Too Funny Not To Share

As hard as this is to believe, this picture had NO prompting!

Devin told me had to go poo so I put him up on the potty like we always do and shut the door. After a few minutes I heard him saying some things and thought he was done. When I opened the door this is what I saw! I was laughing SO hard. He serisouly looked like he was reading a very interesting article! Gotta love all these moments. Oh, and he's gonna kill me one day for this picture- I'm sure of it!

What I'm Thankful For....

As Thanksgiving approaches I start to think about what I'm thankful for in my life. I really can say once I start to reflect on my life that I'm thankful for SO much!

First off I'm thankful for my children. We have truly been blessed with our two boys. About 4 years ago I really thought we would never have the opportunity to have children of our own. Being a mother was the ONE thing I was certain that I wanted to do with my life and I really thought it would never happen.After spending almost 4 years trying to have a child with 2 surgeries, dozens of doctors appointments, fertility drugs, and one miscarriage- we have TWO children. Sometimes I get stressed with both of the boys and worn a little thin- but I really need to think back on the time I couldn't have even imagined having them. I'm so VERY thankful for those two boys.

There are days when I can sit all day and think about things that I want- and get a little frustrated that I can't have them. I should feel a little selfish. We aren't an extremely wealthy family- but we're not hurting either. We live in a nice home, drive decent dependable vehicles, and don't struggle every day to put a warm meal on the table for our children and good clothing on their backs. On top of that we do this with one income which allows me to have the most wonderful opportunity to stay at home with my children and watch them grow every day. All over the country people are losing their jobs and homes- wondering how they're going to feed their families. I don't know what the future hold for us, but I'm so thankful those types of worries are far away in our minds.

I'm also so thankful for our wonderful friends and family. I know if we were ever in a bind we wouldn't be short on help. We really do have a wonderful support system and the boys have so many people that love them.

So, I took a few minutes to think of the things I'm most thankful for. I'm sure there are hundreds of other things I could think of in my life that I'm also grateful for if I had more time. Now, I'll get caught up in the food portion of Thanksgiving and move right on to the rush of the Christmas season and try to remember every day all the wonderful ways I've been blessed.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. WE'RE SO THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU!

Thanksgiving Themed Playdate With Buddies!

"Tom Tom Cupcakes"

Our sweet cute Drew!

Devin and Michael eating their cupcakes. I can say Michael was a little more polite in his eating than Devin was. Devin was just shovelin' it in. I think that is the first cupcake I've let him have and eat all alone. SUCH a mess.....but well worth it!

All the little cuties (minus Gavin- he was napping) with their turkey hats! Aren't they SO adorable?

This morning we were able to have a play date with our buddies! It's been awhile since we've been able to get together and play since we've been in Wichita for most of the last two weeks.
I planned a project for them that was so much fun. TURKEY HATS! They were so cute even though the boys weren't as interested on finishing them as were were. LOL
We made pizza, played and ate the "Tom Tom Cupcakes" for desert. I'm so glad we were able to do this today. I always say the play dates are as much for me as they are for the boys!

This Thanksgiving I can say I'm thankful for our great friends! Thanks for the fun morning!

Christmas Wish List

Ok, I know some of you might think this is tacky- so if you do, just skip this post. I've had TONS of friends and family asking what the boys might want or need for Christmas. First off- they don't NEED anything (and honestly we spent the whole weekend rearranging the house making room for the toys they have right now).
Anyway...after a MILLION people asking me what the boys might want or need and me telling them I don't know, or forgetting what I told someone else, ect. I decided to make a gift wish list on Amazon.com. This can give some people a general idea on what they don't have or what they might want. Anyway...it's there if you need it, and if you don't use it that's great too! Of course, any gift is wonderful- I just thought this might help some of you who are needing a little help!
Here is the link to the list:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=3PA74XF3DGHE3

Devin Singing The ABC Song

Gavin Using His Walker

My Beautiful Coffee Mug Made by Devin!

Exploration Place

Riding the flight simulator at Exploration Place with Papa David.

We made another visit to Exploration Place and this time Papa David was able to tag along! He lives near Wichita but is usually out of town for work when we make our visits to Wichita. This time he just happened to return home in time for us to spend a few hours with him before we had to head home. Thanks for coming Papa David. Devin has been talking about you ever since!

ANOTHER Trip to Wichita

Devin's silly CHEESE face!

Chasing Mr. Peacock, again!

And chasing the geese.

Chris had to head back over to Wichita this week for MORE training. After hesitating to join him again this time after spending 4 nights there last week, we decided to tag along once again.

It was overall a good trip. We arrived on Tuesday evening just in time to meet Chris for dinner and then back to the hotel for the night. On Wednesday the weather was SO wonderful we made a trip to the Sedwick County Zoo. I must say this is a HUGE zoo. We've made 2 trips so far and still haven't seen every exhibit. The boys both enjoyed this visit.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my SD card out of the computer before I left for Wichita so I only had enough internal memory on my camera to take about 10 pictures. UGH! Oh well, better than no pictures at all, right?

My Attempt at Christmas Photos

I still can't get a picture of BOTH boys looking at the camera at the same time. UGH!

Christmas is Comin' Early!

I won't have any pictures until tomorrow but the boys just got an awesome present from their Nana Carol! She happened to win the Saint Andrew's Playhouse this year. She called us this afternoon and said she won and wanted the boys to have it. I guess they're going to deliver it tomorrow. I tried to explain to Devin that he and Gavin were going to have their OWN house outside to play in, but he just kind of gave me this blank stare. I guess he'll understand better when it arrives. Thanks Nana Carol for the AWESOME gift!

Painting Pottery

Another activity that we did in Wichita was pottery painting. I stumbled upon a website for Stoneware Studio and decided to give it a shot. Luckily we were the only people in the place and the owner could give us LOTS of direction.

I decided to let Devin paint a coffee mug for me. (Since everyone knows I LOVE my coffee and I could use it EVERY day.) I let him pick out the colors and he chose colors in the NEON variety-blue, green, and orange. He painted mainly with a sponge. The mug is half blue, half green, and has a few brush strokes of orange on it. HA HA! It may be considered the UGLIEST mug anyone has ever seen, but I think it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I attempted to write the boys names and the date on the mug in puff paint- but Devin decided to add a few more brush strokes of orange on the side. When he laid it down it smeared and smashed the letters, only adding to the LOADS of character this mug has!

It takes a week to glaze and fire it so my dad, who lives near Wichita, is going to pick it up for me. (Thanks Dad! I wish I could see your face when you see this lovely work of art!)

Most people know I don't have a creative bone in my body and can only accomplish things that have a detailed list of instructions so it was lots of fun to help Devin create this masterpiece. I will be posting pictures of the finished product when I get it.

A New Wichita Activity

Luckily my sister told me that she found a place in Wichita that would be good for Devin. I had been searching for a bouncy house thingy but never had any luck finding one.

While we were in Wichita we went to "Pump It Up". It is open on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 9:30-11 for kids 2-6. Devin really had a good time. We will visiting this place again for sure!

Another Wichita Trip

Chris had to go to Wichita for a week of training and asked us to tag along....AGAIN! So, we did. This time we I found a few more activities and I am learning my way around the town a little better so it wasn't too bad of a trip. The most difficult part was naps and bed time since the boys are on different schedules. All in all it was a good trip and the boys were, for the most part, good sleepers and car riders. We may be heading back next Tuesday....but we'll see!

Here are some picutres of the boys just hanging out in the hotel room.

Jumping On the Trampoline!

A few weeks ago someone was moving and decided they didn't want their trampoline anymore. They told us if we wanted to go and get it we could have it and I thought Devin would LOVE it! Sure enough he did. We took turns jumping for quite some time this morning.

We need to buy the spring cover and a safety net for it so it is a little safer for the little guys.
Gavin can't enjoy it too much just yet but I'm sure in the years to come he will love it just as much as Devin does. I know when I FINALLY got a trampoline when I was about 10 or 11 I LIVED on that sucker. I got mine for Christmas and I would be out there in the 30 degree weather as soon as the sun came up jumping away for hours. And to be honest...I'm having some fun on there too. I have to admit I was out there this morning trying to perfect my old back flips, back handsprings, brainies, and all the other crazy stuff I used to do on it. I don't think I'm a very good influence on the boys. You could see that Devin was wanting to try some of that stuff too but he's smart enough to see he's not quite able to just yet. The only 'moves' he mastered was jumping and landing on his bottom! Silly little boy!

I see us having TONS of fun on that trampoline!

Even MORE pics!

I think I've found my new passion! PHOTOGRAPHY! Actually I should say 'photo editing'. I have been having so much fun taking the boys outside and taking their pictures. I'll come inside and can't wait to see what kind of neat things I can do with the editing software.

There will be more to come. I'm going to TRY to get a good picutre of both the boys this weekend. So far I can't get them both to look at the camera at the same time or one is getting mad, blah blah blah! I'm going to enlist Chris as my assistant this time so maybe that will help.

Pics I took of the boys.....

Michael on the tire swing.
Drew on the tire swing.

Michael

Devin

Feeding the ducks.

Gavin and Michael.

Gavin checking it out!

A couple of little monkeys....

Jeannie, Drew, Michael, (and Devin on the stairs) on the castle.

The weather here has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL for the past week. Last week our friend's the Woodrich's proposed a park play date and are we glad we made it. It was a fantastic day for the boys to play outside. Today is supposed to be the last day of our lovely weather so hopefully we can get outside to enjoy it before fall turns to winter before our eyes!

I'll share a cute story that followed that morning park play date.....

Michael was going with his mom after we were done at the park to have lunch with his dad at work. Devin heard Michael say just as we were all loading up in the car that he was going to see his 'Dad' at work. Devin got so excited (since he doesn't yet understand that when someone talks about their Dad it doesn't mean HIS dad). He started saying "Devin's going to see Daddy's work. Going to see the airplanes. Going to ride the elevator!" When I told him that Michael was going to see his dad but we were going home he got SO upset and started crying! I finally got on the phone and called Chris to see if we could stop by for lunch. I looked like a total slob going up to see him in a hoodie and sweats- but Devin was SO excited to see his dad at work. It was totally worth it!