My Boys

Gosh, I sure do love these two....

 Good Morning!

 Sweet moment

I could give them a million kisses and it wouldn't be enough!

They love getting dirty! I don't like them being dirty, but I've decided that if they're playing well and having fun, it's worth the mess.

Mother's Day 2013

We snapped some cute pictures of me and the boys after church on Sunday.

 They are so precious and handsome!!

 Perry loves giving his mamma kisses

Haha...or maybe not

Love having this cutie wrapped up in my arms

Perry

Where do I even begin? Perry has grown up so much! He's 3 1/2 years old and ALL boy. He thinks super heros are cool, sword fights are fun, and poo poo talk is hilarious. He's also such a sweet heart and loves to share his thoughts and emotions with us. He's doing lots of big boy things like using the bathroom by himself (except in the middle of the night) and learning how to get himself dressed. He's still taking short naps but it's pretty much never in his bed these days. He usually sleeps in his "mouse house"--a spot he creates by turning his lounge chair upside down and scooting his body underneath. Another story regarding naps...one Saturday I looked at the monitor and didn't see him, so I peeked in his room and he was no where to be found. I assumed he had snuck out, so I went searching around the house, calling his name. After 10 minutes of searching (and getting pretty mad), I got so desperate that I was calling out, "Perry, I have your snack ready. Do you want some ice cream?" I knew something wasn't right when he didn't respond to that, so I called Alex inside from yard work. We were both searching around inside and outside, getting a little frantic, when Alex looked under Perry's bed to find him sound asleep. We left him there as our "pay back".

 Playing a board game with Mama

 He stacked these 3 cheerios and called it a snowman

 sweetness!

 silliness!

 He climbed up there and said, "I'm a hungry monkey. I want a banana."

 Finally fell asleep for a nap after playing hard in his room

We found out Perry is allergic to Penicillin

 He wrapped himself up in this paper and couldn't be seen. Pretty impressive!

 Napping in his Mouse House

Excited about new super hero pj's from Cheetah

Mills 18 Months

Mills is a BUSY 18 month old! Gone are the days when I could get things done while the boys were awake. It seems like there's always something going on or someone who needs me...which explains the lack of blogging! Here are some things about our baby boy at 18 months:

He's still a sweet snuggler and still loves his mama a lot :-) He wants to do everything like big brother, which means they are either having fun playing or fighting over toys. So far, Mills is not a picky eater and loves to feed himself. He's talking more and more each day. He says "Mama", "Gaga" or "Dada" for Daddy, and "Ma Ma" for Mae Mae, as well as a short list of other words. He likes to imitate sounds for various animals. They all kind of sound the same, except he's got a mean roar for lion, tiger and dinosaur. He's interested in learning  to identify eyes, ears, nose, etc. Mills has an adventurous streak and I can tell he's going to keep us on our toes. If I tell him to stop, a lot of times he gives me a smile and takes off in the opposite direction. I know that's very typical, but Perry just wasn't like that, so things like this are new and funny to us. And while I'm speaking of this "wild streak", I should mention that Mills has officially been in trouble with the law. I'm not kidding! While we were in Denton, he called 911 from Cheetah and Papou's house phone. When I saw that he had the phone I took it from him and hung it up (I looked at the screen and didn't see that he had pressed any numbers). Seconds later a call came though with an "Unknown" number, so we ignored the call. Minutes later, a cop showed up claiming there had been a 911 hang up and that he needed to check out the house. Oh Em Gee! 18 months old, and 2 calls to 911 so far. It's like he knows he's being bad, but pulls the "I'm only 18 months old, they'll never accuse me of being calculated" card. He still strips his shirts off (sometimes just one sleeve, other times both) every time he's in his bed. It's the craziest but most normal thing. I think he weighs about 24 pounds, but I could be off on that. The past several months have been marked by being sick. Flu, ear infection, and many viruses have kept us at home a lot!

 onesie shirt off after nap

 one sleeve off, hands in diaper during nap

 devouring broccoli...his absolute favorite food 

 silly face

 reading a book

 love this sweet face in my lap

Easter Baskets and Egg Hunt

The weather was much better the weekend following Easter. We hosted a wedding shower shrimp boil here on Friday night so the boys spent the night at Mae Mae's house. It was so nice to sleep in a little and since I had some time Saturday morning, I set up Eater baskets and eggs. When we brought the boys home they had a surprise waiting.

 Fun goodies! Mostly things they need or can read. 

 I love the reactions we get from Perry. He's always so excited!

Yummy fruit snack

Ready to find eggs

Mills was interested in the egg hunt for about 2 minutes, but Perry had a blast. After he found all the eggs, he hid them for Daddy.

And then he wanted us to hid them again, so he sat on his perch, closed his eyes, and waited...

Mills had fun monkeying around...

Love this pic of Perry

Love my boys

And no Easter Egg hunt would be complete without an egg dump...

such fun!

They sure do love their Daddy

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was so busy this year that we didn't even do baskets and eggs. Helen and Jeremy were in town so we spent a lot of time with them and on top of that, we had a big surprise birthday party for my dad on Monday. It was all fun stuff, but just kept us on the go. We made it to church on Easter Sunday, despite the bad storms, and enjoyed a delicious Easter lunch at my mom's house after church. It was a really great weekend. I didn't take any pics though. Helen found this one on her phone:

As Perry just said upon seeing this picture, "Aw, that's really cute".

Perry LOVED playing with Helen and Jeremy this trip. Oh, and I should also mention that H and J brought the boys a pretty awesome Easter gift from Colorado. Perry got an egg with a mardi gras baby inside and Mills got an egg with a sonogram picture! They're having a baby! Due October 18. We're so excited for another October baby!
My mom, Helen, and I took the boys to the park on Tuesday morning.

Treading Water

I feel like I've barely had my head above water recently. Both kids were sick (Perry with virus and mild ear infection; Mills with flu and bad ear infection) for nearly 2 weeks. We've been inside a lot and not going anywhere. It makes for very long and boring days filled with dispensing meds, wiping noses, managing meltdowns, preparing meals that don't get eaten, and entertaining sick kids. I'm really glad we are getting back to normal! However, normal for us has actually been way too busy lately. One small contributing factor has been that Perry started Swim School. Now, on our formerly open Monday mornings, we pack up and head to The Swim School. It's a fun outing though. I'm hoping that Perry will get more comfortable in the water. Right now, he's too scared to go under or jump in without some force. He's always been cautious, so this doesn't come as a surprise. I know he'll be "treading water" before too long!

two sick boys watching a video