muscles.

And now our muscle men are off to wash the vehicles. AKA playing in the water. :)

What's going on in their backyard?

That is exactly what any peeping neighbors might have been saying about us tonight.
For the record, the adults in this family were fully clothed.

hide and go seek.

Yesterday I watched Holden attempt to lead a game of hide and go seek with Pax. I have NO idea where Holden might have learned about this game. He's with me just about 24-7, so I really have no clue. But he kind of understands it. Pax, on the otherhand, did not.
No one went to hide. Pax did exactly what his big brother did. He lay on the floor, covered his eyes and followed Holden in counting. And I laughed pretty hard at my boys. I love these moments in my days.

P.S. Round two I helped a little and they began hiding. But then the seeker was a little timid to go and look. And the hider wouldn't stay put for longer than 30 seconds. So the hider would come running out with a roar and the boys would laugh, scream and chase one another. :) Fun days.

sweet conversations.

Yesterday Holden and I had a sweet conversation that went something like this. . .

Holden was laying on his car rug, rolling his cars around. I was sitting on the ottoman watching the boys play and all of the sudden I hear these words from Holden: I yub you, mommy.

I probably went over the top when I said in excitement: Oh my goodness, Holden! I love you too. Come here, I need a hug and a kiss. He ran into my arms grinning and gave me both a hug and kiss. My eyes were getting misty and I said something like: That makes mommy so happy. I think I might cry.

He looked concerned and serious when he said: I will not make you cwie, mommy. I will not make you sad. I pwom-miss!

He's probably going to accidentally break that promise, but it'll be okay. ;) I cover the boys in affection and words of affirmation. I'm not bragging about it. It's just who I am. Ask Jeremy. No one that I deeply love ever has to wonder how I feel about them. And with my 3 boys, they hear it daily. Multiple times. And they get smothered in kisses and cuddles regularly. I can't help myself. And I'm hopeful that those sweet-out-of-the-blue-words from Holden is something that he is learning. To tell others how much you love them. But yesterday, he nearly melted my heart.

"sue-wee" everything.

As this little boy grows up and matures, he becomes a regular little comedian around our house. Sometimes Holden is not sure what to think when Pax is getting the laughter and attention. But I constantly catch the big brother cracking up at Pax's silliness. One of our favorite things lately has been that Pax calls things silly as he cracks up laughing at himself or the silly thing he's referring to. And when he does this we all start laughing. When Pax says silly it sounds more like sue-wee. Sometimes those things rightfully deserve the title of silly. For instance he commonly says: sue-wee bubba, sue-wee daddy, sue-wee big foot (a toy the boys love). But then other things he has said are: sue-wee moon (pointing to the one in the night sky), sue-wee Abbie (our dog that does absolutely nothing silly anymore), sue-wee unkee (his sock monkey, who also does nothing around here).

Pax doesn't let everyone see his cute and funny side. In fact, he rarely lets it out unless he is with the comfort of his family. But when he does, it makes for alot of fun and laughter. There will be a huge update on this little guy next month when he turns 2! He has changed and grown-up so much!

more visitors!

Last week we had some more visitors. It has been one busy summer at our home! My sister, Amanda, and her 3 girls made the long drive from Colorado to Texas to spend part of the week at our house and part of the week at Amy's house (our other sister). I was amazed at how well the kids played together! Hope is 7, Bella is 4 and Ava is 21 months. But it was an easy and enjoyable visit. Even with 5 young kids. The boys had tons of fun with their cousins. And I enjoyed several days with my sis. Here are a few pictures of our fun 3 days.
A little time in the backyard pool.


All 5 on the swing.
And these two are about 6 weeks apart in age.
Bella is 16months older than Holden, which is the same age difference between my 2 boys. And she is so sweet and patient with Holden. With both boys actually. But Holden is the one that wants to be up in the middle of everyone's kool-aid. ;) She tolerates it well, without even batting an eye.
And the littles . . .

bubble goatee.

Is it even possible that my baby boy is almost T-W-O?!

not our typical Tuesday

Jeremy told me last week that he planned to take off from work on July 5th. We quickly decided to make it a family afternoon/evening at the water park. It's not very often that he is able to go with us. So on Tuesday, after a very late night on the 4th, we all slept in . . .sort of. Holden rarely sleeps in, so I'm not sure when he got up. But Jeremy got up with him and let me sleep a bit. This is a rarity. So Pax and I both slept until 9am!!!! And it still wasn't enough. :) We left the house and had a late breakfast at a place Jeremy has been raving about. The boys were cranky, I think from the late night before, and we quickly remembered why we rarely go out to eat with them. Even though Pax slept until 9am, he was asleep in the car by 11:30am. So we put them down for early naps and when they woke, we headed to the water park for the rest of the day. It is so much fun to go as a family. We can take turns with the boys and we get to do alot more rides this way. I brought my camera along so I could document how brave Holden has become this year. And Pax too. He loves the slides now! He is getting so big! Below are some pictures from our time there.
This one is a little blurry. But a stranger was taking it for us, so I can't complain. The cement was HOT so that is why Holden looks awkward without his feet on the ground.
An early picnic dinner before our water fun began.We began with some little slides:
Pax can actually do these by himself as long as someone is there to catch. But I couldn't catch and snap a picture. So J slid with him some. And he enjoys it a whole lot more than he is letting on in this picture. :) He always runs straight back up to the top to go again.
Something new we tried on Tuesday:
Below is the big slide that Holden has started doing. It completely shocked me the first time he wanted to ride it. I thought he would get to his spot and then change his mind. But he loves this one! He's not quite tall enough, but they let him do it anyways. In the 2nd picture, Jeremy is helping him get set up on his mat. And then in the 3rd they are coming down. Makes me proud to even look at the pictures. I love that he is becoming so brave and adventurous.
Both of the boys also love these slides.
Here is Jeremy and Pax at the end of it. Pax always says "again?" and heads for the stairs.
So our not so typical Tuesday was fabulous! A very fun family day indeed!

Independence Day Fun

On Monday, after a lengthy breakfast (since most mealtimes these days tend to be lengthy), we headed to spend the day with some of Jeremy's family for the holiday. They live a little bit out in the country. So Jeremy had told Holden the night before how we would be able to see all the stars on the night of the 4th because we would be in the country. Those were the golden words. Today Jeremy is still covered in chigger bites. And Holden has a goose-egg type lump on his head along with cankles (swollen ankles) from his typical reaction to mosquito bites. They were both covered in bug repellent, but what can I say . . .the bugs just adore those 2 guys. Pax and I returned completely unharmed. Jeremy was up most of last night scratching his legs and I was up much of that time listening to him wiggle and scratch. Drove me nuts! So what does he say about the country now? ;) Despite the bugs, we had a fun day with family and I took many many pictures.The boys played in the dirt with sticks. Seems like the best kind of fun for little boys.
I love this picture. He looks SOOOO serious holding his sparkler. And he never cracked a smile. He stood there looking so serious until the sparkler burnt out. And then he said "more?" He loved it!
Holden had to warm up to the idea, but finally got brave and wanted to join the other kids in the fun.

After a full day, we were off to the fireworks show on the backside of the property. Halfway in, I let everyone know that this was my scariest July 4th ever! I think I said that after a flame came zooming past us and burned a guy in the hand. Now call me crazy because I'm not a country girl and have no interest in lighting my own fireworks. But I think I prefer for the fireworks to be very far away and done by professionals. After that one backfired, I was just a bit nervous and felt like I was putting my little guys in the line of fire. Jeremy didn't seem worried, so I just played it cool.
See the smile? Completely playing it cool. I held both of the boys at different times because Jeremy kept having to run off and stomp out fires in the grass. See what I mean by a little scary?
And at other times Holden sat with granny. He didn't like the noise and held his ears for much of the night.
Here is our semi-professional, 9 year-old, fireworks engineer. :) Otherwise known as our niece, Hannah.
The boys were troopers. We buckled them into their carseats around 10:45pm and they made it into their beds at home around midnight. And that was our first experience of July 4th in the country. It was a fun day.

fun weekend.

We had some great family time this weekend. At times, just the 4 of us and also some time with our extended family. Late Saturday afternoon we headed to my sister's house for dinner and to hang out. It was my sister's family + my parents + my aunt and uncle + us = a fun fun time with family.Sunday was a low key day. The boys wore there cute red-white-and-blue to church. I've had these outfits put away for almost a year, since I bought them after July 4th of last year.
I had to be at church earlier than Jeremy. So he brought the boys with him about an hour later. He got them ready in their never worn outfits by himself, which is no biggie. He dresses the boys now and then on the weekends. And he was even successful in snapping the above picture for me before Pax smeared crackers all over his shirt. That is typically what he looks like when he leave his classroom on Sunday. But I have to show you that Jeremy didn't cinch up the waist of skinny Holden's shorts. So my 3 year old went a-saggin' to Sunday School. :) I laughed when I noticed this later at home.After naps, we took the boys for snow cones. These were our first ones all summer long! It was Pax's first snow cone EVER and it was only Holden's second one. They loved this little treat.
Holden even enjoyed sharing his own after Pax finished his off.

That evening we played outside, lit up some sparklers and let the boys stay up past dark in hopes of seeing a few fireworks from our backyard.
Well, mister Pax didn't really make it past dark. He was DONE by 8:30 and ready for his bed. But right before, he was a brave, little boy and held his first sparkler (with my assistance, of course).
Holden preferred to hold his sparklers pre-lit, like this:
And when Jeremy lit Holden's sparkler, he quickly made a b-line for the house and watched from a safe place. :)
Ha! He did become a little more brave on July 4th. That was another fun and eventful day that will be a post all it's own.