Happy 1/2 B-day Lil Girl!!!

Today Makenlee is 18 months. So started a new tradition. I want to celebrate their 1/2 b-days. Nothing with major fanfare basically a cake and singing.

Her and her 1/2 cake

After she touched the candle. Poor girl!!

I cannot believe our baby is 18 months. We are blessed by her and her blossoming personality. She is so fun and brings us so much joy.

It's a pirate pumpkin

Easton decorated his pumpkin today. Would you believe he decorated it as a pirate??

Big surprise!! Holding hands...
ARR Matey!

Loving on Kenna

My friend Krista had a baby last month and Makenlee loves her. She always wants to hold her and pat her. It is so sweet. Today Krista came over and as she was getting her out of her car seat Makenlee reached for her like hand her over. It was so cute. Then she kept saying, "baby, baby." Then when Krista put her down M went over and tried to hug her. She loves babies.

Pointing to Kenna's eyes. Makenlee likes to point out body parts.

Pumpkin cake

I made a pumpkin dump cake yesterday afternoon. I took it out of the oven to cool on the counter. I went upstairs to get some stuff done and I hear Easton yell, " Mommy, Makenlee is eating the cake." I go downstairs to see her standing on a chair digging in to the cake with her fingers. I look her in the eyes and say, "NO." This was the response I got. Those lil sad eyes! By the way. She took a chair from the living room and pushed into the kitchen and climbed up on it. Smart cookie.

Caught red-handed
After I tell them they can have a little piece. All the tears go away. There is my happy girl.

Easton's eye is on the prize.

Boogie Down Baby

I won free tickets to Boggie down baby. Which is this monthly dance party for kids. Easton and I invited Eli and Leah to go with us. The boys seemed to have fun dancing around and playing in the ball pit. Leah and I just enjoyed hanging out, talking and eating all the free food.

They threw all the balls out and were diving in the pit. Silly guys.
Easton loved the hula hoops and dancing around
It was fun to see the boys dance.

Daytime fun at the zoo

We took the kiddies to the zoo today. It was a nice Fall type day. So we enjoyed it a lot. Plus it is all decorated for Halloween which was fun too.

The 2 lil monkeys in the cage

The real silly monkey. Hanging out!

Easton posed so well today.

He loved all the pumpkins and how they were decorated.

Can I tell ya how hard it is to get both kids to look and smile at the same time. So hard!

Easton loves this lion. So he has to get his picture with it every time it seems.
The kids checking out the meerkats or vice versa.

" I see them."

E acting like an elephant. Note the arm is a trunk.

Dates w/ the kids

No we are not inter-breeding here. HA! Jon and I have been huge advocates of taking the kids out on dates. Just 1 on 1 while the other kid stays home w/ the other parent. Easton loves this special time w/ each of us and loves the 1 on 1 attn. What kid would not? But I have enjoyed taking him out. The stuff we have done lately has not cost a thing which is always a bonus. But I love the time we get to do something out of the norm or something that is fun to do w/ just 1 vs. 2. I get my special times w/ Makenlee while E is at p-school. Even when it was just E before M was born we would do dates w/ him but now that he is older he obvioulsy loves it more and more. He loves going on adventures w/ Daddy. He loves Jon so much and is all about Daddy these days.

So different and then so the same

Is it possible to have 2 kids that are so different but then the same at times? Well, I have them. My daughter is a GREAT eater (I sure hope I don't jinx that now). Easton just in the last 10 months has gotten to be good eater. Meaning he will eat what what is served to him and try it. That is all I ask in my home. Try it don't like that is fine. But if you never take 1 bite then you don't eat. For so long he would refuse to eat something without even taking one bite. He made up his mind he would not like it. Finally like 10 months ago he finally tried different things and he discovered it is not bad after all. The turning point I think was seeing Makenlee AKA-the human garbage disposal eating stuff he would never eat and devouring it. There is not much she will not eat. Another blessing of Makenlee she got Easton to eat more then a few things.

But my daughter is a dipper. She loves to dip her food in stuff. Just now she had yogurt and carrots and she was dipping them. I would never think to do that. E never dipped anything he seemed to not like the mess on his hand or whatever.

You give M a sandwich or hamburger she will eat the meat 90% of the time and leave the bread. Easton for the longest time would never eat the meat and only the bread. M is a meat and protein girl. E was a carb boy. So different. I am so glad she is the way she is after going through E's picky stage that seemed to last forever.

Growth

The picture on the top was last year and the bottom was today. Our boy has changed and wow I did not realize how different he looks. What a difference a year makes.

Pumpkin Patch

We went out to Maple Lanes today. We met some friends from church and we had a lot of fun. The only thing was it was HOT!!!! Last year when we went last year it was cold and windy. Today the kids were sweating by the end of the hay ride and playing.

"Found one but it is a little heavy."

E found more then a pumpkin.

Just my size.
Found one
"My punkin bra bra" Easton the proud owner of a pumpkin

The hayride was so cool. We got to see all these cows and a few new calves. So cute. M kept trying to say cow, she would wave at them and got so happy to see them. The tractor drove literally right up to them we probably could touch them.
"Look mama a butterfly."
Monkey corn maze
Found a monkey
On the way home this is what I found. The kids love to hold hands like this.

Too cute! What was funny was on the way out to the pumpkin patch E feel asleep and M kept trying to hold his hand and she was yelling, "Bra Bra"

Western Night

We went to a western family night Friday night. The kids played and saw some of their friends. We made smore's and had a grand ol time.

She had fun playing the games.

Strike a pose!
Finding candy in the haystack

The lil cowgirl and the mama
Daddy and cowboy Easton. Easton told Daddy to wear that hat for the picture.

Rob Bell - Nooma

SCroll down to the bottom of the blog to turn off the musiC.

Don't mind the Spanish sub titles. But this is the whole video. We love Rob Bell and his Nooma videos. They are so awesome and very thought provoking.

The US is going through rough times. I get that. We are experiencing it first hand here in our home specifically. But after watching this it makes me thankful for what we have instead of what we don't.

But one thing that frustrates me is this is America not some third world country. We are the richest country. Come on. It is sick how so many people are losing their homes, can't eat b/c they don't have money, gas prices are outrageous. I am not saying that we are all exempt from suffering but what so many of us are going through is unexplainable and scary.

Goofball

The kids were playing ele-fun and Jon found this when he walked by E's room. He is such a goofy boy. Nice hat. HUH!

PJ Day at school

All ready for school

Then sissie had to have her picture taken. She kept saying "cheese"

Easton's preschool has a pj party once a month. Last month he missed since we are on vacation. So he was happy to wear his favorite Pj's today. Guess what ones? Pirates! But after I picked him up I needed to run a couple errands but I forgot he was in his PJ's until we are standing in line at the post office and people start looking at him kinda funny. I say, "Oh, today was PJ day at his school and then I forgot that he was in PJ's until we started running errands." Everyone then kinda went oh, wish I was in my jammies.

Babies R Us

Has anyone been to BRUS lately? There is some great/cute stuff there now. I normally have not been a fan of their prints of blankets, bedding, car seats, etc. Since it has always been ooey gooey baby and I am just not that. Thus the reason my kids had their bedding, blankets made that were modern and stylish then, teddy bears, dancing sheep and pastel rainbows. HA! But anyway. There were the cutest blankets I saw today with very modern looking prints and fun stuff. Also the gadgets and new things they have for mom's and babies these days. I wonder how I survived 3 1/2 yrs ago when I had E w/o all these must haves. J/K! It made me feel old just thinking of when I was a baby and obviously did not have 3/4 of the toys, gadgets, etc. that my kids had. But I almost think some of the stuff is so overstimulating that simple toys are good too. I remember just liking a toy for the simple fact it did not make noise. I have seen a bouncer w/ a place to play your ipod. Is that silly? I sorta think so. Why does a baby need to listen to an ipod?

Learning to slow down..

God has been doing a lot in my heart in regard to my time, my marriage, my kids. I have a son who will be 4 yrs old in 3 months and a daughter who will be 1 1/2 next month. My kids are growing up too quick in my opinion and there are times that I am present, in the moment just relishing the time and loving every minute. Then there are times life just flies by and I wonder how we got here. Life these days is just busy. I like it at times but then there are times I want some downtime.

This last week I watched Oprah. I sometimes watch it if it is a good topic. Well, the 2 I watched this week were good. The first show I watched was about a mother who accidentally left her daughter in the car the entire day while she was at work. Her husband normally was the one who took the kids to daycare but that day he had an appt so she had to do it. It was first day back to work for her (she was a vice-principal) she said her mind was just full of all things to do and the daycare was not open yet so she stopped to get some donuts then she got back on the road she always drove and went to work. Her daughter had fallen asleep in the back. She had forgotten to take her b/c it was out of her routine. She even talked about her daughters throughout her day, but never remembered that she had left her baby in the car.

After 8 hours it was discovered that the child was in the car by a co-worker who walked by her car and saw the child. So sad!!!! Her little girl baked to death as it was a hot August day. I heard the 911 tape that is what made me ball. I will not even say what the eye witnesses said as the visual is deplorable. Something you will never forget hearing.

But after watching this episode I felt more sorry and empathetic to this poor lady then anything. I was not outraged or mad. I just hurt for her. I felt the grief and pain she carried and still carries to this day. I did not cast judgement as it could have been anyone. Literally I say that b/c as Moms we are stressed out. Our brains are just overloaded. We are overwhelmed.

My take from the interview was this women is a loving mother. She was just busy. She made a mistake and it was deadly.

I have had moments of forgetting to buckle my kids in their car seats, forgetting to turn the oven off and leaving the house, have had the urge to run to grab something while the kids play in the tub. These are all things I am not proud of. But it is all b/c we all live a busy life and we get so overloaded.


What I take away from watching this show was there is always a cost to our busyness. We may not all make such a deadly mistake but may come close if we don't slow down. We are a society that is frantic and frazzled. We always have to be doing something and when we are not we wonder what is wrong. I know for me it is hard for me to just sit and not do anything. I sometimes can't even watch TV or a movie (when I can) w/o reading something or typing away at the computer at times.

But my new outlook is to slow down, be present and not be in a rush. It will be hard transition b/c life is not slowing down but it is so worth it. My babies are worth it.

Silly shots!

Some silly shots over the last week

Makenlee is obsessed w/ shoes. I wonder where she gets it from. HMMM!! So she wears them around with nothing else but a diaper sometimes.

She is also learned how to undress. This is what I found the other day on the floor. Her shirt.

Then this came running out of her bedroom. A topless girl. Again w/ shoes. At least she kept her pants on. She has yet to take those off. Thank God!

This is what I found one night. It made Jon a proud Daddy.

My chunky monkey. He tries to stuff as many as he can in. So silly!

There all in Mom.

Lining up the farm animals.

My OCD

I like tidiness in my home. It is not always w/ 2 kids but I still like it. Toys, books, etc. in it's place or put away. So tonight as I am putting E to bed his room was little messy. So I said you need to clean up before bed and when you are done call for me. He says, "But I am tired and I want to go to sleep." First I thought this was funny. So a few minutes go by and he says he is ready for bed. I go to see and there were a few things he did not put away and I say you have to put that game away before bed. He does and then off to dreamland he goes. So I think. Well, 5 min later we hear him whimpering and I go up and ask what is up. He says, "But Mommy my room is still messy. I still need to clean it." I said well then finish cleaning up. Too funny! I have rubbed off on the kid.