Mother's Day

My little sweethearts made me the nicest things at school for Mother's Day. Braeden made this flower card with his hand prints.

The best part of the card is what he said inside! Too cute! They do love taco night at our house.

Austin made a sweet book that included things that he thought were my favorite things (restaurant, color, etc. - all of which were his favorite things), but my favorite part was that he loves me because I hug and kiss him. Sooooo sweet.


Austin also made these little critters out of his fingerprints. You know the butterfly is my favorite!

And at Sunday school, Austin made this hand print card. I can't bear to throw out anything that has their hand prints, fingerprints, footprints, or words that they say.

The Zoo

The boys and I made a trip to the zoo before it got unbearably hot, and despite the thousands of kids there for a field trip, we had a blast! Lots of animals were out since the weather was just right, and the boys let me take lots of pictures of them.

I'm pretty sure somewhere there is a picture of me with this same elephant.
Ok, so the only animal I want to share a picture of is this grizzly. I think he drank a little too much honey last night before passing out. What do you think?

Swim lessons

We did swim lessons with Ms. Glendy again this year. It was Braeden's first time, and he cried just like Austin did last year which can be hard to watch (especially pregnant and hormonal), but knowing that if he fell into the water, he could flip over and float until someone could get to him is a skill that is worth any amount of tears. He is just getting so big, and is starting to lose that toddler belly and getting longer/taller instead.

It's pretty obvious that Glendy loves these kids, and she truly has a gift from God to be able to teach such young ones how to survive in the water.

Austin is getting so big too! He quickly remembered all the skills that Braeden learned from last year even though this was his first time in the pool this year. So he was able to move on to practicing swimming on his belly with his face under water.

He is still gaining confidence as you can see in the videos. He starts with his face in the water, and then uses the skills he knows about how to get air on his back between swims.

Braeden cried, but that is normal. It's scary to learn a new skill. Glendy is right there with him, but she doesn't help him get up on the step all by himself. This is after only 3 days of practice!


Most importantly, she practiced dropping him in head first to make sure he could pop back up. This simulates a real situation if he were to fall in the water. He must have told her a hundred times each day, "I don't wanna go under" but he never really put up a fight. I just have such peace of mind knowing that he can come back up. Especially now that we own a new house on the bay in Galveston where it is on the water.

Our little cowboy

Austin's buddy Noah had a birthday party at Cowboy City, and this was right up Austin's alley. Here he is waiting to ride horses. I'd say he is excited, wouldn't you?

The smile never went off his face, and he wasn't nervous at all. He even got to hold the reigns and ride by himself for a lap. It brought back lots of memories from all the horse riding I used to do as a kid. Maybe he'll compete too?

Pure joy!

Parent tea and Singin' in church

We were invited to a parent tea at Austin's preschool, and the kids sang a song for us before we all sat and enjoyed a snack and lemonade. It was really sweet. Here's Austin with his buddy Jake.

And of course with his girls....Chloe and Addison. Aren't they precious!
Most important his wonderful teachers Ms. Mary Lee and Ms. Deb. These ladies are amazing and have got a gift for teaching preschool (especially with a class of mainly boys!).

In April, Austin's preschool class sang the call to worship at church. It was precious. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good picture because of the lighting, but I have the video. It's a little long, but he was so proud to be up there with his class. Nothing shy about this kid. Too cute!

What happened!?

I know I have been behind on blogging, but seriously, this is ridiculous! I hope that I am able to keep up with the blog better once baby #3 is here. I have been so tired lately. As soon as I hit my third trimester, it was like I couldn't get enough rest. Sadly, I just can't blog when the boys aren't sleeping, and whenever they have been sleeping, so have I. I've been getting all the baby gear out, we have been looking at houses in Galveston (hopefully the contract we put on one goes through in the next week), and just keeping up with these boys is taking all my energy lately. Finally, I am able to upload months of pics that I have wanted to share!

I am officially 30 weeks, and my scheduled c-section is on June 15 (just 9 weeks from now). I am measuring 1 month larger on my belly than my actual date, so the doctor seems to feel that I have another big boy who will probably come early like the others did. Austin was 2 weeks early, Braeden was 3 weeks early. So let's just say if this guy comes 3 weeks early, then I only have 7 more weeks! That thought kicked me into overdrive nesting mode. The baby clothes, toys, sheets, and gadgets have all been pulled out of the closet and washed. Everything is put in drawers and ready for our littlest guy to come. I just have to organize the room, hang some pictures, put the bedding on the crib, and hang the curtains. Not too bad. If only I could quit doing things like cleaning all the ac vents, puddying the repairs in the doors/floorboards the dogs have scratched, paint touch ups, and other random things that don't have to be done. Hormones and nesting really do weird things to a woman.

Something cute that happened the other day was when I was reading a book with Austin. He was leaning on my belly, and the baby kicked so hard (making my belly look like an alien was in there), that Austin sat up and turned around to look at my belly. Then he said, "What WAS that?!" When I told him it was his baby brother, he grabbed my belly kissed it, and started trying to talk to him. He is adorable! I love that kid! Of course when he does that stuff Braeden joins in and does it too. Last night they were both singing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" to the baby. It cracks me up though because even though I tell them he can hear them they still put their mouths right on my belly and belt out the song as loud as they can. Too funny!!

Bug Hunting

How do you get boys excited about taking pictures in the bluebonnets? Tell them we are going bug hunting!

Aren't they cute holding hands!?

No shortage of bugs here. Let's find some to put in our Easter eggs.


Aren't the flowers just gorgeous this year? I thought my camera took a pretty good shot here.

This is so cute. These boys are really best buddies, and they love to be together. As my weeks of this pregnancy come to an end (only 9 more left!), I am so comforted to see how much they enjoy each other. I am starting to feel anxious about how this new life is going to effect our family, but when I see moments like this, I feel much better. I think it is going to be hardest on Braeden. He is sooooo attached to me right now, and is having lots of separation anxiety. He knows something's coming, and I think he is really having to struggle with his feelings. It helps so much to have such a fantastic big brother to reassure him. I love these boys!!

Easter Time

On Easter Sunday, we helped decorate the flower cross at church. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture with the boys in their Easter clothes that day since I was teaching Sunday school, and by the time we could take one it was so crowded. Luckily the cross was still there the next few days when we went to school. Unfortunately a certain someone who will not be named, refused to let me take his picture with his brother, so these are the best I could do.

The tradition continues. As long as I have been alive, we have been going to the Guthrey family reunion the Saturday before Easter. I love watching the boys do all the things I grew up doing. There is always a pinata...

An egg hunt.....

A tire swing...

And of course we can't forget the yummy crawfish!

The boys helped dye eggs this year. Now if I could just get them to help me eat all those boiled eggs!

My favorite part of Easter this year was hearing the boys tell me what Easter is all about. Both of them were able to explain that we celebrate Jesus coming back to life after he died on the cross. It makes me so happy to know that because Jesus loves us so much, we can have eternal life through Him.

Rodeo Time!

Howdy Partners! It's rodeo time in Houston, and we are going to wrangle up some animals for sure! Don't we just look tough??

Yeeeeeeee - Haaaaaw!


But seriously folks, the rodeo is one of our FAVORITE things to do each Spring.

This year, we did different things than we have before. This was the first year the boys were big enough to do the rides at the carnival.

We watched pig racing. This was fun! The pigs race around the track back to their cages where they get an oreo cookie. I could race for that.

We even watched a pig dive into the water. How's that for an action shot?

These wide eyes hardly blinked the hole time. We just might really have ourselves a cowboy/rancher here. He loves everything about cowboys!

Yeah for Spring!!

On St. Patrick's day, we did lots of things green.

I know this isn't the best picture of the boys, but I had to include it on the blog because you can see Braeden's broken finger here. He broke his finger at church in between the top and bottom half of a split door while waiting for me to pick him up. It was our first trip to the emergency room, and Austin was such a good big brother taking care of Braeden. He was so helpful. Let's hope we don't have to make many trips to the emergency room.

Say Leprechaun!


Green pancakes and green milk.

I don't know who is more excited about the perfect weather to play outside in, them or me. Look at that blue sky would you? So many playgrounds....so little time!

Fur Babies

We sometimes neglect to include anything about or original babies, Maggie and Jack. They are still very much a part of our lives, and we love them so much! Maggie just turned 10 this year and Jack is almost 7. Both dogs love the boys and tolerate so much from them. We are truly blessed to have these precious pooches!

Sticks and Mud....What could be better?

We love going to Daddy's dear lease. We get to go mudding in the Ranger, play with sticks, look for animal footprints, and play in the mud. There just isn't anything better than that is there?!

I don't know why I think this picture is so cute, but I love to watch my boys follow each other.

They were finding all the sticks they could find to throw in the puddles.

Notice the mud on the Ranger, even on the inside. Mud = Super Fun!!

Shhh, we might see some hogs!