Airshow and Picnic fun!

This weekend was a big one! We had a weekend full of activities. Things we wanted to do, but these things all fell into 2 days. So we crammed the weekend full and made it work. What else could we do? Saturday morning we bundled up the boys, drove 10 minutes north, donuts and juice in tow, found an inviting parking lot and sat in the back of Jeremy's truck to watch an amazing airshow. I've been waiting for this for the past year. It was really a sight and next year, I think we might try to push through naps and actually purchase tickets to be at the location for the entire day. Yikes, pushing through naps is scary business in this house. But both boys napped for only about 20 minutes Saturday and did amazingly well. Not angelic. But well, going on no sleep. Remember, they are 3-4hour nappers! Here are some pictures from the airshow! It's fun that Pax is getting into airplanes and helicopters and spotting them in the sky. He points and gets so excited. The noise from the jets really didn't bother him and this was a surprise.
Holden loved the airshow and was constantly saying "more urpwane" as soon as a plane would disappear. I love his fascination with airplanes, trains, motorcycles, etc. Such a boy!
Pax particularly enojoyed the snacks we brought along. He ate his baggie of grapes. Then he ate Holden's baggie of grapes. Then he ate the entire baggie of cheerios that was meant to be shared with his brother. He loves to eat!
Ahhh I love this one. Holden's giving me a pretty smile. This normally only happens with bribery. But I didn't bring along candy, so I'm not sure how I got this smile from Holden.

After a couple of hours at the airshow, we went onto Jeremy's company picnic. The boys took a 20 minute cat-nap in the car and then we were set for more fun. I didn't take many pictures at the picnic. Poor Pax was worn out, but such a trooper! Holden had a ball, bouncing and sliding. The slide was big and I just knew he would climb to the top and FREAK out. But instead, he flashed me a huge grin and slid down to me. Again and again and again. He loved the slide.
It was a BUSY weekend. Almost to the point that I can't believe it's Sunday night and I'm a little sad that Jeremy is back to work tomorrow. And he even had Friday with us! The 3 day weekend just flew by too fast! But it was some great family time and more fun memories were made.

1st pumpkin carving.

Sunday night, after returning home from our weekend out of town, we wanted to relax. And we decided to do a little pumpkin carving with the boys. I remember doing this 1 other time with Jeremy. And I remembered while I did a silly faced jack-o-lantern, he did this intricate design:

I was impressed. So I left the pumpkin carving up to Jeremy. Besides, I'm not good with knives. Sometimes I injure myself. So me carving a pumpkin is just asking for it. I did make myself useful by roasting the pumpkin seeds, which are still in our kitchen because none of us have really loved them. And I was also the face behind the camera, per usual, documenting more memories for our boys! We gave Holden some options for different images that he wanted Jeremy to carve. He chose a cat (or commonly called titty-tat) on a moon. And so Jeremy got to work on it. And of course, the boys "helped".

Holden wanted no part in touching the inside of the pumpkin to clean it out. So he just watched.

And look at that adorable little pumpkin. Goodness, I find him pretty sweet!

And the end result (picture taken with my phone):

Not too shabby, I think. Jeremy's got some mad carving skills. :) Just one of his many many talents.

What's been cookin' at our house?

Since we have kind of overhauled the way we eat (and the way I was cooking), I am always on the prowl for wholesome recipes with the most basic ingredients. Basic as in whole foods, non-processed. Probably didn't need to explain that, but just in case. So in my search, I stumbled upon some recipes that I found worth mentioning. In no particular order:

The Breakfast Cookie - preparation for this little thing is far from "cooking". And I do make it minus the protein powder. But I love that it's just waiting in my refridgerator after my morning run.

Pumpkin Granola - I whipped this up this morning as Holden played and Pax slept in (as he does most mornings). I didn't have oil, so I just doubled the amount of pumpkin. Next time I'll make sure I have the oil.

Avocado Penne Pesto with Grilled chicken - Not much to say, other than DELICIOUS. I made this with whole wheat pasta. My non-avocado-eating-husband even REALLY liked it. And he doesn't get too excited about food in general. A real winner dinner!

Chicken Cacciatore - Good, healthy balanced dinner. The little guys were not huge fans. You just never know with those kids. One day they love something. The next, not so much.

Honey Banana Salad - This looks like something I'm gonna try one morning this week. Who doesn't love bananas, craisins, nuts and honey??

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili - This is cooking in my crockpot as I type. Smells delicious. I threw in about 1 cup of frozen corn because more veggies never hurt anyone. It should be dinner for the next 2 nights. Or 3! It made ALOT.

And there are a few new little recipes that I have been cooking up at our house. Enjoy.

family time.

On Friday, my family headed to the beautiful Texas Hill Country for my cousin's wedding. All of the family was able to stay together at the wedding location, which was alot of fun. We would put the kiddos to bed at night and then sit right outside the rooms on the big porch. And the weather was so nice. Some of the kiddos (who will remain nameless) didn't like that plan. So Mister Pax (oops, it slipped) got to stay up extra late and enjoy some cuddle time. He also shared a bed with Jeremy and I both nights. Yes, we had brought his pack-n-play, which he politely (or not so politely) refused. Holden on the other hand, slept in a big boy bed both nights and did so well.
Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

All 7 of my parents grandchildren. It's always a treat to have them all together. Starting from the left: Pax, Carson, Holden, Hope, Bella, Ava and Cameron.

My little family all dressed up.

My beautiful sisters and mom.

Mom and dad with meme.

Pax getting his groove on at the reception. And possibly teething again. Notice his soaked shirt and slobbery face. :) Still cute, though.

Holden glued to his nana's lap at the reception.

The boy cousins enjoying some Sunday morning donuts on the porch before heading back home.

It was a delightful weekend with my family. Not to mention a beautiful wedding and a great time of celebration for a new family that was forming.

I Love My Hair

My sister sent me this video this week. I love it! Go Sesame Street! One day the boys are gonna have a sister or 2. And we are going to love her hair and hopefully teach her to love it as well!

Pumpkin Patch: Round 2

We didn't last too long at the Pumpkin Patch today. It was hot! Not the kind of weather I love. Especially in October! Last year the weather was so perfect and fallish. Oh well. What can you do. . . Here are a few pictures of our time with friends this morning.

a dialogue with Holden.

Sometimes it seems like Holden understands so much. And his memory is pretty incredible. At least to me. And I am constanly amazed by the dialogue I'm able to have with my little 2-year old. Well, today he was having a melt-down moment. And I can't really give any good reasons for the melt-down except for the facts that he's 2 and he doesn't always get everything he wants. After the melt-down and talk, he was a little emotional and he stayed curled in my lap. As Pax contently played on the floor, I took a moment to remind Holden what a blessing he is to our family. What an answer to prayer he was for Jeremy and I in May of 2008. I explained how daddy and mommy were praying for a baby, and God sent us baby Holden. With a tiny baby nose. 2 tiny baby eyes. A tiny baby mouth. 2 tiny baby hands and feet. You get the picture. Just going through some details of what our precious baby Holden looked like. And how we thanked God for such a wonderful blessing. Fast forward just a few hours later after our Bible story and prayer. We were cuddled in the chair again. His head was on my chest. I asked him to look at my eyes and he turned his head to see me. Our brief conversation went something like this:

Me: Holden, remember when it was just mommy and daddy and we prayed for a baby. Who did God send us?
Holden: (with big eyes and sweet smile) a punkin cookie.
Me: (after laughing a little) No. God sent us baby Holden.

Oh well. I guess he's not getting everything I say at this point. One day.

Side note: We had leftover pumpkin cookies at our house today. I told Holden that if he ate all his dinner he could have one. He didn't finish his dinner. He did not get a pumpkin cookie. Apparently that is what was on his mind before bedtime tonight.

the tradition lives on . . .

So for many years now, we spend 2 weekends a year with the Myers. Normally fall and spring. I've blogged about it religously: here, here, here and here. See? We're committed. Last fall didn't happen because we moved to our temporary apartment in October and it was just a crazy time. But that's been our only skip in I don't know how many years! We started this tradition pretty quickly after college when we moved away to Oklahoma. Now we are in the same metro area, but not next door neighbors (now that would be fun!). We're still over an hour away from one another. And even though we see them more often now: a playdate here and there, a dinner every now and then, a golf game for the boys ever so often; a full weekend has it's perks. Which often include a little mexican food and margaritas, shopping for the ladies, golf for the boys, great conversations and the infamous marbles game. And about the marbles game, even though the tally marks show the boys are spanking our tails (Amanda, I think we can finally admit it!), I am still completely addicted to that game. And Amanda and I are pretty sure that Josh and Jeremy win most of the time for 2 reasons. Either 1) they are cheating because we aren't paying close attention. Or 2) the latter part of that sentence. We just aren't paying close attention. We are yacking it up through the entire game. So fun!
Anyways, we are continuing our tradition because these weekends are some of my favorites throughout each year. They are special friends. Not to mention that these friends are becoming special people in Holden's life (and soon will be to Pax as well). Holden knows them now and he loves miss Camryn. And so I love that our children will probably grow up being friends, and most likely looking forward to these weekends as much as we do! Some pictures from our weekend at the Myers house:

Our family on a hayride at a little nearby Pumpkin Patch. I know. The boys look ultra-enthused. More from the Pumpkin Patch!
And from the fun little shops in Allen on Saturday evening:

And the only picture I have of the Myers. Well, the Myers minus Amanda. Josh with my crazy boys. And Camryn looking at them like they really are crazy!

Thanks for having us. We loved every minute!

the shuffle.

Holden loves to pull my Ipod Shuffle out of the kitchen junk drawer and listen to some music. (Everyone out there has a designated junk drawer, right? Anyone else occassionally organize the junk drawer? I do.) Here he is listening to an oldie but a goodie from Michael Buble. Yep. Haven't updated my playlist since the spring of 2008. With this new running regimen, I've gotta do that! Now if only you all could see Holden's sweet dance moves and serious head bobbin'.

footprints.

Pax never had footprints done at the hospital. Weird, huh? I thought all hospitals did prints of those tiny newborn baby feet. Apparently not. So almost 14 months later, we got some footprints.
Those are his 6.5XW feet. : ) I wanted to do this plate last fall. But life was a little cuh-ray-zee! Now, I don't claim to be an artist. I like to think that I'm an artist at heart. And I love to be creative and work with my hands. But put a paintbrush in those hands for some freestyle and things get awkward. I even used stensils on the letters and if you look closely the writing is pretty terrible. But from a distance, it's cute. So just look at it from a distance.