prior to the show, I watched the JB's new movie, so I was somewhat prepared and knew a few songs. We had great seats! Before the show everyone was texting messages to the scoreboard above the stage. We texted Happy Birthday to Abbey from Abilene and it made it up there. She loved it!

This is the opening act - Honor Roll. They are in that new movie, Bandslam.

The JBs. I brought my Nikon, but security made me take it back to the car because of my zoom lens. These pictures were just taken with a point and shoot. I was kinda bummed cause I wanted to practice taking some fun pictures, since concert lighting is kinda tricky.

My favorite is Joe.

Abbey's favorite is Nick.

It was a great concert - entertaining and had some great effects (the waterfall thing at the end was amazing)! Plus, it was so much fun to act like a pre-teen girl again... well, at least for an hour or two. The next day, we added some much needed masculinity to the group when my dad, Ty, Colt and Levi joined us at Sea World for a day of shows, rides and water. Tons of fun! Thanks again, Dad and Jennifer, for all the wonderful memories and a special time of family togetherness!

The College Grad

Last weekend, my sister, Alethea, graduated from ACU!! After several LONG years of hard work, she finally accomplished her goal. Alethea wants to coach gymnastics and will pursue a massage therapy license in the near future (I want to be first in line for your internship massages!). We are very proud of Alethea, and had a fun time in Abilene celebrating this great accomplishment.

A cute pic of Uncle Andrew and Colt

My mom and Levi

Colt posing like an underwear model.

And, in preparation for football season... Hook 'Em Horns!

The Rock and Flop

Ty and I were just commenting that Levi's first few months have flown by, whereas, Colt's first few months seemed to drag on! I guess now that we are seasoned parents :) we know that the difficult phases will eventually pass, which makes them a bit easier to endure!

Anyway, Levi is now 5 months old... and he is already working on crawling!

The boy isn't even sitting well yet. I guess he sees his big brother running all around and really just wants to keep up. Here is a video of today's progress.

And, yes, Levi is working on sitting, but doesn't do it for very long.

We love you, Levi!

Adventures in Potty Training

We've been potty training Colt on and off for several months now. I recently bought him some "big boy" underwear, which actually didn't work out so well. I think he thought they were diapers and just peed in them. Now we are back to hanging free :)

Colt is doing great with the training. He is trained with urine, but #2 is another issue. Whenever he needs to poop, he'll ask to go outside. Once in the yard, he'll poop. (I personally think he's been watching our dog do her business a few too many times.) So, I've started following him outside with his little potty. In order to entice him to sit on it long enough to do his business, we've been coming up with all sorts of things. Anyway, one of these days we'll actually catch him in the act and plop him down on the pot. Until then, I'll leave you with this image...

Happy Birthday Colt!

This month we celebrated Colt's birthday. I can't believe my baby has turned 2 years old! I've actually been kind of emotional about it lately. I think it's dawning on me just how quickly they grow up and I'm not really excited about that fact! I've been enjoying every age and stage of Colt's life and don't want it to pass by so quickly. Also, since Levi's arrival, I've been shocked at how much of Colt's life I've already forgotten. So, this post is dedicated to some of my favorite things about my sweet boy during his 2nd year of life.

Colt,

This past year has involved several changes in our lives, and you have adapted to it all amazingly. This time last year we moved from Tampa to Austin. You were walking already, but since have learned to run, climb up and down stairs safely, and jump around. You love to ride your tricycle, push your bubble lawn mower daily in the backyard (for hours), and go down slides. You don't like to swing and are very much an observer in new situations (we usually have to walk you through the playground before you take off on your own and have a blast). You have worked your way through separation anxiety and now enjoy going to the church/gym nurseries to play. I've been praying that you will keep being such a great cuddler, and so far, so good. When you wake up, you always want to sit on Daddy's or my lap to drink your milk. (You drink goat's milk by the way - just b/c our bodies process it better than cow's milk, not for allergy reasons.)You continue your love for music. And while you don't sing along, you love to dance and play the drums. You've had me worried about your language development this year, but have started talk and speak new words left and right in recent months. You were speaking through primarily sign language, but now barely have need of it as you can speak your needs. You follow directions like a champ and are great at cleaning up toys after play time has ended. You love your dad and ask "Where's Daddy?" several times a day. You've also gone through a "Where'd it go?" and "What's that?" phase. In March, Levi was born. You have had some ups and downs with Levi's arrival. You've become a ham, trying to keep all the attention on you :) You don't really pay much attention to Levi (not that anyone can blame you - he's a baby who doesn't do much in the eyes of a 2 year old boy). You initiated an interest in potty training, so we've been working on this off and on all year. Around Christmas, I started putting you in cloth diapers so you could feel the wet sensation quicker. Today I bought your first big boy underwear, so hopefully you'll be fully trained shortly! When we traveled in May, you slept in a twin bed all by yourself and stayed put through the night. We were shocked that you didn't get out of bed and run around to announce your freedom :) Molly continues to be your best friend, but you've also started to develop other friendships. You get excited and run to the car when it is time to go see Cooper on our Thursday play dates. This year you've had a number of episodes of bronchiolitis and have had to be on nebulizer treatments. It's funny because now you sometimes will sit in the chair and hold your own mask to your nose. When we need to give you medicine, you usually ask for more (even of the gross herbal supplements I give you on occasion - yuck!). You don't mind going to the Doctor, which he says is probably because we have chosen not to vaccinate you up until this point, so you have no negative associations with the doctor's office.

You have followed in the tradition of your heritage on all sides of the family by loving the game of baseball. You love to hit the ball and "go go" or run the bases. When hitting the ball, you insist on wearing your ACU baseball cap. You also really like to play basketball. Following the typical boy stereotype, you also are very interested in firetrucks, police cars, construction vehicles, and bicycles.

We started praying together as a family at meals and also when we put you down to sleep. You now love to pray - you fold your hands and close your eyes for a moment, then peek at everyone else. Sometimes you even say "Amen." It's cute to watch you stop playing to say a prayer at random times throughout the day. You also love to read. You will bring EVERY SINGLE BOOK you own to Daddy or myself and want to read them all. Of course, the only time we mind is when you are trying to stall when going to bed. You actually are a really good sleeper and for that we are very grateful! You sleep from 7pm to 8am regularly and take a good afternoon nap. This year has been a time of much change. You've grown from an infant into a toddler. It's been a fun journey and we look forward to this next year as you continue to grow. Your dad and I constantly seek God's wisdom and direction as we parent you, and through it all, He is growing us too. As our love for you grows, and as we reflect on how we continue to love you even in difficult times (like when you disobey) or when we must let you struggle in order to learn a concept, we gain greater insight into God's love for us. It is our purpose as your parents to teach these concepts to you as you grow. We know this is a great responsibility, but are thankful that God has entrusted you to us. We love you more than words can express. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Love, Mom

Bye Bye :)