fingerpaint

 Just call him Pablo Picasso.

We went arts and crafts shopping at WalMart the other day.

Finger paints was at the top of the list.

My sweet Cohen has been BORED as of late...

I believe that a good amount of his "naughtiness" comes from being bored or having too much mental and physical energy bottled up. SO...we are changing things up a bit.

Using our creative juices, we are coming up with activities that will occupy him for more than 10 seconds so I can at least shower daily and Co won't beat up on Brend while I'm doing so.

We have finger painted, made our own puzzles, and simply cut paper scraps into smaller scraps.

Cutting paper has been his favorite I think.

It kept his attention the longest and he sat quietly while doing it the whole time I made dinner and got it on the table. He even cleaned up his mess.  

 Job well done, Cohen!

 Thank You Arts and Crafts!

Rangers  vs  Yankees

 Thanks to Brock's school we were able to attend the Rangers vs. Yankees game in Arlington on Tuesday night. The seats were great, and the best part was that magic wrist band you can see on Brock's arm - that gave us permission to the ALL YOU CAN EAT concessions. Hot dogs, nachos, chicken sandwiches, popcorn, peanuts and soft drinks.

We just about had two of everything each.

YUCK! But so yummy at the time.

Cohen has a strong love for baseball.

Which is interesting because Brock and I don't really, 

he just kinda came up with it on his own. And I like it.

He likes all sports, but he loves baseball.

So he was counting down hours until we got to the game.

Beka and Andy watched Brendon for us, THANKS A MILLION to them.

It would have not been so fun with sweet little Brend. And we didn't get home until 11:00pm. Cohen did quite well. We took breaks and run up and down the huge ramp to the different levels.

 Brock and Cohen doing steamroller down the hill outside the ballpark. It was a pretty night, no wind and not too hot at all.

 Personally, I had the most fun just watching Cohen taking it all in, seeing a professional baseball game for the first time. He lit up as we enter, and smiles every time we talk about it.

A n   A D V E N T U R E

 Last Saturday we were feeling extra spontaneous. Brock didn't have too busy of a weekend, study-wise, so we decided we would take an ADVENTURE. Cohen was giddy about the idea of all of us going on an adventure. He learned how cool adventures can be, thanks to Barney and Friends. :) After brainstorming a little, Brock came up with a scenic drive to two different lakes, out in the country. Lake Worth and Eagle Mountain Lake. We took off not long after breakfast. Lake Worth was our first stop and it was only 10 minutes outside the city, about 25 minutes from our house. We stopped their to have a picnic and put our feet in the cold water.

 The temperature was just right, low 80's.

The lake was pretty, but the beach not so much. Where we were picnicing there was some pretty cool houses right on the lake. Some had slides off the back, and of course all had boats parked under a deck attached to the house.

Maybe that will be a good "second house" idea someday.... ;)

 Cohen peeled this orange ALL BY HIMSELF he kept telling us that.

He bit into it to start peeling and everything.

Mr. Independent. I like it.

 Brendon kept sneaking whole wheat thin crackers {which don't dissolve very quick in your mouth} and kept shoving them in! They would make him gag but he didn't care. He just kept drooling and drooling and gumming away.

 We had a little friend join us for lunch, Mr. Butterfly.

He was not scared of us at all. Brock scooped him up on his hand and he just sat there flapping his wings a bit.

 And he really liked Cohen's shoes.

 This was when we were parked at Eagle Mountain Lake in the marina, trying to find info of a lookout to see the lake better. Which we discovered there wasn't one. Bummer. The lake took my breath away from the main road. You drive over a big hill and at the top BAM! you see the lake full of Sailboats. It was beautiful!

 The best spot we could find was a little fishing dock, DID NOT DO JUSTICE. As you can tell my Co's funny face, he wasn't that thrilled to be there. And I was paranoid since there was no railing or anything stopping Cohen from falling or jumping on in the water. We didn't stay long.

But we'll be back, that's for sure.

 One of my favorite parts of the day was when we were driving in the van leaving our house and Cohen said, "Hey! We're driving all together!!" in an extra happy voice. I guess that shows we don't get to ride in the van all together very often. Ha.

It was a GREAT day.

Very relaxing and very needed, I think for all four of us, to be together as a whole family for most the day.....

Doing what we love - being together and exploring.

Growing like a WEED

Brendon is definitely going to tower over his big bro before we know it. He is getting SO tall and progressing in motor skills a lot lately. He is pulling himself up to things, which is scary because he is quite wobbley. He is BASICALLY crawling, but across the room. He moves his hands and knees a few times, then he'll sit and scoot a little, then lay down and roll a bit.

 I heard him groaning a bit when he woke up from his nap one day....found he had untied his bedding and pulled it out and was under it.

He makes me HAPPY.

Three boys and a girl.

 When Cohen refers to the air soft gun he says "do the trigger".

He shot a hold in a plastic cup and was on cloud nine. 

The cup had to stay inside with us for awhile.

 I have a feelings there will be a lot of this 

type of activity going on in my house in the years to come.

Time Out for Women

in Arlington, TX

{Melissa Garza :: Me :: Natalie & Christie - both Melis's friends}

 

 This weekend was well needed.

A women's conference full of motivational and inspirational LDS speakers, music performances, good friends and a break from being a mommy.

Lately, I feel I have been struggling in the area of being a mom. An understanding, patient mom. Maybe it's because I have an extremely active, curious, sassy, non-stop "WHY" asker two-almost-three year old who knows just the right buttons to push to get the reaction he wants out of me {not a good one}, AND a nine month old who decided over night that he's a needy mama's boy. I LOVE BOTH MY BOYS, but again I will say this weekend was well needed. 

None of it would have happened if it wasn't for Melis getting me a ticket. The words of encouragement were very uplifting and comforting. I felt as though the speakers knew my thoughts and feelings and spoke directly to me.

I was so happy my friend Ashley Russell could come on Saturday with me. We missed her Friday, but so glad she could come. She is beautiful inside and out and she is an amazing mother to her two gorgeous little girls. Her husband is in the military and so she is raising them on her own. Ashley was baptized and became a member of our church about four months ago, and is in our ward.

 The music group 'Mercy River' performed many songs and spoke words of wisdom. They are all three busy moms and have 13 kids between them. Their voices are wonderful. One of my favorites parts of the weekend is when they sang their twisted version of "Bye Bye Bye" by the Backstreet Boys. They changed the words and they had everyone laughing out of their seats. It's called "Bye Bye Bye" (bedtime song). Something like that.

 I came home Saturday evening to a clean house, a welcome home sign, and a hot candle light dinner.

 I am a lucky woman.

Very grateful, and lucky.

Enough said.

G a r z a   G i r l s

 I love these two ladies with all my heart.

We went to pick up our van in Dallas from getting the door lock fixed and had to get together with them.

Melis packed us a lunch and we headed to the Dallas Children's Science Museum.

There was HUGE BUBBLE MAKERS....

 Some hand holding....

 Big hand chairs and a life size sandbox 

with dinosaur bones to dig up....

 Tunnels....

 Cohen size outdoor grill and bench....

 Firetruck with attire and slide....

 On the Farm: a milkable cow that the kids insisted on washing their produce in her milk {water}. Ha. Whatever entertains them, right?

 Tractor rides....

 Produce sorting/throwing....

 Fun in the water....Cohen was in Heaven.

 The time passes way too fast when we are together.

Thanks Melis for the much needed Garza Girl day!!

We love you guys oh so much.

Can't wait for the next time we get to play....

Sleepover maybe?

I think YES.

E A S T E R   2 0 1 2

Happy Easter weekend!
I love Easter.
I more Easter holidays I get to celebrate, 
the more I grow to love the holiday.
Our weekend started out with a walk in the wagon.
The boys wore their new Easter hats from Grandma and Grandpa {my parents}.
 

 Cohen was "holding" the camera for me, little did I know he was working on his photography skills....

 After we got home, we did yard work together.
Can I just say how much I enjoy doing yard work as a family? Everyone is together, outside, we can all get dirty and it DOESN'T MATTER. It's great. We make some much needed progress on our front yard.

 Trimming the roses = fresh flowers for my table!

 Saturday evening we attended an Easter egg hunt and picnic put on by friends in our ward. Beautiful weather, sunshine with a light breeze. Co was thrilled this year for Easter. He still wanted to open every egg and eat it before he picked up another one.
I wonder when that ends?

 After that party, we headed over to Andy and Beka's new house. The hot tub was OH SO RELAXING.

 Nixon brought my camera to me and said "Cheese?"
I turned it on and he stood there and said "CHEESE!"
He steals my heart every time I see him.

 Easter Morning
Brend woke up first, of course. So we let him explore he very exciting basket. He just wanted to shiny grass to play with.

 The Easter Bunny hid eggs around our living room.

 Co showing me just how heavy is basket was.

Supreme French Toast for breakfast.

 Baskets, egg finding, breakfast AND Egg dying all before church at 11:00 am. Cohen's eggs were all dipped in every color at least once. Whatever floats his boat!

 Ready for church!

  We went back to Andy and Beka's for an Easter feast.
So much yummy food!

 Sweet little Bridger.

 Andy & Beka, Matt & Telicia and Andy's cousin and her cute family and us got together at the Philipp's for an Easter feast.

The boys had a blast, as usual.
No one got too hurt, not so usual. ;)

JUST CALL ME CUTE!!!!
Brock snapped a picture of me as I was saying "wait!" or something like that....and this is the outcome.
Yikes. I should be embarrassed, but it's too funny I can't help but laugh at myself! My boys should be proud.

Beka :: T {Telicia} :: Me

  I guess you could call us the 3 amigos?

We had a wonderful Easter holiday.
So grateful for great friends to share holidays with. We're like family away from home. Most importantly I am forever grateful for my Savior. 
For His life, His atoning sacrifice, and His Resurrection.