THE BOYS.

Brendon

8 months old

- eating new foods; like lunch meat, kix, string cheese, baby yogurts, guacamole.

- when going to sleep takes his binky and any blanket touching his face. Snuggles and goes to sleep very quickly.

- first tooth popped through {mar 15} was a little fussy, enough to let us know teeth were coming.

- he loves to sing with us. When we sing a song for FHE he jabber with us. Also when I put him down at night I see or hum a song while I get a little snuggle time. He'll hum very softly, and this is one of my favorite times of every day. 
- he laughed in his sleep for the first time this month. Brock and I were in our room and heard him on the monitor.
- FINALLY interested in moving. He is rolling from one end of the room to the other. Not really scooting yet at all. He is still just contend sitting or laying around, I'm getting a little impatient.
- His fake cry only makes me laugh these days. He even adds a nose wrinkle to it. So cute! He knows the perfect time to let it out too....like when Cohen is just playing by him, not really hurting him, trying to make mom and dad think Co did something. Sneaky. Smart little guy already.

Cohen

2 years and 9 months old

 This kid is a HAM.
- He is Mr. Independent and showing us that he is growing up and getting big. Just tonight we were eating an orange and the slices were pretty big so I reminded him to bite them in half. He said to me "mom, I put the whole piece in, that means I'm big."
- He wants to buckle his seat belt and get in and out of his car seat BY HIMSELF. Now we just need to work on wiping after going to the bathroom. ;)
- Something that Cohen is very good at doing is reasoning. Thank heavens. He has his days {most days} where something small upsets him, but if you simply explain things to him he stays calm and is pretty understanding.
- Still takes a nap after lunch, same time as Brendon. He'll sleep 1.5 - 2 hours. But at this point he is just fine without a nap. Which has been very nice. If we are out and about or at a friends house he just plays and is great.
- The things he says KILL me sometimes. He's got his own little spunk and personality, and we all are in love with it.

Some quotes that were worth writing down:
- He asked me and question at the dinner table and I answered. He then turned to Brock and said "Dad, did you hear mom's answer???"
- "Mom, I really like your hair."
- On a day that we didn't think anything could go right, I was completely out of patients with everything and everyone and I was getting Co's jammies on and getting mad because he was trying to dance, he said to me "Mom, just relax!" Which make me smile. Then so serious he said "And mom, you stink." I was laughing at this point. I DID stink from running earlier and STILL hadn't showered by 8 pm. The truth comes out!
- Cohen played with a new darling friend named Audrey a few days ago, and the day after he came up to me and said "I want to text Audrey." OH BOY.
- "Jesus doesn't want me to ride motorcycles." 
{not sure where this came from}
During FHE we were talking about remembering manners, specifically PLEASE, THANK YOU, YOU'RE WELCOME. So we did a few role plays and Brock said Thank You to Cohen....We waited and asked Cohen what he says back. He said "Sorry?" Good try. "I love you?" Wrong again. "You're welcome!" Yes. Reminders are good. 

s p r i n g   b r e a k

:: Days 9 & 10 ::

 Saturday was oh so relaxing. We slept in, recovered from our two crazy busy FUN days. We headed to Arcadia Park. We stopped at the dollar store on our way there, and Josh grabbed a few kites for us. They were surprisingly way sweet kites and worked great.

 Darling Mr. Kai in his green shoes for St. Patrick's Day.
{I miss this boy SO SO SO bad!}
THIS picture below has to be one of my recent favorites of Cohen.
He's looking so grown up.
Bittersweet feelings about that.
He was proud to fly his very own kite. The kites were too high to get a picture of them where you could actually see them flying.

 Oh my sweet Cohen....he is easily distracted/clumsy at times.
While watching the kites fly so high, he walked right into this HUGE muddy Bog. It scared him half to death. He was muddy wet up to his chest. Now that I look back it could have been much scarier than it was, thankfully we were right by him. He wasn't close to going under, so it turned out to be more funny than anything. 
The stench was AWFUL! Horse poop smelling.
Poor boy. We didn't have extra clothes, so he threw on nothing but my sweatshirt. He was a good sport while dad ran home to grab new clothes. It didn't stop him from swinging and sliding.

 This picture cracked me up, and was pretty sweet...
His definitely has his eye on the ball.
And hit it far.

 Sunday was church and a day at home.
We had a bbq and got Josh, Kai and Jenn all 
packed up and ready to fly home back to Utah.
Sad!
We enjoyed them in our home oh so much.
And can't wait for them to come back.
Hint. Hint.

Spring Break, we LOVED you.
Well needed break.
That went just as planned.
 

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:: Day 8 ::

Train to Dallas Aquarium

 This was all of our first time on the train to Dallas.
It was so fun and stress free to all be able to just chat, and eat snacks, and relax on our 40 minutes ride to downtown Dallas. The price was $5.00 one way for adults and kids age 3 and under are free.

 THE BOYS walking in the big city, on our way to the Dallas Aquarium.

 Again, we fought the Spring Break crowd. I thought was going to be WAY longer to actually get inside, because the line was wrapped around the whole outside of the building. But it wasn't too bad - other than the horrid sewer stench that we smelt while waiting on the corner. :)
This was a sweet fish tank on the building by the street.

 Trying to be patient to get inside.
{I believe Cohen is winding up to whack Kai, stinker.}

 This man was one amazing Sax player. Just playing on the corner of the aquarium, smart man. People were throwing bills at him like crazy, including Cohen. He thought that was pretty cool to be able to give him money.

 For even more entertainment, there was a group of these crazy indian-looking people walking around to take pictures with.

The aquarium was great! SO PACKED like I said, but great. A little pricey {$20 per adult, 3 & under free} but worth it.

 The jaguar was my favorite part of the day.
He was in a HUGE glass cage and we saw him grab a live fish out of a little stream and eat it right up. Sweet!
Then he walked over to his big salt block to have a few licks.

The shark tank was also very neat.
It was a tunnel tank, so there were sharks and turtles and fish all around you. 

 Definitely tired by the end of 3 hours through the aquarium.

 Waiting for the train...

 Successful day.
Thank you, Dallas. 
You treated us well.
 

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:: Day 7 ::

 Lazy morning.

All the boys minus Brend and Jenn walked to the river to skip rocks.

Afternoon we headed downtown Ft. Worth to the Stockyards. 

 THE RIVER

 STOCKYARDS

The famous "Herd Run"

Ice cream from Uncle Josh.

These pictures pretty much explain Cohen and Malakai's personalities.

CRAZY vs. MELLOW.

 Relaxing on the soft grass, rolling down the hill, window shopping...

 Cohen LOVED the railroad tracks.

LOVED throwing rocks onto it.

What a BOY.

  Days 8 - 10 coming up next.

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:: Days 6 - 10 ::

Josh, Kai & Jenna came to visit!

They stayed with us for 5 days.

It felt SO good to have family stay with us and be with us.

Kai and Co had so much fun together, I love seeing them grow up and learn and grow from each other, even at a young age.

DAY 6 - Fort Worth Zoo

 

To say it was PACKED is an understatement.

Just imagine....Spring Break, half-price admission day.

We expected to fight big crowds, but it was an ENORMOUS crowd.

Still a great day.

PERFECT zoo weather.

The animals were out and about and ready to show off.

We LOVE the Fort Worth zoo.
If you're ever in town, it's a must see.

s p r i n g   b r e a k

:: 2012 ::

 The 10 days we've been all waiting for....Spring Break!

Brock only had a test Friday and then he was DONE.

What a good feeling, mostly for him, but we were all giddy about it.

:: Days 1 - 5 ::

The weekend was wonderful, just having Brock on a break and giving his amazing brain a rest was great. When I think of this Spring Break two words come to mind - WHITE COLLAR! Brock and I are NOT tv watchers, AT ALL. But our rockin' friends the Garza's told us about this new sitcom. It's SO GOOD! Brock and I watched the first two seasons in 10 days, if that tells you anything. If you want to know what it's about, you'll have to go watch it and find out yourself. Ha.
Brock did some Doctor shadowing for a couple days, which was a great burden to get off his chest.
We got some very needed yard work done {more pics to come}. The first day of the break was a little chilly, so I had my doubts, but the weather ended up being perfect from Sunday on.

 Family run!

 That afternoon, we stole Nixon so Andy and Beka could get some work done on their new gorgeous house they just moved into. Brock and I didn't feel like sitting around the house, so we ventured out with 3 little boys and went to the mall, of all places. We had two big strollers, and took up pretty much the whole walkway in the mall. We had plenty of heads turn to stare. It was very entertaining. Who says we can't do 3 kids?? That is not even close to an announcement, nor will it be for years.

The big boys played on the play place for a bit, then Andy and Beka took us all to lunch at Panera Bread. They are so good to us! It was a rainy day so my creamy tomato soup was extra delicous.

 Smiley boy at the mall, doesn't even care if he's 

strapped in and if he gets drug around all day.

BLESSING.

 The boys loved this, and I think Brock enjoyed it just as much! Probably against the mall rules, but hey we were having fun making memories.

 That evening, my sweet friend Charity was kind enough to watch our boys so we could go out to dinner. DATE NIGHT! Love them, need them, want them. 

Especially when my date is so good lookin'.

One of my "loves" in this life is sitting alone with my honey, and JUST TALKING. About anything, about nothing, it doesn't matter when or where.

  We obviously set the self-timer on this one. Dorky, I know. But to me a picture brings back a flood of memories and this was a night I didn't want to forget. It was the first night Brock had a break from studying in a LONG time, also, we all were so happy and just satisfied.....as if all our stresses and worries in life left us.

Reading before bedtime...

 Playing outside in the sunshine.

Daddy strapped the boys in the wagon and sent them down the driveway. 

Brendon was a little nervous, as was I.

 Baseball at the park...

 SWINGS

Cohen learning how to "pump" his legs to swing.

  Two of Brend's most famous facial expressions: 

the double eyebrow raise and wide open mouth.

Mowing like Daddy.

Cohen's motto: Like Father, like Son.

In everything he does.

Spring Break started out

Wonderful.

Chill.

Satisfying.

Ideal.