This last weekend, my cousin got married in Oklahoma on the same day that Jon’s grandfather turned 80 and they had a little family reunion in California.

So, after weeks of debating what we should do, we ended up just splitting up. Which actually worked out well because Jon ended up not getting very much time off and was only able to be in California for about 36 hours all together – a trip that would have just been tough on the boys (though we MISSED everyone – especially Jon – very much!!) and it gave him lots of visiting time that is just hard to have when you are also trying to work around kids and their naps and bedtimes and needs and energy levels. 😉

The boys and I left Thursday afternoon and flew to Dallas with my parents and sister, where we stayed the night with my aunt and uncle, Julie and Clay who live in Wylie. Nathan was in heaven. HEAVEN. They have a big, grassy property with dogs and chickens and a pond and tons of “awesome toys” (i.e. army guys and G.I. Joe and knights in shining armor) and Nathan was just pretty much ready to move in. Especially after Uncle Clay (who morphed into “Grandpa Clay” by the end of the week) took him out every day to get the eggs from the chickens. Which was just incredibly amazing, apparently. 😉

Here’s Nathan after a successful egg hunt. 😉 I think he wore his camo vest every time he went out there. We spent Thursday night visiting with more aunts and uncles and cousins in town. So wonderful to see everyone!

Friday we all piled everything up and drove to Tulsa, which is about four hours away, to go to my cousin Kari’s wedding. After dinner that night, Aunt Julie rented out a couple of lanes at a bowling alley for everyone. The little cousins all played and it was so funny to see their reactions.

Here’s how one child reacted to a good bowl:

And here’s how the other one did:

He’s just so mellow and unreactive. Ha! 😉

 Saturday morning dawned way too early for my boys so we got up and semi-dressed and we went down to the hotel lobby for breakfast and then just wasted time around the hotel so that my sister could sleep a little more since we were sharing a room with her. We ate, we watched cartoons, we took the elevator up and down and eventually found a little meeting room that wasn’t being used where they could crawl around and play. Little stinkers. 😉

 After everyone got up and moving, me, the boys, my cousin Christi and her boys and my cousin’s wife, Aryn, and her two kids went to hands down the COOLEST children’s museum that we’ve ever been to. It was totally made for exactly my sons. Ha! It had a gigantic play structure and a good sized dinosaur exhibit. There were tunnels through the whole play structure and a huge slide made out of six layers of packing tape. So fun!! Nathan could have stayed there all day.

He’s “sliding like a penguin”. 😉

Me and my littlest. 🙂 I hauled him through the short and steep tunnels and he just laughed the entire time. It was so cute. So we had to do it several more times.

Cousins! Getting a good picture of a bunch of little kids proved to be basically impossible this weekend. 😉

 Me and my littles sliding on the big slide. 🙂

Someone was all worn out at lunch time. Poor baby. 😉

We went back to the hotel and both of the boys took fantastic naps. So fantastic that I had to wake them up for the wedding which just meant a certain big boy was a huge grouch until he finally woke all the way up when we were in the car on the way to the church.

All dressed up!

My beautiful cousin Kari and her new husband Jordan!! Such a gorgeous, God-honoring ceremony. It was perfect.

Trying yet again for a decent picture. Hadley Kate and Everett are missing from the picture and the rest weren’t too happy to be forced there. 😉 Mission failed.

Nathan spent 50% of the time at the reception dancing with Hadley Kate and 50% of the time dancing with Carsen. And he got a gigantic blister on his toe, so we had to go barefoot the rest of the evening.

Us and the beautiful bride!! Love, LOVE this girl so much!!

We got back super late to the hotel and the boys were asleep in record time. 😉 They were worn out!! The next morning, we had a brunch at my Aunt Jill’s house and we all hung out there before heading back to Dallas.

Nathan and his bestest buddy Carsen and sweet Hadley Kate. Beautiful girls. We just adore them.

Time to drive back! This drive did not go so smoothly. Parker screamed for a majority of it and it took two hours longer than the drive up because the weather was SO bad. It made for a looong afternoon. And because of the weather, we got stuck in Dallas an extra day and had to change our flights to Tuesday. It was good – we spent the majority of Monday sitting by the fire at Aunt Julie’s house and Nathan was overjoyed that we got to stay an extra day at the best house ever. 😉

Heading home!! We were so thankful to come home and see Daddy!!

And speaking of Jon, he had a great, great time as well! I love this picture of him and his grandfather – such an unspeakable honor to be a part of this wonderful legacy of faith he has given his family! Happy birthday, Grandpa H! 🙂

I have a to-do list about three miles long today and hardly any time to do it in but there were a few things that I wanted to share!!

1. Double Shot is finally finally up on Kindle!! It should be up on Nook shortly – so if you’re a Nook reader, check back in a day or two! 🙂 So thankful to have both the entire Laurie and Maya series up on ebooks again!!

2. Bake Me a Match is consuming a lot of my writing time – and my writing time has become pretty tight with the two boys, so I’m having to maximize what little time I have!! I sometimes think fondly on the days when I would have the entire day to write, clean and workout – now I’m lucky if one of those things happens!! BUT, I wouldn’t trade my messy, unshowered and basically unproductive life for anything right now. 😉

3. I could really use a few chocolate chip cookies right now. And possibly a maid. Just saying.

4. We went on a family bike ride this last weekend. So funny. Parker pretty much just put up with it – he was not nearly has excited as Nathan was when he got to ride in the little seat. Nathan thought our family ride was awesome, though, so I’m sure we’ll be doing another one soon. 😉

Have a great Wednesday!!

And so begins my month of mourning. 😉 How is my baby so big?? Already??

Parker is just such a sweetheart. He’s SO funny – this month, if it was possible, he got even LOUDER, even sillier and even more weird. 😉 I’m not sure what’s in the water in this house, but we grow them big, loud and crazy over here!

He is eating everything, all the time, always and forever amen. That kid can put away food. We are already trying to figure out how much money we need to be setting aside to feed these boys when they are 15. 😉 Needless to say, mealtimes are Parker’s favorite time of the day. He’s still nursing four times a day and eating three good meals and at least two snacks now. He loves bananas, sweet potatoes, chicken nuggets and he mostly loves squeeze packs more than almost anything in the world. 😉 He’s learned how to drink out of a straw this month and now, the child has discovered sweet iced tea. Sweet tea brings the biggest smile to his face ever! Ha!

He’s fast. He has absolutely zero interest in walking but he can zip around here crazy fast! Nathan and I have to run to catch up with him! He’s also started climbing. If he can get that knee up on it, he’s up there. The stairs, the bunk bed, Nathan’s chair… you name it, he’s climbing it.

He loves anything that has to do with his big brother. Anything. Anything. This has been the source of a lot of joy, fun, frustration and chaos in our house this month since Parker can now pretty much get anywhere he wants to get. 😉

He has become a full-fledged fan of the pacifier and rarely doesn’t have one with him. I think it’s really cute. 😉

Parker loves, loves when he and Nathan are playing together. They have just had so much fun recently playing with cars and superheroes and Parker’s Little People toys. For the most part, they play really well together. So fun to see!!

Parker can say Mama, Dada,  and “Nennon”. He says the same word every time when he sees Kody but it doesn’t sound anything like Kody. Ha! He’s very good at asking for more and waves his hands like crazy when he’s all done eating (or starts throwing food. But you know, whatever gets the message across). He can wave, blow kisses, wrestle, laugh and squeal at a pitch that sends the neighbor dogs into full on 101 Dalmatian bark chains. 😉

He’s also this month developed a little bit of a temper…. oy. Not ready for these days already! If he doesn’t want to do something and you are holding him, he’ll go all boneless to try and slide out of your hands. If you aren’t holding him, he’s now laid down on the floor and started throwing a big fit several times. At this point, it’s more amusing than anything and if I just walk away and ignore him, he snaps right out of it. But oh goodness. I’m eating all the chocolate I can right now just to stockpile emotionally for what is coming. 😉

Parker is goofy, silly, quite the dancer, loves to make music, loves to snuggle (LOVES to snuggle!), is the best at destroying at room in .006 seconds, has the sweetest hugs, the bestest cheeks for kissing, loves to be tickled, loves to be kissed and is still 100% okay with being held all day long. 😉 He’s the absolute perfect little brother for Nathan and is so precious to us that we don’t even have the words. We are so blessed by him!

Happy 11 months, my sweet boy!!

One of the blogs I read is doing this “What’s up Wednesday” and it looks like fun so I thought I’d join in. 🙂 Please chime in by answering the questions yourself and leaving them in the comments!! I’d love to hear from you! 🙂

What we are eating this week:
Jon is still doing his Whole30 (SO proud of him!!) and I’m officially off (I say this after finishing a cupcake just now). 😉 So we basically eat our regular meals during the day and then I make a Whole30 compliant dinner. Tonight we are having chicken apple sausage and sweet potatoes. And the odds are good that I will be having another cupcake after the boys go to bed. 😉 Just an FYI, but I LOVE to bake. Love it.

What I’m reminiscing about:

My little Parker Bear is about to be one next month and I’m desperately clinging to his babyhood. I ran across a few pictures of him tiny and it just made my heart tight. I can’t believe he’s already almost one! And also, can you believe how much Nathan grew up in the last year??! He looks like such a baby in these pictures too!




What I’m looking forward to:

SUMMER. This was us last summer and oh friends. I am SO ready for summer and warm days and playing outside!! My poor house is pretty much shuddering from these crazy boys being cooped up in here for so long. It is time to be outside at the park! I used to LOVE winter with such a passion until I had kids – now I am all about being outside and not having to constantly be taking coats on and off and dealing with sickness and bundling up to even walk to the mailbox. Nope. Time for summer. We can even bypass spring. I’m just ready for days running through the sprinklers. 😉

What I’m loving:

Homemade cupcakes. Our new “letters of the day”. A little boy who makes me a box of pipe cleaner and wooden bead rings. A tiny boy who stinks so good. Nap time. 😉

What we’ve been up to:
Getting over colds and attempting to stay on top of the house stuff while also making deadlines. The boys have been really, really, really good at destroying the house lately. It’s been busy. 😉

What I’m dreading:
Figuring out Nathan’s future school situation. Hi, wasn’t he just born? How are we already dealing with school??

What I’m working on:

Bake Me a Match!! Can’t wait to share the next installment this summer! 🙂

What I’m excited about:

My brother Bryant and my sister-in-law Nicole FINALLY announced this publicly and I have been dying to share it – I get a little niece or nephew this summer!! I cannot wait to meet that precious baby!!

What I am watching:

Jon and I have been watching a mix of Parks and Recreation, Friends and Leverage lately. During the day if I have a few minutes though, I’m really loving that they have been putting some Food Network shows on Netflix like Cupcake Wars. 😉

So what’s up with YOU?? 🙂

We stayed so busy this last weekend that Parker and I just felt obligated to wake up sick Sunday morning just so we could all have a day at home watching Cupcake Wars. 😉

On Friday night, we went to Menchies for free frozen yogurt and the boys had the best time. It was SO crowded and so much fun. Especially since we had a little Frozen sing-along on the way there and back. Nathan was in heaven. 😉

 This little pajama-clad boy is just one of my favorites. Take note of the destruction my house is in. It pretty much looks like this all day every day unless it is nap time or bedtime.

Saturday was the start to the day that Jon has been waiting for since the moment the ultrasound tech said the words “it’s a boy” – we registered Nathan for Little League. 😉 He’s going to be playing t-ball this spring and he is SO excited. So is Jon. 😉 Ha! They were so cute checking out the big kids practicing. Nathan can’t wait. We spent the evening at Gammy and Pops’ house and had a wonderful time!!

And then Sunday morning, Parker and I woke up on the sniffly side and by the mid-morning, we were both pretty yucky feeling. So, we spent the day lounging around watching Netflix and I’m pretty sure I drank my weight in orange juice and tea. 😉 We pretty much had a repeat of that yesterday and we are both a little better by today so just praying that we’re back to normal by tomorrow or so.

We at least felt good enough to take Kody to the vet this morning. He’s had a weird thing on his leg for a few weeks that hasn’t gotten any better so it was time to check it out. The boys in my family appreciated the camo bandage he got to sport. 😉

How was your weekend??

I think I am constantly waiting for things to settle down a bit but they never do. I’ve just decided this is a byproduct of two children. 😉

These two are just funny together. The older Parker gets, the more he annoys Nathan wants to constantly do whatever Nathan is doing which rarely ends well, but any time I suggest that they play separately, this is what happens. Neither can stand to be away from the other one so they will just have to figure out how to deal with Parker consistently knocking over all of Nathan’s projects. 😉 99% of the time, Nathan is pretty understanding but that 1% can be a doozy for everyone.

This kid loves the laundry room, though. LOVES it. And he also recently discovered toilet paper, which, I mean, is there anything better than potentially edible paper from an ever-flowing tube?? I submit that there is NOT.

Needless to say, we have officially entered the Every Door Must Remain Closed Always stage of babyhood.

He sleeps like this every night and it just makes my shoulder hurt even to look at him. But so cute. 🙂 Love that little goose.

Super Bowl Sunday I was making snacks in the kitchen and looked over during the National Anthem to see this. Ha!! He’s so cute! My little patriotic boy. 😉

First time eating a vanilla wafer. He liked it but I think he was a little concerned that something was wrong with me when I handed him the whole cookie. 😉 He did really well though biting off little bits at a time!! He’s getting too old too quick.

These are not the most natural smiles in the world. 😉 We got to have a slower morning in our jammies before doing a couple of errands after Parker’s morning nap. Right after I snapped this picture, Parker went all boneless and tried to slide off the couch while Nathan kept trying to hold on to him while cheesing that ridiculous smile.

These two keep me on my toes. 🙂