Getting caught up...

Make a Smilebox photobook

Ohhh where to begin.... I have so many things to say that I will try to separate them the best I can. My family was here to visit the begining of July. My brother Ryan, his significant other Katie, and his daughter Eden arrived by plane as well as my uncle Dan. My mom and dad, Robert, arrived by train. The boys and I went to Union Station, downtown Kansas City, to meet their arrival. The funny thing was that the boys had no idea they were coming to visit. My mom wanted to surprise them. It was so awesome to be standing at the platform, with my boys, looking at everyone getting off the train and for them to notice that the 2 people walking towards them were their grandma and grandpa. It made me well up with tears.

It was a full house but we had a great time. They were all here for 4th of July as well as Aden and Eden's birthdays. We had a big party to celebrate. Uncle Dan had to return home to work after the weekend.
We also made it to the zoo (which included my sister-in-law Brylie and her kids Creed and Roman). It was hysterical when we went into the petting zoo area and the sheep where coming up to the babies in the strollers and trying the find food. Katie was trying to be brave and feed the goats and sheep but they kept swarming her and she would run away.

We went to Smithville Lake and played in the water. The kids had a great time. It was hard to see everyone leave but I guess it was necessary for them to return to their lives.

What a ham!!

Make a Smilebox postcard

It was such a joy to get these pictures taken. She was cooperating very well. I know it only gets rougher with the photo sessions from here!! lol

Our beautiful baby Breelyn!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Having another girl in our house has been such a joy!! Breelyn is actually 4 almost 5 months now. She is talking... ok babbling a whole bunch. She is sitting up quite well and she loves to watch us eat. She stares at our plates of food. I think she might be a good little food eater. She is a pretty mild-mannered girl. I think she is just a typical girl but I have no idea because of my experience with boys! The little boys sure do enjoy her! They both are so loving and caring to her. They love to sing her songs... like "itsy bitsy spider" and "you are my sunshine" it can just melt your heart.

Ok...ok... I am way overdue to give an update!!

I thought it was time to publish a post about our finally finished basement. When we bought this house last year, it had an unfinished basement. We figure it to be an additional 1200 square feet. We went to work on it soon after we found out my family was coming to visit before Christmas. Janin and his dad did most of the work themselves. We had a family member help with the dry walling. It was a lot of very late nights and lots of noise in my final month of pregnancy but so worth it. We now have an additional bedroom, bathroom, entertainment room, slide/play structure for the kids and storage areas. I can't say enough about how great it is to be married to a man who can do things like this. He is such a helpful, creative, handy person to be married to.

When we moved into this house, Janin had the idea to build a slide for the kids in the basement. Originally it was going to start in the boys room closet upstairs and then they would slide from their room into the basement. It ended up not going to work. So he and his dad build a play structure with the slide and a fireman pole for the kids to use all year round! It is awesome!!! I would also like to note... my awesome husband decorated the basement bathroom all on his own!!

Girls Pajama Party!!!

Breelyn and I had a pajama party in mommy's and daddy's bed. Yes... I am the cheesy mommy who bought matching jammies. Janin thought I was pretty silly having matching jammies but she is my only daughter (Janin says for now) ha ha. I have waited a long time for a little girl. I absolutely love having my precious boys but now I am not the only female in the house.

I enjoy times like these so much. I love when your children are still babies and they look at you with such adoration.

Belated Valentine's Day update!!!

Valentine's Day was a lot of fun. It was just my three kids and I. We made cookies to decorate with lots of pink frosting and candies. They were both more interested in licking the frosting from the bowl then decorating and eating their cookies. It figures :-)

I was taking "naked bottom" pictures of Breelyn and Aden wanted in on the action. He is such a ham... I swear. Deegan would have also wanted to be in the pictures but he was busy driving his cars on the fireplace bench. Something he does daily.

My awesome husband surprised me and took me for a massage and to a hotel overnight. Janin's sister, Tami, and my brother-in-law, Lawrence, stayed here with all 3 of our children. How lucky are we??? It was nice to get to have a normal adult conversation with my husband without being interrupted by three midget-humans that look like us. It was strange to be without our children overnight, but enjoyable all the same.

it's times like these...

Ohhh my little Deegan!!! He is growing and changing ohhh so much. He keeps me on my toes, causes me to clench my teeth and makes me laugh until my side hurts. He told me the other day... after I took the "broken" poptart out of the package and handed it to him, " ahhhh mom (big sigh) that's not supposed to happen". I just laughed !!! He is becoming such a young man at almost 3 years old. On a different note... I decided (MOM) it was time to pull out the old wooden spoon for discipline. I have been trying many approaches with him with no success. I have not gotten to this point with Aden so this is new for me. I haven't actually had to spank him with the spoon... he has gotten very close but just leaving it on the counter and reminding him it is there is all that has been necessary, SO FAR!! I have to hold back the smile sometimes when I show him the spoon because it brings me back to my childhood. Today was Deegan's day. He pooped in his underwear, again, and I found myself soaking the underwear in the toilet in order to get them cleaned off enough to go into the washer. I can't keep throwing the nasty underwear away! lol This was going on while Breelyn was crying because I had riped the bottle from her mouth in order to keep Deegan from pulling his dirty pants off himself. Later in the day... Deegan got up from his nap and came running out of his room as happy as a clam. All I could do was double over in a hysterical laughter. Pink marker all over his forehead, hands, legs (and later discovered, his bed) and he was no wiser to the fact. So sometime after he went for his nap he had a van Gogh moment. My little Deegan, what a precious boy he is!