photos

i do realize it is utterly ridiculous to post pictures of any sort after our friend jenny has just posted some the same day, but i have to do it. it's been a while, and today is the first day i've had enough time to edit any and in the same day enough time to post them.

these are a mix of being out at the lake with my parents and a few from the block party a couple of nights ago.

did you notice a trend here? it's much easier to take pictures of a child that can't get away...hence the plethora of casen pics.

the one with the bear in the mouth is my favorite.

update

okay, so the flowers did not get done. they probably won't for a while. it is what it is.

the cleaning part has gone well so far. i've gotten the boys' rooms done and my closet. all that's left is the garage.

this morning, casen got up at 6:45. i fed him and then hoped he would go back to sleep. i had all but given up and went in to pat his back and pick him up. i patted his back for a while and what do you know, he went back to sleep. he slept until almost 9, as did jacob. so, can you guess what i did? i slept til almost 9, of course! i should have been at the gym at 9 for body pump, but after holding the dead weight of casen sleeping yesterday at church for a half hour, i don't think i could have done it anyway. my arm was seriously killing me. my wrist and elbow are sore today. how sad is that?!

i really have nothing else important planned. i have been researching my haircut. i'm pretty psyched about it. but still, just in case i chicken out, i don't want to reveal it. i'll definitely post pictures. i'm sure most of you have an idea of where i'm going.

oh, i did go buy some stuff for school yesterday. can you believe i only have two more weeks at home with my boys?! it's heartbreaking! this summer has seriously flown. we probably all say that, but this one really has. it's amazing.

alright, my boys have been playing with each other for a while now, so i should probably go check on them. and by playing, i mean casen is laying on the floor while jacob is running circles around him. so cute.

wow!

what a week we have had.

• starting last thursday, that would be july 17, my parents were in town. they were here until monday. they brought their camper and stayed out at the lake. that meant that i was there with my boys pretty much all day everyday from thursday until monday.
• saturday was jacob's birthday party. that was exhausting! this was the first "friend" party we had. man, it went well! jacob had so much fun.
• monday was jacob's 3-year check up. he is barely 3 feet tall and only weighs 28 pounds. while we were there, we asked the doc to check casen's ears. he's been pulling on the left one. sure enough, he has an ear infection. poor guy. he, on the other hand, is not even 6 months and weighs almost 20 pounds!
• also on monday, my parents left and took jacob with them. that was a sad, sad day.
• tuesday thru thursday, i had workshops. gt workshops. can you imagine how exciting they were? and can you sense my sarcasm? they were supposed to go through friday, but due to an unfortunate death in our instructor's family, he cancelled friday. i have to go back next wednesday. sarah kept casen on tuesday, and wendy kept him on wednesday and thursday. you girls are the best!
• friday i drove to abilene to get jacob. i couldn't stand it any longer! my mom and my sister and her son met us at the zoo. we made our round and then went to eat at abuelo's. nice! we made a visit to kohl's and target. after that, it was time to go home. the boys were both on edge. jacob was definitely ready for a nap and casen was tired of being in his carseat!
• that brings us to today. we've been up since 7. casen has just gone down for his nap. jerry is mowing the lawn. jacob is watching cartoons. i'm doing this. (i should be taking a shower!) our plan for the day is to go look for some new flowers to replace the hideous red ones that adorn our front sidewalk. then from 5-9 tonight, our street is having a block party. yes, a block party. we got a flyer the other day on our door. they're having bouncy things, dunking booths, food, music, etc. should be fun.
• my plan for the next week includes cleaning out casen and jacob's closets. casen already has tons of clothes that need to be gotten rid of. i'll be preparing those to take to sarah and the rest of the stuff for the garage sale.
• speaking of garage sale...sarah, i'm serious. just tell me when you plan on readying all the stuff for the sale. i'll be there. you are NOT doing this alone!
• oh, and one last thing, at some point friday morning, i will be getting a hair cut and color. i'm planning on it being a drastic thing. it is quite possible i could chicken out, but to tease you, picture a certain food network star's new haircut.

alright, i believe that's about it. man, can you imagine me trying to have that conversation with someone? you people would think i was on crack or something! =)

mesquite beans

we spent the past few days out at the lake with my parents. jacob has absolutely loved it.

last night, he went with my dad, his papa, to walk around and see things.

he came back with these.

for those of you who don't know, they are called mesquite beans.

my dad had been telling him that all day.

so last night we asked jacob what they were called.

his reply..."ummm...mosquito bites!"

my baby

today, my baby is three years old.

i can't even believe it.

seriously...it feels like yesterday, i was looking at that little stick with two pink lines.

now, my little boy is growing up and having birthday parties with his friends!

thanks, by the way, for coming! you made his day so special.

anyway, three years has flown by like nothing. the next thing i know he'll be graduating high school.

i can't take this! make it stop!

it makes me sad everytime i think about him getting older.

jacob,
my vow to you is to cherish every moment we have together. i can't believe how big you're getting. i love you with all my heart. i love that sweet smile and even sweeter voice. i love hearing the words, "i love you, momma." i love the way you speak in complete sentences and have been for at least a year now. i love how you like all your toys to be in just the right spot. i love how you still like to sleep with momma and daddy. and i love how you love your little brother. someday, you might look back at this and think what a cheesy mom i was. someday, i will look back at this and remember how much you loved this cheesy mom.

i love you, baby.

happy birthday!

love, momma

just a reminder

jacob's birthday party is tomorrow (saturday) from 2 to 4 at our house.

we hope to see you all here!

if for nothing else then to act like a kid again...remember, we will be having a big bouncy thing!!

jacob's new toy

this is jacob's big birthday present. jerry and his dad put it together early to make sure all the parts were there and the wood was good.

okay, the real reason was we just couldn't wait. you'd know that if you read the post about the hulk football!

anyway. he loves it! casen's pretty keen on it, too.

oh, and these are just two cute boys i photographed!

struggling

i've been working on this post for a few days now. i even have a different draft saved that i would have to edit so much it's not even worth it.

to say the least...i'm struggling.

with what, you ask? i know the majority of you are thinking, what could possibly be affecting this calm, cool, collected person, right?

that's just it. i'm this calm, cool, collected person.

that is a problem.

i've got personality issues.

i'm surrounded by bold, bubbly, loving, genuine, straightforward friends and where do i fit in?

i'm the QUIET one.

i really never saw it as a problem...until now.

apparently after four years of marriage, my husband still can't read me. i have such a monotone composure that my emotions are not clear. there's very little difference between happy and sad.

i hate that!

it is also an apparent issue with my job. i'm told i don't smile enough. i don't laugh enough. i don't let the kids see the real me.

what is the real me, for goodness sakes??

i know who i want it to be.

at 26 years old, i've had the same personality my whole life. i'm supposed to change it now?!?!

sure. that'll be easy.

considering it has taken everything in me to push "publish post" for all to see how messed up i am!

what i should be doing right now

what i should be doing right now is getting ready for sarah's shower tomorrow!

this includes:

• sweeping and mopping the tile
• vacuuming
• dusting
• cleaning out my fridge
• clearing out all the toys from the living room
• getting things into their correct place
• going to wal mart for last minute stuff i need
• getting ready to go to the gym in about 45 minutes
• rearranging my furniture a bit to optimize the shower space

at some point today, all these things have to get done. normally on friday's, jerry only works a half day. today will probably be a full one. and after he finally gets home, he also has a job to do...mow the yard!

so i'm now going on one entire hour of free time and what have i used it for??

eating a pop tart and checking blogs.

priorities.

a funny one

jacob is branching out a little from spiderman these days. he's now also into batman, iron man, and the hulk.

a few weeks ago, we saw a hulk football at wal mart. we didn't get it because...i don't remember why. we just didn't. when we finally decided to buy it, it was no longer there.

i ordered one online to give to him for his birthday.

well, jerry and i are the exact same. if we buy something early, it will never make it.

the football came in yesterday.

naturally, we decided to go ahead and give it to him.

jerry went to our closet and put it under his shirt. he came out and i told jacob to see what was in daddy's belly.

jacob lifted up his shirt to find the football. he was so excited. he just kept telling jerry, "that's cool, daddy."

so later, we're all sitting around watching tv, and jacob goes up to jerry and lifts his shirt.

jerry asked, "jacob, what are you doing?"

jacob replied, "looking for the hulk mask!"

you're invited!

jacob's birthday is coming up.

for most, you will be receiving a paper invitation. if you don't, it's not because you're not invited. =) it's because i don't have your address.

i see this as the easiest way to get it out to everyone. as i was typing, i was going to put the invitation on here so you could see it. then i realized it has my address on it. not the best idea.

anyway, for all you...

the party is saturday, july 19 from 2 - 4 p.m. i do realize many of you will be at ryan's wedding. perfectly okay. jacob's birthday just happened to fall on a saturday this year, so i couldn't pass up having his party on that day.

the majority of you know where i live. if you don't, just leave me a comment and i'll get you my address.

we'll be having cake, ice cream, large bouncy thing, new swing set, and all kinds of fun.

those of you who know my little boy, can you guess what the theme will be?? it has something to do with a man who can crawl like a spider. =)

we hope to have you all here!

funny for the day

okay. so we're potty training.

after jacob got up and had his cup of milk this morning, i told him to go to the bathroom.

he's standing at the toilet and i tell him he needs to pee pee in the potty.

a few drops come out.

he looks at me and says, "momma, i don't have anymore pee pee. i ran out."

what could i do but laugh?

decorations...

finally!

seeing e's newly decorated room inspired me to do something to casen's...after five months! i've been busy, okay!

anyway, here's the tour.

this is the view from the door.












here's the "sitting area". i still need a lamp.

















this is a close-up of the dresser decor. that white shelf was a mirror from hobby lobby. the mirror was broken so it was on clearance. i took some paper and vellum and made my own creation.

















this is a close-up of what's hanging over his crib.












this is my mobile project. i saw something incredibly similar online...for a "low" price of $148! ha! try $10. even if it's not perfect, casen loves it!

















simple little "prince sleeps here" plaque by the closet.

















and of course, the perfect accessory!












by the way, my baby got his first tooth! he can now roll over. we're working on sitting up with that massive head. he'll hold his own bottle for a short time. he's so fun. definitely a happy baby...unless he's tired. in that case, you can hear him from outside the nursery at church to the opposite end of the sanctuary!

a little side note with jacob...we've begun potty training. he's doing well so far. we went to a movie this morning, and he went three times during! hopefully we can be out of diapers soon. how wonderful would that be?!?!

today's creation, new patio set, and my boys

it is taking everything in me to not go into the fridge right now and have some of this homemade banana pudding. i'm trying to wait til tonight when my wonderful husband cooks pork chops on the grill, and we can have this wonderful stuff outside on our new patio.













speaking of, here's our new patio set. i was walking out of wal mart the other day and noticed the INCREDIBLE price tag. i immediately scooped it up and brought it home.













i took a whole lot more pictures than this today, but i don't have time to post them all. so here's a few.

how cute is this?!?!














doing the props thing.


















my favorite. is he not the sweetest thing ever?!?!

a very rare occurrence...

pictures of me and my baby boy...taken by me, of course.

the trip

and we're back...

we had so much fun! it was so nice to get to spend some quality time with my husband!

don't get me wrong...i missed my boys like crazy! i called them twice a day.

here are a few pictures from the trip.

this was the day we arrived. jerry's friend got us a limo service from the airport. so nice! champagne and roses! the driver kindly took us to this sign so we could get a picture.

this was our hotel. it was really nice. the crazy lights and billboards you see were part of the "miracle mile shops". the thing was practically surrounded by a mall!

and this crazy thing was on one of the walls of our room! never mind where the flash happened to hit...these are unedited pics!

nightlife in las vegas.

we were right next door to the paris hotel. this is the beautiful eiffel tower at night. amazing!

jerry and i in caesar's palace.

our first night, we went to eat at bobby flay's mesa grill. incredible! i'm so bummed that i was too stuffed to get dessert there!

pirate ship at treasure island.
gold lion at mgm grand. this was right before our cirque du soleil show.

jerry in front of some very large egyptian guy. i tried to get him to crawl up in his lap. he was too chicken!

here's me holding jacob's spider puppy we built at build-a-bear.

again, the trip was wonderful. exhausting, but wonderful. i'm definitely glad to be home. now it's back to work for jerry and momma time with my boys!

we're back!

but i'm too tired to post any more than this.

more later...

off to vegas!

and we're off!

well, not quite.

i've got a workshop today until 4. ang is keeping the boys. you're the best!

but after that, we're headed to my parents.

the boys will be staying there while we're gone.

we leave out early tomorrow morning.

i'm so excited, yet so bummed.

jacob woke up super early this morning, and i've just been relishing my time with him.

i don't know what i will do for four mornings of not waking up to that sweet, "hey, momma."

okay, that's about all i can muster at this point, otherwise i'll be drenched in tears.

see you guys next week!

four months

my baby boy is officially four months old. this really occurred on friday, but today was his check-up.

we went to the doctor this morning.

these were his specs at two months:

• 13 lbs 1 oz
• 22 in
• 16 1/2 in head

these were his specs today...four months:

• 16 lbs 12 oz
• 25 1/2 in
• 17 1/2 in head

uh...wow! in two months, he's gained almost 4 pounds and 3 1/2 inches! how does this happen?!?!

the poor guy also got three shots and some oral vaccine.

you'd think he would sleep the day away.

so not the case.

his appointment was at 11. up until now, he's slept a total of ten minutes.

i put him in his crib about ten minutes ago. he cried for about two and is now soundly sleeping...for now, anyway.

**as i was typing that last sentence, i decided to go check on him...just to be sure he was actually sleeping and not just lying in his bed completely quiet.

this is what i found.

at four months, he is able to roll over from front to back, but this is as far as he can get from back to front. this would be the reason he was crying.

poor baby just gave up and fell asleep like this.

i now feel like a horrible mom.

of course, i didn't dare move him...i only covered him with a blanket...not before i took the picture though.

i can't believe he's already four months old.

the crazier thing would be that next month, my first born will be three years old!

we won't talk about that.

my boys