brotherly moments and birthday wishes

These boys may argue over toys and fight for attention frequently but I can't help but stop and really take in moments like these. Isn't this what life is all about? Watching my boys discover new things, have a conversation about nothing and just be Brothers.
It's the moments like these that make me so grateful for being able to be with these boys each day as they grow. I am able to watch these special moments that I sometimes missed from being busy? To me nothing is more important than this. NOTHING.

My grandmother's 86th birthday would have been today. I miss her so much, each and every day. I know that she is watching over these boys and capturing moments like these, just as I do. Her death helps me understand how precious life truly is. How our time here is about making moments matter. Not about things, but it's about relationships, love, memories, the way we make others feel. Right?
We miss you, Bonka...
every day, every moment...we miss you.
I still remember your smell, the way you'd say hello when I'd call, the way we'd rub noses each time we said goodbye, the way your hands felt-always cold and wrinkly, the way you'd focus so hard on your crossword puzzles. I use Dove soap because it smells like YOU, I can't seem to part with some of your things that are of no use to me, I loved Jacob's smile when we'd drive up to visit you...all these things I am SO afraid I'll forget. I want to remember ALL of these little things on this day and always. Happy Birthday, Bonka.

homework for the first day of school!

My big boy will be attending his first day of preschool for the last time today :-( Yep, he'll be in kindergarten next year and I'm already having a hard time dealing with that. So, this year it'll be preschool, three days a week so he gets used to the routine of school!

We had meet the teacher on Friday, which went really well. Our first homework assignment...making a patch for a classroom quilt! We had to be creative and make it all about our family so that's just what we did. We started out with his handprint in the middle...I love those little hands! Then added pictures of the four of us, and as we wrote his name he said he wanted to talk about the things he likes-I thought, what a perfect idea! So, he told me what to write and we filled up our square with things that Jacob likes... swimming, running, his bicycle, family, friends, Mom, Dad, Justin, movies, big trucks, camping and baseball! He was ready to keep naming off things, but I told him he ran out of space! Ha!

*To celebrate his first day, he and I played a game of soccer in the blazing heat yesterday and he TOTALLY BEAT ME! I mean it, I was really REALLY trying to win! Ha! By the end, he and I were both drenched in sweat but he was running around the yard, yelling " I beat Momma" and kept laughing! I told him while he's at school, I'll polish my soccer skills and we'll have a re-match!!!

REALLY??

Ok, so I think I've mentioned this on my blog before BUT this is outta control...I cannot tell you how many times we have been told by family, friends, STRANGERS(especially strangers!) that Jacob looks like "Jacob" or Taylor Lautner. If you have NO clue who I am talking about, here are a few pics of HIM...

and here's my sweet boy, who has been told by people, practically EVERYWHERE we go that he looks like Taylor....

I guess I should be flattered since Taylor is a super handsome(I'm totally Team Jacob anyway!)guy! Not sure I wanna picture my son as a sex symbol the way Taylor is being portrayed these days....but I guess I'll just keep taking the compliments as they are given!

At meet the teacher the other day, TWO people stopped to tell me this. Yesterday at Kroger, a woman yelled for her husband to come and look at Jacob because she said he could be Taylor's brother! Ha! Maybe I should take advantage of this and send his picture off to talent scouts and one day he'll play the PREQUEL to Twilight?? Hahahahahaha!!!

Mommy's back!

This past weekend was the FIRST time I've left my boys overnight :-(

It was my friend, Ashlyn's bachelorette party in Galveston and we had a great time! She is getting married in two weeks...a little girls weekend is what she wanted, so we rented a beach house and had fun visiting, laughing and drinking a few adult beverages too!

When I came home, the boys ran to me and gave me big hugs and told me that they missed me so much! Ahhh, these boys melt my heart...unless they're fighting and luckily they have been doing LESS of that these days! Yay!

All I know is that this Momma is happy to be home, loving on her boys after a nice, little weekend getaway celebrating my friends BIG DAY!

Our Boys + OUTSIDE= HAPPY!

It seems like no matter what time of the day, how we are feeling, or what we're doing...my boys ALWAYS want to be outside. And you've heard me complain about this ridiculous heat here lately ( 100 + temps) but we still end up OUTSIDE!

The other day, the boys and I went for a run, I pushed Justin and Jacob rode his bike at NOON...which means it was probably already 100 degrees out there and they did NOT complain...not even once! I am so proud that they are active and like to play and get sweaty!

Most days, if I'm inside cooking breakfast, lunch or dinner...I am watching my boys outside! Last night, Brandon and I cooked dinner and they boys played outside for probably THREE hours and then they were both mad when we made them come in and get ready for dinner! Ha! I love letting them play by themselves, but most of the time I have to be RIGHT THERE because Justin will try to eat bugs, sit in a mud hole or they'll work together at plotting something to do that they're NOT suppose to! Yea, they work together if it means coming up with something that'll get them into trouble :)

Sometimes I complain about having to go out there and sweat right along with them, but the truth is that I'm happy they love being outside SO much! I love that they enjoy all of the things it has to offer and hopefully they'll enjoy being outside with their Daddy and I for years to come!

Their new adventure they'd like to take is tent camping. Jacob has a tent that sleeps 10 and we've never used it, other than in our living room! Ha! So, I guess when things COOL OFF(like months from now!), we will have to take them! Not sure where to go and also not sure if I'll be able to rough it like that, but I'm for the challenge...I think??!

Hey, GUESS WHAT??!

I learned how to SWIM!!!

My mom, dad and brother are SO proud of me and you should see me swim ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE POOL, BY MYSELF! My parents knew I'd learn on my own terms and when the time was right...so the other day at my MeMe's, I took off my puddle jumper and did it! I can swim UNDER WATER and I go super fast :) Now I'm ready to say goodbye to my floaties FOREVER!!! *This is just another reason why my mommy is having such a hard time watching me grow up!

and our trip continued...

So, after our baby boy had his horrible accident...we considered packing up and heading home, but since we had just arrived that day and the doctor said he'd be fine...we decided to stay and we're sure glad that we did! This slide was SO cool...Jacob wasn't too crazy about it since you can see him here, MID AIR! And yes I think I did the slide at least 15 times! SO FUN! We were all like a bunch of kiddos!

our poor baby and his bandaged hands :-(

Jacob caught his first fish...and many more after that! This fully stocked pond was perfect for the boys to build their confidence and get some good practice, fishing!

and although we saw plenty of alligators, I never snapped good pictures of them because I was SO paranoid about the boys getting too close, that I wouldn't take my eyes off of them to grab the camera! Ha! Whoops!

And I'd like to say that the rest of the trip was easy going and perfect but we had ANOTHER incident! Tarah and I decided to drive around to look at the privately owned houses at Artesian Lakes while the big boys and Daddy's were fishing! So, we loaded up the little ones and drove around. We were about 20 minutes into our drive and she decided to turn around, because we had gone too far. All of a sudden, she tried to reverse and her Yukon wouldn't move...AT ALL. She was flooring the gas and...NOTHING! Her and I flipped out because we were out in the alligator-infested woods, with pine trees all around and the sun was setting. I started having flashing of the worst horror films and almost cried! I didn't have my cell phone, but thankfully she did! Not knowing what to do, I started digging the sand from under her tires...and it worked! She was able to go forward and we thought we were good! THEN, she got stuck again...now even further in the woods :-(. We got a hold of our husband's and they drove to where we were(thank goodness, they found us!!!), my husband has a Z71 4x4 truck, so he thought with one easy pull, we'd get the car out. NOPE. It snapped the tow strap in half and the car didn't move. Long story, shortened...my husband's truck got stuck too, both the Yukon and our truck had to be pulled out by a freaking, tractor! Thankfully, we were all ok and the trip ended happily...but I'm not sure our families should visit Artesian Lakes ANY TIME soon!!!

a scary start to our vacation...

Our vacation was suppose to be relaxing and fun, but that's not quite how it started...We arrived at Artesian Lakes, unpacked and since it was around dinner time we started to prepare dinner. All of a sudden, we heard screaming and saw that my baby, Justin had fallen into the bbq pit. OH YES, we were freaking out. He was hysterical and would not stop crying. I was running his little hand under cold water but he just kept screaming. As time went on and I was trying to figure out what to do next, we started to see other marks...then I flipped out. There were burn marks on his ear, finger, BOTH hands and little marks on his face. We decided we'd take him to the closest ER because he wouldn't stop crying and now we were all VERY nervous. So, they admitted us and look at that ankle bracelet.... and the diagnosis....second degree burns on one hand, first degree on the other. The other burns were very minor and are already looking MUCH better. :-(

In these pictures you can tell the pain meds had already kicked in and my little, brave boy did SO good. He was so brave and I was the one who was a wreck. My poor baby boy. The doctor says NONE of the burns should leave scars if we keep the medicine on there and take real good care of them but this was a TOO scary start to our vacation.

And believe it or not, there was MORE drama so there's more to come....

some time in Galveston

Last week on Daddy's day off, we all headed to Galveston to eat on the seawall and enjoy being on the water! The boys were perfect and it was actually very relaxing! Especially with the water right across from us :) The next day, we drove back to Galveston's West End to visit with my cousins that had rented a beach house for the weekend! SO MUCH FUN. As you can see, we had a great day swimming and enjoying time with family!!

Mommy and her boys :) They LOVE the water..such happy, little guys when they're swimming!

SO different!

It's so much fun to watch these boys as they grow and find their personalities. People ALWAYS tell us that Justin looks like Brandon and Jacob looks like me. If that's true, their personalities are COMPLETE opposite!

Justin is a Momma's boy, for sure! He loves to cuddle and tell me how much he loves me throughout the day when we're at home! He's starting to defend his toys when it comes to his big brother snatching them away and he's rather bossy! Ha! We hit a landmark last week of NO MORE BINKY. I think I've taken it harder than he has. We told him that the binky had to go bye-bye to another baby and he was fine with that! Mommy was a little sad because that binky made him still feel like my "baby"...but I must face the fact that he's growing up!

When you see Daddy's baby pictures, they look EXACTLY like Justin. Precious.

And my little crazy man, Jake! He's ALL boy. Loves to be rough and tough but is super SHY until he gets to know you. Loves playing outside and loves to tease his baby brother! He's grown up SO much this past year. He gets himself dressed, packs his bag for the night away at the grandparents. This past month, he stayed his first night away with his best buddy, Luke! I didn't think I'd take it so hard, but I kept thinking he'd miss his Momma and wanna come home, but NOPE! He was perfectly happy with them! Ha! He takes care of me when Daddy is at work and has become my little helper. He helps me with chores and likes to bring in the trash cans with Daddy. Can't believe he'll be in kindergarten in one, short year :(

Although my boys are SO different...we love them both SO much. Couldn't imagine life without them and they totally make life fun! They make us smile and laugh all of the time...except when they're fighting! A house full of boys can have its challenges, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Life can get in the way and I find myself worried about laundry, cooking, cleaning and then I snap out of it and realize that life is precious and if I'm not careful, those little moments can and will pass me by. I am so fortunate to be at home with these boys, spending time with them each and every day and sometimes I need a reminder of how blessed I truly am.

Boys RULE!

Yesterday, Luke and Hudson were able to come over and our backyard was taken over by these four boys!!! Acting SO sweet and innocent...

My little, crazy man!

Look at those MUSCLES!!!!

...and look at that sweet face! That's the face he makes when he's just done something terrible?!

loading up the water gun and off to tortue baby brother :(

SO MUCH FUN!!

In this 100+ heat, we have to find ways to stay cool and this was definitely one of them!

The boys had a great time being silly and hopefully we have a few more backyard, slide days before school starts!!

Memories!!!

I don't know about any of you, but I was OBSESSED with New Kids On The Block as a kid! OBSESSED! Posters, t-shirts, BUTTONS(tell me I'm not the only one who collected these?!), concerts, member of their fan club(I think I had to pay for this, sad but true!), VHS taped concerts, and sadly...much, much more! The other day we were looking through old pictures with the boys, showing them Mommy and Daddy growing up and we stumbled across this one and it's TOOOO hilarious not to share with all of you... If we're not their biggest fans, I'm not sure who is! Seriously, I have buttons down my leg!! LOL! This would be my cousin, Angie and I at the hotel where NKOTB was staying! Yep, you can pretty much say we THOUGHT we were the coolest people on the planet that day :)

TBall...looking back!

Here's Season 4, TBall picture! I think it turned out pretty darn cute :) They handed them out tonight after their last game!!! I was happy because we have professional pictures from Season 1 and 4, the first and last! Yes, I already framed it! I'm a proud Momma!

Hard to believe that tonight was Jacob's last night of TBall.

After FOUR seasons, he's improved SO much! Let's break it down, shall we?

Season 1: lots of digging in the dirt, sitting in the dugout and dragging his bat all over the field. Clearly, could care less about baseball but we were there every game, cheering him on!
He was SO proud of that first trophy! He said "we get trophies all the time for playing games in the dirt?"

Season 2: more digging in the dirt, but this time...he would look up occasionally and attempt fielding! He's starting to LOVE batting and running the bases! WOOHOO!! Here's trophy #2!

Season 3: Loves to bat and run bases! Getting a little more aggressive when it comes to playing ball and starting to really like his teammates! He loves practicing at home and hits the ball over the fence every time! He caught his first fly ball this season AND hit the ball into the outfield! Go Jacob!

Season 4: Now he's got the hang of the game! Loves hitting, sliding, running, and thinks practice is more fun than the games! He asks to practice at home. He thinks he's so cool when the ball goes flying over our fence! He's hitting the ball WITHOUT the tee and loving every minute of it. He's still not a fan of fielding...says its boring! I can't say I don't agree...I always loved hitting! Plus, at their age fielding isn't the most exciting when each batter has to take a few swings but that's ok because we're taking fall off and then it's Little League time!!!!

I can really see how much he's grown up in this past year as I'm creating this post! This summer season makes a full year of TBall, playing for the Tigers with most of his original teammates! Pretty cool! I was at almost every game, wearing my "Baseball Mom" shirts and cheering him on! Our parents tried to come as much as possible throughout the seasons to see him play. He displays his trophies in his room and looks at them every day!

Sadly, I had to miss his final game tonight because baby brother is sick and wanting his Momma!

Jacob,

We are SO proud of you and all that you've accomplished in one, short year! Here's to many more baseball seasons and hopefully you'll enjoy this sport as much as Daddy and I do!

We love you so much and for one, last time...

GOOOOO TIGERS!!!