3 peas in a pod

Austin, Braeden, and Rylee, just chillin' on the floor watching a movie. Too cute!

Austin's swimming lessons

Our proud swimmer!

Day 1 of survival swimming lessons. This video doesn't give the real picture because I just couldn't video the first 10 minutes of lessons. Austin put up a fight when she was teaching him to float on his back, and kept getting water in his mouth and nose while yelling and crying. I was trying too hard to just smile from the side so that if he looked at me he would know I was fine with what was going on, which I was, but every Mommy wants to help their child when they seem to be struggling. I actually had to call my friend Susan during part of this to have her support (her daughter Addison had just finished the lessons a few weeks before). It was hard to watch, but I knew that he was in the best hands. Glendy has been teaching survival swimming for 40 years! She is a remarkable teacher, and says that her gift is from God, so she continues to do it to glorify Him. When you see Day 4, you realize just how much it is worth it!

Day 2, is much like day 1, but not nearly as much crying.

Day 3, Austin swims across the pool by himself. Amazing!

Day 4, Austin is jumping off the diving board! It is amazing that he has the skills to survive now in the water. I still have a lot more to do with him for the rest of the summer, but he has a fantastic start. I don't have video of Day 5 because it was spent with me in the water and Glendy teaching me how to work with him so that he can continue to gain confidence in the water. Survival swimming is just that, surviving in the water if you were to fall in. The goal is to learn to swim on their backs, get to the side, turn and grab on, and get out. Austin can do all of these things, but as with any other skill, he needs lots more practice before he can go swimming with others, so my job is to keep taking him at least 3 or 4 times a week to work on it.

This picture is from day 5, when I got to swim with him. I'd say he looks pretty happy, don't you think?

Mommy's birthday

For my birthday all three of my boys took me to an Astros game. It was great! I couldn't get Daddy to pose on the baseball, but the boys were willing to cooperate. The only bad thing we did was put Austin in his favorite t-shirt (pirate) when the Astros were playing the Pirates! Oops!

The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July started out great. We took Daddy's new toy out on the deer lease and drove it around looking for all sorts of animals. It was a blast while it lasted.

A few hours later this is where we ended our day. Notice there is a tail light missing (totally melted off). You can see the other light still there, just so you see the absolute melting that happened here. Polaris now has an official recall on this vehicle to repair/prevent this from happening again. Our melted tail light caused a fire that spread for 47 acres, coming within 200 yds. of homes. We put the fire out on the vehicle, and stomped out all of the grass fire under it, but then we looked back at where we had driven before to see the grass and land all on fire. We had to get our children out of there for their safety. We were praising God for keeping us safe and all of the firefighters as well. The reality of the situation and what could have happened sunk in as we were putting the boys to bed. Before that, we were just concerned with the land fire and people living near by. Praise God for watching over all of us.

The fire trucks showed up after we called them, and the boys loved seeing that. Needless to say, we didn't make it to any fireworks this year. We had enough excitement for the day.

All God's Living Things, part 2

The sunflowers have now all bloomed. I don't have a picture of the biggest one blooming, but you can see it here last week. It grew as tall as the window, and has a flower as big as Austin's head. This was fun to see them grow, but I have taken them all out as the bloom fades, because I don't want them to spread like crazy. Our pumpkin plant has 3 blooms on it, so we might have 3 pumpkins. We'll take pictures of them as they grow.

After we got home on the fourth of July, we had a butterfly that came out of it's chrysalis. Isn't it just beautiful. The other two haven't come out, and I am afraid they just might not. A few days ago the boys spotted more of these caterpillars on my lime tree, so we have started the process all over again with 3 more caterpillars. I don't know if I can do it again. It's a lot of work cleaning the cage (they really poop a lot!) and getting leaves every day for them. If more caterpillars show up after this, we'll see what happens.

Galveston Summer 2009

So we took a trip to Galveston and stayed in a beach house with some of Mommy's high school friends and their kids. It was a blast, and we are thinking of making it an annual trip. As you can see Austin has no fear of the water, so he wore his life jacket pretty much the entire time, and this was the absolute deepest he got while we were there. A shovel was in his hand the whole time we were at the beach so he could dig for hermit crabs, which he found! Mommy actually got really good at finding them too, and we had about 6 at one time, but we let them go.

Young love....Braeden and Mariana.

Young love part 2....Rylee and Austin.

What's gonna work? TEAMWORK! You can see the beautiful white house behind us that we stayed in. It was built in 2005, and didn't get destroyed during Hurricane Ike. The house on the left was the only other house near us, so we had a private beach. It was fantastic! We'll probably go back to the same house next year. It was very kid friendly, plastic plug covers on every outlet, plus lots of toys! Well worth the money.

I love this picture. Braeden is getting so big and turning into a little boy.

I'm watching you....

I'm watching "vewwy cwoswey"....which is "very closely" for those who don't speak toddlerese.

Happy Father's Day

Daddy, you are the best. Thank you for being such an amazing man! We love you to the moon and back! Happy Father's Day!

xoxoxox,

Austin and Braeden

All God's living things....

Ok, so you already saw this. But here is the latest picture of our ant farm. They have made tons of tunnels, and seem pretty happy with the ones they have made. Just some of my observations. Did you know that once they build their house, they pretty much just sleep? Also, if you want to see them move, then just gently blow in the air holes on the lid, and that makes them really mad! They all come running to the top ready to destroy whatever it is that is threatening their home. They are interesting, and soothing to watch....if you can get past the whole creepy crawly thing, which I am working on.

Our newest project is to grow some veggies. We already have 3 pepper (jalepeno and habenero) plants, a lime tree, rosemary, and basil that we use. Now these are our newest additions. From left to right, cucumber and two tomato plants. There are 3 tomatoes on each of our plants. I am going to have to get some netting to keep the critters off of them, but I can't wait for them to grow so we can have our own veggies. Next year's plan is to make an above ground garden in the back yard so that I can do lots more of this! I love gardening, and the boys are really enjoying helping me water the plants now. Our sunflowers are about to bloom, so we'll add those pictures soon.

The large three-pointed leaf plant on the left of the tree is actually a pumpkin vine. We planted some seeds from our pumpkin last October, and it has really taken off. We can't wait to see if we get a pumpkin!
Lastly, but so not leastly. I was taking care of my lime tree when I noticed these guys eating my leaves like crazy. I will kill a bug in a heartbeat if it is hurting my plants, but I couldn't kill these 4 little caterpillars. I say little, but really they are nearly 3 inches long. They are "orange dog" caterpillars, given that name because they can kill a whole crop of citrus in a hurry. But, I couldn't kill them because they turn into Giant swallowtail butterflies. So we brought them inside, put them in a butterfly net, and have been feeding them leaves from my tree every day. Last night they got in positions to start making crystallis, and hopefully we will have butterflies in about a week. I'll keep you posted. One of the caterpillars put himself in a bad position, and I don't think he'll make it (this happened when I had them in my classroom before), but the other three look pretty good.

So, my side note on why I can't kill them. Ever since I was a little girl, my mom taught me about how caterpillars are like us before we are Christians. Once we believe that Jesus died for us on the cross, we change like the caterpillar into beautiful butterflies, removing all our sins. This is why I have a butterfly tattoo for those of you who always wondered. Butterflies are our special bond. We have always shared our amazing butterfly sitings (taking pictures on trips, in the garden, or wherever we see them), but over the last 4 1/2 years we have told each other about the butterflies we see each day. We tell each other that is God showing us that He is there with us in this battle against her cancer. Maybe you'll look for the butterflies each day and see God with you too!

Noah's Ark Pool

Last Friday, we got to go to Noah's Ark pool with Aunt Lisa and Grandma. It was a blast! Aunt Lisa went down the slide with Austin until he was comfortable enough to go by himself. What a great Aunt!

Grandma was showing Braeden the holes that shoot water back into the pool. He loved plugging them with his fingers.

Austin got up the guts and had a blast going down the slide all by himself!
Here is what the ark looks like. The rope ladder they climbed up is on the right side below the alligator, and the slide they came down was on the left side. You can see a little boy about to go down. It was quite a climb up there, and so much fun. We'll go back again!

Ahhhh, how cute.

Playhouse

Not sure who is more excited....the boys or me! Thanks Daddy for our new play set! Fun in the back yard!!! Yippee!!!

Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...

....And the deer and the antelope play. Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word. And the skies are not cloudy all day!

We went to the YO Ranch with Aunt Kelly, Owen, and Avery for 5 days, and we had a blast. Every morning, we got up, went out the back door, and the deer and antelope were everywhere. The boys got to ride in the back of the truck (with Mommy of course) and go driving on the ranch to feed the deer corn. Then every afternoon was spent swimming in the pool, only to return to feed the deer and antelope again.

The deer were always close by.

I think that if we just put a huge pile of rocks out in our back yard, the boys would have fun for hours. They loved playing on these rocks.

This is just a handful of the amount of deer we saw every day.

Here's where we sat and watched the deer eat from the back porch.

Braeden was fascinated with them.

Austin and Owen in their matching YO t-shirts the last day we were there.

Thanks Kelly for taking us to your parent's house. We LOVED every minute, and would do it again in a heartbeat!! Even if we did see a bull snake longer than Austin is tall, and even if Mommy has to kill another baby snake on the porch.

Beans, beans, good for the heart

So the other day we were making hamburgers, and along with the potato salad, we decided to cook up some baked beans. Austin has seen them before, and has tasted them before, but for some reason this day he decided to ask more about them. (Probably because he seems to be asking questions about everything lately, and more than that, what is everything made from). So the conversation went like this:

A: Momma, what are those?

M: Baked beans.

A: Oh, I love those. I never had them before. (Don't you love how positive he is!?)

M: Yes, you have had them before.

A: Oh, what are they made from.

M: Beans, and you'll like these because they have bacon in them.

A: Oh, I don't like that kind. But I like beans.

M: You like green beans.

A: No, but I LOVE jelly beans!

Made you laugh didn't he? I almost lost it when he said jelly beans. I will never cook any kind of bean around here again without thinking about that sweet conversation. What a joy he is!!

Ant Farm

Going along with things that are boyish, I agreed that this would be a great thing to get the boys when Andy asked what I thought. Here is our ant farm. It lights up, and the cool blue gel is the home and food for the ants. This is the first day we put the ants in. They are carpenter ants, and I put them in the refrigerator to literally chill them out so we could get them from the tube into this ant farm. All in all, there about 20 of them, but it is hard to count them since they constantly move, and they all look identical.

After one night, this is what the ants had done. Lots of tunnels. Boy are they busy.

After two nights, here is what they have done. They connected all the tunnels, and have a few more started. I find myself staring at them too. I did put a little duct tape on the sides of the top since I keep finding the boys on stools trying to touch the ant farm. I have this fear about them getting out and being everywhere in the house. These things are mean. Austin hit the side of the farm, and they all scrambled to the top ready to fight. I won't be messing with them.

Show me your muscles

Here's what you get when you ask Braeden to show you his muscles. Too cute!

Monkey see...monkey do

Just a little example of how whatever Austin does, Braeden has to do also. They crack me up!

Fishing the Jetties

On Memorial Day, we took the boys fishing on Daddy's boat. They had a blast. We saw dolphins, stingrays, jellyfish, and other fish in the water. When you go out to the jetties, the water is clear and beautiful so you can see all that stuff.

I think Austin likes fishing, what do you think?

I see a patience here that we rarely see now. Braeden fished for a long time before accidentally dropping his Batman pole into the water.

Since we weren't catching any fish, we let the boys get into the water tank on the boat where we would put the fish if we caught them. They had a great time and got to cool off in the water.

Braeden had no problem holding a live shrimp. It wiggled in his hand and he just laughed. When he dropped it on the boat though, he squealed and screamed like it was going to get him!

Sunflowers

Ok, so the idea was to take pictures of our sunflowers that we planted Easter weekend each week to track their growth. I don't know what I was thinking, because that is too much pressure on me! Anyway, here are the first of our pictures. This was taken May 4th. The plants in front of them are the sunflowers we planted.

Just a few weeks later, and look how they have grown! This picture was taken on May 27th.

Last Day of School

On our way out the door for our last day of school. They are getting so big!

The last day of school was great. It was also "Water Day" where the kids play with shaving cream, and tons of other water activities. They get soaked and they love it!

This is Ms. Laura with Austin. If we are lucky Braeden will have her next year.

This is Ms. Kim. She is special because she is also one of Aunt Jennifer's friends. Both boys will see her next year because she is going to teach Music and Movement class at school.

I couldn't snag a picture of Braeden with his teachers because he was being a bit temperamental. He must have sensed that there was something different about this day. The sweet lady covered in shaving cream leaning on the fence is Ms. Joan. We LOVE her, and we will miss seeing her next year. I had a child in her room the last two years. Ms. Anne wasn't there the last day because her son was getting married, so she was out of town. We LOVE her too! Those ladies take a room of 8 babies that are 15 months old and grow them into amazing toddlers who love to be with them. I don't know how they do it! Notice the shaving cream on Braeden's little bottom. So cute!

I got to help out in Austin's room the last day because Ms. Kim's son was graduating from Pre-school, so I stayed with the kids so she could go. I knew they had a lot of boys, and that it must be pretty crazy for them, but wow, I really had no idea. They are amazing teachers to be able to do this twice a week!

Austin and his gang! From the left, Logan (check out the muscles), Austin, Jackson (in the back), Jacob, Chloe , Addison, and Isabelle (riding the puppy). Austin goes back and forth on which of the girls are his favorite, but I did see him kiss Addison on the last day of school.

Birthday fun

The big day started off with our traditional age-shaped pancakes. Here's Braeden's 2 pancake.

We had cupcakes before the party. Braeden loves chocolate, and I couldn't resist this picture. He has a chocolate goatee!

All the family was there and we bounced...

we bubbled...(These boys with us are Ty and Gavin. They are the perfect friends for us. Ty is Braeden's age and Gavin is Austin's age and they are brothers just like us!).

Braeden LOVES trains (which he calls Choo choos) so a Thomas the Train cake was the perfect cake for him.

He blew out his candle perfectly (while adorned in his engineer outfit). Sorry about the camera difficulties.

Blue Bell ice cream is the best.

Lastly Braeden enjoyed opening all his gifts. It was a wonderful day!